Mondoweiss Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

Judge delays ruling on Khader Adnan, now in his 56th day of hunger strike

Feb 10, 2012

 Allison Deger

Ofer Khader Adnan
Solidarity hunger strike outside Ofer prison. (Photo: Oren Ziv/Active Stills)

Yesterday, an Israeli judge postponed a decision for hunger striker Khader Adnan’s final appeal in the military court system, which was heard in his hospital room. The judge requested more documents as the reason for the delay in either ordering a continuation of Adnan’s administrative detention, or possible release from Israeli custody.

The unusual trial was held in Zeif Hospital and media were not permitted on site. Currently, Adnan is held without charge, based on secret evidence the prosecution has not disclosed to the political prisoner or his legal representation. However, the prosecution previously noted that the current evidence against Adnan as so-called leader in Islamic Jihad is not sufficient to press charges against the hunger striker.

Adnan’s case sits at an impasse. It is unknown when the Israeli judge will make release a decision on the hunger striker’s appeal. In the absence of judicial release, human rights organizations and activist are petitioning for his release, and pressuring news agencies to cover Adnan’s detention.

The Israel Lobby on campus in Illinois: A challenge for BDS

Feb 10, 2012 

 David Green

I only recently learned of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s trip to Israel this past summer (2011) for a “week-long educational mission where he sealed two important agreements and received briefings from high-ranking Israeli officials, academic experts and business leaders on topics ranging from high-tech development (read Motorola), energy, water conservation and environmentalism (sic) to disaster preparedness, Iran, and U.S.-Israel relations.” This is reported on the website of Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. The reader is expected, of course, to find the high-minded and triumphant tone of this article to be unproblematic.

The article states: “The Governor’s educational visit was part of a JUF initiative that, for the past two decades, has brought influential leaders to Israel.” Quinn signed a “formal agreement on academic cooperation between Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to establish a wide-ranging partnership. The agreement will promote faculty and student exchanges, joint research, and other academic activities of mutual interest. The agreement greatly expands the existing relationship between the universities in the field of public health.”

Beyond principled opposition to such academic agreements between our public universities and those of the apartheid Jewish state, it’s important to note that the academic merit and social outcomes of such agreements are obviously limited by the political context that provokes fundamental opposition from advocates of social justice. In relation to Motorola, for example, it’s impossible to believe that there will be public discussion promoting the public interest regarding military applications in general or surveillance technology in particular.

Similarly, such an agreement cannot conceivably promote consideration of fundamental and historical water resource and environmental degradation issues pertaining to political conflict between Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. It’s also highly unlikely that the essentially political nature of such an academic agreement would allow or encourage researchers to address the public health concerns of Palestinians, either as citizens of Israel or in the occupied territories; nor would they likely address, for example, the conditions of African immigrants in Israel who find themselves increasingly despised and unwanted.

A biased and discriminatory political agenda, dictated and limited by Israeli state interests and U.S. hegemonic interests in the region, is thus inevitably part and parcel of such academic agreements. The public university and its scholarly and scientific reputation is commandeered and exploited by the Israel Lobby in order to serve and legitimize that agenda.

Beyond this particular “academic exchange,” my perspective is informed by the principles of the BDS movement and the challenges inevitably presented to the movement by the Israel Lobby’s incessant pressure on public officials and institutions at all levels. As a long-term resident of Illinois and employee of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), I have been a journalist and activist regarding the manner in which Jewish and Zionist institutions have come to occupy the putatively public space of our public university—clearly to the detriment of dignity and justice for the Palestinians, as well as informed discussion in a democratic and scholarly context of the Israel/Palestine issue.

Continuing from an article that I wrote for Electronic Intifada in 2009, I argue here that the developments noted above constitute egregious extensions of the Zionist infrastructure that has been promoted by the Israel Lobby in state government in general and in public higher education in Illinois. I would hope that this opportunistic, outrageous, and cynical agreement between Governor Quinn and Israeli officials creates a critical mass of awareness and potential activism within and beyond the BDS movement in Illinois. I would hope to see a clear response to the manner in which the Lobby feels entitled to self-righteously promote—without objection—what are repugnant and sectarian political interests in state politics and higher education—disingenuously and transparently framed in terms of technological, scientific, and economic development.

From my perspective as a Jewish pro-Palestinian activist in Urbana-Champaign, I have observed two primary developments: first, the establishment of a privately-funded Program for Jewish Culture and Society two decades ago and its attendant moral emphasis on the Holocaust and Jewish victimization in general; second, the use of PJCS as an institutional and moral umbrella for an Israel Lobby-funded and baldly propagandistic“Israel Studies Project,” which has moreover been clearly racist in its exclusion of Palestinian Israelis from its purview.

Blatant conflicts of interest regarding PJCS in relation to the Israel Lobby were obvious from the start, and dovetail with Governor Quinn’s junket. The promoters of PJCS were two professors with prominent positions in local Jewish institutions—religious, secular, and Zionist. One professor, Michael Shapiro, is the father of Daniel Shapiro, current U.S. ambassador to Israel.

In 2004, Michael Shapiro worked closely with Michael Kotzin, JUF Executive Vice President, to fund the Israel Studies Project, part of a state-wide effort by the Israel Lobby at both public and private universities. Kotzin wrote in the Forward in 2004 that the “manner in which Israel and the Middle East are taught about in the nation’s university classrooms has increasingly come to the fore as one of the most difficult and far-reaching challenges facing the Jewish community.” In translation, this is to say that the Lobby needs to take serious measures to intervene in academia to promote Israel’s interests, in response to students who are increasingly enlightened regarding the plight of the Palestinians.

Kotzin, a long-time Lobby apparatchik in Chicago, accompanied Governor Quinn to Israel, commenting “It is particularly gratifying to be here with Gov. Quinn today when that partnership moves to a new level.” Quinn’s group was addressed in Israel by Ambassador Shapiro, who tellingly “called his address to the group ‘his first official duty’ after arriving the day before to assume his responsibilities as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.”

I would add that the Urbana campus has also procured, for the past two academic years, a visiting Jewish-Israeli professor of Israel Studies whose position is by no means disinterestedly funded by the Schusterman Family Foundation and the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “The aim of the program is to present American students with a broad understanding of Israel’s history, society, politics, culture and relations with its neighbors and the broader international community.” In plainer language, the aim of this program—as of the Israel Studies Project at UIUC and the broader Israel Studies movement in general—is to promote a sanitized version of Zionism, Israel, and Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians. The current visiting professor at the Urbana Campus, Rhona Seidelman, has well-served this purpose.

It is unacceptable that a visiting professor essentially hired by the Israel Lobby is charged with teaching the one class offered at UIUC on the history of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Perhaps needless to say, UIUC has never hired a professor of Palestinian or Arab background specifically in relation to teaching and research regarding the topic of Israel/Palestine. Regarding any other oppressed minority, it would be unheard of for faculty members to be bought and paid for by interests promoting and justifying such oppression. But in the case of the Israel Lobby on campus, it is business as usual. At UIUC and other campuses in Illinois, the Lobby has de facto attempted to limit the institutional space within which Palestinian perspectives can be understood and legitimized.

The political proficiency and resources of the Israel Lobby in Illinois and elsewhere present formidable challenges to pro-Palestinian and BDS activists. Nevertheless, popular support for Israel, including among Jews and on campuses, is at an all-time low. The recent and welcome radicalization of the notion of “occupy,” combined with the principles and goals of the BDS movement, suggests assertive and persistent responses to Lobby business as usual on campus and in state government.

Norcal Activists take on Veolia

Feb 10, 2012

Deppen Webber

veolia graffiti
(Photo: ISM Sweden)

The North Coast Coalition for Palestine  in the San Francisco North Bay are preparing to present a letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors opposing the county’s contract with Veolia. The French multinational company currently operates the county’s bus system and has come under international pressure due to its involvement in a light rail line in Occupied East Jerusalem. Activists plans to collect signatures and present the letter to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Recently Palestinian Freedom Riders challenged Israeli laws banning Palestinians from riding on Israeli-only bus lines. The action draws the parallel between segregated buses in the US and the current situation in Palestine.

 

The full text of the letter is below. Sonoma County residents are encouraged to sign. Other comments are encouraged and can be directed to the county here.

Open Letter to Sonoma County Board of Supervisors concerning SCTA Veolia contract

As residents of Sonoma County we are asking the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to reconsider Sonoma County’s transportation contract with Veolia unless it stops aiding and abetting human rights violations by the Israeli government in the occupied West Bank of Palestine.

The French company, Veolia, which operates the Sonoma County Transit buses under a contract with the county, also operates buses that carry Israeli citizens between Jerusalem and illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine’s West Bank. This is in direct violation of international law which has declared these settlements to be illegal.

Seven hundred thousand Israelis now live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in Jewish-only settlements. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the settlements as an obstacle to peace. The last six U.S. administrations have taken similar stances and President Carter has described the situation as apartheid.

According to Israeli Human Rights organization, B’Tselem, there are 144 miles of roads in the Occupied West Bank that, “Israel classified for the sole, or almost sole, use of Israelis, primarily of settlers. Israel also prohibits Palestinians from even crossing some of these roads with vehicles, thereby restricting their access to nearby roads that they are ostensibly not prohibited from using. In these cases, Palestinians travelers have to get out of the vehicle, cross the road on foot, and find an alternative mode of transportation on the other side.”

In 2005 Palestinian civil society called for the boycott of companies that profit from, or are complicit in, the occupation of Palestine. As a result ,Veolia has lost several contracts with government agencies and other public institutions.

In 2008 Matthijs Bierman, the director ot the Dutch Bank Triodos, announced that the bank will not invest in Veolia, comparing this new policy to the bank’s past divestment targeting apartheid South Africa.

In 2009 the Stockholm Community Council in Sweden announced that Veolia, which had operated the subways in Stockholm County for 10 years, had lost its contract.

In December 2010 the monitoring network Banktrack noted that financial investment in Veolia is “risky” because of its illegal activities in the OPT based upon Veolia’s violations of international law.

In November 2011 Veolia was removed from selection for construction of a waste treatment facility in South London worth £ 1 billion. Again, in 2011, Cambridge University students voted to break a contract with Veolia because of Veolia’s connection to Israeli human rights abuses. Jewish student Daniel Benjamin, who was involved in the campaign, said, “With this vote, Cambridge students make a strong statement against Veolia’s criminal actions in the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories).

Sonoma County Transit Authority has a contract with Veolia. Citing human rights violations, and discrimination based on race and religion, we, as Sonoma County residents, are requesting that Sonoma County officials work with Veolia to discontinue its contract in Palestine, or face possible termination of its contract with Sonoma County Transit.

Fight for academic freedom continues with MESA support for Marc Ellis

Feb 10, 2012

Allison Deger and Adam Horowitz

Marc Ellis
Prof. Marc Ellis (Photo: Greenbelt)

This week the Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America (MESA) sent a letter to Baylor University president Kenneth Starr condemning the ongoing investigation of Prof. Marc Ellis, which is largely seen as connected to Ellis’s views on Israel/Palestine.

Last fall, Ellis was removed from his teaching and administrative duties in response to an investigation on “abuse of authority.”  Professor Ellis had taught at the Christian institution for over 10 years with support from every university president, excluding the current post-holder, Starr.

Baylor’s conservative politics are well known, including hiring practices which bar gays, lesbians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Mormons, and many view his probation as a political sanction for his work on Israel/Palestine. Read MESA’s letter to Kenneth Starr:

Letters on North America
February 6, 2012

Kenneth Starr
President, Baylor University
Office of the President
One Bear Place #97096
Waco, TX 76798

Fax: 254-710-3557

Dear President Starr:

I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the disciplinary charges which Baylor University has brought against Professor Marc Ellis, and about his removal from his teaching and administrative duties without a hearing. We are concerned that the disciplinary procedures to which Professor Ellis is being subjected, which could result in his dismissal, may not conform to the standards widely accepted at institutions of higher education in this country and may be motivated by Professor Ellis’ views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If so, this would constitute a serious violation of Professor Ellis’s right to free speech and severely undermine the principles of academic freedom.

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 3000 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

Last fall Professor Ellis was removed from his role as the chair of Jewish Studies at Baylor University without the benefit of a hearing. Although a hearing is apparently scheduled for the spring, our understanding of best practices, as defined by the American Association of University Professors, is that suspension of a faculty member before or during disciplinary proceedings is warranted only if “immediate harm to the faculty member or others is threatened by the faculty member’s continuance.” Unless your university can demonstrate a threat of immediate harm, we believe that Professor Ellis should be immediately reinstated and allowed to resume his teaching duties. More broadly, we call on Baylor University to ensure that any disciplinary proceedings against Professor Ellis be conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner, in conformity with accepted standards and best practices at American universities.

We are particularly concerned about the possibility that Professor Ellis is facing selective enforcement of university policies as a result of his political positions. Baylor University officials have denied that the disciplinary measures initiated against Professor Ellis are politically motivated, but we would welcome a statement from you making it absolutely clear that Baylor strongly supports the right to free speech, including on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and that it is firmly committed to protecting the academic freedom of its faculty.

Institutions of higher learning in this country and around the world have a responsibility to uphold and defend the principles of academic freedom. They must also be sanctuaries for the free expression of ideas and opinions. We call upon you to reaffirm your commitment to these principles and to ensuring that Baylor will adhere to generally accepted standards and best practices in disciplinary cases. We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Fred M. Donner
MESA President

Professor of Near Eastern History, University of Chicago

Kiera Feldman has just written the first in-depth look at the case for Religion Dispatches. From her piece, “Ken Starr Pulling ‘a Clinton’ on a Jewish Studies Professor at Baylor U?“:

Ellis, a tenured professor described as “deeply thoughtful and courageous” by the late Edward Said, will face a three-day dismissal hearing this March. Speaking on condition of anonymity, several faculty members with first-hand knowledge of the proceedings confirm that Ellis is being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct (or “misuses of God’s gift” as the faculty handbook has it). According to Baylor policy, misconduct is defined as “sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault, incest, adultery, fornication and homosexual acts.” And so Ken Starr enters his golden years.

It’s unclear what exactly Ellis is on trial for, as neither Baylor nor Ellis would comment on the record about the nature of the charges. (One clue: no criminal charges have been filed against Ellis.) Roger Sanders, Ellis’ lawyer, says Baylor’s lawyers told him the internal process mandates nondisclosure, though Baylor spokesperson Lori Fogleman disputes this, telling RD that the charges can only be released with Ellis’ written permission.

Sanders says the investigation hinges on “bogus allegations.” One can only hope the result will not be another 336-page Starr Report—the $40 million product of the independent counsel’s four-year investigation, for which the beleaguered Monica Lewinsky was interrogated over 20 times. “‘You’re a pervert, Ken Starr,’” Lewinsky’s father once saidhe’d like to tell the former independent counsel.

In late November Cornel West, feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and other luminaries launched a change.org petition addressed to Starr, which has thus far gathered over 5,000 signatures. The petition asserts that the controversy “looks more and more like a persecution to silence a Jewish voice of dissent.”

“The charges,” reads a petition update, “are about ‘abuse of authority.’…Many of us were contacted several times by institutional lawyers who tried to persuade us to tell them examples of ‘abuse of authority’ he has exercised.”

According to Sanders, the investigation consisted of “sort of announc[ing] to people, ‘Here’s what Marc’s guilty of. Now tell us what you know about him.’” Fogleman claims no knowledge of the investigation’s procedures and declined to recommend officials who could answer questions about it.

As Ellis sees it, the investigation stems from Starr’s desire to replace him with “a different kind of Jew”—namely, “a right wing, Israel-loving Jew that would cement [Starr’s] reputation with the right wing, like [Alan] Dershowitz.” (Fogleman says Starr has nothing to do with the investigation, which itself has “no relationship” to “Dr. Ellis’ positions on Israel and Palestine.”)

According to a two-part Ethics Daily examination of his religious background, Starr “holds unassailable credentials in the American evangelical community”; in his post-Clinton years, he represented Blackwater (whose founder Erik Prince has close ties to both the conservative Catholic and the evangelical communities, including Chuck Colson) and helped defend California’s Proposition 8, a ballot amendment seeking to prevent same sex couples from getting married.

It’s clear that Starr is a conservative Christian, yet his Israel politics are something of an unknown. Raised in a nondenominational Church of Christ, he would very likely have been exposed to Christian Zionist theology. Years later he joined the McLean Bible Church in Virginia, which he remained a member of years after having moved to California to take a position at the Church of Christ-affiliated Pepperdine University. Starr’s pastor at McLean, Jewish-born evangelical Lon Solomon, has been a board member of the Christian Zionist ministry Jews for Jesus for the past 25 years. It would be unusual were Starr not a Christian Zionist.

Building the Tabernacle in the Midst of Sinai

In November, during an American Academy of Religion panel honoring his work, Ellis noted that in his thirteen years at Baylor, previous presidents “were protective.” Ellis was their token dissident. “Taking me down is a signal of what the Administration can do,” he told RD. “If President Starr intends to remake Baylor in his own image, I will be his first public academic freedom test.”

Sanders claims that the Starr administration has singled Ellis out. “They have treated Christians differently than they have treated Jews,” he said. In order to address this allegation Ellis has recently filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against the Baylor administration alleging anti-Semitism. In his writings, Ellis has long put forward a two-pronged argument: anti-Semitism still exists, and it is not anti-Semitic to speak out against what he terms “Constantinian Judaism”—Jews in America, Israel, and elsewhere who are “intent on enabling empire [and] collud[ing] with other powers to keep everything as it is.”

Baylor’s spokesperson said that she’s not aware of any EEOC complaint filed by Ellis. Asked to comment on Sanders’ allegation of disparate treatment, Fogleman laughed a moment, followed by “Oh gosh. Um.” After a 10-second pause, she said she’s unsure whether she’s “in a position to be able to characterize anything like that.” She then asked for the question to be repeated and paused another 10 seconds before returning to the script, calling Baylor an “open institution.” (As a private university, Baylor maintains policies against hiring Muslims, gays and lesbians, Mormons and anyone who is not a Jew or a Christian by Baylor’s definition. In a recent Washington Post op-ed titled “Can I Vote for a Mormon?” Starr concluded he would not use church attendance as a litmus test this November.)

“With Ken Starr as the president now, Baylor is really looking to clean house,” one faculty member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RD. “Finally they have a president who is accessible to the broader business community and can bring in lots of money.” In his first year at Baylor, Starr raised nearly $35 million of the $100 million 3-year goal he’d set upon arrival.

“This has been very biblical,” Starr boasted to the Texas Tribune in September 2011. “How did the ancient Israelites build the tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai? Well, they all pitched in.” Starr is said to roam the grandstand at football games, imploring spectators to donate to Baylor Nation, the school’s alumni fund. In a region defined by its generations-old football rivalries, a decade ago Baylor was a disgrace, widely seen as an unworthy member of the Big 12, a conference that includes Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas.

But today, Baylor’s star is on the rise. In April, the Big 12 schools signed a television contract with Fox Sports worth over $1 billion. Over the summer, Starr met with architects and drew up plans for a new $250 million football stadium. At the moment Baylor is the only Big 12 school lacking its own on-campus facilities. In December, Baylor’s Robert Griffin III won the Heisman trophy, college football’s top honor. “I know my role,” Starr told theNew York Times. “Keep the donors and alumni happy.” Thanks to the Heisman, Starr noted, “People’s levels of happiness is already manifesting itself in gifts.”

“I think there is big money behind it,” hypothesized another faculty member. “I don’t think the [local] Jewish community is driving this—like ‘get rid of Ellis and we’ll give you money’—but I do think it would open up possibilities.” Remaking Ellis’ Center for Jewish Studies into a “pro-Israel” center, the faculty member added, could help Baylor attract grants and donations at a national level. “Marc is just in the way.” Given the growing popularity of Christian Zionism in the U.S., it’s just as likely, if not moreso, that conservative Christian donations might be easier to elicit with Ellis out of the way.

Hasbara PennBDS wrap-up: Pro-Israel students are ignorant

Feb 10, 2012

Allison Deger

PennBDS

Post-PennBDS conference, Hasbara groups and journalists described pro-Israel students as “ignorant,” and unable to defend their stance against statements such as “Israel took Arab land.” From “Lessons Learned from the Frontline,”  Lisa Hostein, executive editor of the Jewish Exponent, laments:

the pervasive ignorance of young Jews and too many adults who can’t begin to counter simple questions about Israel’s legitimacy let alone respond to the more sophisticated sophistry from those like BDS keynoter Ali Abunimah.

Bryan Schwartzman, also from the Jewish Exponent confirms this inability to counter with an anti-BDS narratives. The writer asks:

[D]id BDS speakers like Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah reveal how much pro-Israel students need to learn in order to counter arguments that are steeped in the language of universal justice and human rights?

His answer — yes. Schwatzman continues with Hasbara failures by detailing Abunimah’s keynote speech, where he de facto throws Abunimah a moral endorsement over Alan Dershowitz. Referencing the Palestinian activist/author as recently catching  the pro-Israel professor in a lie, during his February 2nd speech. Schwartzman writes:

During a question-and-answer session there, a female student asked Dershowitz, ‘If an Arab student comes up to me and says, ‘You took my land,’ and I respond, ‘Yeah, but we support gay rights,’ how does that add up?’

Dershowitz said the answer is that the Jews didn’t steal the land.

In addition to articulating Hasbara faults, both journalists managed to highlight what they viewed as the one victory: consensus. The Exponent found though Pro-Israel students and Zionist organizations failed to provide any meaningful challenge to BDS, they were successful in sending a unified message that they are all against BDS. Therefore, while pro-Israel students may be ignorant, at least they are successful at sticking together.

Hat tip to Nima Shirazi for catching this**
 

MSNBC: Israel trains Iranian terror group to kill nuclear scientists

Feb 10, 2012 

 Allison Deger

Tehran car bombing
2011 Tehran car bombing. (Photo: Mehdi Marizad / Fars)

Yesterday, MSNBC reported that Mossad agents trained an Iranian group on the U.S. terror list, in order to carry out assassinations of nuclear scientists. Active since the 1970s, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran are credited as responsible for five deadly attacks on scientists since 2007.

Rock Center with Brian Williams MSNBC report.

MSNBC spoke with Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide in the Iranian government whose assertion the terror organization was linked to Mossad was confirmed.  The group was “financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service.”  MSNBC reports:

Moreover, [Larigani] said, the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, is training MEK [the Iranian terror group] members in Israel on the use of motorcycles and small bombs. In one case, he said, Mossad agents built a replica of the home of an Iranian nuclear scientist so that the assassins could familiarize themselves with the layout prior to the attack. [Emphasis added]

The news station’s evidence is based upon interviews with Iranian officials, and documents apprehended from a thwarted assassination attempt in 2010.

The Iranian terror organization denies allegations of a relationship with Mossad, citing the report as “absolutely false.” Conversely, U.S. government officials stated to MSNBC “all your inclinations are correct,” and affirm no involvement.  However, skepticism remains, Al Jazeerapreviously chronicled the group’s strong U.S. ties:

George W. Bush’s attorney general Michael Mukasey has described MEK members as ‘courageous freedom fighters’. President Barack Obama’s former national security advisor, General James L. Jones, gave a speech at a MEK conference dominated by non-Iranians. Their events have also been attended by former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge, former NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Hat tip to Paul Mutter for catching this**

BDS: Rock musician Cat Power cancels Tel Aviv gig

Feb 10, 2012

 Annie Robbins 

chan marshall @CATPOWER

DUE TO MUCH CONFUSION IN MY SOUL,PLAYİNG FOR MY İSRAELİ FANS W/SUCH UNREST BETWEEN İSRAEL&PALESTİNE I CAN’T PLAY,I FEEL SICK IN MY SPIRIT XX

He War

I never meant to be the needle that broke your back
You were here, you were here, and you were here
Don’t look back

I never meant to be the needle that broke your back
You were here, you were here, and you were here
Don’t look back

He war, he war
He will kill for you
He war, he war
He will kill for you
From who you can
You know you can

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

I’m not that hot new chick
And if you won’t let me run with it
We’re on to your same old trick
Get up and run away with it

I’m not that hot new chick
And if you won’t let me run with it
We’re on to your same old trick
Get up and run away with it

Hey hey hey
He war, he war
He will kill for you
Hey hey hey
He war, he war
He will kill for you
Hey hey hey
From who you can
Hey hey hey
You know you can

Hey hey hey
He war, he war
He will kill for you
Hey hey hey
He war, he war
He will kill for you
Hey hey hey
From who you can
Hey hey hey
You know you can

Washington Post

JERUSALEM — American musician Cat Power has canceled her show in Israel, joining a list of artists shunning the country over its conflict with the Palestinians.

Charlyn Marie Marshall, better known by her stage name Cat Power, was to perform in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

But she tweeted on Friday that due to “much confusion” she felt she could not play for her Israeli fans and that she felt “sick in her spirit.”

We’re a growing movement. We’re the future, apartheid isn’t.

Thanks Cat, more power to you.

(Hat tip Omar Barghouti)

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