This is crazy. The Wall Street Journal runs a long piece on Mortimer Zuckerman's disaffection with Barack Obama and goes on and on about Obama's economic policies, but says not a word about Israel. This is irresponsible and deceptive.
The record is clear. Zuckerman is a giant Israel lobbyist who fell out with Obama over Israel. Here he attacked Obama for his "betrayal" of Israel. Here he attacked Obama for playing the Middle East "game" all wrong by pushing on settlements. In this screed, Zuckerman wrote of "the hostility President Obama has shown to Israel from the start," praised Netanyahu as a peacemaker and bashed Obama for even mentioning the '67 borders. WSJ's James Freeman:
Are the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations anti-Jewish? That is what the Emergency Committee for Israel is claiming in a new video (below). The video features clips of Democratic politicians expressing sympathy for the OWS protesters, followed by clips of some protesters alleging a Jewish conspiracy controls the banking cartels that exploit the American people.
Of course, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are not anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish. That is to say, some of the participants are surely anti-Semitic, just as some are surely anti-Black, some are surely anti-Asian, and some are surely anti-Gay. All of these haters are probably found at OWS in more or less the same proportion as they appear in the rest of the population.
The attempt by the Emergency Committee for Israel to paint the entire
Occupy Wall Street movement as anti-Semitic when its messages are only
representative of an extreme minority and condemned by a large majority is a shoddy, sloppy example of how right-wing elements in the Jewish community cynically smear their ideological, and now their economic, opponents.
What the Emergency Committee for Israel has actually done by producing this pathetic piece of propaganda - as has Commentary magazine and other outlets, by uncritically re-broadcasting this disingenuous disinformation - is revealed that they are card-carrying 1%-ers. They are choosing sides against the exploited 99%. They should have the integrity to do so honestly.
I can't remember how I started following @sarahonline but it was one of my first days on Twitter. She generally posts events from Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem. Sometimes I imagine how every single violation deeply impacts one person or one family or one neighborhood and it sends rings of ripples like a pebble in water until it reaches me and I call back..I can hear you. Tonight I read how 11 year old Muhammad Abbasi had been abducted by 'Israeli forces'...and other news.
This is just one of those stories.
Exiled activist Adnan Ghaith returned to Silwan on Wednesday 12 October after serving a 9 month ban sentence from his home town. Ghaith’s exile was extended by one month after serving the original 8 month sentence, when he was arrested and removed from Jerusalem the day that he finally returned home last month. The order was enabled on the strength of an old military order from the Mandate era in Palestine.
Ghaith has frequently been targeted by Israeli officials for what they deem “illegal activities” – Ghaith’s role as a local activist in the Popular Committee and his position as Secretary-General for Fatah in Silwan. Ghaith has been arrested and detained many times in recent years, including a 6-month administrative detention sentence.
Everyday Sarah and Kate and Seham bring us lists, how many can we even absorb? Someday justice will come to Palestine. Welcome home Adnan Ghaith.
Bill Kristol writing at the Weekly Standard. Remember, Kristol is the voice of the neoconservative bloc in the establishment. Kristol and Robert Kagan and Bill Bennett wrote 10 years ago that George Bush should attack Iraq because "Israel's fight against terrorism is our fight." And Kristol got his way. This is the one reason I have sympathy for Obama on his capitulation to Netanyahu; he is doing everything to stave off the powerful forces that are calling for war against Iran. His saber-rattling in response to the kooky car-salesman plot is Obama's way of propitiating a powerful constituency inside the Democratic Party too; on Fox News today Dianne Feinstein said, "The question is, Do we want to go to war with Iran at this time?" and though she said, No, our hands are full, she is obviously part of the problem. Kristol:
This is a landmark piece in the Washington Post, in which Israeli ambassador Michael Oren argues that If Israel stands alone, well, it ain't so bad to be standing alone. It is a landmark because it reflects the news conventional wisdom even in the American mainstream that Israel has isolated itself (and isolated America with it). Note the defensive tone:
Isolation, of course, is not automatically symptomatic of bad policies.... Israel is not alone. And we have a great many friends, especially in the United States
Significant too, because Oren's string of hasbara lies is now so tiresome that it reads like chewed over Soviet propaganda:
I need to take a breath and say that we are in an amazing moment in the United States where the racism against Palestinians is at last beginning to crumble. For that prejudice is the heart of the 64-year American failure on this issue: our racism against Palestinians, and our refusal to grant them the right of self-determination. That racism is ending.
Protesters in Lisbon surround parliament
LISBON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - About 40,000 people marched in Portugal on Saturday as part of a global day of protest against the financial elite and hundreds broke through a police cordon around the parliament in Lisbon to occupy its broad marble staircase. It was one of the biggest turn-outs in any country and followed the centre-right government's announcement on Thursday of a new batch of austerity measures.
‘Indignant’ protests to sweep across world
MADRID — “Indignant” activists, angered by a biting economic crisis they blame on politicians and bankers, vow to take to the streets worldwide on Saturday in a protest spanning 71 nations. It is the first global show of power by the movement, born May 15 when a rally in Madrid’s central square of Puerta del Sol sparked a protest that spread nationwide, then to other countries. As governments cut deep into welfare spending to try to trim huge sovereign debts, the protests have grown and this weekend’s demonstrations are being organised in Madrid, New York and around the world.
In this exclusive article for the US Campaign’s blog, Steering Committee member Peter Miller shares his thoughts on organizing to end military aid to Israel at Occupy Portland. Download the template flyer that Peter mentions in his article for the Occupy events in your city. Sign up to get an organizing packet to end military aid to Israel from the US Campaign.
Occupy Times Square: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Swarm Midtown (PHOTOS)
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York's Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their monthlong campaign against corporate greed. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests on Saturday started in Asia and rippled through Europe back to the United States and Canada. Protesters fed up with economic inequality took to the streets in cities from Washington, Boston and Chicago to Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.
NYPD arrests Occupy protesters, non-protester at Citibank branch
Video has surfaced of NYPD police arresting Occupy Wall Street protesters for allegedly removing their money out of a Citibank branch. In addition, an arrest of a non-protester is shown in the video yelling, “What are you doing, what are you doing” as police took her into custody. WATCH: Video from Youtube, which appeared on October 15, 2011.
‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters march on Chase Bank in NYC
Thousands of protesters marched in New York and Washington on Saturday as part of a global day of “outrage” against corporate greed that has seen rowdy demonstrations in dozens of countries. In New York, the protesters headed to Chase Bank in support of around 14,000 workers sacked by the lender in the wake of cutbacks made after a government bailout totaling $94.7 billion. Students, families with strollers and trade unionists, minded by a large police presence, then walked towards Wall Street carrying placards, stating: “We are the 99 percent,” “We are the people” and “Mr Obama we need you support.”
Chicago protesters hold ‘die-in’ at Bank of America
Approximately 30 protesters affiliated with Stand Up Chicago staged a “die-in” at a Bank of America on Thursday before complying with police orders to leave. “We are told in our baptismal vows and our ordination vows to resist evil,” one protester said before the event. “And I think the corruption and special interests that are going on in our country are evil. I’ve meet several dozens of people out here who have been foreclosed upon, dozens and dozens — hundreds perhaps — who are unemployed. And I think it’s quite evil when they sit in their homes, and their about to lose their homes, and while other people have many homes.” link to www.rawstory.com
'Occupy' Protest Moves To Walnut Creek
With protest signs and chants ringing through downtown Walnut Creek, an "Occupy" group Wednesday evening expressed its frustration with inequities and corporate ties to the country's political elite. Clyde Rich of Rossmoor decried "a toxic politics that is not only destroying the economy but the government and the American dream."
Protesters disrupt hearing on U.S. defense spending
WASHINGTON — Protesters disrupted a congressional hearing Thursday on US defense spending, with one demonstrator shouting “You are murdering people!” as police dragged him out of the room. Eight people were arrested, said Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider, including seven for disruption of Congress and one for simple assault. Stop the Machine, an anti-war coalition occupying Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington since last Thursday, said seven had been arrested, including Leah Bolger, vice president of the Veterans for Peace organization.
Some 200 people lined Cypress Avenue from Safeway to Premier West Bank on Saturday in the third, and so far largest, Redding rally opposing corporate greed in the country. Led by chants of "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out" and "We are the 99 percent," the group marched from Chase bank to City Hall and back.
A poll by Time released Thursday, which asked participants’ opinions on President Barack Obama’s job performance, the impact of the tea party and views of “Occupy Wall Street,” contains a startling revelation that the national press hasn’t quite pieced together yet: the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters have a higher approval rating than President Obama.
Report: Turkey will host all exiled Palestinian prisoners
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 14 Oct -- Turkey will take in the 40 Palestinian prisoners set for exile abroad as part of an exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, Turkish media reported on Friday. Israel refused to deport the prisoners -- part of the first round of 450 set be released this week -- to Egypt, Lebanon or Syria, according to the report in Turkish daily Hurriyet.
PNN obtains names of 450 Palestinian prisoners to be freed
PNN 14 Oct -- According to Gaza-based activist Hani Silman Salameh, the following list has been confirmed by the Israeli Prisons Authority. It matches the handwritten lists televised by Hamas-affiliated al-Aqsa TV in the Gaza Strip and the lists on the al-Aqsa TV website. The names, places of origin, dates of arrest, and release status [released, exiled abroad, exiled, released with conditions] of the 450 prisoners to be freed are:
Israel-Palestinian swap due in Sinai next week
TEL AVIV (Reuters) 13 Oct -- Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will be freed from five years of solo captivity in the Gaza Strip sometime next week in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The swap is expected to take place on Egyptian territory at locations somewhere in the Sinai Desert, as yet undisclosed. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated other prisoner swaps, has offered its services and is discussing this with Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers ... No details of the timing and choreography have been made public. But the approximate mechanics of the exchange can be sketched from details gleaned from Palestinian and Israeli sources. The handover will begin with carefully timed, simultaneous moves somewhere in Egypt. But Shalit and the men and women for whom he is being traded are not likely to even come close to seeing each other.
Hamas: Barghouti part of prisoner exchange until 'last minute'
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 14 Oct -- Palestinian officials on Thursday jousted over the terms of a prisoner exchange deal agreed between Hamas and Israel ... many prominent figures in Israeli jail were left out of the deal, and some 200 of those freed will not be able to return to their homes. On Thursday, sources close to Hamas told Ma'an that Israel reneged on an agreement to release charismatic Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti "at the last minute."
Jewish terror victims group to petition Israel High Court against prisoner exchange
Haaretz 14 Oct -- ...The petition is to be submitted early next week, only after Israel officially releases the names of prisoners to be included in the first stage of the swap. Individual families of terror victims may also submit petitions, in addition to that of the Almagor Terror Victims Association. High Court approval of the petitions against the release, or the refusal of President Shimon Peres to pardon them, could thwart implementation of the exchange deal. However, in the past the courts have turned down petitions by families seeking to prevent the en masse release of prisoners, and presidents have rubber-stamped such releases.
Shalit captors to keep quiet after prisoners exchanged
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 14 Oct -- One of the groups that helped capture Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Friday his location and circumstances of capture would not be revealed even after next week's exchange of prisoners. Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Abu Mujahed said the circumstances of Shalit's capture would be kept secret, despite earlier promising to release a video of the captive. Hamas leader Ismail Radwan, meanwhile, said the Islamist movement was satisfied with the swap deal ... Radwan added that Hamas did not have any knowledge of the place Shalit was being kept. It is a security matter and the PRC has the final say to reveal or not reveal where he was kept, he said
Tel Aviv: 'Price tag' in Rabin memorial
[with video of vandalism] Ynet 14 Oct -- First reprisal following Shalit deal? Man whose parents were murdered in terrorist attack arrested on suspicion of vandalizing Yitzhak Rabin monument in Tel Aviv: Words 'Price Tag' 'Free Yigal Amir' sprayed in scene ... The security guard told Huldai he was caught as he was trying to escape by taxi. He said Schijveschuurder told him he committed the act in protest of the release of terrorists as part of the Shalit deal.
Detained in the '70s --what Nael Barghouti missed
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 14 Oct -- When Israel arrested Nael Barghouthi, CDs, Windows and Walkmans had not been invented yet ... There was no such thing as DNA fingerprinting. Hosni Mubarak's 30-year presidency had yet to begin. Moammar Gadhafi, however, was already ruling Libya. The Berlin wall was still standing ... After more than 12,000 days behind bars, Nael has spent more of his life in prison than free. Accused of being a Fatah operative, he is known as the dean of prisoners ... South African apartheid was dismantled during Nael's imprisonment, but the veteran prisoner will return to a West Bank fractured by a huge new wall and splintered by Israeli-only roads connecting dozens of new Jewish-only settlements.
Whenever I go to Palestine, I come away shocked at what Israel is doing there, without any American recognition. I realize that I am almost as blind as all the other Americans– because our media has done nothing to inform us about conditions. Our society has ignored these conditions by saying, Well it’s a tough [...]
Big news. Netanyahu claims yet another spoil from his political victory over Obama: Israel has approved another new settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, a new neighborhood of 2600 homes. “Disastrous new plan to build new settlement in southeast Jerusalem is potential killer of peace agreement,” Ori Nir of Peace Now tweeted yesterday. Peace Now, which [...]
If you’re intent on derailing the Occupy Wall Street protests by tarring demonstrators as anti-Semites, you might bother to get basic facts right. But Alana Goodman at the neoconservative Commentary magazine doesn’t even do that in her zeal to link the Occupy Wall Street protests to anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment. Put aside Goodman’s contention that [...]
The prisoner exchange between Hamas and the Likud-led government of Israel is one of the more curious developments in the recent history of the conflict. It shows the two extremes working together in a surprisingly normal and constructive sense. Netanyahu and Likud will be boosted politically by the release of Gilad Shalit; Hamas will be [...]
The Occupy Wall Street movement is aimed at the American Establishment, so it is little wonder that it is having resonance in terms of the Jewish presence in the Establishment. Two neoconservative media orgs are trying to smear the movement as anti-Semitic. First, Bill Kristol’s shop, the Emergency Committee for Israel, has published a scare [...]
Sara Besbes, a Tunisian champion fencer, boycotted a competition in Italy rather than fence Israeli Noam Mills. Besbes, who comes from a family of great fame in fencing, reached the final round where she had to play against an Israeli player. However, she stood still on the platform, pointing her sword toward the ground and [...]
by Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
14 October 2011
If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call And the night must fade and the chain must break – Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia) The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements [...]
Barney Frank, the liberal congressman representing Boston suburbs, will be holding three town hall meetings in the next ten days. They will feature his plan to reduce military spending by 25%. Frank has previously dodged the issue of reducing aid to Israel. You can see the Congressman mention cutting aid to every ally with the [...]
Ali Gharib reports at ThinkProgress: [Chicago radio host Ron] MAJORS: Once we get into sanctions and taking those kinds of actions, the argument immediately becomes, ‘Are you really going after the government of the country, or are you taking food out of the mouths of the citizens?‘ KIRK: It’s okay to take the food out [...]
On 11th October 2011 the children of Cordoba school in Hebron engaged in peaceful demonstration for their right to an education. The protest was triggered by the Israeli occupying forces changing the rules at checkpoint 56, refusing school teachers the right to pass around the side of the checkpoint as they have done for several [...]
I’m not going to answer the question in the headline. But here are three sane voices on the red-herring car-salesman Iranian terror plot. First, MJ Rosenberg at Media Matters says we’ve seen this neoconservative movie before: But for the lies and manufactured evidence that led us into Iraq, we might actually accept the idea that [...]
Calls abound for another Gandhi — particularly when the subject is the Palestinian struggle for human rights and self-determination. Nicholas Kristof is just the latest. The main reason why my business partner and I called our latest venture the Palestinian Gandhi Project is that this is the language used by everyone else. “Where is the [...]
A very confusing feeling passes through me after hearing about the exchange of 1,027 Palestinian detainees for the only Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who is held captive by the Palestinian resistance. I don’t know whether to feel happy or sad. Gazing at the faces of the prisoners’ families in the solidarity tent, I see a [...]
Enormous. Former Speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg has come out of the colonialism closet and endorsed one democratic state from the river to the sea if Israel fails to take real steps toward two states, which of course, it will not. This is barely a week after Nicholas Kristof said similar things in the [...]
Kudos to the New York Review of Books. In a continuing effort to rethink the conflict, spry editor Robert Silvers has published an important review of David Grossman’s novel, To the End of the Land, by Patricia Storace. The publication is brave because the New York Review is at last granting an American liberal writer [...]
From the JTA : Seven Republican U.S. congressmen have accepted an invitation from World Likud chairman Danny Danon to visit Israel this month. Among those who will be making the trip are the co-chairs of the Republican Israel Caucus, Peter Roskam of Illinois and Doug Lamborn of Colorado. They will be joined by Rep. Jim [...]
For a slow day/inspiration… Check out the huge cheers from the crowd. So this just my personal political view. I just so happen to have millions of fans that listen to what i say. Lupe Fiasco, as a member of the human race, put in my vote for Palestine to be the newest state, yeah……Free [...]
‘Commentary’ smear of Occupy Wall St. doesn’t bother to get basic facts right
If you’re intent on derailing the Occupy Wall Street protests by tarring demonstrators as anti-Semites, you might bother to get basic facts right. But Alana Goodman at the neoconservative Commentary magazine doesn’t even do that in her zeal to link the Occupy Wall Street protests to anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment. Put aside Goodman’s contention that [...]