WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY ABOUT THE OCCUPATION?

When large parts of the population celebrate the birth of Jesus, a similar, sad fate is repeated.

Besieged Bethlehem: Jesus’ birthplace crippled by Israeli occupation …

WHAT ZIONISM REPEATS EVERY YEAR …

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

When large parts of the population celebrate the birth of Jesus, a similar, sad fate is repeated. In the country where Jesus was born, the harassment and human rights crimes against Palestinians, whether Muslim or Christian, are becoming more and more cruel. It is precisely these celebrations that the Zionist system of oppression uses for ever new criminal and murderous actions. In the shadow of the supposedly peaceful Advent season, we are witnessing a wave of violence that does not shy away from the murder of children and the disabled. Since the US government under the leadership of US President Trump and Shadow Secretary of State “Jared-Koscher Kushner-Nostra-Secretary of State” has been in power, all the floodgates have been opened in order to enforce its “America and Jewish First” policy unhindered. Who is surprised that Jewish citizens who do not distance themselves from this policy are becoming more and more unpopular? And that’s not anti-Semitism! A state which calls itself the “Jewish State” and which only 73 years after the end of World War II and Auschwitz liberation is becoming increasingly similar to Nazi Germany must no longer be celebrated as the “only” democracy in the Middle East.

Apartheid state abuses the Holocaust

No, this apartheid state is now miles away from all democratic practices and abuses the Holocaust and its victims for its own terrible purposes. Everything is demanded and justified by the uniqueness of the terrible genocide of 6 million Jews. It cannot be covered up or denied by anything and will always be remembered as one of the most terrible crimes in world history. And yes, I say it consciously, as ONE of the most terrible. But what about the many other victims of tyranny before and after? What are we experiencing in Yemen and Gaza, what guilt have the colonial countries like Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Australia and the USA brought upon themselves? Germany, too, has refused to acknowledge the genocide of the Herero and to make reparations. This enumeration would have to be continued for pages and in detail. But is it not noticeable that only one lobby group has managed to assert its claim to sole representation as a victim group?

This “light among nations”, as the “Jewish State” likes to call itself, is a dark and cruel example of how to conceal crimes with flowery names. Again and again I remember a trip as a youth to Israel, where I noticed this state already then in its inhuman arrogance. How one propagandistically boasted about it for “blooming landscapes” that Jews had built on “Arabian desert soil”. And not a word about the fact that this land, robbed by the Palestinian natives, came from the Palestinians and that these approximately 750,000 displaced or murdered Palestinians had worked this land with their hands and built their houses on it. If the Jewish occupiers always boast of having planted forests in these areas, it is a criminal greenwash of land theft, occupation and expulsion to eradicate the Palestinian roots. The Zionist occupying regimes knew only too well how to persuade German politicians and parties in particular to support these “death forests”. The former German SPD Foreign Minister and current Federal President Steinmeier and recently Dietmar Bartsch, chairman of the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag, have been active as “Zionist gardeners”, and the forests of the German Länder also underline this policy. While one denigrates meanwhile Christmas trees in the Jewish state as dangerous anti-Jewish symbol and forests die here here with us in Germany, the Zionist afforestation is brought to bloom.

Aim of the Netanyahu regime: Judaization of Palestine until the Final Solution

Desperate Palestinians try to enforce their legal right of return to their homeland – guaranteed by international law – in order to escape the desperate situation, and are ruthlessly shot. The Netanyahu regime, like many other governments before it, has masterfully presented itself as a threatened country and concerned only with security. In the shadow of these “security lies” they can, thanks to the hypocritical community of states, continue the Judaization of Palestine until the final solution.

However, we should all be concerned that more and more Jewish citizens are being recruited into the diaspora (Sayanim!) in order to actively participate in the scientifically accompanied propaganda lies and defamation campaigns. How many three-digit millions were provided for this Hasbara (propaganda)? Especially at a time when the BDS movement in the

However, we should all be concerned that more and more Jewish citizens are being recruited into the diaspora (Sayanim!) in order to actively participate in the scientifically accompanied propaganda lies and defamation campaigns. How many three-digit millions were provided for this Hasbara (propaganda)? Especially in times when the BDS movement is getting stronger and stronger and more and more prominent, this propaganda is intensified. I don’t know of any other political lobby like the Israel lobby, which is so masterly at abusing its former victim role so blatantly.

Just like any politician who visits the “Jewish State” no matter how often, is sent to Yad Vashem to complete his obligatory visit to the Holocaust Memorial. After that he has to “purify” everything that the hosts of the racist apartheid state put before him. It makes no difference whether it is right-wing extremists and racist guests who come to visit. From the Philippine dictator Duterte to Netanyahu friend Victor Orban, many welcome guests have already visited Netanyahu. All three are connected by their blatant Islamophobia. Will it soon be the new right-wing extremist Brazilian President Bolsonario or the Italian right-wing extremist Prime Minister Savini, who during his visit once called Hezbollah a terrorist organization and met with the former right-wing extremist Trump whisperer Steve Bannon to work on a new “right-wing movement”? They all belong to this kind of “terrorist politicians” who promote precisely the policy that follows the Zionist policy of the “Jewish State”, which first stirs up the violence and hatred that then leads to resistance. They are all welcome by their Jewish friends and fit so well into the fascist-Zionist system. The only thing missing is that Yad Vashem issues a “kosher” card for these racists, which makes them kosher and confirms them in their politics.

There is no right of return for Jews to stolen land!

While politicians who criticize the “Jewish state” for its crimes as well as foreign boycott activists and supporters are denied entry, people are happy about every right-wing politician visit. While Palestinians are denied entry, Jews from all over the world are encouraged to “return to their Promised Land” and to Alliah. The Alliah is linguistically “ascension”, but in reality it is a descent, after immigration. How is it nevertheless possible that this unbelievable state has been consolidated for over 70 years and is now almost accepted as normality? There is no right of return for Jews to stolen land!

The “Jewish State” has managed that almost all of its Jewish citizens are still proud of this oppressor state and show solidarity with these occupation crimes. It cannot be repeated often enough: This state wrongly presumes to speak for ALL Jews worldwide!

Jesus was the first persecuted Jew to be denounced as an enemy by his brothers in faith. What are the parallels to today? Critical Jews who openly speak out against human and international law crimes, illegal occupation and apartheid racism are marginalized by Jews and Israel supporters as anti-Semitic, only 73 years after Auschwitz liberation. This violates the Basic Law and human rights. This particularly perfidious form of anti-Semitism should be punished by the reasons of state.

It must end with the defamation of democratic Jews who are committed to international law and freedom, including for Palestinians, while Jews who show solidarity with Israeli crimes that have been going on for decades are courted! Jesus would certainly lead the BDS movement and certainly show solidarity with the Palestinians. He and his family knew the feeling of being displaced persons and migrants. This is forgotten by the politicians who call themselves “Christian” and who always show solidarity with the “Jewish State”. Are we not dealing again with a terrible selection? We can defend ourselves against it by steadfastly continuing to insist on respect for human rights based on clear facts, as opposed to Zionist propaganda lies.

Misery in Gaza reminiscent of concentration camps and ghettos

How can a Jewish state, which repeatedly refers to the Holocaust as a justification for legalizing its crimes, expropriate another people for decades, drive them from their land, keep them in a concentration camp without feeling any scruples? How can you deprive so many people of everything, without rights and freedom? Children and young people prefer to be shot as resistance fighters in order to escape hopelessness or end up committing suicide. They take German (!!) Tramadol to put themselves in a dream world and escape the terrible reality. The misery of the people in Gaza is so indescribable that it should remind Jews of concentration camps and ghettos. If there had been more resistance, more courage and more sincerity during the Nazi period, we would have been spared a lot.

No, it is not the Palestinians who are terrorizing, it is the Jewish state terrorists and their willing helpers. The Germans in particular should reflect and stand up and defend themselves against this philosemitism, which has replaced anti-Semitism. How can the systematic violation of international law and human rights be watched and legitimized without contradiction? With the Holocaust, which gives Jews a carte blanche for injustice suffered? There is no justification for these crimes. Especially the glut of the new anti-Semitism commissioners should deal with this topic, philosemitism and Islam hatred.

Every year the Christian world again celebrates the birth of Jesus, a Jew who was a revolutionary and courageously stood up for his ideas, and who dared to contradict the Jewish high priests, for which he finally paid with his life. Here, too, it was non-Jewish helpers who carried out the death sentence. On the third Sunday of Advent German scouts brought the “light of peace” from Bethlehem to Munich, during an ecumenical service in the Cathedral of Our Lady and with numerous participation of Catholic and Protestant parishes. Under the motto “Peace needs diversity – for a tolerant society” a spectacle was organized that can no longer be surpassed in hypocrisy.

Against the dark light of oppression the shining example in the fight for justice, peace and freedom!

The “light of peace” from the illegally occupied Bethlehem has nothing to do with peace, but is a dark light of oppression. It is precisely the Protestant Church that has excluded people who are fighting against the occupation of Palestine and for its people. The hypocritical message of alleged tolerance borders on brainwashing young Christian people of good will. The Bishop of Bavaria, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and his unbearable grin, the “altar boys” Reinhard Cardinal Marx and the Greek Orthodox Archpriest Apostolos Malamoussis, all of them horribly deaf to the outcry of the Christian Palestinians to their brothers and sisters in faith – all laid down in the Kairos-Palästina-Document from the year 2009(!), which has as its goal “the end of the occupation of Palestine by Israel”. This “cry of hope, where there is no hope”, hits on the deaf ears of these ecclesiastical “holy” appearances, because they prefer to cower before the occupying power and its willing helpers. They did not even have the courage to invite a Palestinian Christian representative. Why do you think? Because he would certainly not have watched speechlessly and would have had much to report at home about the despondency of the German church leaders.

Jesus as a human being, beyond Christian or religious references, should be a shining example to all of us who hear the “cry of hope” full of empathy and who work for an end to the decades-long occupation of Palestine in the struggle for justice, peace and freedom, every year again.

I wish all readers a Merry Christmas.

In the new Rheini newspaper (NRhZ) published in expenditure 687 of 19.12.2018 under http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=25488

NOBODY STANDS IN THE WAY OF ZION

The “Jewish State” is now so sure, thanks to the West, especially the German hypocrites, that nobody gets in its way any more, and thus acts more audaciously and uninhibitedly.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO SUFFER PERSECUTION FOR THE SAKE OF JUSTICE 

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

More than two years ago I wrote a comment with the title “When the Israel lobby rings twice”, but today it doesn’t quite fit anymore. In fact, the lobby has infiltrated German public life. They sit in almost all forums, parties, organizations. And in the media they are constantly on the lookout and consult editorial offices and broadcasters, so that everything goes according to their wishes and criticism of Israel is immediately stopped and the critics are silenced. The influence of this lobby and its demands are unprecedented. Why did the Merkel-Gro/Ko hide until today that during the last German-Israeli government consultations Prime Minister Netanyahu handed over a paper to Chancellor Merkel urging the German government to stop support for non-governmental organizations that allegedly “promote anti-Israeli activities”? We know only too well what this means and who. After all, it now affects anyone who dares to stand up for Palestine’s freedom and against Israeli policies that violate international law.

Netanyahu regime: one of the most influential lobbyists

The “Jewish State” is now so sure, thanks to the West, especially the German hypocrites, that nobody gets in its way any more, and thus acts more audaciously and uninhibitedly. The Merkel government has succeeded in making the Netanyahu regime one of the most influential lobbyists, who have now established themselves in all areas of public life and smuggled in their helpers (Sayanim).

The Zionist spell also hit the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which had ventured an exhibition with “Welcome to Israel”, which presents the three monotheistic religions and their effects on the lives of the people in Israel, rich in facts, with examples, documents and pictures.

This exhibition shows both the more than one-sided pro-Israel film “24 Hours Jerusalem” as well as far too sparse Palestinian perspectives, and shows the clear violation of international law of the “Jewish State” with the annexed Jerusalem as the “eternally undivided” capital of a “Jewish State”. Thus this exhibition is “balanced” and leaves room for discussion.

However, the Netanyahu regime tries to prevent these “free spaces” and discussions by all means. The “Jewish State” wants to prevent anything that appears to leave the Palestinians a place in illegally occupied Palestine. Everything that is reported about the legitimate claim of the displaced and occupied people is a thorn in their side, because they know all too well about their crimes and their guilt. What is now being done with the example of the Jewish Museum is only a metaphor for the new Jewish anti-Semitism, which also does not stop at Jews and Jewish organizations, museums and institutions, as long as they are not really connected with the “Jewish State” or the Central Council of Jews.

Interference is no longer acceptable and can be prevented by all means.

In fact, the Jewish Museum is one of the European and Berlin tourist magnets, three quarters of which is financed by public funds, i.e. German taxpayers’ money, and has nothing to do with the Jewish community or the Central Council. It is still a house that presents itself freely in its decisions, but after this renewed serious attempt by the Israel lobby and the State of Israel to cut the funds for the Jewish Museum, it shows how much this freedom is to be curtailed. In fact, the Netanyahu regime now denigrates all democratic but Israel-critical NGOs as “terror supporters” and thus includes the Jewish Museum. By the way, it’s not the NGO’s who are working for an end of the occupation that are terrorist, but a state that commits state terror and ruthlessly commits crimes of peoples and human rights – and this under the eyes of the “western community of values” that don’t want to see the abysmal injustice. If the museum had been under Israeli-Jewish rule, it probably would not have come this far, or it would have been closed long ago. This example shows how far the Judaization and Israelization of Germany has advanced in the meantime. This form of interference is no longer acceptable and can be prevented by all means. If even the German Foreign Ministry, under a confessing friend of Israel, the “Auschwitz Minister” Maas, was beaten to death with the demand for a “clarifying” meeting in Berlin, then the point has been reached to finally think about how relations with the “Jewish State” and the occupying forces are going to be regulated.

The German government should finally question whether and for how long it will continue to accept the Jewish lobby interventions in the freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of culture and politics, the Jewish Museum, the Berlin Film Festival, as particularly serious examples. If cities and municipalities, supported by court rulings, BDS campaigns or speakers who support them, no longer provide rooms, then the question must be asked whether this is still covered by our free basic order and by the Basic Law. After all, BDS is a democratic movement, as opposed to illegal occupation, expulsion and apartheid. German courts have already banned critics’ mouths and served a dictatorial regime. This should not be forgotten when it comes to “never again” and the Holocaust remembrance culture. When Federal President Steinmeier calls on the Germans in his Christmas speech to speak to each other again, then he should finally set a good example and also finally speak to the people critical of Israel and BDS supporters and enter into a dialogue. Or does he shy away from this for lack of arguments?

At Christmas I would also have liked the Christian church representatives of Bedford-Strohm, Cardinal Wölki and Marx not only to criticize the policies of the AfD, but also to finally criticize the Jewish “brothers and sisters” who oppress the Palestinian Christians in the “Jewish State”, not to mention the Muslims. Ecumenism is only lived when Palestinian representatives are invited to Germany and can report here on their terrible situation, if they are allowed to leave Gaza or the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem at all. That would be a Christian duty. But so I ask myself, how can alleged Christians agree with themselves and their faith to remain silent about these crimes?

“Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice.”

“If hate is sown instead of thinking about better protection against violence, one must take a clear stand and oppose it.” These sentences against the AfD fit precisely to the events in occupied Palestine. In fact, it means to oppose when a “Jewish state” illegally occupies and oppresses another people. Jesus in particular would have opposed it, but his personnel on earth do not want to hear about it. These church representatives and Christian politicians unfortunately show themselves to be hypocritical and prefer to refer to a “Christian-Jewish” tradition and its values that came into being only after the Holocaust. But what kind of values do they support? The faithful of the religious communities should consider whether they should still support the religious communities or not rather reflect and act in the sense of Jesus. Already in the Gospel of Matthew 5:10 we read: “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. If this does not also apply to the many Palestinian martyrs. (3)

Let me also remind you of the resistance fighter of the Warsaw Ghetto who died on Sunday. Simcha Rotem was honoured as a hero by Netanyahu and Israeli President Rivlin. Kazik Ratajazer, his real name, was able to escape from the destroyed Warsaw ghetto with other comrades after heavy fighting against the Germans in 1943 through a sewer and managed to immigrate to the “Jewish State”. This courageous fighter is rightly appreciated, but by the same people who today denigrate and fight courageous Palestinian resistance fighters as terrorists, who do exactly what the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto did in those days. The Jews fought against the Nazis, and the Palestinians fight against their occupiers. If Jewish occupation today drives a people out of its land, colonizes, imprisons, harasses and mercilessly murderously tries to break the resistance with all violence, then it is about such heroes who are to be appreciated as such. The “Millennial Nazi Empire” lasted 12 terrible years, the Zionist occupation of Palestine already 70 years. But also their time will come.

So I wish all friends, readers and comrades-in-arms a good slide into a peaceful year 2019, and let us stand up together for the freedom of Palestine “from the River to the Sea, Palestine has to be free”.

Footnotes:

(1) https://www.timesofisrael.com/feinstein-sanders-urge-senate-not-to-include-anti-bds-law-in-spending-bill/
(2) http://bds-kampagne.de/2016/10/28/hohe-vertreterin-der-eu-frederica-mogherini-bestaetigt-das-recht-auf-bds/
(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ3Gmt4mJr0
(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7q1-wDz1Zw (sung by Richard Tauber)

BIRTHRIGHT GIVES YOUNG JEWS THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

Three young Jews were reportedly kicked off their free trip to Israel sponsored by the pro-Israel Birthright program today because they asked questions about the separation wall Israel has erected on occupied Palestinian territory.

Image by Carlos Latuff

Three young Jews are kicked off ‘Birthright’ trip for asking questions about separation wall in Palestine

Philip Weiss

Three young Jews were reportedly kicked off their free trip to Israel sponsored by the pro-Israel Birthright program today because they asked questions about the separation wall Israel has erected on occupied Palestinian territory.

A video of the young people as they leave the trip has been posted by one of them on her Facebook page. Shira Leah reports that she and two others were kicked off Birthright, “because when we drove past the border separation wall between Israel and the West Bank (which our tour guide had ignored all 4 times we drove past it), we tried to ask questions about it and didn’t accept his answer that the entire conflict is caused by crazy violent Palestinians.”

In the accompanying video, young people are heard to discuss signing a waiver to end their trip with a Birthright official in a tense conversation.

That official says to a young man: “I was more than willing to have a conversation with you… Then you came at me with the nineteen-year-old’s feeling this way and that way…. The program is designed and going to stay as is. With you being allowed to ask questions.”

The young man says he only asked two questions and he is being kicked off for who he is.

I asked two questions and that’s it… [Evidently] my views in my head are incompatible with the trip. Because I am progressive and because I don’t like Netanyahu and Trump and border walls. Because I have those thoughts in my head, I can’t be here?…. What rule did I break?… This has been really stressful and honestly slightly traumatic to be screamed at and kicked off… I asked two questions, and I said I was disappointed in the way–

The official then says: “The reason we can’t have you here is because of the agenda of an outside program that we believe you are affiliated with.”

That’s a reference to the young Jewish group IfNotNow’s efforts to disrupt Birthright trips. At that link, IfNotNow posts the latest Birthright agreement, which limits the free speech of participants.

Shira Leah says on her Facebook page: “I am devastated by Trump’s policies of family separation, detention of children, and building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border because it goes against all of the values I was taught growing up n my Jewish community, where my mom was the Rabbi. It is unfathomable that I would be asked to stay silent when we see the same thing happening in Israel. Clearly this is a bribe, not a gift. #NoSuchThingAsAFreeTrip #NotJustAFreeTrip”

Birthright has come under great pressure from IfNotNow since last summer when nearly a dozen young Jews walked off Birthright trips, and IfNotNow encouraged more to do so, and the organization, funded by Democrat Haim Saban and Republican Sheldon Adelson among others, pushed back.

Nonetheless, reports are that participation in the free trip for Jews under 26 has fallen off this winter.

Batya Ungar-Sargon of the Forward writes:

A new clause in the  contract participants sign includes a ban on “any attempt to.. hijack a discussion or create an unwarranted provocation violate Taglit-Birthright’s founding principles.” Who the hell would want to go on such a trip?

THE ZIONIST GRINCH THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS

Christmas is meant to be a time for family to get together but not if you’re a Palestinian living in Gaza

IS ZUCKERBERG FINALLY CLAMPING DOWN ON HATE IN THE PAGES OF FACEBOOK?

First read THIS post from yesterday

Facebook deleted Yair Netanyahu’s posts, prompting him to take to Twitter to criticise the social networking giant, calling it a “dictatorship of thought”.

Hopefully this is the start of a new trend on FaceBook

Facebook blocks Yair Netanyahu after he calls to avenge deaths of Israelis

Social media site censors son of the Israeli prime minister after he called for revenge against Palestinians, as he brands the network the ‘thought police’

Facebook blocked the account of Yair Netanyahu after he shared content banned by the platform that called for avenging the deaths of Israelis killed in recent days by Palestinian terrorists.

Netanyahu, the son of the Israeli prime minister, also called Facebook “thought police” in a post criticising the removal of previous content.

He reposted some of the offensive posts using screenshots, which circumvent the social media site’s controls.

Last week, Yair Netanyahu said in a post that the press, as well as left-wing NGOs and politicians, are “traitors,” and in another post suggested that all Muslims leave Israel.

He has previously been criticised for his boorish social media posts.

PALESTINE CRUMBLES AS THE PA WHISTLES DIXIE

People feel like there is nobody to defend them — no one to protect their families, their land, or their dignity. Many Palestinians have lost faith in their leaders, and President Abbas is increasingly unpopular.

Image by Carlos Latuff

What an Israeli army closure on Ramallah looks like

As the Israeli army invades Ramallah, fear and anxiety deepen among many Palestinians — but so does solidarity.

By Zena Tahhan

 

The past few days in the occupied West Bank have been particularly difficult. Violence, killings, and military raids are common here, but Palestinian cities are now facing even deeper uncertainty and instability.

The Israeli army imposed a military closure on the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and closed major checkpoints between cities.

The closure, raids, and restrictions on movement followed two drive-by shootings carried out by Palestinians this week near illegal settlements. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in one of the shootings, and in the other, several Israeli settlers were wounded, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered prematurely and later died.

As events began to unfold on Wednesday, the Israeli army raided Ramallah and stationed soldiers at Al-Irsal Street, a main street in the city. Within minutes, Israeli soldiers invaded the area, parading their presence very close to the Palestinian Authority’s Presidential Compound and President Mahmoud Abbas’ residence.

Soldiers killed four Palestinians in separate operations across the West Bank, and over the past several days, dozens of Palestinians have been rounded up in widespread arrest raids. Palestinian youths have been confronting Israeli soldiers at checkpoints and near settlements. Soldiers have been responding with tear gas and bullets, killing at least one teen.

This is the ‘de facto’ capital of Palestine? some Palestinians quipped. A video of an Israeli soldier trying, but failing, to climb a short wall turned into a meme of Abbas offering the soldier a ladder.

“The scene removed the veil from the eyes of many Palestinians — particularly [those] living in the Ramallah bubble — that we are living under the false pretense that there is a state and we have independence,” said Fadi Quran, a Ramallah-based activist. “Israel reminded the Palestinians that this is an illusion, and humiliated the Palestinian Authority,” he added.

Palestinians are used to electricity cuts, night raids, arrests, restrictions on movement and killings, but beneath the veneer of normalcy and jokes reigns an atmosphere of anxiety.

Since the closure was announced, events have been canceled, Palestinians in the West Bank are staying put, checking the news, wondering what the Israeli army is going to do, and whether it will turn into a full military invasion like the days of the first and second intifadas.

For many, the escalation is a reminder that Palestinians’ fates are mostly in the hands of a foreign occupying army.

“I wasn’t able to visit my sick uncle who is currently hospitalized in Nablus,” said Fareed Taamallah, a Ramallah resident and activist. “Many of our family members were stuck in the cities where they work, or at home.”

Those who live and work in different cities across the West Bank or in Jerusalem were held up for long periods, as armed Israeli soldiers painstakingly searched every Palestinian car and checked every identity card.

Amid the uncertainty, however, a strong sense of solidarity has emerged. The people of the West Bank are resisting occupation, land theft, as well as settler and state violence, and people realize that they need to stand together.

Across the West Bank, Palestinians opened their doors to strangers who were stuck on their commutes home. Restaurants offered free meals until checkpoints were reopened on Friday. The hashtag #OurHomesAreOpenforEveryone emerged in Arabic on Facebook and Twitter.

As Israeli soldiers marched through the streets of Ramallah, demanding that businesses hand over CCTV footage, activists sent out a call for business and individuals with security cameras to delete any tapes and break their cameras, in order to protect the identities of Palestinian fighters.

“The biggest impact of the past few days has been the deepening of solidarity and cohesion between the people,” said Quran.

“The people remembered that they are all targets of the occupation. The occupation always tries to divide Palestinians, but suddenly, amid the military closures and crackdowns, the people became stronger as one,” he continued.

People feel like there is nobody to defend them — no one to protect their families, their land, or their dignity. Many Palestinians have lost faith in their leaders, and President Abbas is increasingly unpopular.

“I try to explain to my children that we are a people under occupation, and that the occupation tries to disrupt our lives,” said Taamallah, adding that the uncertainty of the future of his family and of life under military occupation is difficult to manage.

“It is very important that they understand what is happening, but at the same time, not to make them afraid. It’s a very thin line, he continued. “You also have to create a sense of solidarity for resistance within them. Not that they must go to the front lines or throw rocks, but that our presence and resilience are important.”

“Those who carried out the attacks are not people who simply enjoy violence. They did so because they have lost all hope. The occupation does not spare us,” said Taamallah.

“The presence of the occupation is violence in and of itself,” he concluded.

ISRAELI APPLES DON’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREES

“There will not be peace here until: All the Muslims leave the land of Israel”

Netanyahu’s Son Says All Muslims Should ‘Leave The Land Of Israel’

Yair Netanyahu said there would not be peace in the land of Israel until either all the Jews or all the Muslims leave — and he would prefer the latter.

The son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted the comment on Facebook on Thursday:

“There will not be peace here until:

  1. All the Jews leave the land of Israel.
  2. All the Muslims leave the land of Israel.

“I prefer the second option,” he posted.

The post has garnered 750 reactions as of Friday evening in Israel, most of them in agreement.

It’s the second time in a week that the younger Netanyahu has posted a controversial comment online. On Monday, he posted on Facebook that the press, as well as left-wing NGOs and politicians, are “traitors.” His father disavowed the comment.

Last year, Yair Netanyahu posted and then deleted an apparently anti-Semitic caricature of liberal Jewish financier George Soros.

 

TRYING TO GO TO SCHOOL IN PALESTINE

Just imagine if this was your son …..

*

And still, friendship survives under the occupation …

8 DAILY CRIMES AGAINST PALESTINE CAUGHT ON VIDEO

First video obviously censored by zion

Controlling and confiscating Palestinian land and movement, and broadening apartheid.

And THIS too ….. (Number 9)

Israeli soldiers and border police take Zeid Taha (6 years old) to a checkpoint in Hebron. November 25, 2018

Via B’tselem (trim from longer video which included the detainment of an older child of 15 who was arrested)

CANADA ~~ NOT AS PROUD AND FREE AS YOU MAY THINK

How does one explain Canada’s contradictory foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel?

Trudeau’s ‘human face of neoliberalism’ is nothing but a carefully-constructed mask meant to hide the hypocritical and militant policies that Canada continues to lead.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) in a meeting with with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo: via Rabble.ca, file)

The Real Face of Justin Trudeau: Are Palestinians Canada’s New Jews?

By Ramzy Baroud

How does one explain Canada’s contradictory foreign policy regarding Palestine and Israel?

On December 4, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Saeb Erekat, praised Canada’s commitment not to follow the footsteps of the US Donald Trump Administration by transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

But there is little worth praising here. Respecting the internationally-recognized status of Jerusalem is a legally-binding commitment to international law. The fact that the US chose to violate the law, hardly makes the opposite act heroic in itself.

Only five days earlier, on November 30, Canada joined a tiny minority of states, including Israel, the US, Australia, and the Marshall Islands to vote ‘no’ against a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution titled, “Peaceful Settlement on the Question of Palestine.”

The Canadian government that is keen to present itself as a model, neoliberal, progressive country, even the antithesis to the US’ hawkish policies, voted against a resolution that calls “for intensified efforts by the parties … to conclude a final peace settlement.”

If you find such behavior confusing, then you are not paying attention. Canada has not changed at all. It is our understanding of Canadian foreign policy that has almost always been marred with a genuine lack of understanding.

And there is a good reason for that. The Canadian government has mastered the art of political branding. The only period in modern American history that is comparable to Canada’s successful political propaganda was the presidency of Barack Obama.

Obama has deported 2.5 million immigrants, compared to the 2 million deported by his predecessor, George W. Bush; he dropped more bombs and did his utmost to bail America’s most corrupt financial institutions; yet somehow many liberals thought of him as the ideological marriage of Che Guevara and Malcolm X, with the refined eloquence of James Baldwin.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau – seen as the ‘human face of neoliberalism’ – is an even more successful brand than Obama. Unlike the former US president, there is very little discussion about Trudeau’s undeserved credentials.

While positioned as the political opposite of former conservative Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, they are both committed to the ideology of neoliberalism.

Trudeau’s ‘human face of neoliberalism’ is nothing but a carefully-constructed mask meant to hide the hypocritical and militant policies that Canada continues to lead.

Nothing exemplifies Trudeau’s duplicitous policies than his horrific record on Palestine.

And before the Trudeau fan-club impulsively reacts to the above assertion, marvel at this fact: In the first 18 months of his mandate, Trudeau voted against 16 UNGA resolutions that were critical of Israel.

It has been argued that Canada’s foreign policy and its UN voting records are often inconsistent. This, however, seems to apply only to the Israeli crimes against Palestinians.

When Trudeau defeated Harper, many breathed a sigh of relief, particularly because of the latter’s blind support for Israel.

So is Trudeau really different, deserving of this much affection, to the point of adoration?

Let’s consult the facts.

The page on Trudeau government’s website entitled, “Canadian Policy on Key Issues in the Israeli-Palestine Conflict” is almost an exact replica of Harper’s, with one notable exception. On Trudeau’s page, his government recognizes “experience of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa, who were displaced after 1948.”

The above is a misconstrued version of history that has been injected by Zionists whenever the rights of Palestinian refugees – who were displaced by Jewish militants during the 1948 ethnic-cleansing of Palestine – is brought up.

The very first ‘key issue’ for Trudeau’s government is “Support for Israel and Its Security.”

Trudeau claims that his government’s assessment of UN resolutions is guided by “its merits and consistency with (Canadian) principles.”

Harper seemingly defied these ‘principles’ on numerous occasions, notably when his government voted against UN Resolutions critical of Israel: 66/17 in 2012; 67/23 and 68/15, in 2013, 69/23 in 2014.

But Harper’s exit did not usher in a new moral age for Canada. On the contrary, Ottawa’s love affairs with Israel intensified.

Aside from carrying on with the same anti-Palestinian attitude at the UN, on November 24, 2015, the Trudeau government even voted against UNGA Resolution 70/15, which reaffirmed the “illegality of the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 including East Jerusalem.”

Such a vote even goes against Canada’s own declared position on the illegal Jewish settlements.

This should not come as a surprise, though. Hypocrisy and double-speak have become a prominent feature of Canada’s foreign policy. Take Ottawa’s stance on terrorism, for example.

In its ‘key issues’ on Israel and Palestine, the Canadian government “condemns all acts of terrorism”, but it later qualifies what that means in actuality.

“Canada has listed Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and other groups as terrorist organizations,” it elaborated. Not only did it fail to link any Jewish group as terrorist, or, at least, emphasize the need to prosecute war criminals (in this case, Israeli leaders), it linked Palestinians and Arabs only to acts of terrorism.

According to this logic, only Arabs seem capable of carrying out acts of terror.

But what if Palestinians decided to use popular, non-violent and democratic means to display resistance? They did and were still condemned for it.

In 2016, with much personal enthusiasm by Trudeau himself, the Canadian Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of a motion that condemned the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Since then, Trudeau has made his anti-BDS policy a fixture in his government’s attitude towards the Palestinians.

Last month, he sank to his lowest point yet when, in a speech he made to apologize for Canada’s immoral act of rejecting Jewish refugees escaping Nazi atrocities in 1939, he directly linked BDS with anti-Semitism.

“Anti-Semitism is far too present,” he said, as “Jewish students still feel unwelcome and uncomfortable on some of our colleges and university campuses because of BDS-related intimidation.”

Linking BDS with his country’s disgraceful anti-Semitism against refugees decades ago might have been a masterful stroke by his pro-Israeli speechwriters. However, swapping historic hate for Jews with modern hate for Palestinians shows that Canada has learned nothing from its sordid past.

Trudeau and his government will certainly be judged by future generations, as his predecessors were judged for their past sins, for choosing, despite the passage of time, to stand on the wrong side of history.

NOT A WAY TO TREAT A CHILD

IDF soldiers terrorize the Palestinian civilians during the night, especially children.

Shocking video

WHEN A DUTY IS NOT A CRIME

Images by Latuff

 

There are consequences if the duty is a challenge to zion …

Another victim of the Israel Lobby: Academic and activist Marc Lamont Hill was fired by CNN after making statements in support of Palestinian liberation at the UN.

WELCOME TO CHANUKAH APARTHEID

During the holiday of Hanukkah, the town of Afula’s municipal park will be off limits to Arabs. The park was already closed Nov. 24 to visitors from nearby villages. Only the Jewish residents of Afula were allowed to enjoy time with their families in this public space. This Hanukkah will be the first holiday in which access to the park is limited to Jews.

If any European, Arab, African or Indian leader had to publicly announce that a nation should be for their people only, and that a war would result with anyone who disagreed, these same Zionist extremists and their fellow Jewish Supremacists in the media would relentlessly attack and denigrate them.

Israeli mayor swears to keep his city Jewish

During the holiday of Hanukkah, the town of Afula’s municipal park will be off limits to Arabs. The park was already closed Nov. 24 to visitors from nearby villages. Only the Jewish residents of Afula were allowed to enjoy time with their families in this public space. This Hanukkah will be the first holiday in which access to the park is limited to Jews.

Racist phenomena such as this did not start in Afula with the passing of the Nationality Law, anchoring the Jewish nature of the State of Israel. It is the nature of laws like this one to have a particular impact on regions that already lean in a certain direction and are encouraged to continue following this path by the establishment. Afula, known as the “Capital of the Valley,” was first founded in 1925 to provide services for the Jewish agricultural settlements that had been established in the Jezreel Valley in the early 20th century. There are also several Arab villages in the region, such as Nein and Sulam, and it is close to the West Bank and to Arab towns and villages across the Green Line. Terrorist attacks in Afula over the past few decades tended to originate across the Green Line. As such, they did little to foster any warm feelings between the people of Afula and their Palestinian neighbors.

When Israeli Arabs, who could not find housing in the neighboring villages, turned to Afula, they often encountered hostility and rejection. In 2015, a tender for 45 housing units in Afula was released, with all of the units going to Arabs. Local residents appealed to the District Court in Nazareth, which eventually overturned the tender, claiming that prices had been coordinated among the participants. In August 2017, the Supreme Court overturned the District Court’s ruling. The incident, in which the tender’s results were invalidated, only to be restored, exacerbated tensions between the Jewish population and local Arabs, whether they already lived in the city or wanted to join them there.

When tensions related to security abated, so did tensions between the communities. The city’s residents were wise and pragmatic, dancing between the raindrops. They expressed understanding for the concerns of Afula’s Jewish population, trying to ease tensions between the sides. It wasn’t easy. I had quite a few discussions with them over the past few years and can testify as to how difficult the situation was for them. It was obvious back then that anyone who brought as much as a match to the city could end up lighting a major fire.

The mayoral elections Oct. 30 revolved around questions pertaining to the local Arab population. Avi Alkabetz, who already served briefly as mayor several years earlier, made no effort to hide the fact that he was promoting a decidedly anti-Arab agenda. He knew exactly what he was doing, too. Preventing Arabs from living in Afula and banning Arabs access to the park that he built as mayor were just about the only issues in his election campaign.

Throughout his campaign, there were already several violent clashes between Jews and Arabs over residency rights. When a Jewish resident dared to sell his apartment to an Arab last June, demonstrations immediately erupted against him. He soon announced that he withdrew from the sale, but that was not enough to placate the angry mob. They demanded that he appear in public to prove that he had pulled out of the contract. Only then did the demonstrators ease up on him.

Last September, just three months after that incident and in the heat of the election campaign, an Israeli Arab, who had purchased an apartment in the town, had “Death to the Arabs!” spray-painted on his door. It was just a few weeks after the Nationality Law had passed. It was soon learned that the 25-year-old Arab had served in the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati Brigade, participated in Operation Protective Edge in 2014, and upon his release, decided that he wanted to live in Afula’s Givat HaMoreh neighborhood. But Afula believes that all Arabs are equal. It refused to discriminate against one but not the other.

Upon his re-election as mayor, Alkabetz swore in the members of his town’s city council from his coalition, but also from the opposition. According to the law, the oath of office that they take includes a declaration of loyalty to the State of Israel and a commitment to fulfill their duties on the city council in good faith. But Alkabetz wanted more, and demanded that they add to the oath by committing to preserve Afula’s Jewish character. Whenever anyone raised an eyebrow, the old-new mayor explained that there is nothing wrong with adding to the official oath as established by law.

I was sworn into the Knesset on five separate occasions. On three other occasions, I took the oath of office as a member of the government. In some cases, there were Knesset members — mainly from the ultra-Orthodox and Arab factions — who requested to add a word or two to the formula prescribed by law. In each case, the speaker of the Knesset announced that no one may add or remove a word from the official oath, and that anyone who failed to swear the oath of office as determined by law would be prevented from assuming office. A reasonable interpretation and application of the law could overturn the aforementioned innovation introduced by Alkabetz. However, when the town of Afula was asked about this by the Haaretz newspaper, it responded that adding words to a legally binding oath would not impinge on the legal commitment of the city council members. As if to bolster its position, the city then added that this legal position has the support of the Ministry of Interior. The newspaper then asked for the opinion of jurists. Some responded that the passing of the Nationality Law may be sufficient backing for this additional declaration, even though there was no basis for it before the law was passed.

Do you understand what’s going on? The Interior Ministry is currently headed by a convicted felon, who is about to go back to court to face charges of fraud, violation of trust and money laundering. Yet he is providing moral support to a mayor who was elected to his position after inciting against the Arab population and waging a racist campaign against them. And the sun continues to shine, as if this is the way of the world.

Feigning innocence, Alkabetz said that he is absolutely shocked to hear himself described as a racist. In a conversation with Al-Monitor he said that quite a few Arabs work for the city, and that relations with them are good. On the other hand, he continued, Jews should not sell apartments to Arabs, because that could alter the Jewish character of the city. As for closing the park to Arab citizens, this is not the slightest bit racist either, he argued, since Jews, who do not live in Afula, will not have access to the park on Sabbaths and holidays either. Everyone will be required to show ID upon entering the park, and if they are not residents of Afula, they will be asked to leave.

When the Netanyahu government first passed the Nationality Law, its spokespeople argued that there was nothing new in it. It was simply a collection of clauses from existing laws intended to highlight the Jewish character of the country and the special relationship that the Jewish people have with it. There was no reason for the outcry, or so it was said, since the law did nothing more than reflect the existing situation, in terms of the official language and other matters. To anyone who didn’t realize what the law was about and to all those who helped to get it passed, it should now be quite obvious what the law really means.

Image by Carlos Latuff