Tag Archives: AIPAC

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Just Imagine; Israel at Peace.

Sami Jamil Jadallah
Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

We all need to imagine and wonder how our world and the rest of the world will change if Israel chose peace and becomes at peace with itself and with the Palestinians, with the Arab and the world and indeed even becomes at peace with the US.

Israel is an industry, an industry for AIPAC, for ADL, for the Holocaust, for Anti-Semitism, for Zionists, for Christian Zionists. Israel is an industry for American politicians Democrats and Republicans, for presidents to members of both Senate and House, for pundits and for those who knows and the many who don’t. Israel is an industry for so called” security and terrorism experts”, certainly for the business of Islamophobia.

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Delusional Milestone

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

 

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Dr. Lawrence Davidson

Delusional Milestone – An Analysis (8 April 2012) by Lawrence Davidson


Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United For Israel (CUFI) announced the “registration of their millionth member” on 18 March 2012. This organization, founded in 2006, with the goal of “realizing the political potential of tens of millions of evangelical Americans who support Israel” can also be said to have the goal of destroying, in the name of God no less, the legitimate political aspiration of Palestinian statehood. And, the CUFI now has as much influence with our Republican Congress as does the Jewish Zionist lobby, AIPAC.  Continue reading →

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Gingrich, The ‘Invented’ Candidate.

Sami Jamil Jadallah
Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

When the American Jewish Zionist multi-billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his Israeli wife Miri went to the cesspool and dark alleys of American politics looking for a candidate they could invent for their United States of Israel, they could not find any one better than Newt Gingrich, the despicable, sleazy, unscrupulous former speaker of the house—the candidate who is willing to send his own country down the drain for a fist full of dollars. Sheldon and his wife Miri donated $10 million insuper PAC money to Newt Gingrich as a down payment.

Gingrich who made a name for himself as Speaker of the House with his “Contract with America” and who left the house in disgrace and with shame, made use of his time in Washington by marketing himself to groups and organizations desperate to fleece the American treasury with false flag projects and services. The man who ‘invented’ himself as a Washington outsider was the ultimate insider making tens of millions as special lobbies. Continue reading →

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Machsom: Real Jewish Values?

Sami Jamil Jadallah
Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Check out these videos of Israeli soldiers at a Machsom (Security Checkpoints). The behavior of these soldiers raises serious questions about “Jewish values” promoted by the Israeli state. These are values that are promoted and sponsored by key American politicians and leaders of Christian Evangelical movements. There are over 550 of these Machsom that control the daily movement of some 3 million Palestinians.

I say “Jewish values” and not “Israeli values” because of the terminology utilized by Israel itself, as well as by its biggest supporter, the United States. In the US, President Obama (see union for reform Judaism speech), in addition to leading presidential candidates like Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Santorum, and Gingrich, the majority of members of Congress, their mentors and sponsors in Tel-Aviv, AIPAC, and the many Zionist workshops in Washington always refers to Israel as the Jewish State. Israel refers to itself as a Jewish State, and insists on preserving the “Jewish character” of its state. So, if all want and insist on a “Jewish State,” then the behaviors of such a state (however unfortunately) have come to reflect on Jewish Values.

 

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Staring into the abyss of a new Dark Age

Stuart Littlewood

Stuart Littlewood, 13 July 2011
Battle of Britain 2 is about to begin

Churchill, in his Battle of Britain speech 71 years ago, said: “If we can stand up to him [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science…”

Today those “broad, sunlit uplands” of Churchill’s are again shrouded in storm-clouds. Zionist infiltrators have succeeded where Hitler failed. The difference now is that the enemy’s invasion forces are not massing across the Channel. They are already here in our midst and we are indeed on the brink of a new Dark Age, as the ruthless conspiracy masterminded by foreign interests expands its influence by stealth and by subversion and by intimidation.

America is sliding into the abyss fast as US Congressmen repeatedly parade their abject subservience to the powerful pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. Who will forget the pathetic spectacle of 29 standing ovations they accorded the swaggering, lying, crazed Israeli prime minister Netanyahu while he delivered his poison?

The question now is whether we in the UK can stand up to the encroaching menace and save “all that we have known and cared for”, when we have so completely lost our moral bearings.

We duck our solemn responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and give Zionist war criminals a safe haven immune from arrest.

We allow fanatics, such as Conservative Friends of Israel, to organize and promote the interests of the criminal Israeli regime at the very heart of Westminster government.

We allow MPs to place themselves under the influence of foreign interest groups and to abuse the principles that are supposed to underpin standards in public life.

We allow Jews to be hugely over-represented in our Parliament and to dominate key areas of our administration, including those related to security. If Muslims were over-represented to the same extent they’d have 200 seats and action would be taken.

We spend large amounts of treasure and send our troops to murder foreign civilians and die in foreign lands simply to support US-Israeli greed, destroying our own good name in the process.

We allow civil society’s hard-earned savings to bail out Zionist bankers in distress and fund endless wars and the corporate and personal profits of those who promote wars.

Civil society’s fury

Last week we watched with satisfaction as media mogul and Zionist flag-waver Rupert Murdoch’s stranglehold on the political scene in Britain came unglued after revelations of hacking into a murdered schoolgirl’s voicemail and other dirty tricks. But it wasn’t the Establishment or the police that taught Murdoch a much-needed lesson: it was a disgusted civil society whose anger eventually brought down the weight of the law and Parliament on the offenders’ heads.

Politicians, from prime ministers down, wet their pants at the thought of how much damage Murdoch’s gutter-sniping newspapers could do to them if they didn’t bow and scrape to the over-mighty NewsCorp. The News of the World, we were told so many times, had the power to make of break political careers.

That was only true, of course, if the politicians in question were weak and susceptible to pressure – and those are not the sort of politicians we want anyway. Blair and Cameron were at Murdoch’s beck and call and socialised with his odious executives, including the scary Rebekah Brooks. Neither had the balls to curb the illegal practices

It finally came down to this. Who were our spineless politicians more scared of – the furious public or ‘Dirty Digger’ Murdoch? Clearly the British people need to show their outrage more often.

When we reach the age of 60 we cringe at how arrogant and ignorant we were at 40. So why saddle ourselves with a gullible 44 year-old prime minister, which is how old Blair was when he entered 10 Downing Street? Cameron was only 43.

Blair at first impressed by being a Flash Harry but in reality was so young, stupid and unprincipled that he became an acute embarrassment, bringing shame on Britain. Cameron is similarly ‘flash’ and continually has to make desperate U-turns to reverse half-baked policies.

Like Blair he’s a warmonger eager to make an impression on the back of someone else’s blood and shredded body parts. Prime minister Cameron recently launched an extraordinary attack on “moaning” military chiefs who had dared to openly question the length of the war in Libya. In a public slap-down he told top brass: “You do the fighting and I’ll do the talking.” He added: ‘I’m absolutely confident that we can keep this pressure up. We can maintain this mission for as long as necessary. Time is on our side.” Arrogant pup, they probably thought.

Indeed. Those were the ill-considered words of a leader whose country is financially broke… and went broke while Cameron and his Conservative buddies were the official opposition charged with the duty of holding the governments of Blair and Brown to account.

So how bad is it, really?

It’s this bad. Britain’s foreign policy remains perfectly aligned with the demands of Israel and its protector, the United States. Long-time friends and admirers of the Israeli regime, such as William Hague and Alistair Burt, are hand-picked to make sure we do not stray from the pro-Israel path no matter how diabolically criminal that regime’s conduct or how offensive the agenda of these Israeli-firsters to ordinary decent British citizens.

Even prime minister Cameron has pledged: “In me, you have a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible… I want to be clear, we will always support Israel…” One’s blood runs cold. Is Cameron paid and sworn to represent a foreign military power? It’s not such a silly question as it sounds.

The Foreign Office still refuses to say whether it will protect British subjects and other peaceful nationals from the threat of lethal force by Israel in its attempt to maintain an illegal blockade on Gaza. Instead our ministers effectively endorse the blockade by advising against all travel to the Gaza Strip.

As for Iran the UK has banned more than 80 Iranians from visiting, including scientists and engineers connected with the Iranian nuclear programme, government ministers, members of the judiciary, prison officials and others “who have committed serious human rights abuses”.  Says foreign secretary Hague: “The message to the Iranian government from the UK and its partners is clear: it needs to change its behaviour before it will be treated as a normal member of the international community.”

Has Hague banned any Israelis linked to war crimes, human rights abuses and nuclear arms proliferation? Perish the thought. They are not required to “change their behaviour” in the least. They are welcomed with open arms.

Our politicians, in the main, are already Zionist stooges like their American counterparts. Our enforcement agencies are so weakened or dysfunctional and some leading figures are so out of control and doing so much damage that there may soon be no way of reining them in. We are losing control fast and we’ll find it difficult to take back our country without organizing serious insurrection.

Churchill, a Zionist sympathizer of the old-fashioned kind, confronted many dire threats but could not have foreseen, in his day, how the tentacles of Zionism would envelop the civilized world. But there’s no excuse for today’s leaders when the truth is so brazenly ugly. That they embrace it and even change our laws to accommodate it, underlines their utter unsuitability for high office.

We stood up to Hitler. Is no-one incorruptible enough to stand against the Zionist menace?

Stuart Littlewood

Stuart Littlewood

Stuart Littlewood is an industrial marketing specialist turned writer-photographer. In 2005 he was invited to write and shoot pictures for a book about the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. ‘Radio Free Palestine’ was published in 2007. For details please see www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.

  • The Author is a regular contributor to RamallahOnline.com. Find more Articles by Stuart Littlewood on RamallahOnline.

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Move Over AIPAC Flashmob (D.C. Union Station)

Tell Obama to get out of bed with AIPAC!

President Obama will address AIPAC at their annual policy conference Sunday, May 22, after meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu. Outraged that Obama is pandering to AIPAC? Tell him what you think of the Israel Lobby and what’s really needed for a lasting just peace in the region!

Help us get to our goal of 5,000 petitions to deliver to the White House.

Plus, take action in person by joining us in DC on Sunday morning for a rally outside the AIPAC conference while Obama speaks. See Move Over AIPAC full schedule and sign up to join us! http://moveoveraipac.org

Lyrics:
Hava nagila,
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Va nisma cha

Hava nagila,
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Va nisma cha

“Hey! AIPAC is meeting”

AIPAC is meeting
We have a greeting
Cuz they’re not speaking
For any of us

Justice is dying
AIPAC is lying
Lies we’re not buying
No No No!

AIPAC doesn’t speak for me
Apartheid’s not my cup of tea
Palestine to Tripoli
We want democracy

Buying Congress with their cash
All opposing views they bash
Can’t have them talking trash
No No No!

Move! Move!
Move over AIPAC!

Move over your weapon hawking
Move over your racist talking
Move over we’re freedom seeking
Move over cuz we are speaking
Move over move over
For a free Palestine

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Netanyahu, President of the United State.

Netanyahu AIPAC (2011)

Netanyahu AIPAC (2011)

Netanyahu AIPAC (2011)

Sami Jamil Jadallah, 25 May 2011

Given the dire situation the US and “We the People” are in and face, due to inaction and failings on the part of the US Congress, may be it is the Right/Left and Conservative/Liberal thing to do is to ask Congress to pass a special amendment to the US Constitution that allows the American people to vote for or have Congress appoint the Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu as president of the United States.

From the reception he got during his speech to the joint session of Congress and the 59 stranding ovations he got and how every member of the House and Senate was drooling around him, licking his boots and his ass, I am sure President Bibi will get the job done for the American people, the job, many non Jewish US presidents and Congress failed to achieve for the last 40 years.

President Bibi Netanyahu and ahead of him and behind him the powerful and very influential AIPAC and the American Jewish leadership and community, he will whip their ass in line and there will be NO members of Congress who dare not toe the lines and pass the necessary legislations. No one in the House or the Senate will dare to speak up or raise a question or propose anything different from that dictated by President Netanyahu, since they know what will happen to them. They will be taken out to the Mall and hanged for their crimes.

For so long our Congress has been paralyzed unable to function, divided between arch conservative, conservative, liberal and many shy and closet liberals who dare not come out and have been paralysis by ideological differences over the role of the federal government and over the rights of the states in such critical areas as education and health care. He may even put them in “detention” after working hours.

Our people and country have been suffering from the irreparable harm caused by a bunch of Senators and Congressmen who sold their soul even their mothers to the devil long time ago and who mortgaged their moral values, if they have any, their sense of decency which they do not have and their sense of false American patriotisms to the pawn shop owned and operated by AIPAC and the Jewish Lobby.

This is the Congress that will take months and years to debate a health care bill paid for the “tax payers” not themselves. Even though they and their families have the full and 5 services of Walter Read and private jets to whisk them to the nearest hospital and they don’t have to pay a penny. This is the same Congress that failed to act to protect the people’s pension, hard working men and women who worked all their lives in the steel mills or car factories or mines only to end up on the dole, while members of Congress enjoy the full benefits of retirements and six figures paying jobs as lobbyists.

This is the same Congress that allowed and conspired with the banks, credit card companies, with Wall Street, with the Federal Reserve, with the lobbies to rob us of our hard earned savings and money as we saw our 401 K savings nearly whipped out.

This is the Congress that allowed the crooks in the mortgage industry to take us to the cleaners, losing our homes and our jobs while they allowed the banks to make a killing on us and on our misery, and yes to an extent our greed, and a Congress that bailed out the crooks of Wall Street with our tax dollars and never questioned why these crooks had to make hundreds of millions if not billions on bonuses while their banks made hundreds of billions in losses. This is the Congress that made the poor hard working taxpayer take the hit for Wall Street incompetence and greed and outright fraud.

Of course no need to question the failing of Congress to act on the needs of the American people, with long and unending debate on maternity leave, on health care, on Head Start, early schooling, school lunches while voting tens of billions of our tax dollars to Israel in a voice vote without even a debate. Israel simply submits the bill or its annual fees, and Congress simply obliged without a question.

We are a country with failing and falling apart infrastructure without good viable national transportation system, with neighborhood schools that should be shut down as dangerous, without medical services to the poor and rural areas, with poor housing that should put this nation to shame… yet we have the Trillions to engage in wars based on fraud and lies and in the service of the hidden agenda of the Fifth Column called NeoCons and their ally and primary interest and loyalty Israel.

That is why I think it is an excellent idea to get the Congress, and they can do, to pass the necessary legislation and amendment to allow Bibi Netanyahu to become President of the United State.

I am sure Evangelical and Conservative will dare not ask if he has citizenship or not, or he was native born or natural born in the United States and their will be no “Birthers” since they will all line up behind their man Bibi Netanyahu.

However as you can ask any Jewish merchant, there is nothing for free. In exchange for the full services asked from Bibi and his Congress, for sure, Bibi will get his Congress to authorize war on Iran, on Syria, on Lebanon, on Egypt even on Saudi Arabia, perhaps Turkey and of course, he, Bibi, our president will ask and get the necessary votes in the UNSC to allow for the eviction and exiles of all Palestinians from the West Bank and the transfer of all Arabs who are resident of the State of Israel so he have his own pure as milk Jewish State, for the Jewish People. This is price we have to pay for having an effective president and a working and functioning Congress, hundreds of thousands of us have to die and our blood spelled, and of course we have to add trillion or two to our national debt.

Finally, and I am sure our President Bibi will seek and his Congress will approve an annual protection and service fee of $20 Billions paid annually on the 15th of May of each year to the State of Israel for services rendered to the American people and Eric Cantor since becoming majority leader has been working on this as part of the US budget and not as part of the Foreign Aid… Will let all stand up and bow our heads in respect of the man who would be or should be the President of the United State. Barack Obama forget it.

 

The behavior of this Congress is an insult to all Americans, insult to the millions of men and women who gave up their lives for America, is an insult for Patriotic and Loyal Americans, is an insult to a house that carry the name “American”. This is not the American people house, this is AIPAC house.

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah

Sami Jamil Jadallah is an international legal and business consultant and is the founder and director of Palestine Agency and Palestine Documentation Center www.palestineagency.com and founder and owner of several business in technology and services. Sami also runs an online website (Jefferson Corner). His articles are also featured on PalestineNote and Veterans Today.

Articles on RamallahOnline by Sami Jamil Jadallah

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Jewish protester disrupts Netanyahu During Congressional Address

Rae Abileah is dragged to the floor after disrupting Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress.
Rae Abileah is dragged to the floor after disrupting Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress.

Rae Abileah is dragged to the floor after disrupting Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the US Congress.

24 May 2011 | Move Over AIPAC

 

Police arrested CODEPINK peace activist Rae Abileah at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC. Abileah was taken to the hospital after having been assaulted and tackled to the ground by AIPAC members of the audience in the House Gallery during Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.

Abileah interrupted Netanyahu with a banner that said “Occupying Land Is Indefensible” and shouting, “No more occupation, stop Israel war crimes, equal rights for Palestinians, occupation is indefensible.” She rose up to speak out just after the Prime Minister talked about the youth around the world rising up for more democracy.

As this 28-year-old Jewish American woman spoke out for the human rights of Palestinians, other members of the audience—wearing badges from the conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee—brutally attacked her. The police then dragged her out of the Gallery and took her to the George Washington University Hospital, where she was being treating for neck and shoulder injuries.

“I am in great pain, but this is nothing compared to the pain and suffering that Palestinians go through on a regular basis,” said Abileah from her hospital bed. “I have been to Gaza and the West Bank, I have seen Palestinians homes bombed and bulldozed, I have talked to mothers whose children have been killed during the invasion of Gaza, I have seen the Jewish-only roads leading to ever-expanding settlements in the West Bank. This kind of colonial occupation cannot continue. As a Jew and a U.S. citizen, I feel obligated to rise up and speak out against stop these crimes being committed in my name and with my tax dollars.”

Abileah explained that she stands in solidarity with the Palestinian and Israeli activists who are routinely jailed and beaten for speaking out for democracy.

Jewish protester disrupts Netanyahu During Congressional Address

see press release and videos: http://bit.ly/lUU82f
Photo available for use: http://bit.ly/jBbsdp

Rae Abileah in the hospital after being injured as police removed her from Congress.

Rae Abileah in the hospital after being injured as police removed her from Congress.

During the Joint Session of Congress while Prime Minister Netanyahu was speaking, Rae Abileah stood up from the gallery and shouted “Stop Israeli War Crimes.”

See video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYXSLA7Cr2E

From the peace group CODEPINK, Rae is a 28 yr. old Jewish American of Israeli descent. She has traveled to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and witnessed firsthand the reality of occupation and oppression. “Prime Minister Netanyahu says that the 1967 borders are indefensible. But what is really indefensible is the occupation of land, the starvation of Gaza, the jailing of dissenters and the lack of equal rights in the alleged Israeli democracy. As a Jew and an American taxpayer, I can’t be silent when these crimes are being committed in my name and with my tax money.”

Ms. Abileah grew up on Half Moon Bay and presently lives in San Francisco. She was arrested and charged with disrupting Congress. Upon release, she can be reached at 415-994-1723.

This protest is part of the week-long series of actions, organized by CODEPINK as part of a coalition of groups gathered in Washington D.C. for a campaign named Move Over AIPAC. During Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC yesterday, 5 individuals interrupted Netanyahu and were removed from the building (see: http://bit.ly/aipac2011).

See other videos and news:
CNN | Heckler interrupts Israeli PM Netanyahu
ABC News | Benjamin Netanyahu heckled in Congress
Ha’aretz | Heckler yells ‘stop Israeli war crimes’ during Netanyahu’s speech to Congress

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Mixed Reactions to Obama’s Middle East Speech

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman, 22 May 2011

Perhaps one way to view Obama’s speech is saying you can please all the people some of the time, some of them all the time, but not all of them all the time. World reactions were indeed mixed, though policies, not posturing, are key.

Obama’s, in fact, have no ambiguity, including imperial wars and rock-solid support for Israel. However, not everyone believes it, including the Zionist Organization of America, the oldest American one, founded in 1897.

On May 19, its press release headlined, “ZOA: AIPAC Should Rescind Invitation for Obama to Speak,” saying:

ZOA “strongly condemned President Obama’s Mideast speech (favoring) the establishment of a Hamas/Fatah/Iran state on the Auschwitz 1967 indefensible armistice lines. This would almost surely become a Hamas/Iran terror state threatening Israel and further destabilizing the Mideast. President Obama has dealt Israel a severe diplomatic blow, which harms all those who care about peace and fighting terrorism.”

The statement’s bigoted absurdity requires no comment. Its contempt for truth and justice is self-explanatory.

In contrast, the Anti-Defamation League, no paragon of virtue, applauded Obama’s Israeli support, saying:

The ADL “commended (Obama) for his statement of US priorities in the Middle East, his strong affirmation of the deep and ‘unshakeable’ relationship between the United States and Israel, and expressed support for his vision of a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian settlement with strong security provisions for Israel and a non-militarized Palestinian state.”

On May 22, Obama will address AIPAC at its annual Washington conference, affirming America’s commitment to Israel, as will other top US officials. They include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, and other congressional members, genuflecting to the Israeli Lobby’s power in their annual pilgrimage to AIPAC.

According to Mondoweiss’ Philip Weiss, “Obama won’t have to write another speech” for their conference, quoting his pledge of allegiance to Israel, saying:

“….(O)ur friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. And we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums.”

It was enough for J Street, another pro-Israeli organization, to commend Obama’s “important speech today outlining his approach to the changing Middle East and stating that efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a two-state solution are ‘more urgent than ever.’ ”

“We are grateful that (Obama) reiterated….America’s friendship with Israel (and) commitment to (its) security.”

On May 19, Reuters reported other instant reactions to his speech, including:

Cairo University Professor Ezzedin Choukri-Fishere, saying:

“I think this goes substantially beyond what Obama said in his Cairo speech in 2009, where he merely….talked about general principles of a new American policy toward the Arab world.”

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood senior member Essam Al-Erian:

“A disappointing speech. Nothing new. American strategy remains as is. American cover for dictatorial presidents in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain remains as is. American promises are just promises. There is no decisive decision to immediately withdraw from Iraq or Afghanistan. Threatening Iran remains the same.”

Moreover, his June 2009 Cairo speech “evaporated after two weeks. This speech will evaporate in a few minutes. And the message it carries to the nations of this region is basically that: Do not wait to get any support from the White House. Maintain your efforts and achieve your freedom.”

Doha-based Brookings Center research director Shadi Hamid:

Obama tries “to appeal to everyone and ends up disappointing everyone. (He) says US core interests align with Arab hopes. Well, why didn’t they align for five decades?”

Cairo University Professor Hassan Nafaa:

“It was a great speech, very eloquent, full of hope. There was a real commitment to democratic transition in the Arab world.”

West Bank Birzeit University analyst Samir Awad:

“Obama did not come up with any new position. He totally adopted the Israeli position and that is not the role of an honest mediator. I do not think that this speech will bring the sides closer to peace. As a Palestinian, I was expecting more from him.

Council on Foreign Relations member Robert Danin:

“It’s very significant. For the first time, the United States has articulated what the territorial basis for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians should be.”

Mixed Media Reaction

London Independent analyst Robert Fisk headlined, “Lots of rhetoric – but very little help,” saying:

“It was the same old story. Palestinians can have a ‘viable’ state, Israel a ‘secure’ one. Israel cannot be de-legitimized. The Palestinians must not attempt to ask the UN for statehood in September. No peace can be imposed on either party….Oh yes, and the Palestinian state must have no weapons to defend itself. So that’s what ‘viable’ means!”

A New York Times editorial headlined, “Peace and Change,” saying:

Promising “strong support to those yearning for freedom, (his) speech on Thursday did not go far enough….The two big questions now are: How quickly will Washington deliver (on promised aid to) Egypt and Tunisia? And how much harder (will Obama) push Israel and the Palestinians to start serious peace negotiations,” no matter that past ones were irrelevant and stillborn, what Times editorials won’t acknowledge.

A Washington Post editorial headlined, “A new Mideast policy,” saying:

“Obama laid out a far-reaching and energetic new approach to the unfolding Arab revolution. (He) unequivocally stated that ‘it will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region,’ and to support transitions to democracy….In short, (he) gave coherence, resources and direction to a US Middle East policy that had been confused and underpowered.”

At best, in fact, he offered old wine in new bottles, endorsing imperial dominance, support for Israel, other key regional allies, and lip service only for Palestinians, meaning nothing ahead will change.

Nonetheless, Wall Street Journal writer Laura Meckler headlined, “Jewish Donors Warn Obama on Israel,” saying:

He risks “losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel….complaints (centering) on a perception that (he’s) been too tough on Israel.”

According to Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CPMAJO), the leading Zionist umbrella group:

Possible discontent may affect Obama’s fundraising. “It’s that people hold back. People don’t have the enthusiasm and are not rushing forward (to) be supportive. Much more what you’ll see is (others will) hold back now.”

Notorious bigot Alan Dershowitz’s Jerusalem Post op-ed headlined, “President Obama’s mistake,” saying:

“Without insisting that the Palestinians give up their absurd claim to have millions of supposed refugees ‘return’ to Israel as a matter of right, he insisted that Israel must surrender all of the areas captured in its defensive war of 1967, subject only to land swaps.”

Former Chicago columnist Mike Royko once remarked that “no self-respecting fish would (want to be) wrapped in a Murdoch paper.” He might have added the Jerusalem Post for publishing any Dershowitz op-ed, an earlier article calling him:

– a purveyor of myths, canards, false logic, and hate;

– a misinterpreter of fundamental law standards;

– a believer in unique Jewish suffering, mindless of all others;

– an advocate of torture, targeted assassinations, land theft and dispossessions; and

– a committed Zionist and Israeli apologist, legitimizing its aggression, its worst crimes and abuses, believing that “international law, and those who administer it, must understand that (in times of war) the old rules” don’t apply against “fanatical foes.”

He also defends preemptive wars, no matter how lawless, calling the UN Charter’s 51 (limiting attacks to self-defense) “anachronistic, (a) mid-twentieth century view of international law” inapplicable to today’s threats.

In other words, like other extremist pro-Israeli apologists, on matters affecting Israel, laws don’t applies, threat or no threat.

On May 20, Haaretz headlined, “Obama to aides: Netanyahu will never do what it takes to achieve Mideast peace,” but neither will he or other US officials.

Nonetheless, Netanyahu said “Israel appreciates (Obama’s) commitment to peace,” ahead of his May 20 White House meeting.

Palestinian Reaction

After Obama’s speech, President Mahmoud Abbas called for an emergency meeting with other Arab leaders to discuss it. His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said an official response will come after consultations are completed. Thursday night, Abbas called Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi foreign ministers to discuss Obama’s speech.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said his speech reiterated failed US policies, adding that he “even refuses to denounce the ongoing Israeli occupation, and expressed ongoing support to Israeli crimes.”

Hamas political bureau member Izzat Al Rishiq said Obama demanding Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state shows his clear bias. He also denounced his support for Israeli settlements and backing for delaying discussions on Jerusalem and refugees until final peace talk stages. Palestinians, of course, have heard that excuse since pre-Oslo, knowing by now that tomorrow never comes.

Moreover, a Hamas press release strongly condemned Israel’s announced addition of 1,500 units in Pisgat Zeev and Abu Ghneim (Har Homa) East Jerusalem settlements, saying:

They “escalat(e) Israeli violations and illegal constructions of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including in occupied East Jerusalem.”

A Final Comment

After 44 years of occupation, every day is Nakba Day for Palestinians, what political posturing won’t change, especially because Washington and Israel won’t tolerate it.

Daily in fact, Palestinians experience reality on the ground, documented in weekly Palestinian Center for Human Rights reports. Its latest May 12 – 18 one covered escalated Israeli West Bank and Gaza attacks:

– killing two Palestinian children;

– wounding 144 others, including 47 children, five women, and four journalists;

– firing on fishermen off Gaza’s coast, no casualties reported;

– arresting 12 peaceful protesters, 15 others in West Bank community incursions, and another four at military checkpoints;

– terrorizing children at the Al-Thawri neighborhood Orphanage School in East Jerusalem;

– allowing settlers to “commit systematic crimes against Palestinians” and their property with impunity; and

– much more in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and besieged Gaza.

Nakba is Palestine’s catastrophe, an ongoing daily disaster under illegal military occupation. Changing reality to hope starts with ending it.

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/

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Arab Dissidents’ Strange Bedfellows

Maidhc Ó Cathail

Maidhc Ó Cathail, 3 May 2011

If it’s true that, as Shakespeare famously put it, “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows,” then pro-democracy Arab dissidents must be very miserable indeed.

CyberDissidents.org is a project launched in 2008 by the Jerusalem-based Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies “to research and focus attention on the online activities of democracy advocates and dissidents in the Middle East, in the hope of empowering them at home and raising awareness of their plight abroad.” Until its demise in 2009, the Adelson Institute was located at the Shalem Center, a controversial research institute associated with right wing Zionist causes. Founded in 1994, the Shalem Center was initially funded by its current chairman, Ronald Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune. Lauder is also president of the Jewish National Fund, which promotes ethnic cleansing through planting forests on expropriated Palestinian land. The Adelson Institute was set up in 2007 with a $4.5 million grant from Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who, like Lauder, is a patron and confidante of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Under the direction of Natan Sharansky, the former Israeli minister who resigned his cabinet seat in 2005 in protest over Ariel Sharon’s Gaza disengagement plan, the institute held a “Democracy and Security” conference in Prague in 2007. It brought together Israeli officials; their American neoconservative sympathizers with their favourite Middle Eastern dissidents in tow—most notably, Richard Perle’s Israel-admiring Syrian protégé Farid Ghadry; and the newly-installed Eastern European democrats swept to power in the wake of a wave of neocon-backed “color revolutions,” the latter group presumably serving to inspire the Arab and Iranian participants to emulate them.

One year later, Sharansky’s activist coordinator of democracy programs at the Adelson Institute, David Keyes, co-founded CyberDissidents.org and has served since then as its director. During his visit to the United States in 2009 to present the organization’s mission and progress to pro-Israeli policy-makers, activists and press, Keyes spent “significant time” with ardent Zionist academic Bernard Lewis, an advisory board member to the group during the first two years of its existence. Among his more notable contributions to the Arab world, Lewis introduced the concept of a “Clash of Civilizations” between Islam and Christendom, advocated the “Lebanonization” of the region, and was “perhaps the most significant intellectual influence behind the invasion of Iraq.”

Seemingly undeterred by its Israeli origins, prominent Middle Eastern pro-democracy activists have been recruited by the Adelson Institute’s project for Internet activists. On its advisory board are Egyptian dissident Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the founder of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and the Arab Organization for Human Rights and a board member of the Arab Democracy Foundation, who participated in the Prague conference; and Samer Abu Libdeh, the director of the Interaction Forum, an Amman-based civil society and democracy-promotion organization, and a senior fellow at the Center for Liberty in the Middle East (CLIME). Abu Libdeh also served as a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a think tank created by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

On its website, CyberDissidents.org features provocative articles such as the one entitled “Shocking Videos, Photos, and Tweets from Syria,” which includes amateur videos, digital photographs and tweets from Daraa. It first appeared on The Daily Beast website, where David Keyes also blogs about the human rights abuses of practically every Middle Eastern regime, except the one occupying Palestine. Considering The Daily Beast’s insatiable appetite for Arab freedom, it’s worth noting that its creator Barry Diller, who also launched the Fox TV network, attended a 1983 Manhattan conclave convened to coordinate pro-Israeli political operations in the United States. Incidentally, fellow participant Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief emeritus of The New Republic, not noted for his love of Arabs, lambasted President Obama’s insufficiently enthusiastic support of the Libyan rebels as a “betrayal of the Arab revolution, of an Arab people and of Arab hope.”

Last April, David Keyes attended an event entitled “Cyber-Dissidents and Political Change” sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute. “Inspired by President and Mrs. Bush’s unwavering commitment to freedom for all people,” its website states, “the Bush Institute works to embolden dissidents and freedom advocates, creating a powerful network for moral support and education.” Keyes was one of the featured guests on a TV programme presented by the institute’s executive director, Jim Glassman, who as Bush’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy brought dissidents from around the world to New York for the inaugural Alliance of Youth Movements summit in 2008. The other guests were Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jeffrey Gedmin, formerly a resident scholar at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute and a Project for a New American Century founding signatory; Christopher Walker, director of studies at Freedom House, home to indefatigable pro-Israel democracy promoters like Max Kampelman, Paula Dobriansky and Joshua Muravchik; and former Ha’aretz journalist Bari Weiss, The Wall Street Journal’s assistant editorial features editor with a soft spot for the world’s non-Palestinian dissidents.

Dissidents who put their faith in such improbable champions of Arab freedom would do well to remember the words of Sheldon Adelson. Referring to a conversation he had with Iranian dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar at the Prague conference, the Likudnik casino magnate reportedly said, “I like Fakhravar because he says that, if we attack, the Iranian people will be ecstatic.” But when another Iranian pro-democracy activist disputed that assumption, Adelson candidly responded, “I really don’t care what happens to Iran. I am for Israel.”

Maidhc Ó Cathail

Maidhc Ó Cathail

Maidhc Ó Cathail has written extensively about Israel’s role in the Arab uprisings at The Passionate Attachment blog.