Ken O’Keefe in Berkley – March 2016 – “Jewish Power” & World Citizen Solutions

Published on Mar 26, 2016

In this talk Ken rips into politically correct barriers and speaks frankly about the challenges we face in the cause of creating a better world. Ken is currently touring the USSA on his ‘Fuck the TSA/Homeland Security Tour’, for the latest dates and times of Ken’s speaking engagements check the Facebook page set up for this purpose; https://www.facebook.com/events/59563…

A ray of sunshine, US Congressmen Call for Investigation into israel’s Crimes

US Congressmen Call for Investigation into Israeli Crimes

US Senator Patrick Leahy, along with 10 other Democratic congressmen, have called on the US to investigate the possibility of “gross violations of human rights” by Israel’s and Egypt’s security forces, including “extrajudicial killings.”

US Senator Patrick Leahy together with US Secretary of State John Kerry in March, 2014. (Photo credit: leahy.senate.gov)

Leahy, who has in the past sought a greater role for human rights in US foreign policy, made the request in a joint letter, sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 17, suggesting that if the reports of rights violations should be proven, US military assistance should be cut off.

“There have been a disturbing number of reports of possible gross violations of human rights by security forces in Israel and Egypt — incidents that may have involved recipients, or potential recipients, of US military assistance,” the congressmen said in the letter published on Tuesday by Politico.

According to Ma’an, the letter cited findings by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations of “extrajudicial killings by the Israeli military and police of Fadi Alloun, Saad al-Atrash, Hadeel Hashlamoun, and Mutaz Ewisa,” as well as several cases of torture.

“We urge you to determine if these reports are credible and to inform us of your findings,” the congressmen said.

The letter went on to say they had received information that the usual mechanisms in determining the provision of US military assistance and monitoring its use had been “hindered” by a “unique situation” created since the Camp David Accords.

It suggested the US State Department and Department of Defense may be in breach of the Leahy Law — a law named after the Vermont senator that prohibits the provision of military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

If the reports were proven true, the congressmen said, the US should “take appropriate action called for under the law.”

The letter also cited human rights violations carried out by the Egyptian army, including the 2013 massacre in Rabaa Square and a number of recently documented Egyptian “extrajudicial killings.”

Every year, the US provides over $3 billion worth of military assistance to Israel, and is currently negotiating a package for the next 10 years that is expected to see that amount increase. Hundreds of millions of dollars have also been provided to the Egyptian army since it toppled the nation’s first democratically elected president in 2013.

The letter was sent before a soldier’s gruesome killing of a wounded Palestinian in Hebron caused international outcry last week, an incident one senior UN official branded an “extrajudicial execution” and a “gruesome, immoral, and unjust act.”

Israeli forces have faced repeated criticism for their excessive use of force against Palestinians since a wave of unrest swept Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory last October.

More than 200 Palestinians have now been shot dead by Israeli forces, some in clashes, the majority after they had been accused of attacking or attempting to attack Israelis, with nearly 30 Israelis killed in the same period.

However, human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israeli forces for opening fire on Palestinians who posed no imminent danger, in killings they say amount to “extrajudicial executions.”

Syrian Front: Over 1000 IDPs Return Home Daily

Report of the Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides in the Syrian Arab Republic (March 30, 2016)

General information on the application of measures for the reconciliation of opposing sides

Specialists of the Russian Centre for reconciliation held consultations with authorities of the Hama and Aleppo provinces. The sides discussed issues of ceasefire regime and humanitarian aid providing. Preliminary agreements with representatives of two inhabited locations of the Hama and Homs provinces have been achieved.

The total number of settlements, the leaders of which have signed reconciliation agreements, has remained 51.

The number of ceasefire application forms signed with leaders of armed groupings has remained 43.

Within last 24 hours, the Russian Centre has received 897 appeals from militants, who had decided to lay down their weapon and return to peaceful life.

Results of ceasefire monitoring

All sides involved in the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic confirm significant reduce of warfare intensity. Thus, on the average, 12-15 violations were registered daily in the early March. However, the number of daily violations has reached 5-7 ones a day.

In general, the ceasefire regime in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic has been observed.

In the course of last 24 hours, 6 ceasefire violations have been registered (Aleppo – 5, Latakia – 1).

In Aleppo, armed formations of Ahrar al-Sham grouping, which had claimed to belong to the opposition, performed shelling with multiple launch rocket systems against Sheikh Maqsood from Sakan al-Shababi.

In the Aleppo province, Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki detachments took efforts to conduct offensive against positions of the government troops in Basufan after performing preliminary bombardment.

Ahrar al-Sham militants carried out shelling with a tank and mortars of positions of the government troops near Hara, Maraanaz and al-Malikia (Aleppo province).

In the Latakia province, Ahrar al-Sham militants opened fire with small arms and mortars against positions of the government troops near Qaramanli.

Russian Aerospace Forces and Syrian Air Forces did not make strikes on armed formations, which follow ceasefire regime and informed the Russian or American Centres for reconciliation about their location.

Humanitarian aid to the population of Syria

Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides has held working session with representatives of the Ministry of the National Reconciliation of the Syrian Arab Republic. The parties discussed issues of humanitarian aid providing.

In course of last 24 hours, the Russian Centre has transported 4.4 tons of humanitarian cargos to the Aleppo province for further delivering aid to citizens of most damaged towns and villages.

Additional information

Leadership of the Russian Centre for reconciliation (Hmeymim airbase) and the American Coordination Centre (Amman) held another teleconference session. The sides discussed situation in different regions of the Republic, ceasefire observing, facts of ceasefire violation, and issues of interaction in providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian population.

According to information received from citizens of the Aleppo province, officers of the Turkish Armed Forces are recruiting militants for Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist grouping in Mareaa and Azaz.

Jabhat al-Nusra continues performing provocative acts in Aleppo. Within last 24 hours, terrorists opened mortar fire against Sheikh Maqsood from Ashrafiyah for three times. Kurdish militia detachments fired in respond.

The Russian Aerospace Forces aviation group in the Syrian Arab Republic carried out strikes against ISIS terrorist formations near Al-Qaryatayn and in regions of close vicinity to Tadmor (Palmyra, Homs province).

The Russian aviation group has performed 23 sorties at nighttime engaging 54 terrorist objects of ISIS. The aircraft have eliminated 4 control centers, 6 artillery guns and mortars, 3 ammunition depots, 2 POL depots, 18 off-roaders with armament, an air defence system and more than 60 militants.

Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation ordered to send specialists of the International Mine Action Centre to Syria for mine clearance in Palmyra

According to the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation has ordered to send specialists of the International Mine Action Centre to Syria for humanitarian mine clearance in the city Palmyra, which had been liberated from ISIS terrorists by the Syrian Army.

After practical training and a briefing on particularities of humanitarian mine clearance in the historical part of Palmyra conducted in the Nakhabino town (Moscow Region), the servicemen of a compounded detachment of the International Mine Action Centre have embarked on an aircraft of the Military transport aviation at the Chkalovsky airfield and departed to the Hmeymim airbase.

The mine clearance detachment of the International Mine Action Centre of the Russian Armed Forces is completely autonomous and equipped with the most advanced demining sets and protection suits (selective portable inductive mine detectors IMP-2S, portable explosive device control wire searchers PIPL, portable searchers of proximity explosive devices INVU-3M, combined arms demining suits) as well as life support means (autonomous electric supply systems, field kitchens, tents and containers for accommodation of servicemen).

Along with sapper units the detachment also includes a team with mine-detecting dogs.  During the mine clearance robotic complexes Uran-6 will be used.

Earlier the first group of specialists with engineer equipment and sappers’ mobile camp equipment had embarked on an An-124 Ruslan aircraft and departed to the Hmeymim airbase.

Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

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1,000 people displaced inside Syria daily return home

GENEVA, March 30. /TASS/. Moscow welcomes the return of people internally displaced inside Syria to their homes, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the high-level meeting on global responsibility sharing through pathways for admission of Syrian refugees on Wednesday.

“The situation with people internally displaced inside Syria remains in the focus of our attention,” the top-ranking diplomat said. “We see a positive tendency in a stable decline in their numbers over the recent time,” he said, noting that “according to available data, up to 1,000 people return to their homes every day”.

Moscow assumes that “humanitarian assistance and prospects of peaceful life for the Syrians will be a guarantee that internally displaced persons won’t join the army of refugees outside their country,” Gatilov added.

UNESCO missions should not be sent to Palmyra until demining complete

Russia has addressed international organizations, in particular UNESCO, with a proposal to assist in restoring cultural heritage in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra that was recently liberated from terrorists, Gennady Gatilov said.

“Very large territories remain mined both in Palmyra and around it,” Gatilov said. “The issue is on the agenda on taking urgent measures to demine these territories. Without this, measures to restore destroyed monuments should not be taken,” he added.

Opposition’s disunity, absence of Kurds hinder intra-Syrian negotiations

The disunity of the Syrian opposition and the absence of Kurdish representatives in the delegations have a negative impact on the course of the intra-Syrian negotiations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister went on to say.

“This, of course, would be preferable,” he said, answering a question about the need to unite the opposition groups into a single delegation.

“In order to achieve results, ideally it is necessary to have two sides: the government delegation and the opposition delegation,” Gatilov said. “But the real situation is such that it (the opposition) cannot unite due to the existing contradictions between different groups.”

According to the Russian deputy foreign minister, the UN leadership and the UN special envoy for Syria realize this. “They call upon all countries that have the corresponding influence on individual groups, to exert efforts to bring them to a common platform,” he said. “It is no easy task, because there are contradictions not only between the groups, but also within them, between their individual members. This has a negative impact on the course of the intra-Syrian negotiations.”

According to the high-ranking diplomat, “The same applies to the absence of Kurds at the negotiations.” “The Kurdish opposition has still not been presented [in the negotiations],” he said. “This situation needs to be corrected.”

On March 24, the first round of indirect intra-Syrian talks ended in Geneva. Their participants — a delegation of the Syrian government and a delegation of the opposition – did not meet each other but communicated through special envoy of the UN secretary general on Syria Staffan de Mistura. Discussions are due to resume in the first half of April.

On Saturday, Russia’s envoy to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva Alexei Borodavkin told TASS that overall, “the delegations have demonstrated a serious approach and an intention to discuss practical ways of getting out of the Syrian crisis. No one, and this has been noted by the special envoy [Staffan de Mistura], tried to blame the other side for illegitimacy,” Borodavkin said.

According to the diplomatic official, “it is important to ensure presence of a wide spectrum of Syrian opposition groups in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution and the documents of the International Syria Support Group in this round [of talks].” Meanwhile, Borodavkin said, “as de Mistura pointed out the delegations from the local patriotic opposition proved themselves as professionals, having prepared position papers, and demonstrated a serious approach to the discussion of all aspects of the Syrian settlement.” “The result of the round [of talks] inspires cautious optimism,” Borodavkin added.

Parties supporting Syria peace should break away from terrorist groups

To see a truce achieved in Syria it is necessary that the parties supporting the peace process break away from terrorist groups, Gatilov noted.

“The main task as concerns the ceasefire is to determine the parties to which the truce applies, and those that continue hostile activity and reject a political settlement, against which military operations will continue,” the diplomat said.

He said this was the subject matter of a dialog with American partners. “Of course, everybody voted for the UN Security Council resolution on those groups that must be recognized as terrorists, but there are certain nuances – some terrorist groups have turned out to be intermingled with each other,” he went on.

“Those who recognize the political process and are ready to participate in the ceasefire must simply break away from terrorists adhering to other positions,” Gatilov said.

“Then, strikes won’t target them. If they are really in favor of a peace dialogue, they should behave respectfully,” the top diplomat added.

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The army establishes control over a hill in eastern Hama, destroyed 5 vehicles for terrorists in Daraa and Sweida
30 March، 2016
Provinces, SANA

The army continues its operations against ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations all over the country, taking control of more areas and destroying vehicles and weapons for the terrorists.

Hama

An army unit, in cooperation with the popular defense groups, carried out operation against ISIS fortified sites and gatherings in which established control over Tabaret al-Dibe hill in Salmiya area the eastern countryside of Hama province.

During the operation, many of ISIS terrorists were killed and their vehicles and fortified sites were destroyed.

Sweida

An army unit targeted a gathering of ISIS terrorists in Bir al-Tanmiyeh area in the eastern countryside of the southern Sweida province, destroying 4 vehicles transporting terrorists, arms and ammunition, a military source told SANA on Wednesday.

Daraa

In the eastern countryside of the neighboring Daraa province, an army unit hit movements of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in the northern side of Tuloul Khleif near Um Walad village, located on border with Sweida, destroying a car equipped with a heavy machinegun.

Deir Ezzor

Army continued its operations against ISIS gatherings and fortified sites in Deir Ezzor province.

Field sources told SANA reporter that an army unit conducted an operation in al-Mattar al-Qadim neighborhood in the southern parts of Deir Ezzor city.

A 20-meter long tunnel was detonated by the army during the operation, killing many terrorists and injuring many others.

Assad: Not All Countries Ready to Accept Palmyra Liberation

Posted on March 30, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

The video above includes comments from a Pentagon spokesperson who offers the view that Russia is playing a positive, constructive role in Syria. But in the article below from Press TV, we see Gen. Philip Breedlove basically dissing Russia as a threat to world peace and announcing the deployment of an additional US armored brigade in Eastern Europe, right on Russia’s doorstep.

This isn’t by any means the first time we’ve heard statements of a contradictory nature emerging from various US officials. Is the US government exhibiting a collective case of bipolar disorder? Perhaps, but it occurs to me that another possible explanation is that within the government are rogue elements that are acting outside of the president’s authority. Obama at the moment seems to be trying, not matter how clumsily, to steer the US away from an open conflict with Russia. But I would say it’s also a safe wager that there are those within the government intent on thwarting him in that effort.

Similar type forces are also operating within the British government–and of course the Zionist-controlled media is a factor in this passion play as well. A headline that appeared today at the neocon Foreign Policy magazine is quite illustrative: “Putin’s Attack Helicopters and Mercenaries are Winning the War for Assad.” The article refers to Putin as “the Russian strongman” and accuses him of “lies and distortions.”

By any rational, sane assessment the liberation of Palmyra is a wonderful thing for humanity, and it would not have been possible without Russian air support. In the 10 months the city was under ISIS control, its vast wealth of Greco-Roman antiquities underwent extensive damage. But indications are that portions of it are salvageable, and archaeologists the world over are already starting to discuss possibilities for restoration.  This is humanity’s collective cultural heritage, and every human being on the planet who values that heritage owes Putin a debt of gratitude.

Foreign Policy was founded by Samuel Huntington, the progenitor of the “clash of civilizations” theory. That a Zionist, neocon news outlet would accuse a man like Putin of “lies and distortions” is not merely a case of blatant caviling. It borders upon the felonious.

Should Hillary Clinton win the presidency, I suspect a war with Russia will become a foregone conclusion. Hillary’s comparison of Putin to Hitler is not the only reason I say this. Her personality is the other reason. Mrs. Clinton strikes me as someone who could easily be manipulated by the Zionists in the State Department, much more so than Donald Trump. The latter, for all his shameless pandering to AIPAC and his dubious honors from the Algemeiner, is far less likely to be finagled or cajoled into a war with Russia than Clinton. “America is a thing you can move very easily.” So said Benjamin Netanyahu famously in 2001. A Hillary Clinton presidency, should such come to pass, could well see those words borne out more precariously and dangerously than under any previous predecessor.

***

US to Employ Additional Armored Brigade in Eastern Europe

Press TV

The United States is stepping up its military presence on Russia’s backdoor by deploying an additional armored brigade in Eastern Europe, the Pentagon says.

US General Philip Breedlove, the top US commander in Europe, said in a Wednesday statement that the brigade will begin continuous rotations from early 2017.

The new measure, which will bring the US Army’s presence three fully manned combat brigades, was stated as a response to “an aggressive Russia” amid a crisis in eastern Ukraine.

“This army implementation plan continues to demonstrate our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our NATO allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in Eastern Europe and elsewhere,” Breedlove said.

“Our allies and partners will see more capability,” he added. “They will see a more frequent presence of an armored brigade with more modernized equipment in their countries.”

The Pentagon’s proposed budget, unveiled by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter last month, shows a four-fold rise for operations in Europe, standing at $3.4 billion.

According to Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal, “These efforts demonstrate strong alliances and partnerships backed by demonstrated capability, capacity and readiness to deter aggression.”

“We have been clear that we will defend our interests, our allies and the principles of international order in Europe,” she added.

The US and its allies accuse Moscow of supporting the Russian-speaking fighters in eastern Ukraine, and supplying their troops with military aid, reinforcements, and resources, allegations the Kremlin denies.

Related Videos

Syrian Army prepares encirclement of al-Sukhna as ISIS starts escape from al-Qaryatayn

Syrian Free Press

click to enlarge ~ original link

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Other than some laughable exploits attributable to the lackeys serving the conflicted strategies of the CIA and Pentagon in northern Aleppo, there isn’t a lot to write about as the cease-fire continues fairly successfully. 

Yesterday, the SAA liberated Western Al-Hazm (Al-Hazm Al-Gharbiyya), which you can see on the map overlooks Al-Qaryatayn.

The SAA also cleared out Elevation 861 in Al-Hazm giving the army an unobstructed look straight down into the town where the SAF continues to pummel ISIS rat positions.

According to our source, the SAF decisively put out of commission 6 vehicles, 2 of which were cannon-armed pickups.

The rate of bombings by the air force is a clue to how long the terrorists are expected to hold out.  Also just liberated are Al-Raaqima Elevation and Dhahr Al-Kharnoobi.

We are watching nightly efforts to evacuate Al-Qaryatayn of ISIS family members.  I can confirm that many cars and vans containing these non-combatants have been stopped and those inside taken to detention facilities outside Homs.

In the meantime, we are watching the slow encirclement of Al-Sukhna where a few hundred ISIS rats are holed up.  Terrorist chatter indicates a desire to abandon the town before the Syrian Army’s 7-day respite is to end.

At Tafha Village, about 80 kms from Homs City, the SAF, pummeled rodent positions near Jubb Al-Jarraah.  We are seeing a pattern developing of ISIS terrorists sending their families away from the infernal scenes about to envelop the area.  This usually is followed by the SAA invading the area.  The same is taking place at Al-Busayri Village.

The liberation of Palmyra is having salubrious effects on the army’s morale.  This was a victory which resonated remarkably with the population making the army seem even more efficacious, more competent than many had thought.

It is true that Russia played a role in wiping out the terrorist presence, but, it was also the formidable coordination between the Syrian Air Force and the army on the ground which impressed so many, leading a substantial number of writers to start questioning whether the war would end soon with a stunning victory at Aleppo.

Writers are also beginning to ring the alarm bells for Erdoghan whose durability is now being questioned.

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SOURCES:
By Ziad Fadel, Syrianperspective4
Submitted by SyrianPatriots 
War Press Info Network at:
https://syrianfreepress.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/al-sukhna-al-qaryatayn/
~

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Striking Similarities Between ISIS & israel

The Striking Similarities Between ISIS & Israel’s Middle East Agendas

#JSIL, the Jewish State of Israel in the Levant, illustrates that Israel is not held to the same standards as other actors in the Middle East like ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but instead is given a pass for human rights abuses and war crimes that we condemn in groups like Daesh.

MINNEAPOLIS — What if I told you there’s a group of religious extremists destabilizing the Middle East?

Since their arrival in the region, this terrorist group has systematically oppressed the indigenous population and imposed strict rules over the practice of religion, both Islam and Christianity, and even attacked places of worship.

During one of this group’s most brutal, extended assaults in 2014, at least 2,300 people were killed, many of them children and most of them civilians. About 10,000 were wounded and at least 300,000 left homeless in the aftermath.

They’re engaged in a violent struggle to secure the region’s energy resources, and have engaged a lengthy blockade over a crucial port, preventing everything from crayons to medical supplies from reaching the region’s starving population.

Water and power are unreliable, and unemployment is rampant.

And this terrorist group regularly kills journalists, demolishes homes, hospitals, and schools, and targets key agricultural staples like olive trees to further damage the ability of the local population to survive.

You may have assumed I was talking about Daesh, an Arabic acronym for the terrorist group commonly known as ISIS or ISIL in the West.

But, actually, through its ongoing occupation of Palestine, Israel’s carried out all of these atrocities.

That’s the genius behind the hashtag #JSIL, created in 2014 by Rania Khalek, along with Max Blumenthal and other supporters of Palestinian liberation and human rights. JSIL stands for the Jewish State of Israel in the Levant, a play on ISIL, one of the names for Daesh.

JSIL illustrates that Israel is not held to the same standards as other actors in the Middle East, but instead is given a pass for human rights abuses and war crimes that we condemn in groups like Daesh.

Joining me to talk about this is Rania Khalek, an associate editor at the Electronic Intifada and a journalist whose work focuses on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as well as its influence on the military-industrial complex and the police state.

Watch the latest full episode of Behind The Headline with Mnar Muhawesh

 

How The USA Continues To Arm al-Qaeda

How The U.S. Continues To Arm al-Qaeda

Exhibit 1

According to rebels in the Turkish border zone, weapons have flowed steadily into Syria since the ceasefire began. Even those who hope for a political settlement aren’t betting on one any time soon. Instead they’re stockpiling for the next round, which they expect will be as desperate as the last.
…
“We ask the Friends of Syria and they give us,” [Colonel Hassan Rajoub, commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Division 16], said with a smile. “They have just now given us new supplies of everything. But we want some special weapons to give us a little bit of leverage.”
…
[S]everal FSA commanders said the United States had been forthcoming during the ceasefire period, replenishing arms stocks and leaving open the possibility that some anti-aircraft missiles might be released into northern Syria.“We expect a surprise,” said one satisfied commander.
…
“The U.S. military commanders are always with us,” Rajoub said. “We ask. They are very cooperative. They understand our needs.”

—
Around Aleppo, It’s Not Peace—Just a Break, Thanassis Cambanis, Century Foundation, March 28 2016

Exhibit 2

Hard-core Islamists in the Nusra Front have long outgunned the more secular, nationalist, Western-supported rebels. According to FSA officers, Nusra routinely harvests up to half the weapons supplied by the Friends of Syria, a collection of countries opposed to Assad, and has regularly smashed FSA factions that were corrupt and inefficient — or that Nusra thought were getting too strong or too popular.

—
The Syrian Revolution Against al Qaeda, Thanassis Cambanis, Foreign Policy, March 29 2016

AIPAC Conference just a vehicle for repeating disproved israeli propaganda & for politicians to prostrate themselves in support

Three Days Undercover at the Israel Lobby’s Biggest Policy Conference

Neither American Zionism nor K Street venality can fully explain the cult-like nature of AIPAC.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a cult, and like most cults, its followers would probably object to the characterization.

To AIPAC’s 100,000 members and to the 18,000 delegates who attended its annual convention last week in DC, the organization serves a heroic purpose by securing the protection of Israel, and by extension, the Jewish people. To its detractors, it is a manifestation of the most toxic elements of Zionism and a symptom of the corruption that allows lobbying groups to further their agendas by buying politicians (though not a PAC itself, Israel lobbies politicians through a series of small affiliated PACs).

But neither American Zionism nor K Street venality can fully explain the cult-like nature of AIPAC. Though there’s a lot of talk about “Jewish values” and protecting “the Jewish people,” little about the organization qualifies as Jewish in a traditional religious sense. (In fact, the Torah explicitly forbids the state-sanctioned bribery that lobbying groups like AIPAC practice: “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent”—Exod. 23.8.) 

AIPAC is far more of a political organization than a religious one, but its politics are based on a deliberate misreading of history that erases the Palestinian people and whitewashes Israeli crimes. What makes AIPAC a cult is that it demands unquestioning allegiance from its members—not to a charismatic leader, but to the state of Israel. Just as nothing could convince the Moonies that their beloved Reverend wasn’t the messiah, it is impossible for AIPAC’s acolytes to acknowledge even the most obvious truths about Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid policies. And even as lobbyists subvert the democratic process by paying off politicians, AIPAC’s members insist that they are the front lines of the noble fight to preserve the Middle East’s lone democracy.

Blending In

I attended last week’s conference at the Washington Convention Center. Knowing that AIPAC had denied press credentials to a number of my fellow leftist reporters, I decided to show up looking neat and clean-shaven in a navy blue suit and tie to avoid looking like a potential troublemaker.

Though Zionists are quick to shout “Jew hater!” at anyone who even mentions the possibility of “dual loyalty” among American Jews, the conference’s organizers seemed to intentionally promote this notion by handing out complimentary pins with the American and Israeli flags intertwined. I dutifully affixed the pin to my lapel, draped my laminated pass around my neck, and steeled myself for a three-day onslaught of propaganda.

When I arrived early Sunday afternoon, pro-Palestinian protesters (along with a pitifully small contingent of counter-protesters) had amassed outside the convention center after marching from the White House. Several activists unfurled a large Palestinian flag as chants of “Free Palestine” rang out. As the protest reached a fever pitch, I spoke briefly to three older Palestinian women standing quietly near the back of the protest who asked that their names not be used. One of the women told me she had immigrated to the states in 1970 and would like to go back once Palestinians are given equal rights. “As long as Americans support [Israel], it’s hard,” she said. “We have to change the American minds…they think we’re terrorists. We’re not terrorists! We just want our land.”

As I made my way through the metal detector and looked around, I couldn’t help but think that anti-Semites who imagine secretive cabals of powerful Jews would be immensely disappointed with what I saw. The building consisted of big open spaces filled with sunlight streaming through glass walls, more like an airport than a smoky back room. One was left with same drab, predictable atmosphere of any other business conference, but on a massive scale. Like your typical conference, the event featured fold-out tables displaying an array of pamphlets and flyers. Unlike your typical conference, the reading material covered subjects like Israel’s thrilling innovations in military technology and carrier screening for Jewish genetic diseases.

Many attendees had arrived thanks to some special initiative. A room near the entrance marked “African American Leadership Luncheon” was filled with black executives looking to network with influential pro-Israel activists. White AIPAC members seemed to avoid this area altogether. Close-knit groups of high school and college students on sponsored trips wandered the halls while yarmulke-clad old men clutched $5 water bottles. Floor after floor teemed with a pulsing mix of straight-laced lobbyists, fast-talking shmoozers, nutty zealots, and kvelling nerds. Everyone had “Come Together,” to quote the official motto of this year’s conference, united not by religion (a sizable portion were not Jewish) but in an unquestioning belief in the righteousness of Zionism and the infallibility of the Jewish state.

Who’s Afraid of BDS?

Down several sets of escalators was an enormous space that had been fashioned into a loose collection of booths and pavilions called AIPAC Village. A panel on “Defeating BDS on Campus: Partner Perspectives” featured several rabidly anti-BDS speakers including Rabbi Evan Goodman (executive director of Hillel at UC Santa Barbara) and Roz Rothstein (co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs). I started taking video of the panel on my phone, but moderator Adam Teitelbaum spotted me and directed an usher to stop my recording.

Teitelbaum, a sharply dressed young man with a carefully manicured beard, serves as deputy leadership development director at AIPAC. Goodman, who recently came under fire for trying to censor the writer David Harris-Gershon for his support for BDS (the boycott, divestment, sanctions movement), said the mission of Hillel “is to build Jewish identity and to build up the Jewish people and to have us be able to enact our values and to share our values out into the world.” Without saying what these values were, he proceeded to describe how his chapter of Hillel was taking five Jews and 20 non-Jews on a 10-day “fact-finding mission” to Israel: “This is a behind-the-scenes community-building trip for campus influentials…in order to build up the connection to Israel for a variety of people – not under the auspices of BDS, but instead from a positive dimension.”

Putting aside the absurdity of the phrase “campus influentials,” his description of the trip made clear that his use of the phrase “Jewish identity” had nothing to do with observing the Sabbath or learning a lesson from the story of Job; it simply means strengthening Americans’ blind faith in the Israeli state. Part of this mission involves assuring that these Americans, Jews and gentiles alike, won’t be bothered by any pesky notions of self-determination or universal human rights.

Jewish identity, in this formulation, means something not just immoral but profoundly un-Jewish. The Talmudic tradition has always valued critique and self-examination, values the Israel lobby seeks to replace with a pathological projection of Israel’s crimes onto a dangerous Other. This backward logic extends to the BDS movement, which the AIPAC cult maligns as an anti-Semitic menace despite its high-minded goals and non-violent tactics. Ten days of hasbara, or pro-Israel propagandizing, in Goodman’s estimation, will be enough to convert new recruits, refreshing their impressionable young minds like a tall glass of Kool-Aid.

The most disturbing part of the panel came in response to a question from a 60-something audience member named Bud from Dallas, who asked, “Did you establish a relationship with the ex-student associations or the alumni associations of the colleges? The alumni are the ones who are making money and they can put pressure on the administration by refusing to make contributions to the university.”

Rothstein immediately stepped in with an intentionally vague answer that amounted to a direct attack on academic free speech:

“We are about to partner with this very thing—an alumni association group builder—we’ve already built groups at Oberlin and Vassar, and hundreds of alumni in just those two universities…they’re already beginning to cultivate three other universities and they’re being very successful to build up numbers so that when there is an issue…they can come in and engage and mentor students, and come in and speak with the administration, and be part of the solution. So you’re absolutely right—we have our eye on that ball, and as a matter of fact we have just signed that partnership relationship.”

Without being totally forthright, Rothstein was praising the idea of alumni threatening to withhold donations as a means of suppressing campus activism. Steven Salaita found himself the target of a similar campaign last year, and anti-Palestinian censorship continues to be a major free-speech issue on campuses nationwide.

Pandering and Politicking

The Jewish members of AIPAC represent only a privileged sliver of the Jewish population; in Occupy terms, they are the one percent. Accusations of a powerful Jewish lobby controlling American foreign policy are almost always met with reflexive counter-accusations of anti-Semitism, but they fail to alter the disturbing dynamic of pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC leveraging money from wealthy Jews to dictate America’s policies in the Middle East. When Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer published their landmark book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy in 2007, Zionists alleged an anti-Jewish bias. Yet the book’s conclusion that AIPAC has a “stranglehold” on U.S. policy is indisputable. And though the facts speak for themselves—AIPAC dropped nearly $3.4 million on lobbying campaigns in 2015, $1.67 million of which it spent in the first half of the year alone to lobby Congress against the Iran deal—accusations of anti-Semitism dog Walt and Mearsheimer to this day.

In Edward Said’s prophetic essay, “America’s Last Taboo,” published in New Left Review in 2000, just months after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, he described AIPAC as “the most powerful single lobby in Washington.” Said trained his ire on Hillary Clinton, then a New York Senate candidate:

“No-one exemplifies the sway of AIPAC better than Hillary Clinton, outdoing even the most right-wing Zionists in fervour for Israel in her avid clawing for power in New York, where she went so far as to call for the transfer of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the grant of leniency for Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy serving a life sentence in the US.”

Despite her reputation for inconsistency, Hillary Clinton proved that not much had changed in the last 16 years when she addressed an audience of thousands at the Verizon Center on Monday morning. Clinton vilified the BDS movement as anti-Semitic and accused it of using the very tactics its proponents have often found themselves the victims of: “Don’t let anyone silence you, bully you or try to shut down debate.”

In a mindboggling critique of Trump, Clinton took aim at her Republican opponent for supporting the exact kind of racist policies Israel has embraced for years:

“In a democracy we’re going to have differences, but what Americans are hearing on the campaign trail this year is something else entirely: encouraging violence, playing coy with white supremacists, calling for 12 million immigrants to be rounded up and deported, demanding we turn away refugees because of their religion and proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the United States.”

Hillary knows that Israel’s Law of Return privileges Jews over Palestinian refugees. She knows that the Israeli government fills detention centers in the Negev with Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers, many of whom are fleeing genocide in their native countries. She’s not so ignorant that she can’t see the similarities between Trump’s fantasy and Israel’s reality; she just wants to score political points by trying to sound progressive. Judging by the ecstatic reaction to Trump that night, however, she may have misread her audience.

Gladiators at the Coliseum

Early that evening, I walked several blocks from the Convention Center to the Verizon Center to hear Trump speak (Kasich, Cruz and Paul Ryan spoke too, but Trump was clearly the man of the hour). I struck up a conversation with a middle-aged couple from New Jersey who told me they support Trump because, despite his outrageous persona, “people who know him” had assured them of his Zionist bona fides. It took every bit of self-control in my possession to stop myself from shouting, “Do you hear yourselves?” Instead I smiled, nodded and forged ahead.

The slow-moving line to get in the stadium snaked around the block. While I was waiting I met a couple from Rancho Palos Verdes who agreed that Trump was “dangerous,” but after listening to them defend Hillary along roughly the same lines as the previous couple defended Trump, my patience wore thin. Did anyone here care about things not directly related to Israel? Did they have any valid criterion for electing a president apart from, “most likely to bomb Gaza into submission?” Without exception, every single attendee I spoke with said Israel was the most important issue in the upcoming election. Considering the dismal state of American politics, this attitude is pretty extraordinary. Many people cannot afford health care or college and are facing insurmountable debt. Wall Street fleeces the middle class with impunity while nearly 50 million Americans live below the poverty line. Our prison system incarcerates more people than any nation on earth and the U.S. military budget exceeds that of the next seven countries combined.

Yet to AIPAC’s faithful acolytes, nothing matters as much as supplying Israel with billions of dollars to enforce a 50-year-old military occupation that has turned what’s left of Palestine into hell on earth. Since all the major presidential candidates (with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders) have made it clear they will do anything to appease Israeli interests regardless of the human toll, all AIPAC’s cult members can do is cheer on the candidate who appears to value Palestinian lives the least.

The Republicans who spoke Monday night turned Verizon Center into a modern-day Colosseum, playing gladiator to the Muslim boogeyman they summoned with every warning of global jihadism. Trump gave an unhinged but surprisingly lucid speech, promising to “dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.” Decrying an evil Palestinian society in which “the heroes are those who murder Jews,” Trump repeated Netanyahu’s lie that “Israel does not name public squares after terrorists.” He wrapped things up by exploiting his daughter, whose Jewish husband, New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner, helped write his speech: “My daughter Ivanka is about to have a beautiful Jewish baby!” The crowd, already worked into a frenzy by Trump’s Islamophobia, raucously cheered the Jewish baby as one of its own. The night had officially gone off the rails.

Not to be outdone, Ted Cruz began his speech with the story of Purim, using the villainous Haman as a stand-in for “radical Islamic terrorism.” Cruz took the cake for bloodlust, chastising Clinton for not doing enough to justify Israel’s war crimes during Operation Protective Edge

“Hamas would place rockets in elementary schools. They placed their headquarters in the basement of a hospital, and I would note that Hillary Clinton, in 2014, explained this as follows, ‘Hamas puts its missiles, its rockets in civilian areas, part of it is because Gaza is pretty small and it’s densely populated.’ Well, Madam Secretary, with all respect, the reason the missiles are in schools is not because Gaza is small, the reason the missiles are in schools is because Hamas are terrorist monsters using children as human shields.”

The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict concluded that Israel, not Hamas, used human shields, while the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict described Protective Edge as “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.” But to Ted Cruz and his base, the massacre is only significant insofar as it presents yet another opportunity to suck up to the Israel lobby.

Freedom Beats Tyranny

On Tuesday the conference concluded with a Skyped-in Netanyahu address and a fire-and-brimstone speech by Bob Menendez, the ethically challenged New Jersey senator who is the fourth highest recipient of donations from pro-Israel interests in Congress. Netanyahu couldn’t appear in person because he had awkwardly backed out of a visit to DC, almost certainly to avoid another acrimonious meeting with Obama.

“I’m confident that over time, the trend of embracing Israel will overcome the trend of maligning Israel,” Bibi proclaimed, “because ultimately, freedom beats tyranny.” I sidled up to a young man standing alone and asked him, “Are Palestinians under occupation free?” The man was caught completely off guard, hesitating and stammering before finally blurting out, “Ask your local AIPAC representative.” Watching hardline Zionists squirm when asked to acknowledge the existence of the Palestinian people, much less the occupation, is akin to watching a robot short circuit after having a bucket of water dumped on its head.

Menendez adhered closely to the saber-rattling tone of the conference, warning that, “Iran will never change. The devil you see now is the devil you’ve always known.” In a not-so-subtle shot at Trump’s alleged neutrality, Menendez boasted that “unlike some presidential candidates, I do not believe the United States can be neutral if Israel is to survive.” Menendez, along with fellow senators Mark Kirk and Chuck Schumer, gained attention a few years back for introducing a strict sanctions bill backed by AIPAC called the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013. Last year, the Justice Department charged Menendez with 14 counts of corruption, including eight counts of bribery. During his trial, Menendez relied entirely on pro-Israel oligarchs to cover his legal defense.

The last person I spoke to before leaving the Convention Center was a soft-spoken white-haired Californian named Walter who was standing around with his wife as the crowds started to file out after the Tuesday morning session. Playing up the danger of Iran, he asked, “How would you feel if you were to wake up tomorrow and find out there is no more Israel?”

“I don’t see it happening,” I responded, “I think Iran knows if they attack Israel, the U.S. would obliterate them the next day.”

Walter considered this for a moment. “I’m very cynical about the loyalty the United States has with Israel, because I think a lot of it is the way that organizations like AIPAC focus on it, right in that one area.” Like most of the people I talked to, Walter shared AIPAC’s single-minded focus and implacable paranoia. “They don’t get involved with anything else. They’re lobbying Congress on behalf of Israel and the bottom line is that if AIPAC wasn’t here, do you really think that Congress would really give a damn? If something did happen to Israel, everyone would go, Oh my God, what a terrible, horrible thing, and then they’d move on.”

When I mentioned that Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank lack the right to vote, Walter replied, “That’s where our son has a problem with Israel. He thinks they should back off, but the West Bank is Samaria and that is the original part of Israel. That’s where the Jews really came from.” His son “got involved in BDS for a while and stuff like that…he can’t stand things like the settlements because he thinks that’s so antagonistic it’s unbelievable, and if they stopped doing the settlements it would go a long way towards making peace.”

After listening to another digression about the rightful Jewish claim to ancient Samaria and how “it’s a pretty mixed bag of people living there,” I asked Walter and his wife Judy about their lanyards, which were a different color than mine. They explained that they were dues-paying members. I said that as a broke millennial I could barely afford the ticket. Hearing the word “millennial,” Walter struggled for the right words to describe my generation. “One thing is certain” he began, “the future is in your hands.” It was a trite but endearing sentiment and I smiled despite myself, bidding Walter and Judy goodbye before leaving the conference for good.

Robert Bryan is a journalist who has written for Jacobin and Mondoweiss among other publications

Jewish mentality: israel destroys Palestine’s power station, steals Palestinian funds & now reduces power to Palestinian city over debt

Israel to reduce power to Palestinian city over debt

Israel’s state-run electricity company was set Thursday to reduce the power supply to a Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank over a debt of $450 million, an Israeli official said.

The decision by the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) applies to Jericho and comes after the Palestinian Authority and the private Palestinian Jerusalem District Electricity Company failed to pay longstanding dues, the official said.

The debt currently amounts to more than $450 million, according to the energy industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We’ve informed all the relevant parties, and after endless attempts to reach arrangements, we’ve decided to act to reduce the debt,” the official said, adding that the Jericho move was “open-ended.”

In January 2015, the IEC cut the power to Palestinian cities for a number of hours every day over a similar debt.

It ceased doing so however the following month despite the standing debt.

The Israeli finance ministry and prime minister’s office, which would normally be involved in any decision to reduce the electricity to the Palestinians, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Palestinian officials did not immediately comment either

Human Experimentation Rampant in the USA

Human Experimentation Rampant in the USA

In an article in the New Republic in December, 1998, former UNSCOM leader Scott Ritter decried Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons experiments on human subjects. Wrote Ritter,

“We had received credible intelligence that 95 political prisoners had been transferred from the Abu Ghraib Prison to a site in western Iraq, where they had been subjected to lethal testing under the supervision of a special unit from the Military Industrial Commission, under Saddam’s personal authority.”

The stance of the United States and her allies has always been that such experiments bear the watermark of a brutal dictatorship and are never engaged in by the free world.

So when Abu Ghraib again hit the news in 2004, concerning the ongoing torture of prisoners by US forces, the US was swift to act in condemning the reports as constituting isolated incidents and not reflective of US policy.

And then the floodgates opened, with more revelations of torture, CIA “black sites” waterboarding and prisoner rape. And torture became a topic of heated debate.

Those who torture would like you to think that they do not, or that torture is necessary for reasons of “National Security.” However, any first year medical student can tell you that torture is unnecessary to gain confessions, which is the fall- back used by government officials to explain its necessity. All that is needed to obtain such ostensibly highly valued confessions is a good dose of sodium pentothal or another such chemical in the array of truth serum drugs.

What one gains by the use of torture is false confessions. False confessions would be highly valued in the continuing “war on terrorism,” to provide proof that acts of terror are being perpetrated by those who are detained.

Abu Ghraib may or may not have been the locus of experiments by the Iraqi leadership. What is certain is that the US is engaged in experiments on its own people, without informed consent, some of which achieve the definition of torture.

The US Continues to Evade the Mandates of Informed Consent

The issue of informed consent was central to the The Doctors Trials at Nuremberg, where twenty German doctors who experimented on Jews and others, often fatally, were tried and sentenced. What emerged from the Trials was the Nuremberg Code, which mandates that experimental subjects be given information about the nature of the experiment and the right to refuse.

The Nuremberg Code, however, remains a recommendation, not a law.

Some of these current experiments run by the United States are taking place within the borders of the US and some are taking place in foreign countries, with pharmaceutical and defense agencies as primary perpetrators.

As an act of apparent damage control following the 1994 disclosures of US radiation experiments during the Cold War, President Bill Clinton produced a memo, lodged in the Federal Register, calling for strengthened protections for human subjects.

These radiation experiments exposed US citizens to high levels of radiation, without informing them of the risks. According to reports, the radiation caused the deaths of a number of the experimental subjects. 

Clinton subsequently established an Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments to review reports and recommend ways to prevent further unethical research from taking place in the future.

The Advisory Committee’s recommendations included mandating informed consent of all human subjects, among other recommendations. However, the Committee´s recommendations were never acted upon. And informed consent, which constitutes the core of the Nuremberg Code, was never codified into law.

Obama Perpetuates the Myth of Legal Protections for Test Subjects

Fast forward to 2010, when another embarrassing experimental project, this time launched by the US Public Health Service in Guatemala, hit the front pages of newspapers. US researchers were reported as deliberately infecting over 1500 human subjects in Guatemala with sexually transmitted diseases. This study took place back in the 1940’s and was effectively covered up for over sixty years.

In response to this disclosure, President Obama directed the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to “determine if Federal regulations and international standards adequately guard the health and well-being of participants in scientific studies supported by the Federal Government.”

The Commission reported back in December of 2011 with their conclusions that the current US rules would deter such abuses from taking place again.

The Commission failed to take note that research protocols, classified and otherwise, are lacking an informed consent requirement. What this means is that if, for example, an intelligence agency decides to run an experiment using human subjects, that intelligence agency can waive any necessity to inform the subjects and to gain their consent.

The Commission’s report is largely a whitewash. In light of the following facts, it is clear that US nonconsensual human experimentation is rampant. Some of these experiments appear to be classified and some not. In many cases, neither the classified research nor non classified protocols appear to be abiding by the stated need for informed consent.

Children as Lab Rats

On January 4, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, which provides incentives for using children in drug trials. The Act offered pharmaceutical companies a six-month exclusivity term in return for their agreement to conduct pediatric tests on drugs. This Act was quickly followed in 2003 by the Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA). PREA authorizes FDA to require manufacturers of new drug and biologics products to conduct pediatric studies in certain circumstances.

As a result, drug trials on children have gone through the roof.

An article at medicalkidnap.com states that: “In 2006, they found that there were approximately 45,000 children participating in experiments.”

According to Victor Yeung, who is with the Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy Research, The School of Pharmacy, at the University of London, over 50% of medicines used on children are not licensed for use either for the stated disease or for the age group. 

As it eventuates, the US government is playing fast and hard with informed consent where children are involved. On the surface, it appears that parents must provide consent for children to be enrolled in drug trials. As it plays out in the real world, however, this is not always the case. Parents are often not given adequate information as to the nature of the drug experiments. And in other cases, when the parents raise questions about their children’s medical care, they may find the children taken from them by Department of Children Services. In some cases, they may even have their parental rights terminated by a court.

In 2013, Justina Pelletier was removed from her parents after an emergency trip to the hospital. Justina, who suffers from a rare mitochondrial disease, was re-diagnosed by a new intern at Boston Hospital with “somatoform disorder,” after her parents took her to the Emergency Room with what appeared to be a bad case of the flu. The diagnosis of “somatoform disorder” is a psychiatric diagnosis, which essentially stated that Justina’s disease was “all in her head.” Her parents were unhappy with Boston Hospital’s treatment plan and also with their failure to even consult with her regular doctors and refused to sign off on BH’s treatment plan.

At that point, the hospital notified DCF (aka Child Protective Services) and the Pelletiers were effectively blocked from further unsupervised contact with their daughter. Justina was placed in a locked psychiatric unit and Lou Pelletier was charged with contempt of court for speaking about her circumstances to a Boston Globe reporter.

After an extended court battle and after her plight made national news, Justina was finally returned to her parents’ care. Concerns that she may have been used in experimental drug trials continue.

The Pelletiers are suing Boston Children’s Hospital.

A similar playbook was used against Melissa Diegel, an Arizona mother of two daughters also diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial disease. Diegel has now lost her parental rights after she questioned the treatment plan for her daughters, which was put into place by Phoenix Children’s Hospital and Translational Genomics Research Institute.

In court proceedings fraught with secrecy, removal of witnesses from the courtroom, sealed records and attempts to cast Diegel as someone who had “overmedicalized” her two daughters, Judge Kristin Hoffman severed all parental rights of Melissa Diegel and ordered the two girls to be put up for adoption.

As in the case of Justina Pelletier, where her parents were deemed unfit for following the recommendations of the primary physician and not honoring the diagnosis of a new doctor, the Diegel case reveals efforts by Child Protective Services to demonize Melissa Diegel for following one doctor’s recommendations for treatment for her two daughters, rather than following the recommendations of another doctor.

Melissa Diegel states that Hanna and Kayla were enrolled in TGen drug trials.

The willingness of courts to interfere with parental rights when the children in question can be used for drug trials reveals a systemic imperative wherein science will trump the welfare of individual children. At the center of such experimental imperatives lies organizations such as TGen.

Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is situated in a modern, multi-story building in Phoenix Arizona. It was established in 2002 by Dr. Jeffrey Trent, who served for 10 years as the Scientific Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, prior to founding TGen.

TGen’s promotional literature states that: “TGen is on the cutting edge of translational research where investigators are able to unravel the genetic components of common and complex diseases. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities, TGen believes it can make a substantial contribution to the efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. TGen’s vision is of a world where an understanding of genomic variation can be rapidly translated to the diagnosis and treatment of disease in a manner tailored to individual patients.”

However, TGen may also be involved in nonconsensual human experimentation. This reporter has uncovered documentation that the Institute maintains agreements with Phoenix Children’s Hospital to refer sick children to the Institute. According to a grant proposal from TGen researcher Dr. Justin Hunter, “Dr. Saunder Bernes, senior pediatric neurologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH), has agreed to refer Arizona residents with NMD for these studies (see attached letter of support).” The grant was awarded to Dr. Hunter on October 23, 2014.

As at least two sick children, Hanna and Kayla Diegel, were “referred” to TGen with disastrous results for their family unit, one might question whether or not TGen’s research programs regularly result in terminating family rights.

PCH has continued to deny any such relationship with TGen, even in light of the documents which have surfaced.

TGen maintains numerous contracts with the federal government, including defense contracts. One of these contracts involves sequencing the genome of Burkholderia pseudomallei, which constitutes a Class B bioterror threat.

One of the problems with terminating the parental rights of experimental subjects is that reliable information as to what sorts of experiments are taking place becomes difficult to obtain.

Officials at TGen did not respond to calls from this reporter.

Creating the “Perfect Spy”

Using children as lab rats is not the only human experimentation issue that has reared its head in recent years. Following the Congressional Church Hearings of the 1970’s, the US government’s program to create the “perfect spy,” dubbed MKULTRA, was allegedly disbanded.

However, mind control experiments have continued, apparently unabated. After hearing testimony from a number of individuals alleging that they are being electronically harassed with mind-invasive technologies, the President’s Bioethics Commission issued a letter stating that it would not investigate such allegations. The letter states that “We would like to clarify for your information that the Commission is not investigating or reviewing any concerns or complaints concerning complaints about…..MKULTRA; COINTELPRO; electromagnetic torture or attacks; organized stalking; remove influencing; microwave harassment; covert harassment and surveillance; human tracking; psychotromic (sic) or psychotropic weapons and radio frequency or military weapons or other claims.”

Recent articles at such mainstream media sources as businessinsider.com have confirmed the existence of such electromagnetic weaponry. Project Censored, which operates out of Sonoma State University in California, has published a report confirming the existence of neurobiological weapons, directed acoustic weapons, electromagnetic crowd control weapons, pulsed energy projectiles and neural implants, all of which mirror the concerns and testimony of thousands of US citizens who are now alleging that these weapons have been covertly and nonconsensually tested on them.

Justice is Elusive for Test Subjects

The US continues to hold itself up as the leader of the “free world,” even in the face of such abuses of its own citizenry. As the US refuses to honor what one spokesperson called “an ´unaccountable´ World Court,” chances for those used as test subjects and denied their stated rights to informed consent in experiments to obtain justice remain slim. A lawsuit launched in 2009 on the behalf of military personnel used as chemical and biological test subjects by the US Army at Edgewood and Ft. Detrick military bases has resulted in a decision by a federal court judge that the Army should keep the subjects informed about “health information relating to their participation in chemical and biological tests spanning five decades.” No monetary damages were sought in the lawsuit. In light of the damage to the health of individuals who took part in the experiments– without adequate information as to what the experiments constituted–one might wonder if the best that can be obtained after a seven year court battle is an agreement to share such “health information” with the victims.

Tellingly, Bill Clinton’s memo of 1997 states the following: “This memorandum is not intended to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any other persons.·

Writing for mindjustice.org, attorney Cheryl Welsh states that

“…until a federal statute that secures the right of informed consent for anyone subjected to classified human experimentation is passed by the legislature and signed into law by the president, the U.S. government has the power to carry out research projects without his consent and without informing the participants of the dangers or future complications.”

Any questions? Sadly, the US government won’t be answering them…for the time being, anyway.

Janet C. Phelan, investigative journalist and human rights defender that has traveled pretty extensively over the Asian region, an author of a tell-all book EXILE, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/27/human-experimentation-rampant-in-the-united-states/

A Broad Section of the Israeli Public Supports IOF Killer, Lambastes Netanyahu

Posted on March 29, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

Elior Azaria, a medic in the Israeli Army, is accused of killing Palestinian Abdul-Fattah Sharif with a gunshot to the head.

In an analysis of public reaction to the recent videotaped execution of Palestinian Abdul-Fattah Sharif, David Sheen writes the following (emphasis added):

The family of the soldier quickly mounted a public relations campaign, with his sister telling journalists at a press conference at the family home, “Why have you judged him on the scene? … Why are you killing him without a trial?” With seemingly no sense of irony, she added, “All that’s left is for you to execute him, without him even being able to defend himself.”

Hundreds of average Israelis have since taken up the soldier’s cause, protesting across the country in support of him. The municipality of Bet Shemesh officially endorsed and advertised a demonstration Monday night under the headline “a show of support for the release of the Israeli hero,” while the municipality of Ramle has scheduled its own pro-soldier rally for Tuesday night.

You can read Sheen’s full article here. I highly recommend it. The soldier has been identified as Elior Azaria, 19, a medic in the Israeli Army. Sheen discusses some of the racist comments he is said to have posted on Facebook, including expressing his admiration of Meir Kahane. And in 2014, during Israel’s 51-day Gaza onslaught, Azaria reportedly lamented that more Palestinians weren’t being killed:  “Bibi, you faggot, what’s the deal with the cease-fire? Fuck them up! … Kill them all.”

As I reportedly previously, Sharif was killed in Hebron last week on the Purim holiday. A video surfaced almost immediately, showing that it was a cold-blooded execution of a man who posed no threat to anyone. Normally, when Palestinian deathsdo get reported by the media (which isn’t often), Israel brushes them off, usually with a vague promise of conducting an “investigation,” one that more often than not never happens.

But this incident, along with its capturing on videotape, has thrown Israeli officialdom into a state of blind confusion. Initially, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed official disapproval of Azaria’s action.

“What happened in Hebron does not represent the values of the Israel Defense Forces,” he said, adding that the Jewish state “expects its soldiers to act coolly and in accordance with the rules of engagement.”

Azaria, shortly after the video’s surfacing, was placed under arrest. And views similar to Netanyahu were expressed by Israeli military officials at the time. But then an outpouring of support for Azaria, including from opposition Israeli politicians, prompted an almost complete turnabout on the prime minister’s part.

“Any challenge to the morality of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is outrageous and unacceptable,” he said. “The soldiers of the IDF, our children, maintain high ethical values while courageously fighting against bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions.”

He added: “I am certain that in all cases, as in the current one, the inquiry takes into account all conditions. We must all support the IDF chief of staff, the IDF and our soldiers, who safeguard our security.”

Some in Israel are expressing the view that Azaria is being “hung out to dry,” and indeed it’s entirely possible that his lawyers may argue that their client, in conducting a deliberate murder of a wounded Palestinian, was simply following orders. On October 14, 2015, a month and a half into the intifada, Netanyahu made the following statement in remarks before border police units:

“I know that it requires your discretion, but have no doubt: You have complete backing – complete! – from me, from the Israeli government, and in my opinion from the nation in Israel.”

Another Israeli official caught up in discombobulation is Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, whose initial response to the Sharif execution was as follows:

“Even when our blood is boiling, we must not allow such a loss of sense, such a loss of control.” He added that while terror must be fought uncompromisingly, “woe to us if we act contrary to our moral values and our conscience.”

But back on October 9, 2015, Ya’alon’s concerns about “moral values” were far less in evidence:

“Right now is it required to respond quickly to any local attack to eliminate the terrorist stabber or the perpetrator stone thrower and the like, immediately, on the spot,” he said.

So last year top Israeli officials seemed very much to be sanctioning extrajudicial executions–the same officials who, following the surfacing of last week’s execution video, suddenly found it necessary to engage in public hand-wringing over the military’s putative “high ethical values.” And the Israeli opposition apparently sensed an opportunity.

“Has anyone heard the soldier’s side of the story?” asked Naftali Bennett, of the Jewish Home party, on his Facebook page. “The country’s leadership was quick to pounce on the soldier who shot the terrorist.”

“The prime minister and the minister of defense are looking for support among the bleeding heart liberals and the representatives of B’Tselem,” said Avigdor Lieberman, of the same party.

Polls of the Israeli public show a majority expressing support for Azaria–how much of a majority depends upon which report you read. Here is what The Guardian says:

According to a poll conducted for Israel’s Channel 2, 57% of Israelis opposed the soldier’s arrest, while 42% described his actions as “responsible.” Only 5% of those polled said they would describe the shooting as murder.

And here’s what Sheen says on the matter:

One day after the incident, an analysis of social media revealed that half of the Israeli public supported the actions of the soldier who killed al-Sharif, while the other half was critical of his actions. Two days later, once Netanyahu publicly changed his tune, a second analysis of social media revealed that 82% of the public now supported the actions of the soldier.

There is also an online petition calling for Azaria to be awarded a medal that so far has gathered more than 56,000 signatures.

Ya’alon’s comments in response to the criticism leveled by Israeli opposition politicians are also striking. He has lashed out against “ministers and members” of the Knessett for conducting what he refers to as an “unprecedented incitement campaign against the army, chief of staff, and senior commanders.” He added that their remarks are motivated by “populist” considerations “at the price of harming the military, as well as Israel’s national resilience.”

Israeli political leaders are obviously distressed and in a tizzy over the contradictions in which they  presently find themselves caught up: the need to cater to “populist” sentiments on the one hand, and the desperate urgency to fend off growing international condemnation on the other. Overwhelming public support for a murderer, on the one hand, and growing panic over delegitimization on the other. What can one do?

Netanyahu’s answer seems to be to retreat back into the macabre policy of purloining the bodies of dead Palestinians. On Monday he issued an order that no longer will the bodies of “terrorists” be returned to their families.

It doesn’t make much sense, but then there aren’t a lot of options. In Israel, moral logic is in a state of collapse, and the national psyche is in free fall.

Turkey’s Links With ISIS: New Evidence Provided by Russia

Turkey’s Links With Islamic State: New Evidence Provided by Russia

The Brussels bombings have accelerated US efforts to close off the last remaining Islamic State (IS) route out of Syria through Turkey, which officials suspect was the main thoroughfare for militants who carried out deadly attacks in Belgium and France.

On March 23, the day US State Secretary John Kerry arrived to Russia, top US diplomats pressed Turkey to embrace a proposal to rely on American-backed Kurdish fighters to shut down the highway, which the militant group use to send dozens of attackers across Europe. This is a very important news story.

«After our Aerospace Forces initiated the operation to terminate the illegal traffic, particularly of oil and oil products, from Syria… to Turkey, this traffic has decreased substantially», Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during his recent meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Moscow on the same day (March 23) to discuss Syria and other issues with Russian leaders.

«We insist on compliance with UN Security Council resolutions demanding to stop trade with the IS and other terrorists just as resolutions demanding an end to the flow of foreign terrorists, gunmen via Turkish territory to Syria», Lavrov added. «In general, although this flow has not run dry altogether, it has decreased considerably», the Minister noted. «Nevertheless, it is still there. The sector of the border between two Kurdish enclaves in northern Syria is actively used», he said.

The Russian top diplomat stressed that when the Kurds were trying to win back territory from the Islamic State group, «artillery bombardments of Kurdish positions were conducted from the Turkish side thus hampering their fight against this terrorist group».

The next day (March 24), Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, said the Russian military had received new documents confirming cooperation of the Turkish authorities with the Islamic State militants.

Last December the Russian military presented evidence to corroborate the fact that Turkey is the main consumer of oil smuggled by Islamic State from Syria and Iraq, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family were involved in the criminal business.

The Ministry’s evidence is confirmed by the documentary report on the results of investigation conducted by Russia Today (RT). It was made public on March 24.

The RT website published an eight-minute excerpt from the documentary. The full version, which contains «unique footage from the Syrian cities of Al-Shadadi, Romulan, al-Qamishli and tel Abyad freed from Islamic state, interviews with locals who worked on the refining of crude oil for IS, and with captured terrorists» will be aired in April this year.

The report says, Turkey benefits from the Islamic State because the terrorist group provides it with cheap oil and is fighting both Syria’s government and the Syrian Kurds. This is an opinion shared by both the Kurds and their mortal enemies from the jihadist organization. The IS documents obtained by RT may provide additional evidence revealing the dirty game being played by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Syria. Another set of documents was found at the IS Tell Abyad checkpoint. Among many other things (such as vehicle numbers and the weight of transported materials), the documents listed the names of passengers who had reportedly travelled to Mosul, Raqqa, Istanbul, and Ankara.

The illegal ties between Turkey and Islamic State have become an open secret since a long time ago.

In late 2015, David L. Phillips, Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights, Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, published a report on the results of his investigation to prove Turkey and the IS were involved in illegal business.

Last December Norwegian daily Klassekampen leaked details of the report, which was put together by Rystad Energy, an independent oil and gas consulting firm, at the request of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

«Large amounts of oil have been smuggled across the border to Turkey from IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq», Klassekampen cited the report as saying. «[The] oil is sent by tankers via smuggling routes across the border [and] is sold at greatly reduced prices, from $25 to $45 a barrel».

The crude was reportedly sold on the black market at greatly reduced prices ($13-14), while the Brent benchmark was trading at $35-$50 per barrel. To compile the report, which is dated from July, Rystad Energy used its own database as well as sources in the region. «Exports happen in a well-established black market via Turkey», the paper concluded. «Many of the smugglers and corrupt border guards, who helped Saddam Hussein avoid international sanctions, are now helping IS export oil and import cash».

Dmitry Evstafiev, an expert of Russian PIR-Center, says, the IS has lost much of the revenue (from 200 thousand to 60 thousand barrels daily) as it was ceding big chunks of Syria’s territory.

According to the expert’s estimates, 60 thousand is the amount it can produce in the northern part of Iraq still under its control.

With the IS losing ground, the oil from Syria and Iraq can be exported through Turkey by other non-state actors. The overall amount of smuggled oil from Syria and Iraq (350-400 thousand barrels a day) is enough to influence world markets.

It should be noted that it is easy to identify where exactly the oil originates from. Europeans don’t mind buying smuggled oil. They have not raised the issue with Turkey – the country that controls the illegal oil flows.

Kurdish militia and US Special Forces on the ground can deprive Islamic State fighters of the logistical route that has been used by the group to bring in supplies and foreign recruits. This idea has been floated for some time.

According to the Military Times, for now, the US has agreed not to support Syrian Kurdish operations west of the Euphrates River.

However, if Turkey fails to seal off its side of the border, the US could move to help the Syrian Kurdish forces try to block IS formations in that zone.

The powerful Syrian Kurdish militia and its local allies have already drawn up plans for a major attack to seize the final stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border held by Islamic State fighters.

The idea has been supported by Russia. The Russian Foreign Minister believes that «With Kurdish militia and US Special Forces on the ground, there is a realistic way to shut off the illegal flow of oil from Syria to Turkey».

Sealing the Syrian border with Turkey is the issue that brings Russia and the US together in the spirit of fruitful cooperation both countries enjoy in some areas of the bilateral relationship. That’s what US State Secretary John Kerry emphasized in his remarks on the results of his visit to Russia (March 23-24).

Both parties face the same obstacle on the way to cope with the problem: Turkey. The issue is too acute to be swept under the rug. This is the time for hard choices to be made by the Turkish government.

The fact the USA has been supporting ISIS from the start makes their threat of “bombing attacks in USA” look a little stupid

How They Brainwash Us: “ISIS, We Were Told, will Bringing its Bombing Attacks to America” – By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

Anyone who pays attention to American “news” can see how “news” is used to control our perceptions in order to ensure public acceptance of the Oligarchy’s agendas.

For example, Bernie Sanders just won six of seven primaries, in some cases by as much as 70 and 82 percent of the vote, but Sanders’ victories went largely unreported. The reason is obvious. The Oligarchy doesn’t want any sign of Sanders gaining momentum that could threaten Hillary’s lead for the Democratic nomination.  Here is FAIR’s take on the media’s ignoring of Sanders’ victories:

http://fair.org/home/as-sanders-surges-cable-news-runs-prison-reality-show-jesus-documentary/

We can observe the same media non-performance in the foreign affairs arena.  The Syrian army adided by the Russian air force just liberated Palmyra from ISIS troops that Washington sent to overthrow the Syrian government.  Although pretending to be fighting ISIS, Washington and London are silent about this victory on what is supposed to be a common front against the terror group.

It has been left to the Independent

( http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/why-is-david-cameron-so-silent-on-the-recapture-of-palmyra-from-the-clutches-of-isis-a6955406.html ),

RT

(http://www.globalresearch.ca/russia-questions-the-wests-silence-on-syrias-strategic-victory-against-isis-in-palmyra/5517194 )

and the Mayor of London to break the silence.

What  the Washington/London silence on the victory tells me is that Washington still intends to unseat Assad.  The most likely reason for Secretary of State Kerry’s trips to Moscow is to try to work out a deal in which Washington accepts the defeat of ISIS in exchange for Moscow’s acceptance of Assad’s removal.

The neoconservatives have not lost control of the Obama regime, and they remain committed to removing Assad for the benfit of Israel.  Moscow wants to get along with Washington, and if Moscow is not careful about trusting Washington, Moscow will lose in diplomacy the war it has won.

Yesterday I was stuck in front of Fox “News” for some minutes on both sides of 1:00 PM US East Coast time.  It was one of the blonds and some character presented as a terrorism or ISIS expert.  It seemed to me that the purpose was to prepare Americans for the next false flag attack.  ISIS, we were told, will be branching out and bringing its bombing attacks to America.

All of these bombing attacks have anomalies that the media never notices.  Whatever officials say is reported as factual. How these bombings serve Washington’s agendas is never mentioned.  The bombings often have the same pattern—brothers who conveniently leave their IDs on the scene.  I suppose that having hit on an explanation that worked, the explanation is used repeatedly.

Liberalism has helped to make Western peoples blind by creating the belief that noble intentions are more prevalent than corrupt intentions. This false belief blinds people to the roles played by deception and coercion in governing.  Consequently, the true facts are not perceived and governments can pursue hidden agendas by manipulating news.

The original source of this article is Global Research

Copyright © Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Global Research, 2016

Finally a realisation by the US Treasury that sanctions harms the USA more than intended target

US Treasury Secretary Warns Against Overuse of Sanctions

Says US Has Responsibility to Uphold Pledge to Ease Iran Sanctions

US Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew gave a speech today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he warned against the US overuse of sanctions against other nations, saying it risks undermining the US position as a leader in global trade.

Lew also said that since the US goals for sanctions were to pressure “bad actors to change their policy,” it was vital for the US to be quick with sanctions relief when they succeed, saying the US risks undermining its own credibility by not lifting sanctions.

Lew made it clear he was talking about Iran in that last case, saying Iran has “kept its end of the deal,” and that it is “our responsibility to uphold ours in both letter and spirit.” Iran has complained the US has removed many of the agreed to sanctions “on paper only” and that international banks still fear US retaliation for doing business with Iran.

In the case of the Iran sanctions, it indeed seems to be undercutting US companies who were vying for Iranian contracts, as Iran seems to be exclusively contracting with European and Asian companies for its economic reconstruction, and is increasingly resistant to doing business in US dollars because of the problems with banking

Apartheid in the fields: Part 2 Injustice in the Jordan Valley

Apartheid in the fields: Part 2 Injustice in the Jordan Valley

A new report from Corporate Watch outlines exactly how the food grown in the illegal settlements of Palestine gets to our plates in Britain, and what we (in Britain) can do about it. In this second summary report we look at what is happening in the Jordan Valley.

Much Jordan Valley produce is marketed as organic but is certainly not grown fairly

Israeli agricultural companies operate on land in the Jordan Valley taken from Palestinians by force. This leaves Palestinians there with few options but to work for the illegal settlements on land which was once Palestinian, and sometimes land which was once theirs. The research conducted in 2013 found that companies pay well below minimum wage, with workers being paid between £12.60 and £14.50 a day. They found evidence of children as young as ten being employed. There are often no written contracts, or contracts are in Hebrew only, there is no sick pay, no health insurance, no holiday pay, few health and safety precautions. Trade unions are not permitted. Some workers leave at 3 am to get through checkpoints to work and others sleep in barrack like accommodation, illegal under Israeli law.

Support for a boycott is widespread: ‘They are working on stolen land, using water that they have stolen from us. If the boycott campaign damages these companies then the settlers will leave our land’ says Fares from Beit Harava. ‘We support the boycott even if we lose our work. We might lose our jobs but we will get back our land. We will be able to work without being treated as slaves,’ agrees Zaid from Beqa’ot. (Names have been changed.)

For the full report: https://corporatewatch.org/publications/2016/apartheid-fields-occupied-palestine-uk-supermarkets

In israel it seems to be illegal to film jews committing murder, you can’t get more Nazi than that

Army Raids Home of Man Who Filmed Hebron Execution

Israeli forces, on Tuesday night, broke into the home of the videographer who filmed an Israeli soldier executing a wounded Palestinian in cold blood, in Tel Rumeida, central Hebron, last week.

The videographer, activist Imad Abu Shamsiyya, said that soldiers broke into his home in Tel Rumeida, and inspected the cards of the local and international activists who were staying in the house, as well.

The activists gathered there after Israeli settlers directed death threats against Imad, as they published his photos with “Most Wanted” written on them, in addition to killing threats.

Last Thursday, according to the PNN, Imad recorded a shocking video showing an Israeli soldier, who was later identified as Elor Azarya, executing a helpless 21-year-old Palestinian who was already shot and bleeding, after an Israeli settler told him, “This asshole here is still breathing.”

At the same spot, 21-year-old Ramzi Qassrawi was also killed, with the military claiming that the two attempted a stabbing attack.

As for the soldier, Israeli forces claimed that he was suspended and sent to investigation, while his right-wing government is still defending his claims, saying, “He did the right thing at the right time.”

VIDEO: Israeli Soldier Who Executed Wounded Palestinian

The Covert Origins of ISIS and the fake “moderate rebels”….MUST WATCH

 

The Islamic militant group ISIS, formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and recently rebranded as the so called Islamic State, is the stuff of nightmares. They are ruthless, fanatical, killers, on a mission, and that mission is to wipe out anyone and everyone, from any religion or belief system and to impose Shari’ah law. The mass executions, beheadings and even crucifixions that they are committing as they work towards this goal are flaunted like badges of pride, video taped and uploaded for the whole world to see. This is the new face of evil.
Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced its intention to reestablish the caliphate and has declared its leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the caliph.

The lightning advances the Islamic State made across Syria and Iraq in June shocked the world. But it’s not just the group’s military victories that have garnered attention — it’s also the pace with which its members have begun to carve out a viable state.

Flush with cash and US weapons seized during its advances in Iraq, the Islamic State’s expansion shows no sign of slowing down. In the first week of August alone, Islamic State fighters have taken over new areas in northern Iraq, encroaching on Kurdish territory and sending Christians and other minorities fleeing as reports of massacres emerged.

VICE News reporter Medyan Dairieh spent three weeks embedded with the Islamic State, gaining unprecedented access to the group in Iraq and Syria as the first and only journalist to document its inner workings.

Would it interest you to know who helped these psychopaths rise to power? Would it interest you to know who armed them, funded them and trained them? Would it interest you to know why?

This story makes more sense if we start in the middle, so we’ll begin with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The Libyan revolution was Obama’s first major foreign intervention. It was portrayed as an extension of the Arab Spring, and NATO involvement was framed in humanitarian terms.

The fact that the CIA was actively working to help the Libyan rebels topple Gaddafi was no secret, nor were the airstrikes that Obama ordered against the Libyan government. However, little was said about the identity or the ideological leanings of these Libyan rebels. Not surprising, considering the fact that the leader of the Libyan rebels later admitted that his fighters included Al-Qaeda linked jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq.

These jihadist militants from Iraq were part of what national security analysts commonly referred to as Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Remember Al-Qaeda in Iraq was ISIS before it was rebranded.

With the assistance of U.S. and NATO intelligence and air support, the Libyan rebels captured Gaddafi and summarily executed him in the street, all the while enthusiastically chanting “Allah Akbar”. For many of those who had bought the official line about how these rebels were freedom fighters aiming to establish a liberal democracy in Libya, this was the beginning of the end of their illusions.

 

Senator Leahy & Others Request Investigation of US Funding Genocide By Israel & Egypt

https://rebelliblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/31/senator-leahy-others-request-investigation-of-us-funding-genocide-by-israel-egypt/#comments

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The USA’s sham democracy, “Super Delegates” win the day over the electorate

Superdelegates are ripping off voters, placing Clinton ahead of Sanders in states where he actually won more votes

Elaine Thompson/AP

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders currently has 1,037 pledged delegates in the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

After winning five-straight state primaries in relative blowout fashion, Bernie Sanders has cut significantly into Hillary Clinton’s pledged delegate lead.

According to the most recent totals, Clinton currently has 1,267 pledged delegates to Bernie’s 1,037. The actual race is close and they still have 18 contests remaining — including the delegate rich states of California, New York and Pennsylvania.

ELECTION 2016: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE DELEGATE TRACKER 

What’s disturbing, though, is that in spite of the actual closeness of the contest between them, members of the political establishment, called superdelegates, are going against the will of the voters in their own states to support Clinton over Sanders.

For instance, on Saturday, Sanders won every county in Washington state and won nearly 75% of the vote. It was a drubbing.

KING: BERNIE SANDERS IS THE RIGHT CANDIDATE IN THE WRONG PARTY

Will of the people be damned, the superdelegates in Washington all said they are voting for Clinton, including Gov. Jay Inslee, U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott, Suzan DelBene, Rick Larsen, Adam Smith, Denny Heck and Derek Kilmer.

This is preposterous. Sanders handily won the state and won every congressional district by a landslide, but the governor, the senators and the congresspeople don’t care. They are firmly against the will of the people in their state.

View Gallery New York Daily News front pages on the presidential election

Not a single superdelegate vote from Washington is going to Sanders.

EXPLAINER: DELEGATES, SUPERDELEGATES AND WHAT THEY MEAN 

Not one.

In fact, this is happening all over the country.

In spite of Sanders winning 15 states — including some by an 80-20 margin — over 94% of the 498 superdelegates have said they are backing Clinton anyway. Clinton currently has 469 superdelegate votes to just 29 for Sanders.

In Minnesota, Sanders won 61.6% of the vote, but 13 of the 16 superdelegates there, or 81%, including the governor, the senators, and many DNC members, say they are going for Hillary anyway. They aren’t even slightly persuaded by the will of the people.

In other states, like Colorado, where Sanders won with 59% of the vote, not a single superdelegate is voting for him. The same is true for Nebraska, where he won 57% of the vote but isn’t getting a single superdelegate.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has 1,267 pledged delegates.

It’s even worse in Idaho. Last week, Sanders won Idaho by a landslide with 78% of the vote. Every single superdelegate is going for Clinton anyway.

KING: DON’T BE SO SURE SANDERS SUPPORTERS WILL EASILY SWITCH TO CLINTON COME THE GENERAL ELECTION

These states are anomalies. In every state Sanders won, except for his home state of Vermont, Clinton received almost every superdelegate vote there anyway.

Even there, where Sanders won over 86% of the vote, several of the superdelegates still opted to thwart the will of their state and pledge for Clinton.

Clinton supporters are quick to say, “these are the rules the candidates agreed upon,” and maybe that’s true, but voters are being ripped off. We didn’t decide on these rules and these officials are clearly going against the will of the people in their own states to support the establishment candidate who arranged for their support long before this election began.

Right now, if Sanders had the superdelegate votes that Clinton currently has, he’d be winning this race handily with 1,444 total delegates to Clinton’s 1,272.

Don’t say superdelegates aren’t determining this race. They are, and the practice should be abolished — immediately.

israel Illegally Controls More Than 85% Of Palestine

PCBS: “As Palestinians Mark Land Day, Israeli Illegally Controls More Than 85% Of Palestine

The following is a press release by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic (PCBS), marking the fortieth anniversary of the Palestinian Land – March 30, 2016.

Israeli Occupation Authorities laid hand over more than 85% of the total area of historical land of Palestine which totals about 27,000 km2. Arabs comprise 48% of the total population but utilize only 15% of the land.

Israeli Occupation also set up a buffer zone along the border of the Gaza Strip extending over 1,500 m along the eastern border.

Consequently, the zone usurps about 24% of the total area of the Gaza Strip (365 km²), which is one of the most densely populated area in the world with about 5,000 capita/km².

Furthermore, Israeli Occupation maintains tight control over more than 90% of the area of the Jordan Valley, which constitutes 29% of the total area of the West Bank.

Every year, the Palestinian people remember the confiscation of 21 thousand Dunams of land in Al-Jalil (Galilee), Al-Mothallath and Al-Naqab (Negev) on 30 March 1976.

On this day, the Israeli authorities expropriated the land and responded violently to the protestations, killing six young demonstrators.

Jerusalem 2015; Intensive Judaizing

While the Israeli occupation authorities keep demolishing Palestinian houses and denying Palestinians the right to build any new houses, they grant permits to build thousands of housing units in the Israeli settlements in and around Jerusalem.

Only in 2015, they authorized the building of over 12,600 housing units in the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, in addition to 2,500 hotel rooms.

Moreover, the Israeli occupation authorities ratified regulations to replace the original Arabic names of the streets in the old town of Jerusalem by Hebrew ones.

This inscribes in Israel’s ongoing policy of Occupation of Jerusalem and falsification of its history and geography not to mention the imposition of new demographic facts on the ground.

The Israeli occupation authorities demolished about 152 Palestinian buildings (houses and establishments) and sent hundreds of demolition orders to owners of other buildings; moreover, the Israeli occupation authorities confiscated 546 Dunams of the Palestinian land in the Eesawiyya locality and Shu’fat camp to establish a national park and dumping site for wastes from illegal Jewish settlements.

Israeli Violations: Martyrs, Wounded and Prisoners The number of martyrs reached 181 martyrs during the year 2015 were 32 martyrs of children and 9 women and 26 martyrs in the Gaza Strip, while the number of injured has risen during the year 2015 about 16,620 wounded, while the number of cases of detention amounted to about 6830 case, including 2,179 children.

Israeli Settlements: Unjust Expansion

There were 413 illegal Israeli constructions in the West Bank (including 150 settlements and 119 outposts) by the end of 2014.

Furthermore, the Israeli occupation authorities approved the building of over 4,500 housing units in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank Except those that were approved in Jerusalem.

Still, these same authorities deprived Palestinians of their right to build and laid obstacles, which undermine any potential urban expansion especially for the Palestinians in Jerusalem and Area “C” which is under full Israeli control.

It should be noted that Area “C” constitutes over 60% of the West Bank area. Israel also erected its Expansion and Annexation Wall, which isolates more than 12% of the West Bank land.

Data indicated that the total number of settlers in the West Bank was 599,901 at the end of 2014, 286,997 of whom in the Jerusalem Governorate (they represent 48% of all settlers in the occupied West Bank). 210,420 of these illegal settlers live in Jerusalem J1 (that part of Jerusalem, which was annexed forcefully by Israel following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967).

In demographic terms, the proportion of settlers to the Palestinian population in West Bank is around 21 settlers per 100 Palestinians compared with 69 settlers per 100 Palestinians in Jerusalem governorate.

Environment: Continuing Degradation

Israeli settlements cause direct damage to the Palestinian environment. They actually discharge 40 million cubic meters (mcm) of wastewater annually into Palestinian valleys and agricultural land.

Only 10% of such water is treated. If compared to the wastewater produced by Palestinians in the West Bank, which stands at 34 mcm per year, Israeli settlers produce five times the Palestinian.

Moreover, the Israeli authorities prevent Palestinians from building their own wastewater treatment plants. On another level, they allocated part of the Palestinian land in Jordan Valley to an Israeli dumpsite of industrial waste.

Consequently, Palestinian agricultural land endured enormous damage not to mention impact on health animals and biodiversity, in addition to the Israeli authorities bulldozed and burned more than 15,300 trees of Palestinian farmers during the year 2015.

Water: Deficiency and Suffering

Like other Arab countries, Palestine suffers from scarcity of water and resources.

However, the situation in Palestine is more complex because of prolonged Israeli occupation, which controls most of the existing water sources and prevents the Palestinians of their right to access their water sources or any alternative sources.

The Israeli occupation controls the majority of renewable water resources totaling 750 MCM (Million Cubic Meter), while Palestinians receive only about 110 MCM.

The Palestinian share from the three groundwater aquifers should be 118 MCM according to Oslo Agreement II. This share was supposed to increase to 200 MCM by the year 2000 had the Interim Agreement been fully implemented.

Buildings: Demolish of Housing Units and Establishments

On the fortieth remembrance of the Land Day, the Israeli occupation violations against the Palestinians continue, in terms of land confiscation, demolition of buildings (housing units and establishments) and forcible displacement of residents. Israeli occupation authorities usurped 6,386 Dunams of Palestinian land in the various governorates of the West Bank in 2015.

Furthermore, they demolished 645 building (houses and establishments), forcibly displacing 2,180 persons in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 1,108 of whom are children.

They also threatened to demolish 780 building, at a time when the needs of housing units for Palestinian increase.

In figures, 60.9% of households in Palestine need to build new housing units over the next decade according to the reported data survey of housing conditions in 2015 (one residential unit or more).

Tourism: Israeli Monopoly

The Israeli narrative is based on falsification of the culture, civilization and history of Palestine. Therefore, the occupation authorities alter Palestinian national treasures and monuments of ancient times.

In figures, 53% of the archeological sites in Palestine are in Area “C”, which is under full Israeli control. The Israel occupation prevents any excavating or restoration of these sites for the building of recreational and tourist attractions.

They also create obstacles to prevent Palestinian tourism agencies from organizing proper visits of the Holy Land.

With these restrictions, they give a competitive edge to the Israeli companies that market the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and Deir Quruntol in Jericho, for instance, as part of tourism in Israel.

By granting more facilities to Israeli companies, tourists are ‘advised’ to stay in Israeli hotels as Palestinian areas are ‘denounced as unsafe’. With these measures, Palestinians are deprived of over 75% of potential touristic services revenues.

Sources:

1. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2015: Israeli settlements in the West Bank, 2014. Ramallah- Palestine

2. Abdullah Al-Hourani Center for Studies and Documentation, Annual Report, 2015.

3. National Office for the Defense of the Land and Resist Settlement, Impact of Israeli Settlements on the Palestinian Environment. 2016

4. Land Research Center report of the Association Arab Studies, Sum of Israeli Violations Against the Palestinian Right to Housing and Land.

5. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, 2015.

http://www.imemc.org/article/75414