I've been a swing voter between the Democrats and the Greens for years, but voting for Democrats keeps getting more difficult. This latest incident of morally repugnant racism from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Anthony Weiner.

From CBS News New York 5/19/11 where Gillibrand attacked Obama for calling on Israel to accept its internationally recognized borders.

“Steps toward a lasting peace, with real security, cannot start with pre-existing conditions on Israel, said New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Of course, a vicious bigot like Gillibrand would say that Israel cannot be forced to stop illegally occupying Palestinian land. She actually thinks that the US is obligated to support territorial claims of a racist government that is guilty, guilty, guilty of ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian people in Palestine and which systematically oppresses and discriminates against Palestinians living in their native lands in Israel. Obviously, she thinks that it is perfectly OK for Israel to have nuclear weapons that were obtained by a terrorist attack against the USS Liberty, yet she pretends that it faces a real security threat to its actual, legitimate borders.

I can't say I'm surprised. Nothing a bloodthirsty, NRA/KKK gun extremist like Kirsten Gillibrand could do would ever disappoint me. A pro robbery, rape, and murder politician like her is completely beneath contempt.

Anthony Weiner couldn't help but join in on the racismfest either.

“The Palestinians have said in 1967 and every year since that they want Israel not to even exist. That’s the problem,” added Rep. Anthony Weiner.

“I think the fundamental philosophy of the United States should be trying to help our ally in the region, to help democracy and freedom. That means being an ally of Israel. The Palestinians have made it clear again and again they prefer violence to peace.”

Never mind that Israel has never recognized the right of Palestinians to exist either.

Israel cannot be represented as a democracy when its political system blocks participation by Palestinian parties in governing the country. Most land in Israel is owned by a foundation that openly excludes rentals to anyone who isn't Jewish. So much for "freedom."

Weiner also is perfectly aware of the absolute fact that Israel regularly commits far more and far deadlier acts of violence against the Palestinians. Weiner also is perfectly aware of the absolute fact that Israel's political and military leaders are guilty of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. He also knows that Israel is guilty of a military siege against Gaza, which is another crime against humanity.

Horror of horrors that Obama even pay lip service to getting Israel to accept its internationally established borders. No decent, honorable, moral person supports Israel keeping on square inch of territory it has stolen. Yet, Weiner's venomous racism against Arabs won't tolerate keeping Israel within its own borders.

Of course, this isn't the only example of slimy, dishonest behavior from that rightist Phonycrat. He pretended to champion the Public Option only to gleefully throw middle class and poor people under the bus and vote for Barack Bush's wealthcare plan for the HMOs, health insurers, and Big Pharma. The man has absolutely no personal or public integrity whatsoever. Weiner is the epitome of a bought politician. He's as much of a habitual liar as he is a venomous racist.

Incredibly rightist and bigoted politicians like Gillibrand and Weiner are far from exceptional in the Democratic Party. Heinous bullshit like this is why I'm finding it more and more difficult to support any Democrat ever again. These two de facto teabaggers are incredibly strong arguments for the Green Party.

 

Photo: James Emery

Before bringing up disloyal House Member Eric Cantor (R-Israel), I should provide a summary of the Foreign Agents Registration Act from the US Justice Dept. website.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was enacted in 1938. FARA is a disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities. Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents. The FARA Registration Unit of the Counterespionage Section (CES) in the National Security Division (NSD) is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Act.

Now, it's time to bring up the activities by Cantor that have generated so much well deserved controversy. (Politico 11/11/10)

"Eric stressed that the new Republican majority will serve as a check on the Administration and what has been, up until this point, one party rule in Washington," the readout continued. "He made clear that the Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and that Cantor pledged to act as an agent "of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity."

The foreign principals here are the state of Israel and its extreme right government. Unless Cantor has registered as a foreign agent, there is no reasonable explanation as to why he is not in violation of US law.

Obviously, it is time for the House Ethics Committee to launch an investigation against Cantor. I wonder if there is any Democrat or Republican with enough courage and integrity to do this.

It is equally obvious that the Justice Dept. is legally obligated to investigate Cantor for violating FARA. Of course, Justice also is legally obligated to investigate war criminals from the Bush Regime, and they have refused to do so thus far.

Every newspaper in the country should be editorializing for Cantor's resignation and for a criminal investigation to be launched against him. Every American, regardless of political ideology or affiliation should be doing the same.

It doesn't matter which foreign country Cantor is acting as a foreign agent for. If Cantor was acting as a foreign agent for Peru, Lithuania, or South Korea, people would be justly outraged. The same outrage must be expressed when US elected officials act as foreign agents for Israel.

Cantor is completely unfit for any public office. Resignation in disgrace is the absolute minimum that should happen in this case.

 

Sam Harris certainly has a blind spot when it comes to Christian and Jewish violence and religious extremism. An rather glaring example of this can be found in his comments on the "Ground Zero" mosque that most New Yorkers support, but which is the target of fury from outsiders. (Daily Beast - date not listed - Hat Tip: Why Evolution Is True):

Thus, when Allah commands his followers to slay infidels wherever they find them, until Islam reigns supreme (2:191-193; 4:76; 8:39; 9:123; 47:4; 66:9)—only to emphasize that such violent conquest is obligatory, as unpleasant as that might seem (2:216), and that death in jihad is actually the best thing that can happen to a person, given the rewards that martyrs receive in Paradise (3:140-171; 4:74; 47:5-6)—He means just that. And, being the creator of the universe, his words were meant to guide Muslims for all time. Yes, it is true that the Old Testament contains even greater barbarism—but there are obvious historical and theological reasons why it inspires far less Jewish and Christian violence today. Anyone who elides these distinctions, or who acknowledges the problem of jihad and Muslim terrorism only to swiftly mention the Crusades, Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, the Tamil Tigers, and the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, is simply not thinking honestly about the problem of Islam.

This is absolute nonsense. Israel is literally guilty of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians, and land claims in Judaism form the ideological basis for it. Oops!

It gets worse. How can Sam Harris pretend that there is far less Christian violence than Islamic violence today? Is he living in an isolation chamber? While it certainly is true that corporate greed and racism played huge roles in causing the war on Iraq, Christian religious extremism has played the primary role in building the plurality of public support for that war. The war on Iraq is literally a Christian crusade that has killed at least 1.3 million people and caused millions more people to be refugees. In fact, more Americans have been killed in this war than in the 911 attacks. So much for there being less Christian violence.

Of course, Christian religious violence can be found in other forms in this country. Lying about safer sex and needle exchange; attacking AIDS prevention programs; underfunding AIDS research dramatically compared to what it would be if it primarily affected heterosexual, Christian, white males; promoting heterosexism and racism, and sabotaging sex education all are forms of quite deadly political violence.

Christianity is literally guilty of genocide against hundreds of thousands of Americans, the vast majority of whom have been queer men or have been women of color. Yet, Sam Harris hasn't even noticed this form of catastrophic violence. It just breezes by him.

Of course, Islamic violence is dangerous. However, Christian violence is far more pervasive and more deadly. Harris' efforts to single out Islam serve to make atheists in the US look ignorant and ill informed. The corporate media have made him one of "our" spokespeople because he can reliably spew absurdities that can be used to fan the flames of hysteria against Islam, flames that help continue highly profitable wars which are, in nearly all other cases, fueled by violent Christian extremists.

I'm remind of the lyrics of The Police song, "Murder by Numbers." At the end, they are quite instructive on how people in positions of power and privilege can commit acts of violence without getting their hands dirty. They are some of the most profound political thinking in the history of pop music where such things are usually strenuously avoided.

Now you can join the ranks of the illustrious
In history's great dark hall of fame
All our greatest killers were industrious
At least the ones that we all know by name

But you can reach the top of your profession
If you become the leader of the land
For murder is the sport of the elected
And you don't need to lift a finger of your hand

Because it's murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your ABC
Murder by numbers, one, two, three
It's as easy to learn as your A, B, C, D, E

Sam Harris needs to join the Reality Based Community. He is starting to sound like an atheist version of Glenn Beck.

 

Photo: Muffett

Barack Bush's Cat Food Commission is being marketed as a "deficit commission." The sales strategy is to claim that slashing Social Security and Medicare are necessary to reduce deficits and are the only options.

That is absolute nonsense. Here are some of the far superior options for deficit reduction that are off the table for the Cat Food Commission, proving what a lie the whole thing is.

- Repealing corporate controlled trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, and the GATT agreement that created the WTO which reduce tariff revenues (Tariffs traditionally have been major sources of revenue for governments.)

- Repealing the tax cuts for the rich that passed under Reagan, Carter, and Kennedy

- An immediate and full withdrawal from Iraq

- An immediate and full withdrawal from Afghanistan/Pakistan

- An end to covert operations in Iran

- End of all aid to Israel

- End of aid and support for the fascist dictatorship in Colombia

- Eliminating tax deductions which only rich people can take advantage of

- Closing most military bases abroad

- Legalization of Marijuana

- Sentencing crack like other cocaine

- Repealing cuts in corporate taxes that have passed in recent decades

- Taxing capital gains (other than primary home sales) like income actually earned by working

- Cut back on wasteful military spending

- Cut back on wasteful and unconstitutional homeland security spending

- Instituting a luxury tax

- Legalization of gambling

- Legalization of prostitution

Somehow, these options for deficit reduction never get considered by "deficit hawks" in DC and in the corporate media. Their beloved Cat Food Commission is all about robbing the middle class and poor and giving money to the rich.

 

Photo: dmax3270

I already knew that my Phonycrat Sen. Chuck "Loves Torture" Schumer was racist, but I didn't know that he was this sickening of a bigot. (From Think Progress - Hat Tip: Unbrainwashed)

SCHUMER: The Palestinian people still don’t believe in the Jewish state, in a two-state solution. More do than before, but a majority still do not. Their fundamental view is, the Europeans treated the Jews badly and gave them our land — this is Palestinian thinking [...] They don’t believe in the Torah, in David [...] You have to force them to say Israel is here to stay. The boycott of Gaza to me has another purpose — obviously the first purpose is to prevent Hamas from getting weapons by which they will use to hurt Israel — but the second is actually to show the Palestinians that when there’s some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement. When there’s total war against Israel, which Hamas wages, they’re going to get nowhere. And to me, since the Palestinians in Gaza elected Hamas, while certainly there should be humanitarian aid and people not starving to death, to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go, makes sense.

The military siege of Gaza is a racist crime against humanity. It's perpetrators are subject to criminal prosecution in any country in the world. Unbrainwashed also discusses Schumer's theocratic bigotry against people who don't believe the Jewish religion.

But Schumer is worse than that. He believes that Palestinians deserve it because "they don't believe in the Torah." Hey, I don't believe in the Torah, does that make it okay for someone to economically strangle me until I do? All this proves is that Israel is not a democracy, but an apartheid theocracy, albeit a racist one, where those people not of the state religion are not entitled to the same rights as those of the correct religion.

I don't believe in the Torah, David, or any other religious claptrap. I'm sick of people like Chuck Schumer, Pat Robertson, and Osama bin Laden acting like it is OK to murder people merely for not sharing in a superstitious religious faith.

Also, Schumer attacks the Palestinians for acknowledging a fact that nobody can honestly dispute, "the Europeans treated the Jews badly and gave them our land." Attacking this reflects Schumer's racist attitude that brown skinned peoples' sole purpose of existence is to be punished for crimes committed by white people.

Chuck Schumer is a truly heinous bigot. There is no way I could ever vote for him for any public office again after this.

 

That's the kind of headline you should be seeing in every major newspaper in this country. No one can honestly dispute it on a factual level. However, racism and the influence of corporate interests such as arms merchants and Big Oil keep the corporate media spinning Israel's latest heinous act of terrorism, just as they spin every terrorist act by Israel. Here's the lead paragraph from Alternet (5/31/10), an independent news source, that takes facts and journalistic integrity seriously.

Days of tension between Israel’s hawkish government and the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla carrying 700 peace activists and 10,000 tons of desperately needed supplies to Gaza culminated in grisly carnage after a deadly pre-dawn attack by Israeli commandos. The operation left between nine and 19 international activists dead and dozens more injured and bleeding on the decks of the civilian vessels.

Hillary Clinton and other war hawks here in the US go on about how Iran supposedly sponsors terrorism in efforts to try to incite an attack and eventual invasion of that country, but they refuse to acknowledge the fact that Israel commits more acts of terrorism than Iran is accused of sponsoring. Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, according to this narrative, but it is perfectly OK for the terrorist state of Israel to have nuclear weapons, despite the fact that they got their nuclear capabilities by launching a terrorist attack against a US naval ship. There is no excuse for our government to provide foreign aid to the terrorist regime in Israel.

Enough!

 

In order to maintain its little Middle Eastern empire, the Israeli government and society are getting so closed that they are failing to live up to the democratic ideals that country was founded on, limited as they were to Jews. So, it takes a lot to shock me these days. But, this one just blows my mind. (Haaretz 5/16/10)

Professor Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and left-wing activist, was denied entry into Israel and the West Bank on Sunday.

No reason was initially given for the decision, but the Interior Ministry later said immigration officials at the Allenby Bridge border crossing from Jordan had misunderstood Chomsky's intentions thinking initially he was also due to visit Israel.

Chomsky, who is on a speaking tour in the region, was scheduled to speak at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank on Monday.

This is so crazy, even the Israeli government is trying to reverse the decision.

Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said officials were now trying to get clearance from the Israel Defense Forces, which controls access to the West Bank to allow Chomsky to enter that territory.

"We are trying to contact the military to clear things up and if they have no objection we see no reason why he should not be allowed in," said Hadad.

The efforts by the Israeli government and Defense Forces to marginalize and dehumanize the Palestinians have gotten so fanatical that they are having more and more bizarre results. Chomsky explained what happened, as best he could.

Chomsky said inspectors had stamped the words "denied entry" onto his passport when he tried to cross from Jordan over Allenby Bridge.

When he asked an Israeli inspector why he had not received permission, he was told that an explanation would be sent in writing to the American embassy. "They apparently didn't like the fact that I was due to lecture at a Palestinian university and not in Israel," Chomsky told Reuters by telephone from Amman.

Rick over at Ten Percent, is reporting that there is another ship of supplies being sent by the Free Gaza folks, and the Israeli government is threatening a military attack if the ship doesn't turn back.

In order to maintain their occupation, Isreal is losing its mind.

Photo: Duncan Rawlinson

 

If you don't like Isreal's ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, here's something you can do about it. Ahava cosmetic products are made in Mitzpe Shalem, a Jewish only settlement in occupied Palestine. The products are made on stolen land, and the company markets their crap based on the Dead Sea location.

Ahava also is using misleading labeling, putting "Made in Israel" even though Mitzpe Shalem is not in Israel, but rather in occupied Palestine.

CODEPINK has targeted a lot of companies, requesting that they stop selling Ahava products. The latest company is Nordtrom. From their Action Alert email:

On March 30, 2010, activists around the world will mark Land Day with coordinated BDS actions. There will be Stolen Beauty (www.stolenbeauty.org) AHAVA boycott actions in NYC, D.C., Chicago, Montreal, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. This past week we moved forward with our boycott in NYC when the president of Ricky's NYC, a family-owned cosmetics & sundries chain, called in response to the 2,000 e-mails our supporters sent him for Valentine's Day. Our latest Stolen Beauty target is Nordstrom, a chain of department stores that touts itself as a socially responsible business. Join us in telling Nordstrom to stop selling AHAVA products, which are made from stolen resources in occupied Palestine.

Please Contact Nordstrom Now!

Here's a comic strip on the issue (click on images for full sized versions):





Update:
Here are some photos from a recent protest against Ahava in the UK.

 

Israel has been guilty of a prolonged campaign of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine since the country has started. Isreal's desire to steal more Palestinian land and resources has been insatiable. When the nation of Israel was formed, Israelis were the minority of the population, yet they got the majority of the land and the most valuable of land.

Yet, that wasn't enough for Israel. After nationhood, Israel launched a terrorist campaign to drive much of the native population out of the country. Later, Israel stole the rest of Palestine in two wars of aggression. Now, they have all of the West Bank, including Palestinian East Jerusalem under occupation. Gaza is under a siege.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are subjected to a slow, methodical, and murderous campaign of ethnic cleansing which shows no sign of easing. Palestinians in Israel proper face rampant discrimination for not being Jewish.

All of this is bad enough. One thing that makes this worse is that my own government is involved with this. Administrations and Congresses of both parties have financed, and armed, and provided diplomatic support to Israel's antisemitic campaigns against the Palestinians. (Palestinians are a Semtitic people, and most Israeli Jews are European, not Semitic.)

Worst of all is that Israel got its nuclear weapons by attacking a US submarine, and "our" government has never done a damned thing about it. They murder Americans civilians who commit peaceful acts of nonviolence against crimes against humanity, and "our" government does absolutely nothing in response. The flow of aid, trade, and support keeps going.

With Mossad's latest terrorist attack in Dubai, they used Identity Theft against British citizens to commit their crime. How much longer until Americans like you and me become victims of Identity Theft committed by the Mossad terrorists?

Enough of this bullshit! Our government should ban all aid and trade with Israel. If our government really cared about the "war on terrorism," it would break off diplomatic relations with that terrorist regime.

I'm an atheist, so I have no reason to travel to Israel. It's not like it's in the world's 500 most fun tourist destinations or anything. A travel boycott against Israel by me would be a completely empty gesture. I can, however, call on my government to end its support for the antisemitic government in that country.

 

Islam, Christianity, Scientology, Mormonism, and Hinduism certainly don't have a monopoly on religious extremism. Judaism has its nutjobs too.

I find it amusing that militant, Jewish fundamentalists have been rioting in Israel. From the BBC 7/16/09.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem have clashed with police in protest at what they see as interference by the Israeli authorities in their community.

Police said at least 28 people were arrested after protesters threw stones at officers and burned rubbish bins.

Hundreds of police have been deployed - 10 were reported to have been injured.

The incidents followed the arrest of an ultra-orthodox woman for allegedly starving her three-year-old son deliberately. The child is in hospital.

The revolt over "interference" by the Jewish religious nutjobs reminds me of how Muslim religious extremists want to have Sharia based communities, free of "interference" by secular authorities.

The similarities between Jewish and Muslim religious nuts doesn't stop there. From the BBC 12/9/08:

Lipa Schmeltzer looks and sounds every inch the popular ultra-orthodox Jewish singer that he is.

He sings in Yiddish. He dresses in the clothes of a Haredi Jew and all of his song lyrics come from the scriptures.

You would think this would be just peachy for the militant, Jewish fundamentalists. You would be mistaken.

"They are leading the public astray and are causing a great negative influence on the young generation," says Rabbi Efraim Luft, head of an ultra-orthodox organisation in Israel called the Committee for Jewish Music.

Supported by leading Haredi rabbis, Rabbi Luft has drawn up a black-list of musicians and bands - music that he says that is not kosher and cannot be played at ultra-orthodox weddings or public events because of its decadent nature.

What has made this Jewish religious music not kosher? Get ready to giggle at Rabbi Luft.

"The main part of the music should be the melody. Percussion should be secondary. They should not bend notes electronically and should not use instruments like electric guitars, bass guitars or saxophones in Jewish music," he says.

The BBC also included comments with the article, one of which was from an Islamic religious extremist.

As a Muslim, I support the Rabbi's decision, finally they are thinking like conservative Muslims; after all Muslims and Jews are very much alike. Majority of modern music is immoral and degrading the faith.
Zuber Iraqi, Louisville, KY

The attitude of the nutty rabbis reminds me of the Taliban's attitude about music. The banned all music except for the stuff they produced and distributed.

If scriptures played to a rock beat scandalize poor Rabbi Luft, just think what my blog would do to the poor guy. It would probably make his head explode.

 

It was bad enough that Israel committed an act of piracy in international waters by seizing a private relief ship en route to Gaza and stealing equipment from the ship.

Even worse, they took those aboard hostage and sent them to Israel. The three Americans on board were the people held as hostages the longest by the Israeli government.

Make no mistake, this is literally an act of war by Israel against the United States of America.

Israel impossiblly claims that the actions of the relief ship and its passengers were illegal. Let's look at the actual laws involved. The relief ship was not violating any aspect of international law by sending humanitarian relief to the Palestinians in Gaza. The ships destination was Palestine, not Israel, and providing humanitarian relief to Palestinian law certainly is no violation of Palestinian law. Since the ship was in international waters and headed towards Palestine, the ship was never going to be in Israel's jurisdiction.

Fortunately, the last of the hostages, Americans, have been freed from captivity by the Israeli government terrorists, but that does not let Israel off the hook for its act of aggression against the USA. The appropriate responses of the US government to this Israeli act of war are the following.

- Breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel.

- Formally indicting every Israeli official involved in the piracy, kidnapping, and hostage taking from the top to the bottom of that country's government.

- Ending all aid to Israel.

- Seizing Israeli assets in the US for the purpose of compensating the former hostages and the organization whose ship was taken as an act of piracy.

- Issuing a travel ban for Americans to Israel.

- Enforcing a complete ban on trade with Israel in addition to other economic sanctions against that terrorist government.

- Using the US Navy and marines to provide equipment and supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza.

This isn't the first act of war by Israel against the USA. Israel's terrorist murder of US citizen Rachel Corrie in 2003 wasn't the first either. Most Americans don't even know that Israel knowingly attacked the USS Liberty in 1967.

Why does "our" government let Israel continue with its history of acts of war against our country while still funding that belligerent government?

One of the Americans held hostage by Israel was former congressmember Cynthia McKinney. Here is her eloquent statement made by phone while being a hostage of the Israeli government.

This is Cynthia McKinney and I'm speaking from an Israeli prison cellblock in Ramle. [I am one of] the Free Gaza 21, human rights activists currently imprisoned for trying to take medical supplies to Gaza, building supplies - and even crayons for children, I had a suitcase full of crayons for children. While we were on our way to Gaza the Israelis threatened to fire on our boat, but we did not turn around. The Israelis high-jacked and arrested us because we wanted to give crayons to the children in Gaza. We have been detained, and we want the people of the world to see how we have been treated just because we wanted to deliver humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.

At the outbreak of Israel's Operation ‘Cast Lead' [in December 2008], I boarded a Free Gaza boat with one day's notice and tried, as the US representative in a multi-national delegation, to deliver 3 tons of medical supplies to an already besieged and ravaged Gaza.

During Operation Cast Lead, U.S.-supplied F-16's rained hellfire on a trapped people. Ethnic cleansing became full scale outright genocide. U.S.-supplied white phosphorus, depleted uranium, robotic technology, DIME weapons, and cluster bombs - new weapons creating injuries never treated before by Jordanian and Norwegian doctors. I was later told by doctors who were there in Gaza during Israel's onslaught that Gaza had become Israel's veritable weapons testing laboratory, people used to test and improve the kill ratio of their weapons.

The world saw Israel's despicable violence thanks to al-Jazeera Arabic and Press TV that broadcast in English. I saw those broadcasts live and around the clock, not from the USA but from Lebanon, where my first attempt to get into Gaza had ended because the Israeli military rammed the boat I was on in international water ... It's a miracle that I'm even here to write about my second encounter with the Israeli military, again a humanitarian mission aborted by the Israeli military.

The Israeli authorities have tried to get us to confess that we committed a crime ... I am now known as Israeli prisoner number 88794. How can I be in prison for collecting crayons to kids?

Zionism has surely run out of its last legitimacy if this is what it does to people who believe so deeply in human rights for all that they put their own lives on the line for someone else's children. Israel is the fullest expression of Zionism, but if Israel fears for its security because Gaza's children have crayons then not only has Israel lost its last shred of legitimacy, but Israel must be declared a failed state.

I am facing deportation from the state that brought me here at gunpoint after commandeering our boat. I was brought to Israel against my will. I am being held in this prison because I had a dream that Gaza's children could color & paint, that Gaza's wounded could be healed, and that Gaza's bombed-out houses could be rebuilt.

But I've learned an interesting thing by being inside this prison. First of all, it's incredibly black: populated mostly by Ethiopians who also had a dream ... like my cellmates, one who is pregnant. They are all are in their twenties. They thought they were coming to the Holy Land. They had a dream that their lives would be better ... The once proud, never colonized Ethiopia [has been thrown into] the back pocket of the United States, and become a place of torture, rendition, and occupation. Ethiopians must free their country because superpower politics [have] become more important than human rights and self-determination.

My cellmates came to the Holy Land so they could be free from the exigencies of superpower politics. They committed no crime except to have a dream. They came to Israel because they thought that Israel held promise for them. Their journey to Israel through Sudan and Egypt was arduous. I can only imagine what it must have been like for them. And it wasn't cheap. Many of them represent their family's best collective efforts for self-fulfilment. They made their way to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They got their yellow paper of identification. They got their certificate for police protection. They are refugees from tragedy, and they made it to Israel only after they arrived Israel told them "there is no UN in Israel."

The police here have license to pick them up & suck them into the black hole of a farce for a justice system. These beautiful, industrious and proud women represent the hopes of entire families. The idea of Israel tricked them and the rest of us. In a widely propagandized slick marketing campaign, Israel represented itself as a place of refuge and safety for the world's first Jews and Christian. I too believed that marketing and failed to look deeper.

The truth is that Israel lied to the world. Israel lied to the families of these young women. Israel lied to the women themselves who are now trapped in Ramle's detention facility. And what are we to do? One of my cellmates cried today. She has been here for 6 months. As an American, crying with them is not enough. The policy of the United States must be better, and while we watch President Obama give 12.8 trillion dollars to the financial elite of the United States it ought now be clear that hope, change, and ‘yes we can' were powerfully presented images of dignity and self-fulfilment, individually and nationally, that besieged people everywhere truly believed in.

It was a slick marketing campaign as slickly put to the world and to the voters of America as was Israel's marketing to the world. It tricked all of us but, more tragically, these young women.

We must cast an informed vote about better candidates seeking to represent us. I have read and re-read Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's letter from a Birmingham jail. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined that I too would one day have to do so. It is clear that taxpayers in Europe and the U.S. have a lot to atone for, for what they've done to others around the world.

What an irony! My son begins his law school program without me because I am in prison, in my own way trying to do my best, again, for other people's children. Forgive me, my son. I guess I'm experiencing the harsh reality which is why people need dreams. [But] I'm lucky. I will leave this place. Has Israel become the place where dreams die?

Ask the people of Palestine. Ask the stream of black and Asian men whom I see being processed at Ramle. Ask the women on my cellblock. [Ask yourself:] what are you willing to do?

Let's change the world together & reclaim what we all need as human beings: Dignity. I appeal to the United Nations to get these women of Ramle, who have done nothing wrong other than to believe in Israel as the guardian of the Holy Land, resettled in safe homes. I appeal to the United State's Department of State to include the plight of detained UNHCR-certified refugees in the Israel country report in its annual human rights report. I appeal once again to President Obama to go to Gaza: send your special envoy, George Mitchell there, and to engage Hamas as the elected choice of the Palestinian people.

I dedicate this message to those who struggle to achieve a free Palestine, and to the women I've met at Ramle. This is Cynthia McKinney, July 2nd 2009, also known as Ramle prisoner number 88794.

 

Update: Now, Vimeo has taken the video too.
Someone has uploaded it on another YouTube account. I suspect YouTube will have trouble keeping it off for too long.



(Hat tip to Ten Percent)

Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem -- The Censored Video from Max Blumenthal on Vimeo.

This video has generated a lot of controversy by exposing racism in Israel. It's not pleasant, but people need to know about this. Besides, YouTube should not be a rightist only service.

Max Blumenthal did the video, and he has done a lot of good work exposing rightist Christian bigotry in the past. Rightist Jewish bigotry seems to be a taboo subject. In many ways, it's even more shameful that the Huffington Post censored one of their regular contributors in this fashion. I haven't been to that site since. More from Blumenthal's blog:

Youtube has removed my video, “Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem,” on the baseless grounds that it contains “inappropriate content.” They have offered me no further explanation and have stonewalled my inquiries and attempts to rectify the situation. Thus they have censored a video that contains far less inflammatory content than thousands of video they are already hosting. Why? I won’t ascribe motives to Youtube I am unable to confirm, but it is clear there is an active campaign by right-wing Jewish elements to suppress the video by filing a flood of complaints with Youtube. At the same time these elements have attempted to paint me as a self-hating Jew determined to foment anti-Semitism. I answered this last charge to Ha’aretz (read the barely coherent article here) last week: “I have received death threats from people, mainly ones calling me a self-hating Jew. I am self-hating, but my self-hatred has nothing to do with me being Jewish.”

At least he is keeping his sense of humor.

Jewish Voices for Peace has asked its members to email YouTube (or use their online form) and demand that the video go back up there. Good on them. Fighting racism is important.

 

From Haaretz (Hat Tip to Ten Percent):

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.

...

"During the war, we looked for a way to contribute to the effort," the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon, told Haaretz. "We turned to this enormous reservoir of more than a million people with a second mother tongue." Other languages in which bloggers are sought include Russian and Portuguese.

...

Within 30 minutes of announcing the program, which was approved by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday, five volunteers were already in touch, Halfon said.

I'm kind of curious to know if I've gotten one or more of these trolls, or if the trolling has been done by independent anti-Arab bigots. One thing is for sure. The pests I've gotten either don't read or disregard this blog's policy stating that racist posts are subject to deletion.

 

A silent movie homage and social commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



The arielsnewusername channel on YouTube has a lot of interesting videos. I'll have to mine it for content in the future.

 

Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) campaigns played a vital role in dismantling the apartheid regime in South Africa. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza often is compared to apartheid. It is time for a BDS campaign against Israel?

Naomi Klein, one of the most important thinkers of our time, certainly thinks it is overdue.

It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era." The campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions—BDS for short—was born.

Every day that Israel pounds Gaza brings more converts to the BDS cause, and talk of cease-fires is doing little to slow the momentum. Support is even emerging among Israeli Jews. In the midst of the assault roughly 500 Israelis, dozens of them well-known artists and scholars, sent a letter to foreign ambassadors stationed in Israel. It calls for "the adoption of immediate restrictive measures and sanctions" and draws a clear parallel with the antiapartheid struggle. "The boycott on South Africa was effective, but Israel is handled with kid gloves.… This international backing must stop."

I'm beginning to wonder myself. Is the BDS campaign justified? Is there an argument against it that doesn't involve minimizing Israel's heinous crimes against the Palestinians?

 

Kucinich had enough courage and integrity to later be one of only five members of the House to vote against a non-binding resolution supporting Israel's slaughter in Gaza.

 

From Mark Crispin Miller 1/8/09:

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY….

PLEASE JOIN US

Monday, January 12 at 5:30 P.M., in front of the Israeli Consulate, at 800 Second Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, NYC

We are Jews who say “Not in Our Name” to the Israeli Government.

We ask you to stand with us as we call for:

- an immediate end to the massacre of the Palestinian people
- an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops
- an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza
- immediate steps taken to end the Israeli occupation

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, with our sisters and brothers in Israel who are bravely opposing the brutality of their government, and with all those around the world calling for justice and peace in the Middle East.

There will be no speakers at this event. We will stand together in silence, holding up signs reiterating the points above.

initiators of this call for action:

Renate Bridenthal
Nina Felshin
Sherry Gorelick
Jane Hirschmann
Carol Horowitz
Esther Kaplan
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz
Abigail Levine
Alan Levine
Richard Levy
Donna Nevel
Michael Ratner
Amy Schoenwald
Len Weinglass
Dorothy Zellner

I recognize the name Michael Ratner. He is from the Center for Constitutional Rights and is on WBAI's Law and Disorder.

I think it is important to publicize these kind of events to oppose the war and to break down the view that being Jewish necessarily means supporting everything the rightist government there does. That is essential for healing and understanding.

 

The corporate media have some strong financial motives for supporting the slaughter in Gaza, and they are acting on those motives. After all, arms merchants regularly advertise on news shows, not to directly sell their products, but to push a pro-war bias that sells more wars. More wars mean larger markets for the death merchants. Even worse, NBC and MSNBC are owned by GE (General Electric) which is an arms manufacturer.

Just as we must show the humanity of the Palestinians getting killed in Gaza, we also need to show the Israelis who are opposing this carnage. We need to promote human values and humane responses, rather than blindly accepting the pro-war propaganda.

To this end, I posted a message from an Israeli peace activist which deconstructs the narrative that is being shoved down our throats, one that treats Israelis and Palestinians as permanent and intractable enemies.

Pagan Sphinx is linking to a wonderful article by Amy Goodman on Truthdig which covers the Israeli peace movement from a journalistic perspective.

Here's an Israeli perspective you probably won't see on ABC News:

Israeli professor Neve Gordon is chair of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel, the region most impacted by the Hamas rockets.

Speaking over the phone from Beersheba, Gordon said: “We just had a rocket about an hour ago not far from our house. My two children have been sleeping in a bomb shelter for the past week. And yet, I think what Israel is doing is outrageous. ... The problem is that most Israelis say Israel left the Gaza Strip three years ago and Hamas is still shooting rockets at us. They forget the details. The detail is that Israel maintains sovereignty. The detail is that the Palestinians live in a cage. The detail is that they don’t get basic foodstuff, that they don’t get electricity, that they don’t get water. And when you forget those kinds of details, all you say is, ‘Why are they still shooting at us?’ That’s what the media here has been pumping them with, then you think this war is rational. If you look at what’s been going on in the Gaza Strip in the past three years and you see what Israel has been doing to the Palestinians, you would think that the Palestinian resistance is rational. And that’s what’s missing in the mainstream media here.”

Here's some info about a peace march that won't get much press here in the US either (bolding mine):

Gordon attended a large peace march last weekend in Tel Aviv with more than 10,000 other Israelis. Longtime Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery was there. He called the invasion “a criminal war, because, on top of everything else it is openly and shamelessly part of Ehud Barak’s and Tzipi Livni’s election campaign. I accuse Ehud Barak of exploiting the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers in order to get more Knesset seats. I accuse Tzipi Livni of advocating mutual slaughter in order to become prime minister.” Israel’s elections will be in February.

It turns out that Jonathan Ben-Artzi, nephew of raging rightist and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is one of many Israelis who opposes the war.

An item at the end of Ms. Goodman's piece is particularly disturbing (again bolding mine):

While Israeli planes drop pamphlets urging Palestinians to leave, the 1.5 million residents of the Gaza Strip, perhaps the most densely populated place on Earth, have no place to run, no place to hide. Calls for an immediate cease-fire are ignored by Israel and blocked by the U.S. government. It is not clear what the Obama administration will do—but the people of Gaza can’t wait until the inauguration. There must be a cease-fire now. And that’s just the beginning.

Those pamphlets are direct evidence of ethnic cleansing. This isn't about self-defense. The siege and now war in Gaza are about the Israeli government trying to drive out the Palestinians and take the land.

 

I have had tremendous respect for Cynthia McKinney for a long time. I am so proud to have voted for her in the 2008 election. This is an example of why.

Ms. McKinney has gone with the Dignity, an unarmed boat from the Free Gaza campaign, which was trying to bring desperately needed medical supplies to Gaza. She was on board when the Isreali military attacked them. I have included her full account below.

From FreeGaza.org (Hat Tip to Ten Percent which is doing an excellent job of covering the Gaza carnage:

Oh What a Day!

by Cynthia McKinney Date : 12-30-2008
I'm so glad that my father told me to buy a special notebook and to write everything down because that's exactly what I did.

When we left from Cyprus, one reporter asked me "are you afraid?" And I had to respond that Malcolm X wasn't afraid; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't afraid. But little did I know that just a few hours later, I would be recollecting my life and mentally preparing myself for death.

When we left Cyprus, the Mediterranean was beautiful. I remember the time when it might have been beautiful to look at, but it was also filthy. The Europeans have taken great strides to clean it up and yesterday, it was beautiful. And the way the sunlight hit the sea, I remember thinking to myself that's why they call it azure. It was the most beautiful blue.

But sometimes it was rough, and we got behind on our schedule. We stayed on course, however, despite the roughness of the water and due to our exquisite captain.

There were no other ships or boats around us and night descended upon us all rather quickly. It was the darkest black and suddenly, out of nowhere, came searchlights disturbing our peace. The searchlights stayed with us for about half an hour or so. We knew they were Israeli ships. Who else would they be?

They were fast, and they would come close and then drop back. And then, they'd come close again. And then, all of a sudden there was complete blackness once again and all seemed right. The cat and mouse game went on for at least one half hour. What were they doing? And why?

Calm again. Black sky, black sea. Peace. And then, at that very moment, when all seemed right, out of nowhere we were rammed and rammed again and rammed again the last one throwing me off the couch, sending all our food up in the air; and all the plastic bags and tubs--evidence of sea sicknesses among the crew and passengers--flew all over the cabin and all over us. We'd been rammed by the Israelis. How did we know? Because they called us on the phone afterwards to tell us that we were engaging in subversive, terroristic activity. And if that if we didn't turn around right then and return to Larnaca, Cyprus, we would be fired upon. We quickly grabbed our lifevests and put them on. Then the captain announced that the boat was taking on water. We might have to evacuate. One of my mates told me to prepare to die. And I reflected that I have lived a good and full life. I have tasted freedom and know what it is. I was right with myself and my decision to join the Free Gaza movement.

I remembered my father's parting words, "You all will be sitting ducks." Just like the U.S.S. Liberty. We were engaged in peaceful activity, a harmless pleasure boat, carrying a load of hospital supplies for the people of Gaza, who, too are sitting ducks, currently being bombarded in aerial assault by the Israeli military.

It's been a long day for us. The captain was outstanding. Throughout it all, he remained stoic and calm, effective in every way. I didn't know how to put my life jacket on. One of the passengers kindly assisted me. Another of the passengers pointed out that the Israeli motors for those huge, fast boats was U.S. made--a gift to them from the U.S. And now they were using those motors to damage a pleasure boat outfitted with three tons of hospital supplies, one pediatrician, and two surgeons.

I have called for President-elect Obama to say something. The Palestinian people in the Gaza strip are seeing the worst violence in 60 years, it is being reported. To date, President-elect Obama has remained silent. The Israelis are using weapons supplied to them by the U.S. government. Strict enforcement of U.S. law would require the cessation of all weapons transfers to Israel. Adherence to international law would require the same. As we are about to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, let us remember that he said:

1. The United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, and
2. Our lives begin to end the day we remain silent about things that matter.

I implore the President-elect to not send Congress a budget that contains more weapons for Israel. We have so much more to offer. And I implore the Congress to vote "no" on any budget and appropriation bills that provide more weapons transfers, period.

Israel is able to carry out these intense military maneuvers because taxpayers in the U.S. give their hard-earned money to our Representatives in Congress and our Congress chooses to spend that money in this way. Let's stop it and stop it now. There's been too much blood shed. And while we still walk among the living, let us not remain silent about the things that matter.

We really can promote peace and have it if we demand it of our leaders.

Why hasn't Obama condemned this outrageous attack on a peaceful civilian vessel?

Why hasn't Obama condemned Israel's unconscionable slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza?

 

Outside of Saturday's protest in NYC against Israel's slaughter in Gaza, some peace activists were handing out the text of a recent email from an Israeli peace activist. What that activist said was incredibly important.

we are experiencing the worst repression inside israel i have experienced since the eighties. maybe its because there is a big anti war movement, arabs and jews working closely together. the media is only reporting the "violent arab mob" and ignoring the thousands of jews and arabs demonstrating together. they can't admit that there are israeli jews against this war. the friday weekend newspapers almost a week later were a bit better but still we are very worried about tomorrow and the next week. of course i acknowledge that the people of gaza have it 100 times worst, and the citizens of the south of Israel are poor hostages of our government's cynical election campaign.

i'll keep you posted.

shalom
ronen