No Way Through

Just got this from a friend:

Let's remember; brutality is more wide spread that we might think and has several different faces; all of them ugly.

Good for you Mr. Erdogan

...Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate on the Middle East at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, saying he might never return to the annual gathering of the rich and powerful....

...Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Erdogan as saying to Peres Israeli President): "When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches."...

I salute you for your courage Mr. Erdogan. Good for you and for Turkey!

For more click here.

Children and grand children of "holocaust".

Even 60-minutes now has no choice but to admit.

No wonder why they are hated more and more everyday.

UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed.

Gerald Kaufman, a member of the UK's ruling Labour Party, also called for an arms embargo on Israel, currently fighting militant Palestinian group Hamas, during the debate in the British parliament Thursday.

"My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed," said Kaufman, who added that he had friends and family in Israel and had been there "more times than I can count."

"My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.".....

....He also accused the Israeli government of "ruthlessly and cynically exploiting the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians."....

...Israel was born out of Jewish terrorism...

Well, he is not off at all!!!

Jews against Israel

Israeli Hasbara Spam Alert

With Israel's foreign ministry organising volunteers to flood news websites with pro-Israeli comments, Propaganda 2.0 is here

Let's not let these cyber criminals succeed.

Truth about Israel

Kudos to you Mr. Galloway

Kudos

Voice of a decent Jew: Today I end my support of Israel

A bit late, but better than never!

Like davidminzer, I'm Jewish and descendant of holocaust survivors. Moreover, I've been a Zionist all of my life. I went to a Zionist school, I was active in Zionist youth groups. I've always been a fervent supporter of Israel as a refuge for Jews around the world who seek a place to exercise their traditions and embrace their identity in peace.

I sang the Israeli anthem in the train rails of Aushwitz-Birkenau and I pledged to fight every day of my life to make sure the savage crimes that had taken place there would never happen again. Every year I pledged: Never Again. Remember and Never forget.

Well, I haven't forgotten. And so to honor that pledge, to honor the memory of my family members who died in those death camps and because "there comes a time when silence is betrayal", today I finally and publicly end my support for the state of Israel......

......If they won't bat an eye before keeping millions without electricity or water, before bombing civilian neighborhoods at exactly the time when kids are leaving schools, before breaking every standard of international law or moral decency, Fuck them.

Read more of "A Jew's diary"

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Media Advisory

The Blame Game in Gaza
Erasing Israeli actions to fault only Hamas

1/6/09

The Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip that began in late December have reportedly killed over 500 Palestinians, many of them civilians and children. As is often the case, U.S. corporate media's presentation of the events leading up to this dramatic escalation in violence have laid the blame for the violence mostly with Hamas, whose rocket attacks on Israel are often cited as the cause for the current Israeli attacks.

In many media discussions about the events that led to the fighting, emphasis is placed on Hamas' decision in late December to allow a cease-fire agreement with Israel to expire, or the group's failure to adequately suppress rocket attacks into Israel during the cease-fire.

A USA Today timeline (1/5/09) explained, "In November, the truce frays as Hamas rockets continue to land in Israel, which closes several border crossings and kills militants building tunnels Hamas was using to smuggle weapons and other goods into Gaza." On NBC Nightly News (12/27/08), Martin Fletcher explained that "a six-month truce ended this week and Palestinians fired rockets into Israel, as many as 60 a day. Israeli leaders said enough is enough."

A Washington Post editorial (12/28/08) announced that Hamas "invited the conflict by ending a six-month-old ceasefire," while Post columnist Richard Cohen (1/6/09) was much blunter: "It took no genius to see the imminence of war. It takes real stupidity to blame it on Israel."

The Dallas Morning News (12/30/08) agreed emphatically in an editorial titled, "Blood on Hamas' Hands": "The pictures of the civilian victims of Israeli airstrikes--especially children--are heart-rending. But let's keep straight whose fault this tragedy is: Hamas, the fanatical Islamists who rule Gaza and who have used the land as a launching pad for firing rockets into Israel."

The New York Times' December 28 lead declared, "The Israeli Air Force on Saturday launched a massive attack on Hamas targets throughout Gaza in retaliation for the recent heavy rocket fire from the area." The next day, Times reporter Stephen Farrell asked (12/29/08), "Why did Hamas end its six-month cease-fire on December 19?" He argued that the "rejectionist credo" of Hamas made this step all but inevitable.

These accounts fail on several grounds. For starters, the cease-fire agreement from June through mid-December was credited by many for ratcheting down the violence--rocket fire into Israel dropped significantly and claimed no Israeli lives during the truce. (Prior to that, rocket and mortar attacks since the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in late 2005 had killed 10 Israelis-theisraelproject.org.) After the cease-fire expired, rocket attacks increased, though no Israelis were killed until after the Israeli attacks were launched; four have been killed since then (Agence France-Presse, 1/6/09).

Interestingly, as the truce expired, the New York Times published an article (12/19/08) that began with a typical corporate media formulation-- Palestinians are attacking, Israel is retaliating-- before noting that Hamas was "largely successful" in curtailing rocket fire into Israel: "Hamas imposed its will and even imprisoned some of those who were firing rockets. Israeli and United Nations figures show that while more than 300 rockets were fired into Israel in May, 10 to 20 were fired in July, depending on who was counting and whether mortar rounds were included. In August, 10 to 30 were fired, and in September, 5 to 10."

The Times article, by Ethan Bronner, noted that what Hamas expected in return from the Israelis never arrived:

But the goods shipments, while up some 25 to 30 percent and including a mix of more items, never began to approach what Hamas thought it was going to get: a return to the 500 to 600 truckloads delivered daily before the closing, including appliances, construction materials and other goods essential for life beyond mere survival. Instead, the number of trucks increased to around 90 from around 70.

Bronner also added that "Israeli forces continued to attack Hamas and other militants in the West Bank, prompting Palestinian militants in Gaza to fire rockets," which produced Hamas response attacks. The Times continued:

While this back-and-forth did not topple the agreement, Israel's decision in early November to destroy a tunnel Hamas had been digging near the border drove the cycle of violence to a much higher level. Israel says the tunnel could have been dug only for the purpose of trying to seize a soldier, like Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the Israeli held by Hamas for the past two and a half years. Israel's attack on the tunnel killed six Hamas militants, and each side has stepped up attacks since.

This straightforward recitation of events is rarely heard in much of the rest of the media coverage of the violence in Gaza--including in the Times, since Israel began its full-scale assault. But for many consumers of U.S. media, history is made irrelevant; a Time magazine piece (1/12/09) began:

Two sounds dominate the lives of Israelis living near Gaza: the wail of a siren and, 25 seconds later, the whistling screech of an incoming rocket fired by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. That gives Israeli families just enough time to dive for cover-even as they pray the rocket will miss.

At 11:30 a.m. on December 27, a new sound filled the azure Mediterranean sky: the rolling boom of Israeli bombs and missiles slamming into Gaza.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza are anything but "new," but presenting them as such--and pairing that presentation with an Israeli family sheltered against an incoming Hamas rocket--gives a wildly misleading impression of a conflict where the deaths and suffering are overwhelmingly on the Palestinian side.



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...and the "civilized world" remains silent

The horror of Israeli occupation; an admission by Israelis

I am sure we too wouldn't have loved Israelis if we lived under such a brutal occupation.

Barks of "loyalty"

I never understood why it is that every US politician, as soon as getting to a critical stage of his or her political career, makes a move to prove to the powerful pro-Israeli Lobby in the US that he or she can be at service to Israel.

The latest case was Barack Obama, who as soon as becoming the Democratic nominee, appeared at American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC - The Pro-Israel lobby group in the US) to go even further in proving his loyalty, and claiming that Jerusalem must become Israeli Capital, something that has not been recognized by the international community, including the US under a Zionist administration such as Bush's. Even worse, Obama called it the undivided capital of Israel: "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided,". I hope he didn't know what the f*ck he was talking about otherwise, I don't know how to explain his betrayal of humanity for the sake of kissing Israeli ass.

Of course, last evening another Israeli dog was there making her "loyalty" barks to her masters in Israel. This person was nobody bust the opportunist, and disgusting Hillary Clinton. But I thought Obama was going to be different, but he sure failed to be. Such a shame!

Indeed, what is it about this tiny sh*ty country that can determine so many things in the politics and policies of a giant such as the US.

As for Obama, I thought he was different and had some integrity but now, I'm not sure.

Carter, the first peace maker between Israel and Arabs condemns Israel

Ex-US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has at least 150 atomic
weapons in its arsenal..... .

.... He also described Israeli treatment of Palestinians as "one of the
greatest human rights crimes on earth".

Here is the rest.

The 60th anniversary of Israel's creation

In the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel ..., an interview with one of millions of the victims of that creation.

And here is an interview with a Jewish woman who fought for the creation of Israel in 1948 with the Palmach and Haganah, the paramilitary units that helped to establish the state of Israel..

Both interviewes worth watching.

Just listen

I don't like the guy but just carefully listen to what he says. In this particular case, many of what he says are not too far from the truth.

One day...

... and the "civilized world" remains silent.
One day Israeli fascists will pay for their crimes. One day... .

Two letters between two women; one Israeli and one Palestinian

I found these letters exchanged between Anav, an Israeli woman and Mona, a Palsetinian woman interesting:

Dear Mona,

I hope it is more quiet for you when you read this. War is devastating to all and I have been going through this hellish experience myself this past year.

I want to tell you that from my side in Sderot I see the same kind of pain, trauma and death that you described in your email.

Hamas's resistance is not "symbolic" for the Israelis living in southern Israel. Take Osher Twito. This eight year-old boy can no longer walk because shrapnel from a rocket explosion severed his left leg, which had to be amputated.

Sderot was once a city of 24,000 people. These "homemade rockets" have forced close to 5,000 people to relocate elsewhere in Israel over the past seven years.

Although the weaponry of Palestinian terror groups may be crude and inexpensive, it has wreaked devastation for the Israelis in this region, as any advanced military weaponry would.

I know this may be difficult to believe based on the way Israel is presented in the Arab world, but the Israeli army does not intend nor want to kill innocent Palestinian women and children.
The IDF enters Gaza to eliminate the terrorists who terrorise Israelis. I feel your pain at the innocent lives taken in this warfare. And remember that most of the rockets are launched from civilian areas like schoolyards and hospitals.

Do you believe that the Jewish people have a right to live in this land? Do you recognise Israel as a Jewish state?

It is very difficult to target Palestinian terrorists when they use women and children as human shields. Hamas times its rocket fire so that Jewish children will be the most likely targets. It fires Qassam rockets early in the morning when they go to school and in the afternoon when their parents pick them up.

This "symbolic" war by Hamas is not being waged solely against our soldiers, but
against us - the Jewish people.

You say your family originally came from Ashkelon. I am curious, where did your great-great-great grandparents originally come from? How long had they been here? I too have family who weredisplaced. My grandmother left Poland because of the growing fear of Nazi control. She managed to escape to Israel but her entire family was killed in the Holocaust before they could join her. She never went back to Poland.

I know that Ashkelon to you is al-Majdal. If the Hebrew names of these cities are not recognised and the Jewish presence in this land not tolerated among the Arabs - how do you conceive that there will be peace with Israel?

Outside the conflict, I was wondering what English books you like reading? This year, Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte, is one of my favourites. I can't decide if Heathcliff is truly a villain!

Best wishes and keep well,
Anav

Dear Anav,

It is pleasure to write to you again.

Yes, it is more quiet now in terms of military attacks. Heathcliff is a victim of his tyrannical society, but when he is in power, he becomes a victimiser himself. Do you notice, the victim always becomes the bully when he has control?

I don't care where my great-great-great grandparents came from, or when. History is full of migration and the movement of peoples, including yours. After three thousand years living around the world, suddenly you remembered your homeland!

You said your family came to Palestine because of the spread of Nazism, to escape the Holocaust. Why should we Palestinians have to pay the price of others' crimes? If the Nazis killed your grandmother's family, why do you kill us in return? I don't mean you personally of course, but the Israeli state.

If we had had advanced weaponry... it would have become a war between two nations - with no mention of terrorism How can I accept the existence of a state which has occupied our land for 40 years, an occupation which has resulted in so many Palestinians being killed?

On terrorism... why is launching "crude and inexpensive" weaponry on the children of Sderot considered terrorism, when F16s and Mercava tanks killing children inside their homes in Gaza is not?

Samar and Samah were two sisters, aged 13 and 23, who were together at home in Gaza when an Israeli shell killed them last month. They weren't resisting anyone.

I think the term "terrorism" is connected to a level of sophistication in the weapons used. If we had had advanced weaponry, this whole thing would have been managed differently. It would have become a war between two nations - with no mention of terrorism.

Another point, what do you call the prevention of food and medical supplies entering the Gaza Strip? Is this not a kind of terrorism?

Peace is always possible everywhere if attention is paid to it, and if rights are returned to people who have lost them. I believe in peace, as we are exchanging letters. I think peace is what makes us human. You, the Jew, and I, the Arab Muslim, are humans, so there is place for peace.

But can you tell me why Israel closes the borders and prevents people from travelling?
Don't you think that the international community (the UN) handles the conflict unfairly - and has actually made it worse? Do you see this as a struggle for survival, between me and you?

My favourite English novel is Heart of Darkness for Joseph Conrad. Don't you think, colonialism in all ages has the same ideology? Do you like Shakespeare? Hamlet is one of my favourites. Every time I read it I discover that he has a new problem.

Best wishes,
Mona

I wonder why!

Report: Anti-Semitism on the rise globally

With what the Jewish state of Israel is doing to millions of Palestinians and with the rich, powerful and influential Israeli lobby who have tremendous impact on the policies of many powerful countries around the world, I wonder why Jews are being disliked everyday more than the day before.

I sympathize with those decent Jews who do not approve of the Israeli policies. Sadly, they too will be painted with the same brush.

How US is doing Israel's dirty work

How US is doing Israel's dirty work;
Great piece on Bil Maher show, especially the very last parts of it.