23 feb 2014
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday expressed concern Sunday at the progress of talks between world powers and Iran, saying that Tehran still sought to acquire a nuclear arms capability.
"Iran, in fact, is getting everything and giving virtually nothing," he told the cabinet on the eve of a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and said he would discuss the issue with her. "I view with concern the fact that Iran believes that it will realize its plan to become a threshold nuclear state with an enrichment capacity that it thinks cannot be touched, with the ability to develop both nuclear weapons and inter-continental missiles, which it is continuing to work on unhindered," |
he said in remarks relayed by his office.
"This is the current situation. The permanent agreement cannot render this situation permanent. It must dismantle the Iranian ability to either produce or launch nuclear weapons," he added.
Germany -- with the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- is a member of the P5 + 1 group seeking to forge a lasting nuclear accord to resolve a decade-old stand-off over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
An op-ed piece by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier published on Sunday in the top-selling Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth told Israelis: "You are not alone."
"The Iranian nuclear program looms threateningly on the horizon," he wrote.
"The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are debating in Vienna the future of Iran's nuclear program. Our objective is clear: Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear arms."
Netanyahu's strategic affairs minister, Yuval Steinitz, on Sunday met Washington's chief negotiator at the Iran talks, Wendy Sherman, who briefed him on the negotiations, Israeli army radio said.
Briefing journalists in Jerusalem on Saturday night, Sherman said that nothing eventually agreed in the talks would be taken purely on trust.
"Nothing about this comprehensive agreement is about what we believe," a US State Department statement quoted her as saying.
"It is about what we see, what can be verified, what can be monitored, what are the concrete actions that will give us and the international community confidence in an exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
"This is the current situation. The permanent agreement cannot render this situation permanent. It must dismantle the Iranian ability to either produce or launch nuclear weapons," he added.
Germany -- with the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- is a member of the P5 + 1 group seeking to forge a lasting nuclear accord to resolve a decade-old stand-off over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
An op-ed piece by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier published on Sunday in the top-selling Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth told Israelis: "You are not alone."
"The Iranian nuclear program looms threateningly on the horizon," he wrote.
"The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are debating in Vienna the future of Iran's nuclear program. Our objective is clear: Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear arms."
Netanyahu's strategic affairs minister, Yuval Steinitz, on Sunday met Washington's chief negotiator at the Iran talks, Wendy Sherman, who briefed him on the negotiations, Israeli army radio said.
Briefing journalists in Jerusalem on Saturday night, Sherman said that nothing eventually agreed in the talks would be taken purely on trust.
"Nothing about this comprehensive agreement is about what we believe," a US State Department statement quoted her as saying.
"It is about what we see, what can be verified, what can be monitored, what are the concrete actions that will give us and the international community confidence in an exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program."
22 feb 2014
A Palestinian citizen of Israel was shot dead by unknown assailants at a construction site in central Israel early Saturday, medics said.
Paramedic Yousef Ismail told Ma'an that the body of a 34-year-old Palestinian-Israeli security guard was found at a construction site in Rehovot.
"We found a young man shot in his upper extremities and after we examined him we had to announce him dead," Ismail said.
Police and a forensic unit arrived at the scene to begin gathering evidence for an investigation, he added.
An Israeli police spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment.
Body discovered in Rehovot
A 34-year-old man was shot early Saturday morning at a construction site in the central city of Rehovot, where he worked as a guard. A Magen David Adom ambulance crew arrived on the scene, but the man had already succumbed to his wounds.
Police had arrived to the location. It appears the man was shot several times in his stomach, from close range.
Paramedic Yousef Ismail told Ma'an that the body of a 34-year-old Palestinian-Israeli security guard was found at a construction site in Rehovot.
"We found a young man shot in his upper extremities and after we examined him we had to announce him dead," Ismail said.
Police and a forensic unit arrived at the scene to begin gathering evidence for an investigation, he added.
An Israeli police spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment.
Body discovered in Rehovot
A 34-year-old man was shot early Saturday morning at a construction site in the central city of Rehovot, where he worked as a guard. A Magen David Adom ambulance crew arrived on the scene, but the man had already succumbed to his wounds.
Police had arrived to the location. It appears the man was shot several times in his stomach, from close range.
21 feb 2014
An agreement Thursday reached to form a Palestinian-Israeli team to address common environmental issues between the two sides, said Israel Radio.
According to the radio, a meeting was held between the Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection, Amir Peretz and Deputy Head of Environmental Department Jamal Mtour agreed to form a team to meet every month to discuss solutions to the biggest ecological problems facing the region today.
Topics discussed included preventing pollution, alternative solutions to waste management, and facing potential health hazards if industrialization increases in the area.
According to the radio, a meeting was held between the Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection, Amir Peretz and Deputy Head of Environmental Department Jamal Mtour agreed to form a team to meet every month to discuss solutions to the biggest ecological problems facing the region today.
Topics discussed included preventing pollution, alternative solutions to waste management, and facing potential health hazards if industrialization increases in the area.
20 feb 2014
U.S President Barack Obama phoned on Wednesday evening Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urging him to complete the reconciliation negotiations with Israel, Haaretz Daily Newspaper reported. According to a statement released by the White House, the conversation touched the Syrian issue in addition to other topics. “ Obama told Erdogan about the importance of ending negotiations with Israel to quickly re-normalize relations with both countries.”
This conversation came almost three weeks after Turkey and Israel agreed on a draft agreement for mending ties between them, newspaper said.
Netanyahu refused to approve the agreement and Erdogan recently demanded that Israel has to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip as a condition for normalization.
Haaretz revealed that as part of the draft agreement, Israel would pay compensation of some $20-23 million to the families of the Turkish citizens killed and injured by Israeli occupation forces during the Gaza Flotilla incident. The agreement also includes Turkish agreement to pass a law that would lead to cancellation of lawsuits filed against soldiers who had participated in the raid, and an outline of the diplomatic normalization.
This conversation came almost three weeks after Turkey and Israel agreed on a draft agreement for mending ties between them, newspaper said.
Netanyahu refused to approve the agreement and Erdogan recently demanded that Israel has to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip as a condition for normalization.
Haaretz revealed that as part of the draft agreement, Israel would pay compensation of some $20-23 million to the families of the Turkish citizens killed and injured by Israeli occupation forces during the Gaza Flotilla incident. The agreement also includes Turkish agreement to pass a law that would lead to cancellation of lawsuits filed against soldiers who had participated in the raid, and an outline of the diplomatic normalization.
Israel is preparing to release a new coin featuring the hotly disputed Jordan River. Although Israel's Maariv newspaper claimed that the image of the Jordan River was chosen out of respect for it being mentioned in the Torah many times as a place of miracles, the image looks set to anger many Palestinians.
The Jordan River is a natural border between Jordan and Palestine, and was accepted as an official border in 1967.
However, as it lies in the east of the West Bank, which the Palestinians hope to establish as an internationally recognized independent country free from the Israeli occupation, the symbolization of the river on Israeli currency may be interpreted as a demonstration of sovereignty over it.
Israel demands full control over the Jordan River as a condition in the ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians.
The Jordan River is a natural border between Jordan and Palestine, and was accepted as an official border in 1967.
However, as it lies in the east of the West Bank, which the Palestinians hope to establish as an internationally recognized independent country free from the Israeli occupation, the symbolization of the river on Israeli currency may be interpreted as a demonstration of sovereignty over it.
Israel demands full control over the Jordan River as a condition in the ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians.
19 feb 2014
Photo: Deutsche Bank said Hapoalim does not abide by ethical standards, and that the bank's work in settlements is no different from selling explosives or other acts that violate human rights.
Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank (DB), has included the Israeli Hapoalim bank in a blacklist of "unethical companies" reportedly because of its involvement in funding settlement activities in the West Bank.
Middle East Monitor -- Deutsche Bank said that Hapoalim does not abide by ethical standards, and that the bank's work in settlements is no different from selling explosives or other acts that violate human rights, Maariv newspaper reported.
Based on the same classification, DB blacklisted 16 international companies which it pledged not to deal with or invest in. The list includes 13 companies involved in arms and explosives sales. It also includes a mining company and the Japanese Nissan automobile company.
Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank (DB), has included the Israeli Hapoalim bank in a blacklist of "unethical companies" reportedly because of its involvement in funding settlement activities in the West Bank.
Middle East Monitor -- Deutsche Bank said that Hapoalim does not abide by ethical standards, and that the bank's work in settlements is no different from selling explosives or other acts that violate human rights, Maariv newspaper reported.
Based on the same classification, DB blacklisted 16 international companies which it pledged not to deal with or invest in. The list includes 13 companies involved in arms and explosives sales. It also includes a mining company and the Japanese Nissan automobile company.
People in Israel are living in "terror" with no personal security, a leading observer and commentator has claimed. Jospeh Shapira said that Israeli citizens are afraid to leave their homes and that this is having a negative effect on the economic life of the country. Shapira made his comments following the increase in violence of Israeli mafia turf wars which have spiralled out of police control. He was speaking to Maariv newspaper, which posted the interview online.
In response, the head of the Investigations Division at the police and intelligence services, Minnie Yitzhaki, said that he never cancelled his own family trips out of fear of mob violence. He pointed out that the Israeli police force is strong. "There are many countries in the world where people are afraid to leave their homes at night, so this means that Israel's situation is much better."
Shapira retorted, "Don't you feel the atmosphere of horror and fear when you leave your house?" Yitzhaki agreed that he feels afraid, "but this doesn't prevent me from leaving the house and going to the cinema or doing any other activity."
Israeli mafia gangs have been responsible for a number of deadly incidents recently, making life intolerable in the eyes of many Israelis. It is rare that a week passes without a mob assassination attempt leading people to complain about the lack of personal security in the streets and their homes as the police appear to be unable to stop the phenomenon.
In response, the head of the Investigations Division at the police and intelligence services, Minnie Yitzhaki, said that he never cancelled his own family trips out of fear of mob violence. He pointed out that the Israeli police force is strong. "There are many countries in the world where people are afraid to leave their homes at night, so this means that Israel's situation is much better."
Shapira retorted, "Don't you feel the atmosphere of horror and fear when you leave your house?" Yitzhaki agreed that he feels afraid, "but this doesn't prevent me from leaving the house and going to the cinema or doing any other activity."
Israeli mafia gangs have been responsible for a number of deadly incidents recently, making life intolerable in the eyes of many Israelis. It is rare that a week passes without a mob assassination attempt leading people to complain about the lack of personal security in the streets and their homes as the police appear to be unable to stop the phenomenon.
Israel has started a secret operation to send African asylum seekers to Uganda, a senior government official said. The official said that in the past month dozens of asylum seekers agreed to be moved there.
A Sudanese citizen, who left Israel for Uganda last month, said he was on a plane with six other Sudanese asylum seekers. They had all agreed to be moved to Uganda in return for being released from Saharonim detention center, Negev.
The man also said he had received $3,500 for leaving the country as part of Israel's "voluntary departure" procedure.
Haaretz quoted the director of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Reut Michaeli, as saying on Wednesday, "The State of Israel is proposing to asylum seekers a return to Uganda with no assurances or official agreement," She added that as far as her organisation knows, the asylum seekers will not receive legal status in Uganda and they will not have any papers allowing them to leave if they want to.
"In addition to all that, it is known that Uganda deports asylum seekers to their countries of origin," Michaeli pointed out.
Israel did not inform the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that asylum seekers were being made to leave noting that the UN refuses to consider the idea of giving people a choice between long term imprisonment and returning to their country as this is a matter of personal freedom
Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Wednesday that it was projected that this month some 1,500 asylum seekers would be leaving Israel, compared to 765 in January, 325 in December and 63 in November.
Meanwhile, hundreds of asylum seekers marched in protest of the new procedure, from the Holot detention centre in the desert to Tel Aviv. They are calling for the release of all the detainees and asking that their asylum applications be processed.
According to the Population and Immigration Authority, as of September 2013 there were 53,646 asylum seekers from Africa in Israel, including 13,249 Sudanese and 35,987 Eritreans.
A Sudanese citizen, who left Israel for Uganda last month, said he was on a plane with six other Sudanese asylum seekers. They had all agreed to be moved to Uganda in return for being released from Saharonim detention center, Negev.
The man also said he had received $3,500 for leaving the country as part of Israel's "voluntary departure" procedure.
Haaretz quoted the director of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Reut Michaeli, as saying on Wednesday, "The State of Israel is proposing to asylum seekers a return to Uganda with no assurances or official agreement," She added that as far as her organisation knows, the asylum seekers will not receive legal status in Uganda and they will not have any papers allowing them to leave if they want to.
"In addition to all that, it is known that Uganda deports asylum seekers to their countries of origin," Michaeli pointed out.
Israel did not inform the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that asylum seekers were being made to leave noting that the UN refuses to consider the idea of giving people a choice between long term imprisonment and returning to their country as this is a matter of personal freedom
Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar said on Wednesday that it was projected that this month some 1,500 asylum seekers would be leaving Israel, compared to 765 in January, 325 in December and 63 in November.
Meanwhile, hundreds of asylum seekers marched in protest of the new procedure, from the Holot detention centre in the desert to Tel Aviv. They are calling for the release of all the detainees and asking that their asylum applications be processed.
According to the Population and Immigration Authority, as of September 2013 there were 53,646 asylum seekers from Africa in Israel, including 13,249 Sudanese and 35,987 Eritreans.
18 feb 2014
Two rockets fired from war-torn Syria struck the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights Tuesday shortly after a secret visit to the area by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's army said.
"Two rockets fire from Syria struck the central Golan without causing injuries or damage," a spokeswoman told AFP.
The incident occurred shortly after Netanyahu toured the area with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and army chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, visiting a field hospital close to the ceasefire line where injured Syrians are being treated.
The premier used the visit to lash out at Iran, as it began a fresh round of talks with world powers in Vienna aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord to roll back Tehran's contested nuclear program.
"On the day when talks between the major powers and Iran are being opened in Vienna, it is important that the world sees the pictures from this place, which divides the good that is in the world from the bad," said Netanyahu in remarks communicated by his office.
The talks aim to follow up on a landmark interim deal struck in November and fiercely opposed by Israeli under which Iran is scaling back certain nuclear activities in exchange for minor relief from sanctions.
"Iran is arming those who are carrying out the slaughter," said Netanyahu.
"All of the children who have been injured, to say nothing of those who have been killed, were injured as a result of Iran's arming, financing and training" the regime of President Bashar Assad, he charged.
"I would like to tell the world, today, as the talks between the major powers and Iran are being resumed, that Iran has changed neither its aggressive policy nor its brutal character," he said.
"This is the true face of Iran. The world cannot forget this."
Israel, which is technically at war with Syria, seized 465 square miles of the strategic plateau during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the plateau has been tense, with a growing number of stray projectiles hitting the Israeli side, prompting an occasional armed response.
"Two rockets fire from Syria struck the central Golan without causing injuries or damage," a spokeswoman told AFP.
The incident occurred shortly after Netanyahu toured the area with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and army chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, visiting a field hospital close to the ceasefire line where injured Syrians are being treated.
The premier used the visit to lash out at Iran, as it began a fresh round of talks with world powers in Vienna aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord to roll back Tehran's contested nuclear program.
"On the day when talks between the major powers and Iran are being opened in Vienna, it is important that the world sees the pictures from this place, which divides the good that is in the world from the bad," said Netanyahu in remarks communicated by his office.
The talks aim to follow up on a landmark interim deal struck in November and fiercely opposed by Israeli under which Iran is scaling back certain nuclear activities in exchange for minor relief from sanctions.
"Iran is arming those who are carrying out the slaughter," said Netanyahu.
"All of the children who have been injured, to say nothing of those who have been killed, were injured as a result of Iran's arming, financing and training" the regime of President Bashar Assad, he charged.
"I would like to tell the world, today, as the talks between the major powers and Iran are being resumed, that Iran has changed neither its aggressive policy nor its brutal character," he said.
"This is the true face of Iran. The world cannot forget this."
Israel, which is technically at war with Syria, seized 465 square miles of the strategic plateau during the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the plateau has been tense, with a growing number of stray projectiles hitting the Israeli side, prompting an occasional armed response.
16 feb 2014
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Four civilians were killed on Sunday afternoon and 29 others were injured after a roadside bomb was detonated near a bus carrying civilians near the Taba checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula close to the border with Israel.
Sinai ambulance services director Khalid Abu Hashem told Ma'an that the blast occurred as a tourist bus was passing by the site where a bomb had been timed to detonate. He said that three Korean civilians and the Egyptian bus driver were killed while 29 others were injured as a result of the attack. |
Remains of individuals who were still unidentified but were suspected to be Korean citizens were found in the vicinity of the explosion, he added.
An Egyptian security source told Ma'an that the bomb was detonated remotely, and that helicopters were preparing to take the injured to Cairo hospitals.
A Ma'an reporter said that security forces had arrived at the scene, and had closed the entrances and exits of the city.
Israeli sources said that there were no Israeli tourists on board the bus at the time of the explosion.
The sources said that the huge blast was heard in the resort city of Eilat in southern Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli ambulance services said that Israeli ambulances had headed to the border area following the blast to assist in evacuating the injured.
The Sinai peninsula has been wracked by rising instability and almost daily attacks since a July 3 coup by the Egyptian military which unseated then-president Mohammad Morsi.
The attacks have been claimed by Wahhabi militant groups, who have taken advantage of the lawlessness in the region to target government forces and civilian targets across Egypt.
Bomb on Egypt tourist bus near Israel border 'kills three'
An Egyptian security source told Ma'an that the bomb was detonated remotely, and that helicopters were preparing to take the injured to Cairo hospitals.
A Ma'an reporter said that security forces had arrived at the scene, and had closed the entrances and exits of the city.
Israeli sources said that there were no Israeli tourists on board the bus at the time of the explosion.
The sources said that the huge blast was heard in the resort city of Eilat in southern Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli ambulance services said that Israeli ambulances had headed to the border area following the blast to assist in evacuating the injured.
The Sinai peninsula has been wracked by rising instability and almost daily attacks since a July 3 coup by the Egyptian military which unseated then-president Mohammad Morsi.
The attacks have been claimed by Wahhabi militant groups, who have taken advantage of the lawlessness in the region to target government forces and civilian targets across Egypt.
Bomb on Egypt tourist bus near Israel border 'kills three'
Sharm El Sheikh
A bomb tore through a bus carrying sightseers near an Egyptian resort town bordering Israel on Sunday, killing at least three tourists and wounding 14, police said.
The bus was carrying 33 tourists near the south Sinai resort town of Taba when it was hit by the blast, police officials said. A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for border security, told AFP that the Taba crossing had been closed in the wake of the blast.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The current unrest in Sinai Peninsula has severely hit tourism, a vital earner in Egypt, which has been targeted sporadically by militants over the past two decades.
A bomb tore through a bus carrying sightseers near an Egyptian resort town bordering Israel on Sunday, killing at least three tourists and wounding 14, police said.
The bus was carrying 33 tourists near the south Sinai resort town of Taba when it was hit by the blast, police officials said. A spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority, which is responsible for border security, told AFP that the Taba crossing had been closed in the wake of the blast.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The current unrest in Sinai Peninsula has severely hit tourism, a vital earner in Egypt, which has been targeted sporadically by militants over the past two decades.
15 feb 2014
By Khalid Amayreh
A speech by the European Parliament president Martin Schultz at the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, last week, drew spasmodic reactions from several Jewish lawmakers.
In his speech, Schultz said a young Palestinian had asked him why Jewish settlers in the West Bank can use 70 cubic meters of water while the Palestinians can only use 17.
Moreover, the European official said that the Gaza siege was causing distress.
His uncontroversial and manifestly correct remarks were met with unusually rabid reactions by several Knesset members, including those affiliated with the pro-settler Bayt ha-Yehudi party (Jewish Home), who heckled the man, calling him a liar.
The truth of the matter is that Schultz was quite sparing and almost innocuous in his criticism of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, which monitors Israeli persecution of Palestinians, discrimination against Palestinians in water allotment is well-known.
A leaflet issued by B'tselem immediately after the Schultz controversy pointed out that there is a conspicuous discrimination against the Palestinians with regard to water allocation.
"And, yes, Israel is absolutely responsible for this discrimination."
The B'tselem report, quoting official data from the Israeli water company, Mekorot, an Israeli citizen receives an average 100-230 litters of water per day whereas a Palestinian citizen in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip receive only 73 litters of water per day.
In some parts of the West Bank, such as the northern town of Jenin , the individual's share of water doesn't exceed 38 litters.
The Nazi-like Israeli lawmakers got upset when Schultz fleetingly reminded them that Israel 's 8-year criminal siege on Gaza was causing a lot of distress.
Well, the word "distress" is a actually scandalous understatement. The death of thousands of innocent Gazans as a result of the shortage of medicine due to that criminal siege is certainly more than just a "distress." Human rights organizations have meticulously documented the appalling human costs of the enduring Israeli blockade. This callous and inhuman blockade is not intended to fight "terror" as the Israeli propaganda keeps claiming.
The murderous siege is rater intended to further torment Gazans in order to make them turn against Hamas. Needless to say, causing innocent people, including babies, to die for political reasons is a Nazi behavior par excellance. And Israel has been doing this knowingly and deliberately.
In the final analysis, the "real issue, " as far as the Israelis are concerned, has very little to do with the facts. Israel knows too well that it discriminates against Palestinians in every conceivable sphere. Israel murders Palestinians on a daily basis. Gestapo-like Israeli soldiers murder Palestinians, including children, with a shocking ease. Israel actually wishes the Palestinians would disappear from the face of earth so that Jews could have a utopian Talmudic kingdom where non-Jews are enslaved as "wood hewers and water carriers." These facts are well known and should not be subject to journalistic or academic investigation.
So what is the real issue? Well, without mincing words, the real issue is simply that some, probably many Israelis, would want to see Germany and Europe, probably the whole western world, embraces Jewish Nazism in Palestine as a way of atoning for the Holocaust.
This is exactly, what Bayt Hayehudi MPs had in mind when they charged that the EU official was "lying in German!!!"
So the real issue is not water discrimination or distress in the Gaza Strip. The real issue is how the whole world ought to relate to Jewish Nazism in the West Bank ? Israel simply wants Europe and the rest of the world to ignore Israel 's institutionalized racism and criminality against the Palestinians and pretend it didn't exist.
That is the crux of the matter. The rest is just beating around the bush.
Some people might object to the comparison of Israeli behaviors against the Palestinians with Nazi behaviors during WWII. And they might be correct in a certain sense.
It is true that Israel is not annihilating Palestinians in concentrating camps. But Israel is trying to annihilate the collective national existence of the Palestinian people. Israel is preventing five million Palestinians from returning to their homes. Israel has been carrying out a rabid lebensraum policy in the West Bank . Israel is trying to obliterate the Palestinian identity of Jerusalem just like the Nazis tried to Germanize neighboring lands and territories. Israel is also imposing a nearly hermetic siege on 2 million Palestinians in Gaza whose only guilt is their "audacity" to elect a government that Israel and her guardian-ally, the U.S. don't like.
Moreover, Israel , thanks to its lebensraum policy and the intensive construction of Jewish colonies in the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem , has effectively decapitated any remaining prospects for the establishment of a truly viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state worthy of the name. And, in the meanwhile, Israel is continuing unabated to narrow Palestinian horizons in an effort to force millions of Palestinians to leave their ancestral homeland.
I believe it is both immoral and inhumane for Israel and Jews to either tacitly or explicitly demand the world to show a special understanding toward Israeli Nazism in Palestine in deference to the victims of the Holocaust I believe this is unethical behavior on the part of Israeli politicians and officials is a moral affront to the victims of Nazi crimes.
In the final analysis, the victims of the Holocaust, their children and grand children, lose, not gain, the moral high ground when they behave toward their victims as their former tormentors treated them.
This is what Harry Truman alluded to in 1948 in a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. He wrote:
"The action of some of our United States Zionists will prejudice everyone against what they are trying to get done. I fear very much that the Jews are like all underdogs. When they get on the top, they are just as intolerant and as cruel as the people were to them when they were underneath. I regret this situation very much because my sympathy has always been on their side."
I think Truman's views have long been vindicated by Israeli behaviors.
A speech by the European Parliament president Martin Schultz at the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, last week, drew spasmodic reactions from several Jewish lawmakers.
In his speech, Schultz said a young Palestinian had asked him why Jewish settlers in the West Bank can use 70 cubic meters of water while the Palestinians can only use 17.
Moreover, the European official said that the Gaza siege was causing distress.
His uncontroversial and manifestly correct remarks were met with unusually rabid reactions by several Knesset members, including those affiliated with the pro-settler Bayt ha-Yehudi party (Jewish Home), who heckled the man, calling him a liar.
The truth of the matter is that Schultz was quite sparing and almost innocuous in his criticism of Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, which monitors Israeli persecution of Palestinians, discrimination against Palestinians in water allotment is well-known.
A leaflet issued by B'tselem immediately after the Schultz controversy pointed out that there is a conspicuous discrimination against the Palestinians with regard to water allocation.
"And, yes, Israel is absolutely responsible for this discrimination."
The B'tselem report, quoting official data from the Israeli water company, Mekorot, an Israeli citizen receives an average 100-230 litters of water per day whereas a Palestinian citizen in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip receive only 73 litters of water per day.
In some parts of the West Bank, such as the northern town of Jenin , the individual's share of water doesn't exceed 38 litters.
The Nazi-like Israeli lawmakers got upset when Schultz fleetingly reminded them that Israel 's 8-year criminal siege on Gaza was causing a lot of distress.
Well, the word "distress" is a actually scandalous understatement. The death of thousands of innocent Gazans as a result of the shortage of medicine due to that criminal siege is certainly more than just a "distress." Human rights organizations have meticulously documented the appalling human costs of the enduring Israeli blockade. This callous and inhuman blockade is not intended to fight "terror" as the Israeli propaganda keeps claiming.
The murderous siege is rater intended to further torment Gazans in order to make them turn against Hamas. Needless to say, causing innocent people, including babies, to die for political reasons is a Nazi behavior par excellance. And Israel has been doing this knowingly and deliberately.
In the final analysis, the "real issue, " as far as the Israelis are concerned, has very little to do with the facts. Israel knows too well that it discriminates against Palestinians in every conceivable sphere. Israel murders Palestinians on a daily basis. Gestapo-like Israeli soldiers murder Palestinians, including children, with a shocking ease. Israel actually wishes the Palestinians would disappear from the face of earth so that Jews could have a utopian Talmudic kingdom where non-Jews are enslaved as "wood hewers and water carriers." These facts are well known and should not be subject to journalistic or academic investigation.
So what is the real issue? Well, without mincing words, the real issue is simply that some, probably many Israelis, would want to see Germany and Europe, probably the whole western world, embraces Jewish Nazism in Palestine as a way of atoning for the Holocaust.
This is exactly, what Bayt Hayehudi MPs had in mind when they charged that the EU official was "lying in German!!!"
So the real issue is not water discrimination or distress in the Gaza Strip. The real issue is how the whole world ought to relate to Jewish Nazism in the West Bank ? Israel simply wants Europe and the rest of the world to ignore Israel 's institutionalized racism and criminality against the Palestinians and pretend it didn't exist.
That is the crux of the matter. The rest is just beating around the bush.
Some people might object to the comparison of Israeli behaviors against the Palestinians with Nazi behaviors during WWII. And they might be correct in a certain sense.
It is true that Israel is not annihilating Palestinians in concentrating camps. But Israel is trying to annihilate the collective national existence of the Palestinian people. Israel is preventing five million Palestinians from returning to their homes. Israel has been carrying out a rabid lebensraum policy in the West Bank . Israel is trying to obliterate the Palestinian identity of Jerusalem just like the Nazis tried to Germanize neighboring lands and territories. Israel is also imposing a nearly hermetic siege on 2 million Palestinians in Gaza whose only guilt is their "audacity" to elect a government that Israel and her guardian-ally, the U.S. don't like.
Moreover, Israel , thanks to its lebensraum policy and the intensive construction of Jewish colonies in the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem , has effectively decapitated any remaining prospects for the establishment of a truly viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state worthy of the name. And, in the meanwhile, Israel is continuing unabated to narrow Palestinian horizons in an effort to force millions of Palestinians to leave their ancestral homeland.
I believe it is both immoral and inhumane for Israel and Jews to either tacitly or explicitly demand the world to show a special understanding toward Israeli Nazism in Palestine in deference to the victims of the Holocaust I believe this is unethical behavior on the part of Israeli politicians and officials is a moral affront to the victims of Nazi crimes.
In the final analysis, the victims of the Holocaust, their children and grand children, lose, not gain, the moral high ground when they behave toward their victims as their former tormentors treated them.
This is what Harry Truman alluded to in 1948 in a letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. He wrote:
"The action of some of our United States Zionists will prejudice everyone against what they are trying to get done. I fear very much that the Jews are like all underdogs. When they get on the top, they are just as intolerant and as cruel as the people were to them when they were underneath. I regret this situation very much because my sympathy has always been on their side."
I think Truman's views have long been vindicated by Israeli behaviors.
14 feb 2014
By Tal G.
Tal G. is a high school teacher in central Israel. His name has been altered to protect his anonymity.
We Israelis are told on a daily basis about the everyday propaganda spewed forth by the Palestinian Authority: Palestinian kids learn to hate Jews, terrorists are glorified, and the land of Israel doesn't appear on geography maps in schools.
Every day for years, our government, helped by the media, has told us, "We have no real partner for peace, just look how they teach their children."
I have been in the Israeli education system as a student for 12 years and I currently work as a teacher in a high school located in the middle of Israel. As such, I am a part of the Israeli educational system.
It is about time to take a deep look at the Israeli educational system and to see how Israeli indoctrination works.
Just this last month, when a teacher in the city of Tivon dared to raise moral questions about the IDF's actions in the occupied territories, a student complained about him and the teacher was forced to face a hearing concerning his future as a teacher at his school.
This student, who dutifully fulfilled the role of "thought police" as depicted in the novel 1984, was subsequently invited to the Israeli Parliament as a guest of honor and was praised by the Israeli Culture minister and the Security minister. Last week, supporters of the student organized an evening honoring her for her courage as a defender of Israel against the "brainwashing" teacher.
These incidents are part of a larger trend of increasing systemic indoctrination in Israeli schools. For example, there is a new educational project targeting Israeli students in high school which is called Masa Israeli ("An Israeli Journey"). More than 15,000 students have participated in this project since 2003, which aims to strengthen the patriotic feelings of the students towards the land of Israel.
Every year, thousands of students from all over Israel are taken on a journey in various locations across the country, including Jewish settlements that are located outside the Israeli border inside the West Bank. No questions about the legitimacy of these settlements are being raised, they are simply depicted as a part of Israel.
This is a disgraceful use of the education system in Israel to indoctrinate students to think that the settlements in the West Bank are legitimate, thus encouraging ignorance about the reality of the region.
Ironically, geography maps of Israel in Israeli classrooms aren't that different from geography maps in Palestine. The Green Line dividing Israel from the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights doesn't appear at all, and Palestine just doesn't exist; it's all Israel. Regarding this issue, the Israeli media is no better; maps of Israel rarely include the Green Line and the West Bank is annexed de-facto to Israel.
These maps clearly annex the West Bank to Israel, and depict, for example, the large settlement of Ariel as a part of Israel, even though it is located 20 km beyond the international border deep inside the West Bank. News programs on major TV channels include these maps of Israel in their broadcast segments. Any mention of removing Israeli settlements in the news, meanwhile, is depicted as a concession and not as a acceptance of international law.
Tal G. is a high school teacher in central Israel. His name has been altered to protect his anonymity.
We Israelis are told on a daily basis about the everyday propaganda spewed forth by the Palestinian Authority: Palestinian kids learn to hate Jews, terrorists are glorified, and the land of Israel doesn't appear on geography maps in schools.
Every day for years, our government, helped by the media, has told us, "We have no real partner for peace, just look how they teach their children."
I have been in the Israeli education system as a student for 12 years and I currently work as a teacher in a high school located in the middle of Israel. As such, I am a part of the Israeli educational system.
It is about time to take a deep look at the Israeli educational system and to see how Israeli indoctrination works.
Just this last month, when a teacher in the city of Tivon dared to raise moral questions about the IDF's actions in the occupied territories, a student complained about him and the teacher was forced to face a hearing concerning his future as a teacher at his school.
This student, who dutifully fulfilled the role of "thought police" as depicted in the novel 1984, was subsequently invited to the Israeli Parliament as a guest of honor and was praised by the Israeli Culture minister and the Security minister. Last week, supporters of the student organized an evening honoring her for her courage as a defender of Israel against the "brainwashing" teacher.
These incidents are part of a larger trend of increasing systemic indoctrination in Israeli schools. For example, there is a new educational project targeting Israeli students in high school which is called Masa Israeli ("An Israeli Journey"). More than 15,000 students have participated in this project since 2003, which aims to strengthen the patriotic feelings of the students towards the land of Israel.
Every year, thousands of students from all over Israel are taken on a journey in various locations across the country, including Jewish settlements that are located outside the Israeli border inside the West Bank. No questions about the legitimacy of these settlements are being raised, they are simply depicted as a part of Israel.
This is a disgraceful use of the education system in Israel to indoctrinate students to think that the settlements in the West Bank are legitimate, thus encouraging ignorance about the reality of the region.
Ironically, geography maps of Israel in Israeli classrooms aren't that different from geography maps in Palestine. The Green Line dividing Israel from the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights doesn't appear at all, and Palestine just doesn't exist; it's all Israel. Regarding this issue, the Israeli media is no better; maps of Israel rarely include the Green Line and the West Bank is annexed de-facto to Israel.
These maps clearly annex the West Bank to Israel, and depict, for example, the large settlement of Ariel as a part of Israel, even though it is located 20 km beyond the international border deep inside the West Bank. News programs on major TV channels include these maps of Israel in their broadcast segments. Any mention of removing Israeli settlements in the news, meanwhile, is depicted as a concession and not as a acceptance of international law.
Screen shot of the map used by the website of the Israel Meteorological Service, with Palestinian areas and the Golan Heights annexed to Israel proper
Decisions made by the UN security council, meanwhile, are ignored and buried by the Israeli government, the media and the education system. For example, UN resolution 465, which was accepted unanimously by all 15 members of the security council, determined that "all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."
Virtually no student in Israel has ever learned about these UN security council resolutions, or the Geneva conventions, or even saw a map of Israel that clearly showed the Green Line. They have almost never heard about the implications of the Israeli settlements, nor their illegal status under international law.
Students must know the whole truth about the reality they live in, especially due to the fact that most of them will become soldiers in the Israeli military at the end of high school. Instead of endorsing critical thinking and raising moral questions, teachers in Israel are encouraging ignorance and acceptance of the illegal acts being carried out by our government, our army and the Israeli settlement enterprise.
Opinions and right-wing ideology are always being portrayed as facts, while raising moral questions and teaching a different narrative might cost a simple teacher his job.
I find it doubtful that the Palestinian education system has more effects on Palestinian children's hatred toward Israel than do the roadblocks and raids made by Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli system of indoctrination which endorses ignorance and the delegitimization of the Palestinian narrative is manufacturing generations of Israelis who are out of touch with the reality they live in and will continue to fan the flames of the conflict.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.
Decisions made by the UN security council, meanwhile, are ignored and buried by the Israeli government, the media and the education system. For example, UN resolution 465, which was accepted unanimously by all 15 members of the security council, determined that "all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, or any part thereof, have no legal validity and that Israel's policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and also constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East."
Virtually no student in Israel has ever learned about these UN security council resolutions, or the Geneva conventions, or even saw a map of Israel that clearly showed the Green Line. They have almost never heard about the implications of the Israeli settlements, nor their illegal status under international law.
Students must know the whole truth about the reality they live in, especially due to the fact that most of them will become soldiers in the Israeli military at the end of high school. Instead of endorsing critical thinking and raising moral questions, teachers in Israel are encouraging ignorance and acceptance of the illegal acts being carried out by our government, our army and the Israeli settlement enterprise.
Opinions and right-wing ideology are always being portrayed as facts, while raising moral questions and teaching a different narrative might cost a simple teacher his job.
I find it doubtful that the Palestinian education system has more effects on Palestinian children's hatred toward Israel than do the roadblocks and raids made by Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli system of indoctrination which endorses ignorance and the delegitimization of the Palestinian narrative is manufacturing generations of Israelis who are out of touch with the reality they live in and will continue to fan the flames of the conflict.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.