Wednesday 24th of April 2024

fakin' it .....

fakin' it .....

Celebrations have taken place in Israel to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organisation which paved the way for the establishment of the state of Israel and the Israeli Defence Forces. A headline in the Jewish Chronicle refers to "the generation that established Israel" above a photograph of some elderly veterans rather sadly wearing military uniforms.

Describing the veterans as the "heroes of Israel", the IDF's Chief of General Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, is quoted by the JC, saying, "You were the ones to pave the way for the IDF as the army of the Jewish people, and as a body that can promise to the world 'never again', a reference to the Holocaust.

The past few years have seen many celebrations of the diminishing band of survivors from the First and Second World Wars. History is written by the victors, and it is true to say that the exploits of Allied troops in both world wars were not entirely devoid of unacceptable actions long since covered up and forgotten about by official historians. While not exactly a whitewash, it has had the same effect. The same is true of the Haganah "heroes", to the extent that it is surprising that a British-based publication can laud an organisation which first cooperated with (including receiving training by British officers) and then agitated and fought against British Mandate rule in Palestine.

Turning terrorists into "heroes"

meanwhile, the storm clouds keep building .....

A United Nations committee has accused Israel of failing to investigate abuses allegedly committed during its offensive in Gaza nearly two years ago, raising the prospect of International Criminal Court indictments.

Both Israel and Hamas were instructed to conduct internal inquiries after the UN Human Rights Commission adopted a report by Richard Goldstone, a retired South African judge, accusing both of war crimes during the three-week conflict.

More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis died in the war after Israel launched a military operation in Gaza in what it said was an attempt to halt Hamas rocket fire on its towns near Gaza.

The UN investigation accused Israel of deliberately attacking civilians, firing white phospohrous shells and carring out torture during the offensive.

"The Israeli operations were carefully planned in all their phases as a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise the civilian population," the report found.

Israel's investigations of Gaza conflict inadequate, say UN experts

 

who's on first .....

Here's the roll-call on who introduced terrorism (along with biological, chemical and nuclear weapons) to the Middle East: 

  • Bombs in cafés: first used by Zionists in Palestine on 17 March 1937 in Jaffa. (actually grenades)
  • Bombs on buses: first used by Zionists in Palestine on 20 August-26 September1937
  • Drive-by shootings with automatic weapons: IZL and LHI in 1937-38 and 1947-48 (Morris, Righteous Victims, p681.)
  • Bombs in market places: first used by Zionists on 6 July 1938 in Haifa. (delayed-action, electrically detonated)
  • Bombing of a passenger ship: first used by the Zionists in Haifa on 25 November 1940, killing over 200 of their own fellows.
  • Bombing of hotels: first used by Zionists on 22 July 1946 in Jerusalem (Menachem Begin went on to become prime minister of Israel).
  • Suitcase bombing: first used by Zionists on 1 October 1946 against British embassy in Rome.
  • Mining of ambulances: first used by Zionists on 31 October 1946 in Petah Tikvah
  • Car-bomb: first used by Zionists against the British near Jaffa on 5 December 1946.
  • Letter bombs: first used by Zionists in June 1947 against members of the British government, 20 of them.
  • Parcel bomb: first used by Zionists against the British in London on 3 September 1947.
  • Reprisal murder of hostages: first used by Zionists against the British in Netanya area on 29 July 1947.
  • Truck-bombs: first used by Zionists on January 1948 in the centre of Jaffa, killing 26.
  • Aircraft hijacking: world-first by Israeli jets December 1954 on a Syrian civilian airliner (random seizure of hostages to recover five spies) - 14 years before any Palestinian hijacking.

The only form of violent terrorism not introduced into Palestine by the Zionists was suicide bombing, a tactic used almost entirely by people fighting occupation of their "homeland" - think 1000s of Japanese in 1945, 100s of Tamils and 38 Lebanese in the 1980s - most of the latter being motivated by socialism/communism, not Islam - see http://amconmag.com/article/2005/jul/18/00017

  • Biological warfare - pathogens used by Zionists in 1948, prior to the seizure of Acre, putting typhus into the water supply.
  • Chemical warfare - nerve gas very likely used by Zionists in February/March 2001 in at least eight attacks in Khan Younis and Gharbi refugee camps (Gaza) and the town of Al-Bireh (West Bank).
  • Nuclear threats - made by Zionists e.g. 2003: "We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen, before Israel goes under." - Remarks of Martin Van Creveld, a professor of military history at Israel's Hebrew University, 1 February 2003.

And, if you think only Muslims need worry, then see http://www.masada2000.org/sharepain.html - "Israel has nuclear weapons and MUST use them and all those arming the Arabs must share the pain!". Comes with cute music.

To these we could add "sofa slaughter" with armed drones. The Israelis use this armchair technique extensively in Gaza, unleashing death and destruction on civilians by remote control at no personal risk to themselves. There are interesting variations too. For example, during the 40-day siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002 the Israeli occupation force set up cranes on which were mounted robotic machine guns under video control. According to eye-witnesses, eight defenders, including the bell-ringer, were murdered, some by armchair button-pushers and some by regular snipers.

Right now we're witnessing a cyber-terror attack against Iran with an ultra-sophisticated virus that disables thousands of industrial computers, including those controlling Iran's nuclear programme. This is an extremely sinister development with frightening global implications. The presumption is that it's Zionist inspired and implemented by Israeli stooges and sympathizers since no-one else hates and fears the Iranians this much, but the truth may never be known.

Banned horror weapons spread terror

There's also the use, suspected or real, of prohibited weapons. In July 2006 doctors in Lebanon and Gaza were saying: "We never saw before wounds and corpses like those that arrive in the ward..." The majority of victims were women, children and elders caught in Israeli attacks in the street, in the market place and at home.

What they saw led doctors to believe that a new generation of weapons was being used. Common to all victims was the lack of visible wounds, but they had serious internal edema and hemorrhage with loss of blood from all orifices. All the bodies had a covering of dark powder, making them look black, but they were not burnt. Clothes and hair were not damaged or burnt.

Electron microscope scans showed the presence of phosphorous, iron and magnesium at below normally detectable levels. Elements that are used as additives to boost the blast of thermobaric (fuel-air energy) bombs and grenades were found on skin samples, but none of these could be seen by instruments normally used in hospitals and emergency wards.

Thermobaric weapons leave no fragments on or in the victims' bodies, making it all the more difficult to provide proper care for the injured. "This fact already puts them outside established conventions of war, regardless of whether they are used against military or civilians," say the doctors.

The effect of a thermobaric shell or grenade, according to the GlobalSecurity website, is devastating. "Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, and thus invisible injuries, including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness. The destruction, death and injury are caused by the blast wave."

Another report, published by Defense Technology, says: "Each tissue type ... is compressed, stretched, sheared or disintegrated by overload according to its material properties. Internal organs that contain air (sinuses, ears, lungs and intestines) are particularly vulnerable to blast."

The United States uses 40mm thermobaric grenades developed for the war against "terror" in Afghanistan. These little beauties produce a thermobaric overpressure blast and "all enemy personnel within the effective radius will suffer lethal effects as opposed to the conventional fragmentation round."

The grenades are fired from a specially developed weapon. "You can put six rounds on target in under three seconds," one Marine Corps corporal said. "I thought this thing was sick."

America is reported to have lost nuclear bombs, so it shouldn't be too difficult for them to mislay shipments of thermobaric grenades, which in the wrong hands would wreak havoc in the metro or London's Underground.

Hoist by their own petard.

A perfectly good form of words is used to brand, outlaw and crush any organization, individual or country the US doesn't like.

Under Executive Order 13224 ("Blocking Property and prohibiting Transactions with Persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support Terrorism"), Section 3, the term "terrorism" means an activity that:

(i) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, property, or infrastructure; and

(ii) appears to be intended

     (a) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

     (b) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

     (c) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, kidnapping or hostage-taking."

The order was signed 23 September 2001 by George W. Bush, the irony being that his definition of terrorism fits the United States and its bosom-buddy Israel like a glove.

Since then, of course, we've seen the Zionists commit the foulest act of state terrorism in recent times. During their Cast Lead onslaught they butchered at least 350 more children, and Gaza has been under daily attack ever since. So the "most moral army in the world" must have blown to bits, shredded, incinerated or smashed with snipers' bullets at least 1,400 Palestinian youngsters in the last 10 years. The numbers left maimed or crippled don't bear thinking about.

And let's not forget the assassinations and extra-judicial executions. In the US there's a presidential prohibition on assassination except in war situations, but if they can conjure up an intelligence "finding" that enables them to label the target a "terrorist", and claim the murder was an act of self-defence in a war situation, they're in the clear.

Assassination became official Israeli policy in 1999. Their preferred method is the air-strike, which is lazy and often messy, as demonstrated in 2002 when Israeli F-16 warplanes bombed the house of Sheikh Salah Shehadeh, the military commander of Hamas, in Gaza City killing not just him but at least 11 other Palestinians, including seven children, and wounding 120 others.

According to the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, 408 Palestinians have been killed in the course of targeted assassinations since the second Intifada (uprising) began in 2000. This systematic extermination is regarded as legal and legitimate by Israel's attorney-general.

In a sane world you'd expect the American and Israeli administrations to be hoist by their own petard, branded as "persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism", and punished in the same way they seek to punish others.

Reaping terror's reward: get in there first - that's the secret

  

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.

Fascinating articles John and having the ring of truth?

Some one recently wrote that "Zionists are the real enemies of the Jews" I can't remember who but - how right that is!!!

Given that the many well organized Jewish Lobby groups are embedded throughout the world and more prevalent in the US than anywhere else I find it hard to suggest that none of them financially support the Zionists and their ambitions but, is that the major problem?  The unbridled cruelty by these "people of no law" are a danger to all Jews who are recognisable in many countries outside of the Middle East.

Like the Nazi spread throughout Europe, the powers that could have curtailed his obvious trashing of international law [besides the genuine pitiful efforts of Chamberlain], but actually helped him in his "nation building" - including very much the US administration with the Krupp’s munitions Factories.

So history appears to be repeating itself except that the “good guys” are as guilty as the Zionists and are continuing to be marginalized themselves in the general view of the world’s biggest players.

It is surely true that the decades of “we must defend ourselves” is no excuse for the invasions; murders; bombings; stealing land by violence and generally not obeying any laws at all – not even their own.

If such an organization existed in Australia I would personally hope that our Government would crush them without hesitation since their very unique methods of avoiding any responsibility for anything will surely become a precedent for the rest of us to suffer. 

If ever there was a case for Jew haters to cherish – the Zionists are it.

The hypocritical stance of the US/UK is a major problem and one can only be amazed at their servitude to a regime that knows no limit to its destructive and murderous attacks on anything remotely Muslim.

The irony there is that the Muslim religion rightly feels like the Jewish people must have felt in their several eras of being ostracized over the centuries. Therefore the Muslims rightly consider themselves the innocent party to a western intention of subjugating their people and religion and resort to any type of weapon to make their point.

This is becoming all too obvious to nations like the UK but, the Zionists are attacking a people entirely innocent of the Jewish Holocaust.  WHY?

Sure they want the Palestinian land but, with their uncontrolled and murderous attitude, what next?  "Crime does not pay"  hog wash. It depends on who is the victim or the perpetrator doesn't it?

It should not be forgotten that the US Jewish Congress began their European destruction and WW II when they declared war of Germany in 1933 and tried to crush them by what might have been, the first use of sanctions.  NE OUBLIE.

 

 

the good life .....

In his book "Against Empire," Michael Parenti defines imperialism as "the process whereby the dominant politico-economic interests of one nation expropriate for their own enrichment the land, labor, raw materials, and markets of another people."

In a September 21 article, titled "What Do Empires Do?" he says "Imperialism is what (they) do." They don't just pursue "power for power's sake. There are (significant) interests at stake, fortunes to be made many times over," including land, mineral wealth, cheap labor, and easily exploited markets. They're there, so take them, the strong dominating the weak. Besides seizing and controlling Syrian and Lebanese land, it's how Israel rules Palestine, no regional country a match for its military might with no shyness about using it.

On and off again for 35 years, it's a charade going nowhere, a cul-de-sac ending "road map." Strategically rebranded and reemerged periodically, it's neither a process or way to peace, and according to a September 3 Time magazine article, Israelis care more about other things. Titled, 'Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace," it's a controversial notion given how close they live to a war zone. In spite of it, however, their lives go on, perhaps not wishing to hunker down or take to the barricades.

Writer Karl Vick said:

"As three Presidents, a King and their own Prime Minister gather at the White House to begin a fresh round of talks on peace....the truth is Israelis are no longer preoccupied with the matter. They're otherwise engaged: they're making money; they're enjoying the rays of late summer." As for a "blood feud" with Arabs, they "say they have moved on."

They're indifferent, says Vick. They don't care about war or peace. "They live in the day," affluent Israelis, that is, enjoying the good life, "while all the rest is somehow blurred," especially in cities like Tel Aviv, known as "the bubble," its sidewalk cafes "a way of life." Israel is a country "whose quality of life is high and getting better," at least for some, not those Vick leaves out, ignoring the many poor and growing numbers experiencing hunger and homelessness. As for others, one says "We're not really that into the peace process. We are really, really into the water sports," making money, and enjoying life.

Imperial Israel

friends of palestine .....

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) held a seminar yesterday, Friday 12th November, in central London to release a comprehensive Atlas of Palestine from 1917-1966. This is a vital piece of work documenting history, landscape and Geography of Palestine that has been erased by Israel. The eagerly anticipated event was widely attended bringing together journalists, academics and activists Friday.

The meeting was titled "Mapping Palestine: for its survival or destruction" Using Documents to Prove Rights and to Correct Wrongs, Professor Salaman Abu Sita, an eminent scholar, redrew the contours of Palestinian landscape using official documents, to vividly demonstrate the erasure of Palestinian history and the ongoing Nakba.

His presentation provided a historical and forensic analysis of the mechanism of expulsion, which began in 1947 and continues even today. He provided graphic illustrations of the policy of expulsion. The Atlas contains names and descriptions of Palestinians villages that have been demolished. It also provides names, description and location of villages which Israel chooses not to recognize.

This Atlas is the life long struggle of Abu Sita, it took him approximately 20 years to prepare this it. He used German, French, British and Turkish archives to collect thousands of maps and documents.

A number of MPs, activists, journalists and researchers attended the meeting. Ex-labor MP and director of "Labour Friends of Palestine", Martin Linton chaired the meeting.

PRC hosts releasing "Atlas Palestine" Evening in London

the terror scam .....

In the second attack on Israel by Liberal Democrat politicians in the same week that the party's leader said the party got it wrong on Israel, Jenny Tonge claimed on Friday that Israel's treatment of Palestinians is the root cause of terrorism worldwide.

Possibly "Holocaust guilt" allows this treatment to go unchecked, Tonge said, adding that it might also be the "power of the pro-Israel lobby" in the UK and US.

The Liberal Democrat peer was speaking in the House of Lords at the Strategic Defense and Security Review, which sets out how the British government will deliver the priorities identified in its national security strategy.

On the issue of world conflict prevention, Tonge then said: "It is a disgrace to us all that problems such as Kashmir and Palestine are still alienating Muslims all over the world.

"The treatment of Palestinians by Israel is held up as an example of how the West treats Muslims," she said, "and is at the root cause of terrorism worldwide."

"Even [the Quartet's Middle East envoy] Tony Blair has now admitted this publicly," she claimed.

"Why do we let it continue? Is it Holocaust guilt? We should be guilty - of course we should. Is it the power of the pro-Israel lobby here and in the USA?" The peer went on say that "cynics might think" Britain is at the ready to help Israel attack Iran.

"Or is it the need, maybe, to have an aircraft carrier called Israel in the Middle East, from which to launch attacks on countries such as Iran? The cynic might think that that is why HMS Ark Royal and the Harriers [fighter jets] can be dispensed with [as part of UK defense cuts] - [since] we already have a static "Ark Royal" in a strategic position, armed to the teeth and ready to fight, provided that we do not offend Israel," she said.

Tonge, a lifelong anti-Israel activist, continued: "I feel sorry for the people of Israel sometimes. Their government's policies have made that country the cause of a lot of the world's problems, yet now they are seen in the middle as the remedy and the base for the West to fight back."

The party has distanced itself from Tonge's comments, which "do not reflect the views of the Liberal Democrats," a spokesman told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday. "Indeed, last week [party leader] Nick Clegg stressed that Israel's right to thrive in peace and security is non-negotiable for Liberal Democrats."

Last week, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Phillips told a meeting of the radical fringe group Palestine Solidarity Campaign in parliament that "Europe cannot think straight about Israel because of the Holocaust, and America is in the grip of the well-organized Jewish lobby."

Israel is the root cause of terrorism

meanwhile .....

In the heat of the 2008 presidential election, an obscure nonprofit group called the Clarion Fund made national news by distributing millions of DVDs about radical Islam in newspaper inserts in swing states.

The DVDs, 28 million in all, were a boost to Republican candidates who were trying to paint Democrats as weak on terrorism -- and they arguably helped fuel the anti-Muslim sentiment that boiled over in the "ground zero mosque" fight last summer. The film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War With the West," was widely criticized for its cartoonish portrayal of Muslims as modern-day Nazis.

But who put up the money to send out all those millions of DVDs?

Clarion, which has strong links to the right-wing Israeli group Aish HaTorah and is listed in government records as a foreign non-profit, would never say.

Indeed, the group does not have to release detailed donor information because of its nonprofit tax status. We knew only that there was serious money behind the effort: Clarion spent nearly $19 million in 2008, the year it sent out the DVDs.

Now, just as Clarion is gearing up to release a new film hyping the threat of Iran, the money mystery has deepened: According to a document submitted to the IRS by Clarion and obtained by Salon, a donor listed as Barry Seid gave Clarion nearly $17 million in 2008, which would have paid for virtually the entire "Obsession" DVD campaign.

Non-profit groups must submit financial information including the identity of donors to the IRS - but ordinarily only basic revenue and spending data are made available to the public. In the case of Clarion, an extra page with donor information seems to have been inadvertently included in its public filing. See it here. (It was previously available on public websites that collect IRS forms submitted by nonprofits.)

There's only one Barry Seid Salon could find who might fit the profile of a $17 million donor to Clarion. That would be businessman Barre Seid (note the different spelling) of Illinois, a longtime contributor to right-wing and Jewish causes. But his representative flatly denied to Salon that he has ever given money to Clarion.

The elderly and press-shy Seid is president of Tripp Lite, a large Chicago-based manufacturer of power strips that got into the personal computer market on the ground floor back in the 1980s. Seid has personally poured millions of dollars into Republican campaigns and conservative causes, and his foundation has given generously to the Cato Institute, the Americans for Limited Government Foundation, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This year, Seid received an honorary degree from Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv for his work "supporting those organizations which will fortify Israel's position in the world."

Mystery of Who Funded Right Wing "Radical Islam" Campaign