The FCO claim that records of extraordinary rendition flights to Diego Garcia were destroyed by water damage is an insult to all our intelligence. The FCO is refusing to say where the records were at the time, or what else was damaged in the (presumed) flood. This is of a piece with, but much more serious than, the “accidental” shredding of all Tony Blair’s parliamentary expenses claims. It is not that they expect us to believe them – they just don’t care. They have the power, and we don’t.
Just as much an insult to our intelligence is the new scheme of security measures at airports. These are all to do with maintaining the fear levels that keep the population compliant, and nothing to do with aviation security. If you have some kind of bomb inside an electronic device, you need a power source to trigger it. The last thing a bomber wants is a flat battery.
It is over twenty years now since I went on a MI6/SAS hosted course at “the Fort” near Gosport. One of the things we were shown and had explained to us, was a laptop which had been converted into a very effective bomb incorporating a slim sheet of semtex. That laptop could switch on and work absolutely normally. The laptop battery was the power source for the detonator.
Explosives detectors at airports would today pick up the semtex. That a mobile phone with no power source could be a bomb, in a way not immediately spotted by x-ray or explosives detector, is a nonsense. If you want to cause real damage on a plane, buy two one litre bottles of 50% strength premium vodka in duty free and set fire to them. You would be surprised at the extreme heat that can produce in a confined space.
This darling child no longer has a Daddy.
‘An air strike on a house in the city of Gaza killed a man described by Palestinian officials as a doctor and pharmacist. Medics and residents said an aircraft also bombed a three-storey house in the southern town of Rafah, killing five people. ‘ Reuters
Caption in Arabic reads:
picture of the martyr Abu Anas pharmacist (killed) in a raid on an apartment in the Hill Towers’
https://www.facebook.com/SHEHABNEWS/photos/a.182662565109505.38264.179609608748134/779819348727154/?type=1
@Clark
“What the Israeli Govt is doing with regard to its bombing of Gaza is not right, but then neither is what Hamas and its supporters doing […] I’ll leave the games of moral relativism to the moral pygmies of this blog”
Wonderful hypocrisy, and separated by only ten words.
I don’t think you understand the meaning of the word hypocrisy – both the IDF and Hamas are wrong in what they are doing – I am not trying to place them in some sort of league table (as moral relativists do – so that they can ignore one or the other) so there is no hypocrisy.
“The one(s) constantly arguing for attacks is/are Resident Dissident/ESLO. And the apologists for Israeli barbarity are you and Habbabkuk. So fuck off.”
I missed this lie from Clark yesterday – but I will bear it in mind the next time he tries to play the “honest” broker.
The empty words from the mouth of the psychopath.
Statement on the Middle East
Friday, Jul 11, 2014 in Office of Tony Blair, Office of the Quartet Representative
This is a transcript of Tony Blair speaking to the BBC, Reuters and Associated Press this morning, 11th July, in Jerusalem. It begins with a statement:
“I am extremely worried about what is happening now. There have been around 100 deaths in Gaza, many of them civilians.
“There is continual rocket fire being aimed indiscriminately at the Israeli population. We’ve all been trying to call for restraint and de-escalation but the reality right now is that the situation is escalating and not de-escalating, and I think that we need, as a matter of urgency, short-term arrangements and agreements that do allow us genuinely to de-escalate this situation and restore some form of calm. But, I don’t think that would work unless there is also put in place some way of resolving the longer-term questions at the heart of this violence and conflict and without that long-term solution in place I think it’s going to be very difficult to create any short-term peace.
“So, right now, I think we are at a very, very critical point and obviously in the international community and in the region I think we have got to do everything we can to put in place both that short-term change in circumstances here and then that longer-term plan that allows us to create a situation in which the people in Gaza, the West Bank and in Israel, feel that this is not then going to recur and that there is some genuine plan in place that is going to allow this situation to be resolved for the long-term security and peace of the people here. That’s the situation as I find it today.”
AP asked what a short-term and a long-term solutions would be:
TB: “In the short-term very obviously it means that the rockets stop coming out of Gaza aimed at the Israeli population, Israeli operations can then be scaled back. So the short-term is to try to restore some calm and peace but I don’t think frankly now that this is now going to work unless there is also a sense of what the long-term plan is for Gaza, for the unification of Gaza and the West Bank on the basis of political leadership that is supportive of peace and for a situation in which the Israelis feel that their security is going to be guaranteed. So I think for both the people in Gaza who are suffering and the people of the West Bank by way who are suffering too at the moment, and the people in Israel who are taking shelter in their millions every day, every evening, I think we are not going to be able to resolve this unless as well as whatever short-term agreement there is to restore calm there is a longer-term agreement in place to resolve some of the fundamental underlying issues of the conflict here.”
BBC asked if Israel would go for a ground operation:
TB “We all want the situation to calm down, we all want the maximum restraint shown, we all want the minimum civilian casualties, all of that is obvious, but there is a reality here I’m afraid which is whilst the rockets keep coming out of Gaza, Israel will take action to protect itself and if we want to avoid a further escalation we are going to have to put in place, and as a matter of urgency, the agreements that allow us to de-escalate and then resolve the longer-term questions but in this situation, when you are actually here, you are talking to people both on the Palestinian side and on the Israeli side, the reality is people are living in fear, there is a conflict going on, it is actually escalating as we speak and if we are going to step back from this then we are going to have to put some agreements in place that allow us to do so and those agreements in my view have to be for the longer-term as well as the short-term”
BBC asked about ‘behind the scenes mediation’
TB “I think it’s important that all of the international community plays its part and the regional players here are also absolutely crucial and there is, I believe, a strong desire on the part of the majority of the population, Palestinian or Israeli, for this to stop and for us to get to a better and longer-term form of security, but the reality is the international community and the regional powers, when they get involved have to take account of the fact that unless we can put in place some longer-term framework along with a short-term cessation of the conflict then this isn’t really going to work. But of course the international community and indeed as I say I think particularly the regional powers have got a strong part to play.”
“I don’t know how ESLO considers himself, but he and like-minded contributors certainly tower over you when it comes to intellectual honesty
Or any other kind of honesty for that matter.
Which is why you hate him and them so much – they hold up a mirror in front of your faces.”
Far from it Habbakuk, Clark has more interlectual honesty than you could ever muster, how could he possibly be as defunct as you and your Nazi?israeli loving scum here?
You sound a little desperate, dearest, maybe a rest and laying off the bottle might bring that ticker rate down somewhat, and lay off the marching powder you little rascal, it confuses your two brain cells.
Netanyahu is desperate as well, his time to become the Churchill of the middle east coincides with his bad popularity, so he has to be extra violent and nasty in his fear creation.
I don’t think that Israel is innocent in the abduction and killing of its own teenagers/soldiers, it was their kind of mini 911 designed to garner publicity to Bibi’s policies, they knew of the hate they would be creating against Palestinians, by their initial ‘searching’, arrests and harrassment in response to Hamas and Fatahs reconcilliation.
fact is Israel has responded negatively to a unification, and they are accused Hamas as being guilty of the killing which Ham as denied and which Israel ignored.
Hamas was right, it did not lie, as it was ISIS, an Israeli supported vasall, most likely of kurdish origin who killed these two soldiers and a civilian teen.
Israel is bombing Hamas and Gaza becauise thjey have been shown to be wrong, and they cite rockets that do not hit anyone, as a reason.
Shame on you fascist zionist and your paymasters, Habbakuk, you are no different to any of the top Nazi echelon.
Now fuck off!
A cartoon.
http://fbcdn-photos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-0/10462859_10204578763099023_4520901843395653329_n.jpg
ESLO, 5:01 pm: do I lie? I may be mistaken; let’s see. Did you write to your MP or otherwise oppose UK military action against Syria? Which way did you hope the Commons would vote on that matter? Do you approve of the UK/French military attacks in Libya? Do you object to UK support for the US arming rebels in Syria? That’s four questions.
Can anyone tell me if this violation of the 4th Geneva Convention has been followed upon?
The UN seems almost useless.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/01/gaza-war-report-accuses-israel
To Nevermind’s fellow Excellences
“I don’t think that Israel is innocent in the abduction and killing of its own teenagers/soldiers, it was their kind of mini 911 designed to garner publicity to Bibi’s policies,…”
_________________________
Any of you agree with that statement of Nevermind’s? 🙂
The whataboutry, giving way to the standard arsewipe reply; blah blah I agree with your blah blah but blah blah if blah blah then blah blah shows blah you are wrong you pigdog, idiots, goyem cattle!
The preface of apparent initial agreement is only to set the trap for the secondary denial and projections, finishing with denunciations through over emphasising the opponents; aggression, shortcoming, etc, and finally end with the usual insults and a complete discount of any merits of the argument. Not a reply by fucking numbers at all, and not a standard format arsewipes’ reply not at all not at all!
The zionist arsewipes are so far stuck up their own butt that they cannot see, hear, or even be aware of any other worlds other than their own grim world that is so often reflected in; “Angry” prefix attached to an equally stupid nonsense which is then used as a moniker in their task of trolling the fucking net and the blogs to push the absolute bilge fed to these supremacists morons whose sense of supremacy all too often is transcribed in their allegorical stories conveying utter shite that is supposed to be relevant to the argument at hand, because “goyem cattle” are so stupid and need to be told in bite size and simplistic stories what to fucking think!!!!
This thread is a singular example of the inhumanity of these bastards and their callous hearts that has blinded them to the suffering of Palestinians and deafened them to the cries of the mothers holding the limbless remains of their children.
By e-mail
Gaza – Friday, July 11, Day 4 of the attack
Where shall I start? How shall I start?
Shall I start with the numbers which keep increasing and changing? 90 killed, mainly civilians. 600 injured. 140 demolished homes. Or should I start by mentioning all the different areas of the Gaza Strip that have been constantly hit, day and night. Nonstop. If it is only about numbers, then let me tell you all about thousands of Palestinian children who are terrified night after night, day after day by the sounds of the Israeli shelling. The children have deep feelings of insecurity when it is dark. And no shelters.
The Israeli army has restarted their punitive home demolition policy, illegal under international law. Yesterday a six-story building where my relatives live in Khan Younis was hit and leveled to the ground. 106 relatives were made homeless. Even if the Israeli army’s goal was to punish one of Hamas activists, there is no justification for this cruel, brutal and collective punishment. Eight members of the Kawarea family were killed in Khan Younis when the jetfighters destroyed their home. The Israeli army spokesman said sorry it was a mistake. What a gentle, well-behaved, and civilized army.
Walking through the streets of Gaza City where I live can be a real nightmare. The drones and fighter jets are in the sky and you cannot anticipate what will happen in the next minute. Are they going to target a car behind you or in front of you? Will you be caught in the blast? Will others be dying right that minute somewhere else? Will others will be forced to leave their home in 5 minutes only to be bombed 2 minutes later?
Yet despite the fear, I had to go to the Red Crescent Society of the Gaza Strip to be with the medical emergency team and help as much as I could. This morning we received an injured deaf young man from Jabalia. He was working in a farm that was hit. Tens of cows and sheep were killed too.
I am so tired and sleepless. I don’t feel settled outside my home despite the generosity of my friends who are hosting me. But my building, my neighborhood, are too unsafe. Nowhere is safe. but with intense shelling nearby and broken windows, I had to leave.
The shelling is continuous, crazy and everywhere. Warships fire missiles against the beach in Gaza City. Rafah town is under severe missile shelling, 10 people in Rafah were killed when their home was leveled to the ground by an American-made F16.
The UN agency that runs schools and clinics for Palestinian refugees opened its schools to receive homeless people from different areas. Now larger numbers of people will drink from MECA water purification units.
Nobody is asleep in Gaza. No place is safe. The Israeli military attacks are coming from every direction.
From Gaza with love,
Dr. Mona El-Farra
MECA Director of Gaza Projects
Dr. Mona El-Farra, Director of Gaza Projects, is a physician by training and a human rights and women’s rights activist by practice in the occupied Gaza Strip.
Overnight, 18 more souls in Gaza died/were killed by the Israelis.
~~~
Lord Carey talks of his rethink on assisted dying.
He loves Israel btw. One of those Christian Zionists.
‘The former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday he was “ashamed to be an Anglican” following Monday’s vote by the Church of England to disinvest from companies whose products are used by the Israeli government in the territories.’
http://www.jpost.com/International/Lord-Carey-ashamed-to-be-an-Anglican
‘The exhibit was financed and created by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) together with UNESCO, and was scheduled to open on January 20th, 2014, at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters.
The SWC plans to protest the move on Monday in Paris. “We will show the media the exhibition UNESCO didn’t want the world to see,” the group said. Attendees at the protest will include Lord Carey of Clifton, Archbishop of Canterbury emeritus.’
World Jewish Congress: UNESCO Cancellation of Jewish Exhibit ‘Endorsed Arab Rejectionism’
http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/17/world-jewish-congress-unesco-cancellation-of-jewish-exhibit-has-endorsed-arab-rejectionism/
He should have been a rabbi.
Apart from those Palestinans being killed, there is a massive number of injured – many of those affected for the rest of their lives.
‘Attacks continue’
‘UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says there is “serious doubt” as to whether Israeli’s military operation complies with international laws banning the targeting of civilians. We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes,” Ms Pillay said in a statement.’
‘The Palestinian health ministry says in addition to those killed, 750 people – mainly civilians – have been injured in Israel’s Operation Protective Edge since it began on Tuesday.’
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated that 77% of the people killed in Gaza so far have been civilians.’
‘Palestinian medical officials reported on Saturday that a building hit overnight in the town of Beit Lahiya was the home of a charitable association for people with disabilities, the BBC’s Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem reports. Two of the people cared for there – both teenagers – are said to have been killed, our correspondent adds.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28271546
A thorough going report with photos in the Mail of a VERY LARGE protest outside the Israeli Embassy. Nothing about it on the BBC (15mins away from Kensington by road) or the corporate media.
Hundreds of anti-Israeli demonstrators bring London traffic to a standstill after scaling a double decker bus as they protest outside embassy over Gaza strikes
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged protest outside Israeli Embassy
Crowds blocked the road in Kensington High Street, west London today
At least 17 protesters climbed on top of double-decker bus during demo
Some waved placards saying: ‘Gaza: End the Siege’ and ‘Freedom for Palestine’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2689465/Hundreds-pro-Palestinian-demonstrators-bring-London-traffic-standstill-protest-outside-Israeli-embassy.html
Judging from the photos, I would say thousands rather than hundreds.
Message from Dr Mona El Farra
She has written a short note to me to tell all of you to share her message widely. She has given permission for anyone who wants to translate it as well. She’s working under terrible conditions and gets information out when she can. If anyone wants to donate, please go to the Meca website and do so. http://www.mecaforpeace.org/
This is a message from Dr Mona Qasim El Farra, who directs one of the hospitals in Gaza and who works day and night with her colleagues to provide health care and psychological support, especially for children. She posted it in Arabic on her Facebook this morning (Gaza time):
“The insane Israeli bombardment has not stopped. It has been going on all night and all day every day and everywhere, coming from the sea, from the air and from land canons. Naval bombardment is pouring its lava, targeting the coast of Gaza City and further north. Numbers of the killed and injured continue to go up..
More homes are being destroyed.
A whole population is being subjected to collective punishment. This is not only a matter of war crime. We are now facing a real genocide in Gaza.
As the day begins in Gaza, hundreds of ordinary people in need of regular health care are unable to reach health care centres. Meanwhile hundreds of wounded people, mostly women and children, if they can be taken to hospitals at all would find doctors and other medical staff working in dire and dangerous environments, under constant pressure, and with severe shortages of drugs and other necessary medical supplies.
So I can only say to the people of Gaza: as the morning approaches, make sure to embrace and hug your children and loved ones and tell them how much you love them and Dawn is bound to come ..
Meca Projects Director
Red Crescent Society
—
Greta Berlin, Co-Founder, the Free Gaza movement
Editor, Freedom Sailors
Noam Chomsky: Gaza’s Torment, Israel’s Crimes, Our Responsibilities
On email from ZNet:
At 3am Gaza time, July 9, in the midst of Israel’s latest exercise in savagery, I received a phone call from a young Palestinian journalist in Gaza. In the background, I could hear his infant child wailing, amidst the sounds of explosions and jet planes, targeting any civilian who moves, and homes as well. He just saw a friend of his in a car clearly marked “press” blown away. And he heard shrieks next door after an explosion but can’t go outside or he’ll be a likely target. This is a quiet neighborhood, no military targets – except Palestinians who are fair game for Israel’s high tech US-supplied military machine. He said that 70% of the ambulances have been destroyed, and that by then over 70 had been killed, and of the 300 or so wounded, about 2/3 women and children. Few Hamas activists have been hit – or rocket launching sites. Just the usual victims.
It is important to understand what life is like in Gaza when Israel’s behavior is “restrained,” in between the regular manufactured crises like this one. A good sense is given in a report to UNRWA by Mads Gilbert, the courageous and expert Norwegian physician who has worked extensively in Gaza, also throughout the vicious and murderous Cast Lead operation. In every respect, the situation is disastrous. Just keeping to children, Gilbert reports: “Palestinian children in Gaza are suffering immensely. A large proportion are affected by the man-made malnourishment regime caused by the Israeli imposed blockage. Prevalence of anaemia in children <2yrs in Gaza is at 72.8%, while prevalence of wasting, stunting, underweight have been documented at 34.3%, 31.4%, 31.45% respectively.” And it gets worse as the report proceeds.
When Israel is on “good behavior,” more than two Palestinian children are killed every week, a pattern that goes back over 14 years. The underlying cause is the criminal occupation and the programs to reduce Palestinian life to bare survival in Gaza, while Palestinians are restricted to unviable cantons in the West Bank and Israel takes over what it wants, all in gross violation of international law and explicit Security Council resolutions, not to speak of minimal decency. And it will continue as long as it is supported by Washington and tolerated by Europe – to our everlasting shame.
===
http://zcomm.org/sendpress/eyJpZCI6NzI5NDA0LCJ2aWV3IjoiZW1haWwifQ/
~~~
Three quarters of the 120 Palestinians are civilians. That statistic includes two disabled women who, because they could not be moved last night from the home that was caring for them, were killed. Terrible.
~~~
Any Answers' first contributor is an Israeli speaking from a kibbutz. YCNMIU. He waxes large on the rockets.
Absolutely. The ‘flood damage’ excuse is (literally) straight out of Yes, Minister – they didn’t even need to think that one up.
As to airport security, if the aircraft regulations are to be believed (and, of course, no one seriously does) then all terrorists would need to do is switch on their laptops during take-off the plane ought to crash.
As you say, it is all about control.