[The slain Wall Street Journal reporter snooping around in Iraq was a secret Israeli. Mossad? The United States media, in a bloc, intentionally withheld this information from the American public. As if a (secret) Israeli Wall Street Journal "reporter" tracking down insurgents in Iraq wasn't a news story? Whatever happened to the "free press" once it became Jewish and Israel-centered? The man was already murdered. Hiding his Israeli citizenship wasn't going to save him. His Israeli citizenship was withheld from the world for what real reason? ]
Pearl's father: 'Israeli connection' could hinder investigation,
by Yossi Melman, Haaretz (Israel), February 24, 2002
"Professor Yehuda Pearl, father of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, has told Ha'aretz that he fears that making public his son's Israeli citizenship could adversely affect investigative efforts by Pakistani police to apprehend the killers and track down the murdered reporter's body.
In a telephone conversation from his Los Angeles residence, Professor Pearl expressed regret and anger over the revelation by the Israeli media of his family's "Israeli connection." The U.S. media, which was aware of the information, complied with the family's request not to make it public. The American media was asked to comply with this request after information was obtained that confirmed reports that the 38-year-old reporter was dead. Professor Pearl went on to say that he had not viewed the videotape in which his son's murder was documented and has no intention of doing so. He was told of his son's death Thursday by U.S. government officials after they had viewed the videotape and were convinced of its authenticity ... Pearl, born in Princeton, New Jersey, died at the age of 38. He worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for twelve years. His last job was to report from Afghanistan and Pakistan on the U.S. war against terror. On Thursday, Fahad Naseem, one of three men accused of involvement in the kidnapping, said Pearl was abducted because he was a Jew working against Islam."

Background: Not AIPAC's first controversy,
by CALEV BEN-DAVID, THE JERUSALEM POST, Aug. 29, 2004
"A lobby is like a night flower; It thrives in the dark and dies in the sun." So wrote Steven Rosen, AIPAC director of foreign policy issues, in an internal organizational memo several years ago. Unfortunately for the influential pro-Israel lobbying group, this new affair is turning far too much of the media spotlight on an organization that prefers to work behind the scenes on Capitol Hill. But it is hardly the first time AIPAC has found itself at the center of public controversy, although never in such a serious matter as receiving classified security material. In 1988, the investigative show 60 Minutes ran a critical piece on AIPAC using information supplied by its former communications director (and ex-Jerusalem Post reporter) Barbara Amouyal. Among the material supplied by Amouyal was an internal memo suggesting that the media be fed stories regarding Jesse Jackson's private life. Also included in the 60 Minutes report was another internal memo which seemed to direct how political action committees should donate money to specific pro-Israel candidates, a possible violation of federal law forbidding lobby groups such as AIPAC from directly involving themselves in elections. A subsequent investigation by the Federal Elections Commission cleared AIPAC of any violations. Nonetheless, AIPAC continues to face accusations that it unduly interferes in the electoral process, especially from politicians who credit their defeats at the polls to the organization's efforts. The most notable example in recent years was the 2002 congressional race, in which two Georgia Democrats, incumbents Cynthia McKinney and Earl Hilliard, were defeated in party primaries by contenders perceived as more pro-Israel. McKinney subsequently commented: "Despite the fact that I easily won the Democratic vote, 40,000 Republicans maliciously crossed over and overtook the Democratic Primary. And because AIPAC had telegraphed in newspaper articles that they were going to target both Earl Hilliard and me, the Democratic Party was paralyzed" ... AIPAC's efforts to keep a low media-profile have also led to accusations that it has put undue pressure on journalists, especially from the Jewish press, who cover it critically. Among them is Washington Jewish Week reporter Larry Cohler, who earlier this year told an Internet site: "Their mission statement doesn't say anything about them mucking around in Jewish newspapers. AIPAC tried to get me fired, [and editor] Andy [Silow-Carrol] fired [from The Washington Jewish Week in 1992]." (AIPAC has denied those charges.) Given its task, it is inevitable that AIPAC will serve as a perennial whipping-boy for anti-Semitic Jewish conspiracy theorists, and as the phantom spoiler by disgruntled anti-Israeli politicians who fall short at the ballot box. But its reported involvement in the Pentagon-leak story will force it to handle mainstream-media damage control of the like the organization has not yet known."

A Long History Israeli Espionage Against the US,
By SAM HUSSEINI, Counterpunch, August 30, 2004
"[This survey of Israeli spying on the US was compiled in 1997.] The Washington Post reported in a front-page story on May 7th, 1997 that US intelligence had intercepted a conversation in which two Israeli officials had discussed the possibility of getting a confidential letter that then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher had written to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. One of the Israelis had commented that they may get the letter from "Mega"-- apparently a codename for an Israeli agent within the US government ... Here is a sampling of the public record of Israeli espionage and covert actions against the US: According to Time magazine (5/19/97), the US ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, last year "complained privately to the Israeli government about heavy-handed surveillance by Israeli intelligence agents, who had been following American-embassy employees in Tel Aviv and searching the hotel rooms of visiting US officials." *** Three relevant documents were made public in early 1996: 1) A General Accounting Office report "Defense Industrial Security: Weaknesses in US Security Arrangements With Foreign-Owned Defense Contractors" found that according to intelligence sources "Country A" (identified by intelligence sources as Israel, Washington Times, 2/22/96) "conducts the most aggressive espionage operation against the United States of any US ally." The Jerusalem Post (8/30/96) quoted the report, "Classified military information and sensitive military technologies are high-priority targets for the intelligence agencies of this country." The report described "An espionage operation run by the intelligence organization responsible for collecting scientific and technologic information for [Israel] paid a US government employee to obtain US classified military intelligence documents." The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (Shawn L. Twing, April 1996) noted that this was "a reference to the 1985 arrest of Jonathan Pollard, a civilian US naval intelligence analyst who provided Israel's LAKAM [Office of Special Tasks] espionage agency an estimated 800,000 pages of classified US intelligence information." The GAO report also noted that "Several citizens of [Israel] were caught in the United States stealing sensitive technology used in manufacturing artillery gun tubes." 2) An Office of Naval Intelligence document, "Worldwide Challenges to Naval Strike Warfare" reported that "US technology has been acquired [by China] through Israel in the form of the Lavi fighter and possibly SAM [surface-to-air] missile technology." Jane's Defense Weekly (2/28/96) noted that "until now, the intelligence community has not openly confirmed the transfer of US technology [via Israel] to China." The report noted that this "represents a dramatic step forward for Chinese military aviation." (Flight International, 3/13/96) 3) The Defense Investigative Service circulated a memo in late 1995 warning US military contractors that "Israel aggressively collects [US] military and industrial technology." The report stated that Israel obtains information using "ethnic targeting, financial aggrandizement, and identification and exploitation of individual frailties" of US citizens. (Washington Post, 1/30/96) (This report was criticized by several groups for allegedly implying that Americans Jews were particularly suspect.) *** From New York Times December 22, 1985, by David K. Shipler: Many American officials are convinced of Israel's ability, on a routine basis, to obtain sensitive information about this county's secret weapons, advanced technology and internal policy deliberations in Washington... The F.B.I. knew of at least a dozen incidents in which American officials transferred classified information to the Israelis, [former Assistant Director of the F.B.I.] Mr. [Raymond] Wannal said. The Justice Department did not prosecute. "When the Pollard case broke, the general media and public perception was that this was the first time this had ever happen," said John Davitt, former chief of the Justice Department's internal security section. "No, that's not true at all. The Israeli intelligence service, when I was in the Justice Department, [1950-1980] was the second most active in the United States, to the Soviets." *** From "The Samson Option," by Seymour M. Hersh [Page numbers are from the Vintage paperback edition, 1992.] The name "Mega" in the recent Washington Post story may be noteworthy: [I]llicitly obtained intelligence was flying so voluminously from LAKAM into Israeli intelligence that a special code name, JUMBO, was added to the security markings already on the documents. There were strict orders, [Ari] Ben-Menashe recalled: "Anything marked JUMBO was not supposed to be discussed with your American counterparts." ("The Samson Option," pg 295) After Jonathan Pollard was arrested for selling secrets to Israel, the Israeli leadership denied all knowledge. Hersh provides several sources indicating that they did know. Here's one: The top leadership, of course, knew what was going on. One former Israeli intelligence official recalled that Peres and Rabin, both very sophisticated in the handling of intelligence, were quick to ask, as the official put it, "Where are we getting this stuff?" They were told, the Israeli added, that Israeli intelligence 'has a penetration into the U.S. intelligence community.' Both men let it go. No one said: 'Stop it here and now.'" ("The Samson Option," pg 296) One of the little-known aspects of the Pollard case is that information was passed along by the Israelis to the Soviets: For Shamir, the Israeli added, the relaying of the Pollard information to the Soviets was his way of demonstrating that Israel could be a much more dependable and important collaborator in the Middle East than the "fickle" Arabs: "What Arab could give you this?" ("The Samson Option," pg 299) The Pollard information helped in Israel's ability to exercise "The Samson Option" -- to threaten the Soviet Union, and therefore the US, with nuclear war if they didn't get their way in developments in the Mideast. Disclosure of information to the Soviets also apparently led the Soviets to track down US agents: One senior American intelligence official confirmed that there have been distinct losses of human and technical intelligence collection ability inside the Soviet Union that have been attributed, after extensive analysis, to Pollard. "The Israeli objective [in the handling of Pollard] was to gather what they could and let the Soviets know that they have a strategic capability--for their survival [the threat of a nuclear strike against the Soviets] and to get their people out [of the Soviet Union]," one former CIA official said. "Where it hurts us is our agents being rolled up and our ability to collect technical intelligence being shut down. When the Soviets found out what's being passed"--in the documents supplied by Pollard to the Israelis--"they shut down the source." ("The Samson Option," pg 300) *** A portion of a 1979 CIA internal report, "Israel: Foreign Intelligence and Security Services" (from The Nation, "I Spy, You Spy, We All Spy," December 14, 1985, by Alexander Cockburn) included the following: In one instance Shin Beth [the Israeli internal security agency] tried to penetrate the US Consulate General in Jerusalem through a clerical employee who was having an affair with a Jerusalem girl. They rigged a fake abortion case against the employee in an unsuccessful effort to recruit him. Before this attempt at blackmail, they had tried to get the Israeli girl to elicit information from her boyfriend. Two other important targets in Israel are the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) with headquarters in Jerusalem. There have been two or three crude efforts to recruit Marine guards for monetary reward. In the cases involving UNTSO personnel, the operations involved intimidation and blackmail. In 1954, a hidden microphone planted by the Israelis was discovered in the Office of the US Ambassador in Tel Aviv. In 1956, telephone taps were found connected to two telephones in the residence of the US military attache. *** In March 1978, Stephen Bryen, then a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer, was overheard in a DC hotel offering confidential documents to top Israeli military officials. The F.B.I. found Bryen's fingerprints on the documents in question, and he admitted to having obtained them the night before the meeting with the Israelis. Bryen was forced to quit his job, but was never indicted. He was later brought on to the Defense Department as a deputy to Reagan Administration Assistant Secretary Richard Pearle. There Bryen was in charge of such matters as overseeing technology transfers in the Mideast. (See "The Armageddon Network" (Amana Books) by Michael Saba, an officer of the National Association of Arab Americans when he overheard Bryen offer the documents to the Israelis.) As late as 1992, Stephen Bryen was serving on board of the pro-Israeli Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs while continuing as a paid consultant -- with security clearance -- on exports of sensitive US technology. (Wall Street Journal, 1/22/92, Edward T. Pound and David Rogers) *** * "The Lavon Affair": In 1954, Israeli agents attacked Western targets in Egypt in an apparent attempt to upset US-Egyptian relations. Israeli defense minister Pinchas Lavon was removed from office, though many think real responsibility lay with David Ben-Gurion. * In 1965, Israel apparently illegally obtained enriched uranium from NUMEC corporation. (Washington Post, 6/5/86, Charles R. Babcock, "US an Intelligence Target of the Israelis, Officials Say.") * In 1967, Israel attacked the USS Liberty, an intelligence gathering vessel flying a US flag, killing 34 crew members. See "Assault on the Liberty," by James M. Ennes, Jr. (Random House). * In 1985 Richard Smyth, the owner of MILCO was indicted on charges of smuggling nuclear timing devices to Israel (Washington Post, 10/31/86). * April 24, 1987 Wall Street Journal headline: "Role of Israel in Iran-Contra Scandal Won't be Explored in Detail by Panels" * In 1992, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israeli agents apparently tried to steal Recon Optical Inc's top-secret airborne spy-camera system. (1/17/92, Edward T. Pound and David Rogers). * In early 1997, an Army mechanical engineer, David A. Tenenbaum, told investigators that he "inadvertently" gave classified military information on missile systems and armored vehicles to Israeli officials (New York Times, 2/20/97). * For detailed analysis of the Israel-US relationship, including covert operations, see "Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with a Militant Israel" by Stephen Green (Amana Books). Also see "Dangerous Liaisons" by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn (Harper Collins). * For information on economic espionage see "War By Other Means: Economic Espionage in America" by Wall Street Journal reporter John Fialka (Norton). Also see "Israel's Unauthorized Arms Transfers" in Foreign Policy, Summer 1995, by Prof. Duncan Clarke of American University."

Jews are creating their own ghetto warns Israeli,
Ekklesia, 1/9/04
"Jews are not making themselves safer by building a security wall in Israel but are rather sending themselves back into a ghetto, according to an Israeli Jew writing in a publication launched today by Christian Aid agency World Vision and the Christian Socialist Movement. Rami Elhanan writes in Barrier to Peace? Perspectives on the Barrier that the construction is a "wall of hatred" and will not make life better for Jews in the Palestinian Territories: "As a Jew, the most alarming thing for me is that my people are getting back into the ghetto. "We are creating our own ghetto, which will not protect us. It will make us give up any hope. It will make us give up any dialogue or negotiation and connection with our neighbours. It will make us feel full of power when we are really powerless. The price of this wall is too high. It will put the very existence of the State of Israel in jeopardy." Mr Elhanan, former soldier and father of a girl killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber, is one of two contributors to Barrier to Peace? Perspectives on the Barrier, the other is Reverend Alex Awad, an ordained Palestinian Christian and Dean of Students at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem. The former spends much of his piece explaining why most Israeli Jews support the wall's construction. The latter writes about how devastating the effect the wall has on Palestinians and on the future of the peace process. "As Palestinian territories shrink due to the wall, so will the Palestinian ability to form a viable state on what little that is left," writes Rev Awad. "Israelis deceive themselves when they assume that they can throw Palestinians into fenced in, isolated islands of historic Palestine, while Israelis enjoy the fruits of the imposed peace and security. "It did not work for the apartheid regime of South Africa and it will not work for Israel. This wall will not make good neighbours. This wall will embitter and impoverish Palestinians and add fuel to militancy and terrorism."

Zionism Also Trampled Over Arab Jews,
By Yehudith Harel, Miftah (from Al-Ahram), September 4, 2004
"While struggling for truth and equality, true partnership and reconciliation between Jews and Palestinians, we need to address the wrongs inflicted by Zionism not only on Palestinians but on Arab Jews as well. While doing so we're not damaging or diluting the struggle for truth and equality between Jews and Palestinians but on the contrary, strengthening it, making it more powerful by giving it another dimension which can also help us to mobilize wider groups in Israeli society to support our cause. One must state clearly that one cannot compare the discrimination and oppression of the Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories with that of the oriental or Arab Jews. Nor should one overlook the major national component of the Jewish-Palestinian struggle and the immense present day suffering of the Palestinians at Israel's hands. One should not forget that Zionism constitutes first and foremost an assault against Palestinian Arabs ... Several, not all, expressions of the discrimination and oppression of both groups came from the same psycho-political "source", even if not from the same root, and begot the same practical attitude towards them. First, the European- colonialist attitude of the Zionists, looking down on the "natives" and regarding them as second class and inferior in being "oriental", "Arab" and culturally "underdeveloped". Second, the cold, calculated and instrumental attitude towards both groups: oriental Arab Jews were treated by the Zionist movement like objects not subjects, and their fate and well being did not count in face of the "big national ideals" and achievements sought by the Jewish nationalist movement which was, after all, completely Ashkenazi, both in origins and in essence. Therefore, the Zionists could oust the majority of the Palestinian community and oppress and discriminate against the remaining ones; bring in oriental Arab Jews almost like imported cattle and practically "throw them off" vehicles and thrust them in the new developmental cities in the desert and in other remote agricultural settlements, doing so "for the benefit of the State" and the Zionist cause. There was no consideration whatsoever of the welfare of those people. There are many well-documented instances in the historical record indicating this instrumental attitude. Third, the deep cultural disdain and contempt that survives to this very day. The culture of oriental Arab Jews was Arab, the culture of the "enemy", which has been and is still looked down upon, de-legitimized, disdained and seen as inferior. Their Judaism was one of a traditional mode, in sharp juxtaposition to the secular aspirations of the Ashkenazi Zionists. Therefore, in order to be accepted by and belong to the hegemonic Jewish collective -- that is the Ashkenazi one -- the oriental Arab Jew had to distance him or herself from Arab culture and Arab-Jewish identity, which was a mild, traditional school of Judaism, and assimilate into the Israeli nationalist Ashkenazi secular culture. This same attitude remains prevalent among Ashkenazi elites, who find the emergence of traditional Jewish Sephardic protest movements like Shass not only utterly incomprehensible, unacceptable and even repulsive, but also a "cultural threat". The mainstream and hegemonic Jewish-Israeli cultural orientation is completely Western in aspiration -- if not in real practice and content. It has shifted from the traditional Euro-centric orientation to be predominantly Americanised. To this very day, Jewish-Israeli "oriental" culture is not considered mainstream nor equal, but rather fringe and inferior. This is the case despite the adoption and integration of folkloric elements from the Orient, mainly in the gastronomic and popular music realms. Since the foundation of the State of Israel there has existed long-standing and clearly institutionalized discrimination against oriental Arab Jews and Israeli Palestinians in the allocation of funds for education, job opportunities, land ownership, etc. It's true that Israeli Palestinians are more severely discriminated against, are even lower down the ladder, but the roots of this discrimination and its socio-economic outcomes are pretty much the same, let alone the national component. The outcome of the Ashkenazi attitude towards oriental Jews, their Arab culture and traditions, including their specific stream of Judaism and Jewish identity, has had a strong negative political significance."

[Rabbis like this open the door to Hell. If there is no such thing as a difference between a "civilian" and "combatant," then anyone anywhere is subject to murder. If non-combatants are fair game, this brutal Jewish rationale not only would be aimed at Palestinians, but -- in an inevitable tit-for-tat response -- would be violently expanded to include innocent Americans and all Jews themselves.]
Rabbis call for IDF to hit civilians if needed,
By MATTHEW GUTMAN AND RONIT SELA, Jerusalem Post, September 7, 2004
"A group of prominent right wing rabbis on Tuesday issued a potentially inflammatory public call on the government to fight terrorism more tenaciously and to heed no difference between civilian and combatant in battle. The call by West Bank, Gaza, and right wing rabbis from Israel proper, arrived just a few hours after an IDF strike in Gaza killed 15 people – all of them Hamas members, according to a Hamas spokesman. The group of rabbis, headed by former MK and Chairman of the popular Bnei Akiva youth movement Haim Drukman (National Religious Party), said the army's policy in Palestinian areas should take into consideration that no army, when fighting amongst civilians, can protect the lives of its soldiers unless it is willing to take the risk of injuring, or even killing, civilians amongst whom terrorists hide "In a time of war as in today, we cannot differentiate between [civilian] population to an Army," the letter read ... Part of the letter hinges on the teachings of Rabbi Akiva a 2nd century AD scholar, who preached that while one should respect above all one's neighbor, there are choices to be made, specifically "our lives first." Other rabbis who signed the letter include the Chairman of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza Rabbi's council, Dov Lior, and rabbi's Amnon Shugerman and Yuval Sherlo who both head hesder yeshivas which combine Torah learning and shortened army service. The letter follows a slew of similar epistle by various Rabbinical councils who support the Greater Israel ideology, calling for the employment of harsher tactics against the Palestinians and for IDF soldiers to refuse their orders should they be summoned to dismantle an outpost or settlement. Yesha Rabbis' Council secretary Yishai Ba'abad said the rabbis' letter to the heads of state is based on a previous psak halacha (Jewish decree) that the lives of Israeli soldiers comes first and should be protected, even on the expense of "so-called civilians". "According to Christian law, one must turn the other cheek; but according to Jewish law, we must first and foremost protect ourselves. If 10 civilians are killed so that we can save the life of one IDF soldier - so be it."

[ American Jews continue to worry about growing evidence of Jewish dual loyalty and primary allegiance to Israel. No surprise here. The gay New Jersey governor's extramarital lover was an Israeli. Then there are the hoardes Jewish spies and traitors throughout the U.S. government for Israel and AIPAC (one and the same). Then there's the Jewish likes of Monica Lewinsky and Chandra Levin, dragging politicians down into the gutter. Where does it end? And so very, very clearly, there is increasingly no difference between the American Jewish community and its Israeli counterpart. Some American Jews are getting uncomfortable with their own dual loyalty chutzpah.]
We may be one, but which one? Blurring the line between American Jewish leadership and Israel isn't healthy for American Jews or for Israel. SIMPLY SABRA: Former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey had one too many Israeli connections ,
by Jonathan S. Tobin, Jewsweek, September 7, 2004
"It's been an odd week tracking the relationship between Israelis and Americans. Most of the attention here has focused on the fact that a young Israeli man named Golan Cipel was the governor of New Jersey's alleged extramarital lover or, depending on whose story you believe, the victim of sexual harassment by the state's chief executive. The fact that Gov. James McGreevey announced last month that he was "a gay American" who cheated on his wife wasn't the scandal in the eyes of most observers. It was the fact that McGreevey had appointed Cipel to a high-paying job as a state homeland security advisor, in spite of the fact that he wasn't remotely qualified and, as a foreign national, couldn't get a security clearance to receive classified information from Washington. The fact that an Israeli who hadn't even troubled to become an American citizen would even be considered for such a position marks an interesting turning point in the relationship between Israel and America. Israel began its history with citizens of other countries serving key roles in its armed forces. Most famous was U.S. Army Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded the Israeli forces that lifted the siege of Jerusalem in 1948. Marcus was buried at his alma mater, West Point, the only American soldier who died fighting under a foreign flag to be so honored. But Cipel apparently was ready to return the favor. Like World War I American Gen. John J. Pershing, who landed in France in 1917 with the words, "Lafayette, we are here!" on his lips, Cipel might well have proclaimed, "Mickey Marcus, hinenei - 'I am here!' " when he entered the office that went along with his $110,000 salary. Yet the McGreevey mess isn't the only example of Israelis becoming players on U.S. shores. In a story that hasn't even been a blip on the radar screen of the secular news media, another Israeli has been appointed to an American job, raising different though troubling questions. It was the announcement that the American Jewish Congress was appointing Alon Pinkas as its new CEO. Who's Pinkas? Up until a few weeks ago, he was Israel's consul general in New York, serving in one of the Jewish state's most important diplomatic posts. But if the AJCongress gets its way, he will doff the mantle of diplomat, and take up the less-exalted title of chief macher for a Jewish organization best known for its unyielding stand on the separation of church and state in the United States. Perhaps I'm missing something, but the idea of a man who was an Israeli envoy just weeks ago taking the helm of a group that attempts to represent the interests of American Jews strikes me as more than a bit odd. Granted, maybe not as odd as the idea of the baby-faced Golan Cipel defending the people of New Jersey from Al Qaida, but still rather strange ... But AJCongress has still crossed a line. Pinkas, previously a foreign-policy advisor to Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak, has spent the last few years waltzing his way through the complicated labyrinth of New York Jewry. By all accounts, he has done a fine job, charming both the hoi polloi and the high-and-mighty. But while some Israelis have finished their terms in that office and fled back to Israel for a break from unending rounds of lox-and-bagel breakfasts and caviar receptions, Pinkas apparently can't get enough of it, and will get a salary from AJCongress far greater than the pittance New Jersey taxpayers shelled out to Cipel ... But don't the good people at AJCongress understand that blurring the line between American Jewish leadership and Israel isn't healthy for America Jews or Israel? The old slogan of the United Jewish Appeal was "We are one." But that was supposed to be a symbol of solidarity, not an avowal that no difference exists between being a U.S. citizen and one of the State of Israel ... But when some ask who do groups like AJCongress really represent - the State of Israel or the many loyal Americans who love both nations - do we really want that question answered by a foreign diplomat? By even contemplating the Pinkas appointment, AJCongress has stumbled badly. Their timing was also off in more ways than one. This was, it turns out, not a good week to be hiring an Israeli to fill a job better suited to an American."

Concern for the small animals,
By Meron Benvenisti, Haaretz (Israel), September 10, 2004
"Two main demands have been raised by environment groups in connection with the environmental damage caused by the separation fence: "environmental compensation" within the Green Line and "setting up crossing points for small animals." One stands incredulous before such a blatant expression of disregard for the human and physical landscape. Terrible environmental damage is being inflicted on large areas in the heart of the country. Seventeen million cubic meters of soil, with tens of thousands of olive trees, thousands of dunams of orchards and groves, tens of thousands of dunams of natural growth, hothouses, archaeological sites and wells - as well as the fabric of life of hundreds of thousands of people - are being crushed by giant bulldozers. Yet the environmental organizations have nothing to say about the damage caused by the fence. On the contrary, they exploit the tragedies of others to promote their own interests: The destruction of the Palestinian environment presents the opportunity to demand "environmental compensation" within Israel. Moreover, the environmentalists are fighting for safe passage for small wildlife, while ignoring the fact that freedom of movement is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people - including small children - in an arbitrary manner. What selective sensitivity! Of course, the environmentalists wish to avoid issues that are considered political - especially when the separation fence enjoys widespread domestic support and its few opponents are castigated as traitors. The "mandate" the environmentalists took upon themselves ends at the Green Line and whatever happens on the other side is of no interest to them. Just don't accuse them of annexing land. But attention should be directed to the destructive consequences of an ethnic or geopolitical approach to the environment, rather than addressing the environment from an ecological perspective. A mountain range that happens to fall within Israel's borders deserves careful preservation as "an ecological pocket" of great value. But the part of this same range that lies on the other side of the fence is of no interest. The environmental damage incurred is justified by security considerations and can be ignored because it "is not under our responsibility." In this way, those who destroy the environment and rape the landscape enjoy full freedom to continue their destructive work, which - how ironic - is driven by a love of the Land of Israel and the sanctity of its soil. The array of outposts and the plan for settlement contiguity, as exposed in Haaretz, constitute a program of environmental destruction of monstrous proportions. A chain of outposts, whose location is only determined by political considerations, aims to insert a wedge between Palestinian population blocs. The result is a series of octopus-like arms that stretch for many kilometers and include homes and other installations, as well as roads and infrastructure, defacing the environment and engendering chaotic development. These octopus arms, which hold a grip on Palestinian population centers, connect to Israeli settlement blocs via broad highways allocated "for Jews only," while parallel roads are paved "for Palestinians only." Together, these road systems damage the landscape and destroy ecological habitats. Who would dare to engage in something trivial like environmental protection when we are dealing with a fateful struggle for the Land of Israel? And if those responsible for protecting the environment remain silent, then those who raise a hue and cry about this must just be exploiting ecology to promote their political agenda."

[This is a few months old: propaganda as "art" in a tax-supported public institution (the Boston Public Library). In the interests of fair play, why isn't a future photographic exhibit entitled: ISRAEL WITH A FROWN?]
Zionist House/Israel Cultural Center and The Consulate General of Israel to New England Present Our Country: Israel with a Smile,
Israeli Embassy (Boston)
"An exhibit featuring the photographs of renowned Israeli photographer Alex Levac On display now through June 17 at the Boston Public Library Concourse Level For more information, call Zionist House at 617.267.3600"

[Torah-fearing nuts even worse than Ariel Sharon.]
Rabbi may be indicted for inciting to murder,
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, Jerusalem Post, September 15, 2004
"Police are investigating the possibility of indicting a popular settler rabbi for inciting to assassinate Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel Radio reported Wednesday. "I definitely want something bad to happen to Sharon so that he will cease doing whatever it is he does," Rabbi Yosef Dayan said on New Year's Eve. "Nobody has called on me. A person can pray to the heavens on any subject he wishes." "When you talk about something bad happening to Sharon – the conditions may be created for this or they may not," he said. Dayan, who lives in the the West Bank settlement of Psagot, has a notorious record of extremist views. On Tuesday night he said that he was willing to carry out a religious Kabbalistic ceremony aimed at killing the prime minister. "If the rabbis ask me to carry out a 'pulsa denura' curse, I will be willing to do so at once," Dayan told Channel 2 News. "There are people who wish for the death of Prime Minister Sharon. I am one of them. Am I forbidden to wish?" he added. Dayan, who has previously been interrogated by the Shin Bet for performing such a ceremony against the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, was a close associate of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose party was banned in Israel for its extremist and racist views ... Jerusalem Police chief Ilan Franco said Tuesday police were investigating death threats made over the last few days by suspected Jewish extremists against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over his plan to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip. A number of threats were called in by phone against the premier, the head of Sharon's disengagement authority Yonatan Bassi and workers in the disengagement office."

[It looks like death threats work like prayers ... ]
Sharon: Israel Won't Stick to Peace Plan,
Guardian (UK), September 15, 2004
"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview published Wednesday that Israel has no intention of sticking to the U.S.-backed ``road map'' peace plan it endorsed last year. Sharon also said that there may be no further troop pullbacks after Israel carries out its so-called unilateral ``disengagement'' from the Palestinians - a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and four small West Bank settlements in 2005. ``It is very possible that after the evacuation (disengagement), there will be a long period when nothing else happens,'' Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, commenting for the time in detail on Israel's plans after a Gaza withdrawal ... The road map, launched last year, envisioned a Palestinian state by 2005. The plan did not spell out the borders of that state, but senior U.S. officials have said that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza must come to an end. Sharon said that as long as there is no significant shift in the Palestinian leadership and policy, ``Israel will continue its war on terrorism, and will stay in the territories (of the West Bank) that will remain after the implementation of disengagement.'' President Bush has since said that it would be ``unrealistic'' to expect Israel to remove large Israeli population centers in the West Bank - a statement seen by Sharon as backing for his plan to keep large West Bank settlement blocs in any future deal with the Palestinians. Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said Sharon's comments confirmed Palestinian concerns that the disengagement plan is a ploy to cement Israel's control over large areas of the West Bank."

“God Wills It!”,
by Uri Avnery, Information Clearinghouse, 09/15/04
"Two shocking manifestos were published this week. Both call for comment. One of them declares that dismantling the settlements in the Gaza Strip is a "crime against humanity." It does not mention that they were set up on the land reserves of a million Palestinians crowded in the tiny strip, and rob them of their scarce water. Their removal, it says, is an "expression of tyranny, evil and arbitrariness." Officers and soldiers are called upon not to take part in this "ethnic cleansing." This manifesto is signed by the father and brother of Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as Meir Har-Zion, the favorite pupil of Ariel Sharon, who became famous in the 1950s for slitting the throats of several innocent Bedouins with his own hands in revenge for the killing of his sister. Two former directors general of the prime minister's office also signed. Most of the signatories are not religious. The second manifesto declares that the Halakha (Jewish religious law) commands the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians if this helps to save Jews. It is signed by the heads of the "Arrangement Yeshivot," the West Bank settlement rabbis and other religious leaders. They were later joined by one of the two chief rabbis (the Sephardic one). I was not unduly upset by the first manifesto. People of this kind can be found all over the world. In other countries they are called fascists (but, because of the Holocaust, we do not like to use this term in our country). What unites them is a primitive, atavistic morality that says that "we" are a superior race, God's chosen people, a master race, etc., while "they" are inferior races, untermenschen ... The second manifesto is far more dangerous. A religious doctrine that calls for the killing of civilians in the name of God is very serious. Such a decree signed by the rabbis of the "Arrangement Yeshivot" is tenfold worse. In order to understand this, one has to know that these Yeshivot are in fact military units. They constitute a unique phenomenon in the Israeli army: whole units formed on an ideological-political basis, obeying their own leaders. When David Ben-Gurion created the Israeli army (officially called the Israel Defense Forces, or IDF) in the middle of the 1948 war, he was determined to eliminate all its political groupings. So he disbanded the Palmakh, the legendary elite force that was based on the kibbutzim and tended to the left. The present setup was created, officially, in order to enable students of Yeshivot (Jewish religious seminaries) to serve in the army without interrupting their studies. In practice, they constitute a militia of the extreme-right wing, especially the settlers. While serving in the army, the Yeshiva students are nominally under the army chain of command, but in practice they are also subject to their rabbis, whose position is reminiscent of the political commissars of the Red Army. If the orders of the officers and the directives of the rabbis ever conflict, the great majority of the soldier-students will undoubtedly obey the rabbis ... The Arrangement Yeshivot soldiers are daily engaged in situations where they have to decide whether to shoot civilians or not. It is quite clear that the "opinion" of their rabbis will determine their behavior. It is a sentence of death for many people. Even today, Palestinian civilians are killed every day. Only a small fraction of the incidents are reported in the media. An old handicapped man was recently buried under the ruins of his home by an army bulldozer that demolished it so quickly that his family had no chance of getting him to safety. Only yesterday a 9-year-old boy was killed while sleeping at his home by shrapnel from a missile fired by a helicopter at an adjacent building. Almost every day, boys of all ages are killed while throwing stones at tanks and soldiers (whose bulletproof vests and helmets mean they are in no danger). It is impossible to know how many, if any, of these civilians – men, women, old people and children – are killed by Arrangement Yeshivot soldiers, or soldiers commanded by kippa-wearing officers. Nobody can be accused without incriminating evidence. But it is clear that the interpretation of the Halakha by the rabbis has now put a kosher-stamp on such acts. It puts an end to any pretense of the "pure arms" myth. It negates not only the prohibition of murder, but also the shame for such acts. The only religious voice raised against this appalling document was that of a small and courageous group called Rabbis for Human Rights, which opposes the dirty messianic current that has submerged almost the whole religious camp in Israel."

[Jews completely control popular discourse about what is, and isn't, a "Holocaust." Locked in important military deals with Tukey, for decades Israel has lobbied the U.S. government to ignore Armenian suffering in World War I. So at last a couple Jews finally step up to share a little piece of their martyrdom pedestal -- one guy because Israel's refusal to accept Armenian suffering hasn't completely bought Muslim Turkey off.]
JEWISH WRITERS BLAST ISRAEL, US AND TURKEY FOR DENYING GENOCIDE,
Harut Sassounian, Armenian Daily, September 18, 2004
"The Turkish government spends millions of dollars to deny the Armenian Genocide. Yet, despite such intense Turkish efforts, and sometimes because of them, the Genocide is becoming more widely known to the world. Scores of countries and international organizations have officially acknowledged it in recent years. The international media frequently refers to the Armenian Genocide. Despite the Israeli government's shameful support for Turkish revisionism, Jewish scholars and commentators have played a major role in reaffirming the facts of the Armenian Genocide. In recent weeks, two more Jewish writers have published very important articles on this issue. Hillel Halkin, an Israel-based author, in an article published in the August 17 issue of The New York Sun, castigated the "Republican congressional leadership and the Department of State "for opposing congressional resolutions "that do nothing more than express official American acknowledgment of the pre-meditated murder, mostly in 1915, of an estimated 1 to 1.5 million Armenians by the armies of the Ottoman Empire" ... Halkin blasts the Israeli foreign ministry for being "chock-full of fearful bureaucrats needlessly anxious about jeopardizing their country's good ties with Turkey." He accuses both the Israeli government and "some Jewish lobbies in America," for having "collaborated shamefully with the Turks on the Armenian issue." Halkin concludes his powerful article by pointing out that since the "Jewish State does not recognize" the Armenian Genocide "for reasons of realpolitik," the Jews should then stop blaming other countries that for their own reasons of realpolitik did not lift a finger while the Nazis were slaughtering the Jews! A second important article, written by Israeli attorney Nir Eisikovits, appeared in the September 1, 2004 issue of "In the National Interest," an online weekly published jointly by The National Interest magazine and The Nixon Center. The writer points out that Israel's denial of the Armenian Genocide is based on two considerations: the belief in the "uniqueness" of the Holocaust, and Israel's self-perceived strategic interests or "realpolitik." Eisikovits considers the first argument "both morally warped and empirically unfounded." By asserting that "Jews do not have a monopoly on pain," he emphatically states: "Jews cannot, simultaneously, attack those who deny the Holocaust and assist others who deny the Armenian Genocide." The writer also points out that the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides have not in any way diminished the Nazi atrocities. As for the considerations of "realpolitik," Eisikovits sadly concludes that Israel's appeasement of Turkey "does not seem to be working." Recalling that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently accused Israel of "state terrorism," he concludes that Israel has apparently sold its "moral integrity in vain." He also argues: "Realism in international affairs, with all its merits, must be subordinate to a nation's most basic principles rather than dictate them." By refusing to recognize other cases of genocide, "Israel would have undermined the main reason for its own existence," Halkin states. The courageous positions taken by these righteous Jewish writers, combined with all other efforts by Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide would eventually force the governments of the United States and Israel to stop parroting the lies and start telling the truth on the Armenian Genocide."

Israelis invent stink bomb for riot control,
By Hugh McManners, The Independent (UK), 18 September 2004
"The ever-ingenious inventors at Israel's weapons research and development directorate have created a schoolboy's dream: the ultimate stink bomb, with a disgusting smell that lingers in its victim's clothing for up to five years. The foul-smelling liquid squirted by angry or frightened skunks at their victims was analysed by Israeli defence scientists and a synthetic version created for use in a weapon they call the "skunk bomb". Fired with great care, and from a respectable range, it is designed to force civilian protesters to disperse. Security forces would not be keen to arrest the victims, and they would be equally unwelcome at home. When soldiers try to control crowds, or take action against guerrillas hiding in urban areas, there is a high risk of damage to property and people near by. Military weapons are designed to kill, and are often too powerful to use under these circumstances, as Israel Defence Forces have discovered in their clashes with Palestinian crowds. After years of using rubber bullets and tear gas, plus small arms, Israeli forces have been under pressure to create less-than-lethal weapons with which to target Palestinians. The skunk bomb is one example. The Israelis have always been innovators of military technology. Their Merkova tank was designed with a rear compartment for carrying the bodies of their dead from the battlefield. But tanks can be sitting ducks to protesters, who can set fire to them. Israel Military Industries has developed tank shells that explode immediately after leaving the tank's barrel, deafening and terrifying but not seriously injuring bystanders."

[More Israeli state "terrorism."]
Sharon hints that Arafat may be killed,
by Chris McGreal, The Guardian (UK), September 15, 2004
"Ariel Sharon has threatened that Yasser Arafat will meet the same fate as Hamas leaders who were assassinated earlier this year by the Israeli military. In ambiguous comments to Israeli newspapers to mark the Jewish new year, the prime minister said he intends to force the Palestinian leader into exile. But he also hinted that Mr Arafat might be killed. Speaking to Ma'ariv newspaper, Mr Sharon made direct reference to the Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who was assassinated by a missile in Gaza in March, and his successor as the Islamic resistance movement's leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, who was killed by the Israelis the following month. "We operated against Ahmed Yassin and Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi when we thought the time was suitable. On the matter of Arafat we'll operate in the same way, when we find the convenient and suitable time. One needs to find the time and to do what has to be done," said Mr Sharon. However, the prime minister told other newspapers that he would send Mr Arafat into exile. Sheikh Yassin and Mr al-Rantissi were both exiled from the occupied territories at one time. A prominent Palestinian minister, Saeb Erekat, said Mr Sharon's comments show that he intends "to kill President Arafat and to push the Palestinian people toward chaos"

[Anti-Semitism! Anti-Semitism! Jewish graves desecrated! But ... wait? Who did this? And why? The world Jewish Lobby will vehemently decry "anti-Semitism" when a fly is allowed to land on a Jewish grave in Poland or Romania. But does a 12 year-old spraying swastikas on an old Jewish headstone in Europe remotely match this below? On one hand the world Jewish posse almost wants to throw into prison any non-Jew who cuts across a Jewish cemetery. On the other hand, in the Jewish homeland, a Jew decides to bury piles of garbage with the Jewish dead just to save a few dollars in gas money.]
J'lem cemetery workers may have dumped waste in graves,
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz (Israel), October 17, 2004
"Some 200 graves in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem are suspected to have been violated in the past few weeks by employees of the site's sanitation company, who filled them with piles of garbage. The Jerusalem police suspect that contractor Ezra Aslan, who is in charge of the cemetery's sanitation, had hoped to save on waste transport expenses, and instructed to have the waste buried inside graves instead. A sanitation worker who worked for Aslan led police detectives to 30 graves where he had buried garbage. Because of Aslan's expertise the graves were sealed over, so that the act would remain undetected. The police, who decided not to open up the graves they were shown, noted that a few gravestones had not been re-set, and piles of rubbish were peeking out from the ground below. Asland denied having instructed his workers to hide the garbage on the gate at a hearing at the Jerusalem's Magistrate's Court on Sunday to extend his remand. Police launched the investigation when two pistols were discovered in one of the graves. Aslan said he had intended to hand in the guns he found, via his business partner, who works as a security officer in the Shin-Bet, upon his partner's return to Israel from an overseas trip." [Givat Shaul is indeed a Jewish cemetery. Madonna visited a rabbi's tomb there last month.]

[This is a thinly disguised form of Jewish-inspired genocide: murdering children in the name not only of the Jewish state but of all Jews everywhere. It is Jewish moral corruption at rock bottom. And the brutal Jewish Lobby has forced brainwashed Americans to be silent accomplices to it.]
Killing children is no longer a big deal,
By Gideon Levy, Haaretz (Israel), October 17, 2004
"More than 30 Palestinian children were killed in the first two weeks of Operation Days of Penitence in the Gaza Strip. It's no wonder that many people term such wholesale killing of children "terror." Whereas in the overall count of all the victims of the intifada the ratio is three Palestinians killed for every Israeli killed, when it comes to children the ratio is 5:1. According to B'Tselem, the human rights organization, even before the current operation in Gaza, 557 Palestinian minors (below the age of 18) were killed, compared to 110 Israeli minors. Palestinian human rights groups speak of even higher numbers: 598 Palestinian children killed (up to age 17), according to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, and 828 killed (up to age 18) according to the Red Crescent. Take note of the ages, too. According to B'Tselem, whose data are updated until about a month ago, 42 of the children who have been killed were 10; 20 were seven; and eight were two years old when they died. The youngest victims are 13 newborn infants who died at checkpoints during birth. With horrific statistics like this, the question of who is a terrorist should have long since become very burdensome for every Israeli. Yet it is not on the public agenda. Child killers are always the Palestinians, the soldiers always only defend us and themselves, and the hell with the statistics. The plain fact, which must be stated clearly, is that the blood of hundreds of Palestinian children is on our hands. No tortuous explanation by the IDF Spokesman's Office or by the military correspondents about the dangers posed to soldiers by the children, and no dubious excuse by the public relations people in the Foreign Ministry about how the Palestinians are making use of children will change that fact. An army that kills so many children is an army with no restraints, an army that has lost its moral code. As MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) said, in a particularly emotional speech in the Knesset, it is no longer possible to claim that all these children were killed by mistake. An army doesn't make more than 500 day-to-day mistakes of identity. No, this is not a mistake but the disastrous result of a policy driven mainly by an appallingly light trigger finger and by the dehumanization of the Palestinians. Shooting at everything that moves, including children, has become normative behavior. Even the momentary mini-furor that erupted over the "confirming of the killing" of a 13-year-old girl, Iman Alhamas, did not revolve around the true question. The scandal should have been generated by the very act of the killing itself, not only by what followed. Iman was not the only one. Mohammed Aaraj was eating a sandwich in front of his house, the last house before the cemetery of the Balata refugee camp, in Nablus, when a soldier shot him to death at fairly close range. He was six at the time of his death. Kristen Saada was in her parents' car, on the way home from a family visit, when soldiers sprayed the car with bullets. She was 12 at the time of her death. The brothers Jamil and Ahmed Abu Aziz were riding their bicycles in full daylight, on their way to buy sweets, when they sustained a direct hit from a shell fired by an Israeli tank crew. Jamil was 13, Ahmed six, at the time of their deaths. Muatez Amudi and Subah Subah were killed by a soldier who was standing in the village square in Burkin and fired every which way in the wake of stone-throwing. Radir Mohammed from Khan Yunis refugee camp was in a school classroom when soldiers shot her to death. She was 12 when she died. All of them were innocent of wrongdoing and were killed by soldiers acting in our name. At least in some of these cases it was clear to the soldiers that they were shooting at children, but that didn't stop them. Palestinian children have no refuge: mortal danger lurks for them in their homes, in their schools and on their streets. Not one of the hundreds of children who have been killed deserved to die, and the responsibility for their killing cannot remain anonymous. Thus the message is conveyed to the soldiers: it's no tragedy to kill children and none of you is guilty. Death is, of course, the most acute danger that confronts a Palestinian child, but it is not the only one. According to data of the Palestinian Ministry of Education, 3,409 schoolchildren have been wounded in the intifada, some of them crippled for life. The childhood of tens of thousands of Palestinian youngsters is being lived from one trauma to the next, from horror to horror. Their homes are demolished, their parents are humiliated in front of their eyes, soldiers storm into their homes brutally in the middle of the night, tanks open fire on their classrooms. And they don't have a psychological service. Have you ever heard of a Palestinian child who is a "victim of anxiety"? The public indifference that accompanies this pageant of unrelieved suffering makes all Israelis accomplices to a crime. Even parents, who understand what anxiety for a child's fate means, turn away and don't want to hear about the anxiety harbored by the parent on the other side of the fence. Who would have believed that Israeli soldiers would kill hundreds of children and that the majority of Israelis would remain silent? Even the Palestinian children have become part of the dehumanization campaign: killing hundreds of them is no longer a big deal.

[The newspaper that published the following piece is African-American. The man severely beaten by Jewish attackers for daring to walk Palestinian children to school is also Black. His crime? Peacefully challenging Jewish racism.]
Heroism in the Holy Land: Chris Brown beaten for walking children to school,
by Alison Weir, San Francisco Bay View, October 6, 2004
"There are a small number of people around the world who exhibit extraordinary courage. An even smaller number commit repeated acts of heroism. San Francisco resident Chris Brown is one of them. On Wednesday morning, Brown, with his colleague Kim Lamberty, was on the other side of the world walking children to school. The children were like any other children – except for one thing. They were scared. Not that they would fail a test, not that their teacher would call on them with a difficult question, not that they would lose a schoolyard game. These children were scared that adults would physically try to attack them.They were right. It was a bright morning. There were two girls and three boys, and they ranged in age from 6 years old to 11. Chris, 39, and Kim, 44, were there to protect them. The children were Palestinian. Chris and Kim are volunteers with an organization called Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), which provides nonviolent intercession in areas of violence. They serve in the West Bank city of Hebron, where Palestinian civilians are frequently attacked and harassed by Israeli settlers. The presence of such international witnesses often reduces this violence. Children in a small village outside of Hebron, Tuba, attend school in the neighboring village of Tuwani. The problem is, Israeli settlements lie between Tuwani and Tuba. The route around these settlements is over 6 miles – too long for small to children to trek twice a day. There is an alternative route between settlements that reduces the journey to a little over a mile. Villagers asked CPT to accompany the children on this shorter route. Last Wednesday, Chris and Kim picked the children up from their village at 6:30, and all began walking to school. Part of the way there, settlements on either side, Kim and two of the children had gotten a little ahead and were just turning a bend in the road, when Chris saw them suddenly stop and begin running back, screaming. Then he saw why.“I saw men with black masks on, dressed all in black, wielding chains, one carrying a bat, most of them wearing black.” As the five men rushed at them, Chris called out, “Please don’t hurt the children, please don’t hurt the children.” The men smashed a rock to his head, knocking him to the ground, and began beating and kicking him with steel-toed boots. The attackers tried, unsuccessfully, to break his left wrist and dislocate his shoulder. “I said, ‘Why are you doing this? All we’re doing is walking children to school – we’re nonviolent,” Chris told them. “We’re Americans.” An attacker laughed, and Chris heard a man say, in a heavy Israeli accent, “They’re Americans.” Kim, meanwhile, lay face down, not moving as the men kicked and beat her. She says much of the attack is a blur – “It’s almost like for a moment you leave reality … I just remember thinking, ‘If I just lie here like I’m unconscious, maybe they’ll leave me alone.’”Finally, the men sauntered away, stealing Kim’s waist-pack containing her money, passport and cell phone. Unable to walk, she crawled over to Chris, who still had his phone and was able to call for help. Upon receiving Chris’s call, two CPT members rushed over immediately, despite fear that the attackers might still be nearby. They called for an ambulance on the way, and arrived to find Chris and Kim bleeding and in enormous pain. Twenty-five minutes later, Israeli officials, who, according to international law, are responsible for the safety of all civilians under their occupation, finally arrived, having taken half an hour to cover the 10-minute distance. The officials took statements, provided an ambulance to transport Chris and Kim to an Israeli hospital, but made no effort to find their assailants. At the hospital, Kim was found to have a broken arm, a severely injured knee, and bruises across her head and body. It is still difficult for her to move. Chris has a punctured lung and broken ribs and is similarly covered with cuts and body-wide contusions. He is still in the hospital. The children, who were able to flee immediately, are largely unhurt, physically.Who committed this vicious assault? Why? What kind of people try to prevent small children from going to school?It is unlikely that non-Israeli Americans will ever learn the names of the attackers, since Israel rarely shares this kind of information with its “ally.” We do know, however, the type of people who attacked Chris, Kim and the children. And we do know why."

[The Jewish Lobby decrees that comparing Nazis to Israelis is "anti-Semitism." What do YOU think?]
Israeli Commander Probed in Girl's Death,
Earthlink (from Associated Press), October 11, 2004
"Israel's top military prosecutor has opened an investigation into a platoon commander whom soldiers accuse of emptying an ammunition clip into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to make sure she was dead, the army said Monday. In media interviews, soldiers said the commander approached the girl, who had already been shot and possibly killed, and repeatedly shot her as they pleaded with him to stop ... The issue surfaced when soldiers who serve under the platoon commander - whose name was not made public - told Israeli newspapers and TV reporters about the incident. Iyman Hams, 13, was shot and killed Oct. 5. Initially the army said soldiers shot and killed Hams as she planted a bomb near an army outpost in southern Gaza. But after soldiers recounted a different version of events to the media, an investigation was launched. The soldiers told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper they were unhappy that the platoon commander had not been suspended. Dozens of Palestinian children have been killed since fighting erupted four years ago, but the army rarely launches investigations into the incidents ... The soldiers told Yediot that before the commander shot the girl they shouted to him over the two-way radio: "Don't shoot, she's a little girl." "We saw her from a distance of 70 meters. She was fired at ... from the outpost. She fled and was wounded. I understood that she was dead. The platoon commander neared her shot two bullets at her, returned toward the force, turned back to her, put the weapon on automatic - and emptied his entire clip," one soldier said. "We were in shock, we held our heads. We couldn't believe what he had done. Our hearts ached for her. Just a 13-year-old girl. How do you spray a girl from close range? He was hot for a long time to take out terrorists and shot the girl to relieve pressure," the soldier said ...Ihab Samir Hams, the girl's brother, said his sister was on the way to school when she was shot. He said soldiers didn't allow an ambulance into the area for 70 minutes. He said she had bullet wounds in her head, chest, legs - "everywhere."

Jaffee Center: Israel better off strategically than last year,
By Amnon Barzilai, Haaretz (Israel), October 11, 2004
"Israel's overall strategic standing in the Middle East has improved and its security forces have registered impressive achievements in their war on terror in the past year, according to Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies. At the same time, the Palestinians' motivation to continue to act against Israel has not been undermined, says "The Middle East Strategic Balance 2003-2004," this year's volume of the Jaffee Center's annual publication, which was presented yesterday to the media. According to the Jaffee Center publication, "From its current position of strength, Israel is striving to advance its planned disengagement from the Palestinians. "Alongside the successes, notes the head of the Jaffee Center, Prof. Shai Feldman, the past year has also been characterized by a failure to exploit opportunities - first and foremost, the disregard shown for signs of Syria's willingness to renew peace negotiations. The Jaffee Center publication also notes that alongside Israel's supremacy in the region's conventional balance of power, the past year has seen dangerous developments in Iran's nuclear program.The deputy head of the Center, Dr. Ephraim Kam, said that the United States seemed closer to the possible use of force to prevent Iran from completing its nuclear program. According to Kam, any Israeli military operation against Iran would require dialogue with the United States because U.S. forces are currently positioned between the two countries. Prof. Feldman believes that the improvement in Israel's strategic standing is not limited to the field of conventional warfare only, and notes that Israel has maintained exclusive capabilities in the non-conventional field too ... Dr. Kam noted that the current situation in Iran was more complex than existed in Iraq on the eve of the Israel Air Force's strike on the latter's nuclear facilities in 1981. Iran, Kam said, had 4-5 nuclear reactors, and maybe even additional ones that had been built in secret. Hence, he said, multiple strikes may be needed in order to neutralize Iran's nuclear capabilities completely. ... The Jaffee Center researchers believe that the biggest danger facing Israel today stems from the sub-conventional field and the increased activity of the terror organizations. According to the Jaffee Center, "Iraq has now become a convenient arena for jihad... With the growing phenomenon of suicide bombing, the U.S. presence in Iraq now demands more and more assets that might have otherwise been deployed against various dimensions of the global terrorist threat."

[A headline for our times. Hey, Jews. Stop spitting on EVERYONE. Note the recipients of Jewish drool here aren't blue-eyed Nazis -- they're Armenians. Jewish spit has a very wide range -- anyone who's not Jewish.]
Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them,
by Amiram Barkat, Haaretz (Israel), October 12, 2004
"A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face. The clergyman prefered not to lodge a complaint with the police and told an acquaintance that he was used to being spat at by Jews. Many Jerusalem clergy have been subjected to abuse of this kind. For the most part, they ignore it but sometimes they cannot. On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student. Both were questioned by police and the yeshiva student will be brought to trial. The Jerusalem District Court has meanwhile banned the student from approaching the Old City for 75 days. But the Armenians are far from satisfied by the police action and say this sort of thing has been going on for years. Archbishop Nourhan Manougian says he expects the education minister to say something. "When there is an attack against Jews anywhere in the world, the Israeli government is incensed, so why when our religion and pride are hurt, don't they take harsher measures?" he asks. According to Daniel Rossing, former adviser to the Religious Affairs Ministry on Christian affairs and director of a Jerusalem center for Christian-Jewish dialogue, there has been an increase in the number of such incidents recently, "as part of a general atmosphere of lack of tolerance in the country."

Israel Special Weapons Guide

[Israel's] Nuclear Weapons

Palestinian civilians in Israsel's sights?,
by Khalid Amayreh, Al-Jazeera, October 5, 2004
"Palestinian officials and witnesses have dismissed Israel's assertion that its forces are not deliberately targeting civilians in ongoing army operations in the northern Gaza strip. At least 65 Palestinians have been killed and more than 200 injured in the five-day onslaught, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in retaliation for the death of two Israeli children in a Hamas missile attack on the Israeli settler town of Sderot, east of Gaza, last week. "The number of civilian victims exceeds by far the number of resistance fighters killed. As for the injured, I can say that 99% of them are innocent men, women and children who had no connection with the hostilities," Isa Dhahir, deputy mayor of Jabalya, said. In an interview with Aljazeera.net on Sunday, Dhahir accused the Israeli army of "knowingly and deliberately" targeting civilians, particularly children. "An army that is equipped with state-of-the art technology can easily distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. An army that can strike and assassinate a person driving in a small car through a crowded street, can easily distinguish children and women from resistance fighters ... [A]n initial investigation into the fatalities by B'Tselem - the Israeli organisation that monitors and documents human rights violations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza - found that 41% [of thoses killed] were civilians "who took no part in the fighting". B'Tselem also found that 19 children under the age of 17 had been killed by Israeli forces ... According to UN estimates, the Israeli army has destroyed more than 4500 homes since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada four years ago. Independent sources put this figure at 8000 and cite partially-damaged homes at more than 70,000. International law classifies home demolitions as a war crime."

[JTR Contributor's comment: "Oy vey! It's so hard to get good help these days. I will be forced to use machines, reducing the selling price for my crop, grown on land that once belonged to the Palestinians, but which we call 'Galilee,' which translates as 'Mine, all mine, forever'. What, pick my own olives? Damned anti-semite."]
Olive growers rue absent Palestinians,
By Eli Ashkenaz, Haaretz (Israel), October 2004
"For years, the olive harvest in Israel has relied on the labor of Palestinians from the territories, mostly from the region of Yamun near Jenin. However, the large number of security alerts has resulted in a total denial of passage for Palestinian laborers into Israel. The small number of exceptional permits arrived "too few and too late", say the growers. Yesterday entry was allowed to 1,300 Palestinian workers, but according to Gadi Horowitz, deputy director general of the Olive Council, "We are suffering from a huge lag, and are in desperate need of reinforcement. Much of the crop on the trees can still be saved". It is estimated that 1000 workers can pick 250 tons of olives per day. Currently 2,000 tons of olives remain on the trees to be picked. The Defense Ministry yesterday said the olive growers had been given 1,000 permits at their request before the holidays. The olive growers say workers were barred entry, despite the permits, until yesterday. Because of the great delay, they are now in need of an additional 1,000 pairs of hands, they say. Abraham Birger of Kfar Kish was expecting the arrival of a group of workers yesterday ... Birger says Palestinian laborers rise at 3 A.M. to reach work at 6-7 A.M. By 5 P.M. they have to head back to be home by 8 P.M. Basem, a Palestinian worker, on the phone from Kabatiya yesterday, said he can't understand the policy at the checkpoints. "We are given permits, and then stopped. We merely want to work for our livelihood, otherwise we will have nothing to eat. I don't own any land, or property, if I can't work, what will I do? People here are living on one meal a day. I don't know how we will celebrate Ramadan this year, we need to buy food and presents for the children." Birger has had to redirect eight of his Thai workers from other tasks on his farm to pick olives. But more and more fruit have blackened on the branches, the Thai workers can't keep up."

Israel's reputation deteriorating,
News 24, October 13, 2004
"Israel's international standing is likely to deteriorate in the coming years and its reputation could soon rival that of South Africa's former apartheid regime, Israeli army radio reported on Wednesday, citing a secret foreign ministry report. The document warned that if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues, Israel was likely to find itself on collision course with the European Union. Worse still, Israel could lose its international legitimacy and even find itself ostracised in the way South Africa was during the apartheid years, the radio said, quoting the document. The ministry refused to comment on the report. Israeli justice minister Joseph Lapid raised similar fears in January, warning that Israel could face an international boycott over its controversial West Bank separation barrier similar to that faced by South Africa during apartheid. The report warned that if Israel continued to ignore and neglect its ties with Europe, there could be serious political and economic implications for the Jewish state, with a danger that Europe could use its economic leverage to exert pressure. Even beyond Europe, the report painted a gloomy picture, predicting that Russia and Asian states were likely to build closer ties to the Arab world at the expense of Israel."

JTR contributor's comment: "Another sadistic Israel crowd control device." Added note: We anticipate the day when crowds protesting apartheid Israel in the West are subjected to this too. And, now that the Jewish state has unleashed it, it is of course a highly marketable item to oppressive governments and police states throughout the world.]
Israel to stun rioters into submission with new 'shouting,' gun,
Telegraph (UK) October 17, 2004
"Israel is to introduce a non-lethal acoustic weapon to control riots and disperse crowds after widespread criticism of its use of tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. The latest system, known as The Shout, uses a high intensity, high frequency sound beam to incapacitate targets up to 100 yards away without causing them permanent physical damage. The Shout is to be used within weeks after recent tests by the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Three systems have been delivered to the force's Central Command and are ready for imminent deployment. Israeli officials believe that the sound-based system will be less harmful to unarmed civilians than the non-lethal weapons already in its armoury. The Shout, first described in Jane's Defence Weekly, consists of a mounted acoustic cannon that aims a narrow beam of sound at targets to incapacitate them. This is achieved through the intensity of the noise but leaves bystanders and operators unaffected. "The Shout produces an intolerable sound, which either completely neutralises the subject or drives the person to escape the scene," said an official from the IDF, which has just withdrawn its forces from Gaza after a two-week effort to stop rocket attacks on Israeli settlers. "The system has undergone a series of tests by the IDF's Medical Corps, which determined it causes no permanent physical damage," the spokesman said. The Shout will be deployed initially on armoured Sufa 4x4 light utility vehicles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. If successful, the weapon may also be used at sea to intercept suspected terrorist vessels. Israel's development of non-lethal weapons was spurred by a critical report last year by the country's State Comptroller ... In addition to The Shout, tests are being carried out on a foul smelling non-lethal weapon that is nicknamed The Skunk Bomb. It releases a synthetic version of the odour used by skunks to repel predators. Defence officials say that the cloud of gas is so potent that it will remain in clothes for up to five years."

[Endless billions of dollars of U.S. carte blanche support to apartheid Israel has allowed a significant religio-fascist element to fester in the Jewish state. It heralds a cosmic Jewish supremacism, despises non-Jews, and seeks to expand present Israeli borders. These people are not few, and they're so far to the political right that they are a threat to right-wing prime minister Ariel Sharon. If you think the current Zionist regime in Israel is morally bankrupt, wait'll you see what happens when the other guys get power. In future years Israel may actually face civil war between secular apartheid Zionism and supporters of religious fascism.]
Army chief condemns rabbis' call on soldiers to refuse to evacuate settlements,"
by Ravi Nessman, San Francisco Chronicle (Associated Press), October 19, 2004
"Israel's army chief of staff Tuesday condemned a call from scores of rabbis who urged observant soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish settlements under next year's planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip. The statement by Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, broadcast on local media, reflected army officials' growing concern that a significant number of soldiers would heed the rabbis' call, causing a crisis in the army. "Insubordination is dangerous to us as an army, as a society and as a nation. This is not legitimate and inappropriate," Yaalon said. "Don't put us in impossible situations. "I call upon all those involved, from across the political spectrum, to show responsibility and not to undermine the (military)," he said at a navy memorial ceremony. Under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement plan," Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements next year, removing 8,600 settlers from their homes ... Sharon's plan, though supported by a strong majority of Israelis in opinion polls, has infuriated many in his hard-line Likud Party and his former allies in the settlers' movement. Opponents have begun waging strident verbal attacks on the prime minister. Opposition leader Shimon Peres said they are reminiscent of the poisonous political climate that preceded that 1995 assassination of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In the months before he was killed by an ultranationalist Jew, Rabin came under a barrage of increasingly personal verbal assaults from hard-liners -- including Sharon -- opposed to his peace deals with the Palestinians. New posters in the campaign against the plan accuse Sharon of "tearing the nation apart." Others show a picture of Sharon, the word "crazy" and three question marks across his forehead. "While I am very much worried about the climate, I believe that all the security measures have been taken to defend anybody, including the prime minister," Peres told The Associated Press. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he, too, is concerned. "We had enough a decade ago," he said of Rabin's assassination. "There is no way we can allow ourselves to experience the same trauma again" ... Last week, Avraham Shapira, a former chief rabbi of Israel, ruled that Sharon's plan violates Jewish law and said observant soldiers should not participate in removing settlers from their homes. Sixty other rabbis signed on to Shapira's statement. Analysts warned that even a small-scale mutiny could paralyze the army, where many observant soldiers serve in combat and other elite units. Some soldiers are in special programs combining army duty and Jewish seminary study, possibly dividing their religious and military loyalties, analysts said. "If the calls by the rabbis lead to a wave of refusing orders, it could become the greatest internal challenge to the army since the war began," military analyst Amos Harel wrote in the Haaretz daily ... Palmach Zeevi, an opponent of Sharon's plan and the son of slain hard-line minister Rehavam Zeevi, told a memorial service for his father Tuesday that disobeying orders "is a type of anarchy that will shake the very foundations of the state." Rehavam Zeevi was gunned down by Palestinians in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001."

Days of Penitence. Gaza Sinks in a Sea of Blood,
by Mohammed Omer, Couples Company, October 17, 2004
"It smells unbelievably bad here. To walk down any street—if you dare to—you skirt, or sometimes unavoidably walk through, pools of blood. There are shreds of human flesh—some of them unrecognizable as human remains—all over, on rooftops, plastered to broken windows, on the street. The stench of rotting blood mixes with the more acrid odor of flesh burnt to black char by the rockets fired by the Israeli Army's American-made Apache helicopters. Welcome to Hell The sky is full of black smoke, some from the rocket explosions, but even more, it sometimes seems, from the endless fires of tires and other debris that people keep stoking. The smoke confuses the heat-seeking unmanned drone surveillance planes, so setting fires in any relatively open area may draw fire and let a bomb explode somewhat harmlessly. All this smoke mixed with plaster and cement dust is a blessing and a curse. The stench of burning flesh and rotting blood masks to some extent the smell of raw sewage from broken sewer pipes and the tens of thousands of bodies unwashed for over a week now. Water to drink is a rare and precious commodity here—baths and showers have become impossible luxuries. Your eyes inevitably tear up from all the smoke—but then, that protects you a tiny bit from some of the more harrowing sights—recognizable body parts—a piece of a leg, an obvious part of a torso, and fingers—more scattered, individual, recognizable fingers than anyone should ever have to see. Volunteer crews are gathering these human fragments and bringing them to Jabalya's two hospitals but the ambulances cannot possibly keep up with the flood of newly dead and injured ... Shooting to Kill I interviewed Dr. Mahmoud Al Asali, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who told me he was forced to assume the Israeli Army has been deliberately targeting civilians. He said most of those injured by gunfire were wounded in the upper parts of their bodies, indicating the Israeli sharpshooters must have orders to shoot to kill. Palestinian doctors have removed many flechettes from the dead and injured, indicating the IDF are using illegal fragmentation bombs. These release razor sharp flechettes as they explode. Dr. Al Asali says these illegal fragmentation devices greatly increase the number of deaths and the number and severity of injuries. The IDF has refused to comment on this."

Conference At Duke Equates Zionism And Apartheid,
By Janine Zacharia, Jerusalem Post, October 18, 2004
"A weekend conference urging divestment from Israel got underway at Duke University on Friday and continued into Saturday with speakers equating Zionism with South African apartheid and some calling for an end to an exclusively Jewish state ... As of late Saturday, the heavily guarded events were peaceful. Only a handful of local protesters gathered outside the main venue of the PSM conference, a campus gym, to demonstrate. But at least one busload of Jewish demonstrators was expected to arrive early Sunday morning and some PSM representatives warned of possibly violent confrontations .. Rev. Mark Davidson, a Presbyterian pastor from Chapel Hill, said the Church leadership's recent decision to explore ways of divesting its holdings from certain businesses that have operations in Israel, was a way of "prodding Israel to live up to its highest ideals" ... On Saturday, Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Yale University professor and the co-founder of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition, referred to Zionism as a "disease" and said the media only reported on "resistance to colonization" not on the violence of "repression and ethnic cleansing" by Israel. He also rejected a two-state solution. "We ought to stop talking about these vague concepts about a two-state solution," he said .. Across campus, at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, Jewish students gathered for an "Israel Teach-In," with lectures on Zionism, US- Israel relations and how to confront anti-Semitism. Some expressed concern about the PSM conference."

[The Jewish state murders with impunity. The U.S. Congress is petrified of offending the Jewish Lobby that dangles gagged senators by elastic strings.]
Corries push U.S. government to investigate their daughter's death,
PCUSA News (Worldwide Faith News), October 16, 2004
"Craig Corrie isn't politically naive. He served in Vietnam, after all. He's seen governments lie. Or cover up. He's seen armies be duplicitous. And political spin, he's seen that, too. But it still takes him aback when officials duck questions. Corrie and his wife, Cindy, are pushing the U.S. Congress to open a new investigation into the death of their daughter, Rachel, 23, who was crushed by a bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in March 2003 as she tried to block the demolition of a Palestinian physician's home. The army said it was wrecking homes in the Rafah refugee camp to create a "buffer zone" to prevent weapons smuggling from Egypt by building a high, steel wall. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported that the driver of the bulldozer had not seen Corrie and did not run over her intentionally. But international eyewitnesses - some of them U.S. citizens - said Corrie stood 100 feet in front of the more than 60-ton bulldozer and was within the sight of the two men who manned the heavy equipment as it moved closer. They contend that she even clambered on top of the pile of dirt the machine raked as it approached the house. She was wearing the bright orange jacket that is the emblem of theInternational Solidarity Movement (ISM), a coalition of Palestinian and other international activists who volunteer to serve as human rights monitors in the occupied territories. Corrie was also using a megaphone. Israel and the United States have repeatedly rejected attempts by the United Nations to put monitors in place. "There's been no attempt [here] to record the testimonies of the international eyewitnesses. They all say Rachel was clearly visible," says Corrie, who is on the lecture circuit pushing for more international scrutiny of the IDF's actions in Gaza and of Caterpillar's complicity in what most international organizations call human rights abuses. Corrie wants to know why the U.S. government can't get testimonies from the U.S. citizens who are now back on U.S. soil, a first step in taking a deeper look at his daughter's death, since the Israeli government is apparently unwilling to allow the U.S. government access to conduct its own investigation. There isn't much Congressional support, either, to conduct anindependent inquiry, although 77 members of the House have signed onto a bill introduced by Rep. Brian Baird of Washington State calling on the U.S.government to "undertake a full, fair and expeditious investigation" into the death of Rachel Corrie. Neither the White House nor the Justice Department are pressing for further investigation. According to Corrie the Israeli government has exonerated the two soldiers involved and closed the case. And it is refusing to release a complete report of the military investigation into the death - despite having promised what Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told President Bush what would be a "thorough, credible and transparent" investigation. Even the U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv told the Corries that the report contained several "worthy inconsistencies. But the U.S. State Department has not received the actual details of the investigation. What the Corries want is an inquest like that run by the London police into the death of a young Brit in Rafah within a few miles of the spot where Rachel died. Corrie wants the FBI to do the same. Three internationals died near Rafah within a seven-week period in 2003. As it turns out, the British investigation contradicted the IDF's inquest, revealing that soldiers at the site lied about how 21-year-old Thomas Hurndall was killed. He was reportedly helping small children avoid IDF fire and was shot in the head when he returned a second time to helpanother child who was paralyzed by fear and unable to run. Hurndnall was also wearing the orange ISM vest. His lawyer father collected evidence that launched an investigation while his son lay in a comain an Israeli hospital. According to The Guardian, a London newspaper, the initial IDF reportclaimed that Hurndall was in camouflage and wielding a gun. Those statements were withdrawn in the face of testimonies by witnesses. A soldier is now charged with Hurndnall's killing. The third death along the same border strip was that of British filmproducer James Miller, who was shot by an Israeli tank while he was completing work on the Gaza portion on his HBO film Death in Gaza, which chronicles the impact of violence and terrorism on three young Palestinian children. Corrie was the first of the three to die. "Apparently at the point that Rachel realized the bulldozer was not going to stop, it was already dropping dirt on her," says her father. As she climbed to the top of the dirt pile, eyewitnesses said the blade caught her legs and pushed her under it. Then the bulldozer reversed, dragging the blade over her body again. She died about 20 minutes later in a Palestinian hospital. The photograph of that March 17 scene was printed in major newspapersaround the world: the Corries' crumpled daughter, her face covered with blood, being dug out of the rubble by other young people. That day, too, maymark the only time in history that the U.S. flag flew in the Gaza Strip, commemorating Rachel's death. This ordeal has been long for the Corries, who have visited the siteof their daughter's death, talked with the families who housed her in Rafah,met her friends there, seen the nursery school, the youth center and thewomen's center in Rafah that have been named after Rachel. Cindy is painfully aware that Palestinians die daily without the furor that Rachel's death has caused. "Rachel is the not the only person who has been killed there," says Cindy, mentioning the name of a woman who was nine months pregnant when her house collapsed on top of her as soldiers bulldozed the house next door. An elderly gentleman died in a similar incident. She says too that she watched women be cut off from their olive groves by the steel barrier. "The bulldozer is the symbol of the occupation in that part of the world - a symbol of oppression," her husband says, matter-of-factly, but with a tinge of incredulity that the U.S. manufacturers of the equipment can somehow divorce themselves from how it is being used. Several campaigns are now under way aimed at getting Caterpillar to stop selling bulldozers to the military. The most notable of these is theStop Cat Coalition, which held a demonstration that the Corries attended in Peoria, IL, last April."

[The rise of Jewish religio-fascism.]
Return of the Zealots and Sicaari. With the help of rabbis, self-appointed spokesmen for the Holy One, the French Le Pen option is accelerating right under the nose of a nation that thinks it can't happen here,
by Gideon Samet, Haaretz (Israel), October 20, 2004
"The prime minister's one and only political plan is stuck - not because he doesn't want to carry it out, not because he doesn't have a public majority, not because it isn't vital. The disengagement plan is stuck because Israeli politics, in a drawn-out and destructive process, is deteriorating rightward. A quarter of the Knesset is extreme right. With the help of rabbis, self-appointed spokesmen for the Holy One, the French Le Pen option is accelerating right under the nose of a nation that thinks it can't happen here. Attempt to pass the plan is therefore in itself a critical test case to find out if the country has gone crazy. If the plan is defeated, or its implementation is shelved, nothing afterward will stop Israel collapsing into the very worst condition. This would be a resounding victory for extremism and nationalist demagoguery, for messianism and xenophobia, which would destroy any chance of dealing with the war with the Palestinians. That quarter of the Knesset that wants the conflict to last forever could swamp parliament, because outside the gates there are more political barbarians. More rebels from the ruling party will join the Likud rebels, the NRP, Yisrael B'Aliyah, and the National Union, as will the pliant reeds of Shas and United Torah Judaism. They will be more than a third of the parliament - and new elections might strengthen them. In the last elections many people refused to see the very same thing the Europeans recognize among themselves as the rise of a quasi-fascist, separatist process, one that hates everything it sees, from damage to nationalist holy sites all the way to homosexuality. That process is capturing positions even without elections. The meeting point between Israeli fundamentalism, dressed up as sacrosanct patriotism, and its Muslim twin is a great national threat that meets the strangest apathy here. The details of the ultimate disaster are well-known. More blood. Lots of blood. Becoming an international pariah, as predicted in the Foreign Ministry's own report. Don't let the false prophets of the nationalist and religious Le Penism spread tall tales - it is not disengagement that is threatening to destroy the Third Commonwealth. A horrifying national crisis has already taken root because of the rising influence of the Zealots and Siccari of our time."

[Still milking German guilt. "Hey, Germany. We want your submarines so we can nuke you some day and we want you also to pay for it." Where's the redemption for Germany in supporting a different brutal "birthright" state?]
Germany and Israel restart talks on sale of submarines,
by Yossi Melman, Haaretz (Israel), October 22, 2004
"The director-general of the Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, visited Berlin this week and met with his German counterpart, senior Bundeswehr officers, and chairman of the foreign affairs and defense committee in the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament. According to German defense sources, Germany's Defense Ministry and military support Israel's request, which would supply employment at shipyards. However, implementing the deal requires approval by the government, which is divided on the issue. Germany is barred from selling arms - particularly offensive weapons - to crisis zones, but the main sticking point is monetary. Israel wants Germany to partially fund the construction of the submarines, which is expected to cost nearly $1 billion, or to grant a long-term interest-free loan. The German treasury is opposed to these ideas. Israel hopes Germany ultimately will agree to supply the submarines and announce its willingness to fund their construction by the beginning of 2005, 40 years since diplomatic ties between the two countries were reestablished."

Clashes mar Mid East inquiry,
BBC News (UK), March 25, 2001
"At least 20 Palestinians and one Israeli have been injured in further clashes near the West Bank town of Nablus. The violence came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reluctantly met an international fact-finding mission headed by former US senator George Mitchell. The international commission is meeting Mr Sharon at the end of a five-day visit looking into six months of violence in the region. Even as they met, Palestinians in Nablus protesting against the continuing blockade imposed by Israel threw stones at troops, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Historic mistake A few hours before the meeting on Sunday, Mr Sharon told Israeli radio he had no choice other than to meet the commission, but described the investigation into recent violence in the Palestinian territories as a "historic mistake" ... The Mitchell commission was set up after the Sharm el-Sheikh accord between former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Mr Arafat. But Mr Sharon says his predecessor made a grave "historical mistake" by allowing the investigation, equating it with putting Israel before an international tribunal. "Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial," he said."

Israel targets resistance fighters' kin,
by Khalid Amayreh, Al-Jazeerah, October 24, 2004
"Israel is increasing its attacks on the families of resistance fighters, according to rights organisations and anecdotal evidence. In recent weeks, Israeli Apache helicopters have fired a number of Hellfire missiles at the homes of Palestinian resistance activists, killing and maiming several civilians. In one incident, the brother of an Islamic Jihad activist was killed when a helicopter fired missiles at his family home. Nine other family members, including six children and two women, were badly burned in the attack. On 21 October, another helicopter fired missiles at the home of a local Popular Resistance Committees member, destroying the building in Bait Lahya in the Gaza Strip. His family narrowly escaped. "It is a war crime. Targeting innocent people is a war crime" Yehezkel Lien, international law expert at Israeli rights organisation Btselem Israel has on many occasions targeted the homes of Palestinian political leaders, killing civilians, including children. However, until recently, the army refrained from targeting the families of Palestinian activists, ostensibly fearing undesirable international reaction. No holds barred Since the beginning of October, as many as 150 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, have died and 100 homes in the northern Gaza Strip have been destroyed, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless. According to Gaza journalist Salih Naami, who writes for the London-based pan-Arabic daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, Israel is adopting the "Russian style" in its war on virtually defenceless Palestinians. The international community has failed to check Sharon Naami was referring to the "scorched-earth tactic" reportedly used by Russian forces in Chechnya. Naami says the virtual absence of any meaningful international reaction to recent atrocities in Gaza has emboldened Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, assuring him that he can carry out disproportionately aggressive reprisals against Palestinians without fearing Western, especially US, reaction."

[The hi-tech tools of the Thought Police by the world's best at it.]
Israeli companies tout security gear,
By Sharon Behn, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, October 25, 2004
"Chemical-detecting cameras and imaging gear that instantly can map out an area of nuclear contamination will be among the goods offered at an extraordinary trade conference in Washington this week. Sixty top Israeli security-related companies will be displaying their latest technology for American companies and agencies responsible for patrolling U.S. borders and protecting against terrorist threats. Some of the most exciting equipment is suitable for customs, border patrol, and detection, said Rob Hartwell of the American Business Development Group (ABDG), which helped organize the Oct. 28-29 conference for invited guests only. "The Israelis excel at combining photo optics, sensing devices, cameras and also water-acoustical instruments, capable of detecting any intrusion and identifying whether it is human or animal," Mr. Hartwell said. The conference also will help Israeli firms connect with like-minded American companies interested in satellite tracking, security systems, firearms, ammunition, maritime security, armor and bulletproof glass. The United States and Israel already cooperate in the military arena, and several skilled Israelis have clearances to work in the U.S. military sector. This week's symposium is designed to expand that cooperation into the homeland-security arena. Israel's government must approve the transfer of any sensitive technology, and several companies will not disclose their most advanced technologies. But many companies are ready to show off equipment that is more advanced or more competitive than anything made in the United States ... ABDG, a consulting group, traveled to Israel with more than 20 experts, including former military members, program managers, potential clients and Capitol Hill defense staff, to vet the companies invited to the program."

Warnings Against Burying Arafat In Jerusalem,
Israel National News, October 28, 2004
"MK Uri Ariel of the National Union made the warning today. His party colleague Benny Elon has asked the Defense Minister to give advance notice that Arafat will not be buried in Jerusalem. National Union MK Uri Ariel warned today, "Many thousands of right-wing demonstrators will bodily prevent Arafat from being buried in Jerusalem." MK Benny Elon, also of the National Union, has turned to Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, asking him to declare that Israel will not allow terrorist leader Arafat to be buried in Jerusalem. Other MKs have made a similar request to Prime Minister Sharon and Mofaz. "I have no problem with not burying him at all," Elon said this morning, "but rather scattering his ashes like they did with Adolph Eichmann. But if he is to be buried at all, then at least it shouldn't be in Jerusalem." He said that such an announcement must be made before Arafat's death. "The police must be prepared for a funeral procession in which the Arabs will try to burst into Jerusalem," Elon said. "It could be an explosive situation..."

[World Jewish/Israeli assault on everyone.]
UN rights expert charges Israel killed peace map,
By Irwin Arieff, Reuters, October 28, 2004
"Israel has killed the road map peace plan for the Middle East with apparent U.S. acquiescence, a U.N. human rights investigator said on Thursday, triggering a strong rebuttal from the Jewish state. "The road map is dead. Israel has killed it," South African law professor John Dugard told a General Assembly committee. "The world is looking to the United States for leadership in this region, and the world is simply not getting it," said Dugard, who monitors the Palestinian territories for the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission. His remarks came as a gravely ill Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agreed to be rushed from the West Bank to a French hospital for treatment, casting a cloud of uncertainty over the Middle East political landscape. The United States is part of the quartet of international mediators that laid out the road map to Middle East peace, along with Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. But the other quartet members quietly accuse Washington of encouraging Israeli policies that violate the plan. Israeli envoy Tuvia Israeli responded to Dugard by saying his work had long been marked by "lack of context, lack of balance, omission of facts and distortions of both law and reality' ... Dugard, in a report issued last month, accused Israel of building its barrier on West Bank land in order to confiscate the land and put pressure on Palestinians to move away, rather than to keep out suicide bombers, as Israel says. The Palestinians have similarly charged that the barrier was a land-grab aimed at dashing their hopes for statehood. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has fueled this notion by arguing that his plan for a withdrawal from Gaza would ensure a hold on much bigger settlements in the West Bank. The criticism of Dugard marked the second day in a row that the Jewish state attacked a U.N. rights expert's findings. Wednesday's target was Jean Ziegler of Switzerland, a U.N. expert on the right to food whom Israel wants dismissed. Relieving Ziegler of his duties would require the vote of a majority of the 53 nations on the Commission on Human Rights. "Since his appointment in 2000, Mr. Ziegler has been conducting a public relations assault against Israel, and recently he has escalated his efforts into a trade war," Israeli told the same assembly committee. Ziegler in June wrote U.S. heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar to say that a sale of its bulldozers to the Israeli military could violate Palestinians' human rights."

[Israel is founded on spying, lies, illusions, and corruption and would be incapable of functioning without all this. Everything about the Jewish state is propaganda. Now they've been looking to justify the killing of United Nations workers.]
Truth becomes the casualty in tale of missile in UN ambulance,
By Ed O'Loughlin, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), October 8, 2004
"The Israeli Government is refusing to apologise to the United Nations for releasing footage which it falsely claimed showed a Palestinian militant loading a missile into a UN ambulance in the Gaza Strip. The dispute has again highlighted the poisoned relations between Israel and the world body and the use of intelligence reports to mould public opinion. Shot by an Israeli spy drone and revealed with great publicity by the Israeli Army and Government last Friday, the grainy black and white footage shows an apparently unarmed man walking first one way and then the other in a darkened street lined with bystanders, swinging a long, slender object in one hand. Joined by another apparently unarmed man, the figure then throws the object into the back of a marked UN ambulance and drives off. According to the Israeli Army and the Foreign ministry, the footage showed a Palestinian terrorist carrying one of the homemade missiles used to bombard Israeli towns and Jewish settlements. It said the footage proved its frequent claims that the UN often helped terrorists in the occupied territories.The story received saturation coverage in a country where many citizens regard the UN as at best an unwanted and meddlesome presence, and at worst a representative of global anti-Semitism in league with Palestinian terrorism. On Monday the Israeli ambassador to the UN demanded the resignation of Peter Hansen, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, accusing him of complicity in terror. However, the story began to unravel when the agency claimed that the object in the video was too thin and light to be a missile and that a militant would be more careful in handling a crude, homemade explosive device. A day later the agency produced the driver of the ambulance in question, who said that the object was a rolled-up stretcher and his crew had been on an abortive call. By Tuesday the controversial footage had been pulled from the Israel Defence Forces and Foreign Ministry websites and the Israeli security establishment was in disarray, with some anonymous "senior officials" briefing journalists that the UN's version was probably correct. Officially, a defence forces spokesman would yesterday only say that "we are reviewing the analysis because of the questions asked". He insisted that even if the defence forces has been wrong this time, it knew for a fact that the UN often helped terrorists in smuggling weapons and carrying out their missions ... The agency has in turn complained about what it says are numerous acts of Israeli harassment against foreign and local staff, the destruction of its schools and compounds by Israeli forces and attacks on clearly marked UN vehicles and compounds."

Rabbis 'incite violence' over Gaza plan,
From Ian MacKinnon, The Times (UK), October 22, 2004
"The Israeli Justice Minister warned right-wing rabbis yesterday that they risked sparking civil war with their incendiary remarks against the looming withdrawal from Gaza and could face prosecution. The threat from Tommy Lapid, before a bitterly contested Knesset vote next Tuesday on Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull out of Gaza, came in response to calls from leading rabbis for soldiers to refuse orders to expel Jewish settlers. Tensions have escalated in the run-up to the debate, a showdown that Mr Sharon is expected to win by at least six votes. Victory would pave the way for the evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and four others in the West Bank by next September. Security around the Israeli Prime Minister, senior politicians and parliament is being tightened amid fears that Jewish extremists, spurred by ultra-nationalist rabbis, could resort to violence in the hope of derailing the process. The Justice Minister joined the outcry against right-wing rabbis opposed to the evacuation plan, giving a warning that their statements to Orthodox Jews could incite violence. “I fear there is a risk of bloodshed,” said Mr Lapid, who heads the secular Shinui party, a partner in the governing coalition. “I hope it does not spill over into civil war. History has seen more crimes committed in the name of sanctity than in the name of sin. We have reached the outer limits of our patience with statements that could pose a danger to public security.” Mr Lapid hinted that the religious leaders could be prosecuted for inciting violence. “Some would say we have been too circumspect,” he said. “After the (former Prime Minister, Yitzhak) Rabin murder, we must observe the boundary between acceptable and criminal statements.” Shimon Peres, leader of the Labour opposition, said that he feared that Jewish extremists, who branded Mr Sharon a dictator endangering Israel’s future, may try to kill the Prime Minister. Mr Peres said that the febrile climate was reminiscent of that before Mr Rabin’s assassination by a Jewish extremist in 1995. The Shin Bet security service has been put on high alert and has stepped up protection around Mr Sharon, adding to his bodyguard detail and running decoy convoys to confuse would-be assassins. Despite the precautions surrounding Mr Sharon — he was dwarfed by ten bodyguards this week — the bulky Prime Minister was evasive as to whether he wore a bullet-proof vest. He joked that the vests were not made in his size. Police are investigating death threats made by anonymous callers. Steps are being taken inside and outside the Israeli parliament to ensure that the marathon debate, due to start on Monday, will not be interrupted by any of the thousands of settlers expected to converge on Jerusalem to besiege legislators."

[Israel as a "Jewish state' and "democracy" is a contradiction in terms. The following author is an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset (Israel's Parliament) from Nazareth. He heads the National Democratic Coalition "Balad". He should know what he's talking about: he lives Israeli "democracy" every second. Of course, he's got to be careful of what he says. He could be jailed for speakng TOO frankly.]
Jewishness versus democracy,
by Dr. Azmi Bishara, Arab Media Internet Network, October 28, 2004
"The 16th Knesset is strenuously working to hammer together a constitution at a time when the right controls both the Israeli parliament and its Law and Constitution Committee. One of the most important missions of the forthcoming constitution in the view of the Israeli right is to reinforce the notion of the Jewishness of the Israeli state. In order to promote this drive in the media and academic circles the Israeli Institute for Democracy, that elitist establishment that holds its annual conventions in Herzliya, has launched a campaign "for the sake of constitution by consensus". As part of this campaign, the institute resorted to a tactic generally used by Israeli liberals to compel Arab Knesset representatives to toe the party line, which was to conduct a survey among Arab Israelis. In this case, the survey was designed to impress upon Arab MPs the desire of their Arab constituents to participate in the making of a "historic deal" by approving a constitution that upholds the Jewishness of the state in exchange for full equality in civil rights and liberties. Naturally, the survey did not take the trouble to point out to respondents the inherent contradiction between the notions of equality and the Jewishness of the state or the fact that the conservative and religious right will have the ultimate say in producing a new, solid and immutable definition of what it means to be a Jewish state. Until now any such definition has been restricted to a few words in the opening lines of the Basic Laws, which the Arabs never had the opportunity to approve or disapprove to begin with. These same words were imposed on them under Article 7A of the Knesset Law, which the Arabs would oppose if it were put to a vote again, just as they opposed it when the law was first enacted. According to this provision any party that does not recognize Israel as a Jewish and democrati