MONDOWEISS ONLINE NEWSLETTER

NOVANEWS

08/25/2010

• Yale conference on anti-Semitism targets Palestinian identity, ’self-hating’ Jews, and anyone who criticizes Israel

• Free Gaza Movement commemorates anniversary of first Gaza landing

• Palestinian farm set afire, four well permits denied, and other news

• Internet Killed Israeli PR: An interview with Minor Demographic Threat

• As a city that is compact together

Yale conference on anti-Semitism targets Palestinian identity, ’self-hating’ Jews, and anyone who criticizes Israel
Aug 24, 2010

Philip Weiss

This is disturbing. A Yale University center that purports to study anti-Semitism is holding a three-day conference on “the crisis” of global anti-Semitism (ending tomorrow) that is dedicated to the idea that any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. 

The flotilla raid, anti-Semitic. Helen Thomas, anti-Semitic. The very idea of Palestinian identity, anti-Semitic.

That last claim–“The Central Role of Palestinian Antisemitism in Creating the Palestinian Identity”–was put forward Monday, shockingly, by Itamar Marcus, a leader of the settler movement in the occupied West Bank. Marcus has connections to the Central Fund of Israel, which raises money here for the settlers, including their “urgent security needs.”

The conference opened with a speech from an official of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Aviva Raz-Schechter. And Charles Small, director of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, which is hosting the conference, said last spring that the confab was about Israel:

The largest number of papers, and therefore reflecting the greatest concern, address contemporary antisemitism and the demonization of Israel and those associated or made to be associated with Israel. There is a paper on issues of Jewish self-hatred and how some Jews, especially intellectuals, are distancing themselves from Israel.

That’s anti-Semitism? Here is the panel on “self-hatred”:

Plenary: Self Hatred and Contemporary Antisemitism • Professor Doron Ben-Atar, Fordham University: “Without Ahavath Yisrael [love for the people of Israel]: Thoughts on Radical Anti-Zionism at Brandeis” • Professor Richard Landes, Boston University: “Scourges and Their Audiences: What Drives Jews to Loathe Israel Publicly and What To Do About It?” • Professor Alvin Rosenfeld, Indiana University: “Beyond Criticism and Dissent: On Jewish Contributions to the Delegitimation of Israel”

The speakers’ list is here. Many of the speakers have Israel agendas, including Irwin Cotler, the Canadian politician who has led attacks on the Goldstone Report; Ruth Wisse, the Harvard Yiddishist who has called on young American Jews to enlist in an army of Israel defenders in the U.S.; Barak Seener, who has incited against the Palestinian citizens of Israel as a threat from within; Anne Bayefsky of the neoconservative Hudson Institute, another Goldstone attacker; Mark Dubowitz, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, whose main issue is cracking down on Iran; Anne Herzberg of the NGO Monitor, again an Israel advocacy group; Samuel Edelman of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, another Israel lobbyist; and Menahem Milson of the Elliott Abrams-linked hasbara outfit, MEMRI.

One person who alerted me to the conference, Charlotte Kates, writes: “Amazingly enough from the descriptions, this does not appear to be a conference sponsored by Hillel or other open advocacy groups, but rather by an academic center at the University. It’s particularly interesting that… an academic conference scorning the very concept of Palestinian identity and inviting presenters from NGO Monitor, ‘Palestinian Media Watch’ and MEMRI passes almost without comment at all – and the very same people who attack Palestinian scholars’ academic freedom find conferences such as this to be perfectly acceptable and legitimate.”

I don’t think it’s possible to understand this conference without understanding the prominence of Zionist donors in prestige institutional life. The other person who alerted me to the conference, Ben White, rightly focuses on the besmirching of Yale University by the presence of this festival of propaganda: “What is the role of Yale/academia in this kind of exercise?” And what a travesty, he adds, that “fighting anti-semitism – an anti-racist struggle – is being openly appropriated by far-right Zionist groupings, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lobbyists like NGO Monitor, and Orientalist ‘Arab/anti-terror experts’.”

Free Gaza Movement commemorates anniversary of first Gaza landing
Aug 24, 2010 

Ira Glunts

While searching for news on the often-postponed voyage of the Lebanese all-women’s aid ship to Gaza, I stumbled upon a notice that yesterday, August 23rd, was the second anniversary of the landing of the first two boats to break the decades-long Israeli naval blockade of that beleaguered Palestinian enclave, which many describe as the largest open-air prison in the world. 

Those two small decrepit fishing vessels carrying 44 activists and a symbolic cargo of aid started an international movement. Future ships promise to continue to defy the Israeli navy by sending additional assistance and bringing increased attention to the illegal and immoral Israeli siege. The interception of the Mavi Marmara flotilla and the killing of the nine Turkish activists by Israeli commandos in May has given additional impetus for groups from all over the world to carry on the work of sending aid boats to Gaza.

Voyages are being planned by activists from Western countries, including the United States, England, Greece, Ireland and Belgium. The Gaza boat movement has also taken hold in Muslim countries where well-financed flotillas are being organized in Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and Algeria. A Libyan government-sponsored ship delivered tons of aid to Gazans via Egypt this summer, after tense negotiations with both Israeli and Egyptian authorities who were not keen on permitting the vessel entry. Shortly before the Libyan ship’s voyage, two Iranian boats sponsored by the Iranian Red Crescent were denied entry into the Suez Canal just prior to their departure. The organizers say they will send the ships in the near future.

The original Free Gaza Movement was started by a small group of Californians co-founded by Paul Larudee and Greta Berlin. They collected donations over a number of years at local events in order to fund that first voyage which cost $300,000. The group has definitely grown in the last two years. It was involved in the organization of the Mavi Marmara flotilla and Mr. Larudee was aboard one of the ships.

Those first two boats that broke the Israeli siege were mostly ignored. The press coverage outside Israel/Palestine was negligible. Despite this, the organizers proclaimed then that they had started a significant movement: time has proved them correct. My hope is that next year, after the Israelis are forced to permit many boats and activists to deliver aid and their messages of hope and support to the people of Gaza, August 23rd will be noted by far more people than it was this year.

Palestinian frm set afire, four well permits denied, and other news
Aug 24, 2010  Seham

and other news from Today in Palestine:

Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing

Bedouin women protest razing of villages

Demonstrators outside Interior Ministry say demolition of Bedouin homes in unrecognized villages shows State has ‘no respect for human dignity’.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942698,00.html
Witnesses: Settlers raid house, burn crops

TULKAREM (Ma’an) — Settlers raided a house and torched five dunums of farmland in the northern West Bank Monday evening, witnesses said.  Locals said two buses of Israeli citizens living in Hebron in the southern West Bank arrived at the illegal Mevo Dotan settlement in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank, where they harassed locals and caused damage.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310171
Settlers Destroy Farm Lands, Troops Arrest Civilians And Invade Areas In Gaza

Ghassan Bannoura – PNN – A group of Israeli settlers destroyed on Tuesday farm lands owned by Palestinian famer in the village Khirbit Al Hammam in northern West Bank.  ImageWitnesses said that young settlers arrived at the village in a school bus occupied the house of Mohamed Al Jalon for three houses; as settlers were leaving they set fire to Mahmud’s land destroying his crops.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8689&Itemid=64
Solidarity/Activism/Boycott, Sanctions & Divestment

Bil’in’s Abdallah Abu Rahmah cleared of stone-throwing; convicted of incitement

Protest organizer Abdallah Abu Rhamah from Bil’in was convicted of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations today, after an eight months long military trial, during which he was kept behind bars. He was acquitted of a stone-throwing charge and a vindictive arms-possession charge.
http://popularstruggle.org/content/bilins-abdallah-abu-rahmah-cleared-stone-throwing-convicted-incitement
Demonstrators challenge Israel’s Gaza restricted area

GAZA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Palestinian and international activists on Tuesday removed parts of a security fence the Israeli army has installed along its borders with the Gaza Strip, witnesses said., The incident took place during a demonstration organized by humanitarian and social activists against the enforcement of a 300- meter wide buffer zone along Gaza’s northern and eastern borders with Israel.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/24/c_13460325.htm
Hebron watchdog group to change tactics

HEBRON (Ma’an) — Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron announced Saturday that members would shift away from organized demonstrations and put a new emphasis on supporting Old City shopkeepers.  The group, whose motto is “getting in the way,” had organized regular Saturday protests in the Old City hosting residents for demonstrations against the continued closure of the area’s main shopping street and the more recent closure of three shops in the former downtown.  “Since the police had threatened two of the organizers with large fines and a possible ten-year imprisonment if the demonstrations continued, the organizing group felt it better to use a new approach during the remainder of Ramadan,” a statement from the group said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310351
Criminalization of peaceful protest continues: more arrests at weekly demonstrations

Bil’in: The weekly demonstration in the village of Bil’in this week saw protesters draw attention to the recently published photos of the abuse of Palestinian prisoners by the Israeli army. A handful of the protesters blindfolded and handcuffed themselves to draw attention to the mistreatment of prisoners and marched at the front of the demonstration. Two arrests were made, including one of these protesters, a Norwegian student, who was grabbed while still blindfolded and dragged away.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/08/13936/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29
After long struggle, village on the grid

The West Bank village of al-Tuwani, after nine years of actively fighting and lobbying, has been connected to the Palestinian electrical grid. The victory came after nearly a decade of non-responses, delays, requests for additional paperwork, confiscations and demolitions. Samuel Nichols writes from al-Tuwani, occupied West Bank.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11476.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Canadian Boat to Gaza to break siege, overcome “aid traps”

Canadian activists looking to assist in the breaking of the siege of Gaza will launch a Canadian Boat to Gaza this fall. However, this Canadian version of the Freedom Flotilla that seeks to break the siege has a twist.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11478.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
Happy Birthday Free Gaza

Written by Free Gaza Team | 23 August 2010 Two years ago today, 44 people from 17 countries were on the Mediterranean heading toward Gaza. We were in two dilapidated fishing boats, the seas were rough, most of us were seasick, and all of us were worried that Israeli military warships would prevent us from getting into the illegally blockaded port of Gaza.
http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/56-news/1248-happy-birthday-free-gaza
Internet Killed Israeli PR: An interview with Minor Demographic Threat, Adam Horowitz

AH: Why did you make this video?
MDT: Our primary intention was simply to provide some comic relief for a community (Palestine solidarity activists) that is still grieving for the nine innocent people who were murdered by the Israeli military aboard the Mavi Marmara. And if we could embarrass some of the folks responsible for the incredibly sloppy PR work we’ve seen from Israel in connection with the attack, all the better. They should be embarrassed. They’re not only apologists for a brutal act by a brutal regime: they’re also really bad at their job.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/internet-killed-israeli-pr-an-interview-with-minor-demographic-threat.html
The Siege (Gaza & West Bank)/Humanitarian/Restriction of Movement/Human Rights and Discrimination
Health Ministry in Gaza warns of medicine shortage

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — The Gaza Healthy Ministry’s pharmaceuticals department says it faces a shortfall of 104 types of drugs and 101 types of medical equipment.  Ministry general-director Dr Muneer Al-Barsh warned that most of the medical equipment was used in intensive care and surgery. The medicine stored by the ministry is prescribed to cancer patients, patients with kidney problems, or chronic illness, and children.  Al-Barsh called on donor countries and civil society institutions to commit to sending medicine to Gaza, saying that only 30 percent of donations were actually medications.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310367 

PA says Palestinian water supply critically low

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority said Wednesday that Israel rejected a request to build four water wells in the Jenin area, offering to allow one in exchange for permission to monitor consumption in the entire West Bank.The Joint Technical Committee on Water, whose mandate under the Oslo Accords is to provide technical assessments of water-related projects in the West Bank, rejected the request.   According to PA officials, the four proposed wells “have all been positively evaluated from a technical standpoint.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=309291
Gaza official says power crisis has worsened

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Gaza official said Monday that despite media reports to the contrary, the electricity crisis in Gaza has worsened.  Kin’an Obed, vice president of the Energy Authority in Gaza, said efforts to solve the fuel dispute had failed and scheduled daily power cuts of 8- to 12-hours continue.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310130
Power cuts cast shadow over boiling Ramadan in Gaza (Reuters)

Reuters – Some locals blame it on internal Palestinian politics, others try to blame it on Israel. Whatever the reason, constant electricity outages during a summer heat wave are driving people to distraction in Gaza.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100824/wl_nm/us_palestinians_electricity
Dismal lack of classrooms in East Jerusalem

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The education of Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is subject to “ongoing neglect,” a joint report issued by two Israeli rights group said Tuesday.  The Association of Civil Rights in Israel and Jerusalem-based NGO Ir Amim say the education system in East Jerusalem remains short of 1,000 classrooms for Palestinian students. According to the report, only 39 schools were built for Palestinians over the past year despite promises made in court to build 644 by 2011.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310138
Gaza’s industries suffer under siege

GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IPS) – Just off Omar al-Mukhtar Street, Gaza City’s main thoroughfare, in a narrow, sandy alleyway is a little second-hand clothing shop. In the dimly lit store, with only intermittent electricity for some hours a day at best, sits a single battered and aging sewing machine.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11479.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
What the U.S. sanctions on Iraq tell us about the siege of Gaza, Matthew Phillips

On June 13th, two weeks after Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara, a profile of the respected liberal intellectual and Just War theorist Michael Walzer appeared in Haaretz. Amidst his professed concern about Israel’s diminished standing in world, Walzer offered this bit of wisdom regarding the siege of Gaza:  Think of the American effort to embargo the regime of Saddam Hussein in 1991 to 2003. It was entirely justified and even originally had United Nations authorization, but over time the consequences of the blockade did affect the living standard of ordinary Iraqis partly because of the way the Iraqi government behaved but also partially because of the nature of the blockade. So at a certain point Colin Powell came forward with the idea of smart sanctions, which are designed to have the necessary military restraints without having these effects on the population or without having the same affects on the population. Now what you need are smart sanctions.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/what-the-u-s-sanctions-on-iraq-tell-us-about-the-siege-of-gaza.html
War Criminals

Arab media react to ‘woodcutter’ army chief

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Media outlets in the Arab world reported extensively Monday on the appointment of Yoav Galant as the Israel army’s chief of staff.  Several websites referred to the new military chief as the “woodcutter,” referring to Galant’s stint in Alaska in 1982.  The London-based Arabic-language daily reported Defense Minister Ehud Barak had appointed “the hero of the Gaza war,” a view echoed on the website of Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV network, which labeled Galant a “war criminal.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310173
Violence/Provocations (also see:Land and Property Theft and Destruction/Ethnic Cleansing)
Israel raids Hebron, searches houses
Hebron, August 24, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided today number of houses in Zef area in south of Hebron city, in the West Bank.
http://www.paltelegraph.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6838:israel-raids-hebron-searches-houses&catid=59:west-bank&Itemid=135
Political/Flotilla Developments

PA supports talks based on Quartet statement
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority Cabinet announced on Monday its support for the PLO decision to restart talks with Israel.  At its weekly meeting in Ramallah chaired by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the cabinet based its support for talks on the Mideast Quartet statement.  The statement from the Quartet – whose members are the US, UN, EU and Russia – was released Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued an invitation to relaunch direct talks after a 20-month hiatus.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310154
U.S.: Settlement freeze will be discussed during direct peace talks

Comment by U.S. State Department official refers to a recent demand by Palestinian President to condition upcoming direct peace talks on continued Israeli freeze of settlement construction.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-settlement-freeze-will-be-discussed-during-direct-peace-talks-1.309810?localLinksEnabled=false
US ‘mindful’ of Palestinian stand on settlements (AFP)

AFP – The United States said Monday it is “mindful” of the Palestinian call for Israel to halt settlements, but stopped short of saying it will back such a demand at new peace talks here next month.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100823/pl_afp/israelpalestinianstalksus
Report: Mitchell to travel to Beirut ahead of talks

BEIRUT (Ma’an) — US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is reportedly due to travel to Beirut in the coming days ahead of the relaunching of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in Washington on 2 September, Lebanese media wrote Tuesday.  The Beirut-based An-Nahar newspaper said Mitchell’s visit would follow on the heels of a trip by his deputy, Frederick Hof, but added that the date of the trip had not yet been announced.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310223
Israelis, Palestinians feud ahead of direct talks (Reuters)

Reuters – Israeli and Palestinian leaders sparred on Monday over Jewish settlements and Israeli calls for security guarantees before the launch of Quartet-sponsored direct peace talks in Washington next week.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100823/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel
Netanyahu to PA: No preconditions for peace talks

PM’s office says Israel setting no preconditions ahead of direct negotiations, but stresses ‘importance of security arrangements, demilitarization’ in any agreement.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942634,00.html
Vice PM: Palestinian preconditions sabotage direct peace talks

Speaking in meeting with Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair, Silvan Shalom says direct negotiations are the proper venue in which to present the sides’ demands and claims.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/vice-pm-palestinian-preconditions-sabotage-direct-peace-talks-1.309780?localLinksEnabled=false
Netanyahu, FM ‘collude’ to avoid extending freeze

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly cooperated to avoid international pressure to extend a settlement freeze in the West Bank, Israeli media reported Tuesday.  According to the Israeli news site Inyan Merkazi, the pair agreed to acting out a scenario which involved the far-right foreign minister’s party Yisrael Beitanu threatening to withdraw from Netanyahu’s coalition government.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310294
Fatah official: Egypt supports settlement freeze

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Egypt supports the PLO’s position that there will not be direct talks without a freeze in settlement activity including in Jerusalem, a Fatah official said Monday.  Commissioner for foreign relations Nabil Sha’ath met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit in Cairo on Monday and said Abul Gheit backed the PLO position that negotiations cannot be used as a cover for settlement expansion.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=310177
Blair: Serious ideas needed for Mideast success (AP)

AP – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on Israelis and Palestinians to bring serious proposals to a new round of peace talks set to start on Sept. 2.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100824/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Palestinian Patients Suffer From Political Rivalry, Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Aug 24, 2010 (IPS) – Cancer patient Ahmed Abu Fuad needs chemotherapy to survive. Muhammad Subeh needs an eye-transplant while paramedic Alaa Sarhan desperately needs surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. But these Gazans are unable to leave the area to seek the required medical treatment elsewhere, and it is not because of the Israeli siege.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52585
UN official criticises Israel over flotilla probe

Israel is not co-operating with the UN Human Rights Council’s probe of May’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a UN official said today.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/un-official-criticises-israel-over-flotilla-probe-2060509.html
U.N. rights body team starts flotilla probe in Turkey (Reuters)

Reuters – Investigators from the United Nations Human Rights Council have begun questioning witnesses of Israel’s May 31 capture of a Gaza-bound boat in which nine people died, the U.N. said on Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100823/wl_nm/us_israel_flotilla_rights
Other News

Mossad in America, Israeli intelligence steps up its activity in the U.S. — and gets away with it, Philip Giraldi

Israeli government claims that it does not spy on the United States are intended for the media and popular consumption. The reality is that Israel’s intelligence agencies target the United States intensively, particularly in pursuit of military and dual-use civilian technology. Among nations considered to be friendly to Washington, Israel leads all others in its active espionage directed against American companies and the Defense Department. It also dominates two commercial sectors that enable it to extend its reach inside America’s domestic infrastructure: airline and telecommunications security. Israel is believed to have the ability to monitor nearly all phone records originating in the United States, while numerous Israeli air-travel security companies are known to act as the local Mossad stations.
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/mossad-in-america/
Israelis risk jail to smuggle Palestinians

Inspired by writer Ilana Hammerman, nearly 600 join a civil disobedience campaign to bring women and children to Israel for a brief respite and ‘holiday’.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100824/FOREIGN/708239920/1040/rss
Arabic studies to become compulsory in Israeli schools
Beginning this year as pilot initiative in 170 public and religious-public schools in northern Israel, the scheme will eventually be adopted extend across the country.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/arabic-studies-to-become-compulsory-in-israeli-schools-1.309941?localLinksEnabled=false
Beinish: Violent atmosphere rampant

Supreme Court president says campaign to reduce crime won’t succeed without increased police presence. President Peres: World judging Israel constantly.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942598,00.html
Cancer patients humiliated at airport

Young Israelis’ trip to Orlando marred as they are forced to undress after metal implants set off security check’s detectors.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942212,00.html
Haredim stone hospital construction workers

Violent protests against Barzilai Hospital construction continue; police force disperses rioters.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3943067,00.html
A ‘Balanced and Zionist’ Wikipedia, ROBERT MACKEY

An initiative to edit Wikipedia entries to make them “balanced and Zionist in nature” has generated an impassioned debate on The Lede.
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=8d80788376e9f95d60acb4f0e3d6eab9
Im Tirtzu loses funding over boycott threat to Ben-Gurion University

U.S. based pro-Israel organization Christians United for Israel: We do not support any calls for divestment from Israel in any way.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/im-tirtzu-loses-funding-over-boycott-threat-to-ben-gurion-university-1.309811?localLinksEnabled=false
DNA study: Hitler had Jewish roots

Belgian researchers examine DNA samples of 39 Hitler relatives, say he had Jewish, African roots.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3943269,00.html
Analysis/Opinion/Human Interest

From isolation to disability union leadership

Hamdan Jewei is a 26-year-old Palestinian living with a physical disability in the al-Doha village near the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Jody McIntyre spoke with Jewei for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11480.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29
This Math Class May Figure Out Israel, Eva Bartlett

AL ZAHARA, Central Gaza Strip, Aug 24, 2010 (IPS) – In a bright and spacious classroom, with plants overflowing in the courtyard outside, six students lean forward at their desks looking at the 10-digit addition they are asked to make. One student stands before the numbers on the chalkboard and a red and yellow-beaded abacus. But her attention is on the abacus she visualises in her mind.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52586
Hudson’s co-founder, the Israeli academic purge and the subversion of US Middle East policy

Evidence is mounting that the Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS) — an Israeli NGO at the forefront of an ongoing campaign to purge Israeli Universities of faculty and programs deemed “left-wing” — is a creature of  The Hudson Institute, a major Washington based neoconservative think-tank, which played an active role in shaping the Bush administration’s Middle East policies.
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/08/23/hudsons-co-founder-the-israeli-academic-purge-and-the-subversion-of-us-middle-east-policy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Muzzlewatch+%28MuzzleWatch%29
Snippets of my youthful Zionist indoctrination, Matthew Taylor

I was an avid reader of Mad magazine. When I was twelve, Mad ran a feature called “Garbage Pail Adults,” mocking a variety of celebrities and political figures, including “Yucky Arafat.” Would it be verboten to point out that Mad publisher William Gaines was Jewish? Of course, there was no mocking of “Stern Shamir” (then-Israeli Prime Minister, former leader of the terrorist group).
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/snippets-of-my-youthful-zionist-indoctrination.html
As a city that is compact together,  Shmuel Sermoneta-Gertel

Whenever I come back to Jerusalem, I notice all of the things that have changed since my last visit and inevitably compare things to the way they were when I was growing up: old buildings torn down or renovated, new ones put up, changing demography, greater sophistication alongside persistent provincialism, shifting mores and moods. I can’t say I like the changes but, as the expression goes, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/as-a-city-that-is-compact-together.html
An urgent appeal from Ikhras to Arab-American students: 10 Questions to ask before applying for an internship with the ADC

One of our readers has brought to our attention the above announcement the ADC has been circulating through email. We strongly discourage all Arab-American students from working with this lousy organization which is not representative of the Arab community nor any significant constituency within it.   College years are among the best years of our lives.  It is a time of learning, growth, and development.  It is a period where we seek knowledge and understanding of the vast world we live in while searching within ourselves for that which is important to our personal lives.  It is during this college quest when we mature politically and develop the values that remain with us for a lifetime.  We can’t think of a worst organization than the ADC for a young and energetic student to waste valuable time with during this important and special stage of life.
http://ikhras.com/2010/08/an-urgent-appeal-from-ikhras-to-arab-american-students-10-questions-to-ask-before-applying-for-an-internship-with-the-adc/
Ibish on Palestinian Education

Hussein Ibish insults Palestinian’s intelligence, echoes Raphael Patai’s racist “Arab mind” concept, ignores Israeli occupation as primary education-hindering force, advocates for normalization with Zionism.
http://ikhras.com/2010/08/ibish-on-palestinian-education/
Lebanon

Lebanese PM calls for strengthening army

BEIRUT, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri Monday called for strengthening the country’s army, saying the move is aimed at help preserve stability in Lebanon, according to a statement released by his office.  “Stability in the country is essential and it generates prosperity and creates job opportunities,” he said, adding “we must work to maintain the stability, and I call for strengthening and equipping all military and security forces.”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/24/c_13458807.htm
Nasrallah speech expected to tackle STL, false witnesses

BEIRUT: The content and tone of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech scheduled for Tuesday remained a mystery on Monday.  It was still unknown whether Nasrallah would tackle the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and add to evidence he revealed on August 3 pointing at Israel’s possible involvement in the crime.  Sources close to Hizbullah told the Central News Agency (CNA) that Tuesday’s address is expected to tackle the government’s decision to follow up on the issue of false witnesses.  In its latest session, the Cabinet asked Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar to investigate the issue.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=118540#axzz0xU6nA5Ug
Experts: Sayyed Nasrallah’s Evidence Serious, Effective

Fifteen days on the exceptional press conference in which Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah directly accused the Israeli enemy of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the Resistance leader’s revelations remain the talk of the town in Lebanon…  In his August 9 conference, Sayyed Nasrallah presented tangible proof and evidence of an Israeli potential role in Hariri’s assassination as well as other crimes that hit Lebanon during the few past years. His eminence unveiled footage intercepted from Israeli surveillance planes of the site of the 2005 murder prior to the assassination. Several clips, each minutes long and undated, showed aerial views of the coastline off west Beirut on various days prior to the Hariri assassination. His eminence also revealed that that Ghassan al-Jedd, an alleged Israeli spy who hosted Israeli operations teams, was present at the Rafiq Hariri crime scene the day of the crime.
http://almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=151554&language=en
Sleiman denies knowledge of STL indictment date

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman has denied that an indictment by the UN-backed tribunal investigating former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s murder is expected soon.  “No one has yet informed me officially or unofficially of the date of issuance of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon [STL],” Sleiman said before a visiting delegation from the Lebanese Journalists Union on Monday.  Sleiman also emphasized the need to preserve political calm to allow the implementation of several impending projects through the state’s constitutional institutions.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=118539#axzz0xU6lp8A2
Hariri warns rhetoric against STL will not halt ‘course of justice’

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed Monday that provocative rhetoric aimed against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) investigating his father’s murder would not halt the course of justice.  “Statements will not abolish the truth and regardless of the extent of provocative rhetoric and threats, the course of justice will not stop,” he said during an iftar at his Qoreitem residence.  “When we examine the magnitude of campaigns that were launched against the STL and the number of media talk shows and programs as well as speeches being made, we almost think that [Rafik Hariri’s]’s case is over but the truth is that the case still lives … like it was yesterday,” Hariri added.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=118538#axzz0xU6p9V1B
Sayyed Nasrallah’s Revelations: Much More Than Simple “Indices”

By Yusuf FernandezAugust 23, 2010In his recent speech about the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, Hezbollah´s secretary-general showed some indices pointing to Israel´s involvement in the murder. According to Sayyed Nasrallah, Israel masterminded the assassination in order to get Syria to withdraw from Lebanon.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=151287&language=en
Juvenile convicted for attempting to aid Israel

BEIRUT: The military tribunal headed by Brigadier Nizar Khalil convicted a juvenile for trying to provide Israeli authorities with information about an Israeli pilot who went missing in Lebanon. Ali Dabbous was accused of contacting Israeli intelligence services to offer information about Ron Arad who disappeared in Lebanon shortly after his jet was shot down in Lebanese airspace in 1986. The military tribunal also postponed an Israeli espionage case implicating the suspects Haitham Zaher, Hussein Mousa, Ahmad Abdullah, Jaafar Halawi and Wassim Moussa. The five are suspected to have provided the Israeli authorities with information on civil and military Syrian and Lebanese sites along with party officials to facilitate Israeli aggressive acts. – The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=118534#axzz0xU6wBXk3
Hamas, Fatah clash in refugee camp after prayer dispute

BEIRUT: Three people were wounded Monday after a dispute between clerics loyal to the Fatah and Hamas groups in the Al-Buss Palestinian refugee camp turned into armed clashes, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=118543
Iraq

Monday: 13 Iraqis Killed, 28 Wounded

At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 28 more were wounded in attacks across the country. One of the casualties came from an Iranian artillery attack launched into Iraqi Kurdistan. Meanwhile, the political deadlock over the next prime minister continued, but U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called for a resolution soon.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/08/23/monday-13-iraqis-killed-28-wounded/
Arrests over Iraqi police deaths

The Iraqi police have broken up an alleged al-Qaeda gang whose members have been killing traffic police in Baghdad, officials say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-11062653
Iraq border concerns spur effort to integrate Kurdish and Iraqi Army forces (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor – In this disputed city, Kurdish forces are being trained by Iraqi Army instructors in what officials call a breakthrough aimed at easing tensions between the two sides and securing Iraq’s vulnerable border with Iran.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100823/wl_csm/321195
Iran’s influence in Iraq overstated: Biden (AFP)

AFP – Iran’s influence in Iraq has been exaggerated and Tehran’s efforts to shape parliamentary elections in the country “utterly failed,” US Vice President Joe Biden said on Monday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100823/pl_afp/usiraniraqpolitics
Iraq’s banks urge privatisation of state lenders (AFP)

AFP – Iraq’s privately-owned banks have called for the country’s state-owned lenders to be privatised to break up a near monopoly in lending by politicians whose actions remain stuck in the Saddam-era.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100824/wl_mideast_afp/iraqfinancebanking
Riz Khan – Mission accomplished or abandoned in Iraq?

As US combat troops leave Iraq, the Riz Khan show asks if the US is really withdrawing or whether it is just preparing the ground to wield soft power there for years to come.

What You Will Not Hear About Iraq, Adil E. Shamoo

Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq.  UN-HABITAT, an agency of the United Nations, recently published a 218-page report entitled State of the World’s Cities, 2010-2011. The report is full of statistics on the status of cities around the world and their demographics. It defines slum dwellers as those living in urban centers without one of the following: durable structures to protect them from climate, sufficient living area, sufficient access to water, access to sanitation facilities, and freedom from eviction.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/08/what-you-will-not-hear-about-iraq/
Rebranding the Iraq War, Chris Toensing

The war in Iraq is over. Or so the government and most media outlets will claim on Sept. 1, by which time thousands of U.S. troops will have departed the land of two rivers for other assignments. With this phase of the drawdown, says President Barack Obama, “America’s combat mission will end.”
http://original.antiwar.com/toensing/2010/08/23/rebranding-the-iraq-war/
An Army of Contractors, GARETH PORTER

When the Barack Obama administration unveiled its plan last week for an improvised State Department-controlled army of contractors to replace all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, critics associated with the U.S. command attacked the transition plan, insisting that the United States must continue to assume that U.S. combat forces should and can remain in Iraq indefinitely.
http://www.counterpunch.com/porter08232010.html
Iran

Iran favors inclusion of Turkey, Brazil in nuclear talks: FM

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Iran favors the inclusion of Turkey and Brazil in upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and Vienna Group.  Turkey and Brazil have played important roles in issuing Tehran declaration. Their presence in upcoming talks between the Islamic Republic and Vienna Group will be useful, said Mehmanparast in his weekly press briefing.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/24/c_13460240.htm
Iran assigns high priority to Latin American ties: president

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday the Islamic Republic gives high priority to expanding its relations with all the Latin American nations, the local satellite Press TV reported.  Ahmadinejad made the remarks at a meeting with the new Peruvian accredited ambassador to Iran, Javier Paolini Velarde.  “There is a great potential for expansion of mutual ties ( between Iran and Peru) which can be employed to the interests of the two nations,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/24/c_13460238.htm
U.S.: We are troubled by Iran’s nuclear intentions, not its military growth

U.S. State Department spokesman: Recent unveiling of advanced Iran weapons systems do not avert Washington’s attention from its controversial nuclear program.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-we-are-troubled-by-iran-s-nuclear-intentions-not-its-military-growth-1.309796?localLinksEnabled=false
Striking Iran Is Unwarranted, and It Would Mean Disaster, Marc Lynch

Jeffrey Goldberg has come away from his research convinced that the Obama administration is serious about Iran. But if the administration’s strategy fails to stall Tehran’s alleged drive for a nuclear weapon, then the president may face a terrible choice. Would Obama be willing to move to military action? If not, Goldberg suggests, it is increasingly likely that Israel will take matters into its own hands. I strongly doubt that Obama would choose to launch a pre-emptive war against another Muslim country in the Middle East. Neither do I believe that Israel really intends to do so. Instead, I see an attempt on the part of Goldberg’s Israeli sources to prepare a policy climate in which such an attack seems increasingly plausible and other options are foreclosed — either to force Obama’s hand down the road or to pave the way for an attack by a future administration.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/08/striking-iran-is-unwarranted-and-it-would-mean-disaster/61886/
U.S. and Other World News

WikiLeaks: Australia intelligence warned of ‘dirty tricks’

Australian intelligence services had warned WikiLeaks of “dirty tricks” before Swedish authorities issued a short-lived arrest warrant for founder Julian Assange over a rape claim, he said Monday.  “We were warned on the 11th (of August) by Australian intelligence that we should expect this sort of thing,” Assange said in a telephone interview with broadcaster Al-Jazeera from a secret location in Sweden.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/0823/wikileaks-australia-intelligence-warned-dirty-tricks/
Egyptians prepare for life after Mubarak

So here comes the latest Egyptian joke about 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The president, a keen squash player – how else could he keep his jet-black hair? – calls up the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Muslim cleric in the land, to ask if there are squash courts in heaven. The sheikh asks for a couple of days to consult the Almighty. Two days later, he calls Mr Mubarak back. “There’s good news and bad news,” he says. Give me the good news, snaps Mr Mubarak. “Well,” says the sheikh, “there are lots of squash courts in heaven.” And the bad news, asks the president? “You have a match there in two weeks’ time!”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/egyptians-prepare-for-life-after-mubarak-2060150.html
Street posters of Egyptian president’s son cement campaign for political succession

CAIRO (AP) — Posters have sprouted up around Egypt promoting President Hosni Mubarak’s younger son as the country’s next leader, in the most overt campaign yet for a controversial father-son succession in this key U.S. Arab ally.
http://feeds.latimes.com/%7Er/latimes/middleeast/%7E3/UC3s9N0KMKk/sns-ap-ml-egypt-gamal-for-president,0,4707526.story
Muslim Brotherhood expands westward

When Egyptian school teacher Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 to teach his fellow Egyptians how to re-discover their Muslim identity and fight British control, he probably never thought that 80 years later, his organisation would have the global reach it has today.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11060348
Grand Mufti of Dubai calls for curb on mixed marriages
While some at the Ramadan majlis where the comments were made agreed with Dr al Haddad, many said his call for restrictions was unnecessary.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100824/NATIONAL/708239806/1001/rss
One year after the Lockerbie bomber’s release

Al Jazeera’s Cath Turner reports from New York on the Libyan Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi one year after his release.

The Arab state system is more resilient than it appears

Seen from outside, the Arab world looks like it is about to crumble. Four Arab states – Iraq, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia – are facing the threat of territorial disintegration. One country, Lebanon, has settled for losing its independence; another, Palestine, is losing hope to win it.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=118522
Inside Story – Whistle blowers: ‘Criminals’ or the future of journalism?

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is once again at the centre of attention. Sweden has cancelled an arrest warrant against its founder Julian Assange on accusations of rape and molestation. But the damage may have already been done. When reporters from The Washington Post uncovered the Watergate scandal in the early seventies they were hailed as heroes. But after publishing more than 90,000 leaked documents on the war in Afghanistan, the work of Wikileaks editors has been denounced as “a criminal act”. So has the impact of whistle blowers been reduced? Are they more vulnerable now? And are they the future of investigative journalism?

Islam in America

Disney Hijab Controversy: Muslim Hostess Calls Disney’s Replacement Hijab “Offensive”

ANAHEIM — A Muslim woman who is fighting for the right to wear her hijab to work says Disney’s replacement headress is “offensive.”  Imane Boudlal, 26, who is a hostess at the Storyteller’s Restaurant in Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel, says she is not allowed to wear the head scarf while at work and has been sent home seven times times — without pay.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/disney-hijab-controversy-_n_691368.html
       
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Speaks Out (AUDIO, TRANSCRIPT)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-ward-iii/imam-faisal-abdul-rauf-sp_b_691555.html
Mideast passions quiet over NY mosque showdown (AP)

AP – On the streets of lower Manhattan, there’s no mistaking how the passions flow: One side saying its their patriotic duty to block a planned Islamic center and the other insisting America cannot curtail freedoms as revenge for the Sept. 11 attacks.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100823/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_nyc_mosque_mideast
Man behind protest video: “This rally transcended anti-mosque sentiment”

The man who recorded a now-viral video at Sunday’s ground zero protest explains how the scene got so ugly
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/23/angry_mosque_protest_video_interview
Wife of ‘ground zero mosque’ imam epitomizes Islam’s modernizing voice

Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, spoke to the Monitor in 2006 about her efforts to bring women’s perspectives into Islamic law, particularly on issues such as domestic violence and divorce.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/d1oD4EOjmPc/Wife-of-ground-zero-mosque-imam-epitomizes-Islam-s-modernizing-voice
MJ Rosenberg: The Lobby’s Leaders Helped Start It, They Should Pull Plug On Anti-Muslim Hysteria
I already wrote that the leaders of the “pro-Israel” lobby helped lay the groundwork for the anti-Muslim explosion that has seized this country over the past month. That was confirmed over the weekend when I read (and saw all over my tv) that Beth Gilinsky, a pro-settler organizer, dreamed up yesterday’s mosque protest and ran the show.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mj-rosenberg/the-israel-lobby-helped-s_b_691214.html
Pro-Israel extremists have campaigned against an Islamic cultural center before,  Jeff Klein

Haven’t we seen this movie before? Yes, in Boston, and with nearly the same cast of characters. The fight against the Roxbury Mosque and Cultural Center planned by the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) was framed as a battle against “Muslim extremists” and “terror supporters.” In reality (as court documents showed) the campaign was organized by activists with the far-right pro-Israel David Project and CAMERA, spearheaded by founder Charles Jacobs, who now heads a front group with the Orwellian name “Americans for Peace and Tolerance.” Later, the story was picked up and promoted by the Murdoch-owned Boston Herald and the local Fox TV affiliate. When the ISB eventually sued its attackers for defamation, the defendants were represented by an attorney who was also a leader of New England AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee).
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/08/pro-israel-extremists-have-campaigned-against-an-islamic-cultural-center-before.html
Protests continue to swirl around Ground Zero mosque

NEW YORK: Several hundred supporters and opponents of plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks staged peaceful protests on Sunday, some brandishing signs against Islam and others denouncing religious bigotry.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=118509
The “mosque” debate is not a “distraction”, Glenn Greenwald

Opponents of the Park51 Islamic community center held a rally yesterday in Lower Manhattan, and a 4-minute video, posted below, reveals the true sentiments behind this campaign.  It has little to do with The Hallowed Ground of the World Trade Center — that’s just the pretext — and everything to do with animosity toward Muslims.  I dislike the tactic of singling out one or two objectionable people or signs at a march or rally in order to disparage the event itself.  That’s not what this video is.  Rather, it shows the collective sentiment of those gathered, as well as what’s driving the broader national backlash against mosques and Muslims far beyond Ground Zero.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/23/park51/index.html
Anna Wainwright: Ground Zero Has Plenty of Problems, But a Mosque Isn’t One

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was packing up to go to college in my childhood apartment on the Upper West Side when my mother came back from the supermarket with orange juice and the news that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I had planned to go to Century 21 that day, which then sat across from the Twin Towers, boasting bargains on everything I thought I needed for four years in Chicago. Instead, I spent the next 48 hours like everyone else in the country, huddled with family and friends in front of the television, watching the horror show happening downtown. Sirens echoed in the street without end, and by the first afternoon we had to close our windows against the stench and smoke drifting up from Ground Zero along the river and through the streets. That first evening, friends visiting the city from Louisville arrived like refugees at our door after wandering the deserted streets of midtown Manhattan all day, and we all cried together in front of the television.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anna-wainwright/ground-zero-has-plenty-of_b_691882.html
Russell Simmons Unveils Ground Zero Street Art In Support Of ‘Mosque’

Earlier this morning Glen E Friedman got a call from pal Russell Simmons asking for help on a new project to send a message about the current Ground Zero Mosque hullabaloo.  Glen and Russell collaborated similarly some years back on what is now known as The Liberty Street Protest [more photos, and previous BB coverage here & here]–massive antiwar signs housed in the windows of Russell’s apartment, which is literally across the street from Ground Zero.  This new visual protest today occupies those very same windows. It addresses all who believe that the First Amendment and freedom of religion applies only to them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/23/russell-simmons-ground-zero-street-art_n_691992.html
Rima Fakih: The Beauty Pageant Scholar and The Arabs

Arabs were elated a short time ago; 24 year old Rima Fakih – the first Lebanese American, the first Arab American, the first Muslim, and the first immigrant to win the Miss USA title – Fakih seemingly established the foundation for ‘victory’ according to the acclimatized Arab community.  The tight-knit hamlet of Arabs, stemming from Egypt to England, were grinning from ear to ear and it is all thanks to what they called a “historic victory” in the curvaceous shape of an Arab woman.
http://ikhras.com/2010/08/rima-fakih-the-beauty-pageant-scholar-and-the-arabs/
Neocon Pogromist Pam Geller Attacks Her Allies And Supporters, Max Blumenthal

After working tirelessly to inspire a nationwide pogrom against Muslim citizens of the United States, the leading online race hustler Pam Geller is pantomiming outrage about a video showing her supporters harassing and nearly assaulting a black man they mistook for a Muslim at the rally against the construction of the Cordoba House Islamic center on August 22. Geller’s reaction to the video was couched in a typically unhinged tirade against me; she described me as a “kapo” and “notorious Jew hater.” Geller then claimed, “I have no idea what this rally is,” and went on to attack the heavily-promoted, well-publicized demonstration as a “half-assed effort,” calling it, “harmful to the cause of freedom of expression.”
http://maxblumenthal.com/2010/08/neocon-pogromist-pam-geller-attacks-her-allies-and-supporters/
www.TheHeadlines.org

Internet Killed Israeli PR: An interview with Minor Demographic Threat

Aug 24, 2010 

 Adam Horowitz

AH: Why did you make this video?

MDT: Our primary intention was simply to provide some comic relief for a community (Palestine solidarity activists) that is still grieving for the nine innocent people who were murdered by the Israeli military aboard the Mavi Marmara. And if we could embarrass some of the folks responsible for the incredibly sloppy PR work we’ve seen from Israel in connection with the attack, all the better. They should be embarrassed. They’re not only apologists for a brutal act by a brutal regime: they’re also really bad at their job.

Was there any particular significance to your choice of “Video Killed the Radio Star” as opposed to any other song you could have parodied?

We chose to base the piece on “Video Killed the Radio Star” because, much like the original, this piece is about the inability of a communicator to adapt to a new medium. I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing with the Israeli PR apparatus as it struggles to remain effective in an increasingly democratized media landscape. Israel understands the threat of a medium that bypasses intermediaries and allows ordinary people to disseminate content to a mass audience. Journalists aboard the Mavi Marmara have said that the top priority for soldiers boarding the ship appeared to be the seizure of all the photographic equipment they could find, thus allowing their government to control the media narrative. The only way Israel could exert any measure of control was by cutting off the flow of information. And despite their best efforts, information still got out, some of it during the attack itself. As the web continues its evolution into a real-time medium, this strategy will become increasingly unsustainable.

You also told Ma’an News that the parody was a response to the well-known “We Con the World” video, but it’s only racked up a fraction of the views received by that clip. How do you explain that?

It’s a very particular type of person who’s going to laugh at Frank Luntz playing air guitar. Horrifically racist depictions of Arabs, on the other hand, have a much broader appeal. If our intention had been to reach a mass audience, we would have sacrificed quality for the sake of rushing the piece out as quickly as possible, and dispensed with the litany of inside jokes. Considering that this video was released months after the incident, clearly targeted a niche audience, was produced on a budget of zero, and didn’t have the benefit of government officials actively promoting it, I think we’ve done pretty well. Besides, Latma’s effort had set a certain benchmark with wordplay, acting, costume and set design and so on, so we felt obliged to take all the time that was necessary to match that standard. And then we just spent the next two and a half months fine-tuning it.

How do you feel about the media response?

Overall, we’ve been very pleased. Naturally, much of the coverage has focused on the blocking, and some articles have attached ascribed undue significance to specific images in the video. The one-second image of Hitler was used to illustrate the absurdity of the IDF’s clearly-fabricated “go back to Auschwitz” audio, which effectively accused flotilla participants of being closet Nazis. We needed a recognizable anti-Semite. Unfortunately, Mel Gibson’s people didn’t get back to us in time, and the evangelical Christian right were busy attending AIPAC functions. I think the intention is quite clear in context, but just to provide further clarification, we posted a comment on the video, in which made our position quite explicit. We promptly began receiving hate mail from deeply-offended Nazis, and we’re quite happy to have offended them.

On your YouTube page, you refer to yourselves as “anarcho-Yiddishists”. What does that mean, exactly?

Well, first of, we think it’s a great term, so we wanted to do our part to multiply the number of times it shows up in the Google index by a few hundred. Most of those involved in the production were Jewish, and we draw a tremendous amount of inspiration from satirists like Allan Sherman, Mickey Katz, and Tom Lehrer—all of whom were also Jews. And Tom Lehrer, as far as I know, is still a Jew. Humor as a tool for ridiculing the oppressor is nothing new, but Jews living under Tsarist rule developed it into a true art. And the language in which they assailed the autocracy, from the subtle and sly to the audaciously acerbic, was Yiddish.

We’re anarchists in that we reject all forms of oppression, and we’re Yiddishists in the way we wield satire as a weapon. Our activism, and our activism on this issue in particular, is a primary means by which we engage with our Jewishness. It’s not just the Yiddish language that’s important to preserve; it’s the whole set of aesthetics which breathe life into it. Zionism has helped to place both of those things into dire jeopardy, and that’s one more reason why we oppose it.

So what’s next for Minor Demographic Threat?

Thanks to our powerful Saudi backers, we’re planning to establish a network of satirist training camps throughout northern New Jersey. We’re also in an ongoing process of seeking out new collaborators—just not the kind in Ramallah. Finally we’re working on some new videos, including a short piece starring Eden Abergil which should be out in the next few days. Our future’s so bright, we need desaturation filters.

Any parting words?

We’d like to thank the internet, and some of the people on it, especially people who work for the IDF and have names beginning with “@” signs. They were an indispensable source of material. We also want to thank people for sharing our video far and wide, and even translating it into other languages. And we hope that our work will help to inspire other, similar efforts: we think it’s entirely possible that a sufficiently funny internet video, combined with systematic global campaign of boycott, divestment, and sanctions, can actually end Israeli apartheid.

As a city that is compact together
Aug 24, 2010 

 Shmuel Sermoneta-Gertel

Whenever I come back to Jerusalem, I notice all of the things that have changed since my last visit and inevitably compare things to the way they were when I was growing up: old buildings torn down or renovated, new ones put up, changing demography, greater sophistication alongside persistent provincialism, shifting mores and moods. I can’t say I like the changes but, as the expression goes, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.

Jerusalem is not a big city. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (2004), the city’s inhabitants number 706.4 thousand, “thereof Jews and others” 469.3 thousand and “thereof Jews” 458.4 thousand. The CBS document includes the following explanation regarding the category “Jews and others”: “As of 1995, the data relates to the “Jews and others” population which incl. Jews, non-Arab Christians, and those not classified by religion.” Europeans and Americans who have never been here often envision Jerusalem as a kind of throwback to Berlin, Belfast or Beirut in the bad old days. Various kinds of barriers have been erected on the outskirts of the city, separating Al-Quds from its Palestinian hinterland, but there are no checkpoints or barbed wire in the heart of the city. Nevertheless, “my” Jerusalem – with the exception of parts of the Old City – has always been a “thereof” city with a population of under half a million (under three hundred thousand, when I first arrived).

Until yesterday, I had never been to Salah ad-Din Street, East Jerusalem’s “Main Street”, or its immediate surroundings. I’d been to Wadi al-Joz once or twice (US consulate), had coffee at the American Colony, passed through Sheikh Jarrah, visited the Rockefeller Museum and the Silwan tunnel many many years ago, and attended demonstrations against Jewish settlement in Ras al-Amud, on the Mount of Olives, but I had never actually gone for a stroll or shopping on Salah ad-Din. It was on my list of things to do this trip, in the reassuring company of Palestinian friends (as I had done in Ramallah).

But yesterday, I found myself on Prophets’ Street, in sight of an old mosque and mausoleum (Nabi ‘Akasha?) that had once made an impression on me, and decided to walk down toward Sultan Suleiman and cross over to the “other side,” all on my own. Decades of fear, amplified by Israeli education, government, media and society, made me a little apprehensive (should I hide the bag of Hebrew books I had just bought, prominently displaying the logo of an Israeli bookshop?), but years of interaction with all sorts of people, including Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, reassured me that Salah ad-Din was just another street, filled with ordinary folk going about their everyday business.

On the way, already in East Jerusalem, I passed fortress-like symbols of Israeli presence – a courthouse, the Justice Ministry. Their heavily guarded entrances were hardly reassuring. Salah ad-Din itself was decorated with strings of coloured lights – in honour of Ramadan, I presumed. The street was dominated by women in long cloaks and hijab, signs were mostly in Arabic, with a generous sprinkling of English, and the odd Hebrew brand name. There was a beggar on the sidewalk, dressed in full niqab (including gloves). I immediately spotted an English bookshop cum internet cafe.

It was thoroughly western (the coffee was Italian, of course), air-conditioned, and had a wonderful selection of books on I/P, including many authors and titles unavailable in Israeli bookshops. I browsed, bought some books, and got a new “Palestinian” plastic bag to put my purchases in. As I left the shop, I felt more comfortable, and started to enjoy my walk. I bought some freshly-ground Arab coffee to take back to Italy with me. The man in the grocery was speaking Hebrew on the phone, but I spoke English (also remembering a request a Palestinian friend had once made, that we speak English in his Jerusalem neighbourhood). I didn’t want to be an Israeli on Salah ad-Din. 

I then started to explore the semi-deserted side streets. I saw the notorious National Insurance Institute building, where Palestinians must wait for hours and days and even pay people to hold their place in line, in order to enjoy some of the social rights to which they are entitled as residents and taxpayers, rights taken for granted on the other side of the city. I saw the headquarters of the Al-Quds Arabic daily and the modest campus of Al-Quds University.

At a certain point I realised how familiar these streets I had never visited before actually were. The topography, architecture, courtyards and gardens looked just like those in the older neighbourhoods in “my” Jerusalem – Rehavia, Talbiye, Mea Shearim, the Bukharan Quarter. I don’t know what I had expected. After all, Jerusalem was once, not so long ago, a single – albeit diverse – city, neither “unified” nor “reunified.”