437 Orthodox Rabbis: Palestinians (Amalekites) "should be sent to extermination camps"

Orthodox Rabbis: Palestinians (Amalekites) "should be sent to extermination camps"

This was in a Hebrew-language publication; translation by Richard Silverstein (item 5).

(1) Shot in the Head: Gabrielle Giffords, Tom Hurndall and Palestinian Children - Alison Weir
(2) Palin calls criticism over Giffords cross hairs 'Blood Libel'; Jewish lobby objects
(3) Palestinian web site calls Palestinian Holocaust "Shoah"; Jewish lobby objects
(4) Rabbi warns infertile Jewish couples: 'Goyish Sperm leads to Criminality, Barbarism'
(5) Orthodox Rabbis: Palestinians (Amalekites) "should be sent to extermination camps"
(6) What's the difference between Nazi and Zionist war criminals?
(7) Israel stymies Palestinians' attempt to attract tourists
(8) Israeli Public asked to dob in Jews renting apartments to Arabs
(9) Leading rabbis justify their ban on renting homes to Arabs, say "racism originated in the Torah"
(10) Rabbis' wives' letter tells Jewish women not to date Arab men
(11) Minister Herzog: Netanyahu is responsible for "wave of racism" across Israel
(12) Barak: Anti-Arab letters by rabbis and rabbis' wives are part of wave of racism
(13) Settlers set fire to home as seven Palestinians sleep inside
(14) Palestinian farmer: Settlers burned my sheep alive
(15) IDF demolishes cisterns & wells supplying water to Bedouins & their sheep and goats
(16) UN: Israel demolished 47 Palestinian structures in one week
(17) After failure of US talks, Palestinians turn to UN for support
(18) Netanyahu blocks visits by Merkel & Medvedev to Jerusalem & Palestine
(19) Israel stops whistleblower Vanunu from getting German prize

(1) Shot in the Head: Gabrielle Giffords, Tom Hurndall and Palestinian Children - Alison Weir

From: Alison Weir <alisonweir@gmail.com> Date: 16.01.2011 12:46 PM

Gabrielle Giffords, Tom Hurndall and Palestinian Children

Shot in the Head

By ALISON WEIR

Counterpunch, January 14, 2011

http://counterpunch.org/weir01142011.html

There is something particularly horrifying when someone is shot in the head. Perhaps it's the gruesome image, the destruction of the brain, the clear intent to kill. The recent shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is made even more nightmarish by the location of her devastating injury.

Those of us who focus on Israel-Palestine are acutely aware of this horror.

Several years ago, I was researching the cause of death of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces during the first months of the Second Intifadah, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. As I counted up the numbers, I was chilled to discover that the single most frequent cause of death in those beginning months was "gunfire to the head."

In the past 10 years Israeli forces have killed at least 255 Palestinian minors by fire to the head, and the number may actually be greater, since in many instances the specific bodily location of the lethal trauma is unlisted. In addition, this statistic does not include the many more Palestinian youngsters shot in the head by Israeli soldiers who survived, in one form or another.

Below is a small sampling of those who died. (The term IDF stands for "Israeli Defense Forces," although these forces are, in reality, an occupation army and are almost always deployed offensively; the incidents below took place on Palestinian territory):

Sami, 12, died of head wounds from IDF gunfire during a demonstration. Abdul, 9, was killed by IDF gunfire to his head during a funeral. Ala, 14, died of head wounds from IDF gunfire while on the terrace of his home one hour after injuring an Israeli soldier with a stone. Omar, 11, died of head wounds from IDF gunfire during a demonstration. Diya, 3 months, was killed, along with her older brother, by Israeli settler gunfire to her head and back. Bara, 10, was killed by IDF gunfire to his head while near his home. Ayman, 15, was killed by IDF tank fire to his head while farming. Khalil, 11, was killed by IDF tank fire to his head while playing with a friend. Rami, 13, was killed by IDF helicopter fire to his head while playing in front of his house. Yaser, 11, died of head wounds from an IDF rubber-coated bullet fired at close range during a demonstration…/1/

Imagine if these names were Bobby… Michael… Susan... Melissa… Jimmy…
and that the foreign troops killing them were invading Arizona, Connecticut, Ohio...

I remember seeing one little brain-dead boy when I was in Gaza in February of 2001; long before any rockets had been fired out of this already assaulted enclave. It's not a sight you forget, regardless of the name or nationality.

A 2009 article in the UK Telegraph entitled "Bullets in the brain, shrapnel in the spine: the terrible injuries suffered by children of Gaza," investigated a situation in which doctors at a hospital near Gaza were "almost overwhelmed by the number of Palestinian children needing treatment for bullet wounds to their heads."/2/

The article began: "On just one day last week staff at the El-Arish hospital in Sinai were called to perform sophisticated CAT brain scans on a nine-year-old, two 10-year-olds and a 14-year-old – each of whom had a bullet still lodged in their brain, after coming under fire during the Israeli ground assault on Gaza."

Asked about the nature of these shootings, a physician replied:

"I can't precisely decide whether these children are being shot at as a target, but in some cases the bullet comes from the front of the head and goes towards the back, so I think the gun has been directly pointed at the child."

Israeli soldiers in a group called "Breaking the Silence" have provided chilling testimonies about Israeli military culture; the titles alone tell a great deal. Following are a few:

"The battalion commander ordered us to shoot anyone trying to remove the bodies", "The commander of the navy commandos put the muzzle of the rifle into the man's mouth", "They told us to shoot at anybody moving in the street", "You can do whatever you feel like, nobody is going to question it."/3/

Another person shot in the head by Israeli forces was 21-year-old Tom Hurndall. The anniversary of his death is this week. Hurndall, a student and photographer, had wanted to "make a difference" with his life. In 2003 he went to Gaza to join the nonviolence movement against Israeli aggression and to photograph what he saw. /4/

On April 11th he was nearby when a group of children who had been playing suddenly came under Israeli rifle fire. Most of the children fled, but three, aged four to seven, froze with fear. Hurndall dashed over, rushed one small boy to safety and returned for two little girls. Just as he was reaching to lift one up, an Israeli sniper shot him in the head.

Despite the urgency of his injury, Israeli officials delayed his transport to specialized medical care for over two and a half hours. A British television crew in the area filmed a powerful on-the-scene report that was aired on England's Channel 4 /5/ but has never, to my knowledge, been shown on American television. Tom remained in a vegetative state for nine months, finally dying on Jan. 13t, 2004.

From the end of 2002 to the spring of 2003, Israeli forces killed four internationals and shot another in the face. One of the dead was a UN official, Iain Hook. As with Hurndall, Israeli forces retarded efforts to provide critical medical care. /6/ Another was filmmaker James Miller, who had been waving a white flag. He was shot in the throat. /7/

Two recent non-Palestinian victims shot in the head, in this case by high velocity tear gas canisters, are 37-year-old Tristan Anderson /8/ and 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz. /9/ Both have survived, Emily without an eye and Tristan in a wheelchair. Part of his right frontal lobe has been removed, he is partially paralyzed, blind in one eye, and it is unclear to what degree his cognitive abilities will return. After shooting him at close range, Israeli forces twice delayed his ambulance to a hospital.

It is difficult to know how many of the 45,000 Palestinian men, women, and children killed or injured by Israeli forces since September 29, 2000 /10/ have been shot in the head. Quite likely the number is staggering. Former Yale professor and author Mazin Qumsiyeh describes one:

[Mohammed] was 12 years old when Israeli soldiers shot him in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet, fragmenting his skull and damaging part of his brain. Ten years later, Israeli army officers severely beat and tortured him. He got married… the young couple received a blessing in the form of a donation of a very small plot of land from their uncle and they built a humble one room house… they lived in this house for 3 years…Then the Israeli army demolished the home saying that it was built without permit (Israel gave no permits for any houses in the village since the occupation began in 1967.) The family rebuilt the house but Israeli threats forced them to not live in it (Israel wants also some NIS 20,000 for the cost of destroying the home and wants to levy other fines on the family.) So the young family came to live in a small dwelling underground… /11/

A Dec. 23rd news story by the International Middle East Middle Center mentions another:

"After being brought to the hospital, 22-year old Salamah Abu Hashish succumbed to his wounds. He had been shot in the back by Israeli troops stationed at the border. Another of the victims was a 14-year old boy who was critically injured when he was shot in the head while collecting rubble near where Abu Hashish was tending his sheep." /12/

The stories go on and on.

Gabrielle Giffords

Ironically, the American Congresswoman recently so tragically shot in the head has been extremely close to the Israel lobby, which has played a critical role in enabling the tragedies sketched above. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) works year after year to ensure that the approximately $7-8 million per day of American tax to Israel /13/ keeps flowing regardless of how many civilians its troops kill. /14/

Giffords has been known as "a safe pro-Israel vote in the House" /15/ and could be counted on to support AIPAC's various initiatives to shield Israel from negative consequences for its ruthless and illegal use of American weaponry. /16/

She called a 2001 visit to Israel a turning point in her life (Israeli forces killed 103 children that year, 31 of them shot in the head) and wrote in 2006 (a year in which Israeli forces killed 665 Palestinians, 139 of them children, and Palestinians killed 23 Israelis, two of them children) that "the United States must do everything possible to secure Israel's long-term security." /17/ Palestinian victims – killed first and in far greater numbers – seem to have been invisible to her. /18/

Giffords, of course, wasn't the only victim of the Tucson shooting; 14 were injured and six were killed. It is deeply saddening to read about the dead and to imagine the unending grief for their survivors. /19/ It is particularly difficult to view the sweet, smiling picture of nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green, knowing that her bright life is no longer before her.

It is equally tragic to read of nine-year-old Akaber, killed by Israeli gunfire to her head while riding in her uncle's car to get medical stitches removed, and of the 29 other nine-year-olds killed by Israeli forces in the past decade, eight of them by Israeli gunfire to the head.

It is too late for Akabar, Diya, Mohammed, Tom, and the multitude of others. But there is hope that Gabrielle Giffords is going to survive. Let us pray that she recovers fully, that she is able to return to Congress, and that she then works to prevent others – including Palestinians – from being shot in the head.

We have better uses for our money than to fund atrocities.

Alison Weir is President of the Council for the National Interest and Executive Director of If Americans Knew, which has produced posters and cards for people to disseminate in commemoration of the seventh anniversary of Tom Hurndall's killing (http://ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/hurndall-articles.html ) and about Palestinian children, (which contain a picture of the Gaza boy she saw). (http://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/opcard.html) She can be reached at alisonweir@ifamericansknew.org.

Notes and Citations

1. Remember These Children http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2000.html; Since Sept 29, 2000 Israeli forces have killed at least 1,452 Palestinian children; Palestinians have killed 124 Israeli children. Every single one of these deaths is a tragedy. 91 Palestinian children were killed before any Israeli children were killed. http://ifamericansknew.org/stats/children.html

2. "Bullets in the brain, shrapnel in the spine: the terrible injuries suffered by children of Gaza," The Telegraph, Jan. 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/;

Related: "Doctor Decries Israeli Attacks," video of CBS news report, Jan. 5, 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6ojm62qwA

3. "The Darkness to Expel! Israeli soldiers' book 'Breaking the Silence' describes 'routine' oppression," The Missing Headlines, Uri Avnery, Dec. 27, 2010 http://www.israel-palestinenews.org/

4. Section with articles on Tom Hurndall, If Americans Knew website http://ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/hurndall-articles.html

5. "Dispatches: The Killing Zone," Sandra Jordan and Rodrigo Vasquez, UK Channel 4, May 19, 2003 http://ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/kzone.html

6. "Israel's killing of British citizen Iain Hook, UNRWA's Project Manager in Jenin
Caoimhe Butterly as told to Annie Higgins writing from Jenin Refugee Camp," Live from Palestine, 22 November 2002 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article906.shtml

7. "Film-maker's death 'was murder'," BBC News, April 4, 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4876176.stm

8. "Facts about Tristan" http://justicefortristan.org/

9. "EXCLUSIVE...Emily Henochowicz Speaks Out: Art Student Who Lost Her Eye After Being Shot by Israeli Tear Gas Canister in West Bank Protest Discusses Her Life, Her Art, and Why She Plans to Return," Democracy Now, Aug 5, 2010 http://www.democracynow.org

10. If Americans Knew website, from B'Tselem and Remember These Children http://ifamericansknew.org/

11. "The Story of a Palestinian Shot in the Head with a Rubber-Coated Steel Bullet by Israeli Occupation Soldiers," Mazin Qumsiyeh, Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, September 20, 2010 http://www.aljazeerah.info/

12. "Shepherd killed; 3 injured in Northern Gaza," IMEMC, Dec. 23, 2010 http://www.imemc.org/article/60257

13. "U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict," If Americans Knew, from Congressional Research Service reports http://ifamericansknew.org/stats/usaid.html ;

"$3.4b in US military aid delayed: US military aid to Israel in 2011 is due to be largest amount Israel has ever received," Globes Israel's Business Arena, December 26, 2010 http://www.globes.co.il/

14. "The Israel Lobby," London Review of Books, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, March 23, 2006 http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/john-mearsheimer/the-israel-lobby

15. "Gabrielle Giffords Shot in the Head," The Forward, Jan 8, 2011 http://forward.com/articles/134547/

16. "Israel Violates Law on U.S. Weapons in Mideast," IPS, Jan 17, 2006 http://ipsnews.net/

17. AIPAC Facebook post, Jan. 9, 2011, 3:35 pm http://www.facebook.com/aipac

 "A Tribe of Candidates Leads Drive To Retake House for Democrats," The Forward, Sept. 22, 2006: "…Several candidates who spoke with the Forward did say that they would be strong advocates for Israel in Congress. This is 'an opportunity to send someone to Congress who's going to work for Israel,' Giffords told the Forward…" http://www.forward.com/articles/4693/

18. B'Tselem - Israeli Information Center for Human Rights http://www.btselem.org/

If Americans Knew http://ifamericansknew.org/

19. "Thumbnail sketches of those shot in Arizona," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 11, 2011 http://www.ajc.com/

(2) Palin calls criticism over Giffords cross hairs 'Blood Libel'; Jewish lobby objects

January 12, 2011, 8:15 AM

Palin Calls Criticism 'Blood Libel'

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/palin-calls-criticism-blood-libel/?emc=eta1

1:13 p.m. | Updated
Sarah Palin, who had been silent for days, issued a forceful denunciation of her critics on Wednesday in a video statement that accused pundits and journalists of "blood libel" in what she called their rush to blame heated political rhetoric for the shootings in Arizona.

"Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own," Ms. Palin said in a seven-and-a-half minute video posted to her Facebook page. "Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible."

Ms. Palin's use last year of a map with cross hairs hovering over a number of swing districts, including that of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, has become a symbol of that overheated rhetoric. In an interview with The Caucus on Monday, Tim Pawlenty, a potential 2012 rival for the Republican presidential nomination and the former governor of Minnesota, said he would not have produced such a map.

In the video, Ms. Palin rejected criticism of the map, and sought to cast that criticism as a broader indictment of the basic rights to free speech exercised by people of all political persuasions.

She said that acts like the shootings in Arizona "begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state."

"Not with those who listen to talk radio," said Ms. Palin, who is also a Fox News contributor. "Not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle. Not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies. Not with those who proudly voted in the last election."

The term blood libel is generally used to mean the false accusation that Jews murder Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals, in particular the baking of matzos for passover. That false claim was circulated for centuries to incite anti-Semitism and justify violent pogroms against Jews. Ms. Palin's use of the phrase in her video, which helped make it rapidly go viral, is itself attracting criticism, not least because Ms. Giffords, who remains in critical condition in a Tucson hospital, is Jewish.

Reaction to Ms. Palin's video was swift.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who is a close friend of Ms. Giffords, issued a statement condemning her use of the phrase "blood libel."

"Palin's comments either show a complete ignorance of history, or blatant anti-Semitism," said Jonathan Beeton, Ms. Wasserman Shultz's spokesman. "Either way, it shows an appalling lack of sensitivity given Representative Giffords' faith and the events of the past week."

The Anti Defamation League issued a statement that, in part, came to Ms. Palin's defense.

"It was inappropriate at the outset to blame Sarah Palin and others for causing this tragedy or for being an accessory to murder," Abraham Foxman, the group's national director, said in a statement. "Palin has every right to defend herself against these kinds of attacks."

But Mr. Foxman added that "we wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase 'blood-libel.' " He called it a phrase "fraught with pain in Jewish history."

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of a pro-Israel group called J Street, said that "when Governor Palin learns that many Jews are pained by and take offense at the use of the term, we are sure that she will choose to retract her comment, apologize and make a less inflammatory choice of words."  ...

(3) Palestinian web site calls Palestinian Holocaust "Shoah"; Jewish lobby objects

From: IHR News <news@ihr.org> Date: 17.01.2011 04:00 PM

Shoah Backfires

Gilad Atzmon

MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2011

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-atzmon-shoah-backfires.html

For years Israelis and Zionists have been pumping 'Shoah' into our veins by using every possible propaganda outlet: media, education, Hollywood, music, literature, billboards and so on. Seemingly they have been very successful : We are all properly ' Holocausted '. We accept the suffering of the Jewish people -- and we have even managed to draw a universal message from it all .. .. The Jewish Chronicle is very disturbed by a UK-based pro Palestinian web site named shoah.org.uk. The site is obviously dedicated to the Palestinian Holocaust. The Jewish paper insists that the Shoah -- like Israel -- is a 'Jews only club'.

(4) Rabbi warns infertile Jewish couples: 'Goyish Sperm leads to Criminality, Barbarism'
From: ReporterNotebook <RePorterNoteBook@Gmail.com> Date: 13.01.2011 04:31 AM

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/12/israeli-orthodox-rabbi-to-infertile-jewish-couples-goyish-sperm-leads-to-criminality-barbarism/

ISRAELI SETTLER-RABBI TO INFERTILE JEWISH COUPLES: 'GOYISH SPERM LEADS TO CRIMINALITY, BARBARISM'

I swear these rabbis are such sitting ducks sometimes I feel sorry for 'em that I have write posts like this. But given the nuttiness they espouse, what choice does one have?

One of Israeli Orthodoxy's leading rabbinic lights, Rabbi Dov Lior, chief rabbi of that idyllic Jewish town of Hebron, told a conference at an Israeli fertility conference that Jewish couples must not use the sperm of non-Jewish men for artificial insemination because the traits of the goy will pass on to the child:

According to Lior, a baby born through such an insemination will have the "negative genetic traits that characterize non-Jews."

"Sefer HaChinuch (The Book of Education) states that the character traits of the father pass on to the son," he said in the lecture. "If the father in not Jewish, what character traits could he have? Traits of cruelty, of barbarism! These are not traits that characterize the people of Israel."Lior added identified Jews as merciful, shy and charitable – qualities that he claimed could be inherited. "A person born to Jewish parents, even if they weren't raised on the Torah – there are things that are passed on (to him) in the blood, it's genetic," he explained. "If the father is a gentile, then the child is deprived of these things.

"I even read in books that sometimes the crime, the difficult traits, the bitterness – a child that comes from these traits, it's no surprise that he won't have the qualities that characterize the people of Israel," he added. ...

(5) Orthodox Rabbis: Palestinians (Amalekites) "should be sent to extermination camps"
From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 13.01.2011 02:31 AM

The Hebrew text is displayed at this link:

http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/12/israels-orthodox-rabbis-palestinians-to-the-ovens/

ISRAEL'S ORTHODOX RABBIS: 'PALESTINIANS TO THE OVENS!'

Back in the days of the Shoah, one of the slogans of the Jew haters was: "Jews to the Ovens." Now, it causes me anguish to say, we have Israeli Orthodox rabbis saying the same about the Palestinians.

Thanks to Cicero for pointing me to a shocking passage in an Israeli Orthodox "family magazine," Fountains of Salvation, which suggests that Israel will create death camps for Palestinians in order to wipe them out like Amalek. The article attacks Israeli rabbis who dispute the letter recently circulated from pro-settler extremist rabbis which urged that no Israeli Jew rent apartments or homes to Israeli Palestinians. It chided them for being "politically correct" and refusing to do their jobs and educate the populace in the true path of Torah (which is presumably to hate Palestinians).

The last paragraph (page 4 of the original) though is the whopper:

It will be interesting to see whether they leave the assembly of the Amalekites [Palestinians] in extermination camps to others, or whether they will declare that wiping out Amalek is no longer [historically] relevant. Only time will tell…

A few words of explanation. There is a Biblical command for Jews to wipe out Amalek because of the viciousness with which that people attacked Israelites. Essentially, this is a Jewish call to commit genocide against Amalek. We should note that the Bible records such Jewish campaigns against other tribes as well (Moabites, Jebusites) and no doubt others did the same to their enemies.

Rabbis throughout the ages have allegorized the reference to Amalek to connote any sworn enemy of the Jewish people from Hitler to Barack Obama (yes, prominent American Orthodox Jews wrote such garbage before the last election). But this is the first time I've ever read any Orthodox publication calling for committing genocide against Palestinians.

As Cicero pointed out to me, the articulation of this passage doesn't only refer to Palestinians (though most likely this was specifically who the writer had in mind given the context). It can refer to any enemy of the Jewish people including you or me.

Now a word on who is behind this publication: it is the cream of the crop of the radical right-wing Israeli Orthodox rabbinate. It was founded by the former chief rabbi of Safed, whose son currently holds that position and who circulated the letter I refer to above. Another is the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan and finally Rabbi Avinar, suspected of sexually abusing a troubled woman who approached him for spiritual advice. Each of them holds paid government sinecures, allowing them to spew hate on the dime of the Israeli taxpayer.

This raises the important question: why does the U.S. government allow tax-deductible contributions to Israeli charities like Chabad given their propagation of such genocidal rhetoric?

Cicero first learned about the Chabad article from Udi Aloni's Ynet column, which pointed it out. He points out that it has been his custom in criticizing Israelis who support the Occupation to attack the liberal elite which is characterized by the slogan "shooting and crying." Instead, he says he now will have to pay closer attention to the radical Orthodox who "shoot and laugh." Aloni imagines the young Orthodox boy reading this publication in his synagogue where it's distributed, who conjures to himself with a smile on his face the picture of Palestinians standing behind barbed wire in such a camp. This is the legacy these rabbis are bequeathing to their young followers.

Finally, since I know people of all ideological stripes may read into this story what they wish, I want to make clear that this is not Judaism. These wicked men may be Jews and rabbis, but they don't represent normative Judaism any more than Osama bin Laden represents normative Islam. Do not make the mistake of conflating this idiocy with all of Israel or all of Judaism. Yes, these men are dangerous, they are hateful, and they must be challenged. But there is another face of Judaism and another face of Israel (though that is becoming increasingly difficult to see I concede).

(6) What's the difference between Nazi and Zionist war criminals?

From: AlanHart.net <noreply@alanhart.net> Date: 14.01.2011 11:08 AM

By Alan Hart

January 13, 2011

http://www.alanhart.net/what's-the-difference-between-nazi-and-zionist-war-criminals/

Short answer: Great effort is made to hunt down and prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, no effort is made to bring Zionist war criminals to justice.

On 13 January, the BBC's World News web site had a lengthy story with the headline Global Nazi investigations rise for a second year. The writer of it was one Mario Cacciottolo who, quick research informed me, "Runs a photography website, plays poker, is a BBC journalist and grew up in Malta's red-light district." (His other 50 listed stories for the BBC include "Brilliant" news for lesbian couples and What sort of man wears mantyhose?)

Cacciottolo's 13 January story was based on the latest report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC). According to it, the number of ongoing investigations into Nazi war criminals increased last year. From April 2009 to March 2010 there were 852 investigations being conducted worldwide, compared with 706 during the same period in 2008/09. The period 2009/10 was the second consecutive year that the number of investigations into suspected Nazis has risen - there were 608 in 2007/08.

Efraim Zuroff, the head of the SWC's Jerusalem branch, was quoted as saying there were two reasons for the rise in the number of prosecutions. "It's clear that we're reaching the end of the period in which this work will be possible. (Because all suspects will be dead). This has motivated countries with the political will to make an effort to prosecute former Nazis… The other reason is that Germany in particular has changed its prosecution policy, to allow more suspects - particularly those who were not officer class and those of non-German origin - to be prosecuted." The increase in the number of German prosecutions was the most dramatic, up from 27 in 2008/09 to 177 in 2009/10. And that was why the SWC awarded Germany an A-grade for its efforts to prosecute ex-Nazis. Previously only the United States had been given the SWC's top marks.

The SWC report also gave nine countries failing grades for their investigative efforts -Norway, Sweden, Syria, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, and Ukraine. (I am surprised about Canada being on the list because its government has a well deserved reputation for doing Zionism's bidding).

If there was an institution working to bring Zionist war criminals to justice, it would have to award failing grades to every country on Planet Earth.

As Efraim Zuroff said, it is a matter of political will, but President Obama's burial of the Goldstone Report is surely proof that it does not exist for calling and holding Israel's leaders (some of them) to account for their crimes.

Footnote

At the time of writing we are waiting to see if Britain's coalition government will introduce legislation to prevent Israeli leaders being prosecuted. It is under pressure from Zionism to do so.

(7) Israel stymies Palestinians' attempt to attract tourists

Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 13.01.2011 04:56 PM

Israel begrudges Palestine its fragile tourism

January 11, 2011 -

Stuart Littlewood

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=73816

The Israel lobby here in the UK is creating a storm in an advertising teacup in a bid to throw a spanner in the works of Palestinian tourism.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Britain's advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into "a barrage of complaints" over a 'Travel Palestine' advert in the National Geographic magazine because it "appears to blot out the existence of the State of Israel".

The Palestinians' modest attempt to attract tourists to their country was promptly met by the Israel lobby's 'usual suspects' squealing their indignation and making fatuous territorial claims.

The advert was published by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 60 complaints. The Zionist Federation of the UK, for example, grumbled that the advert was misleading as it gave the "false impression" that Palestine is a country; that Jerusalem is part of Palestine; and that Palestine extends from the Mediterranean to the River Jordan.

"The ad would mislead tourists, since on traveling to territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority, they would not find the sites and facilities which the advertisement promotes," said the ZF.

One London lawyer wrote to the ASA that the claim that Palestine lay between the Mediterranean the Jordan "implies that 'Palestine' has a Mediterranean coastline; but while this is true as regards to Gaza, that territory is not within the de facto jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. More seriously, it implies that Palestine occupies the whole or the bulk of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, ignoring the existence of Israel".

Another complainant said the notion that Palestine lies between the Mediterranean and the Jordan was racist. "This echoes the racist chant of 'From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free' sung by anti-Israel activists. It is a racist statement."

Yet another lawyer said the ad refers to Jerusalem in the same context as other cities in the West Bank. "It implies that Jerusalem is in Palestine. In fact, Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel. East Jerusalem is also under Israeli governance; while East Jerusalem may presently be disputed territory, it cannot be said to be part of 'Palestine'."

And still another insisted that "the ad promotes the city of Gaza, but fails to mention that the Palestinian territories comprise two non-contiguous areas, one the West Bank and the other Gaza, and that it would be very difficult if not impossible for a tourist to travel between the two areas, or to get into Gaza either via Israel or Egypt".

Today The Guardian also ran the story, reporting that the Board of Deputies of British Jews had welcomed the launch of an official investigation, calling the advert "deeply disturbing" and "an affront to international law".

Here's what he advertisement actually said…

 "Palestine is a land rich in history with a tradition of hospitality. From the famous cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho, Nablus and Gaza, the Palestinian people welcome you to visit this Holy Land. Important to the three major religions around the world, Palestine has been a meeting point for diverse cultures since prehistoric times. Starting from the earliest religious pilgrims, the country has seen famous visitors come and go.

 "Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and Middle East. The individual faces in any Palestinian town remind you of this rich history of cross-cultural influences.

 "Today Palestine is proud to offer comfortable, stylish accommodation, fabulous restaurants, refined artists, and galleries, exquisite handicrafts, innumerable archaeological and religious sites, and antiquities from all ages.

 "It takes a visit to this wonderful country to appreciate the most palpable facet of its culture: the warmth and humour of the Palestinian people. Join a long list of visitors over the centuries who have seen the beauty of the land."

What is wrong with that? It could have said a great deal that was detrimental to Israel, without breaching the guidelines, but it didn't. It is substantially honest and truthful, and quite harmless.

The complaints, such as the accusation that the Palestinian tourism advert is "an affront to international law", are laughable. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are internationally recognised as one integral territory. Israel's responsibility under the Oslo Agreements to "respect and preserve without obstacles, normal and smooth movement of people, vehicles and goods within the West Bank, and between the West Bank and Gaza Strip". ...

Stuart Littlewood
11 January 2011

Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk

(8) Israeli Public asked to dob in Jews renting apartments to Arabs

From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 14.12.2010 05:57 AM

The Lehava organization issued a notice Sunday evening, inviting the public to call a voicemail service and record the names of Jewish Israelis renting apartments to Arabs

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3998121,00.html

Public invited to inform on those renting to Arabs

In step supporting rabbis' letter on halachic ruling against renting to Arabs, initiative gives number so public can give names for 'list of disgrace'

Published: 12.12.10, 23:13 / Israel News

Yair Altman

The Lehava organization issued a notice Sunday evening, inviting the public to call a voicemail service and record the names of Jewish Israelis renting apartments to Arabs. Lehava, identified with supporters of Meir Kahane, thus adds its weight to the recent call by 50 prominent rabbis to avoid renting to Arabs which, the organization says, amounts to no less than assimilation.

 According to the notice, the information given anonymously will be verified, after which the names will be published as a mark of disgrace "so the public can decide what to do with them."

 "If we were in the time of (former Prime Minister David) Ben Gurion or (former Prime Minister) Golda (Meir), the organization would undoubtedly receive a governmental citation," said a Lehava activist to Ynet, claiming the activists were taking the rabbis' letter one step further.

 "The organization wants to apply this important ruling, while our main aim is to counter assimilation. We publish our number, people will call, then we'll make checks of course, and as soon as we see the information is correct we'll publish it in a list of disgrace."

 The activist added that the publication of the list of names will not actively include a call to harm the people involved.

 He also referred to what he termed "assimilation," saying, "Unfortunately, this is a serious problem, and we hope the rabbis' halachic ruling will put a stop to it. This is an existential struggle for the character of the Jewish State, and we don't intend to give up."

 This new initiative comes just a week after 50 rabbis signed a position paper which stated that renting or selling apartments or land in Israel to non-Jews is forbidden according to halacha.

 "The neighbors and acquaintances of the seller or renter must warn him personally first and later they are allowed to make this matter public, distance themselves from him, avoid commercial ties, and so on," the letter reads.

(9) Leading rabbis justify their ban on renting homes to Arabs, say "racism originated in the Torah"

From: Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 03.01.2011 06:57 AM

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/top-rabbis-move-to-forbid-renting-homes-to-arabs-say-racism-originated-in-the-torah-1.329327?localLinksEnabled=false

13:04 07.12.10

Top rabbis move to forbid renting homes to Arabs, say 'racism originated in the Torah'

Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews.

By Chaim Levinson

A number of leading rabbis who signed on to a religious ruling to forbid renting homes to gentiles – a move particularly aimed against Arabs – defended their decision on Tuesday with the declaration that the land of Israel belongs to the Jews.

Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to the ruling, which comes just months after the chief rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews.

Signatories include the chief rabbis of Ramat Hasharon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rishon Letzion, Carmiel, Gadera, Afula, Nahariya, Herzliya, Nahariya and Pardes Hannah, among a number of other cities.

"We don't need to help Arabs set down roots in Israel," Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of the Beit El settlement, said on Tuesday. Aviner explained that he supported the move for two reasons: one, a Jew looking for an apartment should get preference over a gentile; and two, to keep the growing Arab population from settling too deeply.

"Racism originated in the Torah," said Rabbi Yosef Scheinen, who heads the Ashdod Yeshiva. "The land of Israel is designated for the people of Israel. This is what the Holy One Blessed Be He intended and that is what the [sage] Rashi interpreted."

He added that he did not see the move as racist so much as segregationist. "The world is so big and the State of Israel is small, that God intended it for the people of Israel and the whole world covets it. That is the injustice."

Upon news of the religious ruling, Meretz faction whip Ilan Ghilon immediately asked the attorney general to dismiss each of the rabbis who had signed their names.

"We are witnessing an epidemic of racism and xenophobia and we must act firmly," he said.

Deputy Knesset chairman MK Ahmed Tibi decried the letter as a "mass crime [committed] by a group of racist rabbis who should be given intensive course in Jewish history."

The entire group should be tried for "incitement to racism," added Tibi, "Muslim clerics have recently been tried or fired from their jobs for much less but the rabbis are able to pursue their unruly behavior without concern.

Haifa Mayor Yonah Yahav termed the ruling the "real desecration of God's name. It is bringing hatred against those with whom we have chosen to live our lives."

Nazareth Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy also decried the moving, declaring that "whoever thinks it damages one side is mistaken. We are all children of the land. Both nations must search for common ground and not bring about escalation."

In their ruling, the rabbis called on the religious community to voice support Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, who could face trial for incitement against Arabs for initiating the move against renting to gentiles.

Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman has also asked Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to begin the process of suspending Eliyahu immediately from his post as municipal rabbi.

Politicos from the national religious sector believe that the mass of prominent figures who signed on to the ruling – all of whose salaries are paid by public funds - will send a message to the attorney general to take Eliyahu's position seriously.

The rabbis' letter prompted by Eliyahu, which was first published months ago and reprinted in October, urges Jewish owners of apartments to reconsider renting their properties to Arabs since it would deflate the value of their homes as well as those in the neighborhood.

"Their way of life is different than that of Jews," the letter stated. "Among [the gentiles] are those who are bitter and hateful toward us and who meddle into our lives to the point where they are a danger."

The rabbis also urge neighbors of anyone renting or selling property to Arabs to caution that person. After delivering the warning, the neighbor is then encouraged to issue notices to the general public and inform the community.

"The neighbors and acquaintances [of a Jew who sells or rents to an Arab] must distance themselves from the Jew, refrain from doing business with him, deny him the right to read from the Torah, and similarly [ostracize] him until he goes back on this harmful deed," the letter reads.

(10) Rabbis' wives' letter tells Jewish women not to date Arab men

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=201318

Thu, Dec 30, 2010  23 Tevet, 5771 

Rebbetzins: Women, stay away from Arab men

 By JPOST.COM STAFF
12/28/2010 21:27

Twenty-seven rabbis' wives signed a letter distributed by the Lehava organization calling upon Jewish women not to date Arab men, not to work in places where Arabs are employed and not to volunteer for national service with them.

The rebbetzins' letter states, "There are quite a few Arab workers who give themselves Hebrew names. Yusef turns into Yosef, Samir turns into Sami, and Awabad turns into Ami. They ask to be close to you, try to find favor with you, and give you all the attention in world, they are actually here knowing to act with courtesy, acting as if they really care for you, say a good word, but their behavior is only temporary. The moment you are in their hands, in their village, under their control, everything changes."

"Your life will never go back to the way it was, and the attention you so desired will turn into curses, beatings, and humiliations," the letter warns.

This latest letter came weeks after a controversial petition signed by over 40 municipal rabbis calling on Jews not to rent homes in Israel to gentiles, sparking a wide-spread controversy.

In response to the earlier petition, nearly 50 Conservative (Masorti) rabbis signed a halachic statement allowing home rentals or sales to non- Jews in Israel, in a move to counter the statement signed by nearly 50 city rabbis that prohibited just that.

(11) Minister Herzog: Netanyahu is responsible for "wave of racism" across Israel

From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 10.01.2011 05:00 PM

Minister Herzog: PM responsible for racism wave

Welfare minister slams planned investigation into activity of leftist groups; urges Netanyahu to 'stop groveling before Lieberman'

Published: 01.09.11, 12:49 / Israel News

Ynet reporters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is chiefly responsible for the "wave of racism that is flooding that is flooding the country," Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog said Sunday.

 During the weekly cabinet meeting Herzog, who recently threatened to "dismantle Labor" if the party does not quit the coalition, criticized the government's decision to investigate the funding of left-wing organizations in Israel. He said Netanyahu must tell the citizens of Israel when he intends to "stop groveling before Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and stop the madness."

 Minister Avishay Braverman, also of Labor, said he does not plan on making a "Don Quixote move" and leave the government on his own. The minister said he would call a Labor Central Committee meeting to discuss issuing an ultimatum whereby the party would quit the coalition unless peace negotiations are resumed.

 Sources close to Netanyahu have estimated that Labor would leave the government in March or April in light of the stalled peace process, a move which would leave the coalition with only 61 Knesset members.

 Attila Somfalvi and Ronen Medzini contributed to the report

(12) Barak: Anti-Arab letters by rabbis and rabbis' wives are part of wave of racism

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/barak-anti-arab-letters-by-rabbis-and-rabbis-wives-leading-israel-into-dark-place-1.334093

December 29, 2010

Barak: Anti-Arab letters by rabbis and rabbis' wives leading Israel into dark place

During the last month, several letters have been published urging Jews not to date, lease or rent to Arabs, African refugees or migrant workers.

By Mazal Mualem

Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Wednesday that anti-Arab letters signed by rabbis and wives' of rabbis would lead to a wave of racism that would threaten to "take over" Israeli society.

Barak expressed his concern in a statement, released shortly after a letter urging Jewish women not to date non-Jewish men was published by a group of rabbis' wives and just weeks after a rabbis' letter was published urging Jews not to sell or rent properties to non-Jews.

"The rabbi's letter and the letter by rabbis' wives are part of wave of racism threatening to sweep Israeli society into a dark and dangerous place," Barak said.

"The Labor party under my leadership is working to bring the Israeli people together, from all nationalities, in the spirit of the scroll of independence."

The new letter, signed by 30 rabbis' wives, says, "For your sake, for the sake of future generations, and so you don't undergo horrible suffering, we turn to you with a request, a plea, a prayer. Don't date non-Jews, don't work at places that non-Jews frequent, and don't do national service with non-Jews."

The letter was organized by the organization Lehava, which claims to "save daughters of Israel" from what it calls assimilation. Lehava also took part in the recent demonstrations against selling or renting homes to non-Jews.

In its attempt to appeal to Jewish women, the letter states that they descend from a noble race of kings, and that dating a non-Jew would thereby cut her off from her Jewish family.

The letter was published shortly after a new survey revealed that a full 44% of Israeli Jews support a letter issued by rabbis earlier this month forbidding the sale or rental of properties to non-Jews in the city of Safed. The survey reported that 48% of Israeli Jews oppose the rabbis' religious edict.

Dozens of Israel's municipal chief rabbis signed on to a religious ruling against the sale or rental of properties to non-Jewish Arabs, African refugees and migrant workers.

(13) Settlers set fire to home as seven Palestinians sleep inside

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/settlers-set-fire-to-home-as-seven-palestinians-sleep-inside.html

by SAMUEL NICHOLS on DECEMBER 31, 2010 · 5 COMMENTS

In the early morning hours of 29 December 2010, settlers set fire to a family's dwelling in Susiya village.

The great majority of Susiya residents live in tents as their historic stone and cave dwellings have been demolished several times over by the Israeli military. Many of the tents now used have been provided by humanitarian organizations and serve as bedrooms, kitchens, storage and sitting areas for the families living in them.

The Palestinian village of Susiya is sandwiched between a handful of settlements and outposts, an army base, and an ancient synagogue. Shepherds are unable to graze their flocks freely on their own land and farmers are unable to access their fields to harvest wheat and olives due to the area's designation as a 'closed military zone' (see the video below). Israeli settlers in the South Hebron Hills, who have a reputation for being some of the nastiest settlers around, often direct their venemous aggression at Palestinians from Susiya who are surrounded on all sides.

Palestinians have no recourse to defend themselves, access their privately-owned land, or to seek prosecution for attacks against their persons or their property. The collusion between the Israeli authorites and the settlers -- many of whom are on a first-name basis with policeman and soldiers stationed in the area, or in many cases stationed inside the settlements -- is palpable after spending mere hours in the area. Israeli police and military often refuse to respond, or respond with tardiness and negligence, when Palestinians report crimes and file complaints against Israeli settlers. Many Palestinians whom I have worked with in the area, have stopped bothering to file complaints because of the fruitless hours spent at the nearby Kiryat Arba Police Station trying to convince Israeli policemen to hear their testimony or view their video and photographic evidence.

In the incident which occurred on 29 December 2010, there were seven members of a family asleep in the tent when settlers set fire to the structure. Fortunately, a hajji (an elderly matriarch) was awake and heard the dogs warning of the intruders. Nasser Nawa'jah, a field researcher for B'tselem and a resident of Susiya, said that the villagers were unsure whether the intruders had poured petrol on the tent and then lit the flammable liquid or whether they had thrown a molotov cocktail at the tent, the latter a tactic which settlers have used previously in Susiya.

The hajji woke those sleeping in the tent in time for them to escape and to remove the tanks of gas that were in the kitchen. As they emerged from the tent, they saw a car on the dirt road escaping in the direction of Susiya settlement (the Palestinian village and the nearby Israeli settlement have the same name).

(14) Palestinian farmer: Settlers burned my sheep alive

From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 19.12.2010 11:30 PM

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m73021&hd=&size=1&l=e

Ma'an news

December 18, 2010

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A farmer said he watched a group of settlers in the northern West Bank gather his sheep and set them on fire Saturday afternoon.

When he returned to the area, he told officials, he found 12 sheep burned alive, five with severe burns and two others that were only lightly burned. "I've lost at least $12,000," he said, calling the act abominable.

Mayor of Aqraba, the village near where the attack took place, Jawdat Bani Jabir, identified the farmer as 40-year-old Samir Muhammad Bani Fadl.

Fadil said he was out pasturing his sheep in the eastern part of the village when a group of armed settlers approached him in a white car and asked him to come and speak with them. Feeling threatened, in an area where rights organizations recorded a ballooning number of settler attacks and vandalism during the month of October, Fadil fled and watched the group from an adjacent hill.

According to the farmer's testimony, the settlers gathered all the sheep into an area thick with brush, and set fire to the bushes.

Mayor Jabir called the attack vicious, and blamed the residents of the settlements encircling the area: Maale Efraym, Itamar, and Hetzit.

"Fadil has nine daughters who depend on him and he has sustained a deep loss today," the mayor said, calling for an inquiry into the incident.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of following up with settlement activities in the northern West Bank, condemned the attack demanding pressure on Israel by the international community to quell settler violence.

(15) IDF demolishes cisterns & wells supplying water to Bedouins & their sheep and goats

http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/israeli-occupation-contributes-to-the-water-crisis-in-the-south-hebron-hills.html

Israeli occupation contributes to the water crisis in the South Hebron Hills

by SAMUEL NICHOLS on DECEMBER 18, 2010

ISRAELI MILITARY VEHICLES DESCENDING ON THE SOUTH HEBRON HILLS ( PHOTO CREDIT - OPERATION DOVE)

The Israeli military demolished three cisterns and two wells in the South Hebron Hills villages of Khasem ad-Daraj and Hathaleen. In the early morning of December 14, five bulldozers accompanied by the Israeli military, border police, and DCO (Israeli Civil Administration) made the long trek through the arid, rocky hills in order to demolish much-needed cisterns and to destroy wells by filling them with dirt.

Villagers told international activists that the DCO had failed to personally deliver the demolition orders two days previously but had instead left the orders under a stone near the cisterns. The DCO officials who oversaw the demolition of the cisterns and wells stated that the Israeli Civil Administration had not issued building permits and the structures were therfore illegal.

The Christian Peacemaker Teams reported on the incident [1]:

The demolished cisterns and wells supplied drinking water to the villagers as well as their sheep and goats -- the primary sources of food and income for the villages in the area. The wells were over seventy years old, pre-dating the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The Israeli military claims that it does not destroy structures created before 1967.

These rural Bedouin villages lie in the rolling hills to the southeast of Hebron and mark the southern edge of the Hebron hills. The Palestinians of this region are herders and dry-land farmers who rely on rainfall to nourish their crops and provide grasses for their flocks. The severe drought of the last several years has exacerbated the ongoing water shortage due to Israel's control over water distribution and has jeapordized the viability of these Bedouins' lifestyle.

ISRAELI BULLDOZER DESTROYING A CISTERN. (PHOTO CREDIT - OPERATION DOVE)

Villages in the South Hebron Hills are typically not connected to a water network and are forced to purchase privatized water transported in tankers. Water on the private market is three to six times more expensive [2] than what is available in Israeli households and even more expensive in cases where villages are not accessible by paved roads, as is the case with Khasem ad-Daraj and Hathaleen. Palestinians in the Hebron region use 57-80 liters of water per capita each day, dangerously below the World Health Organization's minimum of 150 liters.

Meanwhile, Israeli settlers use more than 300 liters of water per capita each day[3]. Despite all of the water vulnerabilities that the herders and farmers of the South Hebron Hills face [4] as a result of the occupation and a warming planet, Israel still has the gall to demolish cisterns and to destroy wells that were built before 1967.

Climbing to the crest of one of the countless hills in the region provides a stunning view. To the east the hills fade to a murky dust as the hills slope off into the scorching Dead Sea basin. To the south, the hills slide into the Negev desert and visible is the Israeli city of Arad.

Miraculously, this section of the Green Line is not scarred by concrete walls or chainlink fences which is a reminder of the geographical continuity of the land.

SOUTH HEBRON HILLS (PHOTO CREDIT - OPERATION DOVE)

The beauty of the view is overshadowed by the inhumanity of denying people access to water. No reasonable justification, not even the all-purpose 'security' justification, can be used to explain the destruction of water cisterns and wells in the isolated, arid hills of Hebron. It's simply an attempt to ethnically cleanse this land of Palestinians, a process that was nearly accomplished in 1999[5]. Since 1999, the residents have been courageously struggling to remain on their land but each act of destruction and dispossession carried out by Israeli settlers and the Israeli military further jeapordizes their chance of survival. ...

Samuel Nichols works with the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), primarily in the South Hebron Hills and in the Old City of Hebron.He blogs at samuelnichols.blogspot.com.

(16) UN: Israel demolished 47 Palestinian structures in one week

From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 19.12.2010 11:30 PM

http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m73026&hd=&size=1&l=e

Palestinian Information Center

December 18, 2010

CAIRO, (PIC)-- OCHA, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, issued a report Saturday documenting 47 Palestinian-owned structures that were ripped down in the West Bank's Area C in one week for allegedly missing building permits.

43 of those structures destroyed in the period Dec. 8 to 14 were erected in housing complexes in areas announced to be closed military zones, known also as "shooting zones", the report said. The area is under Israeli security and civil control.

Israeli authorities sparked the widest-ranging demolition process in the Nablus village of Kirba Tana with 29 buildings crushed, 11 of them residential structures, 17 barns, an elementary school, ejecting 61 people from their homes, including 13 children. 100 others were affected. "This was the third time since 2005 this village was subjected to intense demolition activity," OCHA reported.

The lives of 960 people and 4,000 animals in the Al-Khalil area were affected after 14 wells were destroyed. Four fruit and vegetable stands were knocked down in the Jordan valley affecting four families.

Israeli authorities issued orders to stop construction on six buildings in the area, four of them in the Dir Abu Mishaal village in Ramallah.

46 people constituting four families in that time span were evicted from their homes near the Ramallah village of Al-Mughayyir, because their rural compound fell in a closed military zone. The Israelis demolished two other homes in east Jerusalem, affecting two families and fourteen people.

(17) After failure of US talks, Palestinians turn to UN for support

From: Sami Joseph <sajoseph2005@yahoo.com> Date: 30.12.2010 03:02 AM

Proposed draft resolution calls on Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements after impasse over US-brokered talks.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/20101229183029615952.html

Palestinians turn to UN for support

Proposed draft resolution calls on Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements after impasse over US-brokered talks.

Last Modified: 29 Dec 2010 20:24 GMT

The Palestinians are set to ask the UN Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement construction, according to a copy of a draft resolution obtained by the AP news agency.

The move reflects growing Palestinian discontent with stalled US efforts to broker a peace agreement, and is part of a campaign to put international pressure on Israel.

American reaction to the plan has been muted, raising the likelihood that the country would use its veto power in the council to defeat the resolution.

Israel has angrily rejected the proposal. ...

(18) Netanyahu blocks visits by Merkel & Medvedev to Jerusalem & Palestine

From: tovroy@aol.com Date: 16.01.2011 12:49 PM

http://www.roytov.com/articles/diplomacy.htm

Israeli Diplomacy – They Have a Dream, We Have Facts

... On January 2009, Venezuela and Bolivia cut their diplomatic relations with Israel to the inhuman crimes committed by the last in Gaza shortly before. On January 12, 2011, Guyana became the seventh South American country to recognize an independent Palestinian State. The others are: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. The Israeli delusional rhetoric is losing ground quickly in South America.

Little cares Israel about a few South American feudal states ...

However, the Quartet is a different issue. The Mideast Quartet - consisting of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia – is about to meet in February 2011 in an urgent attempt to renew peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The direct talks between Israel and Palestine launched by the US last September, were successfully sabotaged by Israel. Now the sabotaging task of the Quartet meeting is more difficult. Accordingly, Israel adopted a different tactic.

As a prelude to the Quartet meeting, two visits were scheduled. Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev – President of Russia - was supposed to visit the Israeli and Palestinian administrations in January. Angela Merkel – the German Chancellor – was to visit the Israelis. Even diplomacy has its limits. Even the best minds of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry couldn't find an acceptable solution for the international tantrum. Instead they opted for the Israeli quintessential charm: violence.

Yes, that's correct. The Foreign Affairs Ministry launched a violent attack against the Quartet in the form of a general strike. Israeli media reported on various steps adopted my Israeli ambassadors (including wearing T-shirts stating "Poor Diplomat" and making noise with whistles) in Jerusalem. You don't need to be an expert on the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry – one of Israel's main five intelligence organizations – to realize this couldn't have happened without the proper approval from higher powers. Especially since this ministry offers some of the best salary levels in the public service. Especially since many Israeli embassies are not working properly and – how fortunate – the Allenby Bridge connecting the West Bank wit Jordan has been closed. That means not only that Merkel's and Medvedev's visits to Jerusalem had been blocked, but also that the last cannot enter to the Palestinian Authority.

Keep dreaming around the North Atlantic; the rest of the world knows the truth and dreads the day in which the IDF will join the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry in yet another attack for the sake of the HaMishpaha HaLohemet deep pockets.

(19) Israel stops whistleblower Vanunu from getting German prize

From: James Morris <justicequest2000@yahoo.com> Date: 13.12.2010 09:15 PM

Israel stops whistleblower getting German prize

Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:58PM

Stefan Herrmann, PressTV, Berlin

http://www.presstv.com/detail/155200.html

The International League for Human Rights awarded the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Medal to Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. Vanunu could not receive the award as Israel authorities refused to allow him to travel to Berlin . Held instead of the award winning ceremoney was a protest rally.

"Not knowing what is behind the walls of Dimona, where the Israeli government officially denies having nuclear weapons, it was very important that Vanunu came out and said, listen, Israel has hundreds of nuclear warheads and you should know about it and you should act
about it."

In 1986, Vanunu, a former nuclear technician at Negev Nuclear Research Center, disclosed information on Israel's nuclear weapons programme to British journalists. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison and was only released in 2004. Still he is not allowed to contact foreign
embassies or speak to journalists .

"He's being punished by the Israeli authorities not because he divulged state secrets but in order to discipline Israelis and tell them that they cannot question the Israeli politics."

Fanny Michaela Reisin, president of the International League for Human Rights called upon the international community to declare Israel a nuclear power and urge Tel Aviv to sign the nuclear non- proliferation treaty. Israel is widely believed to be in possession of hundreds of nuclear weapons but has kept a policy of ambiguity over the issue.

The speakers here at the Grips Theater praised Mordechai Vanunu's courage and continuing fight against nuclear weapons. That he wasn't allowed by Israel to travel to Berlin and receive the award is seen by many seen as a clear violation of human rights.