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More weapons, fewer Palestinians, a delayed invasion of Iran, and a saved Presidency

March 9, 2012 By 6 Comments

In light of today’s attack on the Gaza Strip, know that the “United States offered Israel advanced weaponry in return for it committing not to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities“, according to a report from Israel’s Maariv newspaper. Essentially, to keep Israel from invading Iran, the U.S. plans to buffer Israel’s military might. Palestinians, like they did today, will face the consequences.

Earlier today, Israel launched an unprovoked, “pre-emptive” strike in Gaza that killed at least one Palestinian man. In response, militants in Gaza launched rockets towards Israel as the Israeli military embarked on at least two more shelling campaigns in Gaza’s skies. According to Reuters, eight have so far been killed, all of them Palestinian.

To anyone seeking justification in Israel’s attacks, none will be found. As even Haaretz acknowledges (see the eighth word of the second paragraph in its report), the rockets came after Israel launched an attack. [Read more...]

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Just another day of hypocrisy at Haaretz

March 4, 2012 By 1 Comment

Part of my daily routine involves perusing Haaretz’s front page for the latest on Israeli diplomacy. On any normal day, one or two headlines baffle me and force me to question the news itself and the editor behind the screen. But today’s headlines are something else. So many of them set a new benchmark for hypocrisy and double standard. Allow me to elaborate.

Netanyahu welcomes Obama’s statements on Israel’s right to self-defense
PM Benjamin Netanyahu reacts postively to U.S. President Barack Obama’s AIPAC speech; Peres meets with Obama for 35 minutes after speech.

The right to self-defense is reserved for Israel only. After all, Obama’s administration, with a stamp of approval from Israel’s government, has gone to great lengths to avoid recognizing the Palestinian right to self-defense. It is a twisted world when the occupier is seen as the defenseless victim and the occupied is sanctioned for simply refusing to accept inequity.

Lieberman: Israel would offer aid to Syrians if asked
FM says that even without diplomatic ties, Israel cannot sit idly by while a massacre is taking place in a neighboring country.

Lieberman is wrong. In fact, he was among the many politicians who applauded Israel for its role in the 22-day invasion of Gaza in 2008-2009. The great humanitarian state of Israel may be responsible for a few field hospitals here and there but as long as it maintains an illegal, oppressive, and inhumane occupation of “a neighboring country”, its efforts will forever be in vain. [Read more...]

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Israel’s ‘Gandhi’ clearly absent from Israel Alliance event at U of New Mexico

February 24, 2012 By 9 Comments
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Thursday evening, pro-Israel audience members physically assaulted students and solidarity activists at an Israel Alliance event hosted at the University of New Mexico. The footage captured by a student attending the StandWithUs-hosted event shows adult men verbally abusing the students before physically swatting at their arms, heads, and chests and, at minute 0:55, throwing them to the ground. The students had just begun “mic checking” Nonie Darwish for her comments in support of Israel’s aggression when the assailants launched their physical tirade at them and forced them from the room.

Although I try to refrain from the overplayed references to Gandhi, I will take the liberty of pitching a question similar to the one tossed around by fundamentalist supporters of Israel every day: Where is Israel’s Gandhi? Clearly, his absence is still extending. The assault on the students at a public event at the University of New Mexico mimics Israel’s regular response to nonviolent activists in Palestine and, just as it isn’t tolerated there, it won’t be tolerated here. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Activism, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Now it will be possible to look into Khader Adnan’s eyes as Israel’s apartheid wall falls

February 19, 2012 By 7 Comments

Nine weeks into Khader Adnan’s hunger strike, solidarity activists spray paint a stencil of Adnan’s face on Israel’s apartheid wall. Adnan was violently taken from his home near Jenin on December 17, 2011, and has since been held under administrative detention without being charged and without being allowed to exercise his right to a trial. Today marks his 65th day without food.

This photograph merits its own post. Palestine’s graffiti culture is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Typically, pieces commemorate social or political heroes: the newly-wed neighbor, Palestine’s martyred children, an Italian activist who put his neck on the line for Palestinian human and civil rights, or, in this case, a baker whose only “crime” was growing a beard, being Palestinian, and refusing to break.

The stencil on the left says “Free Khader Adnan” in Arabic. The one on the right was adapted from the popular banner icon made by @shishibean displaying Khader Adnan’s mouth as a lock.

In due time, when Israel’s apartheid wall is knocked down, I hope whoever is in charge of taking down this particular slab of concrete looks deeply into Adnan’s eyes and recognizes that his persistence and strong will played a overwhelming role in collapsing Israel’s institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians.

The photograph was originally found in an article about Randa Adnan and her support for her husband.

Filed Under: Activism, Arts & Culture, News Tagged With: , , ,

Near death: Will your heart allow Khader Adnan’s to fail? [Updated]

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Update: It has now been 59 days.

Acquaint yourself with Khader Adnan, 33, from Arrabe, a small village near Jenin in the Occupied West Bank. After being pulled from his home on 17 December 2011, thrown into prison without being tried or charged, and forced to endure abuse by prison guards, Adnan began his hunger strike. Today is Day 53 and his wife, seeing him for the first time after more than seven weeks of fasting, reports that he has lost a third of his weight and a third of his hair.

Days ago, Amnesty International released a statement calling for his release. Today, the world is mobilizing for what some say could be his final day. Transferred to Ziv Medical Center in Northern Israel far from his family and friends, Adnan remains steadfast in his challenge against Israel’s indefinite –and thus illegal — detention of hundreds of Palestinians no different from himself. His organs are expected to fail soon.

Be honest with yourself. Do you think you’d be able to go without food and drink for a week or even a day? It’s almost unfathomable, but there comes a time when a sacrifice such as this one must be made to shed light on one of the world’s darkest corners. Adnan is making that sacrifice even though the toll it’s taking on his body is practically lethal. You can help remove some of the burden by making a small sacrifice yourself.

Sacrifice your time, just five minutes, and make a call, send a tweet, update your Facebook status, or tell a friend.

Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, has kindly put together an action plan. Adnan is counting on you.

1. Call and demand the release of Khader Adnan, who has not been charged with any crime but instead is being held under Administrative Detention.

Call the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC (1.202.364.5500) OR your local Embassy (for a list, click here).

Call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (1.202.647.7209)

Demand that Jeffrey Feltman bring this issue urgently to his counterparts in Israel and raise the question of Khader Adnan’s administrative detention.

2. Organize a protest outside your local Israeli Embassy (for a list, click here).

Post your local actions to the Khader Adnan Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Khader-Adnan/236953309725144

See the full action plan here: Take Urgent Action: Day 53 of Khader Adnan’s Hunger Strike

Filed Under: Activism, News Tagged With: , , ,

Thoughts: 1982 in Hama, 2012 in Homs

February 4, 2012 By 3 Comments

Thirty years ago, for virtually the entire month of February, Syrian regime forces ruthlessly killed upwards of 40,000 civilians in Hama. Today, to commemorate the Hama Massacre, Syrian forces embarked on another murderous campaign, this time killing more than 300 civilians in Homs in just a matter of hours. How is it possible, as a community of conscience, to stand idly by as history repeats itself, savagery and all?

Though this is by no means the fault of the Syrian people bravely standing up to Bashar Al-Assad and his tyrannical regime, it is an unfortunate circumstance that the revolution in Syria drew the shorter end of the stick in terms of global media coverage. What’s more unfortunate is that Al-Assad’s self-imposed media blackout serves the international community well: we have gone on ignoring Syria’s daily tragedies since the first day, insincerely absolving ourselves of any responsibility since, after all, the media coverage is thin and oftentimes unreliable. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Activism, News, Opinion, Personal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

MSNBC highlights Israeli abuse, shows soldier driving trailer over Palestinian body

January 27, 2012 By 15 Comments

Featured in MSNBC’s “The Week in Pictures” is a photograph of a Palestinian man screaming in agony as an Israeli soldier drives a tractor-hitched trailer over his legs.

It’s a heartbreaking photograph, and the stone cold and carefree attitudes of the soldiers surrounding the man literally adds insult to injury. But first, a backstory: In the West Bank village of Al-Dirat near Al-Khalil, a group of Palestinian construction workers prepared the equipment and materials necessary to begin the construction of a new home. Soon after, a half-dozen or so Israeli soldiers appeared at the scene and ordered the workers to cease construction.

Almost as suddenly as their arrival, the hostile soldiers commandeered the equipment and ordered the Palestinian workers to disperse. At least one soldier boarded a tractor and, although it is unclear what exactly he aimed at, drove the vehicle’s attached trailer over one of the workers. The worker had reportedly been protesting the unfair expulsion of him and his fellow construction workers. Hazem Bader with Agence France-Presse (AFP) captured the photograph above, as well as the first of the two photographs below.

I expect people to argue that the soldier didn’t deliberately run the man over. I was not at the scene but here’s a question for these people: Do you drive over speed humps without noticing? I find it hard to believe that the soldier didn’t feel or notice the resistance from the man’s body as the wheels lurched up and over him. It’s just not practical. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media, News Tagged With: , , ,

Ohio State students mobilize after campus newspaper runs ad linking Muslim students to terrorism

January 23, 2012 By 5 Comments

Photo courtesy of Jana Al-Akhras

Outraged students at the Ohio State University have mobilized after The Lantern, the campus’s official student-run newspaper, published what they say is a discriminatory advertisement linking the Muslim Student Association to international terrorism.

Titled “Former leaders of the Muslim Student Association (MSA)”, the advertisement asks “Where are they now?” and lists nine MSA co-founders and former Presidents as having ties to alleged terrorist groups. One such listing describes Jamal Barzini as both a co-founder of the MSA and a close associate of Hamas.

The advertisement was paid for by FrontPage Magazine, an online publication funded by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a national institution recognized for its harsh and derogatory stance against Islam.

The advertisement, printed on page 2 of the newspaper, drew immediate criticism for its direct assault on Muslim representation on American college campuses. According to Jana Al-Akhras, a 2nd year student and member of the university’s MSA, “it’s a blatant attempt at reinforcing stereotypes and causing widespread fear of Muslims on campus.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Activism, News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

All quiet on the homefront after pro-Israel editor suggests assassinating the President

January 20, 2012 By 1 Comment

I wonder what will happen to the man who calls for the assassination of the President of the United States. The post-9/11 era dictates that the mere thought of something so absurd, something so backwards, merits serious consequences. The Department of Homeland Security elevates the national threat level. A Patriot Act-like bill pushes its way through Congress. Those associated with the plot are arrested, interrogated, sent to Guantanamo, and kept there. The President is safe.

But I’ve left out one blaring detail that has the power to quell Washington’s reaction: the man’s political and religious affiliation. [Read more...]

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Chinese-speaking Netanyahu will probably not send personalized YouTube message to Palestinians

January 17, 2012 By 6 Comments
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Israel’s diplomatic standing in the world has sunk so low that its government has undertaken the monumental task of salvaging its political interests through YouTube.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister’s office released a video of Benjamin Netanyahu speaking Chinese and wishing the Chinese people a blessed new year. The message is, for the most part, intensely hopeful, almost as if asking China to kindly ignore Israel’s flagrant violations of human rights, civil rights, and international law and help Israel carry on with its economic ventures.

Among Netanyahu’s closing remarks is his enthused assertion that “we [the Israelis and the Chinese] are two ancient peoples whose values and traditions have left an indelible mark on humanity”. But I’m certain any Chinese viewer will recognize that the “mark on humanity” he’s referring to is the collection of craters left throughout the Gaza Strip after Israel pounded the coastal territory for twenty-two days and nights.

Here’s my question, though. Is he planning on sending to every country but Palestine a personalized greeting? Oooooh, my feelings are so hurt.

Filed Under: Media, News Tagged With: , , ,
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