‘Will the Church of Scotland cave in to Zionist bullies?’

by Stuart Littlewood, source

“The political and humanitarian situation in the Holy Land continues to be a source of pain and concern for us all,” says the introduction to the Church of Scotland’s report The inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’.

It is the Church’s latest reflection on the “questions that need to be faced”.

The report was intended for discussion at the Church’s General Assembly this week and it questions the assumption many Christians and Jews that the Bible supports an essentially Jewish state of Israel. Current Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, it suggests, have “sharpened this questioning”. The report goes on to examine the issues in a measured and non-inflammatory way.

The conclusion arrived at is that Christians should not support claims, by Jews or anyone else, to an exclusive or divine right to particular territory. “It is a misuse of the Bible to use it as a topographic guide to settle contemporary conflicts over land. In the Bible, God’s promises extend in hope to all land and people… These promises call for a commitment in every place to justice in a spirit of reconciliation.”

The Church also sets out the principles to which it is committed in regard to the Holy Land. But some of these appear weak. For example, while rightly stating that Israeli settlements on Palestinian turf are illegal under international law, it simply calls for a halt. Justice requires a giving-back.

Nor is calling for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority a solution when such lopsided talks are clearly immoral. Everyone who cares about human rights in the region is aware that Israel is no partner for peace and earlier negotiations were conducted in bad faith. Pigs will fly before Israel willingly ends its occupation, so the Palestinians should not be expected to bargain for freedom and for land that was already theirs while the other side has a gun to their heads.

As has been said so many times, there can be no peace under occupation.

Inconvenient Truths

Endless argument from entrenched positions about scripture and myth will achieve nothing. Justice can only be delivered through implementation of international law and the raft of UN resolutions waiting to be actioned.

These days return to one’s homeland is regarded as an inalienable right, but it is time-limited and must be exercised as soon as the reason for expulsion (for example, foreign occupation) ceases. The Jews were expelled by the Roman occupation in 70AD and again in 135, although some remained. An opportunity for the Jews to return would have occurred when the Roman Empire collapsed. They didn’t take it. Furthermore there is little evidence that Jews drafted into modern Israel have blood links with the original Israelites.

It is therefore unacceptable for Jews to now lay exclusive claim to the land 17 centuries later, at gun-point, when the Palestinian Arabs, including their Christian communities, have been there all the time.

The right of Palestinians who were expelled by Jewish terror has not expired because the Israeli occupation continues. Also, the UN endorsed their right to return.

The Church of Scotland’s report, otherwise, seems a fair and truthful summation of the situation and the false claims. It doesn’t of course suit those like the Zionists, who find the truth ‘inconvenient’ and see it as a threat to their wobbly position. Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, is reported to have said: “The document is an outrage to everything that interfaith dialogue stands for. It is biased, weak on sources, and contradictory, and closes the door on meaningful dialogue.”

The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, said: “This report not only plays into extremist political positions, but negates and belittles the deeply held Jewish attachment to the land of Israel in a way which is truly hurtful. If a document of this nature is adopted by the Church of Scotland it would mark a significant step backwards for the forces of tolerance and peace in our region.”

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities called on the Church to withdraw the document from the forthcoming General Assembly, saying: “It reads like an Inquisition-era polemic against Jews and Judaism. It is biased, weak on sources, and contradictory. The arrogance of telling the Jewish people how to interpret Jewish texts and Jewish theology is breathtaking.”

Same Old Refusal to Face the Truth

The reaction of Jewish leaders follows an all too familiar pattern: accusations of inaccuracy and bias without explaining why, backed by puerile threats of awful consequences if there’s no retraction.

In January, just across the border in England, the Zionist lobby put the squeeze on the Bishop of Newcastle, Martin Wharton. The Representative Council of North-East Jewry complained that he voted for a motion at the General Synod which supported the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), despite warnings of the Zionists’ “grave concerns… that it would encourage anti-Semitism”. His action, they said, made “any further contact with the Jewish community in the North-East impossible”.

According to the Church Times the rumpus started when Bishop Wharton agreed to speak at a conference, ‘Peace & Justice in the Holy Land’, organized by a group of people who had taken part in the EAPPI program. The chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ), the Revd David Gifford, said that the conference had “the potential of becoming yet another anti-Jewish meeting, creating more anxiety and distrust between the north-east Jewish community and the Church”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews chimed in saying that the EAPPI was “partisan” and “anti-Israel”.
What does the EAPPI do that’s so objectionable to these whiners? It “brings internationals to the West Bank to experience life under occupation. Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) provide protective presence to vulnerable communities, monitor and report human rights abuses and support Palestinians and Israelis working together for peace. When they return home, EAs campaign for a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through an end to the occupation, respect for international law and implementation of UN resolutions.”

The EAPPI program was set up by the World Council of Churches. Its mission includes engaging in public policy advocacy and standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the illegal occupation. Few people except those who support the brutal Israeli regime would disagree with the program’s principles and objectives. And few, surely, would condemn the humanitarian work the EAPPI carries out with great courage in the face of criminal hostility.

Nevertheless its success attracts frenzied condemnation despite the fact that well-known Jewish groups such as Jews for Justice for Palestine and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition [ICAHD] strongly support EAPPI, and a number of EAPPI volunteers are Jewish.

Although Wharton had the moral high ground he caved in and decided not to attend the conference “for the sake of good relations between all the faith communities in Newcastle”. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham & Newcastle, Seamus Cunningham, also decided not to attend. He told the Jewish Chronicle that he had become aware “that many Jewish people in the north-east were angry and upset”.

Perhaps he should have suggested those angry and upset Jewish people go to the West Bank and see for themselves the behavior of their brethren towards Palestinian women and children and the EAPPI volunteers.
Open Door to Zionist Lobby Extremists.

What use are the many inter-faith committees and Christian-Jewish councils? They open the door for Zionist lobby extremists to meddle in Church business and bully Christians into submission. Is it really worth selling out one’s principles to appease faith fanatics? Inter-faith dialogue with the Jews has achieved precisely nothing in the struggle for justice and peace. Their purpose is to “keep talking” and stall any restorative action while the Israeli regime continues its program of expulsion, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, religious harassment and humiliation, and the establishment of irreversible facts on the ground.

So the news that the Church of Scotland responded to pressure by meeting the Zionist meddlers is disconcerting, especially when it then agreed that the report had given cause for concern and promised to re-write it.

“The Church of Scotland and representatives of the Jewish Community in Scotland and the United Kingdom, held useful discussions facilitated by the Council of Christians and Jews this afternoon, Thursday 8 May. We agreed that the drafting of the report published by the Church and Society Council for discussion at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has given cause for concern and misunderstanding of its position and requires a new introduction.” The Church also said it needs to be explicit about certain areas of Church policy, for instance:

• There is no change in the Church of Scotland’s long held position of the right of Israel to exist.
• The Church condemns all violence and acts of terrorism, where ever they happen in the world.
• The concern of the Church about the injustices faced by the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories remain firm, but that concern should not be misunderstood as questioning the right of the State of Israel to exist.
• That the Church condemns all things that create a culture of anti Semitism.

But if the Church acknowledges Israel’s right to exist, should it not say on what borders this recognition is given? Besides, whether or not Israel has a legitimate right to exist surely depends on the legality of its establishment as a state, which many have challenged.

As for the things that create a culture of anti-Semitism, these include Israel’s inhuman behavior and its claim to represent all Jews when that is not the case. The support many Jews give to Israel’s occupation and the regime’s crimes against the Palestinian people is also a factor. Will the Church robustly castigate and suspend dialogue with anyone on the Jewish side who refuses to condemn Israel’s conduct (and especially any who continually make unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism against critics of the Zionist regime)?

The Church’s statement also says “there is an equal sense of concern amongst both communities for justice and peace for all the people of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” It’s the sort of sound-bite a mutually admiring get-together would toss around in order to look good, but the facts simply do not bear out what they say and both sides are deluding themselves if they believe it.

The other day the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem found it necessary to issue a condemnation of the savage Israeli police action that caused “horrific scenes of the brutal treatment of our clergy, people and pilgrims in the Old City of Jerusalem during Holy Saturday last week… It is not acceptable that under the pretext of security and order, our clergy and people are indiscriminately and brutally beaten and prevented from entering their churches, monasteries and convents.”

Under Israeli occupation similar atrocities are committed every day against Christians and their Muslim brothers and sisters. Churches everywhere should have no truck with the apologists and fanatical religious supporters of a racist regime that has no shred of human decency.

‘Canadians should be concerned: The Harperites’ love affair with “Israel”‘

(File photo)

by Yves Engler, source

While the Harper Conservative government has loudly proclaimed its close ties to Israel, most Canadians would be surprised to learn the Tories have decided to make the two countries blood brothers. In the international affairs equivalent of a Mafia initiation ceremony Canada has sworn undying loyalty and to be a faithful soldier in Israel’s cause.

Think that’s an exaggeration? Consider the following:

• Since Stephen Harper took office the two nations defence ministers and top generals have repeatedly visited each other’s country. These visits have resulted in various accords and “the [two] countries have agreed to exchange secret defense information,” according to a June 2012 CBC summary of government briefing notes.

• The week before last the head of Canadian Forces visited Israel to deepen “cooperation between the two militaries.” Reportedly, Thomas Lawson met his Israeli counterpart, the Defense Minister and various other senior military officers. According to a Jerusalem Post summary, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon called for Canada and Israel to “further increase their cooperation in the fight against terror in light of the upheaval in the Middle East and Iran’s role in fueling the region’s conflicts.”

• In 2008 Canada and Israel signed a wide-ranging public security agreement and for the first time in its history in 2011 Israel named a defense attaché to Ottawa. Until at least the end of 2010 the Canadian embassy in Tel Aviv served as Israel’s Contact Point Embassy to NATO, the military alliance of Western nations. The embassy served as the liaison between Israel and NATO, assisting with visits of NATO officials to Israel. According to internal government documents examined by The Dominion, Ottawa worked to strengthen Israel’s partnership with the military alliance, helping its “pursuit of a Status of Forces Agreement, getting access to the NATO Maintenance Supply Agency, [redacted].”

• In February 2010 deputy foreign minister Peter Kent implied that Canada already considered Israel a member of NATO, which operates according to the principle that an attack on any member is considered an attack against all members. Reflecting the alliance’s purported principle, Kent said “an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada” and in July 2011 defence minister Peter MacKay reiterated this position privately. According to briefing notes uncovered by CBC he told Israel’s top military commander, Gabi Ashkenazi that “a threat to Israel is a threat to Canada.”

• At the same time as official military relations have intensified there has been an increase in weapons sharing and relations between Israeli and Canadian arms manufacturers. At a November 2011 press conference with his Israeli counterpart defense minister MacKay described the two countries’ “growing relations in the defense sector.” Among the more significant examples, the Canadian military bought the Israeli-made Heron drone for use in Afghanistan and Israel’s Elisra Electronics Systems is working on upgrading a dozen Halifax-class warships.

• Despite the Israeli Defense Force’s many human rights violations, many Canadian companies sell weapons directly to Israel. According to a 2009 Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade report, more than 140 Canadian weapons makers export products to Israel. Last year British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates won a $90+ million contract to supply Israel Aerospace Industries with satellite technology. The December 2011 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs detailed some Canadian military exports to Israel. “Ottawa’s Allen Vanguard Corporation provides ‘counterterrorist’ equipment and training. iMPath Networks of Ottawa and Halifax design solutions for real-time video surveillance and intrusion detection technology. Mecachrome Technologies, based in Montréal and Toronto, provides components for military aircraft. And MPB Technologies of Pointe Claire, Edmonton, Airdrie and Calgary manufacturers, among other things, communications equipment and robotics for [Israeli] military use. … British Columbia-based 360 Surveillance sells technology for Israel’s apartheid wall and checkpoints.”

• Taxpayers often underwrite ties between Canadian and Israeli military companies. The multimillion dollar Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation funds research projects (including many in the “security” field) between the two countries’ corporations. (For details see Kole Kilibarda’s Canadian and Israeli Defense -Industrial and Homeland Security Ties: An Analysis).

To the extent that the dominant media questions the Harper government’s pro-Israel policies they focus on public pronouncements, UN votes and other diplomatic moves such as foreign minister John Baird’s recent meeting with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in occupied East Jerusalem (a rare occurrence designed to further legitimize Israel’s illegal control over that part of the city). But, deepening Canadian security ties with Israel may be more significant than the Conservatives anti-Palestinian public statements and UN votes.

For instance, what role do growing ties between the two countries’ military leadership play in the Conservatives extremely hostile position towards Iran? Or, is there a connection between the Canada Israel public security agreement and the RCMP’s highly suspect recent claim that two operatives with “direction and guidance” from “al-Qaeda elements in Iran” planned to blow up a major Canadian bridge? Finally, what role do growing military ties play in spurring the Conservatives’ anti-Palestinian diplomatic moves?

Though little discussed, the military is an important element of the Conservatives ‘Israel no matter what’ policy. In addition to the Jewish establishment, Christian Zionism and the role Israel plays as a Western outpost in the Middle East, the Conservatives militaristic tendencies lead them to support that country. Harper’s government, for instance, is close to the Canadian military companies that sell to Israel and do business with that country’s top-flight weapons industry. Additionally, Canadian military leaders appreciate the tactical information and expertise Israel’s well-practiced military shares.

Like a wanna-be gangster looking up to a Mafia boss, the Harperites are impressed by the large role Israel’s military plays in the country’s affairs.

Ordinary Canadians should be concerned. Very concerned.

Syrian opposition representative to “Israeli” TV: Satisfied with encouraging strike

Syrian opposition representative to “Israeli” TV: Satisfied with encouraging strike

Al Manar

(See video in original source) The “Israeli” channel 2 hosted on Sunday the representative of the “armed opposition” in Syria, and particularly in the city of Homs.

The man, who identified himself as Hassan Ristnawi, called the channel to express his joy and delight with the “Israeli” aggression against his country.
He further pointed out that “the Syrian opposition” is so much satisfied.

“Recently the Syrian regime escalated its attacks against us [the so-called Free Syrian Army],” he said, and noted that “the whole world is watching what is happening without moving.”

However, according to Ristnawi, “the “Israeli” attacks were very encouraging.”

“The “Israeli” strike delighted the hearts of opposition fighters on the ground and provided the FSA with spirits after its members suffered despair,” he told the “Israeli” channel.

Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition spokesman in Homs was keen on confirming that he is well aware that he was speaking to the “Israeli” television.

“Shalom to everyone with you,” he ended his conversation.

———————————————————————————

UN: Syrian Militants Used Deadly Sarin Gas

Al Manar

Syrian militants have made use of the deadly nerve agent sarin in their war-torn country’s conflict, UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte has said.

“According to the testimonies we have gathered, the rebels have used chemical weapons, making use of sarin gas,” del Ponte, a former war crimes prosecutor, said in an interview with Swiss radio late on Sunday.

“We still have to deepen our investigation, verify and confirm (the findings) through new witness testimony, but according to what we have established so far, it is at the moment opponents of the regime who are using sarin gas,” she added.

She stressed that the UN commission of inquiry on Syria, which she is a part of, had far from finished its investigation.

Sarin is a powerful neurotoxin developed by Nazi scientists in the 1930s. Originally developed as a pesticide, sarin was used to deadly effect in the 1988 raid on the Kurdish village of Halabja in northern Iraq. A Japanese cult also used sarin in two attacks in the 1990s.

The gas works by being inhaled or absorbed through the skin and kills by crippling the nervous system.

Symptoms include nausea and violent headaches, blurred or tunnel vision, drooling, muscular convulsions, respiratory arrest, loss of consciousness and then death, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. In high doses, sarin paralyses the muscles around the lungs and prevents chemicals from “switching off” the body’s secretions, so victims suffocate or drown as their lungs fill with mucus and saliva. Even a tiny dose of sarin — which, like other nerve gases such as soman, tabun and VX, is odourless, colourless and tasteless — can be deadly if it enters the respiratory system, or if a drop comes into contact with the skin.

Nothing charitable About JNF

The Lands of the Jewish National Fund

by YVES ENGLER, source

In 2010 the Auditor General apparently called on the Canada Revenue Agency to “investigate or revoke” the Jewish National Fund’s charitable status. But this request seems to have been ignored in deference to a “charity” that has long participated in the erasure of Palestinians’ presence from their historic homeland.

Through an Access to Information request Montreal-based activist Ron Saba recently received dozens of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) documents concerning the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Canada. In probably the most explosive revelation, the “2010 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada Chapter 7 – Registered Charities” includes a question to the CRA about revoking the charitable status of the JNF. “If a registered charity undertakes illegal activities abroad, what action will the CRA take? Will the CRA investigate or revoke the registered status of the Jewish National Fund?”

While the released documents provide little more detail, apparently the Auditor General questioned whether the registered charity’s exclusionary policies conform to Canadian policy.

Shutting out Palestinian citizens of Israel, JNF lands can only be leased by Jews. A 1998 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights found that the JNF systematically discriminated against Palestinian citizens of Israel, which make up about 20% of the country’s population. According to the UN report, JNF lands are “chartered to benefit Jews exclusively,” which has led to an “institutionalized form of discrimination.” In 2005, Israel’s high court came to similar conclusions. It found that the JNF, which owns 13 percent of the country’s land and has significant influence over most of the rest, systematically excluded Palestinian citizens of Israel from leasing its property. Even the most recent US State Department annual report on Israel notes: “Approximately 93 percent of land was in the public domain, including approximately 12.5 percent owned by the NGO Jewish National Fund (JNF), whose statutes prohibit sale or lease of land to non-Jews.”

There is a strong case to be made that the JNF’s bylaws and operations violate Canadian policy and law. Discrimination in the provision of housing is illegal under the Canadian Human Rights Act and a September 2003 CRA Public Policy Statement titled “Registering Charities that Promote Racial Equality” is clear that racial equality is a stated aim of Canadian charitable policy. Registered charities that operate abroad are supposed to adhere to domestic policy or else lose their ability to provide donors with tax subsidies. “An organization is not charitable at law if its activities are contrary to Canadian public policy”, explains the CRA.

But, the CRA and politicians in Ottawa have shown little interest in applying the rules in the JNF’s case. They seem to have ignored the call to investigate whether the JNF’s practices contravene Canadian law. In particular, the CRA has not properly addressed the question of whether the JNF is a racist organization.

Instead of launching a proper investigation, CRA officials have prepared misleading responses to those calling on the agency to revoke the JNF’s charitable status. The internal documents suggest the CRA has spent hundreds of hours devising strategies to respond to complaints about the JNF and covering up what Ron Saba has dubbed “the Racist JNF Tax Fraud.”

This public relations strategy is spelled out explicitly in a document of “Media Lines” on the JNF prepared for use by the Canada Revenue Agency’s media handlers. It notes that Saba has been “questioning the legitimacy of the charitable status of the JNF” through a “wide distribution list, including members of Parliament, senators, Canadian and international media and human rights and social justice groups.” The document also expresses concerns that while “the JNF has not generated any mainstream media coverage” so far, “because of Mr. Saba’s wide distribution list, the potential for media interest remains.”

As part of the effort to protect the JNF from scrutiny, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Caitlin Workman emailed former colleagues at the CRA in 2011 suggesting they “monitor” an Independent Jewish Voices sponsored talk in Ottawa. Under the headline “Event you may want to monitor” Workman sent a May 13 communication stating “author of the Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, Yves Engler, will give a talk on Canada and the Jewish National Fund”.

The tax agency’s protection should not be surprising as Conservative officials have strongly backed the JNF even though the internal documents show that since 2007 six different Conservative ministers have received documentation detailing the racist nature of JNF policies (at least two of the ministers circulated the information).

Over the past nine months immigration minister Jason Kenney and foreign minister John Baird have spoken at JNF galas while environment minister Peter Kent toured southern Israel with officials from the organization in December. At the end of the year prime minister Stephen Harper is set to be honoured at the JNF Negev Dinner in Toronto, which will be the first time a sitting Canadian prime minister has spoken to a JNF gala in the organization’s 100 year history.

Hopefully, thousands of protesters will greet Harper. While getting the prime minister to speak is obviously a boon for the JNF, it also provides a unique opportunity to draw attention to an institution that most people are unfamiliar with.

It’s time to turn Independent Jewish Voices’ nascent campaign to revoke the JNF’s charitable status into a major element of pro-Palestinian activism in Canada. Groups elsewhere have had successes on this front recently.

In 2011 Stop the JNF in England pushed Prime Minister, David Cameron, to withdraw his patron status from the JNF and since then 68 MPs have endorsed a bill to revoke the organization’s charitable status because “the JNF’s constitution is explicitly discriminatory by stating that land and property will never be rented, leased or sold to non-Jews.” In Scotland the Green Party and Friends of the Earth have endorsed the Stop the JNF campaign while last year legendary US folksinger Pete Seeger distanced himself from an event with the JNF and a board member of the US organization quit in protest over the JNF’s role in the eviction of a Palestinian family from East Jerusalem. At the start of this year Stop The JNF prompted the new owners of a major South African toy retailer, “Reggies”, to sever ties with the organization.

While the political climate is more difficult in this country, there’s no reason that a major campaign can’t bring successes. If made aware most Canadians would be uncomfortable with the idea that public money is supporting an openly racist institution. They would also be appalled by the JNF Canada’s direct (and documented) role in displacing Palestinians since the late 1920s.

While it’s hard to imagine the CRA under Stephen Harper revoking the JNF’s charitable status – at least without a lengthy and expensive legal battle – the campaign can play an important educational purpose. The organization is at the heart of Israeli apartheid and drawing attention to this institution is a way to discuss the racism intrinsic to Zionism.

“Friends of ‘Israel’ defense forces raises $27 million under NY media’s radar”

by JEFF BLANKFORT, source

It isn’t every day or night that a tax-exempt non-profit American charity rakes in $27 million in the space of a few hours. When it happens in New York at such a well known landmark as the Waldorf-Astoria, arguably the city’s most famous hotel, it should be news, right?

Wrong, apparently, since not a single TV station nor any New York newspaper, all of which are known for their attention to events in the city’s Jewish community as well as their devotion to Israel, saw fit to cover the annual dinner of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) this past March 12 which raised that enormous sum.

Nor, it turns out, did they cover last year’s FIDF fundraiser at the Waldorf which took in almost as much, $26 million, nor the one in 2011, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the organization that featured the presence of six former Israel Defense Forces Chiefs of Staff and collected $23 million.

More than five weeks after latest dinner, the only paper trails that can be found to the event were in the Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz (a week later), the New York Jewish Week, and the Forward, the city’s national Jewish weekly which is known for printing articles that the mainstream press and other Jewish publications find too hot to handle. The Jewish Week’s reporter, Tim Boxer, in fact, did not mention the amount raised at the black tie, $1000 a plate affair, until the very last paragraph of the story.

“The dinner raised $27 million for FIDF which, since 1981, has been supporting educational and recreational facilities for soldiers and their families,” wrote Boxer. “Among the heavy hitters was Marc Belzberg who announced, ‘I am donating one million dollars and my first-born son to the IDF in August’.”

The FIDF is an organization that most Americans, including Jews not affiliated with the Jewish establishment, have probably never heard of and that is obviously the intent of those who run what has, in the last few years, become one of the brightest star in the pro-Israel fundraising firmament with a $60 million annual budget, all of which, it cannot be overemphasized, is tax-exempt.

“[E]stablished … by Holocaust survivors to provide for the well-being of Israeli soldiers,” according to its website, and headquartered in New York City, the FIDF is a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation that operates 16 regional offices in the United States and Panama. Its mission, in brief, is visible at the top of its website: “Their job is to look after Israel. Ours is to look after them.”

True to that motto, the money this “charity” raises benefits exclusively the soldiers of a foreign country that has not fought a war longer than 33 days in 40 years and whose primary duties have been to protect Israel’s illegal settlements, demolish Palestinian homes, make the lives of ordinary Palestinians miserable, and suppress Palestinian resistance to its ongoing ethnic cleansing by whatever means necessary.

The FIDF has a different take: “The Israeli government is responsible for training IDF soldiers and providing them with the necessary tools for their service. FIDF is committed to providing these soldiers with love, support, and care in an effort to ease the burden they carry.” FIDF also brings Israeli soldiers to the states to visit synagogues and lecture at schools and universities. “These events,” according to its website, “offer a great opportunity to meet IDF soldiers and hear the stories of these brave young men and women.”

In 2011, the last year reported, it raised just over $62 million and had $80 million in assets at the end of the year, $546,000 of which goes in salary to its national director, Retired Israeli General Jerry Gershon, plus an additional $10 thousand a month for his New York apartment, according to the Forward.

Given that every year, irrespective of the ups and downs of the US economy, Washington awards Israel’s military establishment with more than $3.5 billion (when it’s all added up) of the taxpayers money, the FIDF’s desire to keep its fundraising activities under wraps and invisible to the larger American public is readily understandable. That they are able to do so with apparent impunity is but further evidence, if such is needed, of the degree to which supporters of Israel dominate our national media.

Considering that an estimated 870,000 US veterans are suffering the after effects, physically and mentally, of multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and comprise a significant segment of the nation’s homeless, the very existence of the FIDF and the nature of its primary concern—the welfare of Israeli soldiers—might be viewed as an insult not only to US servicemen and women, but to ordinary Americans who are forced to confront the increasing costs of medicines and medical care, higher gas and food prices, and underfunded schools, not to mention the more than 300,000 who lose their jobs and forced to file for unemployment benefits every week for the past several decades.

There are some other things about New York’s FIDF dinners that are unusual. With the exception of Monica Crowley, the right-wing Fox News commentator who is routinely brought in to preside over the post-dinner programs, it is largely an inside job. Unlike at other pro-Israel events, there was an absence at the dinner, at least in the reports in the Israeli and Jewish press, of key New York Jewish political figures known for their loyalty to Israel, such as Sen. Charles Schumer and Representatives Elliot Engel, Gary Ackerman, and Nita Lowy, as well as Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

There was one prominent attendee, however, whose substantial donations to the FIDF should raise some eyebrows were it not apparently at the service of Israel. His name is Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, another tax-exempt non-profit that raises money for Israel from American evangelicals while paying him a handsome $491,000 for his services.

The rabbi apparently has collected quite a bit from the evangelicals—the friendship often being a one way street–so when he attends an FIDF dinner he is in a generous mood. On March 12th Eckstein’s $5 million dollar pledge topped all the others as did his $8.5 million commitment at the 2011 FIDF dinner and his $9.25 million bequest in 2012.

Those kind of numbers would certainly draw the public’s critical attention, particularly when all of this money that is headed towards Israel is tax-exempt and more than that, thanks to IRS rules enacted in 2008, once it leaves America’s shores it’s not traceable.

Even though the rule was changed, essentially favoring pro-Israel non-profits, five years ago, it went unnoticed by the media until the Forward’s Josh Nathan-Kazis reported on it in the paper’s April 12th edition:

“Want to know how an American charity is spending your donated dollars overseas?,” he wrote.

“Tough luck.

“That’s the effect of an Internal Revenue Service rule change that is making it increasingly difficult for donors and watchdogs to track American not-for-profit dollars after they leave the United States.

“Former IRS officials,” he noted, “have criticized the little-noticed 2008 change, which lifted the requirement that charities in the United States report to the IRS and the public the identities of overseas charities to which they have sent money.

“Charities still have to tell the IRS and the public the names and amounts they donate to other American charities. When American charities send money out of the country, however, they need to say only the region of the world where they sent it and the amount they gave.”

Nathan-Kazis cites, as an example, the One Israel Fund, which in 2003 reported sending tens of thousands of dollars to settlements in the West Bank, and now needs only to note that it sent grants to the “Middle East” for “Security,” among other purposes, as it did in its 2010 disclosure.

The One Israel Fund makes it quite clear on its site where its money is going:

“One Israel Fund is dedicated to supporting the welfare and safety of the men, women and children of Judea and Samaria as well as rebuilding the lives of the Jewish people impacted by the Gaza evacuation. These 300,000+ people are the vanguard of Israel’s security and sovereignty as a Jewish State.”

In other words, One Israel Fund has no qualms about openly raising funds for projects that are in direct conflict with long standing US policy and yet the government not only has not penalized it but made it easier to cover its trail. In 2010, on the last available 990, One Israel Fund reported that it had sent $2, 340,000 to meet its goals, a $600,000 increase from the previous year. It is not hard to speculate that its donations have grown considerably since then.

In its 990 form for 2011, Rabbi Eckstein’s International Fellowship of Christians and Jews made no mention of his donations to the Friends of Israel Defense Forces nor did he so in its annual report which was filled with pictures of children, women and the aged in Israel which the Fellowship claims to support out of the slightly more than $100 million it raises annually.

The largest Jewish organization to take advantage of the IRS’s tax-exempt status is the United Israel Appeal, founded in 1953, which is the funding arm of the Jewish Federations of North America. It funnels its donations through the Jewish Agency of Israel, a quasi-governmental organization that predates the founding of the state and was in charge of Jewish settlement in Palestine.

In 1963 it was revealed in US Senate hearings that between 1955 and 1962, the Jewish Agency had recycled over $5 million ($40 million in today’s dollars) donated by American Jews to Israel back to the American Zionist Council, (AIPAC, before its name change) to pay for pro-Israel lobbying and propaganda in the US. This led to an unsuccessful attempt by the President Kennedy’s Justice Dept. to force the AZC to register as a foreign agent, an effort that would evaporate following his assassination. Private efforts to follow-up on Kennedy’s efforts have been blocked by subsequent administrations.

According to Guide Star, a website that monitors non-profits, the United Israel Appeal took in just under $197 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, the last year it reported its financials. Curiously, according to Guide Star, the United Israel Appeal at this point in time “is not required to file an annual return with the IRS” and no audited financial statements are available.

What a difference 57 years makes. In 1956, when Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion was reluctant to obey President Eisenhower’s order to withdraw Israeli troops from the Sinai which they occupied after joining Britain and France in an attack on Egypt, in the “Suez War,” Ike threatened to end the United Israel Appeal’s tax exemption status and that brought Ben-Gurion to heel.

One can imagine what Eisenhower would think today of an organization of Americans established to help Israeli soldiers, not American troops, and receiving an exemption from paying US taxes at the same time.

The New York and East Coast media have not been alone in protecting the FIDF from possible public wrath. In Beverly Hills, the local chapter has raised sums that while not approaching the amounts raised by its New York counterparts, has not done badly. Its fundraising events, as well, have also been blacked out by the mainstream media, despite the presence of such well known Hollywood stars as Barbra Streisand and Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander, an ardent supporter of Israel who acts as master of cermonies.

Last December 17th, at the Century-Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills, its annual dinner pulled in a record $14 million in pledges which some viewed as the Jewish establishment’s defiant response to entertainer Stevie Wonder who had agreed to be the night’s headliner, but pulled out as a result of a petition by from pro-Palestinian activists and a personal plea by Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.

There should have been two stories there for the LA media. First, that Stevie Wonder had withdrawn from the event, bowing to public pressure and second, that the FIDF dinner, hosted as it is every year by Israeli-American communications billionaire, Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, had raised a record sum for the local chapter. It was not to be. Only the local Jewish Journal reported on the event and Wonder’s cancellation.

Back in New York, in what was headlined, “A LETTER FROM THE WALDORF-ASTORIA the Forward’s Josh Nathan-Kazis poked fun at the heavy handed security at March’s FIDF dinner.

“For defenders of Israel, danger is everywhere, — even in New York City, even on Park Avenue,” he wrote, “even once they’ve passed a metal detector on the second story of the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

“Such was the conceit of the organizers of the Friends of the IDF gala, who posted two additional layers of security between the cocktail room and the ballroom at their March 12 event.”

Nathan-Kazis noted that guests had been warned not to take photos and that MC Monica Crowley had told them, “Do not even think about uploading anything, anywhere, at any time,” as a live satellite feed from what was said to be a secure Israeli intelligence facility in Jerusalem appeared on screens throughout the ballroom on which “a bald, bespectacled soldier described how his unit eavesdrops on Palestinian phone calls, though this practice was hardly a state secret.”

The FIDF had flown a number of Israel soldiers to New York for the event and, as Nathan-Kazis tells it,

“In the ballroom, Crowley, in her role as MC, talked with a young drone operator identified as Major Yair, who stood in a spotlight on an upper balcony. ‘Flying these kind of remote vehicles sounds really fun,’ Crowley told Major Yair, referring to the rocket-equipped unmanned warplanes.

“’Yeah, it is,’” Yair affirmed.

“Yair grew up in a town near Israel’s southern border. His own home was hit with a rocket launched from Gaza while he was away serving in the IDF, he told the rapt audience. Yair spoke about how he identifies targets while piloting his drone, showing side-by-side infrared images of a man in a stretcher and a man preparing to launch a rocket. The blobs in the middle of the images looked similar, but Yair showed how he could carefully distinguish between them.

“’If someone dropped a rocket on my family I wouldn’t spend so much time deciding which one was which,’” Crowley said. The crowd applauded.”

“Israel” seeks Turkish airbase for attack on Iran: Report

Press TV

A recent report says the visit by Israeli National Security Council Head Yaakov Amidror to Turkey is aimed at securing an airbase in Iran’s neighbor to pave the way for a military attack against the Islamic Republic.

In an article, the Sunday Times said that during his visit on Sunday, Amidror is expected to solicit Turkey’s agreement with regard to the deployment of Israeli fighter jets in Akinci airbase, northwest of Ankara, in exchange for advanced military equipments and technology, the Times of Israel reported.

“Until the recent crisis, Turkey was our biggest aircraft carrier. Using the Turkish airbases could make the difference between success and failure once a showdown with Iran gets underway,” Sunday Times quoted an unnamed Israeli military source as saying.

Ankara agreed to restore relations with Tel Aviv on March 22 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for the deaths of nine Turkish activists in a 2010 Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound international flotilla.

Israel also agreed to pay compensation to the families of those who were killed by Israeli commandos. The apology was brokered by US President Barack Obama during his recent visit to Israel.

The Israeli source added that the regime’s military has been “lobbying hard for the politicians to find a form of apology, in order to restore the Israeli-Turkish alliance against Syria and Iran.”

The trip comes as the Israeli military chief recently repeated its war threats against Iran, saying the regime can invade Iran on its own.

“We have our plans and forecasts… If the time comes we’ll decide” on whether to take military action against Iran, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz said on April 16.

Netanyahu has also recently said that the US-engineered sanctions against Iran over its nuclear energy program might not be enough…

US arms deal gathers “Israel”, UAE, KSA in face of Iran

Moqawama

The New York Times US daily reported Friday that the US War Department is expected to finalize a $10 billion common arms deal with “Israel”, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week.

According to the daily, “the deal will provide missiles, warplanes and troop transports to help them counter any future threat from Iran.”

This comes as a weeklong visit to the region by US War Secretary Chuck Hagel will culminate a year of secret negotiations on a deal that Congressional officials said will be second only to the $29.5 billion sale of F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia announced in 2010.

“While one goal was to ensure that “Israel” continues to field the most capable armed forces in the region to deter Iran and counter a range of threats, it was equally important to improve the capabilities of two important Arab military partners,” the report said.

“Another challenge,” senior US administration officials said, “was coming up with a package that could help “Israel” deal with various security challenges – but devised so it would not be viewed as an American endorsement of accelerated planning by “Israel” to strike alone at nuclear Iranian facilities.”

In this context, one senior administration official claimed, “the goal was not just to boost “Israel’s” capabilities, but also to boost the capabilities of our Persian Gulf partners so they, too, would be able to address the Iranian threat – and also provide a greater network of coordinated assets around the region to handle a range of contingencies.”

To the US official, “other security risks, include the roiling war in Syria – a country with chemical weapons- and militant violence in the Sinai Peninsula.”

Under the agreement, all sides would be allowed to purchase advanced armaments from American contractors. In the case of “Israel”, there is also substantial American financial assistance, topping $3 billion in military aid this fiscal year.

“Israel” would buy new missiles designed to take out an adversary’s air radars, as well as advanced radars for its own warplanes, new refueling tanker planes and – in the first sale to any foreign military – the V-22 Osprey troop transport aircraft. The United Arab Emirates would buy 26 F-16 warplanes, a package that could reach $5 billion alone, along with precision missiles that could be launched from those jets at distant ground targets. Saudi Arabia would buy the same class of advanced missile.

The expectation is that the arms sale, which was outlined to Congress on Thursday, will encounter little opposition from lawmakers, especially from members representing the many districts where military contractors are concerned about the impact of cutbacks in the Pentagon’s own weapons budget.

But Congressional officials said members were seeking assurances that the package was in keeping with American policy to guarantee “Israel’s” “qualitative military edge”.

Under the terms of the deal, “Israel” would be allowed to buy the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, an aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter but fly with the speeds and range of an airplane. “Israel” could use the Osprey for patrolling its borders, coastline and out to sea, and for moving troops to troubled areas.

A new generation of KC-135 refueling tanker planes would let “Israel’s” warplanes stay in the air longer, an ability essential for any long-range mission – like a strike by Iran. The tankers would also be useful for air patrols.

“Israel” also would receive anti-radiation missiles. New, advanced radars for “Israel’s” military jets also would be in the package.

US Administration officials declined to identify the new missile to be sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, except to say that it is an advanced class of precision “standoff munitions” – those designed to be launched from warplanes safely distant from ground targets.

The missile, one senior official claimed, is to “address the threat posed by Iran.”

US Senate committee adopts resolution to assist “Israel” in war on Iran

Press TV

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has adopted a resolution to assist Israel in case of a military attack against Iran, as the Israeli regime repeats its military threat against the Islamic Republic.

On Tuesday, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee adopted “Senate Resolution 65,” according to which the US will provide the Israeli regime with diplomatic, economic and military assistance if Tel Aviv decides to launch an attack against Iran.

The resolution, which was adopted on the day marking the 65th year after the creation of the Israeli regime, is yet to be approved by the US Senate.

Following the adoption of the resolution, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) said in a statement that, “The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has sent a very clear and enormously important message of solidarity with Israel.”

“AIPAC urges the full Senate to act expeditiously to adopt the resolution,” the statement added.

Earlier, Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen Benny Gantz said earlier on Tuesday that, “We have our plans and forecasts… If the time comes we’ll decide” on whether to take military action against Iran.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program with the Israeli regime repeatedly threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities based on the unfounded allegation.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

On April 15, Commander of Iran’s Army Major General Ataollah Salehi said the Iranian military is completely prepared to respond to potential outside threats, highlighting that even thinking about an attack on Iran will bring irreparable damage to the enemies.

Also on Monday, a deputy chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi, said, “The Armed Forces are completely ready to act according to what Leader [of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] said in his remarks in the shortest possible time.”

In his message on the occasion of Nowruz (the Persian New Year) on March 21, Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would raze Tel Aviv to the ground if Israel attempted a military strike against the Islamic Republic.

“Israel’s leaders sometimes threaten Iran, but they know that if they do a damn thing, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and [the occupied city of] Haifa to the ground,” the Leader stated.

“Israel’s” new generation of racists

Shutting down critique of “Israel” on campus

Obama doesn’t demand Israeli apology for killing of an American youth

Just a US Citizen, No Big Deal

by DAVE LINDORFF, source

The American media is full of praise for President Obama for “brokering” a detente between Israel and Turkey, two former allies who have been at loggerheads since May 31, 2010 when heavily armed Israeli Defense Force fighters boarded the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-flagged vessel seeking to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza with non-military supplies, and killed nine unarmed peace flotilla activists.

In the deal arranged by the American president, Israel’s hot-head prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who had ordered the raid, apologized “to the Turkish people” for “any mistakes that might have led to the loss of life or injury.”

It was a lame excuse for murder, but it appears that Turkey’s government was ready to bury the hatchet and, as a client state of the US, was also under some pressure from this country too.

It is interesting and indicative of the continuing power of the pro-Israel lobby in the US, that President Obama did not, as part of this brokered deal, bother to demand that Netanyahu include an apology, weak or otherwise, to the American people for the killing of an American national. For one of the nine people slaughtered by the IDF in that raid, a 19-year-old young man named Furkan Dogan, was an American citizen, a son of Turkish parents, but born and raised to adulthood in the U.S.

Dogan’s death has never even been protested or even questioned by the US government — an astonishing abrogation of this government’s oft-repeated promise to protect American lives. Indeed, in his first debate in the series of three presidential campaign debates with Republican Mitt Romney last fall, President Obama said, in his first answer to a question from the moderator, that his number on responsibility was to protect Americans.

Not young Furkan Dogan, though.

The unarmed Dogan, who was filming the IDF boarding of the Mavi Marmara, was beaten and kicked viciously on the deck by two IDF thugs, who then fired at him with their shotguns at point blank range.

The Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine conducted an official autopsy which concluded that Dogan had been killed by two shots to the face fired at close range — this as he lay already gravely wounded on the deck of the ship, having been already shot in the back, leg and foot.

This report, which was conveyed directly to the US Embassy in Ankara in July, 2010, was sat on and ignored, and went unreported. Turkey later relayed the report directly to the White House, and finally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan mentioned it specifically during a state visit to Obama, expressing his surprise to reporters following his meeting with the president that the US had not protested the killing of one of its citizens. As he told reporters, ‘I asked President Obama whether the reason he showed no interest in one of his nationals being killed was because [the victim] was [ethnically] Turkish. He didn’t reply.’”

What a freaking outrage!

The idea that this president cannot demand even a mild apology from an Israeli prime minister for the brutal slaughter of an unarmed US citizen, even as he is brokering such an apology for the killing of nine Turkish citizens is beyond appalling.

Equally, or perhaps even more appalling, is the complete failure of the US corporate media, to mention this failure, even as they note that one of the nine killed was a “Turkish-American.”

Actually, he was more than that. He was an American, pure and simple. An American born in America, and you don’t get more American than that.

I guess if you think you have the right to kill US citizens without a trial, you probably figure you don’t have to demand apologies from foreign leaders who order their deaths. They’re just US citizens after all. No big deal.

Israeli hospitals treat Syria militants

Al Manar

It has been clear that the Zionist entity is offering support for armed groups fighting the Syrian government, with reports revealed on Wednesday inform that the enemy’s hospitals have been treating Syria militants.

Agence France Presse reported on Wednesday that 11 Syrian militants have been treated in the Zionist entity’s hospitals in the past month.

Israeli public radio quoted medics as saying that one of these militant died of his wounds on Wednesday. It added that he was taken to hospital in the town of Nahariya after shot in the head.

The radio noted that the militant was with another gunman, who was seriously injured.

Five other Syrians seeking medical aid at the border in the Golan Heights were treated on the spot by Israeli medics and were sent back, the agency quoted the Israeli radio as saying.

Australian Mossad agent eliminated?

Press TV

Nearly six weeks after the Israeli regime confirmed that an Australian-Israeli Mossad agent had committed suicide in one of its maximum security prisons, it is still unclear whether his death was murder or suicide.

According to press reports in Australia and Europe, the agent, Ben Zygier, also known as Prisoner X, was originally dispatched to Europe in 2005 by his Mossad handlers with a mission to infiltrate companies that did business with Iran in an effort to be assigned to the country under a commercial cover.

Although he succeeded in getting hired by a midsize European company, Zygier failed in his mission to penetrate Iran and was ordered to return to Israel.

Zygier, described as “an enthusiastic Zionist who grew up in a prominent Jewish family in Melbourne and immigrated to Israel as a young man,” then won Mossad’s approval to return to his native Australia under the alias Ben Alon to continue his college studies.

The reports further emphasize that following his February 2008 return to Australia, he attempted to approach members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement at University of Melbourne in an unauthorized, freelance effort to recruit them for Mossad.

In an apparent bid to gain the trust of a key Hezbollah agent in Eastern Europe, the reports say, Zygier “unintentionally” exposed two important Mossad elements in Lebanon, leading to their arrest and imprisonment.

These press reports have further revealed that Zygier believed that he had recruited the Hezbollah agent to work for Mossad, but it was indeed the Hezbollah man that played a double game with him, relaying all the information furnished by Zygier back to Hezbollah leadership in Lebanon.

As a result, the two Mossad elements, Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, were arrested in Lebanon in May 2009 and sentenced to long prison terms.

According to the British daily Independent, Zygier’s leaking of Mossad secrets was regarded as the biggest “treason” by the notorious spy agency, eventually leading to his recall to Israel in February 2010 and immediate arrest and imprisonment in a maximum security facility.

It appears, however, that Zygier was killed in the Israeli prison since Mossad was convinced, and enraged, that he was feeding information to Hezbollah elements.

This is while the entire maximum security prison, except the toilets in solitary cells, is under a 24-hour video monitoring.

The Israeli regime claimed two months ago that Zygier had used a bed sheet to hang himself inside his cell’s toilet.

Netanyahu apologizes for Flotilla massacre, Turkey accepts apology

RB comment: PR stunts, the ties were not that affected to begin with.

Moqawama

“Israel” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized on Friday to Turkey for a deadly 2010 flotilla massacre and announced a full resumption of diplomatic ties as well as compensation for the families of those killed.

According to reports, the breakthrough, which ends a nearly three-year diplomatic rift, was engineered by US President Barack Obama at the tail end of a three-day visit to the Zionist entity.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after departing for Amman, a senior US official said the “Israeli” premier apologized to the Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a special phone call from Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.

“On behalf of “Israelis” he apologized for any deaths those operational mistakes might have caused,” the US official said.

“Prime Minister Erdogan accepted the apology on behalf of Turkey,” he added, saying Obama had also spoken with the Turkish leader.

For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with Turkish TRT television on Friday, “I always mentioned to my counterparts bringing “Israel” to the line of international law is an important step for “Israel” to be on a correct spot for the peace and finally manage to come to that spot.”

“We made it clear that Turkey will not change its course of action until an apology is issued,” Davutoglu stated. “What appears to you as a surprise is an effort that has been pursued and forged gradually for three years.”

“Israel” and Turkey both confirmed the apology, with Netanyahu’s office announcing a resumption of full diplomatic ties between Tel Aviv and Ankara.

A source close to the Turkish government also confirmed the news. “Apologies have indeed been offered,” he stated.

In May 2010, “Israeli” commandos staged a pre-dawn raid on the six-ship flotilla headed by the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish nationals were martyred.

The assault triggered an international outcry and a bitter diplomatic crisis between “Israel” and Turkey, with Ankara demanding a formal apology and compensation for the families of the victims.

News of the breakthrough was confirmed by Netanyahu’s office in a statement which confirmed the apology and announced a full resumption of diplomatic ties.

And it also confirmed “Israel” would pay compensation to the families of victims.

“Netanyahu today spoke with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan,” his office said.

“The two agreed to return normalization between the countries including returning ambassadors, and cancelling legal procedures against “Israeli” army soldiers,” it said, referring to the high-profile trial in absentia of four top “Israeli” military chiefs by an Istanbul court that opened in November.

“In light of the “Israeli” investigation into the incident, which pointed out several operational errors, Prime Minister Netanyahu apologized to the Turkish people for any errors that could have led to loss of life and agreed to complete the agreement on compensation,” it said.

The “Israeli” PM told Erdogan he had “good conversations with Obama about regional cooperation, and the importance of Turkey-”Israel” relations.”

Return of the living dead

(File photo)

by PEPE ESCOBAR, source

Uncle Marx never thought about this one: history repeating itself as double tragedy after already being a farce in the first place. Let’s examine the case in hand. First of all, take a close look at this Wall Street Journal op-ed from September 2002, in the hysterical run-up towards the invasion of Iraq.

Title: The Case for Toppling Saddam. Author: Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu – then out of the Israeli government.

It’s all here: a “dictator who is rapidly expanding his arsenal of biological and chemical weapons” and “who is feverishly trying toacquire nuclear weapons”; the Saddam equals Hitler parallel; the portrayal of (de facto nuclear power) Israel as helpless victims of Palestinian “terror”; the claim that Saddam could produce nuclear fuel “in centrifuges the size of washing machines that can be hidden throughout the country – and Iraq is a very big country”; the cheerleading of a unilateral pre-emptive strike; and the inevitable conclusion that “nothing less than dismantling his regime will do”.

Fast-forward over 10 years to this week in Israel. The scene: press conference of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and visiting US President Barack Obama. Anyone watching it live on al-Jazeera, from the Middle East to East Asia, must have thought they were watching a geopolitical Back to the Future – and frankly, Michael J Fox at least oozed charm.

No charm here; this was more like an eerie, suit-and-tie Return of the Living Dead. Bibi and Obama were at pains to stress the US-Israel bond was “eternal”. Actually Bibi preferred to stress that Iran’s (non-existent) nuclear weapons posed an existential threat to Israel. He repeated, over and over again, that Obama was adamant; Israel was entitled to do anything to defend itself, and its security would not be anyone’s responsibility, even Washington’s.

Obama, for his part, once again stressed that Washington’s official policy towards Iran was not containment – but to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. He stressed the “window of opportunity” was getting narrower; and, of course, that all options were on the table.

The thought that the president of the United States (POTUS) willfully ignores the verdict of his own alphabet soup of intel agencies on Iran might raise eyebrows in a rational world. But this is not reality; more like a trashy reality show.

Dream, dream, wet settler dream

The powers that be in Israel – neocon-infested US corporate media avalanche of denials notwithstanding – were absolutely essential in the whole Iraq War cheerleading operation; Ariel Sharon, at the time, boasted that the strategic coordination between Israel and the US had reached “unprecedented dimensions”.

Bibi was just a cog in the wheel then – as Jim Lobe details here – quoting Bibi’s pearls of wisdom dispensed to a misinformed-to-oblivion US Congress in 2002.

Every usual “Israeli official” suspect at the time was breathlessly spinning that Saddam was only months away from a nuclear weapon. The bulk of WMD “intelligence” presented to Congress and faithfully parroted by corporate media was filtered if not entirely fabricated by Israeli intelligence – something duly detailed, among others, by Shlomo Brom in his study An Intelligence Failure, published by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies of Tel Aviv University in November 2003.

Of course it didn’t matter that UN inspectors found no nuclear weapon program evidence on site. Of course it didn’t matter that Saddam son-in-law Hussein Kamel, who had defected to Jordan in 1995, had told UN inspectors in detail there had been no WMDs whatsoever since 1991.

Now it’s double tragedy, and double farce, all over again. Yet even Nepalis building glitzy towers in Dubai know that the ”Bomb Iran” hysteria is Tel Aviv’s tactic to change the subject from the relentless land confiscation/ethnic cleansing in slow motion in Palestine and consequently the de facto total impossibility of a two-state solution.

Here, Jonathan Cook succinctly details the frankly scary political configuration in Israel after the recent elections. The Israeli website Ynet has reported that Israeli settlers can’t stop hailing their brand new “wet dream” cabinet. Translation: the ultimate nail in the coffin of the already dead and buried “peace process”.

So here’s a modern geopolitical parable that would puzzle Aesop. Bibi publicly insults POTUS. He unabashedly supports Mitt Romney (who?) in the US presidential elections. He hits the “peace process” with a barrage of Hellfire “facts on the ground” (with loads of Palestine “collateral damage”). He sticks to his one and only message; Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran. And then POTUS, in theory the mighty Double O Bama with a license to kill (list) but actually behaving like an accidental tourist, lands in Israel with his kill list between his legs, to bask in Bibi’s glory.

No wonder the rabid American neo-con/Israeli firster/Bomb Iran crowd is gloating. Over 10 years ago their mantra was “Real Men go to Tehran”. The question now is whether POTUS will be able to grow a set of proper cojones and stare them down.