Maybe Obama's administration can insist that all individuals detained by American forces be treated fairly and justly according to the Geneva Conventions and not merely according to America's whims.
Maybe Obama can insist that all Americans no matter what their color or religion or ethnicity or even their class whether they are rich or poor that they too be treated fairly and justly and that even the refugees of New Orleans or the homeless Iraq War Vets be treated better by America.
Flobots-" Stand Up "
And here's a bit from Keith Olbermann on the lack of balanced coverage of the Gaza Situation . The Media and politicians take it for granted that the Palestinians are all evil and deserve what they get.
Obama's Silence Resonating Very Strongly In The Middle East
http://cspanjunkie.org/
January 05, 2009 MSNBC Keith Olbermann
It appears according to some Rabbis in Israel that all the people in Gaza are collectively responsible for the actions of Hamas and therefore the people of Gaza can be collectively punished. So the former Sephardic chief Rabbi (in 2007) argued that according to the Bible Israel would be justified in carpet-bombing Gaza and killing all the civilians they have to til Hamas stops sending rockets into Gaza . The problem is that Israeli spokespersons have indicated that Israel's goal is not just to stop rocket fire but also to eliminate Hamas' power or even destroy all of Hamas fighters and supporters and make sure they are unable to get back into power.
So how many thousands of Gazan civilians will have to die either during this current action or will further actions be necessary against Hamas and the Palestinians in the near future. Or will Israel revert to its earlier program of starving to death the people of Gaza by not allowing any humanitarian aid beyond a trickle into Gaza.
It should be noted that the tunnels into Egypt that the Israelis are attacking do not just bring in weapons as the Israelis claim to Gaza but also other banned goods such as food and medicine . Its odd if Hamas has been able to smuggle in weapons why is it they appear to have no more than rifles and home made rockets that miss their targets most of the time.
Condoleeza Rice and President Bush and all the Neocons and most of the Mainstream Media in the United States and Canada back Israel even if it slaughters every last person in Gaza.
"Eliyahu advocates carpet bombing Gaza" The jerusalem Post, 2007
All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.
The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.
According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals. In Gaza, the entire populace is responsible because they do nothing to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.
The former chief rabbi also said it was forbidden to risk the lives of Jews in Sderot or the lives of IDF soldiers for fear of injuring or killing Palestinian noncombatants living in Gaza.
Eliyahu could not be reached for an interview. However, Eliyahu's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, who is chief rabbi of Safed, said his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers. Rather, he advocated carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.
"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."
In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."
Eliyahu wrote that "This is a message to all leaders of the Jewish people not to be compassionate with those who shoot [rockets] at civilians in their houses."
And here's more evidence on Israeli War Crimes:
"Israelis 'Bombs Civilian Shelter' Kills 30 People" By BBC Jan. 09, 2009
-- -Israeli forces shelled a house in the Gaza Strip which they had moved around 110 Palestinians into 24 hours earlier, the UN quotes witnesses as saying.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called it "one of the gravest incidents" since the beginning of the offensive.
The shelling at Zeitoun, a south-east suburb of Gaza City, on 5 January killed some 30 people, the report said.
Israel said the allegations were being investigated.
"According to several testimonies, on 4 January Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zeitoun (half of whom were children) warning them to stay indoors," the OCHA report said.
"Twenty-four hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30."
The UN said those who survived and were able walked 2km to the main north-south road to be transported to hospital in civilian vehicles.
"Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died upon arrival at the hospital," the report said.
Naomi Klein suggests that Boycotting Israel maybe the only weapon left to fight the Israel continuing its War Crimes and Crimes against humanity and to bring down its Apartheid system.
"Want to End the Violence in Gaza? Boycott Israel." By Naomi Klein, The Nation January 09, 2009 "Alternet"
-- - It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.
In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." The campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions -- BDS for short -- was born.
Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors stationed in Israel. It calls for "the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions" and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid struggle. "The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves.… This international backing must stop."
... And there are indeed deeply distressing echoes of South African apartheid in the occupied territories: the color-coded IDs and travel permits, the bulldozed homes and forced displacement, the settler-only roads. Ronnie Kasrils, a prominent South African politician, said that the architecture of segregation that he saw in the West Bank and Gaza was "infinitely worse than apartheid." That was in 2007, before Israel began its full-scale war against the open-air prison that is Gaza.
Israel targets TV station in Gaza- Contempt for Journalists and Freedom of The Press -
Given the Bush Regime's contempt for Freedom of the Press and Real Journalism Bush & Condoleeza Rice and Karl Rove Cheney etc must be proud of these Israeli attacks. This blood should be on their heads but like the Israelis they will never pay for their crimes .
Condoleeza Rice the darling of the Neocons makes another sloganeering pro-Israeli speech at the UN. She is very concerned about Israeli soldiers and citizens but is quite dismissive of the War Crimes committed by the Israeli forces. These are just more of those "Birth pangs" she has often talked about . She is quite adamant about defending the Bush Doctrine that anyone who gives any aid or shelter to so-called Terrorists are themselves guilty as I guess are their children and their children's children etc. So the deaths of hundreds of children means little to one as cold as her. Maybe if she actually went to Gaza or even Iraq or Afghanistan and saw the dead she wouldn't be such a cold hearted war monger. If you listen to her speak she sounds like a University student delivering a report to a graduate class or as part of a debating team. The problem is that people's lives are at stake and her ideological stand is just a lot of empty rhetoric to those who are just abandoned and left to suffer and die.
Even now she acts as if she were trying to explain the reality on the ground to the members of the UN. Once again she feels no shame in helping to obstruct the UN . As in the case of Israel's attack on Lebanon is she just trying to play for time so the Israelis can continue their action to achieve most of their goals or is she just playing for time til President-Elect Obama takes power.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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