"The United States of FaceBook" versus Palestine

 Deputy FM: 'The state of Facebook' is more real than Palestine 
Thus spake the 'genius' deputy foreign minister of Israel.

Referring to recent announcements by several Latin American countries that declared recognition a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, the deputy foreign minister opined that any such Palestinian state was as virtual one as the popular social network.
"Facebook is the 'like' state, and so is the Palestinian state recognized in Brasilia and Buenos Aires," said Ayalon.
...
"The state of Facebook is more real that the Palestinian state which would be created unilaterally without negotiation with the elected government in Jerusalem," said Ayalon.

My comment: It is hard to find a decent and publishable response to official idiots like that one.  For an official of a country that was 'created' by force only 60 years ago after over 2000 years in diaspora, a country that was, and still is, sustained by outsiders (Jewish and some Christians expediting the end of times so that Jesus can come convert or destroy Jew), and a country that relied and still relies of the sense of guilt of the West to survive, I would say it is pretty cheeky of Ayalon, the idiot deputy FM of Israel, to talk the way he did.  But I am accustomed to his idiocy and the idiocy of his boss, Avigdor Lieberman after few years of those 2 clowns being rubbed in the face of the world.

If Israel is cut off outside support, for example the way pre-war Iraq was Israel, as we know it, will vanish in 5-10 years with no chance of recovery.


On the other hand, Palestinians have been getting the short end of the deal from Arabs, Muslims, the West, the East and everybody till very recently.  And despite deportations, occupation, land confiscation, its corrupt leader and the largest scale media smear efforts, and the largest operation of brain washing of  the Western public in history Palestinians are STILL there, and they will ALWAYS be there.

Because they are real people and a real nation, no matter what Ayalon thinks.
 
With the way Israel is heading, none of what helped 'create and sustain it' is going to last,  Any one wants to bet about the Middle East in 50 years: Which countries will be there and which ones will be history - again?

Khaled

Link:

• Poll: 55% back rabbis' anti-Arab ruling - Israel Jewish Scene, Ynetnews
• Dozens of top Israeli rabbis sign ruling to forbid rental of homes to Arabs - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
• Israeli soldiers who used Palestinian boy, 9, as a human shield avoid jail | World news | The Guardian
• Video / Prof. Avi Shlaim: Settlements turned Israel into apartheid state - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel New
•  Martin Van Creveld: Give Up West Bank or ‘Tell Your Children to Leave Israel’

The idiot rabi strikes again: Non-Jews exist only to serve Jews

This idiot man is a scholar of the Talmud, and yet he is a shame to humanity.  He is the Sephardi chief rabbi of  Israel.  In case you do not know it, this idiot chairs the Shas party that holds the balance of power in the Israeli parliament, and some of his more idiotic followers in several ministerial positions in the Israeli government as well.

You can read about his 'credentials' on Wikipedia.  But reading these quotes would tell you more about him.  And there is nothing there to brag about: neither morally and humanly.  You can imagine how his followers implements his attitudes in the way they treat goyim, i.e., non-Jews who are under their thumbs in Israel or anywhere else.  Goyim, by the way, does not only refer to Arabs and Muslims.
Goyim is ALL non-Jews.  That is the rest of humanity.

The sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews, according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages and a senior Sephardi adjudicator.

“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” he said in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat.

According to Yosef, the lives of non-Jews in Israel are safeguarded by divinity, to prevent losses to Jews.


“In Israel, death has no dominion over them... With gentiles, it will be like any person – they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.

The rest of humanity is simply like donkeys own by the Jews: preserved by God only to that Jews do not loose their assets.


This is his servant... That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” Yosef said. “Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That is why gentiles were created,” he added.


Yosef’s Saturday night sermons have seen many controversial statements from the 90-year-old rabbi. In August, Yosef caused a diplomatic uproar when he wished a plague upon the Palestinian people and their leaders, a curse he retracted a few weeks later, when he blessed them along with all of Israel’s other peace-seeking neighbors.

This is not a man that issues fatwas while hiding in a cave, or from a dilapidated structure targeted by our drones because he is spreading hate.  He is a BIG figure in Israel, He is a king maker in the parliament.  He schmoozes with the presidents, prime ministers, and foreign leaders.  In other worlds, he is not an outcast.


And when Israel behaves towards its 'goyim' non-Jewish population, as well as Arabs, Muslims and the rest of the worlds as if they do not count for anything, one may wonder: it is just me , or do they look like they have taken this idiot's advice and religious opinions to heart?


Khaled

Other related posting:

•  If you are an Orthodox Jew spiritual leader, it is OK to say such things.
• The mindset may sound Saudi, but the tongue speaks Hebrew!!
• Red Alert: The Arabs Are Spreading. STOP the Arabs!!!
• Israeli rabbi: Honey-pot sex is kosher for female Mossad agents

Link to Original Article in the Jerusalem Post and another relevant article about extremist rabbis:

• Yosef: Gentiles exist only to serve Jews
• Settler Rabbi: Celebrating Murder of Palestinians ‘Great Mitzvah’

Dear Thieves: Theft is No Longer a Crime. BUT we URGE Restraint

Netanyahu urges restraint as West Bank settlement building freeze is lifted

You can read the article if you want, but it is all in the picture and in the title.
As for me, I have to excuse myself.  I think I am going to throw up.

Breaking New:

Sources familiar with the inner workings of Gang House (that is the Israeli Government Headquarters for those of you not versed in foreign affairs jargon) just told reporters that the Israeli Prime minister actually double-winked as he urged restraint.
The sources released this highly classified information on condition of  anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Settlers interviewed about this said this 'classified information' stuff' is BS. "The double-wink is not classified information", settlers said, "Everyone knows a wink-wink must be added at the end of Israeli government statements, just like a 'full stop' at the end of a sentence".

Khaled 

Link:
Netanyahu urges restraint as West Bank settlement building freeze is lifted - from The Guardian

Can't wait till the shoe is on the other foot

Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinian schoolgirl (From the British Guardian)

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
...
The manner of Iman's killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was "scared to death", made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.
...
In the recording, a soldier in a watchtower radioed a colleague in the army post's operations room and describes Iman as "a little girl" who was "scared to death". After soldiers first opened fire, she dropped her schoolbag which was then hit by several bullets establishing that it did not contain explosive. At that point she was no longer carrying the bag and, the tape revealed, was heading away from the army post when she was shot.

Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: "I told you I was innocent."

They all are innocent.  They will always be innocent. After all, the life of a Palestinian child is nothing but a waste of oxygen. 

The army's initial investigation concluded that the captain had "not acted unethically"

Now I know what they mean when they say the Israeli Army is the most Ethical army on the world.

And suddenly, I feel enlightened.  Thank you Israel.

Khaled

Related Posts:

• If you are an Orthodox Jew spiritual leader, it is OK to say such things.

Links:

• A Girl's Chilling Death in Gaza (washingtonpost.com)
• Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinain schoolgirl | World news | The Guardian
• Shas spiritual leader: Abbas and Palestinians should perish - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

If you are an Orthodox Jew spiritual leader, it is OK to say such things.

As if it was not enough to have a demagogue idiot fill the air waves in Washington's Lincoln Memorial this Saturday, the hateful racist bigoted evil religious Jewish 'spiritual' leader in Israel also has to have his moment on his holy day.  Do not expect anything holy in his ramblings.

Only an Israeli spiritual leader and head of a party that is in the ruling government in our Ally/Master Nation of Israel can utter this and cause no global wave of condemnation by the 'civilized world' leaders.

Meet Ovadia Yosef: a Shining Light Unto the Nations.

"Abu Mazen and all these evil people should perish from this world," Rabbi Ovadia was quoted as saying during his weekly sermon at a synagogue near his Jerusalem home. "God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians."

In 2001, the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox faction gave a speech in which he also called for Arabs' annihilation.

"It is forbidden to be merciful to them," he was quoted as saying. "You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."

Khaled

Link:

• Shas spiritual leader: Abbas and Palestinians should perish 

Previous posts showing the 'glorious spirituality' of Israeli religious leaders and community:

• The mindset may sound Saudi, but the tongue speaks Hebrew!!
• Red Alert: The Arabs Are Spreading. STOP the Arabs!!!
• Secular and Religious Jewish Knessette Members threaten Arab members: One day we will 'take care of you'
• "From Mumbai to Hebron" and "Jewish Jihadis"- by Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam

The World Is Full of Ground Zeroes

A true patriot shows his love for fellow citizens

The nonsensical and mostly hateful discussion about the the so-called 'Ground-Zero Mosque' just shows how politics and religion are almost one and the same thing in many areas of the US at present.

The so-called separation of Church and State is a great principle, but is getting  less and less implemented.  And even when religion is not explicitly part of the public discussion, the religious tones seem to underlie the discourse.

In my opinion, it is no coincidence that this ugly situation is being kindled more and more in preparation for the the November primaries where the politicians of the 'American Party of God', aka the Republican Party, would sell there souls - if they have any - for a seat in the congress.

But one good thing that came out of this is the energization of many good people in the defence of the group that wants ot build the Cordoba Islamic Center, and of Muslims in America against the tide of hate they are facing.

A good friend of ours has forwarded me an article in the Huffington Post that that is mostly a letter written by a friend of hers, Anya Cordell.  Our friend describes Anya Cordell as a Jewish activist that "... has been actively engaged in monitoring and responding to the rising tide of distortions and lies related to Islam, Muslims and groups designated as the other."

I will be quoting excerpts from the letter only here, but the introduction by the Huffington Post writer, William Spear, is also very well-worth you time, and you can read the whole thing here.

... I've been wondering about your response to the multiple traumas related to 9/11 and lower Manhattan; the victims on the planes and on the ground, the rescue workers, the witnesses on the scene and watching on screens (all of us), and Muslims the world over who became instantly associated with something as horrifying and destructive as this event. As you know, I received the 2010 Spirit of Anne Frank Outstanding Citizen Award from The Anne Frank Center USA (in lower Manhattan ) for my work against the designating of any group as "Other." At this time of controversy surrounding the Islamic Cultural Center in New York, I thought I'd share my reflections with you and your audience.

When I think about the issue of "sacred ground" at the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, and what should occur on or around it, I think about the innumerable "ground zeroes" around the world, where loved ones of families we never hear of have died in unspeakable violence. I think about what monuments or markers do, or do not, exist to commemorate where they fell or burned or disintegrated. Despite the unspeakable trauma in New York, it strikes me as quite a luxury to be able to memorialize and sanctify such ground, a luxury afforded to only a very few grieving families, the world over.

After September 11, a number of innocent men, not just Muslim or Arab, but also Sikh, Hindu, South Asian, and others, were murdered in the U.S. by self-avowed 'patriot' vigilantes. I know the families of some of these victims. The widow of one works every day standing exactly where her husband was shot in cold blood, behind the counter of the service station he ran. There is no hushed and sacred ground there, except for an instant when momentary wisps of incense her father lights in the doorway each day fade away, just before the customers tramp through to pay for their gas, cigarettes, lottery tickets and sodas. Customers do remember and speak of the murdered man who was the soul of generosity -- a U.S. citizen who was Hindu, from India, who would let you drive away with a tank of gas and the promise that you'd pay him back if you didn't have money in your wallet that day. I suppose their memory is his memorial. Similarly, a Sikh family works every day where their loved one was slain, in Mesa, Arizona on September 15, 2001 by a killer who had vowed to "kill the ragheads responsible for 9/11," and instead murdered a sweet man wearing a turban as a tenet of his Sikh faith.

There is no memorial at the intersection where I live, where a black neighbor, was gunned down by a white supremacist in 1999, although we did organize nightly walks from the site, which folks attended for months, sometimes accompanied by the victim's wife and children, two of whom witnessed their father's shooting. There is a slight imprint of a leaf in the cement curb where he fell, (I think the curb was set before the murder), a coincidence that feels to me a tiny bit meaningful.

These are my thoughts when I read of the families of some of those who died in lower Manhattan, wanting "ground zero" and its environs (how far?) to be hallowed in a way that only the most privileged nations can afford. ..

Perfectly innocent people die daily as victims of what is referred to as "collateral damage" in dusty parts of the globe. Children disintegrate stumbling across minefields. All manner of mayhem and terrorism destroy lives, but somehow we imagine that those who were lucky enough to have lived and worked in New York apparently stand (figuratively, no longer literally) far apart from these multitudes of others, who were equally innocent, whose deaths were equally shocking, whose families loved them just as much and who also clawed at earth with bare hands trying desperately to rescue and recover them. ...

After 9/11 I felt compelled to reach out to the innocent families I mentioned above, and in the years since, I've watched the anti-Muslim drumbeat intensify in ways that impact multitudes of innocent people. All the Muslims I know are traumatized by the stereotyping and characterizations that are now rampant. Rather than celebrating 9/11 (as they have been accused), they despair of it. All of them fear; children being taunted and bullied, adults being more vulnerable in public and in the workplace. ...

Following a presentation, a student once whispered to me, "Thank you so much for your program. I'm Muslim, but no one here knows it." That sent chills down my spine, reminding me of historic times when people needed to try to "pass" to be safe. As a Jewish woman, the moment made me think of Anne Frank, and the disparity between the Nazi stereotypes of Jews, and the reality of the innocents who were slaughtered. It also made me think of the heroic non-Jewish friends who supported Anne's family in hiding, and the necessity of crossing divides to be allies for one another. ...

I would trust my Muslim and Hindu and Sikh friends with my life. I'm sure there are some Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Christians and others who might terrify me. In my experience there are wonderful people of all faiths, who claim their religion has taught them their values, and awful people of all faiths who also claim their religion has taught them their values. I am much more interested in meeting people than in labeling them. ...

 Khaled

 Anya Cordell, Author, RACE: An OPEN & SHUT Case

Links:

• Anya Cordell Website 
• APPEARANCE-ISM: Anya Cordell is keeping the spirit - ChicagoJewish ... 
• The World Is Full of Ground Zeroes

Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) put their dirty foot in their mouth.

Abraham Foxman

I never liked the ADL.  Somehow they send a vibe of sneaky, dishonest and unprincipled opportunism.  No matter what subject they meddle in, their stance reeks of pure cheeky pro-Israel propaganda (i.e., Hasbara) coated with an ultra-thin layer of civil rights defense.

The only demonstration I organized was against their ugly head, Abraham Foxman who was invited - by some people who like pushing the envelope - to speak as a keynote speaker before St Louis Interfaith Partnership.
It was a joke to invite the head of a so-called civil right advocacy group who - was a week earlier in Israel to support their bloody deliberate assault on Lebanon civilians and infrastructure - to be the key note speaker in an annual meeting of INTERFAITH organization.  It was a slap in the faith to St. Louis Muslim community.

The logic of pro-Israel apologists is usually that anything a loud-mouth pro-Israel lobbyist does is an example of sublime morality, innocence and thoughtfulness.  And if you do not like... Well, that is because you are an anti-Semite - or a self-hating Jew, depending of the circumstances.

I am very happy that the shameful Anti Defamation League has recently opened its out only to put its dirty foot in it.

• Anti-Defamation League Comes Out Against Ground Zero Mosque

Their stance is deliberate, and 'well argued' -so it will be very difficult for them to spin it into something like: 'it was taken of of context'  or 'it was an impulsive low-level and unauthorised person who did it, and we fire him'.   This one is sticking - and it shows the real ADL: bigoted and hypocritical, just as I always suspected.
The statement contains a sentence that will go done their history as a landmark of their hypocrisy:

"But ultimately this is not a question of [civil] rights, but a question of what is right."

Coming for this 'pretend' civil rights group, it is a statement that makes you want to vomit.  Of course, from their perspective 'what is right' is usually what they deem it to be so.

What they did is not sitting  well with many progressive Jewish voices and they are outspoken against it.  Jeffrey Blankfort has an excellent post on the wonderful MondoWeiss blog about the ADL and thier dirty history.

•  The back-of-the-envelope history of the Anti-Defamation League

Other postings on the same great blog cover other aspects of the issue.

‘ADL’ statement rationalizing bigotry draws wide scorn - Philip Weiss - MondoWeiss

Foxman plays Holocaust card - Philip Weiss -MondoWeiss

And by Paul Crugman in the New York Times Blog

Bad for the Jews - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com

It is nice to see an ugly face finally lose the half-pound of make-up it is hiding behind.

Khaled

Post-script

• ZAKARIA TAKES A STAND: CNN Host Returns Award From Jewish Group [ADL] Over Ground Zero Mosque

Zakaria poses thr question:"Does Foxman believe that bigotry is OK if people think they're victims? Does the anguish of Palestinians, then, entitle them to be anti-Semitic?"

And I, Khaled, may add: Does the Jewish suffering during the holocaust justify the racism and bigotry that Palestinian face on daily basis in there own occupied historic Homeland?

Israel military: Flotilla killings justified (God is OK with that, the Rabbi thinks)!

Israeli Military Declares Gaza Flotilla Killings Justified

Israel has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians: men, women and children without a second thought or remorse. So, what's a few more Turks killed in the big scheme of Israeli policies?

Besides, a Rabbi knows best when is comes to what pleases God, and the rabbi said it is OK.

Chabad rabbi declared his 'Godly' view of where Judaism stands:

I don’t believe in western morality, i.e. don’t kill civilians or children, don’t destroy holy sites, don’t fight during holiday seasons, don’t bomb cemeteries, don’t shoot until they shoot first because it is immoral.

The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle).

The first Israeli prime minister who declares that he will follow the Old Testament will finally bring peace to the Middle East. First, the Arabs will stop using children as shields. Second, they will stop taking hostages knowing that we will not be intimidated. Third, with their holy sites destroyed, they will stop believing that G-d is on their side. Result: no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.

Zero tolerance for stone throwing, for rockets, for kidnapping will mean that the state has achieved sovereignty. Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.

Rabbi Manis Friedman
Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies
St. Paul, MN

So, living by the Torah leads the 'Light unto the nations' to prevail over the rotten ones who advocate not killing children or destroy places of worship (The opinions of the despicable rabbi were taken verbatim from an 'Ask the Rabbi' article in Moment Magazine,  Summer of 2009).

Nice religion that 'man-of-god has'.

And, by the way, the nice Rabbi has not - and will not - be declared a terrorist, charged with hate incitement, a hate crime or even 'a hate-misdemeanor'.  And he will never get deported to the only homeland he believes in that was promised to the likes of him.

And the followers that flock to his hate-spewing place of worship and pay money to keep him 'productive' will always be secure from harassment, FBI interrogations, and surveillance by our security agencies.


Khaled

We are nice. But if you do not like us, we will force you to. - On the BDS and Israeli proto-fascism

It must be hard to feel that you are great, and yet that you have to have Every One's approval and acceptance, even the people you occupy and oppress.  I think Israel hunger to get even the 'terrorists' to accept tit as legitimate is a manifestation of that.

Israel has more nuclear weapons that China, exports more weapons that France and Britain, is able to occupy concurrently parts of three countries without anyone frowning, executes others (enemy or civilians), extra-judicially and extra-territorially with impunity, and manipulates the governments of the world (including the US While House and Congress) as if they are manipulating puppets.  Yet, the tiny bit of non-recognition by Hamas, or the tiny bit of disapproval by the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement seem  like an existential threat to them.  Although, to Israel, every thing always seemed like an existential threat anyway, including - but not limited to - emotional rejection.

 I had to laugh a month ago when Israel and the West Bank settlers were threatening the Palestinian authority when the PA was floating the idea of boycotting goods manufactured by settlers.  It is like taking hostages, use them as slave labor to make products that you then force the slaves to buy, and penalize them if the would not!!!

Academic and artistic boycott (described by ultra-Zionists as intellectual terrorism!!), in addition to economic boycott (also called economic terrorism by the same clowns) is gaining more and more grounds as the illegitimacy of the Israeli stance is becoming too stinky to hide.

And while the economic impact on Israel will never be dramatic, it is that eternal sense of illegitimacy that will always haunt Israel and make them ultra-sensitive to rejection.

This article from the British Guardian presents the reaction of the Israeli regime to the local supporters of the BDS movement within Israel - the righteously Israeli Jews that see through the fog of the Zionist propaganda.
Here are some excerpt from the guardian article.

Israeli academics hit back over bid to pass law that would criminalize them

An academic backlash has erupted in Israel over proposed new laws, backed by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, to criminalise a handful of Israeli professors who openly support a campaign against the continuing occupation of the West Bank.

... A proposed bill introduced into the Israeli parliament – the Knesset – would outlaw boycotts and penalise their supporters. Individuals who initiated, encouraged or provided support or information for any boycott or divestment action would be made to pay damages to the companies affected. Foreign nationals involved in boycott activity would be banned from entering Israel for 10 years, and any "foreign state entity" engaged in such activity would be liable to pay damages.

... Adi Oz, culture editor on the Tel Aviv weekly Ha'ir, appeared on Israeli national radio explaining her support for recent boycott activity. "When the Pixies cancelled their concert here I was disappointed," she says. "But I was not critical of the Pixies, I was critical of our government, because they are responsible for Israel's isolation."

There is a building momentum to restrict their freedom to dissent, a tendency described by some Israeli journalists and thinkers as 'proto-fascism'.  Although, in my mind and to most Palestinians and many Arab Israelis, there is nothing 'proto' (or early phase in plain English) about the Israeli regime fascism.  Palestinians have suffered from it, i.e., franc fascist behavior, for many decades.

It cannot be put in a better way than how Uri Avnery put it in 'A little Red Light'

In our present situation there are some dangerous indications. The last war showed a further decline in our moral standards. The hatred towards Israel’s Arab minority is on the rise, and so is the hatred towards the occupied Palestinian people who are suffering a slow strangulation. In some circles, the cult of brute force is gaining strength. The democratic regime is in a never-ending crisis. The economic situation may descend into chaos, so that the masses will long for a “strongman”. And the belief that we are a “chosen people” is already deeply rooted.

Khaled

Links
Israeli academics hit back over bid to pass law that would ...
BDS campaign wants Israel to abide by international law
 Artists' Boycott Strikes a Dissonant Note Inside Israel - NYTimes.com
 Economic activism against the occupation: Working from within
 Canada: Queers against apartheid beat censorship bid
 Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
 Why Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel?
 Settlers: PA boycott – economic terror - Israel News, Ynetnews
And this is a must read:

• Uri Avnery: A Little Red Light

A 'peaceful' IDF soldier shooting a 'terrorist' peace activist

MondoWeiss is one of the best sites covering Israeli Palestinian News. Their coverage of the latest events with the assault on the Turkish ship and the massacre of Turkish peace activist. Many of their latest posting are refuting the idiotic claim that the activists were - like every thing else in the universe - a threat to Israel.

Today they posted a graphic video possibly of the shooting at close range of one of the activists after 2 soldiers have been 'peacefully' pummeling him with their boots. May be the poor activist was in so much pain, and the soldiers' merciful IDF-trained souls could not bear to see him suffer any longer.

Yes, that was it. Mercy killing. I must be grateful to the Israeli forces that they have not send a bill (yet!) to the victim's family charging them for the bullets and labour.

Take a look at this so when idiots make stupid claims about what went on that day, you know what the truth is.

On May 31, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the actions of IDF soldiers who had conducted the raid on the Mavi Marmara, killing at least nine of its passengers, as “a clear case of self-defense because as our soldiers were inspecting these ships, they were attacked – they were almost lynched. They were attacked with clubs, with knives, perhaps with live gunfire, and they had to defend themselves – they were going to be killed.”

That was before video emerged appearing to show two Israeli soldiers first pummeling with their boots and then shooting one of the victims as he lay at their feet. To stand above an injured man and then finish him off with rounds from an assault rifle can by no ones estimation be described as an act of self-defense.

The link to that posting can be found here.

Khaled

Links:

• Modoweiss: the war of ideas in the Middle East

Other Videos:

• EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara [by American filmmaker and activist Iara Lee] of Israel’s Deadly Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla - Democracy Now
  

And after a massacre, some petty theft seems like a minor transgression. I guess, it is a foreigner peace activist's money - so it is free game.

• Italian flotilla journalist: My credit card was used after IDF confiscated it- Haaretz Israeli Newspaper

The mindset may sound Saudi, but the tongue speaks Hebrew!!

It is always amusing to see how traditional Jewish clergy are as messed up as the worst of the Muslim clergy and fanatics. And with hundreds of thousand of fundamentalist Jews occupying Palestinian occupied territories of the West bank, it is worthwhile exposing who these people are.
The average person in the US truly believes that in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the Israeli side represents the good guy; the side that is more like up, the enlightened one that are working hard to make the decent green, respect others religions and ethenicities, and believe in democracy and equality for women.

But, of course, the average American who knows very little about his or her own political system, is hardly expected to know the intricacies of the orthodox Jewish traditions, especially the tradition of those who occupy the West Bank,harassing and shoot at Palestinians, and have the Israeli army protect their illegal outposts and settlement, funded by our tax dollars. And all is in the name of a God that made a promise to give them the land because they are special.

Their racism, hatred and tribal and ethnocentric dogma may not bother many here in the US, considering that many in the US would find excuses for Israeli settlers in their 'moral' battle against the 'savage' Arabs.

What most in the US would not find palatable is their attitude toward women, reminiscent of and in many case more backward than, traditional Saudi attitudes towards women.

This article I read on the BBC Online is about that, and I thought it is worth sharing it with you.

The chief rabbi of a West Bank settlement has prohibited women from standing in a local community election.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of the Elon Moreh settlement, near Nablus, said women lacked the authority to stand for the post of local secretary.
The rabbi made his comments in the community's newspaper after an unidentified young woman wrote to him asking if she could run for the position of community secretary, the Israeli news website Ynet News said: "I am a young woman and I think I have desire and energy to do things," Ynet News quoted the woman as writing to Rabbi Levanon.
But in his weekly column, Rabbi Levanon wrote that, according to the teachings of influential rabbis, women were not allowed to apply for the position.
"The first problem is giving women authority, and being a secretary means having authority," Rabbi Levanon wrote in the community's newspaper.
"Within the family certain debates are held and when opinions are united the husband presents the family's opinion. This is the proper way to prevent a situation in which the woman votes one way and her husband votes another," he wrote.
He also said it was not appropriate for women to mix with men in late evening meetings of community leaders.

And for many traditional Saudi clerics -- that Americans think of as having 'caveman mentality' -- that is music to their ears.

Khaled

Links:

West Bank rabbi bans women from local election

Is that cellular phone Kosher?

Orthodox strife grips Jerusalem

And for n never ending list of examples for other things they do, click below:
Fundamentalist Settlers

Deeply hated, and should be very proud of it

A middle aged Christian black President, and a older Jewish white man of God from California: what do these two men have in common?

Both are hated, and both should be very proud of it. Let me explain.

Mankind is programmed to essentially enjoy being liked. If you think this is not the case, just imagine how much more difficult it would be to build a society or a community of any kind if we all tend to enjoy being disliked by others.

If mankind is defined as a social animal, that automatically means they are programmed to enjoy the positive feedback (in this case, gestures that others like you), and therefore you do things that trigger that response (i.e., nice things that others like).

And, voila: you have a society.

Still there are times when you are the proudest of yourself when someone viscerally hates you.

Your character is frequently defined by the kind of people that choose you as a friend. In other instances, your character is defined by the kind of people that hate you.

The strongest endorsement that you are on the right track is when the people you consider hateful, oppressor and criminally-minded actually put you in their cross-hair.

Two sets of events led me to write about this.
Barack Obama has been at the receiving end of a lot of hate. Criminally-minded and racist Christian and Jewish extremists hate his guts. From slanders during his presidential election campaign, to the racist remarks aimed at him on regular basis by the same idiots in response to his policies.

The most recent of those hate episodes comes from people with strong attachment to a foreign power that tries its best to manipulate American policies to its advantage: our beloved ally, Israel.

Jewish extremist both in the united states and in Israel have announced last week that they will be burning effigies in the shape of Obama during one of their ‘religious’ celebrations.
I cannot imagine any one can describe what happened better than Haaretz writer Bradley Burston:

… a cluster of people here, people who cloak themselves in the garb of the pious, have decided to marry their furious loathing of Barack Obama to the custom of their faith, and to do what some in America have been doing for more than a year now: Hating Barack Obama as a new form of religious observance.

Once, on the holiday of Lag B'Omer, which falls this Saturday night, children cast into bonfires images of Adolf Hitler and others who have preached and in some cases practiced the mass killing of Jews.

This year, ahead of the Saturday night observance, professed followers of Meir Kahane have openly boasted of preparing effigies of the American president for distribution and incineration in bonfires across the country.

And while the Jewish terrorists were doing that in the Occupied Palestinian land, their New Yorker counterparts were exhibiting paranoia, hate, and abominable morality in the streets of New York.

Watch an amazing video here – you will laugh at the stupidity and ignorance of people who think they are righteous yet have no shame acting as if possessed by Satan.

The final frame of the video displays this very profound quote by the late Israeli philosopher and out-spoken critic of Israeli values, Yeshayahu Leibowitz.

“Religious Nationalism to religion is what National Socialism [Nazi Party ideology] is to socialism”

Watch the video. You will not regret it.

As for the white Rabbi, his name is Michael Lerner. He is a long-time activist promoting peace in the Middle East. Being honest to his Jewish faith, he believes that loyalty to justice and truth trumps ethnic and clannish blind loyalty to Israel. He built a fantastic interfaith community, and is very vocal despite serious health problems that could shake a mountain.

The rabbi made the unforgivable mistakes of always looking at Palestinians as fellow human beings, of objecting to the occupation of Palestine, and of showing respect to judge Goldstone, who is deeply hated by pro-Israel fanatics for finding Israel at fault during Gaza war.

A little over a week ago, Rabbi Michael Lerner said Goldstone had been chosen as this year's recipient of the Tikkun Award because "the peace community both in Israel and around the world see Justice Goldstone as upholding the best ethical values of the Jewish community." [Haaretz]

That did sit well with the fake righteous ones possessed by Satan. They could not take it from the good Rabbi any more. His house was vandalized last night, and guess by who? A group of Jewish fanatics and extremists. The title of the press release read: "Rabbi Lerner's Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists"

If these idiot fanatic Jews were your enemy, don’t you think you should be very proud of it? I know I would.

One last comment:
If these fanatics in Occupied Palestine, New York and California feel free to treat the US president and an elder Rabbi like that, can you begin to imagine what life is like for the poor Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, living under their thumbs?

Khaled

P.S. Do not hold your breath waiting to read in detail about all these US events in our 'fantastic and free' media.
Talking out it sounds antisemitic.

Link used in the posting:

• YouTube - Feeling the Hate in New York - Really really worth while watching
• Ritual terrorism: Hating Obama as a new form of religion - Haaretz - Israel News- Excellent article
• Rabbi Lerner's - Home in the Berkeley Hills Attacked by Right-Wing Zionists - The Berkeley Daily Planet - Monday May 3, 2010
• Burning Obama | Tikun Olam
• Jerusalem to New York: Feel The Hate and Know The Love - Arabisto - Excellent article and a great website
  

Related posts:

• 
  

  Amending the Ten Commandments: Thou Shall Not Criticize Israel

• "From Mumbai to Hebron" and "Jewish Jihadis"- by Richard Silverstein of Tikun Olam
• 
  

  Which Jew does the Pope support??

Democracy for criminals, and criminal democracies

There is no dispute that the best system of governance mankind had invented is democracy. But democracy does not lead automatically to a benevolent civilized state that coexists in peace and harmony with its neighbors – even if the neighbors are also democratic states.

The claim that more democracies will lead to more peaceful and humane world is a lie, mostly used to justify horrendous policies with typical mundane and materialistic goals under the guise of spreading democracy.

Most of Europe was democratic when it colonized, enslaved and tortured its non-European subjects in Africa and Asia. France, Great Britain and Israel were democracies when they occupied Sinai and the Suez Canal in the 1956 war until the US forced them out. The US itself and the UK were democracies when they toppled Mossadaq's democratically elected government in Iran in 1953 out of desire to keep control over oil-rich Iran.

The US was a democracy when lynching of blacks was neither uncommon nor prosecuted. And when systematic discrimination against blacks was enshrined in everyday life by no less than the US supreme court itself in 1896 And it took the Supreme Court 'only' 50 more years to correct that mistake in 1954.

South Africa was a democracy for its criminal and racist white minority that claimed a divine right to control and enslave the natives of the land.

In modern days, Israel is probably the epitome of a democracy that unabashedly and systematically exercise policies a ‘civilized democracy’ should be ashamed of.

At present, Israel still occupies parts of three neighboring states, controls the lives of millions of Palestinians, and denies that the land it occupies in Syria and Palestine is actually occupied at all. It is a democracy that feels free to use other countries air space (Lebanon and Palestine) for routine air force activities, for threats or for exercise.

It is a democracy that feels unbound by any international rules when it wants to destroy a building here, or a suspected reactor there, or to kidnap and assassinate whomever it deems the threat de jour. No showing of evidence required, we just take Israel's word for it.

And if the rest of the world sees it otherwise, they are all anti-Semitic Israel-bashers. It also has democratic political structure, and security agencies that scream existential threats all the time and kowtows Israeli voters into living in a paranoid mind set that makes all the atrocities seem necessary for the state's survival.

The latest round of Israeli soldiers statements published tell a lot about what they were ordered to do while on a mission to destroy Gaza in January, and how their commanders and their rabbis set the scene for guilt-free destruction of property and life in the poor enclave. That speaks a lot to how evil a democracy can be and yet exploits the democracy claim to garner support for its immoral deeds.

The fight of Israel’s true moral minority against the a ‘democratic’ political system that brought to power fascists like Avigdor Lieberman and extortionists like Netanyahu is a difficult but admirable fight. The success of the such moral minority is unfortunately in doubt.

But setting the IDF or Israeli politicians morality aside (very few would trust them anyway) it is the Israeli justice system that gives the illustrative example today.

Few months ago, a pious Israeli citizen by the name of Ze'ev Braude [see photo above], an Osama bin Laden look-alike in appearance and in morality, felt that his religious annd zionist values obliged him to claim back a house from a Palestinian family – a house that Braude knows belong to his own people, on the land 'granted' to his people by God. And like any decent settler in under the Israeli democracy, he does not go any where without his rifle or machine gun.

An unenlightened Palestinian family could not possibly understand the historic and religious depth of the settler's commitment to fulfill the commands of his God by getting the impure ones out of the house and out of the land of Israel -- and a scuffle arose.

The good settler opened fire at close range at the enemies of God injuring 2 Palestinians, one of them was shot in the chest. After a very brief arrest, the representative of God on earth was freed from jail (!!!) to house arrest pending trial.

Just for your info, that settler assault was part of a larger scale rampage by settlers in Hebron against Palestinians, during which several other Palestinians where shot by settlers bullets. No news though about any arrest there either!!

Now the ordeal is over for the good patriotic citizen of Israel – really. Charges have been dropped and he is free and with clear conscience. Viva la Democracie.

And this is how that democracy works for its own people.

Charges dropped against settler filmed shooting Palestinians

Haaretz, July 14 2009

The State Prosecution said Tuesday that it was dropping charges against a resident of Kiryat Arba who was caught on film shooting at two Palestinians in the West Bank last December.

The prosecution said it made the decision not to try Ze'ev Braude because such a move could expose classified information that might harm the security of the state.

Braude, 51, was filmed by the human rights group B'Tselem opening fire on the Palestinians at close range during the evacuation of a disputed house in Hebron. He was initially charged with intending to cause grievous bodily harm.
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Following the indictment, Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed off on a document guaranteeing immunity concerning sources of information for the Shin Bet, its modus operandi and the units and personnel operating within the framework of the organization.

Braude's attorney Ariel Atari requested that the court instruct the State Prosecution to reveal the secret evidence in order to help Braude's defense.

The prosecution argued that revealing the information would harm state security and added that if obligated to reveal the information, it would drop the charges against Braude.

[... end of Haaretz report]

If your jaws did not drop by now, re-read the last paragraph.

That is why Israeli democracy is such great a wonderful thing [for Israelis only, of course].
A criminal is armed and lives on stolen land. He shoots 2 people of the real land owners and the crime is recorded on film. He cannot be convicted (despite the filming of the shooting and the material evidence of 2 injured people, and bullets in their bodies from his gun) without jeopardizing the state security. So, like any decent democracy, they let the fanatic criminal go free.

After all, it is not as if he shoot real human beings -- just 2 Palestinians.

The light sentences, if any, that Israelis (settlers and IDF personnel) receive after criminal assaults on Palestinians are not new. The justice system in that oasis of democracy is a multi-tier system: some get justice, others do not even count.

Israel will eventually go where apartheid South Africa and segregated America went. And it would not be the imaginary Iranian nukes or toy Hamas rockets that would do it.

What is founded on falsehoods and injustice shall never last.

Khaled

Related Links:

• Charges dropped against settler filmed shooting Palestinians - Haaretz - Israel News
• Israeli troops killed Gaza children carrying white flag, witnesses say | McClatchy
• Gideon Levy / Man responsible for Israel's cruelest wars only attracts praise - Haaretz - Israel News
• IDF declares Hebron area closed military zone after settler rampage
• Israeli agents to screen judges before appointment
• Israeli soldiers reveal the brutal truth of Gaza attack
  

Red Alert: The Arabs Are Spreading. STOP the Arabs!!!

Proper vote-counting is essential for democracy, but NOT sufficient.

Considering the current focus on Iran and the election fraud that may have altered the outcome of its presidential race, the issue of democracy in the Middle East is on the front burner among the talking heads in the media probably only until another disaster, 'existential threat' or a celebrity death fills the air waves.

Democracy is the best system we have for governance, but counting votes does not guarantee that you will get even half-brained people to be in power, nor does it say anything about morality, aptitude, fairness or even plain civility.

In the US, we had our share of disasters brought to the highest office. Eight years of the puppet and puppeteer team are a testimony to that. And it took us 2 or 3 failed of barely successful wars, thousands of dead US soldiers, and a nose-diving economy to get a meager 2-3 % of our voters to finally switch teams and try something different.

But voting outcome reflects the people voting, and that is was it is supposed to do - no guarantees that the outcome will be worth even 2-cents.

That is why the last Israeli parliamentary elections produced the likes of Netanyahu, the fascist Avigdor Lieberman, and a slew of minsters of the religious fanatic Shas and secular nationalistic fanatic Yisrael Beiteinu parties that are, to put it mildly, ...... ! (Well, there is no way to say it nicely, so I will leave it blank. Use your imagination.)

The latest from Haaretz are statements from the joke of a human, Ariel Atias (photo below), the housing minister representing the fanatic ultra orthodox religious party, Shas.

The article excerpts speak for themselves.

Housing Minister: Spread of Arab population must be stopped

Housing Minister Ariel Atias on Thursday warned against the spread of Arab population into various parts of Israel, saying that preventing this phenomenon was no less than a national responsibility.

"I see [it] as a national duty to prevent the spread of a population that, to say the least, does not love the state of Israel," Atias told a conference of the Israel Bar Association, which focused on a reforming Israel's Land Administration.
.....
Atias went on to address the issue of the Galilee, saying that "if we go on like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix are spreading there. I don't think that it is appropriate [for them] to live together."
......
"The mayor of Acre visited me yesterday for three hours and asked me how his town could be saved," Atias said. "He told me 'bring a bunch of Haredis [Ultra Orthodox Jews that reject modern secular culture] and we'll save the city, even if I lose my political standing.' He told me that Arabs are living in Jewish buildings and running them out."
.....
Atias argued that lands should be marketed to each sector separately, in order to create segregation, not just between Jews and Arabs but also between other sectors, such as ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews. "There is a severe housing crisis among the young ultra-Orthodox couples, and in the general population. I, as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, don't think that religious Jews should have to live in the same neighborhood as secular couples, so as to avoid unnecessary friction."

Of course there are dozens of readers' comments following that collection of weird 'Israeli government official' statements. Check the Haaretz article here and enjoy the comments.

On comment (from Tom B, Sarasota, Florida) that is worth noting was this:

I suppose what is shocking is that this conversation is happening in public, therefore it`s not a stretch to imagine their planning more ethnic cleansing in private. As an American, this is not "shared values," this is disgusting example of hate. How could we support this country at the UN or anywhere else, and still have any claim to morality?

Khaled

Which Jew does the Pope support??

Few weeks ago, Pope Benedict XVI decided to reverse the excommunication that was imposed on several bishops with history of strong conservative inclinations in an attempt, as some reporters suggested, to be more inclusive of conservative groups deemed in the passed as fringe. The excommunication, to my knowledge, was not for their opinions, but rather for accepting appointments as bishops despite the objection of the Vatican at that time.

The world was up in arms over the rehabilitation. All that mattered was that one of the 'rehabilitated' bishops has recently expressed 'unpopular opinions'. He actually disputes the number of Jews killed in the holocaust and denied that gas chambers were used for the killings.

"Bloody murder' shouts started coming from the important parts of the world. Israel's Chief Rabi denounced the act, and severed relations with the Vatican. The paranoid head of the anti-defamation league started foaming at the mouth and the German Chancellor demanded that the Pope correct that horrible mistake.
And despite support from some Orthodox Rabbis for the Pope on the ground that how the Catholic Church runs its business is not for non-Catholics to decide, as much as how the Rabbis run their Jewish affairs is not for Catholics to decide. In other words, let each mind their own business, and stop interfering with other people's business.
The heat was to much, so the Pope had to come out, and denounce denial of the holocaust. The recently rehabilitated bishop was ordered to recant his statements about the number of Jews killed by hitler. I really do not care how this farce ends, but what the Pope said had to catch my attention. And as reported by the Huffington Post:

'Pope Benedict XVI, faced with an uproar over the bishop, said Wednesday he feels "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews...' (Click here for full article)

WHAT??? What did he just say? "Full and indisputable solidarity with Jews"?

I cannot claim to understand the status of the Pope in Catholicism but as some of my catholic friends mentioned, he is supposed to be infallible on matters of faith and morality. What I failed to figure out is whether that his 'unqualified support for Jews' belongs to any of those categories, faith and morality' of it is an administrative worldly matter where he is not infallible.

I am not trying to belittle the Pope, but his statement does not much sense to me. If it is pure politics, then he is not doing his church any favor by mixing religion and politics. And if it a statement of faith and morality, then it should not be inherently contradictory, which unfortunately it is. And that can be very confusing to any thoughtful follower of his.

When person A says that a certain act is totally correct, while person B says that the same thing is totally immoral, you cannot show "full and indisputable solidarity" with both at the same time.

So, which Jews is the Pope showing full and indisputable solidarity with? Let us explore this a bit further:

Does Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated for promoting peace with the Palestinians get the papal solidarity, or does his killer Yigal Amir who is treated like a celebrity by many killer-minded Israeli Jews?

Can the Pope pour his love on a scoundrel and thief like Bernard Madoff, or he would be more comfortable holding that out of concern for the feelings of Madoff's victims like the dozens of Jewish charities that invested with Madoff and are now bankrupt?

Are terrorists like Meir Kahana and his militant followers in the United States and in Israel, with their racist hateful rhetoric and acts, worthy of the Pope's compassion or he would rather pray for Army of Peace founder Uri Avnery?

Does the Pope prefer to show support for a murderer like Baruch Goldstein who executed 30 Muslim worshipers while they are performing their prayers in Hebron Mosque andwho is still considered a saint by many settler Israelis, or it would be wiser to save the support for the Jewish children exterminated by Goldstein's Nazi counterparts in Auschwitz?

Does he stand in solidarity with Daniel pipes, hate- and war-mongering icon, that built a career on exaggerations and lies against Muslims and Arabs, or with Gideon Levi and Amira Hass with their tireless effort to promote peace and honesty in reporting?

Would the Pope endorse Abe Foxman, the ADL hyper-paranoid president who behaves as if one who does not love Israel as much as they love God they must be antisemitic, or Richard Silverstein who thinks that Abe Foxman has no morals to speak of?

Does the Pope fend for Crazy rabbis of the West Bank settlements who declared a Jewish fatwa that killing innocent palestinians is Kosher, and rabbis of Shas Party who do think of original inhabitants of Palestine, be they Muslims or Christians, as if they were cockroaches and snakes?

Or would the Pope rather stand in line with the Antizionist rabbis and Rabbis for Human Rigths who denounce the occupation of Palestine, and with rabbis of Naturei Karta who think the whole idea of Israel as a state is a violation of the commandments of God?

I guess the reader gets my drift.

So, of all the Jews I have mentioned above, which group does the Pope support??

The Pope cannot have it both ways. A true Christian may be able to love people on opposing ends of any cause, but even the Pope cannot support opposing arguments simultaneously. And with blanket statements like "full and indisputable solidarity with Jews" he paints himself into a corner.

One has to assume that either he has a profound subliminal meaning that less-than-holy lay people like myself cannot get, or that his statement was founded in pure politics.

What do you think??

Khaled

Selected Links:

• Benedict's plea
• BBC NEWS | Europe | Merkel joins Papal Holocaust row
• Gideon Levy / Does Zionism legitimize every act of violence and injustice? - Haaretz - Israel News
• Think Progress » Foxman: George Mitchell is too ‘fair’ and ‘even-handed’ to serve as Middle East envoy.
• Pope Voices Support for Jews, Rejects Holocaust Denial
• Pope Expresses "Full And Indisputable Solidarity" With Jews
• Cleric ordered to recant Holocaust views
• Prominent Orthodox rabbi backs Pope over lifting SSPX excommunications