The Guardian has for once done a very good job of outlining the stark gap between the truth, and Israel’s “report” into the killing of four young children playing by the beach. It may be argued that this terrible tragedy is itself pretty irrelevant given that the Israelis killed 700 other children in Gaza that year. But the maintenance of this ludicrous, macabre and yes, evil, propaganda is fundamental to the self-image of many Israelis. They still contrive to see themselves as the good guys, under constant threat – despite the fact that Israel kills well more than a hundred for every Israeli killed.
This denial of the truth and claim of victimhood extends to the accusation of anti-Semitism trumpeted at every critic, including this one, despite the fact that I have the highest respect for the immense cultural and scientific achievements of the Jewish people. Israel is a different question entirely.
It is this absolute divorce of propaganda from reality that makes Tony Blair an ideal figurehead. Blair has now become head of a Council of Europe (loosely) linked body which claims to exist to promote tolerance, but in fact exists entirely to promote extreme Islamophobia and to shut down criticism of Israel. And it is a further sign of the estrangement from reality of the influential Israelis behind Blair’s appointment that they believe Tony Blair will influence public opinion positively in their favour. A remarkable example of confirmation bias.
Finally, I would merely note that it is not as insignificant as it may appear in terms of extreme corporatist bias, that the software auto-completes anti-Semitism for me (complete with capital letter), while it underlines Islamophobia as a non-existent word.
A quote from a newspaper in Nazi Germany: “Der Jude ist der ewige Feind des deuschen Volkes.”
Sorry, typo. “deutschen”.
Israels military leaders are just as bad as its politicians, openly advocating war crimes, safe in the knowledge that they are immune from accountability because their big stupid friend, the USA, uses its veto at the UNSC.”Beyond these sound-bites, Gadi Eisenkot, the head of Israel’s northern command, clarified in October the practical aspects of the strategy: “What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. This is not a recommendation. This is a plan.” http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-dahiya-doctrine-comes-gaza/8006
And Kerry had plenty of experience himself commanding a gunboat in wartime.
Craig-Ping – Bibi-pong. Bibi-Pong – Craig supporter-ping. This is what BBC sport calls ‘straight sets’ at Wimbledon, the most yawned and rained on show on earth. It makes even cricket look interesting. Or slug-racing. At least you can eat the competitors afterwards if you boil them for 35 minutes in a pressure cooker.
What is there to discuss about the intentional murder by IDF soldiers of innocent Palestinian children?
It’s a open secret that Israel doesn’t give a monkeys what you or I think of it attitude towards Palestinian children of which it kills and kidnaps on a regular basis.
Israel has the backing of its attack dog the US and the UK’s politicians at Westminster fall over themselves to kiss Zionist arse.
The EU and the UN pretend to care about Palestinian children,but in reality,they can’t or won’t cross Israel and its nuclear bouncer the US,who veto just about whatever they want.
The real axis of evil Washington,Westminster Riyadh and Tel-Aviv,will continue their purge of whoever they want in the Middle East including Palestinian children,because we the citizens of world don’t care enough to get off our fat arses and do something about it.
Habbabkuk
Indeed, and I notice he puts the link to the wikipedia page Nasreddin Dinet, to make himself seem the great intellect he evidently believes himself to be, rather than the link to the Islamophobia page, where he got all his information and the reference from. He just googles what he needs to know about and then presents the information as if it’s already known to him, dropping in the odd reference so that the mere mortals can be astounded at the breadth of his knowledge. Pretentious git. He doesn’t like being challenged either, does he?
Must work harder on that traceability, Komrade.
Anon
“No, my device recognises both.”
I think I might have been wrong about the dictionary being part of the web site, perhaps it’s your browser configuration. Either way for me, and obviously others, it is as Craig described.
Meanwhile,the quasi-lawless,state of Pakistan has booted out the charity Save the Children,the religious fanatical zealot run country, say that the charity is or was spying on them for the CIA.
The Paks (which if I recall means pure) may well be religiously devout,but they’re certainly not paranoid.
Do the big charities have any credibility left,for me the answer is not much.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1187601
For those of you who want to know what the Israeli’s are thinking,here’s the latest poll,from the peace index.
http://www.peaceindex.org/indexMonthEng.aspx?num=292
My understanding is that the ISI, which to all intents and purposes runs Pakistan despite the civilian government facade, is funded to a large extent by the CIA.
I just had to mention that Gordon Brown,several days before leaving parliament,charged the taxpayer £732 quid for refills for his favourite black pens,the robbing b*stard.
Brown as far as I know,will return to his filthy lucre filled charity work.
Words in my spell-check dictionary:
Chernobyl (an enemy’s nuclear power disaster), yes,
Fukushima (an ally’s nuclear power disaster), no.
Global Justice Now are holding a rally in Glasgow tomorrow,in aid of halting the TTIP,and its back door entry into the NHS,and its corporate powers to sue countries.
Nick Dearden director say that Scotland is now one of most politically awake societies in the world.
Speakers will include Philippa Whitford,and Nigerian Ken Henshaw.
Conservatives in US can’t make up their minds whether to shit or go blind on TPP. Quite the quandary for them. They are deeply divided over the secret details and that Obama wants it. They love the ‘bidness’ but that Obama… 🙂 They really don’t get why I don’t robot my moves down the Obama highway.
Peter Oborne.
Cameron the Neo-Con?
11 June 2015
‘The neocon ascendency is total. There used to be a confident Burkeian presence, skeptical of ideological crusades, in the Conservative Party at Westminster. This still has its representatives, like the articulate and thoughtful Tory MP Jesse Norman and the remarkable Andrew Tyrie, who has fought hard to bring the truth about extraordinary rendition into the public domain. But these are on the back-benches and have no voice in cabinet.
The Conservative Party used to possess men and women with an understanding of the Middle East. They’ve been marginalised. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Alan Duncan, with strong Palestinian sympathies, were ministers in the coalition government. Both are out of a job. More than half the parliamentary party are thought to belong to Conservative Friends of Israel. Shamefully, there is still no such thing as a Conservative Friend of Palestine.’
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/cameron-neo-con-395124903
“My understanding is that the ISI, which to all intents and purposes runs Pakistan despite the civilian government facade, is funded to a large extent by the CIA.”
_______________________________
You know more about it than I do Lysais,Pakistan to me seems a broken hotchpotch of religious and warring factions,who switch sides depending on who pays the most.
I do however believe that the monies raised by some of those well known charties such as the Red Cross,never reaches its intended targets.
This quite a goid article on it by John Hamer.
Here’s a taster.
The CEO of the Red Cross and other senior administrators receive obscene salaries and other massive perks, all of which are paid directly from the man/woman in the street’s direct contributions to these supposed ‘good causes’.
In 2012, the salary of the president, Marsha Evans was $651,957 per annum and the total revenue of the Red Cross was well in excess of $3bn per annum (three billion dollars!).
Cops raid Dispensary, roust patients, destroy cameras, knosh on the brownies….heh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjYVAiyoFY
Re my last comment,it would help if I posted the link….duh!
http://chrisspivey.org/john-hamer-charities/
Fast-track asylum system ‘unlawful’, High Court rules
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre photo
Colnbrook is one of the immigration removal centres where asylum seekers are detained
The future of a key part of the government’s system to remove failed asylum seekers is in doubt after the High Court ruled it was unlawful.
Mr Justice Nicol said the Home Office’s system to “fast track” cases that officials think have no merit contained “structural unfairness”.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33113132
~~~
Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere, Abbott has other ideas.
Australia ‘paid migrant smugglers to turn back’
Migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka arriving in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province, after they were intercepted en route to New Zealand by the Australian navy
Migrants on a boat headed for Australia have told the UN that the crew was paid by the Australian navy to turn back.
James Lynch, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR), told the BBC that passengers saw smugglers being paid after the boat was intercepted.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday admitted using “creative” strategies to stop migrant boats but refused to go into detail.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-33110575
Was the fast track system used against Majid Ali? Does the court’s decision mean that he was deported unlawfully?
If so, the court’s decision was unfortunately timed.
Can’t answer that Lysias. He certainly sought asylum in 2011.
~~~
This is the ZBC take on the IDF whitewash. Note it was ‘a war between Israel and Hamas militants’, not a highly militarized attack on a captive civilian population of 1.816m people (2014) living in an area of 138 sq mls with the Israel border area uninhabitable and most of the buildings still rubble.
‘Gaza beach attack: Israel ‘struck boys in error’
7 hours ago
From the section Middle East
Smoke rising from beach where Israeli strike killed four Palestinian children (16/07/14)
Israel said it mistook the children for Hamas militants in part of the beach not used by civilians
An Israeli military investigation has cleared its forces of wrongdoing over the deaths of four Palestinian boys in an attack in Gaza during the 2014 war.
It concluded the boys, killed in missile strikes on a beach, had been mistaken for Hamas militants preparing to attack Israeli forces.
At the time, the incident drew widespread condemnation.
It happened early on in the 50-day war between Israel and Gaza militants which lasted from July to late August.’
A boy aged 10 kicking a football mistaken for a militant. How much more ludicrous can Israel become?
NB Six uses of the word ‘militant’ in that 580 word report.
Ilan Pappe, the renowned historian from Exeter University, is interviewed by Truthout.
Ilan Pappé: Israel’s Goal Is to Have Palestinian Land Without Palestinians http://www.truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/31289-ilan-pappe-israel-s-goal-is-to-have-palestinian-land-without-palestinians#
June 11 2015
“Was the fast track system used against Majid Ali?”
_________________
No.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Does the court’s decision mean that he was deported unlawfully?”
___________________
No.
To be noted that the court has said that the present system can stay in operation while the Home Office appeals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If so, the court’s decision was unfortunately timed.”
___________________
Otiose (see above)
+++++++++++++++++++++
Suggestion : stick to telling us about the virtues of Athenian democracy ca 500BC?
Alternatively, tell us something about hos the US deals with illegal immigrants.
Thank you.
Republicofscotland
“You know more about it than I do Lysais..”
_____________________
Are you sure about that, Ros? 🙂
Anon1
“He doesn’t like being challenged either, does he?”
_____________________
He most certainly doesn’t!
Dreoilin was the last victim of Zeus’s ire.
The problem appears to be that prior to my arrival, “Baal Zevul”, then known as “Komodo”, counted as this blog’s resident “intellectual”. Seeing his Olympian pronouncements challenged more and more frequently, he firstly retreated behind his “Habbabreak” (which he tried to hawk around to everyone else on here) and is now resorting to childish insults (“Anus1”, for example) whenever his views are not received with the respect he considers their due.
He is, in sum, a busted flush.
I’m glad Mary picked up on the BBC reports about immigration (this evening on the BBC4 radio programme “5pm”) because I was going to do so as well. Accordingly:
“Fast-track asylum system ‘unlawful’, High Court rules
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre photo
Colnbrook is one of the immigration removal centres where asylum seekers are detained
The future of a key part of the government’s system to remove failed asylum seekers is in doubt after the High Court ruled it was unlawful.
Mr Justice Nicol said the Home Office’s system to “fast track” cases that officials think have no merit contained “structural unfairness”.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33113132”
_____________________________
Now, Mary omits, in her glee, to tell us about another two things which emerged from that BBC report. They are as follows:
1/. The court said that the present system can stay in force while the Home Office appeals. BTW, Habbabkuk predicts that the Court of Appeal with reverse the judgement.
2/. The BBc report quoted a lawyer for the people bringing the case: the point of complaint was that this fast track procedure is too fast. But before it was introduced, interested NGOs and other do-gooders used to complain that asylum examination procedures took too long! Plainly, there is no satisfying some people!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Meanwhile in the Southern Hemisphere, Abbott has other ideas.
Australia ‘paid migrant smugglers to turn back’
Migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka arriving in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province, after they were intercepted en route to New Zealand by the Australian navy
Migrants on a boat headed for Australia have told the UN that the crew was paid by the Australian navy to turn back.
James Lynch, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR), told the BBC that passengers saw smugglers being paid after the boat was intercepted.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday admitted using “creative” strategies to stop migrant boats but refused to go into detail.”
____________________
Good for him – creative and at the same time humane solutions are exactly what is needed.
What Mary fails to report – and which was reported by the BBC – is that Australian policies towards economic migrants have resulted in the flow of those people having gone down from thousands a few years ago to a mere trickle today.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Bottom line : Many people have nothing against economic migrants trying their luck. Why not. But, similarly, many people have nothing against various govts doing whatever it takes to uphold immigration law and to prevent potential illegal immigration.
@Twoleftfeet “Do you think this was a mistake too Abe Rene?”
It looks like it. IMO it is possible that footballers got mixed up with a violent demonstration with tragic results.
It’s the synagogue of satan, at it again. The shamelessness of these sayanim is just incomprehensible, next you know the Janners may even come up with a talmudic ruling to help their hopelessly lost case. God help them when the cause n effect does a balancing of account.
Abe Rene
12 Jun, 2015 – 1:33 pm
“I don’t seriously believe that Israeli forces would fire explosive rounds at people they knew to be children…”
………………………………………………………………………..
Abe Rene, look up Ayelet Shaked, who said:
“Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”
And Israeli army major general Oren Shachor who said: “If we kill their families, that will frighten them.”
There are none so blind as those that refuse to see Abe.