NOVANEWS
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What next after the latest frustrated flotilla?
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This is not what containment looks like
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Democracy Now correspondent on Gaza flotilla describes Israeli detention
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Israelis respond to Obama snub on Facebook
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Avigdor Lieberman proposes 45% tax on foreign donations to leftist orgs (no word on funding for settlers from the US)
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From the American South to the West Bank: A Freedom Rider bears witness to human rights in Israel/Palestine
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Spinozapalooza! Jewish leader says American Jewish community must kick out anyone who supports boycott
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Next week, Palestinian freedom riders will board segregated buses in West Bank
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Rattling Sabers & Beating Drums: Fear-mongering over nuclear Iran reaches a fever-pitch
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Will calls for military confrontation with Iran develop their own momentum?
What next after the latest frustrated flotilla?
Nov 09, 2011
Pam Bailey
The latest flotilla to try reach the coast of Gaza has been turned back — ships impounded and passengers deported — just like every other one since December 2008 (just before the launch of Israel’s massive attack). And although the effort was covered by some of the so-called “mainstream” media (ranging from CNN to The Guardian), the reporting is starting to treat the repeated forays as predictable events.
As Dan Murphy from the Christian Science Monitor observed, “‘Flotilla’ news is buried inside. That’s not entirely surprising… A repeat of the violence of 2010 is vanishingly unlikely, and such symbolic efforts lose force over time, as the public grows used to them.”
The one flotilla that actually forced a change in Israeli policy was in May 2010, when the passengers on board the Mavi Marmara actively resisted Israeli commandos, resulting in the murder of nine of the activists. I would argue that short of a government promising to take on Israel by sending its own ships as an escort, the same kind of resistance (sacrifice?) is required to achieve any kind of real impact. And perhaps even that tactic is no longer effective, since the international governing elite would likely criticize the activists for ignoring the lessons they should have learned from past experience.
So….is it time to rethink this strategy for breaking the siege of Gaza? To weigh whether the enormous expense of purchasing and outfitting ships that are later confiscated would be better spent elsewhere (like on advertising in support of BDS)?
I cannot help but think that we should work to bring as much media attention to the Palestinians living inside the prison that is Gaza as to ourselves, the “brave foreigners” who stare down the Israeli navy, get thrown into prison and then are deported home. I am well aware that many Western media don’t pay attention unless one of their own is harmed…I remember the relatively massive media coverage attracted by the murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni. It was a tragedy indeed; Vik was a personal friend. But meanwhile, the routine killing of many more Palestinians goes virtually unnoticed.
In addition to these high-profile campaigns to “break the siege” by bringing in foreigners, why not put even more effort into helping Palestinians and their goods get out? As much as the Gazans love and welcome internationals who fight to visit their world, they would, I think, benefit even more from a little more help pushing traffic the other way.
The “common knowledge” is that it is impossible to get a single young man between the age of 18 and 40 out of Gaza, particularly to the United States. The assumption appears to be that either he is a terrorist, or will not want to return to his homeland — and the U.S. no longer subscribes to taking the “tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” I was told that straight out last year by a desk officer at the State Department, when I tried to get U.S. visas for two young Gazan men so they could join me on a speaking tour.
But that “universal truth” was proven wrong recently when the owners of a cinema chain called the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, managed to bring 23-year-old identical twins Tarzan and Arab (real names Ahmed and Mohamed Abu Nasser) from Gaza to the U.S. for an exhibit of one of their short films. I met the extremely talented pair while I was in Gaza earlier this year, and interviewed them for the Palestinian Gandhi Project. They cut unusual figures even in Gaza: Their hair is long and the word “swarthy” appeared to be coined just for them. They were the last ones you’d ever expect to get U.S. visas. And yet, they did — with the persistent, dogged efforts of the Alamo Drafthouse and the immigration attorney they hired.
The same was true for the DARG Team, a rap group I also interviewed for the project. Their champions were a Swiss group, and the effect of being allowed to see a bit of the world and to experience the comradeship of those on the “outside” is evident in their songs. Before finally making it out of Gaza to tour Europe, their lyrics mostly focused on death and destruction, because that was the sum and total of their lives. When they returned home, however, they wrote songs about “holding your head up high” and “rebuilding Gaza.”
The impossible becomes possible when supporters become committed champions. The videotaping of “Palestinian Gandhis” is just the first step; I hope these too-often-muffled voices of Palestine will be given as much attention as the frustrated flotillas. The next step will be to encourage “twinning” — matching teachers, artists, students, etc. to their counterparts in Palestine. The hope is that they will begin a collaboration that will help break down borders and other barriers. Isn’t that worth as much effort as getting more foreigners in? If you are interested in joining the effort, contact me.
This is not what containment looks like
Nov 08, 2011
Paul Mutter
“To strengthen Iran sanctions laws for the purpose of compelling Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons and other threatening activities, and for other purposes,” begins HR1905, aka the 2011 “Iran Threat Reduction Act” that has been advanced in the House of Representatives this week by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. It will increase sanctions on Iran and limit U.S. contact with Iranian citizens, and pressure to enact it will be strengthened by the release of an IAEA report today asserting that Iran has been secretly developing nuclear weapons (and a delivery system for them) since 2003.
But Congress is not really interested in discussing the matter with Iran. One of its measures requires the President to certify that any Iranian official the U.S. wishes to speak to pass a 15 days in advance Congressional background check unless the President can prove there is an urgent need for the White House to meet with that person. The “other purposes” amounts to what William O. Beeman calls an agenda of “making certain that the United States and Iran never achieve formal relations.”
Why bother with that, after all, when we want regime change (which would please the U.S. government, as well as two of the lobbying groups behind HR1905, AIPAC and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies).
Thomas R. Pickering, formerly Ronald Reagan’s second-term ambassador to Israel (and later George H. W. Bush’s UN ambassador) has come out against the move, writing an op-ed with fellow Reagan-era ambassador William H. Luers in the Daily Beast that denounces the move as a step towards an unwanted and unnecessary military conflict with Iran:
“It is fair to say that no official of the U.S. government has any direct knowledge of the Iran of today. That ignorance of this powerful adversary dangerously weakens our ability to know how to achieve U.S. objectives and protect U.S. interests.”
That should be self-evident, but this bill came from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which is fine with cutting funding to UNESCO and USAID to punish Ramallah’s UN bid while maintaining with only limited interruption the flow of funding set aside for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. We do have priorities, after all (what exactly they are, though, is not exactly clear).
This disconnect between the goal and reality of sanctions is seen in one of the hardest-hitting sanctions, a measure that will block Iranian civil aviation from obtaining replacement parts for their passenger aircraft. This will punish Iranian officials – who have access to military transport – how? Fewer holiday vacations? Longer lines at the check-in counter? It certainly punishes Iranian and non-Iranian civilian passengers, as Iran’s air safety record is poor.
Another measure, as Jim Lobe notes, may merely cripple Iran’s economy by sanctioning the Iranian Central Bank.
Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate, is as incredulous as the Reaganites quoted above, reiterating his August 2011 argument that “At least our leaders and Reagan talked to the Soviets. What’s so terribly bad about this [talking to the Iranians]?” In response to the Iran Threat Reduction Act, which is filled with references to advancing “democracy” and “freedom” in Iran, Paul asked if Congress was not simply seeking to fund an anti-regime movement to take to the streets, regardless of the likelihood of success.
It’s a rhetorical question. Regime change is on everyone’s mind, even though U.S. support for such movements constitutes a poor record indeed.
Would the collapse of the Iron Curtain (and all those accompanying regime changes that didn’t cost the Pentagon even one bullet) have happened they way they did if U.S. officials were restricted from meeting with Warsaw Pact member states’ citizens, or if the U.S. was still refusing in 1980 to even recognize the USSR (as it did from 1917 to 1933)?
Ironically, one of the organizations supportive of this effort to isolate Iranian and U.S. officials from each other is the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). It’s ironic because some of the politicians associated with the FDD seem to think of themselves (and the organization) as latter-day Reaganites:
“Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) . . . argued that President Obama should reach out to exiled members of the Iranian opposition Green Movement, increase aid to Iranian democracy groups, and make Iranian political prisoners ‘household names throughout America’ like President Ronald Reagan did with Soviet detainees in the 1980s.”
For a man who thinks of the FDD as the possible forum for an Iranian version of the Helsinki Accords, Kirk seems to be ignoring the fact that the FDD has some in-house intellectuals who reject dialogue altogether with Iran (Reagan didn’t just talk to Soviet dissidents, you know). The FDD is vocal about regime change in the Middle East, especially in Iran, and how it cannot occur through diplomacy – the FDD is so hawkish that some of these aformentioned intellectuals have even called for a U.S. military takeover of Saudi oil fields.
The historical vaccum this politicking is taking place in is telling. The U.S. had diplomatic relations with the USSR in the 1980s and that Congress did not impugn Ronald Reagan’s capacity to engage Soviet officials (can you imagine Congress forcing Reagan to submit all his planned meeting agendas with Soviet officials for review 15 days in advance?). Their meetings didn’t in and of themselves end the Cold War and lead to the collapse of the USSR, but they were a part of that process – you’d think “peaceful” regime change advocates aligned with spendthrift Republicans would be all for dialogue. Reagan rattled the saber a lot, but he also went to Reykjavík and Moscow – something not played up in the guns blazing, Fifth Fleet steaming on ahead mentality of those claiming his mantle.
The U.S. did not always have relations with the USSR, though. It was a contentious issue and not until FDR came along did the U.S. formally recognize the USSR in 1933. It would have been pretty difficult for Reagan to meet with Gorbachev (or Eisenhower with Khrushchev, or Nixon with Brezhnev) if they left it to Congress – always worried about appearing weak before Eastern European voters – to decide who gets to meet with who.
Also often left out of that narrative is how badly industrialists like Henry Ford and Fred C. Koch wanted to conduct business with the USSR with the U.S. government’s assurances behind their operations. This is not unlike how we do not hear too much about how Halliburton and the sons of Fred C. Koch have worked to limit U.S. sanctions on Iran.
And, oddly enough for those against economic relations with Iran, economic entanglement did prove to be an effective tool in Washington’s arsenal for contributing to the Soviet collapse. The USSR had become so dependent on Western purchases of its oil (paid for in foreign currency that went to buy grain and service the country’s growing debt servicing) that by the mid-1980s, international oil prices and Soviet mismanagement had severely handicapped one of Moscow’s fiscal cornerstones.
Indeed, the ripple effect of the measures aimed at Iran’s Central Bank (and energy sector) may provoke an international and corporate outcry against the legislation: the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a trade association comprising such titans of globalization as Boeing, Chevron, Microsoft, AIG and Halliburton, opposes the new sanctions, as well as preexisting ones (the NFTC holds that trade liberalization will help prompt reforms in Iran).
I doubt that normal diplomatic relations with Iran may one day come about at the urging of Wal-Mart, but stranger things have happened. Nor am I arguing that such a corporatist path to diplomatic normalization is advisable (i.e., the People’s Republic of China scenario). I am simply noting the inconsistencies displayed by U.S. conservatives, liberals and neoconservatives in dealing with Iran despite our ostensible commitment to “engagement” with the country and “respect” for it’s people.
What we are doing today is not the sort of “containment” we revere when discussing how we kept the Cold War from turning into WWIII. What we are doing today does not even merit a label, because there is no coherent policy, just a series of actions lurching towards an potential regional war that would, if it occured, draw in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Saudi Arabia (the latter two are just itching for preemption).
I imagine the sanctions (if not the Congressional notification for meetings) will become law, especially with the new IAEA report now out. After all, who cares about airline safety, or diplomatic relations?
Or averting a third Gulf War.
Note: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that the Iran Threat Reduction Act had passed the House. It has only been advanced by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Democracy Now correspondent on Gaza flotilla describes Israeli detention
Nov 08, 2011
Adam Horowitz
Israelis respond to Obama snub on Facebook
Nov 08, 2011
Adam Horowitz
Israelis are starting to react to the story that Obama and Sarkozy called Benjamin Netanyahu a liar on the sidelines of a G20 summit. From the U.S. Israeli Embassy’s Facebook page:
There is clearly a campaign going on to post on the Embassy’s Facebook page. Most comments are a version of:
We don’t accept your president insulting our leader
Right and left, we’re all behind our prime minister. Friends don’t insult friends
You can check it out here.
Avigdor Lieberman proposes 45% tax on foreign donations to leftist orgs (no word on funding for settlers from the US)
Nov 08, 2011
Kate
Lieberman proposes tax on foreign contributions to Left
Ynet 8 Nov — Yisrael Beiteinu to demand Ministerial Committee on Legislation discuss proposal to impose 45% tax on foreign donations received by non-profit organizations … In what appears to be an attempt to lure more rightist voters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to support a proposal which calls for imposing restrictions on foreign funding available to leftist organizations in Israel.
And more news from Today in Palestine:
Palestinians drop Migron damages suit
Ynet 8 Nov — Palestinians who sued state over building of West Bank outpost pull suit. Settlers claims plaintiffs failed to establish ownership of the land … Attorney Michael Sfard, for the Palestinian plaintiffs, said that “The owners of the Migron lands have decided to suspend their suit pending a later hearing in March, when they will see whether the State upholds the court order to evict the outpost. The documents proving their ownership of the land have been submitted to the court and the representatives of the settlers, making claims that there is something to hide ridiculous.”
link to www.ynetnews.com
Arab League asks UNESCO to open office in East Jerusalem
PNN 8 Nov — Mohammed Aziz Ben Ashour, the general director of the Arab League Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ALESCO) asked UNESCO on Tuesday to open an office in East Jerusalem to document and protect against attacks on Arab Islamic and Christian heritage.
link to english.pnn.ps
We live here, we exist here / Gary Spedding
PNN 7 Nov — Within the walled enclosure that now surrounds the little town of Bethlehem and its surrounding villages, there can be found up towards the hilltop facing the Mediterranean Sea a small, less famous but still biblical town known as Beit Jala. A once small village with rich Christian history that has lasted to this day, Beit Jala is home to a diverse community of Palestinians. With a majority Orthodox Christian community along with some Catholic and Lutheran Arabs as well as a sizable Muslim population, this peaceful town is known to be the place that the real Saint Nicholas dwelled for a time during the 4th century.
link to english.pnn.ps
Settlers / Rightists
‘Rabin is waiting for you’ spray-painted on leftist’s building
Ynet 8 Nov — The phrases “price tag” and “Rabin is waiting for you” were spray-painted overnight Tuesday near the residence of Peace Now official Hagit Ofran in Jerusalem. Tuesday evening marks the Jewish anniversary of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’sassassination.
The unknown vandals also wrote “Hagit Ofran – zal (of blessed memory)” and “Givat Assaf” – an illegal outpost in the West Bank which is slated for evacuation by the State. The Right is protesting against the planned razing of a number of illegal outposts.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Settlers ‘chop down 30 olive trees’ in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 8 Nov — Israeli settlers chopped down more than 30 trees in Madama village south of Nablus on Monday, a local official said. Village council head Ihab Tahseen said residents from Yitzhar settlement destroyed Palestinian-owned trees and sprayed anti-Arab slogans in Hebrew.
link to www.maannews.net
Israeli forces
Israeli police harass Palestinian car drivers during Adha Eid
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 8 Nov — The Palestinian natives in occupied Jerusalem complained lately, especially during the days of the Adha Eid of being fined arbitrarily by Israeli policemen and municipal inspectors for alleged traffic violations. Many Palestinian car drivers and pedestrians reported that Israeli policemen and municipal inspectors were stalking them in all traffic areas in the holy city, in an attempt to fine them directly, sometimes without any reason and other times without giving any traffic direction or guidance as it is normally followed by policemen in other countries.
link to Palestinian Information Center
Witnesses: Israel erects flying checkpoints in Nablus
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 8 Nov — Israeli forces on Monday erected flying checkpoints around Nablus in the northern West Bank, witnesses said. Soldiers were searching cars and checking identity cards at checkpoints put up in Beita village, at the entrance of Yitzhar road and east of Nablus city, locals told Ma‘an. Abdul Abu Reeda told Ma‘an soldiers detained his nephew Ayoub, 25, at a flying checkpoint between Nablus and Huwwara. Ayoub was taken to an unknown destination, his uncle added.
link to www.maannews.net
Activism
PSCC organizes Palestinian ‘Freedom Rides’ on settler buses next week
PNN 8 Nov — …The rides, planned for the afternoon of November 15 and beginning in Ramallah, are being promoted as an act of civil disobedience protesting Israeli access restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank. Ten of eleven major West Bank cities have at least one entrance blocked off and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says there are currently 522 checkpoints in the territory.“The Freedom Riders seek to highlight Israel’s attempts to illegally sever occupied East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, and the apartheid system that Israel has imposed on Palestinians in the occupied territories,” according to the press release. The riders will “attempt to board” buses on the 15th, but there is no precedent suggesting they will be allowed or prohibited. link to english.pnn.ps
Freedom Waves flotilla
Video: Democracy Now! correspondent on Gaza flotilla describes Israeli detention
Mondo 8 Nov — Democracy Now! correspondent Jihan Hafiz was among those detained in the Israeli interception of the Gaza-bound ships despite her press credentials. While jailed, Hafiz says an Iraeli official told her, “the Israeli government does not see my reporting, or Democracy Now!’s, as reporting, as journalism. It’s to them activism. They said that this form of journalism is actually activism.” Hafiz had been filing daily reports for Democracy Now! from the Canadian ship named “Tahrir.” She spent three nights behind bars, where she was strip-searched and denied phone calls to relatives for 48 hours.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/democracy-now-correspondent-on-gaza-flotilla-describes-israeli-detention.html
Reporters without Borders condemns arrest of 5 journalists aboard flotilla
PARIS (WAFA) 8 Nov — Reporters Without Borders firmly condemned on Tuesday the arrest of five journalists who were aboard two Gaza-bound solidarity vessels, according to a press release … The five journalists were Lina Attalah of the English-language version of the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, Casey Kauffmann of Al-Jazeera English, Ayman Al-Zubair of Al-Jazeera, Jihan Hafiz of New-York-based Democracy Now! and Hassan Ghani of Press TV, the Iranian government’s English-language TV news station. Three of the journalists, Attalah, Kauffmann and Al-Zubair, were deported from Israel the next day. None of Attalah’s equipment, which had been taken by the Israeli navy, was returned to her. Hafiz, who is American, and Ghani, who is British, are still being held, the release said.
link to english.wafa.ps
Gaza
Siege of Gaza / Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Hurriyet 7 Nov — As I was watching an Internet video that related the story of Gazan fishermen, the word “tragicomic” rolled off my lips. Every tragedy unfortunately spawns its own comedy. This video showed us a fishing trip of a Gazan fisherman who cast his anchor even though he was only halfway through his tea, which he drank from his narrow tea glass. It turned out he had already reached the maritime boundaries drawn by Israel. Fishermen can only venture about 6 km off of the coast. Thus began the tragic comedy. As I was waiting for the fisherman to throw in his fishing lines and nets, he wore the top half of a wetsuit and underwater goggles. He then jumped into the water with his jeans on … Since they have been entrapped inside this tiny coastal strip and are barred from venturing out into the open sea, they have already depleted the fish stocks, of course. Now they dive in and hunt for the fish that are swimming between rocks and inside sea caves. To adapt, the fishermen have evolved into free-divers.
link to www.hurriyetdailynews.com
Discrimination
Parliamentarians slam no-women policy at radio station
JPost 8 Nov — The Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women held a stormy hearing on Monday on a policy of the independent haredi radio station Kol Berama that prevents women from working as radio broadcasters and from being interviewed on the station’s programs. The session, held at the request of MK Uri Orbach (Habayit Hayehudi), was attended by a number of MKs, including committee chairwoman MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), MK Yisrael Eichler (United Torah Judaism) and Orbach, as well as Kol Berama broadcaster Avi Mimran and Shai Ben-Maor, a representative of the station’s owners.
“The voice of our matriarch Rachel, after whom Kol Berama is named, would not be able to be heard on this station,” Orbach declared.
link to www.jpost.com
Most of Israel’s expendable workers are women / Merav Michaeli
Haaretz 8 Nov — As usual, discussions about subcontracted work, phrased in masculine plural in Hebrew, euphemistically disguise the fact that as in the cases of teachers or social workers, the people in question are exploited women laborers. These women workers earn starvation wages, and are treated like merchandise by their employers.
link to www.haaretz.com
Political news
Fund transfer to PA to be renewed
Ynet 8 Nov 07:54 — Israel is likely to renew its funds transfer to the Palestinian Authority following the US Congress’ decision to unfreeze some $200 million in Palestinian security assistance, Jerusalem sources told Ynet on Monday. Israel collects about $100 million in various taxes on behalf of the PA, which it transfers to Ramallah on a monthly basis. The transfer was suspended following the PA’s pursuit of full membership in UNESCO.
link to www.ynetnews.com
Lieberman rejects Germany’s request to free up Palestinian tax money
Haaretz 8 Nov 01:44 — Lieberman tells German FM Guido Westerwelle sanctions on Palestinians are necessary because of unilateral steps they were taking, senior FM officials says
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/lieberman-rejects-germany-s-request-to-free-up-palestinian-tax-money-1.394261
No consensus on Palestinian UN bid
UNITED NATIONS (AP) 8 Nov — U.N. diplomats say a report summing up the views of Security Council members on the Palestinian application for U.N. membership concludes there is no consensus among the 15 members. The four-page report says the council is divided between those who support Palestinian membership, those who can’t support it now and therefore would abstain, and those who believe the application doesn’t meet the criteria for membership and oppose it, according to diplomats. Portugal’s U.N. Ambassador Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral, the current council president, sent the report to the committee on admissions Tuesday morning, the diplomats said … The committee, including all 15 members, will discuss the report Friday.
link to www.waaytv.com
Quartet to meet Israelis, Palestinians on November 14: US
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 8 Nov — Envoys of the “Quartet” of Middle East peace mediators will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials on November 14 in Jerusalem, their latest effort to jump-start the stalled peace process, the State Department said on Tuesday. “We expect these will again be Quartet envoy meetings with the parties separately,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing, saying the meetings would seek to encourage both sides to offer concrete proposals on land and security concerns.
link to www.cnbc.com
Other news
Reporters confirm Sarkozy’s ‘Bibi slip’
Ynet 8 Nov — World media takes interest in French, American presidents’ G20 faux pas, which made their private views of Israeli PM embarrassingly public … Sarkozy was overheard as saying that he “could not stand” Netanyahu and that he believed him to be “a liar.” According to the report, Obama replied: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”
link to www.ynetnews.com
Bibitours: Overseas trips involved 30 Knesset ethics violations / Richard Silverstein
8 Nov — Between 1999-2008 Bibi Netanyah and his family took scores of overseas trips which were paid for, at least in part, by private individuals or Jewish advocacy groups. There are explicit ethics rules for ministers and Knesset members to follow in financing these trips. He took scores of such trips and among them Drucker found at least 30 violations of the guidelines. A member must receive permission to take such trips and report who will be funding them. The trips must be solely for State-related business. He must also report who, if anyone, is joining him and who is funding their trip. In some cases, Bibi got proper permission, in some he didn’t. In some cases, he got permission for himself but not for his wife and family. In such cases, the member is supposed to pay out of his own pocket for unapproved family members. On no account, may private individuals or organizations pay for the expenses of someone who hasn’t been approved. This happened multiple times.
link to www.richardsilverstein.com
Israeli planes violate Lebanese airspace
PressTV 8 Nov — Six Israeli planes have reportedly entered Lebanese airspace in violation of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1701. The Lebanese army issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that two Israeli reconnaissance aircraft violated Lebanese airspace over the southern village of Ramish at 6:20 a.m. local time (0420 GMT). The two Israeli planes left the Lebanese airspace at 1:50 p.m. local time (1150 GMT). Four Israeli warplanes also entered Lebanese airspace over the southern village of Kfar Kila at 10:00 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Tuesday, and circled over the region before they left the airspace from above the southern town of Alma at 11:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT). Israel violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis.
link to www.presstv.ir
Gaza doctor tragedy central in Israeli stage show
ACRE, Israel (Reuters) 8 Nov — An Israeli mother-and-daughter play performed at a recent theater festival climaxed with the tale of the killing of a Gaza doctor’s family, a 2009 event that brought the Israeli-Palestinian conflict deep into Israeli living rooms. “Explosive: War tourism” culminated with the sounds of an audio recording of Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish’s cries, heard live at the time on Israeli TV, as he pleaded in a phone call to an Israeli reporter friend asking him to get the army to stop shooting at his house. Three of Abuelaish’s daughters and a niece were killed by a tank shell during Israel’s December 2008-January 2009 offensive in the Gaza Strip.
link to news.yahoo.com
Iran
Rattling sabers and beating drums: Fear-mongering over nuclear Iran reaches fever-pitch / Nima Shirazi
Mondo 8 Nov — NOTE: It has been over ten months since I wrote “The Phantom Menace: Fantasies, Falsehoods, and Fear-Mongering about Iran’s Nuclear Program“, a timeline of false U.S., Israeli, and European assertions regarding the supposed inevitability and immediacy of a nuclear-armed Iran, hysterical allegations that have been made repeatedly for the past thirty years. Whenever new predictions and claims about Iran’s nuclear program are released, I have added updates to my original piece. To read all past updates, click here. Culled from the past few months, here are some [of] the latest.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/rattling-sabers-beating-drums-fear-mongering-over-nuclear-iran-reaches-a-fever-pitch.html
Russia: Swift Iran sanctions ‘serious mistake’
AFP 7 Nov — FM Lavrov urges int’l community to continue talks with Islamic Republic, says military strike would be ‘catastrophic.’ Israeli politician: Delivery of S-300s may compel attack
link to www.ynetnews.com
IAEA confirms Iran worked on building nuclear bomb
Reuters/JPost 8 Nov — UN nuclear watchdog report finds Iran carried out testing relevant for nuclear weapons; US says it needs time to study report before taking further steps; Israel handed IAEA intelligence for report.
link to www.jpost.com
“No ‘smoking gun’ in IAEA report on Iran”
Ynet 8 Nov — Diplomats say that while UN’s nuclear watchdog’s report on Iran will offer an abundance of evidence as to military nature of its nuclear work, it still lacks truly damning proof … Diplomatic sources told the Daily Telegraph that a fifth round of international sanctions was “not a slam dunk,” mostly because Russia and China are likely to oppose them. “The current sanctions already cover Iran’s nuclear program and military industries,” a UN source told the Daily Telegraph. “Pursuing more sanctions would mean going after oil and gas resources, which Russia and China won’t abide.”
link to www.ynetnews.com
Iran vows to pursue nuclear program despite speculation of Israeli plans to attack
DPA 8 Nov — Ahmadinejad advises U.S. and Israel to ‘stop and be ashamed’, as media frenzy debates consideration of military option; Iran president says UN nuclear agency chief is an American pawn … Ahmadinejad was speaking ahead of the publication Wednesday of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], which is expected to disclose new details of Iranian efforts to build a computer model of a nuclear warhead. Western nuclear experts have told Haaretz, in anticipation of the IAEA report, that Iran will be ready to build a nuclear bomb within a few months if it desires. Israel, the U.S. and some other Western countries were awaiting the release of the report before considering harsher steps against Tehran, while media reports have speculated that Israel may launch a military attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.
link to www.haaretz.com
Iranian nuclear program has no military dimension, Salehi says
Tehran (IRNA) 8 Nov — Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday that Iran has no weapons program and there is no document to prove military dimension for Iranian nuclear program. He told a western media reporter while arriving in Yerevan, Armenia that the International Atomic Energy Agency director general Yukiya Amano has documented his report on counterfeit evidences at the behest of Washington.
link to www.irna.ir
‘Kill one of us and we’ll kill dozens of you’, Iranian army commander warns US
AFP 8 Nov — Iran will kill “dozens” of U.S. military commanders for each Iranian commander murdered, if covert hits urged by two U.S. defense analysts last month are carried out, a senior Iranian military chief warned on Tuesday … In remarks directed to the U.S. military, he stressed “you must not forget that American commanders are present and travel around in Afghanistan, Iraq and regional countries.” His comments referred to October 26 testimony by two hawkish U.S. military experts to a U.S. congressional committee looking at possible ways to hit back at Iran for an alleged plot by Iranian officials to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. In that session, a retired four-star general who helped plan the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, Jack Keane, and a former CIA agent, Reuel Marc Gerecht, argued for the targeted, covert murders of Revolutionary Guards officers.
link to www.alarabiya.net
‘Not even 500 Israelis will be killed’
PressTV 8 Nov — Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak has dismissed as “delusional” recent reports regarding the increasing possibility of Tel Aviv launching a military strike against Iran. “Israel had not yet decided to embark on any operation,” Barak said on Tuesday. “War is not a picnic. We want a picnic. We don’t want a war,” Reuters quoted Barak as saying. Barak also criticized reports suggesting that as many as 100,000 Israelis could be killed if Iran attacks Israel in retaliation against Tel Aviv aggression. “There will not be 100,000 casualties, and not 50,000 casualties, not 5,000 casualties and not even 500,” Barak said.
link to www.presstv.ir
U.S.
Justices wary of bid by American born in Jerusalem
AP 8 Nov — The Supreme Court on Monday waded warily into Middle Eastern politics and a dispute between Congress and the president in the case of a 9-year-old Jerusalem-born American who wants his passport to say he was born in Israel. The justices appeared unlikely to rule for Menachem Zivotofsky, whose family sued the government after State Department officials refused to list Israel as his place of birth in his American passport .. The Obama administration says the passport policy is in line with longstanding U.S. foreign policy that says the status of Jerusalem should be resolved in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But Congress passed a law in 2002 seeking to give Americans born there the right to have Israel listed as their birthplace. The justices seemed reluctant to question the administration’s position that the law was an improper congressional attempt to speak for the country on foreign policy.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/08/176020.html
Another Eid in Guantánamo Bay / Jeb Sprague
AJ 8 Nov — As the Middle East – and Muslims around the world – complete the celebration of Eid al Adha, it is important to remember that there are almost 200 men who just “celebrated” their tenth Eid behind bars in the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, with no end in sight to their imprisonment. Two of those men are my clients, Kuwaiti citizens Fawzi al Odah and Fayiz al Kandari. Both are being held in “indefinite detention without trial”, a category previously unknown under US law until it was adopted by the Obama administration, despite President Obama’s claims that he wants to close Guantánamo. There are many tragic mysteries about Guántanamo, but the one that puzzles me most is why these two Kuwaitis remain there. Obama administration officials say that they would like to release more prisoners, but cannot find countries to accept them. Yet the government of Kuwait, at the highest levels, has repeatedly asked President Obama and the US government to return the Kuwaiti citizens.
http://english.aljazeera.net//indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011118131517244568.html
Clinton: US interests sometimes clash with Mideast reform
WASHINGTON (Reuters) 7 Nov – U.S. interests sometimes clash with its support for democracy in the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged Monday, but she said democratic freedoms were the best guarantee of stability in the long run.
In a speech on Washington’s response to the Arab Spring that toppled several U.S. allies, Clinton implicitly faulted the military council that succeeded former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for moving too slowly on elections.
She also acknowledged that the United States sometimes deals differently with pro-democracy movements, saying no two situations are the same and that diverging U.S. interests sometimes force it to adopt varying stances.
link to old.news.yahoo.com
groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi (listserv)
www.theheadlines.org (archive)
From the American South to the West Bank: A Freedom Rider bears witness to human rights in Israel/Palestine
Nov 08, 2011
Rabbi Brant Rosen
On November 15, Palestinian activists will attempt to board segregated Israeli settler public transport headed to occupied East Jerusalem in an act of civil disobedience inspired by the Freedom Riders of the US Civil Rights Movement.
Fifty years after the US Freedom Riders staged mixed-race bus rides through the roads of the segregated American South, Palestinian Freedom Riders will be asserting their right for liberty and dignity by disrupting the military regime of the Occupation through peaceful civil disobedience. Organizers say this ride to demand liberty, equality, and access to Jerusalem is the first of many to come.
Ta’anit Tzedek – Jewish Fast for Gaza will stand in solidarity with the West Bank Freedom Riders with a very special conference call on the day of the demonstration. Please join us Tuesday, November 15 at 12 pm Eastern Time to join our conversation with Ellen Broms, one of the original Freedom Riders for civil rights in the American South and currently an activist for a just peace in Israel/Palestine.
During our call, Ms. Broms will talk about her own experiences as an activist/demonstrator for civil rights in the 1960′s and why her activism has led her to take a stand on behalf of Palestinian human and civil rights.
Ellen Broms is a retired state worker who resides in Sacramento, CA. Her involvement in the civil rights movement began when, as a student at Los Angeles City College, she demonstrated at Woolworth lunch counters in support of similar sit-ins by students in the South.
In June 1961, Ms. Brom attended a freedom rally at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the keynote speech. After hearing a freedom rider speak, she was inspired to participate in the rides herself. On August 11, Ms. Brom was arrested with other freedom riders after they sat down and demonstrated in a Houston coffee shop.
In her words:
The police arrived, having been summoned by the owner and we were charged with unlawful assembly and taken to the Houston city jail. We were fingerprinted, mugged, and classified at the city jail and then transferred to the Harris County Jail. Ironically, I was booked as a “Negro” because of my dark hair and complexion. We declined to state “race” and they classified me as “High Yellow”. Marjorie, a very fair skinned, green eyed female rider of African American descent was classified and booked as white. I was placed in the “tank” for black women and Marjorie went to the white women’s tank. If we did nothing else during that ride, we did succeed in briefly integrating the jail.
After spending eight days in jail, Ms. Brom was released. The riders were found guilty of “unlawful assembly” by an all-white jury and fined $100 each. Their case was eventually appealed to a higher court and overturned.
Ellen Broms has since been honored by Congress, the state of Texas and the city of Houston for risking incarceration and violence as a Freedom Rider. She continues to work as an activist for peace and justice, particularly in the area of a just peace in Israel/Palestine. She is actively involved in the Sacramento branch of Jewish Voice for Peace and is campaigning on behalf of the West Bank Freedom Riders.
To participate in the call:
Dial Access Number: 1.800.920.7487
Enter Participant Code: 92247763#
There will be opportunities for questions and answers during the call.
Please click here for more information about how you can get involved in support of the West Bank Freedom Riders. Please share this information with others you think may be interested in participating.
We looking forward to your joining the call!
Spinozapalooza! Jewish leader says American Jewish community must kick out anyone who supports boycott
Nov 08, 2011
Philip Weiss
Let’s purge, baby! From Aluf Benn’s blog at the Jewish Federations in Denver.
Barry Schrage, Chairman of Combined Jewish Philanthropies: Community is not that polarized. Any rabbi who refuses to talk about Israel is a coward. There is no room in the community for people who support BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions)