Israel Attacks Gaza Again

Even before Israel began the huge bombing attacks on Gaza starting 12/27/08, Israel had already been committing crimes against the people of Gaza. Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories
occupied since 1967, issued a statement on 12/9/08 about the ongoing cruelty and unlawfulness of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel. Falk, who is Jewish, explained that, "such a policy of collective punishment, initiated by Israel to punish Gazans for political developments within the Gaza strip, constitutes a continuing flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

Chris Hedges points out what Israel has been doing to Gaza, things which are often either not reported or under reported by mainstream media, "the point of this Israeli siege, ostensibly, is to break Hamas, the radical Islamic group that was elected to power in 2007. But Hamas has repeatedly proposed long-term truces with Israel and offered to negotiate a permanent truce. During the last cease-fire, established through Egyptian intermediaries in July, Hamas upheld the truce although Israel refused to ease the blockade. It was Israel* that, on Nov. 4, initiated an armed attack that violated the truce and killed six Palestinians. It was only then that Hamas resumed firing rockets at Israel. Palestinians have launched more than 200 rockets on Israel since the latest round of violence began. There have been no Israeli casualties." - Israel’s 'Crime Against Humanity,' by Chris Hedges, Posted on Dec 15, 2008

"“This is a crime of survival,” Falk said of the rocket attacks by Palestinians. “Israel has put the Gazans in a set of circumstances where they either have to accept whatever is imposed on them or resist in any way available to them. That is a horrible dilemma to impose upon a people. This does not alleviate the Palestinians, and Gazans in particular, for accountability for doing these acts involving rocket fire, but it also imposes some responsibility on Israel for creating these circumstances.”

Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinians to resist. The Israeli government has demonstrated little interest in diplomacy or a peaceful solution. The rapid expansion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank is an effort to thwart the possibility of a two-state solution by gobbling up vast tracts of Palestinian real estate." - Party to Murder, By Chris Hedges Posted on Dec 29, 2008

* "Israel carried out an airstrike on Gaza on Tuesday night after its troops clashed with Hamas gunmen along the border in the first such confrontation since a cease-fire took effect in June. Five militants were killed, Palestinian officials told The Associated Press. An Israeli security force had entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel and fought with Hamas gunmen, killing one and wounding at least three, according to Palestinian hospital officials." - Israeli Strike Is First in Gaza Since Start of Cease-Fire By ISABEL KERSHNER Published: November 4, 2008 nytimes.com

"The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire began to disintegrate last week when Israeli forces entered Gaza to try to destroy what the military said was a tunnel dug by militants to carry out a planned cross-border raid." - Hamas militants step up rocket attacks on Israel, November 15, 2008 TimesOnline.co.uk

"IN JUNE, Israel agreed a six-month ceasefire with Hamas. Until December 27th, no Israeli, civilian or military, was killed as a result of rocket or mortar fire from Gaza. None. Not one. And there was very little rocket or mortar fire out of Gaza until Israel broke the ceasefire in early November. Those key facts have been missing from most of the reporting of Israel's slaughter of nearly 300 Palestinians in Gaza, which began on December 27th. Israel's claim that it had to act in order to protect Israeli civilians from being killed by rocket or mortar fire from Gaza is bogus." - Israel broke ceasefire by killing six, DAVID MORRISON

"With today's news of IDF air strikes abruptly ending the lives of some 140+ Gazans, I can't help but feel an abject sense of horror at the fact that most Americans will probably find some way to blame the Palestinians for bringing this on themselves. Nevermind the fact that it was Israel who initially broke the ceasefire. Forget the fact that Israel kidnapped two civilians from Gaza before Corporal Gilad Shilat became a household name. Nevermind that Israel's strangulation of the Gaza Strip began immediately after the so-called disengagement and before the electoral victory of Hamas. I remain confounded by the American progressive movement's widespread refusal to stand behind the Palestinian people as they are subjected to an endless barrage of colonialist, racist aggression." - Israel's ongoing war on Palestinian self-determination by Daisy Cutter

"The ceasefire had come under growing strain since Israeli ground forces launched an attack into Gaza against what the Israeli army claimed was a group of Palestinians preparing to attack Israel. Ayman Taha, a Hamas spokesman, said the ceasefire would not be renewed 'because the enemy did not abide by its obligations' to ease a crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip and halt attacks." - Hamas ends ceasefire with Israel, Hamas has ended its ceasefire with Israel after fresh fighting flared across the Gaza border. Tim Butcher in Jerusalem, telegraph.co.uk 12/18/2008

"This catastrophic impact was known and inevitable, and far outweighs any claim of self-defense or protection of Israeli civilians. (It should be noted that this escalation has not made Israelis safer; to the contrary, the one Israeli killed by a Palestinian rocket attack on Saturday after the Israeli assault began, was the first such casualty in more than a year.)" - The Gaza Crisis: December 2008
Dec 29, 2008 By Phyllis Bennis

The Politics of State Terror

"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni instructed senior ministry officials to open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign, in order to gain greater international support for Israel Defense Forces operations in the Gaza Strip." - Israel to mount emergency international PR effort in wake of Gaza campaign

Top Israeli Newspaper Raises Doubts About Gaza Attack

"Strike on car carrying alleged militants comes amid reports that Israel and Hamas have agreed truce" - Israeli air strike kills five in Gaza guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 17 June 2008

See New Video:
Israel Attacks Gaza, Silence from Mainstream Media about Israeli Violations of International Law
See New Blog Post: Israel Attacks Gaza, Silence from Mainstream Media about Israeli Violations of International Law

SEE: Israel is the aggressor. Overwhelmingly Israel, not Palestine, kills first. LINK HERE  ISRAEL IS THE AGGRESSOR. OVERWHELMINGLY ISRAEL, NOT PALESTINE, KILLS FIRST.

9/11 Commissioners intentionally downplayed and obscured the motives for the attacks.

9/11 Commissioners intentionally downplayed and obscured the motives for the attacks. So much so that Seth can read an excerpt from the report quoted in this post: "Why Do They Hate Us?" by Jonathan Schwarz on his blog A Tiny Revolution and be able to downplay the Israel motive. The fact is that part of the 9/11 report is close to Zelikow's testimony to the commission but omits a key sentence which Zelikow said in his testimony about bin Laden which makes a clear point: "The al-Qeada leader wanted to punish the United States for supporting Israel."

What a devious game the authors of the 9/11 Commission Report played, it is beyond the pale for them to obscure the main motive. In addition to omitting that key sentence, the 9/11 Report omitted key testimony from FBI Special Agent James Fitzgerald in response to Lee Hamilton's question, "what motivated them to do it?" Fitzgerald answered, "I believe they feel a sense of outrage against the United States. They identify with the Palestinian problem, they identify with people who oppose repressive regimes and I believe they tend to focus their anger on the United States." This testimony was kept out of the 9/11 Commission Report and no recommendation was given to address the main motive for the 9/11 attacks. When they did make mention of what they tried so hard to downplay, the authors had the audacity to use these weasel words, "American policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American actions in Iraq are dominant staples of popular commentary." See video

UPDATE: I got this unpleasant response from Seth:

"Tom: Yeah, I'm part of the chain of "deviousness." Me, Ariel Sharon and Tom Friedman and the rest of the Zionist conspiracy.

Let's run away because some Saudi maniac hates us!

Personally I am a non-interventionist and believe that the US should restrict its involvement to its proper borders: the Western Hemisphere.

If we were to draw down our commitments elsewhere and concentrate on what we have going on over here (Canada, Brazil) we would ensure our people's wealth and prosperity for at least the next century. Let China and Russia fight over the Afghan wasteland and the diminishing Saudi oil reserves. We're set over here. It's bound to happen in the next thirty years anyway...better sooner than later, right?"

Seth, I never said you conspired with anyone else and I didn't even call your specific actions devious. I said you can talk inaccurately about bin Laden's motives even after reading an excerpt from the 9/11 Report because THAT report was deviously put together in order to downplay and obscure the main motive. I don't know what is motivating you but your reply to me doesn't indicate that you are upset that you were innocently mislead by the 9/11 Commission Report , Thomas Friedman and others. Why aren't you directing your anger at those who mislead you?

Friedman lies about bin Laden's motives. Friedman claims, "the fact is that bin Laden never focused on this issue. He only started talking about "Palestine" after September 11, when he sensed that he might be losing the support of the Arab street. " (p311 of Longitudes & Attitudes ) and " Osama bin Laden never mentioned the Palestinian cause as motivating his actions until he felt he was losing support in the Arab world. " (p361-362 of Longitudes & Attitudes ) What Friedman has written is a flat out lie. To give just one example which disproves Friedman's canard: "Your position against Muslims in Palestine is despicable and disgraceful. America has no shame. " - Osama bin Laden May 1998 Also see: bin Laden has been angry about US support of Israel for years.

Thomas Friedman has been LYING about the motives of terrorists for years. Friedman claimed they "have no specific ideological program or demands. Rather, they are driven by a generalized hatred of the U.S., Israel and other supposed enemies of Islam." He is a liar, it is not "generalized hatred," it is specific things! It is beyond the pale to feed the public lies about life and death issues. Friedman wrote that in 1998, after years of crystal clear messages, for example the 1993 letter to the NYT. Terrorists stated specific motives in a letter sent to the New York Times after the 1993 bombing attack of the WTC, "We declare our responsibility for the explosion on the mentioned building. This action was done in response for the American political, economical, and military support to Israel the state of terrorism and to the rest of the dictator countries in the region."

And most media elites follow Friedman's canard about bin Laden and Palestine. What is wrong with elites like Anderson Cooper with their extreme pro-Israel bias? Anderson Cooper continued to push Friedman's canard even after reading (or claiming to read) a book that specifically exposed the canard. Cooper was actually interviewing Peter Bergen and says to him: "It -- it's interesting, also, to hear them reference Palestinians. As -- as I read in your book, "The Osama Bin Laden I Know: The Oral History of Osama bin Laden," I mean, bin Laden wasn't talking about Palestinians from the get-go." Bergen looked uncomfortable in having to explain to Cooper, "Well, he -- he has always been interested in the Palestinian issue." See link: Osama bin Laden Has Been Angry About U.S. Support of Israel for Decades

My reply to knightmascara on YouTube

knightmascara, I've never said that so how could I "keep screaming it"?

Why did you suddenly start with this "Jew hater" crap? You felt so threatened by finding out how much deception there is in the media that you feel compelled to attack me, someone who is simply laying out the facts? Where did you get this "Jew hater" BS? Do you realize how ignorant you sound? think you can discipline your mind and try to quote something I've said which backs up your accusation? You can't.

The above is my reply to a nasty commenter calling themselves "knightmascara" on YouTube who is trying to slander me. (I tried several times to post this reply and it kept not working so that is why I am posting it here.) Knightmascara's first comment was "yawn" so it is not unexpected for them to move on to BS like, "it's all the fault of the Jews! Keep screaming it."

As I point out in a previous comment, knightmascara doesn't understand basics and when exposed to the facts he or she lashes out with all the standard pathetic slanders they can think of. Knightmascara doesn't even know the basics about freedom. They poison public discourse with vulgar attempts to create a false moral high ground for themselves. I ask, "damn, are you really so threatened by the free exchange of ideas that you must resort to these underhanded tactics?"
This is the video that is getting knightmascara so upset: "I myself was twice warned by PBS producers"

"I myself was twice warned by PBS producers"

See video: "I myself was twice warned by PBS producers"
Many Americans just don't know how mainstream media is actually behaving. It doesn't occur to them what's being withheld from them. Scott Horton is a Contributing Editor of Harper's Magazine, in a footnote to a December 2008 Harper's Magazine article, he reveals:
"I myself was twice warned by PBS producers, in advance of appearances on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, that I could use the word “torture” in the abstract but that I was to refrain from applying it to the administration’s policies. And after an interview with CNN in which I spoke of the administration’s torture policy, I was told by the producer, “That’s okay for CNN International, but we can’t use it on the domestic feed." - TV Allows Torture Talk Only 'in the Abstract'

In order to get a clear profile picture, I've made this video consisting of one still frame. I've slightly altered the ends of the ribbon so it'll look when it is used as the profile picture. The problem is there's an apparent glitch which acts like I've selected "Always use my latest uploaded video still" for my profile picture when I haven't. And when I try to upload an image for the profile picture, the picture ends up looking blurry. So I need a thumbnail from a video and youtube now only lets you select a thumbnail from the last 9 videos you have uploaded. So in order to deal with this situation, I'm using one still frame for this whole video. And the reason is thumbnails are now selected algorithmically so I couldn't be sure I would get this image as the thumbnail unless I put it in ever frame of this video.

He had no time for any subtitled interviews with jihadists raging about Palestine

"At the moment Zucker blew in and interrupted, I had been in Corvo's office to propose a series of stories about al-Qaeda, which was just emerging as a suspect in the attacks. While well known in security circles and among journalists who tried to cover international Islamist movements, al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization and a story line was still obscure in the early days after September 11. It had occurred to me and a number of other journalists that a core mission of NBC News would now be to explain, even belatedly, the origins and significance of these organizations. But Zucker insisted that Dateline stay focused on the firefighters. The story of firefighters trapped in the crumbling towers, Zucker said, was the emotional center of this whole event. Corvo enthusiastically agreed. "Maybe," said Zucker, "we ought to do a series of specials on firehouses where we just ride along with our cameras. Like the show Cops, only with firefighters." He told Corvo he could make room in the prime-time lineup for firefighters, but then smiled at me and said, in effect, that he had no time for any subtitled interviews with jihadists raging about Palestine." - John Hockenberry, "You Don't Understand Our Audience, What I learned about network television at Dateline NBC."

Israel Must End the Gaza blockade!

"When it comes to Israel's blockade of Gaza, the silence is deafening, at least outside of Palestine. One wonders how many international conventions the Israelis need to break before there is an actual global outcry and action against their repeated human rights abuses against Palestine. The blockade of Gaza is only the latest in a long list of such abuses, but the scale of the abuse is beyond dramatic." - Bill Fletcher Jr.

Crime Against Humanity: the cruelty and unlawfulness of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel

UNITED NATIONS

Press Release

Gaza: Silence is not an option

9 December 2008
The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk, issued the following statement:

GENEVA -- In recent days the desperate plight of the civilian population of Gaza has been acknowledged by such respected international figures as the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of the General Assembly, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Last week, Karen AbyZayd, who heads the UN relief effort in Gaza, offered first-hand confirmation of the desperate urgency and unacceptable conditions facing the civilian population of Gaza. Although many leaders have commented on the cruelty and unlawfulness of the Gaza blockade imposed by Israel, such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious UN officials has not occurred on a global level since the heyday of South African apartheid.

And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease. Such a policy of collective punishment, initiated by Israel to punish Gazans for political developments within the Gaza strip, constitutes a continuing flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It is long past the time when talk suffices. As AbuZayd has written, "the chasm between word and deed" with respect to upholding human rights in occupied Palestine creates a situation where "radicalism and extremism easily take root." The UN is obligated to respond under these conditions. Some governments of the world are complicit by continuing their support politically and economically for Israel's punitive approach.

Protective action must be taken immediately to offset the persisting and wide-ranging violations of the fundamental human right to life, and in view of the emergency situation that is producing a humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding day by day. However difficult politically, it is time to act. At the very least, an urgent effort should be made at the United Nations to implement the agreed norm of a 'responsibility to protect' a civilian population being collectively punished by policies that amount to a Crime Against Humanity.

In a similar vein, it would seem mandatory for the International Criminal Court to investigate the situation, and determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law. As AbuZayd has declared, "This is a humanitarian crisis deliberately imposed by political actors."

It should be noted that the situation worsened in recent days due to the breakdown of a truce between Hamas and Israel that had been observed for several months by both sides. The truce was maintained by Hamas despite the failure of Israel to fulfill its obligation under the agreement to improve the living conditions of the people of Gaza.

The recent upsurge of violence occurred after an Israeli incursion that killed several alleged Palestinian militants within Gaza. It is a criminal violation of international law for elements of Hamas or anyone else to fire rockets at Israeli towns regardless of provocation, but such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the UN or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people.

ENDS

For further information on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and work and mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, visit the following website: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/MENARegion/Pages/PSIndex.aspx

Critical Facts Reporters Won't Report, Serious Issues which put our Lives at Risk

See video: Critical Facts Reporters Won't Report, Serious Issues which put our Lives at Risk

Former CIA Bin Laden Unit Chief Michael Scheuer said in a CNN interview that "the politicians really are at great fault for not squaring with the American people. We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live. And there's a huge burden of guilt to be laid at Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton, both parties for simply lying to the American people."

What I see is suppression, denial and misdirection about the actual motives. And the "9/11 Truth" movement has filled this role so perfectly that powerful people like it. Chomsky is right when he points out that the 9/11 truth movement is "treated so tolerantly" and he suspects that "people in positions of power like it." He points out that "It's diverting enormous amounts if energy away from real crimes of the administration ... so much potential activist energy is directed into 9/11 discussions. From the point of view of power centers, that's great. We'll give these people exposure on C-SPAN and have their books right up front at the local bookstores. A pretty tolerant reaction. We sort of say we think it's a bad joke, but you don't get the kind of reaction you do when you really go after hard issues." p36, Chomsky, What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World see my blog post

Gibson: If the intelligence had been right, would there have been an Iraq war?

Bush: Yes, because Saddam Hussein was unwilling to let the inspectors go in to determine whether or not the U.N. resolutions were being upheld.

President Bush continues to lie about the very reason he started the Iraq war. And the mainstream media reporters continue to play along with the big lie! Charlie Gibson, how do you sleep at night?

"Inspections in Iraq resumed on the 27th of November, 2002. In matters relating to process - notably, prompt access to sites - we have faced relatively few difficulties, and certainly much less than those that were faced by UNSCOM in the period 1991 to 1998." - Hans Blix, 3/7/03

Blix said, "there has been an acceleration of initiatives from the Iraqi side since the end of January." He said Iraq's "numerous initiatives" "can be seen as 'active' or even 'proactive'" and that "even with a proactive Iraqi attitude ... it will still take some time." - Hans Blix, 3/7/03

Friday, November 09, 2007
Greta Van Susteren: The two big issues Americans think of when they think of Pakistan, one is you have nuclear weapons and that's always, you know, terrifying, you know when a country has unrest - you have nuclear weapons and the other is Osama bin Laden, we know - we suspect that he is hiding out in the northern part of Pakistan or that he is being hidden out there. Is Musharraf doing everything he can to protect your nuclear weapons? And number two, is he doing everything he can to help the United States in its war on terrorism?

Benazir Bhutto: Well, I think Osama bin Laden must be rubbing his hands with glee as he looks at what's happening in Pakistan and how there is civil unrest in the country, how large parts of the tribal areas have fallen under the sway of his supporters as have parts of the frontier province and now they are moving into yet another state known as the northern area. And what's frightening, Greta, is that they seem to have tons of money and they're hiring poverty stricken people from Pakistan and they're hiring poverty stricken people from nearby Uzbekistan.

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/11/09/audio-greta-van-susteren-interviews-benazir-bhutto/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,310140,00.html