Palestinian Information Center
28 March 2008
Nazareth (PIC) -- The chief Rabbi of Safad, Shmuel Eliyahu, urged the Zionist state to exact "a horrible revenge" on Palestinians in retaliation for their attacks to serve as a deterrent.
In an article published in the newsletter "Eretz Yisrael Shelanu", which will be distributed to Synagogues this weekend, Eliyahu criticises the leaders of the Zionist state for not taking or allowing revenge against the family of Alaa Abu Dheim who carried out the Merkaz Harav attack in Jerusalem.
"A state that really respects the lives of its citizens would have hanged the 10 sons of the terrorist on a tree 50 amot [25 meters] tall, so that others would see it and be afraid," wrote Eliahu, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Eliahu called on the Zionist state to take "horrible revenge" for the attack at the Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
"We have to exact a revenge that is so painful, it will burn into the souls of all our enemies the message that Jewish blood is more valuable than gold and platinum."
On Wednesday [26 March], Mossawa Center, an Arab human rights group, called on the Attorney General to take legal action against the rabbi for inciting racism and violence.
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
US Labor statement on Gaza
Friends,
Given the poor record of U.S. labor on this issue, please give all the help you can in posting, publicizing and endorsing the following statement by New York City Labor Against the War.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Gaza/petition.html
US Labor and Gaza
New York City Labor Against the War
23 March 2008
New York City Labor Against the War joins the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions in denouncing Israel's recent massacres in Gaza, the victims of which include at least 130 Palestinians -- half of them civilians, including dozens of women and children -- since February
27.
Who are the terrorists?
Israel claims that it is fighting "terrorism" in Gaza. This is the same hollow excuse with which the U.S. seeks to justify war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the erosion of civil liberties and labor rights at home.
In fact, Israel's attacks are part of a relentless, U.S.-orchestrated campaign of collective punishment -- with complicity of the corrupt Palestinian Authority -- to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government.
Long before its latest massacres, Israel had turned Gaza into the world's "largest open air prison," assassinating activists, and cutting-off essential goods and services to 1.5 million people. Only as a result did Hamas abandon a unilateral two-year truce.
Even now, Israel seeks to derail Hamas truce offers by escalating arrests, home demolitions, settlements and murder in the West Bank -- from which no rockets have been fired.
Despite media portrayals, this violence is overwhelmingly one-sided against Palestinians, who have no aircraft, artillery or tanks.
Thus, while only one Israeli has been killed by rockets launched from Gaza since May 2007, Israel's modern arsenal killed 60 Palestinians on March 1 alone.
On February 29, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Valnai, threatened a bigger "Shoah" -- a reference to the Nazi Holocaust.
As UN official John Dugard has pointed out, Palestinian rockets are not the cause, but the "inevitable consequence," of Israeli state terror in Gaza, the slow-motion genocide which human rights organizations describe as "worse than at any time since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation in 1967."
Following the latest attacks, a Council on Foreign Relations expert explained, "You have Palestinians who wouldn't necessarily support the violence but they are saying, 'Well, what choice do we have?'"
Sixty years of ethnic cleansing and genocide
Israel's war on Gaza can only be understood as an attempt to stamp out all resistance -- including nonviolent protest -- to Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Indeed, most of Gaza's population are survivors of Zionist expulsions since the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948, when 13,000 Palestinians were massacred, 531 towns and villages erased, 11 urban neighborhoods emptied, and more than 750,000 (85 percent) driven from 78 percent of their country.
In 1967, Israel seized the remaining 22 percent of Palestine -- including East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza -- which, in violation of UN resolutions, remains under Israeli military rule.
Today, as a result of these policies, at least 70 percent of the 10 million Palestinians are refugees -- the largest such population in the world. Despite other UN resolutions, Israel vows that it will never allow them to return.
Palestinians who managed to remain within the 1948 areas -- today, 1.4 million (or 20 percent of the population in Israel) -- are permanently separated from their families in exile, subject to more than 20 discriminatory laws, treated as a "demographic threat," and threatened with mass expulsion.
In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, 140 illegal, ever-expanding Jewish-only settlements and road systems dominate the water resources and control 40 percent of the land. Palestinians are confined, separated, denied medical treatment, and degraded by an 8-meter-high separation wall, pass laws, curfews and 600 military checkpoints.
From 2000-2007, 4,274 Palestinians in these 1967 territories were killed, compared with 1,024 Israelis. The military has seized 60,000 political prisoners; it still holds and tortures 11,000.
All of these conditions have dramatically worsened since the Annapolis "peace conference" in November.
US sponsorship
Israel's war on Palestine depends completely on U.S. money, weapons and approval.
Since 1948, Israel -- the top foreign aid recipient -- has received at least $108 billion from the U.S. government. In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion.
Israel's recent assault on Gaza was endorsed by a Congressional vote of 404-1. Democratic and Republican presidential candidates fall over themselves to offer more of the same.
On March 22, Dick Cheney reassured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of "America's. . . . commitment to Israel's right to defend itself always against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats," and that the U.S. and Israel are "friends -- special friends."
This "special friendship" means that, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, cluster bombs and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers. Just one of many targets was the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions headquarters in Gaza City, destroyed by F-16s on February 28.
Such support bolsters Israel's longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East -- and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa's closest ally.
After 9/11, it helped intensify the demonization of Arabs and Muslims. It has 200 nuclear weapons, but helped manufacture "evidence" of Iraqi WMD. With U.S. weapons and support, it invaded Lebanon in 2006.
Together, these wars and occupations have killed, maimed and displaced millions of people, thereby creating the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Now, Israel is the cutting edge of threats against Syria and Iran.
In other words, oppression and resistance in Palestine is the epicenter of U.S.-Israeli war throughout the Middle East. These stakes are reflected in the ferocity of Israel's attacks against Gaza.
Labor’s role
In Palestine, South Africa, Britain, Canada and other countries, labor has condemned Israeli Apartheid.
Workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation.
But through a combination of intent, ignorance and/or expediency, much of labor officialdom in this country -- often without the knowledge or consent of union members -- is an accomplice of Israeli Apartheid.
Some 1,500 labor bodies have plowed at least $5 billion of union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.
In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent "National Solidarity Rally for Israel." In 2006, leadership of the American Federation of Teachers embraced Israel's war on Lebanon.
These same leaders collaborate with attempts by the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) to silence Apartheid Israel's opponents -- many of whom are Jewish.
In July 2007, top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win signed a JLC statement that condemned British unions for even considering the nonviolent campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
Just days ago, the JLC and the leadership of UNITE-HERE bullied a community organization in Boston into revoking space for a conference on "Zionism and the Repression of Anti-Colonial Movements."
Even the leadership of U.S. Labor Against the War, which receives funding from several major unions, remains adamantly silent about U.S. government, corporate and labor support for Israeli Apartheid.
Labor leaders' complicity parallels infamous "AFL-CIA" support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor's corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.
A necessary stand
More than forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came under intense public attack for opposing the Vietnam war. Even within the Civil Rights Movement, some dismissed his position too "divisive" and "unpopular."
In his famous speech at the Riverside Church in April 1967, Dr. King answered these critics by pointing out that "silence is betrayal," and that "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . . [is] my own government."
At the National Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace in November 1967, he reiterated the most basic principles of labor solidarity: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. . . . Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."
These principles are no less relevant today.
Yes, the Israel lobby seeks to silence opponents of Israeli Apartheid. All the more need for trade unionists to break that silence by speaking out against Israeli military occupation, for the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and for the elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.
Therefore, we reaffirm our support for an immediate and total:
1. End to U.S. military and economic support for Israel.
2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel.
3. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the Middle East.
-------------
Issued by NYCLAW Co-Conveners
(Other affiliations listed for identification only):
Larry Adams
Former President, NPMHU Local 300
Michael Letwin
Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys
Brenda Stokely
Former President, AFSCME DC 1707; Co-Chair, Million Worker March
-------------
NYCLAW, with Al-Awda-NY The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is a
cofounder of Labor for Palestine .
Previous NYCLAW materials on Palestine include:
Response to Anti-Boycott Attacks (October 19, 2007)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2683
Open Letter to UTLA President A.J. Duffy (October 9, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2466
U.S. Government and Labor Aid to Israel (September 1, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2442
Labor and the Middle East War (August 11, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2429
Conference: Palestine, Labor and the AFL-CIO (July 23, 2005)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2245
From Palestine to the US - Labor Fights Back! (October 7, 2004)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2111
Report on the New York Visit by Representatives from the PGFTU
(December 22, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1359
An Evening With Palestinian Trade Unionists (December 13, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1328
Protest Israeli Consul's Speech to AFL-CIO (May 21, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1001
No Labor Money for Israeli War Crimes! (May 21, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/999
Monday Israeli Consul Protest Postponed April 26, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/926
-------------
Subscribe to the NYCLAW low-volume listserv:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/
New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
nyclaw01@gmail.com
PO Box 620166, PACC, New York, NY 10129
Given the poor record of U.S. labor on this issue, please give all the help you can in posting, publicizing and endorsing the following statement by New York City Labor Against the War.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Gaza/petition.html
US Labor and Gaza
New York City Labor Against the War
23 March 2008
New York City Labor Against the War joins the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions in denouncing Israel's recent massacres in Gaza, the victims of which include at least 130 Palestinians -- half of them civilians, including dozens of women and children -- since February
27.
Who are the terrorists?
Israel claims that it is fighting "terrorism" in Gaza. This is the same hollow excuse with which the U.S. seeks to justify war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the erosion of civil liberties and labor rights at home.
In fact, Israel's attacks are part of a relentless, U.S.-orchestrated campaign of collective punishment -- with complicity of the corrupt Palestinian Authority -- to overthrow the democratically-elected Hamas government.
Long before its latest massacres, Israel had turned Gaza into the world's "largest open air prison," assassinating activists, and cutting-off essential goods and services to 1.5 million people. Only as a result did Hamas abandon a unilateral two-year truce.
Even now, Israel seeks to derail Hamas truce offers by escalating arrests, home demolitions, settlements and murder in the West Bank -- from which no rockets have been fired.
Despite media portrayals, this violence is overwhelmingly one-sided against Palestinians, who have no aircraft, artillery or tanks.
Thus, while only one Israeli has been killed by rockets launched from Gaza since May 2007, Israel's modern arsenal killed 60 Palestinians on March 1 alone.
On February 29, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Valnai, threatened a bigger "Shoah" -- a reference to the Nazi Holocaust.
As UN official John Dugard has pointed out, Palestinian rockets are not the cause, but the "inevitable consequence," of Israeli state terror in Gaza, the slow-motion genocide which human rights organizations describe as "worse than at any time since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation in 1967."
Following the latest attacks, a Council on Foreign Relations expert explained, "You have Palestinians who wouldn't necessarily support the violence but they are saying, 'Well, what choice do we have?'"
Sixty years of ethnic cleansing and genocide
Israel's war on Gaza can only be understood as an attempt to stamp out all resistance -- including nonviolent protest -- to Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Indeed, most of Gaza's population are survivors of Zionist expulsions since the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948, when 13,000 Palestinians were massacred, 531 towns and villages erased, 11 urban neighborhoods emptied, and more than 750,000 (85 percent) driven from 78 percent of their country.
In 1967, Israel seized the remaining 22 percent of Palestine -- including East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza -- which, in violation of UN resolutions, remains under Israeli military rule.
Today, as a result of these policies, at least 70 percent of the 10 million Palestinians are refugees -- the largest such population in the world. Despite other UN resolutions, Israel vows that it will never allow them to return.
Palestinians who managed to remain within the 1948 areas -- today, 1.4 million (or 20 percent of the population in Israel) -- are permanently separated from their families in exile, subject to more than 20 discriminatory laws, treated as a "demographic threat," and threatened with mass expulsion.
In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, 140 illegal, ever-expanding Jewish-only settlements and road systems dominate the water resources and control 40 percent of the land. Palestinians are confined, separated, denied medical treatment, and degraded by an 8-meter-high separation wall, pass laws, curfews and 600 military checkpoints.
From 2000-2007, 4,274 Palestinians in these 1967 territories were killed, compared with 1,024 Israelis. The military has seized 60,000 political prisoners; it still holds and tortures 11,000.
All of these conditions have dramatically worsened since the Annapolis "peace conference" in November.
US sponsorship
Israel's war on Palestine depends completely on U.S. money, weapons and approval.
Since 1948, Israel -- the top foreign aid recipient -- has received at least $108 billion from the U.S. government. In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion.
Israel's recent assault on Gaza was endorsed by a Congressional vote of 404-1. Democratic and Republican presidential candidates fall over themselves to offer more of the same.
On March 22, Dick Cheney reassured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of "America's. . . . commitment to Israel's right to defend itself always against terrorism, rocket attacks and other threats," and that the U.S. and Israel are "friends -- special friends."
This "special friendship" means that, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, cluster bombs and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers. Just one of many targets was the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions headquarters in Gaza City, destroyed by F-16s on February 28.
Such support bolsters Israel's longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East -- and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa's closest ally.
After 9/11, it helped intensify the demonization of Arabs and Muslims. It has 200 nuclear weapons, but helped manufacture "evidence" of Iraqi WMD. With U.S. weapons and support, it invaded Lebanon in 2006.
Together, these wars and occupations have killed, maimed and displaced millions of people, thereby creating the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Now, Israel is the cutting edge of threats against Syria and Iran.
In other words, oppression and resistance in Palestine is the epicenter of U.S.-Israeli war throughout the Middle East. These stakes are reflected in the ferocity of Israel's attacks against Gaza.
Labor’s role
In Palestine, South Africa, Britain, Canada and other countries, labor has condemned Israeli Apartheid.
Workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation.
But through a combination of intent, ignorance and/or expediency, much of labor officialdom in this country -- often without the knowledge or consent of union members -- is an accomplice of Israeli Apartheid.
Some 1,500 labor bodies have plowed at least $5 billion of union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.
In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent "National Solidarity Rally for Israel." In 2006, leadership of the American Federation of Teachers embraced Israel's war on Lebanon.
These same leaders collaborate with attempts by the Jewish Labor Committee (JLC) to silence Apartheid Israel's opponents -- many of whom are Jewish.
In July 2007, top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win signed a JLC statement that condemned British unions for even considering the nonviolent campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
Just days ago, the JLC and the leadership of UNITE-HERE bullied a community organization in Boston into revoking space for a conference on "Zionism and the Repression of Anti-Colonial Movements."
Even the leadership of U.S. Labor Against the War, which receives funding from several major unions, remains adamantly silent about U.S. government, corporate and labor support for Israeli Apartheid.
Labor leaders' complicity parallels infamous "AFL-CIA" support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor's corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.
A necessary stand
More than forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came under intense public attack for opposing the Vietnam war. Even within the Civil Rights Movement, some dismissed his position too "divisive" and "unpopular."
In his famous speech at the Riverside Church in April 1967, Dr. King answered these critics by pointing out that "silence is betrayal," and that "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . . [is] my own government."
At the National Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace in November 1967, he reiterated the most basic principles of labor solidarity: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. . . . Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."
These principles are no less relevant today.
Yes, the Israel lobby seeks to silence opponents of Israeli Apartheid. All the more need for trade unionists to break that silence by speaking out against Israeli military occupation, for the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and for the elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.
Therefore, we reaffirm our support for an immediate and total:
1. End to U.S. military and economic support for Israel.
2. Divestment of business and labor investments in Israel.
3. Withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from the Middle East.
-------------
Issued by NYCLAW Co-Conveners
(Other affiliations listed for identification only):
Larry Adams
Former President, NPMHU Local 300
Michael Letwin
Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys
Brenda Stokely
Former President, AFSCME DC 1707; Co-Chair, Million Worker March
-------------
NYCLAW, with Al-Awda-NY The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is a
cofounder of Labor for Palestine .
Previous NYCLAW materials on Palestine include:
Response to Anti-Boycott Attacks (October 19, 2007)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2683
Open Letter to UTLA President A.J. Duffy (October 9, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2466
U.S. Government and Labor Aid to Israel (September 1, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2442
Labor and the Middle East War (August 11, 2006)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2429
Conference: Palestine, Labor and the AFL-CIO (July 23, 2005)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2245
From Palestine to the US - Labor Fights Back! (October 7, 2004)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/2111
Report on the New York Visit by Representatives from the PGFTU
(December 22, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1359
An Evening With Palestinian Trade Unionists (December 13, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1328
Protest Israeli Consul's Speech to AFL-CIO (May 21, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/1001
No Labor Money for Israeli War Crimes! (May 21, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/999
Monday Israeli Consul Protest Postponed April 26, 2002)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/message/926
-------------
Subscribe to the NYCLAW low-volume listserv:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/
New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
nyclaw01@gmail.com
PO Box 620166, PACC, New York, NY 10129
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Petition in support of pro-Palestinian activists
To all the friends of the freedom of speech and opponents of racism:
We are a group of Palestinians and other activists for the Palestinian cause of various nationalities and affiliations, and believe that unity and persistence is important to confront the injustice our people had suffered in the past and still at present, probably in the unforeseeable future by Zionist and colonialist powers.
Zionism has damaged us from the first day when they started implementing their colonialist project to colonize all of Palestine, and when the opportunity comes, extend it beyond the borders of historic Palestine, damaging other Arabs. From the first day, they had been resorting to physical, psychological, moral and propaganda terror against all sorts of resistance whether it is in armed self-defense, and even against the power of the word by Palestinians and their supporters. They had been resorting to personal and communal targeted assassination, terrorizing Palestinians and their supporters all round the world in order to shut up all sorts of resistance. They try to break us apart, because they know our unity is dangerous to their colonialist and racist plans.
They had been trying to control and shut the free and honest media, and political activism by financial bribery and blackmailing when running for any sort of political offices at all levels, especially against those who call for the liberation of Palestine and the Right of Return of Palestinians to their homes and land and want them to live under a democratic, sovereign and free state under the rule of law.
Among those free fighters against Zionism are two non-Arab supporters of the Palestinian cause, two outstanding personalities who are also great fighters for the implementation of freedom and liberty to all the subjugated peoples of the world, Gilad Atzmon, the ex-Zionist London-based musician and writer, and Mary Rizzo, the Italy-based blogger of Peacepalestine. They have been attacked by Zionists for a long time, but they are also being attacked by certain other people who are in the movement for Palestine.
Almost no day goes past when Tony Greenstein is not waging a war against Gilad Atzmon and Mary Rizzo, and we believe his actions have overstepped all limits. We have watched as he tries to smear them as racists, and we are saddened that his attempts increase as our own situation becomes more and more dramatic. These useless and pointless defamation campaigns are intolerable, as he circulates falsity against these activists. His attempts to do this only hurt our cause and waste our energy, not the least, they distract from the important issues, and go against the very idea of unity that we value.
We, Palestinians and activists for Palestine, express our solidarity with Gilad Atzmon and Mary Rizzo, who when they realized the tragedies Palestinians and other Arabs suffered, especially ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland, at the hands racist colonialist Zionism decided to fight for the rightful Palestinian cause. Atzmon willingly liberated himself from this inhuman and destructive project, by choosing the road of self-imposed exile and public exposure of what the Zionist project is all about. Tony Greenstein created among his usual lies that some Palestinians attack and defame the two dedicated supporters of the Palestinian cause, Atzmon and Rizzo. We declare that he does not speak for us or in our names when he attacks these and other activists.
We also take the opportunity to condemn the strangling siege that is being imposed over the Gaza Strip in particular and the West Bank and the rest of the Palestinian Arab people in general to complete their ethnic cleansing from their historic homeland.
We urge all peace loving supporters of the freedom of thought, against all racism and Zionism and dedicated to the just Palestinian Arab cause as well as Iraq and all occupied Arab lands, to sign the petition calling for an end to the defamation campaign and a focus on the issues that are important to our people. Add you name, location and organization or group you are part of if you wish. Send it to palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. A list will be made public.
نحن مجموعة من الفلسطينيين والناشطين في مجال حقوق الإنسان، نؤمن بأن الاتحاد والمثابرة أمران في غاية الأهمية لمواجهة الظلم الذي عاناه وما زال يعانيه شعبنا في الماضي والحاضر ومن المنتظر أن يبقى يعانيه في المستقبل غير المنظور من قبل القوى الصهيونية والاستعمارية.
لقد آذتنا الصهيونية منذ البداية منذ أن بدأت بتنفيذ مشروعها لاستعمار فلسطين بالكامل. وعندما واتتها الظروف، توسعت إلى ما وراء الحدود الفلسطينية التاريخية. ملحقة الأذى بأراض عربية مجاورة. منذ اليوم الأول بدأوا باستخدام العنف والإرهاب النفسي والأخلاقي ولجأووا إلى استخدام الأساليب الدعائية ضد جميع أشكال المقاومة. إلى درجة انهم قاوموا اساليب التعبير بالكلمة بين الفلسطينيين ومؤازريهم حول العالم من أجل القضاء على جميع أشكال المقاومة. حاولوا لأنهم يعلمون جيداً أن وحدتنا تشكل خطرا\ص على مشاريعهم الاستعمارية والعنصرية. حاولوا السيطرة على الإعلام الحر وإخراسه، والقضاء على النشاط السياسي من خلال تقديم الرشاوي واستخدام أساليب الابتزاز عند كل انتخابات تؤدي إلى منصب فاعل على جميع المستويات. خصوصا ضد المنادين بتحرير فلسطين والمدافعين عن حق عودة الفلسطينيين إلى وطنهم وأراضيهم والتمتع بالديمقراطية والسيادة في دولة حرة يحكمها القانون.
من ضمن هؤلاء الناشطين الأحرار الرافضين للصهيونية والدعمين للقضية الفلسطينية شخصيتان متميزتان غير عربيتين، كرسّا جل وقتيهما وحياتهما للعمل والدفاع عن قضايانا المحقة، شخصيتين بارزتين ومناضلتين كبيرتين لا يكلان في الدفاع عن حرية واستقلال جميع الشعوب المغلوبة على أمرها والمستعمرة أراضيها والمشتتة شعوبها وتعيش في دنيا اللجوء والعوز، هما جيلاد أتزمون، الكاتب والموسيقار الذي كان صهيوني سابقاً ويعيش حالياً في لندن. وماري ريزو، المدونة المقيمة في إيطاليا والناشطة في موقع سلام فلسطين المخصص للدفاع عن القضية الفلسطينية. وكلاهما تعرضا لهجمات وسائل الاعلام الصهيونية على امتداد فترة طويلة، كما تعرضا لهجمة من قبل بعض الناشطين في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية أيضاَ!
لا يمر يوم إلا ويتنطح المدعو توني جرينشتاين بشن حرب مسعورة على الصديقين الحرين جيلاد أتزمون وماري ريزو، ونعتقد بأن أعماله قد جاوزت حدودها إلى أبعد مدى. راقبنا جرينشتاين وهو يحاول تلطيخ سمعتهما وإلصاق تهمة العنصرية عليهما علما أن أعمالهما أبعد ما تكون عن العنصرية كونهما يحاربان العنصرية الصهيونية الموجهة ضد العرب أجمعين. المؤسف جداً أن محاولاته تتكاثف بينما هما يبذلان كل جهدهما في مواجهة العنصرية الصهيونية. حملات تشويه السمعة العديمة الجدوى والغير مقبولة، التي يقوم بها عن طريق نشر الأكاذيب ضد هذين الناشطين الشريفين المخلصين للقضايا العربية، وهذا طبعاً هو هدف حملاته المسعورة ضدهما. وكل ما يقوم به جرينشتاين وأمثاله هو الإساءة إلى قضيتنا وتشتيت جهودنا، وليس أقل من إبعادنا عن قضايانا الأهم، وضد الوحدة التي نقدس.
نحن الناشطون في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية العربية، نعرب عن تآزرنا مع هذين الناشطين في سبيل قضيتنا الأولى، جيلاد أتزمون وماري ريزو، الذين عندما وعيا مدى المصائب والنكبات التي تعرض لها الفلسطينيون وغيرهم من أبناء الأمة العربية، وبشكل خاص عملية التصفية العنصرية التي لا يزال العدو الصهيوني ينفذها لطردهم والحلول مكانهم في وطنهم التاريخي وبيوتهم، فإن أتزمون بكل اندفاع ذاتي حرر نفسه من الأيديولوجية العنصرية الصهيونية التي تتعارض مع القيم الإنسانية جمعاء ومشاريعها المدمرة للسلم والاستقرار الوطني والعالمي، وماري ريزو التي لم تكن صهيونية، قررا الدفاع عن والعمل في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية المحقة، نحن نعلن بأن لا علاقة لنا بتوني جرينشتاين وبحملته الهادفة جملة وتفصيلاً للإساءة إلى سمعة هذين المناضلين. جرينشتاين لا يتكلم باسمنا أو بالنيابة عنا عندما يشن حملاته عليهما وعلى غيرهما من الناشطين في سبيل قضيتنا القومية العربية وفي قلبها فلسطين.
ونحن نغتنم الفرصة لاستنكار الحصار الخانق المفروض على الشعب العربي الفلسطيني في قطاع غزة بشكل خاص والضفة الغربية وبقية فلسطين بشكل عام، ومحاولات السير حتى آخر الطريق بتصفيتهم عرقياً من كامل أرضهم التاريخية، فلسطين العربية.
نحن نناشد كل الداعين ومحبي السلام وحرية التعبير، ضد كل أصناف العنصرية الصهيونية والاستعمارية والداعمين للقضية الفلسطينية كما تحرير العراق وغيره من الأراضي العربية المحتلة لتوقيع هذه العريضة الداعية لإنهاء حملة التشهير والتركيز على الأكثر أهمية لقضيتنا ولشعبنا العربي.
الرجاء إضافة أسمك وموقعك ومكان اقامتك والمجموعة التي تنتمي إليها إذا أردت ذلك. وأرسلها إلى palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. ستنشر لائحة على العموم.
A tutti gli amici della libertà di parola e a tutti coloro che si oppongono al razzismo:
Noi siamo un gruppo di palestinesi e di attivisti a sostegno della Palestina. Crediamo che l’unità e la costanza siano importanti per affrontare l’ingiustizia che il nostro popolo ha subito in passato, subisce ancora oggi e probabilmente subirà nel futuro prevedibile, per mano dei sionisti e delle potenze colonialiste.
Il sionismo ci ha danneggiati sin dal primo giorno in cui ha cominciato ad attuare il suo progetto di colonizzare tutta la Palestina e, quando se ne avrà l’occasione, anche di estendere il proprio dominio oltre le frontiere della Palestina storica, danneggiando altri arabi. Dal primo giorno, ha fatto ricorso alla violenza fisica, psicologica e morale e al terrorismo propagandistico contro ogni sorta di resistenza, che si tratti dell’autodifesa armata o dell’uso della parola da parte dei palestinesi e dei loro sostenitori. Hanno fatto ricorso all’omicidio mirato, sia individuale che collettivo, terrorizzando i palestinesi e i loro sostenitori in tutto il mondo per mettere a tacere ogni forma di resistenza. Cercano di dividerci, perché sanno quanto la nostra unità sia pericolosa per i loro progetti colonialisti e razzisti.
Cercano di controllare e di mettere a tacere i media liberi e onesti e la militanza politica, corrompendo e ricattando coloro che si candidano a incarichi politici di qualunque livello, in particolare coloro che chiedono la liberazione della Palestina e il Diritto di Ritorno dei palestinesi alle loro case e alle loro terre, e che vogliono che essi possano vivere in uno stato di diritto, democratico, sovrano e libero.
Tra gli spiriti liberi che combattono contro il sionismo, ci sono due sostenitori non arabi della causa palestinese, due straordinarie personalità che sono anche grandi combattenti per la libertà di tutti i popoli oppressi del mondo, Gilad Atzmon, musicista e scrittore ex-sionista che vive a Londra, e Mary Rizzo, che dall’Italia cura il blog http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/ Peacepalestine. Da molto tempo, entrambi sono il bersaglio di attacchi da parte dei sionisti, ma adesso vengono attaccati anche da alcune persone interne al movimento per la Palestina.
Quasi tutti i giorni, Tony Greenstein conduce una guerra contro Gilad Atzmon e Mary Rizzo, e adesso crediamo che le sue attività abbiano superato tutti i limiti. Lo abbiamo visto all’opera mentre cercava di diffamarli come razzisti, e siamo rattristati dal fatto che lui moltiplichi gli sforzi, proprio mentre la nostra situazione diventa sempre più drammatica. Queste inutili e futili campagne diffamatorie sono intollerabili, mentre lui diffonde affermazioni false sul conto di questi attivisti. I suoi tentativi non solo danneggiano la nostra causa e disperdono le nostre energie: non ultimo, ci distolgono dalle questioni veramente importanti, e contrastano la stessa idea di unità che noi apprezziamo.
Noi palestinesi e attivisti a favore della Palestina esprimiamo la nostra solidarietà a Gilad Atzmon e Mary Rizzo , che hanno scelto di battersi per la giusta causa palestinese, quando si sono resi conto delle tragedie sofferte dai palestinesi e da altri arabi, oggetto di una pulizia etnica per mano del sionismo razzista e colonialista che li ha espulsi dalla loro patria ancestrale. Atzmon ha scelto di liberarsi da questo progetto disumano e distruttivo, percorrendo la via dell’esilio autoimposto e del pubblico smascheramento del progetto sionista.
Noi ci dissociamo da Tony Greenstein e dalle sue campagne diffamatorie. Lui non parla né per conto né a nome nostro, né parla a nome della nostra lotta, quando attacca questi e altri attivisti.
Cogliamo inoltre l’occasione per condannare l’assedio soffocante che viene imposto alla Striscia di Gaza in particolare, ma anche alla Cisgiordania e al resto del popolo arabo palestinese, allo scopo di completare la pulizia etnica della loro storica terra.
Invitiamo tutti gli amanti della pace, i sostenitori della libertà di pensiero, contrari a ogni forma di razzismo e al sionismo e impegnati nella giusta causa araba palestinese, a firmare questa petizione che chiede di porre fine a questa campagna di diffamazione e di concentrarsi sulle questioni che sono importanti per il nostro popolo. Scrivete il vostro nome, il luogo di residenza e l’organizzazione o gruppo di cui fate parte, se volete. Mandate il tutto a palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. La lista dei firmatari sarà resa pubblica.
We are a group of Palestinians and other activists for the Palestinian cause of various nationalities and affiliations, and believe that unity and persistence is important to confront the injustice our people had suffered in the past and still at present, probably in the unforeseeable future by Zionist and colonialist powers.
Zionism has damaged us from the first day when they started implementing their colonialist project to colonize all of Palestine, and when the opportunity comes, extend it beyond the borders of historic Palestine, damaging other Arabs. From the first day, they had been resorting to physical, psychological, moral and propaganda terror against all sorts of resistance whether it is in armed self-defense, and even against the power of the word by Palestinians and their supporters. They had been resorting to personal and communal targeted assassination, terrorizing Palestinians and their supporters all round the world in order to shut up all sorts of resistance. They try to break us apart, because they know our unity is dangerous to their colonialist and racist plans.
They had been trying to control and shut the free and honest media, and political activism by financial bribery and blackmailing when running for any sort of political offices at all levels, especially against those who call for the liberation of Palestine and the Right of Return of Palestinians to their homes and land and want them to live under a democratic, sovereign and free state under the rule of law.
Among those free fighters against Zionism are two non-Arab supporters of the Palestinian cause, two outstanding personalities who are also great fighters for the implementation of freedom and liberty to all the subjugated peoples of the world, Gilad Atzmon, the ex-Zionist London-based musician and writer, and Mary Rizzo, the Italy-based blogger of Peacepalestine. They have been attacked by Zionists for a long time, but they are also being attacked by certain other people who are in the movement for Palestine.
Almost no day goes past when Tony Greenstein is not waging a war against Gilad Atzmon and Mary Rizzo, and we believe his actions have overstepped all limits. We have watched as he tries to smear them as racists, and we are saddened that his attempts increase as our own situation becomes more and more dramatic. These useless and pointless defamation campaigns are intolerable, as he circulates falsity against these activists. His attempts to do this only hurt our cause and waste our energy, not the least, they distract from the important issues, and go against the very idea of unity that we value.
We, Palestinians and activists for Palestine, express our solidarity with Gilad Atzmon and Mary Rizzo, who when they realized the tragedies Palestinians and other Arabs suffered, especially ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland, at the hands racist colonialist Zionism decided to fight for the rightful Palestinian cause. Atzmon willingly liberated himself from this inhuman and destructive project, by choosing the road of self-imposed exile and public exposure of what the Zionist project is all about. Tony Greenstein created among his usual lies that some Palestinians attack and defame the two dedicated supporters of the Palestinian cause, Atzmon and Rizzo. We declare that he does not speak for us or in our names when he attacks these and other activists.
We also take the opportunity to condemn the strangling siege that is being imposed over the Gaza Strip in particular and the West Bank and the rest of the Palestinian Arab people in general to complete their ethnic cleansing from their historic homeland.
We urge all peace loving supporters of the freedom of thought, against all racism and Zionism and dedicated to the just Palestinian Arab cause as well as Iraq and all occupied Arab lands, to sign the petition calling for an end to the defamation campaign and a focus on the issues that are important to our people. Add you name, location and organization or group you are part of if you wish. Send it to palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. A list will be made public.
عريضة
إلى جميع أصدقاء حرية التعبير عن النفس ومناهضو العنصرية
نحن مجموعة من الفلسطينيين والناشطين في مجال حقوق الإنسان، نؤمن بأن الاتحاد والمثابرة أمران في غاية الأهمية لمواجهة الظلم الذي عاناه وما زال يعانيه شعبنا في الماضي والحاضر ومن المنتظر أن يبقى يعانيه في المستقبل غير المنظور من قبل القوى الصهيونية والاستعمارية.
لقد آذتنا الصهيونية منذ البداية منذ أن بدأت بتنفيذ مشروعها لاستعمار فلسطين بالكامل. وعندما واتتها الظروف، توسعت إلى ما وراء الحدود الفلسطينية التاريخية. ملحقة الأذى بأراض عربية مجاورة. منذ اليوم الأول بدأوا باستخدام العنف والإرهاب النفسي والأخلاقي ولجأووا إلى استخدام الأساليب الدعائية ضد جميع أشكال المقاومة. إلى درجة انهم قاوموا اساليب التعبير بالكلمة بين الفلسطينيين ومؤازريهم حول العالم من أجل القضاء على جميع أشكال المقاومة. حاولوا لأنهم يعلمون جيداً أن وحدتنا تشكل خطرا\ص على مشاريعهم الاستعمارية والعنصرية. حاولوا السيطرة على الإعلام الحر وإخراسه، والقضاء على النشاط السياسي من خلال تقديم الرشاوي واستخدام أساليب الابتزاز عند كل انتخابات تؤدي إلى منصب فاعل على جميع المستويات. خصوصا ضد المنادين بتحرير فلسطين والمدافعين عن حق عودة الفلسطينيين إلى وطنهم وأراضيهم والتمتع بالديمقراطية والسيادة في دولة حرة يحكمها القانون.
من ضمن هؤلاء الناشطين الأحرار الرافضين للصهيونية والدعمين للقضية الفلسطينية شخصيتان متميزتان غير عربيتين، كرسّا جل وقتيهما وحياتهما للعمل والدفاع عن قضايانا المحقة، شخصيتين بارزتين ومناضلتين كبيرتين لا يكلان في الدفاع عن حرية واستقلال جميع الشعوب المغلوبة على أمرها والمستعمرة أراضيها والمشتتة شعوبها وتعيش في دنيا اللجوء والعوز، هما جيلاد أتزمون، الكاتب والموسيقار الذي كان صهيوني سابقاً ويعيش حالياً في لندن. وماري ريزو، المدونة المقيمة في إيطاليا والناشطة في موقع سلام فلسطين المخصص للدفاع عن القضية الفلسطينية. وكلاهما تعرضا لهجمات وسائل الاعلام الصهيونية على امتداد فترة طويلة، كما تعرضا لهجمة من قبل بعض الناشطين في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية أيضاَ!
لا يمر يوم إلا ويتنطح المدعو توني جرينشتاين بشن حرب مسعورة على الصديقين الحرين جيلاد أتزمون وماري ريزو، ونعتقد بأن أعماله قد جاوزت حدودها إلى أبعد مدى. راقبنا جرينشتاين وهو يحاول تلطيخ سمعتهما وإلصاق تهمة العنصرية عليهما علما أن أعمالهما أبعد ما تكون عن العنصرية كونهما يحاربان العنصرية الصهيونية الموجهة ضد العرب أجمعين. المؤسف جداً أن محاولاته تتكاثف بينما هما يبذلان كل جهدهما في مواجهة العنصرية الصهيونية. حملات تشويه السمعة العديمة الجدوى والغير مقبولة، التي يقوم بها عن طريق نشر الأكاذيب ضد هذين الناشطين الشريفين المخلصين للقضايا العربية، وهذا طبعاً هو هدف حملاته المسعورة ضدهما. وكل ما يقوم به جرينشتاين وأمثاله هو الإساءة إلى قضيتنا وتشتيت جهودنا، وليس أقل من إبعادنا عن قضايانا الأهم، وضد الوحدة التي نقدس.
نحن الناشطون في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية العربية، نعرب عن تآزرنا مع هذين الناشطين في سبيل قضيتنا الأولى، جيلاد أتزمون وماري ريزو، الذين عندما وعيا مدى المصائب والنكبات التي تعرض لها الفلسطينيون وغيرهم من أبناء الأمة العربية، وبشكل خاص عملية التصفية العنصرية التي لا يزال العدو الصهيوني ينفذها لطردهم والحلول مكانهم في وطنهم التاريخي وبيوتهم، فإن أتزمون بكل اندفاع ذاتي حرر نفسه من الأيديولوجية العنصرية الصهيونية التي تتعارض مع القيم الإنسانية جمعاء ومشاريعها المدمرة للسلم والاستقرار الوطني والعالمي، وماري ريزو التي لم تكن صهيونية، قررا الدفاع عن والعمل في سبيل القضية الفلسطينية المحقة، نحن نعلن بأن لا علاقة لنا بتوني جرينشتاين وبحملته الهادفة جملة وتفصيلاً للإساءة إلى سمعة هذين المناضلين. جرينشتاين لا يتكلم باسمنا أو بالنيابة عنا عندما يشن حملاته عليهما وعلى غيرهما من الناشطين في سبيل قضيتنا القومية العربية وفي قلبها فلسطين.
ونحن نغتنم الفرصة لاستنكار الحصار الخانق المفروض على الشعب العربي الفلسطيني في قطاع غزة بشكل خاص والضفة الغربية وبقية فلسطين بشكل عام، ومحاولات السير حتى آخر الطريق بتصفيتهم عرقياً من كامل أرضهم التاريخية، فلسطين العربية.
نحن نناشد كل الداعين ومحبي السلام وحرية التعبير، ضد كل أصناف العنصرية الصهيونية والاستعمارية والداعمين للقضية الفلسطينية كما تحرير العراق وغيره من الأراضي العربية المحتلة لتوقيع هذه العريضة الداعية لإنهاء حملة التشهير والتركيز على الأكثر أهمية لقضيتنا ولشعبنا العربي.
الرجاء إضافة أسمك وموقعك ومكان اقامتك والمجموعة التي تنتمي إليها إذا أردت ذلك. وأرسلها إلى palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. ستنشر لائحة على العموم.
Petizione:
A tutti gli amici della libertà di parola e a tutti coloro che si oppongono al razzismo:
Noi siamo un gruppo di palestinesi e di attivisti a sostegno della Palestina. Crediamo che l’unità e la costanza siano importanti per affrontare l’ingiustizia che il nostro popolo ha subito in passato, subisce ancora oggi e probabilmente subirà nel futuro prevedibile, per mano dei sionisti e delle potenze colonialiste.
Il sionismo ci ha danneggiati sin dal primo giorno in cui ha cominciato ad attuare il suo progetto di colonizzare tutta la Palestina e, quando se ne avrà l’occasione, anche di estendere il proprio dominio oltre le frontiere della Palestina storica, danneggiando altri arabi. Dal primo giorno, ha fatto ricorso alla violenza fisica, psicologica e morale e al terrorismo propagandistico contro ogni sorta di resistenza, che si tratti dell’autodifesa armata o dell’uso della parola da parte dei palestinesi e dei loro sostenitori. Hanno fatto ricorso all’omicidio mirato, sia individuale che collettivo, terrorizzando i palestinesi e i loro sostenitori in tutto il mondo per mettere a tacere ogni forma di resistenza. Cercano di dividerci, perché sanno quanto la nostra unità sia pericolosa per i loro progetti colonialisti e razzisti.
Cercano di controllare e di mettere a tacere i media liberi e onesti e la militanza politica, corrompendo e ricattando coloro che si candidano a incarichi politici di qualunque livello, in particolare coloro che chiedono la liberazione della Palestina e il Diritto di Ritorno dei palestinesi alle loro case e alle loro terre, e che vogliono che essi possano vivere in uno stato di diritto, democratico, sovrano e libero.
Tra gli spiriti liberi che combattono contro il sionismo, ci sono due sostenitori non arabi della causa palestinese, due straordinarie personalità che sono anche grandi combattenti per la libertà di tutti i popoli oppressi del mondo, Gilad Atzmon, musicista e scrittore ex-sionista che vive a Londra, e Mary Rizzo, che dall’Italia cura il blog http://peacepalestine.blogspot.com/ Peacepalestine. Da molto tempo, entrambi sono il bersaglio di attacchi da parte dei sionisti, ma adesso vengono attaccati anche da alcune persone interne al movimento per la Palestina.
Quasi tutti i giorni, Tony Greenstein conduce una guerra contro Gilad Atzmon e Mary Rizzo, e adesso crediamo che le sue attività abbiano superato tutti i limiti. Lo abbiamo visto all’opera mentre cercava di diffamarli come razzisti, e siamo rattristati dal fatto che lui moltiplichi gli sforzi, proprio mentre la nostra situazione diventa sempre più drammatica. Queste inutili e futili campagne diffamatorie sono intollerabili, mentre lui diffonde affermazioni false sul conto di questi attivisti. I suoi tentativi non solo danneggiano la nostra causa e disperdono le nostre energie: non ultimo, ci distolgono dalle questioni veramente importanti, e contrastano la stessa idea di unità che noi apprezziamo.
Noi palestinesi e attivisti a favore della Palestina esprimiamo la nostra solidarietà a Gilad Atzmon e Mary Rizzo , che hanno scelto di battersi per la giusta causa palestinese, quando si sono resi conto delle tragedie sofferte dai palestinesi e da altri arabi, oggetto di una pulizia etnica per mano del sionismo razzista e colonialista che li ha espulsi dalla loro patria ancestrale. Atzmon ha scelto di liberarsi da questo progetto disumano e distruttivo, percorrendo la via dell’esilio autoimposto e del pubblico smascheramento del progetto sionista.
Noi ci dissociamo da Tony Greenstein e dalle sue campagne diffamatorie. Lui non parla né per conto né a nome nostro, né parla a nome della nostra lotta, quando attacca questi e altri attivisti.
Cogliamo inoltre l’occasione per condannare l’assedio soffocante che viene imposto alla Striscia di Gaza in particolare, ma anche alla Cisgiordania e al resto del popolo arabo palestinese, allo scopo di completare la pulizia etnica della loro storica terra.
Invitiamo tutti gli amanti della pace, i sostenitori della libertà di pensiero, contrari a ogni forma di razzismo e al sionismo e impegnati nella giusta causa araba palestinese, a firmare questa petizione che chiede di porre fine a questa campagna di diffamazione e di concentrarsi sulle questioni che sono importanti per il nostro popolo. Scrivete il vostro nome, il luogo di residenza e l’organizzazione o gruppo di cui fate parte, se volete. Mandate il tutto a palestinesomoud@yahoo.fr. La lista dei firmatari sarà resa pubblica.
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Friday, 11 January 2008
Why don't you bomb yourself and save us all
By Gilad Atzmon*
"President Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel's Holocaust Memorial on Friday [11 January] and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the US should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing."
This is what the president Bush said today at the end of his formal visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
You see, Mr President, it couldn't work out, because at that time Hitler was working for America, killing "red communists".
At the time, America and Britain had an armistice with Nazi Germany in mind.
You simply couldn't just admit that Hitler was a butcher. No one makes peace with industrial mass murderers.
As if this is not enough, at the time your military intelligence didn't really buy the story of Nazi Germany involvement in mass liquidation. Consequently, your country didn't open its gates to Jewish refugees.
However, if you are truly shocked by Nazi inhumanity and regret your country's impotence at the time of the war, now is the time to act.
You can always save the Palestinians. You can, for instance, just threaten to bomb Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem. This will be enough to liberate the Palestinians in Gaza concentration Camp.
In case you are still motivated by a genuine humanist call, you may consider bombing yourself, and saving the rest of the Iraqi people from the genocide you apparently inflicted on them.
Mr President, it is never too late to save humanity from yourself and your ilk.
--
*Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born musician, writer and anti-racism campaigner.
"President Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel's Holocaust Memorial on Friday [11 January] and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the US should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing."
This is what the president Bush said today at the end of his formal visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
You see, Mr President, it couldn't work out, because at that time Hitler was working for America, killing "red communists".
At the time, America and Britain had an armistice with Nazi Germany in mind.
You simply couldn't just admit that Hitler was a butcher. No one makes peace with industrial mass murderers.
As if this is not enough, at the time your military intelligence didn't really buy the story of Nazi Germany involvement in mass liquidation. Consequently, your country didn't open its gates to Jewish refugees.
However, if you are truly shocked by Nazi inhumanity and regret your country's impotence at the time of the war, now is the time to act.
You can always save the Palestinians. You can, for instance, just threaten to bomb Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem. This will be enough to liberate the Palestinians in Gaza concentration Camp.
In case you are still motivated by a genuine humanist call, you may consider bombing yourself, and saving the rest of the Iraqi people from the genocide you apparently inflicted on them.
Mr President, it is never too late to save humanity from yourself and your ilk.
--
*Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born musician, writer and anti-racism campaigner.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Chief rabbi thanks Bush for "war against Iraq"
By Matthew Wagner, Jerusalem Post
9 January 2008
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart".
Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last year, found that 70 per cent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with 28 per cent backing it.
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.
Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.
9 January 2008
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart".
Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last year, found that 70 per cent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with 28 per cent backing it.
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.
Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.
Chief rabbi thanks Bush for "war against Iraq"
By Matthew Wagner, Jerusalem Post
9 January 2008
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart".
Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last year, found that 70 per cent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with 28 per cent backing it.
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.
Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.
9 January 2008
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his heart".
Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last year, found that 70 per cent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with 28 per cent backing it.
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.
Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the Sikh and Muslim religions.
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