Kidnapped by Israel, forsaken by Britain
Jamal Elshayyal — June 7, 2010 2 Comments
Firstly I must apologise for taking so long to update my blog. The events of the past few days have been hectic to say the least, and I am still trying to come to grips with many of the things that have happened.
Politics
Caroline Glick’s “We Con the World” and the Tea Partying of the US-Israel relationship
Didi Remez — June 7, 2010 12 Comments
On Friday, I began to see intelligent, mainstream, Israeli opinion-leaders posting the clip on their Facebook pages. I assumed they were doing so for the same reason I was: To illustrate just how misguided some Israeli public diplomacy efforts had become. A closer look revealed just how wrong I was. These posts were intended for non-Israelis
Editor's Pick, Politics
Chutzpah and hasbara
Richard Seymour — June 7, 2010 0 Comments
You know how it is. For days, it’s been impossible to log on to Twitter without some frantic Israeli apologists urgently messaging you to say – no, look, it’s really clear, these so-called ‘humanitarians’ attacked Israeli soldiers who merely responded, yadda yadda yadda. They lynched those servicemen… Or, better still – peace activists don’t carry [...]
Politics
Chomsky on Gaza freedom flotilla
Noam Chomsky — June 2, 2010 10 Comments
The siege of Gaza itself does not have the slightest credible pretext. It was imposed by the US and Israel in January 2006 to punish Palestinians because they voted “the wrong way” in a free election, and it was sharply intensified in July 2007 when Hamas blocked a US-Israeli attempt to overthrow the elected government in a military coup, installing Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan. The siege is savage and cruel, designed to keep the caged animals barely alive so as to fend off international protest, but hardly more than that. It is the latest stage of long-standing Israeli plans, backed by the US, to separate Gaza from the West Bank
Politics
The view from Gaza
Max Ajl — June 2, 2010 2 Comments
Before the attack, Israeli spokespeople and statesmen had sedulously tried to paint the flotilla in the colors reserved for scoundrels and terrorists. “Israel … invited the flotilla organizers to use the land crossings … however, they’re less interested in bringing in aid than promoting their radical agenda and playing into the hands of Hamas provocations…. [The organizers have] wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, but engage in political propaganda,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, said that “the flotilla is an attempt at violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow a violation of its sovereignty at sea, in the air or on land.” The flotilla carried hundreds of wheelchairs for crippled Gazans and a dental clinic for Al-Shifa Hospital
Politics
Israel’s twisted torturing of Gaza
Richard Seymour — May 31, 2010 1 Comment
In other words, by the twisted logic of Zionism: Israel can impose a blockade on Gaza that systematically starves civilians, leaves them to die without medicine, destroys their sewage and power systems, leaves them utterly dependent on international aid delivery which it imposes the most grotesque restrictions on; then it can demonise and assault an aid flotilla intended to break the blockade, fire on the residents, murder people in their sleep, the better to deter anyone from attempting to violate its supremacy in Palestine again; then it can manufacture whatever story it requires to force a hostile world to accept its actions, muddy the waters, juggle narratives, befuddle and confuse people, following up one bit of legerdemain with yet another and another, etc; and it can do all this while remaining the perpetual victim (remember Sderot!)
Politics
Farming in Gaza, a form of resistance
Max Ajl — May 14, 2010 4 Comments
We left the roof to continue to watch the destruction of the wheat from ground level. Eva Bartlett, an ISM activist, pointed out that “they might destroy the house in punishment” if we didn’t leave and observe from a different position. They might also have considered sending an Apache rapidly over the horizon to kidnap us. Abductions of foreign internationals have happened before – Vittorio had been kidnapped off a fishing boat, in Gazan territorial waters, in November 2008
Editor's Pick, Resistance
Operation Cast Lead one year on
Richard Seymour — December 23, 2009 0 Comments
The brutality of Operation Cast Lead shocked some of Israel’s most devoted supporters, and divided the pro-Israel camp. Even as it was happening, some of the most shocking accounts of IDF conduct were emerging. These included sealing off a neighbourhood, bombing and shelling it, blocking medical and humanitarian entry, and knowingly leaving children to slowly die next to their already deceased relatives. They included the targeting of hospitals and ambulances, and the repeated targeting of schools
Editor's Pick, Politics
Interview on Israel, Gaza, the UN and international justice
Matt Kennard — December 22, 2009 13 Comments
I think there should definitely be an investigation into the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. That’s without question, and it would be unthinkable not to have an investigation if this was any other state than Israel. Look at what happened in the aftermath of NATO’s attack on Serbia and the atrocities in Kosovo. The perpetrators of the attacks were hunted down and put on trial, and the search still continues for those responsible
Politics
Hired Hands: Obama, Gaza, and MPs expenses
David Edwards — July 7, 2009 1 Comment
We do not live in a totalitarian society – the public potentially has enormous power to interfere. The goal, then, is to persuade the public that corporate-sponsored political choice is meaningful, that it makes a difference. The task of politicians at all points of the supposed ’spectrum’ is to appear passionately principled while participating in what is essentially a charade
Politics
Trying to build a future in Gaza: A Palestinian goes back home
Yasmeen El-Khoudary — April 26, 2009 1 Comment
The one thing that people learned from the war was that when they rebuild their houses, they need to build an underground shelter to protect them during the next war. While people of the world reach the sky with their skyscrapers, the people of Gaza build their future underground.