Prosecutor: Facebook flotilla attackers list drawn up by İHH
On Wednesday, ahead of second anniversary of Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla, Turkish pressreported that İstanbul Specially Authorized Prosecutor Mehmet Akif Ekinci seeks life imprisonment for four Israeli top commanders, involved in a 2010 Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine Turks dead.
The 144-page indictment is on behalf of 490 victims and complainants, including 189 people who were injured in the Israeli commando attacks.
The indictment reportedly seeks 10 aggravated life imprisonment sentences for former Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Chief of General Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Naval Forces commander Vice Adm. Eliezer Marom, Israel’s military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin and Air Forces Intelligence head Brig. Gen. Avishai Levi.
World nations condemned Israel for its piracy at international waters killing nine Turk aid workers and wounding many more. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israeli action “inhuman state terror” and called upon the UN Security Council to appoint a committee to investigate the incident and demanded an apology from the Zionist regime.
“Israel has lost its legitimacy as a respectful member of the international community. In simplest terms, this is tantamount to banditry and piracy. It is a murder conducted by a state. It has no excuses, no justification whatsoever,” Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish foreign minister said in a statement.
France at the UNSC supported an investigation that meet international standards. However, Israel’s political poodles in the UNSC, the US and Britain refused to back-up the motion. The UNSC showed its helplessness in face of Israel by just issuing a condemnation of Israeli brutality.
The Zionist regime set up a commission of inquiry of its own headed by Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, to investigate the attack. The move was rejected by Ankara and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The ‘Turkal Commission’ in its report released January 23, 2011 – cleared the Zionist regime and Israel Occupation Force (IOF) of wrongdoing. It blamed the aid workers aboard Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara for violence.
Turkey, too, established an inquiry, which concluded, in contrast to the Israeli inquiry, that the Gaza blockade and the Israeli raid are illegal.
Personally, I believe, the said indictment is not going to improve Ankara’s falling popularity among the Arabs and Muslims which have realized by now that Erdogan government is not much diffrent than the western-puppets ruling most of Muslim nation-states, Ankara has long sold its soul to the US-Israel-NATO interests in the Muslim world. Ankara is conducting a USrael proxy war against Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Hamas.
River toSeaUprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
Things can only get worse for the PSC. So far, the PSC leadership have faced just the thin end of a derailment campaign which is sure to intensify now they have shown such willingness to bow to Jewish power tactics. Now that PSC has started to censor its own members on such issues as holocaust revisionism and anti-Semitism, the attacks on an already weakened P.S.C. can only increase. My friends who are still members tell me that lately in regional meetings, all too many hours have been spent discussing these topics and despite hours of what should have been active campaigning time spent on these distractions, as predicted by many it has resulted only with the Zionists emboldened to make even more demands. Outside, Harry’s Place, The Jewish Chronicle and Anthony Cooper hover and squawk over the PSC’s demise like vultures over a corpse, while within, Tony Greenstein and Naomi Wimbourne- Idrissi pass motions that serve only to hasten PSC’s decomposition. How two self-identifying political Jews, both operating in racially-orientated Jewish political groups (Does J.B.I.G. or J.F.J.F.P. have any Palestinian members or indeed any members who are non-Jews?), can lead a discourse on racism is a question we should all be asking.
It is no coincidence that these attempts to delegitimise PSC should occur after the Freedom Flotilla (Mavi Marmara) which hit the mainstream media highlighting the injustice of the siege of Gaza and proving to the world that Israel Occupation Forces can and will kill with complete impunity. No other action since then has had such a huge impact. However, when the Reut Institute, an Israeli Intelligence Agency in August 2010, wrote its report on the Flotilla, it revealed that Israel had woken up to the fact that Muslims, Christians, Jews, leftists and atheists were able to work together in harmony to organise this huge initiative. So, it was decided that, after the flotilla, the main hasbara aim was to “delegitimize the delegitimizers “. PSC came late to support of the Freedom Flotilla, and was represented by only one delegate Sarah Colbourne who found a place on the Mavi Marmara only at the very last minute. Till then, PSC had not supported or even mentioned the mission. Here is a quote from the Reut Institute Report:-
However it was the ability of its organizers to mobilize leading figures among the liberal progressive elite in the West that bolstered the Gaza Flotilla and turned it into a global and politically explosive event. The big-tent approach of ‘everyone is invited’ resulted in the participation of both extreme Islamists and European intellectuals; Jews, Christians, and Muslims; Arab citizens of Israel; and others. In all likelihood, the vast majority of those present did not aim to promote the delegitimization of the State of Israel.”
So, according to Israeli intelligence agency The Reut Institute, not all those on board the flotilla were against the existence of the Jewish State. Unbelievably, PSC’s Hugh Lanning confirms this. In the Morning Star he states that the PSC fully supports the “Two-State Solution”
But PSC speaker Hugh Lanning hit back. He stressed the need for two states based on the 1967 borders – a demand recently backed by US President Barack Obama but consistently rejected by Israel. “At the moment there is only one state – Israel,” he said. “A two-state solution objectively means the creation of a free, independent Palestinian state which does not exist right now.”
So there we have it in black and white; PSC supports the “Two State Solution” and at the same time proclaims itself as an organisation which is ‘anti-racist’.
The State of Israel wants to be “The Jewish State” and, as I write, is busily engaged in passing even more apartheid laws to disadvantage non-Jews. Many Israelis state openly their desire for 20% of their population who are Palestinian Arabs to be transferred into what would be the new State of Palestine thus making Israel a Jewish state pure and cleansed of Arabs. “Rein Juedischer Staat” in the equivalent Nazi terminology. So, to accept the Two-State Solution with its implicit renunciation of the right of return is, in my opinion, as full a complicity in racist ethnic cleansing as it is possible to be. Should not the truly non racist vision of One Democratic State, where the claimed Semites, the Jews live side by side in harmony with the real Semites, the Palestinians? So much for the ‘anti-racist’ PSC.
River toSeaUprooted Palestinian The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
He threatened arrogant radical Jewish Prime Minister Benji Netanyahu that Turkish Navy will escort the future Turkish aid vessels to Gaza Strip.
“The eastern Mediterranean Sea is not Israel’s private playground. Turkey will defend the rights of its citizens when Israel chooses to intervene and prevent free movement in international waters”.
The boat was unable to take on board all the activists and journalists who came to join the campaign, including this writer.
“In this way, Ankara might have sought to maintain its image with regard to the Palestinian cause and at the same time avoided provoking Israel in a direct, public way.”The boat was unable to take on board all the activists and journalists who came to join the campaign, including this writer.
Flotilla activists bent on breaking the Israeli siege of Gaza had to pose as tourists and downsize their crew to overcome Turkish efforts to stall their trip.
Fatiha (Turkey) – Two boats carrying Canadian and Irish activists joined by a handful of journalists managed to leave Turkish waters for Greece to avoid any legal bans that could be imposed by Ankara before declaring their official destination was Gaza.
The two boats, named Tahrir and Saoirse respectively, set sail Wednesday from the Turkish port of Fatiha, loaded with medical aid supplies. The official destination: the Greek Island of Rhodes. The passengers included the captain of the boat and his assistant as well as ten “tourists” with different nationalities.
Immediately upon leaving Fatiha shores, the boat shed its “tourist disguise” and lifted the banner “Wave of freedom for Gaza” to loud cries of “towards Gaza, brothers and sisters!”
The participants had spent many days feeling exhausted and heavy, shifting between hope and despair. They tried as hard as they could to avoid attracting attention and to keep their mission secret. The boat was unable to take on board all the activists and journalists who came to join the campaign, including this writer.
Attempting to hamper the mission, the Turkish authorities insisted that the boat, which declared the Island of Rhodes as its destination, carry only 11 “tourists” instead of the originally planned 36. The Turkish authorities justified this step by citing the Turkish law that forbids “small” boats to carry more than this number on similar trips.
This insistence posed a dilemma for the organisers. They had to continue negotiations with the authorities to convince the the latter that this trip was for one group of tourists while making the painful choice selecting 11 people out of the 36.
Negotiations with the authorities lead to a total of ten names and one added as “co-captain”, or eleven participants including the captain of Tahrir. Those who were selected for the trip include journalists Casey Koffman and Ayman Zbeir (from the English and Arabic Al Jazeera), Jihan Hafez ( “Democracy Now” radio and television), Hasan Ghani (“Press TV”) Lina Atallah (Al Masri al Youm”). The list also includes activists Kateridge Marlow (the United States), Majd Kayal (Palestinian, 48) Michael Coleman (Australia) and three Canadians, Karen DaVito, Ehab Lotayef and David Heap (registered as co-captain).
The Tahrir boat is accompanied by an Irish boat that carries ten activists. The Irish also followed the same strategy as the Canadians. They traveled for a couple of days in Turkish cities, asked permission to leave Fatiha for Rhodes and before reaching it they turned south in the international waters. The two boats are supposed to take one course in the sea and to reach Gaza at the same time.
Turkish authorities likely knew what was being prepared in the port of Fatiha and in the cities of Dalaman and Gaziantep and the capital, Istanbul. Israel was also seemingly aware of the plan. Agents were always around the activists, wandering around their residences, watching their moves in Turkey. According to several activists, the Turkish government faced a dilemma when Tahrir began its real work, since it could not forbid the boat from setting sail. That would contradict the previous statements of Turkish leaders concerning Ankara’s pledge to guarantee freedom of navigation in the international waters, nor could it allow the boat to leave easily or indulge the activists considering the effects that could have on its position and current relations in the region.
So the Turkish government was faced with a number of choices, including obstructing the boat’s journey for some time, pressuring the group to limit participation so the size of the campaign and the number of participants in it would decrease. In this way, Ankara might have sought to maintain its image with regard to the Palestinian cause and at the same time avoided provoking Israel in a direct, public way.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
Canadian and Irish Freedom boats on their way to Gaza – NOW!
Dear friends, as you may be aware two boats are currently making their way to Gaza. Please find below the media release issued in support of Tahrir (Canada) and the Saoirse (Ireland).
Please spread the word and support the boats. You can keep update with news on the boats here.
You can also follow the boats progress on twitter the following hashtag/twitter accounts: #FreedomWaves @IrishShiptoGaza @CanadaBoatGaza
You can also track the progress of the boats below via live map tracking.
Obama isn’t just letting down the Palestinians – he’s risking a serious split with Saudi Arabia
LAST UPDATED 7:50 AM, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011
…..It’s not hard to understand why Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may finally be blinking under tremendous pressure. There is now talk on his team of a possible “procedural” delay in submitting his formal request for Palestinian statehood and UN membership, originally scheduled for Friday, immediately after addressing the General Assembly.
Back in 1991, Israelis and Palestinians met for the first time in Madrid to negotiate a peace agreement. UN Resolutions 242 and 338, which call for Israel’s withdrawal from the land it occupied during the 1967 War in exchange for peace, served as the basis for the Madrid conference.
At the end of 1991, there were 132,000 Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem and 89,800 settlers in the West Bank. Two decades later, the numbers of settlers in East Jerusalem has increased by about 40 per cent, while the settlers in the West Bank, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, have increased by over 300 per cent. Currently, there are about half a million Jewish settlers.
During periods in which the Israeli Labour Party formed the governing coalition, the numbers have been just as high, if not higher, than periods during which Likud or Kadima have been in power. As Neve Gordon, an Israeli activist and the author of Israel’s Occupation points out, “This, in turn, underscores the fact that all Israeli governments have unilaterally populated the contested West Bank with more Jewish settlers while simultaneously carrying out negotiations based on land for peace.”
The Palestinians can see perfectly well that the Jewish settlers, with the backing of every Israeli government and complaisance of every US government, are undermining any future two-state solution, so they have decided not to wait any longer and are asking the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. As Gordon puts it, “If the idea behind a two-state solution is dividing land among the two peoples, how can Israel unilaterally continue to settle the contested land while carrying out negotiations?” Answer: because Israel knows it can get away with it.
At the start of this year, Al Jazeera published documents prepared by Abbas’s negotiators with Israel. Abbas was prepared to cede to Israel nearly all of the illegal colonies that the Zionist state has built east of the 1967 armistice line in and around occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian Authority officials also agreed to deprive the vast majority of Palestinian refugees of the right – backed by the UN – to return to their homes in what is now Israel. They agreed in principle to accept the repatriation of 100,000 refugees over 10 years, and no more. Israeli contemptuously rejected these astounding concessions. Why the US government feels it retains any credibility throughout the Middle East on the Palestinian question is baffling, but Obama and Clinton have been desperate to avoid the bludgeon of a veto in the UN Security council (though even here there is a mechanism – the Uniting for Peace process, installed 61 years ago during the Korean crisis – for an over-ride of any such veto by the General Assembly.) If it ever comes to one, a UN resolution won’t give the Palestinians a viable state, nor solve the problems of refugees, nor the separation between the West Bank and Gaza, nor discrimination within Israel which is now emphasising its legal identity as a Jewish state.
Even so, the Palestinian initiative with the UN underscores the US’s weakening status in the region, whose political geography has been changing before our eyes.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan has kicked out the Israeli ambassador for negotiating in bad faith over the lethal attack on the Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara; he has stopped military cooperation with and military purchases from Israel. He promised to come in person to Gaza on board his navy’s protective fleet. As the Egyptian crowd tore down the wall of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, they hailed Erdogan as “a new Saladin”.
Not to be outdone, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al Faisal wrote in the New York Times on September 11 – of all days – that “the United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world… Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy. Saudi Arabia will part with the US if it vetoes the Palestinian bid.”
This is not a problem for candidate Perry. But it is a very serious one for the government of the United States.
Posted on September 20, 2011 by uprootedpalestinians
With the upheaval that had swept through the region, it’s doubtless that Israel is facing its most complex strategic situation in decades as Egypt and Turkey, former strategic allies, have changed policie.
The Israeli flag had been fluttering with haughtiness over Tel Aviv’s embassy in Cairo for 31 years, now it is torn down. The Israeli ambassador was forced to flee Egypt humiliated. In Turkey Israel is ostracized as Ankara expelled the Israeli ambassador and frozen all agreements with the Zionist entity as a result of the Mavi Marmara attack and Israel’s refusal to apologize for killing 9 unarmed Turks on board the ship.
Timur Goksel, former spokesman and senior advisor to UNIFIL, talked about these developments in an exclusive interview with Al-Manar Website. Mr. Goksel describes Turkish PM Recep Tayyib Erdogan as ‘master of populism’, says his information about Syria are limited, and believes Israel’s isolation will have dire consequences on it. •How do you view the situation in “Israel” vis-à-vis the changes in the Arab world in general and in particular in post-Mubarak Egypt?
Never mind Israel’s cliché boast aimed at Americans that it is the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel couldn’t care less if all its neighbors are ruled by ruthless dictators and monarchs as long as they are a known quantity, maintain stability and do not pose any threats to Israel’s security. Have you heard Israel commenting on Syrian events? Of course not because they don’t know what might happen should Bashar Assad be deposed. It is all about Israel’s national interests. The same applies to Egypt. Until now Israel based its relations with the regimes and did not care about the sentiments of the peoples. That worked as long as the dictators could tell their people what to think or suppress them cruelly. But now, the game is different. The Arab people have found their voice and tasted freedom. They are regaining their dignity. Even Israel’s eternal, unquestioning best friend, the US, cannot change the situation. Americans have their own credibility problems in the region. Why do you think they are working so hard to avoid vetoing the Palestinian request at the UN? They are aware that their standing with the Arabs and most Muslims would be severely affected.
• How did you interpret the clashes at the Israeli embassy in Cairo and the tearing down of the Israeli flag, knowing that the Camp David agreements are still effective? Camp David was between Israel and the Egyptian regime. Israel did not make peace with the Egyptian people. A broad part of the Egyptian population opposes the peace accord. Last year’s Israeli attacks against Gaza and the recent killing of Egyptian border guards only enflamed this opposition to Israel. The embassy attack also showed that the current military rule in Egypt could even control the streets of the Capital city. It is true that the military would like to maintain the cold peace with Israel, but the future of Egypt-Israel relations will depend basically on the ability of the military to control the events. I think Israel is finally aware that the situation in Egypt is fluid and nobody really knows who will be in charge tomorrow. From now on Israel will act more carefully and prudently while dealing with Egypt without enflaming the passions of the people.
• How do think the situation in Syria would unfold?
I don’t feel qualified to comment on the situation in Syria because my information is limited. I wasn’t surprised by the brutal repression by the regime as it fully controls military-security apparatus. I was surprised by the popular reaction, the courage and bravery of the people. I understand there are some political groups who want to manipulate the popular uprising for their own interests, whether sectarian or financial. But, unless I am very very wrong, it is the ordinary people who have risen to end their humiliation, restore their dignity and live in freedom.
• The Syrian government responded to the people’s demands and ultimately made various reforms vis-a-vis parties law, the media, elections, emergency law (lifted) etc… They have also called for dialogue with the opposition which is now divided between those backing an armed uprising and those against it. But talking about brutality, don’t you think that the army of any state in the world would act exactly the same when more than a 1,000 of its soldiers get killed, disfigured, and sometimes dismembered (as videos show) by armed groups, not to mention civilians?
I understand that support for the President is particularly strong in Damascus and Aleppo which may also explain why protests are mostly in smaller cities. This may be because emergence of local leaders could have been easier in smaller cities and rural areas where people know each other and security services are not that strong. Only recently there were some signs of these local leaders coordinating somewhat, but I don’t detect a national leadership, which would be easier to deal with. • With your military background, how do you explain the “uprising” in Syria taking the form of an armed, sometimes brutal battle only in border areas, starting from Daraa at the Jordanian border, to Lattakia which is open to the sea, to Jisr El-Shoughour bordering Turkey, Deir El-Zor bordering Iraq, and Tal Kalakh bordering Lebanon, while anti-government demonstrations are carried out elsewhere in Syria peacefully and sometimes covered by Syria’s mainstream media?
I am aware that Assad still enjoys considerable support and that support, not only of the officials but also segments of the population, allows him to resist outside pressure. Certainly there are many who fear a sectarian strife and support the regime. You are saying that because some of the unrest are in border areas, there must be foreign involvement. I don’t have information on the extent of the roles of armed gangs, Islamists and foreigners involved in the unrest. • Turkey has lately sent two messages in two different directions. One against Syria and another against Israel. Would you agree with analysts who say that Turkey is seeking to become the most effective country in the region, now that the picture in Egypt has not yet crystallized? Turkey is surely playing for a regional leadership role. I think most people are overlooking the impact of the Turkish moves in the region on the local politics of Turkey. The Turkish people long ignored by the west and the east is now delighted to be seen as the “leader country”. The Turkish public loved the pro-Turkish demonstrations they saw from Cairo. The Turks are not hearing praises of their policies and economic progress from all over, not only from the Middle East. Erdogan is now being applauded even by Turks opposed to him. People are proud. Erdogan is master of populism.
• In your opinion, Israel seeing itself in this new situation and talking about gradually losing its glitter within decision making circles in the US, what are the chances for Israel to start a war to escape forward?
War with who? What about the price Israel will pay no matter who the enemy is? Look, Israel always wanted to have at least one of the three key regional countries – Egypt, Iran, and turkey—on its side. Iran was out when Shah was deposed. Relations with Turkey, the first Islamic country to recognize Israel, are getting worse by the day. Situation with Egypt is uncertain. Israel’s growing isolation has serious strategic consequences for it. On top of that, it is going to start a war? I don’t think so.
Timur Goksel (born in Ankara, Turkey May 3, 1943) is a retired Senior Advisor who spent 24 years with UNIFIL in South Lebanon; he took office in 1979 as UNIFIL’s media spokesman, a post that he was scheduled to fill for six months but occupied it for subsequent 24 years. He also worked as Instructor of Political Science at the American University of Beirut.
It was an Arab legislator who made the most telling comment to the Israeli parliament last week as it passed the boycott law, which outlaws calls to boycott Israel or its settlements in the occupied territories. Ahmed Tibi asked: “What is a peace activist or Palestinian allowed to do to oppose the occupation? Is there anything you agree to?”
The boycott law is the latest in a series of ever-more draconian laws being introduced by the far-right. The legislation’s goal is to intimidate those Israelis who have yet to bow down before the majority-rule mob.
Look out in coming days for a bill to block the work of Israeli organisations trying to protect Palestinian rights; and another draft law investing a parliamentary committee, headed by the far-right, with the power to appoint supreme court judges. The court is the only, and already enfeebled, bulwark against the right’s ascendancy.
The boycott law, backed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, marks a watershed in this legislative assault in two respects.
First, it knocks out the keystone of any democratic system: the right to free speech. The new law makes it illegal for Israelis and Palestinians to advocate a non-violent political programme – boycott – to counter the ever-growing power of the half a million Jewish settlers living on stolen Palestinian land.
As the Israeli commentator Gideon Levy observed, the floodgates are now open: “Tomorrow it will be forbidden to call for an end to the occupation [or] brotherhood between Jews and Arabs.”
Equally of concern is that the law creates a new type of civil, rather than criminal, offence. The state will not be initiating prosecutions. Instead, the job of enforcing the boycott law is being outsourced to the settlers and their lawyers. Anyone backing a boycott can be sued for compensation by the settlers themselves, who – again uniquely – need not prove they suffered actual harm.
Under this law, opponents of the occupation will not even be dignified with jail sentences and the chance to become prisoners of conscience. Rather, they will be quietly bankrupted in private actions, their assets seized either to cover legal costs or as punitive damages.
Human rights lawyers point out that there is no law like this anywhere in the democratic world. But more than half of Israelis back it, with only 31 per cent opposed.
The delusional, self-pitying worldview that spawned the boycott law was neatly illustrated this month in a short video “ad” that is supported, and possibly financed, by Israel’s hasbara, or propaganda, ministry. Fittingly, it is set in a psychiatrist’s office.
A young woman, clearly traumatised, deciphers the images concealed in the famous Rorschach test. As she is shown the ink-splodges, her panic and anger grow. Gradually, we come to realise, she represents vulnerable modern Israel, abandoned by friends and still in profound shock at the attack on her navy’s commandos by the “terrorist” passengers aboard last year’s aid flotilla to Gaza.
Immune to reality – that the ships were trying to break Israel’s punitive siege of Gaza, that the commandos illegally boarded the ships in international waters, and that they shot dead nine activists execution-style – Miss Israel tearfully recounts that the world is “forever trying to torment and harm [us] for no reason”. Finally she storms out, saying: “What do you want – for [Israel] to disappear off the map?”
The video – released under the banner “Stop the provocation against Israel” – was part of a campaign to discredit the recent follow-up flotilla from Greece. The aid mission was abandoned after Greek authorities, under Israeli pressure, refused to let them sail.
Israel’s siege mentality asserted itself again days later as international activists staged another show of solidarity – this one nicknamed the “flytilla”. Hundreds tried to fly to Israel on the same day, declaring their intention to travel to the West Bank.
Israel threatened airlines with retaliation if they carried the activists and it massed hundreds of soldiers at Ben Gurion Airport to greet arrivals. About 150 peaceful protesters who reached Israel were arrested moments after landing
Echoing the hysterical sentiments of the woman in the video, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denounced the various flotillas as “denying Israel’s right to exist” and a threat to its security.
Although Mr Netanyahu’s comments sound delusional, there may be a method to the madness of measures like the boycott law and the massive overreaction to the flotillas.
These initiatives, as Mr Tibi points out, leave no room for non-violent opposition to the occupation. Arundhati Roy, the award-winning Indian writer, has noted that non-violence is essentially “a piece of theatre. [It] needs an audience. What can you do when you have no audience?”
Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli right appear to understand this point. They are carefully dismantling every platform on which dissident Israelis, Palestinians and solidarity activists hope to stage their protests. They are making it impossible to organise joint peaceful and non-violent resistance, whether in the form of boycotts or solidarity visits. The only way being left open is violence.
Is this what the Israeli right wants, believing it offers a justification for entrenching the occupation? By generating the very terror he claims to be trying to defeat, does Mr Netanyahu hope he can safeguard the legitimacy of the Jewish state and destroy hopes for a Palestinian state?
Jonathan Cook is The National’s correspondent in Nazareth, Israel. He won this year’s Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism
RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Palestinian MP Mustafa al-Barghouthi, head of the Palestinian National Initiative, said the international pro-Palestinian campaign achieved more than it set out to, despite measures Israel took to prevent them from landing in the occupied territories.
Barghouthi said in a statement to Quds Press that the measures still did not prevent hundreds of protesters from actually landing in the occupied Palestinian territories and demonstrating at checkpoints in Qalandia, Walaja, Bethlehem, Nabi Saleh and other areas in the West Bank.
Israel recently made far-reaching efforts to thwart the Freedom Flotilla II from breaching Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and delivering much needed aid. Israel also hiked security preventing hundreds of pro-Palestinians from flying in to protest in the occupied territories.
Israel incurred heavy losses preventing the activists’ arrival and turning the Ben-Gurion Airport into a military barracks, Barghouthi told Quds Press. It put itself into problems with all European states, as no one can accept anymore Israel’s exports and its suppression of freedom of expression.
Barghouthi, who was on board the Freedom Flotilla II, said the Greeks bitterly felt that they had been politically and economically extorted, as the country succumbed to Israeli pressure and banned the flotilla’s ships from departing from its ports.
In the interview, Barghouthi also addressed American and European efforts to resume Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
He asserted that the US pressure on the Palestinians has been ongoing and actually increased recently. He cited the Congress’s decision to boycott the Palestinian Authority should it follow through with steps towards national unity or unilaterally seeking statehood from the United Nations.
Barghouthi went on to say that it was actually Israel that closed the door to negotiations, with the conduct of Netanyahu’s government. He questioned, how can the Palestinians sit at the negotiations table when the number of illegal settlers has risen a hundred percent since the signing of the Oslo Accords.
The timing of political manoeuvring often reveals the stark business of domination. Sometimes the timing is flagrant, like the recent commotion in Greece. In the very hours of forbidding the passage of the aid flotilla to Gaza, the financially strapped Greek government welcomed the approval of an €8.7 billion aid payment from the European Union. With Israel’s position as an EU-groupie, even the Associated Press couldn’t resist smirking at Greece’s underlying ‘incentive to cozy up to its rich Mediterranean neighbor’.
Political manoeuvring also thrives on more subtle timing, as for example in the case of the notorious indictments of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Widely announced as imminent in December 2010, they somehow found themselves on the backburner when the Arab uprisings claimed every corner of Middle East news coverage. Some six months later, on the heels of the formation of a Lebanese government non-hostile to the targeted Hezbollah—in the very hours between finalising the government’s policy statement and its being subject to a parliamentary vote of confidence—only then were the indictments set into motion. Bored of battling the credibility of Arab protests, international media eagerly shifted to the new sensational headlines.
Particularly when it comes to the Zionist project, the Western Israeli Alliance has often banked on timing—on distraction and exploitation. Five years ago, for instance, Israeli forces repeated the pretext-invasions of 1978 and 1982. Five years ago, Israeli forces renewed their aggressive campaigns of 1978 and 1982. With the full backing of their Western allies, five years ago Israeli forces again attacked Lebanon.
The pretext for the lethal aggression was the military capture of two Israeli soldiers on the 12th of July 2006. But as the report by the AP Jerusalem Bureau Chief declared on the second day of bombardment, such a ‘Crisis allows Israel to pursue strategic goals/Analysis: Kidnappings give Israel excuse to neutralize Hamas, Hezbollah’. This early assessment astutely foretold the post-war testimony of then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who would boldly concede his designs.
The political manoeuvring had been going on for years. Perhaps anxious to convince the Israeli Inquiry that the aggression had not been a knee-jerk reaction, Olmert testified before the Winograd Commission that his decision to launch a broad military operation was made as early as March 2006, four months before the soldiers’ capture. Olmert stated that his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, had already been making preliminary plans, including a list of targets in Lebanon. Olmert further stated that he had held several meetings (in January, March, April, May and July 2006) on potential military action against Lebanon.
Olmert testified these meetings concluded that Israel’s goal in a military operation would be the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which they believed would eliminate Hezbollah’s resistance capability. Olmert stated that he was informed in May 2006 by National Security Council head Giora Eiland and by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak that the Lebanese government would agree to implement Resolution 1559 in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Sheba Farms.1
With thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians held as prisoners in Israel, detentions and negotiations for mutual release had been standard fare in the region—a reality Olmert alluded to in his testimony. Following the high profile capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006 (by Palestinian forces who wanted Palestinian women and children prisoners released by Israel in exchange for the safe return of Shalit), Olmert testified that ‘he was certain there would be a similar attempt to kidnap soldiers on the Lebanese border. He ordered the IDF to prevent this’.
So the powerful Israeli military was meant to be on high alert. They were allegedly warned and ready. Yet on 12 July—a mere 17 days later—they somehow failed to prevent the capture that ever since has been labelled the justification for the war. A timely pretext it would seem.
Such a practical assessment of political strategy was in fact pronounced by the Winograd Commission when it concluded the July War had been, after all, a ‘serious missed opportunity’. Israeli policy, it stated, had wavered between two main options:
The first was a short, painful, strong and unexpected blow on Hezbollah, primarily through standoff fire-power. The second option was to bring about a significant change of the reality in the South of Lebanon with a large ground operation, including a temporary occupation of the South of Lebanon and ‘cleaning’ it of Hezbollah military infrastructure.
Despite the damage and the deaths they had inflicted, the Israeli forces had failed to meet their true objective, that of renewed occupation of South Lebanon.
The prompt accusation of Hezbollah’s actions being the casus belli in July 2006 settled into a general public acceptance of blame both within and beyond Lebanon. Such is the magic of timed political manoeuvring. The public listened nervously, for example, as The New York Timescried out the typical news:
With two more soldiers captured today, Israel launched a major military offensive on a second front, sending armored forces into southern Lebanon in response to a brazen border raid by the militant group. [emphasis added]
By the time the Winograd Commission revealed its final report in January 2008, the international public had already well digested the message that Israel had had no choice but to attack Lebanon. The public then merely grimaced at the reminder of Israel’s failure to destroy Hezbollah. TheNew York Timescaptured their plaintive reaction:
When its 2006 war against Hezbollah ended after six weeks, Israel was aghast. An operation meant to cripple the Shiite militia and end its dominance of southern Lebanon had ended with the group if anything stronger.
The final Winograd report explained away any seeming weakness in Israel by faulting those political and military elites who had grown complacent in Israel’s ‘position of social, political and military strength’, whose passive belligerence had dulled their fighting edge. And so the international public seemed undisturbed that the Winograd Commission, in possession of Olmert’s testimony of premeditation, acknowledged that Israel had, in fact, been orchestrating the situation:
Overall, we regard the 2nd Lebanon war as a serious missed opportunity. Israel initiated a long war, which ended without its clear military victory. A semi-military organization of a few thousand men resisted, for a few weeks, the strongest army in the Middle East…. Israel did not use its military force well and effectively, despite the fact that it was a limited war initiated by Israel itself. [emphasis added]
Israel did not need to go to war; Israel chose to go to war. Even if we acknowledge that the soldiers’ capture brought to light a problem that had to be dealt with—namely the prisoner issue—there were alternatives to war.
Rather than admit the unjust nature of holding thousands of political prisoners, however, Israel chose to try to extinguish any resistance to their continued detention. Israel masked its fury by pointing indignantly to its prey. The politics of power relies on the manipulation of perception. It is high time we looked at an objective reality.
How long will Israel get away with its sordidness is an issue that the US should consider seriously, if it is serious about peace-making in the region.
Poor Michele Bachmann! The US Republican representative and presidential hopeful has been the target of merciless criticism and ridicule for her slip-up in explaining her sponsorship of a controversial pro-Israel Congressional resolution.
The slip-up, a seemingly ‘pro-Palestinian tweet’, was caught by Salon.com, the popular news website, when Bachmann wrote explaining her adoption of the House measure, saying, “I’m proud to co-sponsor HRes 268, coming to the floor [last Thursday] night,’ stressing, “The resolution supports peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine [italics added].”
Salon.com commented: “In doing so, she unknowingly strayed from pro-Israel standard parlance in using the term ‘Palestine’ as opposed to the more standard ‘Palestinians’ she inadvertently implied the existence of Palestine as a place — something Israeli hawks are loath to do.”
The pro-Israel resolution, (which you can read here) now adopted by the House of Representatives and the Senate, denounces three things: a potential unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestine Liberation Organization; the upcoming effort to seek recognition at the United Nations, and the involvement of Hamas in the Palestinian unity government.
Importantly, it also urged President Barack Obama’s administration to suspend financial assistance to the Palestinian National Authority if its leaders push for a United Nations vote for unilateral recognition in September.
Disregarding the fact that the Gaza Strip is not an Israeli region, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier astonishingly criticized activists’ projected challenge of Israel’s sea blockade of the Palestinian region on the eastern Mediterranean, maintaining that their efforts are neither “necessary or useful” in helping Palestinians there.
The significance of the slip-up by the Congresswoman, who is now in a ‘virtual tie’ with the Republican presidential front-runner, former governor Mitt Romney, is that it should encourage Palestinians and their supporters to repeatedly utter the word ‘Palestine’ in their public exchanges so that it would become common knowledge to all listeners as had happened with Bachmann. Half of their battle is obviously in gaining international attention and publicity, steps that the Arab side has neglected for decades.
Consider another example. Israel has mistakenly claimed that it has been victorious in nixing the passage of the second flotilla set to sail from Athens to Gaza earlier this month in a bid to disrupt the illegal Israel sea blockade there. Last year, the first such flotilla, sponsored by Turkish sympathizers, suffered the loss of nine protesters, including a Turkish-American, when the Israelis descended on the unarmed boat in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean.
A key factor in disrupting the second flotilla this time was reportedly the intense Israeli lobbying with the money-hungry and bankrupt Greek government which temporarily jailed the American captain of one of the ships, named appropriately, The Audacity of Hope, and prevented all others from leaving Athens.
Likewise, the so-called ‘flightilla’ saw hundreds of pro-Palestinian Europeans and Americans land at Tel Aviv airport but they too were denied continuing to the West Bank to attend a Palestinian week of ‘fellowship and actions’ in Bethlehem, still surrounded by many illegal Israeli colonies thanks to the protection of the Israeli army.
Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have not been allowed to construct any airports; all travel there has to be by land through Jordan or Israel. Even Gaza’s seaport has been shutdown to international shipping.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli daily, among the Palestinian organizers of these programmes were well-known advocates of non-violent protests such as Sami Awad of the Bethlehem-based Holy Land Trust, and Mazin Qumsiyeh, a science professor at Bethlehem University.
The scheduled itinerary included visits to families in Palestinian refugee camps as well as peaceful demonstrations at various traditional Israel-Palestinian flashpoints.
The unprecedented international publicity, thanks to the presence of tens of foreign journalists in Greece and Israel, highlighted Israel’s despicable and disruptive attempts which in the end run served to tarnish Israel’s image and underline the scheduled peaceful Palestinian intentions.
Palestinian children in an Israeli jail.
Another sordid image of Israel has been simultaneously exposed this week on the BBC. It focused on an Israeli government plan to make conditions “tougher” for Palestinians in its jails. According to the BBC, the latest figures “suggest there are 5,335 Palestinians in Israeli prisons for security or public order reasons, including 211 children.” Among them are an undisclosed number of political detainees.
Since the failure of Israel to reach an agreement on its terms with Hamas, which runs the Gaza strip, for the release of Israeli prisoner, Gilad Shalit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to change the conditions of the Palestinian prisoners. “The celebration is over,” he insisted, reported the BBC, without providing any details.
The curator of the Abu Jihad Museum for the Prisoners’ Movement told the BBC that “prison is a crucial part of the Palestinian struggle”. Fahd Abu Al Haj, the curator who had spent 10 years in an Israeli jail, pointed out that the museum contains the suffering of more than 800,000 prisoners, dating back from the beginning of the British mandate period to present-day Israel.
How long will Israel get away with its sordidness is an issue that the US should consider seriously, if it is serious about peace-making in the region.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com.
Generation after generation until total Liberation Image PalestineFreeVoice
Encircle and delegitimize the Zionist state.
By Fadwa Nassar
Edit and translation from French to English by Hiyam Noir
July 10 2011 .
The creation of the Zionist entity “ Israel”, was a rough decision made by United Nations , that did not have the requirement to a legal statute. In consequence, still today after more than sixty years Israel have no eligibility to assert legitimacy of its existence.
Imperialist and colonial states which assured its formation in 1947, by a vote was not only illegal, but also corrupt. Corrupt, because some of the voices have been persuaded by bribes of money. Illegal, because no power in the world has the right to snatch the land from a people, to be used as a one-stop center of mental behavioral health treatment for a population of European Jewry, on the pretext that those people were victims of a murder. And it is true that these colonial states, was pursuing a strategically goal, the creation of the Zionist entity in the lands of Palestine. In other words, to ensure their domination over the Arab nations, including Palestine, the heart of Arab countries – with the deliberate intention to dismantle the Arab nation of Palestine, before its indigenous people would have a chance to enjoy their unity in liberty and manifest themselves, as a sovereign nation.
The Zionist colony was thus created in part by an imperialist system. On the other hand, by the Zionist movement, a colonial and racist system. The establishment of an economic and political hegemony ruling over other nations, with European Jews in the frontline ravaging Arab lands. Western countries, but also the Soviet Union and its satellites at the time, had found the occurrence of this Zionist colony in the heart of the Arab world, a perfect opportunity to keep the Arab nation subservient at all levels.
The Arabs, following their successive defeats against the Zionist colony and in the face of colonial states as well, and due to foreign presence on their soil, their general acculturation, had developed an inferiority complex and a feeling of helplessness in the face of the colonizers, whom steadily increased its arrival. Since 1882 European Jewish settlers swarmed into a continent of an overwhelmingly Arab majority.
On the contrary,the Arab majority,not only the Palestinians, became the subject, of military assaults, but also economically and ideologically, of a doctrine holding that the colonizers geographic, economic and political needs justified the invasion and seizure of other peoples land and possessions.
Only the will to resist among the Palestinian people, to which were added the Arab forces shattered across many countries, enabled the culture of resistance to stand up, preventing a total collapse of the Palestinian society, and remaining firm in denial of legitimacy to the most extreme “operation hoax “of the twentieth century: The erection of a shallow Jewish state on Arab land. Despite uncountable Zionist crimes, the resistance of the Palestinian people aimed at ending the expulsion and fend off the occupation of Palestine lands, has always kept the flame alive. Arrogantly, acting as if they are above the law, the racist Zionist entity has managed remaining in force, continuing to expose its crimes and massacres.
Meanwhile deprived of shelter and protection; the Palestinian people have prolonged its bitter struggle for survival. Nonetheless the visual evidence of the candour, the vigorous and persistent character of the Palestinian resistance has become the guiding device towards freedom for the Arab people, whom always declined to grant a presence of a Zionist entity in the center region of the Arabian continent.
The Madrid Conference in 1992 and the Oslo accords in 1993 embodied imperialist and Zionists efforts and justified its colonial presence. But even in this dark period, the political organized opposition continued revealing that the only way to withstand colonial presence and re-conquer freedom and find dignity is resistance. The resent conflicts (uprising) in the Arab world will eventually lead to the collapse of Israel.
The Zionist enterprise “Israel” will not be able to survive, considering the facto, which all the countries involved in the conflict, are against the occupation of Palestine. Even in this dark period, the resistance continued, believing it is the only way able to find dignity and freedom;In Lebanon, the Hezbollah’s resistance, born in 1982, and the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement of Hamas, born in 1987, the Islamic Jihad movement, born in 1982, is fighting for the Arab nation of Palestine, supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Audacious military operations in Lebanon and Palestine are shaking the stability of the Zionist enemy, an indication that the collapse is that of Arab oppressive regimes, not the will of the Arab people. The liberation of southern Lebanon in May 2000 triggered a few months later, the al – Aqsa Intifada proclaiming the arrival of a new epoch: The Zionist state is now on the slip-slope, bowing down its head. For the Arab and Muslim people, the Zionist entity must disappear, and it can be destroyed.
For the people of the world, the Zionist entity has lost all credibility, and while it’s countless crimes and massacres continues, even within the colonial society the questions about its so-called legitimacy, calls for a reply. The discovery of the true story of the birth of this colonial enterprise, are capsizing the people of the West, large sections of their societies who earlier believed in the future of a “radiant Israeli socialism” and participated in the colonial enterprise between the 1950 and 1970 ties. These societies are now the progressive whom are de-legitimizing the Zionist enterprise which still, more than six decades later is moving towards its goal and so continues to this very day.
The progressive movement of de-legitimization of the colonial and racist Israel has spread throughout the world. International conferences, a Durban (2), international forums, some commissions of the United Nations itself have also contributed to the change. People around the world claim more and more solidarity with the resistance and has organized to block the roads in their own countries, boycott of Israeli made goods and sanctions against representatives of the Zionist entity, including arrest warrants of its war criminals. And the proliferation of the Zionist entity in media bypasses the media subject to Zionist lobbies and disseminates information and anti-Zionist analysis.
After the 2006 Zionist war against the resistance in Lebanon and the war on Gaza in 2008-2009 against the Palestinian resistance, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and the destruction of the Gaza infrastructure, the international Palestinian movement have de-legitimized “ Israel” and have decided to move on to the encirclement. Intelligent “Assaults “, such as the AID-Flotillas of freedom, airport demonstrations, and peaceful activities during this year’s memorials of the NAKBA, when thousands of Palestinian refugees and their sympathizers moved along the borders, surrounding the Zionist entity.This equivalent development of international protests began after the wars of 2006 and 2008-2009.
Today, it is the Zionist entity of “Israel” that is surrounded behind it’s illegally erected “security” wall -not the Palestinians in Gaza Strip (GS). The Zionist entity, which surrounds the Gaza Strip (GS) and is choking al-Quds and the West Bank (WB) colonies, is now encircled: The region of al-Nagab is no longer an internal “Israeli” matter, but has become what it always should have been, a Palestinian, and a Palestinian international solidarity matter. In addition, Zionist leaders in fear of prosecution of its war criminals has prohibited their media to publish photos of military staff, so they would not be so easy recognized abroad by the law enforcement in foreign countries, to where they may intend to escape one day.
For every day that passes by, the Zionist enterprise “Israel” is losing international legitimacy; it is a fallacy, based on a myth. Facing the facts and the history, myths evaporates and people around the world are awakening from their slumber, when retrieving knowledge of the dark past. And on the battle grounds the ratio of military strategic powers are changing. When Arab and Muslim nations one day will realize that the Zionist entity, colonial and racist, was defeated by the Palestinian resistance, whose determination and faith in the justice of the Palestinian cause, has become the main instrument in combat and defense, the path to dignity and liberty will be possible.
“The leaders of the two ‘civil society campaigns’ had done their homework….But they had failed to see one thing.They did not grasp the most obvious fact about the Jewish State and its supportive powers around the world….. the Jewish State is not a civilised place, and it is also totally foreign to the notion of civilisation. Once again the Israeli Government provided its critics around the world with a clear lesson about the unique traits of the Jewish State.”Gilad Atzmon: Flotilla, Flytilla and the prospect of ‘Civil Society Action’
It might be argued that the passing week was not very easy on the Palestinian solidarity movement:
Firstly, an international peaceful flotilla aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza did not manage to leave Greek ports. The Greek government had surrendered submissively to Israeli pressure and American Jewish organisations, and blocked the naval enterprise.Secondly, an international attempt to fly hundreds of activists from all over the world to the West Bank also partially failed, as the Israeli Government had managed to mount just enough pressure to make sure that the project fell apart before it became airborne.[1]
Though it may seem as if the Palestinian solidarity movement suffered a blow, it is actually Israel that was harshly beaten here, for Israel has managed to expose its level of hysteria: it seems that eight old yachts and a few hundred Easyjet passengers have managed to shake the entire Israeli society. Now try to imagine the potential impact of hundred of thousands of Palestinian refugees marching to their homes in Jaffa , Acre Lod , Ramle, Haifa, Beer Shiva and Al Quds.
I guess that the picture is clearer than ever– Israel doesn’t stand a chance. Its fate is doomed. It is just a question of time. It is not a matter of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’. But the truth of the matter goes slightly deeper. Both the Flotilla and the Flytilla are exemplary cases of ‘civil society campaigns’– they were intended to mobilise international public support using peaceful and democratic means.
Both campaigns were not aimed to harm Israel’s security in any way; rather, they were there to draw the world’s attention to the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Their immediate goal i.e. reaching Palestine, was not fulfilled, but their mission is still a clear and significant victorybecause it proves once again what Israel is all about: the Jewish State is a closed society, a morbid collective driven by ‘Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (fuelled by vivid imaginary fantasies of destruction). Most importantly, the Israeli government’s desperate measures against the peaceful Flytilla proved to the world that the West Bank is also under siege, and Palestine is closed to visitors.
The leaders of the two ‘civil society campaigns’ had done their homework: they had planned it all for months, orchestrating and coordinating an airlift of different international groups. They had raised the funds, and they operated as you would expect ‘civil society campaigners’ to operate.
But they had failed to see one thing.They did not grasp the most obvious fact about the Jewish State and its supportive powers around the world. As much as they wanted to put into action the most civilised peaceful strategy, they may have failed to grasp that the Jewish State is not a civilised place, and it is also totally foreign to the notion of civilisation. Once again the Israeli Government provided its critics around the world with a clear lesson about the unique traits of the Jewish State.
Israel vs. Civilisation
The word ‘civilisation’ comes originally from the Latin word civilis, related to the Latin words civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning city or city-state. ‘Civilisation’, then, is traditionally grasped as a society that acknowledges and respects notions of ‘civil law’ and ‘citizenship’. Israel is not such a society unfortunately. Most of the people whose homes are on Israeli-controlled land lack basic civil rights just for failing to be Jewish. It is possible that Israel’s deficiency in that regard is rooted in orthodox Judaism’s defiance of the notions of ‘civil law’ and civilisation. For Rabbinical Judaism, it is the Halacha law that strictly sets the legal rights and duties of the Jew.[2]
Interestingly enough, early Zionism was an attempt to remedy the situation. It promised to ‘civilise Jewish life’. It vowed to erect a Jewish society that respected principles of citizenship and secular civil law. But Zionism was doomed to fail. Already, at its moment of inception, the Jewish State preferred to ethnically cleanse the vast majority of the Palestinian population instead of exercising the theoretical possibility of ‘Jewish civilisation.’
The truth of the matter is that the Jewish state has battled with Halacha laws since its moment of birth. On the one hand secular Israelis, Hasbara agents and Zionists disseminate the deceptive image of a Jewish ‘democratic’, ‘civilised and open society’ but on the other hand, the religious institutions in Israel challenge that fictitious deceptive agenda: they clearly argue that if Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish State’, it should give Jewishness some real meaning. They are basically referring to Halacha laws
The outcome of this struggle is clear: by now, Israel has very little respect for the notion of ‘civilisation’ or ‘civil law’. At the most, it mimics some liberal Western symptoms. The Arab MK Azmi Bishara who suggested a few years ago that Israel should become a state of all its citizens ( i.e. a civilisation ), had to run away for his life, and has lived in exile ever since. It is not a secret that Israeli Arabs (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) are second class citizens, and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank lack any meaningful civil status.They are dwelling in open air prisons. They are subject to Israeli brutality and different forms of racially discriminative laws. Not only that, foreign labour communities in Israel are also totally marginalised, living a life of complete insecurity, with few rights.
The obvious question here then, is whether ‘civil society action’, as we have seen in recent weeks from international solidarity activists, can have any effect at all on a society that so clearly defies the notions of ‘civil law ‘and ‘civilisation’?
Jewish Diaspora and Civilisation
Israel itself is obviously just part of the problem: the Jewish State is supported by some relentless Jewish Lobbies all over the world. These lobbies do manage to push Western governments and political institutions into some very dark corners.
In Britain, for instance, Sheikh Raed Salah, AKA the ‘Gandhi of Palestine’ has been detained for more than a week following the shameful British Government surrender to right-wing Jewish Lobby pressure. Also, the Israeli press was proud to report recently about the incentives offered by Jewish organisations to the struggling Greek government ahead of the Flotilla. The Israeli Government and its supporting lobbies gathered a while back that it is much cheaper to buy a Western politician than it is to buy a tank.
So, the moral for the rest of us should be clear: though Israel itself defies the notion of civilisation, the above incidents prove that its lobbies around the world still manage to interfere with our respective nations’ civilisations.
Civil Society Action Vs. The Non Civilised
Palestinian Solidarity leaders will have to draw the necessary lessons from the recent events. Civil Society Campaigns do mobilise public support around the world and this is indeed very important. However, such campaigns may be just too weak to bring about a change of consciousness in Israel. In order todefeatIsrael and Zionism, we must first admit to ourselves what Israel is all about:we are combating a unique, racially oriented, expansionist tribal project that has no precedent in history, and this project exceeds beyond its natural geographical boundaries.Israel is not just a territorial quest; it is actually an ideology, and its modus operandi is driven by radical forms of racial supremacy (Jewish chosen-ness). But we should also acknowledge that the Jewish State is not alone: it is supported institutionally by world Jewry.
If we care about Palestine, world peace and the state of our world in general, our task is to stand up openly and identify the kinds of ideology, politics and culture that serve the Jewish State and its interests, both globally and locally. We do not necessarily have to travel to Palestine to combat the Israeli soldiers: it may be better to locate its mercenaries around us, in our media, political institutions, think tanks, academia and economy.
These people and organisations actually interfere with our civilisation, with our most sacred Western values of ethics, pluralism, harmony and tolerance.
[1] Those activists that did make it to Israel were very quickly detained and given deportation orders. [2] It may be argued that Islam also defies the notion of Civil Law. However, unlike Judaism, Islam is a universal precept. It clearly defined respectful measures and approaches towards ethnic and religious minorities.
“The leaders of the two ‘civil society campaigns’ had done their homework….But they had failed to see one thing.They did not grasp the most obvious fact about the Jewish State and its supportive powers around the world….. the Jewish State is not a civilised place, and it is also totally foreign to the notion of civilisation. Once again the Israeli Government provided its critics around the world with a clear lesson about the unique traits of the Jewish State.”
Gilad Atzmon: Flotilla, Flytilla and the prospect of ‘Civil Society Action’
It might be argued that the passing week was not very easy on the Palestinian solidarity movement:
Firstly, an international peaceful flotilla aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza did not manage to leave Greek ports. The Greek government had surrendered submissively to Israeli pressure and American Jewish organisations, and blocked the naval enterprise.
Secondly, an international attempt to fly hundreds of activists from all over the world to the West Bank also partially failed, as the Israeli Government had managed to mount just enough pressure to make sure that the project fell apart before it became airborne.[1]
Though it may seem as if the Palestinian solidarity movement suffered a blow, it is actually Israel that was harshly beaten here, for Israel has managed to expose its level of hysteria: it seems that eight old yachts and a few hundred Easyjet passengers have managed to shake the entire Israeli society. Now try to imagine the potential impact of hundred of thousands of Palestinian refugees marching to their homes in Jaffa , Acre Lod , Ramle, Haifa, Beer Shiva and Al Quds.
I guess that the picture is clearer than ever– Israel doesn’t stand a chance. Its fate is doomed. It is just a question of time. It is not a matter of ‘if’ but a question of ‘when’. But the truth of the matter goes slightly deeper. Both the Flotilla and the Flytilla are exemplary cases of ‘civil society campaigns’– they were intended to mobilise international public support using peaceful and democratic means.
Both campaigns were not aimed to harm Israel’s security in any way; rather, they were there to draw the world’s attention to the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Their immediate goal i.e. reaching Palestine, was not fulfilled, but their mission is still a clear and significant victorybecause it proves once again what Israel is all about: the Jewish State is a closed society, a morbid collective driven by ‘Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ (fuelled by vivid imaginary fantasies of destruction). Most importantly, the Israeli government’s desperate measures against the peaceful Flytilla proved to the world that the West Bank is also under siege, and Palestine is closed to visitors.
The leaders of the two ‘civil society campaigns’ had done their homework: they had planned it all for months, orchestrating and coordinating an airlift of different international groups. They had raised the funds, and they operated as you would expect ‘civil society campaigners’ to operate.
But they had failed to see one thing.They did not grasp the most obvious fact about the Jewish State and its supportive powers around the world. As much as they wanted to put into action the most civilised peaceful strategy, they may have failed to grasp that the Jewish State is not a civilised place, and it is also totally foreign to the notion of civilisation. Once again the Israeli Government provided its critics around the world with a clear lesson about the unique traits of the Jewish State.
Israel vs. Civilisation
The word ‘civilisation’ comes originally from the Latin word civilis, related to the Latin words civis, meaning citizen, and civitas, meaning city or city-state. ‘Civilisation’, then, is traditionally grasped as a society that acknowledges and respects notions of ‘civil law’ and ‘citizenship’. Israel is not such a society unfortunately. Most of the people whose homes are on Israeli-controlled land lack basic civil rights just for failing to be Jewish. It is possible that Israel’s deficiency in that regard is rooted in orthodox Judaism’s defiance of the notions of ‘civil law’ and civilisation. For Rabbinical Judaism, it is the Halacha law that strictly sets the legal rights and duties of the Jew.[2]
Interestingly enough, early Zionism was an attempt to remedy the situation. It promised to ‘civilise Jewish life’. It vowed to erect a Jewish society that respected principles of citizenship and secular civil law. But Zionism was doomed to fail. Already, at its moment of inception, the Jewish State preferred to ethnically cleanse the vast majority of the Palestinian population instead of exercising the theoretical possibility of ‘Jewish civilisation.’
The truth of the matter is that the Jewish state has battled with Halacha laws since its moment of birth. On the one hand secular Israelis, Hasbara agents and Zionists disseminate the deceptive image of a Jewish ‘democratic’, ‘civilised and open society’ but on the other hand, the religious institutions in Israel challenge that fictitious deceptive agenda: they clearly argue that if Israel defines itself as the ‘Jewish State’, it should give Jewishness some real meaning. They are basically referring to Halacha laws
The outcome of this struggle is clear: by now, Israel has very little respect for the notion of ‘civilisation’ or ‘civil law’. At the most, it mimics some liberal Western symptoms. The Arab MK Azmi Bishara who suggested a few years ago that Israel should become a state of all its citizens ( i.e. a civilisation ), had to run away for his life, and has lived in exile ever since. It is not a secret that Israeli Arabs (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) are second class citizens, and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank lack any meaningful civil status.They are dwelling in open air prisons. They are subject to Israeli brutality and different forms of racially discriminative laws. Not only that, foreign labour communities in Israel are also totally marginalised, living a life of complete insecurity, with few rights.
The obvious question here then, is whether ‘civil society action’, as we have seen in recent weeks from international solidarity activists, can have any effect at all on a society that so clearly defies the notions of ‘civil law ‘and ‘civilisation’?
Jewish Diaspora and Civilisation
Israel itself is obviously just part of the problem: the Jewish State is supported by some relentless Jewish Lobbies all over the world. These lobbies do manage to push Western governments and political institutions into some very dark corners.
In Britain, for instance, Sheikh Raed Salah, AKA the ‘Gandhi of Palestine’ has been detained for more than a week following the shameful British Government surrender to right-wing Jewish Lobby pressure. Also, the Israeli press was proud to report recently about the incentives offered by Jewish organisations to the struggling Greek government ahead of the Flotilla. The Israeli Government and its supporting lobbies gathered a while back that it is much cheaper to buy a Western politician than it is to buy a tank.
So, the moral for the rest of us should be clear: though Israel itself defies the notion of civilisation, the above incidents prove that its lobbies around the world still manage to interfere with our respective nations’ civilisations.
Civil Society Action Vs. The Non Civilised
Palestinian Solidarity leaders will have to draw the necessary lessons from the recent events. Civil Society Campaigns do mobilise public support around the world and this is indeed very important. However, such campaigns may be just too weak to bring about a change of consciousness in Israel. In order todefeatIsrael and Zionism, we must first admit to ourselves what Israel is all about:we are combating a unique, racially oriented, expansionist tribal project that has no precedent in history, and this project exceeds beyond its natural geographical boundaries.Israel is not just a territorial quest; it is actually an ideology, and its modus operandi is driven by radical forms of racial supremacy (Jewish chosen-ness). But we should also acknowledge that the Jewish State is not alone: it is supported institutionally by world Jewry.
If we care about Palestine, world peace and the state of our world in general, our task is to stand up openly and identify the kinds of ideology, politics and culture that serve the Jewish State and its interests, both globally and locally. We do not necessarily have to travel to Palestine to combat the Israeli soldiers: it may be better to locate its mercenaries around us, in our media, political institutions, think tanks, academia and economy.
These people and organisations actually interfere with our civilisation, with our most sacred Western values of ethics, pluralism, harmony and tolerance.
[1] Those activists that did make it to Israel were very quickly detained and given deportation orders. [2] It may be argued that Islam also defies the notion of Civil Law. However, unlike Judaism, Islam is a universal precept. It clearly defined respectful measures and approaches towards ethnic and religious minorities.
When Folks like Kathy Kelly Visit Palestine by Sea or by Air Netanyahu Panics
Kathy Kelly — Voice for Palestine
“I, and another US Boat to Gaza campaign member, Missy Lane, will head to Tel Aviv, where we plan to be part of a “flytilla,” a new campaign which will bring hundreds of activists together in Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, all of us intent on reaching Palestinian refugee camps and/or visiting Gazan families.” — Kathy Kelly
When the Israeli government discovered that a large contingent of American and European activists were coming to visit Palestine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into his full military stance. He made one huge mistake. He forgot to ask: What is the enemy’s goal? If he had asked himself that question, he would have known that the overarching purpose of the flotilla and the flytilla was to drawn attention to the harsh and ugly reality that Israel maintains absolute military control over the lives of Palestinians living under occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israeli police detain pro-Palestine activists in Ben Gurion Airport to prevent activists from entering Palestine
Did he not know, could he not have realized, what a burden it is for the New York Times to cover up the harsh and ugly reality of occupation when Israel so dramatically shuts its doors to anyone it brands as “pro-Palestinian”?
In its report on the airport blockade, The Times was forced to use a headline that said the visitors were blocked from attending a “conference” in Bethlehem. That did not come out very well for Netanyahu. The Israeli line was that the visitors were blocked because they were a threat to Israeli security. Both the Times and Israel know that “conferences” are held in Bethlehem all the time without all this fuss.
How is this flytilla different? Could it be because this “conference” was clearly intended to draw world attention to Israel’s treatment not only of Palestinians, but also to its behavior toward friends of Palestinians?
The Times inserts a brief observation that Palestine has no airport of its own. And why, pray tell, an astute reader will want to know, is there no airport in Palestine? The Times does not say. It also fails to mention that Israel will not permit Palestinians to build their own airport. Nothing gets built in occupied Palestine without Israeli approval.
In her Friday story, the Time’s Isabel Kershner reported that Israel was aware that the air travelers had been invited by Palestinian activists to come to Bethlehem for a week of “fellowship and actions”.
Most of the foreigners who planned to fly to Tel Aviv and join the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative were either deterred from trying to come or were prevented from boarding flights to Israel by foreign airlines, on instructions from the Israelis. The Palestinian hosts decried the Israeli measures, but also chalked up a small victory. Fadi Kattan, a Palestinian organizer, said at a news conference in Bethlehem that he was “pleased — sadly pleased” that the episode had exposed what he described as Israel’s draconian anti-Palestinian policies.
Netanyahu’s initial response to this planned event proved once again that a man in a panic does not think clearly. Instead of letting the party go forward, Israeli authorities put together a “no fly” list of “peace and justice” passengers believed to be “threats” to Israel’s security. Outside groups are frequently invited to Palestine to travel to Bethlehem and other parts of both Israel and Palestine to talk, pray and plan. Religious types often get through passport control clutching a Bible or a guidebook to the “holy sites”. It also helps if you know the name of an Israeli rabbi, just in case you get into a second round of questioning. But this time was different. Both sides knew the game was on. Ha’aretz reported:
Over the past few days, hundreds of police officers were deployed in and around the airport near Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the base of operations at Ben-Gurion with his internal security minister, the police chief, security branch representatives and immigration officials.
Netanyahu demanded that European airport authorities do to air passengers what the Greek Coast Guard did to the flotilla, halt them at the alpha point. Knowing some passengers would make it to Tel Aviv, Netanyahu took personal command of his second line of defense, Ben Gurion airport. Ben Gurion authorities had to sift through the long line of American and British Bible tour groups, Christian pilgrims, business travelers, and the European Holy Land travelers, to find those dangerous passengers who made it through the security net.
Al Jazeera reported that “of the 600 Tel Aviv-bound pro-Palestine activists who wanted to fly Friday, the majority were prevented from boarding their flights”.
The Palestinians and their international allies had set Netanyahu up. He fell for it hard in his response to the Freedom to Enter flytilla campaign which originated in Bethlehem under local Palestinian leaders like Mazin Qumsiyeh.
Netanyahu’s over reaction to the international flotilla left him looking like the town bully who gets his way with other nations by using his Daddy’s money. In the case of both the flytilla and the flotilla, Netanyahu is the big loser.
Kathy Kelly is shown in action in the picture above, holding her weapon, a microphone. She was one of those passengers who made it to Tel Aviv. She was already well-known to Israeli officials, just as she is well known to her many friends and admirers elsewhere, including those of us in her home town of Chicago, Illinois, where the author of this blog, in the interest of full disclosure, must confess to having known, and admired her, for more than two decades.
Kelly was among the passengers on the Audacity of Hope, the US ship which was sailing to Gaza, when it was intercepted by the Greek Coast Guard. Undaunted, she wrote in The Palestine Chroniclethat she would fly to Tel Aviv. She explained her reactions as she prepared to leave Athens:
I leave Greece tonight with sincere regret that I didn’t spend more time learning from these sturdy activists. I, and another US Boat to Gaza campaign member, Missy Lane, will head to Tel Aviv, where we plan to be part of a “flytilla,” a new campaign which will bring hundreds of activists together in Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, all of us intent on reaching Palestinian refugee camps and/or visiting Gazan families. Earlier this evening, a group of U.S. activists who’ve been able to remain longer, here in Athens, demonstrated at each of the heavily guarded streets leading to the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Greece. The Ambassador is hosting a huge festival tonight, in celebration of the U.S. July 4 holiday that commemorates independence. Several Greek people passing us read our signs seeking freedom for Gaza and asked us to understand that as recently as one year ago, the government of Greece showed no sign of submitting to Israeli or U.S. pressure and allowed international flotilla boats to sail. But, now. they are dependent on the whims of financial elites around the world. The IMF is prescribing draconian measures which will wreck their economy and make them subservient to the dictates of foreign multinationals.
Kelly and Missy Lane landed at Ben Gurion, but they were detained by airport authorities. No word yet on what will happen next to the two of them, though a swift return back home is likely.
Kelly, by the way, would be the first to insist that we acknowledge here that she is but one of more than 600 travelers who participated in both the flotilla and flytilla projects. There are many more Kathy Kelly stories among those peace and justice travelers to Palestine. And their number is growing. No wonder Netanyahu is in such a panic.
Here are the beginning words from the citation presented to Kelly from the Justice Studies Association when Kelly was awarded the 2011 Noam Chomsky honor for her work on peace and justice issues:
Kathy Kelly is a long-time pacifist and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. A tireless activist whose efforts toward peace transcend borders, regions and time zones, writer Studs Terkel wrote of her: “She has visited more countries, cities and small towns not listed in Baedeker’s [travel guide] than anyone I have ever known.” Born, raised and educated in Chicago – as a student at St. Paul-Kennedy High School, Kelly watched the film Night and Fog which exposed her to the horrors of the Holocaust. She also was exposed to the writings of Daniel Berrigan and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. All of this convinced her to make a commitment never to sit by and watch evil happen. Now 58, Kelly has spent her life living up to her commitment. Over the last 30 years, she has helped the victims of war wherever they were – whether in Bosnia, Haiti, the West Bank, Iraq or Afghanistan. A war tax resister since 1982, Kelly has perhaps most notably used her resources (financial and spiritual) to provide medicine and other supplies to those trapped by the politics of militarism. Kelly co-founded Voices in the Wilderness, a peace group that highlighted the suffering of Iraqi civilians during the U.N. imposed economic sanctions of the 1990s. (To read the complete citation, click here.)
No American television coverage has yet to emerge from the flytilla. But there is clip available from the English language channel of RT (Russia Television), which provides an interview with Pippa Bartolotti, a British passenger who made it successfully through Ben Gurion passport control.
James Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. He can be reached at: jameswall8@gmail.com
Recent Israeli behavior toward a host of issues and events portrays a state in the throes of an existential anxiety. For example, the clearly hysterical response by the Israeli government to the mobilization of a few ships carrying humanitarian aid to blockaded Gazans caricatured a state that reacts in a phobic manner to dangers and threats that don’t really exist.
After all, the volunteers on board the ships, who include people from different cultures and religions, made it abundantly clear that their mission was to deliver badly-needed humanitarian materials to the people of Gaza Strip, hermetically besieged by Israel for the fifth consecutive year for no convincing reasons.
Another message these courageous men and women, who really represent the real conscience of humanity, is to highlight the utter illegitimacy, illegality and immorality of the criminal siege that is meant to starve and strangulate 1.8 million human beings whose only “crime” is their enduring determination to seek liberty from the grandchildren and great grandchildren of the holocaust.
There is no doubt that Israeli leaders and officials know this fact too well. However, this apparently didn’t prevent the inherently dishonest Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu from claiming that the free Gaza flotilla was carrying arms to Hamas, a claim that obviously didn’t contain an iota of truth.
The less professional liars among the Israeli government clique claimed that the flotilla amounted to armed armada which was planning to invade Israel, attack the Israeli navy and harm Israeli soldiers. But one would have to send his or her own mind on an extended holiday to believe that a few hundred peace activists, many of them elderly men and women above the age of 70 are planning a blitz against the mighty Israeli army.
Nonetheless, Israel is not a classical neurotic and psychotic case. Israel is perfectly aware of the fact that it is lying to the world and for the world.
Several months ago, Israel claimed it was imposing the Nazi-like siege on Gaza because Gazans were “showering” Israeli towns with rockets. (we are actually talking about nearly innocuous projectiles that do very little damage) Now, the lie is being replaced with another lie, namely that Gaza was endangering Israel’s security and even existence.
But, again, one would have to be extremely gullible to buy such pornographic lies. Indeed, one is always prompted to ask how could a thoroughly tormented, thoroughly starved and thoroughly bombed people, many of them can hardly put food on the table for their kids, pose a real threat to a country with one of the strongest armies in the world, a nuclear power with 200-300 nuclear bombs and warheads in its arsenal, which also has the United States president, media and congress, at her beck and call?
In the past few days, the Israeli authorities declared a state of emergency at the Ben Gurion airport in order to arrest peaceful international activists intent on expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Israeli officials stopped short of calling these activists terrorists, although many of them hail from states that maintain close relations with Israel. Indeed, the tone used by the bulk of the Israeli media in reference to these peaceful activists was clearly convulsive and hysterical, as if the arrival of a few dozen peace activists in Occupied Palestine constituted a mortal threat to the apartheid state.
One doesn’t have to be a great psychological analyst to realize the pattern of behavior is symptomatic of a country that is not sure of its moral credibility. This utter lack of moral credibility was brazenly displayed a few weeks ago when the Israeli army was ordered to shoot to kill Palestinian refugees demonstrating along Occupied Palestine’s northern borders. And the result was the death of several innocent people who never really posed a real danger or threat to Israel.
But Israel does have a mortal fear for losing its so-called legitimacy. And it constantly tries to maintain this “legitimacy” by way of killing and lying.
As an observer of the conflict in Palestine for so many years, I really don’t see that Israel (I am speaking about Israel, not the Jewish people) has any authentic legitimacy besides the legitimacy of the fait accompli.
In the final analysis, Israel is based on ethnic cleansing, land theft and organized terror. As such, Israel can’t have any atom of moral legitimacy, neither now, or after a hundred years. The fact that powerful states recognize this hateful, racist entity doesn’t mean much in moral terms.
Needless to say, when a country lacks moral credentials, as Israel obviously does, that country puts itself on a sure course to self-destruction sooner or later. Military and economic strength might prolong the life-span of oppression and “illegitimacy,” but ultimate demise will be the ineluctable fate of illegitimate states.
Numerous Israelis know deep in their hearts that they are living on land that belongs to another people, that they are residing in homes whose real owners were expelled by Israel’s terrorist army to the four corners of the globe.
Yet they prefer to keep up themselves in perpetual moral hibernation and detest any thought or anyone that might remind them of the immense oppression they have meted out to their victims, the Palestinian people.
In a few decades, our world is likely to undergo deep, historical changes that would be very bad for Israel and Zionism. Some of the harbingers of these changes are already looming, while others are yet to emerge.
Then Zionism will most certainly face its agonizing moment of death and extinction.
As to the Palestinians, the victims of dispossession, ethnic cleansing and systematic persecution, they must have an enduring vigor that goes beyond day-to-day assessment of events.
And their ultimate goal must be nothing less than having the entire slate thoroughly clean. River toSeaUprooted Palestinian
Information Clearing House” — When it comes to the struggle against Israel’s policies of oppression there are two conflicting levels: that of government and that of civil society. The most recent example of this duality is the half dozen or so small ships held captive in the ports of Greece. The ships, loaded with humanitarian supplies for the one and half million people of the Gaza strip, are instruments of a civil society campaign against the inhumanity of the Israeli state. The forces that hold them back are the instruments of governments corrupted by special interest influence and political bribery.
Most of us are unaware of the potential of organized civil society because we have resigned the public sphere to professional politicians and bureaucrats and retreated into a private sphere of everyday life which we see as separate from politics. This is a serious mistake. Politics shapes our lives whether we pay attention to it or not. By ignoring it we allow the power of the state to respond not so much to the citizenry as to special interests. Our indifference means that the politicians and government bureaucrats live their professional lives within systems largely uninterested in and sometimes incapable of acting in the public good because they are corrupted by lobby power. The ability to render justice is also often a casualty of the way things operate politically. The stymying of the latest flotilla due to the disproportionate influence of Zionist special interests on U.S. and European Middle East foreign policy is a good example of this situation.
There are small but growing elements of society which understand this problem and have moved to remedy it through organizing common citizens to reassert influence in the public sphere. Their efforts constitute civil society movements. Not all of these efforts can be deemed progressive.
The “Tea Party” phenomenon in the United States is a radical conservative movement that aims at minimizing government to the point of self-destruction. But other movements of civil society, in their expressions of direct action in the cause of justice, are much healthier. The worldwide movement for the boycott, divestment and sanctioning (BDS) of Israel, of which the flotilla movement is an offshoot, is one of these.
The Forum of International Law
The resulting struggle between the corrupt politics that keeps the West aligned with the oppressive and racist ideology that rules Israel and the civil society movement that seeks to liberate the victims of that ideology goes on worldwide and in many forums. One is the forum of international law. Presently, the debate revolves around the legality of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the effort of the flotilla movement to defy it. Let us take a look at this aspect of the conflict.
1. The well known American Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, a strong defender of Israel, has blatantly stated, “Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal under international law–anyone who tries to break it can be arrested and prosecuted in a court of law.” Of course, Dershowitz is not an expert on international law. Rather he has made his reputation as a defense lawyer with a passion for murder cases (which makes him quite suited to defend the Israeli state). This being said, what is the basis for his assertion that the Gaza blockade is legal?
2. The argument for the legality of the blockade is based on the 1909 Declaration of London and the 1994 San Remo Manual on Armed Conflict at Sea. Both are part of an international treaty system that sets down the parameters of much international law. According to these documents two states engaged in armed conflict can legally blockade one and other for clear military reasons. However, any blockade would cease to be legal if “damage to the civilian population is, or may be expected to be, excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.” Defenders of Israeli actions such as Dershowitz do a very superficial reading of the documents and reason that Israel is in an armed conflict with Hamas, which is the ruling authority in Gaza, and so Israel can legally blockade Gaza so as to stop the importation of weapons and “terrorist” fighters.
3. The holes in this reasoning are big enough to sail a flotilla of small ships through (if only they were not imprisoned in Greek ports). Thus, Israel certainly does not consider itself engaged in an armed conflict with another state. If you doubt this just ask any member of the present Israeli government whether he or she would define Palestine, including Gaza, as a state. In truth, the proper definition of Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza is that of an occupying colonial power whose policies and actions are stark violations of the Geneva Conventions. That is, by virtue of their colonizing actions and treatment of residents of the Occupied Territories, their presence in Palestine beyond the 1967 borders is not legal (one can also argue over the legality of Israel within the 1967 borders). That means those they are in armed conflict with are those resisting illegal occupation. There is no international law that makes it legal for Israel, itself acting illegally, to blockade those legally resisting its actions. The arbitrary labeling of those resisting as “terrorists” does not change this legal situation.
4. As noted above, “legal” blockades must have a military objective and must not do excessive harm to the civilian population. Yet there is evidence that Israel’s goals for the blockade are not primarily military but are, instead, aimed at committing excessive harm to the people of Gaza. The Gaza blockade was not done out of fear of weapons smuggling or terrorist infiltration, but rather constituted a conscious act of economic warfare against the people of Gaza for having the audacity to be ruled by Hamas, the winner of a 2006 free and fair election. There is documentary evidence for this interpretation of events. For instance, in 2006 Dov Weisglass, an adviser to then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, publically stated that the goal of Israeli policy in Gaza was to “put the Palestinians on a diet, but not make them die of hunger.” Then, in June of 2010 McClatchy Newspapers published Israeli government documents attesting to the fact that Jerusalem primarily saw the blockade as an act of economic warfare, and not as a security measure. To this you can add the fact that Israeli gunboats keep shooting at Gaza fisherman who they know are doing nothing except fishing. What we have here is the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians. As such it is not legal, it is illegal–a violation of the Geneva Conventions. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, usually so responsive to U.S. demands, momentarily broke free and in his 2009 annual report told the Israelis they should end their unwarranted blockade. He was ignored.
We Cannot Count on Governments or International Law
So how is it that the Israelis can get away with these crimes? It is because, at the level of government, their lobbyists and advocates wield enough influence to successfully warp the policy formulation of Western governments. Against this corruptive influence, international law means very little. Even embarrassing historical analogies mean little. Nima Shirazi, whose blog, Wide Asleep In America can be found at http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/ wrote a very good piece entitled “The Deplorable Acts: The ‘Quartet Comments on Gaza.” In this piece he points out the relative similarity between the Gaza blockade and the blockade of Boston set up by imperial Britain in late 1773. The Americans of that time labeled the action, “the Intolerable Acts.” Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and her boss in the White House ought to consider this analogy, but then there is that lobby power factor that would prevent them from ever acknowledging it.
As a consequence, those who seek justice for the Palestinians must, for the moment, not place much hope in government or international law. They must act within the realm of civil society, building the BDS movement and its offshoots. Where government moves in and attempts to block civil society actions, these actions must be turned against government if only by using them as campaign tools to expand the BDS movement further. If we persist there will come a time, as was the case with South Africa, when the power of civil society will be such that politicians and bureaucrats will see the cost of defying popular opinion as greater than defying Zionist lobbies.
For all intents and purposes, when it comes to the Palestine-Israeli conflict, the United States and Israeli governments have placed themselves above all law. That means not just international law, but selective domestic law as well. The ubiquitous and improper use of such categories as “terrorist” or “rendering material aid to terrorists” are the corruptive vectors here.
The only hope for justice and the integrity of law is in the realm of civil society which might in the foreseeable future redeem not only Palestine, but the US and Israel too.
Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University in West Chester PA. His academic work is focused on the history of American foreign relations with the Middle East. He also teaches courses in the history of science and modern European intellectual history.
In an audio interview , Harvard University Yiddish Professor Ruth Wisse has condemned ongoing attempts by international activists to set sail for Gaza, on what she calls a “kill-the-Jews flotilla.”
“The purpose of the flotilla is to discredit the Israeli attempt to protect itself and to give Hamas a free hand amassing weapons to use against Israeli civilians.”
Wisse also forms a new type of ‘Jewish solipsism,’ saying “It should be called for what it is: a ‘kill-the-Jews flotilla. If it is called by its proper name, then it will be recognized for what it is.”
Here is the Yiddish logic: label first, then grasp accordingly. However, I would like to remind Wisse that as things stand in the Middle East, it is not the Flotilla peace activists or the democratically elected Hamas who kill. It is actually the Jewish State that is doing the killing, en masse, and in the name of the Jewish people.
The Saviour of the West
But Israel is not just about Jewish interests, according to the Yiddish Professor, it has a far greater role. Israel is the “fighting front line of what we used to call Western civilization, of the democratic free world.”
It is nice to find a Yiddish professor being so openly ‘nostalgic’ about Western civilisation, but I have to point out that Wisse is not familiar enough with the crucial philosophical distinction between Athens and Jerusalem: while Jerusalem stands for tribalism, chosen-ness and brutality, Athens represents the birth of the West, i.e. universalism, reason, Christianity , and ethical thinking (something that clearly is not reflected by the shameful behaviour of the Government in Athens this week).
Wisse is either lying, misinformed, or deluding herself — Israel has nothing to do with Western thought or Western values; indeed, Israel and Jewish ideology are the total opposite of Western thought. At the most, Israel can, at times, be seen as an attempt to mimic aspects of Western thought and value systems.
Moreover, Israel is not a ‘civilisation’ and it is also far from being an exemplary civilised society. Israel defines itself as the Jewish State –and accordingly, Jews from Brooklyn enjoy rights that Palestinians from Jaffa, Lod, Acre, Ramle lack. For Israel to be a ‘civilisation’ then, it must first become a State Of Its Citizens. It must first accept the notion of civil law, and erase any traces of Jewish theocratic traits. Until that happens, Israel cannot be regarded as a civilisation, let alone ‘Western Civilisation’.
Arab Spring
In discussing the Arab spring, Wisse says “If there’s one factor that I would keep my eye on in trying to assess whether the Arab world is moving forward toward democracy, toward internal reformation – or moving backward into greater repression…”.
Like the ‘Progressive Jew’, Wisse follows a trivial, binary structuralist model : she divides the world into ‘progressive’ and ‘reactionary’. Like the ‘Progressive Jew’, she somehow locates herself and her brethren amongst ‘the chosen’ i.e. ‘the progressive’, those who ‘move forward’ .
Clearly, Wisse, fails to acknowledge the obvious role of Islam in general, and in the current events in particular. Islam is a call for justice and equality and it goes far beyond any judaeo-fied binary model. Islam actually integrates temporality — it looks forward while glimpsing backward, and vice-versa. But, make no mistake, Wisse also defines what moving ‘forward’ may entail for the Arabs – “that one factor would be whether Arab leaders are able to accept the State of Israel without condition and without concern,” said she. “As long as the Arab world uses Israel as a convenient excuse for not looking inward, for not undergoing its own reformation, for not undertaking its own improvements, those countries cannot improve.”
Self-Reflection
Isn’t Wisse projecting here? In truth, isn’t the time actually ripe for the Jewish scholars, Yiddish experts and Zionist leaders to look inward?
Wisse represents, in fact, yet another glimpse into Jewish identity politics, and the total lack of capacity to self -reflect. It would be far more helpful if the ‘scholar’ would stop her ranting for just a second, and ask herself – how is it that Jews have consistently been faced with firm opposition eventually, wherever they go, and whatever they do?
Rather than ‘blaming the Goyim’ time after time, it is surely about time for Jewish academics and scholars to launch a true enterprise, driven by inward looking and genuine self-reflection. Rather than repeatedly suggesting ‘what is wrong’ with the Gentiles, again and again, they would surely be better advised to at least begin to consider the notion, once and for all, that something may actually be slightly problematic with Jewish ideology and culture itself.
(7 July 2011) – Setting sail with the Gaza Flotilla is no Sunday afternoon game of cricket.
You’re suddenly in the blockade busting business and if you succeed in getting through you’ll put a lot of noses out of joint and symbolically squidge the evil ambitions of racist-supremacists like Netanyahu, Barak, Lieberman and Peres. You’re interfering in their economic terror war to crush Hamas. And the Israelis don’t take kindly to anyone spoiling their sick fun.
They know nothing of the Laws of Cricket, have never played the game and are skilled only in lying, cheating, sabotage, grand theft and crimes against humanity.
So expect maximum nastiness. Expect even bribery and arm-twisting by Israel to push the frontiers of their illegal blockade beyond Gaza’s shores and out to susceptible countries like Greece whom they can easily bully into doing the Zionists’ dirty work.
Expect extreme “sledging”, bodyline, beamers, bouncers, daisy-cutters, constant ball-tampering and even a bullet in the head.
The only sensible word I’ve heard regarding Greece’s stupid move to block the flotilla comes from Professor Richard Falk: “Greece has no right to detain foreign-flagged ships in its ports other than for purposes of assuring seaworthiness via timely inspection. And they cannot interfere with ‘innocent passage’ through their territorial waters, and this passage is definitely innocent.” He interprets the Laws of Cricket accurately.
The law actually says: “Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State… The coastal State shall not hamper the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea…” The Greeks evidently don’t play cricket either.
The Spirit of Cricket was, until 2000, an unwritten code of fair play. For 250 years no-one thought it necessary to write it down because everybody in the game was expected to be civilized enough to know what fair play meant and to have proper respect for others.
As the game spread worldwide and was increasingly corrupted by money, and winning became a life-or-death matter for some warped individuals, the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club, guardian of the game’s Laws and Spirit) in 2000 formally set down the Spirit of Cricket by defining it in a Preamble to the Laws.
“Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself,” it says.
Respect is vitally important – respect not only for opponents and umpires but also for the game’s traditional values.
These are surely the high ideals we should also be striving for in the game of international affairs. The Preamble goes on to say that responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play is upheld lies with the captains. The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play, and may intervene at any time, and it is the responsibility of the captain to take action where required. Captains and umpires together set the tone, and every player is expected to contribute towards this.
It is against the Spirit of the Game…
To dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture;
To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire;
To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice.
And there’s no place for violence on the field of play.
The parallels between the Laws and the Spirit of Cricket and the way international affairs should be conducted are clear. The umpires are the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. The captains are your Obamas, Netanyahus, Camerons, Putins, Sarkozys, Qaddafis, etc.
Sadly, Gaza flotillas are necessary because the likes of Netanyahu and Obama never played cricket (or so it would seem) and never became acquainted with the Laws and the Spirit of Cricket a.k.a. the Laws of Common Decency. Their education is seriously lacking – to the detriment of the whole of mankind – and, quite simply, they have no place in the game of international affairs in a civilised world.
Yesterday Britain’s prime minister David Cameron came under intense pressure from public anger following revelations that a snoop hired by his friend Rupert Murdoch’s gutter rag, News of the World, had hacked into the mobile phone voicemail of a murdered teenage girl and deleted some of the messages. He had no choice but to tell the House of Commons: “It is absolutely disgusting, what has taken place, and I think everyone in this House and indeed this country will be revolted.”
But are he and his colleagues the slightest bit disgusted or revolted by the murderous crimes against teenage girls in Gaza committed by their very good friends the Israelis, and all the other outrages against Palestinians under Israel’s five-year siege of the Gaza Strip? No, public anger has not yet reached boiling point over that.
From now on, Cameron would do well to distance himself from Murdoch’s loathsome NewsCorp gang instead of socializing with them. Of course, he should not have to be driven to do the right thing by public fury. On the field of play he is expected to lead his team in an exemplary manner in accordance with the Laws and the Spirit. He should also distance himself immediately from his loathsome friends among the pro-Israel lobby. Better still, he should shut that lobby down, especially within his own Conservative Party.
Clearly, Britain needs to bring in the MCC to monitor the way government “plays the game”. And America ought to play more cricket – a lot more.
As for the Israelis, you know the pattern. They’ll soon try to infiltrate the game and take it over. They’ll throw out the Laws, trash the Spirit and ban Islamic teams. They’ll ruin the game like they’ve ruined international affairs and everything else, then claim to share our values.
A committee of current and former parliamentarians has concluded that incidents of anti-Semitism are growing in Canada, especially on university campuses.
But critics say the work of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) was nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt to suppress legitimate criticism of Israel.
In a news release issued Thursday before the official presentation of its report – a release that comes more than a year later than the committee planned – the coalition calls on the government to “combat the wave of anti-Semitism we are witnessing in our nation.”
Mario Silva, the former Liberal MP who was a co-chairman of the committee, said the report could not be timelier, “when Canada is witnessing an unprecedented increase in anti-Semitic incidents and hateful discourse.”
The committee recommends that police forces across Canada be better trained to deal with anti-Semitism; that universities host conferences to counter events such as “Israeli Apartheid Week”; and that there should be a clear definition of what anti-Semitism entails.
But critics have said the committee, with a couple of exceptions, shut out the voices of those who disagree with the its premise that there is a “new anti-Semitism” expressed by those who label Israel a racist state and who compare the policies of the Israeli government with those of South Africa under apartheid.
The CPCCA countered that it did not want to limit reasonable criticism of Israel. But it also explained that “anti-Semitism is being manifested in a manner which has never been dealt with before. … This problem is especially prevalent on campuses where Jewish students are ridiculed and intimidated for any deemed support for the ‘Nazi’ and ‘apartheid’ State of Israel, which is claimed to have no right to exist.”
The committee was made up of MPs from three of the four federal political parties that were elected to sit in the House of Commons in 2008. It has been investigating the nature and extent of the problem in Canada since November of 2009 and hosted an international conference on anti-Semitism in Ottawa last November.
As an independent body, and not an official an official committee of the House of Commons, the CPCCA used Parliamentary resources including meeting rooms and translation services. But it could not summon people to testify. Nor was it compelled to explain its sources of funding – and refused to do so until the report was released.
On Thursday, Scott Reid, the Conservative MP who chairs the CPCCA’s steering committee, said the final costs not including those covered by taxpayers were about $100,000 which was raised through anonymous donations from individual Canadians.
During its inquiry, the CPCCA called for written submissions on anti-Semitism. But many dissenting groups – including Independent Jewish Voices Canada, Seriously Free Speech, and Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East – that responded to the request and asked for the chance to testify were not invited to appear.
MPs from the Bloc Québécois who were initially part of the coalition dropped out last year, saying the CPCCA was “biased” in favour of Israel and against Palestinians. Michel Guimond, the Bloc Whip, told a Quebec newspaper at that time: “We consider the coalition is tainted, partisan and presents a single side of the coin.”
Some MPs who remain part of the coalition say they argued that the dissenting organizations should participate but were overruled. River toSeaUprooted Palestinian
(7 July 2011) – Setting sail with the Gaza Flotilla is no Sunday afternoon game of cricket.
You’re suddenly in the blockade busting business and if you succeed in getting through you’ll put a lot of noses out of joint and symbolically squidge the evil ambitions of racist-supremacists like Netanyahu, Barak, Lieberman and Peres. You’re interfering in their economic terror war to crush Hamas. And the Israelis don’t take kindly to anyone spoiling their sick fun.
They know nothing of the Laws of Cricket, have never played the game and are skilled only in lying, cheating, sabotage, grand theft and crimes against humanity.
So expect maximum nastiness. Expect even bribery and arm-twisting by Israel to push the frontiers of their illegal blockade beyond Gaza’s shores and out to susceptible countries like Greece whom they can easily bully into doing the Zionists’ dirty work.
Expect extreme “sledging”, bodyline, beamers, bouncers, daisy-cutters, constant ball-tampering and even a bullet in the head.
The only sensible word I’ve heard regarding Greece’s stupid move to block the flotilla comes from Professor Richard Falk: “Greece has no right to detain foreign-flagged ships in its ports other than for purposes of assuring seaworthiness via timely inspection. And they cannot interfere with ‘innocent passage’ through their territorial waters, and this passage is definitely innocent.” He interprets the Laws of Cricket accurately.
The law actually says: “Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State… The coastal State shall not hamper the innocent passage of foreign ships through the territorial sea…” The Greeks evidently don’t play cricket either.
The Spirit of Cricket was, until 2000, an unwritten code of fair play. For 250 years no-one thought it necessary to write it down because everybody in the game was expected to be civilized enough to know what fair play meant and to have proper respect for others.
As the game spread worldwide and was increasingly corrupted by money, and winning became a life-or-death matter for some warped individuals, the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club, guardian of the game’s Laws and Spirit) in 2000 formally set down the Spirit of Cricket by defining it in a Preamble to the Laws.
“Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself,” it says.
Respect is vitally important – respect not only for opponents and umpires but also for the game’s traditional values.
These are surely the high ideals we should also be striving for in the game of international affairs. The Preamble goes on to say that responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play is upheld lies with the captains. The umpires are the sole judges of fair and unfair play, and may intervene at any time, and it is the responsibility of the captain to take action where required. Captains and umpires together set the tone, and every player is expected to contribute towards this.
It is against the Spirit of the Game…
To dispute an umpire’s decision by word, action or gesture;
To direct abusive language towards an opponent or umpire;
To indulge in cheating or any sharp practice.
And there’s no place for violence on the field of play.
The parallels between the Laws and the Spirit of Cricket and the way international affairs should be conducted are clear. The umpires are the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. The captains are your Obamas, Netanyahus, Camerons, Putins, Sarkozys, Qaddafis, etc.
Sadly, Gaza flotillas are necessary because the likes of Netanyahu and Obama never played cricket (or so it would seem) and never became acquainted with the Laws and the Spirit of Cricket a.k.a. the Laws of Common Decency. Their education is seriously lacking – to the detriment of the whole of mankind – and, quite simply, they have no place in the game of international affairs in a civilised world.
Yesterday Britain’s prime minister David Cameron came under intense pressure from public anger following revelations that a snoop hired by his friend Rupert Murdoch’s gutter rag, News of the World, had hacked into the mobile phone voicemail of a murdered teenage girl and deleted some of the messages. He had no choice but to tell the House of Commons: “It is absolutely disgusting, what has taken place, and I think everyone in this House and indeed this country will be revolted.”
But are he and his colleagues the slightest bit disgusted or revolted by the murderous crimes against teenage girls in Gaza committed by their very good friends the Israelis, and all the other outrages against Palestinians under Israel’s five-year siege of the Gaza Strip? No, public anger has not yet reached boiling point over that.
From now on, Cameron would do well to distance himself from Murdoch’s loathsome NewsCorp gang instead of socializing with them. Of course, he should not have to be driven to do the right thing by public fury. On the field of play he is expected to lead his team in an exemplary manner in accordance with the Laws and the Spirit. He should also distance himself immediately from his loathsome friends among the pro-Israel lobby. Better still, he should shut that lobby down, especially within his own Conservative Party.
Clearly, Britain needs to bring in the MCC to monitor the way government “plays the game”. And America ought to play more cricket – a lot more.
As for the Israelis, you know the pattern. They’ll soon try to infiltrate the game and take it over. They’ll throw out the Laws, trash the Spirit and ban Islamic teams. They’ll ruin the game like they’ve ruined international affairs and everything else, then claim to share our values.
var addthis_product = ‘wpp-261’;var addthis_config = {“data_track_clickback”:true}; The second front where Israel is fighting against the Gaza Flotilla is in its constant struggle to maintain control over the American corporate media.
The two columns were standard Israeli hasbara (Hebrew for explanation or propaganda) declarations. Think Fox News or the Tea Party in this use of a single perspective to push an ideology, and you realize just how far American journalism has fallen in recent decades.
A year ago, the Israeli Defense Forces handed Israel one of its worst media defeats in modern history.
Israeli commandos, filled with their government’s propaganda that Israel’s security was at stake, landed on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, ready for battle and determined to keep the ship from breaking Israel’s control over Gaza’s shores.
Nine Turkish citizens were killed, one of whom was a Turkish-American.
This year Israel took the job of boarding flotilla ships away from the IDF and gave it to the Greek Coast Guard. On the fourth of July, as Americans celebrated their Independence Day, Israel expanded its Gaza blockade to the Aegean Sea.
What led to Greece’s decision to become Israel’s Aegean Sea outpost? Deep Throat could have told you this was coming: “Follow the money”, specifically the $17 billion which Israel and the US knew Greece needed to escape from a monumental economic collapse.
One way diplomacy works is through negotiations. Another way, when one side is facing default, is to transfer money from the more powerful nation to the economically-strapped nation, which agrees to give up some of its freedom to let the powerful nation have control over segments of its domestic and foreign policy decisions.
The $17 billion guaranteed, the Greek government issued a blanket order: No flotilla ships may sail for Gaza from any Greek port.
The optimistically American named ship, The Audacity of Hope, left its port anyway, determined to break the blockade of Gaza. Right on schedule, the Hellenistic Coast Guard boarded the Audacity. (Greek commandos are shown in action above.) The only gifts the Greek commandos brought on board were enough side arms to subdue unarmed European and American peace activists.
Phillip Weiss, the ever reliable Mondoweiss chief, passed along this report from the website, The US Boat to Gaza, which explains what happened:
Members of the U.S. Boat to Gaza have begun an open-ended fast calling on the U.S. government to defend our right to sail out of Greece. The fast has begun in front of the U.S. Embassy at 91 Vasilisis Sophias Avenue in Athens. Fasters delivered an urgent letter to the Embassy and plan to sleep overnight outside the Embassy gates.
Passengers and U.S. boat organizers participating in the fast are: Medea Benjamin, Ken Mayers, Paki Wieland, Kathy Kelly, Ray McGovern, Helaine Meisler, Nic Abramson, and Carol Murry. . . . The departure of the US Boat to Gaza – The Audacity of Hope – was first delayed by a complaint filed by the Israel Law Center and shown to be frivolous. Greek authorities then inspected the boat but, until the boat set sail five days later, the results of that inspection has not been shared with the captain and his crew.
The Greek Coast Guard stopped The Audacity of Hope some 20 minutes after it had left the dock on Friday, July 1. The Coast Guard ordered the captain to stop the ship, which he did. Commandos with drawn rifles ordered the ship to return. It is now impounded at a military dock in Athens and the captain has been arrested.
The captain of the Audacity, John Klusmire, an American citizen from California, was initially held in a Greek prison. There were reports he had been deprived of basic necessities. The website, USTOGAZA, carries frequent updates on the Flotilla. The site has a tweet report that Captain Klusmire was released from jail on July 5. Charges against him were still pending.
For a report on John Klusmire from a member of his family, see Comment Number Three below.
The second front where Israel is fighting against the Gaza Flotilla is in its constant struggle to maintain control over the American corporate media. Timed to reach readers before the ships were set to sail, two pro-Zionist columns appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, written by two different academic experts in international law, both of whom concluded that Israel was within its international legal rights to block the flotilla from “invading” Gaza’s waters.
The two columns were standard Israeli hasbara (Hebrew for explanation or propaganda) declarations. Think Fox News or the Tea Party in this use of a single perspective to push an ideology, and you realize just how far American journalism has fallen in recent decades.
The Los Angeles Times was once an honorable and respected newspaper, but as James O’Shea tells the story in his book, The Deal from Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers, when the Tribune Company bought the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Company, it dragged the Times to the level of the Tribune, an arch conservative newspaper whose notion of public service relates entirely to its bottom line.
O’Shea, who has worked for both the Times and the Tribune, described the new media leadership of the two papers this way:
Instead of developing strategies to produce the kind of content that would protect their important asset—the public trust—they depreciated it like an aging Linotype.
Neither the Tribune nor the Times offered a Flotilla perspective along with the hasbara columns. Half the story is not the entire story, especially when the news columns fail to report what is happening to Americans attempting a peaceful protest abroad. A newspaper which is reduced to serving as a conduit for propaganda is no longer a newspaper.
It is also not a “free press”. Cynthia Boaz, writing in TruthOut.org, describes what this form of so-called journalism has done to the profession:
There is nothing more sacred to the maintenance of democracy than a free press. Access to comprehensive, accurate and quality information is essential to the manifestation of Socratic citizenship – the society characterized by a civically engaged, well-informed and socially invested populace. Thus, to the degree that access to quality information is willfully or unintentionally obstructed, democracy itself is degraded.
The Tribune column was written by Robert P. Barnidge Jr., a lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Reading in England. Barnidge has previously written for the conservative Washington DC paper, the Washington Times and frequently contributes to the web site of the American Association of Middle East Studies. Barnidge concludes that Israel may, under international law, intercept ships attempting to enter Gaza waters.
A clue to the perspective of the AAMES is found in the views of its board chair, Bernard Lewis, a strong proponent of the now largely debunked Clash of Civilizations worldview. This way of viewing the relationship between Islam and Western powers gained popularity during the buildup to the US invasion of Iraq.
The Los Angeles Timesop-ed column, by Amos Guiora, ran July 2, the same day Robert P. Barnidge’s column ran in the Chicago Tribune. Ira Glunts knew this was just not right. He explained in Mondoweiss:
Amos Guiora had an op-ed in the LA Times yesterday which seeks to justify the Israeli blockade of Gaza and its plans to stop the Freedom Flotilla. The arguments Professor Guiora employs are standard Israeli hasbara which makes you wonder why the paper chose to print this uninspired and hackneyed piece. Guiora, who is an Israeli citizen, was born and educated in the US, is identified only as a law professor at the University of Utah and the author of Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security. What the newspaper does not reveal is that Guiora spent 18 years in command positions in the Israeli Defense Forces, having risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Judge Advocate General Corps. This omission has been brought to the attention of the editors, but there has not been any correction made.
In addition to these two op-ed columns, there were the usual Zionist-friendly stories from the New York Times‘ Jerusalem-based correspondent, Ethan Bronner. In one story he reported that Gaza’s economy was rising from the ashes, which to Gaza residents sounds more like they are living in a Soviet-style Potemkin Village than the reality that actually exists in a walled-in Gaza surrounded by armed guards.
A week later, Bronner was back with a column which pretends a balance. Its distortions are blatant. He claims the Gaza Flotilla sees itself as a modern-day version of the Exodus, the ship which tried to bring Jewish European refugees into British-controlled Palestine at the end of World War II. The Leon Uris novel and the film that followed were early examples of hasbara, propaganda designed to convince the world of the righteousness of Israel’s creation as a state.
The Exodus spin is without merit because the purpose of the Audacity of Hope is to bring hope to Gaza, not refugees. Bronner shamelessly recalls the Exodus because it is iconic to the Israeli public and to its American supporters.
In the cargo of the Audacity of Hope is a collection of letters from Americans and Europeans reminding Gazans that they must not give up hope because they are not alone. A threat to Israel’s security? Depends on how you define security.
Prior to their attempted departure from Athens, passengers aboard the Audacity of Hope came together to produce a short video, To Gaza with Love. Many familiar names and faces are involved in this journey designed “to challenge oppression” in Gaza.
James Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. He can be reached at: jameswall8@gmail.com
“Israel has lost its legitimacy as a respectful member of the international community. In simplest terms, this is tantamount to banditry and piracy. It is a murder conducted by a state. It has no excuses, no justification whatsoever,” Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish foreign minister said in a statement.
Uprooted Palestinian 
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 11:31AM
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UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 
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At the start of this year, Al Jazeera published documents prepared by Abbas’s negotiators with Israel. Abbas was prepared to cede to Israel nearly all of the illegal colonies that the Zionist state has built east of the 1967 armistice line in and around occupied East Jerusalem. Palestinian Authority officials also agreed to deprive the vast majority of Palestinian refugees of the right – backed by the UN – to return to their homes in what is now Israel. They agreed in principle to accept the repatriation of 100,000 refugees over 10 years, and no more. Israeli contemptuously rejected these astounding concessions.
Why the US government feels it retains any credibility throughout the Middle East on the Palestinian question is baffling, but Obama and Clinton have been desperate to avoid the bludgeon of a veto in the UN Security council (though even here there is a mechanism – the Uniting for Peace process, installed 61 years ago during the Korean crisis – for an over-ride of any such veto by the General Assembly.)
If it ever comes to one, a UN resolution won’t give the Palestinians a viable state, nor solve the problems of refugees, nor the separation between the West Bank and Gaza, nor discrimination within Israel which is now emphasising its legal identity as a Jewish state.
Even so, the Palestinian initiative with the UN underscores the US’s weakening status in the region, whose political geography has been changing before our eyes.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan has kicked out the Israeli ambassador for negotiating in bad faith over the lethal attack on the Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara; he has stopped military cooperation with and military purchases from Israel. He promised to come in person to Gaza on board his navy’s protective fleet. As the Egyptian crowd tore down the wall of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, they hailed Erdogan as “a new Saladin”.
Not to be outdone, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al Faisal wrote in the New York Times on September 11 – of all days – that “the United States must support the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations this month or risk losing the little credibility it has in the Arab world… Saudi leaders would be forced by domestic and regional pressures to adopt a far more independent and assertive foreign policy. Saudi Arabia will part with the US if it vetoes the Palestinian bid.”
This is not a problem for candidate Perry. But it is a very serious one for the government of the United States.