Israel

By Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv and Sarah Baxter, Times

The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.

The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.

“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.

"Privacy Act" Used to Deflect Questions About Former US Representative's Status, Other FreeGaza21 Status

Let's just pretend that you're held by a foreign government.

Here is, according to the US State Department, what our spokesperson claims:

We can’t comment on any of the individuals or the number of individual American citizens on board because of Privacy Act concern. Our Embassy has been in touch with the Israeli authorities. We have been told that the boat was stopped in Israeli waters and is being escorted to an Israeli port, or may have already gone to an Israeli port. We understand passengers are safe and all accounted for. We’re seeking consular access to the American citizens who are on board. And we don’t take any position regarding the Free Gaza Movement or any of its messages.

Oh, I see, "privacy" trumps reality. Never mind US citizenship, let alone more than a decade of service to the nation in Congress.

Nonetheless, former GA Rep. Cynthia McKinney is homeward bound.

Google that headline - the story is everywhere. Biden says Israel has the right as an independent nation to attack the nation of Iran. Of course the planes and bombs would be paid for by the citizens of the United States, but since when does a nation have the right to violate the UN Charter and attack another? Since the US attacked Iraq and got away with it? Does Iran have the same sovereign right to attack Israel? Does Canada have the sovereign right to attack the United States?

Helena Cobban has an appropriate response.

For Once, the Yes Men Say No
by Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno | Common Dreams

The Yes Men, co-directors of the new award-winning documentary film The Yes Men Fix the World, have decided to withdraw their film from the Jerusalem International Film Festival, in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign:

Dear Friends at the Jerusalem Film Festival,

We regret to say that we have taken the hard decision to withdraw our film, "The Yes Men Fix the World," from the Jerusalem Film Festival in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

This decision does not come easily, as we realize that the festival opposes the policies of the State of Israel, and we have no wish to punish
progressives who deplore the state-sponsored violence committed in their name.

This decision does not come easily, as we feel a strong affinity with many people in Israel, sharing with them our Jewish roots, as well as the trauma of the Holocaust, in which both our grandfathers died. Andy lived in Jerusalem for a year long ago, can still get by in Hebrew, and counts several friends there. And Mike has always wanted to connect with the roots of his culture.

Press Update From The Free Gaza Movement
We Will Head Toward Gaza Again

Larnaca, Cypus, July 3, 2009: This morning, the five kidnapped passengers from Bahrain left Israel via a private jet sent by their king. They will hold a press conference in Bahrain tonight at 7 pm Bahrain time. The two Al Jazeera journalists will be freed sometime today, their equipment given back to them but not the footage of the Israeli terrorist frogmen boarding the boat and roughing up some of the passengers.

All passengers are fine, but they are still imprisoned by a country that illegally boarded their small boat, towed it, and confiscated the supplies that had already been inspected in Cyprus.

The following message has come from Captain Denis inside the prison cell in Israel where he is being held, along with 11 more of our passengers, including former Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard on the Palestine Question

Part 1:

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard is an activist, Constitutional Rights attorney, and the cofounder of the Partnership for Civil Justice. She is also the co-chair of the National Lawyers Guild. Ms. Verheyden-Hilliard was one of the speakers at an event entitled, “Viva Palestina: A Lifeline from the U.S. to Gaza.” Click "Read more" to continue video.

One of Cynthia's friend received a phone call from Ramle prison. The incarcerated prisoners are calling themselves "Free Gaza 21" even though Huwaida and Lubna have been released. Below is Cynthia's statement:

We were in international waters on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to people in Gaza when the Israeli Navy ships surrounded us and illegally threatened us, dismantled our navigation equipment, boarded and confiscated the ship.

All of us on board were then taken off the ship and into custody, and brought into Israel and imprisoned. Immigration officials in Israel said they did not want to keep us, but we remain imprisoned. State Department and White House officials have not effected our release or taken a strong public stance to condemn the illegal actions of the Israeli Navy of enforcing a blockade of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians of Gaza, a blockade that has been condemned by President Obama.

Amnesty details Gaza 'war crimes' | BBC

Israel committed war crimes and carried out reckless attacks and acts of wanton destruction in its Gaza offensive, an independent human rights report says.

Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed using high-precision weapons, while others were shot at close range, the group Amnesty International says.

Its report also calls rocket attacks by Palestinian militants war crimes and accuses Hamas of endangering civilians.

The Israeli military says its conduct was in line with international law.

Israel has attributed some civilian deaths to "professional mistakes", but has dismissed wider criticism that its attacks were indiscriminate and disproportionate.

Amnesty says some 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the 22-day Israeli offensive between 27 December 2008 and 17 January 2009, which agrees broadly with Palestinian figures. Read more.

Amnesty Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Gaza
Amnesty accuses Israel, Hamas of war crimes in Gaza offensive
By Amy Teibel, Associated Press Writer | ABCNews

Israeli forces killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and destroyed thousands of Gaza Strip homes in attacks that amounted to war crimes, Amnesty International charged Thursday, in the first in-depth human rights group report on the recent war in Gaza.

Amnesty called on Israel to publicly pledge not to use artillery, white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons in densely populated areas. And it urged Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stop rocket fire against Israeli civilians — attacks it also described as war crimes.

Israel and Hamas both denounced the report as unbalanced. Israel charged that Amnesty "succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization" and Hamas accused the rights group of downplaying the scale of the destruction Israel left behind. Read more.

Dear President Obama,

My friend, Cynthia McKinney and Nobel laureate, Mairead Maguire and 20 other people were trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which, as I understand, is something that you have encouraged Israel to allow.

The Honorable Cynthia McKinney served six terms in the US Congress and she was the Green Party candidate for the office that you eventually won. It is an outrage that the Israeli Navy would block the boat that she and 21 others were on in international waters and board the boat and kidnap the crew and humanitarian aid workers.

President Obama, when an American captain was kidnapped by Somali "pirates" US Navy SEALS were sent in to rescue him. He was the captain of a private, for profit, ship and the US military was used to rescue him.

Rescue the Spirit of Humanity
By Shalom Rav | Jewschool

The humanitarian situation in Gaza has grown beyond intolerable. If you have any doubts, just read this devastatingly important article by Sara Roy, senior research scholar at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies:

Today, 96 percent of Gaza’s population of 1.4 million is dependent on humanitarian aid for basic needs. According to the World Food Programme, the Gaza Strip requires a minimum of 400 trucks of food every day just to meet the basic nutritional needs of the population. Yet, despite a 22 March decision by the Israeli cabinet to lift all restrictions on foodstuffs entering Gaza, only 653 trucks of food and other supplies were allowed entry during the week of May 10, at best meeting 23 percent of required need.

Israel now allows only 30 to 40 commercial items to enter Gaza compared to 4,000 approved products prior to June 2006. According to the Israeli journalist, Amira Hass, Gazans still are denied many commodities (a policy in effect long before the December assault): Building materials (including wood for windows and doors), electrical appliances (such as refrigerators and washing machines), spare parts for cars and machines, fabrics, threads, needles, candles, matches, mattresses, sheets, blankets, cutlery, crockery, cups, glasses, musical instruments, books, tea, coffee, sausages, semolina, chocolate, sesame seeds, nuts, milk products in large packages, most baking products, light bulbs, crayons, clothing, and shoes.

What possible benefit can be derived from an increasingly impoverished, unhealthy, densely crowded, and furious Gaza alongside Israel? Gaza’s terrible injustice not only threatens Israeli and regional security, but it undermines America’s credibility, alienating our claim to democratic practice and the rule of law. Read more.

Part 1:

George Galloway, British MP, spoke out strongly in support of the cause of a free Palestine. He ripped into Israel’s military siege of Gaza, along with its ongoing blockade, which continues to put 1.7 million of its residents at grave risk to their health and safety. Galloway said the people of Gaza “are locked up.” He also traced the history of Palestine, the evils of the British Empire and the massive crime of Colonialism. He referred to Israel as “an Apartheid State.” The event, entitled, “Viva Palestina: A Lifeline from the U.S. to Gaza,” was held on the campus of American U., in Washington, D.C., on Sunday evening, June 28, 2009. It was a fundraiser “for a special U.S. convoy, which will travel from New York City to Egypt before making its way across the Rafah border into Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid,” according to the organizer’s press release. Galloway, who is also an author, is in the finest tradition of another legendary British MP, and champion of justice, liberty and humanity--John Wilkes. Check out: GeorgeGalloway.com.

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society, served as the moderator of the affair. For more info on this fundraiser, its sponsors and the critically important convoy to Gaza, see the links to the side of each video at YouTube.

EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION
Against Israeli Piracy & Kidnapping
Free Cynthia McKinney and all kidnapped human rights workers!

WEDNESDAY 4-6 PM

at the

ISRAELI MISSION - Consulate General of Israel in New York Map
800 Second Avenue
(Second Avenue @ 43rd St.)
New York City, NY 10017
(212) 499-5000

• Free Gaza Live - provided GPS updates.
• Twitter Updates: Free Gaza Twitter; IsraelConsulate Twitter
• Dublin Protest Tomorrow
• ABC News: Israeli Navy Commandeers Gaza Aid Boat
• al Jazerra Report: Israel stops aid ship to Gaza
• CBS News: Activist: Israeli Navy Turns Back Gaza Aid Boat
• China View: AL Chief condemns Israeli offensive on "Spirit of Humanity"
• CNN: Israel navy intercepts boat with ex-U.S. Rep. McKinney
• Fox News: Cynthia McKinney Demands Immediate Release After Her Gaza-Bound Boat is Seized by Israeli Navy
• Huff Po: Cynthia McKinney On Board Gaza Aid Boat Intercepted By Israeli Navy
• Int'l JPost: Free Gaza boat stopped by Navy
• Jordan Times: Peace activists set sail for besieged coastal enclave
• MSNBC: Israeli navy commandeers Gaza aid boat
• Palestine Telegraph: The Spirit of HUMANITY's 21 and the Spirit that Preceded it
• Reuters: Israeli navy takes control of activist ship to Gaza
• Flicker gallery containing pictures of the boats and the deplorable conditions being endured by the Palestinian people.

Last night, Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

By Free Gaza Team

[23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30pm] - Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

Israel threatens to shoot international activists | Press TV

The postwar humanitarian crisis in Gaza takes a turn for the worse with the Israeli Navy intercepting a relief ship headed toward the coastal strip.

A group of 21 activists sailing to Gaza said Tuesday that Israeli forces had threatened to gun down their boat unless they changed direction.

"There is a patrol boat around us and we were told that if we did not turn back they would open fire," Reuters quoted Irish activist Derek Graham as saying.

"We are continuing our course to Gaza," he added.

The Free Gaza Movement activists had left the Cypriot port of Larnaca earlier on Monday to deliver three tons of medical supplies, some tool kits and copper wiring to Gaza.

The activists onboard included an Irish Nobel peace laureate and a former US congresswoman. Read more.

Author Naomi Klein calls for boycott of Israel
From Agence France-Presse via Canada.com

BILIN, West Bank - Bestselling author Naomi Klein on Friday took her call for a boycott of Israel to the occupied West Bank village of Bilin, where she witnessed Israeli forces clashing with protesters.

"It's a boycott of Israeli institutions, it's a boycott of the Israeli economy," the Canadian writer told journalists as she joined a weekly demonstration against Israel's controversial separation wall.

"Boycott is a tactic . . . we're trying to create a dynamic which was the dynamic that ultimately ended apartheid in South Africa," said Klein, the author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

"It's an extraordinarily important part of Israel's identity to be able to have the illusion of Western normalcy," the Canadian writer and activist said.

"When that is threatened, when the rock concerts don't come, when the symphonies don't come, when a film you really want to see doesn't play at the Jerusalem film festival . . . then it starts to threaten the very idea of what the Israeli state is." Read more.

Tomgram: Ira Chernus, West Bank Settler Violence and the Path to Peace | TomDispatch.com

Palestinian Violence Overstated, Jewish Violence Understated: Time to Change the Story
By Ira Chernus

The Israel Project hired pollster Stanley Greenberg to test American opinion on the Middle East conflict -- and got a big surprise. In September 2008, 69% of Americans called themselves pro-Israel. Now, it's only 49%. In September, the same 69% wanted the U.S. to side with Israel; now, only 44%.

How to explain this dramatic shift? Greenberg himself suggested the answer years ago when he pointed out that, in politics, "a narrative is the key to everything." Last year the old narrative about the Middle East conflict was still dominant: Israel is an innocent victim, doing only what it must do to defend itself against the Palestinians. Today, that narrative is beginning to lose its grip on Americans.

Well, to be more precise, the first part of the old narrative is eroding. Nearly half the American public seems unsure that Israel is still the good guy in the Middle East showdown. But the popular image of the Palestinians as the violent bad guy is apparently as potent as ever. The number of Americans who say they support Palestine remains unchanged from last September, a mere 7%. And only 5% want the U.S. government to take such a position.

Taliban defectors: US, Israel funding militants | Press TV

Two militants' leaders who defected from notorious Taliban chief in Pakistan have revealed that their comrade was pursuing a US-Israeli agenda across the country.

A prominent militant leader, Turkistan Bittani, who broke away from Baitullah Mehsud, called him "an American agent".

Mehsud, a warlord in his late 30s, has claimed responsibility for dozens of devastating string attacks on both civilians and security forces throughout the feared region.

Moreover, Baetani emphasized that Mehsud was being funded by US and Israeli intelligence services for brainwashing innocent youths.

The insurgents' chief has recruited several teenagers who have carried out dozens of suicide attacks on Pakistani mosques and educational institutes over some past months. Read more.

By Ann Wright

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making a major foreign policy speech at Tel Aviv university on June 14, 2009, Israeli police outside the university attacked international protesters of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, illegal settlements and the apartheid wall.

Heavy handed police treatment of the CODEPINK: Women for Peace delegation began immediately after members of the group unfurled several pink banners that read “Free Gaza” and “End the Occupation.” CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin and New York activist Zool Zulkowitz were physically dragged across the street from their original protest site next to the entrance gate to Bar Ilan University where audience members and press entered the university complex to attend the speech.

Poll: Half of Israelis back bombing if needed to stop Iran nukes | CNN

Roughly half of Israelis support bombing Iran's nuclear facilities if international efforts fail to stop the Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons, according to a Hebrew University poll released Sunday.

Some 52 percent of Israelis say the country should bomb Iran's nuclear reactor, while 35 percent are against, the poll found. The margin of error in the poll of Israelis is 4.5 percentage points.

Palestinians are somewhat more evenly divided, with 43 percent saying a nuclear Iran would be good for the Arab world and 33 percent saying it would be bad, according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, which conducted the poll along with Hebrew University. The margin of error for the Palestinian sample is 3 percentage points. Read more.

Israeli War Crimes Against Children During Operation Cast Lead
By Stephen Lendman

Following Israel's Operation Cast Lead, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) documented the toll on Gaza's children and published it in May. It did so "in response to the unprecedented number of children who were killed (and injured) by (the Israeli Defense Forces) during the offensive on Gaza." According to international standards, the Convention on the Rights of the Child's (CRC) definition was used to apply to anyone under age 18.

Ezra Nawi: An Activist in Need
by Naomi Klein /Noam Chomsky /Neve Gordon | Common Dreams | Jewish Voices for Peace

Every so often someone comes along who is so brave and so inspiring that you just can't sit by and remain silent when you learn they need your help.

We're writing to you today about one of these rare people.

His name is Ezra Nawi.

You've probably never heard of him, but because you may know our names, now you will know his name.

Ezra Nawi is one of Israel's most courageous human rights activists and without your help, he will likely go to jail in less than 30 days.

His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region. These homes and the families who live in them have been under Israeli occupation for 42 years. They still live without electricity, running water and other basic services. They are continuously harassed by Jewish settlers and the military.

Nawi's friends have launched a campaign to generate tens of thousands of letters to Israeli embassies all over the world before he is due to be sentenced in July. They've asked for your help.

Code Pinkers and other activists for peace in Gaza protests the AHAVA brand and at the Erez Crossing. See many more photos of protest actions and Israeli destruction of Palestine here.

US: support for Israel 'unshakable' | al Jazeera

The US envoy to the Middle East has reaffirmed Washington's "unshakable" support for Israel despite public differences over the continued building of Israeli settlements.

George Mitchell, who met Israeli leaders on Tuesday, sought to reassure them that "we are two allies, two friends, and our commitment to Israel's security is unshakeable".

"And I want you to know we come here to talk not as adversaries in disagreement but as friends in discussion," he told Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

"We recognise that the issues are complex and many. But we hope that we're going to work our way through them to achieve the objective that we share with you, and that is peace security and prosperity throughout the region."Read more.

On Monday, June 8, 2009, exactly 42 years after the USS Liberty (GTR-5) was attacked, in international waters off the coast of Sinai by Israel, members of the USS Liberty Veterans Association were at the U.S. Navy Memorial, in downtown Washington, D.C. Their purpose was to present a model of the vessel to the institution for it to be maintained on permanent display. Accepting the USS Liberty model on behalf of the U.S. Navy Memorial was its CEO, Rear Admiral Edward K.

US ship survivors tell Press TV of Israeli attack | Press TV

A deadly Israeli attack on a US ship -- an incident largely kept in the dark by Washington -- receives new attention with survivors reliving the painful memory.

USS Liberty survivors gathered in Washington on Monday to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the incident and expound on how they were sprayed with bullets by America's "closest ally and beneficiary".

On June 8, 1967, the unarmed spy ship USS Liberty was on duty in international waters off the Sinai Peninsula when it was bombarded by Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats.

The two-hour-long attacks killed at least 34 sailors, wounded 173 others and nearly sunk the ship.

The attack on the Liberty came at a time when Israel had engaged in a brief but intense war with Egypt and its Arab allies, which coincided with the US war on Vietnam.

Although the ship was clearly marked as an American vessel, Israelis declared the attack on Liberty as a simple case of "friendly fire" and "mistaken identity". Read more.