Images by Carlos Latuff
30 Years After Chernobyl Catastrophe
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ANNIVERSARY TOONS ~~ CHERNOBYL DISASTER 30 YEARS ON
April 27, 2016 at 13:50 (Associate Post, Cartoons, History)
#InIsrael ~~ APARTHEID SANCTIONED BY THE COURT
April 26, 2016 at 08:14 (Apartheid, Civil Rights, Corrupt Politics, Israel, Israel's Shame)
Dozens of Arab families who were planning to build homes in the Jewish city of Afula have lost their leases to the land after an Israeli judge said that they illegally coordinated their bids.
“It’s so unjust,” “If this is not racism, so what is?”
Israeli Judge Says No to Arabs Building in Jewish Town — Cites Bidding Woes
Dozens of Arab families who were planning to build homes in the Jewish city of Afula have lost their leases to the land after an Israeli judge said that they illegally coordinated their bids.
Last November, hundreds of Jewish residents of Afula protested the prospect of Arab neighbors after Arab families won tenders to build 47 houses in the northern Israeli city. Demonstrators demanded Afula mayor Yitzhak Meron revoke the tenders, calling him a “traitor” and a “terrorist.”
A group of Jewish families who bid and lost tenders for the land first complained to the Israel Land Authority, contending that the Arab bidders had been in coordination with one another. The ILA rejected the complaint saying that it was natural for bidders with personal connections to exchange information, said Haaretz.
The Jewish families then took their petition to a Nazareth court.
On Sunday April 24, a Nazareth judge ruled in favor of the Jewish families. He said that the Arab families had organized their bids so they weren’t competing against each other and coordinated prices in a manner that “upset the market’s natural balance,” according to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper.
Their coordination “seriously harmed the principle of equality, a principle that is at the foundation of tender law,” the judge said.
Itai Cohen, a representative of the Jewish families told Maariv: “This is a day of celebration for Afula, and particularly for those who were concerned about the the fate of the city’s Jewish makeup.”
According to Abdullah Zoabi, a lawyer representing four Arab families, the judge did not rule that the Arab families were disqualified from trying to bid on the land again. Abdullah said he was waiting to learn whether the state would intervene and limit the bidding to Afula’s Jewish residents.
Arab lawmakers are calling foul on the Nazareth court, saying the decision was driven by racism. Knesset Member Basel Ghattas told Maariv that the court’s decision reflected the “spirit of racism that has been sweeping the country. These state institutions have always used planning and construction laws to deprive Arabs of their lands and rights, and the Nazareth District Court’s decision gave a seal of approval to a petition that was lodged exclusively out of racist motives.”
The Nazareth judge invalidated the entire group of tenders, saying that the entire bidding process was “defective” and there was no way to exempt those who did not coordinate. Zoabi’s four clients were found not to have coordinated, but they lost their right to build anyway. He said he that the four families will appeal the decision to the Israeli High Court.
Iman Sharary told the Forward she was extremely disappointed to learn that the Nazareth judge disqualified her family building in Afula. She wanted to lease the land in Afula for her sons and their families, since land is at a premium in Yafia, the village where they grew up. She believes that the judge’s decision was racially motivated.
“It’s so unjust,” she said. “If this is not racism, so what is?”
She said that she and her husband, Riad Sharary, did not coordinate their bid and that she had no idea who the other Arab bidders were. Now, she is looking for a new place for her sons to settle down.
“I’ll find other places. It’s not Afula or nothing,” she said. “There are other places that are much less aggressive and much less humiliating and much less threatening.”
TOOSDAY’S TOONS ~~ A LOOK AT ISRAEL TODAY
April 26, 2016 at 07:15 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Corrupt Politics, Humour, Israel, Israel's Shame)
Images by Carlos Latuff
Who’s REALLY inciting hatred?
As right-wing incitement spreads in Israel, Bibi looks to extinguish fire he stoked for years
“Justice” Denied Access to Records on Arms Sales to Rwanda During Genocide
MONDAY’S TOON ~~ THE CRIMINAL LANGUAGE
April 25, 2016 at 09:47 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Flashback.... from the archives)
Image by Carlos Latuff
When speaking Arabic may sound like a crime
The above reminded me of a post from the archives …. I guess I’m a criminal as well for refusing to hate.
‘THERE’S A GUY IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD THAT LOVES ARABS’
OMG! Can you believe that???
That is what I was told the other morning by a neighbour who recently visited a small town near Tel Aviv …
He went further to identify the ‘guy’ as Steve. OMG! C’est Moi!!!
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My cover has been blown …. what to do??
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It seems that for most of my adult life I have been accused of many things by a wide mixture of both zionists and Islamophobes, but this ‘accusation’ takes the cake. I have always taken pride in the fact that I consider myself a hate free person. The only people I have a problem with are those that hate, so call me an anti hate person. Does that make me an Arab lover? Yes, I have Arab friends and neighbours that I love, but I also have Jewish neighbours and friends that I love. Why then was I not labeled ‘the guy in your neighbourhood that loves Jews’? Perhaps because it is a known fact by all who know me that I am a supporter of Palestinian rights and support the creation of a Palestinian State on the lands that were stolen from them by the zionists. If that makes me an Arab lover, then I guess I am guilty as charged.
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But why the accusation in the first place??? Simple explanation …. it’s an accusation based on ignorance. One of my favourite quotes comes from a non person, Yoda of Star Wars fame … Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” I have seen enough suffering in my lifetime and refuse to be a part of seeing it continue, so I will continue refusing to hate.
IT’S A MAD, MAD WORLD
April 25, 2016 at 09:25 (Associate Post, Israel, Palestine)
It’s a Mad, Mad World … and Getting Madder
We have a choice of trains: greed and self-interest train taking us over the cliff OR the train of collective work towards a sustainable future.
TRAINS AND MADNESS
By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
When we watch the way the world currently works, we can get extremely depressed. Just the last few days we saw Israelis in their thousands celebrate the release of a murdering occupation soldier who was videotaped executing a wounded Palestinian. While 12-year old Dima Al-Wawi was just released from 3 months of Israeli gulags, hundreds of Palestinian children are still imprisoned unjustly by an occupation that has gone on far too long. We noted the vote rigging and rigged “election process” that will ensure Americans have a choice between apartheid-supporting, war-mongering and corporate-backed liar (Hillary Clinton) and an apartheid-supporting, war-mongering, women-bashing, racist cheater (Donald Trump). Both of those very wealthy individuals would tighten the noose on Americans and Palestinians as they lick the boots of the Israel lobby. Both would continue the wrecking process of the US economy that ensures the elimination of the Middle Class and making the rich richer and the poor poorer. As I am in Italy now, I noted many people speaking out about the murder of Giolio Regeni and the hypocritical western backing of genocidal governments of Egypt, “Saudi Arabia”, and “Israel”. But the train of oppression continues thanks in part to “mental occupation” of many people’s minds who refuse to see the reality. Thousands are still drowning as they try to flee the conflicts that are generated by Western Governments (it turn in compliance with their Zionist lobbies). The American-Israeli- Wahhabi/Saudi alliance is still hoping to “win” against local resistance in places like Yemen and Syria. A whole generation of young people are lost and even if peace would come soon (unlikely considering the array of greedy billionaires getting enriched and the pervasive apathy of millions), it will take many decades to recover from the devastation. Seven million of us Palestinians are still refugees or displaced people and the number rises weekly as Israel commits more ethnic cleansing. Our history of the past seven decades is a history of accumulating atrocities by a racist genocidal entity relentlessly focusing on transforming Palestine from a multi-religious and multicultural society to a “Jewish state of Israel”. As those elites divert energy of people towards fear of the other, endless “manageable conflicts”, and basically begging for jobs that are essentially slavery, the rich get richer while the earth is being pillaged at an accelerated pace. I am reminded of the latter on earth day (April 22). On April 22, 1970 over 20 million demonstrated in the US for a healthy, sustainable environment. For 46 years, the people held events marking “earth day”. However, greenhouse gas emissions have increased uncontrollably and the Paris summit on Climate Change recently acted as a feel good for governments that wanted to relieve the pressure via PR efforts. Occasionally lazy politicians utter words. Mahmoud Abbas for example said that settlements damage the Palestinian environment. He was challenged on it and his office seems reluctant to find environmentalists and ask their opinions. His is actually an understatement of colonial settlement impact on our environment. Madness could come to any who contemplate this Orwellian world we came to live in. Madness did come to many people we know and others decided to take action. Some decided to take their own lives in striking back at the system (in the 1960s it used to be “sticking it to the man”). Others took more modest symbolic actions. Nearly five years ago, we were arrested as we engaged in riding the bus: Palestine freedom riders. Push back is coming in many shapes and forms against the neo-liberal, no-colonial world order. Literary stars learned what is going on and are now writing more on the occupation. Truth is coming out as more and more books are written that expose Israeli crimes against humanity (even by Israeli authors)[8]. The BDS (boycotts, divestment, sanctions) movement is picking up steam even as Israeli apologists and lobbyists try to stifle it in Western Countries British Doctors Demand Israel’s Expulsion From World Medical Association. Truth is coming out even in unexpected corners like Israel’s use of LGBT communities to pink-wash the occupation/colonization. I guess one can summarize many things by saying that there is some pushback from humans against the unfeeling and powerful machine that is grinding humans and bringing humanity to the brink of collapse. Yes this struggle (between greed and humanity, war and peace etc) has existed since the dawn of human civilization. But never in our history were the stakes so high: our own continued existence on this planet. That is why the pressure is building and it stretches our resources and our abilities. Yet, humanity must rise to this existential challenge. Indeed “you can’t be neutral on a moving train” (Zinn). Many people are joining the struggle, millions more are needed. The sane action we can do is to join the larger struggle. The insane thing to do would be to be so focused on our own immediate needs that we become like “consumerist robot slaves” while the elites lead us like lemmings to the edge of the cliff. BTW, my trip to Siena was very productive developing new partnerships for peace and justice. As I prepare to go back to Palestine (last talk I give is Tuesday), I am more determined than ever to pursue the course of speaking truth to power and thinking globally while acting locally. While we occasionally have pressures, occasionally see the betrayal of individuals who decide to go over to that dark side (greed, selfish interest etc), we are sustained by those who stay the course and the many who join it. I see this even in the small scale projects that we do like the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Botanical garden. Rare people come and go thinking they need to watch their own interests (actually damaging their long term interests) but more and more people commit to join a bigger cause that actually helps all have a sustainable future. Thus we have a choice of trains: greed and self-interest train taking us over the cliff OR the train of collective work towards a sustainable future. The choice has never been clearer and never been more consequential. Please email us if you would like to switch trains. All aboard!
#InIsrael ~~ WHERE MURDERERS GO FREE FOR THE FESTIVAL OF FREEDOM
April 24, 2016 at 09:19 (Assassinations, Corrupt Politics, Israel's Shame, Palestine, Videos)
Image by Carlos Latuff
Notably, on the same day as the rally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged leniency for Azarya.
See the following ….
Hebron shooter Azaria released from detention for Passover
Hero’s welcome for a murderer
Inside Tel Aviv’s “Death to the Arabs” rally
Thousands converged on Tel Aviv’s city hall this week to register their support for an Israeli soldier who wasfilmed last month executing a Palestinian youth as he lay on the ground, wounded and immobile, in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.
From across the country, Israelis descended upon Rabin Square, Tel Aviv’s premier venue for large public protests, to express their indignation over the army’s charges of manslaughter against the soldier, 19-year-old Sergeant Elor Azarya.
The rally featured speeches by Azarya’s mother, father and sister and a number of musical performances by popular Israeli artists.
At another rally which we filmed in the soldier’s home town of Ramle, rally-goers voiced harsh criticism for those who do not support Azarya’s action and for those who helped expose his deed – especially the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
They also expressed hostility for his victim, 21-year-old Palestinian Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, as well as for the Palestinian people in general.
Although he gave Azarya his full-throated endorsement, event organizer and former lawmaker for the hard-right Yisrael Beiteinu party Sharon Gal could scarcely contain the rage of some of the rally’s attendees and their anger boiled over into bursts of violence.
Although one of us was attacked by the crowd and removed from the area by police, the other still managed to film some of the event’s most poignant and frightening moments.
Notably, on the same day as the rally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged leniency for Azarya.
Israeli media reported on Friday that Azarya has been released from custody for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which began at sundown.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM ONE WAR CRIMINAL TO ANOTHER
April 22, 2016 at 13:00 (Britain, Cartoons, Corrupt Politics, Humour)
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres wishes Queen Elizabeth happy 90th birthday
Carlos Latuff adds ….
Happy Birthday Your Majesty from Ireland and Scotland
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The Queen’s views on retirement ….
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A POEM FOR THE SEASON ~~ A QUESTION YOUR CHILD WILL ASK FOR PASSOVER
April 22, 2016 at 10:42 (Holidays, Oppression, Poetry)
First, let me wish all of my Jewish readers, family and friends a Happy and Kosher Passover.
Photo:Marko Djurica/Reuters
“Your Child Will Ask”
By Rabbi Brant Rosen
Your child will ask
why do we observe this festival?
And you will answer
it is because of what God did for us
when we were set free from the land of Egypt.
Your child will ask
were we set free from the land of Egypt
that we might hold tightly
to the pain of our enslavement
with a mighty hand?
And you will answer
we were set free from Egypt
that we might release our pain
by reaching with an outstretched arm
to all who struggle for freedom.
Your child will ask
were we set free from the land of Egypt
because we are God’s chosen people?
And you will answer
we were set free from the land of Egypt
so that we will finally come to learn
all who are oppressed
are God’s chosen.
Your child will ask
were we set free from the land of Egypt
that we might conquer and settle
a land inhabited by others?
And you will answer
we were set free from the land of Egypt
that we might open wide the doors
to proclaim:
Let all who are dispossessed return home.
Let all who wander find welcome at the table.
Let all who hunger for liberation
come and eat.
Rabbi Rosen blogs at Shalom Rav
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Now enjoy the following ….
How Passover would be reported in today’s media
ADL Vs. JEWS OF CONSCIENCE
April 21, 2016 at 12:53 (Activism, ADL Hatemongering, International Solidarity, Israel's Shame, Occupation, zionist harassment)
Police arrested seventeen activists denouncing the “Jewish establishment’s support of the occupation of Palestine” on April 20 in the lobby of the Anti-Defamation League during one of a series of Passover protests organized by anti-occupation group If Not Now.
Gili Getz
17 Jewish Activists Protesting Israeli Occupation Arrested at ADL Headquarters
Police arrested seventeen activists denouncing the “Jewish establishment’s support of the occupation of Palestine” on April 20 in the lobby of the Anti-Defamation League during one of a series of Passover protests organized by anti-occupation group If Not Now.
Before they were cuffed and shuffled into New York Police Department vans, the young activists had sat cross-legged on the lobby floor, leading a larger crowd in their version of a Passover Seder.
They banged on the floor, danced in circles and sang familiar Hebrew songs. The Seder’s ten plagues included “subjecting Palestinians to daily humiliation” and “destroying the Palestinian economy.” A hand-drawn cardboard Seder plate rested next to a sculpted tinfoil goblet, reserved for Elijah.
“We act now to build a Jewish community that recognizes that we cannot be free absent the freedom for Palestinians,” the text of one handout read.
Passersby paused, snapping photos on their cameras, to take in the unusual scene — around 100 Jewish activists singing and dancing in the glass-walled lobby of a midtown office. One young woman turned to the assembled crowd as she was led away by police, so that her shirt was in full view. “No liberation with occupation,” it read.
If Not Now, which formed two years ago to protest the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict and Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank, staged several other Passover-themed events this week.
Six were arrested in Boston, where they rallied outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In Washington D.C., activists gathered outside Hillel.
But the New York protest took on another layer of significance as one prominent New York activist has been at the center of national controversy.
Simone Zimmerman, an If Not Now co-founder, made headlines last week when she was named Jewish outreach coordinator for Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Her peers celebrated. But, just days later, she was suspended from that position after an old Facebook post resurfaced, in which Zimmerman had used profanity and insulted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abe Foxman, former head of the Anti-Defamation League, denounced Zimmerman and the Zionist Organization of America followed suit.
“She is entitled to say what she wants, but there is something bizarre about making her the liaison for the Jewish community,” Foxman said in a Wednesday interview with the Forward. “Either she wasn’t vetted — or worse, she was.”
Foxman said he took issue with Zimmerman’s criticism of Israel during the 2014 Gaza conflict. Her comments “go to the essence of questioning and challenging Israel’s credibility.”
Foxman declined to comment about the 17 activists’ arrest, deferring to the ADL, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Zimmerman stood in the background at Wednesday’s protest. She declined to speak with the Forward, but her friends rallied around her, posing for photos and intoning her name during the rally.
“Simone speaks for my kind of Judaism,” said Gabrielle Egan, an If Not Now activist from Canada.
If Not Now first took shape online in 2014, as a rallying hash tag on social media during the latest Israel-Gaza conflict. Many participants had been involved in J Street, but had become dissatisfied with that organization’s position on the conflict. Several activists describe their involvement with If Not Now as a sort of Jewish homecoming.
“These are people who grew up in a post-peace process environment,” said Peter Beinart, a mentor to Zimmerman and a leading voice in liberal Zionism. “If you look at If Not Now, there is a deep alienation, a dissatisfaction with the Jewish community’s lack of discussion.”
BELLA CIAO FROM FIDEL?
April 20, 2016 at 09:08 (Cuba)
Fidel Castro bade farewell to Cuba’s Communist Party on Tuesday, telling party members that he would soon die and urging them to fulfill his communist vision.
Fidel Castro, left, with his brother, President Raúl Castro, addressed Cuba’s Communist Party at the party congress in Havana on Tuesday. Credit Ismael Francisco/Cubadebate, via Associated Press
In Farewell, Fidel Castro Urges Party to Fulfill His Vision
SOME 2,000 ISRAELIS GLORIFY MURDER IN COLD BLOOD
April 20, 2016 at 08:21 (Hate crimes, Israel's Shame, Palestine)
The actual murder caught on tape …
And changes to Israeli currency as well …
Israeli extremists stamp on the notes racist slogans “Death to the Arabs”.
About 2,000 Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv on Tuesday night in support of soldier Elor Azaria, who shot dead a neutralized terrorist in Hebron.
Sergeant Azaria, 20, from Ramla, was charged on Monday with manslaughter for killing Abed al Fatah a-Sharif, who was lying on the ground seriously wounded after he and another Palestinian attacked IDF soldiers.
Signs at Rabin Square in support of Sgt. Azaria (Photo: Motti Kimchi)
Some 2,000 come out in support of Hebron soldier
Protesters wave signs of support and flags, calling ‘Elor the hero’ and ‘Terrorists shouldn’t be neutralized – they should be killed,’ as Sgt. Elor Azaria’s parents and sister address the crowd.
About 2,000 Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv on Tuesday night in support of soldier Elor Azaria, who shot dead a neutralized terrorist in Hebron.
Sergeant Azaria, 20, from Ramla, was charged on Monday with manslaughter for killing Abed al Fatah a-Sharif, who was lying on the ground seriously wounded after he and another Palestinian attacked IDF soldiers.
The protesters waved support signs and flags, some wrapping the Israeli flag around themselves. Many called for Azaria’s release, while some made racist jeers.
Among the slogans chanted by rally attendees were “Elor the Hero,” “Terrorists shouldn’t be neutralized – they should be killed,” and “Kill or be killed.”
Azaria’s parents, Charlie and Oshra, and his sister Etti, spoke at the rally, as well as journalist Sharon Gal, who was one of the rally’s organizers.
Family members of terror victims also spoke at the rally, including Dvora Gonen, who lost her son Danny Gonen, and Ruit Hasano, who lost her husband Avraham Asher Hasano.
Several musicians are scheduled to appear at the rally and perform, including singers Moshik Afia, Maor Edri and Amos Elgali, and rapper Subliminal.
Singers Eyal Golan and David Doar, who initially agreed to perform, withdrew at the last minute in the wake of public outrage.
“I would have liked to come to perform at the assembly in the name of art, and personally as a performer and as a human being. However, I’m sorry to say that there are those who will use this as a political spectacle,” Golan said.
Doar also decided against performing at the square, saying “I wanted to show my sympathy to the family of the soldier – not to say anything against the IDF or the IDF Chief of Staff, God forbid.”
He then went on to add that he didn’t know that “this was going to be an event with a political orientation.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the issue on Tuesday, saying that “As the father of a soldier and as prime minister, I would like to reiterate: The IDF backs its soldiers. I am convinced that an examination of the event in Hebron will be done responsibly and sagaciously.”
The prime minister also expressed his trust in the courts, saying “in my familiarity with the military justice system, I am convinced that the court will consider all circumstances regarding the incident. Our soldiers are not murderers. They act against murderers and I hope that a way will be found to balance between the action and the overall context of the event. In the meantime I suggest that everyone lower the flames.”
Due to the event, Ibn Gvirol Street will be closed to vehicular traffic between Shaul HaMelech and Arlozorov streets. Frishman Street will be closed to traffic between Masaryc Square and Ibn Gvirol Street, David HaMelech Blvd will be closed to traffic between Weitzman Street and Ibn Gvirol Street, Gordon Street will be closed to traffic between Shlomo Hamelech Street to Malchei Israel, and the eastern side of Malchei Yisrael itself will be closed to traffic between Sderot Chen to Ben Gurion Boulevard.
Source and more photos AT
ISRAEL NEEDS A GOOD CLEANSING
April 19, 2016 at 17:08 (DesertPeace Editorial, Flashback.... from the archives, Holidays, Israel, Palestine)
Not this kind ….
Image by Carlos Latuff
Jewish mothers used to go into a cleaning frenzy a week or so before the Festival of Passover. All traces of leaven (chametz) had to be removed from the home before the onset of the holiday.
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Modern folk have determined that dust is not chametz, so there is less madness involved in the cleaning process, but Israel has added a new dimension to the situation; Arabs must be removed as well as the leaven.
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CLEANSING THE LAND OF BREAD AND ARABS
My maternal grandmother was a simple Shtetel Jew. She came from a place not much different than the small town portrayed in Fiddler on The Roof.
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Traditionally the womenfolk from those areas were uneducated in matters of anything other than home making and child raising, while the menfolk studied their Holy Books for hours on end. Life was simple for them, and they themselves were basically a very simple folk.
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I remember my grandmother going through the frenzie of cleaning the house this time of year…. the traditional Passover cleaning. All traces of leaven had to be removed from the home before the start of the Holiday. To her, that process included the removal of any trace of dust or smears on the window panes. The house sparkled when she was finished. Most of our non Jewish neighbours were going through the same process, but simply called it ’spring cleaning’, ridding the house of all unwanted matter, including broken furniture and junk.
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I remember asking my grandmother why she was going through such a frenzie…. her answer was simple and to the point…. “If a Jew eats bread during Passover he will die!” That was what she was taught, that’s what she taught us….
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In Israel today, things are not much different than life in the Shtetel when it comes to Passover preparations. But today there is a growing number of non observant Jews as well as a growing number of non Jews. This is a threat to the lifestyle of the self imposed Shtetel Jew living here today.
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Christian Pilgrims from abroad, as well as local Christians are denied access to their Holy Sites. Where is the uproar against this?
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Where is the uproar against the Neanderthal rabbis that have recently called for the expulsion or the genocide of the Palestinians? WHERE??? As in previous years, the Palestinians living on the ‘other side’ of the great wall of apartheid will be sealed in for the duration of the Holiday (8 days), literally making the State of Israel Arabrein for that period of time. Where is the uproar against this? WHERE???
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Israel does need a cleansing… a good one; not only of bread during the Holiday season but also of hatred. Both are violations of the Holy Teachings.
The above is a repost from the archives
MONDAY’S TOONS ~~ #ImpeachmentDay IN BRAZIL
April 18, 2016 at 07:55 (Associate Post, Brazil, Cartoons, Corrupt Politics)
Message from Carlos Latuff ….
Sorry my friends abroad, but today I devote my art and time to my homeland.
Click on the following …
Brazilian congress votes to impeach president
All images by Carlos Latuff
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Also see the Hashtag #ImpeachmentDay HERE
(In Portuguese)
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IF YOU THINK G M O’s ARE BAD …. LOOK AT THIS
April 17, 2016 at 10:12 (Health Crisis)
A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques (i.e., a genetically engineered organism). GMOsare the source of medicines and genetically modified foods and are widely used in scientific research and to produce other goods.
The following might be even worse …
A product designed and developed by an Israeli student that can prolong the life of fruit and vegetables for months will soon be launched onto the market.
“Strawberries, for example, usually go bad after three days, and yet we can keep them good for consumption for another four or five days. At the other extreme, there are things like eggplant and potatoes that last weeks.
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Israeli-Owned Innovation to Keep Fruit and Vegetables Fresher for Longer
20-year-old Amit Gal-Or from Ra’anana, who now lives in Shanghai, established Phresh, which has developed a powder composed of essential oils which can preserve produce for 3 times longer than usual.
A product designed and developed by an Israeli student that can prolong the life of fruit and vegetables for months will soon be launched onto the market.
A product designed and developed by an Israeli student that can prolong the life of fruit and vegetables for months will soon be launched onto the market.
Twenty-year-old Amit Gal-Or from Ra’anana, who now lives in Shanghai, established his Phresh company in 2015 when he decided to use old technology and Israeli research to benefit individual households.
The technology originated in research from over a decade ago at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev when an Israeli scientist sought ways to use oils to create organic preservative properties, Gal-Or explained to Tazpit Press Service (TPS)
“These oils have been known about for thousands of years, but they are very volatile and evaporate very rapidly so their effectiveness disappears very quickly. The researchers wanted to transform the preservative properties into a liquid or powder and then release it very slowly and therefore multiply its effectiveness,” he said.
Gal-Or and his team then set about combining past research to create a powder that does not need to be sprayed or applied to the produce to provide protection. Instead, the powder dissolves piecemeal and can preserve the produce for up to three times longer than usual. Using these powders for the household simply “made sense,” Gal-Or said.
“Strawberries, for example, usually go bad after three days, and yet we can keep them good for consumption for another four or five days. At the other extreme, there are things like eggplant and potatoes that last weeks. We can expand their life by months. Then you have everything in between,” he added.
Gal-Or said that Phresh will soon be launching an intensive e-commerce campaign and that the product is already expanding from China, where Gal-Or lives, into the United States, Europe, Japan, and Israel.
Phresh is raising funds to complete the building and delivery of a healthy organic solution that prevents fruits and vegetables at home from spoiling. Phresh’s Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is at . At this stage, the first Food Protectors items are only available through Kickstarter till March 23, 2016.
GOING BEYOND CHUTZPAH
April 17, 2016 at 07:43 (Associate Post, Chutzpah, Hasbara, Israel, Occupation, Oppression, Palestine)
Does Israel want the Palestinians to thank her for not exterminating them once and for all?
Needless to say, this is a classical example of “going beyond Chutzpah”
By Khalid Amayreh in Jerusalem
Khalid Amayreh challenges Jews to abide by the tenets of their religion:
Like apartheid South Africa did to Justify its repulsive approach toward its majority black citizens, Israel is making all sorts of similarly despicable arguments to justify its decades-old evil occupation and systematic persecution of Palestinians.
As some of us remember, the apartheid South African regime had argued that black South Africans ought to be grateful to the White regime for giving them employment and enabling them to have a semblance of decent life.
The White regime’s PR machine would shamelessly argue that “Our black citizens have a higher standard of living than other fellow black people anywhere in the continent.”
When I was studying in the states in the 1980s, I remember a visiting high ranking official from the apartheid regime boasting about the high living conditions enjoyed by blacks in South Africa in comparison to the rest of the continent.
“Ask them (South African black majority): would they prefer to live in South Africa or in Zimbabwe,” the official said.
What is wrong with this argument is that it doesn’t really distinguish between humans and animals. In the final analysis, humans, unlike animals, don’t live by bread alone. They are also entitled to freedom and dignity. This is the crux of the matter which fascist and racist regimes love to ignore.
Today, apartheid Israel is making virtually the same arguments to justify and defend its manifestly criminal treatment of the Palestinians.
Thus, whenever Israel’s sinister occupation is criticized, we see that big-mouthed Israeli officials and professional hasbara liars try to make black look white and the white look black by claiming that Palestinians are better off than most other Arabs.
Now, as the BDS movement is gaining momentum to the chagrin of the Israeli establishment, Israeli officials and other hasbara mouthpieces are becoming more brazen in their defensive but mendacious discourse.
And, yes, as usual, lying is their modus operandi.
They are saying the Palestinians ought to be thankful to Israel for not treating them like Bashar Assad or Abdul Fattah Sissi are treating their own peoples.
One Zionist pundit wrote recently that were Israel to follow Arab rules, all Palestinians would have been expelled from “the Land of Israel along time ago.”
Needless to say, this is a classical example of “going beyond Chutzpah”
After all, since when the Hitler of Damascus, who murdered half a million of his own people, and the virulent tyrant of Cairo, who usurped power from the only truly democratically elected regime in Egypt’s history, were role models for the world to be followed or emulated?
So, Israel, “the purported light upon humanity” wants the Palestinians to thank Israel for murdering their children on the spot in the West Bank, and not burning them alive by way of dropping barrel bombs on their homes and schools as Assad is doing in Syria.
Yes, Israel would like to see the Palestinians “thank” her for conducting slow-motion genocide whereas “human-rights unfriendly states” would pursue fast-motion genocide” and get rid of the problem once and for all.
But it is only sick and depraved minds that are capable of making such nefarious arguments.
Otherwise, we should thank the Iberians Catholics for not playing by the rules of Old Testament and exterminating every Jewish man, woman and child during the inquisition!! (Israelis are embarrassed when explaining the Tsfarad Geroush” (the Spanish inquisition” because it reminds them of something they don’t like to remember, namely the golden age Jews had undergone in Islamic Spain!!!
According to the morbid logic we hear from some Israeli officials, we should also thank the Nazis for building the concentration camps relatively later in the course of the Second World War, because had these death camps been established earlier, a greater number of Jews would have perished.
Yes, sickening arguments are only the product of sick minds.
Today, in its rabid reaction to the non-violent BDS movement, Israel and its hasbara shipyard dogs, from Sydney to California, are arguing that it is the BDS campaign, not the malignant occupation, that is hurting the Palestinians. That it is the BDS movement that is impeding the establishment of a viable Palestinian state, not the ubiquitous proliferation of settlements, inhabited by fanatic cutthroats who believe spilling more innocent blood would expedite and accelerate redemption and salvation!!
I don’t what sort of Torah are those people reading and following: The Torah of Moses or the Torah of Satan?
Well, in the Torah of Moses, Jeremiah 7:6, the God of Israel equated oppressing strangers living amongst Israelites with the greatest sin ever in Judaism, namely the unforgivable sin associating gods with God.
And in Exodus 22:21: The Almighty commands the Israelites, telling them in straightforward manner” Do not mistreat or oppress a stranger, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
Don’t tell me I am being selective or quoting things out of context. For even the Talmud, who Orthodox Jews consider the verbal Torah, states that true Jews are not supposed to oppress non-Jews living in their midst:
Let us consider the following Talmudic story which sums up the point I am trying to make: A heathen came to Shammai with the request to be accepted as a convert to Judaism on condition that he would be taught the whole of the Torah while he stood on one foot. The Rabbi drove him away with a yard-stick he was holding. The heathen then went to Hillel with the same request. Hillel said to the man what is hateful to yourself, don’t do to your fellow man. That is the whole of the Torah and the remainder is but commentary. “Go, learn it.”
VIDEO ~~ SANDERS A NO GO IN ISRAEL
April 15, 2016 at 13:37 (Israel, U.S. Election, Videos)
Israelis are not feeling the Bern in Jerusalem
By Dan Cohen For Mondoweiss
On Monday, April 11, 2016, I went to Jerusalem’s Zion Square to ask Israelis for their thoughts on Bernie Sanders, the Jewish-American presidential candidate.
No anti-Zionist himself, Sanders said this week that he would take a “more balanced position” while guaranteeing Israel’s security. Last week, he called Israel’s use of force in the 2014 assault on Gaza “disproportionate” and said that “a lot of innocent people were killed who should not have been killed.”
Last week, Sanders confused the number of Palestinians injured with those killed in Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, saying, “I happen to believe … anybody help me out here, because I don’t remember the figures, but my recollection is over 10,000 innocent people were killed in Gaza. Does that sound right?”
Despite qualifying his estimate, which was quickly corrected by his interviewer, Sanders was attacked by prominent Israel supporters and Hillary Clinton. Israeli Member of Knesset and former American accused Sanders Michael Oren of advancing a “blood libel,” and by MK Yair Lapid said he is promoting Hamas “propaganda and deception.” The Anti-Defamation League demanded that Sanders correct his misstatement.
Nearly all of the Israelis I spoke to had strong dislike for Sanders, and many disparaged him, even disqualifying him as a Jew.
Interestingly, that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton had less support than Sanders, despite her pandering to American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) where she pledged to take the US-Israel relationship to the “next level.” Still polls show that Israelis prefer Clinton to Sanders and that Clinton and Donald Trump are tied in the race for president.
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Yet they they feel the love for Trump …
On Monday, April 11, 2016, Dan Cohen went to Jerusalem’s Zion Square to ask Israelis for their thoughts on the US presidential race and most Israelis he spoke to spoke fondly of Donald Trump. Trump’s brash speaking style resonated with them, and few seemed phased by his statements that he would be neutral on Israel/Palestine. Those who did preferred Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who has promised to be more pro-Israel than any other candidate.
FRIDAY’S TOON ~~ ISRAELI ARMS SALES DURING RWANDAN GENOCIDE TO REMAIN SEALED
April 15, 2016 at 11:14 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Corrupt Politics, Cover Up, Israel)
Image by Carlos Latuff
Israeli “Justice” Denied Access to Records on Arms Sales to Rwanda During Genocide
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Click on link to read related post
Records of Israeli arms sales during Rwandan genocide to remain sealed
Supreme Court denies attorney’s petition to reveal defense exports to the African country, citing risk to national security, foreign relations
UPDATED POST ~~ VIDEO ~~ A JEW AND AN ARAB WALK INTO A BAR … AND THE REALITY IN ISRAEL TODAY
April 14, 2016 at 07:17 (Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Exclusive, Human Interest, Israel, Palestine, Videos)
(See report below for today’s update)
From yesterday …..
We went out dressed in an Arab/Muslim and Jewish traditional outfit, walked hand to hand in public to see how people react.
The results are telling.
Four ways Jews and Arabs live apart in Israeli society
The two communities have separate societies, attending different schools, living in different cities and espousing different political ideals
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Bezalel Smotrich, perhaps the most right-wing member of the current Knesset, caused a storm when he endorsed the idea that Arabs and Jew should be segregated in Israel’s maternity rooms.
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Smotrich was responding to a report on the Israel Broadcast Authority that several hospitals practice de facto segregation of maternity rooms — placing Jews with Jews and Arabs with Arabs. Such segregation is prohibited by law.
“There are mental gaps, and it’s more comfortable for both sides to be with themselves,” Smotrich, a member of the religious Zionist Jewish Home party, tweeted on April 5. “It’s really not racism.”
In a subsequent tweet he wrote that it’s “natural that my wife wouldn’t want to lie next to someone who just gave birth to a baby, who may want to kill her baby 20 years from now.”
Smotrich’s remarks were panned by lawmakers from left and right, including Naftali Bennett, the leader of Jewish Home. Responding to Smotrich, Bennett tweeted a rabbinic passage about man being created in God’s image, adding, “Every man. Jew or Arab.”
Jews and Arabs are afforded equal rights under Israeli law. But in many ways, the two sectors live in separate societies — attending different schools, living in different cities, reading different newspapers and espousing different political ideals.
Unlike the prescribed, top-down segregation supported by Smotrich, much of this separation stems from longstanding structural factors like language, culture and religion.
“In most places, there’s no problem. The Arab population lives in totally Arab villages,” said Nachum Blass, a senior researcher at the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies.
But the divisions between Israeli Jews and Arabs, who represent 20 percent of the population, have also contributed to economic disparities between them. And despite laws meant to prevent discrimination, Arabs point to studies showing persistent disparities in education, social services, income and political participation.
“There’s definitely discrimination in every aspect” of Israel’s education system, Taub said.
Nongovernmental organizations and government bodies have worked to promote a “shared society” in economic development, higher education and the labor market.
Here are four ways Jews and Arabs live apart in Israeli society.
Jews and Arabs attend separate schools.
Israel’s schools are separated by both religion and race. Jewish students attend either secular, religious or ultra-Orthodox schools, while the Arabs attend separate Muslim, Christian and Druze systems taught in Arabic. Of the 1.6 million total students in grades 1 through 12 last year, fewer than 2,000 attended the handful of joint Jewish-Arab schools.
The split education system, where students are taught in their own language and according to their own cultural norms, according to Blass, “answers the [Arab] community’s needs.” But it has also led to lower educational achievement among Arab Israelis.
In 2012, two-thirds of non ultra-Orthodox Jews qualified for university, as opposed to less than half of Arab students. Israel’s universities are more integrated, but Arabs make up a low proportion of students. In 2012, Arabs made up only 12 percent of bachelor’s degree students, and 4 percent of doctoral students, according to Sikkuy, an organization that aims to foster Jewish-Arab coexistence.
Jews and Arabs live in separate towns.
In addition to studying separately, Israeli Jews and Arabs mostly live in separate cities. Two of the country’s largest cities, Jerusalem and Haifa, have substantial Arab populations, but even those cities are often separated by neighborhood. Nearly all of Jerusalem’s Arab residents live in the eastern half of the city.
Aside from a handful of other mixed Israeli towns, most of the country’s cities are more than 90 percent Jewish or Arab. Though Arabs make up nearly 20 percent of Israel’s citizenry, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Israel’s largest, is nearly 95 percent Jewish.
The Jewish-Arab division is also marked by economic gaps. Arab cities have higher poverty rates and, in general, worse municipal services than their Jewish counterparts. Eight of Israel’s 10 poorest towns are Arab. The richest 30 are Jewish.
“It’s not a problem in principle to live in different places,” said Rawnak Natour, co-director of Sikkuy. “There needs to be a possibility to live together, that there will be [cultural] symbols and the ability to encompass the different cultures.”
Their political leaders rarely work together.
Israel often points to its Arab-Israeli lawmakers as proof of the country’s democratic chops. Arabs hold 16 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, and the body’s third-largest party, the Joint List, is Arab. Arabs have also risen to the top of other branches of government, including sitting on Israel’s Supreme Court.
But Israeli Arabs’ political leadership perpetually sits in the Knesset’s opposition, and few politicians in the government are Arab, such that the two communities’ agendas rarely align. The only Arab in Israel’s political leadership is the deputy minister of regional cooperation, Ayoub Kara, who is part of the Druze minority.
Arabs are barely present in Israel’s mainstream media.
Lucy Aharish, the young Arab co-host of a morning show on a leading Israeli TV station, speaks accent-less Hebrew, has gained admirers for her forthrightness and was even honored with a role at the country’s official torch-lighting ceremony on Independence Day.
But she’s one of the few Arab faces and voices Israelis will see and hear on their TVs and radios. Israeli Arabs have their own active press, but they are vastly underrepresented in mainstream Israeli media, comprising fewer than 3 percent of total interviews on leading Israel stations in January and February, according to a study by Sikkuy and the Seventh Eye, a media watchdog.
The number drops even lower when it comes to news segments not directly related to Israeli Arabs. Aharish’s Channel 2, for example, spoke to only 11 Arabs out of more than 5,500 total such interviews in January.
“You have low representation, and the moment you have it, it’s about specific topics and a very specific framing, which is crime and the conflict,” Natour said. “The way they’re interviewed is a negative framework that perpetuates the stigmas about the Arab population in the state.”
THURSDAY’S TOON ~~ GOLDMAN SACHS FUNDS HEBRON SETTLERS
April 14, 2016 at 07:01 (Associate Post, Cartoons, Corporate Crime, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine)
Image by Carlos Latuff
Haaretz reports that Goldman Sachs has a “clear pattern” of giving to Israeli settler and rightwing groups through their Charitable Gift Fund. And Hillary Clinton hasn’t criticized the banking firm that helped propel the 2007 collapse.
Goldman Sachs is funding Hebron settlers
VIDEO ~~ A JEW AND AN ARAB WALK INTO A BAR …
April 13, 2016 at 09:54 (DesertPeace Exclusive, Human Interest, Videos)
We went out dressed in an Arab/Muslim and Jewish traditional outfit, walked hand to hand in public to see how people react.
The results are telling.
Desertpeace 