Israel

January 17, 2011December 11, 2020

After the Tyrant of Tunisia Fled

Whilst Ben Ali commiserates with 1.5 tons of gold and his new Saudi hosts on the loss of his holiday homes and yachts which he and his family pilfered, the Dark Prince of Ziostan seizes upon the tyrant’s ousting as yet another reason to delay the peace talks charade. ‘Talking of Peace Talks’ is a customary game played with international elites by the Ziostanian ruling class when they are not aggressing some neighbour or Palestinians unworthy of democracy, which is perceived as a risk by Ziostan’s elite to their ‘stability, security and peace’. It is a pleasant, hands-across-the-waters effusive pastime which obscures even more enjoyable activities like home demolitions, accelerated land theft throughout the West Bank, Occupied Jerusalem and the Negev, shooting motorists, or small boys and old men who stray too close to the Gaza apartheid fence when struggling to eke out a living collecting stones and pebbles to rebuild their famous landmark – the largest civilian prison on the planet. The main game though for Ziostan, its strategy, tactic and aim, is expansionism, the taking of territory which wondrously can be justified in retrospect or even in advance, for Ziostan’s constant demand for ‘stability, security and peace’ is paramount before the most rudimentary needs for survival of those they oppress.

It is two years since Ziostan declared its massacre of the people of Gaza over, and the hideous, illegal siege remains, with the full complicity of the global political community which has chosen shining, privileged, packaged ziocolony to rule over and occupy Palestinians. Ziostan commandeered more than 3 million dunam of cultivated fields and villages during and after their genocide and expulsion of Palestinians, the Nakba, in 1948. The inconvenience of the continued presence of suffering, protesting Palestinians as a distraction from fiercely marketed tactical Ziostanian victimhood is perceived as a small price to pay in order to usurp the balance of Palestinian land and resources which Ziostan covets. Those who resist Ziostanian power even in non-violent ways, including children, are often summarily jailed, labelled terrorists and tortured. There will be no need for two states if Ziostan can appropriate all Palestinian land without resistance or approbation from the international community. The ‘talk of peace talks’ charade provides window dressing for the international ruling class and ameloriates criticism within Ziostan itself. Failure of ‘peace talks’ is routinely blamed upon Palestinians unwilling to surrender one more dunam of their indigenous birthright and heritage or to forgo the right of return guaranteed by international law. Conscience is no impediment to the elite of Ziostan, for as with other elites, Ziostanians do not flinch from their righteous dispossession of those whom they perceive as lesser humans or not human at all.

The Dark Prince remains aloof from many of his own people as he is from Palestinians and transfixed by the hunt, does not understand the lessons presently before him. Yet neither he nor the rest of his ziofascist retinue or contrived brute force, theft and calumny can withstand the people’s search for real security and peace based soundly on justice and equal rights and backed with a growing solidarity movement focussed on boycotts, divestments and sanctions. Tinpot dictatorial sociopaths with Uzis, F15s, dungeons, pain, the whole banal sex and death repertoire have limited appeal – fascistic crises and spectacles lose their lustre after their twisted motivations are exposed.

Perhaps when Nutanyahoo is finally ousted by a united people hungry for real democracy, he too can apply to Saudia for a political sinecure or respite.

In Egypt, Abul Gheit reacts furiously and with unconscious irony to Clinton’s hypocritical statements:

“We hope that the summit will adopt Egypt’s proposal which would be a message from the Arab to the Western and European world saying ‘Do not dare interfere in our affairs”, he was quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency.

MENA said he was responding to a question from one of its journalists who asked if the summit could adopt a common position concerning Western bids to interfere in Arab affairs.

On Thursday, Clinton urged Arab leaders to work with their peoples to implement reforms or see extremists fill the void, warning the “region’s foundations are sinking”.

The region’s peoples “have grown tired of corrupt institutions”, Clinton told Arab counterparts in Qatar attending the Forum for the Future, a 2004 US initiative aimed at promoting such partnerships.

“In too many places, in too many ways, the region’s foundations are sinking into the sand. The new and dynamic Middle East that I have seen needs firmer ground if it is to take root and grow everywhere,” she said.

Clinton said the region’s leaders “in partnership with their peoples” have the capacity to build a bold new future where entrepreneurship and political freedoms are encouraged.

“It’s time to see civil society not as a threat but as a partner,” she said.

“Those who cling to the status quo may be able to hold back the full impact of their countries’ problems for a little while but not forever.

“Others will fill the vacuum,” if leaders failed to offer a positive vision to give “young people meaningful ways to contribute”, Clinton warned.

Abul Gheit also dismissed the notion that people in the Arab world could be inspired by Tunisia, where violent protests forced president Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali to abandon his post.

“The talk about the spread of what happened in Tunisia to other countries is nonsense. Each society has its own circumstances,” Abul Gheit told reporters in Sharm El Sheikh.

“If the Tunisian people decide to take that approach, it’s their business.

“Egypt has said that the Tunisian people’s will is what counts,” said the foreign minister.

“Those who imagine things and seek to escalate the situation will not achieve their goals.

“The most important thing is the will of the Tunisian people. Nobody is resisting it,” Abul Gheit added..

It is most important for dictators to resist the will of the people – yet even Pharaohs may fall when the people no longer tolerate their cruelty and corruption.

Palestine / Israel Links

Peres: Probe of Leftist NGOs harms Israeli democracy (What democracy?)

Other Links

Floods, prices and mortality
Joe Hallett commentary: Snooping on journalist’s family is new low for Democrats
Ezili Dantò’s Note on the arrival of Jean Claude Duvalier into Haiti today
1974 – South East Queensland – Cyclone Wanda

January 16, 2011December 11, 2020

Resistance to Israeli Apartheid – Freedom Will Come

The successful ousting of US-backed dictator Ben Ali by a concerted mass movement of the Tunisian people must surely send a shiver of horror through the zionist usurpers and other oppressors.

In the past few days, there have been two major BDS wins – Vanessa Paradis, partner of Johnny Depp, has cancelled her concert, while major UK retailer, John Lewis, has stopped stocking Ahava products.

Worthy of note also is Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne’s article on ABC Unleashed, discussing her council’s historic decision to boycott Israeli products.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Silvan Shalom (should be Vice Prime Minister), eats his foot up to the ankle:

The fall of Tunisia’s regime headed by Zine El Abidine Ben Alican have serious repercussions, said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom.

In an interview on Israeli radio Friday night, Shalom said that he comes from a family of Tunisian immigrants.

“I fear that we now stand before a new and very critical phase in the Arab world. If the current Tunisian regime collapses, it will not affect Israel’s present national security in a significant way,” he said. “But we can, however, assume that these developments would set a precedent that could be repeated in other countries, possibly affecting directly the stability of our system.”

Shalom added that if regimes neighbouring the Israeli state were replaced by democratic systems, Israeli national security might significantly be threatened. The new systems would defend or adopt agendas that are inherently opposed to Israeli national security, he said.

The deputy indicated that Israel and most of the Arab regimes have a common interest in fighting what he referred to as “Islamic fundamentalism” and its “radical” organisations which threaten Israel.

This threat, he added, is the reason behind much of the direct and indirect intelligence and security coordination between Israel and the Arab regimes.

Shalom emphasised that a democratic Arab world would end this present allegiance, because a democratic system would be governed by a public generally opposed to Israel.

At least Silvan is honest about Israel’s whole-hearted approval of tyranny, unlike the duplicitous US/EU condominium and vile PA collaborators. Ynet zioshill, Smadar Peri, starts laying groundwork to drive arabs back where zionists feel they belong – under the boot.

In Haaretz, Nutanyahoo chants the time-tested hasbaramantra of peace, stability and security, echoing the prevaricative US litany. Both perpetually fail to mention justice and equal rights as a precursor to their disingenuous outcomes. Again, Shalom was more forthright.

Let the righteous ostracism of the unjustifiable, inexcusable apartheid zionist entity continue and prosper until the criminal apartheid wall falls, the filthy Occupation ends and Palestinian people attain the civil and political rights enjoyed by Jewish Israelis in one democratic state in all of Palestine / Israel!

Palestine / Israel Links

‘Jewish group tells Fox to fire Glenn Beck’
Israel Tests on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay
Documenting the Crimes of Torture Committed by the CIA, EU and Israeli trained “Palestinian Authority” in the West Bank [.pdf]
Netanyahu to propose Knesset panel also investigate funding of rightist NGOs
Bedouin village razed again; residents: Fascist state
Israeli government invades Muslim quarter to expand Jewish ‘Western Wall’ site

Wikileaks Links

US Geneva mission under investigation
Joke of the Day : Miss America 2011: “Wikileaks was actually based on espionage.”
OHB-System Disclaims Wikileaks Report of CEO Comments on Galileo

Other Links

Afghanistan: NATO strike kills 6 of a family in Kunar
Fined for Helping Iraqi Kids : Bert Sacks vs. the US Government
Gillard announces an Independent review of the intelligence community
Former dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier returns to Haiti
Looking Behind the Mug-Shot Grin of an Accused Killer
ACMA: ABC and BBC may hamper Murdoch’s paid content model

January 16, 2011December 11, 2020

US War Criminals : Where are they now? Madeleine Albright

Madeleine Albright - The Price Is Ongoing — The Price Is Ongoing

From an August 09 Wikileaks cable, Madeleine Albright, apologist for US genocide in Iraq, was once more elevated, this time within NATO:

(U) According to Rasmussen the twelve individuals were chosen in order represent a broad range of Allies, as well as to bring a broad range of skills and expertise to the job.
They are:

– Madeleine Albright as Chair of the Experts Group, the United States, former Secretary of State

To recap on Albright’s sociopathic admission:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.

–60 Minutes (5/12/96)

The disgraceful US sanctions and its successive wars of plunder and aggression against Iraq have been highlighted through Wikileaks’ publication of the relevant cable chronicling April Glaspie’s duplicitous ‘Green Light’ to Saddam. A year after the deranged Albright made her appalling statement, she was confirmed by the US Senate as Clinton’s Secretary of State.

Sheldon Richman adequately disposes of Albright’s bleating attempt to recant in her autobiography:

Albright has just published her memoirs, Madam Secretary, in which she clarifies her statement. Here’s what she writes:

I must have been crazy; I should have answered the question by reframing it and pointing out the inherent flaws in the premise behind it. Saddam Hussein could have prevented any child from suffering simply by meeting his obligations…. As soon as I had spoken, I wished for the power to freeze time and take back those words. My reply had been a terrible mistake, hasty, clumsy and wrong. Nothing matters more than the lives of innocent people. I had fallen into the trap and said something I simply did not mean. That was no one’s fault but my own. (p. 275)

In the paragraph before this one she complains about the 60 Minutes report because “little effort was made to explain Saddam’s culpability, his misuse of Iraqi resources, or the fact that we were not embargoing medicine or food.”

When one reviews the facts, it is clear that Albright’s explanation is woefully inadequate. First, it contains an apparent contradiction. She says food and medicine were not embargoed, but then she says Saddam Hussein could have avoided the suffering “simply by meeting his obligations.” Does that mean more food would have been available had Hussein done what the U.S. government wanted? If so, weren’t American officials at least partly responsible for the harm done to the Iraqi people? Hussein certainly did not let his people starve. The New York Times and Washington Post have reported that in answer to the sanctions, Saddam Hussein maintained an elaborate food-rationing program for rich and poor, presumably to hold the loyalty of the Iraqi people, which the sanctions were supposedly intended to dissolve. Iraqis are reported to be reluctant to give up the program even though Hussein is gone and the sanctions are over.

Albright is being disingenuous. Although food wasn’t formally embargoed when the sanctions began in 1990, Iraq was hampered in importing it because initially Iraqi oil couldn’t be exported. No exports, no imports. The UN’s “oil for food” program, started six years later, after Hussein dropped his opposition, was supposed to remedy that. But it didn’t entirely. Counterpunch.org reported in 1999, “Proceeds from such oil sales are banked in New York…. Thirty-four percent is skimmed off for disbursement to outside parties with claims on Iraq, such as the Kuwaitis, as well as to meet the costs of the UN effort in Iraq. A further thirteen percent goes to meet the needs of the Kurdish autonomous area in the north.” With the remaining limited amount of money, the Iraqi government could order “food, medicine, medical equipment, infrastructure equipment to repair water and sanitation” and other things. But — and here’s the rub — the U.S. government could veto or delay any items ordered. And it did.

As Joy Gordon reported in the November 2001 Harper’s,

The United States has fought aggressively throughout the last decade to purposefully minimize the humanitarian goods that enter the country…. Since August 1991 the United States has blocked most purchases of materials necessary for Iraq to generate electricity, as well as equipment for radio, telephone, and other communications. Often restrictions have hinged on the withholding of a single essential element, rendering many approved items useless. For example, Iraq was allowed to purchase a sewage-treatment plant but was blocked from buying the generator necessary to run it; this in a country that has been pouring 300,000 tons of raw sewage daily into its rivers.

For Albright to say that food and medicine were not embargoed is to evade the fact that critical public-health needs could not be addressed because of the sanctions. Preventing a society from purifying its water and treating its sewage is a particularly brutal way to inflict harm, especially on its children. Disease was rampant, and infant mortality rose because of the sanctions. Let’s not forget that destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure was a deliberate aim of the U.S. bombing during the 1991 Gulf War.

No wonder two UN humanitarian coordinators quit over the sanctions. As one of them, Denis Halliday, said when he left in 1998, “I’ve been using the word ‘genocide’ because this is a deliberate policy to destroy the people of Iraq. I’m afraid I have no other view.”

Albright now writes that her answer to Stahl was “crazy” and that she regretted it “as soon as [she] had spoken.” Yet she did not take back her words between 1996 and Sept. 11, 2001. According to journalist Matt Welch, after being plagued by student protesters she “quietly” expressed regret for her statement in a speech at the University Southern California shortly after 9/11. But neither her office nor the Clinton administration issued a prominent clarification to the American people or the world. Could that be because her initial answer was sincere and that her belated apology was issued with her legacy in mind? We can be sure of one thing: word of her response spread throughout the Arab world. Maybe even among some of the 9/11 terrorists.

Albright resigned from her position on the NYSE Board in 2005 after the Grasso scandal.

Since the US has been caught redhanded spying on UN diplomats and others via Wikileaks cables, the ‘unparalled serpent’ Albright should hand in her jewelled bug brooch collection.

Future forecast – Albright should be in the dock at Le Hague, not wafting around Europe at lofty heights plotting more mass murder.

‘JONATHAN HOLMES: The Soviet Union was the main enemy in the ’70s and early ’80s. But there were others too. In 1979, a certain Saddam Hussein became dictator in Baghdad. That year in the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz was studying America’s war plans for the Persian Gulf. He and his assistant Dennis Ross warned that the new Iraqi leader could soon become a threat to the oil-rich Gulf States.

DENNIS ROSS, FORMER US MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: At that point, the Arab neighbours were looking at Iraq as a kind of bulwark against the Iranians. We were looking beyond that, saying, “Look, we’re not so sure that Iraq has such benign intentions towards its neighbours. And if it becomes very powerful, we’re going to find that it may use its power either directly or coercively.”

JONATHAN HOLMES: You actually recommended effectively setting up what became Central Command, didn’t you?

DENNIS ROSS: Absolutely. Much of what we subsequently did in the Gulf and the basis for what we even do today was drawn from that study which Paul directed.

JONATHAN HOLMES: But within a year, a much more dangerous challenge had appeared in the Gulf. The Iranian Revolution replaced America’s closest friend, the Shah, with a charismatic and implacable enemy, the Ayatollah Khomeini. As Saddam Hussein fought a bloody eight-year war against Iran, the Reagan Administration overcame its moral distaste for tyrants. He was treated as a favoured American ally.

PHYLLIS BENNIS, INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES: Throughout the1980s, it was United States resources from a…particularly from a country right here outside of Washington, DC, a small company called the American Type Culture Collection, that sold Iraq the seed stock for biological weapons, the seed stock for E. coli, for anthrax, for botulism, for a host of horrific diseases. And even at that time, it was known that Iraq had used chemical weapons against Iranian troops and against Kurdish civilians. And yet, Donald Rumsfeld, who was then a special envoy of President Reagan, went to Baghdad simply to shake hands with Saddam Hussein and urge the reopening of full diplomatic relations.’

Text: Condoleezza Rice at the Republican National Convention

RICE: And tonight, we gather to acknowledge this remarkable truth: The future belongs to liberty, fueled by markets in trade, protected by the rule of law and propelled by the fundamental rights of the individual. Information and knowledge can no longer be bottled up by the state. Prosperity flows to those who can tap the genius of their people.
…
George W. Bush will never allow America and our allies to be blackmailed. And make no mistake about it, blackmail is what the outlaw states seeking long-range ballistic missiles have in mind.

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

Chomsky: who says Israeli apartheid can’t last forever?
South African Jewish group prepares war-crimes charges against Livni in advance of visit
Israel Tests on Worm Called Crucial in Iran Nuclear Delay
Israël : Vanessa Paradis annule son concert à Tel Aviv

Today’s Wikileaks Links

Assange: Wikileaks timing “no coincidence”
Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer plans to hand over offshore banking secrets of the rich and famous to WikiLeaks

Other Links

Combat in Our Genes?

January 15, 2011December 11, 2020

Lies, Statistics and Spurious Hasbaroids

Looking for some answers? This skewed, racist imperialist CFR survey from Pechter Middle East Polls, provides answers from a selective array of questions, notably failing to ask Palestinians of Jerusalem whether they would prefer one state, not the unworkable two ostensibly favoured by zionists, the neocolonising US and cronies. Could this explain the large percentage of Palestinians who consistently respond “don’t know” throughout the Pechter Poll’?

In an AWRAD Poll from August, 2010 surveying Palestinians across the Occupied Territories, it was found ‘as much as 53 percent are willing to support, accept or consider the idea of one-joint state in which Israelis and Palestinians are equal citizens between the Jordanian River and the sea. In contrast, 47 percent find this unacceptable.’

Wikileaks Links

Law Firm for Assange Accusers Has Apparent Ties to CIA and Torture
Belarus urged to free prisoners of conscience held after post-election protest
« Wikileaks fight back
Why Wikileaks is so dangerous for the ruling class
Australian mainstream politician (“left-winger”) shows yet more love for Zionism

Palestine / Israel Links

Israeli Press Office Apologizes for ‘Bra-Gate’
A week of racism in Israel
“Bra-gate” brings clarity to Middle East reporting
Israel shares its murdering ways with good friends and allies
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu slandered by Israel apologists
Israel to join Executive Board of UN Women
Neve Gordon : Israel’s Assault on Human Rights
Canada’s double standards
Israel to erase Palestinians from Jerusalem
Zeev Sternhell : Gov’t protects the people, not the other way around – In a democracy, restrictions must be imposed on legislation, because the purpose of a liberal democratic regime is to protect human and civil rights and ensure equality. When the legislature ignores these basic duties, it undermines the very reason for democracy’s existence.
Sarah Palin’s Jewish Problem – unreal connections between Palin’s church, christian zionism and white supremacism
Archbishop Desmond Tutu attacked for his support of the Palestinians – how did the zionists, who consorted with the nazis to bolster emigration to Palestine, end up owning the Holocaust&tm; ?
Omar Barghouti : Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions : The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights
Australian mainstream politician (“left-winger”) shows yet more love for Zionism
Foreign reporter challenges GPO over visa policy
Israel to join Executive Board of UN Women
January 14, 2011 Bookmark and Share
Norway says it will be first EU nation to recognise Palestine 14Jan11 January 14, 2011
Unfollowed: Pentagon Deletes Social Media Office

Other Links

Why WikiLeaks Matters
Brisbane City Council Flood COP – Situation Awareness Map
State of crisis: a politician in a disaster zone
Fall of Roman Empire linked to wild shifts in climate
Tunisian dictator addresses the people: I did not know, he said, that I was a dictator until today
Climate Change: 2010 Tied For Warmest Year On Record AND Wettest Year – NOAA
Death toll in Brazil slides exceeds 400 and still growing – Water and mud wipe out north side of Rio de Janeiro, survivors search for food, water, and medication
One year after the earthquake, Haitians need real self-determination
Tunisia’s Ben Ali to Quit in 2014 as Riots Persist
Tunisia Shuts Off Internet Filter
Tunisian Rioters Overwhelm Police Near Capital
Mark Pesce : A matter of trust
Brisbane Floods – Updated January 14 2011
Travels with Paula (I): A time to build

‘Army took us to war to keep the troops busy’ claims former diplomat Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles

January 12, 2011August 24, 2022

Flooded in, with an Eye on Israel’s Persecution of the People of Gaza

While Nutanyahoo postures about Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons in an effort to clutch a flimsy veil of victimhood over Israel’s fascist expansionism, Israel is terrorising the defenceless people of Gaza vigorously, with continued bombings and executions. It is Israel who is the belligerent, expansionist invader and its latest aggression occurs while Hamas implores militants not to fire rockets at the zionist usurper.

Electronic Intifada highlights the fate of another casualty of Israel’s hideous siege on Gaza – the murder of sick 20 year old Anas Saleh by Israel’s official siege flunkeys.

Meanwhile, Palestine-based human rights organizations have called for a criminal investigation into the death of a 20-year-old Gaza resident, as Israeli officials prevented him from leaving Gaza in order to receive life-saving medical treatment for advanced liver disease.

Several human rights organizations — including the Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel — have demanded prosecution against Israeli officials for their culpability in his death. In a public statement, the organizations report that Israeli authorities had known about Saleh’s critical medical needs, and had denied his permit to leave Gaza nevertheless (“Human rights organizations demand criminal investigations into the death…,” 6 January 2011).

“… [T]he denial of an exit permit in these circumstances is an act against the legal obligation to provide medical treatment to save the life of the patient, an act which brought about, or at least hastened, the death of the deceased,” the statement read. “The aforementioned act, or failure, raises the suspicion of manslaughter, and/or causing death by negligence …”

If Im Tirzu has its way, there will be no ‘leftwing’ human rights organisations to report on Israel’s crimes against humanity. As usual, this ziofascist organisation omits to mention the massive tax deductible donations received from the international community including Australia, for illegal apartheid Israeli settlements and other land theft by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel’s collective punishment of the people of Gaza is completely unacceptable and illegal.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) released a report on 10 December on Israel’s use of collective punishment against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip (“The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment of the Civilian Population,” 10 December 2010 [PDF]).

In its report, PCHR states that by enforcing the blockade since June 2007, Israel is in grave violation of international law and reiterates that “nothing substantial has changed” since Israel’s alleged “easing” of the closure in June 2010.

“The closure is prohibited as a form of collective punishment and results in the infliction of great suffering on the civilian population, which is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions,” PCHR states in the introduction to the 102-page report. “It is a crime that entails individual criminal responsibility for those involved in this policy at various levels, especially at the level of planning, organization and active implementation of the closure. Ultimately, the closure may amount to persecution, which is a crime against humanity.”

PCHR stated that the international community is mandated to take action to “put an end to the illegal closure of Gaza, which is inherently illegal and criminal in its nature.”

“By failing to do so,” PCHR added, “the international community bears responsibility for the intentionally manufactured socio-economical crisis that is progressively destroying Gaza, and depriving its people of their most fundamental human rights and dignity.”

Now is the time to ramp up boycotts, divestments and sanctions of apartheid Israel. As governments have failed, and continue to fail to act to stop Israel’s iniquity, all people of conscience must do so.

And as for us? we’re still flooded in. If it doesn’t rain tonight, we’ll doubtless be able to escape our paradise to collect the mail tomorrow morning. Not so lucky are the people of Brisbane who are awaiting a flood peak at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning. Please stay safe, don’t take chances and use your brains!

Palestine / Israel Links

Striking Israeli diplomats refuse to provide assistance to citizens abroad – As part of its sanctions against the foreign ministry, employees announce that they will not help citizens who lose their passport, need medical attention or face legal troubles around the world.
Israel blacklists 163 foreign charities suspected of supporting terrorism (fails to blacklist its own land-thieving JNF associated Keren Hayesod and United Israel Appeal charities)
Meridor tells Haaretz: Knesset plan to probe left-wing NGOs is dangerous
Israel begrudges Palestine its fragile tourism
#Israeli blood diamonds, forever on your conscience. #BDS campaign for Valentines day #Palestine
MKs demand names of Israeli firms boycotting settlements
Al-Jazeera reporter asked to remove bra by Shin Bet
‘Gentile sperm leads to barbaric offspring’
Birthright Israel calls on its alumni to ‘take back Zionism’
Asa Winstanley appearance on Epilogue, Ken Livingstone’s book review show
Fayyad meets outgoing NZ ambassador
Israel’s public relations policy: never apologise, always confuse

Wikileaks Links

Drug companies tried to get rid of Helen Clark when she was health minister, leaked US Embassy cables claim
Wikileaks have WMDs say US, Evening Standrd poster, Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Hackney, London, UK
Assange fears of trial in US justified, says expert
Irony Plus : Remarks to the Washington Center’s “Politics and the Media” Seminar Students

Other Links

Australia floods threaten Queensland capital; 14 dead, dozens missing
Drift had been asked by engineers to open windows and doors to let the river through – they will either sink or be washed away. They won’t have flood insurance, because they’re right on the river.
Clinton to Yemen: Murder Those Anti-American Muslims!
Brisbane braces for massive floods
Queensland Flood: What You Can Do