Meanwhile back in Israel

Shining example of democracy when veterans can't speak their truth about their service.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/israel-bans-anti-war-veterans-classrooms-151216140545899.html

The 'hidden hand' backdoor government policy fucks that brought us "Which Path to Persia" and all their other democratic slew-footing, have now set their sights on BDS....

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/brookings-institution-counter

Last June, Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson held a secret summit in Las Vegas to come up with ways of fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign on college campuses. They raised a reported $50 million to do so.

Well now that secret process seems to have moved on to far more influential turf; Washington, D.C., and a leading liberal thinktank: last week the Brookings Institution held a secret panel on BDS, sponsored by Haim Saban. By all appearances, the intent of the panel was to counter the BDS campaign.

The panel took place during the weekend-long annual Saban Forum, which brings Israeli leaders and US leaders together to talk about “the future for Israelis and Palestinians”–without any Palestinians in attendance. The BDS panel was among many meetings December 4-6 not mentioned on the Saban Forum’s public agenda.

On Saturday night, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg said at a public panel: “This morning at the BDS panel–” But he was promptly hushed.

“Which was off the record,” a woman’s voice says; my guess is it’s the same voice who just introduced Goldberg, Tamara Cofman Wittes, the conference leader.

Goldberg jokingly called the BDS panel the “Dimona” of panels, a reference to Israel’s secret nuclear program, and reported on its dire mood:

“If the BDS panel took place, there would have been a feeling that the Israeli participant in the panel was the object of a lot of yearning and anxiety from some Americans who felt as if Israel was not paying sufficient attention to what’s going on on campuses and beyond.”

Goldberg wasn’t the only journalist at the panel. Chemi Shalev of Haaretz was there and referred elliptically to it in print when he described the mood of the Saban forum as being one of “anxiety and anguish” on the part of Americans.

I asked Shalev why he had agreed to treat a newsworthy panel as off the record, and I said I found it unseemly that Brookings was performing an “AIPAC-like function” in fighting the BDS movement, and doing so in secret. He responded to me:

“The Saban inviters lay down the ground rules for the entire forum and one can either choose to accept and attend or reject and not attend. I chose the former… I don’t agree with characterization of what was going on at Saban, re ‘AIPAC like function’; in fact, I would say the opposite: criticism of Israeli government and deep frustration with its policies overwhelmingly outstripped praise or support, as I myself have written.”

When I asked Shalev whether any supporter of BDS was on the panel, he declined to answer, but said my guess on that score was probably right. That means no one was advocating for BDS.

I wrote to Wittes, director of Brookings Center for Middle East Policy, and to a Brookings spokesperson to ask who was on the panel and what its title was, and if any advocates for BDS were on the panel. Neither responded to my questions.

Brookings would surely defend the secret panel by saying it’s part of a largely off-the-record conference among Israeli and American leaders. Shalev described the gathering in his article as a meeting of “[Haim] Saban’s American contingent of Brookings scholars, former Democratic administration officials and members of Congress” and an “Israeli delegation of mainstream Israeli politicians, journalists and businessmen.”

Americans should be asking why such a conference is taking place behind closed doors at a leading liberal thinktank– and why it’s tackling BDS, which Israeli leaders have termed an “existential” threat to Israel.

The gathering is a reflection of the power of the Israel lobby in Washington. Saban successfully pressured President Obama to stop putting pressure on Israel over settlements, by coming out for the president in 2012 and giving a Democratic SuperPAC a $1 million donation. Both Wittes and Goldberg referred affectionately to Israeli politicians Yitzhak Herzog– who opposed the Iran Deal– and Avigdor Lieberman–who called for the transfer of Palestinians– by their nicknames, “Boogie” and “Yvet.”

In the Saban Forum transcript of Goldberg’s public comments on Saturday night (the audio is more inclusive), Goldberg brought up the BDS panel as evidence of the “pervasive unease on the part of many Americans” about Israel’s conduct: “trying to warn their Israeli friends that a train is coming barreling down the tracks” and they’re just standing there.

Many of those Americans are Jewish Zionists. Shalev reported that the American group at the conference were reassured by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement to the conference that he still favored the “two-state solution.” That might be hypocritical, Shalev observed, but it’s how the game works:

Armed with this facade, American Jews can lobby the administration to support Israel, protest against unwarranted bias in Europe and the United Nations, and, most importantly, look themselves in the mirror.

Brookings might defend a secret panel on BDS by pointing out that countless US politicians are opposing BDS. Many Republicans have come out against BDS. And in her speech to the Saban conference the day after the BDS panel, Hillary Clinton asserted — laughably– that BDS is hurting the American ability to counter terrorism in the Middle East, because it is hurting our closest ally in the fight against extremism. She was surely pandering to Haim Saban. Clinton wrote a letter to Saban last summer that she promptly published, promising to work with Republican politicians to oppose BDS.

I find the whole matter unseemly. BDS is one of the chief threats to Israel, Netanyahu has said. So a leading liberal American thinktank is aligning itself with Israel on that battle? And if it is, why can’t it do so openly? One can fairly ask if Saban’s largesse is dictating the Brookings position, and that of the Democratic Party too.

BDS is clearly coming on strong despite all these efforts. At that event on December 5, Goldberg went on about the BDS panel that dare not speak its name, and related an anecdote from his daughter’s college campus.

Goldberg: Our oldest daughter is a freshman at a liberal arts college in New England, a pretty well-known school. And she reports to us that J Street at that street
represents the Zionist right–”

[Haim Saban seems to break in on Goldberg]

“I wish it were funny, Haim. I wish it were funny. I mean, it’s funny, but it’s not funny. It could be both funny and not funny at the same time. Have you ever heard of a tragic comedy? You live in Hollywood. She reports that the largest Jewish organization — 25 percent of this campus is Jewish — the largest Jewish organization is a group called Jewish Voice for Peace, which is an Orwellian name for a group that opposes Israeli’s existence.

HERZOG: We saw a huge write up it in Israel. It’s a huge BDS group.

Goldberg said that sentiment toward Israel in the American Jewish comunity was “radically shifting,” and asked Lieberman if he cared. Lieberman said, “To speak frankly, I don’t care.” He called for better hasbara and Zionist education.

Later a woman in the audience, evidently Jewish, implored Lieberman to care.

you are also missing something if you think that any amount of education is going to change the fact that the millennials today do not relate to the narrative that you’re expressing. And so my question for you is simple. Do you care if we lose the young Jews in the diaspora?

Jewish Voice for Peace is surely the fastest-growing Jewish group in the country and the largest Jewish peace and justice organization in the US. It has 200,000 supporters. It has no place at Brookings– and it wasn’t invited to the Haaretz New Israel Fund conference last weekend either.

Sounds like they focused exclusively on interviews and briefing from Israel and the IDF. Reads as apologist or excuse making to me.

No doubt Hamas acts in ways detrimental to their own people, as many can admit in this conflict, but to deny Israel any culpability is irresponsible on its face.

It needs noted that the UN has yet to issue its conclusions based on this report and others. So this isn't the final word.

I was in error above. Turns out there was a final assessment given by teh UN.

http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16119&LangID=E

Interesting reading here.

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIGazaConflict/Pages/CommissionOfInquiry.aspx

mickeyrat said:

Copied from the bottom of the page from the link provided above.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 2014 GAZA CONFLICT
Copyright © 2015 by Friends of Israel Initiative
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.


So this isn't really an independent review by an outside party.

I'm sorry but any thorough study of the Gaza conflict would ultimately require Israel's help. That is how you do a "fact finding" mission. This document shows a deep investigation by international experts who came to conclusions on their own. The bio of every individual in the group is attached.

From the foreward:

"We relied on well respected professionals chosen for their extensive relevant experience. They drew their own conclusions contained in this report, with FoII’s sole responsibility being to make the necessary means available to the High Level Military Group to conduct its research"

But if you would like to dismiss it out of hand as propaganda be my guest. From here on out I shall dismiss all other points as being written by "Not Friends of Israel".

BS44325 said:

mickeyrat said:

Copied from the bottom of the page from the link provided above.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 2014 GAZA CONFLICT
Copyright © 2015 by Friends of Israel Initiative
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.


So this isn't really an independent review by an outside party.

I'm sorry but any thorough study of the Gaza conflict would ultimately require Israel's help. That is how you do a "fact finding" mission. This document shows a deep investigation by international experts who came to conclusions on their own. The bio of every individual in the group is attached.

From the foreward:

"We relied on well respected professionals chosen for their extensive relevant experience. They drew their own conclusions contained in this report, with FoII’s sole responsibility being to make the necessary means available to the High Level Military Group to conduct its research"

But if you would like to dismiss it out of hand as propaganda be my guest. From here on out I shall dismiss all other points as being written by "Not Friends of Israel".

Why would any study of the Gaza massacre require Israel's help, BS?

Why would I be a friend of Israel when they buy oil from ISIS with my tax dollars and commit human rights abuses as well as war crimes?

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/gaza-christians-israel-beat-151224061804531.html


This little tidbit from this article is interesting.
"The United Nations has already claimed that if the blockade and current situation continues, Gaza could be 'unlivable' by 2020."

Drowned Out said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMM0AZ9eWA


I wish EV would take a stand on this topic instead of singing Imagine and wishing it all away....
There is zero doubt in my mind that his Milton Keynes rant was about Israel...the reaction of Israel's supporters and media confirmed as much. His backpedal afterward (saying he is anti-war and referencing other US conflicts) makes me wonder if the backlash had him concerned for his safety......or if there is dissent within the band on the topic....or if his bandmates just want him not to get involved. His seemingly burgeoning friendship with Roger Waters, the fact PJ hasn't played there and has not replied to the campaigns to play there make me think he has taken a side...why won't he speak up?

would you?

Drowned Out said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Drowned Out said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMM0AZ9eWA


I wish EV would take a stand on this topic instead of singing Imagine and wishing it all away....
There is zero doubt in my mind that his Milton Keynes rant was about Israel...the reaction of Israel's supporters and media confirmed as much. His backpedal afterward (saying he is anti-war and referencing other US conflicts) makes me wonder if the backlash had him concerned for his safety......or if there is dissent within the band on the topic....or if his bandmates just want him not to get involved. His seemingly burgeoning friendship with Roger Waters, the fact PJ hasn't played there and has not replied to the campaigns to play there make me think he has taken a side...why won't he speak up?

would you?

Easy to say as a nobody....but....without hesitation.

I meant in his shoes, not as a nobody.