alanjjohnstone
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But to keep on topic, Media Lens, have produced this analysis of the reporting of the Israel V Iran incident in Syriahttps://dissidentvoice.org/2018/05/skirmishes-israels-syria-blitz/#more-80366
Quote:On the news, Israeli actions tended to be explained and contextualised – they were often shown as merely “responding” to what had been done to them..also worth a readhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_TreatyBut isn't it time England claimed back its share of Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angevin_Empire
This could very easily be on the other Israel V. Iran thread or the Gaza onehttp://www.dw.com/en/oren-no-soldier-fires-at-will-on-gaza-border/a-43919924Michael Oren.
Quote:Responding to Tim Sebastian's suggestion that Oren might want to attack Iran, the deputy minister and former Israeli ambassador to the US said, "We didn't come … to this country to let your garden-variety anti-Semites destroy us … We are going to defend our border in the south. We are going to defend ourselves against Iran. We are going to pursue our interests. That's why we're here. That's why we have a sovereign Jewish state."That Iran certainly is not officially anti-semitic can be read here although like many other nations including its allies, Israel's policies no doubt provoke anti-semitic attitudeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_JewsIran's Jewish community is officially recognized as a religious minority group by the government, and, like the Zoroastrians and Christians, they are allocated one seat in the Iranian Parliament. Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina") with Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at Tehran's "Central Library of Jewish Association". The "Dr. Sapir Jewish Hospital" is Iran's largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country. The Iranian government has allowed Jewish Iranians to visit their family members in Israel and that the government has also allowed those Iranians living in Israel to return to Iran for a visit. There are 25 synagogues in Iran. Tehran has 11 functioning synagogues, many of them with Hebrew schools. It has two kosher restaurants, an old-age home and a cemetery. There is a Jewish library with 20,000 titles….
Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge by six rights groups against the military's use of lethal force against Palestinians in Gaza.The groups had asked the court to declare any regulations allowing Israeli troops to fire at unarmed civilians as unlawful.However, the court unanimously sided with the military, arguing that the weeks-long Palestinian protests that raged on the Gaza border took place in the context of Israel's long-running "armed conflict" with the Islamic militant group Hamas. Rules concerning of armed conflict provide greater leeway to use live fire that those governing other law enforcement practices.http://www.dw.com/en/israel-supreme-court-upholds-use-of-lethal-force-against-palestinians-during-protests/a-43921338
"irrefutable evidence" that the missile had been brought in from Russian territory and fired from a field controlled by pro-Russian fighters.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402
The US could soon recognise the disputed Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory, a senior minister in the country has suggested.Intelligence minister Israel Katz said that the subject was “topping the agenda” in talks with the Trump administration.He suggested that such a move would bolster US efforts to confront Iran, “The most painful response you can give the Iranians is to recognise Israel’s Golan sovereignty – with an American statement, a presidential proclamation”, Mr Katz said.Adding to the push, an Israeli legislator wrote to America’s ambassador to Israel requesting that America recognise Israel’s claim to the disputed area, according to the Jerusalem Post.100,000 Syrian refugees fled as a result of the war. Israel has not allowed former residents to return, citing security reasons.In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, that extended Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights. Although the law effectively annexed the territory to Israel, it did not explicitly spell out the formal annexation. The area has since been administered as Golan sub-district part of Israel's Northern District. The Golan Heights Law is not recognized internationally.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/israel-golan-heights-sovereignty-trump-administration-syria-iran-a8366451.html
Marx on MarxCardinal Marx is one of the council of nine cardinals chosen by Pope Francis to advise him. Pope John Paul II used to call him “nostro marxista” – “our Marxist.”Cardinal Marx, the archbishop of Munich-Freising and president of the German bishops' conference, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that the Communist Manifesto “quite impressed” him.Cardinal Marx admitted to finding the writings of Karl Marx “fascinating,” adding that the Communist Manifesto has “an energy” and “a great language.” “One only has to read Karl Marx without prejudice, then his power will surprise,” the prelate explained. “There is an inspiration, a revolutionary impetus,” he stated.The Carinal also said that Karl Marx “can be very helpful” in light of the current conflicts, revolutions and wars which very well might have their roots in economic injustice. “Human rights without material participation remain incomplete,” the cardinal said. Cardinal Marx – who himself was once a professor of social ethics – also called Karl Marx “the first serious sociologist.”Marx also said about Karl Marx: “Without him, there would not be any Catholic social doctrine.” Moreover, he made it clear that Karl Marx is not responsible for the crimes of Stalinism, even though the cardinal admitted that “there is to be found [in Marx's writings] here or there a totalitarian thought,” such as the collectivism which disrespects the individual person. However, added the cardinal, one may not put Karl Marx into a “direct connection” with the later political Marxism-Leninism, nor even the Soviet prison system and work camps. In 2007, Cardinal Marx quoted approvingly a statement of a professor for Catholic social doctrine which says: “We all stand on the shoulders of Karl Marx.” The prelate then added that “Marx was not a mere ideologue,” claiming that Marx “did not at all propagate an anarchical overthrow.” Karl Marx, rather, wanted a “comprehensive social participation,” which “we now also call for, also on the part of the churches.”https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/german-cardinal-marx-praises-father-of-communism-karl-marx
Luckily people on this forum know i can often post obsessively on a particular topic so the number of times i add to this thread should not be a surprise or taken as some sort of vendetta or crusade.Jonathan Cook, i think, express the opinion that Israel is the little boy who shouted fire far too often but also that we are still running to the emergency exitshttps://dissidentvoice.org/2018/05/anti-semitism-israels-get-out-of-jail-free-card/#more-80291
Quote:The silencing of critics of Israel using anti-semitism as the pretext is far from restricted to the current wave of attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and his Labour party. It is now used to intimidate anyone who steps out of line on Israel. Once we raged against the conflation of anti-semitism and anti-Zionism. We have so lost that battle that it is now standard operating procedure for Israel’s apologists to conflate anti-semitism with simple criticisms of the current ultra-nationalist Israeli government… what cartoonist is going to dare to deploy their satirical skills against Israel when the response is invariably going to lead to their being accused of anti-semitism and possibly losing their career and their reputation? That is precisely what weaponising anti-semitism means. It hands Israel a get-out-of-jail-free card. It intimidates opinion formers – journalists, cartoonists, comedians, politicians, civil society leaders, human rights activists – by making the issue of Israel so toxic that none dare touch it. One need only look to the BBC to see the result: a mix of anaemic fence-sitting and outright censorship when covering Israel.As PS to the aboveThe US-made F-35 stealth fighter has seen its first ever combat action, flying in an operation for the Israeli air force.Maj Gen Amikam Norkin told heads of 20 foreign air forces meeting in Israel: "You know that we just won the Eurovision with the song 'Toy.' Well, the F-35 is not a toy," he said.The US has given Israel more military aid than any other country in the world – currently around $4bn a year – and its laws on arms sales require that Israel always maintains military superiority in the Middle East.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44210403
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOXs0stI4HcWhile Netanyahu and Israeli nationalists were happy to go out in the streets and wave their flags to celebrate the Eurovision win, making a parody out of the Japanese,https://www.independent.co.uk/I recall the liberals defending Charles Hebdo justified their humour about IslamBut when others take the piss out of Netta and Israel, then it is anti-semitismhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44214279Anti-Israel lyrics V. anti-semitic lyrics? Judge for yourself…
Lo an behold, America demands that Iran stops supporting the Yemen Houthi opposition as part of its sanctions upon Iran, supposedly to make Iran comply with the no-nuke deal http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44205463
Livingstone resigns from the Labour Partyhttp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-44196298Livingstone showed that the truth hurts
Quote:I also recognise that the way I made a historical argument has caused offence and upset in the Jewish community. I am truly sorry for that.But it doesn't placate the critics
Quote:Campaign Against Antisemitsm said Mr Corbyn's decision to describe Mr Livingstone's resignation as "sad" had merely "rubbed salt into the wound".The group called for Mr Corbyn to apologise and added: "The Labour Party's anti-Semitism problem seems to be growing, not receding."I have always held the theory that the late Robin Cook was removed from his Foreign Secretary job because of Israel's dislike for his positions. For example.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/cook-fights-a-war-of-words-over-har-homa-1150922.html
I think you might find this of interest, Russian attempts to widen its sphere of influence in the regionPart 1 of 3http://www.dw.com/en/russia-uses-church-far-right-for-foothold-in-lebanon/a-43833438Parts 2 and 3 to come and may well be as equally as intriguing.
Israel and Palestine together are no bigger than greater Los Angeles nearly half of Israeli Jews say they will not live in the same building as an Arab. 96% of Israeli Jews wanted a “democratic” state and 85% wanted it “Jewish”. Yet where democratic freedom and Jewish law clashed, only 54% said they would protect democratic freedoms. By 2015, a Pew study found that 48% of all Israeli Jews agree with the statement: “Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel”. Some 42% of Israelis, the so-called centre, say, not without humility, that all they want is for Israel to have a “Jewish majority”. Israel’s strongly Orthodox Jews – both National Religious and Haredi – have increased from about 10% to at least a third of the Jewish population. Arnon Soffer argues that Israel will be a majority Orthodox state by 2030. Thirty years ago, about 70% of Israeli students attended the secular stream. Today, just 39% do. assassin, Yigal Amir, pardoned.Jerusalem is ground zero of an emerging Orthodox alliance: more than 45% of schoolchildren in Greater Jerusalem are now Haredi, a number often linked to the estimated 200,000 mainly secular Jews who have left the city for the coastal plain over the past generation. In Jerusalem, about 30% of schoolchildren are Arab, while about 13% are National Religious. That leaves about 12% in secular schools, which Haredi activists may harass and take over when their neighbourhoods outgrow their own. Thirty-four percent of Israelis say that Arab culture is inferior to Israeli culture. About a third of Israeli Jews would have Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, pardoned.More than 70% of Israeli Arabs say they would prefer to live in Israel than a Palestinian state. The vast majority of Israeli Arabs are now third-generation Israelis. Many have assimilated. Their resentment is toward a pervasive legal structure that discriminates in favour of Jews. The Greater Israel confederation advocated by Israeli Arabs may well be the only way to make two states work.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/20/the-fight-to-define-the-very-essence-of-israel
