Is this a purim thing? holocaust beauty contest

No it can't be a purim thing, it's too early or too late.  But what can explain the advent of a holocaust survivors beauty contest?

Suffer little children

Here's a Guardian article detailing the "spiral of injustice" suffered by Palestinian children on account of racist rule by the State of Israel:

A belief that every Palestinian child is a potential terrorist may be leading to a "spiral of injustice" and breaches of international law in Israel's treatment of child detainees in military custody, a delegation of eminent British lawyers has concluded in an independent report backed by the Foreign Office.

The nine-strong delegation, led by the former high court judge Sir Stephen Sedley and including the UK's former attorney-general Lady Scotland, found that "undisputed facts" pointed to at least six violations of the UN convention on the rights of the child, to which Israel is a signatory. It was also in breach of the fourth Geneva convention in transferring child detainees from the West Bank to Israeli prisons, the delegation said.

Its report, Children in Military Custody, released on Tuesday, was based on a visit to Israel and the West Bank last September funded and facilitated by the Foreign Office and the British consulate in Jerusalem.

It makes 40 specific recommendations concerning the treatment of Palestinian child detainees.

The issue has come under increasing scrutiny by human rightsorganisations and visiting delegations over the past year. In January the Guardian highlighted the use of solitary confinement in a report on the experiences of children under the military justice system.

That's just a slice. The article goes into much detail, gives case studies and has a video.

Was South Africa an apartheid state in 1967?

Well according to the Zionist Central Council of Manchester it can't have been.  I'm simply following the logic of their planned response to a Palestine Solidarity picket of the women's football match between Wales and Israel.  Here's Wrexham.com

Wrexham plays host to the Welsh womans football team’s European Championship qualifying match against Israel on Wednesday night at the Racecourse – kick off 6pm.

Tickets are free and can be ordered from this page on Glyndwr Uni’s site.

The ‘Palestine Solidarity Campaign’ is organising a protest picket of the game outside the stadium, saying “Palestinian teams have consistently been refused visas to travel to competitions, and restrictions on movement both within the West Bank and between the West Bank and Gaza further compound the difficulties that Palestinian footballers face. In 2006 the football stadium in Gaza was bombed by the Israeli Army.”

Now check out the ZCCM response:

The Zionist Central Council of Manchester are also urging their supporters to head to the Racecourse “with Israeli flags to show your support for the Israeli womens football team”, but also encouraging their supporters to “send the Palestine Solidarity Campaign a message that Israel is not an Apartheid country, but rather a country that has brought major advancements in technology and healthcare to the rest of the world. ”

The world's first ever heart transplant was performed by Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967.  No apartheid there then.

Now here's a result

Israel has agreed a to release Mahmoud Sarsak on July 10 and in return he has agreed to end his hunger strike.

Here's Ha'aretz:

A Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 88 days ended his fast Monday, after the Israeli authorities agreed to release him on July 10, Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs Issa Qaraqi said.

Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, a member of the Palestinian national football team, had begun taking liquids, preparatory to ending his hunger strike, last week Sarsak, from the Gaza Strip, was arrested in July 2009 while on his way to take  part in a football match in the West Bank. Israel accused him of being affiliated with the radical Islamic Jihad organization.

The Independent's Mark Steel is certainly a happy bunny:

Mark Steel ‏@mrmarksteelThe biggest football win today - Palestinian player released from jail after hunger strike and support from Cantona http://goo.gl/r7ZpT

I remember years back, Mark Steel suggesting that Israel is trying to deny the Palestinians the right even to play football. It was the Palestinian under 19s were denied to visas to tour the UK:

But most likely [it] is simply that the Foreign Office has been leaned on by the Israeli government to refuse entry to the team. Because the Israelis do have a record here. In March last year they bombed the only football stadium in Gaza. And it wouldn't be surprising if, just for extra nastiness they contracted Multiplex to rebuild it.

And during the Asia Cup, which the Palestinian national team had started with an 8-0 win, the Israelis detained the five players who came from Gaza so they couldn't get to their match against Uzbekistan.

The BBC World Service had an interview a couple of weeks ago with Sarsak's father who made the same point that Mark Steel did.

What this case shows is not simply the oppressive nature of zionism with regard to the Palestinians but also Israel denying the Palestinians any semblance of normality with regard to sport and culture.  Also, by agreeing to end his fast in return for a release date, Sarsak has provided a stark reminder of the balance of forces in occupied Palestine.  Sarsak has agreed not die. Israel has agreed to release him.

The Soul of Israelis?

Here's a curious headline in the New York Times:

Crackdown on Migrants Tugs at Soul of Israelis

The first paragraph sets the scene for for an article which couldn't be postponed for much longer:

TEL AVIV — One by one, immigration inspectors escorted the migrants out of a dilapidated building into an alley teeming with African-run stores and hair salons. Then, they were led onto a waiting bus, in the first steps on the way to deportation to their native South Sudan.

Israel's treatment of migrants has been in the Israeli media for some time now but then one good thing about Israel is that it doesn't have an Israel lobby. When hasbara cannot speak well of Israel, the hasbaristas rely on silence and this has been the case with Israel and the "infiltrators". So here's the NYT breaking the mould, or is it? The headline alone sticks its neck out for Israel. It suggests that Israel has a moral rather than a practical problem here but it gets worse, look:

Critics say that Israel, a nation largely founded by refugees, lacks a proper immigration policy.

"A nation largely founded by refugees"?  Ok, many, even most early Israelis were refugees but might there be a precedent for the forced removal of people whose ethnicity didn't fit the state's desired profile? If the NYT wrote more about the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, its readers might understand how this "nation founded largely by refugees" can treat refugees so badly.

Cantona onside for BDS and prisoners' rights

I got this Friends of al Aqsa report via Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods.

Eric Cantona has lent his name to calls for the release of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held without charge or trial by Israel and to calls to relocate the UEFA under-21 competition away from Israel to a state with a better human rights record.  Here's the letter Cantona, among others, signed:

We are all shocked at the racist chanting at football matches in Poland and Ukraine where Euro 2012 is being played. Footballing bodies and politicians have been outspoken in their condemnation. Indeed some government officials are boycotting group stage matches in Ukraine because of perceived human rights abuses in that country.

So why are these same groups silent when Israel is to host the U.E.F.A. Under 21s competition in 2013? Racism, human rights abuses and gross violations of international law are daily occurrences in that country.

Israeli government ministers respond to mob attacks on black refugees by denouncing them as 'infiltrators' and calling for them to be imprisoned in military camps.

Israeli jails house around 4,000 Palestinian political prisoners, more than 300 of them "administrative detainees" held without charge or trial. One of these is a footballer from Gaza, Mahmoud Sarsak, aged 25. He has been imprisoned for nearly three years. No charge, no trial. In desperation, he has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days and is now close to death. He, and all victims of abuse by the Israeli state, need our support.

It is time to end Israel's impunity and to insist on the same standards of equality, justice and respect for international law that we demand of other states.'

Signed (in personal capacity):

Eric Cantona

Noam Chomsky, Professor MIT, USA

John Dugard, Former Special Rapporteur of UN on Palestine, South Africa

Trevor Griffiths, Writer, UK

Paul Laverty, Screenwriter, UK

Ken Loach, Filmmaker, UK

Miriam Margolyes OBE, Actor, UK

John Pilger, Journalist, author, film maker, Australia

Ahdaf Soueif, Writer, UK

Michael Mansfield QC, UK

Israel of course isn't the only serial human rights abuser to host an international competition. Just recently Azerbaijan hosted the Eurovision song contest and more seriously Bahrain hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Football has a higher profile than both of those but as with holding Eurovision in Azerbaijan and the Grand Prix in Bahrain, the holding of the UEFA under-21 competition in Israel will have the effect of whitewashing the crimes of the regime, hence the calls to relocate.

Denis MacShane supports boycott!

Even quite recently Denis MacShane was opposed to the idea of boycotting a state. He even linked the academic boycott of Israel to the Toulouse killings a few months ago:

There is little media or political concern when the National Union of Journalists or the University and College Union back boycotts of Jewish journalists or Israeli academics. The NUJ or UCU would never dream of boycotting Saudi Arabia or China, where human rights and core freedoms are ruthlessly suppressed. But when it comes to Jews in Israel, the double-standard of contemporary antisemitism prevails.

Will the Toulouse massacre wake the antisemitism deniers in politics and the media? Probably not. Sadly, it will be easier to use the background of the alleged killer to drum up more xenophobic hate against European Muslims, despite the fact that, to Islamists, Muslims who serve their nation loyally in uniform are also victims of hate and violence.

 So opposed to BDS was he that he grotesquely misrepresented what it was all about but he was writing in the Jewish Chronicle where such misrepresentations are fairly routine.

Well now, according to this Guardian article, Denis MacShane does support a boycott.  He even criticises the fact that the UK was a late addition to the boycott list:

The former Labour Europe minister Denis MacShane said on Thursday that Britain should have been the first, not the last, European nation to boycott Euro 2012. MacShane, who raised Tymoshenko's treatment in the Commons last October, accused William Hague of double standards in taking action against Kiev but not against other worse regimes that abuse human rights. He described Tory human rights policy as a "shambolic mess of incohrent contradictions and double standards."

He added: "At long last and after weeks of urging Cameron joins Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande in boycotting Ukraine Euro 2012 over the disgusting treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko. But Britain should taken a lead on this...instead of tailing in behind other European leaders. Cameron and Hague show a shaming double standard as they roll out the red carpet for the killers and torturers of Bahrain but now boycott Ukraine, where the treatment of Mrs Tymoshenko is unacceptable, but not as bad as anything in Bahrain."

"Shaming double standard" anyone?

Against all racism

Here's an encouraging article arising out of what was certainly a vicious attack on a yeshiva student in Kiev, Ukraine.  It's by a Rabbi, Rabbi Brant, from his blog, Shalom Rav, and it draws on an article in the Forward. Here are some chunks:

Alexander “Aron” Goncharov left the hostel of Kiev’s Brodsky Synagogue on the second night of Passover and never returned. Yeshiva authorities found him the next day in hospital, barely alive after suffering massive head wounds.  A few days later, Goncharov was flown to a Tel Aviv hospital for emergency treatment and was put in a medically induced coma. When he awoke one week later, he said that his attackers had yelled “Yid” as they beat him. 

Not surprisingly, the Israeli establishment was quick to make political hay out of the incident

I like that "not surprisingly".  The Forward article almost invokes the holocaust industry:

Israel’s chief rabbi Yona Metzger visited Goncharov on Holocaust Remembrance Day, underlining his new status as a symbol of contemporary anti-Semitism. Goncharov told Metzger that he hoped to immigrate to Israel, calling it “the safest place for Jews.”

But....here's Rabbi Brant again: 

While some attributed it to anti-Semitism, others flatly denied it:

“It has nothing to do with anti-Semitism,” said Yaakov Dov Bleich, rabbi of Kiev’s Podol Synagogue and one of several rabbis who claim the mantle of chief rabbi of Ukraine. “The fact he was taken to Israel will probably stop any [police] investigation in its tracks.”

and

Vyacheslav Likhachev, a researcher focused on racism, said there was little evidence that the attack was anti-Semitic. Likhachev, who has studied anti-Semitism in Ukraine for the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress for 10 years, told the Forward that anti-Semitic incidents have fallen in Ukraine in recent years…

“I don’t want to say there is no Nazi violence in Ukraine,” Likhachev hastened to say. But he said that Africans and Asians suffer much more than Jews. In an article published soon after the attack, Likhachev noted that on the same night Goncharov was injured, an African student was severely beaten. He said that the following week, a court case opened into a “racist pogrom” which resulted in four students from India, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan being seriously injured.

Likhachev went on to point out that while Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych publicly condemned the attack on Goncharov, he “did not deem it necessary to make a statement on these crimes.”

Got that? Many racist attacks and yet the only attack to get a presidential mention is one that might not have been racially aggrevated. And of course for Israel claims to be against antisemitism, it was Israel's intervention that appears to have put the kibosh on a proper investigation.  Perhaps they were worried that it would out not to have been an antisemitic attack.

Anyway, here is Rabbi Brant's conclusion:

And this for me is the rub: whether or not this was an act of anti-Semitic violence, what should be our response? For me the answer is clear: it is not to let anti-Jewish actions to drive us from our homes. And it is not to insist that Jews will only truly be safe if they retreat into a nation-state ghetto of their own making.

Rather, we must understand Jew-hatred as no different from any other form of prejudice.  And if we do agree that this is the case, then it would behoove us to find common cause with all minorities targeted with racism.

Yup, that would be my conclusion too.

Ian Austin apologises to Friends of al Aqsa

Here's the apology:

FRIENDS OF AL’AQSA: APOLOGY

On 16 March 2011 an article I had written (“When bigotry comes disguised as compassion, Labour must recognise it and root it out”) was published on Labour Uncut.  In the article, I stated that Friends of Al’Aqsa (FOA) had referred to the “so-called Holocaust”.  In fact, this was an error and was untrue.  The publication in which this phrase was used was written by someone else, and had nothing to do with FOA.  The article had the effect of wrongly labelling FOA as Holocaust deniers and I apologise unreservedly for making this allegation.
Ian Austin MP

So why did he say it?

Israel as the new South Africa

Here's an encouraging article from the UK's Independent on Sunday setting out how the BDS campaign against the State of Israel is starting to resemble the boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era:

Some of the world's biggest stars – from Madonna to the Red Hot Chili Peppers – are being accused of putting profit before principle in a growing backlash against artists performing in Israel.

Campaigners angry at human rights abuses against the Palestinian people – symbolised by Israel's policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians and allowing Israeli settlers to take over their land – are demanding a boycott of Israeli venues in a campaign that echoes the 1980s protests against South Africa and the infamous venue Sun City.

Actually I sometimes think that some of the people performing in Israel are doing so on principle.  I mean some of them must be racists themselves.  Remember Johnny Rotten?  He didn't even pretend to support the cause of peace or justice for the Palestinians.  But then Madonna tried it on and apparently failed miserably:

Attempts by Madonna to deflect criticism by offering free tickets to local campaigners backfired, with a number rejecting the offer. Boycott from Within, an Israeli campaign group, accused the singer of "a blatant attempt at whitewashing Israeli crimes". 

So what's given this recent boost to the BDS campaign? Well there are push factors:

Acts such as alleged war crimes during Israel's 2008 invasion of Gaza and the 2010 killing of peace activists by Israeli commandos on an aid ship are fuelling the return of an anti-apartheid campaign on a scale not seen in a generation. Saeed Amireh, 21, a peace activist from Nilin in the West Bank, said: "We don't have freedom of movement. They don't want peace; they just want us to disappear. They are suppressing our very existence."

and pull factors:

Calls for a boycott are supported by hundreds of artists around the world, from the film director Ken Loach to former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and the author Alice Walker. Artists such as Carlos Santana and Elvis Costello have cancelled shows after pressure from campaigners in recent years; Coldplay, U2 and Bruce Springsteen have declined invitations to play in Israel without supporting the boycott publicly. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Rihanna and Leonard Cohen are among those to have ignored calls not to appear there.

And there are other artists who either support ethnic cleansing and segregation or are willing at least to turn a  blind eye:

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lenny Kravitz and Guns N' Roses plan to play in Israel this year, prompting the campaign group Artists Against Apartheid to appeal: "As was done in the case of South African apartheid, please join us now in the cultural boycott of Israel, and help stop entertaining apartheid." 

That call of itself is something to celebrate but get the sick bag ready:

The campaign has rattled the music industry, prompting a group of US-Israel entertainment executives to set up the Creative Community for Peace last year in an effort to counter the cultural boycott.

 Why can't they just be honest and call it Artists for Israel?  But if US-Israel entertainment executives can't be serious senior politicians in Israel are taking BDS seriously:

 a law passed by the Knesset last year means that people who call for a boycott could be sued in court. The Israeli government has also set up a committee to look at how to compensate Israeli promoters in the cases of "politically motivated cancellations".

And

Israel's President Shimon Peres admitted earlier this year: "If Israel's image gets worse, it will begin to suffer boycotts. There is already an artistic boycott against us and signs of an undeclared financial boycott are beginning to emerge."

In the UK the so-called Board of Deputies of British Jews is claiming not to be too concerned about BDS or the apartheid allegation claiming that:

comparisons with apartheid-era South Africa were "a specious and desperate effort by a failing boycott campaign".

That's an interesting achievement for BDS.  It's the first time I can remember the Board of Deputies disagreeing with the State of Israel.  The BoD claims not be worried and Israel is clearly very worried.

Well done BDS!!

Israel snuggles up to China

I was first told of this over a week ago but I didn't think too much of it.  Israel and China have often co-operated in the past, not least by way of China supplying something like slave labour to the illegitimate entity, but the level of military co-operation planned between Israel and China is chilling when you consider China's position as the only serious prospect for a single state challenge to US global hegemony.  What am I talking about?  See this from (by now lots of places but my friend sent it from) the China Digital Times:

China and Israel are taking steps to thaw a frosty relationship with a visit between the two countries’ chiefs of staff. From the Washington Post:

The improved ties have been highlighted by this week’s visit to Beijing by Israel’s military chief and a training mission to Israel by the Chinese paramilitary force that, among other things, polices the restive Tibetan and Muslim Uighur regions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to China in the coming weeks.

[...] Chen told the official China Daily that China “attaches importance to the ties with the Israeli military and is willing to make concerted efforts with the Israeli side to deepen pragmatic cooperation.”

In a statement released by the Israeli military, Gantz mentioned a commitment to developing the relationship, including “joint courses that are scheduled to take place.” It did not elaborate.

Such comments are a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago, when ties deteriorated after the failed arms deals.

In recent years, China has often found itself in the middle of tensions between Israel and Iran, which has bought Chinese military technology despite objections from the U.S. and other countries.

Now China is on one side of those tensions: the zionist side.

US Medal of Freedom for neighbourhood bullies

See, it's right there in the USA Today headline:

Bob Dylan, John Glenn Among Medal of Freedom Winners

Hmm, that can't be right. I've never heard anything about John Glenn singing or being a neighbourhood bully.  But my headline says "bullies".  Now Bob Dylan wrote a nasty hasbara song called Neighbourhood Bully so he must be one of them.  


But what's this Medal of Freedom all about?

From civil rights to government service, from the author of Beloved to the composer of The Times They Are A-Changin', President Obama honored 13 individuals on Tuesday who have made singular contributions to national life.

And who else is on the list?

Some of recipients are well-known cultural icons. Nobel Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison, author of Beloved, Jazz, and Song of Solomon, has a new book on the best seller lists: Home, the story of a Korean War veteran who returns to his racially segregated town in Georgia.

So that's three so far and only one under the heading neighbourhood bully. So any more?

Other pioneers honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom included Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State.....


Other recipients: John Paul Stevens, the third longest-serving justice on the Supreme Court, who wore his trademark bow tie of the ceremony; William Foege, a physician who led the charge to eradicate smallpox during the 1970s......


Attorney John Doar represented the government in some of the toughest civil rights cases of the 1960s, from murders in Mississippi to the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in Alabama.....

Dolores Huerta helped organize migrant farm workers along with Cesar Chavez..... 

Three of this year's Medal of Freedom honorees are deceased.


Two of them defined heroism during World War II: Gordon Hirabayashi, who defied the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens, and took the government to court; and Jan Karski of Poland, who delivered one of the first eyewitness accounts of the Nazi Holocaust against Jews.


Obama also honored Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts a century ago this year.

Ok, we're populating our list of 13. We even have some who could qualify as neighbourhood bully. How many have we now?  I make it eleven. So who else:

The sports world was also honored: Pat Summitt, the Tennessee women's basketball coach who retired this year after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease.

Well Madeleine Albright did a good bit of bullying in her time but not usually in her own neighbourhood and we still only have twelve recipients of this presidential award for "individuals .... who have made singular contributions to national life." So who is this neighbourhood bully, number 13 on the list? Who is this person who has made a "singular contribution to national life" worthy of a US Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Israeli President Shimon Peres, lauded for his efforts to find Middle East peace, is another recipient of the Medal of Freedom. Peres did not attend the ceremony because of obligations back home.

Or maybe the USA is flirting with universal jurisdiction. USA Today had more to say about the racist war criminal, Peres:

Israel President Shimon Peres -- An ardent advocate for Israel's security and for peace, Shimon Peres was elected the ninth President of Israel in 2007. First elected to the Knesset in 1959, he has served in a variety of positions throughout the Israeli government ... Peres served as Prime Minister from 1984-1986 and 1995-1996. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then-PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as Foreign Minister during the Middle East peace talks that led to the Oslo Accords."

Ok, all very interesting but how does any of that count as a "singular contribution to national life" in the USA?

Almog worried again

Former Israeli general Doron Almog is having another worry about being arrested in the UK in spite of the UK government jumping through hoops to protect Israeli war crimes suspects. The case of Doron Almog has a long and murky history so who better to report on this than the Jewish Chronicle?

Seven years after almost being arrested at Heathrow, former Israeli general Doron Almog has cancelled his participation in a London fundraiser, following concerns regarding Britain’s universal jurisdiction law.

Major General (res.) Doron Almog was commander of the IDF’s Southern Command from 2000 to 2003. In September 2005, he travelled to London for a fundraising event for Aleh, an Israeli charity that supports homes for severely disabled children and young people.

When he landed, he was warned by the Israeli embassy that an arrest warrant had been issued for him by a magistrates’ court, over the suspicion of alleged war crimes committed under his command in the Gaza Strip. He remained on the plane and returned to Israel.

Mr Almog was the first of a number of senior Israeli officers and officials, including former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, prevented from visiting Britain, due to the fears that pro-Palestinian activists would obtain arrest warrants against them.

Last September, after repeated promises by successive British governments, the universal jurisdiction law was changed, so that an arrest warrant could only be issued via the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

While Israel praised the change, subsequent analysis by its legal experts raised concerns that the DPP, a civil servant, could still issue an arrest warrant at the request of pro-Palestinian activists.

Aleh UK was due to hold a fundraising dinner on June 28, in London. Mr Almog, who has been one of Aleh’s most active spokespeople over many years and one of the founders of a rehabilitative village for severely disabled young adults in the south of Israel, was to be the guest of the honour at the event. The village was named Nahalat Eran, after Mr Almog’s son Eran, who died in 2007 at the age of 23.

Last month, following advice he received from the Israeli government, he decided to pull out and the event has been postponed.

This is good news for opponents of the State of Israel and the occupation but there is still an issue around the fact that the UK has been so willing to change its law, indeed to duck out of commitments to international law, for the sake of war criminals.

An antisemitic caricature?

Don't ask, just join the flipping dots.....

Facebook censors cartoons of an Israeli artist against racism capitalism

The full article is by Noam Sheizaf at +972, including a few images that I encourage you to share on facebook. And I share them here too. But first, a fantastic animation video that deserves wider audience:

And now the banned images:

#IFO4Habima

Erm, what I'm trying to say is that the Israeli foreign office is tweeting for support for Israel's "foremost Hebrew speaking theatre company", Habima's, appearance at the Globe Theatre in London. Here's Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods:

In emails circulated to some sections of the Jewish community, the embassy is launching a Twitter campaign using “the hashtag #LoveCulture as it is short enough to fit on a substantial tweet and won’t be taken at first glance as a political statement” (our emphasis).

Suggested hasbara tweets from Tuesday morning onwards include:

Great to see @HabimaTheatre celebrating the Cultural Olympiad @the_globe…all the world’s a stage #LoveCulture

 Fantastic seeing the foremost Hebrew speaking theatre company perform the Merchant of Venice @the_globe #LoveCulture

Maybe panic is setting in because the performances are tomorrow and the night after. Of course protests have been organised:

For those who, on the other hand, respect the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions and recognise cultural boycott as a legitimate weapon in the non-violent struggle for freedom, justice and equality, we recommend joining a mass protest outside the Globe at 6pm on Monday May 28 and again on Tuesday 29th.

No doubt zionists and EDLrs will be out in force too.

Monreal mon amour

Jeremie Battaglia Plus (if that is the name) made an amazing film of the popular uprising in Monreal, on thr 24 Mai 2012.

Casseroles - Montréal, 24 Mai 2012 from Jeremie Battaglia on Vimeo.

www.jeremiebattaglia.com

Manifestation à Montréal contre la hausse des frais de scolarité et la loi 78.
Les gens se retrouvent à des coins de rues pour faire le plus de bruit possible à l'aide de casseroles.
Un grand merci à Avec pas d'casque et Grosse Boîte pour la musique!

Protest in Montreal again the rise of tuition fees in Quebec and the new law 78.
Every evening at 8pm people meet in the street with their pots and pans and make all the noise they can.
A huge thanks to the band Avec pas d'casque and their record label Grosse Boîte.

Musique/music:
INTUITION #1 - Avec pas d'casque
© Grosse Boîte
Bandcamp: http://avecpasdcasque.bandcamp.com/album/astronomie

NB: la date dans la vidéo n'est pas la bonne! Il s'agit bien du 24 mai au soir et non pas le 26!

Kristallnacht 2.0 courtesy of start up nation

Yesterday, South Tel-Aviv was the scene of a Kristallnacht. A series of marches and protests against Sudanese refugees culminated in a mob storming shops associated with Africans and attacking a car with Africans in the street. Although the perpetrators are from the slums of South Tel-Aviv, as is always the case, the racism came from up high.
Miri Regev, a Likud representative known for her fake "social agenda" kindled the flames of hatred with calling the refugees "a cancer in society." Danny Danon, Deputy Knesset Speaker, introduced legislation forcing the Interior Ministry to deport 80% of Sudanese refugees within two years. This was bluster, as the Interiro Minister, Yishai, is also famous for focusing his office on attacks on undocumented workers. Michael Ben Ari, another right winger in the Knesset, announced plans for a citizen initiative to be called "Expulsion Now" (the name is a backhanded tribute to Peace Now).

Netanyahu also has a hand in this pogrom.

The phenomenon of "illegal work infiltrators" is "very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity," he told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting.

If Israel did not prevent illegal African migrants from entering, the current "60,000 illegal infiltrators could easily grow to 600,000 illegal infiltrators.

"This would inundate the state and, to a considerable degree, cancel out its image as a Jewish and democratic state," Netanyahu said in remarks relayed by his office. (Yahoo News)

Above, a pogromist wears a t-shirt that reads "death to the Sudanese".

Habima and The Globe bring occupation to the UK

The Globe Theatre in London is mounting its very own checkpoint in honour of its Israeli guests, the Habima theatre group.  Many theatrical professionals have protested Habima's inclusion in what are Olympic related events and The Globe management has ignored their calls.  Now, fearing disruption, the management has written the following letter to ticket holders:

Dear Globe to Globe Festival-goer,

In advance of your visit to Shakespeare’s Globe to see Merchant of Venice on Monday 28 or Tuesday 29 May we are writing to advise you of conditions of entry we have in place for these performances.

We will have enhanced security processes in place on the date of your visit including extensive checks of bags and audience members. The site will be open at 6pm and we strongly advise you arrive at this time to avoid a delayed start of the performance.  If the majority of the audience arrive after 7pm the show will be significantly delayed.

Please note that no food or drink will be allowed on site. Food and drink will be available in the Swan bar, restaurant and catering kiosks on the Piazza prior to the performance and during the interval; all catering facilities will be exclusively available to our Theatre customers during these times. Food and drink will not be allowed inside the auditorium. The restaurant may be pre-booked on 020 7928 9444 (option 1) and we will be open to customers from 5.30pm, entry to which will also be via our main New Globe Walk entrance.  Details of the menus available in our restaurant and bar are enclosed.

All entry to the theatre will be via the New Globe Walk entrance, including standing tickets. The groundling queue will be formed on the theatre piazza instead of the groundling gates entrance.

We advise you not to bring bags with you and to only bring items essential to your theatre visit. No professional filming or photography equipment will be permitted onsite.

We will be operating a free left luggage service which all bags/luggage exceeding 20cm x 15cm x 10cm will need to be checked into.

Please be aware that the Globe reserves the right to refuse admission to anyone we have reason to believe may cause a disruption to the performance. Any objects or material which could be used in disrupting the performance will be deemed prohibited items.

Any individuals who attempt to disrupt the performance will be asked to leave the theatre.

Both of the performances are sold out and therefore the Box Office will be closed on the evenings of the performance. Please ensure you have collected your tickets in advance of 4pm on the day of the performance.

For further details of the conditions of entry for these performances please refer to our website or contact info@shakespearesglobe.com

Yours faithfully,

Shakespeare’s Globe Box Office

So much for normalisation.

Lieberman and the JNF - a racist among racists

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, is paying a visit to the racist Jewish National Fund in London tonight.  That the racist JNF and the racist Lieberman support each other shouldn't surprise anyone.  I am however surprised that the JNF is so open about it.

There is a bright side to this.  The meeting should help those of us who have been trying to expose the inappropriateness of the JNF's charitable status since hosting a foreign politician can hardly be deemed non-political.  Also there is a protest planned and here are the details:

Appeal from Stop the JNF Campaign – UK

PROTEST ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN IN LONDON

Tuesday 22 May 2012

From 6.15pm, The Pillar Hotel, 19 Brent Street, London, NW4 2EU (nearest tube Hendon Central, Northern Line)

Protest at the appearance of the Israeli Foreign Minister at a Jewish National Fund event in NW London tomorrow night and at the decision of the UK government to allow him entry to the UK

Apparently it's not just anti-zionists who are opposed to this visit.  Some zionists are worried about the effect Lieberman might have on hasbara efforts.