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Israel's targets in Gaza
Published 06 January 2009
Ben White looks at some of the objects of Israel's military onslaught in Gaza - an attack that has already cost hundreds of civilian lives
In just the first six days of ‘Operation Cast Lead’, the Israeli Air Force carried out more than 500 sorties against targets in the Gaza Strip. That meant an attack from the air roughly every 18 minutes for almost a week - not counting hundreds of helicopter attacks, tank and navy shelling, and infantry raids. At the time of writing, the operation was into its 10th day.
That's an intense number of attacks for a territory of similar size to the city of Seattle.
No surprise then that the casualty figures are high: to date, more than 500 Palestinians dead with thousands injured. Moreover, many of the ‘targets’ struck by Israel seem to be of dubious military value. Indeed, by last Saturday, there was talk of Israel ‘running out’ of targets.
Even in the first wave of airstrikes, one of the most high profile hits was a police graduation ceremony.
Because these were so-called ‘Hamas police’ there was some debate about the legitimacy of the target.
As the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem put it, the dozens of Palestinians killed had been studying “first-aid, handling of public disturbances, human rights, public-safety exercises, and so forth”.
The graduates would then have been “assigned to various arms of the police force in Gaza responsible for maintaining public order”. B’Tselem emphasises that “an intentional attack on a civilian target is a war crime”.
Could it be that in reality Israel has had few genuinely high value targets to hit in Gaza?
So far the government ministries destroyed have included those for education, transportation, housing, as well as the parliament, while Israel has also attacked a university, money changers, civilian apartment blocks, harbours, a bird farm, and a television station.
The Israeli military also hit at mosques, killing departing worshippers, and even destroyed the American International School, killing the caretaker.
The same school had previously been the focus of anti-US violence, though this time around (with the school actually levelled) those who had previously pointed fingers at ‘fundamentalist’ Palestinian vandals have been curiously quiet.
Meanwhile - as part of its media management - Israel has largely prevented the international media from entering the Gaza Strip.
Many analysts and commentators still simply accept Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) statements as gospel, and repeat verbatim the claims that only ‘weapons caches’, ‘tunnels’, or ‘rocket launching sites’, have been targeted. Furthermore, the IDF has apparently used its own video footage of attacks to lie about civilian casualties, both this time around and in the past.
And both the high proportion of civilian targets and the comparatively weak response by Hamas make the level of menace assigned to Hamas by Israeli propaganda look, well, somewhat questionable.
Even taking the Israeli government and IDF at their word about the operation’s objectives, the targets struck thus far are of dubious strategic merit.
If the aim is to destroy Hamas, this is clearly a fantasy. For some Palestinians, the assault on the Gaza Strip will have only consolidated or increased their support for the organisation, but more importantly, you don’t weaken a socio-religious political movement with F-16s and drones (although apparently in the best colonial tradition, you may ‘teach them a lesson’, according to Shimon Peres).
In which case, Israel may well have a different kind of aim for ‘Operation Cast Lead’. The head of the UN’s relief agency in Gaza, John Ging, was reported to have accused Israel of deliberately targeting infrastructure necessary for the governance of Gaza:
"The whole infrastructure of the future state of Palestine is being destroyed," he said. "Blowing up the parliament building. That’s the parliament of Palestine. That’s not a Hamas building. The president's compound is for the president of Palestine."
A Gazan businessman wrote on the Guardian website that post-operation, “it will be extraordinarily difficult for Palestinians, particularly Gazans, to rebuild and develop their institutions of civil service”, before observing that “perhaps this is what Israel's anti-peace camp is after; an end to the persistence of Gaza's ordinary people in wanting the chance of a peaceful and dignified life”.
Mustafa Barghouti has also noted that the choice of targets in Gaza indicates Israel is “hoping to create anarchy in the Strip by removing the pillar of law and order”.
It is thus reminiscent of the general thrust of then-PM Ariel Sharon’s policies as typified in 2002’s ‘Operation Defensive Shield’ which targeted the day-to-day institutions and symbols of the Palestinian Authority.
Finally, it is worth pointing out that the popular discourse regarding Hamas and the Gaza Strip for some years in the West has helped prepare the way for Israel to strike civilian targets and claim self-defence against ‘terrorist infrastructure’.
From the refusal to accept the results of the democratic Palestinian elections to the endless repetition of Israeli propaganda about the unreciprocated ‘good will’ of the so-called ‘disengagement’ in 2005, the Gaza Strip has been signed off as a teeming ‘Hamastan’ of targets just desperate to be martyred.
An IDF spokesperson has said that: "Anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target", the kind of logic that even the BBC mentioned is an echo of Hamas’ own justification for attacking Israeli civilians on the basis they serve in the army.
In the context of the Gaza Strip - where Hamas as the governing authority is naturally involved with everything from food distribution to medical clinics, and from higher education institutes to parking fines - it now seems every Palestinian is in the crosshairs.
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This article was originally published on newstatesman.com at 11:56 on 06 January 2009
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56 comments from readers
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Carl Jones
06 January 2009 at 12:30 Israel is a FAILED STATE which itns that remarkable in these times, which seen the failure of democracy and capitalism.
There are those who claim Israel had a hand in the creation of Hamas and that if Hamas didn`t exist, then Israel would need to create it, much like the UK/US created "al Qaeda".
With Palistinian leaders being poisoned from within, we know that Israel has more influence/control over Hamas/others, than they would like you to know.
I suspect there will be a major false flag attack against Israel and this will give Obama his "new crisis" (Joe Biden comment). The future looks very bleak and Obama will deliver the NWO pretext for more war.
There are no MSM hacks in Gaza, but there is strong evidene that cluster bombs, white phosphours bombs and thermobarbaric bombs are being used by Israel...the only way Israel can avoid charges of war crimes, would be if they suffered, what appeared to be a much more shocking (false flag) attack,
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FreedomLand
06 January 2009 at 12:50 Ben White: "Anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target" .....an echo of Hamas’ own justification for attacking Israeli civilians on the basis they serve in the army..."
That may be so and some of the IDF personnel there now had once lived in settlements around Gaza which were demolished by their own government..... but they can still apaprently only see their side of the situation:-
'We lost our homes for nothing,' says reservist from former Gaza settlement - "Three years after being evacuated from settlements in the Gaza Strip, some of the evacuees are now returning - in uniform..." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052596.html
But for the Palestinians, they ARE Hamas now and they are indivisible - although not all "serve" in any military sense. Thus it is hopeless to assume that there will be any real breakdown of "law and order" or that Palestinians will either betray Hamas or beg Israel for anything.
That should be obvious as (a) Hamas has long functioned as a local government authority providing all the community services, (b) Hamas IS the elected government of the Palestinians, and (c) Hamas always accepted a potential peace agreement based on a two-state arrangement.
The ones who have the real problems are actually the Israelis who are sore that Hamas was democratically elected and they want to use it as a whipping boy to focus the attention of Israeli citizens away from the mess their politicians have made of things since the almost disatrous invasion of Lebanon in 2006. And there is also an election looming for Israelis with no good news on the economic front either.
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Claddach
06 January 2009 at 12:52 The responsibility of Israel for the outbreak and widening of this war has been proven so clearly that it does not need to be talked about any further. The Jews wanted war, and now they have it. But Mahmoud Zahar's prophecy of 4 January in a televised broadcast will also be fulfilled: If the Jews should succeed in plunging the world into war once again, the result will be not the removal of Hamas and thereby the victory of the Jews, but rather they have legitimised the murder of their own children.
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Claddach
06 January 2009 at 13:06 Just a follow up to my previous post. Too many comparisons are being made between the Nazis and Hamas. Mainly to the detriment of Hamas. Well Hitler never made total extermination of the Jews an official plank of the Nazi party platform. The Hamas founding covenant explicitly calls for the extermination of all Jews. Here is a translation of the Hamas covenant “The Prophet, Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him, says: “The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews.”
In other words, Hamas is not committed merely to the political goal of expelling Jews from the land of Israel but to what they believe is a sacred religious goal of exterminating all Jews everywhere behind every tree in creation. Hitler, Goebbels and all those other pansy Nazis couldn't hold a candle to Hamas.
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FreedomLand
06 January 2009 at 14:35 Claddach, the only person making comparisons "between the Nazis and Hamas" is you. That might be because for Westerners there is a huge guilt complex associated with fellow Europeans and the Jewish persecution of WW2. Sadly, that cannot ever be assuaged by victimizing the non-Jewish Palestinians to please the founders of the fake state of Israel.
Nor does the modern Israel bear any resemblance to either the Holy Land of 1,000 years ago as the supposed Christian crusaders inflicted themselves upon it - or the Roman Caananite puppet state of 2,000 years ago. Today the Israelis themselves are split and opposed to each other as the refugee Sepharads and Ashkenazes contend with the original Jewish Semites and they are all overwhelmed by the white "settler society" that has been created since the arrival of the Russian Jewish (Lubavich) economic migrants in the past few decades.
They now have little relation with either Hitler or Jesus, one way or another. You also obviously have little understanding of Hamas or Islam except to smear them as they suffer. Some research on the Assurah and the history of Karbala would help you understand the real motivations of self-sacrifice and martyrdom they actually uphold even to the cost of their own lives for the sake of their people. In comparison, neither you nor those simpering Western politicians are in any way upholding any genuine Christian values.
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BardoBaltico
06 January 2009 at 17:43 It is nauseating to read the Nazi crimes against humanity dragged into the current situation. Neither Islam nor the Palestinians had anything to do with that.
In giving in to Zionist terrorism under the impression of the revelation of the Nazi crimes, a nascent UN created a monster, when it allowed the Zionists to drive the Palestinians from their homes and their country in order to create the state of Israel, which in its first manifestation was purely racist: only Jews were eligible as citicens.
Israel has remained a crime, rather than becoming a viable state in the area. I believe that a redress of that tragic mistake by the UN is long overdue.
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Claddach
06 January 2009 at 20:29 Dateline: January 3rd 1944
Fury continues to mount worldwide about the senseless loss of civilian life in Germany caused by England's callous bombing of German cities including Berlin, Hamburg and Dresden.
As of today many innocent German women and children have died in these utterly brutal bombing missions. And now there are ground offensives starting on mainland Europe.
The English have claimed that they are merely retaliating against the V-1 flying bombs being launched indiscriminately by Nazis at their civilian population in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry and other cities. The English point out that their enemy is sworn to its utter destruction and has used the missiles and flying bombs against its civilians without any regard to English loss of life. Moreover it makes the case that their own bombing missions are specifically directed to military targets that the German army has intentionally planted in the heart of civilian populations to try and deter English counter-attacks.
These points may of course be true - but they are utterly besides the point.
Of course England has a right to exist. Of course England has a right to defend itself. But it should ensure that its responses are PROPORTIONATE.
Since many more Germans are dying than English - the English should either tone down the success and accuracy of their bombing - or allow the Germans to catch up on the death count.
To be honest - if more English women and children were dying - we wouldn't feel quite so bad about the number of Germans dying. But it's just so UNFAIR that more Germans are dying...
Perhaps some English people could arrange to kill themselves to match the number of Germans dying as a result of the English retaliation bombing? It would be so considerate - and it might help England's critics feel less miserable about the number of Nazis dying. Something that is causing them so much concern.
It would also put paid to that wretched proportionality argument.
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Carl Jones
06 January 2009 at 22:51 The book, "Hitler was a British Agent", claims that Hitler was farthered by a Rothschild and was therefore a Jew. The above book has never been challenged in the courts, or by the MSM.
Of course, if Hitler was a Jew and a British agent, then nothing can be taken, as it appears.
As others have said, even if there is a point to the Nazi`s, Hitler and Palistinians outlined above, its not applicable to the war crimes being committed by Israel.
Gaza is in effect, a prison camp. In Saturday`s Times, they had a headline claiming that Israel was allowing foreigners to leave before the gound offensive....this is a "WAR CRIME"....in fact, its also GENOCIDE. General Kimmits committed the same war crime in Fallujah.
I think some of the arguments above are more about creating decoys, like the International whining for a ceasefire....when the reality is, the International community should be demanding a trade/financial blockade of Israel....but even with the US on its knees and about to beg the world for investment, you`d think the International ommunity would have, or maybe they don`t want to use this as a lever on US policy.
This is just another indication of the shocking NWO conspiracy that afflicts our sorry, sad world. I often have this thrown in my face, "government, NGO`s and corporations couldn`t organise a piss-up in a brewery", but if this were true, then our world would surely improve. Because, I think that 90%+ of the world`s people are good people. Of course, I don`t accept this chaos argument.
The other day, a senior UN spokes person said Israel should be investigated, now they`ve hit a UN run school, like the US hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade...maybe the Russian`s should hit the Capitol building on January 20th and say "oops, we are really sorry"...we can live in hope.LOL
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Carl Jones
06 January 2009 at 23:34 Here`s an interesting link and shows the power of NWO censorship.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/01/what_is_reall....
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 00:15 Carl Jones: "...creating decoys, like the International whining for a ceasefire.... should be demanding a trade/financial blockade of Israel..."
Finance used to be the Jewish strong suit, Carl, until the Madoff scandal which must have cost Israel's backers in the business community an awful lot as a result of his US$50 billion swindle. One would think that the world's fawning politicians would have woken up and discovered that they can no longer be so easily punished financially or economically for criticizing Israel in future, uhh.....
Quote: "Madoff is at the center of "the largest investor swindle ever blamed on a single individual."..... The news that broke today on the front pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reverberated in Jewish communities across the world. "A lot of Jewish charities had investments with him," one prominent investor -- who said he had no connection to Madoff -- told The Jewish Journal. "So did a lot of Jews...." http://www.jewishjournal.com/united_states/article/is_bernie...
NEW YORK — "Of all the words that have been used to describe the Bernard L. Madoff scandal, the most emotionally charged may be "Jewish." The disgraced investment guru is accused of orchestrating a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that preyed heavily on fellow Jews and ultimately drained the fortunes of numerous Jewish charities and institutions. There's nothing new about con artists targeting their own kind. There's even a word for it - affinity fraud - and it has struck numerous religious, ethnic and professional groups. But the allegations against Madoff are particularly wrenching for some in the Jewish community, who fear that the sensational case is fanning vicious stereotypes about Jews that go back to the Middle Ages..." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/25/some-jews-fear-mado...
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antileft
07 January 2009 at 03:14 ""You can`t swindle all of the people ALL of the time, but you an swindle ALL of the people at one time" Carl Jones 7th January 2007...LOL"
Oh dear, Carl, youve been on about this for two years?! Whenre you going to stop fantasizing and get a job?!
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gez pearce
07 January 2009 at 06:12 Claddarch
there is no comparison between Hams and the nazis
Hamas i a religeous organisation and nazis secular even pagen.
Also the Nazi believed in a darwinism approach to life "the survival of the fitness", that is not found in the muslim religion.
Also there are many exteme websites such as the BNP who support Isreal and despise the Muslims.
Also look up the history of Hamas
You will find out it was supported in early days by Isreali intelligence, so to undermine the more secular FATAH.
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antileft
07 January 2009 at 06:19 I wouldnt worry about it, gez. Idiots always try to call people they disagree with "the same as hitler!"
Bush: Saddam is the same as hitler.
Lefties: Bush is the same as hitler.
Claddarch: Hamas is the same as the nazis.
Yup. It's easy. Every idiot says the same thing.
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sweety
07 January 2009 at 06:24 Well I thought the fat, piggy, airforce mate of the Fuhrer looked a bit like Hams!..............................................................
Also the Nazi believed in a darwinism approach to life "the survival of the fitness", that is not found in the muslim religion.
...........................................
gez you really must read Darwin he was one of the world's greatest humanists, and said nothing about the survivial of the fittest. Swot up on the Koran while you are at it.
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sweety
07 January 2009 at 06:41 Excellent piece by Ben White. He might also have pointed out that wiping out the police will make it much harder for Hamas to enforce a ceasefire;
It will make it much harder for them to dip their hands in the blood of a captured Israeli soldier as well like last time!
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 08:34 Israel denies use of phosphorus shells.....
Better find out who this IDF spokesperson is - Capt. Benjamin Rutland - he is obviously another loose screw from the Australian Jewish community desperate to prove their loyalty to the great state of Israel, uhh.
IDF VLOG UPDATE: Ground Forces Enter Gaza - Capt. Benjamin Rutland - 3 Jan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZ2E_Tr8Hk
He has just made an incredible media statement on attempting to justify Israel's use of phoshorus weapons against Gazans. I am waiting for someone to upload that so that it can be scrutinized ( http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk or a Google search?). No wonder that the Australian government has been so lame in realistically criticizing the Israeli assault and invasion when it is itself indirectly exporting these kinds of war crimes to the Middle East.
In the meantime, there was another comment by IDF spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich lying about international laws regarding the use of such weapons against civilians - but Israel has already done so in Lebanon in 2006 - and was merely following what the USA did in Fallujah, Iraq 2003-04..... Israel denies use of phosphorus shells on "Gaza war rages as Palestinian toll hits 660" (video) http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1004390/-Gaza-war-rages-a...
Also see New Statesman: Captain Benjamin Rutland of the Israel Defense Forces responds to an article by Matthew Holehouse on the Marva and Gadna programmes http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2007/09/israel-pro...
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Gideon Polya
07 January 2009 at 09:27 Hamas was overwhelmingly elected (76 out of 132 seats) in democratic elections in the Occupied Palestinian Territory held under the guns of the Occupier, Apartheid Israel (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas ).
Apartheid Israel and its Western backers (US, UK, EU and racist White Australia) have declared the democratically elected Indigenous Palestinian Hamas government "terrorist" and "fair game" for imprisonment and now mass killing, regardless of "collateral" civilian deaths in one of the most densely populated parts of the Planet.
What is missing from public discussion in the generally racist, lying, anti-Arab anti-Semitic, pro-Zionist Mainstream media in the Western Murdochracies is sensible analysis of Apartheid Israel's ostensible motive of "stopping Gaza rockets and mortars".
Thus Gaza violent deaths so far total about 700 in 12 DAYS (plus circa 700 non-violent deaths from deprivation based on Iraq comparison ) versus 20 Israeli deaths from Gaza rockets (plus 8 deaths from Gaza mortars) i.e. 28 Israeli deaths from Gaza missiles in EIGHT YEARS since the Second Intifada began.
However the endlessly lying racist Zionists (RZs) argue that it is not the ACTUAL DEATHS that matter but the "TERROR" - but "terror" is, one supposes, directly related to "homicides" and the "actual risk of being killed".
Thus 21st century "annual homicide rate" in deaths per million of population is 0.5 (Israelis from Gaza missiles), 15 (Israelis by Israelis), 56 (Americans), 100 (Americans by guns), 164 (Palestinians killed violently by Israelis), 200 (African-Americans), 473 (citizens of Detroit, Michigan, USA) and 902 per million (annual Palestinian non-violent deaths through war criminal, Geneva Convention-violating Israeli-imposed deprivation).
The US Air Force should bomb African-American Detroit for a 1000-times greater "annual homicide rate" for "Detroit" than for "Israelis from Gaza missiles"?
Everyone should oppose Zionist racism, lying and mass murder.
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 09:55 # Pencils: "...that's very interesting on Rubin..... both scandals are dwarfed by the biggest fraud of them all - the bailout..."
# Carl Jones: "...we are being thrown crumbs (Madoff), while the NWO runs off with nearly $9 trillion....its like taking candy from a baby..."
Yes, we are being asked to pay TWICE for just about everything that we ever bought in the last several years (decades?) and especially for any kind of investments or real estate, duh. You only live twice - and twice is "the only way to live"...??? LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21poI4ZmIRU ("...with each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War, Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island in order to find the perpetrators and comes face to face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE..... each country thinking that the other is the cause of their loss, the world is thrown to the brink of World War III." - Wiki). So, what's new.....
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 09:56 And another one from Down Under: Australian Jews condemn Israel's attack on Gaza - "MORE than 100 Australian Jews have condemned Israel's invasion of Gaza, describing the action as "inhuman" and "abominable." They include two authors and a former federal minister. "We are Australian Jews who join thousands in Israel and around the world condemning ongoing Israeli military attacks on Gaza," the signatories said in a statement today. "Together with Israeli peace group Gush Shalom, we condemn the current war as 'inhuman, superfluous' and 'abominable."'
The group, which includes the Australian environment minister from 1972-1975 Moss Cass, novelists Linda Jaivin and Sara Dowse and Australian Greens politician Ian Cohen, acknowledged Israel's right to protect itself. But it said rockets launched from the Palestinian territory into Israel could not be used to justify the "grossly disproportionate military assault on Gaza," saying Israel had violated a fragile truce with Hamas in November. The group said the Israeli attacks would not bring about peace..... The statement was rejected by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council as ill-informed and indifferent to Israel's suffering...' http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24879206-...
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Carl Jones
07 January 2009 at 10:02 Gideon, since the start on 2009, 57% of Gaza deaths have have been children.
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Carl Jones
07 January 2009 at 10:07 Pencils, I should have been clearer, the bailouts are part of the swindle and in many previous comments I have stated this. I also believe the entire financial crisis was designed and again, previously stated. :)
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 11:24 Israel denies use of phosphorus shells.....
"Israeli Defence spokesman Captain Benjamin Rutland speaks to SBS (Australia) about Israeli presence in Gaza" http://player.sbs.com.au/naca/#/naca/wna/Latest/playlist/Ben...
Starts with the attacks on UN schools ("...the responsibility is entirely with the Hamas..."), aid issues then discusses white phosphorus weapons against Gaza from around 2.08 min+ ("...I can't specify exactly which weapons were used..... but our use conforms with international law .....I can confirm that the use of phosphorus is not being used as a weapon of war...")
Someone might like to upload this online news interview and make a transcript as it expressly implies that there is NO war and that the IDF is merely cooking their dinner with phosphorus artillery shells, uhh. But they ARE using weapons and they are attacking and invading a civilian population..... thus they ARE using phosphorus as a weapon (in this 'war')..... and Rutland has just confirmed that "...phosphorus..... weapons were used..."!!!
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ikotubo
07 January 2009 at 13:51 Let's be sure about one thing: Israel's ghastly atrocities against a helpless people (save me the lies about "Palestinian terrorism") is only possible because of the strong support it receives from Western rulers (particularly American and EU ones) who, clearly, no longer believe that Israel is capable of being wrong. Much of the blame also goes to the Arab world itself, whose tyrannical rulers are too corrupt to exercise independent judgement. And the result is that none of these rulers can bring themselves even to condemn the slaughter of children in a UN school.
The sad irony is that if the world had adopted this same supportive attitude towards Hitler, Israel itself would not exist today.
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 14:05 Gideon Polya: "Apartheid Israel and its Western backers (US, UK, EU and racist White Australia) have declared the democratically elected Indigenous Palestinian Hamas government "terrorist" and "fair game" for imprisonment and now mass killing..."
Ahh, this IS the point that I wanted to make about the Israeli government and IDF spokespersons I commented about earlier who are/were actually born in or grew up in Australia. Mark Redev and Benjamin Rutland clearly make use of their white-is-right "settler society" fantasyland upbringing in formulating their own much-appreciated responses, comments and statements.
That Israel has now significantly become a settler society itself with the 'white' Russian Jewish migrant clique dominating says a lot in itself. It is also very easy for them to then plug into the warped mindsets of white settler society USA and white settler society Australia with its "tera nullius" legalistic outlook on denying indigenous peoples' rights for their craven support and financial backing.
From there, it is an easy step to simply just kill them all over the ensuing years (two thirds have already been driven away since 1948) and to pretend that they never existed. As the UN has already endorsed this genocide for the sake of forcing a settlement of a couple of million European Jewish refugees in the past, it is embarrassingly difficult for them to admit their disastrous error.
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mitchy
07 January 2009 at 14:21 Here we go again then, another episode in the whole nauseating saga. I find myself so weary of seeing dead children being carried through bombed out streets by grieving parents, that I can hardly muster the anger to shout at the TV about it any more.
Just a thought, but does anyone else think that there's a race on, for the Jews to kills as many Palestinians as possible before Obama takes the chair? I'm not holding my breath, but I really hope he takes a positive stance on this and gets them well told.
It is a great tragedy, that given how the Jews suffered during WW2 they have well and truly lost their moral high ground in this conflict.
How the oppressed have become the oppressors...
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 14:29 mitchy: "How the oppressed have become the oppressors..."
Especially as regards the suffering of the children this Christmas/New Year holiday season, take a look at what a carefree existence is maintained by one whining (white) group at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean whilst another group is brutally oppressed and their children terrified, maimed or murdered. This advertisement appeared on the Haaretz website along with other, more grim, news - http://www.globalmedia.co.il/kimama_2009/kimama_haaretz.asp
But, according to Ms. Yosefa Loshitzky:- "Operation Cast Lead" .....chosen by Israel for its murderous and criminal attack on Gaza. The name is borrowed from a Hebrew nursery rhyme..... popular among Israeli children in the 1950s. In this song, a father promises to his child a special Hannukah gift: "a cast lead sevivon." Sevivon, in Hebrew (dreidel in Yiddish) is a four-sided spinning top, played with during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah..... Operation Cast Lead is not the first (and unfortunately, will not be the last) of Israel's cruel war games....
The cynicism embedded in the name, selected for what Ari Shavit, one of Israel's most celebrated commentators, called "an intelligent, impressive operation," is symptomatic to the cold, meticulous and calculated cruelty with which this attack was "designed," "executed" and "marketed" to the world. As the perpetrators themselves proudly boast, Operation Cast Lead is not only a great military victory but also a success story of Israeli hasbara (meaning in Hebrew, explanation, but practically referring to misinformation, spin and lies)....
The sanitized language of the western media calls it "a disproportionate reaction." But the ground zero that it creates for the Palestinians, who, over the last decades, have achieved the dubious honor of becoming the world's quintessential victims, should be a "shock and awe" for any person who has not, as yet, lost his or her basic humanity and sense of justice..."
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mitchy
07 January 2009 at 16:17 @ Freedomland: Just had a look at the first link you posted - how lovely, the grass certainly is greener on the other side of the separation wall...
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Cybertiger
07 January 2009 at 17:15 @mitchy said,
"Just a thought, but does anyone else think that there's a race on, for the Jews to kills as many Palestinians as possible before Obama takes the chair? I'm not holding my breath, but I really hope he takes a positive stance on this and gets them well told."
Sadly, the choice of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff was a sure sign that Obama will be as hopeless in this respect as his predecessor.
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FreedomLand
07 January 2009 at 17:26 mitchy: "...the grass certainly is greener on the other side of the separation wall..."
Ahh, yes, and there's hardly a Semite amongst them in that clip, uhh. These are the REAL issues Israel has to grapple with amongst its own. That is why finger-pointing and blame-shifting are so useful and timely in manipulating their own sheep before the upcoming election - and after the disasters of wantonly invading Lebanon in 2006.
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writeon
07 January 2009 at 20:45 I'm actually quite proud of the Jewish bit of me, the Austrian bit, the clever and articulate bit, but I'm appalled at what's happening in Gaza and what it says about the kind of country Israel has become.
Israel, for a variety of reasons, has turned into the Sparta or Prussia of the region. A nation so much stronger than its neighbours economically, culturally and militarily, that this dominance poses a threat to Israel as well over the longterm. Israel's very 'success' contains the seeds of its future destruction. The ability to crush another people and turn them into virtual slaves is a curse for the 'master race' and dooms them, tainting their souls and their culture. Arguably the master/slave relationship tears everyone to pieces in the end.
As the far stronger part, Israel could, before it's too late, stop, think and reflect about where it's going as a people and the great tidal wave of hatred slowly building just over the horizon. Destroying Hamas is a mistake of historic proportions and it won't make Israel more secure. It will have the opposite effect.
The Jewish part of my extended family weren't fools or violent gangsters, they survived and prospered because of who they were and what they could do, they didn't need armies or weapons and mostly had contempt for both militarism and nationalist mythology, for the most part these attitudes served them well. I wish the leaders of Israel were as wise.
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Gideon Polya
07 January 2009 at 21:30 Another set of statistics that are strenuously IGNORED by generally pro-Zionist mainstream media are the "death ratios" involved in the current Gaza Massacre.
Below is a statement from memory of what I have posted and the New Statesman thought it best you NOT read and DELETED (very disappointing from one of the very few decent media in UK that I have been reading for 40 years).
There are currently about 700 Gazan violent deaths in this latest Israeli Gaza Massacre.
However, based on the ongoing Iraqi Genocide (where non-violent excess deaths from deprivation equal the 1 million violent deaths, there may ultimately be as many as 700 further non-violent deaths from the current Israeli attack).
There have been (as of January 7 2009) 10 Israelis killed of whom 4 were from friendly fire.
Accordingly the current reprisals atrocity "death ratio" of Gaza Palestinians killed/Israelis killed is 700/6 = 117 - over TEN TIMES the reprisals "death ratio" ordered by Adolph Hitler and executed in the Ardeatine Caves Massacre in Rome, Italy,March 1944 in which 335 Italian men and boys were shot in reprisal for the death of 33 German soldiers at the hands of Italian partisans (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardeatine_massacre ).
For a month-by-month graph (from Israeli B'Tselem data) of the Palestinan/Israeli "death ratio" since the start of the Second Intifada see: http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/14991442 .
UN Security Council Resolution 252 in 1968 ordered Israeli withdrawal and return of captured land and property.
After 40 years it is about time the UN must send in forces to back up this resolution and clear war criminal Apartheid Israeli forces from the West Bank, Gaza and Syria.
There must be Sanctions and Boycotts against Apartheid Israel just as there were against US-, UK-, Australia-and Apartheid Israel-supported Apartheid South Africa - a Nazi-style regime that used POLICE to guard its Bantustans and "only" killed 69 Africans in the Sharpeville Massacre.
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Carl Jones
07 January 2009 at 23:16 writeon, its not about Jews. There was a poll, a not widely reported poll, it suggested that many in Israel would emigrate to Europe if they could, many Israeli want Israel to join the EU....in the hope of breaking the London-New York (NWO) stranglehold.
I have been censored many times by the NS for alledgedly being anti-semitic...but as I`ve said, its not about ordinary Jews, its about elite Jews who saturate the NWO. Ask yourself why Dame Shirley Porter left Israel and returned to London`s Mayfair....she KNOWS what is coming, the NWO would sacrifice their own mothers...so where does this leave Israel?
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 00:29 # writeon: " Israel's very 'success' contains the seeds of its future destruction. The ability to crush another people and turn them into virtual slaves is a curse..."
Yes, nationalism and expansionism, writeon, despite Israel's untenable position created for it when it was created in the 1940's. They should have remained Palestinian and simply co-operated for the benefit of all. The West's plague.....
BTW, there was a story yesterday by Rabbi Michael Lerner..... "It breaks my heart to see Israel's stupidity - It has a right to respond to attacks, but will not achieve its ultimate aim - peace - until it stops thinking in military terms..." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_co...
Although he mistakenly sees Hamas as "extremists" in the old context instead of their being the entire Palestinian population, he can understand that "...Hamas has made it clear that it would accept the terms of the Saudi Arabian peace agreement, though it would never formally recognise Israel. It would live peacefully in a two-state arrangement.....
He also can see "...the basic condition for creating peace is to help each side feel “safe”. A first and critical step is to speak in a language that is empathic toward the suffering of each people in a climate of discourse in which both sides' stories are heard and understood..." but he still fails to realize that the Palestinains (Hamas) still view Israel as an invader and occupier of THEIR land and that their story is neither being heard (by the USA) nor being understood (by the UN).
But interestingly, in juxtaposition, there was another story by Zvi Bar'el published on Haaretz which also chided Israel for "thinking in military terms..." who says Israel is still "looking at things through the eyes of (an army) squad leader..." but Hamas is thinking like a regional power.
What Hamas stands to gain - See "Through the eyes of a squad leader..." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052351.html
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 00:34 Oops, just correcting that link for "It breaks my heart to see Israel's stupidity...", try http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_co...
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 00:54 Carl Jones: "...I have been censored many times by the NS for alledgedly being anti-semitic..."
I don't understand why my post yesterday on "Israel's blonde bombshells and real bombs in Gaza" by British Jewish woman academic, Yosefa Loshitzky was deleted (yes, censored!). Perhaps it was because it was published on The Electronic Intifada website (5 January)??? You are once again becoming obnoxious with your conceited self-righteousness, Ben. Look at the FACTS:-
"Yosefa Loshitzky is Professor of Film, Media and Cultural Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies at the University of East London..... Loshitzky’s work has been translated into French, German, Swedish and Hebrew. She has been a Visiting Research Fellow at The Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, The Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, The Yitzhak Rabin Centre for Israel Studies....." etc, etc..... http://www.uel.ac.uk/ssmcs/staff/yosefaloshitzky/index.htm
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sweety
08 January 2009 at 02:36 the "death ratios" involved in the current Gaza Massacre. Gideon Polya
07 January 2009 at 21:30
We are not interested in football scores, or proportionality. NO rockets into Israel by Hammas terrorists, No bombs into Gaza as simple as that!!!!
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 03:17 # sweety: "NO rockets into Israel by Hammas terrorists, No bombs into Gaza..."
It began in the 1940's, sweety, NOT in 2000+, uhh. When did you arrive?
Wiki: "The King David Hotel bombing was a deadly bomb attack by the Irgun, a militant Zionist group, on the headquarters of the British Mandatory authorities of Palestine, located at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The offensive was carried out on 22 July 1946 and was the deadliest attack against the British during the Mandate era (1920-1948)..... It has been called one of the most lethal terrorist attacks of the 20th century..."
Wiki: "Irgun (Hebrew: ארגון; shorthand for HaIrgun HaTzva'i HaLe'umi BeEretz Yisra'el - הארגון הצבאי הלאומי בארץ ישראל, "National Military Organization in the Land of Israel") was a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was established as a militant offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah (Hebrew: "The Defense", ההגנה)..... The Irgun was the armed expression of the nascent ideology of Revisionist Zionism founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He expressed this ideology as "every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs and the British; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state"..."
Also see British anger at terror celebration - "The rightwingers, including Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister, are commemorating the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of British rule, that killed 92 people and helped to drive the British from Palestine..." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/arti...
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Carl Jones
08 January 2009 at 06:10 FreedomLand
Censorship isn`t just about what you post, often, its your source....you can see/hear plenty about whats going on in Gaza, but not in the MSM. One good website, is worth a 1000 BBC`s.LOL
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fairplay
08 January 2009 at 07:25 freedomland
the huffington post is also now jewish owned hence its more symptheticapproach to israel. as far as joining the Eu goes, it would be a catastrophe. israel would keep its position in the middle east but have even more influence in shaping pro israeli policies in europe. as if it doesnt have enough now!
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 07:30 Ironically, the same story is published on Indy Media, Twitter and many other blogs/sites,Carl. I just provided a link to the main EI site. For some, that would appear to be a crime..... talk about pandering, uhh. Go Google for it!
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 07:41 fairplay: "...as far as joining the Eu goes, it would be a catastrophe..."
Yes, France's Sarkosy and Kouchner both have Jewish family loyalties. At present, they love to sell nuclear reactors to Arabs in the M.East but they are also keen for Israel to do whatever it wishes - like blowing them all up later. Who are the hypocrites now?
BTW, how did Sarko get elected? By creating strife in the French Arab migrant communitywhen Minister of the Interior in the government of Dominique de Villepin, later finger-pointing and blame-shifting, then exploiting peoples' fears.
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Pencils
08 January 2009 at 10:11 Here's a couple of links I posted earlier, but which have gone walkies. The first is, I think, the most realistic guess at where the money Madoff stole went. It is a response to the second which, while excellent, is a little off the mark, unusually for the excellent author.
The Madoff Affair: a Guide...
Bernard Madoff: Wall Street Swindler...
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amarita
08 January 2009 at 10:29 What adds do the tragedy of Gaza is the virtual absence of condemnation of Israel's murderous military campaign by Western politicians and media alike and a muted criticism by newspapers traditionally associated with the left-to-centre position. It fills one with despair when even the New Statesman has for its headline Labour's failure to tackle violence against women at the time when Gaza is being destroyed and its citizens subjected to untold suffering.
After barely two weeks of relentless bombing of the Palestinian enclave, the attention of mediamen is already fading. Compare that with daily reports, images and condemnation by the media, politicians and churchmen during the five years of inter-ethnic violence in the Balkans.
I weep for the citizens of Ghaza and those of other Palestinian ghettoes and deeply mourn the disturbing indifference to their tragedy, which I can only attribute to the antimuslim sentiments that have closely followed NuLabour's military involvements in Iraq and Afghanistans and the parallel official propaganda, aided by the largely compliant media of which the New Statesman seems to becoming a part.
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fairplay
08 January 2009 at 13:06 the independent is the worst. since the gaza crisis started they have practically done away with the readers rights to comment on their articles. maybe over 400 responses per day to each gaza story may have something to do with it
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a.m.r.
08 January 2009 at 14:15 Pencils,
Israel Shamir (whom you are citing re: Madoff) has been outed as a extreme anti-semite and friend of neo-Nazis by the Times. He's also openly declared support for al-Qaeda.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_co...
"Ali Abunimah, a prominent media critic on the Electronic Intifada website, and Hussein Ibish, press spokesman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), warned as early as 2001 that Shamir was an antisemite and not just against Israel. They claimed that his opposition to Israel was no less than a rehash of the classical elements of the European antisemitic tradition."
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&s...
http://www.expo.se (for those who speak Swedish - search the site for Israel Shamir)
"Israel Shamir is equally comfortable with overtly anti-Jewish and White supremacist groups among his fan-base: "It is not White Racist Supremacism oppressing Palestinians,” he writes. “If I were a Palestinian, the White Nationalists would be my legitimate allies." In his view they have “a common enemy”, the Jews. If you’re intrigued to learn, for example, “Why Zionism is Racism but anti-semitism is not” then Shamir’s website is the place for you. Judaism is behind it all – and they’re all in it together. It’s the Jews’ fault Americans are dying in Iraq: their fault a hundred thousand Iraqis have been slaughtered. This is all hidden from us because Jews also run the media. "
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 15:36 I notice that my piece on the "Israel Promises 'All-Out War' " CBS News YouTube video seems to have been deleted too. Was that because I described Maha el Bana, an English teacher in Gaza, as a Sarah Palin look-alike???
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writeon
08 January 2009 at 15:40 These homemade rockets fired by Hamas don't really have any serious military significance. They have a symbolic or propaganda value, a reminder that 'we are still here!'
This is a war of choice on Israel's part, an agressive, pre-emptive attack designed to topple and destroy the democratically elected government of Gaza using force. So I believe one can make a very strong case that this 'war' is not just illegal but a warcrime.
One can of course argue that Hamas is a terrorist organization and that they are all 'outlaws' in the literal sense of that label and therefore they are wanted me, dead or alive, savages, barbarians and hanging is too good for them!
Given the level of destruction, bloodshed and slaughter in Gaza, where a highly trained modern army is smashing a more or less defenceless civilian population cramed into a narrow and densely populated sliver of land, completely surrounded, starving and virually friendless, it's an obscenity for the Israeli government to defend this absurd pretense that Israel is the 'victim' and 'defending' itself from attack.
I think the Israeli leadership must be insane to think this kind of massive slaughter and collosal use of violence against Gaza in any way makes Israel more secure. All this is doing is storing up trouble for the future on a massive scale. Israel may be able to delude itself, with this kind of self-justifying rhetoric, and the brainless American media follows this lead, but in the Muslim and Arab world especially, this attack on Gaza is a 'propaganda' victory for radicals handed to them on a silver platter.
This slaughter will become legendary and part of the culture of resistance to Israel, part of what it means to be an Arab. Israel's political leadership are not only criminals, they are also incredibly stupid and short-sighted. It's unfathomable that they think that continually attacking, killing and teaching the Arabs 'lessons' is a sensible or realistic strategy for promoting Israel's security.
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FreedomLand
08 January 2009 at 16:04 writeon: "These homemade rockets fired by Hamas don't really have any serious military significance..."
Quote: "Israeli officials said Hamas had also acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with an even longer range. Many feared it was only a matter of time before the nuclear installation at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, falls within Hamas's sights. Dimona houses Israel's only nuclear reactor and is believed to be where it stores warheads for its nuclear missiles..." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24866270-...
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writeon
08 January 2009 at 16:36 Freedomland,
I'm not sure what your point is. I'm not sure I'd take anything Israeli officials say in this context at face value. Obviously Israel wants to draw Iran into the propaganda war making Hamas guilty by association.
Hamas' rockets are really pawns on a chessboard in their 'game' with Israel. Hamas wants to 'force' Israel to negotiate with it over 'peace' Israel doesn't want to negotiate with Hamas, it wants to destroy Hamas like it does with all those who resist and refuse to accept that Israel has won the struggle/war for control of Palestine.
Hamas' 'crime' is that it won't surrender or make peace on terms totally dictated by Israel. For the moment Israel is so strong militarily, so powerful, that they don't see any reason to compromise or negotiate, why should they? However, I believe this Israeli strategy is very shortsighted indeed and is creating the circumstances for more wars in the future and the destabilisation of the entire region and the eventual release of a tide of revolutions that we lead to Israel using its nuclear missiles in a new holocaust.
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amarita
08 January 2009 at 17:59 It is not only Arabs who will not forget the Israeli slaughter in Gaza. Many others in the world will remember their hubris and heartless barbarity. Israel has not only lost its soul, it has lost dignity. It is not an overstatement to say that it is probably the most despised country in the world at the moment. No matter how much more land they take, they will always be surrounded by a very large sea of Arabs who may not remain restrained for ever.
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fairplay
08 January 2009 at 19:19 this war is a prelude to another major CIA/Mossad terrorist false flag attack. wait and see. the timing is spot on. new president everybody trusts (not me!) and an agenda in the middle east to fulfill by the US and their zionist masters
i fear the worst
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Pencils
08 January 2009 at 21:44 a.m.r - that's exactly what I'd expect from you re Shamir. The Times ( Murdoch)said it so it must be so? Anyway, that has no bearing on the essay I linked to. I have a problem with the religious mysticism that crops up increasingly in Shamir's more recent writings, but apart from that, he is one of the most gifted writers I have ever read, and I see no reason, especially given the massive criticism of Islam in the zion-friendly MSM, why judaism shouldn't be subject to criticism. Shamir is an ex-Russian, ex-jew (convert to Christianity) living in Israel; there has been a propaganda campaign from the usual sources, claiming that Shamir is really a Swedish neo-nazi - lol?
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Pencils
08 January 2009 at 21:54 Quote [ from Freedomland]: "Israeli officials said Hamas had also acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles with an even longer range. Many feared it was only a matter of time before the nuclear installation at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, falls within Hamas's sights. Dimona houses Israel's only nuclear reactor and is believed to be where it stores warheads for its nuclear missiles..."
But Israel has no nukes? LOL. No, don't laugh - I take this as a coded threat that Israel could fake up a nuclear accident and wipe Gaza off the map. Would our MSM not fall into line and blame Hamas's fireworks? I doubt that they'll do it soon, but do you doubt that anything is ultimately beyond Israel? With the religious-nut element fast outbreeding the rest in Israel, Europe should be very worried that they have nukes capable of hitting Athens, Rome, Paris, Berlin, London, and consigning them to history, like Babylon and Nineveh.
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FreedomLand
09 January 2009 at 18:40 Further to my earlier comment above, here is another loose screw from the Australian Jewish community desperate to prove their loyalty to the great state of Israel.....
From Channel 4, video on Gaza - interview with Red Cross spokeswoman, 5.15min+ and then with Israeli government spokesman Australian Mark Redev from around 9min+ http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?b...
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a.m.r.
12 January 2009 at 17:45 Pencils,
Israel Shamir is a Holocaust denier, a supporter of neo-Nazi's, and a disseminator of anti-Jewish hatemongering such as the medieval blood libels and forgeries like the Protocols of Elders of Zion.
His work is filled with dishonesty and bias - not sure what you are admiring - his admittedly clear writing style, or his lies about the Jewish people ?
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Tom Jenkins
15 January 2009 at 10:38 Racists and antisemites are undoubtedly piggybacking on the
current conflict over Gaza. For example Holocaust denying David Irving finds a "holocaust" in Gaza but denies that the real Holocaust took place ("Some Unpublished Photos from Israel's Holocaust in Gaza" http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/09/01/atrocities.html).
If you folks really are concerned over the women and children of Gaza do what you can to persuade the Egyptian government to open their Gaza border and evacuate them.
This might deprive those brave Gaza 'fighters' of something to hide behind but it might also save lives. Unless of course your show of concern is only a pretense.
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