Excerpt from an email from Lynn Pollack, Jewish Voice for Peace
Read Rabbi Brant Rosen’s blog post and watch the Daily Show video; send a thank you to Jon Stewart at http://www.thankyoujonstewart.com/ See also: In U.S., war of words over Gaza. Continue reading
Israel’s critics and enemies will see the United States as the side to be blamed for the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, believes Congressman Ron Paul. He says the US should review its unconditional support of the Jewish state.
Warning
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This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Many of the almost 900 Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza have been civilians, while thousands of others have received treatment in hospital. Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reports on the medics who are struggling to cope under the bombardment. This package contains images that may disturb or offend some viewers.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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Israel targets Gaza tunnels – 11 Jan 09 Continue reading
Crossposted with permission from www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/
by Kole Kilibarda
Socialist Project | The Bullet
1.11.09
As the number of deaths from Israel’s carnage in Gaza mounts, more and more people in Canada are being moved to take action. Of course, the question quickly becomes: “What can I do?” Among the countless petitions, creative actions, protests, media alerts, letter writing campaigns, public statements and fundraising drives, how can we make the biggest collective impact on Israeli policies as people living in Canada? How can we build a movement that respects all of our different experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and understandings and at the same time effectively responds to Palestinian calls for solidarity?
Each contribution to stop the killing immediately helps, but as Naomi Klein has recently pointed out in The Nation magazine, there’s a way of focusing our energies on a campaign that comes directly from Palestine and that directly addresses Israel’s ability to kill with impunity. The fact is that Palestinian students, workers, women’s organizations, doctors, professors, teachers, refugees, environmentalists, peasant’s groups, and others have already told us what they want us to do: launch boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against any aspect of Israel’s apartheid system.
Continue reading
by Walter and Rosemary Brasch
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
www.walterbrasch.com
Jan. 11, 2009
Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) flexed their muscles, shook their rattles, and told President-elect Barack Obama not to tread upon them.
“I don’t believe in the executive power trumping everything,” Reid, the Senate’s majority leader, told the political newspaper, The Hill. He said he believed “in our Constitution, three separate but equal branches of government.” For emphasis, he warned, “If Obama steps over the bounds, I will tell him. . . . I do not work for Barack Obama, I work with him.”
By Daniel Luban
IPS
WASHINGTON, Jan 9
As the war in Gaza approaches its third week, a chorus of influential voices in the U.S. media has cast the conflict as a proxy war in which the real enemy is not Hamas but Iran.
The result has been a growing tendency in the U.S. to view Gaza as simply one battleground in a larger war between Iran and the West, and to dismiss the stated concerns of the Palestinians as a mere smokescreen for Iranian influence.
But critics charge that this way of framing the conflict is both overly simplistic and agenda-driven. By overstating the importance of Iran’s operational aid to Hamas, they claim, these opinion-makers aim to increase hostilities with Iran, to bolster an increasingly shaky Israeli rationale for war, and to curtail any inclination to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians.
[…]
h/t: ICH
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
Statements by Peres, Olmert and Livni on Gaza and Iran
US plans massive arms delivery to Israel
George Galloway: Stop the Massacre
By Mike Whitney
January 08, 2009 “Information Clearinghouse”
“The raw logic of Israel’s distorted self-image and racist doctrines is exposed beyond confusion by the now-stark reality: the moonscape rubble of once-lovely Lebanese villages; a million desperate people trying to survive Israeli aerial attacks as they carry children and wheel disabled grandparents down cratered roads; limp bodies of children pulled from the dusty basements of crushed buildings. This is the reality of Israel’s national doctrine, the direct outcome of its racist worldview.” Virginia Tilley “The Case for Boycotting Israel” in Counterpunch.
The reason the rationale for invading Gaza keeps changing, (from rocket-fire to Hamas infrastructure to strengthening deterrents to weapons smuggling to ceasefire violations etc) is because the real purpose of the operation is to conduct a dress rehearsal for the impending invasion of Lebanon. Israel has never recovered from its defeat at the hands of Hezbollah during the 33 Day war in 2006, so it is preparing for a reprisal. The attack on Gaza is just a “dry run”; a confidence-building exercise to strengthen morale and put the finishing touches on the battle plan. That’s why there’s such a disparity between the implicit risks of the current operation and its minuscule strategic gains. It’s not really Hamas that is in the cross-hairs, but Hezbollah; and this time, Israel hopes to crush them with overwhelming force. The massive week-long aerial bombardment, the pounding by heavy artillery units, and the deployment of elite troops and armored divisions all presage a massive Normandy-type invasion of Lebanon with the probability of high casualties.
Interview with Les Roberts, PhD, MPH, the principal researcher in a series of public health surveys on mortality among Iraqi citizens whose controversial results have been published in the British journal The Lancet.
compiled by Cem Ertür
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
11 January, 2009
Iran is heavily involved in the evolution of Hamas … When (Hamas) started, the missiles were homemade – made in the Gaza Strip. But not anymore. Now they are professional, coming from Iran. (Israeli Foreign Minister Livni, 10 January 2009) [1]
Our goals are clear: we do not want to make Gaza a satellite of Iran, and we don’t want a ceasefire but the end of the terror. (Israeli President Peres, 8 January 2009) [2]
Iran and Syria are continually trying to smuggle improved rockets into the Strip. (Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, 6 January 2009) [3]
Israel does not want to see Iranians in the Middle East… It was bad enough that Iran was supplying its two satellites, Hizbullah and Hamas, with long-range missiles… Opening the passage to Sinai … would mean opening doors to Iranian long-range missiles, which will mean total war. (Israeli President Peres, 6 January 2009) [4]
Hamas works with Iran, he gets weapons from Iran, and its headquarters are in Damascus, and it works closely with Hezbollah. (Israeli Foreign Minister Livni 5 January 2009) [5]
They [i.e. Hamas] cannot explain why they are shooting…and they cannot hide that they are acting by orders from Iran. Iran has two satellites in the Middle East, the Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. (Israeli President Peres, 4 January 2009) [6]
=======================
Notes:
[1] Livni: Israel will not show restraint
10 January 2009
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3653677,00.html
[2] ‘Gaza must not become Iran’s satellite’
Press TV, 8 January 2009
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=81181§ionid=351020101
[3] PM: No to 48-hour ceasefire, yes to American initiative
by Roni Sofer, Ynetnews, 6 January 2009
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651410,00.html
[4] Peres: Europe needs to open its eyes
Jerusalem Post, 6 January 2009-01-11
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1231167275371
[5] ‘Gazans are killed for change in equation’
Press TV, 5 January 2009
http://www.presstv.com/Detail.aspx?id=80696§ionid=351021701
[6] Peres: No Gaza truce right now, Hamas needs a ‘real lesson’
by Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 4 January 2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052533.html
see
“Gaza attack fuels Al Qaida extremism in the UK”
US plans massive arms delivery to Israel
George Galloway: Stop the Massacre
Mosaic News – 1/9/09: War on Gaza – Day 14 + Gaza – 14 Days of Horror
Press TV
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:25:45 GMT
The Pentagon plans to make a large arms delivery to Israel, rising fears that the military campaign in Gaza will go on for a long time.
The US is trying to hire a merchant ship that can carry hundreds of tons of weapons from Greece to Israel later this month; Reuters reported citing tender documents it had obtained.
According to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC), the ship will transport 325 standard 20-foot containers of what has been called ‘ammunition’ from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod on two separate trips in the second half of January.
A description on the manifest says the containers will be loaded with ‘hazardous material’, such as explosive substances and detonators, without giving any more details.
The Pentagon announced the tender for the ship in the last hours of 2008. The two deadlines set for the deliveries are January 25 and the last day of the month.
[…]
h/t: ICH
FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
see
U.S. arms shipment to Israel canceled due to Gaza conflict
George Galloway: Stop the Massacre
Mosaic News – 1/9/09: War on Gaza – Day 14 + Gaza – 14 Days of Horror
Palestinians’ fate worse than Shoah! by Zahir Ebrahim
Take Action: Enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1860 Now!
Dandelion Salad 