ISRAEL’S NEW GOVERNMENT …… APARTHEID OR APARTHEID

April 22, 2020 at 14:19 (Apartheid, Associate Post, Collaboration, Corrupt Politics)

Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu will agree on the goals of Judaization, illegal occupation, annexation and aggressive war politics, thereby keeping their “chosen” racist people happy.

The King of the Occupiers and his General 

Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

 

Just in time for the national day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, two “special” Zionist power politicians misused both the memory of the Holocaust victims and the Covid 19 virus for their own dishonest purposes. While the six million Jews are supposed to stand still for two minutes and the last Holocaust survivors remember the dark days past thanks to strict corona curfews, millions of Palestinians are locked up in their Gaza concentration camp just a few kilometers away. The virus and fear are also spreading to the Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank and in the occupied East Jerusalem, where the only hospital in Jerusalem for the Palestinian population was destroyed by Jewish occupation forces.

Palestinian citizens need empathy

It would have been so important and at the right time that the Jewish population had finally become aware of this suffering and, given this Covid 19 pandemic, they had turned empathetically to the Palestinian citizens and given their own occupation crimes a minute’s silence, as well as face to face von Corona would have seen the connecting thing instead of just complaining about its own inconvenience.

Even the “Auschwitz Minister” did not miss the opportunity to participate in an Israeli online campaign

Even the “Auschwitz Minister” Maas did not miss the opportunity to take part in this online campaign and read out the names of two Holocaust victims from his hometown Saarlouis. How important it would have been for this “committed” German Foreign Minister to remember the many Palestinian victims who have no lobby and no support. April 17 is the day of the prisoners, on which all Palestinians worldwide commemorate the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist occupation custody.

All Palestinians are in a kind of captivity

As author and activist Ramzy Baroud said: While people around the world are celebrating Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, it’s not just the Palestinian prisoners who are currently in Israeli prisons, but all Palestinians are in a kind of captivity. Take Palestinians who were born in the Gaza Strip and have never left Gaza, or Palestinians who live in the so-called “C area” in the occupied West Bank who cannot leave without a Israeli permit and cannot pass a military checkpoint. Likewise, those who live behind the apartheid wall are prisoners. Baroud has just launched his new book “These Chains Will Be Broken”, which portrays Palestinian stories of struggle and resistance in Israeli prisons.

More and more judaism with international help

It is important to also remember the approximately 5,700 Palestinian prisoners, including 200 children, 44 women, 5 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, 27 journalists and 470 administrative prisoners. Of the 700 prisoners who are in poor health, 200 urgently need medical treatment. Detained children are deprived of their most basic rights and face unfair trials and inhumane treatment that violate their fundamental rights. Every day in occupied Jerusalem, dozens of Palestinian children are arrested or detained in their homes and face deportation from their hometown and heavy fines. All of this happens in the “only” democracy in the Middle East,

No politician and no German medium who are constantly committed to the “Jewish occupation state” was and is not worth this row or a measure this terrible state.

When will Zionist torturers stand before German courts?

A good starting point would be the just started trial in Koblenz on state torture in Syria. Two Syrian ex-intelligence officials are on trial there, Anwar R. and Eyad A. are accused of crimes against humanity; they are said to be responsible for torturing numerous people in the Secret Service detention center. These two defendants left Syria in 2014 and 2018 and came to Germany, and they were arrested here in 2019. If an example is to be made of these two accused by genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, wherever the acts were committed, according to the principle of world law – in Germany it is regulated by the International Criminal Code of 2002 – then I ask myself ,

How much further damage can the anti-Semitism officer Klein do?

If Turkey were at stake, a storm of indignation in Germany would have broken out long ago. German media and politicians, especially the Greens and the Left, are demanding sanctions and punitive measures against Turkey and favorite enemy Erdogan. Netanyahu and the “Jewish state” are kept silent and he is spared sanctions. For this, BDS supporters are wrongly disparaged as anti-Semites. Now the Kenyan historian, intellectual, Ernst Bloch, Gera Henkel and Geschwister Scholl award winner Achille Mbembe, who teaches at the South African University of Witwatersrand and was a visiting professor in Cologne last year, was accused by the anti-Semitism commissioner of the Federal Government Felix Klein that he was relativizing the “Holocaust” and questioning Israel’s right to exist, as well as having it without proof, called “activists” of the BDS movement and now wants to prevent Mbembe from giving a lecture at the Ruhrtriennale in August. He is of the embarrassing opinion that this outstanding, internationally recognized scientist would cause “considerable damage” to the Ruhrtriennale.

How much damage can this anti-Semitism officer actually do in Germany? Doesn’t Klein relativize apartheid and occupation crimes with his full support of the “Jewish state”? This man is as unnecessary as his office and should be removed with immediate effect, along with his counterparts who support the Israeli occupation crimes. Incidents of this kind show how urgently we need a racism officer instead of the anti-Semitism officer, whose only job is to ward off criticism of Israel.

Reelected with “Gantz” great help

After the agreement with Gantz, Netanyahu sulkily announced that the government wanted to “save lives” and care for the citizens. After all, thousands of citizens of the “Jewish state” protested against Netanyahu and his anti-democratic measures such as total sealing off and surveillance. These Israeli citizens were ahead of us, as they were allowed to demonstrate, mostly with masks and demonstrating at a safe distance. German citizens, prevented by government decisions and the police, only succeeded after express court rulings. However, there were only small demonstrations with few people and sometimes more than obscure participants and goals.

This grand coalition is a great victory for the corruption-charged Netanyahu against his rival Gantz. One of the biggest disputes was the Likud party’s request for a veto over judicial appointments, for the clear reason that Netanyahu wanted to use his party to do so in the event of a Supreme Court decision refusing him on the expected corruption charges will continue to govern as prime minister or vice. This has now been circumvented by the fact that if Netanyahu came under pressure because of the charges, Gantz would not automatically become prime minister, but that new elections would take place, and Netanyahu had already threatened this. Clever as “Bibi”, he had secured his power and office parallel to the upcoming legal proceedings. This victory across the board enables him to secure the selection of judiciary and lawyers, following the example of friend Trump. There is a glimmer of hope in the Israeli civil rights petition’s petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to curtail this power. They want to prevent Netanyahu from becoming prime minister despite charges of corruption.

Netanyahu and Gantz belong to the International Court of Justice

Benny Gantz, on the other hand, the “opposition leader”, has had his blue-and-white alliance broken freezing cold, a failed challenger who means to get a piece of power. He, who betrayed his central campaign promise never to rule with Netanyahu at the helm, has, as Merez MP Tamar Sandberg tweeted so well, made himself “the doormat of a corruption accused, agitator and racist”. He takes up a pitiful remainder of 17 out of a total of 120 mandates, while Netanyahu and his Likud became the strongest faction with 36 seats. If there were to be elections now, polls for blue and white would result in a pitiful 19 seats and Netanyahu’s Likud would be 40 seats. With Gantz’s decision to turn against Palestinian / Arab voters and prefer to ally themselves with the “devil,”

The farce of a “national emergency government”

The corona crisis enabled both politicians not only to govern with the farce of a “national emergency government”, but also to continue to monitor the locations of all Israelis together with the secret service, thereby establishing even greater power and the total surveillance state. At the same time, according to the coalition agreement, the annexation of the occupied West Bank should begin in July, in line with the US peace plan by Trump and son-in-law Kushner. The majority is rejected by the international community as pure lip service and the annexation is sharply criticized by the EU and Palestinians, which consequently will not prevent the Zionist occupying regime from starting with it. As always and so often before, you can be sure.

Apartheid State of the “Jewish People”

The fatal thing is that the weakness and inaction of the international community of this occupier and apartheid regime, which is deeply linked to nepotism and corruption, can sink further and further into ever new Zionist atrocities that violate international law and are inhumane. Racism is governed by politics, and the majority of Jewish Israelis refuse even the smallest concessions to Arab parties or Palestinians as a betrayal of the “Jewish identity of the state”. It was also a significant milestone when, after the adoption of the nation state law in July 2018, the “Jewish state” finally declared itself as an apartheid state for the rights of the “Jewish people”.

Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, will agree on the goals of Judaization, illegal occupation, annexation and aggressive war politics, thereby keeping their “chosen” racist people happy.

The “Corona Coup” has long since ushered in the dismantling of democracy

This “corona coup” has long since ushered in the dismantling of democracy, in which King Netanyahu and his General Gantz will now take part. Gantz, the upcoming “war minister”, is already pawing his arms as a military to plan Gaza attacks, after joint annexation of the occupied Palestinian country and further attempts to bomb Syria, as was done on Monday, but successfully repelled by Syria. Worse if the Corona virus were used to attack Iran. The virus is believed to offer the best opportunities for populists from Trump to Netanyahu to distract themselves from their difficulties with an army of unemployed and a collapsing economy, to successfully conduct and win election campaigns. German “imitators” should beware.

 

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NELSON MANDELA FOREVER LOVED

February 11, 2020 at 21:51 (Apartheid, South Africa)

Nelson Mandela was released from jail 30 years ago today.

The anti-apartheid revolutionary was imprisoned for 27 years. 4 years after his release, he became South Africa’s first Black president.

This is the legacy of Nelson Mandela politicians don’t want to talk about:

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THE MISDEAL OF THE CENTURY

February 5, 2020 at 11:21 (Apartheid, Associate Post, Collaboration, Corrupt Politics, DesertPeace Exclusive, Illegal Settlements, Israel, Palestine)

The American “Dealer of the Century” has given the Israeli colonial regime a “Deal of the Century”.

Image by Carlos Latuff

The Limitless US Zionist Power

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

 

The American “Dealer of the Century” has given the Israeli colonial regime a “Deal of the Century”. While the German Foreign Minister, “Auschwitz Minister” Maas, is still “testing” this “gift”, every “normal citizen” is now wondering what can be tested if the Palestinians are deprived of all legitimate rights. This so-called “peace plan”, which was developed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, clearly shows everyone’s open contempt for the UN Security Council resolutions, and seamlessly transitions into the US Zionist legal violations with which Trump treated the “Jewish state” “The undivided Jerusalem” as the eternal capital, the holy places of Haram al-Sharif, left under Jewish administration and “sovereignty” over the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Trump is depriving himself of the right to deprive the Palestinians of all rights enshrined in international treaties and conventions, including the legitimate right to return Palestinian refugees to their homes. And like the crimes of the United States, the Israeli war crimes are said to be non-negotiable before the International Criminal Court.

Wild West style: the power of the fittest

In addition, there is a demand elsewhere to protect Israeli or American citizens from Interpol searches and not to have them convicted of non-Israeli or American legal systems. What else does this have to do with a democratic constitutional state? This, of course, also applies to the US position to regard the Jewish settlements on Palestinian land as “not contrary to international law”, which cemented the fact that every Jewish-Israeli demand takes precedence over the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. As in Wild West style, we are dealing with the power of the fittest that undermines the law. International law prohibits the occupying powers from transferring their own people, that is, the Jewish settlers, to the land they occupy.

The demand for Israel to be recognized as a “Jewish state” is also unacceptable and does not correspond to any legal situation. There is nothing to justify that the “return” of Jewish citizens from all over the world is to be legalized, not even by the Holocaust. It is not for nothing that more and more critical Jewish citizens are renouncing this “right”.

The right to justice, equality and dignity is inviolable, that should also be clear to German politicians, who repeatedly refer to the Basic Law and Article 1 “Human dignity is inviolable”, but forget Palestine when it comes to the ” Jewish state “goes. And yet they were trampled on by Trump in consultation with Zionist zealot friend Bibi Netanyahu.

Totally unsuitable vision: to leave the Palestinians “outside” forever

It is therefore not surprising that the patronage policy for the racist “Jewish apartheid state” dominated this “historical moment” in the White House! They were so concerned with themselves and their triumph, intoxicated with their own applause and were so convinced of the success of their completely unsuitable vision of leaving the Palestinians “outside” forever. These also did not exist in the White House – after all, people were so convinced of themselves and the “Jewish people” and their claim to “Judea and Samaria” that Palestine must always have been a “Jewish state”, given by God for this “Chosen” people.

This ruthless disregard for Palestinian life and its rights, and the Trump administration’s reprehensible contempt for civilized human values, in conjunction with the Netanyahu “state terror regime”, fits perfectly into the grid that has been displacing, ethnic, this Zionist regime since its inception Purge, mass murder, collective punishment, illegal occupation, detention without trial and apartheid are all possible.

This behavior shows not only the unbelievability of the United States as a mediator, but also how Trump succumbed to the recent Zionist racism, which was accomplished with the betrayal of the Palestinians. However, it not only brought disgrace to the United States, it also exposed the hypocrisy of the allies in Europe and the Middle East. Their inability and criminal lethargy (Meuse!) To challenge this disgusting abuse of power shows only the confirmation and continuation of the supporting role in the continued persecution and oppression of the Palestinian people by the “Zionist state terrorist regime”.

Combines what belongs together: in intimate “criminal” connection

The announcement of the “Peace Century Deal” coincides with the impeachment proceedings against Trump and the announcement of the formal indictment against Netanyahu for three different cases of corruption. In this way, what belongs together for a long time was united in an intimate “criminal” connection. It was the most shameful and embarrassing Zionist staged action the White House has ever seen and that forever disillusioned an order that had been painstakingly built up after World War II. Among the “standing ovations” by hypocritical “Kippa bearers” and guests such as the “Zocker-König” and “Israel Hayom” owner Adelson, Ambassador Friedman, including Trump’s converted daughter Ivanka and her husband, the “Dealmaker”, real estate speculator and Settler supporters Kushner were completely alone. However, the new US and Zionist friends, the ambassadors of the Arab Gulf States of Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were not missing either. Only one skipped the illustrious meeting: the Saudi Crown Prince and “Kashoggi contract killer” Prince Salman, who just saved the Kushner family from bankruptcy.

What a sad circus event that wants to grant the Palestinians less than a bantustan of apartheid, with an uninhabitable Gaza Strip, parts of the West Bank without Jerusalem, without the Jordan Valley, without sovereignty and viability – and everything designed so that this “hull-state” can never be a state and should never be. A “promised” country, as promised by God, should only exist for the non-existent “Jewish people”, while the real existing Palestinian people are denied any right to life in freedom and self-determination.

This illegal annexation of the Palestinian country, particularly in the illegally occupied West Bank, as well as in Gaza, Jerusalem and actually all over Palestine, in violation of international law and in violation of all UN resolutions, is the “Trump Deal Gift” to the “Jewish.” State ”, which sees itself ever closer in its Zionist dreams, the final solution to Judaism. What else is there to check, Mr. “Auschwitz Minister” Maas? Is that your lesson from “Auschwitz”?

Finally contradict colonialism and apartheid!

This shameful deal is not worth the paper or discussion, just rejection and struggle against it. When will the hypocritical “community of values” finally speak the truth about this deal and contradict colonialism and apartheid, just 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz and even if this time it concerns Jews and descendants of the Holocaust victims as perpetrators?

This terrible plan legitimizes the Jewish-Zionist robbery of the country, which is to be taken away from the indigenous people and real owners. It is inconceivable that the international community, the UN Secretary General Gutierrez, the Pope, these “guardians of morality”, look away and remain silent about this obvious injustice, and even want to examine Mr. Maas?

Unfortunately, at this difficult hour, the Palestinian people have no government to represent them, only the “Abbas Vichy Collaborative Authority”, which only represents their interests for their own benefit and betrays and sells their people. While President Abbas full-bodiedly announced that all relations with the United States and security cooperation with the “Jewish state” would be cut off, this was as unbelievable as so often before. As several Arab and Israeli media – like Radio Kan – reported, the CIA chief Gina Haspel had already traveled secretly to Ramallah on Thursday to meet with Palestinian and Israeli (!) Officials. Their visit came two days after the Trump deal was announced and aimed to explore the reactions and the nature of the further relationship. Haspel did not meet with Abbas, but with Palestinian Intelligence chief Majed Faraj, who confirmed the continued exchange of information with the CIA despite Ramallah’s announced opposition to the U.S. proposal. Those who have such “friends” don’t need enemies.

Enough of the poisoned “Peace Plans from the White” Zionist House “!

This shameful “peace deal” has no other function than the final colonial takeover by the Zionist regime, a continuation of the centuries-old colonialization of Palestine. Finally, even the last doubters realize that the illusion of the “two-state” myth has been shattered and that all fantasies about this solution belong forever in the bin of Zionist propaganda. Did these supporters really think that by recognizing this Zionist entity, they would achieve an absolution that frees them from all responsibility and guilt?

It is high time that the hypocritical community of states, even under pressure and sanctions, compelled the “Jewish state” to recognize international law and the political rights of all people, and to help the Palestinians who live in historic Palestine to have the freedom they have had Is withheld for decades! Apartheid and ongoing crimes against humanity as Zionist rationale must no longer be the Jewish legal norm.

Enough of the poisoned “Peace Plans from the White” Zionist House “. Enough of the poisoned dates from Jewish settlers in the Jordan Valley, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” despite the limitless power of the US Zionists.

A Jew to the Zionist fighters

By Erich Fried

What do you want?

Do you really want to outperform them?

who have trodden you down

before an age

in your own blood

and in your own droppings?

Do you want the old tortures?

pass it on to the others now

with all bloody

dirty details

with all brutal enjoyment

the torturer

like our fathers back then

have suffered?

Now you really want it

be the new Gestapo

the new Wehrmacht

the new SA and SS

and from the Palestinians

do the new Jews?

But then I want too

because I was fifty years ago

even as a child of Jews

was tormented

from your tormentors

to be a new Jew

with these new Jews

that you make the Palestinians into

And I want to help lead them back

as free people

to their own country Palestine

from which you drove them out

 

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THE HOWS AND WHYS OF GERMAN SUPPORT OF ISRAELI APARTHEID

December 4, 2019 at 15:50 (Apartheid, Associate Post, Collective Punishment, DesertPeace Exclusive, Germany, Israel's Shame)

When will German and European governments finally resort to measuring the “Jewish state” with normal standards and judging by democratic practices? 

German State Reason for the Zionist Apartheid State? 

By Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

 

How does Chancellor Merkel intend to explain it during her first visit to Auschwitz on December 6, 2019, that she and her government – given the historical responsibility for the Holocaust and 74 years after the liberation of Auschwitz from the National Socialist concentration and extermination camp by the soldiers of the Red Army – miss any respect when it comes to the permanent break of international law in the “Jewish state”. Does not it respect the respect for international law, as a compelling doctrine from German history, to finally take back the raison d’etat for the security of the “Jewish state”? How can a German government ignore the constant violations of international law simply because they are committed by a Jewish regime, descendants of the victims of the Holocaust? The clear rules, which international law has, Merkel can not simply sweep her “Christian Zionism” under the table. Their “unconditional solidarity” with Israeli “self-defense” as a motive for the murderous attacks and wars make Merkel, as in her entire political career, so hypocritical and implausible that she bears much of the blame for the general and ever-growing political disenchantment .

Respect for the Palestinian people – as the last co-victim of the Holocaust!

For sure, in her speech she will recall Germany’s eternal responsibility for Israel, without mentioning Germany’s long overdue responsibility for illegally occupied Palestine because that does not fit into her philosophical world view. If this Chancellor’s first visit there would be a good chance to finally show respect for the Palestinian people, as the last co-victim of the Holocaust. Personally, I am very sorry that my father Heinz Galinski, who died in 1992, can no longer accompany the chancellor as Auschwitz survivor on this journey, in order to express his life motto after the liberation: “I have not survived Auschwitz to remain silent on new injustice” today’s criminal conditions in the “Jewish state” and in Palestine occupied by it, to shout out there. (1)

Why are all German parties today trying to defend the Jews and the “Jewish state” by all means and to look away in the face of Israeli international crimes and human rights abuses? That runs through all parties from left to right-wing extreme. Does Germany really think that this way kosher? No, it has to be said again and again: The crimes of the Holocaust can not be whitewashed by victim / perpetrator conversion. So why fight the BDS movement like that? Because she holds the mirror in front of these hypocritical politicians and exposes them as accomplices. We have just been successful again A Belgian trade delegation from two regional governments in Israel withdrew, calling for violations of international law and lack of progress in the peace process. Thus, more and more join the boycott, in order to set off their protest against Israel and its methods. (2) (3)

In the meantime, it seems that people are so cool in political circles that they regard the daily news from Israel – air strikes against its sovereign neighbors, civilian casualties, journalist murders or preventive killings, arbitrary expulsions of human rights activists like Omar Shakir – as normal. We get virtually nothing delivered medially, so we do not come to “anti-Semitic” thoughts, such an abstruse idea that causes just the opposite, namely a hatred of the Zionist occupation policy and the constant land grabbing. (4)

Ending Israeli provocations and millionaire propaganda!

Last Sunday, following the arrival of new war minister and settler king Naftali Bennett, another provocation became known, namely that the Netanyahu regime is planning to double the number of settlers in Hebron in the illegally occupied West Bank and to build a new Jewish quarter on the site of the old wholesale market in order to create a territorial connection between the Jewish quarter Avraham Avinu and the patriarch graves in Hebron. Thus, this government once again shows on demand that it is not willing to apply moral standards or international law. Is that, Ms Merkel, really compatible with the raison d’être for you and Germany? (5) (6)

Interestingly, we are currently experiencing the phenomenon that Zionist, as well as Kurdish or Yezidi reports in Germany fall on media and politically fertile ground that have nothing to do with the truth, but only propagate targeted propaganda. For a long time we have known that the “Jewish state” has spent millions of years in scientifically accompanied propaganda, spreading its Zionist Hasbara myths here from paid supporters and agents in the media in blogs, at conferences and, more recently, in universities. There are propaganda tools and guides like Hasbara Toolkits, “The Israel Project,” whole troll armies, or the “Global Language Dictionary,” which offer help so that “Israel supporters” never have to be shy of an answer. In inventing terms and linguistic formulations, it’s amazing how much flowery Hasbara’s name comes to tell her Zionist tales. There are tips on which words to use when it comes to “sensitive” issues such as illegal annexations, land grabbing, deprivation or murder of civilians. (7) (8) (9)

While the US has long since adopted the trumpet as a mediator or partner for Palestinians and unilaterally struck the Jewish and “Christian-Zionist” side and allowed the breach of international law to run its course, Europe would have a duty to oppose this activity it can be measured by his pithy words. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that because neither the EU nor the UN is prepared to seriously oppose this policy. Too strong is the power of the Israel lobby worldwide, and that is the real tragedy for Palestine. When Jimmy Carter published his book “Israel, Palestine, Peace and Apartheid” in November 2006, he was struck by hatred hatred from the Jewish-Israeli side, when he only spoke the word apartheid for the “Jewish State “Had described.

Reveal the sad Israeli reality beyond the splendor!

Meanwhile, a dangerous alliance between dictatorships and alleged democracies has formed – in the common fight against “terror”, which is nothing more than a fight against Muslims and Islam. We read almost every day about the “Jewish state” and its outstanding research, start-ups and a constantly growing high-tech and the defense industry with a model character. While the sad reality beyond the splendor, the bitter poverty of large parts of the population in the “Jewish Sun State”, is concealed by the media. Israel is one of the western capitalist states with the highest poverty rate, much like their US friends. Under Netanyahu and Trump, this condition has worsened dramatically. (12) (13)

Can the “Jewish state” be sure that the propaganda is still accepted, partly out of ignorance and partly out of philosemitic “cuddling”? Again and again the Hasbara understands how to win over gullible citizens. While Palestinians do not have a well-lubricated propaganda lobby, the Jewish community has become more and more media-savvy with its worldwide networks. We are currently seeing them try to get actively involved in the British election campaign and shamelessly defame Labor leader Corbyn as an ineluctable anti-Semite, while Johnson’s Tory party is plunging into Islamophobia, which does not bother the lobby, but encourages it. (14) (15) (16) (17)

It is phenomenal how the Palestinians are portrayed today as militant terrorists and Jews should appear as noble and democratic citizens of a democratic state. While the Palestinians are still suffering under the founding of the state (“Nakba”) on their rampaged land as a result of the Holocaust and their legal resistance is being defamed as terror, Jewish emigres are being misled as peaceful immigrants mystified into their “old homeland”. (18)

Support the right to exist of an undemocratic Judaistic state? No and again no!

Despite the news of countless murdered Palestinian children, the deliberate extermination of entire families, the destruction of civilian facilities and the use of dirty and outlawed weapons, as well as the genocide in the Gaza concentration camp, the “Jewish state” is repeatedly emphasized as a “single” democracy. While we are currently trying to portray Kurds or Armenians as victims, we are being told that the Palestinians themselves are to blame for their fate. Interesting in this context, too, is the cohesion between Kurds and Israel, who, incidentally, act quite similarly in their propaganda machinery. While the Gaza genocide is still a taboo subject in the German parliament and the media, It has made the decision in recognition of an Armenian genocide in the Bundestag. This is a historical shame. (19) (20)

Why has the Jewish “Return Law” never been questioned, allowing any Jew worldwide to immigrate to the “Jewish State” and be granted immediate full citizenship just because he is a Jew? While Palestinians, Muslims and Christians are denied this right of return? Is it possible to support such a right of existence for such an undemocratic Judaistic state? No and again no! Imagine that another state would apply this “Jewish method” and only make Christians, Muslims or anyone else citizens? That would be called rightly “racism”. As long as this theocratic state and its laws do not apply to all its citizens, Israel is a Jewish discrimination and apartheid state that has isolated itself – worse than South Africa ever was, far from all democratic practices. (21)

The “Jewish state” has internalized discrimination as its raison d’être and anchored it in its (in) legal system. So you should think about why the Star of David, the symbol of Jewish oppression in Germany arouses so much respect and respect, rather than wondering what it actually represents: a sign of Jewish occupation, Judaization and ethnic cleansing , One also has to ask why Jewish national and international organizations worldwide use this flag over and over again instead of using the flag of their own country? Have they all become citizens of the “Jewish state” or do they not have a national identity? Which country are they loyal to?

Understand that Israel, as a “Jewish apartheid state”, has forfeited the raison d’être!

When will German and European governments finally resort to measuring the “Jewish state” with normal standards and judging by democratic practices? This “Jewish apartheid state”, which since its founding has always endeavored to consolidate its superiority and “chosenness” with new laws of discrimination and nationality, has long since forfeited the confession of its security as a raison d’être! This should finally be understood by all German politicians, who repeatedly emphasize the propaganda phrases of the “right to exist” for the “Jewish state”, but ignore the right of existence of a Palestinian until today.

footnotes:

(1) https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/zum-todestag-von-heinz-galinski-das-juedische-gewissen-der-nation/6894428.html

(2) https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/mossad-role-israels-war-against-bds-confirmed

(3) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/belgian-officials-boycott-trade-delegation-to-israel-1.8202210

(4) https://www.dw.com/en/omar-shakir-not-not-mouthtot-make/a-51408216

(5) https://www.islamtimes.org/en/news/830223/zionist-war-minister-instructs-to-build-a-new-settlement-in-hebron

(6) https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-jewish-hebron-settlers-ramping-up-urban-renewal-1.8217494

(7) https://en.scribd.com/document/77298173/Israel-s-Hasbara-Toolkit

(8) https://www.transcend.org/tms/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sf-israel-projects-2009-global-language-dictionary.pdf

(9) https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-million-dollar-troll-army/27566

(10) https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/books/review/Bronner.t.html

(11) https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/carter-buch- entsetzt-israelis-and-jimmy-ging-zum-regenbogen-ueber-1.245582

(12) https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-the-real-israel-isn-t-startup-nation-it-s-poverty-row-1.6803924

(13) https://nzzas.nzz.ch/notizen/unterwegs-in-den-usa-im-land-verzweifelten-kinderehe-ld.1352828

(14) https://electronicintifada.net/content/bad-news-jeremy-corbyn/28771

(15) https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/news/108214/muslim-council-britain-accuses-tories

(16) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7738205/Corbyn-says-BBC-biased-saying-Israel-right-exist.html

(17) https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-i-would-vote-jeremy-corbyn-if-i-were-british

(18) https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/palestinians-legal-armed-struggle-170719114812058.html

(19) https://lobelog.com/the-hypocrisy-of-israels-alliance-with-the-kurds/

(20) https://www.hintergrund.de/globales/kriege/kriegsverbrechen-und-genozid-israels-krieg-in-gaza/

(21) https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/israel-finally-ethno-religious-state-180722112753850.html

 

 

Originally posted AT

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DEMOLISHING HOMES INSTEAD OF WALLS

July 22, 2019 at 11:37 (Apartheid, Collective Punishment, Home Demolitions, Israel, Occupation, Palestine)

NOT HOMES!

Israeli forces began Monday demolishing buildings in an East Jerusalem neighborhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority, following a legal challenge to the Defense Ministry-issued order to evacuate apartments deemed too close to the West Bank separation barrier, which runs through the city.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory opinion in 2004 that building the barrier on occupied territory was “contrary to international law.”

Israel Begins Demolition of 70 Homes in Palestinian-controlled East Jerusalem Neighborhood

Forces deploy at dawn days after top court approves order to evict Wadi Hummus residents, in a move activists are concerned sets a precedent to affect thousands

Amira Hass  and Jack Khoury (HaAretz)

Israeli forces began Monday demolishing buildings in an East Jerusalem neighborhood under the control of the Palestinian Authority, following a legal challenge to the Defense Ministry-issued order to evacuate apartments deemed too close to the West Bank separation barrier, which runs through the city.

Israeli and international activists said Israeli forces deployed in the neighborhood at dawn, evacuating one family from one of the buildings, as well as activists who protested the move.

Two hours prior to the demolition, activists say they saw Israel Defense Forces‘ soldiers placing explosives in an eight-stories building set for demolition. Later, the forces removed furniture and vehicles that were parked next to the buildings.

Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher for the left-wing Ir Amim organization, blasted the move, saying: “In the name of the demographic war waged against East Jerusalem residents, the State of Israel is withholding approval of construction plans allowing those residents to legally build within the city.

“Residents who didn’t want to build without a permit, sought a creative solution and were granted construction permits from the Palestinian Authority to build in areas and A and B where Israel doesn’t have any authority concerning construction plans. The Israeli insistence to prevent this solution is a very cruel act,” Tatarsky added.

“I built this house stone by stone. It was my dream to live in this house. Now I am losing everything,” said Fadi al-Wahash, 37, his voice breaking as a bulldozer destroyed his unfinished three-floor house.

“I had a permit to build from the Palestinian Authority. I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said.

Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said 700 police and 200 soldiers were involved.

“Despite an order from the military commander, the residents there are making their own law, building. There are hundreds of illegal structures,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

“To my regret there is no sufficient governance there. But it is not just that there are hundreds of structures there — several dozens of them sit almost on the route of the separation fence, endangering the security forces that operate there.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the Palestinians would complain to the International Criminal Court about the demolitions in Sur Baher.

“The cabinet condemns this grave aggression. This is a continuation of the forced displacement of the people of Jerusalem from their homes and lands — a war crime and a crime against humanity,” Shtayyeh said.

In June, Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled in favor of the demolition of 13 large buildings in the Wadi Hummus neighborhood, located on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

It is on the edge of the Palestinian village of Sur Baher, in southeast Jerusalem. Unlike the rest of the village, this neighborhood lies beyond the city’s municipal boundaries, in the West Bank. Most of the area it occupies is designated as part of Area A – i.e., under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Sur Baher residents say Wadi Hummus is the only area that remains for future expansion of the village, which is surrounded by the fence and Jewish neighborhoods.

The Defense Ministry instructed to demolish some 70 apartments, citing concerns over their proximity to the separation fence, which it said made them a security threat. Two out of the 13 buildings set for demolition are populated with some 17 residents.

Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, and other UN officials called on the Israeli authorities last week to halt the demolition plans. The European Union issued a statement saying: “The continuation of this policy undermines the viability of the two-state solution and the prospect for a lasting peace.”

On Sunday, the court rejected a petition to postpone the demolition, which Palestinian activsts are concerned sets a precedent that will enable the demolition of thousands of buildings across the West Bank, effectively annulling the legal protection residents of other PA-controlled areas have.

“Some families put everything they have to put a roof over their heads, and it’s all being ruined in front of their eyes in this despicable crime committed by Israel,” community organizer Hamada Hamada told Haaretz.

“large forces entered after 2:00 A.M. to the neighborhood, preventing any access to the homes and forcefully removing the residents as well as dozens of activists who were present at the scene, evacuating them while women and children were heard screaming in the background,” Hamada added.

Palestinian officials say some of the threatened structures lie within areas that they should control. The Palestine Liberation Organization issued a statement accusing the Israeli court of aiming “to set a precedent to enable the Israeli occupying forces to demolish numerous Palestinian buildings located in close proximity” to the barrier.

The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement saying that “Israel bears the full responsibility for the dangerous escalation in Sur Baher, which is part of the implementation of the “deal of the century” whose goal is to bury the Palestinian issue.”

According to the statement, Abbas has approached international and Arab officials in order to halt the demolitions.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said “We will not renounce our lands, and everything that was demolished will be rebuilt.”

“The demolition is an implementation of the Bahrain conference and we have thousands of documents and petitions filed to the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel,” he said in reference to the economic peace conference in Bahrain sponsored by the United States that took place in June.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said “The demolition of buildings in Sur Baher by the authorities of the occupation is a despicable crime, which is a direct result of the Bahrain Conference and the warm relationship between Israel and some Arab nations.”

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on Monday, but a statement last week by Israel’s military-run civil administration in the West Bank said enforcement would be pursuant to “operational considerations” and “state policy.”

The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory opinion in 2004 that building the barrier on occupied territory was “contrary to international law.”

Israel dismissed the non-binding decision as politically motivated and says the barrier played a key role in drastically reducing the number of attacks, which peaked in 2002 and 2003 during the Second Palestinian uprising known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

The West Bank separation barrier, which was being built since 2003, was intended to pass through Sur Baher, but its route was changed due to residents’ campaign.Thus Wadi Hummus ended up on the Israeli side of the barrier, although legally it part of the West Bank and under the PA’s authority.

Many buildings were erected in the neighborhood over the last decade or so, most occupied by young couples and families from the village. The buildings set for demolition have some 100 apartments, 20 of which are tenanted and the rest are under construction.

Building permits for the construction were issued by the PA’s planning ministry. However, seven years ago, the Israel Defense Forces Central Command issued an injunction banning construction of buildings within 250 meters of the separation barrier.

Locals say the order was not publicized and they had no knowledge of it, and that in any case, it is the PA that has planning authorization in the area.

More photos and videos at SOURCE

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THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ASSURES A VICTORY FOR APARTHEID IN ISREAL

April 8, 2019 at 15:43 (Apartheid, Israeli Elections)

Around 100 members of the next Knesset will be supporters of apartheid. This has no precedent in any democracy. A hundred out of 120 legislators, an absolute of absolute majorities, one that supports maintaining the current situation, which is apartheid.

The Hadash-Balad-United Arab List is the closest to advocating a one-state solution, the only left solution

Elections 2019: Who will Israel choose?

Israel Is Voting Apartheid

There will be one certain result from Tuesday’s election: Around 100 members of the next Knesset will be supporters of apartheid. This has no precedent in any democracy. A hundred out of 120 legislators, an absolute of absolute majorities, one that supports maintaining the current situation, which is apartheid.

With such a majority, it will be possible in the next Knesset to officially declare Israel an apartheid state. With such support for apartheid and considering the durability of the occupation, no propaganda will be able to refute the simple truth: Nearly all Israelis want the apartheid to continue. In the height of chutzpah, they call this democracy, even though more than 4 million people who live alongside them and under their control have no right to vote in the election.

Of course, no one is talking about this, but in no other regime around the world is there one community next to another where the residents of one,  referred to as a West Bank settlement, have the right to vote, while the residents of the other, a Palestinian village, don’t. This is apartheid in all its splendor, whose existence nearly all the country’s Jewish citizens want to continue.

A hundred Knesset members will be elected from slates referred to as either right-wing, left-wing or centrist, but what they have in common surpasses any difference: None intend to end the occupation. The right wing proudly says so, while the center-left resorts to futile illusions to obscure the picture, listing proposals for a “regional conference” or “secure separation.” The difference between the two groupings is negligible. In unison, the right and left are singing “say yes to apartheid.”

As a result, this election is so unimportant, so far from crucial. So let’s cut the hysteria and the pathos over the outcome. Neither civil war nor even a rift is in the offing. The people are more united than ever, casting their vote for apartheid. Whatever Tuesday’s results may be, the country of the occupier will remain the country of the occupier. Nothing defines it better than all the other marginal issues, including the Zehut party’s campaign to legalize marijuana.

So there’s no reason to hold our breath over Tuesday’s results. The election is lost in advance. For the country’s Jews, it will shape the tone, the level of democracy, the rule of law, the corruption in which they live, but it won’t do a thing to change Israel’s basic essence as a colonialist country.

The far right wants the annexation of the West Bank, a step that would make permanent in law a situation that has long been permanent in practice. Such a step would present a tempting advantage. It would finally rip off Israel’s mask of democracy and might finally generate opposition both in the country and abroad.

But no person of conscience can vote for the fascist right wing, which includes people who advocate the expulsion of the Palestinians or the construction of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount, the destruction of the mosques there, or who even dream about extermination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allegedly more moderate Likud party wishes only to maintain the current situation, meaning undeclared apartheid.

The center-left seeks to engage in deception, with not a word about an end to the occupation from either Kahol Lavan or Labor, or even about lifting the blockade on the Gaza Strip. Benny Gantz’s party has ambitious plans for a regional conference, making history, and “deepening the process of separation from the Palestinians along with uncompromisingly maintaining … the Israeli army’s freedom of action everywhere.”

It has been a long time since such a document whitewashing the occupation has been written in all its disgrace. And the Labor Party isn’t lagging behind. The most daring step it’s proposing is a referendum on the refugee camps around Jerusalem in which only Israel’s would vote, of course.

And that comes on top of well-worn declarations about settlement blocs, Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and a halt to settlement construction outside the blocs, meaning continuing settlement construction with full force. “Paths toward separation,” this party, the self-righteous founder of the settlement enterprise, calls it. Paths toward deception.

Peace? Withdrawal? Dismantling settlements? Don’t make the Zionist left laugh. Not much is left, two and a half tickets, the fringe: Meretz and Hadash-Ta’al, which support a two-state solution — that faltering train that has already left the station — and Balad-United Arab List, which is closest to advocating a one-state solution, the only solution left.

Vote apartheid.

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THE WALLS CAME A TUMBLING DOWN IN PALESTINE

February 28, 2019 at 15:40 (Apartheid, Israel's Shame, Occupation, Palestine)

Mightier than Joshua

A part of the separation barrier in the Shoafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem collapsed on Wednesday due to stormy weather.

Jerusalem Separation Barrier Falls After Storm, Residents Celebrate

Residents of Shoafat refugee camp celebrated the incident, which happened in the same area last year and in 2013

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APARTHEID CAUGHT ON VIDEO

February 13, 2019 at 13:44 (Apartheid, Israel, Occupied West Bank, Palestine)

A trip down Israel’s new Apartheid Road

Last month, Israel opened what has been dubbed by locals and activists as the ‘Apartheid Road’. The four-lane highway features two separate roads divided by a concrete wall – one for Israeli settlers and the other for Palestinians.While the Israeli lane allows settlers quick and easy access to the center of Jerusalem, the Palestinian lane is designed to separate Palestinians off through an underpass, diverging to different areas of the West Bank. Despite Israeli claims that the road “eases traffic congestion” for both Palestinians and Israelis, locals maintain that it is just another step by authorities to further divide the occupied Palestinian territory.

Video by: Yumna Patel

Saleh Zghari

Ahmad al-Bazz

 

Source

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BLOCKING APARTHEID

January 24, 2019 at 14:10 (Activism, Apartheid, Israel's Shame, Occupation, Palestine)

While the Israeli lane allows settlers quick and easy access to the center of Jerusalem, the Palestinian lane is designed to separate Palestinians off through an underpass, diverging to different areas of the West Bank.

Protesters blockade the entrance to the ‘Apartheid Road’ in the West Bank on January 23, 2019 (Photo: PSCC, Facebook)

‘No to Apartheid’: Palestinian activists blockade entrance to Israel’s new ‘Apartheid Road’

Yumna Patel 

Over a dozen Palestinian activists, along with Israeli and international supporters, blockaded the entrance to Israel’s new ‘Apartheid Road’ in the central occupied West Bank district of Jerusalem on Wednesday morning.

The group of activists closed the gates to the newly opened road and formed a human chain, raising banners in Arabic, English, and Hebrew saying “No to Apartheid” and “No to Annexation.”

Israeli forces arrived to the scene, which is located adjacent to an Israeli military base, shortly after the activists closed the road and attempted to forcibly remove them.

Two protesters were arrested and at least four others were injured. One of the detained protesters was identified as Ibrahim Musalem, from the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Palestinian activist Munther Amira, who participated in the protest, said “any shame the [Israeli] Occupation may have had of its apartheid policies is now completely gone with this road. We must not and will not allow for their plan of ethnic cleansing in the outskirts of Jerusalem.”

Israeli authorities opened the ‘Apartheid Road’ or ‘Eastern Ring Road’ earlier this monthto widespread Palestinian and international criticisms.

The four-lane highway features two separate road divided by a concrete wall – one for Israeli settlers and the other for Palestinians.

While the Israeli lane allows settlers quick and easy access to the center of Jerusalem, the Palestinian lane is designed to separate Palestinians off through an underpass, diverging to different areas of the West Bank.

In a statement regarding the protest, the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) criticized Israel’s plans to expand the road to the south, saying it would “further entrench the two separate and unequal systems of transportation in the West Bank.”

The road is a key infrastructural part of implementing Israel’s ‘Greater Jerusalem’ or ‘E1’ plan, which seeks the de facto annexation of the three settlement blocs adjacent to Jerusalem city – Gush Etzion to the South, Ma’ale Adumim/E-1 to the east and Givat Ze’ev to the north.

If implemented, the southern West Bank would be completely cut off from the north, making a future contiguous Palestinian state nearly impossible.

More photos at SOURCE 

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WHEN APARTHEID IS NOT ENOUGH RACISM MUST BE INTENSIFIED

January 15, 2019 at 14:16 (Apartheid, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Racism)

One of the most dangerous aspects about regimes of colonial oppression is that they strive to occupy the mind of the oppressed, not just their land.

Defying Racism: A Palestinian musician’s ordeal at Ben Gurion Airport

Nai Barghouti

I left our family home on Monday January 7, 2019, at 9:30 am to be at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, at 10:30 am to catch my 12:45 pm flight to Amsterdam, where I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree in music.

Before packing my suitcase the night before, I made a packing list to make sure I didn’t forget anything. I managed to cross everything off the list and be at the airport on time. But there was one thing I forgot to write down… one very important detail that I simply forgot to think about… I am Palestinian!

Like all Palestinians carrying Israeli citizenship and living under Israel’s regime of apartheid, I always have a bad feeling about going to the airport, and this time was no exception. The flu I caught a night before did not help either. My mother, who drove me to the airport, was really worried about a military checkpoint on the way that could make me miss my flight, but we got “lucky” this time.

A colonial military occupation, brutalizing you for so many years, can really mess up your expectations. Crossing a military roadblock starts giving you this strange feeling of achievement. Your basic human rights become a privilege rather than the norm, and that becomes the new norm.

One of the most dangerous aspects about regimes of colonial oppression is that they strive to occupy the mind of the oppressed, not just their land.

We arrived at the airport, and I was trying to convince my mother not to wait for me to finish the dehumanizing “security” check like she always does. While I always love to see her face at a distance, behind the thick glass, waiving her reassuring hand, I really hate to see her angrily but helplessly observe the racist Israeli security officials trying to humiliate me just because of who I am—a Palestinian. I begged her to leave, but she insisted: “I can’t just leave you in this horrible place. You never know what happens.” She was right!

My Arabic name on my passport immediately gave away my identity, inviting their “royal” treatment. When the security officer asked me whether I spoke Hebrew and I said no, her anger was visible. When she asked me what I was doing in Amsterdam and I answered that I was studying jazz, she could no longer contain her racist vibes. How could I so bluntly destroy her bigoted stereotype of “Arab women”? She told me I had to undergo an intrusive “body search.”

I immediately accused her of racism, of racial profiling and of being vengeful against me because of who I am and what I do. She shouted back that she was doing her job. I reminded her that many unspeakable crimes in history have been perpetrated under that immoral excuse.

She took her revenge by claiming that my laptop did not pass her security check and therefore cannot go with me on the plane. This is despite the fact that she asked me to open it and turn it on, which I did successfully. She said they would send it by mail to my address in Amsterdam. I laughed at her audacity and objected strongly. I know from my own experience, and from other Palestinians’ experiences, that leaving your laptop with Ben Gurion airport security invariably means it will be hacked, damaged or “lost.”

I told her that I cannot travel without my laptop as all my music and lecture notes are on it and without that I cannot go to any of my classes.

Her supervisor supported her vindictive decision, so I was forced to miss my flight. I took my laptop and walked out to where my mother was anxiously waiting. She greeted me with the warmest of hugs and a few tears and said, “Don’t worry about a thing, we’ll find a solution. I am so proud of you!”

The next day, she drove me to the land crossing with Jordan. After spending a lovely night with family in Amman, enjoying my great-aunt’s famous white cheese and spinach pies, I traveled through the welcoming Amman airport and arrived in Amsterdam safe, with my laptop and with my dignity intact.

As furious as I am at the Israeli security officer’s ugly racism and vengefulness, I felt slightly bad for her. Despite her best efforts to humiliate me, I shall go on resisting her state’s racism and apartheid with my music, and one day I may actually make a difference in my people’s struggle for liberation. She, however, will continue to search Palestinians’ underwear, to lie about our laptops not passing security checks, and to be an insignificant tool of a system of racist oppression.

As I was about to get out of the airport, I raised my voice to make sure my finale reaches as many people in the airport as possible. “You know what is very close to Amsterdam? The Hague. One day, you and your leaders will be prosecuted for crimes at the International Criminal Court there.”

She remained silent and looked down, and I walked out with a smile, my head held up high, and saw mama’s hand still waiving.

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APARTHEID BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL APARTHEID

January 13, 2019 at 15:18 (Apartheid, Illegal Settlements, Israel's Shame, Occupied West Bank, Palestine)

Israel opened a new road in the central occupied West Bank on Thursday with an eight-meter wall separating Palestinian and Israeli traffic, leading many to deem the route “Apartheid Road.”

Image by Latuff

Israel’s new ‘Apartheid Road’ separates Palestinian and Israeli drivers with 8-meter wall

 Yumna Patel

Israel opened a new road in the central occupied West Bank on Thursday with an eight-meter wall separating Palestinian and Israeli traffic, leading many to deem the route “Apartheid Road.”

The road connects the illegal Geva Binyamin Settlement, southeast of Ramallah, to Route 1, a major highway that runs through the West Bank and into Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

The new 5-kilometer Route 4370, also known as the “Easter Ring Route” is a four lane route: two lanes for Israeli settlers travelling from the West Bank into Jerusalem, and two lanes circumventing around the borders of Jerusalem for Palestinians with West Bank IDs.

The Israeli-accessible portion of the road is currently only operating between 5am and noon, but will be fully opened as of January 10th, Israeli media reported.

While Israeli media have reported that Palestinians with Jerusalem IDs or Israeli citizenship would be allowed to use the Israeli-side of the road to travel from Jerusalem to the West Bank, heightened security and a new checkpoint along the road have led to speculation that Palestinians, no matter what ID they carry, will be subject to discrimination by Israeli border police who man the checkpoint.

There are dozens of segregated and settler-only roads across the occupied Palestinian territory, but Route 4370 is the first of its kind to have a wall — half concrete, half fence — separating Palestinians from Israelis.

Israeli authorities have said the road is meant to ease traffic congestion at the Hizma checkpoint north of Jerusalem, and have even claimed the road offers “a solution for all populations, Israeli and Palestinian.”

Israel’s Public Security Minister called he road “an example of the ability to create a shared life between Israelis and Palestinians, while dealing with the existing security challenges.”

Palestinian officials and activists on the other hand have condemned the road as an example of Israeli apartheid and racism against Palestinians.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry slammed the new road as “emphasizing Israel’s approach aiming to undermine prospects for geographical and demographic contiguity of the West Bank.”

The Times of Israel quoted PA Transportation Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Hamdan as saying that “all roads in the State of Palestine should be accessible to Palestinians. This new road is absolutely unacceptable and embodies barefaced discrimination against the Palestinian people.”

Years in the making

The ‘Apartheid Road’ has been years in the making, and according to rights groups, and is about much more than just easing traffic for settlers traveling to Jerusalem.

The road is a key infrastructural part of implementing Israel’s ‘Greater Jerusalem’ or ‘E1’ plan, which seeks the de facto annexation of the three settlement blocs adjacent to Jerusalem city – Gush Etzion to the South, Ma’ale Adumim/E-1 to the east and Givat Ze’ev to the north.

If implemented, the southern West Bank would be completely cut off from the north, making a future contiguous Palestinian state nearly impossible. It would essentially see the Israeli municipal boundaries of Jerusalem extend to the boundaries of Jericho.

Palestinian cartographer Khalil al-Tafakji warned Palestinian media outlets that opening the new road serves as a “prelude to displacing Palestinians from the area and starting settlement construction in the so-called E1 corridor”.

Israeli NGO Ir Amim said in a press release that the road was the “brainchild” of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and was designed to “solve the dilemma of E-1 splitting the West Bank into northern and southern enclaves by using road infrastructure to preserve a semblance of contiguity between Ramallah and Bethlehem.”

By allowing Palestinians to still navigate between Ramallah and Bethlehem — in a very indirect manner —  while diverting them from both the E-1 area and Jerusalem, the road eliminates a significant Palestinian presence.

Ir Amim says the opening of the road should be cause for “heightened vigilance,” and that while routing Palestinian traffic away from Jerusalem and E-1, the new road also “affords two key benefits for Israelis: 1) expediting traffic flow to Jerusalem for settlers from the Ramallah area and 2) enabling expansion of the settlement bloc around Ramallah.”

“While legislative initiatives like the Greater Jerusalem Bill and other plans designed to redraw the boundaries of the city may be stalled, infrastructure projects have already proven an effective tool for increasing connectivity between the blocs and the city, not only by solidifying physical linkages but also by eroding the boundaries of the city in the Israeli public consciousness,” the group said.

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BIRTHRIGHT GIVES YOUNG JEWS THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT

December 24, 2018 at 14:56 (Apartheid, Israel's Shame)

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

Image by Carlos Latuff

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

Philip Weiss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Batya Ungar-Sargon of the Forward writes:

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

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WELCOME TO CHANUKAH APARTHEID

December 5, 2018 at 13:38 (Apartheid, Corrupt Politics, Israel's Shame)

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

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

Israeli mayor swears to keep his city Jewish

Yossi Beilin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image by Carlos Latuff

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NOW IT’S ILLEGAL TO BEAUTIFY APARTHEID

July 29, 2018 at 11:38 (Apartheid, Israel's Shame, Palestine, People's Art)

The irony continues …..

First read THIS post

Palestinian officials said Israeli border police arrested the two artists who crafted the large painting, now on display at a separation barrier in Bethlehem

Artists painting a mural depicting Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi. AFP

Israel Arrests Italian Artists Who Painted a West Bank Mural of Ahed Tamimi

Israeli border police on Saturday arrested two Italian graffiti artists who were painting a mural of a jailed Palestinian teenager, Ahed Tamimi, on the Israeli separation barrier in Bethlehem in the West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.

Tamimi, now 17, was sent to prison for assault after being filmed kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier late last year, when she was 16. She is due to be released on Sunday.

Tamimi became a heroine to Palestinians after the Dec. 15 incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral.

An Israeli police spokesman did not return a call for comment.

The Palestine Liberation Organization said on Twitter that Israeli forces had arrested the two Italian artists and a Palestinian who was with them.

 

SOURCE

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‘LIBERAL’ ZIONISM IN DEFENSE OF APARTHEID

July 24, 2018 at 12:46 (Apartheid, Israel, zionism)

I have always maintained that there is no such thing as a ‘liberal zionist’ …. Here’s proof of that.

But the truth is, the Nation State bill is not overturning the applecart. In fact, it’s reaffirming some of the key ideas that always lay at the heart of the Zionist project, bringing about the correct balance of “Jewish” and “democratic” that has always been the secret sauce that makes Israel work.

Watch this short video prepared by Rabbi Brant Rosen

On the Fallacy of “Liberal Zionism”

Everything You’ve Heard About Israel’s Nation State Bill Is Wrong

David Hazony

Israel’s new Nation State Law, which passed last week with the aim of affirming the country’s Jewish character, has come under considerable fire.

The new legislation is made up of mostly symbolic declarations that reaffirm the symbolism, calendar, and meaning of the “Jewish State.”

And it took about eleven seconds before critics went ballistic.

Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of Knesset and the former aide to PLO leader Yasser Arafat, declared “with shock and sorrow the death of democracy.” He was joined in his condemnation by other opposition members who shouted “Apartheid!” as they tore up the law defiantly. The chief legal counsel of ACRI, the Israeli equivalent of the ACLU, agreed. “This is a racist law,” he pronounced.

Nor was the umbrage limited to Israeli activists. The New York Times published no fewer than four different pieces, each more critical than the last.

While the Times stopped short of calling the bill racist, one of its pieces opened with an outright falsity, claiming that the law declared that “only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country”— when in fact the law explicitly says “national self-determination,” something entirely different from individual freedoms (more on that later).

In its main coverage of the new legislation, New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief David Halbfinger gestured towards a different, widespread criticism of the bill, casting the bill as just another step in Israel’s inexorable march into darkness.

“Wrapping up its business before a long summer recess, the right-wing, religious coalition that rules Israel’s Parliament moved aggressively this week to push through its polarizing agenda, piling up points at the expense of its already weakened foes,” he wrote.

But the truth is, the Nation State bill is not overturning the applecart. In fact, it’s reaffirming some of the key ideas that always lay at the heart of the Zionist project, bringing about the correct balance of “Jewish” and “democratic” that has always been the secret sauce that makes Israel work.

And a closer look at the criticism the bill has engendered will reveal it to be nothing more than prefabricated outrage from Israeli opposition parties, American Jewish liberals, and the usual chorus of anti-Zionists and anti-Semites.

To be sure, each of these groups have different core interests and each believes different things. But all have become totally reflexive in their rejection of anything coming out of the current government. It is, in fact, hard to imagine that in the current political climate, there could have been any version of the Nation State bill coming from this government that would not have set off alarms.

Before diving in, a note about who this article is for, and who it’s not for. If you have been vociferously denouncing the law but have not read it yet (it’s a quick read); if you believe it doesn’t matter what’s in the law because its passage by a Right-Wing Israeli Government qualifies it for your fury; if you are receiving a salary or other compensation to criticize Israel; or if you simply despise Israel—this piece is not for you.

But if you’re a fair-minded person who’s troubled by the noise surrounding the law, or if you’ve read it but don’t understand why it needed to be passed, I have a lot to tell you.

o, what’s actually in the law? When you look more closely, it’s really not very controversial — or at least, it shouldn’t be.

Most mundanely, it ratifies the Hebrew calendar as the official holiday schedule of the State of Israel and it establishes Independence Day, Memorial Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day as holidays, too. It also reaffirms Israel’s special connection to diaspora Jewry. None of this is new.

Among its more talked-about provisions, however, was the clause about the Hebrew language, which for the first time was made into Israel’s sole official language, a status it has shared with Arabic up til now.

Critics have said that in the new bill, Arabic has been “demoted.” And at a highly abstract level, they are right.

And yet, the law is careful to clarify that the Arabic language will not only be granted “special status,” but also that “this clause does not harm the status given to the Arabic language before this law came into effect.”

Now, the primacy of Hebrew in the Jewish State is an obvious matter, and has been since Israel’s inception. It is the language of public discourse, of Knesset deliberations (including speeches of Arab members of Knesset), of the nightly news, of the culture, of the courts, of university classes, and of the laws themselves. Ratifying this is something quite ordinary, which democratic countries like Spain and France have done long ago.

Furthermore, the clarifying clause makes it impossible for the demotion of Arabic to be anything other than symbolic. To turn this into “the end of democracy” is nonsense.

Similarly offensive to critics was the clause according to which “The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.”

This, too, is almost synonymous with the very idea of a Jewish state. What could a right of “national” self-determination to non-Jewish communities inside Israel possibly mean other than ending the Jewish state as such?

More to the point, what democratic country on earth offers national self-determination to twenty percent of its citizens? With few and minor exceptions, the U.S. gives no minorities any such right. In Israel, such a right is something the Jewish majority has never granted and never promised, and never could have or should have, since day one.

This clause is not a violation of democratic principle, much less “racist” or “Apartheid,” so long as individual rights continue to be guaranteed. And they are, through the other Basic Laws that make up Israel’s constitutional reality.

Similarly baffling were objections to the law’s determination that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel.” No doubt, in the context of today’s politics, anything about Jerusalem smells like jumping on the Trump-Bibi bandwagon.

Yet there is nothing at all new in it. The hope that some may have of internationalizing the Western Wall or dismantling the sprawling urban neighborhoods of Gilo and Pisgat Ze’ev has never been more than a fantasy.

At the same time—and this is crucial—the law does not define Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, thereby leaving fully open the possibility that, when the geopolitical time is right, major Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem like Isawiyyeh, Silwan, or Jabel Mukkaber could become part of a future Palestinian State by simply redefining the city’s map.

What many in the West fail to understand is the role that Jerusalem has played in Israel’s self-definition since well before the Six Day War that led to the city’s unification under Israeli rule. There’s a reason why the IDF risked a lot to take the strategically unimportant eastern Jerusalem in 1967, and why Jerusalem, but not the West Bank, was effectively annexed in 1980.

Naomi Shemer’s song “Jerusalem of Gold”—one of the most iconic songs in Israeli history—became popular before the city was reunified. Regardless of international recognition, and in the face of global disregard, Israel declared Jerusalem its capital within two years of its independence, and has insisted on it ever since.

Finally, critics were angered by the bill’s declaration that “Jewish settlement” be “a national value” that the state will continue to promote.

Once again, distilling reality from projected fear is crucial here. The word being translated as “settlement” is hityashvut, which to any Israeli ear refers more to the Galilee and the Negev and the history of building new Jewish communities a century ago across the country than it does to the West Bank.

Yes, it is true that a major coalition partner, The Jewish Home, would love to claim a victory for the settlers of Judea and Samaria; that’s politics. But it’s the courts, not the politicians, who will interpret the law; and there is nothing in the phrasing that even hints at the West Bank; historically charged terms such as “in the Land of Israel” are nowhere to be found.

Again, you can decide that Jews should never have been encouraged to settle in their historic homeland, and the idea of a place on earth that continues to encourage it—even offering them citizenship and financial benefits for doing so—is something you can’t live with.

But then you really shouldn’t call yourself a Zionist, or even a supporter of Israel, in any meaningful sense. Building a Jewish homeland—through sovereignty, through culture, and through settlement—has always been the core purpose of the country. Should it really not appear in its Basic Laws?

Nor does anything in the law make Israel unusual for a European-style democracy. France, a country that granted equal rights to all a century before America freed its slaves, nonetheless has a single national language. The United Kingdom has an established church, as well as a hereditary monarchy. Germany will put you in prison if you deny the Holocaust.

Limits on pristine and abstract rights, especially the right to feel equally central to the narrative of the democracy in which you live, are acceptable because they are limited, and because people are complicated and human, with a real history that inevitably influences the core principles of their social contract.

Even democracies have a right to enshrine in law the things that make them unique.

To suggest that Israel alone shouldn’t be allowed to is self-evidently absurd, and smells a lot more like political noise-making than honest criticism.

It’s true that Israel’s Nation State law was passed by a right-leaning national government. But a much more meaningful way to look at it is in its historical and constitutional context.

This law has been in the works at least since the early 2000s, a time when two major forces arose that threatened the Zionist project as it was historically understood. The first was the rise of “post-Zionism,” a small but passionate intellectual-political movement that explicitly repudiated the idea of a “Jewish state” and sought to transform the country into a “state of all its citizens” by stripping it of any connection to Jewish history, peoplehood, or symbolism.

The second, more important factor was the “constitutional revolution” led by then-Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, which recognized earlier Basic Laws as having constitutional status, and which culminated in the passing of two new Basic Laws (Basic Law Human Dignity and Liberty, and Basic Law: Freedom of Employment) that established the core rights of Israeli citizens, Jewish or not.

These basic laws were not at all a bad thing. The fact is, Israel is both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy, and basic freedoms must be protected for all.

But defenders of Zionism correctly noted that such laws would have to be balanced with similar protections of Israel’s flag and anthem and the original vision of the country as not just a refuge for oppressed Jews but also as the embodiment of the aspirations of the Jewish people.

Much of what we see in the law is the direct result of the big debates that happened back then—debates I was directly involved in.

The bottom line is that Israel is the Jewish State, and this law tells us what that means, just as other Basic Laws tell us what goes into its democratic foundations.

You can freely dislike the idea of an ethnically or historically based democracy for a specific people. But know that it’s not fascism, it’s not the rise of ethno-national-populist-alt-right-MAGA-Bannonism. That’s just a category error—one that a lot of people really want you to make right now.

Israel’s Nation state bill reflects rather, the constitutional reality of nearly every European democracy, and European democracy has always been a little different from American democracy.

If you have any interest in understanding what’s really a fascinating and historic development in a country far away, the one I actually live in, tune out the noise.

1 Comment

ISRAEL IS OFFICIALLY DIVIDED BY LAW

July 22, 2018 at 17:09 (Apartheid)

The ‘Only Democracy’ in the Middle East has changed its tune officially

Image by Latuff


 

Israel's nation-state law

2 Comments

THREE AGAINST TWO MILLION …. AND YET THEY ARE WINNING

July 22, 2018 at 15:58 (Apartheid, Associate Post, Collaboration, Collective Punishment, Israel's Shame, Oppression, Palestine)

In a Washington Post article on Thursday 19 July, President Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East advisor Jared Kushner, US Zionist Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and special Mideast adviser Jason Greenblatt, another ardent Zionist,  sought to overlook Israel’s  real crimes against humanity inflicted repeatedly  on  some two million helpless Palestinians languishing under a Nazi-like siege imposed and maintained by Israel.

 

Image by Marina Grechanik.

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Khalid Amayreh responds to the Three Zionist shapers of  Trump’s Palestine policy 
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In a Washington Post article on Thursday 19 July, President Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East advisor Jared Kushner, US Zionist Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and special Mideast adviser Jason Greenblatt, another ardent Zionist,  sought to overlook Israel’s  real crimes against humanity inflicted repeatedly  on  some two million helpless Palestinians languishing under a Nazi-like siege imposed and maintained by Israel.
 
The three Zionist supremacists, whose loyalty is first and foremost to international Zionism and only second to   Donald Trump,  accused the Palestinian Islamic Resistance group, Hamas, of producing “misery for the people of Gaza”, saying that unless Hamas unilaterally recognized Israel, abided by previous agreements and renounced resistance to Israeli aggression “there is no good option.” The trio, who ostensibly adopt the political views of the Israeli far right, including the Jewish settlement movement, offered to give humanitarian aid to Palestinians in return for recognizing Israel and terminating all forms of resistance to the Israeli occupation army.
 
 The 11-year draconian siege is apparently meant to punish Gazans for electing Hamas which refuses to recognize Israel for religious and moral reasons.
 
This writer is thoroughly familiar with a long list of US diplomats and peace envoys to the Middle East  ever since William Rogers who initiated the Rogers’ peace plan  in the late 1960s, which Israel rejected. But frankly I have never  been affronted by such brazenly and fanatically one-sided diplomats who so shamelessly adopt the manifestly fascist views of the Israeli right while pretending to maintain a semblance of neutrality between Israel and her enduring victims.
 
 The trio seem, at least from this writer’s vantage point, so lacking in rectitude and scandalously ignorant of the basic issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict We are talking about a group of  ideological fanatics who tend to think  the 100-year conflict began yesterday. For example, they miserably fail to understand that the almost desperate but determined Palestinian resistance to unmitigated Israeli oppression is made inevitable by incessant Israeli aggression as well as concerted efforts to subjugate and humiliate one of the most ancient peoples of the Middle East whose only “crime” is its resilient quest for freedom and independence..  Kushner, Greenblat and Freidman simply don’t know that the Palestinians are putting up a last-ditch defense for their very survival in the face of powerful and immensely callous Zionist movement which succeeded in having the US government at its beck and call.
  
Kushner and Grerenblat, it is manifestly clear, are accustomed to dealing with corrupt Arab despots who have little moral credibility  and who  virtually view America as their God on Earth. Well, Gentlemen, I have some news for you:  There are Arabs of a different mantle who are not eager to be America’s puppets or agents.
 
The three morally bankrupt Zionist officials urged Hamas to recognize Israel just like other Arab countries in the region did. Well, since when were these undemocratic and grossly dictatorial entities a role model for the Palestinian people to adopt, emulate or imitate?
 
Moreover, the three Jewish-American diplomats conveniently forgot to tell us which Israel they were asking us to recognize? Is it Israel according to the UN partition plan of 1947? Is it Israel with the pre-`1967? Is it Israel with Jerusalem and the Haram Sharif? Or, indeed, is it Greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates?
 
More to the point, the three Zionist fanatics shamelessly demanded that Hamas  ought to recognize Israel, even  in the absence of  a reciprocal Israeli recognition of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian  state with East Jerusalem as its capital!
 
As we all remember, the PLO did recognize Israel in the context of the hapless Oslo Agreement. And we saw and endured (actually continue to endure) the bitter harvest of that scandal called the Oslo Accords. Hence the question: Must we repeat  the same blunder to appease and  please Israel firsters?
 
The PLO gave Israel everything the Zionist state demanded. It gave Israel  a free  and solemn recognition, it gave up legitimate armed resistance which is perfectly lawful under international law. It gave up our national honor and dignity, all in order to demonstrate our good will and sincere commitment to peace. And what did we get from Israel in return? Well, we got  150 new colonies, and a police state without a state called the Palestinian Authority.. 
 
As to Israel itself, it has been growing bolder and bolder in denying us our most  basic rights as human beings living in our ancestral homeland.
 
It would be misleading to think that the Nazificaion of Israel has been consummated and completed with the adoption by the Israeli Knesset  of the so-called Nationality Bill into a law.  Nay! Much is still coming up, and just as the Nuremburg laws in Nazi Germany were only a stage, the Nationality Law will be proven sooner or later  a mere small detail in the Nazification of Israel.  I am not a Prophet of doom and gloom, but the writing is on the wall and I would be utterly foolish to pretend that I am just having a nightmare.
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Mazin Qumsiyeh adds ….
de facto and now de jure racism/apartheid
 Finally, the Israeli Knesset puts it into words/law and is now de jure as
well as de facto racist/apartheid "Jewish nation-state" . The new "law"
violates international treaties and norms (including the 1976 International
Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid).
But on the bright side no one can now defend Israel as a "democracy" since
it is now not by practice alone but by clearly worded "law" that it is an
apartheid racist state for and by the Jewish people (imagine if a similar
law about "whites" or "christians" was instituted in any other country). 
See the following links

israel-adopts-racist-jewish-nation-state-law

israels-nation-state-law-apartheid-is-a-process/

israel-passes-controversial-nation-state-bill

Images by Latuff

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IMAGE OF THE DAY ~~ ISRAEL AT 70

April 18, 2018 at 09:59 (Apartheid, DesertPeace Exclusive, Holidays, Israel's Shame, Oppression, Palestine)

Celebrating 70 years of… oppression and apartheid?

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IT’S OFFICIAL ~~ ‘ISRAEL IS THE WORST APARTHEID REGIME EVER’

November 30, 2017 at 10:39 (Apartheid, Israel, Palestine, South Africa)

“The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa because we also were surrounded by many settlements and were not allowed to move from one place to another freely.

Palestinians are being subjected to the worst version of apartheid.”

Image by Latuff

MANDELA’S GRANDSON ON VISIT: ‘ISRAEL IS THE WORST APARTHEID REGIME’

“The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa…”

The grandson of the late anti-apartheid hero, former South African president Nelson Mandela, is on a “historic visit” to Israel though it seems he will not meet with Israeli officials.

A statement said Mandla Mandela, a staunch Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) supporter and member of parliament, would “hold several meetings with Palestinian leaders” but made no mention of Israeli counterparts. The Foreign Ministry appeared to corroborate the statement by saying, “We have no information on the visit.”

During a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Monday, Mandela said: “The settlements I saw here [in the West Bank] reminded me of what we had suffered in South Africa because we also were surrounded by many settlements and were not allowed to move from one place to another freely.

Palestinians are being subjected to the worst version of apartheid.”

He added: “Israel is the worst apartheid regime” and called for the continued support of BDS and for South Africa to cut all ties with “apartheid Israel.”

While meeting with Mandela in Ramallah, Hamdallah highlighted the inspiring legacy of the younger Mandela’s late grandfather.

He also stressed the strength of bilateral ties between the Palestinian Authority and South Africa and the historic relationship formed between the late presidents Yasser Arafat and Nelson Mandela. He also praised South Africa’s position in supporting the Palestinian people and championing their cause in the international arena.

Hamdallah briefed the South African MP on Israel’s so-called “violations against the Palestinians, including settlement expansion and displacement projects that constitute a major obstacle to realizing the dream of establishing a Palestinian state.”

The two politicians also discussed ways to strengthen their cooperation and advance bilateral relations.

“What we have experienced in South Africa is a fraction of what the Palestinians are experiencing,” Mandela said in an interview with Royal News English on Sunday. “We were oppressed in order to serve the white minority. The Palestinians are being eliminated off their land and brought out of their territories, and this is a total human-rights violations. I think it is a total disgrace that the world is able to sit back while such atrocities are being carried out by apartheid Israel.”

Mandela is scheduled to meet with 83-year-old PA President Mahmoud Abbas as well as with other Palestinian officials during his visit. He also will visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Arafat’s mausoleum Arafat in Ramallah.

Close to the mausoleum is a six-meter high, bronze statue of Nelson Mandela, who is famous among Palestinians for saying: “We know all too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

People cheer in front of a Mandela statue during the inauguration of Nelson Mandela Square in the West Bank city of Ramallah April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Mandela will be in the country until Wednesday.

Prior to the four-day visit, he met with Palestinian leader and BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti in Amman.

In the past, Mandela has made several calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to South Africa and has continuously supported the cutting of ties between the two countries.

In August, he applauded the South Africa parliament’s decision to shun a delegation of Israeli MKs who were visiting the country.

During an anti-Israel march in July, he demanded “that all ties be cut with Israel… no trade ties, no cultural ties and no travel! We demand that Israel complies with International law and demand the return of six million Palestinian refugees driven from the land of their birth. We demand that all occupied land be returned, and we condemn the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.”

He continued: “Today, we stand to salute the brave and fearless Palestinian people who are facing the brutal might of the Israeli Army to defend al-Aksa with their bare hands. We demand that all occupied land be returned. Madiba [Nelson Mandela’s clan name] reminded us that our freedom is incomplete until Palestine is free.”

Although Nelson Mandela was critical of “the occupation,” he fully supported Israel’s right to exist.

SOURCE

6 Comments

PHOTOS OF THE DAY ~~ APARTHEID LOVE FEST

October 30, 2017 at 09:45 (Apartheid, Collaboration, Israel, Palestine)

Mural believed to be the work of Australian graffiti artist Lushsux; with face hidden by headdress, man identifying himself as Lushsux says he hopes his painting would draw attention to Palestinians stuck in ‘an indoor prison.’

(Photo: Reuters)

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(Photo: Reuters)

Full report here (Click on link)

 Trump and Netanyahu share a kiss on West Bank wall mural

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