Hasbara plumbs new depths of moral squalor. They clearly dont care about all the palestinian lives being lost
Mixed reactions to Israelis' erotic moral-boosting Facebook effort Concerned Israeli citizens set up Facebook page that seeks to 'keep Israel's cliff steadfast.' Israel's Operation Protective Edge, now in its third week, was given a different title is Hebrew: 'Operation Steadfast Cliff.' Yesterday, some concerned Israeli citizens gave the world a new Facebook page that, according to its title, seeks to 'keep the cliff steadfast.'
The page calls on Israeli women to show their support of IDF troops by snapping and uploading erotic photos of their bodies, upon which uplifting messages for Israel's troops are scrawled. The pages short intro explains: "We are 'raising' the national morale… You keep us safe from above, and we will watch you from below!"
The page is being received with mixed emotrions. One person wrote "I must admit, I am a great fan of this page… You have found the way to give our soldiers the most uplifting present without even leaving the house. I thank you, in the name of every soldier who got a moment of peace and a reason to enter the battlefield with a smile on his face. Be he married or single, be he pious or a player, a big thank you from all soldiers, for the self- confidence and the strength of soul you teach us."
Others were less positive. "I don't want to bum you out, but wow - bad idea. Good execution, bad idea. Thanks, but no thanks to whoever invited me to this group," said one. Another quipped: "Boys, what about the gay soldiers? They need to know you are behind them, too, so join the effort and send your naked photos!"
This guy is risking career suicide. And look, he speaks UP! Wow, mark, I'm fucken impressed. Not like Rihanna and D Howard that's for sure.
interesting point about him speaking up, As an actor in a profession and arena dominated by jewish power players and brokers/agents it's maybe not surprising more from hollywood havent voiced their outrage. Held to ransom in a different way i guess.
This fight is not over piece of land, its about Jihad.
Hi Sivan, I am only recently learning about the details surrounding the history of the conflict. I'm curious if you say this isnt over a piece of land, what are your thoughts on the 1967 border dispute then?
and im a little surprised at rr saying we should be ashamed when questioning our leaders (USA)... Good response Gimme... So I stumbled upon this, though its a few years old, is Obama not sticking to this??
There is no way there will ever be peace in this Region never , all these civilians getting blown away will just make more & more hatred towards the Israelis for ever .....This is like watching a big dude just pummel a little guy and people just standing around watching it's fucking disgusting ....
There is no way there will ever be peace in this Region never , all these civilians getting blown away will just make more & more hatred towards the Israelis for ever .....This is like watching a big dude just pummel a little guy and people just standing around watching it's fucking disgusting ....
totally agree..and all the young men and women, kids in fact, having their parents killed in front of them, israelis creating a next generation of so called terrorists..it's beyond insane..only solution is to pull the plug on israel and boycott and embargo them to the teeth..give them a taste of their own shit
totally agree..and all the young men and women, kids in fact, having their parents killed in front of them, israelis creating a next generation of so called terrorists..it's beyond insane..only solution is to pull the plug on israel and boycott and embargo them to the teeth..give them a taste of their own shit
Totally agree you can bet your bottom dollars these kids who have lost it all family housing fucking brothers sisters parents will never ever forget this , I agree this country should sanction the shit out of Israel i'm totally disgusted by this President or any politician not having the balls to speak out about these atrocities .....
This guy is risking career suicide. And look, he speaks UP! Wow, mark, I'm fucken impressed. Not like Rihanna and D Howard that's for sure.
Speakin of which. Where the hell are the african american sport stars and rap community at. I know they have agents and franchise owners and record label execs to deal with but damn, those are kids of color being blown up by Israelis.
And where is Al Sharpton, the NAACP, Eugene Robinson, BARAK OBAMA, Melissa Harris-Perry and the entire black congressional caucus?
AIPAC Is the Only Explanation for America's Morally Bankrupt Israel Policy
The official name for Israel's latest assault on Gaza is "Operation Protective Edge." A better name would be "Operation Déjà Vu." As it has on several prior occasions, Israel is using weapons provided by U.S. taxpayers to bombard the captive and impoverished Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll now exceeds 500. As usual, the U.S. government is siding with Israel, even though most American leaders understand Israel instigated the latest round of violence, is not acting with restraint, and that its actions make Washington look callous and hypocritical in the eyes of most of the world.
This Orwellian situation is eloquent testimony to the continued political clout of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the other hardline elements of the Israel lobby. There is no other plausible explanation for the supine behavior of the U.S. Congress--including some of its most "progressive" members--or the shallow hypocrisy of the Obama administration, especially those officials known for their purported commitment to human rights.
The immediate cause of this latest one-sided bloodletting was the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli hikers in the occupied West Bank, followed shortly thereafter by the kidnapping and fatal burning of a Palestinian teenager by several Israelis. According to J.J. Goldberg's reporting in the Jewish newspaper Forward, the Netanyahu government blamed Hamas for the kidnappings without evidence and pretended the kidnapped Israelis were still alive for several weeks, even though there was evidence indicating the victims were already dead. It perpetrated this deception in order to whip up anti-Arab sentiment and make it easier to justify punitive operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
And why did Netanyahu decide to go on another rampage in Gaza? As Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group points out, the real motive is neither vengeance nor a desire to protect Israel from Hamas' rocket fire, which has been virtually non-existent over the past two years and is largely ineffectual anyway. Netanyahu's real purpose was to undermine the recent agreement between Hamas and Fatah for a unity government. Given Netanyahu's personal commitment to keeping the West Bank and creating a "greater Israel," the last thing he wants is a unified Palestinian leadership that might press him to get serious about a two-state solution. Ergo, he sought to isolate and severely damage Hamas and drive a new wedge between the two Palestinian factions.
Behind all these maneuvers looms Israel's occupation of Palestine, now in its fifth decade. Not content with having ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and 1967 and not satisfied with owning eighty-two percent of Mandatory Palestine, every Israeli government since 1967 has built or expanded settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem while providing generous subsidies to the 600,000-plus Jews who have moved there in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu confirmed what many have long suspected: he is dead set against a two-state solution and will never--repeat never--allow it to happen while he is in office. Given that Netanyahu is probably the most moderate member of his own Cabinet and that Israel's political system is marching steadily rightward, the two-state solution is a gone goose.
Worst of all, the deaths of hundreds more Palestinians and a small number of Israelis will change almost nothing. Hamas is not going to disband. When this latest round of fighting ends, the 4.4 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza will still be Israel's de facto prisoners and still be denied basic human rights. But they are not going to leave, mainly because Palestine is their homeland, but also because they have nowhere to go, especially given the turmoil in other parts of the Middle East.
Eventually another ceasefire will be negotiated. The dead will be buried, the wounded will recover, the tunnels now being destroyed will be rebuilt, and Hamas will replenish its stockpile of missiles and rockets. The stage will then be set for another round of fighting, and Israel will have moved further down the road to becoming a full-fledged apartheid state.
Meanwhile, U.S. politicians and policymakers continue to back a brutal military campaign whose primary purpose is not to defend Israel but rather to protect its longstanding effort to colonize the West Bank. Amazingly, they continue to support Israel unreservedly even though every U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson has opposed Israel's settlements project, and the past three American presidents--Clinton, Bush and Obama--have all worked hard for the two-state solution that Israeli policy has now made impossible.
"The explanation for America's impotent and morally bankrupt policy is the political clout of the Israel lobby."
Yet as soon as fighting starts, and even if Israel instigates it, AIPAC demands that Washington march in lockstep with Tel Aviv. Congress invariably rushes to pass new resolutions endorsing whatever Israel decides to do. Even though it is mostly Palestinians who are dying, White House officials rush to proclaim that Israel has "the right to defend itself," and Obama himself won't go beyond expressing "concern" about what is happening. Of course Israelis have the right to defend themselves, but Palestinians not only have the same right, they have the right to resist the occupation. To put this another way, Israel does not have the right to keep its Palestinian subjects in permanent subjugation. But try finding someone on Capitol Hill who will acknowledge this simple fact.
The explanation for America's impotent and morally bankrupt policy is the political clout of the Israel lobby. Barack Obama knows that if he were to side with the Palestinians in Gaza or criticize Israel's actions in any way, he would face a firestorm of criticism from the lobby and his chances of getting Congressional approval for a deal with Iran would evaporate.
Similarly, every member of the House and Senate--including progressives like Senator Elizabeth Warren--knows that voting for those supposedly "pro-Israel" resolutions is the smart political move. They understand that even the slightest display of independent thinking on these issues could leave them vulnerable to a well-funded opponent the next time they're up for re-election. At a minimum, they'll have to answer a flood of angry phone calls and letters, and, on top of that, they are likely to be blackballed by some of their Congressional colleagues. The safer course is to mouth the same tired litanies about alleged "shared values" between Israel and the U.S. and wait till the crisis dies down. And people wonder why no one respects Congress anymore.
continued To be sure, the lobby's clout is not as profound as it once was. Public discourse about Israel, U.S. policy toward Israel and the lobby itself has changed markedly in recent years, and a growing number of journalists, bloggers and pundits--such as Andrew Sullivan, Juan Cole, Peter Beinart, M.J. Rosenberg, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Bernard Avishai, Sara Roy, Mitchell Plitnick, David Remnick, Phil Weiss and even (occasionally) Thomas Friedman of the New York Times--are willing to speak and write candidly about what is happening in the Middle East. Although most Americans openly support Israel's existence--just as I do--their sympathy for an Israel that acts more like Goliath than David is fading. The ranks of the skeptics include a growing number of younger American Jews, who find little to admire and much to dislike in Israel's actions and who are far less devoted to it than were previous generations. Pro-peace groups such as J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace reflect that trend and show that opinion among American Jews is far from unified.
"The lobby is still able to keep roughly $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel flowing each year; it can still prevent U.S. presidents from putting meaningful pressure on Israel; and it can still get the U.S. to wield its veto whenever a resolution criticizing Israel's actions is floated in the U.N. Security Council."
Moreover, AIPAC and other hardline lobby groups could not convince the Obama administration to intervene in Syria, and they have been unable to convince the Bush or Obama administrations to launch a preventive strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. They have also failed to derail the nuclear negotiations with Tehran--at least so far--though not for lack of trying. Pushing the U.S. toward another Middle East war is a lot for any interest group to accomplish, of course, but these setbacks show that even this "leviathan among lobbies" does not always get its way.
But the lobby is still able to keep roughly $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel flowing each year; it can still prevent U.S. presidents from putting meaningful pressure on Israel; and it can still get the U.S. to wield its veto whenever a resolution criticizing Israel's actions is floated in the U.N. Security Council. This situation explains why the Obama administration made zero progress toward "two states for two peoples": if Israel gets generous U.S. support no matter what it does, why should its leaders pay any attention to Washington's requests? Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry could only appeal to Netanyahu's better judgment, and we've seen how well that worked.
This situation is a tragedy for all concerned, not least for Israel itself. A Greater Israel cannot be anything but an apartheid state, and exclusionary ethnic nationalism of this sort is not sustainable in the 21st century. Israel's Arab subjects will eventually demand equal rights, and as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned back in 2007, once that happens, "the state of Israel is finished."
Unfortunately, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and assorted Christian Zionist groups continue to exhibit a severe case of tunnel vision. Because defending Israel no matter what it does is their main raison d'etre (and central to their fundraising), they are unable to see that they are helping Israel drive itself off a cliff. Similarly, those pliant members of Congress who cravenly sign AIPAC-drafted resolutions are not true friends of Israel. They are false friends who pretend to care but are really only interested in getting reelected.
Historians will one day look back and ask how U.S. Middle East policy could be so ineffectual and so at odds with its professed values -- not to mention its strategic interests. The answer lies in the basic nature of the American political system, which permits well-organized and well-funded special interest groups to wield significant power on Capitol Hill and in the White House. In this case, the result is a policy that is bad for all concerned: for the Palestinians most of all, but also for the U.S. and Israel as well. Until the lobby's clout is weakened or politicians grow stiffer spines, Americans looking for better outcomes in the Middle East had better get used to disappointment and prepared for more trouble.
the numbers speak for themselves im afraid..theres one pic of a baby from israel misappropriated...US media have used loads saying theyre israelis when in fact they were they were people from gaza..its not about keeping score, how do we make this stop??
My pleasure buddy! And if anyone hears about any protests happening around NYC, please post here. There's a few of us that want to attend! Thanks for keeping this going! And everyone, thanks for having the courage to speak up about this madness.
is it just me or am i reading your posts wrong? are you guys not able to speak out and speak freely about this? i know its a hot topic but there shouldnt be any reprisal?
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
More than 4k israeli civilianze were murderd in cold blood, in suicide terror attacks. Most of them inside the israeli borders. Some were murderd im other countries, and in the settelments.
This us massacre. Systimatic massacre of the israelis by the rutless Jihad ideology.
You have yet to post a link citing these ridiculous numbers. you have yet to answer for your murdering armies and snipers killing INNOCENT women and children. You have yet to prove how Israel has been under attack for 11 straight years.
is it just me or am i reading your posts wrong? are you guys not able to speak out and speak freely about this? i know its a hot topic but there shouldnt be any reprisal?
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
I was just referring to how some people don't speak out or up because they're afraid of being labeled anti-Semite so they dnt say anything. You're last paragraph is truly frightening no doubt.
Ireland orders Israeli diplomat out of embassy over forged passports Move follows alleged Irish passport misuse in killing of Hamas official in Dubai
Ireland today ordered the removal of an Israeli diplomat from the country's embassy in Dublin in protest at the use of forged passports in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai.
The Irish decision was the latest sign of diplomatic fallout following the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, described by Israeli sources as the Hamas official in charge of smuggling Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip. Mabhouh was killed in January in an operation blamed on the Israeli secret service, the Mossad.
Britain and Australia have both expelled Israeli diplomats because of passport abuse, while an embarrassing fresh argument is brewing over the arrest in Poland of another Israeli, also described as a Mossad officer, who is wanted in Germany in connection with the Dubai affair.
Micheál Martin, Ireland's foreign minister, said today that an investigation had shown that the eight Irish passports used by suspects in the assassination were forgeries.
"The misuse of Irish passports by a state with which Ireland enjoys friendly, if sometimes frank, bilateral relations, is clearly unacceptable and requires a firm response," Martin said. He stressed that the unnamed Israeli diplomat was not accused or suspected of any particular wrongdoing. "In being obliged to leave their post prematurely, the official concerned is a victim of the actions of the state they represent."
Dubai has accused Israel of being behind the assassination of Mabhouh and has provided the names of alleged members of a hit team which, it says, tracked and killed the Palestinian, using fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the assassination.
"The fact that the forged Irish passports were used by members of the same group who carried the forged British and Australian passports leads us to the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible for the misuse and, most likely, the manufacture of the forged Irish passports associated with the murder of Mr Mabhouh," Martin said.
Israel called the move regrettable.
Polish prosecutors, meanwhile, are to ask Warsaw's district court to extradite to Germany a suspected Mossad agent, named as Uri Brodsky, under the European arrest warrant procedure. If Brodsky, arrested at Warsaw airport, is extradited he will probably face charges of espionage, forging documents and belonging to a foreign intelligence service.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the case was being handled by the Polish security service, which maintains close ties with both its German counterpart, the BND, and the Mossad.
Brodsky is not suspected of involvement in the actual killing of Mabhouh, and is not on the list of 36 suspects that Dubai has given to Interpol. Dubai's police chief, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, said his country had no intention of requesting Brodsky's extradition. Brodsky has reportedly told the Polish authorities that he is a businessman and innocent of the suspicions against him.
More than 4k israeli civilianze were murderd in cold blood, in suicide terror attacks. Most of them inside the israeli borders. Some were murderd im other countries, and in the settelments.
This us massacre. Systimatic massacre of the israelis by the rutless Jihad ideology.
You have yet to post a link citing these ridiculous numbers. you have yet to answer for your murdering armies and snipers killing INNOCENT women and children. You have yet to prove how Israel has been under attack for 11 straight years.
I refer to my prior post: your trolling.
Gonna have to agree with ya last12e. Heard she's on FB posting all these lies there to. Just ignore her and hopefully she'll go away. If she was posting some truths then maybe we'd be able to debate or have a convo but she's to busy spreading lies and looking to post dead Israeli soldiers names somehwere.
My pleasure buddy! And if anyone hears about any protests happening around NYC, please post here. There's a few of us that want to attend! Thanks for keeping this going! And everyone, thanks for having the courage to speak up about this madness.
Yes please if anyone hears about protest please do post ....
This fight is not over piece of land, its about Jihad.
Hi Sivan, I am only recently learning about the details surrounding the history of the conflict. I'm curious if you say this isnt over a piece of land, what are your thoughts on the 1967 border dispute then?
and im a little surprised at rr saying we should be ashamed when questioning our leaders (USA)... Good response Gimme... So I stumbled upon this, though its a few years old, is Obama not sticking to this??
people on rr's side have no problem criticizing our country when it's leader's last name starts with an O and ends in a Bama. i get told i should be ashamed because i support a group of people that happen to be the underdog here. i just had to set it straight that i question my government's policies BECAUSE i expect better of it. i know that my country claims to be moral, and for truth and justice and peace and equality and freedom, but i know that morally my government's position on this issue is completely unsustainable.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
is it just me or am i reading your posts wrong? are you guys not able to speak out and speak freely about this? i know its a hot topic but there shouldnt be any reprisal?
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
I was just referring to how some people don't speak out or up because they're afraid of being labeled anti-Semite so they dnt say anything. You're last paragraph is truly frightening no doubt.
i bit my tongue for the longest time because i was afraid of what other people might think of me. in america you can lose your job by what you write on facebook.
but i can no longer sit silently by and say nothing.
i don't believe in any god, but if i did, i would think that god would have a bigger problem with me knowing atrocities are being committed and saying nothing, so i speak out and if only one person reads my words and decides to follow up and do their own research and their own learning, and persuade one other person to do the same, i feel like i have made a very small difference.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
is it just me or am i reading your posts wrong? are you guys not able to speak out and speak freely about this? i know its a hot topic but there shouldnt be any reprisal?
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
I was just referring to how some people don't speak out or up because they're afraid of being labeled anti-Semite so they dnt say anything. You're last paragraph is truly frightening no doubt.
i bit my tongue for the longest time because i was afraid of what other people might think of me. in america you can lose your job by what you write on facebook.
but i can no longer sit silently by and say nothing.
i don't believe in any god, but if i did, i would think that god would have a bigger problem with me knowing atrocities are being committed and saying nothing, so i speak out and if only one person reads my words and decides to follow up and do their own research and their own learning, and persuade one other person to do the same, i feel like i have made a very small difference.
Rod, u definitely have made a difference. No doubt.
is it just me or am i reading your posts wrong? are you guys not able to speak out and speak freely about this? i know its a hot topic but there shouldnt be any reprisal?
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
I was just referring to how some people don't speak out or up because they're afraid of being labeled anti-Semite so they dnt say anything. You're last paragraph is truly frightening no doubt.
i bit my tongue for the longest time because i was afraid of what other people might think of me. in america you can lose your job by what you write on facebook.
but i can no longer sit silently by and say nothing.
i don't believe in any god, but if i did, i would think that god would have a bigger problem with me knowing atrocities are being committed and saying nothing, so i speak out and if only one person reads my words and decides to follow up and do their own research and their own learning, and persuade one other person to do the same, i feel like i have made a very small difference.
Rod, u definitely have made a difference. No doubt.
thanks man.
it is easy to get discouraged when you recognize the situation for what it is. it is a bully and its group of a few friends running free to rampage on the one bullied kid, and nobody is doing anything to help out. they just stand there and let the kid get his ass beat, and beat, and beat, over and over again.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Comments
Mixed reactions to Israelis' erotic moral-boosting Facebook effort
Concerned Israeli citizens set up Facebook page that seeks to 'keep Israel's cliff steadfast.'
Israel's Operation Protective Edge, now in its third week, was given a different title is Hebrew: 'Operation Steadfast Cliff.' Yesterday, some concerned Israeli citizens gave the world a new Facebook page that, according to its title, seeks to 'keep the cliff steadfast.'
The page calls on Israeli women to show their support of IDF troops by snapping and uploading erotic photos of their bodies, upon which uplifting messages for Israel's troops are scrawled. The pages short intro explains: "We are 'raising' the national morale… You keep us safe from above, and we will watch you from below!"
The page is being received with mixed emotrions. One person wrote "I must admit, I am a great fan of this page… You have found the way to give our soldiers the most uplifting present without even leaving the house. I thank you, in the name of every soldier who got a moment of peace and a reason to enter the battlefield with a smile on his face. Be he married or single, be he pious or a player, a big thank you from all soldiers, for the self- confidence and the strength of soul you teach us."
Others were less positive. "I don't want to bum you out, but wow - bad idea. Good execution, bad idea. Thanks, but no thanks to whoever invited me to this group," said one. Another quipped: "Boys, what about the gay soldiers? They need to know you are behind them, too, so join the effort and send your naked photos!"
and im a little surprised at rr saying we should be ashamed when questioning our leaders (USA)... Good response Gimme... So I stumbled upon this, though its a few years old, is Obama not sticking to this??
"We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," Obama continued.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/19/obama.israel.palestinians/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10153404462892316
And where is Al Sharpton, the NAACP, Eugene Robinson, BARAK OBAMA, Melissa Harris-Perry and the entire black congressional caucus?
Would Dr. Martin be pro-israel right now? COWARDS
AIPAC Is the Only Explanation for America's Morally Bankrupt Israel Policy
The official name for Israel's latest assault on Gaza is "Operation Protective Edge." A better name would be "Operation Déjà Vu." As it has on several prior occasions, Israel is using weapons provided by U.S. taxpayers to bombard the captive and impoverished Palestinians in Gaza, where the death toll now exceeds 500. As usual, the U.S. government is siding with Israel, even though most American leaders understand Israel instigated the latest round of violence, is not acting with restraint, and that its actions make Washington look callous and hypocritical in the eyes of most of the world.
This Orwellian situation is eloquent testimony to the continued political clout of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the other hardline elements of the Israel lobby. There is no other plausible explanation for the supine behavior of the U.S. Congress--including some of its most "progressive" members--or the shallow hypocrisy of the Obama administration, especially those officials known for their purported commitment to human rights.
The immediate cause of this latest one-sided bloodletting was the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli hikers in the occupied West Bank, followed shortly thereafter by the kidnapping and fatal burning of a Palestinian teenager by several Israelis. According to J.J. Goldberg's reporting in the Jewish newspaper Forward, the Netanyahu government blamed Hamas for the kidnappings without evidence and pretended the kidnapped Israelis were still alive for several weeks, even though there was evidence indicating the victims were already dead. It perpetrated this deception in order to whip up anti-Arab sentiment and make it easier to justify punitive operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
And why did Netanyahu decide to go on another rampage in Gaza? As Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group points out, the real motive is neither vengeance nor a desire to protect Israel from Hamas' rocket fire, which has been virtually non-existent over the past two years and is largely ineffectual anyway. Netanyahu's real purpose was to undermine the recent agreement between Hamas and Fatah for a unity government. Given Netanyahu's personal commitment to keeping the West Bank and creating a "greater Israel," the last thing he wants is a unified Palestinian leadership that might press him to get serious about a two-state solution. Ergo, he sought to isolate and severely damage Hamas and drive a new wedge between the two Palestinian factions.
Behind all these maneuvers looms Israel's occupation of Palestine, now in its fifth decade. Not content with having ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 1948 and 1967 and not satisfied with owning eighty-two percent of Mandatory Palestine, every Israeli government since 1967 has built or expanded settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem while providing generous subsidies to the 600,000-plus Jews who have moved there in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu confirmed what many have long suspected: he is dead set against a two-state solution and will never--repeat never--allow it to happen while he is in office. Given that Netanyahu is probably the most moderate member of his own Cabinet and that Israel's political system is marching steadily rightward, the two-state solution is a gone goose.
Worst of all, the deaths of hundreds more Palestinians and a small number of Israelis will change almost nothing. Hamas is not going to disband. When this latest round of fighting ends, the 4.4 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza will still be Israel's de facto prisoners and still be denied basic human rights. But they are not going to leave, mainly because Palestine is their homeland, but also because they have nowhere to go, especially given the turmoil in other parts of the Middle East.
Eventually another ceasefire will be negotiated. The dead will be buried, the wounded will recover, the tunnels now being destroyed will be rebuilt, and Hamas will replenish its stockpile of missiles and rockets. The stage will then be set for another round of fighting, and Israel will have moved further down the road to becoming a full-fledged apartheid state.
Meanwhile, U.S. politicians and policymakers continue to back a brutal military campaign whose primary purpose is not to defend Israel but rather to protect its longstanding effort to colonize the West Bank. Amazingly, they continue to support Israel unreservedly even though every U.S. president since Lyndon Johnson has opposed Israel's settlements project, and the past three American presidents--Clinton, Bush and Obama--have all worked hard for the two-state solution that Israeli policy has now made impossible.
"The explanation for America's impotent and morally bankrupt policy is the political clout of the Israel lobby."
Yet as soon as fighting starts, and even if Israel instigates it, AIPAC demands that Washington march in lockstep with Tel Aviv. Congress invariably rushes to pass new resolutions endorsing whatever Israel decides to do. Even though it is mostly Palestinians who are dying, White House officials rush to proclaim that Israel has "the right to defend itself," and Obama himself won't go beyond expressing "concern" about what is happening. Of course Israelis have the right to defend themselves, but Palestinians not only have the same right, they have the right to resist the occupation. To put this another way, Israel does not have the right to keep its Palestinian subjects in permanent subjugation. But try finding someone on Capitol Hill who will acknowledge this simple fact.
The explanation for America's impotent and morally bankrupt policy is the political clout of the Israel lobby. Barack Obama knows that if he were to side with the Palestinians in Gaza or criticize Israel's actions in any way, he would face a firestorm of criticism from the lobby and his chances of getting Congressional approval for a deal with Iran would evaporate.
Similarly, every member of the House and Senate--including progressives like Senator Elizabeth Warren--knows that voting for those supposedly "pro-Israel" resolutions is the smart political move. They understand that even the slightest display of independent thinking on these issues could leave them vulnerable to a well-funded opponent the next time they're up for re-election. At a minimum, they'll have to answer a flood of angry phone calls and letters, and, on top of that, they are likely to be blackballed by some of their Congressional colleagues. The safer course is to mouth the same tired litanies about alleged "shared values" between Israel and the U.S. and wait till the crisis dies down. And people wonder why no one respects Congress anymore.
To be sure, the lobby's clout is not as profound as it once was. Public discourse about Israel, U.S. policy toward Israel and the lobby itself has changed markedly in recent years, and a growing number of journalists, bloggers and pundits--such as Andrew Sullivan, Juan Cole, Peter Beinart, M.J. Rosenberg, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Bernard Avishai, Sara Roy, Mitchell Plitnick, David Remnick, Phil Weiss and even (occasionally) Thomas Friedman of the New York Times--are willing to speak and write candidly about what is happening in the Middle East. Although most Americans openly support Israel's existence--just as I do--their sympathy for an Israel that acts more like Goliath than David is fading. The ranks of the skeptics include a growing number of younger American Jews, who find little to admire and much to dislike in Israel's actions and who are far less devoted to it than were previous generations. Pro-peace groups such as J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace reflect that trend and show that opinion among American Jews is far from unified.
"The lobby is still able to keep roughly $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel flowing each year; it can still prevent U.S. presidents from putting meaningful pressure on Israel; and it can still get the U.S. to wield its veto whenever a resolution criticizing Israel's actions is floated in the U.N. Security Council."
Moreover, AIPAC and other hardline lobby groups could not convince the Obama administration to intervene in Syria, and they have been unable to convince the Bush or Obama administrations to launch a preventive strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. They have also failed to derail the nuclear negotiations with Tehran--at least so far--though not for lack of trying. Pushing the U.S. toward another Middle East war is a lot for any interest group to accomplish, of course, but these setbacks show that even this "leviathan among lobbies" does not always get its way.
But the lobby is still able to keep roughly $3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel flowing each year; it can still prevent U.S. presidents from putting meaningful pressure on Israel; and it can still get the U.S. to wield its veto whenever a resolution criticizing Israel's actions is floated in the U.N. Security Council. This situation explains why the Obama administration made zero progress toward "two states for two peoples": if Israel gets generous U.S. support no matter what it does, why should its leaders pay any attention to Washington's requests? Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry could only appeal to Netanyahu's better judgment, and we've seen how well that worked.
This situation is a tragedy for all concerned, not least for Israel itself. A Greater Israel cannot be anything but an apartheid state, and exclusionary ethnic nationalism of this sort is not sustainable in the 21st century. Israel's Arab subjects will eventually demand equal rights, and as former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned back in 2007, once that happens, "the state of Israel is finished."
Unfortunately, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and assorted Christian Zionist groups continue to exhibit a severe case of tunnel vision. Because defending Israel no matter what it does is their main raison d'etre (and central to their fundraising), they are unable to see that they are helping Israel drive itself off a cliff. Similarly, those pliant members of Congress who cravenly sign AIPAC-drafted resolutions are not true friends of Israel. They are false friends who pretend to care but are really only interested in getting reelected.
Historians will one day look back and ask how U.S. Middle East policy could be so ineffectual and so at odds with its professed values -- not to mention its strategic interests. The answer lies in the basic nature of the American political system, which permits well-organized and well-funded special interest groups to wield significant power on Capitol Hill and in the White House. In this case, the result is a policy that is bad for all concerned: for the Palestinians most of all, but also for the U.S. and Israel as well. Until the lobby's clout is weakened or politicians grow stiffer spines, Americans looking for better outcomes in the Middle East had better get used to disappointment and prepared for more trouble.
Lets play a game.. Can you point the lie in this pic?
Well?
I'll tell you.. The man holding the baby, check the symbol on his vest.
Heberw letters.
http://m.thenation.com/article/180783-five-israeli-talking-points-gaza-debunked
earlier today i read that even talking about this online,will get you put on a US terroris watchlist...thats frightening..
I refer to my prior post: your trolling.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/15/ireland-israeli-envoy-quit-embassy
Ireland orders Israeli diplomat out of embassy over forged passports
Move follows alleged Irish passport misuse in killing of Hamas official in Dubai
Ireland today ordered the removal of an Israeli diplomat from the country's embassy in Dublin in protest at the use of forged passports in the killing of a Hamas official in Dubai.
The Irish decision was the latest sign of diplomatic fallout following the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, described by Israeli sources as the Hamas official in charge of smuggling Iranian weapons into the Gaza Strip. Mabhouh was killed in January in an operation blamed on the Israeli secret service, the Mossad.
Britain and Australia have both expelled Israeli diplomats because of passport abuse, while an embarrassing fresh argument is brewing over the arrest in Poland of another Israeli, also described as a Mossad officer, who is wanted in Germany in connection with the Dubai affair.
Micheál Martin, Ireland's foreign minister, said today that an investigation had shown that the eight Irish passports used by suspects in the assassination were forgeries.
"The misuse of Irish passports by a state with which Ireland enjoys friendly, if sometimes frank, bilateral relations, is clearly unacceptable and requires a firm response," Martin said. He stressed that the unnamed Israeli diplomat was not accused or suspected of any particular wrongdoing. "In being obliged to leave their post prematurely, the official concerned is a victim of the actions of the state they represent."
Dubai has accused Israel of being behind the assassination of Mabhouh and has provided the names of alleged members of a hit team which, it says, tracked and killed the Palestinian, using fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the assassination.
"The fact that the forged Irish passports were used by members of the same group who carried the forged British and Australian passports leads us to the inescapable conclusion that an Israeli government agency was responsible for the misuse and, most likely, the manufacture of the forged Irish passports associated with the murder of Mr Mabhouh," Martin said.
Israel called the move regrettable.
Polish prosecutors, meanwhile, are to ask Warsaw's district court to extradite to Germany a suspected Mossad agent, named as Uri Brodsky, under the European arrest warrant procedure. If Brodsky, arrested at Warsaw airport, is extradited he will probably face charges of espionage, forging documents and belonging to a foreign intelligence service.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the case was being handled by the Polish security service, which maintains close ties with both its German counterpart, the BND, and the Mossad.
Brodsky is not suspected of involvement in the actual killing of Mabhouh, and is not on the list of 36 suspects that Dubai has given to Interpol. Dubai's police chief, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, said his country had no intention of requesting Brodsky's extradition. Brodsky has reportedly told the Polish authorities that he is a businessman and innocent of the suspicions against him.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
but i can no longer sit silently by and say nothing.
i don't believe in any god, but if i did, i would think that god would have a bigger problem with me knowing atrocities are being committed and saying nothing, so i speak out and if only one person reads my words and decides to follow up and do their own research and their own learning, and persuade one other person to do the same, i feel like i have made a very small difference.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
it is easy to get discouraged when you recognize the situation for what it is. it is a bully and its group of a few friends running free to rampage on the one bullied kid, and nobody is doing anything to help out. they just stand there and let the kid get his ass beat, and beat, and beat, over and over again.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."