A.LOEWENSTEIN ONLINE NEWSLETTER

• The seriously deadly threat of non-violent Jews
• Hoder sees the darkest side of Ahmadinejad’s brutality
• Private armies are out and looking for business
• How to be gay in the Islamic Republic
• Shell and Iran kissing in a tree
• Zionist circus swings back into town and media watches
• Let our Diggers kill at will beause we say they’re noble

The seriously deadly threat of non-violent Jews 28 Sep 2010 Israel using excessive force and abusing civilians? Just another day on the job: Israel Defense Forces soldiers used excessive force while taking over a Gaza-bound aid ship organized by Jewish and Israeli activists, the boat’s passengers said Tuesday, countering the military’s official version claiming that the takeover had been uneventful. Earlier Tuesday the IDF reported that Israeli naval commandos peacefully boarded the Jewish aid boat attempting to break a naval blockade on Gaza, saying “IDF naval forces recently boarded the yacht ‘Irene’, and it is currently being led to the Ashdod seaport along with its passengers.” However, testimonies by passengers who were released from police questioning later in the day seemed to counter the IDF’s claims, with Israeli activist and former Israel Air Force pilot Yonatan Shapira saying that there were “no words to describe what we went through during the takeover.” Shapira said the activists, who he said displayed no violence, were met with extreme IDF brutality, adding that the soldiers “just jumped us, and hit us. I was hit with a taser gun.” “Some of the soldiers treated us atrociously,” Shapira said, adding that he felt there was a “huge gap between what the IDF spokesman is saying happened and what really happened.” The former IAF pilot said he and his fellow activists were “proud of the mission,” saying it was organized “for the sake of a statement – that the siege on Gaza is a crime, that it’s immoral, un-Jewish, and we have a moral obligation to speak out. Anyone who stays silent as this crime is being committed is an accessory to a crime.” Eli Usharov, a reporter for Israel’s Channel 10 affirmed Shapira’s version of the events, telling Haaretz that the takeover was executed with unnecessary brutality. “They used a taser gun against Yonatan. He screamed and was dragged to the military boat,” Usharov said, adding that both Yonatan and his brother Itamar were handcuffed. The Channel 10 reporter also said that the activists managed to have a serious heart-to-heart conversation with the troops once they were all placed on board the military vessel, and that “overall the atmosphere was good.” Reuben Moscowitz, a Holocaust survivor who took part in the mission, expressed his disbelief that “Israeli soldiers would treat nine Jews this way. They just hit people.” “I as a Holocaust survivor cannot live with the fact that the State of Israel is imprisoning an entire people behind fences,” Moscowitz said, adding that “it’s just immoral.” “What happened to me in the Holocaust wakes me up every night and I hope we don’t do the same thing to our neighbors,” Moscowitz said, adding that he was comparing “what I went through during the Holocaust to what the besieged Palestinian children are going through.”

Hoder sees the darkest side of Ahmadinejad’s brutality 28 Sep 2010 The outrage of imprisoning Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan for 19.5 years, the longest sentence ever given for anybody in his position. A profoundly insecure and undemocratic regime has shamed itself before the world.

Private armies are out and looking for business 28 Sep 2010 Private mercenaries have never have it so good. Business is booming as governments increasingly rely on them to do the dirty work they no longer want to do: Insurers have drawn up plans for the world’s first private navy to try to turn the tide against Somali pirates who continue to plague the global shipping industry by hijacking vessels for ransoms of more than £100m a year, The Independent has learnt. The new navy, which has the agreement in principle of several shipping groups and is being considered by the British Government, is the latest attempt to counter the increasingly sophisticated and aggressive piracy gangs who operate up to 1,200 miles from their bases in the Horn of Africa and are about to launch a new wave of seaborne attacks following the monsoon season. A multi-national naval force, including an EU fleet currently commanded by a British officer, has dramatically reduced the number of assaults in the Gulf of Aden in recent months. But seizures continue with 16 ships and 354 sailors currently being held hostage. The Independent has seen Nato documents which show both ransom payments and the period that pirates are holding vessels have doubled in the last 12 months to an average $4m and 117 days respectively. In response, a leading London insurer is pushing ahead with radical proposals to create a private fleet of about 20 patrol boats crewed by armed guards to bolster the international military presence off the Somali coast. They would act as escorts and fast-response vessels for shipping passing through the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT), which insures 14 per cent of the world’s commercial shipping fleet, said the unprecedented “private navy” would work under the direct control of the military with clear rules of engagement valid under international law. Early discussions have also been held with the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Transport and the Foreign Office.

How to be gay in the Islamic Republic  28 Sep 2010 The curious, crazy, sad, desperate and oppressive society in Tehran.

Shell and Iran kissing in a tree 28 Sep 2010 The sheer futility of trying to boycott Iran is revealed once again: Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, paid the state-owned Iranian oil company at least $1.5bn (£0.94bn) for crude oil this summer, increasing its business with Tehran as the international community implemented some of the toughest sanctions yet aimed at constricting the Islamic republic’s economy and its lifeline oil business. Sensitive trading documents seen by the Guardian show the UK-registered company stepped up its orders of Iranian oil at a time when other major buyers, including BP and Reliance Industries, India’s largest conglomerate, halted orders amid impending trade sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran’s perceived desire to acquire nuclear weapons. Shell is not accused of acting illegally because the sanctions – enforced by the US, UN and EU – stopped short of banning the import of Iranian oil. But its trades with the state-owned oil company, a major contributor to the finances of a government which has made its nuclear programme a priority, are likely to expose Shell to growing political pressure.

Zionist circus swings back into town and media watches 27 Sep 2010 In case anybody still believes that “peace talks” between Israel, the complicit Palestinian Authority and Washington has achieved anything at all, think again.

Let our Diggers kill at will beause we say they’re noble 27 Sep 2010 So Australian troops in Afghanistan kill civilians and are now facing charges. It’s called accountability, something sorely lacking in Western societies at war for decades. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, a top quality Murdoch quality that regularly writes about refugees stealing our jobs, women and sand, thinks it’s bloody outrageous in an editorial today: In the early days of the campaign in Afghanistan, we were introduced to a new phrase: “asymmetrical warfare” – the relative imbalance between the methods and tactics used by the Taliban and other murdering fundamentalists and the tactics used by coalition forces, including Australian troops, who are constrained by various laws and conventions. In short, we conduct war by the rules. The Taliban do not. The dangers of this imbalance exist not only for the women and children used as shields by Taliban insurgents, or for the Afghan civilians targeted by fundamentalist suicide bombers. Dangers also exist for Australian soldiers who are caught in gun battles with Taliban operatives using civilians as cover. And the danger extends beyond the immediate threat of death and injury. Our soldiers also face the danger of legal action arising from the unique and distressing circumstances that arise when fighting an utterly amoral opponent. Three soldiers have been charged following the deaths of five Afghan children in 2009. Those deaths remain a tragedy. That charges have been laid by our own military against the soldiers is obscene. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. As two of the soldiers said in a statement: “It should not be forgotten that the casualties were ultimately caused by the callous and reckless act of an insurgent who chose to repeatedly fire upon us at extreme close range from within a room he knew contained women and children.” That’s the reality of combat in Afghanistan. By charging the three soldiers, the military is giving strength to the vicious and inhuman tactics of our enemy.