NOVANEWS
- social-climbing for nationalists
- ‘In the spirit of humanity!’ –a look at the MV Rachel Corrie
- Goldstone vindicated by flotilla attack as Israel faces another UN investigation
- Obtuse NYT editorial portrays courageous humanitarian mission as human sacrifice
- Israel’s war against non-violence
- ‘Huffpo’ stakes out new frontier in the liberal discourse (Welcome home, Barney!!!!!!!)
- Israel censors the news, again
- Drive-by settlers, and other news
- Did Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman provoke and incite their murderers in Philadelphia, MI?
- Anywhere but here: ‘Haaretz’ prints another Israeli rightwinger talking one-state
social-climbing for nationalists Posted: 02 Jun 2010 |
‘In the spirit of humanity!’ –a look at the MV Rachel Corrie Posted: 02 Jun 2010 |
Goldstone vindicated by flotilla attack as Israel faces another UN investigation Posted: 02 Jun 2010
Richard Goldstone told Newsweek magazine in a May 27th interview that he “doubts” Israel will ever launch another “Operation Cast Lead”-type assault because of the ramifications of his report. Goldstone told Dan Ephron that Israeli military lawyers are “on notice more than they were. If it achieves nothing else, I think it’s worth that.”
We can only hope that Goldstone is right. But how many more “Operation Mini Cast Leads” (as Gideon Levy put it) will there be? The Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla has vindicated Goldstone’s report and his central claim that Israel used disproportionate force and deliberately attacked civilians in the Gaza assault—just as Israel, albeit on a much smaller scale, did in the massacre aboard the flotilla. Israel is now facing another international, United Nations-led independent investigation of the events that led to the killing of at least 9 people and the injury of dozens more aboard the Mavi Marmara. The U.N. Human Rights Council lopsidedly passed a resolution today that authorizes “an independent international fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law, including international humanitarian aid and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance.” The resolution passed with 32 countries voting in favor, 9 abstaining, and 3 voting against: the United States, Canada and Holland. Once again, the United States has proven that it’s on the wrong side of history. The U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights Council said that the U.S. opposed the resolution because “it creates an international mechanism before giving the responsible government the opportunity to investigate the incident itself.” What a joke. Israel has already had ample opportunity to investigate themselves after the Goldstone report called for independent, impartial investigations, but they have failed. Here’s an excerpt from an April 2010 Human Rights Watch report titled “Turning a Blind Eye: Impunity for Laws-of-War Violations during the Gaza War”:
There’s nothing more to say. This time won’t be different. The Obama administration is completely out of touch with reality. |
Obtuse NYT editorial portrays courageous humanitarian mission as human sacrifice Posted: 02 Jun 201
Today the New York Times editorial board weighs in on the disaster at sea. Here’s a brief look at its more notable statements. The editorial leads with the following:
This makes it seem like the flotilla organizers intended to provoke the violent Israeli response. This is a gross distortion of the Gaza Freedom March statement, which accurately noted that Israel was preparing a violent response, and merely tried to foresee a positive outcome whether or not Israel followed through. There is not a shred of evidence that the flotilla organizers intended anything other than humanitarian aid. They forced the issue; either Israel would have to allow the goods to pass through, or it would have to use force to stop it. Both responses would have negative consequences, as Israel would be hard-pressed to justify its interception of humanitarian goods when it was conducting a blockade. |
Israel’s war against non-violence Posted: 02 Jun 2010
Today, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, praising the Shayetet 13 commandos who slaughtered at least nine humanitarian activists on board the Mavi Marmara, said:
A year ago President Obama declared in Cairo:
But if the violence is being committed by Israelis then it is all too evident that this particular world leader lacks the courage and moral conviction to speak out.
Radical Islamist groups — the hobgoblins of the Israeli psyche have also enfeebled the judgement of most Americans. Raise the specter of such a threat and the rational mind freezes.
This is cross-posted at Woodward’s site, War in Context. |
‘Huffpo’ stakes out new frontier in the liberal discourse (Welcome home, Barney!!!!!!!) Posted: 02 Jun 2010
I have been in despair about the lack of angry response to the flotilla in the American liberal discourse. Well, take heart: at this moment (11), seven of the 25 blogs on the Huffington front page are about Israel and the lame U.S. response; all but one (by Dershowitz) are highly critical of Israel–impressive showing by Zogby, Clemons, others. The contrast with the Times and Washington Post is remarkable. The main Huffpo headline is Barney Frank saying that
“as a Jew” he’s ashamed of the treatment of Palestinians. A Boston Herald interview, foreshadowed by Jeff Halper on Mondo a few weeks back when he said that Barney would let loose if he only thought he had political cover. Does Barney feel he has political cover? Oh wow, this is awesome. Awesome. Celebrate Barney Frank, celebrate the shift. From the Herald:
Liberalism. Coming home. |
Israel censors the news, again Posted: 02 Jun 2010
Israel may have botched its raid on the Gaza Flotilla, but it is still successfully deploying its time-honored news management practices — as outlined by the Dutch journalist, Joris Luyendijk, in his impressive book, People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East.
The London Financial Times provides its readers with an entire article documenting the Israeli strategy. The reporter, Tobias Buck, explains:
Let’s look and see how The New York Times handled the same story. In my print edition, I had to read down to the 11th paragraph before I discovered,
This is a nice euphemism for “Illegally arresting hundreds of people on the high seas, killing at least 9 of them, detaining the rest unlawfully for several days, and not permitting scores of international journalists who were on the scene to listen to their side of the story.” |
Drive-by settlers, and other news Posted: 02 Jun 2010 07:56 AM PDT
My “Today in Palestine” news links. Don’t miss the two Palestinian pedestrians killed in the West Bank by Israelis speeding by on settlers-only roads:
Land Theft/Destruction & Ethnic Cleansing Gaza Flotilla March on Saturday June 5th. Assemble Downing Street, London @ 1:30PM
Political Fallout Turkey wants US condemnation of Israeli raid (AP) Palestinian-Israelis from Gaza Flotilla Face Extended Detention
Iran’s Press TV reporter missing after Israeli attack on aid convoy: report Iraq’s north says villagers flee Iranian shelling SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, June 1 (Reuters) – Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region said on Tuesday dozens of families had been displaced in days of shelling by Iranian forces pursuing Kurdish rebels in the border region. |
Did Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman provoke and incite their murderers in Philadelphia, MI? Posted: 02 Jun 2010
Tracking the American liberal discourse’s failure on the flotilla raid, it is important to note that Brian Lehrer, the cerebral conscience of the New York public radio station, WNYC, today did an interview with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of England on his new book about Jews and Israel. So a conservative Zionist was given a platform to defend Israel’s attack on the boat.
(How’d Lehrer have done with the killings of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, freedom riders who died in 1963?) Lehrer brought up some good questions. He asked about the inhuman blockade, without quoting the many legal opinions that it is collective punishment. He halfway valorized criticisms of Israel that come from “anti-Zionists” and asked whether these were anti-Semitic. Sacks said it was anti-Semitic when people attack The Jews for supporting Israel. So they take credit for anti-Zionist Jews, as proving diversity, when neither Sacks nor Lehrer gives a platform to an anti-Zionist Jew. No, anti-Zionist Jews and non-Zionist Jews are excommunicated by the Jewish leadership. I challenge you, Brian, if you are bragging on that diversity, to honor it: and let your listeners hear from these people. Amy Goodman does so all the time. She puts on Naomi Klein and Norman Finkelstein. Al Jazeera put me on last week. BBC put me on last month. Russian TV put Norman on yesterday. Lehrer read from a Tom Friedman op-ed today that criticized the Israeli attack mutedly. This is how Lehrer seems to express his own discomfort with the Israeli violence, Tom Friedman. When Israel is in a crisis stemming from a simple fact: the government does not represent half the people who are under its governance. |
Anywhere but here: ‘Haaretz’ prints another Israeli rightwinger talking one-state Posted: 02 Jun 2010
Moshe Arens, a rightwing Israeli hawk, has joined Reuven Rivlin, speaker of the Knesset, in endorsing a one-state solution that absorbs the West Bank. At the link, Jerry Haber points out that they want to disgorge Gaza but congratulates the right for thinking outside the box. Arens wrote in Haaretz:
I believe the figure is closer to 2.5 million. But what is exciting about Arens’s statement, following on Rivlin’s, is that the right is thinking creatively about a dire crisis faced by Israeli society. And who else is thinking creatively? Who else is publishing this sort of idea? Certainly not liberal Zionists in the United States, who can’t even call for a return to the ’67 lines to save the Jewish state of ancient memory. The right is actually willing to take action/some risk with enfranchising Palestinians who are now under occupation and tyrannized. The Israeli right is thus far closer to Ali Abunimah’s idea that Israel/Palestine should become a… are you sitting down? …. a democracy. |