Thanks for Embracing BDS of Apartheid Israel, Pete Seeger!

Never say never 🙂 After playing in a deceptive virtual rally for the greenwashing Israeli Arava Institute which partners with the state land-grabbing device, the Jewish National Fund, Pete Seeger has had an epiphany, altered his stance and now supports BDS!

During a January meeting at his Beacon, NY home with representatives from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and Adalah-NY, Pete Seeger explained, “I appeared on that virtual rally because for many years I’ve felt that people should talk with people they disagree with. But it ended up looking like I supported the Jewish National Fund. I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.”

Applaud Pete’s reversal in favour of justice and human rights by liking his facebook fan page and posting a message of approval.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to delegitimise itself by reprehensible actions toward children not of its preferred ‘flavour’ and pass unsavoury anti-boycott legislation (albeit watered down from the original fascist draft) in the Knesset..

the Israeli government may deport children from the Bialik Rogozin school, including one of the stars of “Strangers No More”:

Just a week after the Israeli media runs its hip-hip-hooray! reports of the win, the Oz Unit will start rounding such kids up. And one of the children is the 10-year-old star of the film. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel:

…10-year-old Esther who starred in the movie is facing a probable deportation alongside an estimated 120 pupils from her school. Esther fled from South Africa and arrived in Israel with her father four years ago – thus missing the five-year mark set as a condition to remaining in the country.

Interview with Omar Barghouti and Hind Awwad on the Palestinian BDS Campaign

Palestine / Israel Links

The Israelis keep bulldozing their village, but still the Bedouin will not give up their land
Arabic and Hebrew: The Politics of Literary Translation
A challenge to Israel’s mass propaganda
Adidas: Apartheid is not fair play, drop sponsorship of Jerusalem marathon
John Pilger: Behind the Arab Revolt is a Word We Dare Not Speak : The revolt in the Arab world is not merely against a resident dictator but a worldwide economic tyranny designed by the US Treasury and imposed by the US Agency for International Development, the IMF and World Bank, which have ensured that rich countries like Egypt are reduced to vast sweatshops, with half the population earning less than $2 a day. The people’s triumph in Cairo was the first blow against what Benito Mussolini called corporatism, a word that appears in his definition of fascism.
What Ian Did Next: McEwan in Jerusalem
FM KEVIN RUDD: Australia’s foreign policy interests in the Middle East 22Feb11
McEwan’s lousy acceptance speech, and reasons to be be cautiously optimistic
Israeli Gov’t May Deport Children Attending Tel Aviv School Featured In Oscar Winning Documentary

Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem’s visa revoked
Great-grandson of S.Y Agnon to McEwan: Don’t shake hands with apartheid
Award-winning Gaza journalist Mohammed Omer speaking in NYC area Mar 2-5
Israel should be given the South African treatment
Right of reply: The Palestine papers revealed nothing – Erekat in denial mode
Sewage without borders : Israel used money it owes the Palestinian Authority to treat untreated solid waste flowing into Israel, while settlement sewage still pollutes the West Bank
Talking to “socialists” about Palestine
US Palestinian Community Network to PA – ‘You’re fired’
Crying foul over criticism of Israel
Swedish FM, in rare move, to spend night in Nablus
The ‘Israel First’ Myth : simpering colonialism
Revised anti-boycott bill passed in Knesset Law Committee
Bay Area Says “Drown Out Apartheid” at Israel Philharmonic Performance
‘Gevalt, They’re Delegitimizing Us’ -a new play by Avigdor Lieberman and Benjamin Netanyahu
Pete Seeger endorses BDS, shuns Jewish National Fund
Oscar night at J St: Michael Sfard says Israel made ‘an immoral choice’ and makes it again, every day
Human rights lawyer Franklin Lamb detained in Beirut
Pete Seeger officially joins anti-Israel boycott
Israel vows to raze all illegal outposts built on private Palestinian land – well, really only 3.

The government will immediately dismantle all illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land, with the sole exception of the house owned by slain Israel Defense Forces officer Eliraz Peretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Monday in consultation with the defense minister and the attorney general.

The decision, which will be submitted to the High Court of Justice in response to 15 petitions demanding the outposts’ demolition, will apply to at least three outposts inhabited by about 100 families.

Report: Israel to legalize tens of outposts

Treacherous zio-imperialist Dennis Ross oozing sewerage about 2 states at the Jstreet convention

Egypt Links

Anti-Zionism, Anti-Imperialism and the #Jan25 revolution

Some DC pundits have been repeatedly on satellite TV stations claiming the Egyptian revolution had nothing to do with Israel or the US. Some even go as far as claiming this was “purely an internal affair.”

Those self described “ME experts” tend to neither know a word of Arabic nor visited Tahrir Square during the mass protests. The roots of this Egyptian revolt date back to September 2000, when street activism was revived again following a decade of dirty wary between the regime and the Islamist militants. There is a chain reaction linking those protests which broke out in solidarity with the Palestinian intifada to the current revolt.

Libya Links

Gadaffi: ‘’I am a delusional freak, who thinks that the people are protesting are protesting because they love me’’
Who is calling for American intervention in Libya?
Live Blog – Libya March 1
Libya unrest: US repositioning forces in region

Saudi Arabia Links

Why a king’s ransom is not enough for Saudi Arabia’s protesters : King Abdullah’s offer of bribes to his country’s alienated youth is no substitute for genuine reform
Saudi Arabia woke up on Wednesday to the announcement of thirteen Royal Orders that preceded the much-anticipated return of Abdullah by a few hours. The King’s “gift to the nation” signaled a major push for the improvement of everyday life of all Saudis by pumping $35 billion into comprehensive development projects in every region and corner of the Kingdom.

Bahrain Links

Protests at Bahrain’s parliament

Other Links

Searchlight poll finds huge support for far right ‘if they gave up violence’
Disgraced neocon Paul Wolfowitz appeared on CNN’s Zakaria show this morning and showed once again why he is a criminal weasel of epic proportions:
An Empire of Lies : Why Our Media Betrays Us

The imperial elites’ success depends to a large extent on a shared belief among the western public both that “we” need them to secure our livelihoods and security and that at the same time we are really their masters. Some of the necessary illusions perpetuated by the transnational elites include:

– That we elect governments whose job is to restrain the corporations;

– That we, in particular, and the global workforce, in general, are the chief beneficiaries of the corporations’ wealth creation;

– That the corporations and the ideology that underpins them, global capitalism, are the only hope for freedom;

– That consumption is not only an expression of our freedom but also a major source of our happiness;

– That economic growth can be maintained indefinitely and at no long-term cost to the health of the planet; and,

– That there are groups, called terrorists, who want to destroy this benevolent system of wealth creation and personal improvement.

These assumptions, however fanciful they may appear when subjected to scrutiny, are the ideological bedrock on which the narratives of our societies in the West are constructed and from which ultimately our sense of identity derives.

Bullying in an Aboriginal context
Independent Andrew Wilkie calls on Abbott to ‘lance the boil’ of racism in his party
White women and the privilege of solidarity