NOVANEWS
Bnei Akiva Lights Up Chanukah in Scandinavia
The light of Chanukah this year will shine especially bright in the ice-cold Nordic climes of Scandinavia as World Bnei Akiva emissaries perform for Jewish children and their families.
Delegations have been sent to various communities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, according to Yonatan Schimmel, central Scandinavia emissary of the World Bnei Akiva and and World Zionist Organization. “The purpose of this year’s show is to complete a small but substantial part of celebrating Chanukah – bringing the Israeli spirit, enthusiasm and the unique Jewish spark which Bnei Akiva is known for,” he explained.
“During the ‘Chanukah Caravan’ we are not only performing for children and Jewish communities, but will also sing and dance in nursing homes for elderly Jews who have been waiting an entire year for this moment, to sing Jewish songs, light candles and to fully connect even for a short moment with the Jewish people through our Israeli shlichim.”
The movement conducted similar Chanukah outreach programs by emissaries in Berlin, Germany and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as well.
In Los Angeles, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon was scheduled to be the guest of honor Tuesday of the local Bnei Akiva at the main event for its ‘Israeli Heroism’ Week. Ya’alon will also meet 1,000 Jewish LA teens and answer questions about leadership and his service as IDF chief of staff.
Top Zio=Nazi rabbis: Don’t sell property to non-Jews
Zio=Nazi Rabbi Mordechai Nagari who recently signed a religious ruling barring Jews from selling or renting
(AP) JERUSALEM – Three dozen top Zio=Nazi’s rabbis threw their support Tuesday behind a religious ruling barring Jews from selling or renting homes to non-Jews — an indication of growing radicalism within the rabbinical community at a time of mounting friction between Israeli Arabs and Jews.
The action by the clerics — who are chief rabbis in some of Zionist’s largest cities and influential among the devout — quickly fueled charges of racism. It was also likely to deepen the feelings of alienation growing between Zionist’s majority Jews and minority Arabs, and widen the schism between secular and religious Jews.
The religious opinion first became a focus of controversy last year when the chief rabbi of Safed — a town in northern 1948 Palestine that has a large concentration of devout Jews — urged that it be applied specifically to Arabs.
Racist Nitai Morgenstern, an aide to Safed’s chief Zio=Nazi rabbi, Shmuel Eliahu, said the town has “a problem of a lot of people renting and selling to Arabs, and that destroys the city’s social fabric.”
Recently, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews asked other chief rabbis to express their support for the ruling to prove it has widespread backing, Morgenstern said Tuesday. Thirty-seven rabbis signed it and The Associated Press obtained a copy of the ruling with their signatures attached on Tuesday.
Morgenstern said he understood how this attitude could cause friction with the Arab minority, which accounts for one-fifth of Israel’s population of 7.6 million.
“But people have to see the other side,” he said.
Amit Cohen said he and other Safed residents led the campaign to win other rabbis’ support because clerics are “simply fed up with the fact that rabbis have to fear issuing or discussing religious rulings.”
“Rabbis rule on the basis of existing texts,” Cohen said. “But lately, rabbis are afraid to rule on the basis of what is written because they are afraid of the reaction from the media and the government.”
The director-general of Zio=Nazi’s chief rabbinate, Oded Weiner, said the rabbinate hadn’t seen the rabbis’ action and wouldn’t comment on it.
The Association for Civil Rights in 1948 Palestine called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “condemn the incitement expressed by the rabbis and take disciplinary action against those who are employed by the state. “
“It is unthinkable that they would use their public status to promote racism and incitement,” the group said in a statement. Taxpayers pay the salaries of Zionist’s 126 municipal chief rabbis.
A Netanyahu spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Arab-Zionist relations took a major turn for the worse 10 years ago at the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Zio=Nazi. Thousands of Palestinan rioted for days in solidarity with the Palestinians, and Zionist police killed 13 Arab citizens while trying to quell the unrest.
Zionist’s ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, led his Yisrael Beitenu party to large gains in last year’s parliamentary elections by playing on the perceived disloyalty of Palestinian’s. He and other lawmakers have proposed a series of bills seen as discriminating against Palestinan, including one that would allow small communities to exclude them.
Zionist have increasingly been questioning the loyalty of Arab citizens, who legally enjoy the same rights but tend to be poorer and discriminated against in state funding and job opportunities.
Meanwhile, some members of the Arab minority have become radicalized by the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, and are openly speaking about turning the Zionist state into part of a binational state that would be home to Zionist and Palestinians both.
Salah Mohsen, spokesman of Adalah, an advocacy group for Arabs in Palestine 1948, said the rabbis’ action was “not surprising” and blamed Lieberman’s Zionist Beiteinu party, which wants to redraw Zionist’s borders to exclude large Arab communities.
Rabbi David Rosen, the interfaith adviser to Zio-Nazi’s chief rabbinate, described the rabbis’ action as “disturbing” but said he did not think that the majority of the country’s rabbis would agree and called it a product of the lingering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“The rabbinate as a whole isn’t xenophobic or hostile to Arabs,” Rosen said. “As long as the conflict goes on here, it’s logical to assume that the attitudes of all sides will harden, which is deeply regrettable.”
Sociologist Menachem Friedman suggested the ruling could also be applied against impoverished African migrants, such as Eritreans and Sudanese, whose influx has raised concern of many in Israel.
The government estimates that about 13,000 Africans will illegally enter ‘Israel’ this year, joining more than 20,000 others who came between 2006 and 2009. Some are economic migrants and others are asylum-seekers.
Their growing numbers have created a great dilemma here with some saying that a state founded in the wake of the Holocaust shouldn’t turn away people escaping persecution. Officials say they threaten to dilute the country’s Jewish character and are working to stem the influx.
Complaint filed over call to assassinate WikiLeaks founder
(Vancourversun.com) A B.C. lawyer has filed a complaint with the Vancouver police, urging them to investigate whether Tom Flanagan, a former campaign manager for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, broke the law when he said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be assassinated.
Gail Davidson, a co-founder of the group Lawyers Against the War, wrote in the complaint that, on Nov. 30, Flanagan “counselled and/or incited the assassination of Julian Assange contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada,” while commenting on the CBC program Power & Politics.
Flanagan, a political-science professor at the University of Calgary and Harper’s campaign manager in 2006, said he thought Assange “should be assassinated, actually. I think [U. S. President Barack] Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something.”
Davidson alleged that statement qualifies as a breach of s. 464 of the Criminal Code, which says counselling an offence, regardless of whether it is committed, can be punished by a sentence similar to what’s attached to the actual offence.
The charge is usually levied against gang leaders or others in positions to order hits against rivals.
Flanagan has since issued a statement apologizing and said that he was not being serious.
Assange, for his part, has said the professor “should be charged with incitement to commit murder.”
“We can’t just take to the airwaves suggesting that various people be killed,” Davidson told Postmedia News on Sunday. “I know that if it were me, if he had said, ‘I’d like to see Gail Davidson assassinated,’ I wouldn’t take it lightly.”
Flanagan could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Feds Use Insane Intimidation Tactics to Keep Soldiers From Seeing, Discussing WikiLeaks
The mass government freak-out over WikiLeaks just keeps getting more insane. The latest revelation is that soldiers in Iraq who try to access the WikiLeaks site on unclassified networks, or even just readabout the leaked cables in the media, are re-directed to a warning that they’re about to break the law.
Gawker has the scoop:
A tipster wrote to tell us that “the Army’s unclassified, NIPRNET network in Iraq has blocked every major news website because of the Wikileaks issue,” going on to say that Foxnews.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, the Huffington Post, and a variety of other sites are blocked on the Army’s unclassified network. A spokesperson for U.S. forces in Iraq disputed that claim, saying that the web sites aren’t actually blocked—it’s just that attempts to access them on the unclassified network brings up a warning page saying that you’re about to break the law.
The feds have clearly lost it. Many of those soldiers receiving the warnings have security clearances that would have granted them access to the State Department cables beforethey were leaked.
And that’s not all. Apparently the Social Security Administration has sent an alert to all its employees claiming that the WikiLeaks documents “remain classified and SSA employees should not access, download, or transmit them. Individuals may be subject to applicable federal criminal statutes for unlawful access to or transmission of classified information.”
And the State Department has been spreading rumors that anyone who discusses the leaked documents on Twitter or Facebook “shouldn’t bother applying for State Department jobs in the future.”
And the Library of Congress has blocked WikiLeaks for all employees, plus everyone using its computer terminals.
Truly crazy.
Focus on the Policy, Not WikiLeaks
by Rep. Ron Paul,
December 07, 2010
To listen to Rep. Ron Paul deliver this address, click here.
We may never know the whole story behind the recent publication of sensitive U.S. government documents by the WikiLeaks organization, but we certainly can draw some important conclusions from the reaction of so many in government and media.
At its core, the WikiLeaks controversy serves as a diversion from the real issue of what our foreign policy should be. But the mainstream media, along with neoconservatives from both political parties, insists on asking the wrong question. When presented with embarrassing disclosures about U.S. spying and meddling, the policy that requires so much spying and meddling is not questioned. Instead, the media focuses on how so much sensitive information could have been leaked, or how authorities might prosecute the publishers of such information.
No one questions the status quo or suggests a wholesale rethinking of our foreign policy. No one suggests that the White House or the State Department should be embarrassed that the U.S. engages in spying and meddling. The only embarrassment is that it was made public. This allows ordinary people to actually know and talk about what the government does. But state secrecy is anathema to a free society. Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name?
In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling, and outright military intervention in the post-World War II era has made us less secure, not more. And we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble. Too often “official” government lies have provided justification for endless, illegal wars and hundreds of thousands of resulting deaths and casualties.
Take the recent hostilities in Korea as only one example. More than 50 years after the end of the Korean War, American taxpayers continue to spend billions for the U.S. military to defend a modern and wealthy South Korea. The continued presence of the U.S. military places American lives between the two factions. The U.S. presence only serves to prolong the conflict, further drain our empty treasury, and place our military at risk.
The neoconservative ethos, steeped in the teaching of Leo Strauss, cannot abide an America where individuals simply pursue their own happy, peaceful, prosperous lives. It cannot abide an America where society centers around family, religion, or civic and social institutions rather than an all-powerful central state. There is always an enemy to slay, whether communist or terrorist. In the neoconservative vision, a constant state of alarm must be fostered among the people to keep them focused on something greater than themselves – namely their great protector, the state. This is why the neoconservative reaction to the WikiLeaks revelations is so predictable: “See, we told you the world was a dangerous place,” goes the story. They claim we must prosecute – or even assassinate – those responsible for publishing the leaks. And we must redouble our efforts to police the world by spying and meddling better, with no more leaks.
We should view the WikiLeaks controversy in the larger context of American foreign policy. Rather than worry about the disclosure of embarrassing secrets, we should focus on our delusional foreign policy. We are kidding ourselves when we believe spying, intrigue, and outright military intervention can maintain our international status as a superpower while our domestic economy crumbles in an orgy of debt and monetary debasement.
Prohibition of visitation rights for Palestinians violates international laws and conventions
By Fuad Khuffash
MEMO ,
December 6, 2010
As part of a series of reports I am preparing to document Israel’s violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its jails, this article looks at the Zionist state’s prohibition of visitation rights. This is, of course, against international law, conventions and norms.
In dealing with the humanitarian aspects of prisoners’ rights, I have always advocated keeping the legal position uppermost. Although the international legal process continues to ignore Palestinians, the law is on our side, so we must utilise it to prove our case. There is a general rule in international and humanitarian law which says that rights do not disappear over time; thus, one, day, the state of Israel will be held accountable for its crimes.
A set of principles advocated by divine and international laws includes the principle of humanity which is intended to protect human dignity in all circumstances, even during wars and conflicts. Wars are man-made and laws and conventions were developed in order to reduce their effects on the inviolability of human rights and dignity, and the need to respect human honour and blood, even in the most severe conditions.
The principle of humanity is fundamental in international humanitarian law and it has a major role in respecting and protecting human rights and freedom during armed conflict or war. It is compulsory and must be taken into consideration in all cases not covered by international conventions. Moreover, if the principle of humanity must be applied in war, it is important for it to be applied in peacetime, especially in this instance in the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In looking at the terminology involved, it is my understanding that a detainee is someone who is under arrest and the term is used during the investigation phase; a prisoner, on the other hand, is someone who has been through the detainee phase and a trial and has been sentenced.
The so-called Israel “Defence” Forces carry out arrest campaigns against Palestinians nightly; sometimes at random, at other times as part of an organised programme. During such raids, the sanctity of the home is violated. Nobody is spared the barbaric means used; the elderly, children, women and men are all victims.
My study reveals Israeli violations of humanitarian law by depriving Palestinian prisoners of their right to see their families and relatives.
The media has shown how Palestinians are arrested, with beatings, handcuffing and generally rough treatment being the norm as they are dragged off to an unknown destination. The sight of prisoners being taken from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity (2003) was clear to everyone, as was the image of naked prisoners leaving Jericho prison. Arrests during raids are usually carried out without proper warrants and accompanied by the use of profanities and contempt for the detainee and his rights.
Israel has denied many prisoners of the opportunity to have visits from their families; in 2006 alone, more than 800 detainees and prisoners from Gaza were deprived of visitation rights. Palestinian prisoners are not unique in this respect; even prisoners from other Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia have been so deprived. Israeli policy is, clearly, to isolate prisoners and prevent them from having any contact with the outside world.
Visitation rights are enjoined to make sure that prisoners may stay in touch with their family affairs; awareness of events such as births, marriages and funerals are important aspects of this. The Israeli Prison Service is well aware of this fact, of course, which is why it seeks to deprive the prisoners in this way; in that sense it is a very effective punishment and way to humiliate Palestinians. However, the Israelis claim that it is for “security” reasons, a ridiculous excuse given the high-security aspects of Israeli jails.
Visits are banned as specific punishment for a number of petty “offences”, including being late for the morning head count, raising the television volume or singing loudly. An entire cell group or wing, or the whole prison, can be punished in this way.
When visits are allowed, the circumstances in which they take place are difficult; the family members will be humiliated by personal body searches in front of cameras monitoring everything. Visitors and prisoners communicate through a strengthened glass or plastic barrier; this is often blurred and the audio device is subject to deliberate cuts by those monitoring the conversation.
The denial of visitation rights is backed by Israeli law; the Zionist state is the only state in the world which has legitimised such actions contrary to international law. This policy started in 1996, when a decree was issued limiting visits to first-degree relatives only and limiting the number of visitors. If prisoners are not married and their parents live far away, they have no visitors.
After this, Israel proceeded to place more obstacles in the way; if a prisoner and his wife, for example, have different surnames (as is often the case; a Muslim woman retains her maiden name on marriage), she cannot visit him until the authorities are satisfied that the evidence of the marriage is acceptable, which has been known to take up to eighteen months. Mothers of prisoners face the same problem.
Israel’s national security is also cited as a reason for preventing visits, especially with “dangerous” prisoners. How this stands up in the face of prison security is anyone’s guess.
Visit deprivation is a punitive policy which has negative psychological effects on prisoners and their families. It can destroy prisoner morale, which is the intention. Practically-speaking, it also means that families are unable to pass on mundane but essential items such as fresh clothing and suchlike.
In response to the continued incarceration of Israeli soldier Sergeant Gilad Shalit in Gaza, some members of the Knesset (parliament) are demanding that Palestinian prisoners are kept isolated as they assume he is.
It is not unknown for prisoners’ families to travel long distances to the prison for a visit only to be told that he has been moved to another institution. That could also be the time that they are told that he is not allowed to have visitors because of something he is alleged to have done.
All of this violates international law and is contrary to the values and principles of Israeli society itself. It is designed to humiliate the prisoner and destroy his morale as part of the overall plan to humiliate Palestinians. Today, the international community and human rights organizations are asked to stand by their legal and moral responsibilities to bring these abuses by Israel to an end. Failure to do so makes them complicit with Israel in the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and abuses of internationally-accepted laws and conventions.
Anti-Muslim Hate Group Leader to Teach Islam at Oregon College
(SEATTLE, WA, 12/3/10) — The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) today called on an Oregon community college to replace a leader of an anti-Muslim hate group who is scheduled to begin teaching a course on Islam in January.
CAIR-WA reported that Barry Sommer, president of an Oregon chapter of the hate group ACT! for America, will teach a course called “What is Islam” at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore. Sommer also produces a weekly local cable access program “Islam Today” on Comcast’s CTV29. The contact e-mail for the program is “act4americaor@yahoo.com.” His personal blog features one of the infamous Danish cartoons mocking Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Sommer has a history of making false and misleading statements about Islam. The preface to Sommer’s online book, “From the Mouths of Our Enemies,” states: “Our enemies want us destroyed not because of our riches, or our liberties, although they say that is so. No, they want us gone because Allah told them so. Foundational Islam demands that ALL citizens of planet earth convert to Islam, pay a tax (jizya) or die. It is now demanded of us that we make a stand, draw the line and decide who wins this clash once and for all. If it means war, so be it.”
In a July 16, 2010 letter to Eugene’s Register-Guard newspaper, Sommer wrote: “Until Islam changes its 1,400 years of subjugation and conquest by the sword, the atrocities will continue to escalate.”
In a letter to Lane Community College President Mary Spilde, CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari wrote: “Unless the goal of this course is to promote anti-Muslim bigotry, Lane Community College should replace Mr. Sommer with someone who will offer students a balanced and objective analysis of the subject matter.”
Bukhari said ACT! for America national leader Brigitte Gabriel claims an American Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen” and that Islam is the “real enemy.” She once told the Australian Jewish News: “Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.” She also claimed that “Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word … it’s the vehicle for Islam … Islam is the problem.”
When asked whether Americans should “resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation,” Gabriel said: “Absolutely. If a Muslim who has — who is — a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day — this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”
Gabriel stated: “America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam.”
Along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs “have no soul” and that Muslims worship “something they call ‘Allah,’ which is very different from the God we believe [in].”
SEE: A Case Study in Sincere Hypocrisy: Brigitte Gabriel
Video: Brigitte Gabriel Says Arabs Have No Souls
Earlier this year, a person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida was caught on video bragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer.
That person states: “Their foot baths, I love pissing in them … The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit … To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims’] holy stuff.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
‘Zio=Nazi’s cause of Palestinian health woes’
Tel Aviv’s policies toward the Palestinian people have caused health problems for the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, says the head of a group of Israeli medics.
Ruchama Marton, head of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said in a statement on Monday that the causes of health issues were often political in nature.
“As a human rights organization we are, by definition, political, speaking out against violations of human rights perpetrated by the regime,” Marton was quoted as saying by AFP.
She added that the people of Gaza are suffering from disease outbreaks like diarrhea because Israel denies them access to adequate water supplies.
Tel Aviv has imposed a stringent blockade on the coastal enclave since 2007, severely hampering the upkeep of basic infrastructure.
The sewage system has been particularly hard-hit, as Israel does not allow the import of any pipes or other metal equipment.
Zio=Nazi drones buzz over Lebanon skies
An Israeli reconnaissance drone (file photo)
Three Israeli reconnaissance planes have penetrated Lebanese airspace and flown over parts of the country in flagrant violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
An unmanned Israeli aircraft crossed into Lebanese airspace at 4:45 a.m. local time (0145 GMT) on Monday and conducted several unwarranted flights above the al-Fakiha area in Baalbek, located 86 km (53 miles) northeast of the capital Beirut, according to a statement released by the Lebanese military.
The spy aircraft left Lebanese airspace hours later while flying over southern Lebanon.
On Sunday, an Israeli drone was observed at 7:40 a.m. (0440 GMT) patrolling the skies above several areas in southern Lebanon, including the village of al-Naqoura, located 91 km (57 miles) south of Beirut, Riak, which is close to the Syrian border, and Baalbek.
The remote-controlled drone left Lebanese airspace at 7:50 p.m. local time (1650 GMT) while flying over Alma al-Shaab, a town in southern Lebanon.
Later in the day, an unmanned Israeli aerial vehicle violated Lebanon’s airspace and flew over several areas in southern Lebanon, including the border town of Alma al-Shaab at 9:20 p.m. local time (1820 GMT). The spy aircraft left at 1:50 a.m. on Monday (2250 GMT on Sunday) while flying over the southern border village of Rmeish.
Israel violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
Lebanon’s government, the Hezbollah resistance movement, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly cited Israel’s air surveillance flights over Lebanon as clear violations of UN resolution 1701 and the country’s sovereignty.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In 2009, Beirut complained to the United Nations about Israeli aircraft violating the airspace over the south of the country.
Zio=Nazi fears growing Palestine support
Israel has criticized the recent recognition of a Palestinian state by several South American nations, saying the move is against the spirit of the Mideast talks.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state is a violation of the interim agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1995, which established that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be discussed and solved through negotiations,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Israel’s foreign ministry as saying in a statement late Monday.
The statement, which said that recognition of a Palestinian state also contradicted the road map, called it a regrettable move that would not help change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.
“All attempts to bypass negotiations and to unilaterally determine issues in dispute will only harm the trust of the sides and their commitment to agreed frameworks for negotiations,” the statement read.
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have all sent letters to acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas during the past week, declaring the recognition of a free and independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
The letters come amid US efforts to devise an economic-military package to ‘bribe’ Israel to renew a partial settlement freeze, which expired on September 26.
Tel Aviv’s refusal to extend the 10-month moratorium enraged the PA negotiators who walked out of the US-sponsored direct talks launched three weeks earlier in Washington.
Israel has called on the countries which have recognized a Palestinian State to instead force Ramallah into returning to the negotiating table, what Palestinians fear could cost them more concessions in favor of Israel given Washington’s influence on the PA and the talks.
A United Nations resolution demands the return of Palestinian territories which were occupied by Tel Aviv during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Over 100 countries have endorsed the Palestinians’ 1988 unilateral declaration of independent statehood.
LatAm gravitates toward Palestine
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Uruguay says it will recognize an independent Palestinian state, following in the footsteps of Brazil and Argentina, which have officially recognized Palestine.
“Uruguay will surely follow the same path as Argentina in 2011,” Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Minister Roberto Conde was quoted by AFP as saying on Monday.
In a letter addressed to acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas, which was read out on Monday by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said her country recognizes Palestine as a “free and independent state” as defined by the 1967 borders.
On Friday, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that Brasilia recognizes the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
In response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “This regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.”
“It is a disappointing declaration which goes against the spirit of the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and against negotiations for peace,” he said.
Due to the renewed settlement building activities, the Palestinian Authority broke off the recently resumed direct talks. The PA said Tel Aviv had to freeze the construction and expansion of Jewish settler units or the talks could not continue.
But Israel refuses to cancel its recent decision to build 238 new Jewish settler units in East al-Quds and is also forging ahead with the construction of new units in settlements in other parts of the occupied territories.
The Palestinians say that the settlement activities are being carried out to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
US drone attack kills five in North Waziristan
‘Pakistan Times’ Wire Service
MIRANSHAH: Missiles fired from a US drone on a vehicle and a house killed five suspected militants in lawless northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border on Monday, officials said.
The missile strike took place in Khysore village, 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of troubled North Waziristan tribal district.
“A US drone fired four missiles on a house and a vehicle,” a senior official said. “At least five militants were killed.” A local official confirmed the strike and casualties.
“First the US drone fired two missiles on a vehicle and two of the occupants were killed, while three others escaped and hid in a shop adjacent to a house.
“The drone fired two more missiles on the shop and three of them were killed and three others were wounded,” the official said.
Argentina joins Brazil in recognition of Palestinian state
Argentine President sends Abbas letter stating it recognizes Palestine defined by 1967 borders; Uruguay says it will recognize Palestine in 2011; Israel calls announcement ‘regrettable’.
Argentina and Uruguay announced Monday that they intend to join Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, provoking sharp criticism from Israel, French news agency AFP reported.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves at the Palestinian Presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010.
Photo by: AP
“The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967,” AFP quoted Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, reading a letter sent by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner wrote to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
Shortly after Argentina’s move, Uruguay announced that it too would recognize a Palestinian state starting from 2011. “Uruguay will surely follow the same path as Argentina in 2011,” Uruguayan deputy foreign minister Roberto Conde told AFP.
“We are working towards opening a diplomatic representation in Palestine, most likely in Ramallah,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry called the announcement “regrettable” and said that Israel viewed this decision with severity, and it would not help change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.
A U.S. State Department official said Argentina’s move was a “premature step [that] does not contribute to our common goal of a two-state solution.”
“Negotiations are the pathway for the parties to see the realization of their aspirations – for the Israelis, security – for the Palestinians, an independent, viable, and sovereign state of their own,” the U.S. official added.
On Friday Brazil said it has recognized a Palestinian state based on borders at the time of Israel’s 1967 conquest of the West Bank.
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said the recognition is in response to a request made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last month to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Silva sent a letter to Abbas on December 1, saying Brazil recognizes Palestine and hopes that the recognition will help lead to states of Israel and Palestine “that will coexist peacefully and in security.”
The announcements by the three South American countries came as Middle East peace talks were on a hiatus since the temporary settlement freeze ended in late September.
Israeli Chabad emissary nabbed in Madrid with 4kg of cocaine
Friends of the arrested man say he was fooled into smuggling the cocaine as he was returning to Israel after a fund-raising trip to Costa Rica.
A Chabad emissary from Safed was arrested in the Madrid airport late last week after being found in possession of four kilograms of cocaine.
Though the drugs were stashed in one of his suitcases, his friends told Haaretz he was fooled into smuggling the cocaine.
Eliyahu Hecht, 57, a father of six who works for the global charity organization Kollel Chabad, was returning to Israel from Costa Rica, where he was fund-raising for a soup kitchen operated by Kollel Chabad in Safed. He was arrested during a stopover in Madrid, and friends say he only managed to contact his family on Monday.
“He said he was asked by his host in Costa Rica to take a suitcase and deliver it to a woman in Spain,” one of the friends, Uri, told Haaretz. “Eliyahu refused, and then the host started telling him, ‘how dare he suspect him and how dare he refuse after staying under his roof and eating from his table.’ So Eliyahu agreed to the request, but not before checking the suitcase for anything suspicious. It turns out the man still managed to hide the drugs inside.”
The organization contacted the Israeli Embassy in Madrid at Hecht’s arrest, and Kollel Chabad activists in Safed have begun fund-raising for Hecht’s legal defense and to support his family. They said they asked everyone to contribute as much as they can.
Rabbi Ze’ev Crombi, who runs the soup kitchen, told Haaretz that Hecht was detained “in very difficult conditions – without kosher food and without tefillin [phylacteries]. He says detention there is worse than hell.”
“Eliyahu is a good, honest man who did his job faithfully, and it’s impossible for him to have done what they say he did,” Crombi added. “The heart breaks to think of him in that horrific place.” Spanish police and the Israeli embassy confirmed the arrest but declined to provide details on the case.
Zio=Nazi-Turkish diplomatic crisis nears its end
Turkish sources say two rounds of talks between Israeli, Turkish officials have been ‘very positive’; Israel has agreed in principle to apologize and pay compensation for the Gaza flotilla incident.
Israel and Turkey are close to agreeing on a document that will let them put an end to the crisis in their relations. The results of two rounds of talks between the two sides in Geneva have been “very positive” and discussions will continue, Turkish diplomatic sources say.
Israel’s representative on the UN panel investigating the Gaza-bound flotilla incident, Yosef Ciechanover, met for the second time on Monday with senior Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioglu. The discussions centered around a formula that would have Israel apologize for the incident and arrange for compensation for the dead and injured Turkish citizens.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photo by: Reuters / Hagai Frid
Haaretz has learned that the two sides have agreed to present their ideas to prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan to receive further instructions. More discussions are due between legal experts on both sides.
Israel agreed in principle to apologize and pay compensation, and the Turks agreed that if these two aspects are adhered to they would “normalize” relations with Israel and return their ambassador to Tel Aviv.
Nonetheless, both the apology and compensation remain problematic from legal and political perspectives.
A European diplomat familiar with the discussions said the apology is the toughest of the two issues. The two sides are trying to find a formula that would let Erdogan claim that the statement was an apology, but for Netanyahu to argue that it was not – only an expression of appreciation for Turkey’s assistance in putting out the fires in the Carmel region.
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NOVANEWS
Bnei Akiva Lights Up Chanukah in Scandinavia
Delegations have been sent to various communities in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, according to Yonatan Schimmel, central Scandinavia emissary of the World Bnei Akiva and and World Zionist Organization. “The purpose of this year’s show is to complete a small but substantial part of celebrating Chanukah – bringing the Israeli spirit, enthusiasm and the unique Jewish spark which Bnei Akiva is known for,” he explained.
“During the ‘Chanukah Caravan’ we are not only performing for children and Jewish communities, but will also sing and dance in nursing homes for elderly Jews who have been waiting an entire year for this moment, to sing Jewish songs, light candles and to fully connect even for a short moment with the Jewish people through our Israeli shlichim.”
The movement conducted similar Chanukah outreach programs by emissaries in Berlin, Germany and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as well.
In Los Angeles, Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon was scheduled to be the guest of honor Tuesday of the local Bnei Akiva at the main event for its ‘Israeli Heroism’ Week. Ya’alon will also meet 1,000 Jewish LA teens and answer questions about leadership and his service as IDF chief of staff.
Top Zio=Nazi rabbis: Don’t sell property to non-Jews
The action by the clerics — who are chief rabbis in some of Zionist’s largest cities and influential among the devout — quickly fueled charges of racism. It was also likely to deepen the feelings of alienation growing between Zionist’s majority Jews and minority Arabs, and widen the schism between secular and religious Jews.
The religious opinion first became a focus of controversy last year when the chief rabbi of Safed — a town in northern 1948 Palestine that has a large concentration of devout Jews — urged that it be applied specifically to Arabs.
Racist Nitai Morgenstern, an aide to Safed’s chief Zio=Nazi rabbi, Shmuel Eliahu, said the town has “a problem of a lot of people renting and selling to Arabs, and that destroys the city’s social fabric.”
Recently, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews asked other chief rabbis to express their support for the ruling to prove it has widespread backing, Morgenstern said Tuesday. Thirty-seven rabbis signed it and The Associated Press obtained a copy of the ruling with their signatures attached on Tuesday.
Morgenstern said he understood how this attitude could cause friction with the Arab minority, which accounts for one-fifth of Israel’s population of 7.6 million.
“But people have to see the other side,” he said.
Amit Cohen said he and other Safed residents led the campaign to win other rabbis’ support because clerics are “simply fed up with the fact that rabbis have to fear issuing or discussing religious rulings.”
“Rabbis rule on the basis of existing texts,” Cohen said. “But lately, rabbis are afraid to rule on the basis of what is written because they are afraid of the reaction from the media and the government.”
The director-general of Zio=Nazi’s chief rabbinate, Oded Weiner, said the rabbinate hadn’t seen the rabbis’ action and wouldn’t comment on it.
The Association for Civil Rights in 1948 Palestine called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “condemn the incitement expressed by the rabbis and take disciplinary action against those who are employed by the state. “
“It is unthinkable that they would use their public status to promote racism and incitement,” the group said in a statement. Taxpayers pay the salaries of Zionist’s 126 municipal chief rabbis.
A Netanyahu spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Arab-Zionist relations took a major turn for the worse 10 years ago at the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising against Zio=Nazi. Thousands of Palestinan rioted for days in solidarity with the Palestinians, and Zionist police killed 13 Arab citizens while trying to quell the unrest.
Zionist’s ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, led his Yisrael Beitenu party to large gains in last year’s parliamentary elections by playing on the perceived disloyalty of Palestinian’s. He and other lawmakers have proposed a series of bills seen as discriminating against Palestinan, including one that would allow small communities to exclude them.
Zionist have increasingly been questioning the loyalty of Arab citizens, who legally enjoy the same rights but tend to be poorer and discriminated against in state funding and job opportunities.
Meanwhile, some members of the Arab minority have become radicalized by the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, and are openly speaking about turning the Zionist state into part of a binational state that would be home to Zionist and Palestinians both.
Salah Mohsen, spokesman of Adalah, an advocacy group for Arabs in Palestine 1948, said the rabbis’ action was “not surprising” and blamed Lieberman’s Zionist Beiteinu party, which wants to redraw Zionist’s borders to exclude large Arab communities.
Rabbi David Rosen, the interfaith adviser to Zio-Nazi’s chief rabbinate, described the rabbis’ action as “disturbing” but said he did not think that the majority of the country’s rabbis would agree and called it a product of the lingering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
“The rabbinate as a whole isn’t xenophobic or hostile to Arabs,” Rosen said. “As long as the conflict goes on here, it’s logical to assume that the attitudes of all sides will harden, which is deeply regrettable.”
Sociologist Menachem Friedman suggested the ruling could also be applied against impoverished African migrants, such as Eritreans and Sudanese, whose influx has raised concern of many in Israel.
The government estimates that about 13,000 Africans will illegally enter ‘Israel’ this year, joining more than 20,000 others who came between 2006 and 2009. Some are economic migrants and others are asylum-seekers.
Their growing numbers have created a great dilemma here with some saying that a state founded in the wake of the Holocaust shouldn’t turn away people escaping persecution. Officials say they threaten to dilute the country’s Jewish character and are working to stem the influx.
Complaint filed over call to assassinate WikiLeaks founder
(Vancourversun.com) A B.C. lawyer has filed a complaint with the Vancouver police, urging them to investigate whether Tom Flanagan, a former campaign manager for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, broke the law when he said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be assassinated.
Flanagan, a political-science professor at the University of Calgary and Harper’s campaign manager in 2006, said he thought Assange “should be assassinated, actually. I think [U. S. President Barack] Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something.”
Davidson alleged that statement qualifies as a breach of s. 464 of the Criminal Code, which says counselling an offence, regardless of whether it is committed, can be punished by a sentence similar to what’s attached to the actual offence.
The charge is usually levied against gang leaders or others in positions to order hits against rivals.
Flanagan has since issued a statement apologizing and said that he was not being serious.
Assange, for his part, has said the professor “should be charged with incitement to commit murder.”
“We can’t just take to the airwaves suggesting that various people be killed,” Davidson told Postmedia News on Sunday. “I know that if it were me, if he had said, ‘I’d like to see Gail Davidson assassinated,’ I wouldn’t take it lightly.”
Flanagan could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Feds Use Insane Intimidation Tactics to Keep Soldiers From Seeing, Discussing WikiLeaks
The mass government freak-out over WikiLeaks just keeps getting more insane. The latest revelation is that soldiers in Iraq who try to access the WikiLeaks site on unclassified networks, or even just readabout the leaked cables in the media, are re-directed to a warning that they’re about to break the law.
Gawker has the scoop:
A tipster wrote to tell us that “the Army’s unclassified, NIPRNET network in Iraq has blocked every major news website because of the Wikileaks issue,” going on to say that Foxnews.com, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, the Huffington Post, and a variety of other sites are blocked on the Army’s unclassified network. A spokesperson for U.S. forces in Iraq disputed that claim, saying that the web sites aren’t actually blocked—it’s just that attempts to access them on the unclassified network brings up a warning page saying that you’re about to break the law.
The feds have clearly lost it. Many of those soldiers receiving the warnings have security clearances that would have granted them access to the State Department cables beforethey were leaked.
And that’s not all. Apparently the Social Security Administration has sent an alert to all its employees claiming that the WikiLeaks documents “remain classified and SSA employees should not access, download, or transmit them. Individuals may be subject to applicable federal criminal statutes for unlawful access to or transmission of classified information.”
And the State Department has been spreading rumors that anyone who discusses the leaked documents on Twitter or Facebook “shouldn’t bother applying for State Department jobs in the future.”
And the Library of Congress has blocked WikiLeaks for all employees, plus everyone using its computer terminals.
Truly crazy.
Focus on the Policy, Not WikiLeaks
We may never know the whole story behind the recent publication of sensitive U.S. government documents by the WikiLeaks organization, but we certainly can draw some important conclusions from the reaction of so many in government and media.
At its core, the WikiLeaks controversy serves as a diversion from the real issue of what our foreign policy should be. But the mainstream media, along with neoconservatives from both political parties, insists on asking the wrong question. When presented with embarrassing disclosures about U.S. spying and meddling, the policy that requires so much spying and meddling is not questioned. Instead, the media focuses on how so much sensitive information could have been leaked, or how authorities might prosecute the publishers of such information.
No one questions the status quo or suggests a wholesale rethinking of our foreign policy. No one suggests that the White House or the State Department should be embarrassed that the U.S. engages in spying and meddling. The only embarrassment is that it was made public. This allows ordinary people to actually know and talk about what the government does. But state secrecy is anathema to a free society. Why exactly should Americans be prevented from knowing what their government is doing in their name?
In a free society, we are supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, however, we are in big trouble. The truth is that our foreign spying, meddling, and outright military intervention in the post-World War II era has made us less secure, not more. And we have lost countless lives and spent trillions of dollars for our trouble. Too often “official” government lies have provided justification for endless, illegal wars and hundreds of thousands of resulting deaths and casualties.
Take the recent hostilities in Korea as only one example. More than 50 years after the end of the Korean War, American taxpayers continue to spend billions for the U.S. military to defend a modern and wealthy South Korea. The continued presence of the U.S. military places American lives between the two factions. The U.S. presence only serves to prolong the conflict, further drain our empty treasury, and place our military at risk.
The neoconservative ethos, steeped in the teaching of Leo Strauss, cannot abide an America where individuals simply pursue their own happy, peaceful, prosperous lives. It cannot abide an America where society centers around family, religion, or civic and social institutions rather than an all-powerful central state. There is always an enemy to slay, whether communist or terrorist. In the neoconservative vision, a constant state of alarm must be fostered among the people to keep them focused on something greater than themselves – namely their great protector, the state. This is why the neoconservative reaction to the WikiLeaks revelations is so predictable: “See, we told you the world was a dangerous place,” goes the story. They claim we must prosecute – or even assassinate – those responsible for publishing the leaks. And we must redouble our efforts to police the world by spying and meddling better, with no more leaks.
We should view the WikiLeaks controversy in the larger context of American foreign policy. Rather than worry about the disclosure of embarrassing secrets, we should focus on our delusional foreign policy. We are kidding ourselves when we believe spying, intrigue, and outright military intervention can maintain our international status as a superpower while our domestic economy crumbles in an orgy of debt and monetary debasement.
Prohibition of visitation rights for Palestinians violates international laws and conventions
By Fuad Khuffash
MEMO ,
December 6, 2010
As part of a series of reports I am preparing to document Israel’s violations against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in its jails, this article looks at the Zionist state’s prohibition of visitation rights. This is, of course, against international law, conventions and norms.
In dealing with the humanitarian aspects of prisoners’ rights, I have always advocated keeping the legal position uppermost. Although the international legal process continues to ignore Palestinians, the law is on our side, so we must utilise it to prove our case. There is a general rule in international and humanitarian law which says that rights do not disappear over time; thus, one, day, the state of Israel will be held accountable for its crimes.
A set of principles advocated by divine and international laws includes the principle of humanity which is intended to protect human dignity in all circumstances, even during wars and conflicts. Wars are man-made and laws and conventions were developed in order to reduce their effects on the inviolability of human rights and dignity, and the need to respect human honour and blood, even in the most severe conditions.
The principle of humanity is fundamental in international humanitarian law and it has a major role in respecting and protecting human rights and freedom during armed conflict or war. It is compulsory and must be taken into consideration in all cases not covered by international conventions. Moreover, if the principle of humanity must be applied in war, it is important for it to be applied in peacetime, especially in this instance in the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
In looking at the terminology involved, it is my understanding that a detainee is someone who is under arrest and the term is used during the investigation phase; a prisoner, on the other hand, is someone who has been through the detainee phase and a trial and has been sentenced.
The so-called Israel “Defence” Forces carry out arrest campaigns against Palestinians nightly; sometimes at random, at other times as part of an organised programme. During such raids, the sanctity of the home is violated. Nobody is spared the barbaric means used; the elderly, children, women and men are all victims.
My study reveals Israeli violations of humanitarian law by depriving Palestinian prisoners of their right to see their families and relatives.
The media has shown how Palestinians are arrested, with beatings, handcuffing and generally rough treatment being the norm as they are dragged off to an unknown destination. The sight of prisoners being taken from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity (2003) was clear to everyone, as was the image of naked prisoners leaving Jericho prison. Arrests during raids are usually carried out without proper warrants and accompanied by the use of profanities and contempt for the detainee and his rights.
Israel has denied many prisoners of the opportunity to have visits from their families; in 2006 alone, more than 800 detainees and prisoners from Gaza were deprived of visitation rights. Palestinian prisoners are not unique in this respect; even prisoners from other Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia have been so deprived. Israeli policy is, clearly, to isolate prisoners and prevent them from having any contact with the outside world.
Visitation rights are enjoined to make sure that prisoners may stay in touch with their family affairs; awareness of events such as births, marriages and funerals are important aspects of this. The Israeli Prison Service is well aware of this fact, of course, which is why it seeks to deprive the prisoners in this way; in that sense it is a very effective punishment and way to humiliate Palestinians. However, the Israelis claim that it is for “security” reasons, a ridiculous excuse given the high-security aspects of Israeli jails.
Visits are banned as specific punishment for a number of petty “offences”, including being late for the morning head count, raising the television volume or singing loudly. An entire cell group or wing, or the whole prison, can be punished in this way.
When visits are allowed, the circumstances in which they take place are difficult; the family members will be humiliated by personal body searches in front of cameras monitoring everything. Visitors and prisoners communicate through a strengthened glass or plastic barrier; this is often blurred and the audio device is subject to deliberate cuts by those monitoring the conversation.
The denial of visitation rights is backed by Israeli law; the Zionist state is the only state in the world which has legitimised such actions contrary to international law. This policy started in 1996, when a decree was issued limiting visits to first-degree relatives only and limiting the number of visitors. If prisoners are not married and their parents live far away, they have no visitors.
After this, Israel proceeded to place more obstacles in the way; if a prisoner and his wife, for example, have different surnames (as is often the case; a Muslim woman retains her maiden name on marriage), she cannot visit him until the authorities are satisfied that the evidence of the marriage is acceptable, which has been known to take up to eighteen months. Mothers of prisoners face the same problem.
Israel’s national security is also cited as a reason for preventing visits, especially with “dangerous” prisoners. How this stands up in the face of prison security is anyone’s guess.
Visit deprivation is a punitive policy which has negative psychological effects on prisoners and their families. It can destroy prisoner morale, which is the intention. Practically-speaking, it also means that families are unable to pass on mundane but essential items such as fresh clothing and suchlike.
In response to the continued incarceration of Israeli soldier Sergeant Gilad Shalit in Gaza, some members of the Knesset (parliament) are demanding that Palestinian prisoners are kept isolated as they assume he is.
It is not unknown for prisoners’ families to travel long distances to the prison for a visit only to be told that he has been moved to another institution. That could also be the time that they are told that he is not allowed to have visitors because of something he is alleged to have done.
All of this violates international law and is contrary to the values and principles of Israeli society itself. It is designed to humiliate the prisoner and destroy his morale as part of the overall plan to humiliate Palestinians. Today, the international community and human rights organizations are asked to stand by their legal and moral responsibilities to bring these abuses by Israel to an end. Failure to do so makes them complicit with Israel in the ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and abuses of internationally-accepted laws and conventions.
Anti-Muslim Hate Group Leader to Teach Islam at Oregon College
(SEATTLE, WA, 12/3/10) — The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) today called on an Oregon community college to replace a leader of an anti-Muslim hate group who is scheduled to begin teaching a course on Islam in January.
CAIR-WA reported that Barry Sommer, president of an Oregon chapter of the hate group ACT! for America, will teach a course called “What is Islam” at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore. Sommer also produces a weekly local cable access program “Islam Today” on Comcast’s CTV29. The contact e-mail for the program is “act4americaor@yahoo.com.” His personal blog features one of the infamous Danish cartoons mocking Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Sommer has a history of making false and misleading statements about Islam. The preface to Sommer’s online book, “From the Mouths of Our Enemies,” states: “Our enemies want us destroyed not because of our riches, or our liberties, although they say that is so. No, they want us gone because Allah told them so. Foundational Islam demands that ALL citizens of planet earth convert to Islam, pay a tax (jizya) or die. It is now demanded of us that we make a stand, draw the line and decide who wins this clash once and for all. If it means war, so be it.”
In a July 16, 2010 letter to Eugene’s Register-Guard newspaper, Sommer wrote: “Until Islam changes its 1,400 years of subjugation and conquest by the sword, the atrocities will continue to escalate.”
In a letter to Lane Community College President Mary Spilde, CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari wrote: “Unless the goal of this course is to promote anti-Muslim bigotry, Lane Community College should replace Mr. Sommer with someone who will offer students a balanced and objective analysis of the subject matter.”
Bukhari said ACT! for America national leader Brigitte Gabriel claims an American Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen” and that Islam is the “real enemy.” She once told the Australian Jewish News: “Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.” She also claimed that “Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word … it’s the vehicle for Islam … Islam is the problem.”
When asked whether Americans should “resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation,” Gabriel said: “Absolutely. If a Muslim who has — who is — a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day — this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”
Gabriel stated: “America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam.”
Along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs “have no soul” and that Muslims worship “something they call ‘Allah,’ which is very different from the God we believe [in].”
SEE: A Case Study in Sincere Hypocrisy: Brigitte Gabriel
Video: Brigitte Gabriel Says Arabs Have No Souls
Earlier this year, a person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida was caught on video bragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer.
That person states: “Their foot baths, I love pissing in them … The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit … To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims’] holy stuff.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
‘Zio=Nazi’s cause of Palestinian health woes’
Ruchama Marton, head of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said in a statement on Monday that the causes of health issues were often political in nature.
“As a human rights organization we are, by definition, political, speaking out against violations of human rights perpetrated by the regime,” Marton was quoted as saying by AFP.
She added that the people of Gaza are suffering from disease outbreaks like diarrhea because Israel denies them access to adequate water supplies.
Tel Aviv has imposed a stringent blockade on the coastal enclave since 2007, severely hampering the upkeep of basic infrastructure.
The sewage system has been particularly hard-hit, as Israel does not allow the import of any pipes or other metal equipment.
Zio=Nazi drones buzz over Lebanon skies
An unmanned Israeli aircraft crossed into Lebanese airspace at 4:45 a.m. local time (0145 GMT) on Monday and conducted several unwarranted flights above the al-Fakiha area in Baalbek, located 86 km (53 miles) northeast of the capital Beirut, according to a statement released by the Lebanese military.
The spy aircraft left Lebanese airspace hours later while flying over southern Lebanon.
On Sunday, an Israeli drone was observed at 7:40 a.m. (0440 GMT) patrolling the skies above several areas in southern Lebanon, including the village of al-Naqoura, located 91 km (57 miles) south of Beirut, Riak, which is close to the Syrian border, and Baalbek.
The remote-controlled drone left Lebanese airspace at 7:50 p.m. local time (1650 GMT) while flying over Alma al-Shaab, a town in southern Lebanon.
Later in the day, an unmanned Israeli aerial vehicle violated Lebanon’s airspace and flew over several areas in southern Lebanon, including the border town of Alma al-Shaab at 9:20 p.m. local time (1820 GMT). The spy aircraft left at 1:50 a.m. on Monday (2250 GMT on Sunday) while flying over the southern border village of Rmeish.
Israel violates Lebanon’s airspace on an almost daily basis, claiming the flights serve surveillance purposes.
Lebanon’s government, the Hezbollah resistance movement, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, have repeatedly cited Israel’s air surveillance flights over Lebanon as clear violations of UN resolution 1701 and the country’s sovereignty.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brokered a ceasefire in the war of aggression Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In 2009, Beirut complained to the United Nations about Israeli aircraft violating the airspace over the south of the country.
Zio=Nazi fears growing Palestine support
“Recognition of a Palestinian state is a violation of the interim agreement signed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1995, which established that the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will be discussed and solved through negotiations,” the Jerusalem Post quoted Israel’s foreign ministry as saying in a statement late Monday.
The statement, which said that recognition of a Palestinian state also contradicted the road map, called it a regrettable move that would not help change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.
“All attempts to bypass negotiations and to unilaterally determine issues in dispute will only harm the trust of the sides and their commitment to agreed frameworks for negotiations,” the statement read.
Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have all sent letters to acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas during the past week, declaring the recognition of a free and independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
The letters come amid US efforts to devise an economic-military package to ‘bribe’ Israel to renew a partial settlement freeze, which expired on September 26.
Tel Aviv’s refusal to extend the 10-month moratorium enraged the PA negotiators who walked out of the US-sponsored direct talks launched three weeks earlier in Washington.
Israel has called on the countries which have recognized a Palestinian State to instead force Ramallah into returning to the negotiating table, what Palestinians fear could cost them more concessions in favor of Israel given Washington’s influence on the PA and the talks.
A United Nations resolution demands the return of Palestinian territories which were occupied by Tel Aviv during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Over 100 countries have endorsed the Palestinians’ 1988 unilateral declaration of independent statehood.
LatAm gravitates toward Palestine
“Uruguay will surely follow the same path as Argentina in 2011,” Uruguayan Deputy Foreign Minister Roberto Conde was quoted by AFP as saying on Monday.
In a letter addressed to acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas, which was read out on Monday by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said her country recognizes Palestine as a “free and independent state” as defined by the 1967 borders.
On Friday, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that Brasilia recognizes the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
In response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, “This regrettable decision will not help at all to change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.”
“It is a disappointing declaration which goes against the spirit of the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and against negotiations for peace,” he said.
Due to the renewed settlement building activities, the Palestinian Authority broke off the recently resumed direct talks. The PA said Tel Aviv had to freeze the construction and expansion of Jewish settler units or the talks could not continue.
But Israel refuses to cancel its recent decision to build 238 new Jewish settler units in East al-Quds and is also forging ahead with the construction of new units in settlements in other parts of the occupied territories.
The Palestinians say that the settlement activities are being carried out to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
US drone attack kills five in North Waziristan
‘Pakistan Times’ Wire Service
MIRANSHAH: Missiles fired from a US drone on a vehicle and a house killed five suspected militants in lawless northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border on Monday, officials said.
The missile strike took place in Khysore village, 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town of troubled North Waziristan tribal district.
“A US drone fired four missiles on a house and a vehicle,” a senior official said. “At least five militants were killed.” A local official confirmed the strike and casualties.
“First the US drone fired two missiles on a vehicle and two of the occupants were killed, while three others escaped and hid in a shop adjacent to a house.
“The drone fired two more missiles on the shop and three of them were killed and three others were wounded,” the official said.
Argentina joins Brazil in recognition of Palestinian state
Argentine President sends Abbas letter stating it recognizes Palestine defined by 1967 borders; Uruguay says it will recognize Palestine in 2011; Israel calls announcement ‘regrettable’.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas waves at the Palestinian Presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010. |
| Photo by: AP |
“The Argentine government recognizes Palestine as a free and independent state within the borders defined in 1967,” AFP quoted Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, reading a letter sent by Argentine President Cristina Kirchner wrote to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
“We are working towards opening a diplomatic representation in Palestine, most likely in Ramallah,” he said.
The Foreign Ministry called the announcement “regrettable” and said that Israel viewed this decision with severity, and it would not help change the situation between Israel and the Palestinians.
A U.S. State Department official said Argentina’s move was a “premature step [that] does not contribute to our common goal of a two-state solution.”
“Negotiations are the pathway for the parties to see the realization of their aspirations – for the Israelis, security – for the Palestinians, an independent, viable, and sovereign state of their own,” the U.S. official added.
On Friday Brazil said it has recognized a Palestinian state based on borders at the time of Israel’s 1967 conquest of the West Bank.
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said the recognition is in response to a request made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last month to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Silva sent a letter to Abbas on December 1, saying Brazil recognizes Palestine and hopes that the recognition will help lead to states of Israel and Palestine “that will coexist peacefully and in security.”
The announcements by the three South American countries came as Middle East peace talks were on a hiatus since the temporary settlement freeze ended in late September.
Israeli Chabad emissary nabbed in Madrid with 4kg of cocaine
Friends of the arrested man say he was fooled into smuggling the cocaine as he was returning to Israel after a fund-raising trip to Costa Rica.
Eliyahu Hecht, 57, a father of six who works for the global charity organization Kollel Chabad, was returning to Israel from Costa Rica, where he was fund-raising for a soup kitchen operated by Kollel Chabad in Safed. He was arrested during a stopover in Madrid, and friends say he only managed to contact his family on Monday.
“He said he was asked by his host in Costa Rica to take a suitcase and deliver it to a woman in Spain,” one of the friends, Uri, told Haaretz. “Eliyahu refused, and then the host started telling him, ‘how dare he suspect him and how dare he refuse after staying under his roof and eating from his table.’ So Eliyahu agreed to the request, but not before checking the suitcase for anything suspicious. It turns out the man still managed to hide the drugs inside.”
The organization contacted the Israeli Embassy in Madrid at Hecht’s arrest, and Kollel Chabad activists in Safed have begun fund-raising for Hecht’s legal defense and to support his family. They said they asked everyone to contribute as much as they can.
Rabbi Ze’ev Crombi, who runs the soup kitchen, told Haaretz that Hecht was detained “in very difficult conditions – without kosher food and without tefillin [phylacteries]. He says detention there is worse than hell.”
“Eliyahu is a good, honest man who did his job faithfully, and it’s impossible for him to have done what they say he did,” Crombi added. “The heart breaks to think of him in that horrific place.” Spanish police and the Israeli embassy confirmed the arrest but declined to provide details on the case.
Zio=Nazi-Turkish diplomatic crisis nears its end
Turkish sources say two rounds of talks between Israeli, Turkish officials have been ‘very positive’; Israel has agreed in principle to apologize and pay compensation for the Gaza flotilla incident.
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| Photo by: Reuters / Hagai Frid |
Haaretz has learned that the two sides have agreed to present their ideas to prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdogan to receive further instructions. More discussions are due between legal experts on both sides.
Nonetheless, both the apology and compensation remain problematic from legal and political perspectives.
A European diplomat familiar with the discussions said the apology is the toughest of the two issues. The two sides are trying to find a formula that would let Erdogan claim that the statement was an apology, but for Netanyahu to argue that it was not – only an expression of appreciation for Turkey’s assistance in putting out the fires in the Carmel region.
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