Morrisey is not a racist but......

..he's playing Israel.

Great timing of course. He's just successfully sued The Word magazine for accusing him of racism and hypocrisy but was The Word so wrong or did they simply not have the resources to fight the case in what is largely a rich man's game?

See this video proudly hosted on the Engage site:



Did you see the actions with his hands? Is that a Hitler impression? And his winding up statement? What was all that about? This is a guy who makes political statements. People paw over his lyrics. He was also castigated by a judge back in the 90s for dishonesty in his dealings with his fellow former Smiths. Might his denial of racism be yet more dishonesty? I'm only asking.

Ok ok, Morrisey is not a racist but...he has no qualms about playing Israel. He must know of the colonial settlement, the ethnic cleansing, the racist laws, the targeting and killing of children. Will he notice the whiteness of the audience in an Asian country? Will he distinguish between an Asian country and a western state both in the same place? Will he make an album, "Ethnic cleansing is mass murder" or pushed for space simply "Israel is mass murder"?



PS - I know we've posted on Morrisey already but I was a fan once, twice, maybe even three times, but heaven knows I'm miserable now.

Turning points?

Seth Freedman continues his leftward lurch over at Comment if free. Fascinating stuff going on there. Linda Grant proudly announced that she had introduced two young zionist settlers to Georgina Henry because she thought their point of view would be worth an airing. I wonder what she thinks of Seth now he saying things like this:

I passionately love my religion, and just as fervently defend its teachings to the hilt when it comes to how to treat our fellow man. That Zionism has come along, hijacked Jewish doctrines, and twisted them to form part of an all-out supremacist movement is not something I can swallow if I want to stay loyal to the true values of Judaism. Unfortunately, by demanding that the world sees Zionism as a philosophy essentially based on Jewish principles, Zionists have managed to unforgivably drag the religion's name through the mud for over 60 years.

Or even better, this:

I asked Jihad to elaborate on how he could be "like us". His answer was simple, and - he said - representative of the views of the majority of Palestine's millions of refugees. "We want to go home", he said flatly. "There is no other way [that will suffice]. A two-state solution will not bring peace - the fight will go on."

Ok he's quoting a Palestinian but he's quoting with approval.

Incidentally Seth Freedman's Cif piece now had 705 comments and comments are still open.
Equally remarkable is the latest post from Mira Vogel on the Engage site:

In Israel's simple proportional representation system, far right religious groups who favour settling Jews outside Israel's borders can muster a lot of influence. This may be part of the reason the Israeli National Parks Authority gave the settler group El'Ad (meaning 'eternal God') so much control over archeological excavations in the village of Silwan, the site of Jerusalem's old City of David. The residents are reporting that the work - to clear tunnels dug by King Herod - is wrecking their foundations. El'Ad doesn't seem to care - its business is to discover evidence of an Israelite past in the area, which its members believe will give them claim to the land. They run a biased visitors centre at the dig which ghosts out the Arab history of the area. In 2004 El'Ad's director Doron Spielman set out his stall:

"The goal of our organisation is to increase the presence of Jews in the neighbourhood as much as possible ... We've been dreaming of coming back to biblical Jerusalem for 3,000 years. This is the fulfilment of our dreams. We cannot trust that if this is an Arab neighbourhood, Jews will be safe to walk around here."

This is clearly insane. The archeology itself is of great importance and interest, but to ruin neighbourhoods, cast aspersion on the claims of the residents of Silwan and paint them as terrorists is disgusting.

There's more information at the From Shiloah to Silwan site, along with a petition to retrieve the dig from the control of El'Ad.

HT Yish.

This is an awakening. The judaisation of this or that area of occupied Palestine justified by reference to racial mythology maybe insane to Ms Vogel but zionists call it zionism. I think the shekel is starting to drop with one Engagenik.

9/11 was good for Jews says Netanyahu

Well he didn't actually say it was good for Jews, he said that it was good for Israel. He did once upon a time say that he himself was good for Jews meaning he was good for Israel so if he says something is good for Israel he means it is good for Jews. Got that? Good, here's Ha'aretz:

The Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on Wednesday reported that Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu told an audience at Bar Ilan university that the September 11, 2001 terror attacks had been beneficial for Israel.

"We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq," Ma'ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events "swung American public opinion in our favor."

It must be a true quote. Only Netanyahu is stupid enough to say that "we are benefiting from one thing" and then cite two things.

I've just quickly googled - 9/11 "good for Israel" Netanyahu - and it's all over the web.

Remember you didn't hear it here first folks!

Ground control to Morrisey: Israel tortures children, families

Q: what country could torture children & families, bulldoze schools & playgrounds, close orphanages, shun a visiting former US president, and still get serenaded by the likes of Morrissey and Bjork?

A: Clearly the answer is best left to readers' fervid imaginings. To suggest the answer could be the only "Jewish" state may leave this blog open to accusations of the worst sort. But whilst you're racking your brains, consider this:

AFP, April 12: "They're Routinely Tortured for Throwing Rocks"

Shehab, 15:

"They broke several of my teeth and my nose. They put a heater beside my face. They pinched me on the stomach and chest with pliers. They kicked me." He finally broke down and signed a confession.

A mere abberation? Surely the Light Unto the Nations wouldn't treat children this way routinely? “A central aspect of the interrogation phase is the use of particular forms of torture and ill treatment,” quoth Defence for Children International.

VOA, April 14:

The anti-torture group [PCATI] says the security agency has arrested Palestinian suspects' family members, or pretended to arrest them, on a number of occasions to break down prisoners' resistance to questioning. It contends the tactic causes severe psychological suffering, and in some cases amounts to torture.

In one case, the rights group said, a subject who had been warned to cooperate was shown his weeping mother being aggressively questioned in another room.

The anti-torture committee said the mother was subsequently indicted on a marginal charge to justify what it called her false arrest. The group says such tactics illegally exploit detainees and should be explicitly prohibited.

The Rebuilding Alliance:

The children of Al Aqabah, a Palestinian village in the Jordan River Valley, are facing the demolition of their kindergarten and their whole village. On April 17th, Haj Sami Sadeq, the Village Council Head, and attorney Elia Tusya Cohen will petition the Israeli High Court to repeal the 35 demolition orders issued against the kindergarten (built by the Rebuilding Alliance), the mosque, the medical clinic, all the roads, and all the homes. None of these pose security threats. They are not near settlements, or the Separation Wall. The village has clear title to its land. The Israeli Civil Authority issued demolition orders citing "lack of a building permit" -- but it never issued building permits to Palestinians in that Jordan River Valley area.

IMEMC, Feb. 24: "Palestinian children's playground partially demolished by Israeli forces"

On Friday, February 22, the Israeli military demolished half of a playground built for the children of Jayyous and Azzoun villages by USAID and YMCA funds.


The military announced that it has orders to demolish the other half of the playground on March 15th. The children's playground was constructed by two international organizations, the YMCA and USAID, in 2006, to bring some joy to the children of two villages whose land is being confiscated for the Israeli Annexation Wall.Israeli authorities claim that the playground was built without permits, but Israel has refused to issue building permits for any construction on Palestinian land in what is called 'Area C' (aside from illegal Israeli settlements) since 1967.The playground is the only one of its kind in the region, providing swings, slides and play structures for the children to enjoy. It was built on private Palestinian land, which was donated by the owner for the purpose. Families in the area have called it "an oasis of hope in a sea of hopelessness".

CPT, April 15: "Update on military harassment of Hebron Schools and Orphanages"

Monday night, 14 April, soldiers entered the Rahma Bakery and took all the display cases, refrigerators, fixtures, equipment and most of the inventory, leaving an oven that they wrecked. Upstairs the soldiers destroyed heating ducts. This bakery provided bread for the orphanages.

I'll spare Morrissey & Bjork any whining about Carter. But they should ask themselves why they're performing in a state that finds the man so traife for saying unkind things about a state that tortures children & families, destroys playgrounds, schools, and orphanages...

UPDATE: It appears Bjork hasn't escaped PACBI's attention. In a letter to the chanteuse asking her not to perform in Israel they note the following:

At Hayarkon park in Tel Aviv, where you plan to sing, the Palestinian village of Jarisha was wiped off the map by the Zionist forces 60 years ago.

Israel annexes Qumran?

According to the Jewish Chronicle the Israeli Government Tourist Office has been misleading people into believing that Qumran is a part of Israel and not a part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Israeli Government Tourist Office was this week forced to change its ThinkIsrael advert following a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority that it was misleading and breached its code of conduct.

The magazine advert promoting Israel displayed images of well-known landmarks, including Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, with text stating: “You can travel the entire length of Israel in six hours.”

The ASA said that the image, together with the text, implied that Qumran was in Israel. Since Qumran is in the West Bank, it therefore considered the advert was misleading. Expressing concern that IGTO did not respond to its initial enquiries, the ASA said the advert was in breach of two regulations of the advertising code non-response, and truthfulness. It told IGTO the advert should be withdrawn.

Janet Green, who saw the advert in the Radio Times, said: “I thought, ‘I am sure Qumran is not in Israel. Why are they claiming it is?’ I checked and then I made my official complaint. I was very pleased to see that they have agreed with me.”

IGTO has now amended the advert, replacing the Qumran image with one of the desert fortress, Masada. Director Uzi Gafni said: “We did not say Qumran was in Israel so did not think about the implications.”

Of course not. Why would anyone think that an image from Qumran in an advert for Israel was an attempt to have people believe that Qumran was actually in Israel. People will start believing that when Israel uses the Dome of the Rock in its publicity that's an attempt to pass Jerusalem off as a part of Israel next. Perish the thought!

What are Israel's rules for Ethiopians?

I ask because they don't seem to be very coherent. See this in Ha'aretz:

GONDAR - Walelah Alemo last saw her granddaughter four years ago. She knows the child now has an Israeli name, but she doesn't know what it is. Alemo also doesn't know where in Israel her son lives with his family, or what he does for a living, but says she just wants to join him and her brother and sisters who also live in Israel.

Alemo is a widow raising five more unmarried children. For the past five years, the Alemo family has lived in uncertainty in this northern Ethiopian city, where they came hoping to immigrate to Israel on a permit for Falashmura. But now, two months before Israel plans to stop the Falashmura immigration, the family's chances seem smaller than ever, along with another 12,000 Falashmura waiting in Gondar. Many say they don't understand why they are not being allowed to move to Israel. They seem to have made peace with their situation, although they believe they will eventually get to Israel.

The money from selling Alemo's home in her village - which she left because she was sure she was about to move to Israel - ran out a long time ago and now she scrapes by doing odd jobs. Unlike other Falashmura families, her relatives in Israel don't send her money. Only when she speaks of the dream of aliya does she smile and her face lights up.

"God promised us we would live in Israel," she says, "now is the time to join our relatives there." It seems Alemo is not too worried by the stop in immigration. "I am sure the proper time will arrive," she reiterates.

Alemo said she doesn't know why she hasn't received an aliyah permit yet, in contrast to her brothers and sisters. She doesn't think the fact she had no connection to Judaism before she came to the Falashmura compound in Gondar should interfere.

This makes no sense. This "connection to Judaism" business is nonsense. Israel's racist laws have never been based on belief but "ethnicity". If the ethnicity principle is followed, if some siblings in a family are allowed into Israel then all should be. It appears that Israel is applying the "good human material" principle in the case of these Ethiopians. Contrast that with the influx of people from the former Soviet Union.

Mi casa, su casa

As they say. My house is your house. This guy's house is the Israeli army's house according to the Beeb:

Six years ago, Abdul-Latif Nasif and his two brothers built their family home on one of the hills over-looking the West Bank city of Nablus.It has spectacular views over the city and surrounding area - but that has been its curse.

"This just isn't my home any more," says the 47-year-old Palestinian bank manager, "it might as well belong to the Israeli army."

Less than a month after it was finished, Mr Nasif says Israeli troops banged on the door and came in with dogs and guns, telling all his family to gather in one room.

He says they took control of the upper storeys of the house and used it as a base and observation post as the army invaded Nablus.

"They stuck maps on the wall in my living room and brought computers to make the room like a control room." They stayed for over a month.

Mr Nasif says there was huge relief in his family when the army finally left, but the joy was short-lived.

Magazine spread

Over the last six years, the Israeli army has made frequent incursions into the city, to arrest and kill militants. When it does, the soldiers often return to bang on Mr Nasif's door.

They come any time they want, in the morning, or in the middle of the night. It scares us." says Mr Nasif. "Sometimes they stay for a night, sometimes for weeks."

"They use anything they want. They have used my bed, my children's beds, the bathrooms, the gas, electricity - everything."

On one occasion, the soldiers took photographs of themselves camped in Mr Nasif's living room and sent the pictures to an Israeli magazine. When they next raided Nablus, they gave Mr Nasif a copy of the magazine.

Purely for security reasons of course. Far be it from zionists be so wantonly cruel on account of their culture of race hate.

Who likened Israel to the nazis?

Well I've done it hundreds of times and a few Israeli ministers have done it. But Arthur Neslen doesn't go in for that sort of sensationalism or...wrong-headedness. The Jewish Chronicle gave Art a bit of a hard time last week over his haiku submission to their stupid competition:

A number made crude comparisons of the type sent in by Arthur Neslen, a Tel Aviv-based Jewish journalist:

Hitler’s final dues,
Hebrew headlines make the news:
“Shoah called by Jews”

We deplore such wrong-headed and offensive analogies.

Well Arthur wasn't having any of that, according to this week's JC:

My haiku was fine
11/04/2008

Thanks for publishing my haiku (JC, April 4). However I’m unclear why you needed to add the “We deplore such wrong-headed and offensive analogies” disclaimer. Not only did I make no analogy or “crude comparison” between Israel and the Nazis, I artistically highlighted the dangerous implications of the fact that an Israeli government minister, Matan Vilnai, had just done so.

Curiously, your newspaper appears not to have condemned Vilnai’s comments at the time as anything more serious than a “PR calamity”. I would suggest that any wrong-headedness and offensiveness here, not to mention hypocrisy and misrepresentation, lie in the eye of the beholder.

Arthur Neslen, Ramallah, PA

Big of them to publish his letter, I'd say.

I wonder if they'll run the same competition next year.

Zionism too exclusive?

But that's the whole point of zionism.

Apparently, the royal celebrations of 60 years of ethnic cleansing of Palestine and relentless aggression towards its natives and neighbours was a bit of a damp squib, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency drawing on a report in the Jewish Chronicle.

Prince Edward became the first royal officially to participate in Israel’s independence celebrations at a JNF-UJIA dinner at Windsor Castle on Monday.

Standing in for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh who had been hospitalised with a chest infection several days earlier, the Earl of Wessex attended a champagne reception for the 300-strong gathering.

Even though he left before dinner, he greeted guests including Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks.

Wow, how exciting! The Earl of Wessex no less, and even he had better things to do than break bread with a bunch of rich zionists. Ponder this, the Earl of Wessex? The Earl of an earldom that doesn't exist greeting activists for a state that shouldn't exist. Was there a message from the royals there?

And a number of leading community names were also absent. Sources suggested that the venue and the £5,000-per-couple price had been seen by some as exclusive and prohibitive.

The charities declined to provide a copy of the guest list after the dinner, but it is understood that those who did not attend included Sir Trevor Chinn, Lord Levy, Lord Kalms, Lord Young, Lord Woolf, Gerald and Dame Gail Ronson, and Bicom chair Poju Zabludowicz. More than half of the Jewish Leadership Council were not present.

I wasn't there either. I think Deborahs Fink and Maccoby might have been outside.

But not only did the lowly Prince Edward show and then cry off:

There was also disappointment expressed that no Israeli government official had attended in place of President Shimon Peres.

Hold up, hold up. There's something we're not being told here. There's internal zionist fundraising politics going on here. Why didn't Peres go? Why wasn't he replaced by someone? Last week I read in the JC someone suggesting that since Binyamin Netanyahu likes both a freebie and a bit of posh he would have been the ideal Israeli candidate. So why didn't even he go? Someone would have stumped up the £5 k for him, surely. Nope, there's something afoot here and it's the Israeli government none too pleased with the JNF UK branch. And I think that goes back to how the JNF has handled manipulating its charitable status by distancing itself from the branch in Israel.

And look at how the JTA reported the non-attendance of certain big names from the zionist movement:

But a long list of Jewish leaders chose to boycott, citing the prohibitive cost and organizers’ refusal to allow non-paying academics and Jewish intellectuals to attend, even if they were subsidized by others

Boycott? They claimed that that was what the JC said, but the JC didn't use so strong a word in its write up.

But there has been some unpleasantness and even disagreement as to payments to enter the proceedings. Back to the JC:

But one senior communal figure, who decided not to attend, said after the event: “This was not the way to do things. If you wanted to hold an event at Windsor Castle, you cannot just pick only rich Jews to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary. In my view, you must invite intellectuals, academics, people who would not be able to afford to pay £5,000 a couple.

“For example, how can you have a royal event for an occasion like this and not invite the president of the Zionist Federation? It doesn’t make sense. I know others felt the same and that was why some well-known people in the community decided not to go. I hope the organisers learn a lesson.”

Another communal activist claimed that UJIA had turned down an offer for academics to attend the dinner, sponsored and paid for by a communal leader. The charities insisted: “There was no set ticket price — all money raised was through voluntary donations”.

So was it £5 k or not?

And why wasn't the president of the Zionist Federation there:

ZF president Eric Moonman confirmed that he had not received an invitation to the event. He said this week: “I have had a number of phone calls from people asking why I wasn’t there.

“I think this was a lost opportunity. It would have been better if all corners of the community had been represented.

“People have been saying to me that when the Jewish community is given an opportunity to come to Windsor Castle to help celebrate Israel’s 60th, they turn it into a fundraising event.”

Has anyone noticed that when these zionists fall out, there's often a whiff of antisemitism to their mudslinging?

UK fascists' site "most zionist on the web"

This is from today's Guardian:

Ruth Smeed, of the Board of Deputies said: "The BNP website is now one of the most Zionist on the web

No further comment required. But you can if you want to.

Israeli Minister: Jews too have behaved like Nazis

Amid the news that the UN's new Special Investigator of Israeli Actions to its Human Rights Council, Princeton University international law expert Richard Falk, is being denied entry to Israel for "comparing Israel to Nazis," few probably remember Aharon Cizling. Cizling was the first Israeli Minister of Agriculture, and as quoted by Israeli historian Tom Segev, said in a Nov. 17, 1948 cabinet meeting, "I often disagree when the term Nazi was applied to the British ... even though the British committed Nazi crimes. But now Jews too have behaved like Nazis and my entire being is shaken."

Cizling is quoted today in Electronic Intifada by no less a personage than South Africa's intelligence minister, anti-apartheid resistance hero Ronnie Kasrils (who like Falk, is Jewish), in a piece titled, "Sixty years after Deir Yassin." It was sixty years ago today, April 9, 1948, that Zionist militias in gruesome fashion slaughtered over 100 of Deir Yassin's inhabitants. It was but one of 31 massacres of Arabs by the Zionists that took place between 1947-49, Kasrils notes. Fahimi Zidan, a Palestinian child who survived by hiding under his parents' bodies, recalled:

"The Jews ordered [us] ... to line up against the wall ... started shooting ... all ... were killed: my father ... mother ... grandfather and grandmother ... uncles and aunts and some of their children ... Halim Eid saw a man shoot a bullet into the neck of my sister ... who was ... pregnant. Then he cut her stomach open with a butcher's knife ... In another house, Naaneh Khalil ... saw a man take a ... sword and slash my neighbor ..."

Kasrils also notes:

Despite these sentiments, Cizling agreed that the crimes should be hidden, creating a lasting precedent. That such barbarism was conducted by Jewish people a mere three years after the Holocaust must have been too ghastly to contemplate, as it would constitute a major embarrassment for the state of Israel, held-up as a "light unto nations;" hence the attempts to bury the truth behind a veil of secrecy and disinformation. What better way to silence enquiry than the all-encompassing alibi of Israel's right of self-defense, condoning the use of disproportionate force and collective punishment against any act of resistance.

So Falk should take comfort; his treatment is part of an age-old Zionist tradition. The last word goes to Kasrils:

Israel will soon mark the 60th anniversary of its establishment. In so doing, Israelis and the Zionist supporters would do well to acknowledge the reasons why, for Palestinians and freedom-loving people throughout the world, there will be no cause to celebrate. Indeed, it will be a period of mourning and protest action; a time to recall the countless victims that lie in Israel's wake, as epitomized by the suffering inflicted on the inhabitants of Deir Yassin, the original site of which is ironically located just a stone's throw away from where the present day Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, was built.

What a state to celebrate!

The Jewish Socialist Group has a "show for a just peace in the middle east" on 8 May 2008. Titled 60 years, what a state! the bill includes, comedians Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel, Shazia Mirza and Reginald D Hunter with, poet and broadcaster Michael Rosen, journalist-author Mike Marqusee and compere Ivor Dembina.
Tickets £10 (£8 concessions).

Information line 07905 917425

Click here to buy £10 tickets

Click here to buy £8 (conc) tickets

The show, 60 Years – What a State!, will take place in London on 8th May 2008, the same night as the Zionist Federation stages its Israel 60 gala, with comedian Jackie Mason and Israeli singer Sarit Hadad, a few miles away in Wembley.

Money raised from 60 Years – What a State! will go to:

• B’Tselem, the Israeli Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

• Friends of Freedom and Justice – Bilin, a non-violent campaign against the separation wall in the territories.

• The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns.

Singling out, part II

In response to my previous post on "singling out China", I just had the following sarcastic comment suggesting that "Palestine" gets more coverage than China/Tibet in the news. Here's the comment from someone calling themselves KLM:

Yeah Mark,you're so right.There's hardly any coverage of Palestine in the press but everyone knows about the Han Chinese right to Return to Tibet.

To which I tried to reply:

People might not know that much about the Han Chinese in Tibet but they do know of China's human rights abuses and that China occupies Tibet.

China has no apologists in the western media. In the UK there is at least one resident zionist in every major newspaper. It is true that there is a lot of coverage of Palestine but it tends to toe the zionist line and even the word "Palestine" is a taboo in the western media.

I've just run a little test. Google Israel and it yields 210 million sites and in fourth position is a little cluster of sites for news results for Israel. Click on it and you'll find over 59,000 sites of news on Israel. Now try the same with Palestine: It yields 36.4 million (obviously it changes all the time but its a rough guide to mentions on sites). Look for "news results for Palestine". Nothing doin'. Ok so try Palestine on google news. Result! 6,919 news sites, against Israel's 59,723.

Ok, so that's the discrimination in favour of Israel vis á vis Palestine. I should point out that keying in the word "Palestinian" yields much higher results and they do get a "news results for...." on the first page of the search. But you said Palestine. Nice of google (and you) to point out, inadvertently, that the Palestinians are a "people without a land" for the time being.

But you were saying, or implying by sarcasm, that China doesn't get the coverage that "Palestine" does. So let's look at "China". See that? 679,000,000 sites. Over three times the number for Israel. And "news results for China"? Well well well. What did you see? Right now I can see 219,121. Is that nearly four times the amount of coverage that Israel got? I think it is.

But hold on, I didn't look up Tibet. Ok, let's google "Tibet". 31.6 million sites. Well done KLM! Less than Palestine, but at the time of writing, Tibet had "news results from" right at the top of the list whereas Palestine didn't have a "news results from" on the main google page and Israel's was four sites from the top. Now let's look at those "news results for Tibet". Right now it stands at 64,438. Almost ten times as many as Palestine and about ten per cent more than Israel.

What's your point exactly KLM? Avnery's point was that China meets with criticism from the west that Israel seems to avoid. Are you suggesting otherwise? Surely not.

I say I tried to respond because I was so scrupulous in my linking to the evidence of what I was saying, Haloscan (the comment facilitator) simply couldn't handle it. Too many links, it said.

But back to the point. China is a serial human rights abuser. Israel is a serial human rights abuser. China's existence is not predicated on its human rights abuses. Israel's is. China is denounced by all the western media. Israel is not. Why not? Come back and answer that one, KLM.

Singling out?

Which serial human rights abuser is singled out in the western media, asks Uri Avnery in AMIN:

"Hey! Take your hands off me! Not you! You!!!" - the voice of a young woman in the darkened cinema, an old joke.

"Hey! Take your hands off Tibet!" the international chorus is crying out, "But not from Chechnya! Not from the Basque homeland! And certainly not from Palestine!" And that is not a joke.

Well it's not an old joke anyway but the legions of hasbara parrots in our media are a bit of a joke, a sick joke, a joke in appalling taste, but a joke nevertheless.

Arabenrat?

Here's a report in Ha'aretz about the establishment of a special military force under the auspices of the PA (kind of) but specifically for the appeasement of Israel:

"Your duty is not to any organization or party, but only to the Palestinian Authority," Yahya told them.

The old general, a veteran of numerous battles and wars with Israel as a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's military wing, the Palestinian Liberation Army, and even the Syrian army, did not hide his opinion about clashing with Israel.

"You are not here to confront the Israeli side, and the conflict with it has led until now only to suffering and not to positive results. You must prove to the Israelis that you are capable of performing and succeeding."

"Performing" what? and "succeeding" at what?

Hat-tip to Ron Cohen of Just Peace UK for the idea for the headline.

The mechanics of Israel's racist rule

This is one of those, just-when-you-thought-that-Israel-couldn't-stoop-any- lower, sort of posts. It's Ha'aretz reporting on a new law that prevents people taking Israeli registered cars to be worked on in areas under Palestinian Authority. Here's the report in full:

A penalty of three years' imprisonment will be imposed on Israeli vehicle-owners who take their vehicles to mechanics in the West Bank under a law passed by the Knesset on Monday.

The new law, presented by Likud MK Moshe Kahlon, prohibits Israeli-registered vehicles from being repaired by mechanics in territories under Palestinian Authority control, including those that are towed there by another vehicle.

The law will empower police officers to confiscate any vehicle in violation of it, as well as the vehicle license from its owner, and the vehicle that towed it to the Palestinian territories.

Police statistics show that around 50 Israeli vehicles are dismantled by mechanics in Palestinian territories each day after accidents, and their parts are then transferred to Israeli mechanics or used-car dealerships.

The police will advise vehicle-owners of the new law through an advertising campaign as well as by placing signs at checkpoints at the entry points to the territories.

The law will initially be implemented for two years and Defense Minister Ehud Barak is currently discussing its extension for another two with the Transport Ministry and the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee.

In the whole article, nowhere is there a mention of the rationale behind such a racist piece of legislation. Helpfully though the article does end by telling us that the generous Ehud Barak not only supports the two-year implementation period but before the ink has dried on the statute itself, he has applied for it to be implemented for another two years.

Zionists have long argued that Israel shouldn't be called apartheid because it doesn't have petty apartheid. Well it definitely does now.

Why shoot the messenger?

Bombing's much more effective. Ask Israel. See this report from Canada's CBC website:

A United Nations military observer sent e-mails home to Canada reporting that Israel was bombing schools and waging "a campaign of terror against the Lebanese people" shortly before he was killed by an Israeli bomb in Lebanon, said his widow.

Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener of Kingston, Ont., a member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was one of four UN military observers who died when the Israeli Defence Forces bombed a marked United Nations post on July 25, 2006.

Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener said her husband's mission was to report on the hostilities in the area and she believes that is why Israeli forces attacked the Israeli United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) post, despite Israel's claims that the bombing was accidental.

"Obviously they were unhappy with what they were observing. Maybe that post was in the way as well," she said. "I know my husband was reporting war crimes. And I guess they don't want to deal with that."

As with other cases of Israel killing people from friendly states, the other state, in this instance Canada, has stayed friendly. See this:

Hess-von Kruedener said she is not satisfied with the response of the Canadian government, which she alleges did not protest Israel's refusal to co-operate in the probe.

"Well you expect your government to step in and do the right thing, but that doesn't seem to be the case," she said. "So we are just … We don't know where to turn. We're just beside ourselves I guess."

And the collusion of the Canadian government with the racist war criminal regime goes all the way to the top. See these "related stories" on the CBC site, particularly the last:

Statement issued by Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener

Israeli government's apology to Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener

Deaths of Canadian officer, UN observers preventable: board

Canada to honour officer killed when Israel struck UN post

Harper doubts UN post deliberately targeted

So the lesson, if your name's Israel, don't shoot messengers, bomb them, and if they're peacekeeping troops from a friendly state like Canada, don't worry, their Prime Minister will put in a good word.

Who should sue who?

There's a letter in this week's Jewish Chronicle by Deborah Fink but it's not on line. Here's what they published in the print edition:

Melanie Philips, (JC, 21st March) approves of suing those organisations which sponsor terrorism, (JC, March 21st). In that case, why not sue Israel and its financial backer, the USA, for the destruction wrought on the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, and the thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese lives lost?

And here's what they didn't publish:

1948 saw the dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians and destruction of 530 villages and 12 large towns. Yet, 60 years on, article 11 of UN resolution 194 has still not been implemented. This states that refugees should be allowed to return and compensation paid for the property of those who choose not to ‘and for loss of or damage to property, which should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible’.

Since 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, 18,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem, mostly as a form of collective punishment. Israel 'has declared 73% of the West Bank "state lands," thus annulling Palestinian deeds going back generations'.

Since the start of the Second Intifada, September 2000, ‘around 50,000 people have been left homeless. Hundreds of shops, workshops, factories and public buildings, have also been destroyed or damaged. More than 3000 hectares of cultivated land have been cleared’. Wells, water storage pools, water pumps and tens of kilometres of irrigation networks have been destroyed. According to B’Tselem, over 4500 Palestinians (compared to 1000 Israelis ) have been killed by Israeli soldiers and Settlers during this period.

These law suits against the sponsors of terrorism, only highlight the irony of the perpetrators suing the victims for the result of their illegal Occupation.

Deborah Fink

Still she got a couple of haikus in.

Haiku Schmaiku

I must say it's very nice of the Jewish Chronicle to publish some haiku, actually quite a few haiku, criticising Israel.

How our Haiku contest attracted Israel’s detractors

An unintended consequence of the JC’s competition was its hijacking by anti-Israel websites which urged readers, particularly Jewish ones, to blitz us with entries. This provided a dilemma: while flattered by the attention, we knew that these views were not representative of the wider JC readership, yet we were not minded to set ourselves up as censors. So, without endorsement, we offer you a flavour of the debate.

The Just Peace UK forum asked people “to write haikus critical of Israel”. Suggestions included:

Israel was founded
To solve the Jewish Problem.
Now Israel is it.
(By Deborah Maccoby)

Bog-off all natives
Arabs are spoiling our myth’s [sic]
Narrative with truths
(By Joe Kane [with his grocer's apostrophe])

The Satanic State
S****y little country, oh
Israel, I’m ashamed!
(By Deborah Fink)

They had one criticising the Jewish Chronicle, but who would be so peverse a self-hater as to do that? Take a bow Levi9909:

Meanwhile, on the Jews sans Frontieres blog, “Levi9909” posted no fewer than 12 haikus. Typical examples were

“Democratic” isle
Amid dictatorships vile
Corpses in a pile

Israel’s day, great do!
JNF meets Lizzie Two
Hacks at JC coo

And there are more:

Whether a campaign was being orchestrated is unclear, but Just Peacenik Deborah Fink sent in:

60 years of hate.
Israel means nothing to me
Other than boycott!

Deborah Maccoby emailed:

Smooth West Bank highway;
We can drive without seeing
A single Arab

Sue Blackwell, an academic backing the boycott movement, offered:

Victims we were then;
Persecutors we’ve become.
Haven’t we done well?

This by Charlotte Eatwell:

Happy day for the
People with no land. Black day
For that land’s people

Mike Heiser offered:

Olive trees uprooted
Checkpoints sprout up everywhere
Sixty years waiting

A number made crude comparisons of the type sent in by Arthur Neslen, a Tel Aviv-based Jewish journalist:

Hitler’s final dues,
Hebrew headlines make the news:
“Shoah called by Jews”

We deplore such wrong-headed and offensive analogies. But they serve to remind Israel’s friends that not all the Jewish people will be united next month...

But of course it was an Israeli minister who raised the spectre of the shoah, as the collective punishment the Palestinians rumbles on. Trust the JC to forget that.

When all else fails...

...gag the opposition. I can't remember if I posted on the University of Toronto's Israel Apartheid Week but apparently, the event which took place in February might be the last of its kind as zionist lecturers and students have moved to gag their opponents. Here's the Jerusalem Post:

During Israel Apartheid Week, which took place on the University of Toronto campus in February, the student body was presented with a flurry of information by anti-Israel activists, linking Israel's policies toward Palestinians with South Africa's former policy of segregation. Now, a group of professors at the university wants to make sure it doesn't happen again.

This is further evidence that there is simply no case for Israel. If there was they wouldn't have to silence or ban the apparently unanswerable case against Israel.