COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Netanyahu has been touting a purported alliance between his nation and the Sunni Gulf states. In fact, The New York Times’s editorial endorsing the Iran deal says Netanyahu has taken this one step further: He’s said that on Iran, Israel has more in common with the Sunni states than with the U.S.



The Israel Lobby’s $50M Campaign Against The Iran Nuclear Deal


If the Iran deal passes, Israel loses. The Israel lobby is spending big on whatever it takes to make sure this doesn’t happen. 
WASHINGTON — The next 60 days offer a fateful window through which Congress will review the Iran nuclear deal announced last week to great fanfare by the P5+1 powers and their Iranian counterparts.
At the end of this period, both the House and Senate will vote on the agreement. Though the GOP has a majority in the latter body, it’s by no means a given that the vote will go against the deal. The Los Angeles Times reports there may be a few Republican senators who can be swayed if public opinion is running in favor.
To that end, the various groups within the Israel lobby have announced a massive PR campaign seeking to move both public opinion and the votes of individual senators against the deal.
Last week, The New York Times reported that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby, has created a stand-alone group, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, for this purpose. It plans to spend $20-40 million on the effort.
The group’s website doesn’t list staff and a board of directors. Instead it lists an “advisory board” consisting of the usual hawkish Democratic former senators, including Mark Begich, Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Evan Bayh, and former Rep. Shelley Berkley. Clearly, this isn’t an independent organization, but rather one established and controlled by AIPAC. Unlike some of groups below which are casting their nets wide, AIPAC seems to be targeting Democratic senators on the fence.
So far this year, according to U.S. Senate public records, AIPAC has spent nearly $2 million on direct lobbying, more than it’s ever spent in any previous six-month period since 1999. This is a further indication of the group’s dead-seriousness in pursuing the defeat of the Iran measure. 

Will AIPAC use the ‘Doomsday Weapon’?

The Israeli media site, Walla, even invokes AIPAC’s use of a dreaded “Doomsday Weapon,” a massive payback campaign against those who defy the group and vote for the agreement. This would take the matter to a whole new level: It’s one thing to advocate against a Congressional bill; it’s quite another to spend the tens of millions it would take to fund primary challengers and general election opponents of any Democratic senators defying AIPAC in this vote.
Since the article clearly describes internal organization deliberations on the subject, this is not idle speculation. If AIPAC feels it’s on the cusp of winning, it could wheel out the heavy guns of intimidation and blackmail it utilizes in such circumstances.
Of course, if it does make such a major financial and political investment, there is the distinct possibility it could lose, as it did in the fight over the Menendez sanctions resolution. That bill would have torpedoed the Iran negotiations by adding further draconian sanctions against that nation. Democratic support for the measure collapsed amid the hostile fallout from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress in March. A similar loss in this case would involve considerable loss of prestige and the sense of invincibility which AIPAC exploits to great advantage in Washington backroom politics.
With the recent announcement of restoration of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba, it’s worth contemplating the toll the blockade against the island nation took on both its inhabitants and relations between the two countries. For fifty years, the U.S. relationship to Cuba was held hostage by a powerful domestic lobby which rewarded its political friends and punished its enemies.
President Barack Obama finally decided enough was enough. He determined that the power of the anti-Castro lobby in Florida had waned sufficiently to take U.S. policy in a new direction. The Israel lobby wields precisely the same sort of power on matters related to Israel. What would happen if a loss on the nuclear deal put America’s policy on Israel “in play” as happened regarding Cuba policy?
In Seattle, United Against Nuclear Iran aired a TV ad in recent days during prime time. And last month, the group’s chairman, Mark Wallace, who served as the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, boasted of what he’d spend against the deal: “We have a multi-million-dollar budget and we are in it for the long haul. Money continues to pour in.” The group has also distributed a press releaseexpanding on its plans.
United Against Nuclear Iran is known for exposing companies allegedly doing business with Iran. Their M.O. has been to approach company executives and threaten to “out” them as sanctions scofflaws if they didn’t stop, and, even better, if they didn’t donate to the group.
One shipping owner, Victor Restis, challenged United Against Nuclear Iran, and when the group accused him of violating sanctions, he sued them for libel. In an unprecedented intervention by the government in a private commercial lawsuit, the Justice Department in 2014 asked the judge to shut down the case on the grounds that exposure of the documents Restis was demanding would damage national security. Reporters covering the story wrote that much of the material Restis wanted was believed to have been furnished to United Against Nuclear Iran by Israel’s Mossad or even the CIA. Such a revelation would have exposed the level of collusion between the two intelligence agencies and their exploitation of purportedly independent, non-partisan NGOs to advance their political agenda.
Politico reported last month that the American Security Initiative had bought $1.4 million worth of TV ad time targeted to the June 30 deadline to complete the agreement. American Security Initiative is a hawkish national security 501(c)4 founded by former Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss (who recently said Edward Snowden should be hung), Norm Coleman, and Democrat Evan Bayh.
Politico also noted another pro-Israel lobbying group, Secure America Now, founded by push-poll specialists Pat Caddell and John McLaughlin, was pouring $1 million into its own media blitz targeting undecided Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Michael Bennett and Chuck Schumer. Secure America Now was launched in the aftermath of the Islamophobic campaign against the building of a mosque “on holy ground” near the World Trade Center site.
Watch Secure America Now’s spot featuring an Iranian mushroom cloud:
Another group likely to be closely involved is The Israel Project, whose director, Josh Block, was formerly AIPAC’s public face. The Israel Project will undoubtedly add its own voice to the media melee.
Meanwhile, the tumult over the deal has entered the Republican presidential primary campaign. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, seeking to bolster his flagging prospects, has made opposition to the deal a cornerstone of his campaign. At a recent press conference in New York, at which he promoted his new website, No Nukes for Iran, he warned if the deal was ratified New York City would be one of the Ayatollahs’ first targets. Business Insider reports:
“’Where do you think they’d like to come most outside of Washington?’ Graham said. ‘Right where we’re sitting.’
‘New York City represents America,’ Graham added. ‘This is the place that they’d choose to hit us again if they could.’
Flanked by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and former Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut), Graham struck an almost apocalyptic tone when discussing the deal. He frequently drew parallels between Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Adolf Hitler, suggesting that the deal posed an enormous threat to Israel and to the US and that it would lead to a nuclear-arms race in the Middle East.”
Meanwhile, supporters of the bill in Congress have some new allies in Israel itself. Jonathan Alter reports in the Daily Beast that former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon fully supports the measure. The Israeli navy veteran also reeled off the names of other senior military and intelligence figures who support it.

Adelson: The $64-million question

The casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is the great unknown among all the donors in the Israel lobby sphere. He alone could spend many times the $40 million AIPAC plans to spend, should he choose to. Given his status as Benjamin Netanyahu’s prime financial backer and the $100 million he spent on Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid, Adelson will likely weigh in on the subject as well. By a conservative estimate, the Israel lobby could spend upwards of $50 million on this campaign. Should Adelson go “all in” (to use gambling parlance appropriate for him) that figure could climb to $100 million.
There are a few organizations which plan to weigh-in on behalf of Secretary of State John Kerry’s agreement. Among them are J Street, an American Jewish group dedicated to supporting Obama administration foreign policy. It plans to spend between $2-3 million in support of the deal. The National Iranian American Council, led by Trita Parsi, has long supported the deal. It’s not known how much it will invest, but its budget and resources aren’t nearly a match for AIPAC.
At a recent National Iranian American Council conference, former Dem. House member Jim Slattery warned of the mind-boggling phenomenon this campaign represents:
“I’ve been around this town for about 30 years now … and I’ve never seen foreign policy debate that is being so profoundly affected by the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars in the American political system.”
President Obama has shown himself adept at outmaneuvering his political adversaries concerning Iran. The failed Menendez bill is just one example. The political math concerning the current legislation also is in the president’s favor. Even if the Senate rejects the nuclear agreement, he will veto it. That means the GOP majority will need 13 Democratic votes. Undoubtedly, they will gain a few. But it’s exceedingly unlikely they will get all of them. If they don’t, the agreement will be ratified and the president wins.

Israel loses if nuclear deal wins

Such a victory has repercussions for AIPAC and the power of the Israel lobby. But it has even more far-reaching implications for Israel and its changing role in the Middle East. Until now, it has been the indisputable power in the region, especially among the frontline states of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. What Israel wanted, it got. Having 200 nuclear warheads only reinforced Israeli dominance.
The nuclear agreement could augur an age in which Iran takes its place as a responsible participant in regional politics. Instead of supporting Islamist militants in Lebanon and Syria, it might coordinate efforts with the U.S. to contain the Sunni Islamist threat represented by al-Qaida and the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). It certainly will allow Iran to become a commercial power, with foreign delegations arriving in Tehran daily to negotiate new business deals that would follow the lifting of sanctions.
Israel could see its stature recede considerably as Iran’s rises. That’s why Prime Minister Netanyahu has been touting a purported alliance between his nation and the Sunni Gulf states. In fact, The New York Times’s editorial endorsing the Iran deal says Netanyahu has taken this one step further: He’s said that on Iran, Israel has more in common with the Sunni states than with the U.S.
It’s possible this is precisely the sort of posturing for which Netanyahu is well-known. But given the United States’s role as Israel’s arms guarantor in every major war it has fought, it’s extraordinary for the prime minister to claim Arab states are his new go-to allies. During Israel’s next war against Hezbollah or Hamas, does he think King Salman of Saudi Arabia will give him the munitions he needs to maul Lebanon or Gaza?
—————-
Crossposted from MintPress News


49 comments:

  1. Israel, like the United States, is poisoned by the psychosis of permanent war. It too is governed by a corrupt oligarchic elite for whom war has become a lucrative business. It too has deluded itself into carrying out war crimes and then playing the role of the victim. Israeli systems of education and the press—again mirrored in the United States—have indoctrinated Israelis into believing that they have a right to kill anyone whom the state condemns as a terrorist. And Israel’s most courageous human rights campaigners, intellectuals and journalists are slandered and censored in their own country, just as American critics such as Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal and Noam Chomsky are in the United States.

    Those who become addicted to the wielding of the instruments of war, blinded by hubris and a lust for power, eventually become war’s victims. This is as true for Israel as for the United States.

    Israel’s goal is to make life a living hell for all Palestinians, ethnically cleansing as many as it can and subduing those who remain. The peace process is a sham. It has led to Israel’s seizure of more than half the land on the West Bank, including the aquifers, and the herding of Palestinians into squalid, ringed ghettos or Bantustans while turning Palestinian land and homes over to Jewish settlers. Israel is expanding settlements, especially in East Jerusalem. Racial laws, once championed by the right-wing demagogue Meir Kahane, openly discriminate against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. Ilan Pappecalls the decades-long assault against the Palestinian people “incremental genocide.”

    In Gaza, Israel practices an even more extreme form of cruelty. It employs a mathematical formula to limit outside food deliveries to Gaza to keep the caloric levels of the 1.8 million Palestinians just above starvation. This has left 80 percent of the Palestinians in Gaza dependent on Islamic charities and outside aid to survive. And the periodic military assaults on Gaza, euphemistically called “mowing the lawn,” are carried out every few years to ensure that the Palestinians remain broken, terrified and destitute. There have been three Israeli attacks on Gaza since 2008. Each is more violent and indiscriminate than the last. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that a fourth attack on Gaza is “inevitable.”

    During its 51-day siege of Gaza last summer Israel dropped $370 million in ordinance on concrete hovels and refugee camps that hold the most densely packed population on the planet. Two thousand one hundred four Palestinians were killed. Sixty-nine percent—1,462—were civilians. Four hundred ninety-five were children. Ten thousand were injured. (During the attack six Israeli civilians and 66 soldiers were killed.) Four hundred Palestinian businesses were wiped out. Seventy mosques were destroyed and 130 were damaged. Twenty-four medical facilities were bombed, and 16 ambulances were struck, as was Gaza’s only electrical power plant. Israel tallied it up: 390,000 tank shells, 34,000 artillery shells, 4.8 million bullets. Most of the civilians who died were killed in their homes, many of the victims torn to shreds by flechette darts sprayed from tanks. Children were burned with white phosphorous or buried with their families under rubble caused by 2,000-pound iron fragmentation bombs. Others died from dense inert metal explosive, or DIME, bombs—experimental weapons that send out extremely small, carcinogenic particles that cut through both soft tissue and bone. The Israel Defense Forces, as Amira Hass has reported, consider any Palestinian over the age of 12 to be a legitimate military target. Max Blumenthal’s new book, “The 51 Day War,” is a chilling chronicle of savage atrocities carried out by Israel in Gaza last summer. As horrible as the apartheid state in South Africa was, that nation never used its air force and heavy artillery to bomb and shell black townships.

    Chris Hedges

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  2. Israel could see its stature recede considerably as Iran’s rises. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving pariah state.

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    1. Israel is not a "pariah" state, no matter how many times you say it.

      Iran? Responsible with it's proxies for the slaughter of 360,000 syrians and 550,000 iraqis (and thousands of others including American GI's) is in fact a pariah state.

      As obama releases 150 billion dollars to iran and opens up the gates to oil sales (another 20 billion a year) iran will increase it's funding of terror world wide.

      How many Jews, Chrsitians, Bhai's, Sunnis, Americans will directly die?

      Who knows, but Iran has already sent scores of new officers to take over Assad's syrian troops....

      Iran will rise?

      Hardly, it will sell a lot of oil and murder a lot of folks..

      But that's ok with you

      Delete
  3. I think the execrable pricks at aipac have bitten off more than they can chew, this time.

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    1. Sorry Rufus, we all remember how you stand with Hamas and Iran.

      Are you ready to admit that you are in fact an agent for the Mullah's of Iran?

      Delete
  4. You report: The Israel Lobby’s $50M Campaign Against The Iran Nuclear Deal

    Interesting. Obama has already released 11.6 billion to Iran, that's 11,600 million

    and is set to release another 100 - 150 BILLION....

    Him..

    I wonder. Who benefits from Iran's new cash windfall?

    Maybe those seeking the deal?

    How much money will those nations and their lobbyists seek to gain from Iran's cash explosion?

    You say: The Israel Lobby’s $50M Campaign Against The Iran Nuclear Deal

    50 million? Is jump change... Iran is going to get 20 BILLION a year JUST from increased OIL revenues....

    LOL

    Try again.

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  5. Wow you must be getting desperate…

    To print such obvious lies…

    "In Gaza, Israel practices an even more extreme form of cruelty. It employs a mathematical formula to limit outside food deliveries to Gaza to keep the caloric levels of the 1.8 million Palestinians just above starvation"

    Amazing.

    How do you come up with such crap?

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    1. The Israeli military made precise calculations of Gaza’s daily calorie needs to avoid malnutrition during a blockade imposed on the Palestinian territory between 2007 and mid-2010, according to files the defence ministry released on Wednesday under a court order.

      Israel says it never limited how many calories were available to Gaza, but critics claimed the document was proof the government limited food supplies to put pressure on Hamas.

      At the height of the blockade Israel also maintained a list of foods that were permitted and banned from Gaza.

      Major Guy Inbar, an Israeli military spokesman, said the calculation, based on a person's average requirement of 2,300 calories a day, was meant to identify warning signs to help avoid a humanitarian crisis, and that it was never used to restrict the flow of food.

      The analysis included adjustments for local farm products as well as an assessment of the kinds of food imports needed to sustain the population.

      The Israeli advocacy group Gisha, which aims to protect the rights of Palestinian residents, waged a long court battle to release the document. Its members say Israel calculated the calorie needs for Gaza’s population so as to restrict the quantity of food it allowed in.

      Israel imposed the blockade after identifying Gaza as a "hostile territory" in September 2007, following the takeover by Hamas. The Israeli resolution said it intended severe restrictions on civilians.

      Israel said the blockade was necessary to weaken Hamas. But critics say the blockade constituted collective punishment against Gaza's population of more than 1.5 million.

      A US diplomatic cable revealed by WikiLeaks last year quoted Israeli diplomats as saying they wanted to “keep Gaza’s economy on the brink of collapse”.

      Delete
    2. Gisha said: "The official goal of the policy was to wage 'economic warfare' which would paralyse Gaza's economy and, according to the defence ministry, create pressure on the Hamas government."

      The food calculation, made in January 2008, applied the average daily requirement of 2,279 calories per person, in line with World Health Organisation's guidelines, according to the document.

      "The stability of the humanitarian effort is critical to prevent the development of malnutrition," the document said.

      The defence ministry handed over its document on the food calculation to Gisha only after the group filed a freedom of information petition.

      Israel also used baffling secret guidelines to differentiate between humanitarian necessities and non-essential luxuries. The outcome was that military bureaucrats enforcing the blockade allowed frozen salmon and low-fat yogurt into Gaza, but not coriander and instant coffee.

      To combat the blockade, Hamas built a network of tunnels through which they smuggled in food, weapons and other contraband from Egypt at inflated prices.

      In Gaza, Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said the document was "evidence that the Gaza blockade was planned and the target was not Hamas or the government, as the occupation always claimed. This blockade targeted all human beings … this document should be used to trial the occupation for their crimes against the humanity in Gaza".

      While the embargo crippled Gaza's economy, at no point did observers identify a food crisis developing in the territory, whose residents rely heavily on international food aid.

      Israel was forced to ease the land blockade under international pressure after the deadly attack on a Gaza-bound international flotilla in May 2010.

      Since then consumer goods have been moving freely into Gaza from Israel, but construction materials are still largely barred entry. Israel argues that the Gaza militants could use goods like pipes and concrete in attacks on southern Israeli communities.

      Israel states that the naval blockade, which remains in effect, is necessary to prevent smuggling of weapons at sea. The country also restricts exports, further constraining Gaza’s economy.

      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/17/israeli-military-calorie-limit-gaza

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    3. Amazing.

      How do you come up with such crap?

      Delete
    4. http://gisha.org/topic/control-over-gaza

      Delete
  6. ...The Defense Ministry handed over its document only after Gisha filed a freedom-of-information petition.

    Israel is said to have often used secret guidelines to differentiate between humanitarian necessities and nonessential luxuries. The result was that military officials enforcing the blockade allowed frozen salmon and low-fat yogurt in, but not cilantro or instant coffee.

    Hamas blunted the blockade by building a network of underground tunnels through which food, weapons and other contraband were smuggled from Egypt. While the embargo crippled Gaza’s economy, observers never identified a food crisis in the territory, whose residents rely heavily on international food aid.

    Israel abandoned the land blockade under international pressure after a deadly naval raid on an international flotilla bound for Gaza in May 2010.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/world/middleeast/israel-counted-calories-needed-for-gazans-in-blockade.html?_r=0

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  7. Creepy Israeli Planning for Palestinian Food Insecurity in Gaza Revealed

    By Juan Cole | Oct. 18, 2012 |

    An Israeli human rights organization, Gisha, sued in Israeli courts to force the release of a planning document for ‘putting the Palestinians on a diet’ without risking the bad press of mass starvation, and the courts concurred. The document, produced by the Israeli army, appears to be a calculation of how to make sure, despite the Israeli blockade, that Palestinians got an average of 2279 calories a day, the basic need. But by planning on limiting the calories in that way, the Israeli military was actually plotting to keep Palestinians in Gaza (half of them children) permanently on the brink of malnutrition, what health professionals call “food insecurity”. And, it was foreseeable that sometimes they would slip into malnutrition, since not as many trucks were always let in every day as the Israeli army recommended (106 were recommended, but it was often less in the period 2007-2010).

    Planning for keeping people on the edge is nearly as bad as planning actually to starve them. A prudent person would know that a blockade is a blunt enough instrument, with shipments up and down in a given week, that such a policy would from time to time produce real misery. Were any physicians involved? They should be boycotted by the international community.
    And, the Israeli army’s way of trying to minimize the document must be the worst example of propaganda in history! They are saying that the plan was produced but not consulted. But this document aimed at making sure just enough trucks got in to keep people on the edge. If the government didn’t consult it, does that mean it did not care if the food shipments slipped below the basic calorie allowance? Wouldn’t it have been better if they had known about the 106-truck recommendation?
    The food blockade had real effects. About ten percent of Palestinian children in Gaza under 5 have had their growth stunted by malnutrition.
    A recent report [pdf] by Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians found that, in addition, anemia is widespread, affecting over two-thirds of infants, 58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over a third of pregnant mothers.

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  8. ...
    Wikileaks revealed a US embassy cable that confirmed, “As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to [U.S. embassy economic officers] on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge…”
    Note that the cowardly US government went along with this policy of ruining the lives of civilian non-combatants as a way of trying to defeat the Hamas party-militia (five years later, I think we can safely pronounce the policy a failure).
    The most horrible thing is that the Israelis, and the international community, have no long-term plans for Gaza. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no vision for how this blockade of innocents will ever end. People pay lip service to a ‘two state solution,’ but everyone knows that Israel won’t allow the Palestinians to have a state! Although Qatar has just announced a multi-million-dollar aid program, it remains to be seen whether Israel will allow it. And, aid is secondary to the dignity of being citizens in a state, which is what Palestinians really need (the economic efflorescence would come from that statehood better than from outside charity). The people of Gaza are apparently to be kept in a large out-door concentration camp forever. Unless the world cares enough to rescue them from that fate.

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  9. Zionists—of all stripes, conservatives and liberals alike—often insist they “just don’t get what Israel does wrong!” There’s nothing wrong with Israel that isn’t wrong with other countries, they insist. If it commits a crime that they acknowledge as problematic, or even bad, it’s simply because no state is perfect. “Israel makes mistakes, just like any other country; its crimes aren’t any worse,” the idea often goes. If you’re not Jewish and you criticize Israel, in this perspective, it’s not because Israel is some kind of violent, anomalous rogue state, it’s because you’re “anti-Semitic”; if you are Jewish and you harshly criticize Israel, it’s not because morally consistent human beings must do so, but because you are a so-called “self-hating Jew”—or so the ridiculous hegemonic myths go.

    The fact of the matter is Israel is a leading violator of human rights—along with its closest ally, the U.S., which facilitates its crimes and affords it impunity. Israel habitually acts impetuously and unilaterally, with little to no international approval and support, often in complete violation of international law (once again, just like the U.S.). Israel is indisputably an apartheid state that has tortured the indigenous Palestinian population for three-quarters of a century.

    It is absolutely critical to understand the following list in terms of Israel’s modern crimes. Israel’s crimes against humanity are nothing new. Since its earliest days—as Israeli historian Ilan Pappé so masterfully demonstrates in his 2006 magnum opus The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine—Israel has demonstrated, again and again, that human beings are mere tools in its quest for what Israeli scholar Oren Yiftachel calls an ethnocratic state, one built upon the skeletons of murdered indigenous peoples (yet again, like the U.S.).

    Much of the ignorance surrounding these crimes (and the long history of these crimes) is rooted in the fact that the U.S. corporate media has very little (virtually nothing) bad to say about Israel. Israel is one of the U.S.’ only allies. Criticizing it would defy U.S. interests abroad—and particularly in the Middle East, a region of enormous economic and strategic importance for U.S. economic and military interests. Criticizing it is therefore almost entirely off the corporate journalist’s table, particularly egregious circumstances notwithstanding.

    I hence decided to compile a non-comprehensive list of Israel’s human rights violations, so I won’t have to keep getting in the same argument again and again… and again and again and again.

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  10. FOR AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF ISRAEL’S HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:

    http://bennorton.com/an-incomplete-list-of-israels-violations-of-human-rights/

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    1. YOu didn't get the new memo?

      Now that Cuba and IRan, Russia and China are rehabilitated nations, those so called "crimes" committed by Israel are meaningless. After all, one standard for al Eh?

      Until israel murders or kills even a close 4% of what Iran, Russia, Cuba and China has?

      Those so called crimes? meaningless…

      But the good news?

      israel is free to take out the hezbollah, hamas and others that seek it's destruction since there is no more rules..

      Delete
  11. Replies
    1. You can print a bogus list of crimes all you want…

      It's just you playing with yourself.

      Delete
  12. Only in an apartheid prison camp would the authorities take an interest in how many calories could be taken into the camp. A normal civilized lawful society would allow market forces to determine how much food would be imported and sold.

    A sick criminal enterprise, such as the IDF prison wardens, take an interest in calorie counting and then use the Orwellian excuse that they are concerned that their prisoners don’t starve.

    US politicians permitted this scandalous behavior and placed the US Stamp of Approval on it. If the American people knew and understood what goes on under their name by the Washington corruptocrats, there would be criminal trials. However, the US controlled media runs eternal defense for the cause.

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    1. It also could be due to the reasonable idea to provide ENOUGH food for the people of gaza…

      But wait?

      In Syria? they actually STARVE the Palestinians to death..

      But no outrage?

      LOL

      Hypocrite.

      Delete
  13. References:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contents_of_the_United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak_(Israel)

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  14. This "deal" with Iran gives Israel freedom.

    Freedom to deal with the terrorists called Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, ISIL, PA and more.

    Becareful of what you wish for….

    Iran now will have great investments it will be making in the greater middle east, these will be wonderful to destroy after Iran invests a few billion here and there…

    After all, Iran is in an official state of war with Israel. It now occupies vast stretches of Syria and soon to be lebanon…

    An Iranian military outpost on the Golan is fair game…

    :)

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    1. Oh and for all that rush to normalize relations with Iran?

      I hear tell there will be thousands and thousands of spies and spooks from all over the world rushing to set up new networks with the Iranian people who hate their government…

      :)

      Always got to roll with the punches…

      Would not be surprised to see an eruption in Iran of violence by those seeking to over throw the Iranian regime.

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  15. Gisha is an Israeli not-for-profit organization, founded in 2005, whose goal is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. Gisha promotes rights guaranteed by international and Israeli law.
    Since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel’s military has developed a complex system of rules and sanctions to control the movement of the 4.5 million Palestinians who live there. The restrictions violate the fundamental right of Palestinians to freedom of movement. As a result, additional basic rights are violated, including the right to life, the right to access medical care, the right to education, the right to livelihood, the right to family unity and the right to freedom of religion.
    Gisha, whose name means both “access” and “approach,” uses legal assistance and public advocacy to protect the rights of Palestinian residents. Because freedom of movement is a precondition for exercising other basic rights, Gisha’s work has a multiplier effect in helping residents of the occupied territories access education, jobs, family members and medical care.
    As part of its legal work, Gisha represents individuals and organizations in Israeli administrative proceedings and courts. Gisha’s legal activity is based on Israeli law, international human rights and humanitarian law.
    As part of its advocacy work, Gisha reaches out to members of the public and opinion-makers using publications in various media, in order to promote awareness and sensitivity for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. Gisha also advocates directly before decision-makers to promote policies that respect human rights.
    Gisha is operated by a professional staff and guided by a board that includes legal academics and practitioners, women and men, Arabs and Jews, who have helped shape Israeli human rights law through their advocacy and writings.
    Gisha is registered in Israel as an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit organization. Gisha is generously supported by donations from Israel and abroad.

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  16. What is "Occupation"Tue Jul 28, 01:16:00 PM EDT
    This "deal" with Iran gives Israel freedom.

    Freedom to deal with the terrorists called Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, ISIL, PA and more.

    Becareful of what you wish for….

    Iran now will have great investments it will be making in the greater middle east, these will be wonderful to destroy after Iran invests a few billion here and there…

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  17. Ah the ethnic cleansing of palestinians…

    who now number MORE inside of Israel today than existed from the river to the sea in 1948…


    Tell oh great deuce, of the 850,000 jews driven from their homes in the other 899/900th of the middle east HOW MANY ARE LEFT?

    But in the great ethnically cleansed Israel the number of Arab citizens number in the millions… And if you look at the west bank and gaza????

    There are MILLIONS more….

    I guess Israel didn't get the memo that they were supposed to "cleanse" the land of the palestinians…

    Getting desperate Deuce…

    hysterical…

    LOL

    But still no Palestine.

    And Israel is doing fine…

    Thanks for noticing.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Replies
    1. And you prove mine, every day

      Your issue is not just with Israel, it's with Jews.

      And it is not your support of Palestinians, you could give a lick about them, they are pawns for you.

      They can starve to death in Syria, that's fine for you. But if Israel doesn't surrender to them? Ah the Jews…

      Delete
    2. Sorry to confound your paucity of supportable defenses but Gisha and many of my oft quoted and favorite people are fair, thoughtful humane and also happen to be Jews. Zionists and Likuds as well as their junior league, the GOP Likuds Force are not. Your placing the Jew Card to your forehead to defend your morally indefensible positions is shop worn and tacky. Some might say, offensive.

      Delete
    3. Wow, so you found a Jew to quote!

      Congrats.

      Delete
  19. .

    It seems to me that any 'restriction' on food guarantees that some will go hungry or even suffer malnutrition.

    To assume that food will be distributed equally amongst the population is at best utopian idealism and at worst pure cynicism.

    While it is true that hunger and malnutrition will always be there, to intentionally guarantee it is a different matter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems to me that you and deuce are not dealing with facts

      Delete
  20. The United States and its allies conducted 23 air strikes against Islamic State forces in Iraq and nine in Syria on Monday in the latest round of daily attacks on the militant group, the joint task force overseeing the air strikes said on Tuesday.

    In Iraq, air strikes using attack, fighter-attack, bomb erand drone aircraft targeted Islamic State forces near Al Qaim,Bayji, Habbaniyah, Haditha, Makhmur, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar andTal Afar, the statement said.

    In Syria, air strikes targeted Islamic State forces near Al Hasakah and Aleppo, the task force said.

    Another Day, Another 7,600 Virgins - Talk About Your Bull Markets

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How much food is the USA and it's allies trucking into the areas of ISIS control?

      Delete
    2. You really have difficulty with rational comparisons and analogous situations. Perhaps Q could provide you with some guidance.

      Delete
    3. Why? Hamas and it's supporters are just as evil as ISIS.

      America should be concerned with the caloric intact of those savages...

      Delete
  21. FYI, here is what Israel was trying to keep out of the Gaza strip:

    sage, cardamom, cumin, coriander, ginger, jam, halva, vinegar, nutmeg, chocolate, fruit preserves, seeds and nuts, biscuits and sweets, potato chips, gas for soft drinks, dried fruit, fresh meat, plaster, tar, wood for construction, cement, iron, glucose, industrial salt, plastic/glass/metal containers, industrial margarine, tarpaulin, sheets for huts, fabric (for clothing), flavor and smell enhancers, fishing rods, various fishing nets, buoys, ropes for fishing, nylon nets for greenhouses, hatcheries and spare parts for hatcheries, spare parts for tractors, dairies for cowsheds, irrigation pipe systems, ropes to tie greenhouses planters for saplings, heaters for chicken farms, musical instruments, size A4 paper, writing implements, notebooks, newspapers, toys, razors, sewing machines and spare parts, heaters, horses, donkeys, goats, cattle, and chicks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nicely out of context post...

      just looking at it makes me smile...

      such a load of shit...

      do you actually believe this crap as you copy and paste it?

      Delete
  22. Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard will be released from prison after serving 30 years of a life sentence on November 20, the US Parole Commission announced Tuesday.

    Smart move. Pollard is the perfect Israeli Firster, a US citizen that placed his personal and Israeli interests first. I doubt 90% of Americans have heard of him. Now they will. They will learn about his crimes.

    The Conga Line basically know that they are shits. This will give a few of the cowards, that still retain a smidgeon of conscience to take a powder and miss the hava nagila . The deal with Iran will hold. Israel will have reached the apogee of its US control and it and the sun will still set in the west. Netanyahu will be gone. The World will be able to let the Palestinians regain the human dignity stripped from them by their Israeli masters and US enablers.

    Set the cockroach free.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Regardless of your feeling about Pollard, he has served his time and more.

      Now how about fair play?

      Will Israel start arresting American spies?

      Delete
    2. Let face the truth, Pollard was a spy for Israel. He gave Israel the very intel America PROMISED to Israel conserving the PLO.

      Of course, America did not live up to it's side of the bargain.

      Does that make Pollard a hero? Nope.

      But America spies on Israel. Sometimes so blatantly it's in the Jpost.


      But I guess the real question should be, will Iran release the innocent (or not so innocent) Americans being held hostage?

      Delete
    3. .

      He gave Israel the very intel America PROMISED to Israel conserving the PLO.

      You keep bringing this meme up but it is bullshit. The US didn't promise to provide Israel with information on worldwide intelligence data, or our war plan on Russia including sources and methods, or RASIN, the NSA' SIGENT bible.

      Where do we find a copy of this so-called promise?

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      Here is an article by an Israeli author that offers up the argument that Jonathon Pollard should be released, in fact should have been released long ago, because he was merely a pawn, a poor innocent manipulated by Mossad and is now caught up in a food fight between the US and Israeli intelligence agencies rather than a narcissistic, lying, little prick, who may or may not have wanted to help Israel. After all, he did try to peddle information to three other nations before turning to the Israelis. Then there is the issue of the jewels and money he took for selling out his country.

      However, the following paragraph shows the typical Israeli effort to claim victimhood by trying to rationalize its own iniquity.

      Employing Pollard on US territory was an act of madness. Nevertheless, the quality of the material that Pollard brought in forced Israel’s leaders to receive it, though with trembling hands. “No Israeli leader could have turned his back on such material,” one of the affair’s old-timers told Al-Monitor this week on condition of anonymity. “From our perspective, it was not material that could harm the United States, but it could be of great use to Israel. We viewed ourselves as a faithful American ally and simply ‘helped’ the Americans to help us, without their knowledge. We cut corners,” he admitted. “We simply got carried away; we were dazzled by what we saw.”

      Poor babies.

      Perhaps, we should write them another check.

      Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/israel-us-pollard-release-nuke-deal-mossad-life-sentence.html#ixzz3hCX8ktz1

      .

      Delete
    5. .

      ...Israel’s leaders to receive it, though with trembling hands.

      We viewed ourselves as a faithful American ally and simply ‘helped’ the Americans to help us

      “We simply got carried away; we were dazzled by what we saw.”



      Lordy. Can you believe this shit?

      .

      Delete
  23. Great line: The World will be able to let the Palestinians regain the human dignity stripped from them by their Israeli masters and US enablers.


    The Palestinians do not have "human dignity", they are a culture of death, terrorism and jew hatred.

    That's why when given the chance to have a state (several times) they choose destruction of the Jewish state over building their own state.

    But as you continue to focus your hatred on the Jews and Israel? Palestinians are being starved to death in Syria, barrel bombed in Syria and tortured in Syria..


    To which you could care less...

    IF the people who call themselves "palestinians" cannot admit that the Jewish Temple stood on the Temple Mount? They live in a world of fiction...

    ReplyDelete
  24. .

    Pollard will no doubt be received as a hero in Israel. It may take a while, possibly a couple of years but he will undoubtedly be given some sort of reward, a medal, a certificate of appreciation, something. No doubt Pollard himself would prefer it be some type of monetary award, maybe a job or better a pension.

    This can only be expected given the history here and Israel’s track record.

    When Pollard was arrested, Israel denied he was working as a spy for them. They argued that he was working for some rogue intelligence group. They continued the lie for over a decade until they finally admitted that he was spying for them. Then they began more than a decade of politicking in order to get him freed. But this is the way they roll.

    For example, take the Levon Affair. Same MO. Israel launched a false flag attack against US, British, and Egyptian facilities in Egypt in an effort to cloud the situation there and influence Britain’s decision to eliminate their military presence in the Suez zone. When the Israeli operatives were captured, Israel left them hanging, denying any Israeli involvement in the affair for the next 50 years. Then is 2005, Israel admitted their involvement, that the people involved were Israel operatives, and then ended up awarding the surviving agents certificates of appreciation. SOP.

    Or take the Liberty. The same. Israel attacks the Liberty. Declares it is a tragic accident, a mistake, a mistake that played out over hours. To this day, Israel still denies it was intentional. Yet, even though it was a mistake, a case of mistaken identity, in 2001, Israel issued commendations to the crew members of the PT group involved. SOP.

    No, Pollard will get his award and/or reward. Count on it.

    .

    ReplyDelete