Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored

We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.

Read more.

Senator Biden Wrong: AIPAC Does Represent the Government of Israel

Accused of not backing AIPAC sponsored legislation, Biden told reporters, "They think they know the Senate better than I do. They don't know the Senate better than I do...AIPAC does not speak for the State of Israel."

The outspoken Senator Biden, often compared to president John F. Kennedy, is wrong. Newly declassified documents reveal that before his death, JFK's most pressing concerns were registering the Israel lobby as foreign government agents and inspections of the Israeli nuclear weapons program.

Read more.

Israeli minister says alternatives to attack on Iran running out

"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons programme, we will attack it," said Shaul Mofaz, who is also transportation minister.

Read more.

McCain Adviser: Christian Right a "Serious Problem"

Clinton adviser Ann Lewis tacked to the right, criticizing Obama for saying he'd meet with the President of Iran and for suggesting that a US President needn't have to echo the policies of the Likud Party in order to be "pro-Israel." "The role of the president of the United States is to support the decisions that are made by the people of Israel," Lewis said. "It is not up to us to pick and choose from among the political parties."

WTF?

"The role of the president of the United States is to support the decisions that are made by the people of Israel."

No, really, What The Fuck?

Read more.

Paul: Iran attack on Israel, illusion

The 72-year-old politician made the remarks as Israeli officials are stepping up their war rhetoric against Tehran, over its nuclear program despite the recent reports confirming the peaceful nature of the country's activities.

Ron Paul also made it clear that he would cut the 'billions of dollars' in annual aid Washington provides for Israel if elected President.

Give 'em hell, Ron.

Read more.

IDF to show US nuclear data on Iran

Disappointed after failing to make their case on Iran and influence the outcome of the United States's National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released this week, Military Intelligence will present its hard core evidence on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program on Sunday to the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff during a rare visit he will be making to Israel.

I know, I know, big surprise.

Read more.

How close were we to a third world war?

PERHAPS YOU were watching a late-night film or dancing the hours away in some packed nightclub. Maybe you were already tucked up snugly in bed. Wherever you were, it's pretty much a dead certainty you were oblivious at the time to the dramatic events that were unfolding in the skies over Syria on September 6 - events so startling, so secret and dangerous in their implications they could have come straight from the pages of an international best-selling thriller.

But this was not fiction. Indeed, what took place in the small hours of that Thursday morning - still the subject of immense speculation - was a terrifying reminder of the dangerous times we live in, and how much more volatile the Middle East could yet become.

This is the world we've created. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Read more.

Something is Rotten in Sweden

It may seem odd, but reflects the current sentiment in the Western world: insulting Muslims is a matter of freedom of speech, while defamation of Jewish symbols is never tolerated.

Read more.

Academic Freedom is at Risk in America

"Academic colleagues, get used to it," warned the pro-Israel activist Martin Kramer in March 2004. "Yes, you are being watched. Those obscure articles in campus newspapers are now available on the Internet, and they will be harvested. Your syllabi, which you've also posted, will be scrutinized. Your Web sites will be visited late at night."

...

This attack, intended to shield Israel from criticism, not only threatens academic privileges on college campuses, it jeopardizes our capacity to evaluate our foreign policy. With a potentially catastrophic clash with Iran on the horizon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spiraling out of control, Americans urgently need to be able to think clearly about our commitments and intentions in the Middle East. And yet we are being prevented from doing so by a longstanding campaign of intimidation that has terminated careers, stymied debate and shut down dialogue.

Read more.

Charging Anti-Semitism To Silence Dissent

But even if you assume that anti-Jewish quotes are in fact authentic: How is this relevant? This pretense that Israel is being persecuted by malevolent Arabs is easily debunked when the facts are considered: take for example kill rates (an average of 4 Palestinian civilians killed for every Israeli killed; about 8 Palestinian children for every Israeli child); house demolitions (thousands of Palestinian homes, 0 Israeli homes); checkpoints (more than 400 in the West Bank alone, 0 in Israel); prisoners (more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners, including about 300 children; 1 Israeli soldier held prisoner, and no Israeli children). Israel's supporters must resort to a blizzard of lies, half-lies, and non-sequiturs because the facts about Israel cannot be justified by fair-minded people.

Read more.

British woman watches in shock as Israeli bulldozers raze her home west of Occupied Jerusalem

Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother Jessica Barhoum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her, her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverized their home. "I can't believe that it's lawful, that this law exists. I'm from England. Do you know what I mean?" asked Jessica, 32, who grew up in the southern city of Salisbury but moved to Israel after marrying Moussa, her Arab Israeli husband. "You can't believe a country like this would make a law against its own citizens," she added.

For the last four decades, Israeli legislation has permitted the demolition of homes built without a construction permit, the case for the Barhoums' home in the village of Ein Rafa, west of Occupied Jerusalem, although a permit was pending.

Critics say the law is disproportionately used against Arab Israelis rather than Jewish Israelis. Permits can take years to acquire, particularly for Palestinians wanting to build in Israeli-occupied and annexed East Jerusalem.

Memo: Don't move to Britain or Israel. Check.

Read the rest.

Bush Cites Israel as Model for Success in Iraq

President Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq, saying yesterday that the goal of America's mission in Iraq is not eliminating attacks but enabling a democracy that can function despite continuing violence.

Huh?

Read the rest.

Israeli president resigns but avoids jail time

President Moshe Katsav signed a plea bargain Thursday that will force him to resign but included no rape charges and entailed no jail time, Attorney General Meni Mazuz said.

Under the deal, Katsav — who had insisted he was innocent of wrongdoing and the victim of a slur campaign — will plead guilty to sexual harassment, indecent acts and harassing a witness, Mazuz said.

Read more.

Boycotting DePaul

If Finkelstein's tenure bid was always controversial because of the intervention of Dershowitz and other pro-Israel ideologues, the rejection of Larudee was a shock. Her application had been unanimously approved at every previous level of the tenure process, and she was preparing to take over as chair of the university's International Studies program.

Larudee's supporters among faculty say the only reason they can think of for the decision is that she spoke out in defense of Finkelstein--and her brother is also involved in working for justice for Palestine.

Read the rest.

Who runs American Foreign Policy?

The second you mention the word "ISRAEL" - the nation "ISRAEL," the concept "ISRAEL," many in the American press become defensive.

We're not allowed to be critical of the state of israel.

Check out the video here.

Israel targets US lad mag market

Israel has decided to reach out to young US men by publishing images of semi-clad female former soldiers in US men's magazine, Maxim.

The pictures are part of a public relations drive to improve the image of the country within the US.

Pathetic.

Read the rest.

Bush Pledges More Free Money to Israel

Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today’s population, that is more than $5,700 for every man, woman and child in Israel, yet Israel is listed as one of the top twenty wealthiest nations.

Sure would be nice if our own government could hand every man woman and child in the United States $5,700.

Read more.