Activists Complain: Givon prison is not the Gaza Grand Palace

The Flotidiots from this weeks assault on Israel's borders, "Freedomwaves" are spamming our inboxes with all sorts of whining innuendos. Clearly, the 27 "activists" were expecting a vacation in the luxury Gaza Grand Palace hotel ,
and were profoundly disappointed when their accommodations changed to the Givon Prison.



We've all had our vacation plans go awry. Bad weather. Flight delays. The Flotidiots have taken complaining to a new level, alleging violence, beatings, and mistreatment at the hands of the Israeli government. In an act tantamount to torture, the activists had their cellphones confiscated. Oh, the inhumanity! That must violate the Geneva convention - don't all human beings have the inalienable right to cell phone access?

From one of the Flotidiot Commandants, Greta Berlin:
"Greek captain of the Tahrir Giorgos Klontzas has confirmed the use of violence on him by the Israeli soldiers during his interrogation in a interview he gave to www.Omniatv.com

He specifically reports that he was handcuffed on hands and feet , very tightly which created a blood circulation problem and that in order to make him give his fingerprints he was held by three soldiers and one was holding him in a strangling way almost suffocating him.

At one point they stuck two fingers in his eyes creating very strong pain. He said that he was very calm, he did not speak aggressively and that he just requested to see a lawyer... He also confirms that some activists were very badly treated."

There you have it. I remember the day when sea captains were "manly men". Not any more. Giorgos Klontzas, whining about tight handcuffs? Really, now? Whats next- will he write about the toilet paper being too rough?

But our sea captains' comments were mild compared to the vitriolic ramblings of David Heap who began his diatribe:

"I write to you from cell 9, block 59, Givon Prison near Ramla in Occupied Palestine."

And then he began to list his demands:
(no, not whole chickens, free college and cable TV- not this time)

association in the block - i.e. open cells
adequate writing and reading material
free communication with outside world - i.e. regular phone calls
information about shipmate women held at same prison

The arrogance and entitlement of the blockade runners is astonishing, especially in contrast with the way Hamas treats its prisoners. Gilad Shalit was kept in solitary confinement for 5 years, never once seeing sunlight, the wounds received in his abduction festering after 5 years without treatment.

David and Giorgos- its obvious you are doing all you can to extend your 15 minutes of fame, but you aren't going to get room service and a mint on your pillow, no matter how hard you whine. Grow a spine already.

Freedomwaves is promising more flotillas. Haven't they noticed? No one cares.

Pat Condell on the Palestinians, part II

Yeah, I agree with this.

For the precursor video, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=j1N1zhUm84w

Gaza Flotilla Confession: "We Have no cargo"

Another beautiful job by the Israeli Defence Forces. The "provocatilla" by two ships has been peacefully ended. The ships and their passengers are now on their merry way to Ashdod.

In this brief film, Israel Navy contacts the vessels and offers them the opportunity to dock in Ashdod port. When asked what their cargo is, the flotilla replies "we have no cargo"



"Contact was made between the Israel Navy and the vessels Tahrir and Saorise which are sailing towards the Gaza Strip. The purpose of this attempt is to create a provocation against the State of Israel, to break the maritime security blockade on Gaza, and to undermine Israel's security.

The IDF Chief of Staff ordered the Navy to board the vessels-should they refuse our radio requests

According to international law, it is lawful for Israel to impose a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip because it is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas terrorist organization, the ruling entity of the Gaza Strip (see the law of blockade for more information). The Hamas terrorist organization is designated as a terrorist entity by the US, UK, EU and state of Israel.
Since taking over the Gaza Strip in 2007, the Hamas terrorist organization has launched thousands of rockets into major Israeli population centers, populated by one million Israeli civilians. During the last decade, Hamas has orchestrated a long series of suicide bombings, killing hundreds of Israeli civilians. The Hamas terrorist organization continues to smuggle rockets into Gaza via the sea and underground tunnels."

MESSAGES FROM THE DARK SIDE

The following e-mail selections are opportunistic attempts by known rotten eggs to take over the OWS movement in the Bay Area.
If they succeed the original goals of the protests will have become irrelevant.
Decent people should resist this, as should their elected representatives.
What Barbara Lee does is her own affair, and quite beside the point.


ITEM NO. 1 - INTERNATIONAL ANSWER

QUOTE: ANSWER Stands in Full Solidarity with Occupy Oakland. Police have stepped up their attacks to crush the Occupy actions across the country. Police forces in a number of cities have conducted mass sweeps and arrests of peaceful protesters. From the mass false arrest of more than 700 on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1 to mass arrests in Chicago, Atlanta, Oakland, Denver, Nashville and beyond, the police forces have made clear their role as the servants of the 1 percent.
We must all stand together. Let's continue to organize, occupy and protest in the coming days and weeks. This is a global grassroots movement for justice and change. We won't be pushed back by police violence.
There will be several actions throughout the day on Wed. Nov. 2nd in solidarity with Occupy Oakland. We ask that our supporters join us for this important Day of Action.
Oscar Grant Plaza (formally Frank Ogawa Plaza) 9am and 12noon Rally, 5pm March 14th and Broadway 12th St. BART Station. End quote


ITEM NO. 2 - BAY AREA WOMEN IN BLACK

QUOTE: BAWiB supports the #Occupy Oakland Movement and the General Strike!
Please join our silent vigil at 5pm on 14th & Broadway on Wed., Nov. 2, at 5 pm. We will stand until the march to the Port of Oakland begins, and those who choose to march to shut down the port may do so. Transport for seniors and disabled people to the port has been planned by cuido. Please call 510 686-3139 for further information on transportation.
At last, Occupation We Can Believe In! Occupy Oakland, not Palestine!
Salaam/Shalom,
BAWiB Steering Committee.
End quote


ITEM NO. 3 - JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE

QUOTE: The Oakland-based staff of Jewish Voice for Peace and local JVP members are honoring the Oakland General Strike tomorrow, November 2.
Want to join us? Meet us tomorrow at the fountain on 16th and San Pablo Avenue at the Oscar Grant/Frank Ogawa Plaza at 9 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm. We will also join progressive Jewish and interfaith contingents in the plaza at 10 am.
We will be rallying in support of Occupying Oakland, not Palestine, and plan to be part of the vibrant and visible community-wide Jews and allies contingent.
From Cairo, to Ramallah, to Tel Aviv, to Oakland: Jewish Voice for Peace supports the global movement for justice.
The similarities between Oakland and Palestine cannot be ignored.
Our aspirations overlap; our struggles converge. Our oppressors, whether greedy corporations or military occupations, are united in profiting from wars, pillage, environmental destruction, repression and impoverishment. We must unite in our common quest for freedoms, equal rights, social and economic justice, environmental sanity, and world peace. We can no longer afford to be splintered and divided; we can no longer ignore our obligations to join hands in the struggle against wars and corporate exploitation and for a human-friendly world community not a profit-maximizing jungle. (Palestinian BDS National Committeee) The Oakland Police Department and the Israeli army have deployed the same weapons-from the same American company-against unarmed demonstrators. In both places, an Oaklander was injured when a tear gas canister hit his head, causing a skull fracture: Tristan Anderson in: Tristan Anderson in Nil'in in 2009 and Scott Olsen in Oakland last week.
Join us tomorrow. Occupy Oakland, not Palestine!
End quote


ITEM NO. 4 - ANNE BALTZER

QUOTE: US Campaign National Organizer Anna Baltzer with #Occupy protesters Last Tuesday night at Oakland City Hall, barricades and riot police had replaced the hundreds of committed activists who had inhabited Oscar Grant Plaza since Occupy Oakland began. Helicopters swarmed above. The atmosphere was tense and thick with teargas. Earlier that day, Scott Olsen, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, had been shot in the head with a tear gas canister and hospitalized. Oakland native Tristan Anderson met a similar fate in 2009 when the Israeli military shot him in the head with a U.S.-made high-velocity tear gas canister while he nonviolently protested Israel's Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Ni'lin. Bassem Abu Rahmah was fatally wounded the following year when the Israeli army fired a tear gas canister at his chest as he protested the wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. His sister Jawaher died in January after inhaling U.S.-made tear gas, which the Israeli military fired aggressively during a protest against the wall, which still annexes huge swaths of Bil'in's land. The connections between the struggles of Palestinians and the #Occupy movement are unmistakable: the spotlight on privilege and inequality, the mass imprisonment, the police repression, and the people's steadfastness. As the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) wrote in a statement of unity with the "global 99%": "Our aspirations overlap; our struggles converge. Our oppressors, whether greedy corporations or military occupations, are united in profiting from wars, pillage, environmental destruction, repression and impoverishment. We must unite in our common quest for freedoms, equal rights, social and economic justice, environmental sanity, and world peace."
End quote


NOTE:

Should the probably sincere and idealistic OWS activists allow the career-scumballs cited above to in any way influence the discourse, they will lose whatever appeal they may have had among rational people, and be naught more than just another mob of angry clueless a-holes.

International A.N.S.W.E.R. destroyed the anti-war movement by their take-over, and is known for supporting tyrants like Moammer El Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Mahmud Ahmedinejad, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and that cretin in North Korea.

Bay Area Women in Black consists of vicious old Presbyterian anti-Semites and some of the nastiest trolls in dresses this side of the underworld, as well as the two oldest living anarchists, and have supported every single destructive anti-Israel action ever held in the Bay Area.

Jewish Voice for Peace has proudly stood alongside Arab-Americans screaming for the death of Jews and the annihilation of Israel, of the United States, and of the entire civilized world.
Their ignorance and depravity are in perfect balance.

Because of a complete lack of any handicap, people like Anne Baltzer usually go far.
I've met her, and I detest her.

On a cautionary note, it is also extremely likely that the Anarchists and similar delusionary revolutionary wannabees will flock to Oakland, bent on creating as much chaos and mayhem as they possibly can.
Their success will be described as a victory.


Nevertheless, I shall show "solidarity" with the rowdy people of Oakland. Specifically, by refusing to purchase anything made there, and by not patronizing any of the businesses in that stinking hellhole till Wall Street falls.
There is no there there, and nothing that anyone would want anyway.
If the Oakland Police Department do not intend to use water cannons to clear the air, the entire town should burn down.
The less anyone has to do with that place, the better.

Oh, and by the way: the Raiders suck. Big time. So do their fans.


Unleash the teargas forthwith.


==========================================================================
NOTE: NOTE: This article was originally posted here:
DARK MESSAGES.
Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================

Ship of fools sails again: Freedom Waves flotilla Sails from Turkey

Freedom Waves Blockade runners in meeting before departure. Steering committee is telling delegates that the Turks are only allowing 12 people to get on board.

Was it Einstein who said "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?"

Meet The newest Flotilla: "Freedom Waves"
From the Palestine Solidarity Movement website

27 activists from 9 countries, including America, Canada, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Australia, alongside a Palestinian Haifa, in a broad-based international movement to break Israel’s illegal and immoral suffocation of the 1.6 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. The Irish yacht Saoirse (Freedom), which carries 15 activists, and the Canadian boat Tahrir (Liberation), which holds 12, will attempt to carry $30,000 in medical supplies beyond the Israeli blockade later this week. ‘Freedom Waves for Gaza’ is the 11th attempt by international activists to deliver humanitarian aid through the Israeli blockade of Gaza since 2008.

"Illegal and immoral suffocation?"

I wonder if the newest flotilla members are planning on staying in the 5 star Al Mashtal resort, in Gaza. They'll be in good company- surrounded by the murderers and released convicts from the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. The all you can eat breakfast buffet at the Al-Mashtal looks lovely.

More details as they are available.

UPDATE:

Whining from an ISM press release
"The most recent figures published by the UN and international humanitarian and human rights organizations confirm that roughly 75 – 80% of the population rely on international aid in order to survive; 65% live below the poverty line; 52% are food insecure; approximately 40% are unemployed; there are no building materials for much-needed schools and hospitals; 90 – 95% of the drinking water is contaminated and unfit for consumption; seriously ill patients cannot get access to the specialist treatment that would potentially save their lives; and children are suffering untreated post-traumatic stress as a result of the white phosphorous shells used illegally in Israel’s invasion in January 2009."

Context is everything, Ben Lober.

According to the United Nations Human Development Index, a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide, the Palestinian territories are smack dab in the middle of the pack, with a higher standard of living than Bolivia, Paraguay, the Philippines, the Maldives, and even their neighbors in Egypt.

No building supplies for hospitals or schools, Ben?

Goods delivered to the Gaza Strip in September alone:
4945 truckloads (136,785 tons) of commercial goods were delivered through Kerem Shalom Crossing, including:

 1728 truckloads of food.
 54 truckloads of cloths and footwear.
 131 truckloads of unputs for agriculture.
 1503 truckloads of construction materials.
 66 truckloads of electric products.
 261 truckloads of ceramics and plumbing.
 22 truckloads of sport equipment, vehicles, washing machines and refrigerators.

Maybe then Gaza should use their construction materials for infrastructure,rather than 5 star hotels and waterparks

UPDATE

From Al Jeezera:



"Sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, the Tahrir is carrying six activists, a captain and five journalists.

The Saoirse - sailing under the US flag - has 12 Irish nationals on board, none of whom are journalists.

David Heap, a member of the steering committee on board the Tahrir, told Al Jazeera that the activists chose to leave from Fethiye because of the strained relations between Turkey and Israel.

"The Turkish government has been creating more distance from Israel diplomatically and we know there is support from Turkish society for what we are doing.

"Our judgment was that the Turkish state would not interfere with us if we didn’t make too much of a public issue of our plan to depart from there," Heap told Al Jazeera."

Huwaida Arraf and the ISM: Supporting Palestinian violence

Yousef Aljamal of Gaza's Center for Political Development Studies recently interviewed with Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement:

From the Interview at Mondoweiss

"I, personally, and the ISM as an organization, recognize the Palestinian right to use armed struggle to resist occupation...."

Its not like this is news, or that we haven't heard it before. The ISM routinely joins forces with the most racist in Palestinian society, espousing violence and using the language of anti-semitism. . In planning the next assault on Israel's borders, the ISM has teamed up with Raed Salah , currently facing deportation from the UK.


From Adam Holland- a collection of choice quotes from Salah

“You Jews are criminal bombers of mosques,
Slaughterers of pregnant women and babies.
Robbers and germs in all times,
The Creator sentenced you to be loser monkeys,
Victory belongs to Muslims, from the Nile to the Euphrates"

"We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood. Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread . . . Great God, is this a religion? Is this what God would want? God will deal with you yet for what you are doing."

Interviewer: What is your opinion of homosexuality?
Salah: It is a crime. A great crime. Such phenomena signal the start of the collapse of every society. Those who believe in Allah know that behavior of that kind brings his wrath and is liable to cause the worst things to happen. There is no solution for this, unless the individual’s faith is strengthened.
Interviewer: What is your opinion of the legislation now being discussed in the Knesset, which would grant Muslim women rights similar to those of Jewish women in matters of personal status?
Salah: That bill is tantamount to a war on Islam. It is an attempt to dictate different, foreign values that are neither Muslim nor Palestinian values.

Supporting violence. enabling racism. Is this the true face of the Palestinian peace Movement?

Timeline from the IDF: Rockets in the South

Timeline of todays rocket attacks from Gaza. From the IDF website

7:30am – Since midnight 10 rockets and mortar shells hits southern Israel. Over 30 rockets were launched into Israel from the Gaza strip since yesterday.

6:25am - IAF aircraft targeted six terror activity sites in the Gaza Strip. Three rocket launching sites and one terror tunnel were targeted in the northern Gaza Strip, and in the southern Gaza Strip two terror activity sites were targeted. Secondary explosions were observed in certain sites. Hits were confirmed.

12:20 - Mortar shell hits southern Israel.

11:50 – Mortar shell hits near Sha’ar Ha’Negev Regional Council.

10:50pm - IAF aircraft targeted a terrorist squad in the northern Gaza strip that was preparing to launch rockets at Israeli communities. Additionally IAF aircraft targeted two armed rocket launchers in the southern Gaza Strip. Hits were confirmed.

10:15pm - IAF aircraft target a terrorist preparing to launch rockets at Israel in the southern Gaza Strip. Hits were confirmed.

10:13pm – Video of a terrorist squad preparing to launch rocket from Gaza toward Israel.

9:35pm – Over 15 rockets were fired at southern Israel today, including many Grad rockets fired at Ashdod and Ashkelon.

9:00 – School is cancelled for tomorrow in many cities in southern Israel.

8:40pm - The Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz held a situation assessment in response to the renewed rocket fire from Gaza. The assessment was held with the operational general staff including representatives from the Intelligence Corps, the Southern Command, the Home Front Command, the IAF and the Operations Directorate.

8:03pm – 3 more mortars hits southern Israel.

7:10pm – 3 more rockets hits southern Israel near Ashdod.

7:00pm – another rocket hits southern Israel.

5:50pm Mortar shell hits southern Israel.

5:20pm – 2 rockets hit Ashdod, threatening 230,000 civilians. Another rocket hit Gan Yavne, one person was lightly injured.

2:15pm - In a joint IDF and the Israel Security Agency, IAF aircraft attacked a cell of terrorists preparing to fire long-range rockets from the southern Gaza Strip. This same terrorist cell was responsible for the rockets fired at the Be’er Tuvia Regional Council last Wednesday. Hits were confirmed and the launching attempt was thwarted.

Over a million Israelis are in the line of fire- and within the range of rockets from Gaza

Israel Under Assault from Gaza

Over 35 rockets and mortars have been launched from Gaza against the civilian population of Israel today. One Israeli was killed by shrapnel from a rocket fired at a residential neighborhood in Ashkelon and 4 others were wounded. A second rocket fired at Ashkelon directly struck a home, setting it on fire. Ashdod was targeted by at least three Grad rockets, with one slamming into an empty school.




Shrapnel hit school in Ashdod (Photo: Zeev Trachtman)





Fire in Ashdod (Photo: Shai Ben-Yishai)


Schools in Ashdod, Beersheba and Kiryat Malachi were cancelled by local officials, and the IDF Home Front Command has asked people who live in areas up to 40 kilometers from Gaza to stay within close range of bomb shelters. All public events are canceled by order of IDF, including a rally for social justice scheduled for Beersheba.

Palestinian sources reported Saturday that at five terrorists were killed and 11 others were wounded after the Air Force struck an Islamic Jihad cell in the Gaza Strip Saturday. The terrorists were members of a cell that fired a Grad rocket at Israel earlier this week.

One of the terrorists killed is Ahmed Sheikh Khalil, a senior commander in the al-Quds Brigades.

Railroading Truth- Alstom and the latest BDS Fraud

Engineering company Alstom has lost a bid for a Saudi Railway contract worth $10B.

The BDS' holes are declaring it a "BDS Victory". Send in the clowns. Er, the Press releases.

"The BDS National Committee (BNC) has declared a long sought-after victory as Alstom lost the bid for the second phase of the Saudi Haramain Railway project, worth 10 billion dollars, after pressure from the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, including effective campaigning from the newly launched KARAMA, a European campaign to Keep Alstom Rail And Metro Away"

What really happened? A standard bidding process for a contract was initialized, and the top bidder won the contract

From Reuters:
Saudi Arabia, Oct 26 - The Saudi Railways Organisation has awarded a 6.74 billion euro ($9.4 billion) contract for the second phase of its high-speed Haramain railway project to the public-private Saudi-Spanish Al-Shoula consortium.
The high-speed Haramain Railway will link Islam's holiest cities Mecca and Medina to the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, a key entry point for millions of pilgrims, and to King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction...
The Al-Shoula consortium is made up of Spanish public rail companies including state railway operator Renfe and rail track company Adif, as well as private constructors OHL , ACS and Indra and Saudi companies Al Shoula y Al Rosan.

But, but, but, the BDS'er s whined…. We did have a role. We did . We did. Look "multiple factors" were involved. That means us. We are "mutiple factors".

"In commenting on the fierce competition between the Alstom-led consortium and its Spanish-led rival over the second phase of the lucrative Haramain Railway project, Emirati newspaper, Al-Ittihad, referred to “multiple factors” affecting the decision to award the contract, suggesting that political factors may have been taken into consideration."

Uh huh.

What the BDS'ers may not have noticed is that just today
Alstom Signs EUR325 Million Contract For Venezuela Subway Train Line.
Will their press release read "BDS defeat?" I somehow doubt it

Fauxtography 101. More Photo Fraud from Palestine

Thanks to our Friends at Five Minutes for Israel for this:

"The death or injury of an innocent human being is dreadful whether caused by accident,carelessness or malevolence – whether by friend or foe. That still doesn’t justify taking archival images and presenting them as evidence of a crime.

Asil Arara,four years old,of Anata,was shot yesterday. She may die. That much we assume is true. It is a fact of life that the shooting is immediately blamed as a deliberate act of depravity by Israel,before anything is really known. That is Palestine Reporting 101 and we’re used to it.

Not having a photograph to hand,archival shots have been used to illustrate many of the reports on the Internet. They are of injured children from other places and times. If you see the photographs below around,purporting to be Anata,October 26th 2011 point out they come from much older sources and cast disbelief on the story as a whole."
We call this Fauxtography. We've seen it before.

Today's article from Ma'an



The photo been around since at least 2006



With that kind of shoddy reporting, can we trust anything out of the Palestinian press?

Sami Kishawi : How low can you go?

Sami Kishawi hits a new low in his latest essay 'On Gilad Shalit’s fifteen minutes of fame and the hummus he ate' Forgive me if I dont link to the sack o'crap.

Sami's spews are in italics:

'I wonder how long it will take for Gilad Shalit, his family, and his supporters, to realize that his fifteen minutes of fame are almost up.'

It was 5 Years, Sami. 5 years.

"Here is a soldier, a military combatant, a conscientious member of an army implementing the illegal occupation of a people and its land. Shalit is nothing special — the Israeli military currently employs tens of thousands of his prototypes. The only thing that stands out from the ordinary is that Shalit happened to be captured while on active military duty."

Sami, Gilad as a POW would have been entitled to the rights of all prisoners under the Third Geneva Convention, e.g., the right to humane treatment (Art. 13); the right to have knowledge of a POW's location (Art. 23); and the right to unfettered access to the Red Cross

"But soon after, the memory of Shalit disappeared almost as fast as he did. Except by his family and close friends, he was no longer considered a hot topic."

No, Sami. We never forgot.





We didn't forget him in San Francisco, where he was made an honorary citizen. He wasn't forgotten in Paris, France, Rome, Italy ,Miami, FL, New Orleans, LA, Baltimore, MD, and Pittsburgh, PA, all of whom adopted him as their own.

"As it turns out, all they could find was a skinny Shalit. So, in a frantic effort to condemn Shalit’s treatment, they blamed Gaza’s hummus. He wasn’t starved, they admitted, “but the menu was primarily Gazan and not really nutritious. There were pitas and a lot of hummus.” In other words, Shalit’s captors inhumanely denied his right to appetizers and deserts from a five-star restaurant along the beautiful coast."

Yes, Sami. An emaciated, gaunt pale Gilad Shalit was released. A boy who had been in solitary confinement for 5 years. One who hadn't seen daylight in 5 years. The International Committee of the Red Cross repeatedly asked Hamas for permission to visit Shalit . Even B'Tselem issued a statement saying "international humanitarian law absolutely prohibits taking and holding a person by force in order to compel the enemy to meet certain demands, while threatening to harm or kill the person if the demands are not met"

"Although the Gazan diet wasn’t good enough for Shalit, it is good enough for thousands of Palestinians facing a siege that prevents foods as simple as chocolate and nutmeg from entering the territory. If pita and hummus isn’t all that nutritious for Shalit, it likewise isn’t all that nutritious for those who have nothing else, those who have no access to the necessary vitamins and minerals, those whose foods spoil at the Eretz border crossing."

Sami, the rumors of "starving Gaza " are just so yesterday. The only goods that are currently restricted are arms, weapons, ammunition, and items that have military as well as civilian applications. 6,946 tons of goods and gas (including 360 tons of fruit) entered Gaza from Israel this week alone. Last year, an article in the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal reported a 34.1% obsesity rate for males in Gaza, and 41.6% rate for women.

Sami, I suspect the core of your problem isn't lack of information. Your problem is lack of empathy and a singular lack of compassion.

PA Canadian envoy recalled over anti-Semitic tweet

The Palestinian Authority has recalled their envoy to Canada, Linda Sobeh Ali for posting alink to an anti-Semitic video on Twitter.

Linda Sobeh Ali posted a tweet with a link to a YouTube video featuring an Palestinian girl shouting a poem in Arabic . The English subtitles on the video include a passage where millions are called upon "destroy the Jews."

From Ha'aretz

Shimon Fogel of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs informed Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird of the link, who deemed it wholly inappropriate and expressed “profound disappointment” to the Palestinian Authority on behalf of Canada.

Sobeh Ali later apologized for the incident.

'Erdogan helps Palestine, but not his own people'

From YNET

Two days after its devastating earthquake, Ankara submited a request to Jerusalem for the transfer of mobile homes to disaster-stricken area. Meanwhile, quake survivors directed their anger at Erdogan, saying the 'prime minister almost goes to war with Israel for sake of Palestinians, but doesn't move a muscle for us'

The Turkish Foreign Ministry submitted an official request with Jerusalem for the transfer of mobile housing units. The request was transferred from the Turkish Foreign Ministry to the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, which immediately notified the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed the Ministry's Director-General Rafael Barak to transfer the necessary equipment as soon as possible.

The death toll has reached 432, with 1,352 people injured in Sunday's quake.

Caterpillar Stock Soars. BDS irrelevant. Once again

For seven years Anna Baltzer and the US Campaign to end Israel have harassed, pestered, poked, plagued, molested, provoked and annoyed the Peoria Illinois based Caterpillar company, claiming "The National CAT Campaign is making waves every day. From trade unions to churches, citizens of conscience are successfully encouraging their institutions to divest from Caterpillar, Inc"

What do they have to show for their efforts?

Not much apparently.

From Reuters
"Caterpillar Inc far exceeded analyst expectations on Monday, reporting a 44 percent quarterly earnings increase due to record revenue, and the company signaled optimism in its 2012 outlook.
The Peoria, Illinois, company said it expects full-year 2011 profit and revenue to be at the top end of its previous outlook range due to strong demand. In 2012, the company sees revenue increasing 10 percent to 20 percent above the $58 billion in sales it expects this year, although it continues to make contingency plans for a potential downturn.
Caterpillar said it ended the third quarter in one of the healthiest positions in its recent history. Backlog orders standing at record levels and higher commodity prices leading to a favorable environment for its growing mining business. The company expects to post record results in 2011 and improve on those results next year."

The US Campaign has had a long standing vendetta against Caterpillar, calling them the "company which best exemplifies the interest of US corporations in the Occupation".

Join me in asking Anna Baltzer and the US Campaign: How does it feel to be irrelevant?

Turkey hit by Quake. Israel offers aid

A strong earthquake has hit Turkey and up to 1,000 are feared dead. Dozens of buildings have collapsed and phone and power lines are down in the southeast of the country, near Turkey's border with Iran.

And Israel has offered aid.

From J Post:
"Following initial reports of the earthquake, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel will offer Turkey "any assistance required" to deal with the aftermath of the natural disaster.

Barak ordered the Defense Ministry's head of the political-diplomatic bureau to transmit Israel's offer of help to Turkey.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel was willing to provide "anything from food, medicine, medical staff and equipment and search-and-rescue teams" to Turkey. Palmor said Israel was awaiting Ankara's reply."

Plant a Tree For Gilad Shalit

Plant a Tree for Free in Honor of Gilad Shalit’s Release

In honor of Gilad Shalit’s release from captivity, Jewish National Fund (JNF) invites everyone to plant a tree for free and send a personalized certificate to the Shalit family to commemorate this important occasion.

Gilad Shalit’s long-awaited homecoming, after five and a half years in captivity, is testament to the value that we as a Jewish people place on the sanctity of life, and to Israel’s dedication to its citizens.

“One hundred ten years ago this organization was founded to repurchase the land and create a homeland for the Jewish people. One hundred ten years later a solder from the IDF – in itself a remarkable entity—had a homeland to come back to," said JNF President Stanley Chesley. "With all the emotions that are at play at this time, our thoughts and prayers are with those whose sons and daughters can never be returned even as we celebrate Gilad Shalit’s homecoming, we take pride in the strength and fortitude of this extraordinary miracle—the land and people of Israel.”

Send a tree to Gilad Shalit to welcome him home. Visit jnf.org or call 800-542-TREE.

Courtesy of Ronald Lauder and Stanley Chesley, JNF’s Chairman of the Board and President, and its Board of Directors, in celebration of Gilad Shalit’s release after 5 years of captivity.

Limit one per person. Free tree offer expires Sunday, October 23.

Rewarding murderers in Gaza

Palestinian prisoners who were released in the prisoner swap (described by our friends at fresnozionism as a "jailbreak") and sent to Gaza will stay in hotels for three weeks or until they each get a private apartment, car, and a job.

According to the Al Qassam website Palestinians took their morning exercise around a luxury swimming pool overlooking the Mediterranean, and had breakfast at the all you can eat buffet at the 4 star Al-Mashtal hotel.


A quarter went to the West Bank, 41 went into exile in foreign countries , Turkey, Syria and Qatar, while the rest were brought to Gaza from Egypt, which mediated in years of exchange negotiations.

Gaza's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh gave each of the 294 prisoners $2,000. The average person in Gaza lives on $2 a day.

Haniyeh has ordered that the released prisoners be given assistance to help them re-enter society, Each released convict will be given a mobile phone with a credit of 500 shekels.

More than 200,000 people gathered in Gaza City to welcome the returning criminals.

Branding Palestine

Qorvis Communications is now in charge of Palestinian public relations and has registered as a foreign agent.

The Palestinians three-month, $90K contract with Qorvis involves PR, advertising, direct mail, social media as well as lobbying to opinion makers and policymakers.

From the paper work filed with the Department of Justice:
"The business community of Palestine is undertaking a branding campaign for Palestine. The goals of the campaign are to foster a better understanding of Palestine and its people and promote international trade and tourism.
Many people around the world do not have a clear understanding or picture of Palestine. This branding campaign is designed to break the many myths and misconceptions surrounding Palestine and help people recognize the great promise of growth, prosperity and peace that can arise from this land and its people. For example, Palestine has a very high literacy rate of 95 percent and Palestinian universities produce 45,000 graduates every year, including such world leaders as such as Mahmoud Darwish, the celebrated Palestinian poet who died two years ago.
The campaign is funded by the business community through the Palestinian American Chamber of Commerce. The campaign is being managed by Palestine's top public relations and advertising firm, Elam Tarn. The agency is organizing a global communications and branding strategy, with an initial focus on the US and Israel. In individual markets, Elam Tarn selects local agencies to help with the execution of the campaign. In the United States, Ellam Tarn has selected Qorvis Communications as subcontractor. The campaign will debut in September to coincide with the activities of the United Nations General Assembly."

D.C. based Qorvis is serving as subcontractor to Ellam Tam, a Ramallah PR firm and is funded by the Palestinian American Chamber of Commerce.

Qorvis, which has a history of servicing questionable regimes in the Middle East also represents Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bahrain. John Deschauer, Tina Jeon, Sol Levine, Sam Dealey and William Dempster have been assigned to the Palestine account.

A recent article in the Huffington post documented an exodus of employees from Qorvis.

"In the last two months, more than a third of the partners at Qorvis have left the firm to start their own lobby shops, partly because of the firm's work on behalf of such clients as Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the Central African nation of Equatorial Guinea, say former employees.

"I just have trouble working with despotic dictators killing their own people," a former Qorvis insider tells The Huffington Post. "People don't want to be seen representing all these countries -- you take a look at the State Department's list of human rights violators and some of our clients were on there."

The article continues:

"One of the methods used by Qorvis and other firms is online reputation management -- through its Geo-Political Solutions (GPS) division, the firm uses '"black arts" by creating fake blogs and websites that link back to positive content, "to make sure that no one online comes across the bad stuff," says the former insider. Other techniques include the use of social media, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter."

Time isn't on your side, Hamas

From an article in Time

"Hamas has little to offer beyond its jihadist credentials — and the promise of clean government. So it's hardly surprising that the party has been rapidly losing ground in its stronghold. Recent surveys by leading pollsters conclude that if elections were held in Gaza today, Hamas, an acronym in Arabic for the Islamic Resistance Movement, would not be returned to power. A June poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that Hamas would get just 28% of the vote, a steep decline from the 44% plurality it won in 2006.

Especially alarming for the Islamists is a precipitous drop in support for the party among Gaza's youth: two-thirds of the population is under 25. In a March survey taken in the afterglow of the protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square that led to the ouster of Egypt's dictator, Hosni Mubarak, more than 60% of Gazans age 18 to 27 said they too would support public demonstrations demanding regime change.

Soon after that poll, 10,000 turned out at a rally to voice a more modest demand — that Hamas end the bloody rift with Fatah, the secular party it bested six years ago. Hamas sent thugs to break up the demonstration. "We came out to say the people should be united, and they attack us!" says Shadi Hassan, 22, who lives in a refugee camp and sells cigarettes. "We are suffocated, and we need regime change.""

Read it all here

Teach Your Children Well: Freed convict Wafa al-Biss urges Children of Gaza to become Martyrs

Wafa al-Biss, one of the female convicts freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Shalit told cheering schoolchildren in Gaza today that she hoped they would follow her example.

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip.

In 2005, Biss was travelling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment. She was planning on blowing up the hospital that had treated burns she had received in a kitchen accident. Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking strangely. They found 10 kgs (22 lbs) of explosives had been sewn into her underwear.

After she spoke, the children cheered and waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine."


From an earlier interview with Wafa al-Biss
"She had never really wanted to become a suicide bomber, she told me tearfully. Life and bad luck had given her no choice. Born into wretched poverty in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, one of 12 children, she said that much of her body and fingertips had been burned in a freak cooking accident at home the year before her failed mission. She had been coaxed, no, coerced into becoming a martyr by "Abul Khair," an older man from the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. "I wish I had never met him," she said bitterly.
With her lovely face and soft voice, Wafa al-Biss was not at all what I expected from what I had read about her and seen on videotape. Hours after her arrest on June 6, 2005 at the Erez crossing, the main transit point between Israel and Gaza, Israeli intelligence had hauled her before reporters to discuss her failed mission. Her neck and hands were still covered with scars and bandages from the kitchen gas explosion in her home months earlier.
`At the press conference, according to several articles, Wafa al-Biss was a study in defiance — the model would-be martyr. Her greatest wish, her "dream" since childhood, she declared, was martyrdom. "I believe in death," she told reporters. Her target was an Israeli hospital, perhaps even Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, where she had been treated for her burns, which had probably saved her life. "I wanted to kill 20, 50 Jews. Yes!" she exclaimed, "even babies. You kill our babies!"
She might have succeeded had the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, not warned checkpoints to be on the lookout for a female suicide bomber from Gaza. When a soldier noticed something odd in the young woman's gait as she entered the transit hall, she was ordered to stop and remove her long, dark cloak. Stranded between a metal turnstile behind her and an iron gate in front of her, Wafa al-Biss found herself alone in the evacuated hall. As military surveillance cameras recorded her every move, a solider ordered her again to disrobe and drop her bomb.
Panicked and frustrated, Wafa al-Biss decided to kill herself anyway. Security camera video shows her reaching into her right pocket to pull the detonator string. But instead of exploding in a lethal mass of fire, smoke, and metal shards, the string came out in her hand. Again and again she thrust her hand into her pocket, pushing the detonator. The cameras dispassionately record her failed mission's final moments — Wafa al-Biss, alone in the hall, screaming and crying, clawing at her face — condemned to live.
"I don't care about Jews and Arabs," she told me in the prison; she had never been political. Israelis at Soroka, where she had spent three months with her burns, treated her with "respect and dignity," she said. "They had been very kind," she said. "But I still wanted to kill myself."
She had tried to do so even before the gas accident, on her birthday in November 2004, that had scarred her body, deformed the fifth digits of both hands, and left her fingertips and chin discolored. Long before that, she told me, she had been in despair. She had grown up desperately poor. Her father was "primitive." He rarely let her go out except to school or the mosque. He and her brothers beat her. She tried to throw herself out a window at age 18, but courage failed her. "Islam says you can't kill yourself. I was afraid of the shame for my family," she said.
"If my family had been normal, if I could have afforded to have been treated in America, if I could wear my hair and live my life like yours," she said, "I would never have thought about killing myself."
Instead, she said, she approached a group known to be associated with the "Resistance." Would they accept her as a martyr?
At first, the man she came to know only as Abul Khair, whom she met secretly at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, urged her to think it over. Despite the reverence that fellow Gazans showed martyrs and their families, she hesitated. She called him a week later to say she had changed her mind.
"But they hunted me like prey," she recalled. "Abul Khair kept calling," she said. "He told me a guy they were counting on had backed out of an operation; they needed me. ‘Look at your future,' they told me. ‘No one will ever marry you.' I knew it was true. I was not good at school. I had no future."
She agreed to meet him again, this time at the Haifa mosque. Would God grant her anything she wanted in paradise? she asked him. "Would he give me new skin?"
Yes, he told her.
"What did death feel like?" she pressed him.
She wouldn't feel anything, she quoted him as saying. "It's like a pin prick."
"I wanted to believe him," she told me. "He looked religious, like someone you could trust. He told me I was very brave. He made me feel important." She agreed to become a shaheeda.
When she returned home, upset and crying, her mother sensed something was wrong. "I lied and told her that my finger hurt. Her mother made her some food and told her it would be better soon, "inshallah," Wafa said. If her mother sensed what Wafa was about to do, she didn't let on, she insisted.
As the day of her operation approached, Wafa grew despondent. She had gone to a safe house in Gaza twice with young men who picked her up in a car on a corner near her home. Being in the company of men who were not family members was religiously and culturally forbidden in conservative Palestine. She initially feared they would "harm my dignity as a woman," she told me. Instead, they escorted her to a nondescript house on the edge of her city where she was asked to try on the explosive pants, test the detonator — a gift to the Al-Aqsa group from its ostensible rival, Hamas — and videotape a political statement about the need to kill Jews. "I didn't feel that way; I told them I wanted to say something else," she said.
Ultimately, however, she complied. She was taped reading the statement and holding a Kalashnikov — for the first time ever, she says. "It was heavy."
The day of her attack, June 21, 2005, "was the hardest day of my life." She had failed at this as she had "so many other opportunities in my life."
She expected little now, she told me. No one was helping her; no group was paying or supporting her parents, she said. One day, she hoped to marry, but her pained expression suggested she knew this was unlikely. "