Why not invade Israel? If rogue nations are to be brought into line by the US, shouldn’t Israel be punished for ignoring UN resolutions?,
by Gerald Kaufman is just asking, The Spectator (UK), November 22, 2003
"South of Turkey, there is Israel. It is true that the United Nations Security Council resolutions of which Iraq was in violation for a dozen years were mandatory and carried penalties, while those criticising Israel were not. That does not excuse successive Israeli governments during the past 36 years for failing to conform to Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. They would have violated even more if the United States, otherwise so assiduous in stressing the importance of international order, had not vetoed them. Since the present regime in Israel came to office, there has been unprecedented repression of the Palestinians who the Israelis govern. The world is rightly horrified at the cruel and bloody deaths of Israeli civilians, including babies and small children, inflicted by terrorist suicide bombers. Grievous though every one of these deaths most certainly is, it cannot be denied that during the three years of the Second Intifada the Israelis have killed three times as many Palestinians, some of them terrorists (in illegal targeted assassinations) but most of them innocent civilians, including babies and pregnant women. Now the Israelis are building an illegal security wall, reaching far into Palestinian territory, which is equally illegally annexing that territory, separating farmers from their homes, students from universities, children from schools, and which will violate the sanctity of Bethlehem. Roads into villages are being bulldozed, and the trenches which render them impassable are being filled with sewage. Some Palestinians need written permission to live in their own homes. There are 482 Israeli military checkpoints dividing Palestinian land into 300 small clusters. It is not even as if these nasty measures are effective. Last month 20 people, including a whole family from grandmother to baby grandchild, were among those murdered by a suicide bomber at a café in Haifa. Last month, after visiting the Palestinian town of Qalqilya, which is being enclosed within a noose-like wall by the Israelis, I was driven back to Jerusalem via the Palestinian town of Tulkarm. Next day a bomber attacked an Israeli administrative post outside Tulkarm. No wonder that only three weeks ago the Israeli chief of staff, Lieutenant General Moshe Ya’alon, expressed concern about the building of the wall, said the Israeli government’s policies were ‘operating contrary to our strategic interests,’ argued that the restrictions were increasing hatred of Israel and encouraging terrorism, and lamented: ‘There is no hope, no expectations for the Palestinians in the Gaza strip, nor in Bethlehem and Jericho’ (whose agricultural and horticultural economy is being ruined). No wonder that a member of the Israeli government, the infrastructure minister, Yosef Paritzky, has said recently: ‘The failure to differentiate between civilians and terrorists turns all the Palestinians into potential suicide bombers.’ Hey, wait a minute! Surely Israel does not qualify as a suitable case for invasion. Surely Israel is a democracy. Surely Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was democratically elected, and even re-elected. Such undeniable facts do not detract from the record. Sharon was the prime mover in the only war that Israel has ever lost, the invasion of Lebanon. The Kahan commission inquiring into the Sabra-Chatilla massacre of Palestinians outside Beirut recommended that, for his connection with those events, Sharon should leave the Israeli Cabinet. It was Sharon who triggered the Second Intifada in 2000 by his provocative visit to the Temple Mount. And is it not members of the Sharon family, including the Prime Minister himself, who have been the object of investigations by the Israeli legal authorities? And would it not be poetic justice to invade the invaders? After all, the Israelis, who illegally invaded Lebanon until they found the going too tough and got out; the Turks, who illegally invaded Cyprus and even aspire to be a member of the European Union when in illegal possession of part of a country which is due to become a member of the European Union less than six months from now; the Moroccans, who continue to thwart the will of the United Nations with every moment their troops and immigrants remain in the Western Sahara — surely they could not have the effrontery to object to invasion, which they have practised without qualm, simply because they would be at the receiving end. If the United States is keen to invade countries that disrupt international standards of order, should not Israel, for example, be considered as a candidate? But, quite apart from the hard fact that even the rich and powerful US does not possess enough dollars and manpower to invade and occupy the countries I have mentioned (plus other rogue states, too many to list), is the US suited to maintaining international law? After all, has not the United States, on the basis of dubious legality, invaded nearby countries on the American continent, such as Panama and Grenada? Has it not got a questionable human rights record, with the level of capital punishment, including the execution of mentally retarded prisoners, one of the worst in the democratic world? Is it not keeping a collection of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, whose detention appears to have no legal basis whatever? And does it not have a president who was never elected, but appointed by the Supreme Court after electoral finagling in the electorally clinching state which just happens to be governed by that president’s brother? Who, then, should invade the United States? The despised United Nations? Maybe this invading business is not such a good idea. Maybe, even though Saddam was abominable and his regime nauseating, the invasion of Iraq may turn out not to have been such a good precedent after all."

Bingo tycoon subsidizes extremism in Israel,
By MARGOT PATTERSON, National Catholic Reporter, October 18, 2002
"An impoverished small town in Southern California would seem an improbable venue for funding settlements in the occupied territories of Palestine, but physician and financier Irving Moskowitz has by many accounts funneled millions of dollars into settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem from the proceeds of a charitable bingo operation in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. In 1988 Moskowitz bought a faltering bingo parlor in the ramshackle town of Hawaiian Gardens, a largely Latino community of approximately 15,000 that in 1990 had an average per capita income of $8,500. California state law demands that bingo be run on a not-for-profit basis, and Moskowitz established the Irving I. Moskowitz Foundation to administer the bingo operation. Open 363 days a year, the bingo parlor is staffed by “volunteers,” many of them reported to be undocumented workers, often working six or seven days a week for tips. In recent years, the foundation has raked in between $30 million and $40 million in revenues. So successful has the bingo parlor become that many charities offering bingo in neighboring communities have been unable to compete and have closed their doors. Using revenue from the bingo operation as well as in some cases his own private funds, Moskowitz has won a reputation both in this country and in Israel for funding extremist settlers on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. In addition to aiding Jewish settlers in Hebron, Moskowitz helped finance the controversial restoration of an ancient tunnel that leads from Jerusalem’s Western Wall Plaza to the Muslim quarter of the Old City. The opening of the tunnel in 1996 sparked Palestinian fears for the security of the Muslim shrines in Jerusalem and led to riots in which 70 people were killed ... Tax records and published reports indicate that the Moskowitz Foundation has been a major contributor to the American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, donating $5 million over the years to the American arm of an ultra-nationalist group whose goal is to Judaicize the Arab quarter of East Jerusalem and drive out Arab residents living there."

Mass Graves Where Israel Buried Egyptian Prisoners,
by Hassan Tahsin, Al-Jazeerah (from Arab News), October 13 2003
"During the wars of 1956 and 1967, Israel slaughtered Egyptian prisoners and buried alive many more in mass graves. This sensitive and vital issue touches a chord with the Egyptian military’s pride, the pride of the Egyptian people and Arab nations as a whole. It exposes the extent of the invading Jews’ monstrosity and their lack of morals and is again evidence that Israel was founded on murder, terrorism and violence. The extent of these crimes wasn’t revealed until August 1995 when the Israeli press lifted the veil in its interviews with a number of witnesses and members of the military who took part in the crime. Starting in 1996, a number of Egyptian groups began to work to bring the war criminals to justice. While the Egyptian government brandished documentary evidence it also announced that it would defer the case in the hopes that this would drive the Israeli leadership to begin working for peace with the Palestinians ... Egypt continued in its attempt to prosecute the war criminals, receiving in 1996 the go ahead from the International Court in Geneva to convene a special court in Sinai where the crimes were committed. American and European pressure on those responsible for adjudicating the case however resulted in its indefinite postponement. The court was only the first step, after which the case would have been brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague ... The International Red Cross and human rights organizations that are part of the United Nations were notified and asked to come to Egypt to see the mass graves in Sinai. The great Egyptian interest in this case enabled those following it up to gather 1,000 documents that implicate Israel, its leadership and its army. They were also able to determine the number of Egyptian prisoners who were killed or buried alive in the 12 mass graves — 2,700 in total. Egypt’s right to prosecute the war criminals no matter what their status in Israeli society stands because the accusation has not been refuted — as evidenced by the Israeli press and a number of Jewish military personnel who witnessed or took part in the slaughter. This matter reveals the ugly side of Zionist extremism. It also reveals the sham that is the democracy of Israel, a country the US considers the sole oasis of democracy in the Middle East."

[Lying is endemic to the Jews of Israel: straight from the horse's mouth.]
The occupation corrupts from above,
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz (Israel), November 24, 2003
"The lie we were told about the Air Force's bombing of the Nusseirat refugee camp has very long tentacles. These tentacles start from the very highest echelons and do not skip over any sector of Israeli society. Their roots are planted deep in the territories, fed by the poison of the occupation. Without lies, it would be impossible to talk about peace with the Palestinians for 36 years while at the same time seizing more and more Palestinian land. Without lies, it would be impossible to claim that there is no partner for the road map, while at the same time injecting more and more money into outposts that the road map calls for dismantling. Without lies, it would be impossible to promise "painful concessions" in exchange for peace, while at the same time terming people who concluded such an agreement "traitors." Politicians who lie for the sake of ideology or political interests are nothing out of the ordinary. Yitzhak Shamir declared openly that "it is permissible to lie for the sake of the Land of Israel." When George W. Bush began his war on Iraq, he and the politicians who surround him flooded the American public with falsehoods. The problem is that in Israel, lying has become the norm among the working levels of the army, the legal establishment and the diplomatic corps. Lying has become a way of life for commanders and soldiers, lawyers and clerks, most of whom are far from having right-wing views and many of whom loathe the occupation. While the politicians lie in order to perpetuate the occupation, the workers learn to lie in order to justify it. Israel Defense Forces soldiers have become used to seeing settlers prepare a road to yet another outpost in the morning, and then hearing on the radio in the evening that the defense minister and the prime minister "vehemently deny" the existence of any new outposts. So what do they do? They say (perhaps even to themselves) that this is a "security road." Members of the Shin Bet security service know that not every Palestinian who was executed without trial was truly a "ticking bomb." They have become used to "cutting corners" and to living with the lie. Analysts understand that it is impossible to defeat a people fighting for its land and that there is no basis for the claim that there is no Palestinian partner for a fair division of the land. But they have learned that it does not pay to tell the leaders the truth. There was great danger in the occupation even in the days when the four former Shin Bet chiefs were an inseparable part of it. But the view looks different from the other side. When Ami Ayalon and his colleagues were inside, they served the occupation. And in the nature of things, in order to justify the evils that are an inseparable part of ruling another nation by force, they also did not always adhere strictly to the truth. Psychologist Arye Reshef, a former commander of the IDF's pilot training course who today researches the psychology of moral behavior, cites endless studies that show that very few people are immune to moral backsliding in situations that compel them to act in defiance of their basic values. Gideon Kunda of Tel Aviv University, who researched the organizational culture of high-tech companies, writes that "through the desire to bind the worker and his soul to the organization's interest, organizations engage in constant brainwashing of their workers." Kunda quotes a manager who spoke of a culture of generally accepted lies: "If you want the project, you have to lie." A pressurized situation or environment can drag individuals into acts even more severe than distorting the truth. A "normative" young man who testified at the Kafr Kassem trial in the 1960s (in which a group of Border Police were convicted of having shot and killed civilians who went out to work in their fields not knowing that a curfew had been imposed), said: "If I had been told that it would help the country to shoot at a kibbutz, I would also have done it." Psychologists who ran simulations of prison situations stopped them soon after they began when students who were asked to play the jailers demonstrated intolerable cruelty toward their "prisoner" colleagues. The soldiers who harden their hearts at roadblocks, the pilots who loose bombs in the middle of cities, the attorneys who whitewash and the spokesmen who lie are not people who lack moral values. Most are merely victims of the situation created by the occupation. But moral roadblocks know no borders. A moral roadblock removed from occupied Gaza will ultimately also come down in Tel Aviv.

[Sounds like this prominent rabbi is "anti-Semitic," no? Aside from being anti-European, Europe=Hell. In any case, without the Arabs to kick around to maintain trans-Jewish identity, the Jews of Israel would probably have a civil war -- Ashkenazim versus Sephardim.]
Shas Rabbi Yosef: 'All the troubles' come from Ashkenazi Jews,
By Haaretz (Israel), November 26, 2003
"The spiritual leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardi chief rabbi who has railed against women, leftists, kibbutz members and court justices in past sermons, was quoted Wednesday as saying "all the troubles came from the Ashkenazis" - a reference to Jews from central and northern Europe. "You were in Ashkenaz, in Hell, you did what you did there - What do we care?" Rabbi Yosef was quoted by the Maariv daily as stating in a Tuesday religious lesson in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yosef, a founding leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas, also was quoted as using the derogatory term "Ashkenazi bich bich," a quotation from a Jerusalem schoolyard song "Askenazi bich bich, Why have you come? - Go, Go." Discussing a question of Jewish dietary law and disputes between ultra-Orthodox interpretations, Yosef said that, "Not one foot of one Ashkenazi walked in Jerusalem" until 1860. He also said that all kosher butchering was in the hands of Sephardis - Jews of southern Europe and Middle Eastern descent When Ashkenazi Jews arrived, Rabbi Yosef continued, they refused to accept the leadership of veteran Sephardi rabbis, and opened a separate kosher butchering structure. "They brought their butchers from abroad, from Hell. "The Arabs saw this, and said 'Why butcher with these Sephardis? Here's the Ashkenazi bich bich, we'll butcher with him,' and the Sephardis were left without work."

Evangelists strike a chord with Israelis,
By JOSHUA BRILLIANT, Interest! Alert, (from United Press International), Nov. 26, 2993
"At the end of a briefing in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, a Californian Evangelical raised an unexpected point: The house across the street. It's for sale. Aren't you concerned who will be there? It might be a security risk, she said. The diplomat fumbled for words, the group left, and an hour later the woman returned. "We bought the house. We'll put young people there and they will pray for Israel," she said. In the 20 years since then, Israel's ties with Evangelicals have expanded. Israeli and American-Jews who had been wary of a rightwing ally with a religious agenda, learnt to appreciate the Evangelicals' political and economic support. That friendship became doubly important to Israel during the intifada. Last October, 3,000 Evangelicals came to Jerusalem. Waving small flags they marched down streets that in the past three years experienced some of the world's worst terror attacks. Then they boarded bulletproof busses and went to settlements in the occupied territories. Most of these visitors, who consider themselves Christian Zionists, are Protestant fundamentalists. They believe the Jews' return to Israel, and the restoration of the Jewish state, are precursors to Jesus' second coming. They take Biblical passages literally. "There is no question that Israel holds the title deed to the entire land promised to Abraham, from the Euphrates to the 'Brook of Egypt' just beyond present-day Gaza," David Parsons, the spokesman for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, wrote in their periodical Word from Jerusalem. The Euphrates flows through northern Syria and Iraq and even the most hawkish Israeli parties do not say their country's borders should stretch that far. Parsons told United Press International: "It's up to God to keep his promises. But if we see Him do things...it's (our) duty to work with Him on it." The Evangelicals' help is almost as old as the Zionist movement ... The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem says it is the world's largest Christian Zionist organization with representatives in 80 countries. Timothy King, ICEJ's financial director, said they have "made an impact" in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ninety percent of their residents are churchgoers and, "are with Israel," he added. Those islands seem remote, but when the United States and Micronesia are the only ones to side with Israel in a U.N. vote, that support stands out. In recent years International Christian chambers of commerce helped Israeli businessmen export their goods, King and Rahella Weinstock of the Israel Export Institute noted. Others contribute money. Rabbi Eckstein estimated Christians donated some $100 million for various projects from teaching Ethiopian immigrants to drive busses, to funding a day-care center for children of immigrants from Argentina, and helping soup kitchens run by the Jewish ultra-Orthodox Habbad movement. Settlers received money that enabled them to provide rapid response teams with bullet proof vests, two-way radios and beepers, said Sondra Oster Baras, Director of the Christian Friends of Israeli Communities. They helped buy a bulletproof bus for a school in the settlement of Efrat, near Bethlehem ... Rabbi Eckstein painfully recalled being expelled from studies in a Chicago yeshiva because of his involvement with the Evangelicals. Those days are largely over. Israelis realize they don't have many friends now when so many American liberals and Europeans consider them occupiers. "We'll take any friend we can," the Foreign Ministry official said. The Evangelicals have been careful about spreading their beliefs. The antechamber at ICEJ has a Jewish Menorah and Shofar on display as well as a statue of Mosses receiving the Tabernacles -- but no cross."

Israel army warned by UN for shooting at aid workers,
By Eric Silver, The Independent (UK), November 28, 2003
"The United Nations and other international relief agencies have warned that they may have to cease operating in the occupied territories unless Israel eases the closures that severely restrict their movement through the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The aid agencies have complained bitterly to Israel about soldiers firing on their relief workers, even when traffic has been co-ordinated in advance. "Several organisations are now seriously considering whether they should continue to work at all under these circumstances," they said. They complain that despite numerous meetings with the military authorities, the relief agencies are subjected to unpredictable and sudden changes on the ground, whose purpose is often obscure and rarely explained. Despite the growing anger among aid organisations, diplomatic sources said there was "no prospect" of the UN itself ending its programme of feeding poor Palestinian families in the occupied territories, something it has been doing for five decades. Earlier this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Swiss-based charity, decided it could no longer maintain food-distribution efforts in the West Bank. "This program was not designed to substitute for the responsibility of the occupying power, which is Israel," said Vincent Bernard, a Red Cross spokesman in Jerusalem. Aid organisations , including the UN, are increasingly looking at the costs of subsidising the occupation, expected to be £700m next year."

Palestinian Baby Born in Bethlehem Draws Crowds,
ABC News, December 1, 2003
"A baby born in Bethlehem is drawing crowds by the thousands. Palestinians in the West Bank town revered by Christians as Jesus's birthplace have been thronging to the adjacent Aida refugee camp for a glimpse of the 11-day-old infant many are calling a "miracle baby." The boy has gained attention for being born with a large birthmark across his cheek that roughly forms in Arabic letters the name of his uncle, Ala, a Hamas militant killed by Israeli troops after he was alleged to have planned a suicide bombing. The family, devout Muslims, called it a divine message of support for the Palestinians against Israel, though some local Christians preparing for subdued Christmas observances have quietly dismissed it as lacking any religious significance. The Israeli army declined comment but one security source said: "It sounds very freaky." The family denied any hoax. The security source said the baby's uncle, who was shot dead eight months ago, was suspected of masterminding a bombing that killed 12 people on a Jerusalem bus in November 2002. Cradling the baby in her arms, the infant's grandmother, Aysha Ayyad, 58, said her son secretly joined the Islamic group Hamas shortly after he was beaten by Israeli soldiers. She said the birthmark was a sign "the soldiers can kill our sons but not our spirit." She voiced hope Israelis and Palestinians would make peace and allow her grandson to grow up free from violence. As she spoke, an Israeli army patrol fired teargas at stone-throwing youths nearby. Despite the commotion, the imam from the camp's main mosque entered the crowded living room, traced a finger along the swirling birthmark -- which finishes behind the baby's right ear -- and pronounced it a "gift from God." Adding to a tale spread mostly by word of mouth and published on Monday in the Jerusalem Post, the baby -- named in honor of his dead uncle -- was born on the 27th day of the holy month of Ramadan, revered as the night the Koran was revealed to the prophet Mohammad."

[Julie Burchill is in the running for the Jewish Tribal Review's "Non-Jewish Prostitute for Racist Israel" of the year award. Ms. Burchill thinks that as a "feminist," Israel, "for all its faults, is the only country in that barren region that you or I could bear to live under." When we win the lottery, we'd like to send Ms. Burchill to live for a year or so in the Jewish state where she'd learn that she can't legally marry a Jew, can't get a divorce without her husband's permission, and a whole lot of other quaint little woman-friendly surprises. We think she deserves to be sent to an Ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem where they'll shave her hair and duct-tape a nice wig on her to keep up with the "Jones-steins." Hey Julie. Read Jewish lesbian feminist Andrea Dworkin's article about the "Holocaust porno" industry in Israel that shocked her almost into a coma. If you go near any trouble spots, make sure you're not mistaken for a non-Jewish peacenik. You might get shot in the back or run over by a bulldozer. Oy! These things happen! And be sure to check out what the Jewish Orthodox say about gays. And how come it would be "unbearable" for a trade unionist to live in Iran? Do they have to be sufficiently Communist to meet your obviously high standards? You think Marilyn Monroe was a "Jew-lover?" Read Ted Jordan's book about her -- he was one of the first of the train of Hollywood Jews to get her in the sack. Ask him if she ever said anything "anti-Semitic."]
Good, bad and ugly,
by Julie Burchill, The Guardian (UK), November 29, 2003
"As you might have heard, I'm leaving the Guardian next year for the Times, having finally been convinced that my evil populist philistinism has no place in a publication read by so many all-round, top-drawer plaster saints ... But if there is one issue that has made me feel less loyal to my newspaper over the past year, it has been what I, as a non-Jew, perceive to be a quite striking bias against the state of Israel. Which, for all its faults, is the only country in that barren region that you or I, or any feminist, atheist, homosexual or trade unionist, could bear to live under. I find this hard to accept because, crucially, I don't swallow the modern liberal line that anti-Zionism is entirely different from anti-semitism; the first good, the other bad. Judeophobia - as the brilliant collection of essays A New Antisemitism? Debating Judeophobia In 21st-Century Britain (axt.org.uk), published this year, points out - is a shape-shifting virus, as opposed to the straightforward stereotypical prejudice applied to other groups (Irish stupid, Japanese cruel, Germans humourless, etc). Jews historically have been blamed for everything we might disapprove of: they can be rabid revolutionaries, responsible for the might of the late Soviet empire, and the greediest of fat cats, enslaving the planet to the demands of international high finance. They are insular, cliquey and clannish, yet they worm their way into the highest positions of power in their adopted countries, changing their names and marrying Gentile women. They collectively possess a huge, slippery wealth that knows no boundaries - yet Israel is said to be an impoverished, lame-duck state, bleeding the west dry. If you take into account the theory that Jews are responsible for everything nasty in the history of the world, and also the recent EU survey that found 60% of Europeans believe Israel is the biggest threat to peace in the world today (hmm, I must have missed all those rabbis telling their flocks to go out with bombs strapped to their bodies and blow up the nearest mosque), it's a short jump to reckoning that it was obviously a bloody good thing that the Nazis got rid of six million of the buggers. Perhaps this is why sales of Mein Kampf are so buoyant, from the Middle Eastern bazaars unto the Edgware Road, and why The Protocols of The Elders of Zion could be found for sale at the recent Anti-racism Congress in Durban. The fact that many Gentiles and Arabs are rabidly Judeophobic, while many others are as horrified by Judeophobia as by any other type of racism, makes me believe that anti-semitism/Zionism is not a political position (otherwise the right and the left, the PLO and the KKK, would not be able to unite so uniquely in their hatred), but about how an individual feels about himself. I can't help noticing that, over the years, a disproportionate number of attractive, kind, clever people are drawn to Jews; those who express hostility to them, however, from Hitler to Hamza, are often as not repulsive freaks. Think of famous anti-Zionist windbags - Redgrave, Highsmith, Galloway - and what dreary, dysfunctional, po-faced vanity confronts us. When we consider famous Jew-lovers, on the other hand - Marilyn, Ava, Liz, Felicity Kendal, me - what a sumptuous banquet of radiant humanity we look upon!"

[Paging Julie Burchill! Paging Julie Burchill! Pick up the phone in Israel's Woman Heaven Recovery Room ... Julie, my dear. There are only about 4 million Jews -- men, women, and children -- in Israel.]
40,000 battered women hospitalized in 2003,
By Gideon Alon and Ruth Sinai, Haaretz (Israel), November 26, 2003
"Some 40,000 women were treated at the countries' emergency wards this year as a result of violence in the home, the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women was told Tuesday. Health Minister Dan Naveh, who also heads the ministry's sub-committee on the prevention of violence, told the Knesset panel that "some 40,000 women came to hospital emergency rooms this year as a result of domestic violence, out of which 15,000 women were hospitalized." The meeting was called Tuesday to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Naveh also told the committee that emergency room workers are now told to look for the reasons for a woman's hospitalization, and that together with the State Prosecution and the Public Security Ministry, the Health Ministry was now implementing a project to identify women at risk from domestic violence. Doctors and nurses have been ordered to get to the root of any bruising or injuries suffered by a woman. Some 3,000 women who sought treatment at hospitals and health maintenance organization clinics were identified as victims of domestic violence - double the number identified four years ago. This improvement in identifying victims of domestic violence is thanks to the ministry's project. This number is still low compared to the number of women who are believed to be victims of violence. One of the reasons for this low number is that the issue is still seen as a matter for the welfare services and many doctors still prefer to turn their heads and ignore possible signs of violence. State Prosecutor Edna Arbel told the committee, "It is no secret that the issue of violence on the whole and against women in particular is a central issue in our work and we believe that it must be raised to the top of the agenda, every day and every hour and not just when a woman is murdered." Arbel said that of the 170 murder cases in 2003, 12 women had been murdered by their partners and two men by their partners. She added that Israeli society had become violent and cruel ... Figures from the Prisons Service show that some 570 prisoners are serving time for rape while some 320 are in for other sex crimes. Police figures show that 256 cases of rape and sexual assault were opened last year against a male partner. Committee chair MK Gila Gamliel (Likud) said that the high number of women murdered this year by their partners should set off warning bells and steps must be taken to curb such crimes. MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) said that contrary to Arbel's claims that harsher sentences are now being handed down for domestic violence, in most cases, courts hand down ridiculously light sentences, such as community service or suspended sentences. She slammed the courts for essentially implying that women are their spouses' property and can be beaten and hurt, with their spouses facing punishment equal to a property crime ... According to a survey carried out two years ago, around 214,000 woman (11.2 percent of the female population) has suffered physical violence at the hands of their partners at some point in their lives. Around 142,000 (or 5.8 percent of women) had suffered physical violence in the year preceding the survey."

[Threats from the Jewish "Al-Qaidah," fifty years earlier:]
UK Feared Assassination by Zionists,
by Nathan Jeffay, Jewish Chronicle, November 14, 2003, p. 4 [offline paper edition]
"British intelligence feared a spate of assassinations and attacks by Zionists in post-war London, hithero secret MI5 files reveal. Documents made public today by the National Archives reveal that a 'most wanted' list of Zionists was compiled by Scotland Yard and Special Branch. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was seen as a possible assassination target of Jews who wanted the British to withdraw from Palestine. A 1946 report by agent J. C. Robertson warned that right-wing Zionists were about to set up cells in Britain ... Concern extended to the attitude [of] British Jews in general, who 'though completely trustworthy in every other respect, may on this particular subject have divided loyalties.' The agent's [sic] said: 'Feeling over the Jewish question has grown to such a pitch, and the facts as regard Palestine have been so misrepresented by Zionist propaganda, that virtually every Jew is today to some extent in sympathy with Zionist aspirations. This may apply to not only full Jews but to persons of Jewish heritage on one side or the other' ... EXTREMIST BEN-GURION The man who was to become Israel's first prime minister was described as 'the extremist David Ben-Gurion,' in an October 1943 briefing by Middle East Forces, which also made reference to Zionism's 'totalitarian tendency.' It said: 'They [the Zionists] pay lip service to democracy and representative institutions.' Mainstream Zionist organizations were portrayed as equally threatening as right-wing groups."

Political Geography Zionist Theses and Anti-Theses,
by M. SHAHID ALAM, CounterPunch, November 9, 2002
"The moral case for Israel succeeded like a Spielberg blockbuster, a success produced by Jewish power and ingenuity, working to take advantage of Islamophobia, Holocaust guilt, and anti-Semitism. In hundreds of movies, television serials, books, magazines, and newspapers, the Zionists constructed a narrative of Jewish rights to Israel, Israel's distinctiveness, Israeli achievements, the victimization of Israel by its barbaric Arab neighbors, and an Islamic hatred of all things Western (chiefly Israel). Those who remained skeptical of this narrative were neutralized by more direct methods, including denial of tenure, defeat at the ballot, smear campaigns, and, occasionally, worse. [2] For too long, these campaigns of persuasion and coercion have represented Israel as a small, beleaguered but heroic country, defending Western values against the onslaught of Islamic vandals. Next to the creation of Israel, the launching of this narrative has been the greatest triumph of the Zionist movement. Is it then foolhardy to oppose this political juggernaut? One might answer with Noam Chomsky (Milan Rai, Chomsky's Politics, 1995, 50) who was speaking about the media in United States, that "Any system that's based on lying and deceit is inherently unstable." The Zionist narrative about Israel too is unstable. It is unstable because it is founded on egregious lies that strain our credulity; it is unstable because the Palestinians have refused to make a quiet exit; it is unstable because Israeli repression escalates as it contends with Palestinian resistance; it is unstable because Israel contains the dynamics that pushes the world towards a clash of civilizations. It is all too obvious that as the Palestinian resistance rises, Israel has been seeking to draw United States directly into its war with the Arabs. It is scarcely surprising then if the hegemonic Zionist narrative has begun to fray at the edges even in these United States. One visible sign of this is the movement to divest from Israel, which began some two years ago at UC Berkeley, and has already spread to more than forty campuses nationwide. In addition, there are indications that the growing anti-war movement is linking its opposition to the war on Iraq to justice for Palestinians. In Western Europe, the Zionist narrative has fared worse. A survey of recent opinion polls indicates that there has already occurred a quite significant shift in European sympathies towards the Palestinians. [3] A survey of Britain's leading writers, conducted by the Independent in October 2002, found that about half of the thirty-five writers see greater justice on the Palestinian side, only three on the Israeli side, and several of the uncommitted writers expressed strong sympathy for the Palestinians in their comments. [4] All of this suggests that the time is ripe for examining again, case by case, some of the leading Zionist theses of the past century. More than ever before, American audiences are perplexed by the dominant narratives about Israel, the sources of 9-11, and the inevitable clash of civilizations. We are at a turning point of history, for better or worse. If we can unravel the fabric of lies woven over the past century, we can perhaps nudge this historical turning point just a little bit towards better outcomes."

A simple test. Compare Israel's demographic "democracy" to American democracy. Imagine if a major American government official announced that a looming problem to American democracy was a high Black birth rate; how long would that official remain in power? Read this article. Think about it.]
Netanyahu: Israel's Arabs are the real demographic threat,
By Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon, Haaretz (Israel), December 18, 2003
"Israel's growing demographic problem is not because of Palestinians, but of Israeli Arabs, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference on security, Netanyahu said Israel had already freed itself from control of almost all Palestinian Arabs. He said he could not foresee a future in which "any sane Israeli" could try to make Palestinians either Israeli citizens or "enslaved subjects." The Palestinians would under all circumstances rule themselves and administer their own affairs, he said. "If there is a demographic problem, and there is, it is with the Israeli Arabs who will remain Israeli citizens," he said. The Declaration of Independence said Israel should be a Jewish and democratic state, but to ensure the Jewish character was not engulfed by demography, it was necessary to ensure a Jewish majority, he said. If Israel's Arabs become well integrated and reach 35-40 percent of the population, there will no longer be a Jewish state but a bi-national one, he said ... He said it was necessary to improve education standards, especially for Arab citizens. Netanyahu said that the "separation fence" would also help to prevent a "demographic spillover" of Palestinians from the territories. Reactions to the speech were not slow in coming from Arab Knesset members and others. "Netnayahu's demographic time bomb is a stink bomb and a racist one," said Ahmed Tibi (Hadash). "The day is not far off when Netnayahu and his followers will set up roadblocks at the entrance to Arab villages to tie Arab women's tubes and spray them with anti-spermicide." Azmi Bishara, of Balad (National Democratic Alliance) said: "Describing the original residents of this land as a demographic problem would be considered racism in any normal, or even abnormal, country." Makhoul Issam Makhoul (Hadash) said: "A leader who considers 20 percent of the population of Israel to be a demographic threat and treats them as an existential problem, is himself a racist threat to democracy, sanity, and the rule of law - and he should be disposed of immediately for the good of both peoples." Talab a-Sana (United Arab List) said: "How would Netanyahu react if someone in the West or the U.S. said that the reproduction rate of Haredi Jews was a demographic problem? Netnayahu has double standards." Labor whip Dalia Itzik described Netanyahu as "a serial pyromaniac." She said: "He has already lit the flames between rich and poor, and now he is trying to do the same between Jews and Arabs." Yossi Sarid, MK (Meretz), said: "It is amazing to see how great leaders can instantly be revealed as small racists. The Palestinian problem has not yet been solved in the territories and they are already trying to create another problem with Israeli Arabs... A thousand firemen will not be enough to put out the flames one frivolous man set alight."

[Racist Israel is the centerpiece that exposes widespread Jewish communal corruption and moral degradation. It is the Pandora's box that guarantees more and more exposure of Jewish self-delusion. The Jewish community throughout the world has linked its fate to monster Israel with self-created iron bonds. Chronic Jewish apologists and hypnotists like Foxman and Dershowitz do not have a clue to what is happening.]
The Return of Anti-Semitism. Israel has become the flash point—and the excuse—for a global explosion of an age-old syndrome. Why has hating the Jews become politically correct in many places? And what can be done about it?,
By Craig Horowitz, New York magazine, December 15, 2003
"On the second floor of the plaza hotel, in a gaudy meeting room with lots of gold-painted wall filigree and faux-Baroque details, about 400 representatives of the Anti-Defamation League from around the country gathered one recent morning for the group’s 90th-anniversary conference. As they settled in for a sober two-day program reflecting the grim situation Jews find themselves in (speakers included John Ashcroft, Thomas Friedman, and Israel’s ambassador to the U.N.), ADL national director Abraham Foxman rose to give the opening address ... It was Foxman at his best: passionate, indignant, and connecting naturally with other Jews. His fears are their fears. His hopes for the future are their hopes. The speech clearly resonated with the audience. But there was one small problem. The centerpiece of the speech, its theme, was misleading. There’s no question these are troubled times. But the notion that Jews in 2003 ought to use the Holocaust as a kind of lens to help them see their current predicament more clearly is, to say the least, problematic. The analogy no longer holds. “Comparing what’s going on today to the thirties is both wrong and dangerous,” says Alan Dershowitz, who also has a new book, The Case for Israel, which is practically a point-by-point guide for responding to the Jewish state’s critics. “The old labels don’t apply, and the old diagnoses don’t address the problem. They substitute emotion for reason, and we can’t win this war with emotion. We need to look forward. We need to start thinking about the 2030s, not the 1930s.” The war to which Dershowitz is referring is the global explosion of hate and hostility directed at Israel and at Jews themselves. For the past eighteen months or so, members of the Jewish community—intellectuals, activists, heads of various organizations, and laypeople—have been struggling desperately to find an effective strategy to address the new reality. It’s been slow going. “The organized Jewish community has just not reacted strongly enough,” says Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America. Part of the reason for this is that they are facing a new problem, an enemy they haven’t seen before. The stunning result of the burgeoning anti-Israel, anti-Zionist emotion is a kind of politically correct anti-Semitism. Foxman’s analogy to the thirties is right in this respect: It is once again acceptable in polite society, particularly among people with left-of-center political views, to freely express anti-Jewish feelings. What only two or three years ago would have been considered hateful, naked bigotry is now a legitimate political position. The new p.c. anti-Semitism mixes traditional blame-the-Jews boilerplate with a fevered opposition to Israel. In this worldview, the “Zionist entity” has no legitimacy and as a result no right to do what other nations do, like protect itself and its citizens. It is true that immediately labeling someone anti-Semitic because he criticizes Israel is a long-standing, often bogus tactic that has been used by Jews to stymie debate. The new anti-Semitism, however, is in some sense the inverse problem, with criticism of Israel being a kind of Trojan horse in which age-old anti-Semitic feelings are concealed. “Israel has become the Jew among nations,” says Mort Zuckerman, who in addition to his media holdings is the former chairman of the Council of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “It is both the surrogate—the respectable way of expressing anti-Semitism—and the collective Jew.” The irony here is that Israel, which was supposed to be the solution to centuries of anti-Semitism, is providing a flash point and a kind of cover for p.c. anti-Semitism ... Suddenly, Jews find themselves less and less able to claim the moral high ground as they are now cast as the villains in the conflict. No matter what Israel does—negotiate, fight, put up a fence—it only seems to make things worse. “I feel sick to my stomach,” says writer and activist Leonard Fein. “I go to meetings where despondence is thick on the table. I also feel scared because Israel is rudderless.”

Israel and the Rise of Anti-Semitism,
by James O. Goldsborough, THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, December 8, 2003
"We are in the midst, warns the Anti-Defamation League, of an "explosion of global anti-Semitism" ... Americans are not immune to these charges of anti-Semitism. Last year, the ADL reported that anti-Semitism was on the rise in America, and last month it reported that the Iraq war has "provided a forum for the sort of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protest that spread across U.S. cities and campuses last fall." Americans and Europeans have fought for decades to rid themselves of prejudice. Why would anti-Semitism be on the increase? Neo-Nazi fringes still exist on both continents, but any increase in anti-Semitism comes not from them. What is the source? For example, the ADL states that the rise in anti-Semitism in America reverses a 10-year decline and represents "an undercurrent of Jewish hatred" persisting in America. Its national survey showed that "17 percent of Americans – or about 35 million adults – hold views about Jews that are unquestionably anti-Semitic" ... Why would Greek and Turkish societies, where Jews have long been accepted, turn anti-Semitic? Why would anti-Semitic incidents be up in Germany, where anti-Semitism has been a crime for half a century, and in France, home to 600,000 Jews successfully integrated into French society? Why now? The European Union's answer points in the same direction as the Simon Wiesenthal Center, with its reference to a 21-month-old trend. In 2001, Israel changed governments and the Palestinian uprising took off. The people of Europe have not turned against Jews, they have turned against Israel's government, which, in a recent EU poll, they ranked as the greatest threat to world peace. People can be against Israeli policy without being anti-Semitic just as they can be against Iranian or French policy without being xenophobic. This is recognized by the ADL when it says, "the ADL does not consider mere criticism of Israel to be anti-Semitic or illegitimate." In fact, however, people who criticize Israeli policy are often called anti-Semitic, a convenient amalgamation whose purpose is to stop criticism of Israel. The rise in European "anti-Semitism" is really a rise in criticism of the Sharon government. When governments enflame world passions through aggression, they pay a price. Any American who lived abroad during the Vietnam War knows this. American and European Jews should not suffer because of Israel's policies but, in fact, they do. Here's what Amos Elon, Israel's most important public intellectual, wrote recently: "One begins to realize what 35 years of Israel's mean, arrogant, land-grabbing, and above all, deeply humiliating occupation have wrought in this (Palestinian) society." Jews, whether they support the occupation or not, are blamed, just as Americans were blamed whether or not they supported the Vietnam War and whether or not they support George W. Bush's war. This is no more anti-Americanism than opposing Israel is anti-Semitism. As Humphrey Taylor, head of the Harris Poll, wrote recently, current surveys show world opinion "is not so much anti-American as anti-Bush. Israel's policy under the Sharon government creates a problem for groups like the ADL and Simon Wiesenthal that is largely of their own making. If such groups adopted a responsible position toward Israeli government policy, instead of blanket approval, what passes as anti-Semitism would not be the issue it has become. Whenever Americans call on Israel to take steps toward a just settlement with the Palestinians, you can count on knee-jerk opposition from Jewish spokesmen."

[Murder, Inc. -- nation style.]
Ya'alon: Reporting plan to kill Saddam was `irresponsible',
By Amos Harel, Haaretz (Israel), December 18 2003
"The publication of details of the Israel Defense Forces' 1992 plan to assassinate Saddam Hussein caused serious harm to national security, sources in the defense establishment charged yesterday. IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon labeled the media reports "irresponsible," while the IDF censor said that it never approved some of the details that were reported. The censor added that it would consider taking steps against the guilty parties, which are apparently the dailies Ma'ariv and Yedioth Ahronoth. The media reported yesterday that Sayeret Matkal, the IDF General Staff's elite special operations unit, trained in 1992 to assassinate Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a daring operation that would have landed commandos in Iraq and fired sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral. The attempt was called off after five soldiers were killed during a training accident at the Tze'elim base in the Negev. "There are things that should remain internal for security reasons, and shouldn't be revealed to the whole world in an irresponsible manner," Ya'alon said at the Herzliya Conference on Israel's national security. Although the IDF censor officially banned reports on the canceled operation for 11 years, many details have been published both in Israel and abroad. In light of this, the censor said in a press statement yesterday, it decided that following Saddam's capture over the weekend, it would permit publication of certain details. Nevertheless, the statement continued, "the press published many details that were forbidden and that could cause damage." MK Ephraim Sneh (Labor), who was a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in 1992, confirmed the army was preparing to kill Saddam, but refused to discuss details of the operation. He said late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin had ordered the operation. "The credit should be given to the prime minister because it was his courage to approve this operation," Sneh told The Associated Press. Israel Radio said the troops were volunteers, who understood that they were to "fight to the death" and to commit suicide rather than allow themselves to be captured. The Israeli military put together the plan to kill Saddam in retaliation for Iraq's firing 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf war, and because the Iraqi leader was believed to pose a continuing threat to Israel. However, the plan was never brought before the government for final approval. The daily Ma'ariv said critics warned that whether it succeeded or failed, it could have triggered Iraqi retaliation in the form of a biological attack. Israeli military intelligence determined that Saddam himself, and not one of his doubles, would attend the funeral of his father-in-law in Saddam's home town, and the assassination could be carried out there. The father-in-law was seriously ill at the time. The commandos would set up a few kilometers from the cemetery and fire two specially designed missiles that would home in on Saddam. After the assassination, the commandos were to be flown out of Iraq on an Israeli plane that would take off from a temporary airfield built in Iraq, the paper said. The training mishap occurred during one of the final run-throughs on Nov. 5, 1992, at the large Tze'elim training base in the southern Negev. The five soldiers, also members of the elite unit, were playing the part of the targets, Saddam Hussein and his bodyguards, and the commandos were to fire a dummy missile at them. By mistake, a live missile was substituted, and the five were killed. Six others were wounded. The mishap led to cancellation of the assassination attempt. Ma'ariv reported that in fact, as predicted by Israeli intelligence, Saddam himself attended the funeral where he was to have been targeted. The top commanders of the Israeli military were at the base to watch the exercise, including the then-chief of staff, Ehud Barak, later Israel's prime minister. The fact of his presence came out a few days after the mishap, leading to rumors about the real mission, including the possibility that it was aimed at Saddam. Israeli military censorship clamped a tight lid on the accident and the purpose of the training, banning publication of the details. After two foreign newspapers printed stories that the target was Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli government suspended the press credentials of the papers' reporters in Israel, charging that they had broken censorship rules. Ma'ariv reported yesterday that the Nasrallah story was a government plant to distract reporters from the real target - Saddam."

[If someone spits on a Jewish grave in rural Denmark, it is international news. This complete and intentional destruction of the tomb of revered Muslim holy man by the Israeli army? No big deal. Only Jews count. Others' graves are wasteland.]
IDF to probe razing of sheikh's tomb,
By Amos Harel Fri., Haaretz (Israel), December 19, 2003
"The Israel Defense Forces' Military Police unit is investigating the demolition of the tomb of a sheikh in the north of the Gaza Strip. The probe is focusing on who in the IDF gave the order to demolish the tomb, a holy Muslim site, and thus to desecrate it. The incident took place a few months ago near the Dugit settlement, where the IDF was engaged in extensive operations to destroy Palestinian agricultural plots and homes. According to the IDF, these operations were intended to prevent terrorist infiltrations and attacks on Israeli military patrols. The operations, which the army terms "exfoliation," were undertaken with increased intensity especially after the detonation at the beginning of the year of an explosive charge that caused the death of four members of an IDF tank crew. Apparently, the sheikh's tomb was destroyed in the process of these operations. Damage of this kind to a tomb is in direct violation of IDF regulations. At this stage, it is not clear whether the tomb was destroyed at the initiative of a junior officer or orders from senior officers. Following completion of the probe, the findings will be presented to Judge Advocate General Major General Menachem Finkelstein."

Israel muzzles Palestinian journalists,
By Khalid Amayreh, Al-Jazeerah, December 19, 2003
"The international press organisation “Reporters Sans Frontiers” (RSF) recently lambasted Israel for abusing and harassing Palestinian and foreign journalists covering the Intifada against Israeli occupation. The Paris-based group did recognise that Israel generally respected “the local (Jewish) media freedom of expression”, but criticised Israel for violating the international covenant on civil and political rights, including press freedom, especially in the occupied territories. “Since the start of the Israeli army’s incursions into Palestinian towns and cities in March 2002, very many journalists have been roughed up, threatened, arrested, banned from moving around, targeted by gunfire, wounded or injured, had their press cards withdrawn or been deported,” it said. Constant intimidation Israeli troops have also killed at least 10 journalists since the outbreak of the Intifada in late August, 2000, including two European journalists covering Israeli raids into Palestinian population centres. Aljazeera.net has spoken to dozens of Palestinian and foreign journalists in the West Bank and Israel. Virtually all of them agreed that Israeli attacks on press freedom have assumed unprecedented ferocity, especially since the outbreak of the Intifada. Israeli soldiers take aim at photo-journalists “There is press freedom in Israel as long as you say and write good things about Sharon, the settlers and the occupation army. "However, as soon as you start reporting the ugly reality, the rough treatment begins,” says Nawwaf al-Amer, a Palestinian journalist from Nablus who was imprisoned and tortured for eight months last year for “incitement against Israel and the IDF”. Al-Amer, who spent 25 “nightmarish days” in Israel’s most notorious top-secret prison, known as Facility no 1391, said he lost all feeling in the right side of his head and face as a result of “sustained abuse and mistreatment”. “They only told me they wanted to teach me the difference between journalism and incitement.” Palestinian spokespersons accuse Israel of deliberately “abusing, intimidating and eventually killing journalists” in order to prevent the Palestinian view point from getting through to the international public opinion."

TOP ISRAELI GENERAL WARNS SHARON TO STOP PREPARING FOR “SHORT, SHARP OFFENSIVE AGAINST SYRIA”,
by Gordon Thomas, Globe-Intel, November 29, 2003
"Israel’s former head of military intelligence, Major-General Shlomo Gazit, has broken ranks and taken the unprecedented step of warning Ariel Sharon to stop threatening Syria. Gazit, now a respected elder of the Israeli intelligence community, spoke publicly in Tel Aviv last weekend. He accused Sharon of running an “orchestrated campaign to incite and humiliate Damascus. It is only going to be a matter of time until the Syrians are unable to hold back and then the big blaze will begin”. He cited as an example of the “jab, jab policy” of Sharon, the recent incident when Israeli fighter planes buzzed the palace of Basha al-Assad, the Syrian president. Gazit’s blunt warning has sent a shock wave through Israel’s military command structure. Sharon’s cabinet office has dismissed Gazit as “someone out of touch with reality”. “But the reality is that Sharon IS preparing for a short, sharp offensive against Syria”, insisted Gazit. Support for this came only last Sunday when General Moshe Yaalon, chief of staff of the IDF, Israeli armed forces, also hinted at “further action” against Syria ... Last month, F-15 jets dropped satellite-guided bombs on an empty Palestinian training base near Damascus. It was the first assault on the country’s soil in 30 years. Damascus promised to retaliate. It has not done so yet. But Syrian vice-president Abd al-Halim joined in the war of words this week. He accused Sharon of “staging psychological warfare” against Syria. Next day, more Israeli jets swept over Syria’s forces in Lebanon. Sources close to Sharon have said he was now convinced by hawkish generals like Yaalon that Israel should next strike at Syria’s missile sites hidden in Lebanon. But Gazit, once a renowned hawk, has predicted such an attack could have deadly consequences. “It would be wrong for Israel to underestimate Syria’s military strength. Damascus could retaliate with a ferocity that would surprise us. “The Syrians possess hundreds of ballistic missiles with conventional, maybe also chemical, warheads which are targeted on all of Israel”, he said. Bush’s tacit support for an attack on Syria – together with his signalled readiness to introduce the Syrian Accountability Act in Congress – shows how closely Israel has veered towards war with Syria. The Accountability Act calls for sanctions against Syria until Washington “decides” if Syria has stopped supporting terrorism, has withdrawn all its troops from Lebanon, has ceased the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction and is ready to enter into “serious unconditional peace talks with Israel”. The Act is the handiwork of the neo-conservatives around Bush, led by Paul Wolfowitz. It is welcomed by Sharon as the first move for a “regime change” in Syria. But men like Gazit now see the “Israelisation” of America as a dangerous ingredient in the already poisonous Middle East brew. With the situation in Iraq increasingly eating away at Bush’s prospects of election for a second term, he will be more accommodating than ever to Israel. In turn, the powerful Jewish American lobby will pressurise the White House to allow Sharon a free hand in dealing with Syria."

Meant only for the Jewish majority,
By Yuli Tamir, Haaretz (Israel), December 2, 2003
"If you wish to know something about a given text, French philosopher Michel Foucault taught us, check what is not in it: From that which is left out, or pushed to its margins, you can learn about the main thing. In anticipation of November 29, the Education Ministry published a small booklet, consisting of 100 basic concepts divided into three categories: heritage, Zionism and democracy. A quick scrutiny of the contents will find that the booklet makes no mention of Arabs, Bedouin, Druze, Circassians, Christians or any other minority living in Israel. Indeed, next to the term "minorities" in the index there is a promising reference - "see minority rights." But a look at the three places referred to shows a brief discussion of checks and balances in the democratic system, intended to "prevent the creation of a dictatorship and trampling the rights of the minority by the majority;" a discussion of democracy as a regime based on "the minority's recognizing the rule of the majority" and a discussion of separation of powers that mentions again the importance of protecting human rights, especially "of those in the minority." Who is this hidden minority, that is not mentioned at all in the booklet? The reader can only assume that it refers to people whose position is in the minority, because this minority can, according to the booklet, "turn into a majority at any time." Surely the education minister did not mean to imply that this is the Arab minority in Israel. A fifth - 20 percent - of the citizens of Israel are missing, therefore, from the booklet distributed by the Education Ministry to the citizens of Israel. They have no name, no voice, no mention or picture in the gamut of basic concepts of the state in which they live. As far as the Education Ministry is concerned, they are invisible, not there. None of them is important enough to turn into a basic concept. None of them is worthy of mention, even in a derogatory way; the booklet simply erased Israel's Arab citizens completely. Only in the context of the wars of Israel is the actual word "Arab" used. Thus every child will know that an Arab is not a partner, a citizen, or part of democratic society, but an enemy. The Arabs are invisible not only as members of a national minority but also as a religious one. Islam and Christianity are not mentioned at all. The innocent reader might think Israel is sacred and central to Judaism only - the Mosque of Omar and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher have disappeared ... [N]on-Jewish citizens do not appear even in a booklet released by its own Education Ministry. The Christians and Muslims may console themselves with the fact that the Progressive Judaism movement or secularity are not mentioned either. Judaism is all religion and commandments. Hevra Kadisha is in charge of burials, and the only ones persecuted are the ultra-Orthodox, whose picture decorates the concept "human rights." The picture shows a demonstration of ultra-Orthodox people, one of whom is carrying a poster saying "no more incitement." Israel is defined in the booklet as a Jewish and democratic state, by a peculiar, brief explanation. Israel, it says, "accepts every Jew wherever he is and respects the values of Jewish culture and heritage." One may assume the writers meant that every Jew may immigrate to Israel and become a citizen on the day of his arrival. Israel does not merely "respect" the values of Jewish culture and heritage, but gives them an official status."

'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'. Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians,
by Chris McGreal, Guardian (UK), December 3, 2003
"For two months, a rebel group of Israeli Black Hawk helicopter and F-16 fighter pilots has been denounced as traitors for saying they will no longer bomb Palestinian cities. Until now they have maintained a resolute silence on their motives, preferring to limit their criticism of Ariel Sharon's war to a letter signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots refusing to carry out what they described as illegal orders, and denouncing the occupation as eating at the moral fabric of Israel. Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians. "I served more than seven years as a pilot," said Captain Alon R, who, like all the younger pilots, hopes to return to combat flying and so declines to use his full name in order to retain his security clearance. "In the beginning, we were pilots who believed our country would do all it could to achieve peace. We believed in the purity of our arms and that we did all we could to prevent unnecessary loss of life. "Somewhere in the last few years it became harder and harder to believe that is the case." The line was crossed for most of the pilots with the dropping of the one-tonne bomb last year on the home of a Hamas military leader, Salah Shehade, killing him and 14 of his family, mostly children. One captain described the bombing as deliberate killing, murder even. Another called it state terrorism, though some colleagues swiftly stomped on that interpretation. But they all agreed that the attack sowed the doubts that resulted a year later in the letter that sent shockwaves through the Israeli military. "The Shehade incident was a red light for us, a final warning," said Capt Alon R. "With Shehade I began to re-evaluate my beliefs. We killed 14 innocent people, nine of them children. After my commander gave an interview in which he said he sleeps well at night and his men can do the same. Well, I can't. We refused to see it as an innocent mistake." Capt Assaf L, who served as a pilot for 15 years until sacked for signing the letter, had similar doubts. "You don't have to be a genius to know that the destruction from a one-tonne bomb is massive, so someone up there made a decision to drop it knowing it would destroy buildings," he said. "Someone took the decision to kill innocent people. This is us being terrorists. This is vengeance." Lieutenant-Colonel Avner Raanan is among the most respected pilots to have signed the letter. He served for 27 years and was awarded one of Israel's highest military decorations in 1994. "If you look at the past three years, you see that, if we had a suicide bombing, the Israeli air force made a big operation in which civilians were killed, and that looks to innocent eyes like revenge," he said. "You hear it in the streets of Israel; people want revenge. But we should not behave like that. We are not a mafia." More than 30 pilots have now endorsed the letter refusing to fly bombing raids on Palestinian cities, although four retracted, one an El Al pilot threatened with dismissal, and another a reserve pilot who lost his civilian job. At its core, the letter questions the legality of the "targeted assassinations" that have claimed the lives of more civilian bystanders than their Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade targets. In October, 14 civilians were killed when the air force fired missiles at a car in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp. "Is it legitimate to take F-15's and helicopters designed to destroy enemy tanks, and use them against cars and houses in one of the most heavily populated places in the world?" Capt Alon R asked. "Because of the terrorism, we have become blinded by the blood on our own faces. We cannot see that on the other side, beside the terrorists, is a whole nation of innocent people. It's important that we recognise that, and that, as military people, we say that." The pilots' stand shook Israeli society."

Israel: Iran is now danger No. 1. US, Britain, France, and Germany threatened Iran on Monday with sanctions over its nuclear program,
By Nicole Gaouette, The Christian Science Monitor, November 28, 2003
"Even as the US and European nations press Iran harder to comply with international law on its nuclear program, Israel is moving ahead with its own program to check its powerful Middle Eastern neighbor. Israel is working on a wide range of measures to undermine Iran's nuclear program, with senior leaders hinting that Israel may take preemptive action if that is deemed necessary. Analysts here suggest that action may include a strike similar to Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor. The Israeli initiative includes political, military, and intelligence wings of government and dovetails with US efforts to contain Iran within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The effort reflects the widespread assessment here that Iran poses a greater threat than Iraq has for the past decade and is gaining nuclear expertise more quickly than the US estimates. "Iran has a clandestine [nuclear] program that is very ambitious," says Uzi Arad, director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy in Herzilya. "That country thinks big and fast and ... poses a threat that is very real. Should it acquire nuclear weapons or even come close, it would completely alter the Middle East. It's a very ominous threat."

Israeli Soldier’s Book Stirs Controversy,
Palestine Chronicle, November 30, 2003
"A former Israeli soldier who served three years in the Gaza Strip has described Israeli treatment of Palestinian civilians as befitting ‘animals, criminals, and thieves’. Staff Sergeant Liaran Ron Furer has written a book on his experience as an Israeli soldier manning roadblocks throughout the Gaza Strip. The book, titled “Checkpoints-Twilight Zone” contains personal testimonies and often-brash accounts of the daily harassment and humiliation inflicted by young Israeli soldiers on Palestinian civilians. Major publishers in Israel, including the famous Steimatzky bookstore chain refused to publish the book apparently because of its scathing criticism of Israeli army behavior. "You can adopt the most hard-line political positions, but no parent would agree to his son becoming a thief, a criminal or a violent person. The boy himself doesn’t portray himself this way to his family when he returns from the territories. On the contrary, he is received as a hero, as someone who is doing the important work of being a soldier," says Furer in his book. Furer describes several types of ‘sadistic’ behaviors by Israeli soldiers including beating Palestinians and then taking souvenir pictures with them. "I remember how we humiliated a dwarf who came to the checkpoint every day on his wagon. They forced him to have his picture taken on the horse, hit him and degraded for a good half hour." Among the accounts narrated by Furer are stories of soldiers having souvenir pictures with Palestinians they had beaten up, soldiers urinating on the head of a Palestinian because the man had the nerve to smile at a soldier and how one soldier, nicknamed Dado, forced a Palestinian to stand on four legs and bark like a dog. One of Furer`s most chilling confessions related to his abuse of a 16-year old mentally retarded boy. Furer stresses that behaviors as such are by no means isolated but rampant in the Israeli army. An Israeli army spokesperson refused to comment on the book saying “sorry, I haven’t read the book yet.”

[Note: this article addresses Arabs who live within Israel, as legitimate Israeli citizens:]
Arab sector verging on disaster, leaders warn,
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz (Israel), December 4, 2003
"Leaders of the Arab sector in Israel are warning of a "catastrophe" and an "explosion due to a loss of faith in the legitimate political system." The warning came on the heels of figures published Tuesday - ahead of the approval of the 2004 state budget - that show the extent of the plight of the sector. A report by Mossawa: The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens of Israel, presented recently to the Knesset and media, presents a host of official figures that succinctly show the growing plight of the Arab communities. The Bedouin community of the Negev, for example, is at the bottom of every civilian area of life - the infant mortality rate in the community is on a par with the Third World (17 out of every 1,000 births). Figures from the National Insurance Institute show that 60 percent of Arab children will be poor in 2004. The report reviews government policy toward the Arab population and shows, once again, that there are huge discrepancies in the data presented by the Prime Minister's Office to ministers and the media and the official figures, which paint a far bleaker picture. In August, for example, the ministerial committee on the non-Jewish population was presented with figures showing that the program for development in the Arab communities (known as the "NIS 4 billion plan") was implemented in the years 2001-2002 at a level of 91 percent. However, the Mossawa report, which is based on figures from the Finance Ministry, reveals that that in 2002, the plan was implemented at a level of just 61 percent; while in 2003, only 50 percent of the monies slated for transfer under the plan were actually received. "This is a huge program of lies set up by the state," said the head of the Union of Arab Local Authorities, Shwaki Khatib ... Many of the Arab local authorities have come to a complete standstill, unable to to pay salaries or bills, and Khatib has revealed that the water supply to some 25 towns and villages has been cut off for weeks ... "There has been a total collapse of the municipal services to the Arab sector," Khatib said. "Apart from talk and declarations, the ministerial committee has done nothing."

[An Israeli group goes to visit the Jews of Russia -- to recruit them into the IDF (the Israeli -- i.e., world Jewish -- army).]
"We now see ourselves emissaries for immigration & absorption in the IDF" MOVING MEETINGS IN JEWISH COMMUNITEES DURING NATIONAL SECURITY COLLEGE VISIT TO FSU
The Jewish Agency for Israel (Global Jewish Agenda)
"Officers, accompanied by Jewish Agency representatives visited JAFI centers, Hebrew language classes, & summer camps, and met with parents of children in Na'aleh & Selah programs and parents of IDF soldiers; During another IDF mission, to Vilna, the mother of an injured soldier was surprised to meet the officer who tended to her daughter IDF soldiers lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow A 35-member delegation toured the former Soviet Union last week - mainly visiting Jewish communities, but also holding meetings on military-security matters. The group was made up of personnel from the IDF National Security College, and outstanding IDF officers - colonels and lieutenant colonels - who are candidates for advancement. Heading the delegation was the Commander of the Military College, Brigadier General Yaakov Zigdon. The group was accompanied by the head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Russia, Karol Ungar, who coordinated the visit, director-general of the Jewish Agency FSU Department, Amos Lahat, who oversaw the project, and JAFI spokesman, Yarden Vatikai. The officers told about their personal experiences, and now, they say, they see themselves as emissaries for immigration and absorption in the IDF. They visited Jewish Agency centers in Moscow and took part in Hebrew language classes. In a number of cities, the officers met with parents of children who are participating in the Na'aleh high school program and Selah higher education preparatory program in Israel, or serving in the armed forces, and who are themselves deliberating whether or not to make aliyah. In one city, a young man approached the group with a look of wonderment in his eyes. "I don't believe you are speaking Hebrew," he said. He turned out to be an IDF soldier, on vacation. In his excitement, he saluted them. The officers visited summer camps, where they took part in activities together with the children - singing in Hebrew, learning Israeli customs, and learning about the flag - ways of instilling a sense of identity with Israel and Judaism. The officers also met with the Russian Chief of Staff and other leading personalities. The tour was organized by the Jewish Agency, the Embassy of Israel, and the IDF attache in Moscow. At the same time, a delegation of 200 career officers who are battalion commanders also visited the region. The group, Edit B'madim - witnesses in uniform - visits Poland every year, and this year the Jewish Agency proposed adding two days to their trip to enable them to visit Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. ... The Jewish Agency hopes to hold more visits like this in order to encourage aliyah [immigration to Israel]."

Origins of the Middle East crisis: Who caused the Palestinian Diaspora?,
by George Bisharat, The Electronic Intifada, 3 December 3, 2003
"In 1948, three quarters of a million Palestinians were driven from what became Israel, their homes, land and possessions taken over by the new Jewish state. Most were victims of direct military attacks, forcible expulsion orders or a deliberate campaign of terror and intimidation, fueled by actual massacres. A post-war internal report from the Haganah (a quasi-official Jewish militia) stated that of 391,000 Palestinians who had fled by June, 1948, some 73 percent had done so in response to Jewish military operations. Palestinian villagers were often attacked at night, from two or three sides, while a road to the closest Arab country was left open. Their flight was hastened by news of massacres committed by Zionist forces, the most infamous of which occurred on April 9, 1948 in Deir Yassin. Up to 254 mostly unarmed Palestinians were slaughtered. Some were paraded in Jerusalem on trucks before being executed. Describing the July 10, 1948 attack on Kweikat, near Haifa, a villager attested: "We were awakened by the loudest noise we had ever heard, shells exploding and artillery fire ... the whole village was in panic ... Most of the villagers began to flee with their pajamas on. The wife of Qasim Ahmad Said fled [mistakenly] carrying a pillow in her arms instead of her child." Exile involved more than material deprivation. Palestinians lost their homes, belongings, fields, orchards, workshops, possessions, professions -- but more than that they lost their human dignity. Any people that has suffered massive wrongs -- African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, Jews -- understand the special wound of victimization for who you are, not what you have done. Like slavery for African-Americans, internment for Japanese-Americans and the Nazi holocaust for Jews, the "Nakba" ("Catastrophe") was a seminal event in the consciousness of the Palestinian people. No act of the Palestinians justified their expulsion. Their only "crime" was that they were born Christians and Muslims in a place coveted by the Zionist movement for an exclusive Jewish state, and refused to slink off into history as a vanquished people. As Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, once candidly admitted to a colleague: "If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: We have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but 2,000 years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country." (The comment was made to Nahum Goldmann, as reported in the latter's book, "The Jewish Paradox.") The U.N. quickly affirmed the right of the Palestinians to choose to return to their homes, or to receive compensation and support for resettlement. Israel stone-walled the entire international community, rejecting virtually any return by the refugees of 1948, a position the U.S. delegate to the U.N. Conciliation Committee on Palestine denounced as "morally reprehensible." An official Israeli Transfer Committee under Yosef Weitz mobilized to block the return of Palestinian refugees, orchestrating the obliteration of entire Palestinian villages, or their resettlement with Jewish immigrants. The Transfer Committee also devised a propaganda plan to justify Israel's rejection of the right of return. Israel soon claimed that Palestinians left their homes after radio broadcasts by Arab leaders bidding them to evacuate. Later review of broadcast transcripts proved this claim to be a fabrication. Israel argued that Jewish emigration from Arab countries, some of which flowed to Israel, constituted a "population exchange" that compensated for its expulsion of the Palestinians -- as if two wrongs made a right. Israel also blamed Arab states for "failing to resettle Palestinian refugees" -- something the Palestinians themselves actively resisted. Five and a half decades later, Palestinian refugees and their offspring number 5.5 million people. Israel's denial of responsibility for the refugees, and rejection of their repatriation -- unchallenged by the new "Geneva Accord" -- is, at this stage, as galling and hurtful as the original expulsion itself. The pain of denial should be intuitively understood by victims of the Nazi holocaust -- indeed, by all of us who are repelled by denial of that terrible episode in history. Thus the chances for long-term peace and reconciliation would be greatly advanced if the Israeli government were to stop hiding the truth."

UN blasts Israeli occupation Thursday,
Al-Jazeera, December 4, 2003
"The UN General Assembly has passed two resolutions rejecting Israeli claims to Jerusalem and calling on Tel Aviv to return the Golan Heights to Syria. The world body voted 155-8 to adopt a resolution that declared Israeli moves to impose laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem as illegal and with “no validity whatsoever”. Apart from the United States, the only countries to support Israel in voting against the Jerusalem resolution were Palau, Uganda, Nauru, Costa Rica, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. The resolution also criticised governments that have set up diplomatic missions in Jerusalem and called for international actions to guarantee freedom of religion and access by all people and nationalities. Golan Heights A second resolution on “The Syrian Golan” was adopted with a 104-5 vote, with 61 abstentions, condemning Israel for its continued occupation of the hills separating the two countries. Israel has already refused to abide by similar previous UN Resolutions 93, 242 and 338 – all of which also ordered Tel Aviv to give the land back."

[Desecration of the Holy Land? How can you top this? When the Jewish Lobby finally invokes Armagedon upon us all, the Jew's Messiah will have a nice place to sit with all the top Zionist honchos and wait out the destruction of the known world. The Jews of Israel have rendered the "Holy Land" to be a virtual toxic waste heap -- poisoning the air, the water, and the land throughout the area. Might as well prepare to radiate the lot too, no?]
Israel building nuclear-proof underground command post outside Jerusalem, JONATHAN M. KATZ, San Francisco Chronicle, December 8, 2003
"Israel is building a wartime command center under the hills outside Jerusalem that will be able to withstand nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, officials said Monday. The compound would enable the Israeli prime minister and Cabinet to conduct state affairs during an all-out attack. Israel has been warning of a concerted Iranian effort to acquire nuclear weapons. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the project has been underway for some time. "Every country in the world has a bunker for emergency uses to keep functioning," he said. Bulldozers began excavating tunnels outside Jerusalem last year, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Secrecy about the project is tight, but Israeli military censors allowed Channel 10 TV to broadcast some pictures. The report showed the entrance to a network of large dirt tunnels in a hillside, while construction crews worked under cover of darkness. "With the Iranian threat becoming more urgent, I think it's more important for Israel to have this type of bunker that will be not vulnerable to that kind of attack," said Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Illan University near Tel Aviv. The bunker command post would be Israel's second. An underground compound beneath the Tel Aviv headquarters of the Israeli military has been in use for more than 30 years, starting with the 1973 Middle East war. That bunker was used strictly by the military, not elected officials, and experts worried about the facility's security during the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraqi missiles fired at Tel Aviv landed nearby. Tunnel excavation alone will cost more than $100 million ..."

[Israel is a racist Hellhole. The nonsense that proclaims it to be a "democracy" is pure smokescreen. Here we have an Israeli government big-shot underscoring the racist ANTI-DEMOCRATIC foundation of the Jewish state: i.e., if Arabs ever become a majority amidst Jewish Israelis, in this new "democracy" (one person=one vote) Arabs will vote the "Jewish nation" into Antiqueville. And that's NOT kosher. In other words, and this is the foundation of Jewish hypocrisy in the Middle East, AS LONG AS THERE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE JEWS THAN ARABS, THEN "DEMOCRACY" IS COOL. But the bottom line is this: the state of "Jewish" Israel is wondering how its intrinsic Judeocentric totalitarianism can be called a "democracy" when they will have to ignore the fundamental premises of "democracy" and start killing, or driving off, Arabs who will outnumber them WITHIN THIER OWN COUNTRY. The ideas of a "Jewish state" and true "democracy" are mutually exclusive. An expressly "Jewish" "democratic" state cannot be a "democratic" state for Arabs.]
Olmert proposal roils Likud, and changes Israel’s national agenda,
By Leslie Susser, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 8, 2003
"In a single passionate interview recently, Israel’s deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert, managed to do what most politicians only dream about: recast a nation’s political and diplomatic agenda. Although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been talking vaguely about “unilateral steps” vis-a-vis the Palestinians for some time, nothing could have prepared the Israeli public for the urgency in his deputy’s recent plea. Olmert called for Israeli withdrawal from large swathes of Palestinian-populated territory, including parts of Jerusalem, without so much as a hint of a Palestinian quid pro quo. Olmert, the former mayor of Jerusalem, made his call for a unilateral pullback in a high-profile exchange with a leading political journalist, Yediot Achronot’s Nahum Barnea. The interview startled the left by appropriating one of its central ideas — the demographic threat to the Jewish state — and throwing the right, to which Olmert nominally belongs, into confused disarray. Borrowing from the political idiom of the left, Olmert told Barnea that time was running out and that Israel needed to separate from the Palestinians before they started calling for a single binational state in which Arabs soon would be the majority. ... Olmert gave an inkling of things to come in an early December speech at David Ben-Gurion’s grave site on the anniversary of the death of Israel’s first prime minister. Of all Ben-Gurion’s voluminous sayings, Olmert chose to quote one on the folly of trying to retain the entire biblical Land of Israel. “Suppose we would have conquered all of western Israel,” Ben-Gurion mused shortly after the 1948 War of Independence, referring to the West Bank. “Then what? We would create a single state. But that state would want to be democratic. There would be general elections and we would be a minority. Faced with the choice of the whole land without a Jewish state or a Jewish state without the whole land, we chose a Jewish state ... Olmert elaborated on the demographic threat to which Ben-Gurion had alluded. The time is fast approaching when Arabs will constitute a majority in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. Then, Olmert said, Palestinians will abandon their calls for an independent state and instead will demand a one-man-one-vote system in a binational state that they will control. “The day we come to that,” Olmert said, “we will lose everything. Even when they carry out terror, it’s hard for us to convince the world of the justice of our cause.” “How much the more so,” he continued, “when all they ask for is one man, one vote? I shudder to think that the same liberal Jews who led the struggle against apartheid in South Africa will be at the forefront of the struggle against us.”

[Now, why does Israel do this? To hide the bodies of suicide bombers from their families and villages, who would herald them as martyrs. Isn't there some kind of moral protocol about returning corpses to their families? Not in Israel. Anything is possible from the Jewish state. And OK, folks. The $64,000 dollar question. What is a cemetery reserved for Israel's "dead enemies" now going to be like, if not a garbage dump or parking lot? Note the two-tiered discrimination of the dead: first, as a suicide bomber; secondly, buried among others stigmatized as non-Jewish in a segregated cemetery. Note also the last possible horrific scenario: teams of engraged Jewish kibbutzniks digging up despised Muslim bodies and tossing them -- where? Ah, sweet Light of Nations, shine your Great Holy Wisdom upon the Universe.]
Israeli kibbutz forces state to exhume bodies of six suicide bombers from cemetery,
by Ramit Plushnick, KDKA-2 (from Associated Press), December 8, 2003
"The Israeli government, stymied by the problem of how to dispose of the remains of scores of Palestinian suicide bombers, secretly buried them anonymously in cemetery plots throughout the country, a government official said Monday. The burials became public after residents of the Kibbutz Revadim communal farm discovered the bodies of six bombers had been buried in their cemetery without their knowledge. Officials were now trying to find and exhume the 67 other suicide bombers buried throughout the country, said Yoel Lipschitz, legal adviser to Israel's Health Ministry. The army will be responsible for burying all suicide bombers in cemeteries especially made for ``dead enemies,'' he said. Among the dead at Kibbutz Revadim were a Palestinian woman who killed three Israelis in the northern town of Afula and two Jerusalem bombers, said Netai Keren, the Revadim secretary. ``The government deceived us,'' he said. Concerned that returning the bodies of suicide bombers to their families would only increase the attackers' celebrity and lead to festive funerals, Israel has refused to hand over the remains, Lipschitz said. Instead, it has buried the bombers, who have killed hundreds of Israelis over the past three years of conflict, anonymously in plots throughout Israel, he said. About two months ago, the residents of Revadim, 25 miles south of Tel Aiv, were shocked to read a story in a local newspaper reporting that six bombers had been buried in a cemetery the kibbutz opened several years ago for non-Jewish residents of Israel. The cemetery was mainly for Russian immigrants, some of whom are not considered Jewish by the state and therefore cannot be buried in Jewish cemeteries ... Government agencies and parliamentary committees held hearings, and the bodies were exhumed in November after Revadim residents threatened to remove the bodies themselves. Lipschitz was apologetic, saying the ministry made a mistake by not notifying the cemeteries of the bodies' true identities. ``We are really paying for a sin,'' he said. ``We were not sensitive.''

[Older news, but pretty horrifying. Americans, you are living in Amerisraelistan.]
Company fined $6,000 for not reporting customer's question: "Is any of this stuff made in Israel?",
by Helen & Harry Highwater, Unknown News, June 27, 2003
"A Missouri company has been fined $6,000 for not reporting a customer's question to the federal government. The question that's punished by law is: Are any of these products made in Israel, or made of Israeli materials? The Kansas City Star reports: The anti-boycott provisions bar U.S. companies from providing information about their business relationships with Israel. They also require that receipt of boycott requests be reported to the Bureau of Industry and Security, formerly known as the Bureau of Export Administration. We ask: Why is this question forbidden? Why is any question forbidden? It sounds more like the USSR than the USA, to punish people for asking a forbidden question, or for not immediately reporting to the government that someone else asked a forbidden question. Only a few years ago, during South Africa's apartheid era, it was considered the height of good moral backbone to ask whether a product came from that country. Today, many Americans are asking such questions about products they suspect came from France, after the French government declined to join "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ...And here's a press release from the US Department of Commerce: "Commerce Under Secretary for Industry and Security Kenneth I. Juster today reiterated to U.S. companies that the Department will vigorously enforce its regulations prohibiting U.S. persons from taking any action in support of foreign government boycotts against Israel. ..." If K-Mart is having a sale on cheap plastic chess sets and we ask the clerk whether the board or pieces were made in Israel, is the clerk allowed to answer? Must the store promptly file a form with the Bureau of Industry and Security reporting that we asked? Well, we'll be asking the forbidden question in every store we enter. Not because we're boycotting Israel — we're not. Heck, if we were boycotting products from countries whose policies are abhorrent, we'd start by boycotting anything marked "made in USA." We'll be asking the forbidden question because we believe in freedom. In a free society, the government doesn't tell people what questions they can ask, and what questions they can't, and what questions must be promptly reported to the authorities. We had heard of this law before — banning people from even asking about boycotting Israeli products — but we had foolishly assumed it wasn't often enforced. According to the article, though, "more than $26 million in fines" have been levied for violations of this law, suggesting that enforcement of the Forbidden Question Law is not at all uncommon. The fine in this case was $6,000, so assuming that's average and doing the math, more than 4,000 Americans or American companies have been fined — for asking the forbidden question, or failure to report that someone else asked the forbidden question."

[JTR contributor's comment: "While this article does note that "Israel bans millions of Palestinian refugees from returning home" it does not mention another aspect of Israeli immigration policy. In the Spring of 2001, Israel's discriminatory immigration policy was tightened so that newly converted Jewish immigrants were no longer able to bring non-Jewish family members into Israel. Israel's immigration policy is surprising given that so many Jewish people here promote an open immigration policy for the U.S. Similarly, the ACLU and Jewish organizations fight tirelessly against primarily Christian religious intrusion into the American governmental sphere, while Judaism is scarcely separable from the government in Israel. How is it that so many pension funds and labor unions saddle their investors with a bad investment, both morally and financially, when better investments are available?"]
Israel Bonds: A Bad Investment.Why We Should Divest from Israeli Government Bonds,
Global Exchange
"Like the United States, Israel borrows money from the public by selling government bonds. A buyer purchases a bond for a fixed period of time during which interest accrues. When the bond matures, the buyer can either cash it in and receive her interest payments or reinvest in new bonds. Individuals, though, aren't the only ones buying Israel Bonds. There are approximately 9,500 pension funds, 3,500 banks, 1,500 labor unions, and 500 insurance companies in the United States that invest in Israel Bonds. School districts, municipalities, and other large institutions also purchase them. One of the largest sources of institutional investment capital in Israel is from U.S. pension funds through the purchase of Israeli government bonds. Here are just a few reasons why it's time to divest from Israel Bonds: * Israel Bonds are a financially poor investment. The major credit rating services give Israel Bonds the sixth rating, classifying them as only an "upper medium investment." In contrast, United States government bonds receive the highest rating. With a low rate of return and a bond rating lower than what would be accepted in other foreign government bonds, Israel bonds are a poor financial choice. * Unlike most securities, Israel Bonds cannot be traded on the open market or easily converted into cash. * Bond money goes directly into the Israeli treasury. The money is often used for infrastructure projects, such as highways, bridges, communications links, water projects, and port and airport expansion. This money is also used for the "development" of illegal settlements in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. * Within Israel, bond money is unfairly distributed. Infrastructure projects primarily benefit Jewish communities. Palestinian neighborhoods inside Israel are isolated and routinely discriminated against at every level. Israeli law dictates that Jewish-Israelis, who own 93% of Israeli land, may not sell land to Palestinian-Israelis. In addition, there is a tremendous disparity in the quality of public services, such as healthcare, education, and social services, that Palestinian and Jewish Israelis receive. Bond money funds Israel's apartheid system in both Israel and the occupied territories. * Israel also uses bond money to resettle new immigrants from around the world, including the United States. Many of these immigrants are encouraged to move to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza through economic incentives. At the same time, Israel bans millions of Palestinian refugees from returning home. Financially supporting Israel's immigration policy therefore perpetuates the displacement of the Palestinian people."

Israel Bonds raises $1.25B,
By Haim Handwerker, Haaretz (Israel), December 14, 2003
"The Israel Bonds will raise $1.25 billion this year, similar to last year's amount. The reasons are twofold: The attractive interest rates for investors and the wave of support for Israel among the Jewish community in the United States and around the world in light of the political and security situation. For example, interest rates paid by the Jubilee series of 10-year bonds give a yield of 5.3 percent, and zero coupon 10-year bonds return 5.9 percent."

[When the day comes when no one has fear of being called an "antisemite," Jewish power collapses. Israel is rushing us to that day.]
Just tell the truth about Israel,
by Kathy Fisher, Unknown News, December 15, 2003
"I would love just once for someone (before they spout the words anti-Semite) to come out and say so what! Why can't someone say "We are defending Israel"? Or ask, "What's wrong with helping Israel?" I'd like to know what keeps people from saying this? What are they afraid of? What's the big secret here? Are they worried that the United States will stop sending money to Israel if people found out tomorrow that our military was really in Iraq trying to make the middle east a safer place for Israel? Haven't the leaders of the US and the UK always referred to Israel time and again as our great ally in the middle east, or did I dream that? For goodness sake I'm so sick of this. If you are going to defend Israel, then defend Israel. Open the windows and let the fresh air in — just admit it ! Don't be ashamed or afraid to yell at the top of your neocon lungs "YES WE ARE DEFENDING ISRAEL, RIGHT OR WRONG." If we heard an American leader saying that, then I could respect that leader's honesty. I think then we would be hearing what is really on neoconservatives' minds. That would be much better than to label everyone who may ask an embarrassing but legitimate question concerning Israel an anti-Semite. It's so predictable and tiresome now, and it is not at all serving any purpose anymore. ... Soon I and people like myself will be questioning "your" loyalty to Israel, and won't that be putting the shoe on the other foot? By doing this "you're an anti-Semite" dance all the time, you are only causing people to wonder about your own legitimacy, and why you would fear anyone that asks the question in the first place. We might even start to wonder if you're only defending Israel because you're afraid that something bad might happen to you if you did not, or whether you have something to gain by always taking the defensive when it comes to Israel. You see, I don't know how it feels to be in your shoes because I'm always on the other side, and I'm quite sick of being called an anti-Semite, just because I don't support the way Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his army is dealing with the Palestinian situation and the Palestinian people. If I don't want you to call me an anti-Semite, I guess I'm not supposed to say anything critical when I see this mad man Sharon being unable to distinguish a few suicide bombers from the rest of the Palestinian people. I'm not supposed to disagree with one tiny aspect on all things concerning Israel or PM Sharon's bad judgement. I'm supposed to be 100% in total agreement 100% of the time with every single decision, every single process, every detail, right down to the ridiculous and inhumane curfews being forced on the Palestinians. I'm not supposed to disagree with anything which gives the Israeli army another chance to kill more of the people their commanders perceive as in their way. I'm supposed to look away when peacekeepers foolishly get in the way of the peace process and get themselves run over by bulldozers or caught in the crossfire by placing themselves in harm's way. I dare not question the way the Israeli army treats the press from other countries, or how PM Sharon tries to control and dictate to our own American media. Yeah, tell me again how I'm just imagining that one ... God forbid I have an opinion about how a 60-mile-long enormously high concrete wall — which makes the old, torn-down Berlin wall look like a picket fence — has been allowed to go up with out any substantial criticism from our American leader or our pitiful corporate-controlled U.S. media. I'm also supposed to ignore how entire families get slaughtered because Sharon and his band of bullies said they were in the way of getting alleged conspirators and/or collaborators of suicide bombers that were allegedly in the vicinity. If I don't want to be called an anti-Semite, I must also think less of Palestinian babies when they are killed, and only weep when Israeli babies get killed. The fact that an entire apartment building gets bulldozed in the so-called hunt for family members of a suicide bomber, or people get shot because they were thought to have been in cahoots with someone from Hamas — I should not let this upset me. I must ignore that the buildings they knock down never get replaced and that the land is quickly taken over, literally stolen from the Palestinians for yet another Israeli settlement. Never should I ask, where else on earth would anyone get away with this without total outrage from the rest of the world? I must be obedient, shut up, sit on my hands, do nothing and say nothing. I must never criticize the way things are done in the land of the chosen people, not unless I want to be marked forever with the dreaded "A" word. Maybe someday I and others who dare to question the Zionists' policies and actions will have tattoos on our foreheads or arms identifying us, and saving Israel from any questions. The tattoo, of course, would be the word "anti-Semite."

Israel unveils new weapons system,
Al-Jazeerah, December 2003
"Israel has unveiled a revolutionary weapons system which enables soldiers to fire guns around corners. The "Corner Shot" provides protection to the soldier by enabling him to shoot down a street, or through a window with maximum accuracy while keeping out of the line of fire. The Israeli army - which carries out daily house-to-house searches in its crackdown on Palestinian resistance fighters - is said to be considering the use of the device. The system consists of a rod and a mobile end section which can be adjusted with any type of combat handgun. It also includes a camera which allows the soldier to scan the targeted area and aim while maintaining cover ... "This system was put on the market three months ago and we have already sold it to 15 countries," said Amos Golan, a retired Israeli lieutenant colonel, who invented the Corner Shot ... During a media presentation which included a drill of an assault by an elite unit on a building where "terrorists" were holed up, Golan said the device was already being used on the ground, but refused to say where."

[Evidence of the Judeocentric lock on the creators of American public opinion. Too many Americans have been bred to become eyeless sheep, fed poison.]
ADL Poll Finds Americans Continue to Strongly Support Israel,
U.S. Newswire, December 17, 2003
"A survey of American attitudes toward the Middle East released today by the Anti- Defamation League (ADL) revealed that: Americans continue to stand squarely behind Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; are mostly positive about the US-Israel relationship; many believe that anti-Semitism is reaching dangerous levels in Europe and throughout the globe. The nationwide poll of 1,200 American adults was conducted December 1- 4, 2003, by The Marttila Communications Group. Among the main survey findings were: -- Americans sympathize more with Israel -- 40 percent -- than with the Palestinians - 15 percent. -- 39 percent believe the Palestinians are more responsible for the current violence; 16 percent blame Israel. -- 70 percent of Americans believe Israel is more serious about reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians; 46 percent think the Palestinians are serious. -- 75 percent believe that the U.S.-Israel special relationship is based on shared values of freedom and democracy. -- 57 percent of the respondents said the U.S. has a moral obligation to combat anti-Semitism throughout the world through its foreign policy. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, and author of "Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism," said, "Despite the propaganda campaigns against Israel by the international community, the European Union, and the United Nations, to isolate and delegitimize the Jewish State, the American people continue to be fair in their assessment and understanding of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict." Survey Highlights Israeli-Palestinian Conflict When asked, "In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians which side do you sympathize with more?" 40 percent said Israel, 15 percent said the Palestinians, 11 percent said both and 24 percent said neither. When asked, "Who do you think is more responsible for the current violence in the Middle East: the Israelis or the Palestinians?" 39 percent blamed the Palestinians, 16 percent blamed the Israelis, 27 percent said both, and 6 percent said neither. When asked, "How serious is Israel about wanting to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians?" 70 percent said they believed Israel was serious (25 percent very serious plus 45 percent somewhat serious), 30 percent not serious. The same question asked about the Palestinians, showed that only 46 percent believed they were serious, while 43 percent found them not serious about reaching a peace agreement with Israel ... An overwhelming majority of Americans -- 75 percent -- believe the U.S. has a special relationship with Israel because of the shared values, including commitment to freedom and democracy. Sixty-one percent (61 percent) believe that Israel can be counted on as a strong ally of the U.S. "Americans, who hold democracy dear to them, have very positive views on the U.S. - Israeli relationship. The survey clearly demonstrates that they understand that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East and a strong ally of the U.S.," Foxman stated. "This is especially evident in the findings that show that while 73 percent agree that the U.S. is more likely to be targeted for terrorist attack because of support for Israel, a majority -- 62 percent -- believe that the U.S. should continue supporting Israel, even if it means a greater risk of terrorist attacks against America." Europe In the recent Eurobarometer, a survey conducted for the European Union which asked Europeans to rate fifteen countries as a potential threat to world peace, 59 percent of Europeans said Israel was the greatest threat to world peace and 53 percent named the U.S. The ADL survey asked the same question and found that 77 percent of Americans believe North Korea to be the greatest potential threat to world peace (Eurobarometer poll - 53 percent)."

Some Israeli Reservists Refuse to Serve,
Yahoo! News, December 21, 2003
"About a dozen reservists from the Israeli army's top commando unit declared Sunday they would no longer serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, reflecting growing unease with Israel's hard-fisted policy in the Palestinian areas. Thirteen reservists, including three officers, from "Sayeret Matkal" made their declaration in a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, according to Israeli media. "We cannot continue to stand silent," they wrote, charging that Israeli military activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are depriving "millions of Palestinians of human rights" and endangering "the fate of Israel as a democratic, Zionist and Jewish country." "Sayeret Matkal" is the top commando unit in the Israeli military and its most prestigious. Ex-Prime Minister Ehud Barak was once its commander, and another former premier, Benjamin Netanyahu, also served in the force, known for daring operations outside Israel's borders. Its soldiers rarely serve in the Palestinian areas. Sharon's office had no immediate comment ... A bitter response came from Effie Eitam, a general in the reserves and head of the pro-settlement National Religious Party. He said the letter "shows a breaking point in the Israeli society, and without recognizing the historic and moral underpinning of our right to the Land of Israel, the wave of refusal will continue and may even grow" ... . Explaining that it needed to keep Palestinian attackers at bay, the military set up hundreds of roadblocks and declared closures and curfews all over the West Bank, decimating the Palestinian economy and severely harming the society. Palestinians demand that Israel withdraw from all the West Bank and Gaza, where they want to create a state. In September, 27 reserve and retired pilots wrote a similar letter, refusing to take part in air strikes in the West Bank and Gaza. Several hundred Israeli soldiers have refused to serve in the Palestinian territories and have been sentenced to prison terms. Others have quietly worked out alternate service with their units. The letters from the commandos and pilots are especially noteworthy, however, because those selected for the units are considered Israel's finest. An outcry followed the pilots' letter, and condemnation was widespread. Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz grounded all 27 but reinstated a few who retracted their signatures."

[More from World Jewry's Middle East Democracy Fountain:]
Avoid Israeli women, foreign workers told,
Toronto Star, December 23, 2003
"An Israeli company has required thousands of Chinese workers to sign a contract promising not to have sex with Israelis or try to convert them, a police spokesperson said today. According to the document, male workers cannot come into contact with Israeli women — including prostitutes — become their lovers or marry them, spokesperson Rafi Yaffe said. He said there was nothing illegal about the requirement and no investigation had been opened against the company. The labourers are also forbidden in the contract from engaging in any religious or political activity. Those who violate the agreement will be sent back to China at their own expense. About 260,000 foreigners work in Israel, having replaced Palestinian labourers during three years of fighting. When the government first began to allow the entrance of the foreign workers in the late 1990s, ministers warned of a "social time bomb" caused by workers assimilating with Israelis. More than half the workers are in the country illegally. Israeli police have increased efforts to deport those working without permits in light of high Israeli unemployment, which has reached 11 per cent in recent months. Israeli advocates of foreign workers — who come also from Thailand, the Philippines and Romania — say they are held by employers in nearly slave-like conditions and their bosses frequently take their passports and refuse to pay them. A spokesperson for the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry did not return calls requesting comment."

TUC Boss Slams Israeli Soldiers,
Jewish Chronicle (UK), December 5, 2003, p. 3 [paper edition, offline]
"The strongly pro-Israel president of the TUC has strongly criticised the actions of Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories, after he was held up at checkpoint. Accusing soldiers of 'arbitrary' actions at checkpoints, Robert Lyons said: 'The way they behaved is a reflection of how some members of the army treat ordinary people.' Mr Lyons -- an executive member of the Trades Union Friends of Israel -- was speaking after leading a TUC delegation on a six-day visit to Israel and the Palestine Authority. The TUC president, who has often fought Israel's corner in Trade Union and Labour Party forums, said he had been 'shocked and upset' at the way people were kept waiting for hours to cross road-blocks in the territories. He and his companions, including TUC general-secretary Brendan Barber, were held up on the road to Nablus despite the trip's having been cleared by Histradut Labour Federation officials, and the fact that they were traveling in marked UN vehicles. 'The soildiers told us we couldn't go to Nablus but would not give us a reason,' Mr Lyons told the JC. 'We phoned a whole lot of people including the Israeli embassy in London, and finally the officer in charge changed his mind. If this can happen to us on an officially cleared journey, it indicates what Palestinians have to put up with."

Israel Army Says Sorry,
Jewish Chronicle (UK), December 5, 2003, p. 13 [paper edition, offline]
"The Israeli army has apologised to the Palestinian Authority and suspended two soldiers who opened fire on a Palestinian police officer on the border with the Gaza Strip last week. Sayad Abu Safra, 35, an officer in Palestinian military intelligence, was killed as he was trying to move a mentally disturbed man away from the area's security fence."

Mr. Radio,
Jewish Week, December 12, 2003, p. 24 [paper edition, offline]
"WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, co-host of 'The Buzz' and sole host of weeknight and Sunday morning shows, will speak at an Israel Bonds dessert reception at 8 P.M., Wednesday, December 17, at Rockwood Park Jewish Center, 156-45 84th Street, Howard Beach."

Israel shoots unarmed Israeli peace activist with live ammunition,
Electronic Intifada, December 26, 2003
"Israeli and International activists coordinated today with Palestinians in the town of Mas-Ha in a direct action against the Israeli Apartheid Wall. Participants in the action included Israeli Anarchists, independent peace activists, the International Womens Peace Service, the International Solidarity Movement, local Palestinian activists, and community representatives. At one PM in the afternoon the group of approximately two-hundred non- violent protestors marched through the streets of Mas-Ha and approached the gate in the security fence which borders the village. Upon arrival, Israeli and International activists began physically dismantling the locking mechanism in order to open the gate in a symbolic act of defiance against Israeli apartheid policies. The Apartheid Wall (Security Seperation Fence) in Mas-Ha lies several kilometers within the internationally accepted Palestinan borders, in effect illegally annexing large quantities of agricultural land. Within a minute of the beginning of the action, IDF forces took up positions and began firing live ammunition in the general direction of the nonviolent protestors. Ignoring the Israeli aggression, the activists held their ground and continued dismantling the gate. During this time one Israeli activist, Gil Na'amati, was seriously wounded by Israeli gunfire. One American activist was also lightly wounded by shrapnel. Despite continued Israeli firing, protestors dismantled the gate's locking mechanism and opened the gate. Protestors peacefully withdrew, after which further support was organized for a continuing presence in the community and the medical needs of those injured. This response by Israeli forces marks a dramatic escalation of violence against non-violent peaceful protesters. The army displayed a marked lack of restraint and consideration for human life: at no point were the peaceful protestors endangering the safety of the soldiers."

Would Israel ever give up the bomb?,
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz (Israel), December 27, 2003
"What would it take for Israel to give up the weapons of mass destruction it has never, in fact, acknowledged, except in knowing half-smiles? This week, setting off a debate that proved tempestuous even by the Knesset's grand-opera standards, a senior ultra-Orthodox deputy was heard to say "The state of Israel should dismantle its nuclear weaponry like Libya is doing, and Israel will have to depend on Ha-shem [literally "the Name," signifying the Almighty]." The comment set off fireworks for a number of reasons, among them the circumstance that thousands of the lawmakers' devout constituents are exempt from Israel's compulsory military service, many of them vocal in their belief that it is their spiritual study and practice - and not Israel's military might - that has kept the Jewish state from annihilation. But the greater roar came from another quarter - the fact that the issue had been mentioned at all. Just as the United Tora Judaism legislator, Meir Porush, refrained from using the explicit Hebrew name for God, Israeli officials have for more than three decades scrupulously avoided using the words "Israel's nuclear weaponry," instead persuing a policy of what has been called constructive ambiguity. The policy stemmed in part from a distinctly uncomfortable early 1960s conversation in the White House between the architect of Israel's nuclear program, an ex-kibbutznik named Shimon Peres, and President John Kennedy, increasingly suspicious of what Peres was up to in building a reactor in the dust bowl Negev hamlet of Dimona. Israelis have since learned to rely on the shield of nuclear rumor, whether its role is to reassure its citizenry, deter its enemies, or distance arms inspectors. Porush, attacked both for the thrust of his comments and the use of the N word, later said he had been misheard and misquote ... "If weapons of mass destruction are a menace in unstable regions such as the Middle East, if their availability must be reduced, then logic begins to move us closer to the confrontation we never seek with the nuclear power we - let alone Messrs Bush and Blair - seldom mention: Israel," wrote Peter Preston in a column this week in the Guardian. In perhaps its longest-running example of a don't-ask, don't-tell policy, U.S. administrations from Richard Nixon on, have accepted Israel's official non-declaration stance regarding a nuclear arsenal. Israel stuck to its policy despite - or, by some accounts, taking advantage of - worldwide coverage of revelations by former Dimona nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, who in the 1980s suggested that the Negev reactor had produced as many as 200 atomic bombs of various kinds. "That makes Israel the world's fifth largest nuclear power, boasting more bangs from Washington's bucks than Blair's Britain," Preston continued. "And over in the other WMD basket, nobody much dissents when a report by the office of technology assessment for the US Congress concludes that Israel has 'undeclared offensive chemical warfare capabilities' and is 'generally reported as having an undeclared offensive biological warfare programme'. Bombs, missiles, delivery systems, gases, germs? Tel Aviv has the lot." Arab and Muslim critics of Israel have long and often condemned the U.S. policy as flagrantly duplicitous. More recently, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei added pressure of his own. ElBaradei told Haaretz this month that Israel's sense of safety in a nuclear deterrent was a false one, in that other Middle East countries felt threatened by it. "We operate under the assumption that Israel has nuclear arms," ElBaradei said. "Israel has never denied this." He urged Israel to begin talks with its neighbors on halting the spread of non-conventional weapons. "My fear is that, without such a dialogue, there will be continued incentive for the region's countries to develop weapons of mass destruction to match the Israeli arsenal." With Saddam's Iraq a memory, Libya talking about forgoing the bomb, and Iran tipping its nuclear hand, is there anything on the current geo-political horizon that could persuade Israel to as much as consider negotiations on the future of its widely suspected nuclear arsenal? At this point, the concept is all but inconceivable, observes Haaretz commentator Yossi Melman ... 'If Washington made that decision, that would be it. Israel would decide to give it up. Israel would never resist a U.S. policy decision. We'll make the noises of rejection, quarrel, and anger, but basically we would accept it. At the same time, however, I don't see Washington doing so. I don't see the Americans putting that kind of pressure on Israel.'"

[A Jew makes a little moral sense, and the rest hate him for it. World Jewry's support for Israel is a kind of internal totalitarian fascism, an iron bond of self-delusion.]
Embattled Academic, Tony Judt Defends Call for Binational State,
By NATHANIEL POPPER, Forward, Decembe 26, 2003
"Tony Judt is a scholar who was until recently best known for his writings on European history. But then, in a 2,900-word essay in the October 23 edition of The New York Review of Books, Judt dropped the intellectual equivalent of a nuclear bomb on Zionism, calling for the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state. Judt argued in his essay that Israel is quickly on the way to becoming a "belligerently intolerant, faith-driven ethno state." The ethnic basis of Israeli laws, Judt said, was counter to the modern, democratic ideals to which Israel holds itself. In place of a Jewish state, he argued, should emerge a binational state with equal rights for all Jews and Arabs currently living in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The response to the essay, "Israel: The Alternative," was fast and furious, with several vehement critics seemingly ready to dismantle Judt, the London native and director of the Remarque Institute at New York University. In the first weeks after his essay was published, Judt and The New York Review received more than 1,000 letters, many peppered with terms like "antisemite" and "self-hating Jew," and some going so far as to threaten the scholar and his family. Judt was removed from the masthead of The New Republic, where he had been listed as a contributing editor, and condemned by the magazine's literary editor, Leon Wieseltier, and other pro-Israel commentators. In the end, the outrage in many circles appeared to boil down to one basic question: "What kind of a Jew would write such things?" A "proud" one, answered Judt, in a recent interview with the Forward, insisting that despite his transformation from teenaged Zionist activist to 50-something Zionist apostate he is still happy to be connected to the "annoying, burdensome, proud, difficult, unique, Jewish heritage" ... Urged on by his parents, Judt enthusiastically waded into the world of Israeli politics at age 15, rising to become the national secretary of the Labor Zionist youth movement Dror. He helped promote the immigration of British Jews to Israel and organized relief missions to the fledgling Jewish state. Just after the Six Day War, Judt, then 19, dropped out of Cambridge and went to Israel, where his excellent Hebrew allowed him to work as a translator for international volunteers aiding the army. While many Jews throughout the world found themselves inspired by Israel's dramatic victory in 1967, it was during the aftermath of the war that Judt's belief in the Zionist enterprise began to unravel. "I went with this idealistic fantasy of creating a socialist, communitarian country through work," Judt said. The problem, he began to believe, was that this view was "remarkably unconscious of the people who had been kicked out of the country and were suffering in refugee camps to make this fantasy possible" ... "Even if I felt threatened as a Jew," Judt told the Forward, "I would never want to go to Israel." Judt went further in his essay, arguing that rather than serving as a safe haven for Jews around the world, Israel and its policies were responsible for a global spike in antisemitism. "The depressing truth," Judt wrote, "is that Israel today is bad for the Jews" ... With all this venom being exchanged, Judt told The New Republic that he would understand if his name were dropped from the masthead. A week later it was, without any further communication, Judt said. Judt told the Forward that while he understood the controversial nature of his call for a binational state, he was taken aback by the refusal of most of his critics, especially the American ones, to even consider the idea. European and Israeli readers and discussion partners did not voice the same vehement objections to his proposal, Judt said ... Judt seemed remarkably unperturbed by the deeply critical response to his essay from American Jews, a reflection that appears to stem in part from his rather dim opinion of the Jewish community. "It is such an insecure community," Judt said, "so desperate to find some basis for its own identity." The scholar said that he does not identify with Israel or the American Jewish community, and acknowledged that this partially explains his lack of attachment to the Zionist state. Still, Judt said, he considers himself a "proud Jew."

Israeli MPs 'cheated on IQ test',
Daily Telegraph (UK), December 31, 2003
"Members of the Israeli parliament finished in the middle of the pack in a televised IQ test against groups like models and lawyers - and that was after they cheated. Yesterday's segment of the reality-TV series Test of the Nation had the groups taking the IQ test simultaneously, as viewers joined in from their homes. High school students, tax collectors and lawyers finished first, models and bodybuilders near the bottom and the members of parliament in between. But today, Haim Katz, a member of parliament from the ruling Likud Party, admitted that his six-person team cheated, sharing answers with each other. "Like children, we want to succeed, (because) the whole country is watching," he told Army Radio. Katz likened the behaviour to tests in Israeli schools, where such cheating is endemic. The image of Israel's parliament has suffered in recent years because of scandals, investigations and questionable election practices, added to the decades-long practice of conducting shouting matches, complete with curses and epithets, during floor debates. The present group, elected this year, has scaled new heights, with several members facing police inquiries for voting twice on a budget bill, another for bribery during a primary campaign, and prime minister and his son - also a member of parliament - under investigation for election irregularities."

Israel to deport foreigners arrested during West Bank protest,
By Amos Harel and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz ((Israel), January 1, 2003
"Some 30 demonstrators, eight of whom were Israelis and foreigners, were lightly wounded Wednesday in a violent confrontation with security forces at the separation fence near Qafr Budrous. A border policeman was also lightly wounded. Some 200 Palestinian villagers, mostly women, and left-wing activists were demonstrating for the second consecutive day against the construction of a portion of the fence north of Modi'in. The construction, which commenced a few days ago, involved uprooting the village's olive groves, and the fence is to surround the village from every direction. The non-Palestinian demonstrators consisted of Israeli and international peace activists - including Swedish member of parliament Gustav Fridolin, who was also one of the wounded - and representatives of "Anarchists Against the Fence," one of whose members, Gal Na'amati, was wounded by gunshots from soldiers over the weekend. Shortly after the demonstration began, soldiers and border policemen fired rubber-coated bullets and threw gas grenades at the protesters."

Israeli immigration hits 15-year low amid violence, stalled economy,
CBC News (Canada), December 31, 2003
"Immigration to Israel hit a 15-year low in 2003 and population growth was the lowest in a decade, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. The figures, apparently the result of an ailing economy and more than three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence, were bad news for Israel, built on the concept of large-scale Jewish immigration to the ancient homeland. Immigration dropped by 32 per cent to 23,000 this year from 34,000 in 2002, the bureau said in an annual year-end statement. The last time immigration was so low was in 1988, when only 13,000 people moved to the country, a bureau official said. In addition, Israel's population grew in 2003 by only 1.7 per cent to 6,750,000, the lowest natural growth rate since 1990, the bureau said. Arabs make up 19 per cent of the population, or 1.3 million people. Jews and others make up 81 per cent of the population, or 5,160,000 people. The greatest contributor to the country's shrinking population numbers was the drop in immigration, the bureau said. Immigration to Israel boomed in the 1990s when Jews from the former Soviet Union flooded Israel. Since 2000, the number of immigrants from the former Soviet republics has dropped off, causing a decline in the overall immigration figures."

[Isn't it interesting, that for all the Jewish sexual degradation in Israel -- running from the international Israeli sex slave trade to plenty of Jewish rape, etc. -- it's an Arab who gets to be castrated? Must be coincidence. ]
Court recommends chemical castration for sexual offender,
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz (Israel), January 1, 2004
"A Jerusalem court Thursday recommended chemical castration on a man convicted of a sexual offense, the first time such a recommendation has been handed down by an Israeli court. Abu Nia, a taxi driver from Jerusalem, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment after being convicted in the Jerusalem District Court of committing indecent acts under aggravated circumstances on minors. In handing down the sentence, the court recommended "examining the possibility, at the end of his period of incarceration, that the convicted man be given pharmaceutical or other treatment to assist him in suppressing his sexual urge." Abu Nia has an extensive history of sexual abuse of minors, for which he was convicted four times over the past 20 years and spent long periods in jail. His last conviction was for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy he had picked up in his taxi on separate occasions. Probation officers noted in the report they submitted to the court that Abu Nia developed a pattern of abuse against children and teens. During his previous trial for sexual offenses, in 1999, probation officers suggested to him that he undergo chemical treatment to suppress his sexual urges, but he refused. Abu Nia told the court that, unlike in the past, he was now "well aware of his uncontrollable urges." He said that in the past he had refused treatment out of concern over irreversible impotence, but that now he and his wife were prepared for the chemical castration because he had "had enough of his shameful actions and prison life."

[More about this subject, "The Ugly Israeli," here. Israelis are the most obnoxious people in the world. The notion below that Jews from the old world were generically polite, etc., is propaganda. Chutzpah is a a concept that came from the Jews of Europe; it wasn't born of Israel. Polish Jews, for example, were famous (even among Western Jews) for their "bad manners."]
Prickly sabras are proud to be rude,
By Ed O'Loughlin, Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) January 3, 2004
"Scientists say the modern land of Israel is the only place where early Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans are known to have lived at the same time. Did they rub along together, or did they fight? No one knows, but it is worth noting that the Neanderthals are no longer with us. It is perhaps from this primal clash of cultures that Israelis get one of their most striking characteristics: a sense of manners and etiquette which, at first acquaintance, has the charm and subtlety of being clubbed in the face with a rhino bone. When it comes to scowling immigration officials, rapacious taxi drivers, surly shop assistants, public hissy fits and the jumping of bus queues Israelis are the first to admit (some even boast) that they play in a league of their own. "We don't have any manners," said David Euolo, a Jerusalem taxi driver and proud sabra (prickly pear, or Israeli-born Jew). "When we see a line we push to the front. You're talking with someone and they interrupt you all the time. You can say it's part of the pressure of life in the Middle East - the economic situation too. " Someone who gets up to go to work in the morning doesn't feel like he's going to work; he feels like he's going to war." Tami Lancut Leibovitz, a rare fourth-generation Israeli, says: "The style of communication is very aggressive. They can ask you how old you are, how much do you earn, where did you buy this, what did you pay for it, are you married, why did you divorce? "This country is only 55 years old. We are just a young country, and we have to build a culture. In the beginning everybody came from somewhere else, and they had very good manners, and they threw them away. It was a fashion here to be without manners." In the place of cold European formality or warm North American courtesy, Israelis substitute what they call chutzpah, a Yiddish word defined by Chambers Dictionary as "effrontery or nerve". Pop sociology has it that Israelis developed chutzpah as a deliberate reaction to the traditional courtesy of diaspora Jews, regarded as servile by the macho pioneers of Zionism. The trait was then honed by compulsory military service for males and females alike ... The trouble comes when prickly sabras rub up against foreigners. As the world shrinks and business globalises, bridging this cultural divide has become a growth industry in Israel. Many business and language courses now incorporate training on how to be nice to Gentiles, but the leader in the field is Ms Leibovitz, whose Israeli Institute for Etiquette and Manners has roots stretching back over 20 years. There is a popular theory that Israel's bluntness stems in part from a strong sense of community: like children in the same family they feel little need to be mannerly to each other. Ms Leibovitz agrees. "[Israelis] slap people on the shoulder and it makes foreign people crazy. It's something we like to do but we don't understand it's wrong." Her school aims to make Israelis aware of such non-verbal messages, as well as more obvious problems. "In communication they ask very intimate questions, and because they are in hurry all the time . . . their listening skills are missing. They've no patience to listen to what you want to say. Either they speak too much or they don't listen."

[Alleged Jewish saints at one tier; alleged Arab savages at another: the usual defense of the dual standard system. ONE STANDARD FOR JEWS, ANOTHER FOR EVERYONE ELSE. Jewish exception/supremacy is always the argumentative undercurrent. ]
We are not them,
by Matti Golan, Jerusalem Post, December 31, 2003
"Does Israel have a problem with nuclear weapons? At first glance, it would appear that we do. Libya is willing to disarm itself of its weapons of mass destruction and to commit not to manufacture them in the future. Sooner or later, Iran will probably take the same path and Pakistan may not lag far behind. After all, the Iraqi example is still very fresh in the minds of these countries. It is only natural for Arab countries ? those that are required to disarm themselves of weapons of mass destruction ? to try to direct attention toward Israel. Why just us, they say? And what about you? After all, it's no secret that Israel's reactors have not been in the textile-manufacturing business for ages. Everyone knows what and how much Israel has. So if we, the Arab countries, are being required to disarm ourselves of these types of weapons, why isn't Israel required to do the same thing? There are very few cases in which an argument so logical can also be so wrong. There is nothing more logical that to demand that Israel do exactly what others are required to do. There is nothing more logical than to expect Israel to practice what it preaches to others. There is no more logical argument than to say that it does not make sense that nuclear arms in one country represents a danger to the world, while the same arms in another country are okay. On the other hand ..."

[Israel IS a pariah nation, self-decreed. It cares nothing about anything but its infatuation with its own oppressive Jewish face in the mirror. The Wall is the consummate icon of racist Jewish totalitarianism, Jewish self-segregation from the world moral community, and insatiable Jewish thievery stealing yet more Palestinian land.]
Security official: Fence to annex 6 percent of W. Bank,
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz (Israel), January 5, 2004
"Six percent of West Bank territory will effectively be annexed into the Green Line with the completion of the separation fence planned for the end of 2005, a security official said on Sunday. The official, speaking to a forum supporting the West Bank fence, said that the first and second phases of the construction have already transferred 1.7 percent of the West Bank into the Green Line. In addition, Ministry of Defense data revealed that the fence's deviation eastward from the Green Line in the area between Salem and the settlement of Elkana has resulted in 15,000 Palestinians being located west of the fence. This population includes the residents of Baka al-Sharkiya as well as Palestinians staying in Israel illegally. Lapid: Israel could face world boycott over fence Justice Minister Yosef Lapid warned the cabinet on Sunday that the upcoming discussion by the International Court of Justice at The Hague on the construction of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank could be the first step in Israel being treated like a modern-day apartheid-era South Africa. He warned that Israel could be liable to international boycotts similar to those placed on South Africa during its apartheid regime. The justice minister said that Israel had brought this on itself for not sticking to the original route of the fence in the West Bank, along the Green Line, thus turning the matter into an international dispute. He advised the cabinet to hold another discussion on the route "which will give us a degree of flexibility in international forums." Health Minister Danny Naveh said in response on Sunday that Lapid's comments were "dangerous." He criticized Lapid for even raising the matter. Shas leader MK Eli Yishai said Lapid's comments will endanger lives. He said he was "sorry that Lapid was more concerned about Israel's image in the eyes of the world than by the need to worry about the needs of Israel's citizens." MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) demanded that Lapid appear before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to explain what Israel should expect from the court discussion. Balad MK Jamal Zahalka said in response to Lapid's comments that it is not enough to alter the route of the fence. The barrier should be torn down, he said, as "it is being built in contravention of international law." He expressed his hope that "intense pressure will be applied on Israel to force if to dismantle its racist wall."

["Urban warfare." Israel's expertise is not necessarily war with contesting armies. It is murdering civilians in cities. Recommended reading about Israeli support of world dictatorships in the suppression of all sorts of liberation movements: Beit-Hallahmi, Benjamin. The Israeli Connection. Who Israel Arms and Why. Pantheon Books, New York, 1987. As Beit-Hallahmi -- an Israeli professor -- says, "The idea of liberation for Third World groups threatens the very existence of Zionism. Concepts of human rights are too dangerous for the Israeli political system. The injustice done to the Palestinians is so clear and so striking that it cannot be openly discussed, and any discussion of what Israel has been doing in the Third world is certain to lead to an examination of the rights of the Palestinians." [BEIT-HALLAHMI, p. 236]
IDF offers foreign armies: pay per training,
By Amos Harel, Haaretz (Israel), January 5, 2004
"The IDF is offering foreign armed forces training sessions in the training center for field units in the Ze'elim base. The move is intended to improve the relations with friendly states' armies as well as bring income into the IDF's empty coffers. The IDF has been operating the Tactical Training Center (TTC), an advanced base for training brigade and company headquarters, in Ze'elim for more than five years. The TCC enables simulating battles between various units, under electronic supervision and documentation enabling a thorough scrutiny of the troops' activity. The TTC is considered one of the best training centers in the world. "There is no reason for foreign armies not to train here. We've already approached a few armies on the matter. The Americans also open their training facilities in Germany to other armies, which pay them a million dollars to train there," a senior officer told Haaretz. The IDF is planning to build a model of a city in Ze'elim, to enable training for combat in densely populated urban territory. In March, the IDF will be holding an international conference that will focus on urban warfare."

[Fantastic! If this project can get off the ground, and the Israeli Hebrew press is laid bare before Western readers in English, Israel and the Jewish Lobby is in BIG, BIG, trouble.]
'The other Israel'. A new NGO attempts to build a case against Israeli racism. Omayma Abdel-Latif talked to the founders,
Al-Ahram, (Egypt), January 1-7, 2004
"Where in the Middle East did a school principal get away with burning the New Testament in front of students? And in which country did a religious man say that a man's life is more important than a woman's? Was it Iran? Saudi Arabia? The right answer is Israel, where teachers at religious schools, it turns out, urge their students to write to soldiers to encourage them to "kill as many Arabs as possible", and where an IDF officer at a checkpoint may use glass shards to carve a Star of David on a Palestinian's arm. Israel's dark side, argue a group of Arab activists who have founded Arabs Against Discrimination (AAD), is rarely seen by the West. The horrors described above, and much else, are rarely reported in both Western and Arab media. The new NGO, which is being launched today, will have as its primary objective the monitoring of the Israeli media in order to expose any content with a racist and discriminatory nature. It will also attempt to bridge the language gap between the West and the Arab world -- where very few people speak Hebrew -- by offering comprehensive overviews of what is being published in the Hebrew press. Based on a personal initiative by Al-Ahram Board Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie, who also heads the Arab Journalists Federation, a group of Arab activists have been laying down the groundwork for the project over the past six months. The AAD's web site will provide translations from the Hebrew press into three languages -- English, French and Arabic. The site will feature stories that discriminate against the West, women, Israeli Arabs, Islam, foreign workers, Palestinians, and Christians. It will also feature stories translated from the Hebrew press on freedom of expression, citizenship laws, intellectual extremism and the refuseniks. AAD, according to Emad Gad, Editor of Al-Ahram's (Dirasat Israelyia) Israeli Studies, a periodical on Israeli affairs, and AAD's secretary- general, aims to combat all forms of racial and ethnic discrimination by highlighting the blatant slurs, extremism and intolerance which permeate Israel's press and media discourse. He said the discrimination was not just against Arabs, but also against a slew of other ethnic and religious groups. "There is no endgame here," explained Abdel-Alim Mohamed, an expert on Israeli affairs. "This is about a side of Israel that is not reported. Israel is reported only in terms of its relation to the Arab world, but not in terms of a society where racism, extremism, and dehumanisation of the other -- be it an Arab or a Western -- have become the order of the day." Another AAD founding member explained that while there is a constant invocation in the global media of anti-Semitism against Jews, there is hardly any mention of what is going on in "the other Israel". "There is a black hole when it comes to the institutionalised racism, extremism and anti-Gentile discourse permeating the media, intellectual and religious circles in Israel," Diaa Rashwan told the Weekly. For years, Israeli politicians and media entities have accused Arab, and particularly Egyptian, media, of using anti-Jewish slurs. One Washington- based web site -- MEMRI -- is actually devoted to undermining the reputation of the Arab press by selecting its most offensive writings, translating them into English, and disseminating them to the widest possible public, usually out of context. Yigal Carmon, who used to work in Israeli intelligence, runs the site. Although Carmon has denied that the site serves an Israeli agenda, many Western observers believe it does. While Gad acknowledged that AAD was formed in part as a response to such "vile efforts", he said AAD would not use the same tactics, and would definitely not be taking things out of context or tampering with the translations. "We don't need to resort to such tactics because the reality itself is already so appalling. We also post the original Hebrew text to eliminate any suspicions." Over the past six months, the group has managed to get its hands on what they described as a wealth of articles, audio-video material and literature that is -- if judged by international standards -- abhorrent beyond imagination. Western test readers, according to Rashwan, registered shock and disbelief when offered a chance to read the material. While the group does not claim to be neutral about the Arab-Israel conflict, they insist that the criterion used to select the articles is neither political nor ideological. "We did not deal with issues like house demolitions or extra legal assassinations. This is not about quoting the extremist examples in the Hebrew press, but rather highlighting mainstream trends which reflect the Israeli establishment and society's thinking."

[Below is a sample article referencing the above AAD project to translate Hebrew texts into English for Western readership. The original Hebrew text is also scanned for online reference.]
Theory of the Jewish race, [Go to AAD's home page and click on this title at the bottom of the page]
By: M. Eliraz [The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the ultra-orthodox newspaper Hamodia], Arabs Against Discrimination
"Inquiry : According to my knowledge of the Jewish faith, they often speak of the sanctity and distinction of Israel. In contrast, in the public education system, in which my world view was formed, we learned that all man are born equal, regardless of religious, racial, or national differences. In light of this clear contradiction, I am very interested to understand the Jewish essence and the moral basis of these feelings of religious superiority that beat in the hearts of pious Jews. Answer: Humans are not born equal; they come into existence without any internal similarities. Respected inquirer, contrary to what you were taught by your teachers in public schools—these teachers who have no connection to the Torah or religious teachings—matters are simple and clear in the pious Jewish vision. Just as men are not born equal in their external forms, they come into this world with no internal similarities among their souls. There is a profound, fundamental difference between the Jewish and non-Jewish soul. The holy books have taught us that some people come into this world with a soul created in a more elevated place. Others have souls created in a lower place. Some infants are born with a Jewish soul and others with a non-Jewish soul. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi wrote about this matter in his Book of the Khazar. He said, just as there are essential differences between mineral and vegetable, vegetable and animal, and animal and human, so there are profound differences between a Jewish and non-Jewish soul. There is no more credible, authoritative proof of this than the painful consequence and the bitter reality that are clear to all when we see that those who blaspheme this Jewish theory are the same ones that deny and brutally ignore the horrible tribulations visited on their brothers and sisters, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They reveal their tendencies publicly: their untiring aspiration to find a compromise with those human animals, the descendants of Ishmael, who do everything possible so that the name of Israel will not appear in the world. The sacred book Zohar has taught us that Israel is linked to rationalism.* Thus, the great distance between the Jew and the Gentile is such that it can only be compared to the distance between animals and humans. Rabbi Loew Yehuda of Prague has spoken at length of this fundamental difference in his Lord of Israel, in Chapter 14, where he indicates that the great difference between the Jew and the Gentile is such that it can only be compared to the distance between animals and humans. Our rabbis have also said, You are humans; Gentiles are not humans. It is if they are saying that the position of Israel relative to other nations is like the position of man relative to dumb animals. The first Chabad rabbi gave us in his famous Proof at the end of Part 1 a lengthy explanation of this essential difference between the souls of the Jew and the Gentile and the breadth of the gap. He said that every one in Israel, whether good or evil, is endowed with two souls that are like two plateaus, one representing evil and the other representing good. There are also special qualities implanted in all the people of Israel over the generations, such as mercy and goodness. This differs from the souls of Gentiles, pagan worshippers. They are made of the rest of defiled souls, which contain no good. *Linguistically, using a cabbalistic interpretation—ed."

[Hey, Anti-Defamation League. Someone's using the word "Nazi" to describe something without your permission. Where's your usual complaint? Look. There are people acting like "Nazis" set to take over the Israeli government. How come whatever Jew who said isn't thrown on your "anti-Semite" list?]
PM's associate warns: 'It's how the Nazis came to power',
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz (Israel), January 6, 2004
"A source close to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon complained Tuesday night that several of the proposals made by Likud convention activists for changes to the party constitution were reminiscent "of how the Nazis came to power in Germany." According to the source, the proposals made by representatives of the far right in the party - calling for the government and Knesset to be subject to the decisions of the Likud Central Committee and preventing Likud MKs and ministers that vote against central committee decisions from running again for Likud positions - are "blatantly unconstitutional" and would never get through the High Court of Justice. "This is exactly how the Nazis came to power in Germany," said the Sharon associate. "With various bills that passed one after the other, they totally hollowed out the central authority. It's a phenomenon that repeated itself in other fascist regimes in Europe."

Indefensible fence,
Haaretz (Israel) [Editorial], January 6, 2004
"Having hijacked the original idea of a security fence and twisted it into an invasive and provocative fence running deep into the West Bank, the government now intends to defend it before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. At the initiative of the Palestinians and with the support of the Third World countries, the issue of the fence was referred by the UN General Assembly to the international court for a legal opinion on it. Israel will argue to the court next month that it does not have the authority to deal with the issue because it is more a political matter than a legal one. In addition to the procedural pleas, teams of experts from various government ministries, assisted by outside lawyers, are preparing a raft of arguments based on the principle of self-defense. After all, self-defense is the natural and recognized right of any state that has been under under constant terror attacks, as Israel has been for the past three years and more. And indeed, the fence, as has been proven in those areas where its construction has been completed, can significantly reduce the number of attackers emanating from the Palestinian territories and infiltrating into Israel. But the attempt to apply the principle of self-defense to the fence as it is currently being built, with all its deviations, its twisting route and its many de facto annexations, cannot but weaken Israel as it stands before the international court in The Hague and also before world public opinion. Defending the fence now being built could also fatally compromise the entire idea of a fence designed to defend Israel from terror attacks. Justice Minister Yosef Lapid belatedly sensed the danger in the position evolving in official Jerusalem. On Sunday, he urged his ministerial colleagues to reconsider the route that the fence is to take. A condemnation by the court in The Hague, he warned, could be the first step toward Israel's becoming the South Africa of our era, boycotted and isolated, a pariah among the nations. Lapid apparently feels particularly uncomfortable because his own ministry officials are among those preparing the hollow Israeli defense that will be heard at The Hague. But his call to the government to divert the path of the fence and his warning about Israel ending up like white South Africa, have more than a measure of naivete if not cynicism. After all, the route decided on by the government, in which he is a senior minister, is indeed meant to impose a South African-type reality on the Palestinian territories. The section of fence designed to encompass greater Jerusalem from the east will in effect slice the West Bank into two. The networks of settlements to be surrounded by the fence and situated deep inside the territories were always meant to prevent the formation of a viable Palestinian state. The planned "eastern fence," which has yet to be built but whose planning will no doubt be brought up in The Hague, is meant to even further reduce the territory of the enclaves that would remain under Palestinian control in the prime minister's plan. Minister Lapid's warning is correct. But to avert the ominous South Africa analogy, the government must change not only the route of the fence but the wrongheaded political thinking behind that route."

Israeli official proposes 'ethnic cleansing',
By Khalid Amayreh, Al-Jazeerah, 4 January 4, 2004
"A member of the Likud party has proposed “massive ethnic cleansing” of non-Jews in Palestine-Israel as a “final solution” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Uzi Cohen, a member of Ariel Sharon’s right-wing party and a deputy mayor of the town of Raanana, told Israeli public radio on Sunday there was widespread support in Israel for “the idea of ethnic cleansing”. “Many people support the idea but few are willing to speak about it publicly.” Cohen, an influential figure in Likud, proposed that Israel, the United States, the European Union as well as oil-rich Arab states make concerted efforts to create a Palestinian state in northern Jordan. He suggested the Hashimi royal family in Amman “might view favorably this idea”. Cohen said Palestinians should be given 20 years to “leave voluntarily”. “In case they don’t leave, plans would have to be drawn up to expel them by force.” 'Israel's ugly face' Cohen’s racist ideas have drawn strong reactions from Palestinian leaders in Israel. Israeli Arab Knesset member Ahmad Taibi described Cohen as representing “Israel’s ugly face”. MPs of Ariel Sharon's Likud party discussed expelling Arabs before “This man espouses Jewish fascism and he is trying to foster his venomous ideas, and I must say he is achieving remarkable success,” Taibi told Aljazeera.net. “The idea of ethnic cleansing is no longer confined to the far-right parties in Israel; many in the Likud support ethnic cleansing.” Taibi said tabling a racist proposal for discussion is in itself a grave development. “It is not important what the result will be. The important thing is that they are going to dignify a fascist proposal like this by discussing it in a formal meeting.” Demographic threat Israeli leaders have lately been warning of an “encroaching Palestinian demographic threat”. On Friday, a leading Jewish demographer warned Jews were on the verge of becoming a minority in mandatory Palestine, the historic region administered by Britain until late 1947 from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has so far been circumspect about the idea of banishing the Palestinians from their ancestral land."

See Israel and Zionism, pt. 9

Jewish Tribal Review