ISRAEL FINDS A WAY TO END THE OCCUPATION

Even worse than it was before ….

78% of Israeli Jews favor extending Israeli sovereignty over Maale Adumim. Land of Israel Lobby to propose annexation bill this summer.

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Israel to annex Maale Adumim?

A whopping 78% of Israeli Jews say they support the annexation of Maale Adumim even without a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority, along the same lines as Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights.

The vast majority of respondents favored annexation even if Israel would be pay a steep political cost for the move, with 70% of Israeli Jews saying sovereignty should be applied to Maale Adumim regardless of the consequences.

The poll also found that 88% of Israeli Jews believe that residents of Maale Adumim deserve the same rights and benefits enjoyed by other citizens of the State of Israel, and therefore Israeli law should be fully applied to the area.

The Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset, which includes 20 MKs from various right-wing and religious parties, has pledged to draw up a bill for the annexation of Maale Adumim during the upcoming summer session.

“The consensus view in the public is that Maale Adumim is an inseparable part of Israel,” a statement by the Land of Israel Lobby said, “and it has even become part of the political consensus from right to left, and it is clear that Maale Adumim will remain under Israeli control in any future status arrangement. The Land of Israel Lobby will work within the new coalition framework to advance legislation extending Israeli sovereignty over Maale Adumim.”

Lobby chairman Yoav Kish (Likud) said there were precedents for the move, citing Israel’s 1967 annexation of eastern Jerusalem and 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights.

“Just as the State of Israel did in the past in Jerusalem and in the Golan Heights, we must do so also today – the idea of applying sovereignty over Maale Adumim enjoys overwhelming support among the Israeli public that crosses party lines. We will work to realize the public’s will.”

 

From

TOOSDAY’S TOONS ~~ CEMETERIES AND MEMORIAL DAY

Images by Carlos Latuff

Mediterranean, World’s Largest Refugee Cemetery

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 A Graveyard Called Mediterranean Sea

A Graveyard Called Mediterranean Sea

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Memorial Day

‘Yes he can’ …. And he did!

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MemorialDay2016

MemorialDay2016

#InTurkey? ~~ BUY A ‘LATUFF’ BEFORE IT’S BANNED

First there was this ….

TURKEY BANS CARTOONIST LATUFF’S WEBSITE

 'This means I'm doing the right things'

‘This means I’m doing the right things’ …. See the full interview HERE

“This ban is a clear sign that Turkey is everything but a democracy. If you punish artists for mocking politicians, then definitely you do not have a democracy”  — Latuff 

Latuff said: “Turkey is the only country where access to my cartoon blog was officially blocked. I haven’t heard of a similar ban in other countries. In the case of Turkey, I have the document from the Turkish government certifying the ban.”

NOW ~~ Thanks to Rodeo Books, you can get a copy of Latuff’s Toons in hardcopy!

Buy it while you can!!

RodeoBooks just published a complete book of my toons, in a bookstore near of you in #Turkey :)

RodeoBooks just published a complete book of my toons, in a bookstore near you in Turkey 🙂

Here’s just one example of what you will find in this great book …

#LatuffRodeoKitap features mocking of various politicians, and sometimes of the comic book hero traditions also!

#LatuffRodeoKitap features mocking of various politicians, and sometimes of the comic book hero traditions also!

BROKEN PROMISES IN THE ‘PROMISED LAND’

Broken_promises_broken_dreams
Prepared by Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
*
PROMISED LAND
by Ahlam Shalhout

I was taken to a foreign land.
A land believed to be full of promise.
I was told it bore fruits with the sweetest of nectar.
Its soil so rich with olive branches of peace.
Where the streets were paved with golden orange groves.

The nectar though sweet to my tongue
Brought tears to my bowels.
The peace bearing olives were pressed
To make oil of bullfights. Ole!
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The Israeli minister of Environment joined the previous defense minister to
quit the Zionist regime’s government because it is becoming more extreme.
With the addition of bar bouncer colonial settler Avigdor Lieberman (has a
house in an illegal colony here in Bethlehem), the fascist government is
now in good shape to take Israel to the next inevitable stage along. The
same trend-line that Nazi Germany took step-wise in the 1930s. It is no
wonder that so many more people are now drawing parallels between the two
regimes with similar exclusivist ideologies (Nazism and Zionism). Thousands
of Israeli Jews from Israel Shahak to Israeli General and Deputy Chief of
Staff Yair Golan have already made the comparison to the consternation of
the Zionist leadership. Ken |Livingstone's truthful statement taht JHitler
supported Zionism early on is well supported by facts (see my own writing
on the subject with quotes here. 

Pioneers to draw parallel of actions of Nazis and Zionists and speak out
for justice for the native Palestinians were Holocaust survivors both
inside “Israel” (like Shahak and Davis) and outside like Hajo Meyer and
Hedy Epstein. Hedy just passed away and I knew her for almost 20 years as
one of the most principled dedicated and hardworking individuals. I
hesitated to ask her to join our wheels of justice bus tour in 2002 because
of her age (then in her 80s) but she did not hesitate in accepting and she
was just marvelous. She spoke out with authority and knowledge about the
ethnic cleansing and the massacres committed in Palestine by Zionists. She
also joined the boats trying to break the siege on Gaza. When she was in
her late 80s she was strip searched and poked by Israeli security forces at
Lod (renamed “Ben Gurion”) Airport. Please browse her website here to know
more about this remarkable woman.

WEEK’S END TOON ~~ ISRAEL’S NEW TWO STATE SOLUTION

Image by Carlos Latuff

 ‘The Final Solution’

Two State "Solution" of Netanyahu & Lieberman

Two State “Solution” of Netanyahu & Lieberman

BELLA CIAO HEDY EPSTEIN

 Holocaust survivor and activist for justice Hedy Epstein dies at 91

Hedy Epstein (Photo: Humans of St. Louis/Lindy Drew)

Hedy Epstein (Photo: Humans of St. Louis/Lindy Drew)

Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 91, died at her home in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on May 26, 2016. An internationally renowned, respected and admired advocate for human and civil rights, Hedy was encircled by friends who lovingly cared for her at home.

Born August 15, 1924, in the Bavarian region of Germany, her lifelong commitment to human rights was formed by the horrific experiences she and her family endured under the repressive Nazi regime.

Unable to secure travel documents for themselves, Hedy’s parents, Hugo and Ella (Eichel) Wachenheimer, arranged for 14-year-old Hedy to leave Germany on a Kindertransport. Hedy credited her parents with giving her life a second time when they sent her to England to live with kind-hearted strangers. Hedy’s parents, grandparents, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins did not survive the Holocaust. Hedy remained in England until 1945 when she returned to Germany to work for the United States Civil Service. She joined the Nuremberg Doctors Trial prosecution in 1946 as a research analyst.

Hedy immigrated to the United States in 1948. She and her husband moved to St. Louis in the early 1960s, and shortly thereafter Hedy began working as a volunteer with the Freedom of Residence, Greater St. Louis Committee, a nonprofit organization dedicated to housing integration and advocacy for fair housing laws. Hedy worked for many years as a volunteer and board member, and ultimately served as the organization’s executive director during the mid-1970s.

During the 1980s, Hedy worked as a paralegal for Chackes and Hoare, a law firm that represented individuals in employment discrimination cases. As an advocate for equality and human rights, Hedy spoke out against the war in Vietnam, the bombing of Cambodia, and overly restrictive U.S. immigration policies. She spoke and acted in support of the Haitian boat people and women’s reproductive rights, and, following the 1982 massacre at Sabra and Shatila, Hedy began her courageous and visionary work for peace and justice in Israel and Palestine.

During her later years, Hedy continued to advocate for a more peaceful world, and in 2002 was a founding member of the St. Louis Instead of War Coalition. Much of her later activism centered on efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. She founded the St. Louis chapter of Women in Black and co-founded the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and the St. Louis chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. She traveled to the West Bank several times, first as a volunteer with the nonviolent International Solidarity Movement and repeatedly as a witness to advocate for Palestinian human rights. She attempted several times to go to Gaza as a passenger with the Freedom Flotilla, including as a passenger on the Audacity of Hope, and once with the Gaza Freedom March. Hedy addressed numerous groups and organizations throughout Europe and returned to Germany and her native village of Kippenheim many times.

Three days after her 90th birthday, Hedy was arrested for “failure to disperse.” She was attempting to enter Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s St. Louis office to ask for deescalation of police and National Guard tactics which had turned violent in response to protests following the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Hedy was a member of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center’s speakers’ bureau and gave countless talks at schools and community events. She shared her Holocaust experiences with thousands of Missouri youth as a featured speaker at the Missouri Scholars Academy for more than twenty years. She ended every talk with three requests: remember the past, don’t hate, and don’t be a bystander. Through the years, Hedy received numerous awards and honors for her compassionate service and relentless pursuit of justice.

Hedy is survived by son Howard (Terry) Epstein, and granddaughters Courtney and Kelly. She was beloved and will be truly missed by countless friends in St. Louis and around the world.

Hedy often shared her philosophy of service with these words: “If we don’t try to make a difference, if we don’t speak up, if we don’t try to right the wrong that we see, we become complicit. I don’t want to be guilty of not trying my best to make a difference.”

Hedy always did her best, and the difference she made is evident in the commitment and passion of those called to continue her work. Her friends and admirers honor and salute her deep and lifelong dedication to tikkun olam, the just re-ordering of the world and promise to remember, to stay human, and to never be bystanders.

A memorial service will be held in Forest Park at a date and time to be determined. Donations in Hedy’s name may be made to Forest Park Forever to establish a permanent tribute, 5595 Grand Drive in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO 63112; American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102; American Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad St. 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004; and/or American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri Foundation, 454 Whittier St., St. Louis, MO 63108.

The above appeared on the FaceBook page of the St. Louis Jewish Voice For Peace 

Image by Gianluca Costantini

Image by Gianluca Costantini

The following appeared today in HaAretz

Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor and pro-Palestinian Activist, Dies at 91

Holocaust survivor and pro-Palestinian activist grabbed international headlines when she was arrested during a civil rights protest in Ferguson, Missouri.

85-year-old Hedy Epstein at a 'Gaza Freedom Marchers' protest in Cairo, 2009. Credit AP

85-year-old Hedy Epstein at a ‘Gaza Freedom Marchers’ protest in Cairo, 2009. Credit AP

Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust refugee whose sharp criticism of Israel — including comparing the state to the Nazis — drew controversy, has died at 91.

Epstein died at her home in St. Louis Thursday, according to Jewish Voice for Peace, a group in which she was active. The group supports Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

In February, the Austrian Parliament invited Epstein to speak at an event honoring women Holocaust survivors, but then cancelled the event amid criticism from Jewish groups angered that Epstein was the sole Jewish speaker.

Born Aug. 15, 1924 in Germany, Epstein fled to England at age 14 on a Kindertransport — the name for efforts to rescue European children of the era to the relative safety of Britain. Her parents, grandparents and most of her extended family were killed by the Nazis.
Epstein immigrated to the United States in 1948, moving to St. Louis in the early 1960s, where she volunteered with a nonprofit dedicated to housing integration and fair-housing laws.
She also worked as a paralegal for a law firm representing individuals in employment discrimination cases.

In 1982, following the Sabra and Shatila massacre in a Palestinian refugee camp by Israel’s allies in Lebanon, became outspoken on behalf of Palestinian rights.
According to Jewish Voice for Peace, Epstein founded the St. Louis chapter of Women in Black, a group that opposes Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and cofounded the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and the St. Louis chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Epstein visited the West Bank several times, volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and other pro-Palestinian groups. She participated in the Freedom Flotilla, an effort to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. In a 2004 lecture at Stanford University, Epstein compared the Nazi treatment of Jews to the Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
In 2014, Epstein grabbed international headlines when she was arrested during a civil rights protest in in the aftermath of the police killing of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Soon after, some commentators criticized her for describing herself as a Holocaust survivor, saying it was misleading since she had not been in hiding or in a concentration camp and spent the bulk of World War II in the relative safety of England.
Epstein was a member of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center’s speakers’ bureau, speaking frequently at schools and community events. According to Jewish Voice for Peace, Epstein “ended every talk with three requests: remember the past, don’t hate and don’t be a bystander.”
Epstein is survived by her son and two granddaughters.

 

FRIDAY’S TOON ~~ THE GRIM REAPERS

Image by Carlos Latuff

 Netanyahu and Lieberman will reap what they sow

Netanyahu and Lieberman will reap what they sow

See THIS related post

ISRAEL WILL REAP WHAT IT SOWS ….

COLLATERAL FIRES CONTINUE TO KILL IN GAZA

Deadly candle fires have occurred repeatedly since Israel imposed the siege in 2006. Since 2010, 29 Palestinians, mostly children, have died in home fires.

Gaza family mourns children who burned to death

Dan Cohen FOR

On May 7, 2016, fire broke out in the Abu al-Hindi home in Gaza’s Shati (Beach) refugee camp. Started by a tipped candle, the flames grew quickly grew out of control.

Three children, Yusra, 3, Rahaf, 2, and Nasser, 6 months, perished in the burning house, and Muhannad, 8, was severely burned. Ali, 6, is the only survivor without physical injuries but lives with deep psychological trauma.

Neighbors attempted to rescue the children by breaking a hole through the wall, but by the time they could reach the children, it was too late.

The fire is a direct result of severe electricity shortages due to the ongoing and tightening Israeli/Egyptian since and repeated Israeli military assaults.

In April, Gaza’s sole power plant ran out of fuel. Prior to that, the power plant was working at partial capacity due to repeated Israeli military attacks since 2006.

This has only been exacerbated by political infighting between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Since the beginning of 2016, the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, has gradually lifted fuel tax exemptions to Gaza’s power plant and imposed a ‘blue tax’, rendering the power plant unable to purchase fuel and further forcing Gaza’s residents to rely on candlelight.

Deadly candle fires have occurred repeatedly since Israel imposed the siege in 2006. Since 2010, 29 Palestinians, mostly children, have died in home fires.

The fire came just hours after Israeli member of Knesset Bezalel Smotrich said that the Israeli government, rather than private citizens, should carry out revenge attacks against Palestinians, specifically referring to the burning of Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khdeir in occupied East Jerusalem in 2014 and the firebombing attack in the West Bank village of Duma in 2015 which killed baby Ali Dawabshe and his parents as they slept.

While Smotrich’s call to burn Palestinian children alive made headlines in Israeli media, actual burning of children did not. The burning of the Abu al-Hindi family, for which Israel is ultimately responsible, went unnoticed in Israel. Such is the normalization and institutionalization of even the most grotesque forms of violence Israel metes out against Palestinians. Rather than a group of settlers carry out vigilante attacks under the cover of night, the deaths of the Abu al-Hindi children were written by some office worker tasked with overseeing the power Israel allows Gaza’s electrical company to purchase, which is just 45% of the required amount.

WATCH AS ISRAEL SELF DESTRUCTS

“The citizens of Israel should be worried about a rightist coalition that will bring Israel to very dangerous places,” said opposition leader Isaac Herzog at an event Wednesday hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute, according to  The Times of Israel.

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Israel Opposition Issues Dire Warnings on ‘Dangerous’ Avigdor Lieberman

Avigdor Liberman’s appointment as Israel’s defense minister was quickly condemned by opposition lawmakers, who warned of a severe fallout at home and abroad.

“The citizens of Israel should be worried about a rightist coalition that will bring Israel to very dangerous places,” said opposition leader Isaac Herzog at an event Wednesday hosted by the Israel Democracy Institute, according to  The Times of Israel.

Herzog, head of the center-left Zionist Union party, had been in talks to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government until the last-minute agreement with Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party Tuesday night scuttled that possibility.

The addition of Yisrael Beiteinu to the government boosts Netanyahu’s majority from a narrow 61-seats to a comfortable 66 in the 120-seat Knesset.

“This government shares a worldview that will prevent us from moving forward,” said Knesset member Tzipi Livni, also of the Zionist Union, at a conference at Ariel University, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. “A worldview that will isolate us in the world, and embolden BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel].”

Opposition leaders warned that Liberman’s ascension to defense chief threatened progress on peace negotiations with the Palestinians, citing past statements in which he called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a terrorist. Netanyahu insisted he was still committed to pursuing peace.

Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, who once collaborated with Liberman to combat the influence of the ultra-Orthodox parties, slammed him for now joining them in the coalition and dropping demands for education reform and national service requirements.

“Signing the agreement and the entry of Yisrael Beiteinu into the coalition is not an achievement,” Lapid said. “It is an embarrassing surrender, a betrayal of the public trust, and an abandonment of the pubic.”

Meanwhile, Zionist Union Knesset member Amir Peretz said the coalition agreement was “an alliance between the most extreme elements of the Knesset.” And the head of the left-wing Meretz party, Zehava Gal-On, reminded Israelis of past controversies surrounding Lieberman.

“Do you recall that this man got out of affairs for which he was interrogated only when the witnesses died mysteriously? Do you recall that every public role this man has held mysteriously led to his family getting rich?” she said, according to Channel 10.

An ocean away, New York Times columnist Thomas Friendman bemoaned Netanyahu’s choice to partner with Liberman in an article that pointed to hand-wringing from a number of Israeli officials and publications. On Monday, The New York Times editorial board anticipated the move, warning:”Avigdor Lieberman’s previous stints as Israel’s foreign minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were a disaster for Israeli-American relations.”

Netanyahu and Liberman’s parties ran as a joint list in the 2013 election.

Also see THIS report

Avigdor Lieberman Quake Rocks Israel — Barely a Tremor in the U.S.

PAST POTUS WISDOM

 Just imagine ….

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Newly elected President Hillary Clinton sitting in the Oval Office ….

Looking up to a painting of George Washington

washington

And asking him ….. “What should I do as President”?

To which he responds ….. “Always be honest to your people”!

To which she responds ….. “I don’t think that is possible”!

She then looks up to a portrait of Thomas Jefferson

JEFFERSON,_Thomas-President_(BEP_engraved_portrait)

And asks him the same question ….

To which he responded ….. “Do everything in your power to preserve Democracy in this great nation”!

To which she responded ….. “I don’t think that is possible”!

Saving the best for last, she then looks up to President Lincoln

lincoln

And once again repeats her question …..

To which he responded ……

 “GO SEE A PLAY”!!!

And there will be dancing in the streets!

And there will be dancing in the streets!

FUNNY WISDOM OF OUR BEST FRIENDS

 BE SURE TO SEE THIS TO THE END 🙂

Have you ever heard that a dog ‘knows’ when an earthquake is about to hit?

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Have you ever heard that a dog can ‘sense’ when a tornado is stirring up, even 20 miles away?

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Do you remember hearing that before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia, dogs started running frantically away from the seashore, at breakneck speed?

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Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire?

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Somehow they always know when they can ‘go for a ride’ before you even ask.

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How do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away?

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I’m a firm believer that animals – and especially cats and dogs – have keen insights into the Truth.

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And you can’t tell me that dogs can’t sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.

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Simply said, a dog just KNOWS when something isn’t right… when impending doom is upon us.

They’ll always try to warn us!

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We should listen!

ISRAEL WILL REAP WHAT IT SOWS ….

 Is Sharp Turn to Right Planting ‘Seeds of Fascism’ in Israel?

Israel has been “infected by the seeds of fascism,”  it should be “a red light for all of us regarding what’s going on in the government.”

FascismChecklist

By Luke Baker

A military affairs commentator interrupts his broadcast to deliver a monolog: I’m alarmed by what’s happening in Israel, he says, I think my children should leave.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak warns of “the seeds of fascism.” Moshe Arens, who served as defense minister three times, sees it as a turning point in Israeli politics and expects it to cause a “political earthquake.”

The past five days have produced tumult in Israeli politics, since conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unexpectedly turned his back on a deal to bring the center-left into his coalition and instead joined hands with far-right nationalist Avigdor Lieberman, one of his most virulent critics.

Lieberman, a West Bank settler, wants to be defense minister. So on Friday, Netanyahu’s former ally and confidant, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, resigned and quit Netanyahu’s Likud party in disgust.

After a weekend to digest the developments, which are expected to be finalized in an agreement between Netanyahu and Lieberman on Monday to form the most right-wing government in Israel’s 68-year-old history, commentators have tried to put it in perspective and found themselves alarmed.

Arens, who has served as defense minister, foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, and is one of Netanyahu’s early political mentors, said the machinations would have far-reaching repercussions.

“Yaalon’s ouster is likely to be a turning point in Israel’s political history,” he wrote in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper. “A political earthquake is in the offing. It may take a little time, but it is coming. The law of unforeseen consequences is at work.”

The decision to jettison Yaalon in favor of Lieberman was all too much for Roni Daniel, a veteran military affairs commentator on Channel 2.

“I cannot urge my children to stay here, because it is a place that is not nice to be in,” he said in his monolog, going on to name a number of far-right politicians.

“HOSTILE TAKEOVER”

By bringing the Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) party into the fold, Netanyahu strengthens his coalition from 61 to 67 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Lieberman’s brand of politics — pro-settlement, wary of peace negotiations, tough on the Palestinians — sits far more comfortably with Netanyahu and his right-wing partners than the center-left does.

But it means there is no countervailing voice in the government, and the person in charge of defense — the most important portfolio in Israel after the prime minister — is a civilian with little military experience.

At a time when the command of the Israel Defense Forces is already at odds with the government over policies it feels are too hard-line, Lieberman’s appointment risks creating more tension between the political leadership and the military. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are on edge too.

“What has happened is a hostile takeover of the Israeli government by dangerous elements,” Ehud Barak, Israel’s most decorated soldier and a former defense minister following his spell as head of government, told Channel 10 TV.

Israel has been “infected by the seeds of fascism,” he said, adding that it should be “a red light for all of us regarding what’s going on in the government.”

Netanyahu sought to quell the rising criticism at a new conference on Sunday, describing himself as in charge and as having the nation’s interests at heart.

“I’m looking out for the country’s future. I have proved that as prime minister. I hear a lot of voices; many things are said in politics,” he said.

“Ultimately, it’s the prime minister who directs everything together with the defense minister, with the chief of staff, and apparently I haven’t done such a bad job during my years as prime minister — that’s the way it is going to be now.”

Some allies leapt to Netanyahu’s defense, saying the appointment of Lieberman was a sound decision and that he would offer “fresh thinking” as defense minister, but the focus of commentary was on the broader direction that Israel is taking.

A DECADE IN POWER

Netanyahu has held power for more than 10 years, spread over four terms. In that time, politics has moved steadily to the right, with his coalition now hinging on support from Orthodox religious and ultra-nationalist parties.

There has been no progress in efforts to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, with Netanyahu saying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is not the right partner because he rejects Israel’s demand to recognize it as a Jewish state.

At the same time, the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians seek for their own state together with Gaza, continues apace.

Ties between Israel and the United States, its closest ally, have become strained, with Vice President Joe Biden saying last month that the U.S. administration felt “overwhelming frustration” with the Israeli government.

For Daniel, who is regarded as a stalwart of the right, something has changed fundamentally.

“It’s over. I will not persuade my children. They will decide where they want to live. But if that once looked like a terrible tragedy to me, today it doesn’t,” he said.—Reuters

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PHOTO OF THE DAY … A REAL NAZI SALUTE FROM A REAL NAZI

A NAZI STAR ON ISRAEL’S HORIZON

Avigdor Liberman speaks during a party faction meeting at the Knesset, on May 23, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Avigdor Liberman speaks during a party faction meeting at the Knesset, on May 23, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

See yesterday’s related post HERE

#InIsrael ~~ UPGRADING APARTHEID

Israel’s finance and defense ministers announced a two-year plan to improve conditions at security checkpoints in the West Bank.

WHY NOT TODAY ???

The 3 Palestinian men waited too long in order to pass the checkpoint, the female soldiers were busy taking selfies

The 3 Palestinian men waited too long in order to pass the checkpoint, the female soldiers were busy taking selfies

Israel Announces $77M Plan to Improve Palestinian Checkpoint Conditions

Israel’s finance and defense ministers announced a two-year plan to improve conditions at security checkpoints in the West Bank.

Moshe Kahlon and Moshe Yaalon, who is expected to be replaced as defense chief by Avigdor Liberman as part of a shakeup in the governing coalition, said the plan would make checkpoints, which tens of thousands of Palestinians go through in order to reach jobs in Israel, more efficient and secure, the Times of Israel reported Thursday.

The program is expected to cost $77 million.

Yaalon said in a statement that the program will decrease the wait times for Palestinians at crossings between “30 to 50 percent” and increase the amount of goods that can be transferred by “approximately 30 percent.”

Last month Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the Jewish Home party who in 2012 was named by a settler group as the second-most right-wing member of the Knesset, surprised many when he criticized the “shameful” conditions at the checkpoints.

Ariel, a former leader of the Yesha Council settlers advocacy group and longtime supporter of settlement construction, noted that West Bank Palestinians are often forced to wait at checkpoints for hours without shade, water or other shelter from harsh weather conditions.

Ariel also called for a new port in Gaza, which has been subject to an Israeli naval blockade since 2006, when Hamas won control of Gaza.

According to the Times of Israel, Yaalon is said to be under current consideration for the post of foreign minister.

A NAZI STAR ON ISRAEL’S HORIZON

A final word to the Israeli Jewish society… 

Don’t you ever think that a Nazi or Nazi-like War Minister will benefit you or bring about more security, stability and peace to you. I strongly believe the opposite would happen. 

Many Germans thought the same with regard to the Third Reich. We know the rest of the story. 

And don’t you ever think that Jewish morality wouldn’t allow the emergence of a Jewish Hitler. 

Germany was probably the most cultured society under the sun in the years leading up to the Holocaust. 

Just think about it!

Image by Carlos Latuff

Netanyahu and his new partner AvigdorLiberman respond to Paris peace talks

Netanyahu and his new partner AvigdorLiberman respond to Paris peace talks

Heil Lieberman! 

By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

Today a real Nazi star is rising in Israel’s sky as Former extremist Minister Avigdor Lieberman is being groomed for becoming Israel’s new War Minister. 

Lieberman, an ex-club bouncer, reportedly with pedophile tendencies, has been promised the defense portfolio by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu following the dismissal of erstwhile Defense minister Moshe Yaalon. 

The appointment of Lieberman at the helm of the Defense Ministry, many observers agree, marks an unprecedented Nadir in Israeli politics. 

Some Jewish writers have already compared the dramatic ascendance of Lieberman to the country’s top security post with the rise in Germany of the Nazi party in the late 1920s. 

The man is seen as encapsulating a genocidal combination of both German Nazism and Soviet Stalinism. Stalin is reportedly Lieberman’s ultimate role model. Moreover, It is widely thought that had millions of Jews not been exterminated by Nazism, Hitler, too would have become Lieberman’s hero. 

In 2006, this writer wrote the following, after Lieberman was elected to the Knesset: 

“Lieberman is more than just “controversial” as the Zionist and Zionist-controlled media would portray him, mainly in order to evade facing the reality of his fascist-mindset. He is actually a dangerous demagogic politician and warmonger who advocates ethnic cleansing, genocide and a nuclear Armageddon. In fact, the man can be viewed as a Hitler-in-the-making with very little exaggeration. Lieberman’s thuggish behavior is very well known even among Jews in Israel. In 1999, the former Moldovan immigrant attacked and savagely beat, some say bit, a neighbor’s child for allegedly beating his own son. 

The affair was publicized in Israel but eventually died down when Lieberman’s star rose, first as a lawmaker representing Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and second as cabinet minister in Ariel Sharon’s government 2001-2003. 

As a cabinet minister Lieberman espoused Nazi-like ideas so brazenly that then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had to warn him that he might be summoned to The Hague to stand trial for crimes against humanity if he decided to effect his racist ideology. 

On 8 March, 2002, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot quoted him as saying the following during a cabinet meeting: 

At eight o’clock, we bomb all commercial centers (in the occupied territories), at 12 o’clock we bomb all fuel stations, and at two o’clock in the afternoon, we bomb all the banks, and we keep the border crossings open ( to allow Palestinians to flee).” 

Today, Lieberman remains unchanged, unreformed and unrepentant to put it very mildly. His bloodthirstiness, criminal-mindedness, and genocidal savagery are as affronting as ever. 

That is why we may well be about to witness a new turning point in the annals of the Arab-Israel conflict, a turning point characterized by pornographic   genocidal violence, probably unseen since 1948. 

The genocidal thug is already threatening to murder Palestinian leaders, including Ismael Haniyya, the former elected Palestinian Prime Minister. He is also threatening,   rather brashly, PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, telling him “you either heed our orders or will meet Yasser Arafat’s and Ahmed Yasin’s fate.’ (Yasin was assassinated by Israel in Gaza on 22 March, 2004, and Arafat, who died on 11 November the same year, is widely believed to have been poisoned by Israeli agents.) 

A final word to the Israeli Jewish society. 

Don’t you ever think that a Nazi or Nazi-like War Minister will benefit you or bring about more security, stability and peace to you. I strongly believe the opposite would happen. 

Many Germans thought the same with regard to the Third Reich. We know the rest of the story. 

And don’t you ever think that Jewish morality wouldn’t allow the emergence of a Jewish Hitler. 

Germany was probably the most cultured society under the sun in the years leading up to the Holocaust. 

Just think about it!

ANN COULTER ON JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO THE USA

“Oh God, not the Jews again,” muttered conservative commentator Ann Coulter when asked about Jewish immigration to the United States.

She was responding to a question on Wednesday by BBC’s James Naughtie on whether her anti-immigration stance would also have applied to Jewish immigrants to New York in the 20th century.

If trump loses, it’s over. We’re going to be homesick for the rest of our lives.

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Full report HERE

Ann Coulter Lashes Out Over Immigration: ‘Oh God, Not the Jews Again’

IRONIC TOON ~~ MANDELA HONOURED BY HIS CAPTORS

Image by Carlos Latuff

Same US that now exalts Mandela as hero, was responsible for his imprisionment

Same US that now exalts Mandela as hero, was responsible for his imprisonment

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Nelson Mandela has been honored at his memorial by President Obama and countless other world leaders, but a piece of information about his historic life was largely overlooked during the tributes to the late-South African president: The role of the CIA in his imprisonment. A CIA agent inside the ANC provided the South African apartheid government with the location of Mr. Mandela so they could arrest him decades ago. 

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Related report and photos HERE ….

Former diplomat admits CIA involvement in Nelson Mandela arrest

Revelations from a CIA operative indicate that the American spy agency was behind the arrest of Nelson Mandela in 1962. Mandela was perceived to be a risk to the US due to alleged ties with the Soviet Union.

#InPalestine ~~ ECHOS FROM THE GENERAL’S SON

… that  both Palestinians and Israelis must be allowed to live free and in peace in a state that represents them both, governed by the same laws … only after a democratic state is established and a government that represents all the people is in place, will we be able to resolve the crisis in Gaza, welcome the refugees’ return, calculate reparations, solve issues of water and citizenship, dismantle the wall and checkpoints, and live and function as people should.

Cover art: The General’s Son – 2nd Edition – Just World Books

Cover art: The General’s Son – 2nd Edition – Just World Books

Why Miko Peled’s story resonates for Palestinians

Little Ghada has the largest and most alert black eyes of any four-year old in my hometown in Galilee. One morning last week as I sat in their front yard sipping Arabic coffee with her grandfather she stopped on the way to pre-school for her morning kiss. Out of the clear blue she turned to me and asked if I thought Israeli soldiers were human beings. Why the question, I asked and she explained that they shoot children. Before I could say anything she started skipping hopscotch style with her schoolbag bouncing on her back as she mumbled rhythmically: ”Two here … two here …  and those … shot those … bang, bang, bang … and those two … went to sleep.” Then the mother grabbed the kid’s hand and hurried her to the car.

I had forgotten the passing incident till I read the pages in Miko Peled’s The General’s Son describing the ‘Palestinian Bar Mitzva,’ the initiation rite for Palestinian children into the inescapable violent encounters with the Israeli occupying forces. Miko’s autobiographical account of his lifelong voyage, so far, from a Zionist youth and the scion of Zionist leaders to an avowed anti-Zionist peace activist makes for a fascinating read. Especially for a Palestinian, it is quite memorable with trigger points that bring back memories of violence, discrimination and oppression at every turn of his account. At least for me Miko’s authentic narrative evoked many a personal memory, that of little Ghada being the freshest.

At the start and for near half of his book, Miko narrates his memories from the familiar perspective of the liberal Israeli Zionist straddling the ethical divide of freedom fighter and, at the same time, oppressive settler colonialist. Most of the narrative here is dedicated to setting up the indisputable Zionist credentials of Miko’s lineage: His mother the descendant of recognized leaders in the early settlement movement and his father, Matti Peled a towering Israeli General of both 1948 and 1967 wars. As a pacifist, I have a gut-level aversion to the military and to generals; the brighter their medals shine, the greater my repugnance. Miko Peled spends a good deal of the first chapters of his account glorifying the military image of his father as a fighter, perhaps in an attempt to preempt accusations of treason by fellow Israelis. Only towards the end and especially in the epilogue to the second edition Miko renounces Zionism completely and assumes the full ethical stand on the side of its Palestinian victims. This development is historically gradual and must have evolved with a greater personal struggle than the author lets on in the book. He speculates that had he survived, the retired general “would call for a single democracy with equal rights.” I read that as altered Zionism. I doubt that General Matti would have abandoned Zionism altogether. Zika, his wife, never does openly. Still, she comes across as a most sympathetic figure that gets short-scripted in favor of The General. Her refusal to move into the home of an exiled Palestinian family, a down-to-earth gesture of basic humanity, shines through as a glaring exception to all the usual self-congratulatory accounts of Zionist victories.

Like several other outspoken liberal Zionist leaders of the time (Uri Avnery and Dov Yaremeya are two acquaintances that come to mind) Matti Peled opts to draw a line under the 1948 war crimes and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and focuses his liberal views on the need to end the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The sincerity and success of his attempts to build bridges with Palestinian leaders and other Arab figures is quite striking, witness links he makes with Issam Sartawi, Arafat and Naguib Mahfouz. In the meanwhile Miko finds alternative heroes to worship in the intense relationship he has with his Karate masters. As I grasp this peaceful solution to the young man’s psychic dilemma I breathe easy. Till then I had held my breath as I read Miko’s admiring remarks about the military career of Ariel Sharon. I feared he would become Sharon’s protégé and fall under the Machiavellian spell of the Sabra and Shatilla criminal mastermind.

The tension in my mind is allayed by Miko’s career choice of teaching Karate in the USA. His business succeeds. Then the tragic loss of his teenage niece, Smadar, another random victim of the violence that Israel’s occupation fuels, shakes Miko to his core. It forces him closer to the cause of peace with Palestinians and we see him lose his innocence and Israeli inborn misconceptions and prejudices layer after layer. “Her death pushed me into a bold examination of my Zionist beliefs, my country’s history, and the political situation that fueled the suicide bombers who killed her.” Peace is the only solution, he concludes. But how does one act on such convictions? Initially he dabbles in delaying tactics of attending and hosting Arab-Jewish peace and reconciliation groups. He sidesteps the real issues by engaging in charitable relief work, supplying wheelchairs to Palestinian and Israeli paraplegics. His partner in this form of pattern-holding in terms of political activism is the Palestinian Nader Elbanna, another California rotarian who introduces him to a wide circle of fellow Palestinians back home. Thus the urge to confront challenges directly returns our Miko to the real arena of current events, the powder keg of the Palestinian Occupied Territories. He plies his marketable skill as a Karate master to youth in refugee camps, attends the weekly anti-Apartheid Wall marches in Bili’in and similar aggrieved villages, crosses into Gaza through a tunnel and meets with the steadfast leaders of the Palestinian peaceful resistance movement across the seething arena.

Here, a towering leader, Abu-Ali Shaheen, provides another pinnacle of heroism as the Palestinian warrior and, for over two decades, the leader of the Palestinian political prisoners who is credited with setting the rules for their conduct and political education while incarcerated. Such is the character of this Palestinian legendary sumoud – perseverance — leader that Miko seems to build up the image of his own father through the man’s testimony to his character. Abu-Ali recounts to Miko in his prison-learned Hebrew the details of the massacre the Israeli forces committed in his home village of Beshshit before adding:

“Everyone in Rafah talked about the fact that Matti Peled, one of the greatest officers of the Israeli army, a general that was highly respected, straight like an arrow, the man who was military governor of Gaza, came in person, he even drove himself, and visited the homes of the victims. Your father visited my family’s home, he spoke to the adults and he consoled the children. People commented how disturbed he was when they took him to the spot where the massacre took place. Your father also wrote a report to Yitzhak Rabin and Haim Bar-Lev, but they did nothing.”

The glare of the father’s heroic stand on the issue of principle is such that the reader is blinded to the base act of the massacre’s Israeli perpetrators. Here, finally, Miko reaches the climactic closing of the circle that justifies his entire narrative of peace and reconciliation, looping back to his foremost heroic idol, Matti Peled. Abu-Ali continues:

“It became known that this changed [Matti] from a militant man to a man dedicated to peace. I felt your father was with us and that washed away the anger in my heart completely. Completely!”

What more intense encounter can the reader expect after this but the ultimate breaking down of racial boundaries illustrated by Miko’s falling in love and partnering with Fadwa Natour, a Palestinian that we meet only in the epilogue to the new edition of the book. The question of whether it was the egg or the chicken bursts out of the pages begging to be answered. Speculation aside, Mikos conversion is complete:

What I do now, is speak, write and actively participate in the resistance to the Zionist regime in Palestine. Peace for Israelis and Palestinians is possible if we look outside the Paradigm of the Zionist state, a state wrongly called the “Jewish State.” Though Israelis outside the West Bank do not like to see themselves as settlers, we Israelis are like the whites in South Africa—colonizers and settlers—and, whether or not we choose to call it by that name, the country in which we live is Palestine.

Avigail Abarbanel, a psychologist, collected and edited 25 essays in a book entitled Beyond Tribal Loyalties –Personal Stories of Jewish Peace Activists. (Cambridge Scholars Publishing; 2012.) Her hidden agenda was to discover a common factor among all the participants in the project. Here is her conclusion:

I realized that there is in fact something that all the activists in this book have in common: they all have the capacity to tolerate difficult emotions. I call this “emotional resilience.”

Reading his account, one can’t but credit Miko Peled with an ample share of “emotional resilience.” But reading Abarbanel’s book I had my own agenda: to discover the critical point at which such peace activists switch sides from Zionists to true peace activists. I dwelled on the subject in a review on my blog. Out of the sample of 25 such ‘switchers’ I constructed an average persona who, as it turns out, was a female:

The figure that emerged is akin to the proverbial horse designed by a committee: She is usually a woman who grew up in a liberal Jewish family. Her parents were mostly of the PEP (Progressive Except on Palestine) variety with solid WIZO and JNF credentials, accepting and propounding their dominant communal mythology and undisputed gospel, both that of the Old Testament and of the Zionist doctrines with all its required founding ‘truths.’ … Then our woman … is exposed to the wider world. Somewhere along the way she is exposed to a different point of view about the Israel-Palestine conflict: She meets Palestinians and is surprised to find that they are human. She reads a book by the likes of Edward Said or Avi Shlaim or is otherwise exposed to an alternative source of information with ‘subversive content.’ That blows the cover of her former solid Hasbara world. The cognitive dissonance within her cries for resolution and she commits to finding the truth for her self. From there the descent into pro-Palestinian activism is inevitable … Punishment for such a sin is not long in coming in the form of exclusion from the tribal fold and the loss of former friendships.

Except for the gender of the composite character I drew, I could have predicted Miko’s life cycle to a T. And Miko himself attests openly to the implied contradiction and mutual exclusivity of the two sides: Zionist Hasbara and pro-Palestinian peace activism. The only escape, Miko posits and all sane concerned people agree, is:

… that  both Palestinians and Israelis must be allowed to live free and in peace in a state that represents them both, governed by the same laws … only after a democratic state is established and a government that represents all the people is in place, will we be able to resolve the crisis in Gaza, welcome the refugees’ return, calculate reparations, solve issues of water and citizenship, dismantle the wall and checkpoints, and live and function as people should.

Amen!

Written FOR Mondoweiss

ISRAEL’S ALTERNATIVE ‘PEACE PLAN’

A comment from yesterday … ”There will be peace only when there are no more Palestinians to make peace with”.

The alternative ‘Peace Plan ‘ … Let the neonazis kill again …

Israel to release extremist murderer of Palestinian family

Israel to release extremist murderer of Palestinian family

Notorious Jewish ‘Terrorist’ To Be Freed — Despite Ties To Firebomb Murder of Palestinian Family

Meir Ettinger, the suspected head of a right-wing Jewish terrorist cell who is being held in administrative detention, will be released from jail.

The Lod District Court determined Tuesday that Ettinger would be released in June after the Shin Bet security service said it would not request an extension of his detention. But the Shin Bet also said it would impose restrictions on who Ettinger can come in contact with and what communities he can live in and visit, the Hebrew-language news website Walla reported .

Ettinger, the grandson of the slain far-right extremist Meir Kahane, has been held in administration detention without being charged since August 2015. The detention was extended in February.

Administrative detention allows Israeli authorities to hold suspected terrorists for six months at a time without filing formal charges. The detention, which is generally used against Palestinians, can be renewed indefinitely.

Ettinger, who spent several weeks in solitary confinement and has had limited contact with his family, was arrested for “involvement in violent activities and terrorist attacks that occurred recently, and his role as part of a Jewish terrorist group,” according to Israeli authorities.

His arrest was linked to the firebombing of a home in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma that left an infant and his parents dead. Three people were convicted in connection with the attack.

Shin Bet officials have said Ettinger heads a movement that also was responsible for the June arson of the historic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and seeks to bring down the government and replace it with a Jewish theocracy.

MIDWEEK TOON ~~ NETANYAHU’S REACTION TO PARIS PEACE PLAN

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Image by Carlos Latuff

Toon of the Day: How Netanyahu Reacted to Paris Peace Plan

Toon of the Day: How Netanyahu Reacted to Paris Peace Plan

The alternative ‘Peace Plan ‘ … Let the neonazis kill again …

Israel to release extremist murderer of Palestinian family

Israel to release extremist murderer of Palestinian family

Notorious Jewish ‘Terrorist’ To Be Freed — Despite Ties To Firebomb Murder of Palestinian Family

Meir Ettinger, the suspected head of a right-wing Jewish terrorist cell who is being held in administrative detention, will be released from jail.

The Lod District Court determined Tuesday that Ettinger would be released in June after the Shin Bet security service said it would not request an extension of his detention. But the Shin Bet also said it would impose restrictions on who Ettinger can come in contact with and what communities he can live in and visit, the Hebrew-language news website Walla reported .

Ettinger, the grandson of the slain far-right extremist Meir Kahane, has been held in administration detention without being charged since August 2015. The detention was extended in February.

Administrative detention allows Israeli authorities to hold suspected terrorists for six months at a time without filing formal charges. The detention, which is generally used against Palestinians, can be renewed indefinitely.

Ettinger, who spent several weeks in solitary confinement and has had limited contact with his family, was arrested for “involvement in violent activities and terrorist attacks that occurred recently, and his role as part of a Jewish terrorist group,” according to Israeli authorities.

His arrest was linked to the firebombing of a home in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma that left an infant and his parents dead. Three people were convicted in connection with the attack.

Shin Bet officials have said Ettinger heads a movement that also was responsible for the June arson of the historic Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and seeks to bring down the government and replace it with a Jewish theocracy.

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