Friday, November 30, 2012

Operation Pillar of Death: Naming Gaza's Dead - a film by Harry Fear

Obama and Natanyahu's shame for the murder of Gazan civilians
                                                                                                                                                                  
President Obama for all of his eloquent rhetoric and his concern for the citizens of Israel seems to know little about the Palestinians or about the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza. Maybe Obama needs to visit Gaza and the West Bank and see how the Palestinians are barely surviving and yet Obama judges all Palestinians of being terrorists because they dare to defend their land and their people from the naked brute force and deadly aggression of the Israelis.


Maybe if Obama actually read something or watched even videos on Youtube and read President Jimmy Carter's book on Israel's Apartheid state. Would he then change his mind and dare to show some compassion for those murdered in Gaza. Not likely. Especially since the Obama administration has been conducting his own siege on Iran causing millions to suffer and yet Obama and most Americans see all these people whether Palestinian Arabs or Persians as not deserving of any compassion since they are less than human.


 In part it is most distressing that Obama as a member of a visible minority who are still treated as second class citizens in America Obama has no sympathy or compassion with the oppressed in other nations . But we are not that surprised since when the first uprisings took place in Egypt Obama and Hillary Clinton defended Mubarak and were quick to send more tear gas and weapons to arm the Egyptian police and army to crush these peaceful uprisings . But Obama did and is still supporting the authoritarian oppressive regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In Syria the first part of the uprising was again peaceful but Obama decided to support the armed factions including various terrorists  of mostly religious fanatics who then took control with Obama's help as Obama also did in Libya .

 In Libya the Arab Spring uprising was made up of mostly peaceful protesters who wanted reform and not an abandonment of what Americans would label a socialist state. The people of Libya in fact in the early stages of their protests wanted reform and more progressive and socialist policies to insure fairness and equality of opportunity for all. The fanatics who replaced Qaddafi are more likely to set up some form of theocratic state and /or one governed by a neo-liberal/neo-conservative ideology and agenda followed by vulture rapacious capitalism which America has been exporting to an unsuspecting world over the last thirty years or more.

and so it goes,

GORD.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Two Obama's The Good Hope & Change Obama & The Authoritarian Anti-Change Bad Obama & The Humiliation of Bradley Manning & Obama's New Protection of Whistleblower Law


President Obama as bringer of Hope or Magician or Messiah maybe?

 The American Taliban Christian Right of course  accuses artist of blasphemy would they if the president were white? Just asking! And they have the audacity to make fun of Muslims who get upset about similar uses of their religious icons and personalities and teachings ie cartoons of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)or  tossing copies of the Holy Qur'an in toilets or burning them as an act of hate speech against all of Islam. So if we take these Christians seriously in their attacks on what they consider Muslim over-reactions then Christians shouldn't be bother by similar acts such as "piss-Christ " or the Life Size Chocolate Jesus . Piss -Christ maybe bad art and bad taste and offensive but is it "Hate Speech".

Tell them to get a sense of humor and go watch  Monty Python's /Terry Jones film "The Life of Brian"

The Truth by Michael  D'Antuono




 ...The fact that national security whistleblowers have become the exception to the Obama administration's meme of 'looking forward, not back' at Bush-era crimes sets a dangerous precedent: if you torture a prisoner, you will not be held criminally liable, but if you blow the whistle on torture, you risk criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act."
Quote from : Obama Indicts Sixth Whistleblower Under the Espionage Act by OpEdNews.com,April 05, 2012




 " Military ties with Israel have fueled relentless acts of aggression. Israel continues to entrench its subjugation of Palestinians while provoking or initiating armed conflict with its neighbors in the region. [...]

    We therefore support the call from Palestinian civil society for an urgent and comprehensive military embargo on Israel as an effective, non-violent measure to stop Israel's wars and repression and to bring about Israel's compliance with its obligations under international law. This is now a moral and legal imperative to achieve a just and comprehensive peace...  Quote from  article at Common Dreams .org
            53 authors 'horrified at the latest round of Israeli aggression' - Common Dreams staff, Nov. 28, 2012



Above image of Israel's most recent massive bombing of Gaza - Netanyahu calls these surgical strategical and targeted limited strikes while in fact they are anything but.

As Obama said :What nation would stand idly by and not retaliate when being bombed - so if Israel or the USA has that right don't all nations even the Nation of Gaza or Palestine or are only the lives of Israeli and American civilians and troops to be considered valuable and sacred.

So in this case claiming to be in favor of justice and fairness he refuses to accept the legitimate cause and grievances of the people of Gaza while helping Israel to bully the people of Gaza and maintain its inhumane blockade . But Israel and the Obama administration are now guilty of doing the same to Iran as they did to the Iraqis til Iraq was a basket case and seemed like easy picking for the Americans and British. Now they are hoping to decimate the Iranian population so they do will become easy pickings for the vulture capitalists to rob Iran of its resources and turn the country into mostly rubble like Iraq and Gaza and Libya and Syria and so on.

Obama's two Faced policies or his Jekyll and Hyde disorder -Good Obama versus Bad Obama
While still detaining and continuing  the abuse of Whistleblower Private Bradley Manning and in April detaining a sixth  Whistleblower  Obama has the " audacity" to sign into law legislation ironically defending the rights of Whistle Blowers.

Strangely various human rights organizations praised Obama for signing this law ignore Obama's actual record and pay little attention to the fact that given the concentration of power by the President and the executive branch which have the right to contravene any law they wish to by asserting a claim of national security. Bush, Cheney,Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, Karl Rove et al believed that the world could be reshaped by their thoughts and actions as they tried to do for example in the disastrous Iraqi invasion and 9 year Occupation.

Iraqis having some commonsense as opposed to Americans took a stand and kicked most of the Americans out of their country.  The Iraqis proclaimed they had enough after the deaths of over a million of their citizens most of whom were innocent of any crime including those who were fighting the uninvited foreign invaders and occupiers of their country that is the Americans and British . As Obama recently said what nation would not fight back against another nation raining rockets, bombs, drones, White Phosphorus down upon their cities . For some strange reason or is it delusion Americans are unable to see that at times they are the ones in the wrong and are the real terrorists as their troops roam up and down the streets of a foreign nation taking potshots at anything that moves.

Nobel Peace Laureates Call For Military Boycott Of Israel of course Obama also a Nobel Peace Prize winner was conspicuously absent from this group since he is on Israel's side and especially on the side of the US armaments manufacturers and being an  ideological Neo-Liberal on the side of Wall St. the Super Rich and his erroneous deluded belief in "American Exceptionalism" and "Manifest Destiny" and all that super-hyper patriotic nonsense. Even Obama feels the need to feed the arrogant American Myths of Exceptionalism and being the chosen of God and that any who criticize America or its ally Israel are on the side of the "terrorists" the Minions of Satan etc. There is no folly like hubris as Icarus informs us.

 So Obama's road to peace is through continual bombing and Drone Attacks and invasion and occupation if necessary of sovereign state which were no existential threat to the USA or its allies including Israel.


Nobel Peace Laureates Call For Military Boycott Of Israel
53 authors 'horrified at the latest round of Israeli aggression'
- Common Dreams staff

Fifty-two Nobel peace prize-winners, activists and others today called for an international military boycott of Israel after its latest deadly assault against Palestine earlier this month.

Issued on the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with the People of Palestine, according to the Middle East Monitor, the statement is signed by US academic Noam Chomsky; Nobel peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; former French diplomat and Holocaust survivor Stéphane Hessel; and film directors, authors and musicians, among others. It denounces the US, European Union and several developing countries for complicity through weapons sales and other military support in the attacks that killed 160 Palestinians, including civilians and 35 children, The Guardian reports.

It calls for "urgent ... and international action towards a mandatory, comprehensive military embargo against Israel," the Middle East Monitor reports.

The Middle East Monitor continues:

    Though directly motivated by Israel's latest war of aggression against the 1.6 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, the statement is also a reaction to Israel's decades-old military occupation and persistent denial of the UN-sanctioned rights of the Palestinian people. Expressing horror at Israel's latest bloodbath in Gaza which claimed 160 Palestinian lives, including 34 children, the statement argues that this recurring brutality has been allowed to continue due to the impunity Israel enjoys.

The statement, published in full in the Middle East Monitor, charges, in part:

    Horrified at the latest round of Israeli aggression against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip and conscious of the impunity that has enabled this new chapter in Israel's decades-old violations of international law and Palestinian rights, we believe there is an urgent need for international action towards a mandatory, comprehensive military embargo against Israel.

    Such a measure has been subject to several UN resolutions and is similar to the arms embargo imposed against apartheid South Africa in the past.

The authors charge that the US has supplied billions of dollars of "advanced military hardware every year" to Israel, and the EU has provided subsidies through its research programs.

The authors of the statement also include John Dugard, a South African jurist and former UN special rapporteur in the occupied territories; Luisa Morgantini, former president of the European parliament; Cynthia McKinney, a former member of the US Congress; Ronnie Kasrils, a South African former cabinet minister; and the dramatist Caryl Churchill.

"Similarly, the growing military ties between Israel and the emerging economies of Brazil, India and South Korea are unconscionable given their nominal support for Palestinian freedom," the statement notes.

It continues:

    Military ties with Israel have fueled relentless acts of aggression. Israel continues to entrench its subjugation of Palestinians while provoking or initiating armed conflict with its neighbors in the region. [...]

    We therefore support the call from Palestinian civil society for an urgent and comprehensive military embargo on Israel as an effective, non-violent measure to stop Israel's wars and repression and to bring about Israel's compliance with its obligations under international law. This is now a moral and legal imperative to achieve a just and comprehensive peace.

Meanwhile in the Obama bizaro world the president appears to reveal two different personas the Good and Just Obama who is in favor of real substantive change and the Bad or Evil Obama who is in favor of the status quo on a number of issues including treatment of Whistleblowers .

So the Good and Just Obama  signed into law legislation giving better protection to Whistle Blowers while still ill-treating the heroic  whistle Blower Bradley Manning for doing what he believed to be the right thing to expose the government's lies and crimes .  By doing so Bradley Manning was releasing information so the American public information they had a right to in order to have an informed opinion of what the US government was in fact covering up in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But it seems on this issue Obama is not in favor of Bradley Manning who had nothing to gain personally for taking this action and a great deal to lose  his motivation was not for personal gain or profit. President Obama as the authoritarian or tyrannical Obama has by his actions as opposed to the Nicer good Obama is against anyone leaking information to the public and labeling them as traitors who are giving aid and comfort to the enemy.


Advocates Laud President Obama's Signing of Federal Whistleblower Reforms  OpedNews, Nov. 28,2012


 After a Campaign Waged Over More Than a Decade, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act Becomes Law.

President Obama signed the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA, S. 743) into law today, marking the finale of a more than decade-long campaign by the Make It Safe Coalition to restore and modernize federal whistleblower protections. The President's unwavering support of the WPEA, paired with Congress' sweeping endorsement by unanimous consent, demonstrates the strong mandate for a new day of accountability in the federal government. These reforms expand protections for federal employees who disclose wrongdoing and protect the public trust.

Whistleblower advocates from organizations with diverse interests and ideologies who together waged a historic campaign for this landmark government accountability reform are enthusiastic about this victory for whistleblowers and taxpayers:

Beth Moten, Legislative Director for American Federation of Government Employees, commented: "AFGE applauds the bipartisan, collaborative work of members of Congress, a diverse coalition of worker advocates and good government groups, and the Obama Administration resulting in the bill signed into law today.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act provides many of the changes in law necessary to protect federal workers when they come forward to report fraud, waste, and wrongdoing in the workplace and to hold managers accountable when they retaliate. AFGE is especially pleased that the law applies to Transportation Security Officers, the federal workers dedicated to the safety of the flying public, and provides them with the same whistleblower protections as other federal workers."


But then we are reminded that the authoritarian Tyrannical Obama vs Hope and Change Obama has gone after Whistleblowers than all other previous presidents. So which side is Obama on the Status Quo of The military and Intelligence Industrial Comlpex as first defined by President Eisenhower or on the side of truth and justice and the rule of law -does it just depend on the mood he is in or who were the latest lobbyist who visited him in the Oval Office.

As we see in the actions of Obama are quite different and even contradict what he says publicly so those who supported him once again have the duty to get Obama moving in the right /actually more to the left direction and not keep moving to the ideological so called center which is now really the right and is the domain of the Neoconservatives and Neo-Liberals and the status quo. He should be pestered til he takes up more progressive policies domestically and in foreign policy and start dismantling the American Empire before the wild fires the Americans started engulf the all of the nations of the Earth.

Obama Indicts Sixth Whistleblower Under the Espionage Act by OpEdNews.com,April 05, 2012

GAP's Government Accountability Project Director Jesselyn Radack: "CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou blew the whistle on 'waterboarding' and refused to engage in torture, but is the only person to be criminally prosecuted in connection with the Bush-era torture program"...The Obama administration's unprecedented use of the Espionage Act to target whistleblowers sends a chilling message to any national security worker considering blowing the whistle on corruption and wrongdoing. The Espionage Act is an archaic World War I-era law intended to go after spies, not whistleblowers."

On April 3, 2012, the Obama administration indicted intelligence whistleblower John Kiriakou. Kiriakou is the sixth whistleblower that the Obama administration has charged under the Espionage Act for the alleged mishandling of classified information – more than all past administrations combined. In a rare move, the indictment was sealed until today.

Kiriakou is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) veteran who headed counterterrorism operations in Pakistan after 9/11, organized the team operation that captured suspected al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, and refused to be trained in torture interrogation tactics. In December 2007, Kiriakou gave an on-camera interview to ABC News in which he disclosed that Zubaydah was "waterboarded" and that "waterboarding" was torture. Kiriakou was one of the first CIA officers to label waterboarding as torture, and his interview helped expose the CIA's torture program as policy, rather than the actions of a few rogue agents. Kiriakou further exposed the CIA's torture program and the CIA's deception about torture even to its own employees in his 2009 book, The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror.

...The fact that national security whistleblowers have become the exception to the Obama administration's meme of 'looking forward, not back' at Bush-era crimes sets a dangerous precedent: if you torture a prisoner, you will not be held criminally liable, but if you blow the whistle on torture, you risk criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act."


And now more recent reports on the trial of the erroneously and unjustly accused Bradley Manning just for doing his duty . Obama himself claims whistleblowers do offer the public a needed service to open up government policies and its inner workings to make it more transparent. For instance the department of the environment must be concerned about the environment and how abuses of the environment by Big Business or government affect that environment and the impact of such abuses on the citizens not just in the short term but the long term as well. Instead since the 1980s the department of the Environment is more often than not directed to do the biding of lobbyists and Big Business and doing little to protect the nation's natural resources such as water and air quality or its people .

The Humiliation of Bradley Manning
By Ray McGovern ,OPEdNews, Nov. 28, 2012


It is a bitter irony that Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, whose conscience compelled him to leak evidence about the U.S. military brass ignoring evidence of torture in Iraq, was himself the victim of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment while other military officers privately took note but did nothing.

That was one of the revelations at Manning's pre-trial hearing at Ft. Meade, Maryland, on Tuesday, as Manning's defense counsel David Coombs used e-mail exchanges to show Marine officers grousing that the Marines had been left holding the bag on Manning's detention at their base in Quantico, Virginia, though he was an Army soldier.

According to the e-mail evidence, the controversy over the rough handling of Manning prompted Quantico commander, Marine Col. Daniel Choike, to complain bitterly that not one Army officer was in the chain of blame. Choike's lament prompted an e-mail reply from his commander, Lt. Gen. George Flynn, offering assurances that Choike and Quantico would not be left "holding the bag."

At Quantico, Manning, who is accused of giving hundreds of thousands of pages of classified material to WikiLeaks, was subjected to harsh treatment. He was locked in a 6-foot-by-8-foot cell for 23 hours a day and was kept naked for long periods. His incarceration led the UN Rapporteur for Torture to complain that Manning was being subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

However, concerns about possible repercussions from softening up Manning did little to ease the conditions that Manning faced. His Marine captors seemed eager to give him the business and make him an example to any other prospective whistleblowers. Only after a sustained public outcry was Manning transferred to the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Though his treatment was less harsh there, Manning still has faced 2-1/2 years of incarceration without trial and could face up to life imprisonment after a court martial into his act of conscience, i.e., releasing extensive evidence of wrongdoing by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan and questionable foreign policies carried out by the U.S. State Department.


And concerning the treatment  received by Bradley Manning while being held for over a year basically being held in indefinite detention and stict form of isolation and physical and psychological abuse by the Obama administration  also see:

WikiLeaks suspect Manning 'not suicide risk' by Camille Elhassani Al Jazeera ,Nov. 29, 2012


Psychiatrists treating US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning, the alleged source of classified information leaked to WikiLeaks in 2010, say that long-term suicide watch or prevention-of-injury status is unnecessary.

Manning's defence lawyer is trying to prove he was mistreated while in pre-trial confinement in the military brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to get the case against him dismissed. Manning was held at Quantico from July 2010 until April 2011.

Captain William Hocter, the main psychiatrist who treated Manning at Quantico, said he was a moderate to low danger to himself or others. And he repeatedly requested Manning be taken off prevention-of-injury status, which included checks every five minutes around the clock, long periods of isolation, and removing his clothing to prevent him from harming himself.

Hocter said it was extraordinary that his medical opinion was ignored by brig commanders. "It was clear to me they'd made up their mind on a course of action and my recommendations had no impact," he said.

However, Colonel Robert Oltman, the security battalion commander at Quantico, said that he did not have confidence in Hocter's abilities because of a suicide earlier in 2010 of a detainee under his care. "He didn’t have the strongest credibility with me," Oltman said.
and so it goes,
GORD.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Scott McConnell :Why Americans Don't Understand The Palestinians & Civilians Targeted by Israeli Attack & IDF Soldiers "We Are Human The Arabs Are Animals"


If a man from Mars descended to observe Israel’s attack on the Gaza strip, he would have seen one group of humans trapped in a densely populated area, largely defenseless while a modern air force destroyed their buildings at will. He might have learned that the people in Gaza had been essentially enclosed for several years in a sort of ghetto, deprived by the Israeli navy of access to the fish in their sea, generally unable to travel or to trade with the outside world, barred by Israeli forces from much of their arable land, all the while surveyed continuously from the sky by a foe which could assassinate their leaders at will and often did. --quote from Scott McConnell article  Why Americans Don't Understand Palestine by Scott McConnell at National Interest Nov. 27, 2012

Real News Network Gaza November 27, 2012
50 Children Killed and 450 Injured in Israeli Attack on Gaza
Jihan Hafiz in Gaza: As people dig out of the rubble, a Palestinian doctor says civilians were targeted by Israeli attack

More at The Real News

 So who are the oppressed and who are the oppressors and who are the bullies the Israelis or the Palestinians .

 And in an article from Tom Dispatch we get an insight or insider's view of how the IDF act and their attitude they have concerning the Palestinians whom they say are not quite human . One IDF soldier talks about a battalion operation in Gaza in which a particular neighborhood the soldiers were ordered to search sixty houses occupied by Palestinians . The search was done in the middle of the night without warning . The Israeli soldiers entered each house put the residents in one room and then trashed the house and then arrested all males between sixteen and twenty nine who were taken to HQ set up in the nearby school. The Israelis beat up many of those arrested and shot at anyone who was in the streets. Anyone who was killed was labeled a terrorist though there was no evidence to prove it .
 As we know the Obama administration uses similar logic especially note worthy in US Drone attacks in which any male over age 15 is to be counted as Taliban or Al Qaeda essentially as terrorists and enemy combatants so a group of children gathering firewood or looking after a flock of sheep are considered fair game according to the Bush/Obama doctrine in which all citizens are considered to be enemies of America . Otherwise Obama would have to admit that American troops including Helicopter crews and others have also been guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against humanity.

When US troops in Iraq or Afghanistan believe that their main goal is to meet a body count quota each day then they are going to be trigger happy unless they are given clear instructions about who counts as the enemy and who does not.

The bravest soldiers and the soldiers with real integrity and a moral compass coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan have blown the Whistle on the War Crimes being committed by US troops and their allies on a daily basis. But of course as we now see Obama like Bush has an aversion to truth in these matters.

When Obama was first elected he mad a big deal about investigation the crimes of the former administration once in power he reversed course and let the major players from the Oval office down to the Pentagon, the CIA and FBI and Special Forces etc that none of them would ever have to worry about being investigate let alone charged with criminal offenses and especially not those put into play by the International Court . That was the beginning of burying the truth and what should have been its consequences.

In the excerpt below taken from the article at Tom Dispatch a former IDF soldier explains the operation the soldiers assumed was ostensibly to root out terrorists or to search for weapons cache etc. based on new intel which did not in fact exist but the real purpose this outspoken former IDF soldier says was to terrorize the civilian population to show them that they the Palestinians had no power and no rights and that their lives were essentially in the hands of Israel and the IDF.

  Tomgram: Oded Na'aman, Is Gaza Outside Israel? Tomdispatch.com by Oded Na'aman , Nov. 25, 2012
...Other than the Palestinians themselves, no one has experienced this grim reality in a more up close and personal way than Israel’s soldiers, sent repeatedly into the Gaza Strip and into Palestinian towns and villages in the Occupied Territories, where a creeping program of land theft is still underway. Testimonies from a large number of veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on their daily experiences -- on what the (IDF) once described as a policy of “searing of consciousness,” involving brutal methods of all sorts -- have been gathered by the dissident group Breaking the Silence. These can now be found in a powerful new book, Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers’ Testimonies From the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010, published here this September (and almost totally ignored ever since).
Today, they couldn’t be more grimly relevant. These are testimonies that must be read if the situation and anger in the region are to be fully grasped. Think of them as the equivalent of the Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam era, in which American Vietnam veterans testified to the horrific on-the-ground brutality of a failing pacification war. Oded Na'aman, an IDF veteran and co-editor of Harsh Logic, introduces a small selection of the testimonies from that book, adapted and abridged for this site. Tom...
(Former IDF soldier) "...They said there are sixty houses that have to be searched. I thought there must have been some information from intelligence. I tried to justify it to myself.
(Interviewer) You went out as a patrol?
It was a battalion operation. They spread out over the whole village, took over the school, smashed the locks, the classrooms. One was used as the investigation room for the Shin Bet, one room for detainees, one for the soldiers to rest. We went in house by house, banging on the door at two in the morning. The family’s dying of fear, the girls are peeing in their pants with fear. We go into the house and turn everything upside down.
What’s the procedure?
Gather the family in a certain room, put a guard there, tell the guard to aim his gun at them, and then search the rest of the house. We got another order that everyone born after 1980... everyone between sixteen and twenty-nine, doesn’t matter who, bring them in cuffed and blindfolded. They yelled at old people, one of them had an epileptic seizure but they carried on yelling at him.
Every house we went into, we brought everyone between sixteen and twenty-nine to the school. They sat tied up in the schoolyard. "
...But we didn’t find any weapons. They confiscated kitchen knives. There was also stealing. One guy took twenty shekels. Guys went into the houses and looked for things to steal. This was a very poor village. The guys were saying, “What a bummer, there’s nothing to steal.” Occupy update rich insist on cuts to programs which give some help and financial aid to the poor and disabled and elderly.
So as we see the Israelis either simply make no distinction between terrorists and the civilian population or are unaware that there might be a distinction. The Israelis say the same thing about all Arabs as America's used to say about the native Americans that the only good Indian was a dead Indian and the Israelis argue the only good Arab is a dead Arab. This sort of "eliminationists" language in the end leads to the wanton murders of Palestinians of any age or gender. According to this mind-set stoked by Israeli propaganda only leads to more deaths even of young children including toddlers because each child is just a future enemy of Israel so even killing infants and toddlers is therefore they believe justifiable.

So since Israel has God on its side it can kill with impunity and in fact given the notion of "harem" they must show no mercy as they didn't show the "Canaanites" or as the Mexican Army also did at the "Alamo" or as the Japanese did in Nanking or the Turks did to the Armenians or the US troops did at "Wounded Knee" and a century later at Mi Li as Kurt Vonnegut says and so it goes there is no end to the slaughter.

 It would be disingenuous of President Obama to object to such an attitude or the resulting actions since Obama also sees little wrong with dropping bombs on innocent civilians killing dozens if not hundreds of innocent civilians to ostensibly take out one terrorist. The politicians and the Media in the USA foster the notion or talking point promoted by Israeli propaganda that Israel is the nation which is suffering most and is therefore the real victim and not that of the Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza .

 In reality the people of Gaza have been suffering under an occupation and draconian blockade or siege by the Israelis. Israel isn't just stopping arms from entering Gaza but a whole host of goods including building materials and medical supplies and food . The citizens of Gaza are not permitted to freely cross their borders and are prevented from fishing in the waters off their shore.

The rockets being fired from Gaza are are fairly rudimentary as opposed to the fire power of Israel's army. Gaza does not have battle ships or gun boats or fighter jets or tanks or even personnel carriers. Israel has the eighth largest military in the world and has a nuclear weapons stockpile of at least 150 nukes .This open secret about Israel's illegal nukes for the US media and the Western Media is taboo no one is supposed to mention it because for one thing Israel built these nuclear weapons without getting approval from the International Community or the United Nations etc.

 The IDF appears to make up its rules of engagement with Palestinians as they go along so the rules can change from one day or one group of soldiers to another. The Israelis accuse Hamas fighters of hiding in populated areas using civilians as human shields. The problem is that Gaza is one the most densely populated regions on earth so it is difficult for any armed resistance to find areas where there are few civilians. This would be like the armed resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto being forced to fight only where there were no so-called innocent civilians since all were in fact innocent but some of the innocents decided to fight the Nazi War machine no matter how futile.


The "Human Shield" accusation is just an excuse for Israel to bomb civilian infrastructure in the recent incursion of the Israelis they bombed a soccer stadium, TV and other media outlets , cement factories , schools , hospitals and first responders. The Israelis also attacked areas of Gaza when they knew the conditions would be that of the most crowded on a particular day. But Americans are told over and over again that the Israelis are the good guys and can do no wrong no matter how many innocent civilians including children they kill and no matter how many Palestinians are thrown into Israeli prisons under Indefinite Detention and having their rights trampled upon and even being tortured .

We can't expect Americans or their allies in general to be bothered by most of these illegal, immoral, unethical , brutish treatment of the Palestinians when the USA under George W. Bush and now under President Obama is itself carrying out similar actions in its so-called "Global War On Terror". Obama may want to re-brand this war anyway he wants but in the end the policies of Obama are for the most the same as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

In his speech supporting Israel against the Gazans did not mention the occupation and blockade Israel is conducting against Gaza and its virtual control of the the West Bank and Occupied Territories where Palestinians are denied their rights and in fact are treated as if they have no rights at all. President Obama for all the criticism he gets from the GOP and the right accusing him of not supporting Israel he seems to be carrying out policies to favor Israel. Obama has promised more arms for Israel's War Machine and US troops to do Israel's bidding . If Obama was as committed to fairness and justice as he and his supporters claim he would not continue spewing the party line of Israel's Propaganda Machine .

    Some had hoped that in second term he would develop at least some personal integrity and be able to stand up to the Status Quo and the Lobbyists but no he is once again failing while managing to throw out some crumbs to quiet his progressive supporters such as ending DADT and approving of Gay Marriage  while at the same time Kow Towing to the Pentagon, Wall Street , the Neo-liberals such as the Clintons and ignoring the spreading of the militarization of America's police forces and their over the top violent reaction to American citizens legally protesting or helping the brutal regime in Bahrain to continue to beat, torture, gas and kill protesters in that country as the USA did in Egypt til they saw the writing on the wall.

 If Obama were really fair-minded and wanted real change in America's government he would instead of taking sides with Israel no matter what. He would instead develop a saner more even handed policy and would become himself better informed about the plight of the Palestinians and then would attempt to explain the reality of the ongoing conflict as opposed to the mythology surrounding the state of Israel as God's Chosen nation and the companion myth that the Palestinians are therefore by definition by being the enemies of Israel as being minions of Satan or the Anti-Christ. But for all we know Obama himself has bought into this myth and believes every word of it.


But one can only characterize the Israelis as the Chosen ones if one accepts a literal inerrant view of the Bible from Moses at least to the Book of Revelation.So is Obama like George Bush basing his foreign policies in the Middle East based upon the Bible and not on reality. So he like the Evangelical Fundamentalists expecting Armageddon and the coming of the anti-Christ and the Second Coming of Jesus as Messiah. If Obama does believe as millions of other Americans in this type of End-Times scenario then the Middle East is doomed and no Palestinian or Arab or Persian or Pashtun or Turk or Kurd or any Muslims should believe that he is their friend in any way shape or form.

 Why Americans Don't Understand Palestine by Scott McConnell at National Interest Nov. 27, 2012
...A free and responsible press could challenge this political monoculture. But while there was more varied commentary about this Middle East war than previous ones, major journalistic organs failed dramatically at providing Americans information to understand the conflict. On November 19, the New York Times published an editorial outlining its view of the Gaza war. Its core passage described the outbreak of conflict:


Hamas, which took control of Gaza in 2007 and is backed by Iran, is so consumed with hatred for Israel that it has repeatedly resorted to violence, no matter what the cost to its own people. Gaza militants have fired between 750 to 800 rockets into Israel this year before Israel assassinated one of its senior leaders last week and began its artillery and air campaign.


This summary mirrors precisely the oft-voiced Israeli hasbara point “We withdrew from Gaza, and they started firing rockets.”


But the Times ignored entirely the virtual occupation of Gaza that Israel has maintained over the territory since its withdrawal, an occupation which intensified after Hamas won a Palestinian election, then prevailed in a struggle against the PA for control of the strip. The Times “balanced” its assessment with mild extraneous criticism of Israel for “marginalizing” the Palestinian Authority and isolating itself diplomatically.

But the Israel-dominated reality Gazans had faced for the prior six years is left out. ...One explanation for such sentiments is that most Americans take foreign policy cues from political leaders, and no prominent American politician is willing to publicly express sympathy or compassion for Palestinians at the expense of Israel.

Since roughly the time of John F. Kennedy, the politically ambitious have understood that expressing a wish for even-handedness between Israel and Palestine would threaten one’s career. Whatever their private views might be, by the time they get to Congress legislators learn that uncritical support for Israel is the “smart” political choice.

The spectrum of Congressional debate is shaped by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose leaders vet potential candidates from across the political spectrum for their willingness to promote AIPAC-sponsored views on the Middle East, and ensure the access of those who agree to the lobby’s superb national fundraising networks. Those who stray are punished.

Among notable victims was Illinois Senator Charles Percy, a moderate Republican once considered by many a possible future president. But after Percy refused to sign “the letter of 76” senators opposing President Ford’s call for a reassessment of U.S. Middle East policy, and described Yasser Arafat as relative moderate among Palestinians, he faced well-funded opponents in the primary and general elections, and an outsider from California spent more than $1 million in negative ads against him.

As J. J. Goldberg, editor of the Forward, noted a decade ago, “there is this image in Congress that you don’t cross these people or they take you down.” Given the absence of any publicly Palestine-sympathetic politicians at the national level, it may be surprising that support for Israel’s strikes is not higher than 57 percent. ...Yes, it is true that Hamas is hostile to Israel and that its charter is anti-Semitic. It is also true that Hamas leaders have expressed interest in a long-term negotiated truce—a concession many observers feel is prelude to accepting a two state solution. By failing to acknowledge that Israel had been blockading Gaza and its people, the Times gave its readers no way to understand why the people under Hamas rule might support resistance against Israel, including firing rockets, or why millions of people throughout the Arab and Muslim world support them.

On the same day in the Washington Post, Richard Cohen accused Hamas of not caring about human life, including that of Gazans. He too dwelled on the anti-Semitism in the Hamas charter, and mentioned the 2005 Israeli “pullout” from Gaza. He chided Israel for building settlements, but also could not bring himself to mention the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza. Neither, writing a few days hence, could his Post colleague David Ignatius. Like Cohen, Ignatius is a centrist, sometimes critical of Israeli actions. But about Gaza he hewed tightly to Israeli propaganda guidelines:
The Israelis withdrew from Gaza in 2005, only to have Hamas fire about 12,000 rockets and mortars at the Jewish state. The Israel Defense Forces invaded in 2008 (Operation Cast Lead) and a ceasefire followed. But in the years since, Hamas and other militias fired more than 3000 rockets and mortars, despite periodic cease-fires. On November 14, the Israelis got fed up and retaliated. . . they assassinated Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari.
Again, no mention of the blockade, no reference to Israel’s denial of Palestinian access to everything from the fish off their seacoast, to the opportunity to go to universities run by their compatriots on the West Bank, to their best arable land, to the equipment that would allow them to mend their broken water system. Palestinian resistance to the occupation is presented as simple bloody-mindedness.

It is less surprising that Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, whose views track more closely with Israel’s right-wing government, would take the identical line: Israel withdrew, got rockets in return. Does not publishing this kind of narrative, again and again, constitute a kind of journalistic malpractice, an abrogation of a major newspaper’s responsibility to inform? To imply that the Palestinians have no cause to resist, when rather plainly they exist in circumstances no people on earth would tolerate, is not really different from an actual lie. Israel can lie about Gaza if it wants, as governments do. But should major U.S. newspapers do so in their editorial and opinion pages?

It is hardly as if such journalistic distortions come without cost to Americans. Faced with a vast region of critical strategic importance, American readers are being deprived of information essential to understanding what is going on. The Arab world is radicalizing rapidly, often in anti-American ways, and one stream feeding the radicalism is U.S. diplomatic and moral support for Israel’s cruel blockade of Gaza. This is not to say that media coverage of the Israel Palestine issue has not improved. Now, perhaps for the first time, Palestinians appear on network talk programs (Chris Hayes) and major radio outlets (NPR). It is important that Yousef Munayyer can be heard telling Democracy Now radio host Amy Goodman that to claim Israel is not occupying Gaza is like saying your goldfish are not under your control if you are not actually in the tank swimming with them.

and so it goes,

GORD.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Israel Likud and Right Wing Prove Their disdain and Hatred of The Palestinians And Their Desire To Visit A "Holocaust " On The Palestinians


In the first video below Fishermen get fired on by Israeli war ship on November 25, 2012 though Israel as part of recent ceasefire supposedly lifted restrictions on Gazans being permitted to fish. At other times the Israeli gun boats and helicopters have fired on fishermen killing some and blowing up the Gazan's boats.

Imagine an American fishing boat crossing into Canadian waters and our first response is to shoot to kill or to then blow up their fishing vessel but the Isreali government and IDF see nothing odd about what they do. For instance a farmer goes out into his field which is close to the Israeli wall or fence and the IDF shoot to kill even though they know the farmer is no threat and may have been farming this land for generations. Imagine you send your children off to school not knowing whether the Settlers or IDF will harass them or beat them up or even shoot them because their school is near a settlement or near a checkpoint .

The peoples of Gaza and the West Bank face these issues everyday and then are told to be patient and that Israel is slowly reforming which it is not and told they have no right to peacefully protest or to use violence to defend themselves and their families. To the hard liners in the Israeli government the Palestinians are pests that they want to get rid of one way or another.

Gaza fishermen restrictions relaxed by Israel
Nov. 25,2012



John Rees Stop the War Coalition National Demonstration End Israel's War On Gaza 24 11 12
" Existence is resistance " /"Resistance is existence"



And an Israeli cabinet minister uses the word "Shoah" or "Holocaust" in refering to destroying the Palestinians . The Israeli government has made excuses for him saying he meant something less than a "Holocaust" claiming Shoah in English translates as merely a tragedy. But this to me seems odd since members of the Jewish community in fact do not approve of the word"Holocaust" when talking about Hitler's "Final Solution" and the deaths of six-million Jews but prefer the word in Hebrew "Shoah" which means a great tragedy they do not want to use a word to describe this horrifying event which gives any credence that this was God's punishment on the Jewish people similar to the Holocaust God visited upon for instance Sodom and Gomorrah.

This is also because some Christians believe that it was in their view the will of God and possibly punishment for rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and for the killing of Jesus committing the crime of Deicide. For instance Evangelical leader and pro-Israel and pro-Zionists John Hagee who is head of CUFI Christians United For Israel in fact believes God sent Hitler as a hunter to hunt down the Jews for not moving enmasse to Greater Israel and the Building of the third Temple etc.

Israeli minister vows Palestinian 'holocaust' by Tim butcher at telegraph.co.uk, Feb. 29,2008


A senior Israeli politician provoked controversy today when he warned that Palestinians firing rockets from Gaza would be punished with a "bigger holocaust" from Israeli armed forces.

The use of the Hebrew word for holocaust, "shoah", tends to be used exclusively in Israel to describe the Nazi persecution of Jews.

Palestinian activists routinely claim to be suffering a "shoah" at the hands of Israel, but the Jewish state normally denies any moral equivalence between the suffering of Palestinians today and European jewry under the Nazis.

Matan Vilnai, deputy defence minister, broke that taboo when he used the term "shoah" during interview on Army Radio.

"The more qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they (the Palestinians) will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," he said.

The Palestinian Kristallnacht and Holocaust by Roi Tov.com

They were peacefully conducting their lives when white phosphorous artillery shells, snipers with long distance rifles and other lethal weapons killed them.


Kristallnacht (German for “Crystal Night") was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany and Austria that took place between the 9 and 10 of November 1938; it is also called Novemberpogrome or Reichspogromnacht in German. Herschel Grynszpan-a Jew–assassinated the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath and triggered the event in which 99 Jews were killed and around thirty thousand arrested. 267 Synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked.

The Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict – known also as the Goldstone Report – states in article 1684: “The timing of the first Israeli attack, at 11:30 am on a week day, when children were returning from school and the streets of Gaza were crowded with people going about their daily business, appears to have been calculated to create the greatest disruption and widespread panic among the civilian population. The treatment of many civilians detained or even killed while trying to surrender is one manifestation of the way in which the effective rules of engagement, standard operating procedures and instructions to the troops on the ground appear to have been framed in order to create an environment in which due regard for civilian lives and basic human dignity was replaced with the disregard for basic international humanitarian law and human rights norms.”


Between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, Israel killed well over a thousand men, women and children, probably even more than fifteen hundred. The vast majority of them were peacefully conducting their lives when white phosphorous artillery shells, snipers with long distance rifles and other lethal weapons killed them. Children witnessed the death of their mothers; mothers were unable to help their dying sons. The report doesn’t summarize the material damages, these were too vast, but it is worth quoting article 1716 of the UN report: “…The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound in Gaza City is one of such cases in which precautions were not taken in the choice of weapons and methods in the attack and these facts were compounded by reckless disregard for the consequences. The intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and using white phosphorous in and around the hospital also violated Articles 18 and 19 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. With regard to the attack against Al Wafa hospital, the Mission found a violation of the same provisions, as well as a violation of the customary law prohibition against attacks which may be expected to cause excessive damage to civilians and civilian objects.”

It seems Israel has outshone the Nazi Regime it so likes to attack. The Nazi Kristallnacht suddenly looks like a kindergarten picnic while reading the report about the Palestinian Kristallnacht inflicted by the State of Israel. It is important to understand that Israel doesn’t deny the facts; on the contrary, in the Hebrew media – especially the Beit Oranim Transcript (that can be downloaded from this website) – soldiers and officers of the IDF brag off on their orders to inflict terror and damage on the civilian population. They proudly describe how grannies, mothers and children were assassinated by coward IDF snipers from the distance.

It is becoming clearer to the general public that differentiating between the Israeli and Nazi crimes is getting difficult. The recent events are a warning to what can happen in Holy Land in the near future. We have recently seen an enlarged version of the Krystallnacht. The Wall separating parts of the West Bank from Israel has created an analogue of the Nazi concentration camps. What else needs to happen until the international community decides to intervene and stop the Palestinian Holocaust?
----------------------

Israel still bringing in new Jewish immigrants to occupy land in the Occupied Territories in violation of United Nations resolutions against creating more settlements besides having Israel return to its pre-1967 borders

France Fortifies Israeli Settlements :West Bank Settlement Creates French Colony by Roi Tov at RoiTov.com, August 2012

What is really touching is the level of deceptiveness applied by all involved in the process. The United Nations Security Council, the International Court of Justice, and most countries (Israel being the obvious exception) agree that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the West Bank. Thus, the occupier—Israel—cannot settle there, and all its settlements and outposts are illegal. Yet, Israel is bringing foreigners to settle in the West Bank. A heavily English-accented Hebrew characterizes the voices heard in most of the West Bank settlements, but here and there one can find expat colonies from France and other places. ..


...For many years, the immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora into Israel was performed by the Jewish Agency for Israel, an organization founded by the State of Israel in 1948, as the legal successor of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. Over the years, its efforts to bring Jews to Israel met resistance abroad. Imagine France creating a state-agency with the open goal of bringing American citizens to settle down in France. Many countries disliked the idea. Now, imagine that France attempts to settle these American citizens in illegitimately occupied territories. This is not an activity a state can openly engage in it. Thus Israel changed tactic and went private.


...While preparing this article I searched for contacts in Eli. I found them easily, and discovered also that the thriving community has roughly 700 families. Oddly, it is defined as a “city-settlement”. Israel went private and doesn’t mention anymore its “kibbutzim” and “moshavim.” Cities rule, Socialism is out. Yet, the details I found were astonishing. They read like a kibbutz list of contacts from the 1980s. It included a “mazkirut” (roughly “secretariat”), a “general secretary,” a “culture coordinator,” and an “absorption coordinator.” The Hebrew word used for “coordinator” is less democratic than the English one, technically translating as “the centralizer.” Moreover, the process scheduled for the new settlers was identical—even in terms—to what was practiced in the past by kibbutzim. I lived that; regardless of their modern camouflage, I was watching Stalin’s comrades.
--------------
Anyway we need to backtrack a bit to get a better idea of the context of the current conflicts .

The settlements began at first as the take over of land by Jewish Religious Zealots who became Israeli Jewish squatters as it were who had no right to the land let alone control the water supply and restrict the movements of neighboring Arabs to harass them to destroy the Arabs Olive Groves and other crops to beat up non-compliant Arabs to even tossing stones or using tear gas or even shooting at Arab children on their way to and from school. So by supporting Israel President Obama and Hillary Clinton and his administration gives tacit approval to the brutal and inhumane treatment of all Palestinians by the fanatical government backed Settlers and by the IDF which ignores the rule of law and can just make it up as they go along.

So while Israel and Washington disingenuously talk about finding a long term solution the Israelis keep allowing and encouraging more Jewish Israelis or Jewish immigrants to take possession of even more Palestinian lands. When it comes to American policies regarding Israel Obama continues with those of his predecessors that is defending Israel while claiming publicly to being committed to ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians while Israel makes excuses for not being able to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.


The Palestinians have in fact for decades tried to bring about a reasonable long term solution.

It is the Israelis who are always raising objections and making unreasonable demands from the Palestinians while spewing their propaganda which characterizes the Palestinians of not being an indigenous people of the region or at least not of what is referred to as Greater Israel. In other words the right wing party the Likud which now controls the government headed by Netanyahu believe that the God of the Israelites Elohim or Jaw-eh gave all of this land to the Israelites that is the followers of Judaism also referred to as the Jewish people . And according to God's law non-Jews are either not permitted within the Jewish state or are to be treated as second class citizens who do not have the same rights as the Jewish Israelis whether religious or secular.

Of course once all the Non-Jews that is Muslims or Christians and others are deported then the religious extremist Jews will take away many of the rights of secular Jews . To begin with secular Jews would not be permitted to run for election in the Knesset or eventually have important government positions or jobs . And finally the secular Jews if they refused to become practicing Jews would have to leave Greater Israel so it could be cleansed of the unclean .

So as we see the Israeli government often gives out mixed signals or even contradictory policies regarding the settlement movement . Though Netanyahu sides with the Settler's movement but may at times kick a few settlers out to appease the USA while their intention is to just move the Settlers to another established Settlement or one newly built a few kilometers away. This sort of lying or double speak is of course typical of most world leaders so it is not unique to the Israeli leaders.

Israel Doubles West Bank Settlements Budget : Minister of Finances admits it was done secretly by Roi Tov at roitov.com , Nov. 12, 2012

also see:

Israelis evacuate controversial West Bank settlement France24.com via AP, March 9, 2012


"Israel completed the evacuation of about 300 people from the unauthorised West Bank settlement of Migron on Sunday. The case had become a rallying point for hardline settler groups opposed to any withdrawal from land claimed by Palestinians."

also see:
Israel to build new settler homes in West Bank France24.com via Reuters, July 6, 2012

"Israel on Wednesday said it would build 851 new settler homes in the West Bank after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's parliamentary victory against far-right lawmakers who wanted to legalise Israeli settlements on private Palestinian land."

Palestinians condemn legalised Israeli settlements France24.com,April 24, 2012
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In the following video Ken O'Keefe sums up his impression of Israel.

It is apparent that he is an angry and passionate critique of Israel and maybe a little over the top but possibly understandable given the Israeli Propaganda which fills the American media and other Western Nations in which the deaths of Palestinians including young children shot at point blank or knowingly bombed from the air are ignored or written off as collateral damage. And he like many other critics of Israel have been watching unfold over the decades and yet the Western Media acts a propaganda machine for the Israeli policies and its Apartheid Regime and that to a greater or lesser extent this has been the Israeli attitude and policy to crush the Palestinians and drive them out of what the Israelis believe is their land which includes all the lands of Greater Israel going back to 1948 to the present.


So is O'Keefe anti-Semitic which is the usual charge made against critics or is he just passionate and angry and fed up with the Israeli and American propaganda which demonizing all Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims ?

The way he puts it is that when one hears these various cliched anti-Semitic tropes it seems Israel turns around does something uncalled for unwarranted and seemingly callous to further the suffering of the Palestinians which O'Keefe says appear to lend some credence to such anti-Semitic stereotypes .

One does have to be careful in dealing with Israel's various policies concerning the Palestinians or Arab Israelis to differentiate between what a particular Israeli government does or in this case of Netanyahu and the Likud party as opposed to all members of the Knesset or all Israeli citizens and further not make broad unsubstantiated claims about world Jewry as if each and every Jewish person supports these policies.

The other caveat we should consider is that in many ways according to experts on Israel or Journalists whether Israeli of non -Israelis who have spent years living in Israel tell us that those of us outside Israel have greater access to information about what is actually going on in Israel and in the "Occupied Territories"(OTs) and Gaza since the media is at times heavily censored or is overwhelmed in the Media and the social media on the net.

Given this we can not blame all of the Israelis because some who are well informed are critical of the government while others just don't know the facts and are told anything that contradicts the government official stance is a lie or fabrication as part of the Propaganda of those who are pro-Palestinian. According to Netanyahu and even Obama all of the NGOs such as UN bodies such as UNESCO or UNICEF operating in Gaza or other humanitarian or human rights groups such as the Red Cross or Red Crescent or Doctors Without Borders or outside journalists Reporters without Borders or Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch are all liars and fabricators who are supposedly profoundly anti-Semitic and so are counted among Israel and America's enemies

ISRAEL A TERRORIZING ENTITY - US, Europe complicit in Israeli crimes against Gaza.
Published on Nov 26, 2012 by MLordandGod

ISRAEL VIEWED AS A TERRORIZING ENTITY - US, Europe complicit in Israeli crimes against Gaza.

Ken O'Keefe of press TV, his view of Israeli beliefs of Palestinians et al.





Gaza's cycle of aggression shapes new generations more militant than the last :The humanising experiences of middle-aged Palestinians and Israelis who had contact in everyday situations have faded away, replaced by confrontation, trauma and hatred by Chris McGreal ,The Guardian, Nov. 23,2012

"Myself, I don't want to meet them. They are all occupiers, an enemy," said Abu Nizar sitting among other fighters from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Beach Camp, a Gaza refugee camp. He said his unit had fired dozens of rockets from Gaza in the recent battles.

One of the results of years of conflict is a generation of young adults on both sides who rarely meet each other except at the point of a weapon. The humanising experiences of middle-aged Palestinians and Israelis who had contact in everyday situations – such as Palestinians working in Israel who often learned Hebrew, or Israelis taking cars for repair by Palestinian mechanics or shopping in Arab markets – faded away with two intifadas and an ever more brutal occupation.

Abu Nizar and others of his generation have not only never met an Israeli except in confrontation but grew up with the trauma of living in neighbourhoods that felt like perpetual combat zones. They in turn are raising a generation of sons and daughters enduring life under periodic barrages of rockets and shells, and perpetual siege, and developing their own perceptions of Israelis as a dehumanised enemy.

"We didn't have a normal childhood at all. The Israelis created a whole generation that hates them. They are idiots. This last war has doubled, trebled the hatred from kids today," said Abu Nizar... "My three-year-old is always asking me: why is this? What's going on? Why are there rocket blasts? I tried to tell him what's happening and now he hates Israel."

..."I used to see the soldiers when I was small," he said. "I used to throw stones at them. I remember the occupation. We were the kids of the stones. I was beaten. There was a curfew. I was caught and beaten up. I was seven years old," he said.

Abu Nizar watched how Israeli troops treated the men in his family: "They arrested my father. They arrested my uncles. The Israelis would come at night. They called all the men into the street and put them in an open area and beat them. They humiliated them. This created the hatred of the occupation."


Pillar of Impotence By Gilad Atzmon November 25, 2012 "Information Clearing House"

In the past week, the people of Gaza have been subject to some serious Israeli attacks. Some Hamas leaders and militants have been murdered and many more Palestinians - innocent civilians, babies, kids women and elders – have lost their live. Yet, Gaza is celebrating with the Hamas leadership never more popular.

So here is an interesting anecdote that deserves our attention. During the recent clashes Gazan militants launched more than 1500 rockets at Israel. These rockets caused rather limited damage with more than six Israeli fatalities. Militarily at least, this is far from a great achievement. And yet the Gazans are celebrating. Would Israelis be happy to learn that 1500 of their rockets had had such limited effect? Would any western army accept such a result at such a cost? The answer is a categorical NO. But the Palestinians are ecstatic, why, because they know they have won the battle and are now set to win the war. They won the battle, not because they killed six Israelis – actually they would have won it without hitting one single Israeli. They won it because they managed to deliver a message to Israel, world Jewry and the whole world.

and so it goes,
GORD.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Obama Administration Gave Israel "Green Light" To Attack Gaza While Israel Targeted Journalists And Civilians And Anonymous Released Edict To #Israel


Anonymous Edict To The State of Israel


Israel like the USA has once again tergetted Jounalists in its recent bombing of Gaza.

Israel and USA war crimes kill journalists and civilians with impunity.

Journalists in Gaza claim Israel targeted them as militants
RussiaToday Nov 25, 2012 by RussiaToday


International human rights watchdogs are now investigating the conflict for war crimes. Militant rockets targeted Israeli cities, killing several civilians.
While Tel Aviv has been condemned by some observers for causing massive collateral damage. Film-maker Harry Fear was inside Gaza throughout the bombing.




South Africans want decisive stance on Israel





Obama gave Israel the green light but when it became a PR nightmare so Obama demanded that Israel agree to a ceasefire but this is not a real substantive solution. Israel in this case as in 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza was an act of aggression and not self-defense.

Israel assault on Gaza planned with US support, threatens wider war'



and now my take on this:

Israel has been over the last 60 years or so has bee bombing and killing civilians attacking Palestinians without much push back but this time the Palestinians fought back and the Israelis are not used to having those they attack actually fighting back. The Palestinians like Israel or any sovereign people or nation have a right to fight back against naked indiscriminate military force. Why is it that the Americans believe that Israel has a right to defend itself but the Palestinians do not.

The Palestinians in this conflict are still the conquered people and their nation is under the control of Israel and is forced to abide by a draconian medieval style siege .


The Americans including President Obama are all for the rule of law and spreading freedom and democracy and most of the time when a nation tries to hold Washington to this ideal Washington finds a way to justify crushing and or ignoring the demands for freedom and democracy in countries where such ideals do not fit with Washington's real motives and agenda. Israel Washington claims is an ally and so will have their back no matter what the Israelis do. So when the Israelis trample on the rights of Palestinians the American government including the Obama administration defends Israel and criticizes the Palestinians even when it is the Palestinians who are the ones being treated unfairly and unjustly by the Israeli government .


Israel holds thousands of Palestinians as prisoners who are often not told what they are being held for and who are denied their basic rights under International Law. So the Israelis like the Americans just label someone as a "terrorist" even if they do not have any real evidence against someone .

And so according to the current American system of justice the authorities in the US or in Israel can deny these prisoners their rights and to physically and psychologically torture these prisoners all with impunity. Once an individual is labeled a terrorist supposedly they lose any legal rights they may have had otherwise. Obama and Netanyahu are both guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity but they both believe as George Bush Jr. & Dick Cheney believed that their respective countries are special and that International Laws do not apply to them. If that is their argument then any other sovereign nation or peoples can insist on the same exceptions from the Rule of Law.

The attacks and invasion in 2009 of Gaza by Israel 's military were both acts of aggression and not self-defense but President Obama is unable to condemn such actions by Israel or any other nation since in 2003 the USA under false pretenses and fabricated intelligence and lies invaded Iraq. From that point on according to the poisoned fruit or tree each overt use of force by the USA in Iraq is tainted and is therefore just another incident of war crimes being committed. The USA no matter what Obama and other American apologists believe the USA had no right to invade Iraq resulting in the deaths of about 1 million citizens of Iraq and thousands imprisoned abused and tortured or even murdered by US troops or British troops or America's supposedly Iraqi allies . Further the home invasions and check points and the firing on alleged terrorists who more often than not were innocent civilians each incident is just another war crime or crime against humanity.

And even though the US managed to dazzle the United Nations with its dog and pony show of fabricated , invented and imaginary intelligence on Saddam including lies about WMDs or Saddam's non-existent connection to the 9/11 tragedy or to Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden any legal foundation the Bush Regime believed it had was null and void once it was exposed that those at the highest levels in the Bush Regime knowingly fabricated and concocted this dog' mess of so called intelligence. Again the whole argument of going to war with Iraq was a collection of lies and so any encouragement they were given by the UN or other nations were based upon lies sold to them by the Bush Regime.

And it can be argued that since Obama did nothing to seriously investigate the alleged crimes of the Bush Regime he himself can be considered a war criminal after the fact by giving aid and protection from prosecution those who committed these alleged crimes.

Lets look at the way things are set up in Gaza by way of an analogy or thought experiment .

So Imagine if in a Ghetto in the USA such as Harlem were to be walled off from the rest of New York and that the people in Harlem would be required to carry special ID which they had to present to the guards on the various gateways in and out of Harlem.First there would not be sufficient gateways and or guarded post to allow for an efficient system making sure people do not have to wait for hours on end to cross through these gates by car or on foot.(note the long lines during the recent 2012 election when people tried to exercise their right to vote in the USA this was especially true in some area which were predominately Black or Hispanic and given America's poor record on having fair elections we can expect it again 2014 & 2016) Add to this restrictions on a number of goods going in and out of Harlem . One should be able to imagine this scenario since the US itself had the racist unjust Jim Crow laws right up til the 1960s and 1970s. Or just take a look at South African Apartheid which the USA supported for decades esp. people like Sen. Jesse Helms and Sen. John McCain etc.

Imagine if each time someone from Harlem was even suspected of having robbed or beaten, or killed someone outside Harlem that the NYPD were then allowed to either shoot rockets into the civilian population or to enter Harlem in full force indiscriminately killing people in Harlem would this be justified . To do so is to contravene international law by punishing the population on the whole or collectively for the crimes of one or of a few. As it is Black and Hispanic Americans are already stopped and frisked at the whim of a police officer in New York as Arabs or those who look like Arabs are stopped by police and /or IDF in Israel even if they are considered Israeli citizens.

Imagine for a moment certain highways in America or some other Western Nation which were reserved for "White's Only" or "Christians Only " and that everybody else were forced to drive on secondary highways which were left in a decrepit state . Would Americans or Canadians or Europeans think this was fair.


Israel is accused of for instance using banned weapons during their bombings and invasions of Gaza such as "White phosphorus ", "cluster bombs", 'land mines" and weapons using depleted uranium besides attacking Civilian Infrastructure including schools, hospitals, apartment buildings , private businesses , government buildings , attacking first-responders , doing the old double taps using a second strike to deliberately maim and kill those who try to help the victims of a first strike . Israel's forces the IDF etc. do not discriminate between civilians and armed combatants and has on occasion fired upon enemy combatants who wave a white flag trying to surrender.

Given that the Bush and now the Obama regime have committed the same war crimes as Israel the US therefore since the US doesn't want to own up to its own crimes feels obliged to defend all of these unwarranted, unnecessary, illegal and immoral and inhumane uses of naked force.


And if anything since Obama was first elected in 2008 rather than going after the members of the former Bush regime who in one way or another permitted or gave the Green Light to the use of kidnapping foreign citizens aka renditions and to imprison them indefinitely then abusing and torturing said prisoners and denying them any of the rights guaranteed to all Prisoners of War or Enemy Combatants by the Geneva Conventions etc.

The USA also used illegal weapons and used them on civilian populations in Iraq and Afghanistan most notably in Fallujah when the USA armed forces declared no mercy for anyone left in Fallujah civilians or combatants were treated the same .

The US forces rained down conventional bombs, bunker busters, depleted uranium ordinances and massive amounts of White Phosphorus while blowing up schools and hospitals and civilian infrastructure such as water and waste treatment plants all in contravention of International Law . The USA in the case of Fallujah kept the Red Cross and Red Crescent and other humanitarian aid organizations out of Fallujah while the US military literally went on a rampage mass murdering alleged terrorists and innocent civilians alike. So given these crimes the US is extremely reluctant to criticize any similar actions committed by Israeli forces.


The American people and its government and the Pentagon and US military and so forth sound rather disingenuous and hypocritical when they condemn the actions of any other nations using similar tactics as the USA. What's good for the Goose is Good for the Gander . So when US troops or Israeli IDF soldiers are captured by enemy combatants or another nations troops the USA and Israel have forfeited their right to complain or to get any sympathy from the International Community. So America has to decide if it really believes in the Rule of Law or believe that "all's fair in love and war".

Maybe now the International community will see that Israel had no right attacking Gaza or keeping 1.7 million Palestinians in an open air prison.

Combining this failure with the Arab spring which is still reverberating throughout the region the Americans fear the spreading of democracy and freedom and an insistence on justice and protection of human rights . This also means these various nations and peoples will demand autonomy and freedom from foreign interference ie USA, Europe, Israel etc.

Israel's failure is a blow to the Americans and other Western Powers
'Gaza war, Israel's intelligence failure'-News Analysis-22-11-2012





and so it goes,

GORD.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

President Obama Continues With The Bush Regime's Criminal Activities Torture, warrantless Wiretaps , Indefinite Detenion etc.



Still, there's something particularly revealing about the US demanding that the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq abandon any commitment they are attempting to develop (albeit quite selectively) to basic due process rights and instead imprison anyone the US wants imprisoned - even in the absence of evidence of their guilt and even in the face of judicial findings that their detention is without evidence and unlawful. As it turns out after all, the US is indeed spreading its core values to those two nations, though those values have nothing to do with freedom and democracy except to the extent that they are the primary impediments to achieving it.

...It is ironic indeed that the US is demanding that the practice of due-process-free indefinite detention be continued in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries it invaded and then occupied while claiming it wanted to bring freedom and democracy there. But on one level, this is the only outcome that makes sense, as a denial of basic due process is now a core, defining US policy in general.

Above quote from Glenn Greenwald's recent article which is a scathing though fair critique of Obama's foreign policies US Battles Iraq and Afghanistan Over Detention Without Charges The Obama administration fights to spread its own values on the core, fundamental right of due process By Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian via Information Clearing House, Nov. 23, 2012


In the two articles below from FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting we get examples of the American and Western Mainstream Media's standard cliched and erroneous reporting on the on going conflict between Israel and Gaza in which the Media ignores that the suffering of the people of Gaza is a hundred times worse than what Israeli citizens are suffering. Once again the media ignores the criminal and inhumane and immoral treatment of 1.7 million civilians in Gaza. The Media is once again in rewriting even recent history to fit their biased narrative about Israel as the "Victim" The Media fails in its duty to honestly present the facts and not just the propaganda that spews out of Washington and Tel Aviv.

The media has an obligation to tell the truth about the Israeli blockade of Gaza which has turned Gaza into a MegaGhetto or open air prison . What Israel has been doing to the Palestinians is unconscionable and yet President Obama defends Israel and ignores the suffering of the civilians of Gaza because he does not have a sense of justice and fairness which he claims to have. Is this just part of being a real American to speak about injustice but do nothing about it.

Video: Israeli forces fire shots to disperse Palestinians by Anup Kaphle Washington Post, November 23, 2012




So is this now what President Obama and his administration and his supporters believe in that the Israeli Apartheid system is a good thing and that all Arabs should be treated like dogs . Obama is great with giving speeches but basic human rights for all no way . Whether it is the Palestinians or the Occupy Movement Obama says nothing in their defense . His Cairo speech in 2009 he has once again proving to be just an act something to tell the natives when they really get restless and stat demanding equal rights and justice. The African Americans live under various forms of segregation for a hundred years which had been preceded by centuries of slavery and so anyone who cares about human rights and justice should be outraged at how Israel treats the Palestinians in the Occupied territories or in the Gaza Ghetto.

It seems that if tomorrow the Israeli government were to drop nuclear bombs on Gaza President Obama would come up with some justification for the action so he would not be seen criticizing Israel.

Cruelty At Israeli Apartheid's Racist Checkpoints

"Animals. Animals. Like the Discovery Channel. All of Ramallah is a jungle. There are monkeys, dogs, gorillas. The problem is that the animals are locked they can't come out. We're humans. They're animals. They aren't humans we are."
- Israeli border police (you can find at 5:03 of this video)

"We let them suffer, in the sun, in the rain, that's it. That's what I wanted to say. Let the whole world know."
- Israeli border police

"When the Palestinians come...we put on our show."
- Israeli border police

"Nobody knows about us here. Nobody in the world." - Palestinian businessman





False Balance and Civilian Suffering in Gaza Crisis by Peter Hart, FAIR : Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , Nov. 20, 2012

People who follow media criticism are likely aware of the term "false balance," used to describe coverage that presents "both sides" of an issue as if they are equivalent–when they are anything but. Does that label apply to coverage of the current Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip?

A November 15 Washington Post headline read, "Civilians in Gaza, Israel Suffer Amid Conflict." The piece would appear to want to give readers the sense that comparable suffering is occurring on both sides. But reality tells a different story–one that is not so symmetrical.

The piece begins in a Gaza hospital, where an eight-month-old with a shrapnel wound to the head is being treated. She does not survive, and becomes at that point the 16th Palestinian to die in the current violence. But the Post nonetheless tries to stick to the formula:

As the Israeli military assault ramped up and militants retaliated with rockets, civilians on both sides faced painful but all-too-familiar scenes.

On the Israeli side, three have died from rockets fired from Gaza. And these deaths, Israeli officials argue, were preventable:

Israel's minister for civil defense, Avi Dichter, told reporters that the three would not have died had they followed instructions and stayed in a shelter or in the rear of their apartment.


Few in Gaza can hide in bomb shelters or rely on air raid sirens to warn of incoming attacks. But the media desire to make the suffering seem proportional could be seen elsewhere. In the Los Angeles Times (11/17/12), Edmund Sanders reported:

Back-and-forth violence between Israel and Hamas left civilians on both sides digging out of rubble and broken glass Saturday as the conflict entered its fourth day.

At that point, 38 Palestinians had died. In Israel, meanwhile:

In Israel, three people were injured Saturday by rockets fired into southern Israel.

The military released a photo of one house in Ashdod, where window frames and glass shards blanketed one home's living room.

No one should minimize the fear of living anywhere where bombs or rockets are falling. But given the one-sided death toll of the attacks on Gaza–three Israeli deaths and over 120 Palestinians–media accounts that try to paint a "balanced" picture do a great disservice to reality.


What's Missing from CBS's Gaza History? by Peter Hart, FAIR : Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting ,Nov. 21,2012

Giving viewers a quick sense of context and history is important in any story, but especially in the Israel/Palestine conflict. Doing a bad job of it is perhaps worse than not doing it at all.


CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley gave this summary on November 19:

We wanted to remind you tonight of what Gaza is and how it came to be. The Gaza Strip was laid out in 1949 after the war that created Israel. It's home to Palestinians displaced in that war and to the generations that followed. Only 25 miles long, roughly ten miles wide, Gaza's population is 1.7 million, most of them living in poverty. Israel captured Gaza in 1967 and occupied it until 2005. One year later, the Hamas political party won the election there. The U.S. says the Hamas military wing is a terrorist organization.

Rocket attacks from Gaza have been frequent for years. Israel says the goal of this military operation is to destroy those rockets, missiles, and their launchers.

To summarize: Gaza is a poor place run by terrorists who frequently fire rockets at Israel.

The following night, nearly the same story (11/20/12):

Now, we want to remind you what Gaza is and how it came to be. The Gaza Strip was laid out in 1949 after the war that created Israel. It's home to Palestinians displaced in that war. 25 miles long and roughly ten miles wide, Gaza's population is 1.7 million. Israel occupied it until 2005. A year later the Hamas political party won the election there. The U.S. says the Hamas military wing is a terrorist organization.

All of this started when Israel retaliated after weeks of rocket attacks from Gaza.

So basically the same again, only this time we're told Israel's attack is in retaliation for weeks of rockets. (This is, to put it mildly, misleading.)

What's missing from both these brief histories? The previous Israeli military attack on Gaza, 2008-09's Operation Cast Lead, which killed about 1,400 Palestinians, including 344 children, and did extensive damage to the Gaza's civilian infrastructure. The assault was the subject of widespread international condemnation.

Most people in Gaza living under the current Israeli bombardment are probably thinking about Cast Lead, wondering if this round of violence will be as bad. But to CBS Evening News, when they tell viewers they want to "remind you what Gaza is," this history is not worth mentioning.



US Battles Iraq and Afghanistan Over Detention Without Charges The Obama administration fights to spread its own values on the core, fundamental right of due process By Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian via Information Clearing House, Nov. 23, 2012


In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government is engaged in a fierce and protracted battle over the fundamental right to be free of indefinite detention. Specifically, the US is demanding that the governments of those two nations cease extending this right to their citizens. As a Washington Post article this morning details, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is insisting that the US fulfill its commitment to turn over all prisons, including the notorious facility at Bagram, to Afghan control, but here is one major impediment [emphasis added]:

"Afghan and U.S. officials have also disagreed on the issue of detention without trial. Washington wants the Afghan government to continue holding certain prisoners it views as dangerous, even if there is not enough evidence to try them.

"Aimal Faizi, the chief spokesman for Karzai, told reporters Monday that detention without trial is illegal in Afghanistan and that more than 50 Afghans are still being held in U.S. custody at Bagram, 35 miles northeast of Kabul, even though they have been ordered released by Afghan courts."
...As is true in Afghanistan, this battle over basic due process rights has a long history over the course of the US occupation of Iraq. In 2008, the US refused to release imprisoned Reuters photojournalist Ibrahim Jassam despite a ruling from an Iraqi court many months earlier that there was no evidence to justify his detention and that his release was therefore compelled. For two years, the US imprisoned AP journalist Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, without charges of any kind until a four-judge Iraqi judicial panel found his detention in violation of the law and ordered him immediately released.

It is ironic indeed that the US is demanding that the practice of due-process-free indefinite detention be continued in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries it invaded and then occupied while claiming it wanted to bring freedom and democracy there. But on one level, this is the only outcome that makes sense, as a denial of basic due process is now a core, defining US policy in general.

The Obama administration not only continues to imprison people without charges of any kind, but intended from the start to do so even if their plan to relocate Guantanamo onto US soil had not been thwarted by Congress. At the end of 2011, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act which codifies the power of indefinite detention even for US citizens, and - after an Obama-appointed federal judge struck it down as unconstitutional - continues vigorously to fight for that law. And, of course, the power to assassinate even its own citizens without a whiff of due process or transparency - the policy that so upset Afghan officials when it was proposed for their country - is a crowning achievement of the Obama legacy.

It's hardly unusual, of course, for the US government self-righteously to impose principles on the world which it so flamboyantly violates. Indeed, such behavior is so common as to barely be worth noting.

Just this week, President Obama managed with a straight face to defend Israel's attacks on Gaza with this decree: "there's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders." As Liliana Segura, Jemima Khan and Reason's Mike Riggs all quickly noted, this pronouncement came from the same man who has continuously rained down missiles on the citizens of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other countries. Meanwhile, UN Ambassador Susan Rice took to Twitter last night to denounce changes to a draft UN resolution that condemns "extrajudicial killing" - even as her own nation and its closest Middle East ally continue as the global leaders of this practice.


President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan is fighting with the Obama administration insisting contrary to Obama administration that all detainees/prisoners be no longer held indefinitely and that all should be charged with offenses and have their day in court or just released. The irony here in this case is quite shocking given America's claim to fight on behalf of freedom, democracy and the rule of law as Glenn Greenwald in his article has justly pointed out.

Karzai orders ‘full Afghanization’ of U.S.-run Bagram prison by Pamela Constable Washington Post , Nov. 2012


KABUL — President Hamid Karzai has ordered his aides to institute the “full Afghanization” of the U.S.-run prison at Bagram air base, charging that American forces are continuing to detain Afghans despite a bilateral agreement in March to transfer all prisoners to Afghan authorities.


In a Pashto-language statement tweeted from the presidential palace late Sunday after Karzai met with his top security officials, the president complained that some prisoners ordered released by Afghan courts are still being held by U.S. forces...


and so it goes,

GORD.