201 Full-body scanners save and transmit images

(1) In great Danger: George Galloway on Mubarak's attempt to suppress Gaza Relief Convoy
(2) Turkish criticism infuriates Israel
(3) Israel and Turkey exchange Diplomatic Blows
(4) "A murderous collective motivated by Vengeance" - Truth Will Prevail, by Gilad Atzmon
(5) Full-body scanners save and transmit images
(6) FBI agent says he was fired because he is Jewish
(7) China got Taiwan firm to sell nuke parts to Iran: report
(8) Israel announces plans for nearly 700 homes in mainly Arab East Jerusalem

(1) In great Danger: George Galloway on Mubarak's attempt to suppress Gaza Relief Convoy
From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics Earth Sciences) <sadanand@mail.ccsu.edu> Date: 14.01.2010 01:05 PM

Tinpot tyrant ain't seen nothing yet

By George Galloway on Jan 11, 10

I have been in a few dangerous places in my life. In the mid 80s along with an ITN news crew I was bombed by the Ethiopian air force.

My face pressing into the dirt, with no cover around, I saw the shrapnel tear and kill small children and watched others die on a wooden table in a grass hut after they bombers had gone.

I have been bombed by Israel in Beirut and held with an Israeli machine gun at my chest in Nablus during the first Iraq war.

Involuntarily, I put my hands up and the blue-eyed blonde "Israeli" said that if I didn't put my hands down he would kill me.

I've never, however, been in a more dangerous situation than last week in the tiny Sinai port of Al Arish to which the Egyptian dictatorship had insisted we bring our convoy.

Five hundred foreigners from 17 different nationalities with 200 vehicles were crammed into a compound without water, food or toilet facilities. They included 10 Turkish MPs one of whom was the chairman of Turkey's foreign relations committee.

We captured on film from a third floor office the thugs of the Mukhabarat (Intelligence) piling stones and sharpening their sticks behind the backs of several ranks of riot police with helmets, batons and shields. Then mayhem.

We may have complaints about our police, but I tell you, when you see policemen hurling half-bricks into a crowd of women and men who'd come to deliver medicine to desperate people under siege, you thank your lucky stars we don't live in such a state. Fifty five of our 500 were wounded and, but for the shocking effect on Arab public opinion (our own media didn't give a damn) of the live footage (all on Youtube now), we might still be there yet.

Next day, the dictatorship wanted us on our way. We refused to leave without our wounded comrades and the seven of our number who had been taken prisoner. After another stand-off our demands were met and we proceeded to a tumultuous welcome in Gaza our numbers complete. Word came to me from inside the Egyptian tyranny that I was to be arrested when we came out. Had that happened while I was surrounded by 500 pumped up convoy members there would have been serious trouble.

So I sent them the message that I would come out in the dead of the night before and face the music alone but for my old friend Scots journalist Ron McKay.

McKay is a thriller writer these days but what happened next would have taxed even his imagination.

We emerged into the hands of a grim phalanx of mainly plain clothed secret policemen. They tried to keep our passports but we refused to budge without them - even though there was menace in the air, or perhaps because of it.

They bundled us into an unmarked van which they refused to let us climb out of, at one stage man-handling us.

An Egyptian gumshoe journalist from the Daily News tried to interview us but he was battered away.

We were driven off at speed. I knew we were not going to be killed as we were able to make the necessary calls - well at least the call to the Press Association which makes all the difference in these situations.

We made the formal call to the British Foreign Office but it wasn't worth the money. During the five-hour journey to Cairo the British diplomats did nothing but tell us to co-operate.

Word came from London that Nile News, a mouthpiece of the dictatorship, were reporting in the morning the seven convoy prisoners we had released at al Arish were to be re-arrested on emerging from Gaza.

Thus the bloodbath we sought to avoid now looked inevitable. We demanded to return to the Gaza-Egypt border but were refused. At Cairo airport we refused to enter the terminal and tried to hail a taxi to take us back.

Security forces goons pushed us physically into the airport building and gave close quarter attention to both of us, even in the toilet. They followed us everywhere and when McKay took a picture there was nearly a serious incident. They ushered us up to the entrance of the BA plane and the first English speaker of the night stepped forward to declare me persona non grata in Egypt.

I made my own declaration to him which was that he and his fellow torturers would one day face the wrath of the Egyptian people, who had queued up at the airport in full view of the goons, to shake hands with us. Later, his department stated I had been banned from Egypt because I was "a trouble-maker". Mr Tinpot tyrant 99.99 of the vote Mubarak, you ain't seen nothing yet.

(2) Turkish criticism infuriates Israel

From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics Earth Sciences) <sadanand@mail.ccsu.edu> Date: 14.01.2010 01:05 PM

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/erdogans-remarks-infuriate-israel-210

Erdogan’s remarks infuriate Israel

Tuesday, 12 Jan, 2010

JERUSALEM, Jan 11: Criticism by Turkey of Israel’s actions in Gaza drew a strong condemnation by Tel Aviv on Monday, with the foreign ministry saying Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s often fierce public criticism could undermine bilateral relations.

Turkey is a key ally of Israel, but ties have frayed since the Gaza invasion a year ago, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians and drew censure from Mr Erdogan, head of the Islamist-rooted AK party.

Hosting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al Hariri in Ankara, Mr Erdogan criticised an Israeli attack that killed three Gazan militants on Sunday, and suggested Western scrutiny on Iran’s nuclear plans was unfair given Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal.

“They (the Israelis) have disproportionate capabilities and power and they use them... They do not abide by UN resolutions... They say they will do what they like,” Mr Erdogan said.

The statement drew immediate condemnation by Israel. “Israel is careful to respect Turkey and seeks continued proper ties between the countries, but we expect reciprocity,” the foreign ministry in Tel Aviv said in a statement, calling Mr Erdogan’s remarks an “unbridled tongue-lashing”.

“The state of Israel has the full right to protect its citizens from the missiles and terror of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the Turks are the last who can preach morality to the state of Israel and the Israel defence force (military).”

Relations took a sharp turn for the worse one year ago when Turkey responded angrily to Israel’s devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip.

In a memorable outburst, Mr Erdogan stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum, accusing Israel of “barbarian” acts and telling its President Shimon Peres, sitting next to him, that “you know well how to kill people”,

But Peres and his Turkish counterparty Abdullah Gul met last month in a bid to heal the rift.

TV SERIES: Israel also criticised Turkey for the broadcast of a television series that portrays Israeli agents as baby-snatchers.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon summoned the Turkish ambassador on Monday to protest the broadcast.

It is the second time Israel has protested over a Turkish TV show.

Israel issued a similar protest last October when another Turkish series showed Israeli soldiers shooting young Palestinian children in cold blood.

“We protest in the name of the Israeli government against scenes from this Turkish television series showing Israel and Jews as baby-snatchers and war criminals,” the ministry statement said.

“It is unacceptable... It threatens Jewish lives in Turkey and bilateral relations,” he said.

Ayalon was referring to the “Valley of the Wolves”, a new series, originally aired on state television and rebroadcast on a private channel, which he said showed agents of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency in a bad light. —AFP

(3) Israel and Turkey exchange Diplomatic Blows

From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 14.01.2010 12:27 PM

Israel and Turkey at Diplomatic Loggerheads
January 13, 2010

Linda Gradstein Contributor

http://www.sphere.com/article/turkey-and-israel-exchange-diplomatic-blows/19314138

JERUSALEM (Jan. 12) – When you don't have many friends, you usually try hard to keep them. But it seems Israel is doing everything it can to alienate its closest Muslim ally, Turkey.

Turkey today demanded an official apology for what it sees as an insult to its ambassador in Tel Aviv. At issue is an incident yesterday, when Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, summoned Turkey's ambassador for a diplomatic dressing-down over a Turkish TV series that portrayed Israeli diplomats as the head of a child-abduction ring.

What enraged the Turks was the setting. Ayalon and two other Israeli officials occupied chairs while an uncomfortable Turkish ambassador was made to sit on a lower couch. On the coffee table between the two men was only the Israeli flag, not the Turkish flag, as would be customary.
Olivier Fitoussi, AFP / Getty Images
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, left, relegated Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to a lower seat, fueling ongoing diplomatic tensions.

To make matters worse, Ayalon invited TV crews and photographers to the opening of the meeting and said in Hebrew, "Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair and we are in the higher ones, that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling."

Now Turkish officials are not smiling either.

"We expect an explanation and apologies from Israeli authorities for the attitude against our Tel Aviv ambassador, [Ahmet] Oguz Celikkol, and the way this attitude was reflected," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

Ayalon responded sharply in an interview with Israel's army radio.

"In terms of the diplomatic tactics available, this was the minimum that was warranted given the repeated provocations by political and other players in Turkey," he said.

The tensions come just days before Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is due to visit Turkey on Sunday. Israeli media speculated Ayalon's behavior toward the Turkish Ambassador was part of an ongoing rivalry between the Foreign and Defense ministries and that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was trying to sabotage Barak's trip.

There are also sharp differences of policy between Israel and Turkey over the Palestinian issue. Tensions grew after last year's Israeli incursion into Gaza that left 1,400 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian figures. After the Gaza incursion, which Israel said was necessary to stop rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, NATO member Turkey barred Israel from participating in a NATO war exercise.

Under former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Turkey had also served as a mediator between Israel and Syria on restarting peace negotiations, an initiative Lieberman has shown scant interest in furthering.

Since the 1990s, Israel and Turkey have been close military allies, as well as two of Washington's best friends on the Mediterranean Sea. Israel has sold advance weapons systems to Turkey and the two countries share intelligence. Israel has seen Turkey, which is Muslim but not Arab, as a possible bridge to the wider Arab world.

Millions of Israelis have gone on vacation in Turkey. Hotel packages in Turkey, including the 90-minute flight, are cheaper than domestic hotels for many Israelis. In some hotels, especially around Antalya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, employees speak only Turkish and Hebrew. Until the conflict blows over, exchanges there may be less cordial than usual.

(4) "A murderous collective motivated by Vengeance" - Truth Will Prevail, by Gilad Atzmon

From: Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 13.01.2010 09:40 PM

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/truth-will-prevail-by-gilad-atzmon.html

Truth Will Prevail

By Gilad Atzmon

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 AT 10:50AM GILAD ATZMON

The Israeli government doesn’t think twice before it orders a genocidal attack against civilians. Israeli military leaders do not think twice before they drop bombs on one of the most densely populated places on the planet. They also do not hesitate whether to use artillery shells against a UN refugee shelter. The Israeli people do not think twice before they approve en masse their army’s inhuman tactics. But for some bizarre reason, the Israelis are devastated to find out that the rest of humanity is coming to terms with their true nature. Once again it is a Turkish TV drama that exposes the Israelis for what they are. A murderous collective motivated by vengeance.

A few months back it was "Ayrilik". A Turkish prime-time TV series that portrayed the IDF as a bloodthirsty army.

To watch film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M596Ga8-rmU

This week it is "Valley of Wolves" a TV drama that depicts Mossad agents and Israeli representatives in Turkey as baby snatchers.

To watch film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu8hmLvateE

If you wonder what the Israelis do when they are exposed for who and what they are, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon has an answer to offer. Ayalon went out of his way this week to snub Turkey's ambassador to Israel over his country's “persistent criticism of the Jewish state”. The Israeli official refused to shake the Turkish Ambassador’s hand and made him sit on a lower seat at a meeting. He also made sure that a cameraman was there to document the humiliation. Submerged in Jewish pride the Israeli Deputy Foreign minister was probably convinced that for Israel to get away with murder, treating a Goy diplomat with contempt must be the way forward.

The Israelis are boiling with anger with the Turks. They do not like to be seen through, they much prefer to be loved and admired regardless of their criminal record. For some peculiar reason Israelis lack the capacity to see themselves through others, they categorically insist on avoiding looking in the mirror. Instead they demand that the rest of humanity turns a blind eye to their war crimes and even apologizes for being witnesses to their horrific acts.

The spokeswoman for the Turkish TV production company behind "Valley of Wolves" was bewildered by such an Israeli demand. She clearly refused to apologize. “Israel” she says, “has already been declared a war criminal many times in the past by international rights organizations, including the UN, which has written about this in its reports."

Like many of us, the Turkish spokeswoman legitimately wondered “how can the same Israeli authorities, who bombed children hiding under the UN flag in Gaza without hesitation, are so concerned now with a television show that merely displays what they did?” The spokeswoman fails to understand that Israelis are not interested in truth.

The current diplomatic rift between Israel and Turkey is just a symptom of a wide and sickening phenomenon: Israel, Jewish lobbies and Jewish ethnic campaigners around the world are employing different means to conceal the truth about the Jewish national project and its grave inhuman implications. An Israeli official would use a low seat together with an arsenal of abusive bad manners to snub a foreign diplomat, the Jewish ethnic Campaigner in the left would cry anti-Semitism in order to impose a total paralysis onto the anti Zionist discourse. In their universe the Jew never takes responsibility. In their segregated planet, the Jew never regrets or repents. The Goy, on the other hand, becomes subject to insults for just telling the truth or even for being associated with the truth. If Israel and its supporters believe that they can maintain this tactic for much longer, they are pretty deluded. The tide is changing.

Humanity is primarily grounded on truthfulness. Hope is fuelled by our capacity to say things as we see them. In that respect, Turkey is a light at the end of the tunnel. As it happens, it is Turkey’s TV and Turkish leaders who are willing to say in the open what our ‘liberal’ leaders fail to admit or even spell in their minds.

Truth is not on Israel’s side. In fact, truth is becoming the biggest foe of the Jewish national project, its phantasmic narrative and its fictional notion of history. The Israelis know that truth will prevail. They have good reason to panic. The wall of defiance is emerging around them and their supportive lobbies.

(5) Full-body scanners save and transmit images

From: Paul de Burgh-Day <pdeburgh@harboursat.com.au> Date: 13.01.2010 10:54 AM

http://www.NaturalNews.com/z027914_TSA_full-body_scanners.html

TSA lies exposed:

Full-body scanner machines do save and transmit images, secret documents reveal
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) The TSA has been lying to the American people about full-body scanners. The agency has insisted that these "digital strip search" machines are incapable of saving, storing or transmitting the images they take. This, we are told, makes it okay for people to be digitally strip-searched.

But secret documents uncovered by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (www.EPIC.org) have revealed that these machines do indeed posses precisely such capabilities. According to TSA specification requirement documents that have been uncovered by the EPIC, all full-body scanners purchased by the TSA must have the ability to both save and transmit the scanned images of air passengers.

The documents were obtained by EPIC through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. They have also been shared with CNN, which has viewed the documents and published a story about what they reveal.

These documents contradict the claims of the TSA, which include the statement that "the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image."

TSA misleads the public
The TSA's own "imaging technology" page (http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/im...) claims, "This state-of-the-art technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image. In fact, all machines are delivered to airports with these functions disabled."

That in itself is an interesting statement because by stating those functions are "disabled," it also admits that the machines inherently have these functions. And just because the machines are delivered with the functions disabled doesn't mean those functions can't be re-enabled at the flick of a switch.

In other words, these machines are designed and constructed with the ability to save, store and transmit the images.

"I don't think the TSA has been forthcoming with the American public about the true capability of these devices," said the Executive Director of EPIC, Marc Rotenberg in a CNN interview. "They've done a bunch of very slick promotions where they show people -- including journalists -- going through the devices. And then they reassure people, based on the images that have been produced, that there's not any privacy concerns. But if you look at the actual technical specifications and you read the vendor contracts, you come to understand that these machines are capable of doing far more than the TSA has let on." (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/...)

In other words, the TSA is telling the public and the press one thing, but the machines they're buying are capable of something far more insidious, these documents reveal. Is the TSA intentionally lying to the public in order to mislead people over the real capabilities of these machines?

If these full-body scanners can save, store and transmit images, then it's only a matter of time before some rogue TSA employee finds a way to copy off the images or display them on the screen so that they can take snapshots with their own portable cameras.

The TSA says it's protecting your privacy. But its own scanner specification documents tell a different story: The TSA won't even buy these machines unless they can save, store and transmit revealing images of air passengers.

Sources for this story include:

CNN:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/...

TSA.gov:
http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/im...

EPIC:
www.Epic.org

(6) FBI agent says he was fired because he is Jewish

From: Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 14.01.2010 03:58 PM

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/13/1010160/fbi-agent-alleges-firing-due-to-religion

FBI agent alleges firing due to religion

January 13, 2010

(JTA) -- An FBI agent said he was fired because he is Jewish, saying he was unfairly under suspicion over lawful contacts with Israel and AIPAC officials.

The agent, suing in federal court as John Doe, said he was wrongfully under suspicion for what amounted to lawful contacts with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after he was tied to the 2004 case in which two AIPAC employees and a Pentagon analyst were indicted on charges of espionage, the Courthouse News Service reported Wednesday.

The Pentagon analyst, Lawrence Franklin, pleaded guilty to passing confidential information regarding U.S. foreign policy on Iran. The case against the AIPAC employees was dismissed.

In his complaint, the agent claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Justice Department "have allowed their personal, unfounded, and ill-informed biases regarding the country of Israel and the loyalty of Jewish Americans to improperly and illegally color their personnel decisions."

The agent also said he worked for the State Department as an analyst covering issues of Palestinian terrorism and Jewish extremism before moving to the FBI's Counterterrorism Division in 2004.

He said the FBI revoked his security clearance and placed him on administrative leave without pay in 2005 after being told he was being investigated for espionage.

The agent was fired by the FBI in June 2008 and told he could not appeal the decision due to national security.

(7) China got Taiwan firm to sell nuke parts to Iran: report

From: Max <Max@mailstar.net> Date: 11.01.2010 08:08 AM

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j-dHudismoPqdjs-31RjjQIzfg4g

Saturday January 9, 4:03 PM

A Taiwanese firm allegedly sold equipment that can be used to make nuclear weapons to Iran under a request from China, a Taipei-based magazine said. The firm received an online order from China last year to buy pressure transducers on behalf of an Iranian oil company for pipeline construction, Next Magazine reported this week. The firm later shipped 108 pressure transducers it had acquired from a Swiss firm to Iran as exporting the items was not illegal in Switzerland or Taiwan, the report said, citing a Taiwanese trade official. China, despite claiming its unwillingness to provide Iran with sensitive technology, has "secretly shipped critical components" to the country through Taiwanese firms, the report quoted an unnamed source as saying. The magazine did not identify any of the companies allegedly involved. The deal raised concerns in the US, which urged the Taiwanese government to eradicate the "smuggling network" in order not to violate international sanctions against Iran, it said. Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade has said the device is not restricted but has nevertheless placed the company on a watch list. Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper said last month Iran's defence officials met Taiwanese firms to buy hundreds of pressure transducers that can be used to make weapons-grade uranium. The paper said Iran had tried unsuccessfully to buy the equipment for more than a year from European and American firms before turning to a Taiwanese company. UN officials are investigating whether the European companies conducted proper checks of end-user certificates for the equipment, it said. The international community has warned Iran to stop construction of its second uranium enrichment plant, wary that it is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. Iran rejects the charge and says it wants to build a civil energy programme.

(8) Israel announces plans for nearly 700 homes in mainly Arab East Jerusalem

From: IHR News <news@ihr.org> Date: 02.01.2010 04:00 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8432267.stm

Page last updated at 17:56 GMT, Monday, 28 December 2009

Israel plans to build more homes in E Jerusalem

Israel has announced plans for nearly 700 homes in mainly Arab East Jerusalem - despite Palestinian and international demands that it freeze building there.

The US and EU criticised the move, which follows plans unveiled last month for 900 homes on occupied land in Gilo, south of Jerusalem.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised internationally.

The Palestinians want to locate their future capital in East Jerusalem.

They said the plans showed Israel was "not ready for peace".

Dismay

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement: "The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem."

Washington reiterated its call for both sides to resume stalled peace talks as soon as possible.

The European Union said it was "dismayed" by the announcement.

"Settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law," it said.

The new plans "contravene repeated calls from the international community and prevent the creation of the an atmosphere conducive to resuming negotiations," a statement from the Swedish EU presidency said.

Israel's housing ministry announced on Monday that it has invited contractors to bid on the construction of 198 housing units in Pisgat Zeev, 377 homes in Neve Yaakov and 117 dwellings in Har Homa, which are built on land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

It is part of an invitation to bid for contracts on 6,500 housing units across the country.

The new buildings will make apartments cheaper and more affordable for young families, the Israeli housing ministry said.

Last month, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in settlements in the occupied West Bank, under heavy pressure from the US.

But the right-leaning government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that it does not regard Jewish areas in Jerusalem as settlements and the restrictions do not apply there.

The Palestinians have refused to resume peace talks without a complete halt to settlement building in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

'Arab homes planned'

However, Jerusalem municipality said plans had recently been proposed for 500 new homes intended for Arab residents in the mainly Arab area of Silwan in East Jerusalem, and to allow the legalisation of 500 existing Arab homes.

Silwan is a controversial area, where Jewish groups have been attempting to acquire land, and dozens of Arab homes are under demolition orders.

Many of the homes are built without permits, which Israeli-Arab and Palestinian residents say are very difficult for them to get.

Israel says that East Jerusalem is part of the "indivisible and eternal" Israeli capital.

Israel's annexation of the east of the city has never been recognised by the international community.

About 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in settlements illegal under international law.