Jeremy Schill debates Pro-Israel fanatic Ed Koch who can only speak using AIPAC neo-con Christian Zionist talking points. Koch and other Americans believe God created Israel (And the United States of America) not the United Nations and so Israel (& the USA) is above reproach no matter what they do.
And here's a few quotes to show Israel's leaders belligerence, animosity and racist attitudes towards Palestinians , all Arabs and All Muslims. Israel's leaders from the 1940s t0 the present intend by any and all means necessary to restore the Biblical Eretz Israel in which there is no room for non-Jews. After driving out the Arabs and Muslims will Israel then go after other minorities in Israel.
"We must expel Arabs and take their places."
-- David Ben Gurion, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985.
"There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."-- Moshe Dayan, April 1969, Ha'aretz; quoted in Edward Said, 'Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims', Social Text, Volume 1, 1979, 7-58.
"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs."
-- Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25, 1982.
"The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized .... Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever."
-- Menachem Begin, the day after the U.N. vote to partition Palestine.
"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."
-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours...Everything we don't grab will go to them."
-- Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of the Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, Nov. 15, 1998.
"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial."-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 25 March, 2001 quoted in BBC News Online
...When Israeli commandos dropped from the sky, swarmed the vessels and massacred international activists, Israel lost a massive battle in its global public relations war.From: Israel's Deadly Attack on Peace Activists Provokes International Outrage, Diplomatic Crisis by joshua Holland via Alternet, May 31, 2010
By attacking the humanitarian flotilla, Israel may very well have declared war.From:
Israel’s Propaganda Machine Produces Photos That Imply Peace Activists Were Armed… With Bullet-Proof Vests by Daniela Perdomo via Alternet.org ,June 2, 2010
And the oil keeps on gushing 70,000 Barrels a day and will continue for another two months
"Pride goeth before the fall"
Holder Announces criminal and civil investigation of BP and the government would arrest and put on trial if they committed acts of gross negligence.
Finally Obama gets it! That playing along with or supporting BP was not what the public had voted they voted for equal justice for all with no exceptions.
Rachel Maddow discusses the issue of BP's existence threatened by financial liability for the Deepwater Horizon Blowout caused by BPs own criminal negligence . All this because they thought they knew what they were doing and so cut corners to get the well up and running sooner.
Rachel Maddow- Will BP survive its own disaster- (1) June 1,2010
Jeremy Scahill attempts to have a rational discussion about Israe's attack on aid to Gaza Flotilla and Israel's blockade and Ghettoization of Gaza but Koch keeps repeating AIPAC/ Israeli Islamophobic Talking points- His view Hamas is bad and so all 1.5 million citizens of Gaza must be kept on a strict diet engineered by Israel.
It is Israel which can decide what Gazans eat or if they are even permitted to eat-
Scahill points out many of the goods banned from Gaza have nothing to do with armaments such as spices , goats , food items, medical supplies, building materials etc.
Ed Koch and Jeremy Scahill Debate Israel's Justification for Attacking Aid Floatilla
June 03, 2010 — Ed Koch and Jeremy Scahill Debate Israel's Justification for Attacking Aid Floatilla visit: http://firedoglake.com
Given the logic of the right-wing Israeli government backed by the United States if an American or Israeli boat or ship was in International waters but close to Iran's legitimate waters the Iranians if they suspect the Americans or Israelis might be contemplating violent actions against Iran then Iran would have the right to board any such Israeli or U.S. vessel and arrest everyone and tow their vessels into an Iranian harbor. What's good for the goose is good for the gander . As it is Americans go ballistic if an Iranian boat even comes near an American boat or ship.
President Obama's support for Israel has deepened recently even before this weeks brutal act of piracy by the Israeli IDF against the humanitarian aid to Gaza Flotilla .
Obama has called himself a "stalwart supporter of Israel" no matter what.
Obama has approved aid to Israel for the building of more Apartheid segregated roads ala South Africa or Southern USA in the time of Jim Crow.
Obama sees no shame in supporting Israeli Apartheid
Obama is also giving aid to Israel for a new defensive missile shield-
And Obama is still gung-ho allied by Israel to allow Israel to attack Iran or even joining the Israelis in their attack on Iran. And Obama has not ruled out massive bombing of Iran followed by an American Israeli occupation .
There have even been suggestions over the last few years by Hilary Clinton , McCain & Biden that a nuclear attack on Iran is also still on the table.
The odd thing is that the Intel on Iran's supposedly alleged building of Nuclear arms and missiles which seem to echo the propaganda by the US & British and Israeli government prior to the unnecessary invasion and seven year occupation of Iraq.
Israel has also stated it will attack other nations in the region such as Syria and now as of this week its former ally Turkey . Israel to ensure its security under far right extremist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes it is justified in attacking pre-emptively other countries in the region.
Does Obama support the building of Apartheid roads in Israel? Say it isn't so ?
U.S. Funds 'Apartheid' Road Network In Israel
May 21, 2010 — Israel has been constructing a controversial segregated road network in the West Bank designed for Palestinians in which the main roads are intended for exclusive use by Jewish settlers. United Arab Emirates news agency The National has revealed that sections of the project are being financed by a US government aid agency.
USAID, which funds development projects in Palestinian areas, is reported to have helped to build nearly 71 miles of Israeli-proposed roads, despite a pledge from Washington six years ago that it would not assist in implementing what has been widely described by human rights groups and the Israeli media as Israels apartheid road plan.
Israel Ready for War on Iran
May 16, 2010 — A deputy to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this past week that their country is ready for a war on Iran.
Obama Urges Funds for Israeli Missile System
May 21, 2010 — White House aides say President Barack Obama has asked Congress for $205 million to help Israel speed up construction of a new short-range anti-missile defense system.
How many more aid flotillas will the world allow Israel to attack? by Sheera Frenkel McClatchy Newspapers Via Stopthewarcoalition June 2, 2010
As Israel prepares to stop another aid ship -- the MV Rachel Corrie -- getting through to Gaza this weekend, and another convoy is being prepared to try and break the blockade next month, how much longer will the world tolerate Israel's endless violation of international law and the lies it uses to justify its crimes?So nine dead peace activist is enough bloodshed by Israel for the moment is enough for Obama to lightly chastise Israel. Obama to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling him that recent event is basically bad PR for Israel-
Israel on Wednesday deported hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who'd been detained after its commando attack Monday on a Gaza aid flotilla, and braced for the arrival of at least one more ship attempting to break its naval blockade of Gaza.
The MV Rachel Corrie, named for an American activist who was killed in the Gaza Strip in 2003, set off Monday from Malta toward the Gaza Strip. Carrying 15 passengers, including Mairead Maguire, a Northern Irish Nobel Peace laureate, it was expected to arrive in Israel this weekend.
Derek Graham, an activist on board, said they'd attempt to break the blockade to honor the memory of the nine people killed in the previous flotilla attempt.
"It's more vital than ever that we continue. If we don't deliver this aid, then those people have died in vain," he told Irish broadcaster RTE.
and in the USA: President Barack Obama and other world leaders urged Israel to ensure that there's no recurrence of a commando raid like Monday's.
"It's important to the president and to our country that we don't see the same kind of events unfold like they did the last time. So we are talking to our partners and are hopeful that we won't see a repeat," said Bill Burton, a White House spokesman. He said the talks under way were "productive."
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called criticism of Israel's actions "an attack of international hypocrisy" and said Israel would continue to counter any attempt to breach the blockade.
"This wasn't a love ship, it was a hate boat," he said. "This was not a peaceful operation, it was a terrorist operation."
Despite demands by friends and critics of Israel to end the blockade of Gaza, Netanyahu defended it, saying it had averted possible missile attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
the dead the incarcerated-
yet 1500 dead by the end of Israeli invasion of Gaza had little impact on Obama he scolded them but didn't insist on independent investigation or possible indictments , trial and prison terms. As one state terrorist to another as it were.
By attacking the humanitarian flotilla, Israel may very well have declared war.
Israel’s Propaganda Machine Produces Photos That Imply Peace Activists Were Armed… With Bullet-Proof Vests by Daniela Perdomo via Alternet.org ,June 2, 2010
Israel’s public relations/propaganda efforts are going at full blast as the IDF tries to justify why its commandos ambushed a flotilla of humanitarian civilians in international waters Sunday, leaving at least 9 of them dead.
On the Israel Defense Ministry’s official Flickr page, photos have been posted of weapons they say were seized from the peace activists’ flotilla headed to Gaza. Let’s take a look.
...The real story is that Israel is trying to present these “weapons” to an irate international community as justification for their spineless attack on a group of humanitarians trying to protest Israel’s long-standing blockade of Gaza.
Power tools, old box-cutters, and bulletproof vests are not weapons, and they are certainly not enough to vindicate the IDF’s bellicose actions Sunday. Indeed, as my AlterNet colleague Zach Carter says, attacking a ship full of civilians has been an act of war in previous eras. Remember the Lusitania? It brought the U.S. into World War I.
Look, there really isn’t a way to rationally defend what Israel did last week, lest you really believe the talking-points spewed by mainstream media apologists. As Eli Clifton writes:
Israel knows exactly what risk it runs when it commits provocative acts such as the recent raid on the flotilla. Editorial writers and sympathetic journalists dutifully repeat the message that the Palestinian response to Israel “defending itself” could lead to a “new Intifada”. What better way to derail peace talks than to provoke violence before the parties have even gotten to the table?
By attacking the humanitarian flotilla, Israel may very well have declared war.
---
Israel's Deadly Attack on Peace Activists Provokes International Outrage, Diplomatic Crisis by joshua Holland via Alternet, May 31, 2010
The attack on the Freedom Flotilla might ultimately prove as devastating to Israel’s blanket claim that it acts proportionally and in self-defense as it was brutal for the activists aboard the ships. The troops didn’t have to board the vessels to stop them. In 1988, when the PLO announced that a ship called The Return would embark for Israel filled with Palestinian refugees, Mossad agents sabotaged the craft before anyone boarded, causing extensive damage but no loss of life. As a last resort, military commanders could have used directed fire on the motors of the ships, halting their voyage without bloodshed. (To be clear, the blockade is both ineffective and an example of collective punishment -- I’m not endorsing these actions. The point is that the operation was a tragic example of thoughtless overkill.)
...When Israeli commandos dropped from the sky, swarmed the vessels and massacred international activists, Israel lost a massive battle in its global public relations war.
A reactionary Israeli government fell into a classic trap, one that was well understood by Gandhi when he fought the all-powerful British Empire for an independent Indian state. As Yosi Melman put it, “The organizers of the flotilla wanted to present the Israel Defense Forces to the world as an army that does not hesitate to use force. The flotilla organizers wanted deaths, casualties, blood and billows of smoke.” Melman added: “Every child knows that the conflict here is one of consciousness, images, emotion and gut-feelings; not one of justice or logic.”
Helena Cobban noted that the humanitarian group had “pursued textbook rules of nonviolent action … they allowed their ships to be inspected by governments before they took them to sea, they continually announced their intention of taking the humanitarian supplies to Gaza, and they worked hard to make their action as visible as possible.”
Cobban continued:
Israel's security forces have become accustomed over many decades to using lethal force against opponents, then claiming it was the opponents who "fired first." They have become accustomed, moreover, to their government and its cheerleaders around the world having such a dominant position in the media that they can hope to have this version of events generally accepted-- or at least, accepted by enough of the people in power around the world that they don't need to worry about the real facts getting out.
Israel’s hard-line government gambled that the usual tactics would prove effective on this occasion. The Guardian reported that “a sophisticated public relations operation was underway” in Israel to influence the international media’s coverage of the carnage. “Spinners and spokesmen from the Israeli military and government departments politely answered questions [from the international media] and offered their own narrative of the day's events,” reported the Guardian, as “a barrage of emails and text message alerts firing into inboxes” provided the official version of events. Here in the U.S., AIPAC, the Israeli right-wing’s premiere Washington lobbying group, shot off dozens of releases to reporters accusing “the terrorist-linked flotilla organizers” of being in league with Al Qaeda.
and of course Biden and Obama are going to defend Israeli action because according their world view even givng food and building materials to Gaza is no different from giving them weapons because then even more Palestinians might be able to survive the blockade or will suffer less.
Obama& Biden like Bush & Cheney believe that in matters of America's security it has the right to pre-emptive war ie Iraq and drone attacks , plus renditions, targeted assassinations, death squads -so we have two rogue states who have no interest in International Laws unless those laws defend any and all actions taken by Israel or the US for reasons of security no matter how twisted and vague.
What if all nations followed the US example acting unilaterally permitted to be on the offensive as in pre-emptive wars blowing up cities raining phosphorus down upon the innocent and the guilty as God or Gods wills it.
So Biden , Hillary Clinton & Obama no longer recognize any International Laws regarding the High Seas or International Law of the sea. Like the Geneva Conventions and the special convention on treatment of prisoners are just part of some international conspiracy to leave the US and Israel unable to defend themselves against Peace Activists armed with some pepper spay and cans of food.
When the British attacked the ship Exodus in 1947 they claimed they had been attacked by passengers / ill-legal Jewish immigrants defending themselves with cans of food and kitchen utensils- of course the difference in these two incidents the Israeli and Americans claim are not comparable because the people on the Exodus had God on their side & by retaking Israel they were fulfilling a promise made to them by Jaweh some 2-3 thousand years previous.
As for this notion that there are legal channels which have been established by Israel to get aid to Gaza is a sop -because it still means that the Gaza Ghetto is being directly controlled by Israel . And as mentioned above didn't Israelis as survivors of the Holocaust / Shoah had to face armed British forces in order to try to land in Palestine.
It is possible this may wake up the international community that Israel has become more and more a lawless state which no longer recognizes the UN or International Law- it is ironic that it was the United Nations and the creation of more International Laws that the State of Israel was created with no regard though to the million or so Palestinian Arabs living in Palestine. They claim that for some 1,000 to 2000 years no group occupied Palestine or The Holy Land on a continuous basis. Yet Arabs and others lived there including Muslims, Christians and Jews for over a thousand years.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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