Gaza Truths: Deborah Maccoby answers her critics in the JC

Well this is a real turn up.  The Jewish Chronicle has published another letter from Deborah Maccoby, this time answering the critics of her previous letter which was taking Melanie Phillips to task.

Here's the letter:

Gaza truths

A few points in response to Melvyn Lipitch and Alan Miller (Letters, September 2):

1.  Despite the evacuation of Israeli settlers in 2005, Gaza is under siege and threat of onslaught.

2.  Hamas rocket attacks are provoked by Israel to provide a pretext for massively disproportionate operations against Gaza.

In 2008, Israel broke the ceasefire; in 2014, Israel targeted Hamas, though its leadership had nothing to do with the murder of three Israeli teenagers.

3. In 2013, el-Sisi sealed over a thousand tunnels between Gaza and Egypt without needing to devastate Gaza.   In 2014, the majority of Gaza tunnels did not go under the border into Israel.

 Even the minority that did were used only for military attacks (UNHRC Report 2015, para. 108).

4.  Mr Miller’s last point is a classic example of “whataboutery”.  His own level of ignorance explains why I needed to address some of Melanie Phillips’s misrepresentations.


Deborah Maccoby
Leeds LS17J

Really good stuff.  I particularly like the way she takes another opportunity to condemn "Melanie Phillips's misrepresentations".

Wiping Israel off the map?

I just read on the Jewish Chronicle website that Harper Collins left Israel off of the map in an atlas it sells in the Middle East.

The American-based publishing giant said it regretted leaving the country out of atlases it sells to English-speaking schools in the Middle East.

In a statement reported in the Israeli media, it said: “HarperCollins regrets the omission of the name Israel from their Collins Middle East Atlas. This product has now been removed from sale in all territories and all remaining stock will be pulped. HarperCollins sincerely apologises for this omission and for any offence caused”.

They're making it seem like an accident or oversight or something.  Let's have a look at this map:

Well well, the West Bank and Gaza but no Israel.  And no Palestine either.

But see more of the JC report:

Earlier in the week Collins Bartholomew, a subsidiary of HarperCollins, told the Catholic newspaper, The Tablet, that including Israel in its “Collins Primary Geography Atlas For The Middle East” would have been “unacceptable” to customers in the Gulf states.

Leaving Israel off the maps incorporated “local preferences,” it said.

But if the omission of Israel was to incorporate "local preferences" why no Palestine? And if they do include Israel where will the boundaries go?

I tend to the view that Israel's existence is only temporary anyway.  Maybe Harper Collins should simply wait until Israel disappears and then publish its atlas in the Middle East.

Max Blumenthal reports back from the Russell Tribunal on Gaza

From the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Max Blumenthal reports back from the Russell Tribunal on Gaza

5pm, Saturday 4 October

INCA CGIL [Italian Trade Union Centre]

124 Canonbury Road, N1 2UT

Nearest station: Highbury & Islington [Victoria line & Overground] Buses: 4, 19, 30 & 43, 271, 277 or 393
[get off at Highbury & Islington] [get map]

Admission free.  Meeting is only for people who object to the Israeli onslaught of Gaza

Max Blumenthal is an author, a journalist and an activist. He's in London for a few days and it is a great opportunity to hear him.

He was on the ground during the most recent Israeli slaughter of Gaza. His latest book "Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel" covered the realities of the Israeli society.

Watch video of his testimony at the Russell Tribunal last week, 24 September.

Read a recent article describing what he saw in Gaza after the ceasefire last month.

And see 11 min video of shocking Israeli racism:  "Israel's New Racism: The Persecution of African Migrants in the Holy Land".  

Facebook Event for this meeting

Organised by: Islington Friends of Yibna
 Islington_Yibna@Yahoo.co.uk

UK Establishment wobbles over Gaza

Things are changing for sure.  I just saw this tweet

Long-time friend of Israel @AlistairBurtMP says Israel's actions "unjustifiable" - in @TheTimes http://t.co/M6eSI18jyu
— Tim Montgomerie (@TimMontgomerie) August 6, 2014

From a "columnist and leader writer for @TheTimes".

And see where the link leads.  Not a whole lot because of the paywall.  So here's what I could get from google cache:

• 
  Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said that the Israeli military operation had been disproportionate Khalil Hamra/AP

Francis Elliott, Michael Savage and Oliver Moody

Last updated at 12:01AM, August 6 2014 

David Cameron was struggling to contain a growing revolt over his handling of the Gaza crisis yesterday after the dramatic resignation of Baroness Warsi as foreign office minister.

Dominic Grieve, the former attorney-general, added his voice to the chorus of senior Conservatives questioning the proportionality of Israel’s military operation and piling pressure on the prime minister to condemn the country’s airstrikes on Gaza.

Lady Warsi, a former party chairman, told Mr Cameron that she could no longer support his “morally indefensible” policy. In a strongly worded resignation letter, she warned that his failure to condemn Israel could radicalise a generation

Well it doesn't even get to the Alistair Burt bit but if Murdoch's papers are reporting to the wobbles over Israel's attack on Gaza and the wobbles are for real, Israel's latest Palestinian cull could haunt the hasbara community for some time to come.

Mark Regev's English is good but the subtitles are a real help

This is by AN Other on YouTube:



It looks like Israel's supporters at the Beeb are losing ground largely, I suspect, because the facts are speaking for themselves with or without subtitles.

Comparisons between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto may not be precise but they are apt and obvious

The pain, confinement, fear and premature and violent deaths of those forced to live within the walls of any ghetto under bombardment are immediately comparable and yet Zionists are beside themselves that the obvious comparison is being made between the Warsaw and Gaza ghettos.

It's a funny thing that if an Irish republican said to me that the no-go area in the Derry Bogside was like the Warsaw Ghetto I'd simply say, "Don't be ridiculous" but when the comparison is made between Warsaw and Gaza zionists can enumerate the three or four differences.  So Gaza is nicer than Warsaw because Zionists, for now, are marginally nicer than the Nazis.

I just read one miserable Zionist hasbarist effort at debunking the comparison.  It doesn't matter what it said exactly because it elicited two responses that pretty much speak for themselves.

Here they are:

Richard Armbach said...

Why is Gaza and the Ghetto not comparable ?The above arguments are ludicrous. Can we not compare a strawberry and an apple, and note that while they are manifestly not the same they are both fruits. Of course Gaza and the Ghetto are not the same, but they are both the consequence of a very similar racist, supremacist and excepionalist mind set, and therefore have something significant in common.

27 July, 2014 16:34

Anonymous said...
I'm sorry, but a comparison between the Warsaw Ghetto and the siege and blockade of Gaza since 2007 can definitely be made. I was always a blind supporter of Israel, but in the last year, my eyes have been opened by the many articles I have read about the atrocities being committed every day by the Israeli military on the citizens of Gaza. Netanyahu's aim is to completely destroy Gaza rendering the area uninhabitable thereby taking Gaza as Israeli territory. I can no longer believe any statements by the Israeli government, or for that matter,the many one-sided reports coming from the US mainstream media. Israel has lost all credibility.

The post to which these were added was linked by a Huffington Post piece by someone or other from the Zionist Community Security Trust and tweeted as a "powerful piece" by Mehdi Hasan who really ought to have known better. I'll tweet this post in his general direction and hope that he has enough sense to see when Zionists are listing a mixture of antisemitic and innocuous notions in the hope of the anti-Zionist baby being thrown out with the antisemitic bathwater.

Did less than 750 Jews attend London Zionist Rally?

Here's an interesting report in The Times of Israel about the psychos London rally for Israel on Sunday just gone.

Oh, first up, let's see what The Jewish Chronicle had to say under its headline, Thousands turn out to support Israel in London rally:

An estimated 5,000 Israel supporters – many wearing blue and white outfits for the event – held up placards that called for an end to Hamas terrorism.

Now that's already not a great turnout but now let's see ToI:

1,500, the number that the police estimate attended the rally, needs to be placed in a communal context:

Actually there's another context, the police usually inflate the numbers for the rallies they like and divide the estimate by ten for the one's they don't.  So this rally may have only attracted hundreds but less than 2,000 doesn't quite deserve to be called "thousands" as per the JC.

Now, that communal context:

• Around 200,000 Jews live in London, thus the figure that attended represents less than 1% of the London Jewish population.
• Every summer, including this one, around 1,500 16-year-olds are visiting Israel on organised summer tours. Even if we assume that each family has only 2 children, and around 10% are single parent units, this would equate to approximately 4,350 close family members who currently have a child in Israel.
• In 2008, over 26,000 Jewish children were attending Jewish schools, and with extra places opening in the subsequent half-decade, this will now be close to 30,000 students.

The point of these figures is to place into context just how small 1,500 people are within the Jewish community of the UK.

So questions need to be asked, and there are no easy answers.

All of the questions pre-suppose that Israel is a popular cause among London Jews and Jews elsewhere.  Now this may increasingly not be the case.  Also, it could be that even among Israel enthusiasts, Gaza has been an embarrassment.  And of course given the increasing frequency of Israel's war crimes against the Palestinians some supporters might just be blasé.  I mean a headline like, Israel kills civilians, is hardly shock news now, is it?

There is another point regarding the numbers.  There was a ragbag of Christian zionists at the rally so the number of Jews present was very possibly less than 750.  It would be nice to think that Jews of conscience are growing in number but statistics are fickle things.

WaPo toon upsets loons

Here's the Washington Post cartoon:

And here are the unhappy loons as reported by Jerusalem Post

Total Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza proposed by Israeli Parliament's Deputy Speaker

This seems to have passed below the radar of the mainstream media but it has been reported on mostly zionist sites.  +972 mag reports on it thus:

If you still see daylight between Israel’s current bloodletting and its state-sanctioned policy toward the Palestinians, have a look at what the deputy speaker of the Knesset, Moshe Feiglin, posted on his official website Tuesday. It’s a seven-point tract named, without a hint of irony, “My Outline for a Solution for Gaza.”

And here's the statement in full:

1. Ultimatum – One warning from the Prime Minister of Israel to the enemy population, in which he announces that Israel is about to attack military targets in their area and urges those who are not involved and do not wish to be harmed to leave immediately. Sinai is not far from Gaza and they can leave. This will be the limit of Israel’s humanitarian efforts. Hamas may unconditionally surrender and prevent the attack.
2. Attack – Attack of the entire ‘target bank’ throughout the Gaza Strip with the IDF’s maximum force (and not a tiny fraction of it) with all the conventional means at its disposal. All the military and infrastructural targets will be attacked with no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’. It is enough that we are hitting exact targets and that we gave them advance warning.
3. Siege – Parallel to the above, a total siege on Gaza. Nothing will enter the Strip. Israel, however, will allow exit from Gaza. (Civilians may go to Sinai, fighters may surrender to IDF forces).
4. Defense – Any place from which Israel or Israel’s forces were attacked will be immediately attacked with full force and no consideration for ‘human shields’ or ‘environmental damage’.
5. Conquer – After the IDF will complete the softening of the targets with its aerial and long distance fire-power, it will send in infantry to conquer the entire Gaza Strip, using all the means necessary to minimize any harm to our soldiers, with no other considerations.
6. Elimination- The GSS and IDF will thoroughly eliminate all armed enemies from Gaza. The enemy population that is innocent of wrong-doing and separated itself from the armed terrorists will be treated in accordance with international law and will be allowed to leave. Israel will generously aid those who wish to leave.
7. Sovereignty – Gaza is part of our Land and we will remain there forever. Liberation of parts of our land       forever is the only thing that justifies endangering our soldiers in battle to capture land. Subsequent to the elimination of terror from Gaza, it will become part of sovereign Israel and will be populated by Jews. This will also serve to ease the housing crisis in Israel. The coastal train line will be extended, as soon as possible, to reach the length of the Gaza Strip. According to polls, most of the Arabs in Gaza wish to leave. Those who were not involved in anti-Israel activity will be offered a generous international emigration package. Those who choose to remain will receive permanent resident status. After a number of years of living in Israel and becoming accustomed to it, contingent on appropriate legislation in the Knesset and the authorization of the Minister of Interior on a case by case basis, those who personally accept upon themselves Israel’s rule, substance and way of life of the Jewish State in its Land, will be offered Israeli citizenship.

Last I heard the UK prime minister, David Cameron, had phoned Netanyahu to offer his full support for Israel's attack on Gaza. Paradoxically this Feiglin guy is currently barred from entering the UK because apparently his racism is too much for even ardent supporters of the Likud like the UK government.

Letters for BDS and a slap on the wrist for Chomsky

These letters are in today's Guardian:

It is now 10 years since the international court of justice ruled that the wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank contravenes international law and must be removed. Israel is marking this anniversary with renewed attacks on Gaza which continue to punish the Palestinians for resisting the illegal occupation of their land (Israel turns screw on Hamas as 300 targets are hit in a single night, 11 July). The apartheid wall is still there, making any kind of normal life for Palestinians an impossibility, as well as stealing their land. It is 47 years since Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, thus extending the process (begun in 1948) of ethnically cleansing the indigenous population and then installing settlers.

All this is illegal under international law, which has been flouted by Israel, aided by the complicity of western governments. The media too, especially the BBC, must bear some responsibility with its grotesquely biased reporting which, as Owen Jones notes (9 July), portrays Israel as an innocent victim, exempt from any norms of behaviour. Our government will not hold Israel accountable, so we have a responsibility to do so, especially through the civil society campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

Miriam Margolyes, Mike Marqusee, Alexei Sayle, Ahdaf Soueif, Prof Haim Bresheeth, Prof Jonathan Rosenhead, Prof Moshe Machover, Prof Nira Yuval-Davies, Seymour Alexander, Rica Bird, Elizabeth Carola, Mike Cushman, Judit Druks, Nancy Elan, Mark Elf, Deborah Fink, Sylvia Finzi, Kenneth Fryde, Claire Glasman, Tony Greenstein, Abe Hayeem, Rosamine Hayeem, Selma James, Riva Joffe, Michael Kalmanovitz, Adah Kay, Leah Levane, Les Levidow, Mica Nava, Diane Neslen, Susan Pashkoff, Roland Rance, Leon Rosselson, Maureen Rothstein, Michael Sackin, Ian Saville, Miriam Scharf, Sam Weinstein, Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, Devra Wiseman, Ben Young
Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG)

• Debate about strategy is vital for good politics. We welcome Noam Chomsky's admonitions as a stimulus to the debate and education which the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement has enabled globally. Aside from the errors of fact in Chomsky's Nation article reported on by Ian Black (Israeli sanctions campaign: Chomsky's boycott warning, 2 July), the timing of his intervention is unfortunate since the BDS movement has now reached even American campuses, occasioned Israeli cabinet deliberations as to how to counter it, and caused reputational damage to corporations working with Israeli firms in occupied Palestine.

Chomsky also ignores that BDS is fully backed by Palestinian civil society and a growing number of Israelis. In this difficult period for progressive politics and international solidarity, the BDS movement builds across the globe. In its stead Chomsky proposes nothing.

Hilary Rose Professor emeritus of social policy, Bradford, Martha Mundy Professor emeritus in anthropology, LSE, Steven Rose Professor emeritus of neuroscience, Open University, Sami Ramadani London Metropolitan University

I ought to add that whilst the first letter was organised via Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) not all of the signatories are members.

Don't let the Young zFUKers get you down!

The Youthful wing of the Zionist Federation UK aka ZFUK is holding a counter demo tonight at the Jewish National Fund's Tzipi Livni event so here's another invite:

Come out to support Israel TONIGHT!

Do you believe Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorism?

Do you believe Israel should respond when rockets are fired at her civilians?

Do you believe Israelis should be free to visit this country without harassment?

If your answer to any of these is ‘yes’ then come out to support Israel TONIGHT!

This evening the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be protesting against Tzipi Livni speaking in London. The ZF will be holding a mass pro-Israel rally in response, to show the Israel-haters that they won’t go unopposed. We have flags, banners and music – all we need is you!

Our rally will be from 6.30 – 8.30

Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel,

2 Cadogan Place, London, SW1X 9PY

(Map here)

If you’re interested in details for tonight, please email chris@zfuk

Their rally will be from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm which is a curious coincidence because so is PSC's demo.

Invitation to an evening with Tzipi Livni

This is what the Jewish National Fund sent out to invitees to the "Tzipi Livni event".  They sent it out yesterday to thwart protestors:

Thank you for confirming your attendance at JNF UK’s Tzipi Livni event this Thursday evening, 15 May 2014.

We are delighted to confirm the event details, as follows:

Venue:          Jumeirah Hotel, Carlton Tower, 2 Cadogan Place, London, SW1X 9PY click here for map
Event Timings:    Doors open 7:30pm for a pre-event canapé and drinks reception
   8:45pm – 10:30pm Main Event
Security Access:         Photographic ID and a print-out of this ticket confirmation are both essential

JNF UK has the right to refuse entry (whereby a full refund will be given) and details of the venue are strictly confidential to attending guests only. We ask you to kindly refrain from publicising these details on any media, either before or during the event. Seating will be allocated on arrival.

For any enquiries, please contact 020 8732 6146, events@jnf.co.uk or visit www.jnf.co.uk/livni

We look forward to seeing you there,
The JNF UK team

Palestine Solidarity Campaign is organising at demonstration at the event.

Tzipi Livni can run to the UK but she can't hide in the UK

Well the cat's out of the bag. Tzipi Livni's whereabouts tonight night is now known to all Palestine Solidarity activists.  She's the star speaker at a shindig for the London registered charity the Jewish National Fund:

Here are the details:

Date: 15/05/2014
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Location:
Outside
Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel
2 Cadogan Place,
London,
SW1X 9PY

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is on the case, as is, Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods. 

Union calls on Theresa May to say FUCU to Tzipi Livni

This in from Stop the Jewish National Fund:

UCU Scotland condemns Israel war criminal visit to London JNF

 

The 2014 Annual Congress of the University and College Union Scotland Congress (UCU Scotland) today voted unanimously to condemn the planned visit by Israeli war criminal Tzipi Livni.  The Israeli politician was given a rare diplomatic passport by the UK Government in 2011 specifically to protect her from the risk of arrest and prosecution for complicity in Israeli war crimes.  Livni is planning to speak at a provocative Nakba Day meeting of the racist JNF (Jewish National Fund) at a secret central London venue on Thursday 15th May.  UCU Scotland Congress called on Theresa May to refuse Livni entry to the UK.

On Nakba (“Catastrophe”) Day, Palestinians remember the wave of Zionist ethnic cleansing that engulfed Palestine in 1948, and created the world’s largest refugee population.  Every year on 15th May Palestinians and human rights supporters protest Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing programmes, house demolitions and Israel’s apartheid system, of which the JNF is a central pillar.

Stop the JNF UK supports the demonstration called by Palestine Solidarity Campaign of England and Wales and the London Palestine Action in Central London on Thursday May 15^th to protest the racist JNF and its war criminal guest, Livni.

In late 2009 Livni cancelled a scheduled visit to London when she discovered an arrest warrant had been issued against her on the grounds she had been a member of the Israeli war cabinet which organised the massacre of more than a 1400 Palestinians.

Click here to write to Home Secretary Theresa May to demand that Tzipi Livni be prevented from entering the UK to participate in incitement to hatred and division.

Gaza "disengagement": Sharon's punishment for the Palestinians

Back when Israel was first deciding to remove its daily presence from the ground in Gaza, whilst controlling everything else, I had an article published in Ireland's Sunday Business Post about the cruel charade.  I posted it here too.

Coincidentally, at the time, Yasser Arafat was dying, possibly poisoned on orders, presumably, from Ariel Sharon.

Anyway, here's the piece again:

Sharon’s punishment for the Palestinians
As obituaries are being written for the ailing Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, what kind of Palestine does Ariel Sharon promise to the Palestinians?

The Gaza Strip comprises 360 square kilometres of land with a population of about 1.4 million Palestinians and 7,500 Jewish settlers. It is mostly desert and much of the arable land is reserved, at present, for Jewish use only. 75% of its Arab population live below the poverty line and 13% suffer from malnutrition. It has no natural freshwater resources and no control over its telecommunications. It was occupied, together with the West Bank, by Israel during the six days war of June 1967 and has been occupied ever since. It is no stranger to Palestinian resistance or Israeli war crimes. During the ethnic cleansing campaign (1947-1949) that brought Israel into existence with its Jewish majority, Gaza [with an influx of Palestinian refugees] became the most densely populated place on earth; a distinction it still holds. Israel emerged from that war controlling 78% of what was Palestine.

Gaza and Ariel Sharon have been well acquainted since the 1950s when Ariel Sharon led "reprisal" raids against Palestinian villages that brought shame even to Israeli leaders. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharrett referred to one of Sharon’s atrocities as a "stain [that] would stick to us and not be washed away for many years". Clearly he underestimated the strength of Zionist propaganda in the mass media.

During one of Ariel Sharon’s visits to the White House, President George W. Bush described him as a "man of peace". Leaving aside the fact that Bush often can’t tell one world leader from another, it is possible that he was responding to Ariel Sharon’s stated willingness to make "painful concessions" on the "roadmap" to peace with the Palestinians. To those familiar with Sharon’s history, the description "man of peace" wasn’t one that sprang to mind. Apart from the bloody and disproportionate "reprisals" mentioned above, he was the architect of the Lebanon war that began in 1982 with the slaughter of perhaps 20,000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in a matter of weeks. The Israeli Supreme Court declared Sharon "unfit for office" because of his culpability in some particularly gruesome atrocities by Israel’s Lebanese allies in the refugee camps of Shatila and Sabra. Whenever there have been peaceful overtures by Arab states or the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Sharon’s response has always been, at best, dismissive and usually downright hostile. He has had more Palestinians killed, for example, since the PLO accepted Israel’s right to exist on 78% of Palestine than when their demand was for a "democratic secular state" or the "destruction of Israel" as the Zionists prefer to call it. In 1981, the Rabat plan, whereby the Arab states agreed to normalise relations with Israel in return for Israel withdrawing to its pre-1967 boundaries, was described by Sharon as "a declaration of war". And the recent Saudi peace plan, much the same as Rabat, is now gathering dust.

In addition to the war crimes Sharon has always had a reputation for being dishonest with his political masters. His first patron, David Ben Gurion, recorded in his diary (29/1/1960) that "if he could wean himself from the habit of lying he could be an exemplary military leader." Later, in 1982 he lied to Menachem Begin about his aims in the Lebanon war. He lied to the Kahane Commission (Supreme Court), he lost a libel action against the Israeli liberal daily Ha’aretz and now he tells of painful concessions for peace.

So what does the proposed Gaza withdrawal consist of? We have seen what Gaza itself consists of. It has almost nothing and what it does have has been commandeered by illegal colonial settlers or is provided by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The settlers will, if the plan goes ahead, be withdrawn. Settlers have been known to kill civilians so this could bring some comfort to the Gazan population. However, if the withdrawal goes ahead, might Israel press for UNRWA to be withdrawn? UNRWA provides housing, healthcare, education, but above all, jobs. This isn’t mere speculation. Some weeks ago, Sharon accused an UNRWA ambulance team of loading a Qassam (home made) missile on to an ambulance. He was too hasty in his accusation. Israeli intelligence didn’t have time to doctor their photographic "evidence" and the accusation was exposed as another lie when the "missile" turned out to be a stretcher. But looking at American websites and other media, many commentators have happily run with the Qassam story. This does not simply expose Palestinian ambulances to Israeli attacks. Israel has attacked medical facilities without "pretext" before. It is to undermine the authority and credibility of the Agency in order to hinder all of its work. Taken with the mass campaign of political assassinations, Sharon is creating a Gaza with no viable economy or polity.

Sharon has said that his withdrawal plan is a part of Bush’s much vaunted "road map" to peace and Palestinian statehood. This is curious since his most trusted adviser, Dov Weisglass, is on record as saying that "the significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda". So the idea of following the road map is yet another lie by Sharon, though Weisglass has since been forced to withdraw his prepared statement.

But how painful is this particular concession? In a way, it represents a step back by Sharon. True, the Jewish population of Gaza is hardly a significant factor as a proportion of Israel’s population as a whole and Sharon has always said that "Zionism is not about what Israel can do for Jews but what Jews can do for Israel." But his party, the Likud, still sings the anthem Shtei Gadot with its expansionist lyric "one side of the Jordan is ours and so is the other". So relinquishing land, any land, is always painful. The outcry from the far-right isn’t just choreography, though that is part of it. But the Israel-free Gaza will be so enfeebled and dependent many Palestinians will have to leave as they have done for decades now. The ethnic cleansing that Israel has failed to fully achieve by war, they have tried to make up for by economic stealth and this will surely continue in an "independent" Gaza. If large sections of the population leave, it is likely that only the most militant would remain. If this happens it wouldn’t take much for Sharon or a successor to manufacture a pretext for reoccupation.

Some commentators are perplexed over the support that Sharon is now garnering from the Zionist "left" for his plan. This is because they fail to see that Zionism doesn’t really have a left. Traditionally, the Likud wanted Jewish rule over Palestine and the Palestinians if needs be. Ethnic cleansing was never an essential part of their policy. They were happy to go the "way of (apartheid) South Africa". This never suited the left. The call for "transfer" (the expulsion of all of the Arabs from all of Palestine) was always a Labourite demand. The strict segregation engendered by the barrier is also a Labourite idea. The fact is that Sharon has a Labour Zionist background and he has made no significant departures from that throughout his career.


So with massive military strength, a reduction in Palestinian attacks, a Palestinian leadership either dead or brought to its knees, the uncritical support of an American President (and Congress and Presidential hopeful) and no viable alternative government of Israel, why is Sharon withdrawing from Gaza? When the disengagement plan was first discussed, Sharon’s extreme right critics argued that he was rewarding the Palestinians. His words in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth (Israel’s most popular daily newspaper) are informative. Of unilateral disengagement from Gaza he said that "this should be seen as a punishment and not a reward for the Palestinians".

For once, he might just be telling the truth.

Just see how many in the mainstream media mention that when Sharon finally dies.

Remembering Hugo Chavez

Here's what I remember most.  Back in 2009:

Chavez has ordered Ambassador Shlomo Cohen to leave in protest over the attacks in Gaza. Israel says Cohen was given until Friday to depart, and the nation is considering expelling Venezuelan diplomats in response.

I got that from AP via google news but it's no longer there. I kept the whole report here.

Rachel Corrie then Furkan Dogan, who's next?

This is from Alex Kane of Mondoweiss:

The deference to Israel “happened with Rachel Corrie. This happened with Furkan Dogan. And unfortunately from what we’re seeing, this might happen again, because the U.S. is not taking the safety of its citizens seriously,” said the CCR’s Lee.

Of course it's no worse that Israel kills Americans with impunity but when the US defers to Israel over the killing of its own citizens what chance do others have?

It's the product not the brand which lets Israel down

Another article "explaining" why brand Israel isn't working.  Here's Ha'aretz:

The social networking activity of Hamas during Operation Pillar of Defense was more effective than that of the Israel Defense Forces, a study by an Israeli researcher has shown.

Tomer Simon, a researcher at the Department of Emergency Medicine and PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research at Ben Gurion University in the Negev, followed the virtual battle by analyzing the Twitter accounts of the IDF Spokesman and Hamas during November's clashes. After conducting a comprehensive analysis of the hashtags used by each side, the number of mentions for each hashtag and the reactions they received, Simon determined that Israel was under harsher attack by international Web surfers.

“Social networking is based on interaction with the audience, unlike the conventional media, which are one-directional and act only to disseminate information,” said Simon.

Simon's study found that the IDF refrained almost entirely from engaging in Twitter discussions, and in doing so failed to dominate the online discourse and the messages being transmitted.

So whereas Israel controlled the entire theatre of its war on a defenceless Gaza population the failure of Israeli war criminals to put their hashtags and @ signs in the right place had the Palestinians winning worldwide sympathy.

So next time Israel embarks on one of its Palestinian culls expect Mark Regev to ask what the English would do if the Welsh rained hashtags and @ signs randomly at England.

David Toube: an apology

I like getting things wrong and then apologising. It really puts paid to those interlocutors who say things like "oh you're never wrong, are you? or "you just can't admit to being wrong".  So I actually enjoy being wrong now and again but, sadly, I don't often get the pleasure.

So it's a with a not so heavy heart that I have to admit I got it wrong about one detail in a poll of Palestinian opinion arising out of the recent Israeli attack on Gaza and the Palestinian Authority's UN bid.

You see, David Toube, aka Lucy Lips, at Harry's Place said the following:

 It goes without saying that Hamas has lyingly claimed that their rockets lack the necessary precision to hit military targets. Previously, they’ve boasted of their success in terrorising Jews:

The Qassam Brigades committed itself to turn the life of Zionists into hell, and make them regret their heinous crimes against the innocent and crush their pride and to soak their noses in the dirt.

Hamas does this, because 87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics, and believe that they constitute ‘victory’.

Follow the link and you find this:

Highlights:

•        85 percent strongly believe that the UN vote was a victory for the Palestinian cause. In contrast, only 14 percent disagree.
•        79 percent are hopeful that the UN vote will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.
•        Overall, 68 percent believe that the UN vote will advance the Palestinian cause. In contrast, 17 percent believe that nothing will change and 13 percent      believe that the cause will be set back by the vote.
•        90 percent of respondents believe that the confrontations and the resulting truce represent a victory for the Palestinians. Only 10 percent disagree.
•        84 percent are hopeful that the Gaza confrontation will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.
•        The majority of respondents (51 percent) believe that party that gained the most from the Gaza conflict are the Palestinians in general.
•        76 percent believe that Israel lost the most in this war.
•        89 percent say that their views of Hamas improved or improved to some extent, while only 8 percent say that their views diminished.
•         81 percent say that their views of Fatah improved or improved to some extent, while 15 percent say that their views diminished.

But follow the links within the links and you find this:

		West Bank	Gaza	Total
The results of the recent Gaza conflict prove that armed struggle, as adopted by Hamas,  is the best means of achieving Palestinian independence	Strongly  agree	50.4%	64.2%	55.6%
	Agree	36.0%	25.6%	32.1%
	Disagree	8.8%	9.6%	9.1%
	Strongly disagree	1.5%	0.7%	1.2%
	I don’t know	3.3%		2.1%

So, what do you know? David Toube might masquerade as a woman called Lucy Lips when he's on line but it doesn't mean that everything he says is a lie.  So apologies.

Occupy this! Harry's Place's David Toube and the 87%

In a Harry's Place post seeking to justify Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians, corporate lawyer, David Toube (aka Lucy Lips) makes the following claim:

 they’ve boasted of their success in terrorising Jews:

The Qassam Brigades committed itself to turn the life of Zionists into hell, and make them regret their heinous crimes against the innocent and crush their pride and to soak their noses in the dirt.

Hamas does this, because 87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics, and believe that they constitute ‘victory’.

See that link. Here it is again:

 87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics

Now follow the link and see the summary of the poll results that have David Toube saying that,  "87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics" and we see this list:

Highlights:

•        85 percent strongly believe that the UN vote was a victory for the Palestinian cause. In contrast, only 14 percent disagree.
•        79 percent are hopeful that the UN vote will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.
•        Overall, 68 percent believe that the UN vote will advance the Palestinian cause. In contrast, 17 percent believe that nothing will change and 13 percent      believe that the cause will be set back by the vote.
•        90 percent of respondents believe that the confrontations and the resulting truce represent a victory for the Palestinians. Only 10 percent disagree.
•        84 percent are hopeful that the Gaza confrontation will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.
•        The majority of respondents (51 percent) believe that party that gained the most from the Gaza conflict are the Palestinians in general.
•        76 percent believe that Israel lost the most in this war.
•        89 percent say that their views of Hamas improved or improved to some extent, while only 8 percent say that their views diminished.
•         81 percent say that their views of Fatah improved or improved to some extent, while 15 percent say that their views diminished.

I've left the following comment at Harry's Place to try to establish if Toube was lying or if he simply can't, as they say, do the Math:

Mark Elf • 21 minutes ago

• −

Here's the poll you linked to with the words, "87% of the Palestinian population supports their [Hamas's] tactics":

****85 percent strongly believe that the UN vote was a victory for the Palestinian cause. In contrast, only 14 percent disagree.

79 percent are hopeful that the UN vote will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.

Overall, 68 percent believe that the UN vote will advance the Palestinian cause. In contrast, 17 percent believe that nothing will change and 13 percent believe that the cause will be set back by the vote.

90 percent of respondents believe that the confrontations and the resulting truce represent a victory for the Palestinians. Only 10 percent disagree.

84 percent are hopeful that the Gaza confrontation will be followed by tangible progress towards Palestinian independence.

The majority of respondents (51 percent) believe that party that gained the most from the Gaza conflict are the Palestinians in general.

76 percent believe that Israel lost the most in this war.

89 percent say that their views of Hamas improved or improved to some extent, while only 8 percent say that their views diminished.

81 percent say that their views of Fatah improved or improved to some extent, while 15 percent say that their views diminished.****

-------------------

None mention 87% and only one leaves 87% by deduction and that is:

"13 percent believe that the cause will be set back by the [UN] vote.

------

So maybe you have an issue with arithmetic but which line out of the above list is your assertion that,

"Hamas does this, because 87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics, and believe that they constitute ‘victory’."

based on?

My guess is that you were simply and typically lying to justify the slaughter of Palestinian civilians by Israel but go ahead and have an honest go. Quote the one line in the list of poll results which justifies your assertion that,

"Hamas does this [fires rockets], because 87% of the Palestinian population supports their tactics, and believe that they constitute ‘victory’."

Ok apologies for the repetition but at least he can't claim not to have understood the question. Now, past experience suggests to me that David Toube is simply lying but it could be that he really can't "do the Math". So which one is it? I've said before that he's a liar and a buffoon but I could narrow it down to either or...