THE OCCUPATION SHOULD BE THE CRIME, NOT THE HEADGEAR

May 29, 2019 at 15:52 (anti-Semitism, Associate Post, DesertPeace Exclusive, Germany, Occupation)

It’s not the Kippa (Yarmulke) that is the problem, but the head underneath!

Occupation Crime Under the Kippa

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

After the European elections, which clearly demonstrate that citizens are no longer prepared to vote for the “people’s parties”, but are protesting against the disrespect of the “people”, it is overdue to deal with this phenomenon. Right-wing parties across Europe have been given a terrible boost, not because they spread anti-Semitism, but because they know how to score with xenophobia and Islam hatred. In fact, the main problem is the right-wing radicalism and populist phrases-and-culture that have managed to get into parliaments and governments.

Why does the Bundestag willingly close its eyes to reality?

But we also experience in an unprecedented way how right-wing extremists, “Christian”, commoners, so-called liberals and leftists allied together to make Zionist crimes of international justice and to legalize them with the “Holocaust cloak” that is so infamous that it makes you speechless. How is it possible that almost the entire Bundestag could reach an “anti-BDS decision” criminalizing both Palestinian civil society and Jewish and non-Jewish citizens as anti-Semitic in support of the non-violent BDS campaign? What enables these “people’s representatives” to such a more than undemocratic decision? Why do you readily close your eyes to reality? What good are great celebrations for the foundation of the German constitution?

So it is for me also a consequence of the great dissatisfaction that these European elections set a sign that the citizens resist this kind of politics. From the climate catastrophe to the transatlantic friendship policy, many citizens are fed up, because they experience that all the current burning problems are neglected to please the US and the “Jewish state”. More and more armaments editions, more and more war missions and not to forget the controlled drone attacks from German soil, as well as the majority of Germans unwanted storage of nuclear weapons on German soil. Why are CDU, SPD and FDP and even left so unanimous? Why are the “green gardeners” suddenly so popular and why could a party like the AfD get so high? The Left also puts the “respect for international law” in its election program in the bin when it comes to claiming it also for the Palestinian people living under decades of occupation – and instead puffs the other parties after them to join them ALL in one Boat to sit when it comes to the “Jewish state”! Out of the “never war again”, after the Second World War and the horrible crimes of the Holocaust, the bad conscience of the generation of grandsons transfers to politics and has replaced anti-Semitism with unspeakable philosemitism. To demand this also for the Palestinian people living under decades of occupation – and instead pecking after the other parties in order to sit with them ALL in a boat when it comes to the “Jewish State”! Out of the “never war again”, after the Second World War and the horrible crimes of the Holocaust, the bad conscience of the generation of grandsons transfers to politics and has replaced anti-Semitism with unspeakable philosemitism. To demand this also for the Palestinian people living under decades of occupation – and instead pecking after the other parties in order to sit with them ALL in a boat when it comes to the “Jewish State”! Out of the “never war again”, after the Second World War and the horrible crimes of the Holocaust, the bad conscience of the generation of grandsons transfers to politics and has replaced anti-Semitism with unspeakable philosemitism.

With BDS against the Zionist occupation and international crimes

In the Bundestag, the Zionist occupation and international crimes of the apartheid state of Israel was not discussed, without which BDS can not understand at all, but they defame this movement, which has formed on the model of South Africa and quite successful attempts, the freedom of Palestine to reach.

Now a new concerted distraction action has been launched, a very typical hasbara method. It began last Saturday in newspapers of the Funke-Mediengruppe with statements by the anti-Semitism commissioner of the Federal Government when he recommended Jews in Germany not to wear a kippa (yarmulke) at any time throughout Germany. Klein justified this initiative with an “increasing, social disinhibition and brutalization”. The internet and social media have contributed greatly to this, “but also the continued attacks on our culture of remembrance”. Klein, when he mentions the culture of remembrance, should work to ensure that the Nakba, the memory of the catastrophe of the violent expulsion of the Palestinian people at the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, just as much a part of Germany as the memory of the Holocaust. The path of remembrance into the future begins with remembering, and that also applies to the Palestinians, because human rights are indivisible and also apply to the Palestinians.

Always up to date, this includes the statement of my father Heinz Galinski: “I did not survive Auschwitz, to silence to new injustice.”

Frontal attack against the Internet

So this was Klein’s frontal attack against the internet and social networking as it gets stronger and stronger. Just in this horn blew the CDU leader Kramp-Karrenbauer when she made a comparison on Monday evening the day after the European election, which proved that this woman is not suitable for this office. She actually asked what would have happened if there had been 79 newspaper offices two days before the election, and we make a joint appeal: please do not vote for CDU and SPD. That would have been a clear opinion before the election, said Kramp-Karrenbauer. In this sentence alone, Kramp-Karrenbauer not only proved her disturbed relationship to freedom of expression, to the Basic Law and to the Internet, no, she proved her desperation and helplessness over the CDU’s inability to score with proper topics. Instead of dealing with the election debacle in terms of content, it poisoned the climate. When rightly a “shitstorm” hit her from all sides, she could not think of anything better than feeling “misunderstood.”

In fact, the parties and their representatives are not misunderstood, but the citizens understand very well that politics no longer understands them. How else is it possible that the offices of the EU Council and President of the Commission are still “outfitted” in “backrooms” under Merkel and Co. instead of having them properly elected by the European Parliament? Where else on the internet is this diversity? Have not the “leading (d)” media “grasped it and put more and more emphasis on the internet and their digital appearances? With the more than poor politician appearances on the net, however, they have little to oppose, and they are becoming ever more painfully aware. Yes it hurts, for example after the Rezo YouTube video, which was clicked more than 10 million times, not to be able to keep up and to remain guilty of an answer. Rezo, one of the most talented influencers and you-tubers, was able to prove that it is not worth choosing CDU, SPD and AfD.

Media fully on “course” trimmed

Another example, where else, as on the Internet, is there still such a lively discussion about the “Jewish state” and its terrible crimes? Where else do we have such a variety of interesting articles? Where is the fate of the occupied Palestinians so blatantly demonstrated? Of course, the Israel lobby increasingly sees this as a threat, and especially German media and politicians and parties want to keep this topic under the table. I would like to distance myself explicitly from hate speech, hate and anonymous comments in the net. But where else are there such opportunities to inform and exchange information? Finally, it has been understood in Germany specifically, the entire mainstream press and public-legal media fully on “course” to trim. Just as Israel critics are marginalized by the media.

Another example: immediately after Klein’s statements, there was no medium that did not respond immediately and complained about the fate of the Jews in Germany. Likewise, of course, the Central Council President of the Jews, Schuster, and his predecessor Knobloch. They hurried to criticize Klein for his statement, because it would be an “indictment” if Jews could not move everywhere with the Kippa in Germany. Immediately, politicians like “Home Secretary” Seehofer rushed to assure the opposite and to provide appropriate countermeasures that need to be taken for this right is secured. Demands were made, such as training policemen to deal with anti-Semitism, as well as training teachers and lawyers. This topic was suddenly on everyone’s lips and seemed like a continuation of the debate in the Bundestag, in order to make this subsequently “kosher”. In fact, we are experiencing a completely unnecessary debate on anti-Semitism under the metaphor “Kippa”. Even when Israel’s President Rivlin reacted “dismayed” to the Kippa warning, the measure was full. I wondered if this president of the Jewish apartheid state should not first ensure that Muslim citizens are granted religious freedom in the “Jewish state” and not right-wing “Jewish temple builders and settler hordes” protected by soldiers of the Jewish “defensive army”. This right, as happened on the Haram-al-Sharif so often, is denied. What about the arbitrariness of the Zionist regime, that repeatedly refuse Muslim men the fundamental rights of religious worship? So who dares to oppose this Jewish Zionist influence?

Unbelievably hypocritical and embarrassing action

As well as an incredibly hypocritical and embarrassing action of the “cancerous ulcer” of the German press landscape, the “Springer-Image-Zeitung”, on Tuesday began by presenting a “picture-Kippa” with “Bastelanleitung”, with heads and representations of Politicians of all parties, led by the “Auschwitz Minister” Maas, Andreas Scheuer (CSU), Volker Bouffier (CDU), Bijan Dijr (FDP), Susan Chebli (SPD), who carries her kippa for her “Jewish friend”. Artists like the “black-brown hazelnut” Heino also wants to be there. Where were these “KippaträgerInnen” when it came to the headscarf and solidarity with Muslims? (1)

Is not the very background of this renewed concerted anti-Semitism action a deliberate distraction from the conditions in the “Jewish state”? All this in the important Nakba month of May and shortly before the demonstration next Saturday in Berlin on the Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day. Berlin’s SPD Interior Minister Andreas Geisel finds the annual Al-Quds march unbearable, but a ban on the “anti-Israeli” demo is difficult. The Central Council of Jews now demands “strict conditions”.

Why? What’s so reprehensible on Al-Quds Day? What is criticized? Why should not participants and Iran call for the “conquest” of Jerusalem on this day, which is at the end of the Muslim month of fasting Ramadan? Especially after the unilateral conquest of Jerusalem by the USA and the “Jewish state” past international law as the “eternal undivided” capital of the “Jewish state”? What is so wrong with the term “child murderer Israel” when witnessing targeted attacks against children of the “most moral” of all Jewish “defense forces” in Gaza? And what about the Hezbollah flag, the Lebanese resistance organization, which also sits in the government in Lebanon, so reprehensible, while the Star of David flag, the symbol of the Zionist occupation and oppression, can be panned everywhere? Where were all the political “Kippa porters” to protest against the Dippel standards when it comes to the “Jewish state”? Ever tried to animate the population to wear “Kippa”.

Zionist weapon: Kippa

So let’s get to the new Zionist weapon, the Kippa or Yarmulke. Wearing a kippah is a religious symbol of an emotional expression that does not go back to a commandment. However, it says a lot about the political stance. In surveys in the “Jewish State”, 63% of the interviewed colorful Kippa Knitta wearers stated that they are religious Zionists who regard the “Jewish people” as a religiously legitimate territory in the region. In fact, the term “Kippa-sruga” (knitted cap) is used. These men agree in the majority of the statement: “Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel (65%) and peaceful coexistence for Israel and an independent Palestinian state is not possible and they feel that they belong to the political ‘right’.

All these Kippa bearers were given an upswing by the ever-increasing movement of settlers and the Judaisierung of the country. It has become the symbol of the most radical and extreme right-wing Jewish nationalism, a symbol without religious significance.

So it is a fact that as long as the German raison d’être remains for the security of the “Jewish state” without a raison d’être for Palestine, there will always be protests against Jews and Jewish institutions that are not concerned by international crimes and illegal Distance the crew.

Populist Kippatragen: the wrong sign

So the common populist Kippatragen is the wrong sign to show solidarity. (2) Where is the solidarity with the headscarf wearers? Both signs are justified by no religious background and no rule in public life. Let’s set the tone and do not wear Kippa this Saturday, out of solidarity with a liberated Palestine, so as not to support the occupation crimes under the Kippa.

Not the Kippa Yarmulke is the problem, but the head underneath!

footnotes

(1) https://www.bild.de/news/inland/politik-inland/von-bild-gabs-die-kippa-zum-selbstbasteln-wir-tragen-kippa-weil-62228990.bild.html

(2) https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/politik-inland/kippa-debatte-antisemitismus-beauftragter-ruft-zum-kippatragen-auf-62241888.bild.html

 

Originally appeared AT

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WHINING AND DINING AT THE EXPENSE OF PALESTINE

May 27, 2019 at 15:35 (Associate Post, Blaming the victim, Hasbara, Israel, Palestine)

Millions of Americans and Israelis have been raised on a steady diet of pro-Israeli propaganda know just one side of Middle East history: that of oppressed-but-feisty Jews fighting violent-and-treacherous Arabs. They think only Israelis bleed and only Palestinians make them.

Image by Carlos Latuff

It is weird how the Israeli propaganda occupies headlines to whitewash the Israeli crystal-clear crimes.

Israelis and Americans Would Act Just Like Palestinians Do Today

The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis.

Sam Bahour

 

Israel never stops claiming that it’s forced to defend itself from Palestinians. The threats it sees range from underage children throwing stones at armored military vehicles to rocket attacks from Gaza. The self-proclaimed Jewish state never asks why the stones are thrown or the rockets are fired.

Worse, Israel assumes that America would respond similarly if faced with these same security threats by Canada. In fact, Americans would ask why neighbors they’ve lived in peace with (like Jews and Arabs in the Levant) felt the need to defend themselves.

The answer is found in both versions of the movie, Red Dawn. Each shows Americans rising up against invaders/occupiers (one Russian, the other North Korean) by any means necessary. In short, US citizens, and Jewish Israeli citizens for that matter, would act just like Palestinians do today, only much more violently given their means.

Millions of Americans and Israelis have been raised on a steady diet of pro-Israeli propaganda know just one side of Middle East history: that of oppressed-but-feisty Jews fighting violent-and-treacherous Arabs. They think only Israelis bleed and only Palestinians make them. Israel has a name and governmental department in the Prime Minister’s office for such propaganda — it’s called Hasbara (see The Hasbara Apparatus by Molad — The Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy).

All of this state propaganda, today more than ever, seeks to engage in character assassinations of anyone calling Israel out for its violations of Palestinians’ rights by claiming that they are anti-Semitic. The US government, from the president on down, have joined this chorus, with the Israeli prime minister playing the role of the conductor.

Which is, of course, a lie.

After all, Jews and Arabs (Muslims and Christians) are both Semites. They are cousins who lived in peace for millennia. Then Zionism arose: the idea that European Jews needed a refuge from real antisemitism.

So far, so good. Everyone wants and deserves to feel safe in the world.

Zionists considered many places for such safety: from Uganda to Argentina, just to name two. In 1903, Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism, himself, presented the Uganda option at the Sixth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland.

Again, so far, so good, as long as merely a safe haven was sought out. Problems arose when they chose the Levant post-WWI and redefined their goal.

The first problem was that people (Arab Palestinians) already lived there.

The second problem was Zionists changing their goal from a secular home to a religion-based state. They began insisting that God gave Jews all of the Levant, an argument impossible to reason with and one that the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman, reiterated earlier this month by saying “Israel has one secret weapon that not too many countries have, Israel is on the side of God, and we don’t underestimate that.”

The third problem was the new Jews flooding the land were foreigners to it, not culturally like the Old Yishuv (native) Jews — Jews living in places like Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Hebron before the aliyah (immigration wave) by the Zionist movement.

Worse, Britain gave more than half of the Levant to Jews as a home (not state!). Even so, Jews wanted more. So, they began to terrorize Arabs living in what would become Israel, then violently overran what was to be the State of Palestine. Peter Kosminsky’s four-part drama serial, The Promise (2011), powerfully unravels this segment of history.

Stopped by the international community, seemingly contrite Jews promised to set borders (not expand) and give all Israelis equal rights, the majority and minorities. Yet for the next 70 years they refused to do either. Instead, they continued to kill and harass Palestinians, stealing Arab land and treating Muslims and Christians living in Israel as inferiors. This rampage was then extended to the rest of Palestine in 1967.

Israel did this by getting endless money and weaponry from Europe and America, immunity per international laws/rulings, and by making the United Nations (later under the Oslo Peace Accords, the donor community) pay for their military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The result: seven decades of Palestinians living as (1) refugees outside Historic Palestine; (2) prisoners in a huge concentration camp inside Gaza; and (3) corralled ‘cattle’ in a West Bank that increasingly shrinks from illegal Israeli settlements.

Of course, just as the ministries and departments of “propaganda” that were used by dozens of failed states throughout history had done, Israel continued to paint themselves as eternal victims. This is seen as the failproof strategy until, that is, it abruptly collapses. Israeli Hasbara always portrays Israel’s crimes as necessary to protect innocent Jews from merciless Arab savages(think portrayal of native Indians in the US Declaration of Independence). In today’s hyper-connected world, such a strategy is collapsing in broad daylight.

What if Roles Reversed?

The truth is that, if placed in the same ill-fated predicament, Americans and Israelis would act just like Palestinians do today; some would use violence, like what emerged from Gaza recently. This is not to say that this is a smart or effective strategy, it merely is a human reaction when a community feels no other path to live exists.

Others, the majority, would use diplomatic and non-violent methods to protect their community, like boycotting and divesting from their occupier and refusing to attend an “economic workshop” called for by a third party in a foreign venue aimed at beautifying life in their cages of military occupation. These non-violent strategies would become a rallying call to mobilize all four corners of the earth to hold the occupying state accountable.

Imagine, for example, China suddenly invading New York City claiming that a Golden Sky-Dragon gave it all of Manhattan. Imagine further that native New Yorkers were forced into just two boroughs, all their assets forfeited. Furthermore, every aspect of their new lives will be controlled by the Red Army.

Suppose further that Russia, North Korea, and others block UN resolutions to punish China, and funds its illegal invasion/occupation. How long do you think red-blooded Americans would put up with that and not fight back?

Palestinians have tried every form of protest — from armed resistance to civil disobedience to negotiations to lawsuits to boycotts. Nothing has worked. Israel, like 18th-century England (the US Declaration of Independence lists 27 grievances that British King George III ignored), blocks all forms of redress while continuing to kill, land grab, and steal resources.

Palestinians are being pushed into ever-smaller enclaves with less and less to lose. The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis. It would be a historic tragedy for history to look back, yet again, and question how a developed, modern society allowed itself to be governed into never-ending turmoil.

 

Originally written FOR

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WHAT WOULD HITLER DO?

May 22, 2019 at 13:45 (Associate Post, Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Exclusive, Germany, Israel, Palestine)

Let us not let the German Reichstag tradition become part of the Bundestag tradition and let us not allow the German parliament and its representatives to empower unconditionally to support the “Jewish state” and to forget Palestine.

In Old Tradition: From the Reichstag to the Bundestag- From Antisemitism to Philosemitism, A Short Way

 Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

 

Fatal and shameful, what took place last week in the German Bundestag.Indeed, one felt reminded of Reichstag times, when Jews were discriminated and marginalized in Germany. This time, however, all “democratic” parties together voted for a ban on the BDS movement. It strongly reminded of the “Enabling Act” of March 24, 1933, the official law for the relief of the people and the Reich. Only the SPD voted against it then. So how can you compare “Enabling Act” and the anti-BDS motion, which “resolutely” opposes the BDS movement and wants to fight anti-Semitism? One can, because both decisions are deliberately not “constitutional”. Does not our constitution clearly state the right to freedom of expression?

Bundestag resolution “authorizes” to anti-Semitism and disregard of human rights

So how can it be reconciled with voting on a motion that would “empower” German politicians to take anti-human rights, anti-liberal and anti-Semitic courses, especially against Jewish citizens who support the Use liberation of Palestine? (1)

With this motion, the members of the Bundestag of the non-violent BDS campaign, founded in the middle of Palestinian civil society, have stamped an “anti-Semitism” stamp, which is as bizarre as it gets. What is anti-Semitic when, after decades of Israeli colonial occupation, civilians take over and – inspired by the struggle of the South Africans against apartheid – boycott, divest and sanction the occupying power to induce Israel to conquer and colonize all Arab countries stop the illegal wall, as called upon by the International Court of Justice, to recognize the fundamental right of Israel’s Arab-Palestinian citizens to be fully equal.

As long as the Israeli government continues to pursue this illegal and colonialist policy to the detriment of the Palestinians, which makes them suffer in the “heartland” as well as in the illegally occupied territories under apartheid, the world-wide growing BDS movement will continue to fight non-violently for its goals, until Israel respects international law and recognizes the inalienable rights of the Palestinians, including the right to self-determination.

No cooperation with a state of apartheid

There is only one historical responsibility that we must face together, no privileged economic, military and scientific cooperation with a state that calls itself a “Jewish State” and thus promotes demarcation and exploits anti-Semitism as a concept of struggle against criticism. They use the wrong comparison of the “do not buy” label with the Nazi slogan “Do not buy from the Jew” as evidence of anti-Semitism. A vicious and baseless defamation, concocted by the Hasbara of the Netanyahu regime and the Israel lobby, with the targeted non-violent, but quite successful movement is to be met.

One can only warn of the consequences of this proposal if one no longer wants to promote organizations that promote Palestinian freedom and support BDS and refuse to grant municipalities and facilities to organizations that want to provide information in events.

So how can democratic German parties, and especially the FDP, which has the word “free” in its party context, but BDS supporters with the above measures a muzzle want to hang over; as well the AfD, whose similarity becomes more and more unmistakable, in many points. The went one step further and wanted to prohibit the BDS movement completely. (2)

A tremendous attack on the fundamental right of freedom of expression and discussion

Under the pretext of combating anti-Semitism, did this petition serve merely as a fig leaf to stifle any protest against Israel’s illegal occupation policy and to stop a campaign that exclusively addresses international law and resolutions also accepted by Israel? With this tremendous attack on the fundamental right of freedom of expression and freedom of discussion, the FDP and the other parties have done a disservice to freedom.

However, all of them shared the complete ignorance of the BDS movement and the fixation on the whisperings of the Israel lobby and their false arguments. It was only too understandable that the newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has just been accused of corruption, and has already tried to evade judicial reform, welcomed this Bundestag motion condemning the BDS campaign as an “important decision”. In fact, he congratulated parliamentarians for stigmatizing the BDS movement as anti-Semitic, and was glad to be called upon to stop funding organizations working “against the existence” of the state of Israel. Germany as a pioneer in Europe is a bad role model, even if this application has no legal effect.

In fact, all the members of the Bundestag who support this motion should ask themselves whether they really do comply with international law and the constitution after this poisoned praise, especially from this lying dog.After this motion, which is trampling on the rights of the Palestinians and based fully on the propaganda of the Israel lobby, how can we speak of democratic decisions? Above all, because there were in advance a call of 66 Jewish-Israeli scientists to the deputies, BDS not categorize with anti-Semitism, and warned vehemently against the threat to the liberal-democratic order in Germany! However, these were not heard, and again we experience that only 74 years after the liberation of Auschwitz Jewish scientists in the German Bundestag are ignored and marginalized! You simply did not want to hear the truth because you could not argue against it with valid arguments. Should not that be a wake-up call? (5) (6)

Betrayal of international law

Like the German government and the parliament, certain media are behind the fake anti-Semitism charges and stand for a “right of existence for the Jewish state,” which has no defined border until today, support the raison d’etat for the “security of the Jewish state” and complicit in the crimes of ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid. Where is the right of existence of Palestine? This betrayal of international law makes Germany and its parliament completely untrustworthy.

Both Germany, the USA and the “Jewish State” are quick to be involved in boycotts and sanctions against Russia, Iran or Turkey, again and again with reference to international law and human rights. All of these arguments do not count with Israel, which has disregarded these rights for decades, with reference to German guilt and eternal responsibility, which sanctifies all means for the “Jewish state”.

On the heels were prizes and rewards for the media help of the “unconditional” Israeli supporter – the self-confessed “non-Jewish” Zionist Springer boss Döpfner, who was awarded the Leo Baeck Prize by the Central Council of Jews. One of the laudators, Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, praised drippingly, “Döpfner is a man of courage and decency, representing all the noble qualities one associates with Germany. He never met a man who, like Döpfner, fought simultaneously against communism and totalitarianism and was a defender of the “Jewish people”. “We experience this” rush-fight “every day in the Bild-Blöd-Zeitung. (7)

Even Merkel must not go out empty handed, the “Christian Zionist will receive the Buber Rosenzweig Medal in 2020, as the Society for” Christian-Jewish Cooperation “announced. Whether Merkel still has a place for the umpteenth Jewish Prize? But she has a big cross! (8th)

Stop Israel’s Crimes by Boycott! Oppose the Reichstag tradition!

There is only one way to stop Israel, the boycott that has successfully ended apartheid in South Africa. So the conscientious all over the world are called upon to finally join the peaceful BDS movement, to support the economic sanctions, the cultural and scientific boycott and finally to treat the “Jewish state” like any other that has so far ignored all rules.

The Gaza blockade, which keeps two million people in a concentration camp, the constant air strikes, wars against sovereign neighbors, the non-return of the Golan Heights and the undivided Jerusalem as the eternal capital of a “Jewish state”, the disregard of all rules shown by it, must not be supported by Germany and its “representatives of the people”. The Judaisierung should not be further promoted. Only together we are strong to show these politicians and deputies the red card. In any case, I no longer see myself represented in the coming European elections.

Let us not let the German Reichstag tradition become part of the Bundestag tradition and let us not allow the German parliament and its representatives to empower unconditionally to support the “Jewish state” and to forget Palestine. From anti-Semitism it went into the philosemitism, it is a short way, according to the will and propaganda of the Israel supporters. Let’s never forget what I have been saying for years: “Zionism threatens us ALL”

footnotes

(1) https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2019/kw20-de-bds-642892

(2) https://fmueller-rosentritt.abgeordneten.fdpbt.de/sites/default/files/2019-04/20190409_Kein%20Platz%20f%C3%BCr%20Antisemitismus%20-%20Bus%20FDP-Fraktion.pdf

(3) https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/nach-anti-israelischer-kampagne-netanjahu-lobt-bundestagsbeschluss-gegen-bds-bewegung/24357010.html

(4) https://www.ard-telaviv.de/lex-bibi/

(5) https://www.lebenshaus-alb.de/magazin/012256.html

(6) https://www.openpetition.de/pdf/blog/wir-sagen-der-fdp-einsatz-fuer-menschenrechte-ist-nicht-antisemitisch_aufstand-der-anstaendigen-2000-unterschriften-gegen-anti-bds -beschluss_1558080748.pdf

(7) https://www.haz.de/Nachrichten/Medien/Fernsehen/Leo-Baeck-Preis-fuer-Springer-Chef- DooPfner

(8) https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/buber-rosenzweig-medaille-merkel-erhaelt-auszeichnung-2020.2932.de.html?drn:news_id=1009053

 

Originally posted AT

 

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STATEHOOD FOR PALESTINE, NOT BENJAMINS!

May 21, 2019 at 15:27 (Associate Post, Corrupt Politics, Occupation, Palestinian Statehood)

In addition to human rights, we speak of economic rights, too: our rights to our economic assets — land, water, natural gas wells, our Dead Sea and Mediterranean Sea shores, borders, and the like — and the ability to employ them within a Palestinian-defined economic development plan, free from Israeli or donor agendas. Dumping more humanitarian and developmental funds into Palestinian coffers will not solve the conflict.

Palestinians need a state, not a ‘business plan’

Jared Kushner believes the first stage to peace is investing capital in Gaza and the West Bank. But just how far can that investment go when Israel is determined to maintain full control of and exploit every aspect of the Palestinian economy?

By Sam Bahour

President Donald Trump is taking part in an all-out attempt to batter the Palestinians into political surrender, and his weapon of choice is money. In full coordination with the Israeli government, he is overseeing a global campaign to ensure funds supporting Palestinians are drying up. Everything from Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem to health care and education for Palestinian refugees are on the receiving end of the cuts. In the bullseye of this attack is the Palestinian government.

So when CNN reported on Sunday that the Trump administration would be hosting an “economic workshop” in Bahrain to encourage capital investment in the West Bank, Gaza, and the region — the first part of the president’s so-called “Deal of the Century” — it sounded like more of the same.

The plan is said to address four major components: infrastructure, industry, empowering and investing in people, and governance reforms “to make the area as investible as possible.” While on paper all of this sounds fine and well, it may very well be the first step in the collapse of Trump’s peace plan.

The unforeseen silver lining is that the U.S. has lost any remaining influence it had on Palestinian society. As the U.S.-monopolized peace process was driven to total collapse, past U.S. administrations understood that keeping USAID funds operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip gave the U.S. some sort of financial clout, after losing any semblance of political credibility. Now that Trump has closed the USAID mission in Tel Aviv, which previously served the West Bank, Palestinians are free to think without a noose of U.S. funding around their necks.

The Trump administration is not letting up. With its newly-announced workshop, it seems the White House will be dangling billions of dollars to get the Palestinians to accept the plan.

Speaking last week at the Washington Institute about the administration’s upcoming Middle East peace plan, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, said, “I think we developed a good business plan.” As someone who formulates real business plans for a living, I understand that if one works according to misguided assumptions, even the best of business plans will fall flat on their faces.

Kushner seems to be missing the point entirely: Israel is addicted to Palestine’s economy, and without overcoming that addiction, there is no chance for any grand “business plan” to succeed. Moreover, his “in-depth operational document,” which he calls “realistic, executable…and will lead to both sides being much better off” is borderline hallucinatory, given the fact that it dismisses the need for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Israel’s determination to maintain full control of the Palestinian economy for over five decades has become a major hurdle in getting it to realize that its occupation must come to an end. And like recovery from other addictions, this one will require external support. That support needs to be based on third states holding Israel accountable to save it from itself, rather than building a “business plan” to try and paint life under the boot of Israeli military occupation as somehow beautiful.

Here, in addition to human rights, we speak of economic rights, too: our rights to our economic assets — land, water, natural gas wells, our Dead Sea and Mediterranean Sea shores, borders, and the like — and the ability to employ them within a Palestinian-defined economic development plan, free from Israeli or donor agendas. Dumping more humanitarian and developmental funds into Palestinian coffers will not solve the conflict.

Structural dependency

From the start of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip 51 years ago, Israel systematically linked the territory’s economy to that of its own. Before the Oslo Accords, this forced linkage was most apparent in Israel’s restriction of Palestinian business and its control of the freedom of movement of Palestinian labor. For nearly a decade prior to Oslo, Israel issued work permits to tens of thousands of Palestinian workers to allow them to enter Israel to find work. Palestinian labor was found in Israeli construction, agriculture, hotels and the like.

Treated as a second-class labor force, Palestinian workers were exposed to conditions that allowed Israeli businesses to benefit from lower wages without being subject to Israeli labor law. Many Palestinian workers even found themselves building the illegal Israeli settlements that threaten the very existence of Palestinian communities. For Palestinians, being able to work — anywhere — while under Israeli occupation was a matter of survival. For many, it still is.

The Israeli occupation authorities also levied taxes on the occupied and used a portion of these taxes to flood the Palestinian areas with Israeli-made infrastructure and goods. This created further Palestinian dependence on the occupier’s economy.

The Oslo Accords were followed by an economic arrangement called the Protocol on Economic Relations, signed in Paris on May 4, 1994. Just as the Oslo agreement itself kept intact Israeli control over all key aspects of Palestinian life, the Paris Protocol institutionalized the occupier’s economic interest as part of what was meant to be a framework for a peace agreement.

Following the Oslo agreements, the role of state donors in funding Palestinian “development” turned into an international underwriting of the Israeli occupation, reducing and often removing the financial costs of military occupation. Knowingly or not, donor funding had an accomplice-type role in allowing the situation to reach the place it is in today.

Although donor money fueled the Palestinian economy, at no time did donors view the development of the private sector as the highest priority in building a viable Palestinian society. Donors assisted in the creation of sector trade associations and provided a certain level of assistance, but a strategic approach to the private sector, namely reducing structural dependency on Israel, never materialized.

Many in the international community were quick to criticize the growing number of Palestinian public sector workers, but few, if any, had the foresight to see that a strong Palestinian private sector was the only way to provide an alternative to public employment. Those who did realize this ignored it for the most part, since it would mean challenging the Israeli occupation and the restrictions placed on the Palestinian economy that come with it.

All the while, Israel was going forward with its unilateral settlement enterprise, which severely damaged the Palestinian private sector and left the Palestinian Authority playing catch up for its own survival. This left the Palestinian private sector to deal on its own with Israeli restrictions on Palestinian society.

After being structurally linked to the Israeli market for decades, Israel’s decision to unilaterally separate — or “disengage,” as it was called — from the Palestinians left the private sector with few options other than following the Israeli plans. Initially, Israel attempted to eliminate Palestinian labor employed in Israel, which increased the unemployment rate in the West Bank and Gaza overnight. After applying this shock to the marketplace, Israel decided to re-engage Palestinian labor and today issues as many permits as it had during the decade before Oslo, perhaps even more. All this in the service of the Israeli economy — not that of Palestine.

Furthermore, the separation wall’s land grab has separated Palestinian farmers from their lands, causing great pressure on Palestinian agriculture. Add this to the constant restrictions Israel has placed on land and water, the results of which can be seen in Palestine’s GDP, where agriculture has dropped from 12 percent prior to the Oslo Accords to below 5 percent today.

The foundation of a future state 

The viability of any future Palestinian economy must come within the context of a sustainable private sector, one that can create sustainable job opportunities and develop competitive products and services for the local market first, and then for export. The Palestinian private sector must be able to absorb Palestinian university graduates in a knowledge economy, while also absorbing the tens of thousands of construction workers who Israel uses to serve its economy. Similarly, a viable Palestinian economy must be able to feed itself, which requires land and water resources to be free from Israeli control.

The international community has a historic responsibility to Palestinians, especially after so many years of observing the Israeli occupation from afar, and a decade of footing the bill as Israeli violations continue unabated. The challenge today is to remove Israeli military occupation and allow the Palestinian private sector to assume its natural role of becoming the foundation of a future state.

Originally written FOR (More photos at source)

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THE KEY TO END THE NAKBA

May 21, 2019 at 15:05 (Collective Punishment, DesertPeace Exclusive, Nakba, Palestine)

These Palestinians still have the keys to their former homes before they were expelled from their land.

On the 71st anniversary of the Nakba, they still yearn to return to their homes.

 

1 Comment

WHY WE CALL IT THE ‘NAKBA’ (CATASTROPHE)

May 20, 2019 at 13:36 (Collective Punishment, DesertPeace Exclusive, Nakba, Palestine)

The Nakba explained in 3 minutes

Imagine this: You’ve lived in your hometown for decades, surrounded by your family and friends. But one day, gun-toting militias show up. You flee in terror. Then another family moves into your house–and you are banned from returning. This is the 1948 Nakba, the catastrophe, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

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PALESTINE’S ANSWER TO EUROVISION

May 16, 2019 at 15:29 (Activism, Palestine)

For the past year, there have been grisly scenes on the Gaza-Israel border where Israel has violently put down the Great March of Return. Palestinian artists called on Eurovision song contestants to boycott the international event that Tel Aviv is hosting this week.

Image by Pedripol
The other side of Eurovision

‘Music of dead, bombed-out buildings must be heard’ — Gaza artists hold anti-Eurovision concert in building destroyed by Israeli attack

Ahmad Kabariti

At the front gate of the residential Al-Qamar building, which was flattened by an Israeli air strike a week ago, a Palestinian band arrives with their instruments. They sweep away small stones and building remnants as they prepare to start their concert. The concert in Gaza is being held at the same time as a similar concert was starting just 70 kilometers away in Tel Aviv’s Charles Clore park to kick off the week-long Eurovision song contest.

Holding a guitar, Mohammed Ukasheh, 28, launches into “Gaza Message” with his both of his drummers. The song calls for the Eurovision contest to be boycotted.

The band start singing lyrics of the Lebanese iconic singer Wadih al-Safi, under the destroyed building’s crumbling roof.

Oh, immigrants return… Homeland is precious
Listen to the voice of Palestine… The voice of blame is loudly

I will write your name my country
Above the sun, that does not sets
Nor my sons neither my wealth
Above your love, there is no love

May god brings back our happiness and laughter
And our home filled in smile and happiness

The seven-story building in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in the Gaza City was leveled by six Israeli missiles, when an anonymous Israeli officer gave all tenants in the building five minutes to evacuate. The building had been home to more than 40 residents and commercial tenants including a beauty salon, mini market and tire store.

For the past year, there have been grisly scenes on the Gaza-Israel border where Israel has violently put down the Great March of Return. Palestinian artists called on Eurovision song contestants to boycott the international event that Tel Aviv is hosting this week.

The Gaza Strip-based Palestinian Artists Association said on a brief statement that Israel is using the event to “perpetuate oppression, promote injustice or whitewash a brutal apartheid regime”.

The artists cited the killing of more than 60 Palestinian demonstrators at Gaza-Israeli fence on May 14 last year, just two days after Israel won the 2018 edition of Eurovision.

“How can an international event be hosted on the ruins of the Palestinian village Sheikh Munis?,” Kamel Musallam, coordinator of the concert, asked. “Our message to Europe and the US is, both are participating in Gaza bloodshed by taking part in Eurovision,” he added.

Sabreen Juma’a al-Najjar, mother of slain paramedic Razan Al-Najjar, whose killing in June prompted international outrage, was among the dozen of attendees at the Al-Qamar building.

“Israel seeks to whitewashes its lethal acts against the Palestinians by hosting such a musical event, but having a look at one single destroyed building will erase all of Israel’s reputation for democracy and morality,” Juma’a al-Najjar told Mondoweiss. “Why won’t pop superstar Madonna hold her concert at this building, or at the place where Razan was killed near the fence?” she asked.

Madonna is scheduled to perform two songs in Tel Aviv to kick Eurovision off despite calls for her to boycott the show.

“Why doesn’t Eurovision arrange an event to let the music of dead, bombed-out buildings, and for the voices of mothers of the slain to be heard?” Juma’a al-Najjar added.

Haaretz has reported that the Israeli military has deployed “extensive” Iron Dome aerial defense batteries and ordered its forces stationed by Gaza to act with greater “restraint” during the Eurovision competition, which will last until Saturday, May 18.

This follows last week’s Israeli attack on Gaza, where 25 Palestinians were killed in the attacks and 800 homes were destroyed. Four Israeli were killed by retaliatory strikes.

Tuesday is also the first anniversary of the United States Embassy’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the bloody mass protest along the Gaza fence, when scores of Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

Wednesday is Nakba Day, when Palestinians commemorate the flight and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees during the hostilities surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

Jamal abu Arar, 61, was unsure that the local concert could “deliver the message.” Abu Arar said that “music is divided into two; romance for the rich and the killer, while the sounds of artillery and explosions are only for the poor and the victims.”

Photos at SOURCE

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HASBARA ON TOUR IN GERMANY

May 15, 2019 at 15:31 (Associate Post, Germany, Israel, Palestine, zionist Slander)

We should all defend ourselves against such openly publicized manipulations of Israeli propagandists and warmongers in the “public law”!

Israeli Propagandist on Hasbara Tour in Public Law 

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

 

At the Anne-Will-Talkrunde on Sunday on “Iran presents ultimatum – how dangerous is the nuclear dispute for Europe?” You could already see from the guest list, in which direction the audience should be directed and where the disreputable Hasbara wind blowing. (1) The unilateral partisanship for the Occupying State of Israel, as represented by the government and AA-Maas, was of course also reflected in the broadcast of 12 May. A guest from Iran was spared, and instead invited the scientist Katajun Amirpur. She and Martin Schirdewan, The Left and Member of the European Parliament, both relatively harmless contemporaries, hardly spoke. For that, Mrs. Will once again showed

War propaganda show for German Michel

The fact that this propaganda show wants to make a war for the German Michel shows that no leading Iran expert, eg Michael Lüders or Mohssen Massarrat, was invited. Critical voices are undesirable in ARD, because one fears the truth! With these two real experts, “Melody” would certainly not have had such an easy time, and her lies would have been publicly exposed!

What Melody Sucharewicz spread on evil and hateful Hasbara was unprecedented. (2) Was this “Israeli combat drone” from Tel Aviv flown in from the “Jewish state” at the expense of German payers, or was it already in Germany to carry out its 2006 job as an unofficial propaganda ambassador to Israel and its ardent support for the Zionist Exercise occupier regime here? Who launched this obvious propaganda campaign for the ARD? The Israeli embassy certainly did not have to put pressure.The ARD is willing for it. This woman, darling of the Bild-Zeitung and right-wing extremist blogs like PI-News, was struck by 2018 as “hard but fair” as unpleasant as merciless Israel lobbyists – according to the motto “The Palestinians are to blame for the failure of all peace efforts”. At the same time, it included the illegally occupied West Bank as an integral part of a “Greater Israel”. The fact that the apple does not fall far from the tree, is also shown by her father as founder and longtime chairman of the likewise propagandistic platform ILI (I like Israel), for which she also hosted the Israel Day. It was a déjà vu with this “political advisor”. If the then Plasberg broadcast was intended for the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, the Will program was probably intended as a harbinger to the 71st birthday, a state that is built on the ruins of Palestine, but judaic and ethnically cleaned and “free of Palestinians “. also shows her father as the founder and longtime chairman of the likewise propagandistic platform ILI (I like Israel), for which she has already moderated at the Israel Day. It was a déjà vu with this “political advisor”. If the then Plasberg broadcast was intended for the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, the Will program was probably intended as a harbinger to the 71st birthday, a state that is built on the ruins of Palestine, but judaic and ethnically cleaned and “free of Palestinians “. also shows her father as the founder and longtime chairman of the likewise propagandistic platform ILI (I like Israel), for which she has already moderated at the Israel Day. It was a déjà vu with this “political advisor”. If the then Plasberg broadcast was intended for the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel, the Will program was probably intended as a harbinger to the 71st birthday, a state that is built on the ruins of Palestine, but judaic and ethnically cleaned and “free of Palestinians “.

It is not Iran and the “mullahs” that threaten the “Jewish state”, as the Israeli propagandist repeatedly asserts, but the other way round: it is the Netanyahu regime that has been using Iran as a monster state for years with ridiculous fake news has built up. Everything is a fatal reminder of the Iraq war, which was known to have been started by the lie propaganda of the Bush administration and even then the stirring “Jewish state”! And even then it was the aggressive John Bolton who advised Bush and now repeats the same dirty methods with Trump!

USA-Israel: the “axis of evil”?

And it is the USA that has been threatening world peace for years with its extermination campaigns. US treaties are not worth the paper they’re written on, and we see what kind of spirit this President Trump is that breaks international treaties, unilaterally terminates, and seeks to blackmail his deals. In fact, he praises himself and his presidency for it.Astonishingly calm, Iran reacted to the sanctions and threats of these two “rogue states” USA and Israel, or should I say “the axis of evil”? Or is “the two apocalyptic riders” even more appropriate?

Following the unilateral termination of the contract by Trump Iran was, after all, go into the country a year without the EU has moved towards a solution acceptable to Iran agreement, and only then to announce that he no longer feels bound by the compliance of the nuclear agreement. This is more than understandable after the collapse of the EU. After all, unlike the US, Iran has kept the treaty. It is therefore more than brazen for German Foreign Minister Maas to call on Iran to comply with the nuclear agreement before meeting with his US counterpart Pompeo in Brussels! Obviously, he is too cowardly to turn to the right, indeed defaulting, addressee.

It is unbearable how manipulated Israeli propagandist Sucharewicz is to present her “suspicion” that Iran could secretly make nuclear weapons, as a factual statement, especially given that Israel possesses nuclear weapons but has not yet signed the NPT and does not need to fear IAEA inspections.

The Zionist regime: one of the most dangerous warmongers

The propagandist repeats Iran’s government-sponsored mantra as a state sponsor of terror and warns against “appeasement” against Iran, which is more than blatant, because we know that Israel has nursed Syrian terrorists into its hospitals. And let us not forget that thanks to European and German help, the Zionist regime has also accumulated an arsenal of weapons that makes it one of the most dangerous warmongers in the region.

Unlike Iran, which has never fought a war of aggression, the “Jewish nuclear state” is a dangerous aggressor against all its neighbors, which threatens world peace. He runs a more than inflammatory policy that wants to lead us into belligerent and aggressive politics that cost us dearly.As the saying goes: hang on – catch!

The German politicians and the media have completely submitted to the Israeli war rhetoric and regard this state as an eternal victim – after the horrors of the Holocaust. The best example is the more than disastrous foreign policy of the “Auschwitz Minister” Maas, who pursues such a mercilessly one-sided pro-Israel policy that it is extreme even by German standards. Obviously the influence of his national-racist girlfriend Ayelet Shaked, and her “fascism” perfume. Did the beguiling scent infatuate the “Auschwitz Minister” and cloud the brain? (3)

Vassal policy towards the “dealer state” USA end!

His policies towards Russia and Turkey, as well as his support for the coup attempt in Venezuela, make speechless and will most likely lead the SPD into single digits. After an unprecedented policy of sanctions against Russia and Iran, with the Trump-Bolton-USA hitting a “total sanctions war” that hits and harms Europe as well, it is overdue, finally, the vassal policy towards the “dealer state” USA to end.

Was not the transfer of US aircraft carriers because of the “Iranian threat” not on the advice of the Mossad done, which interferes more and more in international politics and pulls the strings? Who is behind the US classification of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a “terrorist organization”, just like the model of the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas, which also got this dubious US title. Everything influenced by the Zionist friends, the “Jewish state terror state”.

Is it still possible to speak of “German values” when the Bundeswehr trains Saudi soldiers, cooperates with the Jewish “Defense” and Occupying Forces, conducts “war missions” throughout the world, from Afghanistan to Mali?What is to be maintained that only 74 years after the end of the war an aggressive NATO policy is supported, with operations in the Baltic States, and as known only the enemy’s image of Russia.

How long do we want to get caught up in the US and the “Jewish state” by the hawks and let their propagandists run free? After all, if it came to the Iran attack, Europe would be directly affected. It’s better not to imagine what happens if there is an attack or civil war in Iran. So, is it still enough to affirm that one is holding on to the nuclear deal with Iran, but in fact doing absolutely nothing to uphold it? If the Europeans rightly blame Washington for escalating in the Middle East and consider it a fire hazard, then they should act accordingly.

An inferno threatens a US invasion of Iran

If there were a US invasion of Iran, an inferno, as we are now experiencing, could be threatened in Yemen, also thanks to German support from Saudi troops. How did a UN High Commissioner say? German weapons are now encountered around the world. Truly, what an export hit!

It must finally come to an end with a policy of “regime change”, with which one already drives poor countries into ruin, in order to take over power with their willing substitutes. If one of the main causes of unbridled Iran hatred is not the failure to topple Syrian President Assad, this attempt failed miserably, thanks to the intervention of Russia and Iran, but it brought millions of refugees. The Netanyahu regime was richly rewarded by Trump by giving them the Golan Heights “eternally Jewish” in violation of international law.

President Erdogan hit a bull’s-eye as he banned criticism of his policy by saying, “Anyone who tries to overthrow the elected head of state of Venezuela can not talk to us about democracy.” How true!

Let’s fear the Trump world order and its “century deals” that will go down in history as the worst US era of the decade. Yes, these US warmongers are in desperate need of a concrete answer they deserve. How Europe wants to meet these challenges despite great protestations, however, remains a mystery, as the whole German foreign policy. As long as this does not finally get rid of its decades of subjugation to Israel, with an immediate stop the German state rationale for Israel’s “security”, which conceals only an unprecedented support of this international law breaking “Jewish state”, however, all effort remains in vain. Do “targeted killings” correspond to our so-called “Christian-Jewish values”?

Counteract the infiltration of parties and media through Zionist-Evangelical networks!

Let’s not continue to let the Hasbara influence and manipulate politicians and the media as a strategic weapon. It is a multi-million dollar multi-faceted weapon adapted to the digital age. It has its roots in past concepts and propaganda, agitation, censorship and intimidation, up to extortion.Think tanks coordinate and “sell” everything with false, one-sided arguments. Zionist-evangelical networks have infiltrated parties and the media in order to whitewash Israeli occupation policy with campaigns of all kinds, to make the Judaization of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine “Kosher”. They work with ignorance and feelings of guilt, and ruthlessly become politicians unfamiliar with the instrumentalisation of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism allegations. Journalists and activists intimidated and slandered. Sponsored journeys with journalists then “lighten up” the uncritical jubilation articles.

We should all defend ourselves against such openly publicized manipulations of Israeli propagandists and warmongers in the “public law”! As coercive payers, we have a right to objective reporting, with different opinions, but above all, to stick to the truth: “All great political action is to utter what is and begins with it. All political petty-mindedness consists in the concealment and complimenting what is. “(Ferdinand Lassalle)

footnotes

1 https://daserste.ndr.de/annewill/videos/Iran-stellt-Ultimatum-wie-gefaehrlich-ist-der-the-Atom-Streit-fuer-Europa,annewill6002.html

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasbara

3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/israel-justice-minister-sprays-herself-with-fascism-perfume-in-campaign-ad/2019/03/19/4722f2c7-0427-41e7-ab44 -2c253dbfae0b_video.html? noredirect = on & utm_term = .fb69e829097e

 

Originally posted AT

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MUST SEE VIDEO ~~ MAKING LIFE FROM DEATH IN GAZA

May 13, 2019 at 15:28 (Collective Punishment, Gaza, People's Art)

“The Israelis throw death at us, and we make life out of death.”

Israel throws death at us and we make life

The Electronic Intifada

These Palestinians in Gaza make sculptures and art pieces out of Israel’s weapons.

Majdi Abu Taqiyeh, 40, got the idea of making sculptures out of Israeli bullets when his brother was shot during the Great March of Return demonstrations along Gaza’s eastern boundary.

Israeli snipers have killed more than 200 Palestinians since the demonstrations started in March last year.

“I chose the occupation’s bullets as a medium to work with so they become messages to the world,” Abu Taqiyeh told The Electronic Intifada.

“I wanted to make human figures out of bullets to represent the lives of martyrs who died from those bullets and others who were injured.”

Ahmad Abu Ataya, 47, makes prayer beads, flower pots and canes out of tear gas canisters he collects during demonstrations.

“If this life isn’t ours, it’ll be for our children,” says Abu Ataya. “We go to the boundary fence for our rights so we can live.”

Abu Ataya says his art “is proof of life.”

“The Israelis throw death at us, and we make life out of death.”

1 Comment

THE LORD HIMSELF IN DEFENSE OF ZIONISM

May 13, 2019 at 11:55 (Israel's Shame, Oppression, Palestine, zionism)

My favorite rabbi and Lord (NOT) once again reaches at straws to defend the undefendable.

The problem for Sacks is that his attempt at historical inversion ignores Zionism’s founding fathers. The early Zionist leaders knew their project was a colonial enterprise and knew they needed the support of imperial powers to achieve their aims.

Jonathan Sacks dumbs down Jewish history in order to defend Zionism

Robert Cohen 

To remind you, Sacks is the ultimate Jewish establishment figure. He was Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the Commonwealth from 1991-2013; he was made a member of the British House of Lords in 2009; he’s the author of more than 25 books on Judaism such as To Heal a Fractured World, The Dignity of Difference, and Not in God’s Name. He’s also written a multi-volume Torah commentary and edited prayer books. Sacks is highly-respected within the Jewish world and well beyond it. When he talks, people of all faiths, and none, stop and listen.

I’ve read much of his work over the years, but over time I’ve become increasingly disenchanted. In the abstract, Sacks is a great moral educator who can draw on Jewish scripture to make universal observations about justice, kindness, compassion, tolerance and political leadership. But when it comes to the greatest moral issue facing Jews and Judaism today, Israel and the Palestinians, he offers nothing but dumbed-down history and a version of Judaism that sells it short and denies another people their heritage and story.

All of this is on show in the Rabbi’s latest video. It’s one of several he’s made and they’re all designed to reach a broader audience than his books. I dealt with his animated distortions and untruths about BDS in an earlier post.

This new video is more significant. It’s an attempt to make any critical debate about Zionism impossible.

Sacks’ international standing means even his cartoon capers will be taken seriously no matter how dumbed-down and prejudiced is his presentation of Judaism and Jewish history.

A Closed Debate

Notice in Sacks’ opening narration that his question is not “Is Anti-Zionism the new antisemitism?” but “How is anti-Zionism the new antisemitism?”.

The starting point is the assertion that anti-Zionism can be nothing other than antisemitism. Counter to the tradition that two Jews will always produce three opinions, Sacks makes clear that this particular subject is not open to the usual rabbinical rigour applied to the interpretation of matters of Jewish law or indeed any other subject of Jewish interest. When it comes to Zionism, only one interpretation is kosher.

Remember, Sacks doesn’t make these videos for a Jewish religious audience. He makes them for the secular world of politics in which he knows that Zionism is becoming a highly contested ideology because of its consequences for the Palestinian people.

Here’s an extract from the video which anyone who follows Sacks’ writing in recent years and his theory of “mutating antisemitism” will be familiar with:

In the Middle Ages Jews were hated for their religion. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century they were hated for their race. Today they are hated for their nation state, Israel.

It’s a tidy summation, easy on the ear and the brain. It uses the truth of antisemitism down through the centuries to set up a lie about Zionism.

The underlying assumption is that the creation of the Jewish State of Israel was an innocent, noble endeavour and certainly without victims. Therefore, the only possible explanation of the new “hate” is that it’s driven by age-old antisemitism.

Aside from being unbelievably simplistic and devoid of context, Sacks pretends to be talking history and religion while in fact he’s being deeply political. Imagine you are a Palestinian watching this video. Or maybe you are a Palestinian and have unfortunately stumbled across it. According to Sacks’ rhetorical construction of events, despite your home being destroyed, your farmland confiscated and your family sent into exile, the only possible reason for your objection to Zionism must be antisemitism.

Sacks needs to be told that he cannot make statements about Zionism without first thinking how they would sound to Palestinian ears. The ideology that Sacks defends has impacted the lives of every Palestinian alive today. Zionism is part of their history too.

Unbroken Connections

Sacks sketches out his dumb-down Jewish history emphasising the 3,000 year unbroken connection between Jews and the Biblical Land of Israel. I have no wish to deny this connection. But this telling of our story wipes out millennia-long connections to places elsewhere in the word, places which have shaped Judaism, as we recognise it today, just as much as Ancient Israel.

Our Jewish ‘exile’ has not been an historical aberration. Our wanderings have not been an unfortunate detour from our true destination. We are the product of a scattered existence of which there is nothing to be ashamed of and much to celebrate.

The construction of the Talmud, the wisdom of Midrash, the philosophy of Maimonides, the Hasidic masters, the Jewish Enlightenment, the paintings of Chagall, the stories of Bernard Malamud, the plays of Arthur Miller, the music of Bernstein and Gershwin, the songs of Paul Simon and Bob Dylan – these are the products of Jewish experience too and they happened well beyond the Land of Israel. Frankly, this inheritance is more recognisable to me as ‘Jewish’ than the modern State of Israel, built as it is on an unhappy cocktail of secular nationalist identity and extreme religious orthodoxy that could only be achieved through the displacement of another people.

If Zionist thinking has always been such a central tenet of Jewish life, why was it such a contentious idea among Jews for the first 50 years of its existence? But this has been erased from the whiteboard of Jewish history. Apparently, we’ve all been Zionists for 3,000 years.

Strangers

But it’s not just my history that Sacks ignores.

Jews are the only people who ever created a nation state there. At all other times in the past 3,000 years it was merely an administrative district in an empire whose centre was elsewhere: the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Alexandrian, Roman and Byzantine empires, the Crusaders of the Holy Roman Empire, the various Muslim empires such as the Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Mamluks and Ottomans, and finally the British.

Never mind the empires whose centres were “elsewhere.” Why is it of no relevance who was actually living on the land, apart from the minority Jewish population? Why does Sacks make these people invisible in his narrative?

Sacks talks of Jews as:

the only people who have maintained a continuous presence in the land. They are its indigenous, original inhabitants.

So how long does anybody else have to be around before they stop being squatters, interlopers and off-comers? Five hundred years? A thousand? Two thousand? When can anyone else claim a “continuous presence”? The chances are that today’s Palestinians carry the same amount of first century Jewish DNA as I do. Perhaps more.

Historical Revisionism

Then comes another shameless piece of historical revisionism.

The November 1947 United Nations vote to bring Israel into existence was a momentous reversal of imperialism. It gave back to the Jewish people the home taken from them by empire after empire.

The problem for Sacks is that his attempt at historical inversion ignores Zionism’s founding fathers. The early Zionist leaders knew their project was a colonial enterprise and knew they needed the support of imperial powers to achieve their aims. Herzl and Weizmann both imagined the Jewish State as a Western Imperial outpost – good for Jews, good for the ‘inferior natives’ they would displace, and good for their imperial sponsors. The idea that it was a “reversal of imperialism” is absurd, especially from a public intellectual like Sacks.

613 Commandments

Sacks seems remarkably relaxed about cancelling out the contribution of his own rabbinic ancestors. He reminds us that many of the 613 commandments identified in the Torah relate only to living in the Promised Land. He fails to mention that the majority of those commandments refer to Temple practice including animal sacrifice.

The genius of rabbinic Judaism was not only to make Jewish observance ‘portable’ but also to move it forward in its theological understanding. For most of our history, possession of the Land has not been necessary for the maintenance and development of Judaism. Leaving the land made Judaism better not worse.

Cognitive Dissonance

It’s when Sacks brings his just and compassionate telling of Jewish theology into the whiteboard frame that I’m most struck by the scale of the cognitive dissonance that must be at work in the Rabbi’s head.

Read the Hebrew Bible and you’ll see immediately that it isn’t about the salvation of the soul. It’s about creating in the holy land a society based on the biblical ideas of justice, welfare, the sanctity of life – and caring for the stranger “because you know what it feels like to be a stranger.”

This is my idea of Judaism too. Except, the story of the Jewish people has been the story of applying these values to every country in which we found ourselves. Judaism became our home and we carried it with us.

If Sacks believes what he’s saying about the grand project of Jewish life in the Holy Land, then where is his criticism of the modern State of Israel?

At best, I would expect Sacks to see the Palestinians as the “stranger” of Jewish theology. For any Palestinian, calling them strangers in their own land is deeply insulting as well as historical nonsense, but let’s put that to one side for the moment. How is stealing land and water; destroying homes; imprisonment without charge; snipers at the Gaza fence, “caring for the stranger”? Why does Sacks have no Torah commentary on any of this?

A Political Agenda

I have no problem with using Jewish myths to explain and illustrate our  religious understanding and to shape our ethical outlook. But that’s not how Sacks uses religious mythology. Sacks is applying Jewish myth, scripture, and ancient history to a highly political Jewish agenda that’s become enthralled to secular ideas of power. Calling anti-Zionism antisemitism is not a lesson in Jewish history, it’s an exercise in the delegitimisation of another people’s historic experience. In using his global reputation as a moral leader to defend Zionism, Sacks ends up not defending Judaism but undermining it.

We don’t need dumbed-down Jewish Studies or a whiteboard whitewash of Zionism to resolve the  greatest moral challenge facing Jews and Judaism. Zionism cannot be a ‘no-go area’ for debate in either religious or academic discussion. The sooner that admirers of Jonathan Sacks (both Jewish and non-Jewish) grasp this, the sooner we can progress toward a version of Judaism that takes seriously the meaning of justice, welfare and the sanctity of life.

More photos at Source

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POR MI MADRE

May 12, 2019 at 15:01 (DesertPeace Editorial, Holidays, Poetry)

Some thoughts for Mother’s Day in Poetry …..

First, one I wrote many years ago, dedicated to my mother. I read it at her funeral. Although she is long gone, I still honour her daily, not just on this so-called Mother’s Day.

Here’s a photo of my Mom keeping up with world events through the pages of The Daily Worker.

MOTHER

Nine months of discomfort and some pain,

Nine months of wondering, hoping…

Are there regrets?

Hope not.

Years of commitment,

Years of unselfishly giving,

Was there more to give?

If only you could.

So much to teach,

So much to share,

How can one be expected to do it all?

But it was done.

Out of the holocaust there came a commitment,

We shall remain and flourish,

Can it be done?

Hope so.

So much to tell the world,

So many wrongs to right,

Will there be help?

There must be strength.

Now you must rest,

Your work is done,

Are there regrets?

Hope not.

This one was written by an unknown poet …

She is the one that carried me in her womb for nine months.
She is the one that nursed me with nutrition from her own body.
She is the one that stood over me and protected me from all harm.
She is the one that loved me no matter what I did.
She was my mother, that’s what they do….
You are who you are today because of your mother, never forget that.
She loved you every day of your life, never forget that either.

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SELF DEFENSE FOR THE AGGRESSOR? ONLY IN GAZA

May 8, 2019 at 08:54 (Associate Post, Collective Punishment, DesertPeace Exclusive, Ethnic Cleansing, Gaza, Genocide, Germany)

Let’s never forget that the international community, led by the US, Germany and a large part of the “Western community of values” repeatedly reaffirms that Israel has a “right to self-defense”. Given all these decades of Israeli international crimes, it is a mockery to speak of “self-defense.” Never: occupiers and land robbers never have a right to self-defense against a defenseless people they occupy!

Image by Carlos Latuff

Once again, the N Y Times distorts the news, dishonestly making #Gaza the aggressor and Israel the victim.
And the mainstream media is very good at it!

No “Right to Self-Defense” for Occupying Forces

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

It is shameless how German media and politicians repeatedly equate occupiers and occupied. For years, it has been part of the public-law brainwashing to stun German “ordinary citizens” when it comes to coverage of Palestine. Time and again we speak of the “Palestine conflict”, which is to disguise only the decades of illegal international occupation and land grabbing by Israel. So who is responsible for this “conflict”?

It is also shameless to portray the Jews / Israelis as innocent and suffering victims. Using terms such as “radical Islamic” for the Hamas resistance organization or denouncing it as a terrorist organization, the Journal wants to purposefully propagate that the Hamas government is spreading terror, rather than pointing out that it is attempting to turn the people of Gaza into one under the most difficult conditions to help people to have a more bearable life, but without the legal – covered by international law! – Neglect resistance to the illegal occupying power. In fact, the situation is becoming increasingly desperate, also thanks to the Abbas authorities, the West-panned corrupt West Bank government working with the Netanyahu regime, who is doing all sorts of things, incite their Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza against Hamas. Therefore, the German media always read about the “moderate” Abbas PA authority – all in harmony with Israeli interests and with the aim of preventing reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, as well as free elections. This will create the climate and ensure that the Gaza Strip is forever uninhabitable by 2020, as the UN has said.

Infame embezzlement by foreign Auschwitz Minister Maas

In this context, the statement of our foreign-Auschwitz-Minister Maas of 6 May 2019, as another one-sided government behavior, which fits more and more to the US-Trump-government. It is outrageous to read that the fired “Hamas and Islamic jihad (PU) rockets” are “vile terror against the civilian population”, which is severely condemned while the bombing of the “Jewish terror state” on the imprisoned civilian population Gaza are neither mentioned, nor equally “sharply” condemned. Maas condemns rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, who do not “solve problems”, but infestiously denies who is responsible for these “problems”. The root of all evil, if you want to beat this embarrassing diplomat.

Maas demands “credible security guarantees” for Israel – and thus security for a rapacious state, which has defied every valid law since the founding of the Palestinian Nakba indigenous people in 1948 and continues to operate this illegal Judaization of Palestine until the final solution thanks to the Trump US policy is getting closer. The Federal Government’s plea to support any initiative designed to prevent the return of deadly struggles and their propaganda of the phrase “two-state solution” that has been preached for decades is not worth the paper on which this sham poop is written. This AA Maas, who obviously has no serious policies, is completely out of place and should go.

He and the German government are closing their eyes to the fact that it was not the Palestinians who were sorry for the “Jewish state” and its citizens, but the merciless Jewish occupiers, who believe that they have a “right” to the land of Palestine because of their religion although it is well known that the Old Testament / Torah is not a land register with which claims can be made. The land belongs to its inhabitants. To make matters worse, the shabby instrumentalization of the Holocaust, the critics of this Besatza state wants to ban its mouth. On the other hand, we resist with all your might!

Stop the new aggression of the “Jewish occupation state” against Gaza!

It must finally be over with the ever new aggression of the “Jewish occupation state” against Gaza and the Palestinian people under his occupation, which are possible only thanks to massive US support and the silent hypocritical community of states, the one-sided position of the predatory “Jewish state” supported. It is this international complicity community that is responsible for the murderous attacks and targeted killings against a virtually defenseless population in Gaza, which has no security bunkers to protect itself from the murderous “Star of David” bombardments of Israeli state terrorists.

Since the foundation of the state in 1948, the international community has done nothing to enable the Palestinians to lead a free life without illegal occupation, let alone to establish an independent Palestinian state. It was and always is only about the Jews, who were always the stronger and successful occupiers thanks to their brutal “Nakba methods” in the struggle for their sole claim to Palestine. Because of the bad conscience of the international community until today, because of their failure during the Holocaust, the Zionist occupiers managed to cement an eternal victim role so magnificently thanks to a powerful lobbying, so that there is hardly any opposition to this Jewish state terrorism.

No alternative to legal resistance to illegal occupation!

The escalation policy of the Netanyahu regime, which finds no counterpart in the almost equal opposition, is trying by all means to make people’s lives in Gaza hell. They do not want to lift the illegal blockade or allow it to rebuild. Netanyahu and his regime, strengthened by the elections, are trying to bomb everything in Gaza. There is no way out of hopelessness for Palestinians to peacefully claim their rights Friday night on the Gaza border fence and demonstrate it with legal resistance to the illegal occupation.

The despair is so great that, even in the certainty of losing their young lives, they end up as martyrs, murdered by hundreds of deploying snipers of the “most moral” Jewish “defensive army”, rather than having to continue this hopeless life without any future prospects. Again, two young Palestinians were murdered during the weekly protest last Friday. Once again, fishing rights were restricted for the Gaza fishermen, who, like the other constant reprisals, such as the arbitrary closure of border crossings, are not receiving any media attention. As Hamas rightly criticizes, Israel has broken its promises. Neither the delivery of money transfers through Qatar, nor the import permit for more goods, infrastructure, health care.

Occupiers and land robbers never have a right to self-defense

Let’s never forget that the international community, led by the US, Germany and a large part of the “Western community of values” repeatedly reaffirms that Israel has a “right to self-defense”. Given all these decades of Israeli international crimes, it is a mockery to speak of “self-defense.” Never: occupiers and land robbers never have a right to self-defense against a defenseless people they occupy!

Note: Where justice becomes wrong, resistance becomes a duty! Because it is perfectly legitimate to defend oneself against unlawful occupation, because one uses the legitimate right of resistance against the illegal occupation.

In addition, the international community should remind the occupying power of the duties that have existed since the Hague Convention, as well as the Geneva Convention. The occupying power has clear obligations to the occupied. A crew may under international law only exist for limited (!) Time. Therefore, the occupying power must ensure that the territory concerned and its population are released into independence. Part of these commitments is to fully meet the basic needs of the population, which the “Jewish State” does not do and makes other countries pay. There must also be no transfer of the population by expelling them or illegally settling Jewish population settlers in the occupied territory.

Boycott the European Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv!

Ignoring the international community, it also suits to “sing and have fun” at the upcoming European Song Contest (ESC) in Tel Aviv in the face of this murderous policy, while the Palestinians suffer and mourn their dead. Any artist participating in this Song Festival should be aware that it supports and whitewashes the illegal occupation of Palestine. In fact, there are more and more decent artists who are aware of this fact and responsibility and support the BDS movement, such as Roger Waters. And there are Swedish, British and other dedicated European artists who will stay away from this ESC. Regrettably, as so often before, German artists are less likely to sing with the occupiers and have fun!

Let us also remember that the Turkish government and President Erdogan criticized the Netanyahu regime’s Gaza attacks and called for action against them. Finally, the Turkish news agency Anadolu was hit in Gaza, which was (targeted?) Shot at.

So it is a particularly sad month of fasting Ramadan in the Gaza concentration camp, literally, which began on Monday. There is not enough money to buy luscious food for dinner after sunset. So let’s remember the Muslim Palestinians in illegally occupied Palestine, we mourn their martyrs with them and keep reminding that there is no right of self-defense for occupiers!

footnotes

 

Here is a moving eyewitness account from Gaza by Dr. med. Abed Schokry:

Dr. Abed Schokry is a Palestinian and studied and obtained his doctorate in Germany. After 17 years in Germany, he returned with his family and now lives in Gaza and informed from there his circle of friends.

Gaza on 05/05/2019

Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear friends and dear friends,

Today, on Sunday afternoon, the Gaza Strip was attacked at the same time from the air, from the sea and also with tank shells. And so these attacks inevitably fall victims. Almost all are civilians. Nobody knows how things will go on here and next door. I have just heard that Israeli fighters are bombing many homes throughout Gaza, some of them have not been forewarned, and so is the number of civilians killed. An entire family was murdered, father, mother, 9 months pregnant, a small child and a brother of the woman who was there to visit. Yesterday, a pregnant woman with her 14-month-old daughter came in attacks and lives. Number of dead is now (on Sunday) 17 or 19 and more than 110 injured.

The air strikes did NOT stop, on the contrary they increase, and shells are also fired from the sea and from tanks. So the current situation on Sunday afternoon is NOT reassuring. At the moment, vehicles or tricycles or motorcycles are deliberately attacked. I hear on the radio that a beach café was bombed and burning. But the fire department can not extinguish the fire. There are also dead and injured on the other side.

Gaza on 06/05/2019

The last military aggression between the Gaza Strip and the State of Israel should now have ended today, Monday morning at 4.30 clock. So we spent almost two days and three nights in fear and terror. Many people had to give their lives. Before I forget it, I do not want to offset, but still would like to put the following facts on the table:

  1. According to Israeli figures, about 600 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip during the entire period. According to army spokesman Jonathan Conricus, about 70 percent of the missiles landed in the open field. Most of the remaining projectiles were intercepted by missile defense. According to Israeli data, 295 air strikes and 320 attacks were reportedly committed by the Israeli navy. Overall, that makes about 615 (and the tank attacks, are not counted because I could not find any information about it).
  1. In Gaza, 18 houses were totally destroyed, 10 others were very damaged, hundreds of houses were also damaged, 58 apartments totally destroyed and about 310 apartments have great damage up to glass damage. Then there are shops, schools, universities, courts, police stations, training camps for the security apparatus, etc.
  1. Approximately 160 injured and currently 29 dead (data from the Süddeutsche Zeitung), mostly civilians, including children, and two pregnant women.
  1. For your information: We have no bunkers or shelters for the civilian population in the entire Gaza Strip. If it crashes, we have no place where we could have found shelter.

The whole world is once again behind the State of Israel, what happens to US, it does not matter to this supposedly very moral world, we are fourth-class people. We’ve got used to that, that’s nothing new. On the other hand, we’ve had nothing to lose for a while now. And so is our motto, either a good life for us, or the other should also feel what it is like to be permanently humiliated, if bombs are dropped again and again aimed at civilians and if protests against the unbearable conditions Israeli Snipers also shoot at children, medical helpers and press. Hundreds were targeted during the Friday demonstrations. Imagine only once it would happen at any other border (Ukraine or elsewhere). Would the world also remain silent and allow the sniper free hand to shoot at people protesting against their living conditions?

Gideon Levy, the journalist, wrote an article in the Israeli daily Haaretz entitled, “The Gaza Ghetto Uprising [https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-the-gaza-ghetto-uprising-1.7197814?utm_term = 20190505-02% 3A14 & utm_campaign = Gideon + Levy & utm_medium = email & writerAlerts = true & utm_source = smartfocus & utm_content = www.haaretz.com% 2Fopinion% 2F1.7197814] “(The Gaza Ghetto Uprising)

Hereby I ask the following question What is coming now ???

We had such a similar scenario around the 25th of March, this time around the 4th / 5th. May around. Will we return to this loop in about 4-6 weeks?Violence and counter violence, that leads to nothing. This definitely does NOT lead to peace. We think, and I think, many Gazans are fed up with prison life. We want nothing other than all people in this world, we want to have a normal life and lead.

Gaza has many, many, many problems. The water supply, the electricity supply, the very high unemployment rate, some very bad health care.Imagine how many people need medical treatment because of the attacks.That does not create a hospital.

The tap water in our apartment smells very bad and is very salty. This water makes the laundry dirtier and not cleaner. You can not wash vegetables or fruit with the water. That is not suitable for anything. You can only get sick of it. Summer is coming and we need electricity, more than 8 hours a day.

The young people urgently need work and above all hope and perspective that tomorrow will be a better day. But all that is missing. What is the alternative, many want to leave Gaza and not even that works or succeeds.Without our own port and airport, hardly anything will change in our location.

The state of Israel makes great theater of it, because it is all about the security of Israel. Because of the story, I can even understand that. BUT we are also people who have the right to a “normal” life. That’s what we want.And the world should finally understand. What do you expect from people who have to live incarcerated, who, like everyone else in the world, only want to live peacefully. The Palestinians are just as human as the Israelis and like everyone else in the world. But the Israelis count more in the world. That’s what I read and hear in the German news. There is apparently no evidence that five, six, seven times more Palestinians are killed than Israelis. And when I say that, I’m accused of not counting the death toll. No, you should not, but you should not treat one group of people worse than the other. And that happens in the messages in the world. We are always the bad guys and the others defend themselves against the bad guys. I wish so much, you should put our glasses on once.

One of my brothers will leave Gaza and got a visa for the United Arab Emirates, he is an electrical engineering engineer and has completed his bachelor’s degree in 2014. He had been there since then and had a job there. He has been out of work for more than a year and hopes to find work elsewhere. There are thousands in Gaza who like my brother. Some then try to go to Turkey and from there, if it works, then to Europe. Some risk their lives.

Just yesterday, the body of a Gazan from Turkey was brought to Gaza via Egypt, others are buried in Turkey.

I intend to leave Gaza in the second half of June and come to Germany for about two months. I already have a host university. And if it works, I hope to spend a month or two months in the Ruhr area and to be able to continue my education as an engineer. That’s my plan. If and when I will succeed, I will tell you and you.

In the hope that our neighbor and the world will finally give us our rights so that they and we can live in peace and quiet, I close for today. Today is the first day of fasting Ramadan. I wish you and you all the best and stay with you soon.

Yours sincerely

Your Abed Schokry

 

Originally published AT

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RAMADAN KAREEM

May 5, 2019 at 15:06 (Holidays)

A sweet and meaningful Ramadan to my Muslim family, friends and readers.

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RAMADAN IN GAZA~~ EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS

May 5, 2019 at 07:33 (Collective Punishment, Gaza, Genocide)

This is Bibi’s ‘Peace Process’ caught live on camera …

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The funeral of the youngest victim….

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The seven Palestinians killed by the latest Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

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AFTER YOU READ THIS YOU WILL HAVE NO DOUBTS THAT ZIONISM IS RACISM

May 1, 2019 at 16:58 (Israel, Racism, zionist Slander)

“Yes, we’re racists. We believe in racism… There are races in the world and peoples have genetic traits, and that requires us to try to help them,” he said. “The Jews are a more successful race.”

Embracing racism, rabbis at pre-army yeshiva laud Hitler, urge enslaving Arabs

Recordings show instructors at settlement academy openly promoting Jewish supremacy; principal says Arabs want to live under Israeli occupation due to their genetic inferiority

By TAMAR PILEGGI

Two rabbis at a pre-military religious academy in a West Bank settlement were recorded making derogatory and racist comments about Arabs, defending Adolf Hitler’s worldview, and openly promoting Jewish supremacy.

In a series of undated recordings published by Channel 13 news on Monday, Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, the head of the Bnei David academy in Eli, can be heard calling for the enslavement of the “stupid and violent” non-Jews due to their genetic inferiority.

“All around us, we are surrounded by peoples with genetic problems. Ask a simple Arab ‘where do you want to be?’ He wants to be under the occupation. Why? Because they have genetic problems, they don’t know how to run a country, they don’t know how to do anything. Look at them.”

In the lecture, Kashtiel goes on to embrace racism against non-Jews.

“Yes, we’re racists. We believe in racism… There are races in the world and peoples have genetic traits, and that requires us to try to help them,” he said. “The Jews are a more successful race.”

In another clip from the Bnei David Yeshiva published by Channel 13, Rabbi Giora Redler can be heard praising Hilter’s ideology during a lesson about the Holocaust.

“Let’s just start with whether Hitler was right or not,” he told students. “He was the most correct person there ever was, and was correct in every word he said… he was just on the wrong side.”

Redler goes on to say that pluralism is the “real” genocide being perpetrated against the Jewish people, not Nazi Germany’s Final Solution.

“The real Holocaust was not when they murdered the Jews, that’s not it. All these excuses — that it was ideological or systematic — are nonsense,” he said. “Humanism, and the secular culture of ‘We believe in man,’ that’s the Holocaust.”

The comments drew wide condemnation from opposition lawmakers who called for pulling all state funding to the Eli-based academy over Kashtiel’s and Redler’s remarks.

“This is not Judaism, and these are not our values,” Blue and White MK Yair Lapid said in a statement. “People who talk this way are not worthy of calling themselves rabbis… the state needs to stop funding this program until the racist rabbis are removed.”

More photos at the SOURCE

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ANTI ZIONISM MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH ANTI SEMITSM

May 1, 2019 at 13:48 (anti-Semitism, Associate Post, Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Exclusive, Israel, Palestine)

We must not let up in the fight for a free Palestine from the River to the Sea. We must defend ourselves against it if Israel criticism is compulsorily criminalized as anti-Semitism

Image by Carlos Latuff

When Israel criticism is obligatorily criminalized as anti-Semitism

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

Where the mass media machinery of Putin’s and Erdogan’s demonization has once again been massively set in motion, one wonders at the silence on Netanyahu following the Israeli elections. These showed once again in a frightening way that the “Jewish state” is unwilling to give up the occupation of Palestine. The occupiers have settled down well with Zionist arrogance in this Jewish apartheid state. Especially since they do not have to fear any pressure on the part of the so-called “community of values” to change this illegal state. Jewish citizens feel ethnically superior – after the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Western fire due to a Russian offer

While Russia and President Putin are being called for allegedly “hybrid warfare” because he signed a decree after the election in Ukraine, according to which the citizens of the “people’s republics” in Eastern Ukraine should receive Russian passports without the usual preconditions.It is also thought possible to offer Russian citizenship in general, provided that they speak Russian. Already the western fire started and the EU and the US criticized this suggestion as a slap in the face against the “peace efforts” in the eastern Ukraine.

One wonders what peace efforts are meant? Remember the billions of US sums spent in the run-up to the Ukrainian uprising, the NATO creep, and the efforts to put Ukraine on a “NATO course” and EU accession. All this was an unparalleled affair for Russia, which was answered with the reintegration of the Crimea, a more than understandable step confirmed by a popular referendum. So what is more obvious than offering these facilities to the Ukrainian citizens? After all, everyone is free to respond.

No western fire after annexations of the “Jewish state”

In contrast, the “Jewish state” occupied the Syrian Golan since the “Six-Day War” in 1967 and annexed it since 1981, without much shouting from the “community of values”. No wonder that the “Jewish state” now declared this illegally occupied Syrian territory the eternal “property” of the “Jewish state”. Contrary to international law, but confirmed by Trump’s Decree, which recognizes the US’s membership of the Syrian Golan Heights formally belonging to Israel. Trump defended his further taboo on the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem and justified it as a logical step in pursuing his policy. He even bragged that he was doing everything that other US presidents had considered before him, but had not dared.Netanyahu could do nothing better than this “poisonous” election gift, which helped him to his re-election. Just as Trump legitimized the Jewish occupation here and international law was trampled under foot, every description mocks and is a provocation against the inactive state community. This incredible violation of Syrian sovereignty joins the unrestrained hegemony claim of the US and its Jewish vassal in tow.

Although the EU and Germany criticized this decision, but at least consider the Golan Heights as occupied territory and do not recognize the sovereignty of Israel, as a spokeswoman for the EU emphasized. Through this formal recognition of the Golan Heights and the approximately 20,000 Israeli residents as belonging to the “Jewish State”, the US violated a UN Security Council Resolution, which they had themselves adopted in 1981.Here again shows that the US under Trump are no longer willing to recognize treaties, decisions, international law or human rights, but are only governed by the autocratic Trump’s “dealer policy”. As a partner they are completely unfit, which should finally be acknowledged with a consistent response.

Extraordinary influence of the Israel lobby

Although criticism of the “Jewish state” is mildly practiced, it has no effect, because unlike in Russia, there are no sanction threats, let alone punishable threats. Thus, while every means in Russia is right to enforce its own power policy, this important instrument in dealing with the “Jewish state” is completely inadequate. Why is this so good for this apartheid state? Because, and this needs to be addressed again, the Israel lobby has such an extraordinary influence, especially in the US, but also globally networked. With the undisguised instrumentalization and use of the victim role, with recurring Holocaust reference as a threat, the “Jewish State” repeatedly succeeds in criminalizing and silencing its critics. Brand criticism as anti-Semitism,

In fact, the “uniqueness” of this Jewish occupation state is frightening as the “most moral” of all Jewish “defense armies” openly admit to being there to protect the settlements in the occupied West Bank, Judaize the occupied Jerusalem, by all means. These murderous soldiers volunteer and do not shy away from killing Palestinians, firing at teenagers, paramedics or elderly and women, or even shooting them in the helpless and shackled state “on the run”, often in the back. They enjoy it when they keep the occupied in fear, which makes this army in the Jewish population so popular. Palestinians are bitter victims who, deprived of all rights, have to watch helplessly as they rob their land, destroying their homes and making them feel like they are worthless. The Palestinian “does not count and vote”. This also contributed to the fact that fewer and fewer Israeli Palestinians were voting, also thanks to intimidation attempts, such as Likud camera surveillance. The result was then according to the wishes of the Netanyahu regime.

Israel’s policy of annihilation and ethnic cleansing

Remember the Israel Defense Forces t-shirts that featured imprints, such as a pregnant Palestinian woman with a cross hairs over her stomach and the inhuman slogan “One shot, two kills.” As well as the racist slogans of former Justice Minister Shaked, one should kill Palestinians and their “brood”, as well as the racist settlers, “death to the Arabs” and murders that are always hushed up and always remain as good as unpunished.Does it still need stronger evidence that Jewish occupation policy towards the Palestinians is a policy of annihilation and ethnic cleansing?

A recent survey revealed that the majority of Jewish Israelis reject the establishment of a Palestinian state. A majority of 53 percent of this group also rejects conflict resolution based on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside the “Jewish state”. Only a meager 22 percent of Jews still believe in the founding of a Palestinian state. In the meantime, the issue of annexation has gained in importance since Netanyahu made his election pledge to annex parts of the occupied West Bank and not to dissolve a colonial settlement.

“Deal of the Century” to Ramadan?

He summed up this provocation in these words: “I will extend the sovereignty of the ‘Jewish state’ to the West Bank and not differentiate between the settlement blocks and the isolated settlements.” Most of these settlements are in what is known as Area C, which is about 60 percent Palestinian Territory and where about 300,000 Palestinians live.Everything was agreed exactly with the Trump government and, according to US Secretary of State Pompeo, would be in line with the upcoming “Deal of the Century” by Kushner and Greenblatt. This repeatedly announced and now again until after the end of the Muslim month of fasting Ramadan, which takes place this year in early May to early June, delayed deal should be announced thereafter. It almost seems

Since the BDS movement grew stronger and stronger, it became more and more the preferred “Jewish war aim”. Increasingly, attempts are being made to suppress freedom of expression and to suppress facts and truths that discredit the “Jewish state”. For example, the Israel lobby is avoiding sitting down and discussing with activists or Israel critics, as has been suggested so often. Of course, for good reason, because the defeat would be too clear for lack of valid and convincing counter-arguments. It gets even more dangerous if, under pressure from the extremely active pro-Israel lobby in the German parliament, we should proceed with dubious bills against organizations and supporters of BDS or Israel critics.

Punish war crimes and crimes against humanity!

The atrocities committed by decades of occupation by the Zionist regime, the multiple war crimes, child murders, and genocide in Gaza must finally be labeled and punished for what they are: a war crime and a crime against humanity. The international community must finally stand up for freedom of expression and express the unpleasant truth that the “Jewish apartheid state” is not a democracy and must be treated as normally as any other state that carries out an ethnic cleansing policy.

We must not let up in the fight for a free Palestine from the River to the Sea. We must defend ourselves against it if Israel criticism is compulsorily criminalized as anti-Semitism!

 

Originally posted AT

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