NOVANEWS
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Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it, strike a pose, there’s nothing to it
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Fat lady sings — Israel announces new E J’lem neighborhod called Givat Hamatos
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‘Commentary’ smear of Occupy Wall St. doesn’t bother to get basic facts right
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In prisoner deal, Palestinian and Israeli right wings are working together– politically
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Neocon orgs seek to paint Wall St protests as anti-semitic
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Boycott update: Champion fencer Sara Besbes stands down rather than plays Israeli
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Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
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Barney Frank needs to answer the aid-to-Israel question
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Iran hysteria: Senator Mark Kirk says ‘It’s Okay to take food from the mouths of’ innocent Iranians
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A Palestinian mayor explains how Israeli army starves his village of water
Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it, strike a pose, there’s nothing to it
Oct 14, 2011
Adam Horowitz
Tilda swinton in November 2011 Vogue Magazine.
Fat lady sings — Israel announces new E J’lem neighborhod called Givat Hamatos
Oct 14, 2011
Philip Weiss
Big news. Netanyahu claims yet another spoil from his political victory over Obama: Israel has approved another new settlement in occupied East Jerusalem, a new neighborhood of 2600 homes.
“Disastrous new plan to build new settlement in southeast Jerusalem is potential killer of peace agreement,” Ori Nir of Peace Now tweeted yesterday. Peace Now, which broke word of the Hebrew announcement of the deal, calls the plan, “a game changer that significantly changes the possible border between Israel and Palestine.”
The neighborhood is called Givat Hamatos and will be situated in the chink of land between Gilo and Har Homa above Bethlehem.
From the NYT report on the announcement:
Reacting to the news, the chief Palestinian Authority negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who was in Paris with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying it proved “the Israeli government wants to destroy the peace process and the two-state solution.”
From the Peace Now report on the new settlement:
Unlike recent plans that caused controversy in Gilo and Pisgat Ze’ev which expanded the footprint of existing neighborhoods, the new plan creates an entirely new footprint of a new Israeli neighborhood in East Jerusalem…Parts of the plan for Palestinian construction? -there will probably be those in the Israeli government who will argue that the new neighborhood will not necessarily be only for Jews. Similar protestations were voiced in defense of the construction of the settlement of Har Homa, and eventually there wasn’t even one unit built for Palestinians in Har Homa.
‘Commentary’ smear of Occupy Wall St. doesn’t bother to get basic facts right
Oct 14, 2011
Alex Kane
If you’re intent on derailing the Occupy Wall Street protests by tarring demonstrators as anti-Semites, you might bother to get basic facts right. But Alana Goodman at the neoconservativeCommentary magazine doesn’t even do that in her zeal to link the Occupy Wall Street protests to anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment.
Put aside Goodman’s contention that the editor of Adbusters, the magazine that put out theoriginal call to occupy Wall Street on September 17, is an anti-Semite (see Phil Weiss on that argument here).
Goodman doesn’t accurately describe the role of Adbusters in the protests, which, despite their call to occupy Wall Street, is minimal. Instead, she writes:
It isn’t just a few crackpots engaging in anti-Semitism incidents at the Occupy Wall Street protests. Apparently, the main organizer behind the movement – Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn – has a history of anti-Jewish writing…
That’s not to say the Occupy Wall Street movement itself is anti-Semitic. But if the top organizer behind the Tea Party turned out to have published a blacklist of American Jews he claimed had dual loyalty to the U.S. and Israel, the backlash from the media would be massive. And if the top leader of the Tea Party fought a legal battle with the U.S. Holocaust Museum over an offensive collage he made using Warsaw Ghetto photos, politicians certainly wouldn’t be lining up to support the movement.
Goodman is flat-out wrong on some basic facts about the Occupy Wall Street protests. There is no leader; the movement’s website itself states that they are a “leaderless resistance movement.” To say that the editor of Adbusters is a “main organizer” or a “top leader” is false. Here’s Nathan Schneider in The Nation explaining the Adbusters connection to the Wall Street protesters (my emphasis):
Q: I hear that Adbusters organized Occupy Wall Street? Or Anonymous? Or US Day of Rage? Just who put this together anyway?
A: All of the above, and more. Adbusters made the initial call in mid-July, and also produced a very sexy poster with a ballerina posed atop the Charging Bull statue and riot police in the background. US Day of Rage, the mainly internet-based creation of IT strategist Alexa O’Brien, got involved too and did a lot of the early legwork and tweeting. Anonymous—in its various and multiform visages—joined in late August. On the ground in New York, though, most of the planning was done by people involved in the NYC General Assembly, a collection of activists, artists and students first convened by folks who had been involved in New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts. That coalition of students and union workers had just finished a three-week occupation near City Hall called Bloombergville protesting the mayor’s plans for budget cuts and layoffs. They had learned from the experience and were itching to do it again, this time with the hope of having a bigger impact. But no one person or group is running the Wall Street occupation entirely
It’s no surprise that the right is trying to derail a growing and popular movement, and that the most ardent defenders of Israel have begun to attack protests that have anti-war, anti-occupation and anti-corporate leanings. But at least get the story straight.
Alex Kane, a freelance journalist based in New York City, blogs at alexbkane.wordpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.
In prisoner deal, Palestinian and Israeli right wings are working together– politically
Oct 14, 2011
Scott Roth
The prisoner exchange between Hamas and the Likud-led government of Israel is one of the more curious developments in the recent history of the conflict. It shows the two extremes working together in a surprisingly normal and constructive sense. Netanyahu and Likud will be boosted politically by the release of Gilad Shalit; Hamas will be empowered by the release of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
This apparent win-win result was brought about very differently than in the past. Previously, the unholy symbiotic relationship between the Palestinian and Israeli right wings has been characterized by sessions of escalating violence. Now both sides are behaving as rational and responsible agents. Go Figure.
Nonetheless, it’s hard not to overstate and understate the significance of this. Yes, this is evidence that Hamas and a right-wing Israeli government can negotiate and reach an agreement. And Hamas and Israel have agreed before about various cease-fires in Gaza and other prisoner releases.
But an agreement between these two parties about an issue that looms so large in the Israeli narrative is a refreshing novelty.
Which is not to say that I expect further cooperation between these parties. In fact I expect the opposite. But it is proof of what political actors can accomplish when there is a political will.
Perhaps if President Obama and his foreign policy team were capable of some creative diplomacy that would result in both sides seeing a continuing political advantage to further negotiations then maybe things can change. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Neocon orgs seek to paint Wall St protests as anti-semitic
Oct 14, 2011
Philip Weiss
The Occupy Wall Street movement is aimed at the American Establishment, so it is little wonder that it is having resonance in terms of the Jewish presence in the Establishment. Two neoconservative media orgs are trying to smear the movement as anti-Semitic.
First, Bill Kristol’s shop, the Emergency Committee for Israel, has published a scare video trying to paint the protest movement as anti-Semitic. The ad links Obama campaign aide David Plouffe’s support for the Wall Street protesters, and Nancy Pelosi’s and Obama’s too, to anti-semitic statements made on the street by knobjobs. Then says, “Tell President Obama and leader Pelosi to stand up to the mob.”
The Emergency Committee for Israel is funded by a hedge fund manager named Daniel Loeb, who has defected from Obama to Romney, Eli Clifton reports.
Second, here’s Alana Goodman at Commentary arguing that an organizer behind the protests, Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn, is antisemitic because he once did an article pointing out that many neoconservatives are Jewish.
At the heart of this argument is the degree to which the neoconservative establishment has been funded/lifted by Rockefeller Jews– conservative Jews who have made it. And as Clifton implies in his piece, Obama is unable to write these Jews off. They are a swing constituency with an enormous amount of money. Call them neoconservative or neoliberal– Israel is a giant issue for many of them.
Clifton:
The Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), has joined the pack of conservative groupsworking to discredit the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The ECI — a Bill Kristol–Gary Bauer–Rachel Abrams-conceived organization — launched a YouTube ad this morning, seeking to paint the Wall Street protests as anti-Semitic.
The ad, which was faithfully promoted by ECI’s go-to media outlets — Politico’s Ben Smith,the Weekly Standard, and Commentary — alleges that Democratic party leaders are “turning a blind eye to anti-Semitic, anti-Israel attacks,” and urges President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to “stand up to the mob.” Watch it:
ThinkProgress reported in June that two-thirds of ECIPAC’s contributions in the past election cycle came from Daniel S. Loeb, CEO of Third Point Management, a New York based hedge fund.
Loeb’s $100,000 in support for ECI follows his track record of falling out of love with Obama after the White House pushed for financial regulatory reforms.
Boycott update: Champion fencer Sara Besbes stands down rather than plays Israeli
Oct 14, 2011
annie
Sara Besbes, a Tunisian champion fencer, boycotted a competition in Italy rather than fence Israeli Noam Mills.
Besbes, who comes from a family of great fame in fencing, reached the final round where she had to play against an Israeli player. However, she stood still on the platform, pointing her sword toward the ground and refusing to move as a sign she was boycotting the Israeli athlete but without officially announcing it to avoid punitive measures by the judges.
Tunis Radio reports Noam Mills “collapsed in tears” as she was declared the winner.
A Google translation of this article from the Italian press indicates Besbes’s action required Mills to win the competition by inflicting the final blows against Besbes as she “remained completely passive to the point of suffering from the five thrusts that have losing the match”
An abnormal behavior that has not escaped the referees, who could not take action because it was not a rejection but, apparently, of a defeat. The Besbes, 22, belongs to a family of fencers: the mother was one of the most famous specialists in Tunisia, three sisters and a brother are part of the National Assembly and the father is on the board of the Federation. She, Sarah, was African champion and points to a place for the London Olympics. In short, not a champion, but even the newcomer, and there is more than reasonable suspicion that hers was a conscious decision and inspired by the leaders of her Federation. Even the rival, winning, reacted to the success with tears. The 5-0 defeat cost the Tunisian also the final knockout in the next round got the Chinese Li Na, who has eliminated easily. The Mills has instead continued the journey by eliminating the Mexican Teran and entered the main draw which Thursday released the new world champion. Sara and Tunisian leaders have preferred to avoid the comment.
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This was the second such incident this week. Iranian Sayyad Ghanbari Hamad refused to fight against Israeli Tomer Or.
Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
Oct 14, 2011
Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee
If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call
And the night must fade and the chain must break
– Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia)
The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
Our aspirations overlap; our struggles converge. Our oppressors, whether greedy corporations or military occupations, are united in profiting from wars, pillage, environmental destruction, repression and impoverishment. We must unite in our common quest for freedoms, equal rights, social and economic justice, environmental sanity, and world peace. We can no longer afford to be splintered and divided; we can no longer ignore our obligations to join hands in the struggle against wars and corporate exploitation and for a human-friendly world community not a profit-maximizing jungle.
The Occupy Wall Street movement and its counterparts across the US, Europe, Latin America and elsewhere are — at least partially — inspired by the Arab Spring for democracy and social justice. Leaders of the Arab popular revolts tell us that they, in turn, were largely inspired by our own, decades-old struggle against Israel’s occupation of our land, its system of discrimination that matches the UN’s definition of apartheid, and its denial of the right of Palestinian refugees to return home.
The rapidly emerging movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law is a key and effective part of the Palestinian struggle. Anchored in universal principles of human rights and struggling for freedom, justice and equality, the BDS movement, established in 2005, is deeply rooted in decades of Palestinian peaceful resistance to colonial oppression and is inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid as well as the civil rights movement in the US. It is adopted by a near consensus among Palestinians everywhere, with all the main political parties, trade unions, professional syndicates, women’s unions, student groups, NGO networks and refugee advocacy networks represented in the BNC, the reference for this growing movement to end Israeli impunity.
The Palestinian-led BDS movement is a global effort of groups, from South Africa to Britain, from Canada to India, and within Israel itself, all committed to ending Israel’s denial of basic Palestinian rights. It is endorsed by towering moral leaders of the calibre of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Holocaust survivor and co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Stephane Hessel. It is supported by world renowned cultural and intellectual figures such as Alice Walker, Naomi Klein, Roger Waters, Judith Butler, Sarah Schulman, John Berger, Ken Loach, John Greyson, and Adrienne Rich. Massive trade union federations such as COSATU (South Africa), CUT (Brazil), TUC (UK), ICTU (Ireland), among many others, have also adopted BDS.
The movement has scored in the last two years some spectacular achievements when internationally renowned artists and music groups heeded the cultural boycott of Israel and refused to perform there or cancelled scheduled appearances. These have included the Pixies, Elvis Costello, Snoop Dogg, Meg Ryan, Vanessa Paradis, Gil Scott-Heron, among many others. The Norwegian state pension fund, among others, major European banks and some corporations have all been convinced to divest from businesses implicated in Israel’s violations of international law. Increasingly, BDS is recognized as a civic movement capable of ending Israeli impunity and, crucially, contributing to the global struggle against the war-mongering, racist agenda which Israel has persistently played a key role in.
So as you break your own chains and build your own effective resistance against corporate tyranny, we ask you to demand a just peace for all the peoples in the Middle East, based on international law and equal human rights. Palestinians, too, are part of the 99% around the world that suffer at the hands of the 1% whose greed and ruthless quest for hegemony have led to unspeakable suffering and endless war. Corporate power has not just profited from our suffering but has colluded in maintaining Israel’s occupation and apartheid to perpetuate an unjust order that profits oil and military companies and multinational financial institutions.
We call upon all the spreading social movements of the world to think critically when considering their attitude towards the Israeli ‘social justice’ protests, which have almost completely ignored the key issue at the heart of all of the problems faced by ordinary Palestinians and even Israelis: Israel’s costly system of occupation, colonialism and apartheid over the Palestinian people. Without putting an end to that multi-tiered Israeli system of oppression, our entire region will never enjoy a comprehensive and lasting peace, one that is based on justice and human rights.
Money for jobs, health and education, not for racist oppression and occupation!
Nowhere is this more important than in the United States. Despite Israel’s persistent denial of Palestinian rights, the US has provided Israel with unconditional political and military assistance that directly contributes to the denial of Palestinian rights, but also to the problems faced by ordinary US citizens. Could the $24bn of military aid provided to Israel in the period 2000-2009 not been better spent on schools, healthcare and other essential services? Did Israel not play a major role in prodding the US to launch and continue its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at immense human and material cost, mainly borne by the poorest in those countries?
But, we must remind ourselves all the time that this struggle will never be easy, and reaching our objectives never inevitable. As Martin Luther King once said:
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
The refreshing scenes of determined peaceful protest for justice from around the world tell us that we, the 99% of the world, are in the process of straightening our backs, collectively, with unwavering fortitude and boundless hope.
Visit the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee website atwww.bdsmovement.net.
Barney Frank needs to answer the aid-to-Israel question
Oct 14, 2011
Philip Weiss
Barney Frank, the liberal congressman representing Boston suburbs, will be holding three town hall meetings in the next ten days. They will feature his plan to reduce military spending by 25%.
Frank has previously dodged the issue of reducing aid to Israel. You can see the Congressman mention cutting aid to every ally with the exception of Israel (at about minute 2:45) in this talk with Keith Olbermann. Frank similarly dodged the same question, posed by Josh Ruebner, at aCongressional hearing in March 2009. And in 2010 Frank responded to the same question atanother New Bedford gathering by saying that the United States had to honor its commitments to Israel and could not cut aid to that one nation.
Frank’s constituents may want to make him squirm at one of the three Town Hall meetings scheduled in the next few days, announced in this email:
Dear Mr. —,
I am writing to invite you to attend a Town Hall meeting that I will be holding in New Bedford this Saturday, October 15th. Our country is currently engaged in a critical national debate over the economy, job creation, and the deficit. I believe that we cannot fruitfully discuss these issues without talking about military spending, which makes up more than 50% of total discretionary spending.
I believe that it is essential, in order to meet our needs at home, to scale back our worldwide military commitments and substantially change a military structure that was created in the wake of World War II more than 60 years ago. We can no longer afford to be the world’s policeman.
We must cut excessive military spending in order to meet other priorities here at home. On Saturday, I plan to speak and listen about these and other pressing national issues that so greatly affect our lives.
The event will take place from 2:00 – 4:00 PM at the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park– see details below. I hope to see you there.
BARNEY FRANK
Town Hall with Congressman Barney Frank
Saturday, October 15th 2:00 – 4:00 PM New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park Corson Building 33 William Street, 2nd Floor New Bedford, MA
Other upcoming Town Halls with Congressman Frank
Sunday, October 16th 2:00 – 4:00 PM Mass Bay Community College Main Auditorium 50 Oakland Street Wellesley Hills, MA
Sunday, October 23rd 2:00 – 4:00 PM First Parish Church 68 Church Green Taunton, MA
Iran hysteria: Senator Mark Kirk says ‘It’s Okay to take food from the mouths of’ innocent Iranians
Oct 14, 2011
Seham
Ali Gharib reports at ThinkProgress:
[Chicago radio host Ron] MAJORS: Once we get into sanctions and taking those kinds of actions, the argument immediately becomes, ‘Are you really going after the government of the country, or are you taking food out of the mouths of the citizens?‘
KIRK: It’s okay to take the food out of the mouths of the citizens from a government that’s plotting an attack directly on American soil.