Local peace activist Becky Johnson makes an interesting observation on her blog
Becky writes:
The Israeli Defense Forces just published its verified death list for the 2009 Gaza operation, Operation Cast Lead, in which they dispute previous death tolls issued by Palestinian organizations. The Palestine Center for Human Rights has put the death toll from that conflict at 1417, 926 civilians, 236 "fighters" meaning armed combatants or 65% civilian death toll. Since the IDF spent over 6 months preparing its list, exhaustively cross-checked its lists of known Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, etc. with their own lists. They monitored funerals in Gaza and took note of which deaths were dubbed "martyrs" for Hamas, and they were able to weed out the approximately 400 or so "natural" deaths which occur each month in Gaza. A final note is that PCHR claims 116 women lost their lives in the conflict, and the IDF claims 49 women perished from the conflict. Even if we take the PCHR's higher number, that means that only 8% of the deaths were women. The IDF figures are even lower at 4%. If the IDF REALLY were bombing civilians indiscriminately as many "Peace" organizations claim, why aren't more of the deaths women?
Great observation Becky. Read more here
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
PEACE WITH SYRIA?
Is peace with Syria likely or even possible?
A better question would be whether Syria is a worthwhile peace partner.
The answer to either question is 'no'.
Peace with Syria is not likely, nor is Syria a worthwhile peace partner.
Over the past forty years, Syria has backed several groups which have killed Americans and Israelis. Presently, Hamas is the darling of Damascus, though Hezbollah has also benefited immensely from the favours of the Alawite dictatorship.
Both groups have shown a complete disregard for civilian lives - Arabs, Israelis, and Americans have all been slaughtered opportunistically by both Hezbollah and Hamas.
Hamas, as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim brotherhood, was an unlikely candidate for the position of 'most favoured terrorist gang', given that Assad père slaughtered tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members and civilians in the city of Hama to quell the Syrian branch of the Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and his son Bashar Al Assad has shown as little love for Islamic revolutionaries as his father.
[The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982, when the Syrian military bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 7,000 to 40,000 people were killed, including about 1,000 soldiers.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre .
Hafez Assad's brother Rifaat Assad boasted of having killed 38,000 people, and there are estimates that over fifty thousand perished. This does not include several thousand Islamists executed by the Syrian regime before or since, in addition to other dissenters.]
REGIONAL POWER AND INFLUENCE
But, for both father and son Assad, Syria's rightful role is as a regional power, and they have shown an appetite for "Islamic" brutality outside their borders in their aim to make Syrian influence count. Hezbollah, of course, would not have stood a chance against the other factions in Lebanon were it not for Damascus, and Hezbollah in turn assisted the Alawites in crushing the aspirations of Sunni Muslims in both it's own bailiwick as well as parts of Mediterranean Syria, in addition to terrorist acts in other countries. They have proven themselves useful and loyal thugs while providing the Syrian regime with plausible deniability.
HAMAS
So also Hamas. 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. Where previously the Islamic Brotherhood had refrained from violent actions against Israel in favour of internal struggle, now its attention is equally divided between fomenting unrest in Arab societies that are not on board with its aims, and organizing terrorism against Israel and the Western World in Gaza and the West Bank.
[There are Hamas organizers and Muslim Brotherhood cells in Europe and America. Sofar they have not made their presence much known. What their impact will eventually be can as yet not be estimated.]
MUSLIM BROTHERS IN GAZA
In the eighties the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza (through its front the Islamic Center - Al Mujamaa al Islami) administered a large number of nominally benevolent institutions, such as schools, clinics, and food-distribution centers. After the outbreak of the intifada in 1987, Sheikh Yassin and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders decided to create a second organization that would spearhead violent action, founding the Harakat Al Muqawamah Al Islamiyya (since more commonly referred to as Hamas) in 1988.
Due to Israeli counteractions, by the early nineties most of the leadership was in custody, in hiding, or in exile.
Oslo in 1993 put Hamas at odds with most of the Palestinian political leadership, and made them the only significant group still solely devoted to terrorism for most of the nineties, during which period they received funds and supplies from Iran and Jordan.
[King Hussein and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan had a longstanding modus vivendi, whereby in return for support to Islamic causes, the MB would advance Hussein's influence in the West Bank and Gaza. Though Hamas activists were barred from certain activities in the Hashemite kingdom, they had a great deal of operational freedom.]
The situation changed in 1994 when Jordan signed a treaty with Israel. In mid 1995, Jordanian authorities acted against Hamas, and several leaders fled to Damascus. By 1996 it was evident that the military wing of Hamas in Damascus was preparing actions against both Israel and Jordan, and that Syrian officials were providing support to the organization. Under international pressure, Damascus imposed gag-orders on Hamas claims of responsibility for attacks and arrested several activists, then quietly released them. In the meantime, Hamas cadres had full operational freedom in Syrian-Lebanon, and with Syrian and Iranian encouragement recruited thousands of new members in the Palestinian camps.
By 1999, the remaining public figures of Hamas had established themselves in Damascus or Beirut, and the separation between the Jordanian Islamists and Hamas was complete. Since 2000 it has been clear that cells in the West Bank and Gaza take orders from Damascus.
When the Al Aqsa Intifada broke out in September 2000, Hamas (and Syria) were perfectly positioned to diminish the influence of moderates in the PLO by taking the lead in violence, and aggressively recruiting new members. As a result, many of the deadliest attacks can be ascribed to Hamas (and its paymaster Syria).
Internationally and internally, Syria wholeheartedly supported the wave of terrorism, defending the murder of Israeli civilians, praising attacks, and pressuring clerics to justify terrorism with fatwas, in addition to smuggling explosives and weapons to Hamas via Lebanon and Jordan.
THE PRESENT SITUATION
All of this has contributed greatly to peace within Syria, with only Sunni extremists from Iraq spoiling the calm by the occasional act of insane violence. The Islamic Brotherhood in Syria, in so far as it does not represent the Palestinian Terrorists, is virtually extinct - in any case, incapable of action, and largely irrelevant. Syria and Iran both benefit, albeit in different ways, from their alliances with well-organized terror groups (Hezbollah and Hamas) and each other, and have at this point no reason to even consider destroying such fertile relationships.
Perhaps most crucially, the American intervention in Iraq removed a source of competition to the Syrians, both as regards the legitimacy of Baathist Socialism within the Arab nationalist camp, and as far as destabilizing influence in neighboring countries is concerned. Since the fall of Saddam, co-operation between Iran and Syria has thrived as never before. There is no strong Sunni voice in the Levant to counter Shia and Alawite political aspirations, no Arab country that realistically competes for influence in Syria's backyard. By removing Saddam Hussein and his clique, American actions have strengthened both Iran and Syria, and in retrospect it seems that American influence itself has faded everywhere in the region.
CONCLUSION
Without repercussion and extreme disadvantage to the Syrians on their own soil, it is utterly unlikely that Syria will break its bonds with Hamas and Hezbollah. And unless that happens, there is little point in considering Syria a potential peace-partner, nor is there much benefit in any discussions with Damascus.
A better question would be whether Syria is a worthwhile peace partner.
The answer to either question is 'no'.
Peace with Syria is not likely, nor is Syria a worthwhile peace partner.
Over the past forty years, Syria has backed several groups which have killed Americans and Israelis. Presently, Hamas is the darling of Damascus, though Hezbollah has also benefited immensely from the favours of the Alawite dictatorship.
Both groups have shown a complete disregard for civilian lives - Arabs, Israelis, and Americans have all been slaughtered opportunistically by both Hezbollah and Hamas.
Hamas, as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim brotherhood, was an unlikely candidate for the position of 'most favoured terrorist gang', given that Assad père slaughtered tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members and civilians in the city of Hama to quell the Syrian branch of the Ikhwan al-Muslimin, and his son Bashar Al Assad has shown as little love for Islamic revolutionaries as his father.
[The Hama massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حماة) occurred on February 2, 1982, when the Syrian military bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. An estimated 7,000 to 40,000 people were killed, including about 1,000 soldiers.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre .
Hafez Assad's brother Rifaat Assad boasted of having killed 38,000 people, and there are estimates that over fifty thousand perished. This does not include several thousand Islamists executed by the Syrian regime before or since, in addition to other dissenters.]
REGIONAL POWER AND INFLUENCE
But, for both father and son Assad, Syria's rightful role is as a regional power, and they have shown an appetite for "Islamic" brutality outside their borders in their aim to make Syrian influence count. Hezbollah, of course, would not have stood a chance against the other factions in Lebanon were it not for Damascus, and Hezbollah in turn assisted the Alawites in crushing the aspirations of Sunni Muslims in both it's own bailiwick as well as parts of Mediterranean Syria, in addition to terrorist acts in other countries. They have proven themselves useful and loyal thugs while providing the Syrian regime with plausible deniability.
HAMAS
So also Hamas. 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. Where previously the Islamic Brotherhood had refrained from violent actions against Israel in favour of internal struggle, now its attention is equally divided between fomenting unrest in Arab societies that are not on board with its aims, and organizing terrorism against Israel and the Western World in Gaza and the West Bank.
[There are Hamas organizers and Muslim Brotherhood cells in Europe and America. Sofar they have not made their presence much known. What their impact will eventually be can as yet not be estimated.]
MUSLIM BROTHERS IN GAZA
In the eighties the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza (through its front the Islamic Center - Al Mujamaa al Islami) administered a large number of nominally benevolent institutions, such as schools, clinics, and food-distribution centers. After the outbreak of the intifada in 1987, Sheikh Yassin and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders decided to create a second organization that would spearhead violent action, founding the Harakat Al Muqawamah Al Islamiyya (since more commonly referred to as Hamas) in 1988.
Due to Israeli counteractions, by the early nineties most of the leadership was in custody, in hiding, or in exile.
Oslo in 1993 put Hamas at odds with most of the Palestinian political leadership, and made them the only significant group still solely devoted to terrorism for most of the nineties, during which period they received funds and supplies from Iran and Jordan.
[King Hussein and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan had a longstanding modus vivendi, whereby in return for support to Islamic causes, the MB would advance Hussein's influence in the West Bank and Gaza. Though Hamas activists were barred from certain activities in the Hashemite kingdom, they had a great deal of operational freedom.]
The situation changed in 1994 when Jordan signed a treaty with Israel. In mid 1995, Jordanian authorities acted against Hamas, and several leaders fled to Damascus. By 1996 it was evident that the military wing of Hamas in Damascus was preparing actions against both Israel and Jordan, and that Syrian officials were providing support to the organization. Under international pressure, Damascus imposed gag-orders on Hamas claims of responsibility for attacks and arrested several activists, then quietly released them. In the meantime, Hamas cadres had full operational freedom in Syrian-Lebanon, and with Syrian and Iranian encouragement recruited thousands of new members in the Palestinian camps.
By 1999, the remaining public figures of Hamas had established themselves in Damascus or Beirut, and the separation between the Jordanian Islamists and Hamas was complete. Since 2000 it has been clear that cells in the West Bank and Gaza take orders from Damascus.
When the Al Aqsa Intifada broke out in September 2000, Hamas (and Syria) were perfectly positioned to diminish the influence of moderates in the PLO by taking the lead in violence, and aggressively recruiting new members. As a result, many of the deadliest attacks can be ascribed to Hamas (and its paymaster Syria).
Internationally and internally, Syria wholeheartedly supported the wave of terrorism, defending the murder of Israeli civilians, praising attacks, and pressuring clerics to justify terrorism with fatwas, in addition to smuggling explosives and weapons to Hamas via Lebanon and Jordan.
THE PRESENT SITUATION
All of this has contributed greatly to peace within Syria, with only Sunni extremists from Iraq spoiling the calm by the occasional act of insane violence. The Islamic Brotherhood in Syria, in so far as it does not represent the Palestinian Terrorists, is virtually extinct - in any case, incapable of action, and largely irrelevant. Syria and Iran both benefit, albeit in different ways, from their alliances with well-organized terror groups (Hezbollah and Hamas) and each other, and have at this point no reason to even consider destroying such fertile relationships.
Perhaps most crucially, the American intervention in Iraq removed a source of competition to the Syrians, both as regards the legitimacy of Baathist Socialism within the Arab nationalist camp, and as far as destabilizing influence in neighboring countries is concerned. Since the fall of Saddam, co-operation between Iran and Syria has thrived as never before. There is no strong Sunni voice in the Levant to counter Shia and Alawite political aspirations, no Arab country that realistically competes for influence in Syria's backyard. By removing Saddam Hussein and his clique, American actions have strengthened both Iran and Syria, and in retrospect it seems that American influence itself has faded everywhere in the region.
CONCLUSION
Without repercussion and extreme disadvantage to the Syrians on their own soil, it is utterly unlikely that Syria will break its bonds with Hamas and Hezbollah. And unless that happens, there is little point in considering Syria a potential peace-partner, nor is there much benefit in any discussions with Damascus.
PIBB - the first month
It has scarce been a month since we started Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers, and already I am receiving hate-mail.
This proves beyond any doubt that we are making a difference.
Yasher koach, guys!
In particular, I wish to mention Snooky B. Wong, author of:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/saeb-erekat-smoking-crack.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/sheikh-salam-hozeil-rihgteousness-is.html
And Steffy 周, who wrote:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/bay-area-women-in-black-insane-heathens.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/hamas-are-heirs-of-opportunist-mohammad.html
As well as:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/ann-coulter-comes-out-of-closet.html
Also Grant Patel:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/j-street-court-jews-to-president.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-state-department-jerusalem-is.html
Plus, for their excellent in-depth reportage on the Wallach sisters (Darlene and Donna Wallach, encovened in San Jose), Dusty and News Service.
These posts:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-about-darlene-and-donna-in-san.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/darlene-wallach-up-close-and-personal.html
Dusty, you know far too much about Donna and Darlene - are they patients of yours? If not, they should be.
And of course the Snark-o-riffic deliciousness from Friar Yid (not Shlita):
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/gazas-newest-boy-band.html
Key quote: "Latest reports indicate that JAA is presently looking for a new frontman, preferably someone who both plays bass and is bulletproof."
How true, how true. ;-D
We are ALL looking for someone who plays bass and is bulletproof.
Sofar everything has been both pointed and informative. Good writing from Gland 'X', Fuzzy Pink Fedora, News Servic, The back of the hill, anarcho~Zionist, Friar Yid (not Shlita), Dusty, ViciousKitty.
Keep up the good work, all of you.
This proves beyond any doubt that we are making a difference.
Yasher koach, guys!
In particular, I wish to mention Snooky B. Wong, author of:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/saeb-erekat-smoking-crack.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/sheikh-salam-hozeil-rihgteousness-is.html
And Steffy 周, who wrote:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/bay-area-women-in-black-insane-heathens.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/hamas-are-heirs-of-opportunist-mohammad.html
As well as:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/ann-coulter-comes-out-of-closet.html
Also Grant Patel:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/j-street-court-jews-to-president.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-state-department-jerusalem-is.html
Plus, for their excellent in-depth reportage on the Wallach sisters (Darlene and Donna Wallach, encovened in San Jose), Dusty and News Service.
These posts:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-about-darlene-and-donna-in-san.html
And:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/09/darlene-wallach-up-close-and-personal.html
Dusty, you know far too much about Donna and Darlene - are they patients of yours? If not, they should be.
And of course the Snark-o-riffic deliciousness from Friar Yid (not Shlita):
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/gazas-newest-boy-band.html
Key quote: "Latest reports indicate that JAA is presently looking for a new frontman, preferably someone who both plays bass and is bulletproof."
How true, how true. ;-D
We are ALL looking for someone who plays bass and is bulletproof.
Sofar everything has been both pointed and informative. Good writing from Gland 'X', Fuzzy Pink Fedora, News Servic, The back of the hill, anarcho~Zionist, Friar Yid (not Shlita), Dusty, ViciousKitty.
Keep up the good work, all of you.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
86 Wells Approved for W. Bank but PA has failed to drill
Photo: Palm Trees by the Sea of Galilee
NOTE TO READER: In the long list of "crimes" the State of Israel is accused of, "stealing" water is always on the list. The last time I investigated the merits of the claim, I found that the major aquafirs that Israel taps into reside on Israeli territory. If anything, unchecked Palestinian building sans permits or appropriate sewage planning have caused something of an environmental problem which affects the water supply. This appeared in the Jerusalem Post on August 5, 2009. --- Becky Johnson -- One Woman Talking
Sept 12 2009
Israel Refutes Claims on West Bank Water Supply
- Yaakov Katz
(excerpted from the Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian claims that Israel denies water rights in the West Bank are "baseless and incorrect," Lt.-Col. Amnon Cohen, head of the civil administration's infrastructures department, said Tuesday. He said that in 2007 the Palestinians received 47 million cubic meters of water and in 2008 over 52 million. In addition, Israel recently allocated land on the beach next to Hadera for a Palestinian water desalination plant, which could provide over 100 million cubic meters of water annually. "The land was allocated over a year ago and the Palestinians have yet to move forward with the project," he said. "The Palestinians do not cooperate to try and independently improve their water situation," Cohen added. "While we in Israel are cutting back on water use due to the drought and imposing fines on people who use too much water, the Palestinians are doing nothing of the kind."
The Palestinians claimed that while the Israeli-PA joint water committee approved the drilling of 82 wells, none have been carried out due to Israeli refusal. "This is nonsense," Cohen explained. "Out of the 82, 43 are in Areas A and B which are under PA control and they do not need us involved. Out of the remaining 39, in Area C and under Israeli security control, 21 have been approved and 11 have not even been submitted for approval." Dozens of drillings have been approved over the years but the Palestinians have not acted upon them. There are already 11 open wells in the territories that have not been connected to pumps. "If they were to connect the wells, they would get another 11 million cubic meters of water," he said. (Jerusalem Post)
Article can be read in its entirety here.
Toronto Film Festival
Jane Fonda, whose area of expertise is unknown, has signed a letter criticizing the Toronto Film Festival for presenting a number of films from Tel Aviv, as part of its 'City to City' program.
I have to wonder why she was involved - repetitious exercise videos make one an intellectual or filmmaker?
QUOTE:
Some 50 intellectuals and filmmakers, including Briton Ken Loach, have accused the Toronto film festival of "complicity with the Israeli propaganda machine" over its spotlight this year of Tel Aviv. The Toronto International Film Festival chose this year to present 10 films on the Jewish metropolis by local filmmakers for its "City to City" programme, which each year focuses its lens on a different city.
END QUOTE.
SOURCE:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090904/canada/canada_israel_festival_film
Seriously, what is she? Is she now claiming the status of intellectual?
QUOTE:
"As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. "
END QUOTE.
SOURCE: http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/535
QUOTE:
The emphasis on 'diversity' in City to City is empty given the absence of Palestinian filmmakers in the program. Furthermore, what this description does not say is that Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages, and that the city of Jaffa, Palestine’s main cultural hub until 1948, was annexed to Tel Aviv after the mass exiling of the Palestinian population. This program ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area who currently live in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories or who have been dispersed to other countries, including Canada. Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city’s past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto.
END QUOTE.
Very well. Even assuming that today's Tel Aviv incorporates areas which were villages in the past, and acknowledging that Jaffa is now part of the Tel Aviv conglomeratus, what exactly are you saying?
Are you saying that the only cities worthy of consideration are those with no past?
By that measure, not only would not a single city in the Americas be worthy of consideration, but likewise not a single European city, and certainly no city anywhere in the Mid-East. All are built, like Troy, on the remains of previous settlements. All have, even today, resentful enemies who lament their cause.
Even Toronto, per Wikipedia, "when Europeans first arrived at the site of present-day Toronto, the vicinity was inhabited by the Huron tribes, who by then had displaced the Iroquois tribes that had occupied the region for centuries before c. 1500" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto).
New York was New Amsterdam, and before that it belonged to native Americans. London was a Celtic city. Istanbul belongs to the Greeks, why is it now filled with Turks who refuse to move? Paris was Gaulish - who are those people speaking a Latin-based creole plus Arabic who brutally occupy it now? Alexandria was Greek, Cairo was once a Goptic center - now both groups are minorities there.
Not to belabor the point, but all cities have a past that includes displacement and migration. That is the nature of cities and states.
An awareness of history, and a minimal degree of cultural literacy, would have told you so.
The purpose of a film festival is to highlight the creativity of the film makers. Not to make political points and enforce ideological rigidity. For that you really need to go to the former Soviet Union, or today's North Korea.
The letter was drafted by the following bunch of hypocrites:
Udi Aloni, Elle Flanders, Richard Fung, John Greyson, Naomi Klein, Kathy Wazana, Cynthia Wright, B. H. Yael.
It is endorsed by the following bunch of opportunists:
Ahmad Abdalla
Hany Abu-Assad
Mark Achbar
Zackie Achmat
Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Anthony Arnove
Ruba Atiyeh
Joslyn Barnes
John Berger
David Byrne
Guy Davidi
Na-iem Dollie
Igor Drljaca
Eve Ensler
Eyal Eithcowich
Sophie Fiennes
Peter Fitting
Jane Fonda
Danny Glover
Noam Gonick
Malcolm Guy
Mike Hoolboom
Annemarie Jacir
Fredric Jameson
Juliano Mer Khamis
Bonnie Sherr Klein
Paul Laverty
Paul Lee
Yael Lerer
Jack Lewis
Ken Loach
Arab Lotfi
Kyo Maclear
Mahmood
Mamdani
Fatima Mawas
Tessa McWatt
Cornelius Moore
Yousry Nasrallah
Rebecca O'Brien
Pratibha Parmar
Jeremy Pikser
John Pilger
Shai Carmeli Pollak
Ian Iqbal Rashid
Judy Rebick
David Reeb
B. Ruby Rich
Wallace Shawn
Eyal Sivan
Elia Suleiman
Eran Torbiner
Alice Walker
Thomas Waugh
Howard Zinn
Slavoj Zizek
I would encourage you to boycott them, but for the majority it is very unclear what they have ever accomplished, and in any case many of them do not seem to have risen above turgid and jejeune mediocrity in whatever field they claim for themselves.
I have to wonder why she was involved - repetitious exercise videos make one an intellectual or filmmaker?
QUOTE:
Some 50 intellectuals and filmmakers, including Briton Ken Loach, have accused the Toronto film festival of "complicity with the Israeli propaganda machine" over its spotlight this year of Tel Aviv. The Toronto International Film Festival chose this year to present 10 films on the Jewish metropolis by local filmmakers for its "City to City" programme, which each year focuses its lens on a different city.
END QUOTE.
SOURCE:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090904/canada/canada_israel_festival_film
Seriously, what is she? Is she now claiming the status of intellectual?
QUOTE:
"As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. "
END QUOTE.
SOURCE: http://bdsmovement.net/?q=node/535
QUOTE:
The emphasis on 'diversity' in City to City is empty given the absence of Palestinian filmmakers in the program. Furthermore, what this description does not say is that Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages, and that the city of Jaffa, Palestine’s main cultural hub until 1948, was annexed to Tel Aviv after the mass exiling of the Palestinian population. This program ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area who currently live in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories or who have been dispersed to other countries, including Canada. Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city’s past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto.
END QUOTE.
Very well. Even assuming that today's Tel Aviv incorporates areas which were villages in the past, and acknowledging that Jaffa is now part of the Tel Aviv conglomeratus, what exactly are you saying?
Are you saying that the only cities worthy of consideration are those with no past?
By that measure, not only would not a single city in the Americas be worthy of consideration, but likewise not a single European city, and certainly no city anywhere in the Mid-East. All are built, like Troy, on the remains of previous settlements. All have, even today, resentful enemies who lament their cause.
Even Toronto, per Wikipedia, "when Europeans first arrived at the site of present-day Toronto, the vicinity was inhabited by the Huron tribes, who by then had displaced the Iroquois tribes that had occupied the region for centuries before c. 1500" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto).
New York was New Amsterdam, and before that it belonged to native Americans. London was a Celtic city. Istanbul belongs to the Greeks, why is it now filled with Turks who refuse to move? Paris was Gaulish - who are those people speaking a Latin-based creole plus Arabic who brutally occupy it now? Alexandria was Greek, Cairo was once a Goptic center - now both groups are minorities there.
Not to belabor the point, but all cities have a past that includes displacement and migration. That is the nature of cities and states.
An awareness of history, and a minimal degree of cultural literacy, would have told you so.
The purpose of a film festival is to highlight the creativity of the film makers. Not to make political points and enforce ideological rigidity. For that you really need to go to the former Soviet Union, or today's North Korea.
The letter was drafted by the following bunch of hypocrites:
Udi Aloni, Elle Flanders, Richard Fung, John Greyson, Naomi Klein, Kathy Wazana, Cynthia Wright, B. H. Yael.
It is endorsed by the following bunch of opportunists:
Ahmad Abdalla
Hany Abu-Assad
Mark Achbar
Zackie Achmat
Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Anthony Arnove
Ruba Atiyeh
Joslyn Barnes
John Berger
David Byrne
Guy Davidi
Na-iem Dollie
Igor Drljaca
Eve Ensler
Eyal Eithcowich
Sophie Fiennes
Peter Fitting
Jane Fonda
Danny Glover
Noam Gonick
Malcolm Guy
Mike Hoolboom
Annemarie Jacir
Fredric Jameson
Juliano Mer Khamis
Bonnie Sherr Klein
Paul Laverty
Paul Lee
Yael Lerer
Jack Lewis
Ken Loach
Arab Lotfi
Kyo Maclear
Mahmood
Mamdani
Fatima Mawas
Tessa McWatt
Cornelius Moore
Yousry Nasrallah
Rebecca O'Brien
Pratibha Parmar
Jeremy Pikser
John Pilger
Shai Carmeli Pollak
Ian Iqbal Rashid
Judy Rebick
David Reeb
B. Ruby Rich
Wallace Shawn
Eyal Sivan
Elia Suleiman
Eran Torbiner
Alice Walker
Thomas Waugh
Howard Zinn
Slavoj Zizek
I would encourage you to boycott them, but for the majority it is very unclear what they have ever accomplished, and in any case many of them do not seem to have risen above turgid and jejeune mediocrity in whatever field they claim for themselves.
J Street, Court Jews to the president
Over at BlueTruth, the good doctor has yielded the stand to Lawrence W White MD. The result is quite fascinating. Prepare yourself a nice hot cup of tea, and sit down for an intellectual adventure.
http://www.bluetruth.net/2009/09/obamas-court-jews-rise-of-j-street.html
Cogent excerpt:
"In the widening divide between American and Israeli Jews over concern for the future of Israel, there are many American Jews who have taken positions harmful to the security of the Jewish state. There are many reasons for this. Jews who have successfully moved into the larger society may wish to establish themselves as "progressives", with a universalist rather than particularist world view. They may fear, and wish to deflect, appearances of dual loyalty. They may strive to sidestep potential anti-Semitism by avoiding perceptions that they are less than fully American."
The piece was originally posted at American Thinker:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/obamas_court_jews_the_rise_of.html
You can read it at either internet site.
"During its short history, J Street has built up an extensive list of positions detrimental to Israel. With respect to Iran, they have defended Iran’s nuclear weapons program"
It should be mentioned that even one Islamic nation with nuclear capabilities is too many. India will remain forever threatened by the very real possibility that Pakistan goes rogue, or that in a fit of paranoia, pique, or outright insane hatred, the Pakistani military gambles on the bomb rather than on reason. It is only a matter of time before that happens.
Iran is no less dangerous than Pakistan, but far less involved in making nice to the world. That alone argues against J Street and their Iran position.
Israel has proven, time and again, that it is a greater friend of the United States and the Western World than any number of Muslims - whose collective pro-American actions do not match Israel's, and are far outweighed by their frequent anti-American manifestations. The Muslim world has still a long way to go to undo the ill-repute they deserve.
J Street, in its pandering to extremes proves itself no friend of Israel, America, or Obama.
http://www.bluetruth.net/2009/09/obamas-court-jews-rise-of-j-street.html
Cogent excerpt:
"In the widening divide between American and Israeli Jews over concern for the future of Israel, there are many American Jews who have taken positions harmful to the security of the Jewish state. There are many reasons for this. Jews who have successfully moved into the larger society may wish to establish themselves as "progressives", with a universalist rather than particularist world view. They may fear, and wish to deflect, appearances of dual loyalty. They may strive to sidestep potential anti-Semitism by avoiding perceptions that they are less than fully American."
The piece was originally posted at American Thinker:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/08/obamas_court_jews_the_rise_of.html
You can read it at either internet site.
"During its short history, J Street has built up an extensive list of positions detrimental to Israel. With respect to Iran, they have defended Iran’s nuclear weapons program"
It should be mentioned that even one Islamic nation with nuclear capabilities is too many. India will remain forever threatened by the very real possibility that Pakistan goes rogue, or that in a fit of paranoia, pique, or outright insane hatred, the Pakistani military gambles on the bomb rather than on reason. It is only a matter of time before that happens.
Iran is no less dangerous than Pakistan, but far less involved in making nice to the world. That alone argues against J Street and their Iran position.
Israel has proven, time and again, that it is a greater friend of the United States and the Western World than any number of Muslims - whose collective pro-American actions do not match Israel's, and are far outweighed by their frequent anti-American manifestations. The Muslim world has still a long way to go to undo the ill-repute they deserve.
J Street, in its pandering to extremes proves itself no friend of Israel, America, or Obama.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Saeb Erekat smoking crack
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat appears to be under the influence of some hallucinatory substance. Judging by one of his recent utterances.
Quote:
"If you could not convince the Israelis to stop settlement activity, will anybody in the Arab and Islamic world believe you can make Israel return to the '67 borders or withdraw from settlements?"
End quote.
SOURCE:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8246434.stm
This pursuant the revived plan to build nearly five hundred more homes in Pisgat Zeev, a neighborhood of Jerusalem. Israel has stressed that it is willing to consider curbs on settlement activity in the disputed areas of the West Bank, but has stressed that that does NOT include any part of Jerusalem.
SAEB, LET ME SPEAK TO YOU AS A FRIEND
Now, then, ... Saeb habibi, ya achi (may I call you that?), sweetheart - what makes you think that anybody believes that Israel will return to the 1967 borders?
You lot only had part of Jerusalem for 18 years - and you made a pigsty out of it. Remember what you did to the Western Wall? Remember that you made a public pissoir out of it? Do you remember that Jordan ETHNICALLY CLEANSED the eastern part of Jerusalem, and the Etzion bloc?
And heck, Saebie-poo, your dear friends the Syrians ain't ever gonna see the Golan (هضبة الجولان Al Hadhbat-ul Jawlan) again either. Guess they shouldn't have used it to lob explosives at Al Yahood (اليهود) for so many years, huh?'
['Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, lit. Etzion Bloc) refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Kfar Etzion, Massu'ot, Ein Tzurim and Revadim.'
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etzion_bloc
Please note especially the part where it mentions that the Arab Legion, commanded by an Englishman, war criminal John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha), massacred everyone in Kfar Etzion, subsequently destroying everything and uprooting thousands of trees. In 1956, John Bagot Glubb was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of Bath in 1956 for his sterling services, including the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank of the Jordan river by his British-trained Jordanian forces.]
Saeb, sweetie, dear man, if YOU think that Jerusalem will ever belong to the Arabs again, you're out of your mind. Same goes for the Golan. And double for the Etzion block.
There are also a few other spots on the map of mandate Palestine that y'all might want to give up on. In the fullness of time. When common sense returns.
But in the meantime, do please give up on the illicit substances. It ain't helping your cause to be so stoned. Really. I'm a teenager, I know these things.
Quote:
"If you could not convince the Israelis to stop settlement activity, will anybody in the Arab and Islamic world believe you can make Israel return to the '67 borders or withdraw from settlements?"
End quote.
SOURCE:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8246434.stm
This pursuant the revived plan to build nearly five hundred more homes in Pisgat Zeev, a neighborhood of Jerusalem. Israel has stressed that it is willing to consider curbs on settlement activity in the disputed areas of the West Bank, but has stressed that that does NOT include any part of Jerusalem.
SAEB, LET ME SPEAK TO YOU AS A FRIEND
Now, then, ... Saeb habibi, ya achi (may I call you that?), sweetheart - what makes you think that anybody believes that Israel will return to the 1967 borders?
You lot only had part of Jerusalem for 18 years - and you made a pigsty out of it. Remember what you did to the Western Wall? Remember that you made a public pissoir out of it? Do you remember that Jordan ETHNICALLY CLEANSED the eastern part of Jerusalem, and the Etzion bloc?
And heck, Saebie-poo, your dear friends the Syrians ain't ever gonna see the Golan (هضبة الجولان Al Hadhbat-ul Jawlan) again either. Guess they shouldn't have used it to lob explosives at Al Yahood (اليهود) for so many years, huh?'
['Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, lit. Etzion Bloc) refers to a group of Jewish villages established from the 1920s south of Jerusalem on the northern part of Mount Hebron in the southern West Bank, and destroyed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Kfar Etzion, Massu'ot, Ein Tzurim and Revadim.'
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etzion_bloc
Please note especially the part where it mentions that the Arab Legion, commanded by an Englishman, war criminal John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha), massacred everyone in Kfar Etzion, subsequently destroying everything and uprooting thousands of trees. In 1956, John Bagot Glubb was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of Bath in 1956 for his sterling services, including the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank of the Jordan river by his British-trained Jordanian forces.]
Saeb, sweetie, dear man, if YOU think that Jerusalem will ever belong to the Arabs again, you're out of your mind. Same goes for the Golan. And double for the Etzion block.
There are also a few other spots on the map of mandate Palestine that y'all might want to give up on. In the fullness of time. When common sense returns.
But in the meantime, do please give up on the illicit substances. It ain't helping your cause to be so stoned. Really. I'm a teenager, I know these things.
An open letter to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Recently a group calling itself 'the elders' visited Israel and the territories, and delivered the predictable and entirely superficial condemnations of those
Yes, that's it.
Or, as you might call them, the ZIONISTS!
You may flee into your cave and shudder now.
Naturally, the elders' priggish utterances prompted a literate and reasoned response. Several, in fact.
To one of which I would draw your attention.
An open letter to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Copies to members of The Elders
From Maurice Ostroff
September 8, 2009
http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id229.html
Quote:
"I suggest that one of the most valuable contributions the Elders can make would be investment in "Education towards peace instead of violence" [cut] Such a program is urgently needed in the Israel-Palestine situation because of the cold fact that Palestinians, who have been taught to hate from early childhood and who are continuously exposed to incitement to violence in mosques and in local media, naturally have difficulty in accepting good relations with their demonized neighbors."
End quote.
Quote:
"The frequently quoted concept of a cycle of physical violence in which one side attacks, the other retaliates and so on is fallacious in that it ignores the essential component of incitement that fuels the vicious cycle. The obvious remedy is to cut off the incitement fuel supply.
Probably, because of lack of knowledge of Arabic, your group remains unaware of the prevalent insidious incitement to hate and to genocide, propagated on official PA State TV as well as in mosques and schools."
End quote.
"Jews are Jews. We must slaughter them and kill them, as per the word of Allah."
Given that both the elders and their target audience are not quite capable of deep and thorough analysis of the situation, NOR likely gifted with the intellectual rigor such requires, the letter is far too long. The only ones likely to read it are Jews. And supporters of Israel.
You know, folks who really dig textual depth.
The letter is also written in English, and will thus go entirely over the heads of many Europeans.
However, since YOU are already here, you might as well go ahead and read it.
http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/id229.html
And feel free to forward it to your friends.
Even to those of the "revolution now let's kill all of them Jooz" persuasion.
Also tell them to read the other stuff - seeing as some of them may not be quite ready for complex internet navigation, please point them to this link:
http://maurice-ostroff.tripod.com/index.html
Remember, you cannot combat the evil mind-control powers of the Zionists unless you know how they think. Regularly reading complex material will make that goal attainable.
As will, of course, lining your crash helmet with tinfoil. But I presume that you have already done that, yes?
================================================================
AFTERTHOUGHT
Pardon the totally unintended sarcasm and snark in my commentary above. You see, I am still on a caffeine high induced by my morning coffee and tea. And coffee and tea, as you know, are also part of the Zionist conspiracy - that's why you lot must avoid such beverages.
Please enjoy some cool refreshing water. It's Jew-free.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Donna and Darlene Wallach - San Jose social queens
Rafish baseball caps and keffiyehs look HOT! Stunning, zesty, and asexualiscious, in fact!
Man, I just cannot believe how over-the-top sultry these damsels look in their matching scarfs and scowls!
Yes, I am talking about everyone's favorite modish ex-Israelites, Donna and Darlene Wallach, beloved residents of San Jose, though in spirit they roam the workers paradise of Gaza.
BUSY LIVES!
In addition to dancing for secular pro-Hamas joy at the intersection of corner of Market & San Carlos Streets, as detailed
here (from this blog http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/) and lauded here, they also enjoy the company of people of faith, most recently at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Fresno - you can read about their promotion of universal love and sisterhood here.
[All articles from this website http://fresnozionism.org/). ]
A witness spoke of his extreme and toothsome delight at hearing these two dotty darlings detail why they despise Israel, the Jewish people in general, and many of their nearest and dearest kin in the whole wide world.
It was both moving and inspiring. A feast for eye and ear.
They also like long walks on the beach, hot darabouka rhythms, communing with the spirits of nature, and cruises.
They've been instrumental in a number of boat trips to exotic locales - jaunts like 'Eastern Mediterranean Romance', plus 'Mystic Medicine Spirit Journey', and 'Cyprus Summer Holiday'. Such adventure!
[From this blog: http://www.zionism-israel.com/israel_news/]
SUNNY SOCIAL GADFLIES
The fullness of their days may (unfortunately) exclude the possibilities of meaningful family life, but while they have each other, they have no need to run any personal ads or fill out questionnaires about 29 levels of compatibility - they are as compatible as they will ever need to be.
Donna and Darlene, you are loved.
Man, I just cannot believe how over-the-top sultry these damsels look in their matching scarfs and scowls!
Yes, I am talking about everyone's favorite modish ex-Israelites, Donna and Darlene Wallach, beloved residents of San Jose, though in spirit they roam the workers paradise of Gaza.
BUSY LIVES!
In addition to dancing for secular pro-Hamas joy at the intersection of corner of Market & San Carlos Streets, as detailed
here (from this blog http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/) and lauded here, they also enjoy the company of people of faith, most recently at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Fresno - you can read about their promotion of universal love and sisterhood here.
[All articles from this website http://fresnozionism.org/). ]
A witness spoke of his extreme and toothsome delight at hearing these two dotty darlings detail why they despise Israel, the Jewish people in general, and many of their nearest and dearest kin in the whole wide world.
It was both moving and inspiring. A feast for eye and ear.
They also like long walks on the beach, hot darabouka rhythms, communing with the spirits of nature, and cruises.
They've been instrumental in a number of boat trips to exotic locales - jaunts like 'Eastern Mediterranean Romance', plus 'Mystic Medicine Spirit Journey', and 'Cyprus Summer Holiday'. Such adventure!
[From this blog: http://www.zionism-israel.com/israel_news/]
SUNNY SOCIAL GADFLIES
The fullness of their days may (unfortunately) exclude the possibilities of meaningful family life, but while they have each other, they have no need to run any personal ads or fill out questionnaires about 29 levels of compatibility - they are as compatible as they will ever need to be.
Donna and Darlene, you are loved.
Arab Peace Initiative and moderation
According to the Associated Press (AP), the Arab Peace initiative will give Israel safety, security, and ... peace.
In return for a withdrawal to borders which the entire world agrees are rational, reasonable, and just.
Except that the world and AP are both wrong. Blowing it out their rear, in fact.
Quote:
"The Arab peace initiative calls for Israel to withdraw completely from East Jerusalem, including the Jewish parts, and it seems to require Israel to accept the return of Palestinian Arab refugees, which would end Jewish self determination in the only Jewish country in the world. So the deal looks more like "Give up your capital and your country, and we'll give you 'peace.'" "
End quote.
SOURCE: AP anti-Israel bias
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/ap-anti-israel-bias.html
However, even then the deal is rather soured by the fact that the Arabs agree that they will still have no reason to agree. Neither with each other regarding peace, nor on the terms of whatever approaches some Arab countries might make towards Israel - which would soon be moot in any case, as an Arabized Israel would soon dissolve into a satellite of the Hashemites, Syrians, Egyptians, or Saudis. Or, more likely, fragment into a second Lebanon, with the various Arab powers fighting each other by proxy precisely like they did during the Lebanese civil war, and as they certainly appear to be doing at present in Iraq.
Quote:
"News agency dispatches routinely characterize Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan and King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, as well as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and other Arab leaders as "moderate" but refer to Avigdor Lieberman as the "ultranationalist"."
End quote.
Mahmoud Abbas?
Mahmoud Abbas?!?!?!?
Mahmoud Abbas - isn't that the man who subsidized the Munich massacre?
Didn't he write a doctoral thesis stating that the Holocaust was a "Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed"?
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relations_between_Zionism_and_Nazism
Quote:
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand."
End quote.
If Mahmoud Abbas represents the moderation to be expected from the Arab side, then the world and the Associated Press need to rethink what they mean by the word "moderate".
A holocaust-denying terrorist is hardly a man of peace.
Can we have a new word, please?
In return for a withdrawal to borders which the entire world agrees are rational, reasonable, and just.
Except that the world and AP are both wrong. Blowing it out their rear, in fact.
Quote:
"The Arab peace initiative calls for Israel to withdraw completely from East Jerusalem, including the Jewish parts, and it seems to require Israel to accept the return of Palestinian Arab refugees, which would end Jewish self determination in the only Jewish country in the world. So the deal looks more like "Give up your capital and your country, and we'll give you 'peace.'" "
End quote.
SOURCE: AP anti-Israel bias
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/ap-anti-israel-bias.html
However, even then the deal is rather soured by the fact that the Arabs agree that they will still have no reason to agree. Neither with each other regarding peace, nor on the terms of whatever approaches some Arab countries might make towards Israel - which would soon be moot in any case, as an Arabized Israel would soon dissolve into a satellite of the Hashemites, Syrians, Egyptians, or Saudis. Or, more likely, fragment into a second Lebanon, with the various Arab powers fighting each other by proxy precisely like they did during the Lebanese civil war, and as they certainly appear to be doing at present in Iraq.
Quote:
"News agency dispatches routinely characterize Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan and King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, as well as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and other Arab leaders as "moderate" but refer to Avigdor Lieberman as the "ultranationalist"."
End quote.
Mahmoud Abbas?
Mahmoud Abbas?!?!?!?
Mahmoud Abbas - isn't that the man who subsidized the Munich massacre?
Didn't he write a doctoral thesis stating that the Holocaust was a "Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed"?
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relations_between_Zionism_and_Nazism
Quote:
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand."
End quote.
If Mahmoud Abbas represents the moderation to be expected from the Arab side, then the world and the Associated Press need to rethink what they mean by the word "moderate".
A holocaust-denying terrorist is hardly a man of peace.
Can we have a new word, please?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Darlene Wallach, Up Close and Personal
Though Donna and Darlene Wallach are as close as sisters can be, we've heard that our recent profile of Donna caused Darlene a fit of jealousy. She wants her moment in the spotlight, too.
Here it is, Darlene. Your moment to shine.
Note please that Darlene is wearing a T-shirt bearing a stamp from the British mandatory Period. This is puzzling. Is Darlene showing her support for the British behavior during this period?
I can only speculate.
Darlene- did you happen to notice the Hebrew Writing on your t-shirt? Ever wonder why its there? See those Hebrew letters in the parentheses on your T-shirt? The aleph-yod? That stands for "Eretz Yisrael"- the land of Israel. This stamp was issued by the mandatory British government of Palestine in 1927.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Bay Area Women in Black - Insane Heathens
The Bay Area's own coterie of deranged religion-hating WASP-wannabees, the Bay Area Women in Black (BAWIB), are holding their annual TASHLICH ceremony at Lake Merrit on September 26 this year, from 11:00 AM till 12:00 Noon.
Which is a Saturday.
Saturday is shabbat.
Something here seems very wrong...........
To quote someone with whom I am in e-mail contact:
"Tashlich is supposed to be on Sunday, 9/20, this year. It is NEVER performed on Shabbat -- unless you're a self-hating Jew, who knows nothing about the details of their religion and uses it merely as a cudgel with which to attack political enemies."
Regarding Rosh Hashana, this Wikipedia article clarifies "Rosh Hashanah is observed as a day of rest (Leviticus 23:24) and the activities prohibited on Shabbat are also prohibited on Rosh Hashanah."
Key is that tashlich involves stuff prohibited on the Sabbath - according to a friend, melacha ("work") and borer ("selection").
Rosh Hashana this year is from sunset September 18 (Friday) till nightfall September 20 (Sunday).
[Sunset: when the light begins to fade. Nightfall: the light of day is entirely gone.]
Per OU , "If the first day of Rosh HaShanah falls on Shabbat , Tashlich is said on Sunday, the second day."
Okay, that's a little too much information, but it's quite clear. Rosh Hashana (New Year) is on Saturday the 19th. Tashlich then should be the next day.
Apparently there's a bunch of holidays that are TWO days everywhere except Israel - something having to do with the moon, signal fires, clouds, and runners from Babylon - all very interesting (crazy complicated) and not really relevant to my point, but in any case, Tashlich this year is done on Sunday September 20.
Not the next sabbath. EVER!
Nor involving four (!) large demonic puppet heads or idols - these are trademarks of the Bay Area Women in Black, usually carried by men in shrouds - voodoo, as far as I know, is not an accepted part of the Jewish belief system.
[Maybe those four(!) effigies represent the Four Apostles, but in that case the whole thing is completely wacko. Get help, ladies, you're nuts.]
What they are doing is NOT Jewish. Nor is it a valid reflection of any other recognizable belief system. Wrong date. Desecration of the Sabbath. Weird demon dolls.
It is a horrendous bastardization of Jewish ritual. There's a very broad line between interpretation and ideological deviance. They've crossed it.
Which is a Saturday.
Saturday is shabbat.
Something here seems very wrong...........
To quote someone with whom I am in e-mail contact:
"Tashlich is supposed to be on Sunday, 9/20, this year. It is NEVER performed on Shabbat -- unless you're a self-hating Jew, who knows nothing about the details of their religion and uses it merely as a cudgel with which to attack political enemies."
Regarding Rosh Hashana, this Wikipedia article clarifies "Rosh Hashanah is observed as a day of rest (Leviticus 23:24) and the activities prohibited on Shabbat are also prohibited on Rosh Hashanah."
Key is that tashlich involves stuff prohibited on the Sabbath - according to a friend, melacha ("work") and borer ("selection").
Rosh Hashana this year is from sunset September 18 (Friday) till nightfall September 20 (Sunday).
[Sunset: when the light begins to fade. Nightfall: the light of day is entirely gone.]
Per OU , "If the first day of Rosh HaShanah falls on Shabbat , Tashlich is said on Sunday, the second day."
Okay, that's a little too much information, but it's quite clear. Rosh Hashana (New Year) is on Saturday the 19th. Tashlich then should be the next day.
Apparently there's a bunch of holidays that are TWO days everywhere except Israel - something having to do with the moon, signal fires, clouds, and runners from Babylon - all very interesting (crazy complicated) and not really relevant to my point, but in any case, Tashlich this year is done on Sunday September 20.
Not the next sabbath. EVER!
Nor involving four (!) large demonic puppet heads or idols - these are trademarks of the Bay Area Women in Black, usually carried by men in shrouds - voodoo, as far as I know, is not an accepted part of the Jewish belief system.
[Maybe those four(!) effigies represent the Four Apostles, but in that case the whole thing is completely wacko. Get help, ladies, you're nuts.]
What they are doing is NOT Jewish. Nor is it a valid reflection of any other recognizable belief system. Wrong date. Desecration of the Sabbath. Weird demon dolls.
It is a horrendous bastardization of Jewish ritual. There's a very broad line between interpretation and ideological deviance. They've crossed it.
Sheikh Salam Hozeil - righteousness is its own reward
There are Jews and Israelis who speak on behalf of Palestinians. Why aren't there Arabs who speak on behalf of Jews and Israel?
Actually, there are. But only a few.
The reason why there aren't more of them is fear.
Arabs who have spoken on behalf of Jews and Israel have been killed, and their womenfolk dishonored. Since the thirties, tens of thousands of Arabs have been slaughtered by other Arabs because they were pro-Jewish or Israel-friendly. The number of the dead is staggering. Speaking on behalf of Jews in the Arab world (even in the European outposts of the Arab world) means death.
Those who have escaped such a fate have, by and large, escaped the embrace of their own communities as well and sought succor in Israel or America. And even then, they are not considered worthy of attention by the many "enlightened" people, because they are clearly at odds with everything that the Arab world has been saying for over half a century, and the ultra-left have been parroting for nearly that long.
Dissidence is a Western prerogative - many ultra-left Westerners disapprove of non-Western dissidence. Especially if it goes against their preconceptions.
[The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was glorious, only bourgeois scum opposed it. Pol Pot's Cambodia was a paradise and represented a new age of peasant power. Che Guevara only killed fascists and imperialist stooges - there were tens of thousands of them, and the poverty and desperation of many of them was a carefully crafted veneer. Stalin was a saint. And the Palestinian nationalists are all peaceful disciples of Ghandhi. Now suck it up!]
Arabs who disagree with right-thinking Europeans and Berkeleyites are worse heathens than Jews and Christians.
Consider the case of Sheikh Salam Hozeil
Hozeil has, for over a year, worked on behalf of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, demanding his release and speaking at rallies and gatherings.
For just as long, he and his family have been on the receiving end of threats and insults, from anonymous thugs as well as spokesmen from the Arab community.
This past Sunday, his house was firebombed. Miraculously no one was hurt. He and his family are now in hiding.
You will not find mention of Sheikh Hozeil in European newspapers, or in the Berkeley Daily Planet. An Arab who speaks up for a kidnapped Israeli soldier is an inconvenient and disturbing detail which contradicts comfortable points-of-view.
He will not be praised in any Swedish, Dutch, Danish, German, French, or British newspapers. If he is mentioned at all, it will be vituperatively.
Because he dissents from what everyone KNOWS is the accepted truth.
Actually, there are. But only a few.
The reason why there aren't more of them is fear.
Arabs who have spoken on behalf of Jews and Israel have been killed, and their womenfolk dishonored. Since the thirties, tens of thousands of Arabs have been slaughtered by other Arabs because they were pro-Jewish or Israel-friendly. The number of the dead is staggering. Speaking on behalf of Jews in the Arab world (even in the European outposts of the Arab world) means death.
Those who have escaped such a fate have, by and large, escaped the embrace of their own communities as well and sought succor in Israel or America. And even then, they are not considered worthy of attention by the many "enlightened" people, because they are clearly at odds with everything that the Arab world has been saying for over half a century, and the ultra-left have been parroting for nearly that long.
Dissidence is a Western prerogative - many ultra-left Westerners disapprove of non-Western dissidence. Especially if it goes against their preconceptions.
[The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was glorious, only bourgeois scum opposed it. Pol Pot's Cambodia was a paradise and represented a new age of peasant power. Che Guevara only killed fascists and imperialist stooges - there were tens of thousands of them, and the poverty and desperation of many of them was a carefully crafted veneer. Stalin was a saint. And the Palestinian nationalists are all peaceful disciples of Ghandhi. Now suck it up!]
Arabs who disagree with right-thinking Europeans and Berkeleyites are worse heathens than Jews and Christians.
Consider the case of Sheikh Salam Hozeil
Hozeil has, for over a year, worked on behalf of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, demanding his release and speaking at rallies and gatherings.
For just as long, he and his family have been on the receiving end of threats and insults, from anonymous thugs as well as spokesmen from the Arab community.
This past Sunday, his house was firebombed. Miraculously no one was hurt. He and his family are now in hiding.
You will not find mention of Sheikh Hozeil in European newspapers, or in the Berkeley Daily Planet. An Arab who speaks up for a kidnapped Israeli soldier is an inconvenient and disturbing detail which contradicts comfortable points-of-view.
He will not be praised in any Swedish, Dutch, Danish, German, French, or British newspapers. If he is mentioned at all, it will be vituperatively.
Because he dissents from what everyone KNOWS is the accepted truth.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tutu wishes a pox upon you
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa seems to believe that guilt is the desirable state of mind of everyone who isn't a black South African.
Or the karmic cousin of a saintly black South African.
CITE:
In an interview Thursday with Ha'aretz, Tutu, the South African archbishop who is visiting Israel this week as part of the group known as the Elders, said that the West was consumed with guilt because of the Holocaust, "as it should be".
He added "but who pays the penance? The penance is being paid by the Arabs, by the Palestinians. I once met a German ambassador who said Germany is guilty of two wrongs. One was what they did to the Jews. And now the suffering of the Palestinians."
End cite.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/08/28/1007509/tutu-palestinians-paying-for-holocaust
Do you understand? That means Whitey gotta be guilty for whut he done to dem Jooz, and dem Jooz (other kind of Whitey) gotta be guilty for whut they done to them Non-whitey. Only folks clean and pure are the various types of Non-whitey - all of Whitey guilty of sum'ting.
[Sorry, I can't really duplicate the indignant accent of a sanctimonious cleric, much tho' I tried. You'll just have to imagine him hissing forth his sense of superiority, with profound quivering of flacid jowls. Stand well clear of the flying phlegm.]
Mister Tutu labors under the mis-apprehension that Israel exists BECAUSE of the Holocaust.
He is wrong - Israel exists DESPITE the Holocaust. It's a subtle difference, much like his own particular creed existing BECAUSE of Henry VIII wishing to ditch his clapped-out wives, rather than DESPITE the king's voracious sexual appetites.
CITE:
Known for his frequent and fierce criticism of Israel, Tutu has compared the suffering of the Palestinians to what black South Africans endured under the apartheid government.
End cite.
Indeed, the Palestinians have suffered much because of suicide bombing, bus bombing, and failed attempts at bombing.
If Israel would not throw up security checkpoints and would tear down the security barrier, the Palestinians could travel freely all through the Jewish areas and their explosive mode of self-expression would not cause them any suffering.
[And in support of that argument, I would but mention Munich and Leon Klinghoffer, both stellar examples of Palestinian tolerance and humanity towards Jews that have since been much praised by liberals and enlightened people all over the Arab world, Europe, and South Africa. Had there been too much security precaution and barriers at the time, these beautiful and inspiring prestations could never have happened, and the world would be a poorer darker place. Attention - that was sarcasm.]
Does mister Tutu also lament that the world tolerates terrorism, Arab anti-Semitism, or Arab, Persian, Pakistani, and Malay demands for genocide of the Jews?
I fear not. He seems silent on those issues.
That very silence begets complicity.
As, indeed, he knows.
"It is the silence of the international community in the face of what is happening there which most offends. This silence begets complicity"
[Desmond Tutu, in September 2008, as quoted all over the internet by several horrid sites. No link provided, I do not wish them an increase in traffic.]
Earlier in his life, Tutu was not convinced that guilt was the way to go, favoring extreme poverty and starvation instead - hence his support for the Disinvestment Movement against South Africa - if that meant that poor South African blacks had to bear the brunt, according to Tutu, they would be suffering "with a purpose".
Which no doubt made them very warm inside.
I would suggest that mister Tutu devote his efforts entirely to the problems of the southern part of the African continent - the starvation and guilt approach works marvelously well there, as witness their amelioration of the intractable problems of racism and ethnic strife, child rape, sexual profligacy, brutal torture of prisoners, childhood AIDS, Joburg juvenile prostitution, crime sprees, alcoholism among the poor (it has a purpose), and various other ills.
Just a few more years of purposeful suffering, and they should have those issues thoroughly licked.
Or the karmic cousin of a saintly black South African.
CITE:
In an interview Thursday with Ha'aretz, Tutu, the South African archbishop who is visiting Israel this week as part of the group known as the Elders, said that the West was consumed with guilt because of the Holocaust, "as it should be".
He added "but who pays the penance? The penance is being paid by the Arabs, by the Palestinians. I once met a German ambassador who said Germany is guilty of two wrongs. One was what they did to the Jews. And now the suffering of the Palestinians."
End cite.
Source:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/08/28/1007509/tutu-palestinians-paying-for-holocaust
Do you understand? That means Whitey gotta be guilty for whut he done to dem Jooz, and dem Jooz (other kind of Whitey) gotta be guilty for whut they done to them Non-whitey. Only folks clean and pure are the various types of Non-whitey - all of Whitey guilty of sum'ting.
[Sorry, I can't really duplicate the indignant accent of a sanctimonious cleric, much tho' I tried. You'll just have to imagine him hissing forth his sense of superiority, with profound quivering of flacid jowls. Stand well clear of the flying phlegm.]
Mister Tutu labors under the mis-apprehension that Israel exists BECAUSE of the Holocaust.
He is wrong - Israel exists DESPITE the Holocaust. It's a subtle difference, much like his own particular creed existing BECAUSE of Henry VIII wishing to ditch his clapped-out wives, rather than DESPITE the king's voracious sexual appetites.
CITE:
Known for his frequent and fierce criticism of Israel, Tutu has compared the suffering of the Palestinians to what black South Africans endured under the apartheid government.
End cite.
Indeed, the Palestinians have suffered much because of suicide bombing, bus bombing, and failed attempts at bombing.
If Israel would not throw up security checkpoints and would tear down the security barrier, the Palestinians could travel freely all through the Jewish areas and their explosive mode of self-expression would not cause them any suffering.
[And in support of that argument, I would but mention Munich and Leon Klinghoffer, both stellar examples of Palestinian tolerance and humanity towards Jews that have since been much praised by liberals and enlightened people all over the Arab world, Europe, and South Africa. Had there been too much security precaution and barriers at the time, these beautiful and inspiring prestations could never have happened, and the world would be a poorer darker place. Attention - that was sarcasm.]
Does mister Tutu also lament that the world tolerates terrorism, Arab anti-Semitism, or Arab, Persian, Pakistani, and Malay demands for genocide of the Jews?
I fear not. He seems silent on those issues.
That very silence begets complicity.
As, indeed, he knows.
"It is the silence of the international community in the face of what is happening there which most offends. This silence begets complicity"
[Desmond Tutu, in September 2008, as quoted all over the internet by several horrid sites. No link provided, I do not wish them an increase in traffic.]
Earlier in his life, Tutu was not convinced that guilt was the way to go, favoring extreme poverty and starvation instead - hence his support for the Disinvestment Movement against South Africa - if that meant that poor South African blacks had to bear the brunt, according to Tutu, they would be suffering "with a purpose".
Which no doubt made them very warm inside.
I would suggest that mister Tutu devote his efforts entirely to the problems of the southern part of the African continent - the starvation and guilt approach works marvelously well there, as witness their amelioration of the intractable problems of racism and ethnic strife, child rape, sexual profligacy, brutal torture of prisoners, childhood AIDS, Joburg juvenile prostitution, crime sprees, alcoholism among the poor (it has a purpose), and various other ills.
Just a few more years of purposeful suffering, and they should have those issues thoroughly licked.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hamas are the heirs of an opportunist: Mohammad Amin al-Husseini
Hamas and the other Arabs are obsessed with a fundamental error in their own thinking, and it contributes much to the conflict today in the Middle East.
The error is assuming that the holocaust is what brought Israel into being.
QUOTE: "Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students. Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to "marketing a lie and spreading it," al-Astal wrote in a statement." I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime" "
End quote
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_hamas_holocaust
A member of an Islamic tyranny should NOT talk about war-crimes, but no matter. The real criminal issue is the denial of fact, and the deliberate obscuring of key events in world history for propaganda purposes, as engaged in by radical movements like Hamas.
QUOTE: "...there have been growing calls, particularly in Europe, to talk to the militants."
End quote
Because everyone agrees that talking to psychopaths is therapeutic?
QUOTE: "The Holocaust is not taught in West Bank schools", said an education ministry official in Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' government."
End quote
And that is clearly the problem, tantamount to denying history. Precisely like the British schools refusing to teach about the Opium Wars.
[Oh wait. They do teach it. They can't help it, they're a democracy of sorts over there.]
QUOTE: "Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II. "
End quote
The holocaust did NOT create Israel!
This is idea that the holocaust was the reason for the creation of Israel is incorrect - there would have been an independent Israel even if the Holocaust had not happened. Jews were the majority in much of the land for nearly a generation before independence (the Jewish presence had endured there for centuries, even millenia), and the Haganah and other groups were putting so much pressure on the British occupiers that they would have achieved their aims sooner or later.
It was the British decision to cut their losses and 'depart' that brought Jews and Arabs into open conflict. Had there not been delays because of war in Europe, it is probably that Israel would've come into being as early as 1941 or 42, and there would have been many more Jews than in 1948.
[The British have always shown a great talent for self-interested and obfuscatory departures - Africa is still rebuilding from their tender ministrations, India and Pakistan fought several wars because of British loose ends, and the less said about Chinese attitudes towards British Imperialism, the better. But this is not relevant.]
The Ottomans had little problem with Jews in the land. The Jordanians had little problem. Even the Saudis had little problem. Had it not been for the mufti of Jerusalem, nazi-sympathiser Mohammad Amin al-Husseini, who opposed the British and their sphere of influence in the Levant, even the local Arabs would not have had much issue with Jews in the land.
It was the clan and caste loyalties of the Palestinian Arabs towards Husseini that feuled the fires, and the nationalistic opportunism of the Egyptians, Syrians, Iraqis, and other "state" actors that fed the blaze.
But it was the support given to the murderous elements in Palestine by the Axis powers that is most responsible for the violence then, the heritage of that evil influences developments there to this day.
The Palestinian national movement has NEVER given up on the Nazi wish to eradicate the Jews.
----------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
Hamas article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_hamas_holocaust . Data on the late mufti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Amin_al-Husayni ; http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php & http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/mufti.html . Homeland for the Jewish People: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_home_for_the_Jewish_people . Background material on Israel: http://www.jewishstate.com/ . The 1948 conflict: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan . Mandate Palestine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(mandate) .
----------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgement: Thank you Baruch and Yossi for your helpful suggestions.
The error is assuming that the holocaust is what brought Israel into being.
QUOTE: "Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students. Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to "marketing a lie and spreading it," al-Astal wrote in a statement." I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime" "
End quote
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_hamas_holocaust
A member of an Islamic tyranny should NOT talk about war-crimes, but no matter. The real criminal issue is the denial of fact, and the deliberate obscuring of key events in world history for propaganda purposes, as engaged in by radical movements like Hamas.
QUOTE: "...there have been growing calls, particularly in Europe, to talk to the militants."
End quote
Because everyone agrees that talking to psychopaths is therapeutic?
QUOTE: "The Holocaust is not taught in West Bank schools", said an education ministry official in Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' government."
End quote
And that is clearly the problem, tantamount to denying history. Precisely like the British schools refusing to teach about the Opium Wars.
[Oh wait. They do teach it. They can't help it, they're a democracy of sorts over there.]
QUOTE: "Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II. "
End quote
The holocaust did NOT create Israel!
This is idea that the holocaust was the reason for the creation of Israel is incorrect - there would have been an independent Israel even if the Holocaust had not happened. Jews were the majority in much of the land for nearly a generation before independence (the Jewish presence had endured there for centuries, even millenia), and the Haganah and other groups were putting so much pressure on the British occupiers that they would have achieved their aims sooner or later.
It was the British decision to cut their losses and 'depart' that brought Jews and Arabs into open conflict. Had there not been delays because of war in Europe, it is probably that Israel would've come into being as early as 1941 or 42, and there would have been many more Jews than in 1948.
[The British have always shown a great talent for self-interested and obfuscatory departures - Africa is still rebuilding from their tender ministrations, India and Pakistan fought several wars because of British loose ends, and the less said about Chinese attitudes towards British Imperialism, the better. But this is not relevant.]
The Ottomans had little problem with Jews in the land. The Jordanians had little problem. Even the Saudis had little problem. Had it not been for the mufti of Jerusalem, nazi-sympathiser Mohammad Amin al-Husseini, who opposed the British and their sphere of influence in the Levant, even the local Arabs would not have had much issue with Jews in the land.
It was the clan and caste loyalties of the Palestinian Arabs towards Husseini that feuled the fires, and the nationalistic opportunism of the Egyptians, Syrians, Iraqis, and other "state" actors that fed the blaze.
But it was the support given to the murderous elements in Palestine by the Axis powers that is most responsible for the violence then, the heritage of that evil influences developments there to this day.
The Palestinian national movement has NEVER given up on the Nazi wish to eradicate the Jews.
----------------------------------------------------
SOURCES:
Hamas article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090831/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_hamas_holocaust . Data on the late mufti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Amin_al-Husayni ; http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_grand_mufti.php & http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/mufti.html . Homeland for the Jewish People: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_home_for_the_Jewish_people . Background material on Israel: http://www.jewishstate.com/ . The 1948 conflict: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan . Mandate Palestine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_(mandate) .
----------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgement: Thank you Baruch and Yossi for your helpful suggestions.
REMINDER - PROTEST AT SWEDISH CONSULATE TODAY
Protest at the Swedish Consulate — Demand Condemnation of the Blood Libel!
Wednesday September 2, 2009.
TIME: 5:00 - 6:00 PM.
120 Montgomery Street (at Sutter), San Francisco.
Action alert:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/protest-at-swedish-consulatedemand.html
Backgrounder with links:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/say-no-to-swedish-meatballs.html
And remember, we represent the intelligent and good side in this matter. It is up to us to show that discourse and differences of opinion can be civil. So please, do not burn Ikea catalogues, or pelt the facade of the building with rotten herring.
Do, however, express yourself clearly and forcefully.
Thank you.
Wednesday September 2, 2009.
TIME: 5:00 - 6:00 PM.
120 Montgomery Street (at Sutter), San Francisco.
Action alert:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/protest-at-swedish-consulatedemand.html
Backgrounder with links:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/say-no-to-swedish-meatballs.html
And remember, we represent the intelligent and good side in this matter. It is up to us to show that discourse and differences of opinion can be civil. So please, do not burn Ikea catalogues, or pelt the facade of the building with rotten herring.
Do, however, express yourself clearly and forcefully.
Thank you.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
REUTERS WATCH
A fond fantasy of many Europeans is that unlike those depraved and stoooopid Americans, they get unbiased news from truthful sources. Americans, as is well known, are all addicted to Fox, and cannot think. But in Europe, they have the BBC, Agence France Presse, Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau, and all those excellent newspapers in France, Germany, and Scandinavia. They read real news, and form their thoughts after getting all the facts, using phenomenal brains that Americans just don't have.
Except that that idea is a load of codswallop.
The BBC has been proven to have a simplistic Britain-centric and markedly ultra-left point of view, AFP is sodden with failed intellectuals and 1968 radicals, the Dutch ANP has rightfully been characterized as Pravda-West, and most of those newspapers in France, Germany, and Scandinavia are pisspoor hack-rags that specialize in sex, beheadings, blood orgies, and bashing the Yanks.
That's where the money is, you see - not in sifting facts and informing balanced opinions. The European press is pretty much on the same low level as the Berkeley Daily Planet.
Thank heavens there's still REUTERS.
Except...... they aren't any better.
Reuters seems to cater primarily to Europeans - remember, Americans are addicted to FOX - which may explain their sloppiness and at times unsubtle biases. Plus a remarkably cavalier attitude.
QUOTE:
"Reuters expressly disclaims responsibility for the content of partner material appearing on the AlertNet website but it is notable that these articles are not simply linked; they are fully integrated into the site. Reuters is clearly exercising editorial control by both embracing these organizations as contributing members and accepting their pieces for publication."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/09/incestuous-relationship-between-reuters.html
[The incestuous relationship between Reuters and anti-Israel NGOs]
QUOTE:
"Advocating for the evicted family, Reuters runs a human interest story replete with classic propaganda tactics, errors of commission and errors of omission that have become a Reuters' hallmark in their Middle East reporting."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/08/reuters-continues-to-advocate-for_30.html
[Reuters continues to advocate for evicted Palestinian squatters]
QUOTE:
"In reality of course, Netanyahu has repeatedly offered unconditional peace talks with the Palestinians (as well as making substantial concessions) while PA President Mahmoud Abbas has steadfastly refused any talks until all of his conditions are met first."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/08/reuters-as-advocate-for-palestinian.html
[Reuters blames Israel for talks impasse]
REUTERS MIDDLE EAST WATCH
Fortunately someone has decided to shine a light on Reuters shady editorial slant (oh my, how's THAT for scrambled metaphorics?).
A new blog, that has not been around for very long.
Reuters Middle East Watch (R-MEW)*
Exposing errors, bias, and propaganda in Reuters Middle East reportinghttp://r-mew.blogspot.com/
As they describe themselves:
"Ok, we admit it: we’re academics. We have doctorates in journalism and management. We have papers published in peer-reviewed journals. But most importantly, we have a dislike for writers and editors who abuse their position and power and public trust when they publish material which is putatively factual and unbiased but which in reality is biased, loaded with errors, and unashamedly employs crude propaganda in an attempt to manipulate public opinion. Although it’s sometimes referred to as "advocacy journalism", when it’s counterfactual and disguised as news it’s simply bad journalism. "Bad" as in unprofessional; "bad" as in unethical. Bad journalism is rampant today in reporting on the Middle East conflict and especially so at Reuters. We’re here to monitor and expose it."
This is very promising. I look forward to seeing more of their work. Much more.
============================================
* Neither this particular post, nor Reuters Middle East Watch, are in any way affiliated with Thomson Reuters. Boruch Hashem.
Except that that idea is a load of codswallop.
The BBC has been proven to have a simplistic Britain-centric and markedly ultra-left point of view, AFP is sodden with failed intellectuals and 1968 radicals, the Dutch ANP has rightfully been characterized as Pravda-West, and most of those newspapers in France, Germany, and Scandinavia are pisspoor hack-rags that specialize in sex, beheadings, blood orgies, and bashing the Yanks.
That's where the money is, you see - not in sifting facts and informing balanced opinions. The European press is pretty much on the same low level as the Berkeley Daily Planet.
Thank heavens there's still REUTERS.
Except...... they aren't any better.
Reuters seems to cater primarily to Europeans - remember, Americans are addicted to FOX - which may explain their sloppiness and at times unsubtle biases. Plus a remarkably cavalier attitude.
QUOTE:
"Reuters expressly disclaims responsibility for the content of partner material appearing on the AlertNet website but it is notable that these articles are not simply linked; they are fully integrated into the site. Reuters is clearly exercising editorial control by both embracing these organizations as contributing members and accepting their pieces for publication."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/09/incestuous-relationship-between-reuters.html
[The incestuous relationship between Reuters and anti-Israel NGOs]
QUOTE:
"Advocating for the evicted family, Reuters runs a human interest story replete with classic propaganda tactics, errors of commission and errors of omission that have become a Reuters' hallmark in their Middle East reporting."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/08/reuters-continues-to-advocate-for_30.html
[Reuters continues to advocate for evicted Palestinian squatters]
QUOTE:
"In reality of course, Netanyahu has repeatedly offered unconditional peace talks with the Palestinians (as well as making substantial concessions) while PA President Mahmoud Abbas has steadfastly refused any talks until all of his conditions are met first."
SOURCE:
http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/08/reuters-as-advocate-for-palestinian.html
[Reuters blames Israel for talks impasse]
REUTERS MIDDLE EAST WATCH
Fortunately someone has decided to shine a light on Reuters shady editorial slant (oh my, how's THAT for scrambled metaphorics?).
A new blog, that has not been around for very long.
Reuters Middle East Watch (R-MEW)*
Exposing errors, bias, and propaganda in Reuters Middle East reportinghttp://r-mew.blogspot.com/
As they describe themselves:
"Ok, we admit it: we’re academics. We have doctorates in journalism and management. We have papers published in peer-reviewed journals. But most importantly, we have a dislike for writers and editors who abuse their position and power and public trust when they publish material which is putatively factual and unbiased but which in reality is biased, loaded with errors, and unashamedly employs crude propaganda in an attempt to manipulate public opinion. Although it’s sometimes referred to as "advocacy journalism", when it’s counterfactual and disguised as news it’s simply bad journalism. "Bad" as in unprofessional; "bad" as in unethical. Bad journalism is rampant today in reporting on the Middle East conflict and especially so at Reuters. We’re here to monitor and expose it."
This is very promising. I look forward to seeing more of their work. Much more.
============================================
* Neither this particular post, nor Reuters Middle East Watch, are in any way affiliated with Thomson Reuters. Boruch Hashem.
Israel melons spread AIDS. News at 11
It just gets sicker and sicker. First it was the aphrodisiac chewing gum, meant to corrupt the virtue of Palestinian young'ens. Now (insert ominous music here) the scandal du jour is disease carrying Israeli fruit!
Apparent, a text message is spreading like wildfire in Saudi Arabia: "The Saudi Interior Ministry warns its citizens of a truck loaded with AIDS infected melons that Israel brought into the country"
The rumor has enough credibility to have made it to the front page of one of the most important Arabic language newspapers.
Oh those crafty Jews, er, Zionists. What ever will they think of next?
Apparent, a text message is spreading like wildfire in Saudi Arabia: "The Saudi Interior Ministry warns its citizens of a truck loaded with AIDS infected melons that Israel brought into the country"
The rumor has enough credibility to have made it to the front page of one of the most important Arabic language newspapers.
Oh those crafty Jews, er, Zionists. What ever will they think of next?
Monday, August 31, 2009
HARRY VAN BOMMEL: DUTCH TERROR SUPPORTER
In January of this year, people around the world were outraged to hear that a Dutch parliamentarian (Harry van Bommel) had joined an anti-Israel protest at which calls to exterminate the Jews were chanted.
They should not have been surprised, though. It is quite standard for Dutch activists to support some of the most reprehensible movements - the Khmer Rouge were Dutch darlings in the seventies, the narco-terrorists in Columbia are currently favourites, and Arab psychopaths have always been valued highly by 'sociaal bewogen Nederlanders'.
On Ray Cook's blog, more detail is provided about that parliamentarian.
DOUBLE DUTCH
http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2009/04/20/alliance-left-and-right-against-israel-and-thejews/
QUOTE:
"Of course, the common interest of the extreme Left, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran is their loathing of Zionism. The fact that this includes loathing of Jews generally is glossed over by the Left, is denied or represented as paranoia or an attempt to scotch criticism of Israel. It is why the Dutch Labour Party supports demonstrations at which bigots call out "Hamas Hamas, Joden aan het Gas" (Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas)."
The most recent riotous manifestations of that chant were during the Gaza cleanup, most notoriously the demonstration on January 3 in Amsterdam at which Socialist Party member of parliament Harry van Bommel played a leading role.
The cited blogger, Ray Cook (http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/), provides a link to a video of Harry van Bommel at that demonstration.
One of the other chants in that clip is "Hamas, Hamas, nafdeek ya Falastin" ('Hamas, Hamas, we will redeem you oh Palestine').
What Harry van Bommel chants is "Intifada, intifada, Palestina vrij" ('violent terrorist struggle, violent terrorist struggle, Palestine free').
Anyhow, click on the link above and read the post. It's about the very European idea that despite Hamas swearing to exterminate all Jews, Israel should just shut up and accept them as a partner.
Harry van Bommel would even go one step further.
HARRY VAN BOMMEL IN GROSS DETAIL
Emerson Vermaat goes into quite some detail on old Harry here:
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=vermaatid=1.8.09%2Ehtm
[Gretta Duisenberg and Harry van Bommel - Two Dutch Hamas Apologists ]
QUOTE:
"Harry van Bommel, that other demonstrator in Amsterdam who shouted "Intifadah! Intifadah!" is a very interesting fellow. In fact, his secular lifestyle differs substantially from the severe lifestyle of his fundamentalist Hamas friends. Although a married man, van Bommel has a reputation of being a womanizer. There even is at least one report claiming he harassed a Jordanian woman employed by the Dutch Embassy in Amman. She officially complained in July 2007 saying she had been harassed by Dutch Socialist Party member of parliament van Bommel during the latter's visit to Jordan. "
There's lots more where that came from.
Along with some lovely background on that verkrampte antisemitische kreng, the widow Gretta Duisenberg.
==========================================================
Ray Cook was educated at Liverpool University. He is married, has two children and a cat. Little is known about the cat. He lives with his family (and the cat) in England.
http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/
Emerson Vermaat, MA (law), is an investigative reporter specialized in terrorism and crime. His latest book "Nazi's, Communisten en Islamisten" ("Nazis, Communists and Islamists") was published in October/November 2008 by "Aspekt Publishers" in Soesterberg, the Netherlands.
He frequently visited the Middle East and North Africa, usually for Dutch television. In 1996 he made the TV news report "The Making of a Suicide Bomber," which was aired in over 40 countries (World Television News, WTN). In a 1997 Dutch study on Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism the author described the central role of Osama bin Laden in international terrorism, being the first European journalist to do so.
There are more of his articles here:
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=contact.htm
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=systemfiles%2Fsearchsite%2Ecfm
==========================================================
They should not have been surprised, though. It is quite standard for Dutch activists to support some of the most reprehensible movements - the Khmer Rouge were Dutch darlings in the seventies, the narco-terrorists in Columbia are currently favourites, and Arab psychopaths have always been valued highly by 'sociaal bewogen Nederlanders'.
On Ray Cook's blog, more detail is provided about that parliamentarian.
DOUBLE DUTCH
http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2009/04/20/alliance-left-and-right-against-israel-and-thejews/
QUOTE:
"Of course, the common interest of the extreme Left, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran is their loathing of Zionism. The fact that this includes loathing of Jews generally is glossed over by the Left, is denied or represented as paranoia or an attempt to scotch criticism of Israel. It is why the Dutch Labour Party supports demonstrations at which bigots call out "Hamas Hamas, Joden aan het Gas" (Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas)."
The most recent riotous manifestations of that chant were during the Gaza cleanup, most notoriously the demonstration on January 3 in Amsterdam at which Socialist Party member of parliament Harry van Bommel played a leading role.
The cited blogger, Ray Cook (http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/), provides a link to a video of Harry van Bommel at that demonstration.
One of the other chants in that clip is "Hamas, Hamas, nafdeek ya Falastin" ('Hamas, Hamas, we will redeem you oh Palestine').
What Harry van Bommel chants is "Intifada, intifada, Palestina vrij" ('violent terrorist struggle, violent terrorist struggle, Palestine free').
Anyhow, click on the link above and read the post. It's about the very European idea that despite Hamas swearing to exterminate all Jews, Israel should just shut up and accept them as a partner.
Harry van Bommel would even go one step further.
HARRY VAN BOMMEL IN GROSS DETAIL
Emerson Vermaat goes into quite some detail on old Harry here:
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=vermaatid=1.8.09%2Ehtm
[Gretta Duisenberg and Harry van Bommel - Two Dutch Hamas Apologists ]
QUOTE:
"Harry van Bommel, that other demonstrator in Amsterdam who shouted "Intifadah! Intifadah!" is a very interesting fellow. In fact, his secular lifestyle differs substantially from the severe lifestyle of his fundamentalist Hamas friends. Although a married man, van Bommel has a reputation of being a womanizer. There even is at least one report claiming he harassed a Jordanian woman employed by the Dutch Embassy in Amman. She officially complained in July 2007 saying she had been harassed by Dutch Socialist Party member of parliament van Bommel during the latter's visit to Jordan. "
There's lots more where that came from.
Along with some lovely background on that verkrampte antisemitische kreng, the widow Gretta Duisenberg.
==========================================================
Ray Cook was educated at Liverpool University. He is married, has two children and a cat. Little is known about the cat. He lives with his family (and the cat) in England.
http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/
Emerson Vermaat, MA (law), is an investigative reporter specialized in terrorism and crime. His latest book "Nazi's, Communisten en Islamisten" ("Nazis, Communists and Islamists") was published in October/November 2008 by "Aspekt Publishers" in Soesterberg, the Netherlands.
He frequently visited the Middle East and North Africa, usually for Dutch television. In 1996 he made the TV news report "The Making of a Suicide Bomber," which was aired in over 40 countries (World Television News, WTN). In a 1997 Dutch study on Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism the author described the central role of Osama bin Laden in international terrorism, being the first European journalist to do so.
There are more of his articles here:
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=contact.htm
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=systemfiles%2Fsearchsite%2Ecfm
==========================================================
Say no to Swedish Meatballs!
Coming up this week: a calm and rational protest at the Swedish Consulate.
Where: 120 Montgomery Street (at Sutter), San Francisco
When: Wednesday September 2, 5-6 PM
See this post:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/protest-at-swedish-consulatedemand.html
Why: Because the Swedish Government decided to stand behind the mock-journalist Donald Bostrom, who alleged, without even a shred of evidence, that Israeli soldiers were kidnapping and killing Palestinians in order to harvest organs to be used for transplantation.
For a good backgrounder:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/blood-libels-and-swedish-self.html
QUOTE:
"As documented in the Jerusalem Post, Bostrom freely admits that he has no evidence whatsoever to back up this blood libel, but indicted that it is up to Israelis to prove innocence in this matter. When the Swedish Ambassador to Israel rightfully condemned this hate speech hiding behind the curtain of "free speech", she was condemned back home in Sweden where some members of the government urged her recall.The government of Sweden has refused to condemn the blood libel, on grounds of "freedom of the press." Yet Sweden apparently has no problems censoring free speech when it is militant Muslims who are upset—in 2006, the Swedish Foreign Minister shut down a website displaying cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed."
End quote.
Further background here:
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/08/video-and-petition-swedish-organ.html
Essential reading here:
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/08/why-lieberman-took-on-sweden.html
BALLS!
The accusation of organ harvesting is of course little more than pro-Palestinian propaganda by a writer who stands infamous for an extremist anti-Jewish and anti-Israel point of view, printed in a feuilleton notorious for pandering to the lowest biases and preconceptions of its readers.
If Donald Bostrom cannot find news on his doorstep, or in his toilet, he will invent it. Reporter is a name for which he can but strive, a title which he scarce deserves.
And Aftonbladet, the gutter rag which printed his opinion piece (they themselves called it such, as if to excuse its dissemination), thrives on scandal, dead babies, raped farm animals, embarrassed celebrities, and other staples of newspapers at the kitty-box liner niveau of news media.
It is, which surprises me, one of the most popular papers in Scandinavia. I would have thought that they were better than that over there. But apparently, not.
So, to indicate that civilized people do not consider racialist rumor-mongering, hate speech, and vile bigotry, the normal or natural content of news media, nor matters covered by freedom of the press and justifying the official defense that Donald Bostrom and Aftonbladet received, we will be outside the Swedish Consulate during rush hour Wednesday.
See you there. Please do not bring herring.
If you have a recipe for Swedish Meatballs that contains no Swedes, so much the better.
Where: 120 Montgomery Street (at Sutter), San Francisco
When: Wednesday September 2, 5-6 PM
See this post:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/protest-at-swedish-consulatedemand.html
Why: Because the Swedish Government decided to stand behind the mock-journalist Donald Bostrom, who alleged, without even a shred of evidence, that Israeli soldiers were kidnapping and killing Palestinians in order to harvest organs to be used for transplantation.
For a good backgrounder:
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/blood-libels-and-swedish-self.html
QUOTE:
"As documented in the Jerusalem Post, Bostrom freely admits that he has no evidence whatsoever to back up this blood libel, but indicted that it is up to Israelis to prove innocence in this matter. When the Swedish Ambassador to Israel rightfully condemned this hate speech hiding behind the curtain of "free speech", she was condemned back home in Sweden where some members of the government urged her recall.The government of Sweden has refused to condemn the blood libel, on grounds of "freedom of the press." Yet Sweden apparently has no problems censoring free speech when it is militant Muslims who are upset—in 2006, the Swedish Foreign Minister shut down a website displaying cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed."
End quote.
Further background here:
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/08/video-and-petition-swedish-organ.html
Essential reading here:
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/08/why-lieberman-took-on-sweden.html
BALLS!
The accusation of organ harvesting is of course little more than pro-Palestinian propaganda by a writer who stands infamous for an extremist anti-Jewish and anti-Israel point of view, printed in a feuilleton notorious for pandering to the lowest biases and preconceptions of its readers.
If Donald Bostrom cannot find news on his doorstep, or in his toilet, he will invent it. Reporter is a name for which he can but strive, a title which he scarce deserves.
And Aftonbladet, the gutter rag which printed his opinion piece (they themselves called it such, as if to excuse its dissemination), thrives on scandal, dead babies, raped farm animals, embarrassed celebrities, and other staples of newspapers at the kitty-box liner niveau of news media.
It is, which surprises me, one of the most popular papers in Scandinavia. I would have thought that they were better than that over there. But apparently, not.
So, to indicate that civilized people do not consider racialist rumor-mongering, hate speech, and vile bigotry, the normal or natural content of news media, nor matters covered by freedom of the press and justifying the official defense that Donald Bostrom and Aftonbladet received, we will be outside the Swedish Consulate during rush hour Wednesday.
See you there. Please do not bring herring.
If you have a recipe for Swedish Meatballs that contains no Swedes, so much the better.
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