Showing posts with label occupation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occupation. Show all posts

September 15, 2014

Fmr IDF Soldier to US - Stand Up to #Israel War Crimes [RT crosspost - YouTube 12mins]




Fmr. IDF Soldier Calls on Americans to Stand Up to Israel War Crimes - Interview with Eran Efrati

Published September 15, 2014

Abby Martin speaks with Eran Efrati, a former IDF soldier who 

recounts his experience being ostracized for attempting to 

expose crimes he witnessed as a soldier.


LIKE Breaking the Set @ http://fb.me/BreakingTheSet


FOLLOW Abby Martin @ http://twitter.com/AbbyMartin


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  The McLoughlin Post




September 14, 2014

Rare - Mandela on Palestine [YouTube - 12mins]







Rare Video [1990]: Mandela Speaking on Palestine; live-audience Town Hall in New York, with Ted Koppel 


     
 A little support goes a long way at The McLoughlin Post




September 11, 2014

Pro-Israel Group Think

by Diane V. McLoughlin, September 11th, 2014

The highest ideal espoused in Rabbi Shmuel Bloch's argument, 'Unity - It's surreal and frightening'; [South African Jewish Report, Sept 10, 2014], is cohesiveness of group politics rather than questioning the direction, politics and morality of the group in a personal quest for truth. Can good be expected to follow from this premise or is such a stance fraught with risk?

The rabbi reports that 'unity became even stronger and tighter' once Israelis learned the tragic fate of the three Jewish youths who were kidnapped in the occupied West Bank when hitchhiking, presumably back to their respective homes, from a settlement religious school. 

There is an enormous gap the rabbi leaves unexplained regarding how the country went from the crime of the former, to an entire country choosing to wage war: 

 'Then the rockets started falling and Operation “Protective Edge” began...The entire country supported the government and the army with almost universal approval.'

Without questioning, we would not know that tensions began to rise not with the abduction and murders of the three Jewish teens in June, but three weeks before, on Nakba Day, May 15th. The IDF shot and killed two Palestinian teens in cold blood at a demonstration outside of Ofer Prison.  One of the youths was shot in the back.  Both were unarmed, it was in broad daylight and there were many witnesses to these events.

After the three Jewish teens went missing, this gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the excuse he needed to ramp up tensions further by instituting what was the equivalent of a Palestinian Kristalnacht in the occupied West Bank on the pretext of searching for the teens. There was a clear purpose in instigating such provocations. In recent days, Palestinian political leadership of rival political parties Hamas and Fatah signaled their intention to reconcile. Unified, Natenyahu et al could no longer claim that they had no 'partner for peace'.  Peace means the cessation of further ethnic cleansing and colonization of Palestinian land. 


Hundreds of West Bank homes were violently broken into in the middle of the night. IDF soldiers caused gratuitous wanton damage to households; stole money and other valuables; viciously beat people; and arrested hundreds without charge - including many in the Hamas party leadership.  And with this for background, how things devolved becomes far more clear. Rabbi Bloch's timeline of events makes absolutely no sense otherwise.  

Logic

No logical person would ever accept the premise that oppressing the Other could foster greater prospects for peaceful security for oneself.  


There is no logical correllary between a criminal investigation into the kidnappings and murders of three teenagers versus the ultimate crime of aggressive war on a captive civilian population. 

The 1.8 million people of The Gaza Strip have been suffering under an illegal Israeli military occupation for years.  This latest military slaughter caused the deaths of over 500 children alone.  Israel's 'Operation Protective Edge' was instigated by Israel, the violence was wanton, the IDF committed many war crimes, Israeli political leaders openly call for genocide [or the practical equivalent, as seen in Deputy Minister of Defense, Dany Alon's recent inane, amoral tweet:  






The highest ideal is not group cohesiveness.  Cohesiveness is for cowards.  The highest ideal is risking rejection by the group by pointing out the errors of the group's leadership.  

Some of the best blogs [of which there are many]: Mondoweiss; Richard Silverstein.

Organizations: Independent Jewish Voices; Jewish Voices for Peace




September 01, 2014

Caller - does #Israel not have right to defend itself - Mike Malloy explodes [6mins]



The Mike Malloy Show - YouTube
August 12, 2014

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A little love to The McLoughlin Post

         

The latest book by Owen Jones:
'The Establishment: And how they get away with it'; [2014]

August 31, 2014

#Israel - WaPo whitewashes plan to steal 1000 acres of #Palestinian land - August 31 2014

by Diane V. McLoughlin

Comment posted at 8:43 PM, August 31st, 2014.

One has to wonder, exactly when will the WaPo editorial board quit giving solace to Israel's criminal regime and start telling it like it is? The title of this piece, 'Israel proposes taking more West Bank land for Jewish settlers' [William Booth and Ruth Eglash; Washington Post; August 31, 2014] soft-peddles the horror.

A more accurate title and lead would read something like this:

'In a stunning act of betrayal within mere days of a ceasefire agreement, in a move reminiscent of Fascism's darkest days, Israel's hard-right leadership proposes stealing a whopping 1,000 acres of Palestinian land to further displace the native population. The long-term aim is clearly meant to replace the indigenous Palestinian people with Jewish European squatters.  This will only further cement the current apartheid system, frustrating the efforts of moderates on both sides working for human rights, security and peace'.
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Reading Room:

The Establishment
And how they get away with it
New: September 4 2014
By Owen Jones

'A biting critique of the British Establishment and a passionate plea for democracy from the author of the acclaimed "Chavs". Jones is a prominent political voice in the UK as a weekly columnist for the "Guardian" and having appeared on "Question Time" and "Newsnight".'


 



August 05, 2014

The Coin of #Israel - by Diane V. McLoughlin - August 3 2014

by Diane V. McLoughlin, August 3, 2014



Journalist Sima Kadmon, of ynetnews.com, approvingly reports of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to pull back the military operation in Gaza. [''Netanyahu's Brave Decision'; August 3, 2014]


Operation Protective Edge, is Israel's third bombing campaign of Gaza in the short space of five years. The others are Operation Cast Lead [2008]; and Operation Pillar of Cloud [2012].  


Gaza is a small, long, narrow strip of land that is walled in on three sides: The Mediterranean Sea, guarded by the Israeli navy; it borders Egypt on one short end; and Israel's high cement walls, armed guard towers and coil upon coil of barbed wire close off the rest - an impoverished, oppressed, walled ghetto. 


The 1.8 million men, women and children living in Gaza, are refugees from Israel who were forced from their homeland from places like Sderot, Israel, in 1948. The refugees in many instances retain the keys to the doors of their rightful homes.  And they have a right, morally as well as in law, to go home. Because they are of the 'wrong' ethnicity, Israel is doing everything in its power to prevent their return.  


During 'Operation Cast Lead', Israel and Hamas each accused the other of committing war crimes. Findings were detailed in the United Nations' document the, Goldstone Report, produced after six independent, esteemed judges were tasked with conducting a fact-finding mission to investigate - including, note allegations typically made by Israel of Hamas, that the Israeli military had used Palestinians as human shields.  Of Israel's well-oiled propaganda machine, volumes will no doubt be written.


Recall, too, that one of the six jurists, Richard Goldstone, felt the need to try to backpedal somewhat in his own opinion regarding who did what to whom in a Washington Post Op Ed, after the local South African Jewish community caused him to fear for the safety and well-being of his family.


 Netanyahu is willing, according to Ms. Kadmon, to accept going back to what Israeli politicians like to call, 'quiet for quiet'; Israel maintaining the siege of Gaza, the people of Gaza refraining from resisting the siege or any other funny business like tunneling in Kentucky Fried Chicken or trying to export flowers or other farm produce to foreign markets, or get university-bound scholarship students off to school. 


It is apropos to point out here that Palestinian political leaders are, as I write, in Cairo, Egypt, availing all parties of the opportunity to hammer out terms for a ceasefire along with the broad outlines of a peace agreement. Israel refused to attend.  


It is an instructive exercise comparing what it is that Israel chooses to do, what Israel chooses not to do, and Israel's expressions of intent. 


The hasbara (Israeli for propaganda) 'quiet for quiet' is genius in the psychology of deflecting concern.


It is not 'quiet' for the people of Gaza to be forced to continue under the crushing eight-year military blockade which has destroyed the local economy and has been compared as being worse than the Great Depression for the abject poverty and want. 


It is a farce to propose that Israel will construct for itself a secure quiet by continuing to oppress the Palestinians in Gaza; the occupied West Bank; East Jerusalem; Israel; or the Palestinian refugees scattered in other countries denied the right to come home - we can dispense with that canard. 


Pro-Israel people - and I have no doubt that they have big hearts and they are convinced that Israel is the underdog and that they are fighting Nazis, and that they are defending vulnerable Jewish lives - argue that Hamas is bent on Israel's destruction. 


But the truth of the matter is that Hamas was voted to power as a reaction to discrimination, racism, and violence directed toward the Palestinian people for 65 years. 


Palestinian leadership in the occupied West Bank have achieved nothing in their peaceful negotiations with Israel other than relentless efforts by settlers to take their land and drive them out.


Muslims do not hate Jews. Jews and Muslims have been neighbors living peacefully side by side with each other in Palestine for millennia before the events of 1948 when Zionist terrorists forced 750,000 Palestinians to run for their lives.  


The Likud is the current political party in power in Israel. The Likud Charter explicitly claims ownership of all Palestinian land.  Any discussion of who is responsible for what without forthright acknowledgement of this fly in the soup is not contributing to an honest discussion that might lead to constructive proposals. It will ultimately lead to a thin broth of no substance as far as any hope for peace is concerned.


Israel has, in this latest ethnic cleansing exercise in Gaza, bombed thousands of family homes; bombed six United Nations-run children's schools where newly homeless families were sheltered who were ordered to shelter in the UN schools by Israel after Israel bombed their homes. 


Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians depopulating a vast swath of Gaza estimated in geographic area to be approximately 44% of the entire Gaza Strip. In short, Israel has been forcing families out in the elements while destroying absolutely everything. 


As of this writing, almost two million people have no drinking water due to Israel's deliberate targeting of the civilian infrastructure - a war crime. If humanitarian efforts are not able to respond with all haste, the scenario will elevate to status of crime against humanity. 


In times of conflict, governments are not always forthcoming with the full truth. Israel is no exception.    


That Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldier Hadar Goldin was ever kidnapped?  This particular fiction was used to provide diplomatic cover when breaking the first ceasefire agreement within just a few short hours of its implementation. 


While having freshly riled the citizenry over the missing soldier, Israel then continued massacreing people in Gaza. Hadar Goldin, via uncensored reports in the West, was more likely killed by his own under something called the Hannibal Directive, to prevent his capture by the enemy. 


*The New York Times has disclosed that they complied with an IDF military censor directive to get clearance on their reporting of the Goldin incident.


Israel admitted, only after bombing another hospital, more family homes, snipers picking-off civilians ordered to move, an emergency appeal sent out that the medical authorities were overrun and bodies littered the streets - that Hadar Goldin was not kidnapped, after all. 


It should be noted that soldiers are taken prisoner, they are not kidnapped, in conflict. This, too, is meant to mislead and arouse sympathy, inflame public opinion and suppress questions. 


Goldin, a British citizen, was a willing party to waging war on a captive civilian population, shooting at people who are entitled under international law to shoot back in self-defense.


*A direct quote from the New York Times:


'International journalists must agree in writing to the censorship system in order to work in Israel.'


Israel's violence against Gaza is wanton. It is a country at imminent risk of degenerating into a racist, moral morass. [1]


Rising to the top politically, are those who, like Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Moshe Feiglin, openly avow genocide of the Palestinian people because they want more land for Jews.


In the streets below, armed Jewish gangs roam the streets at night seeking Arab-Israeli citizens to beat to a pulp. A slightly-built sixteen year-old, named, Mohammad abu Khdeir, was recently kidnapped, beaten with a tire iron, had gasoline forced down his throat and they burned him alive. 


Supporters of this most recent atrocity in Gaza, with whole Palestinian neighborhoods being bombed out of existance, argue that Hamas kidnapped three Jewish teens and murdered them in the West Bank. First, they believe, wrongly, that this would ever justify such a massively violent response which is nonsense.  Second, with speed of light acceptance that everything Israel tells them is Gospel Truth, that Hamas had anything to do with it. After Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, the quiet admission that, no, it appears it was not Hamas, passes by largely unnoticed.


A month before the three Jewish teens' murders, two Palestinian youths were shot and murdered by the IDF in cold blood [2], reported by CNN at the time. [2a] But you, and certainly Israeli citizens, most likely did not hear about that, either.


In the search for the three missing Jewish teens, Israel's occupying army tore the Palestinian West Bank apart. Blowing in doors of family homes in the middle of the night with explosives, destroying the furniture, stealing family possessions, scaring people, roughing up people, arresting hundreds without charge including many in Palestinian political leadership; wounding some; killing others. 


It is in the vicinity of this juncture in the unfolding of events that the Hamas rockets from Gaza, rockets described as primitive and small began to sail over, after an extended period of calm in which, calm or no calm - there has been no difference in behavior from Israel - the constant is the crushing military blockade.


Evidence for the extent to which Israeli passions are inflamed - by the ruling right-wing, and in some cases by religious extremists - we might need look no further than at a clip of joyous young people who sing, on the top of their lungs as raucous youths might at a football championship, that there is no school in Gaza tomorrow, because there are no children left. 


There are many other examples from which to choose, however, for the black mood and amorality of the current time, none of which bears little resemblance to anything to do with self-defense. Israel is a run-away train with conductors soused on dogma, and conceit, spouting KKK-type crap about cleansing the land of inferiors for Jews. [3] 


On background, Israel deliberately transplanted 600,000 Zionist Jews on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, in a deliberate effort to create demographic facts on the ground.  Stealing Palestinian land has dramatically escalated in recent years.  


Russian Jew Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's minister of Foreign Affairs, himself a squatter on Palestinian land, continues to espouse a 'population transfer'. [4]


Prime Minister Netahyahu was caught, surreptitiously, on-camera [2001] talking to settlers, wherein he boasts that he single-handedly scuttled the last formal round of peace talks, at Oslo.  


An inclusive society constructed on a foundation of justice, equality and civil rights is the way forward toward security and peace.  The Jews who suffered so, under Nazi Germany's version of hell on earth would have fought for such a golden reality; for such a clear morally true vision of sanity. 


Netanyahu's camp - pushing for quiet occupation, apartheid, racism, ethnic cleansing and even genocide - might win; maybe they will win. But it will be a sorry day for progress, human rights and world peace if the Israel coin lands on its head.


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Statistics regarding destruction in Gaza from July 8, 2014 to August 3, 2014:  1,743 Palestinians killed [396 children; 230 women]; 9,100 injured [2,767 children; 1,814 women]; 10,080 houses targeted [1,556 totally destroyed; 8,424 partially]; 24 hospitals and medical clinics partially damaged; 167 schools targeted; 6 universities destroyed; 20 charities destroyed; 118 mosques shelled; total number of internally displaced [rendered homeless]: 450,000; 8 water pumping and sewage stations bombed - 700,000 people now without water. For a complete list, see, HERE and HERE


Statistics regarding Israel: 64 soldiers killed, 2 civilians and 1 non-citizen from Thailand killed; 1 serious, 21 moderately to lightly injured; one gas station hit; moderate damage to a few homes.

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Reading Room


[1] How Europe's Jews Lost Their Humanity in Gaza; Gilad Isaacs; August 1, 2014, +972 Magazine; [2] Letter from Ramallah; Ben Ehrenreich, The Los Angeles Review of Books, May 23, 2014;


[2a] Source: Israel suspends soldier after 2 Palestinians die in shooting; by Ivan Watson, Michael Schwartz and Kareem Khadder; CNN; May 29, 2014;



[3] Terrifying Tweets of pre-army Israeli teens (with images, tweets) by @davidsheen; July 10, 2014; 'Some of these calls for genocide were from young men, but a majority of them seemed to be authored by young women.'


[4] Plan to transfer Arab-Israelis to new Palestinian state seeks legal approval; Peter Beaumont; The Guardian; March 25, 2014;

July 30, 2014

Freedom for Palestine - #GazaNames Project [4mins]



                 83,500 views in just two days

Youtube channel: Jewish Voice for Peace

Published on Jul 28, 2014

Prominent Jews and Palestinians and others stand for Palestine in this heartbreaking video with Jonathan Demme, Gloria Steinem, Tony Kushner, Diana Buttu, Chuck D, Eve Ensler, Brian Eno, Roger Waters, Mira Nair, Wallace Shawn, Naomi Klein, Mira Nair, Raj Patel, Noura Erakat and many others. To learn more or take action, visit freedom4palestine.org. Project of JewishVoiceforPeace.org with assistance from IMEU.org (Institute of Middle East Understanding)

July 29, 2014

#Genocide of #Gaza - Letter by Spanish director Javier Bardem - July 25 2014

Reposted by Diane V. McLoughlin, July 29, 2014

Translation of the Open Letter by Spanish director, Javier Bardem, dated July 25, 2014, condemning the massacres in Gaza, which he rightly defines as a genocide. His letter was subsequently signed by 100 Spanish celebrities. As of today, there are over 42,000 Facebook shares.

Javier Bardem:


As horror is occurring in Gaza there is NO room 
for equidistance nor neutrality. It is a war of occupation 
and extermination against a people without means, 
confined to a minimum of land, without water and 
where hospitals, ambulances and children are 
targets and alleged terrorists. Hard to understand 
and impossible to justify. 

And the international community’s stance is 
embarrassing, allowing such genocide to happen.

I do not understand this barbarism, the Jewish people’s 
horrible history makes it even more cruelly 
incomprehensible. Only geopolitical alliances, 
that hypocrite mask of business making
- for instance arms trade - explain the shameful 
position of the USA, the European Union and Spain.

I know that the same people as always will 
delegitimize my personal right of opinion, 
because of that I would like to make the 
following clear to you:

Yes, my son was born in a Jewish hospital 
because I have dear people around me who are 
Jewish, and because being Jewish is not the same 
as supporting this massacre, just as being 
Hebrew is not the same as being a Zionist, 
and being a Palestinian does not mean being an 
Hamas terrorist. That would be as absurd as 
saying that being German links you to Nazism.

Yes, I work in the U.S., where I have friends 
and acquaintances who reject such interventions 
and aggressive policies. “One cannot invoke 
self defence while at the same time killing children”, 
one of them said to me on the phone just yesterday. 
And there are others with whom I discuss openly 
about our clashing points of view.

Yes, I am a European and I feel ashamed of a 
community that says it represents me with its silence and 
non-existent shame.

Yes, I live in Spain, paying my taxes, and I do not 
want my money to finance policies that support this 
barbarism and arms trade with other countries 
that are enriching themselves killing innocent children.

Yes, I am outraged, ashamed and hurt because 
of all the injustice and killing of human beings. 
Those children are our children. It is horror itself. 
I hope there will be compassion within the hearts 
of those who are killing and that the murderous 
poison that only creates more hatred and violence 
will disappear. That those Israelis and Palestinians 
who only dream of peace and coexistence 
some day will be able to share their solution.

I encourage you to read the following links:


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