Australia

December 27, 2010December 11, 2020

Two Years Later, Israeli Cast Lead War Criminals Elude Justice

Accompanying an alarming metastasis of racism within Israel, baleful, triumphalist zionist rhetoric directed at the defenceless people of the Gaza gulag is building ominously once more.

The scenario for the next round is unfolding in front of our eyes and it resembles depressingly the same deterioration that preceded the massacre of Gaza two years ago: daily bombardment on the Strip and a policy that tries to provoke Hamas so that more expanded assaults would be justified. As one general explained, there is now a need to take into account the damaging effect of the Goldstone report: namely the next major attack should look more plausible than the 2009 one (but this concern may not be that crucial to this particular government; nor would it serve as an obstacle).

Today, on the anniversary of the commencement of Israel’s attack of the people of Gaza, many of us reflect on the events of two years ago in mourning and regret that its criminal progenitors have eluded justice, courtesy of the largesse and impunity lent by Israel’s blinkered, biased imperial benefactor, the US and its bevy of colonialist toadies, including Australia.

Then acting Australian PM Julia Gillard disgracefully cheerled the Israeli massacre:

Israel’s attack upon Gaza was met with a curious indifference by most of the so-called leaders of Western nations. As acting Prime Minister of Australia at the time, the ill-informed Julia Gillard refused to criticise, let alone condemn the actions of Israel. Supposedly speaking on behalf of the Australian people, she said: “Australia recognises the right of Israel to defend itself.” That comment was made on the third of January 2009, by which time it was widely known that 430 Gazans had already been killed and 2,300 wounded in 750 individual strikes carried out by air and by sea over the previous five days.

The Cast Lead massacre was committed with malice aforethought on an imprisoned Gaza population of 1.5 million people, 55% of whom were under the age of 18 years. Israel broke its truce with Hamas on November 5th, 2008 although there had been no actual Hamas rockets during the ceasefire. Nor had Israel cooperated with the spirit if not actual terms of the truce by easing its illegal blockade. Israel automagically, conveniently blames Hamas for any rockets fired from the oppressed Gazan sliver of land. In revenge, Israel inflicts ongoing indiscriminate collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza, whom it has now incarcerated for 1,293 days.

Yet the truce was working, as during the final couple of months, there were practically no rockets fired from Gaza at all. After breaking the truce ,.Israel refused to renew it, even though Hamas expressed its willingness to renegotiate provided the siege was eased. Israel attacked on the 27th December, 2008. During the 22 infamous days of Operation Cast Lead, Israel killed 1417 Palestinian people, 352 of whom were children.

Flaunting the Geneva Conventions, Israel fiendishly, illegally targeted and destroyed ambulances, hospitals, schools, universities, the sole electric power and sewerage plants, chicken farms, dairy farms, crops, trees, police stations, homes and whole villages. Israel made around 50,000 Gazans homeless during winter, then for 18 months after the end of its 22 day attack, malevolently disallowed materials for rebuilding to enter Gaza. Two years later:

Israel has so far only approved the import of materials for 25 UNRWA[2] construction projects for schools and clinics, a mere seven per cent of UNRWA’s entire reconstruction plan for Gaza. Even for these approved projects, only a small fraction of the required construction materials have actually been permitted to enter Gaza so far.

More generally, says the report, the UN has estimated that Gaza needs 670,000 truckloads of construction materials for housing alone in Gaza. An average of only 715 truckloads of construction materials have entered the Gaza Strip per month since the ‘easing’ announcement, says the report. At this rate, it would take many decades to build the needed homes. And because UNRWA has been unable to get construction materials to build new schools, 40,000 eligible children could not be enrolled at UN schools at the start of the new academic year.

“Only a fraction of the aid needed has made it to the civilians trapped in Gaza by the blockade”, said Jeremy Hobbs, Director of Oxfam International. “Israel’s failure to live up to its commitments and the lack of international action to lift the blockade are depriving Palestinians in Gaza of access to clean water, electricity, jobs and a peaceful future.”

Altogether in the Occupied Territories, between 29th September, 2000 and 30th November, 2010, around 1313 Palestinian children have been slaughtered by Israeli security forces, according to B’TSelem.

According to an Al Mezan report from December 2010, over 21,000 people remain displaced two years after the end of Operation Cast Lead. Israel has committed more grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 147) as

careful documentation indicates that the IOF destroyed at least 1,723 shelters after the end of hostilities when they had come under Israel’s effective control. These shelters could not be deemed military objectives. Nor were they near any other legitimate military targets. Their destruction was therefore illegal, violating fundamental international humanitarian law principles, and amounting to war crimes.

Thanks to rejection by the credulous zionist sycophants in the US congress of the painstaking research within the UN-commissioned Goldstone Report into Cast Lead war crimes, Israeli war criminals responsible for the planning and execution of the heinous Cast Lead massacre still walk free, with no justice attained for, nor compensation paid to Israel’s civilian victims.

‘Despite its listing count after count of international law contraventions, Israeli “war crimes” and “possible crimes against humanity,” the European Union, the United Nations, the Red Cross, and all major Human Rights Organizations have called for an end to the illegal, medieval siege, it carries on unabated. On 11th November 2010 UNRWA head John Ging said, “There’s been no material change for the people on the ground here in terms of their status, the aid dependency, the absence of any recovery or reconstruction, no economy…The easing, as it was described, has been nothing more than a political easing of the pressure on Israel and Egypt.’

Though the resistance of Palestinians who endure it is unflinching, and international boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israeli apartheid and occupation are flourishing, Israel’s pitiless, illegal siege remains.

Israel’s harvest from its vindictive, cruel folly is bitter – as Nelson Mandela said, “A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he’s locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness.” Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their freedom. How much hatred, prejudice and narrow-mindedness imprisons Israel?

Palestinians deserve long overdue justice to be brought to their oppressors, for the hideous illegal siege to be lifted completely and for Israel’s aggression and expansionism to end. Join the #Gaza2 Campaign on twitter and post on your blog to remind the people of Palestine that neither they nor the calamities and evils inflicted on them during Operation Cast Lead by Israel and its collaborators are forgotten.

Palestine / Israel Links

The toxic downfall of the Jewish dream of a safe homeland
An Open Letter from Gaza: Two Years after the Massacre, a Demand for Justice
Israel’s image campaign a facade
Israeli foreign minister: Peace deal ‘impossible,’ ‘forbidden’
Dennis Ross Bats For Netanyahu
Hillary’s Envoy : Not Everyone is Cheering
New Mossad Chief Makes Nice to Brits
In Pictures: the slaughter of Gazan children – Victims of the Israeli occupation forces in the tenth day of their attacks on Gaza Strip – January 5, 2009
The drums of war are heard again in Israel
Davuto?lu blames Israel for failure to mend ties
And What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Gaza? Operation Cast Lead and the Dismembering of a People
Sorry, ‘Mother Jones’ but you’re piping the Israeli narrative of Gaza ‘war’
How long will American Jews deny this crushing reality?
Rabbi threatens civil war if settlements are evacuated
IDF warns troops: Facebook can bring terrorists to you
Jewish activist faces jail for West Bank resistance
Nomads No More: Israel evicts Indigenous Bedouins for more sterile racist settlements
Groundbreaking report details Israel’s inhumane conditions for isolated prisoners
UK considers recognizing PA diplomats
Palestinian group launches ‘Gaza Holocaust’ website
Another Gaza war?
Vigil outside the Israeli embassy in London to mark the second anniversary of the start of Operation Cast Lead
“To shoot an elephant” is an eye witness account from The Gaza Strip. December 27th, 2008, Operation Cast Lead. 21 days shooting elephants. Urgent, insomniac, dirty, shuddering images from the only foreigners who decided and managed to stay embedded inside Gaza strip ambulances, with Palestinian civilians.
The Gaza massacre and the struggle for justice
Suheir Hammad: 2. Rafah
Stuttgart Declaration
An Open Letter from Gaza: Two Years after the Massacre, a Demand for Justice
Operation Cast Lead 2 Years On
Leftist Yonatan Pollak sentenced to 3 months in jail
Shin Bet puts Israeli ‘anarchists’ in crosshairs
Israeli activist sentenced to 3 months in prison for protesting Gaza war

Wikileaks Links

WikiLeaks founder baffled by sex assault claims
THE WIKILEAKS NEWS & VIEWS BLOG, Special Holiday Weekend Edition!
Saving Private Manning
Beyond WikiLeaks: The Privatization of War
Austria and the WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables
WikiLeaks tells why drug king is still free
Wikileaks: State Department Lied, Denying Dubai Asked for Assistance in Tracking Mossad Assassins
Wikileaks cables have revealed a disturbing development in the African uranium mining industry: abysmal safety and security standards in the mines, nuclear research centres, and border customs are enabling international companies to exploit the mines and smuggle dangerous radioactive material across continents.
EX-CIA SPOOK CALLS FOR “COVERT ACTION” VS. ASSANGE
WikiLeaks may spawn new sedition act

Other Links

Afghanistan denounces deadly NATO-led raid
America in Decline: Why Germans Think We’re Insane
Can Gillard Last?

December 26, 2010December 11, 2020

Zionist Exceptionalism For Extrajudicial Executions

The new Mossad chief will apologise to the UK for the use of its passports in its Dubai extrajudicial assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January 2010.

David Milliband, then foreign secretary, told MPs that Israel had shown a “profound disregard” for British sovereignty, adding: “The fact that this was done by a country which is a friend, with significant diplomatic, cultural, business and personal ties to the UK, only adds insult to injury.”

Will Pardo’s magnanimity extend to Australia, Ireland, France and Germany, whose passports were also abused by Mossad?

The duplicitous use of foreign passports is not the primary crime committed by Israel. Extrajudicial executions are outlawed by the Second Additional Protocol of the Geneva Conventions (1977) that states:

“No sentence shall be passed and no penalty shall be executed on a person found guilty of an offence except pursuant to a conviction pronounced by a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality.” (Second Protocol of the Geneva Conventions (1977) Art 6.2)

Zionist exceptionalism is enabled and paralleled by that of its indulgent sponsor, the US, with its disgraceful preemptive strike policy and legal permissiveness for extrajudicial assassinations even of its own citizens.

In December 2006, Israel’s High Court of Justice outrageously declared the legality of the extrajudicial executions of Palestinian activists suspected of being “unlawful combatants.”

The taking of life based on suspicions against a person, represents a gross violation of fundamental principles of law and morality. It is a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, and further, is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. These legal-moral principles are applicable to every country, organization and person, whether or not they are an official party to these instruments.

In this ruling, the Israeli High Court indiscriminately adopts the Israeli government’s practice that strips “unlawful combatants” of their legal and human rights. International law does not recognize a category of “unlawful combatants” who do not enjoy either the rights of combatants in the battlefield or those of protected civilians. The Court did not question the prevailing modus operandi of Israel’s security forces, which declares that all Palestinian civilians are “unlawful combatants” a posteriori, after an execution has been made, again without any legal review or oversight.
…

The Fourth Geneva Convention relates to the protection of civilian population in time of war. Article 146 of the Convention obligates the High Contracting Parties to enact effective penal sanctions for persons who have committed, or ordered to be committed, “grave breaches” of the Convention. Article 147 defines “grave breaches” to include “willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment.”

As Israeli scholar Tanya Reinhart says: “Under military rule, Israel has become a leading force in the destruction of the very protections that humankind has established, out of World War Two, for its own preservation, protections that we too may need one day, as history has already shown us”.

For how long will the world turn a blind eye to Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity which overshadow mere passport abuse, and that include ongoing brazen slaughter of civilians, ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Territories and within Israel itself?

Palestine / Israel Links

SEATTLE, USA: King County executive prevents “Israeli War Crimes” bus ads from appearing
King Co. rejects Israeli-Gaza bus ad
GISHA REPORT: “Reconstructing the Closure” Dec10 [.pdf]
Israeli demolitions traumatic for Palestinian children, says UN official
Inflaming racist rhetoric
Israelis kill Gazan shepherd, wound three – medics
UN envoys criticise Israel home demolitions
1932 is already here
Fuel for racism
US should recognize Palestine – John Quigley
Israeli racial purity
Turkey set on improving Israel ties, but insists on apology for Gaza flotilla raid
Anger after Nazareth suburb bans Christmas tree
The Palestinian ‘legitimacy war’
Jeffrey Goldberg’s Anti-Boycott Bluster & Blunder
Israeli Foreign Ministry Plans New Hasbara Effort Against Palestinians

STL-PSC Flash Mob: Boycott Israeli Apartheid in Palestine! (YouTube Censors the Video)
The Holy Land is on a tourism high
Jerusalem & Babylon / Demons on the streets of Israel
No legitimate Palestinian leader can negotiate with Israel while it continues to colonize Palestinian land.
Lieberman’s Great Big Palestinian Land Heist Plan
Christmas and New Year’s Eve: More Homeless Palestinian children
Senior Labor minister: Without peace talks, even U.S. may soon recognize Palestinian state
World may recognise Palestine soon: Israel minister
Delegitimizing Israel: the dictionary
Israel mobilizing forces in Silwan for possible eviction of non-violent leader
French activists arrested at West Bank protest
Gaza doctor takes Israel to court
The Gaza Strip is a castle that will defend Palestinian rights and resist occupation
Deputy FM: ‘The state of Facebook’ is more real than Palestine
Israeli diplomat ambushed by NY Times staff
Max Ajl returns to Gaza and locates Palestinian freedom – ‘it’s under an Israeli-American jackboot’
‘Asylum seekers trying to reach Israel are being trapped and tortured in Sinai’
Steve Rosen’s Plaint against AIPAC
Texas Tea Party : anti-Semitic and pro-Zionist
Lieberman: Israel’s governing coalition unable to agree on peace deal with Palestinians
In Israel, parenthood is perceived of as a national mission
Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia: 26th of December 2010 : Flashmob/freeze scene
Gaza aid ship returns to Turkey
Gaza: Two years after the horror of Operation Cast Lead

Wikileaks Links

Banks and Wikileaks
Bank of America wonders about WikiLeaks’ planned ‘megaleak’
WikiLeaks given $1.3m in 2010, and Julian Assange pays himself two thirds of the salary budget
DEA reach goes global, beyond drugs: report
20 things we learned in 2010
We’re no pawns: Assange accusers
WikiLeaks: Kiwi mosque spied on by US

Other Links

Murphy: ‘The FBI raids and subpoenas . . . [are] best understood as backlash aimed at silencing our successful movement’

December 23, 2010December 11, 2020

Israeli and US Machinations to be Revealed Sooner or Later?

In an Al Jazeera interview conducted in Arabic, Julian Assange has revealed that it will take Wikileaks six months to release documents on Israel. This is confirmed by a post on the WL Central blog. Here’s a translation of the Al Jazeera story accompanying the interview provided to me by a fluent friend:

“The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange denied what was recently circulated about a secret deal that he might have made with israel in return for not publishing anything about it in the series of the leaked American diplomatic documents that his website publishes.

Assange said Wednesday evening in “Without Limits” on Al-Jazeera that he didn’t make any deal with israel and revealed that his site would publish hundreds of documents relating to israel in the coming months. He stated that he has 3700 documents and 2700 of these documents originated from israel alone.

He added, “we did not have direct or indirect contact with the israelis, but the israeli intelligence (mossad) and other intelligence agencies are following us and attempt to predict what we will do. And I’m sure that the israeli intelligence is interested in us, but it did not contact us. It might have contacted individuals that used to work for our organization, but at the moment, there are no communications between them [israeli intelligence] and us.

He added that what was published about israel represents 1% or 2% of the documents concerning israel. But he stated that international newspapers that he made a deal with to publish the documents chose what they wanted to publish based on their interest in them. He said that that reflects the “bias” of some of these newspaper and that his site would publish all the documents it has and are related to israel.

Assange revealed that there are sensitive and classified documents that deal with israel’s war on Lebanon in 2006. Others deal with the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai and the diplomatic telegrams regarding the passports used by the mossad in the operation.

He said that there is an important telegram about Hizb Allah’s telecommunications’ network that mentions fiber lines and that one of these lines passed by the French embassy in Beirut. He added that this matter “worries Washington because control of telecommunications is important.”

He stated that the secret classified documents include mention of the mossad, and high ranking communications regarding the assassination of a Syrian official by a sniper. He said that the publication of the documents relating to israel and some Arab states will continue for six months.”

The Al Jazeera interview transcript and video in Arabic with Julian Assange is here.

The Peninsula’s transcript of the interview includes:

“There are 3,700 files related to Israel and the source of 2,700 files is Israel. In the next six months we intend to publish more files depending on our sources,” said Assange in the nearly one-hour interview telecast live from the UK.

Q: An Arabic newspaper called Al Haqeeqa [“the Truth”] conducted an interview with one of your former colleagues who said you have a deal with Israel not to publish these secret files.

A: This is not true. We have been accused as agents of Iran and CIA by this former colleague who was working for Germany in the past and was dismissed from his job after we published American military documents related to Germany.

We were the biggest institution receiving official funding from the US but after we released a video tape about killing people in cold blood in Iraq in 2007, the funding stopped and we had to depend on individuals for finance.

Q: When will you publish the files related to Israel on your website?

A: We will publish 3700 files and the source is the American embassy in Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Netanyahu was traveling to Paris to talk to the US ambassador there. You will see more information about that in six months.

Q: Do these Israeli files speak about the July 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon?

A: Yes there is some information about that and these files were classified as top secret.

Q: Is there any relation with these files and the assassination of Hamas military leader Al Mabhoh in Dubai?

A: Yes there are some indication to this and may be some special reports published by newspapers. Mossad agents used Australian, British and European passports to travel to Dubai and there are diplomatic files about that.

Q: Are there any security service companies providing information to international airports and monitoring passengers even in the Arab countries?

A: There are some files about American and Israeli security companies that tried to intervene in certain areas. For example, in Brazil, the American embassy put some Israeli security companies during the Olympic Games.

Q: Are there any files about agencies providing intelligence information about famous personalities in the Arab world?

A: I am not sure about that but there are files about Hezbollah in Lebanon. In one of these files Lebanon government complained against cables passing near the French embassy. American are always very much worried about the telecommunications network.

Q: Are there any files about Israeli agents in the Arab world including some Arab royal palaces.

A: Most of the files related to Mossad are classified as top secret but there may be some files related to the role of Mossad in killing Lebanese military leader in Damascus by sniper bullets.

There 2,500 files related to Mossad and I have read only 1000. So I don’t know about everythiong, I need more journalists including Arabs to read and analyse and put everything in the context for the benefit of the readers.

We have 17,000 files where the word Qatar has been mentioned, the source of 3,000 of these files is the American embassy in Doha.

Q: What is the most interesting file about Qatar that was not published?

A: There is a lot to be read. The name of Waddah Khanfar has been mentioned in 504 files. Some of these files have been published by The Guardian.

Q: How do the Americans view Al Jazeera in these files?

A: There were some meetings between people from Al Jazeera and the US embassy where the latter suggested coverage of certain things in a certain way.

There are files about a TV channel in Dubai which the Americans said can be used against Al Jazeera and when this channel tried to move in the American direction, people stopped watching it.

The Americans despite having a base here were angry about the presence of an Iranian bank in Qatar but Qatar said it would not close it but would not open new banks. Despite that this bank established many more branches in Doha. Qatar is trying to create a balance between the Arab world and the America.

The Americans appreciate having their largest base in Doha but Qatar does not agree with all American requirements and Al Jazeera is a good example for that.

Ex-Wikileaks associate, Daniel Domscheit-Berg also has denied the rumours of Assange dealing with Israel.

I have been notified about the general rumour a few weeks ago, and shortly after about the appearance of me as involved in those allegations. I have never spoken to anyone at syriatruth or that reporter that is making these claims, nor do I know anything about any deals JA has allegedly made with Israelis.

Given what is appearing in the Scandinavian area with the involvement of Shamir and Wahlstrom I wouldn’t actually expect that to happen either. In any case, this latter statement is just my personal judgement.

I once received a test mail from a , and then a followup regarding OpenLeaks questions. A contact request to him after hearing of the allegations was not replied to.

In the last week or so I have been contacted by Israeli TV about this, as well as French Le Point today. Those are the only media outfits so far that seem to have taken interest. Other than that it seems to be mainly spreading via weird Russian and religious forums, at least from as much as I am aware of.

As I read somewhere that this alleged reporter I allegedly talked to works for Hareetz, I have asked the folks from Israeli TV if they could help find out who that is, and how to contact her. They replied that there doesn’t seem to be anyone by that name. So obviously, which was my gut feeling also, that person does not exist. Why that rumour is circulated, I dont know. I have my feelings about that and think we should give it some more time to uncover itself.

Some more comment on the situation here.

As the entire Wikileaks cables are now in the mitts of Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, ‘without the consent of Julian Assange’, will the Tel Aviv cables come to light much sooner than expected?

The US Ambassador to Australia, Jeff Bleich, noted by Australian Jewish News as active in the American Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith ADL and who has previously assured the Capital Jewish Forum (CJF) in Canberra that President Barack Obama was committed to protecting Israel from Iran’s nuclear ambitions, is published in The Age today, patronisingly and vapidly arguing against government transparency and Wikileaks. A pleasant counter-balance to the US ambassador’s mendacity is provided by former Australian intelligence analyst Paul Barratt on Inside Story:

More disturbingly, the cables reveal that behind closed doors our political leaders deal incautiously with representatives of the United States and Israel. They seem to forget that they are dealing with the representatives of a foreign country, in a game that is definitely reserved for grown-ups, the world of navigating our country through the shoals of major international events. They make such forthright and absolute declarations of support that they leave hostages to fortune, giving themselves little room to negotiate on issues arising in the future on the basis of a hard-nosed assessment of where Australia’s national interest lies. Indeed, at times they give the impression they would struggle to see the difference between Australia’s national interests and those of the United States or Israel.

Despite vehement protestations by Netanyahu to the contrary, Wikileaks cables (and Netanyahu’s public admonitions), have shown Israel consistently conflates peace with Palestinians with its existential fear of Iran as number one threat, emphasising an interminable, nebulous and largely self-created security problem which inflates a deliberately marketed victimhood which the US is expected to ease and pander to at all times. In turn, this mechanism provides US military industrial plutocrats, Middle Eastern dictators and other ruling class mavens with plausible deniability for exploitation of the world’s richest sources of energy, at the expense of ordinary people of the region, negating an equitable outcome for rightsless Palestinians that would truly be in the interests of everyone’s security except those who profit from their oppression.

UPDATE

News of an unreleased cable appears in Ynet on Israel’s bombing of a supposed Syrian nuclear reactor from Yedioth Ahronoth’s Ronen Bergman. This release follows a Guardian interview with Julian Assange:

WikiLeaks now plans to begin sharing the cables with a wider group of regional news organisations. Julian Assange says all future cables released by WikiLeaks will either be redacted by other partner news organisations, or by WikiLeaks itself. The Guardian and its partners in the project, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, El Pais and Le Monde, will continue to share redactions with WikiLeaks for any cables they publish in future.

Assange also refers to Israel Shamir, notorious anti-semite afficionado “Belarus is a shining lamp of socialism” of the brutal Lukashenko regime in Belarus.

Assange defended one of WikiLeaks’ collaborators, Israel Shamir, following claims Shamir passed sensitive cables to Belarus’s dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko has arrested 600 opposition supporters and journalists since Sunday’s presidential election. The whereabouts and fate of several of the president’s high-profile opponents are unknown.

Of Shamir, Assange said: “WikiLeaks works with hundreds of journalists from different regions of the world. All are required to sign non-disclosure agreements and are generally only given limited review access to material relating to their region. We have no reason to believe these rumours in relation to Belarus are true.”

Over the past month the Guardian has published more than 200 articles based on the trove of US diplomatic dispatches obtained by WikiLeaks, and 739 of the cables themselves. All cables published by the Guardian and the four other international news organisations who had exclusive early access to the material have been carefully redacted to protect sources who could be placed in danger, and the redacted versions have been passed to WikiLeaks.

It’s annoying that the Guardian didn’t ask Assange how the Norwegian paper Aftenposten received the entire trove of documents, because I would like to know whether my suspicions are correct.

Swedish Radio, Medierna, discovered last week that Shamir’s son, Johannes Wahlström ‘is the gatekeeper of the cables in Scandinavia, and “has the power to decide” which newspapers are provided access and what leaks they are allowed to see’.

Palestine / Israel Links

How Scottish Zionist Ephraim Borowski tried to browbeat Positive Action in Housing, a Glasgow Charity dedicated to Supporting Asylum Seekers
Cast Lead two year anniversary [update]
The Palestinians have rights too
The Delusions Of The Peace Process
Why Do Jewish Organizations Ignore Glenn Beck?
UN urges Israeli ‘restraint’, condemns projectiles
2010-12-23 Al Jazeera Interview: Wikileaks to release Israel documents in six months
Ameer Makhoul’s perpetual trial
New Gaza war ‘a question of when, not if’
IDF general uses 1945 law to bar East J’lem resident from capital
The Israeli mainstream and European far-right fascists. A natural fit?
Racism has reared its head, and the public is apathetic
‘WikiLeaks to publish Israel files on Second Lebanon War, Dubai assassination’
Daniel Domscheit-Berg Denies Rumor of Assange-Israeli Deals
Arab tenants forced to leave Tel Aviv home due to threats
Another Christmas under siege
Christmas trees ‘provocative:’ Nazareth suburb’s mayor
Western media reluctant to publish WikiLeaks cables about Israel
Haaretz journalist doubles as anti-“delegitimization” operative
Netanyahu: World starting to understand that Israel is not obstacle to Mideast peace – blames Iran and attempts to throw the scent from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians
PSC West London: Report from Inside Zionist Conference on the ‘De-Legitimisation’ of Israel
Useful Timeline of Laws of Palestinian Residency in Jerusalem – 1967 until today
The smoking cable: Israel said it had ’secret accord’ with U.S. over expanding settlements even as Obama said in Cairo they must stop!

Wikilinks

Assange interview in arabic on Al Jazeera
Assange promises info on Mabhouh, Lebanon War – Ynet says “the assassination of a Syrian official by a sniper
‘Cables to be released on Israel, Lebanon, Mabhouh’ – Jpost quotes the Peninsula and says a Lebanese military leader was assassinated in Damascus”
‘WikiLeaks to publish Israel cables on Second Lebanon War, Dubai assassination’
Newspaper gets WikiLeaks cables – A NORWEGIAN newspaper has gotten hold of the entire file of US cables first leaked to WikiLeaks. (No prizes for guessing/knowing how this happened.)
Julian Assange On Al Jazeera For the Second time
Wikileaks: Mossad Sells U.S. on Iran Regime Change Plan
NYT worked ‘several weeks’ on leaked cables; WikiLeaks wasn’t direct source for docs which contradicts what the NY Times says, to wit:
The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian, the German magazine Der Spiegel and the French newspaper Le Monde were given access to the material in June, on the condition that the contents not be made public until now.
NZ accused of Israel ‘flap’ to boost Arab trade
The PATRIOT Act, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange – Predicting Torture
Norwegian newspaper should WikiLeaks documents received {German tr]
WikiLeaks Joins Forces With Lebedev’s Moscow-Based Newspaper Novaya Gazeta
– Novaya Gazeta received unlimited access to the WikiLeaks database, which has a “wide range” of materials, including documents about Politkovskaya’s murder as well as information about Russian politicians’ ties to organized crime, Nadezhda Prusenkova, a Novaya Gazeta spokeswoman, said by phone from Moscow. The newspaper will start releasing materials next month.
Russian Newspaper Joins Forces With WikiLeaks
The lies of the smear campaign against #wikileaks & Assange exposed.
Wikileaks’ Leaks Leaked: Norwegian Paper Has All the Cables and None of the Restrictions
Wikileaks’ Big Leak Is Leaked – Aftenposten says the leak occurred “without the consent of Wikileaks director Julian Assange.”
Aftenposten has gained access to 250,000 new Wikileaks documents. News Editor Erik Ole Almlid said the newspaper could use the documents without conditions.
Fidelis Snags Anti-WikiLeaks Contracts
Apple removes iPhone Wikileaks app from iTunes
NZ accused of Israel ‘flap’ to boost Arab trade
2010-12-23 Al Jazeera Interview: Wikileaks to release Israel documents in six months
The Assange case – what it means for socialists
David Frost interviews Julian Assange
UN to investigate treatment of jailed leaks suspect Bradley Manning
WikiLeaks cables reveal commercial motivations behind New Zealand troop deployment to Iraq
Exclusive Julian Assange Interview With Cenk Uygur (12/22/10)
The Blast Shack – Bruce Sterling on Wikileaks.
Developer of banned WikiLeaks App to donate $1 from each download to WikiLeaks

UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Joint Statement On Wikileaks
Bank Of America Outdoes Itself When It Comes To Wrongfully Breaking Into People’s Homes, Stealing Items Of Sentimental Value
Three-Strikes “Typhoid Mary” Identified Via Wikileaks
WikiLeaks cables: US intervened in Michael Moore NZ screening
US complicit in India’s systematic use of torture in Kashmir
Wikileaks Mirror Network
Jakarta accused over Papua
Bradley Manning Speaks About His Conditions
CENK UYGUR : My Exclusive Interview with WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

Australian Wikilinks

Media union waives Assange’s fees
Aussies against pro-Wikileaks DDoS
What the WikiLeaks cables reveal about Australia’s leaders

Other Links

How 2010 revealed Labor’s hollow core
FBI Expands Probe into Antiwar Activists

December 18, 2010August 24, 2022

Hold Human Rights Abusing States to Account

For the minimisation of war and oppression, for a real chance of human survival and sustainability of the planet’s resources, all states should submit to international law, and most especially the rogue hegemon. Despite some easing in US stance since Obama took office, the empire still rejects the expansion of the role of the International Criminal Court in order to protect its war criminals. Further, US embassy advices denote the Council of Europe courts as “an organization with an inferiority complex and, simultaneously, an overambitious agenda”. Of particular annoyance to the US is the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), described as “an irritant”:

The ECHR will block the extradition of prisoners to non-COE countries if it believes they would be subject to the death penalty or torture. It has also requested more information on pending British extradition cases to the U.S. where it believes the prisoners might be sentenced in the U.S. to life imprisonment with no possible appeal or automatic judicial review of the life sentence.

In another Wikileaks cable, the US sought to pressure the incoming COE Secretary General on its vile renditions.

Jagland can be expected to criticize the U.S. for the death penalty; he may, however, be less enthusiastic than the previous SecGen, Terry Davis (UK), in publicly criticizing renditions, particularly if we review such issues with him soon.

If the flagging US empire wishes to be respected, then it should set an example which is beyond reproach. Yet in its latest outrage documented in the video below, the US hypocritically abandons a peaceful Palestinian activist protesting Israeli land theft, apartheid and violence.

Protection by the US and cronies of fascist, apartheid land thief, Israel, is unconscionable and unsustainable. Boycott, divest and sanction from the illegal occupier, Israel, now!

On the Australian home turf, Mrs. Grundy aka @JuliaGillard needs to apologise to Julian Assange for her loose-lipped betrayal. The ALP is sagging in the precious polls it permits to dictate its machinations – how long shall it be before Assange’s ‘Jerilderie letter’ prophecy is fulfilled:

Has there been any response from the Australian government to the numerous public threats of violence against me and other WikiLeaks personnel? One might have thought an Australian prime minister would be defending her citizens against such things, but there have only been wholly unsubstantiated claims of illegality. The Prime Minister and especially the Attorney-General are meant to carry out their duties with dignity and above the fray. Rest assured, these two mean to save their own skins. They will not.

The writing is on the wall for the Labor Party – regardless of the pusillanimous prospect of US and Israel’s disapproval, the party’s true left must be empowered or those remaining within it who value truth, justice and Australian sovereignty above sycophancy and treachery will continue to bleed to the Greens, the only party which has any right to hold its head high.

Send hope to 800 children and unaccompanied minors in immigration detention in Australia this Christmas – let them know you care about them and are hoping they are released from detention soon.

As Australians shudder briefly at the death toll from the refugee shipwreck at Christmas Island before returning to important issues of last minute card-sending, present-buying and turkey roasting, few commentators discuss the prime reasons for many refugees heading to Australia – that they flee from the results of wars in which Australia is participating, has participated or supports, and ironically, despite the monstrous Howard wedges and the gruesome legacy of the racist White Australia policy, Australia’s overseas image remains one of a land of the easygoing dinkum Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin fair go instead of a despicably racist polity represented and inflamed by opportunistic politicians. I remember some years ago when a bemused Iraqi refugee who had braved the perils of several seas to reach temporary sanctuary was interviewed on Nauru. He said “if we’d known Australia didn’t want us, we wouldn’t have come here”.

It is significant too that the number of people who overstay their holiday visas with an intention to remain permanently is far higher than the numbers of asylum seekers and these folks are not treated as criminals and thrown into mandatory detention.

‘It is estimated that over 50,000 people are overstaying their Australian visa and living in the country illegally, with the majority coming from China, Malaysia, the US, and Britain.’

In comparison, Australia’s Humanitarian Program for 2009-10 assisted 13,770 people, including a mere 6003 refugees.

Today’s Wikileaks Links

US criticises court that may decide on Julian Assange extradition, WikiLeaks cables show
WikiLeaks cables: Sudanese president ‘stashed $9bn in UK banks’
Bank of America says it won’t process payments intended for WikiLeaks
Open letter to President Obama and General Attorney Holder regarding possible criminal prosecution against Julian Assange
‘Wikileaks: Spielberg movies banned by Arab League’
Pentagon bars own journalists from reading Wikileaks
BofA cutting off WikiLeaks payments
WikiLeaks cables: Chevron discussed oil project with Tehran, claims Iraqi PM
Julian Assange furore deepens as new details emerge of sex crime allegations
10 days in Sweden: the full allegations against Julian Assange
Q&A: Julian Assange allegations
Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It’s your choice

Today’s Australian Wikileaks Links

Labor suffers in WikiLeaks backlash
Programmed shill for zionism returns from Australia Israel hasbara forum junket to beat up fear of Iran
Are your hands clean of blood, Andrew?
Fairfax got its facts wrong reporting from WikiLeaks cable

Today’s Palestine / Israel Links

“We will continue to sing”: DAM’s Suhell Nafar interviewed
State Department says it has ‘raised’ Rahmah case with Israelis…
Israel’s new wall
Resisting an ideology of inequality: Jody McIntyre interviewed
Richard Falk : THE PALESTINIAN LEGITIMACY WAR VERSUS ‘LAWFARE’
Outcry in Denmark over firm’s involvement in occupation
Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (09 – 15 December. 2010)
Bilin Weekly Demo 17.12.2010 By haithmkatib
Kissinger, court Jews and Anti-Semites
Insisting on humanity – Ramzy Baroud

Other Links
US empire could collapse at any time
‘Unprecedented’ Drone Assault: 58 Strikes in 102 Days

December 16, 2010December 11, 2020

Yes Sir, No Sir – Whose Australia Is This Anyway?

The Age has now released some of its clutch of US embassy cables after harvesting them for exclusives and is to be applauded for conforming to the Wikileaks “scientific journalism” process. Today, the Australian Federal Police confirm Wikileaks has not breached the Australian criminal code.

The Australian Wikileaks cables reveal a disturbing pattern of snitching by politicians and union leaders, a disgusting collaboration between right wing elements from Australia and the US.

AWU union boss and zionist Paul Howes surfaces as a confidant of the American Embassy [6/13/2008 2:13 08CANBERRA609 Embassy Canberra].

‘When we reminded Paul Howes (protect), head of the right-wing Australian Workers Union, that ALP politicians from the Left, no matter how capable, do not become party leader, he said immediately: “but she votes with the Right.”‘

Gillard is given gold stars by the US for her pro-Israel sycophancy. This cable [6/10/2009 22:19 09CANBERRA545 Embassy Canberra] makes it explicit that Australian leader’s support for the brutal Israeli occupier is of paramount importance to the US.

PRO-ISRAEL

7. (C/NF) Gillard has thrown off the baggage of being from what one analyst called the “notoriously anti-Israel faction” of the ALP. As Acting Prime Minister in late December 2008, Gillard was responsible for negotiating the Government’s position on Israel’s incursion into Gaza. Left-wing ALP MPs, a group to which Gillard used to belong, wanted her to take a harder line against Israel. Instead, she said Hamas had broken the ceasefire first by attacking Israel – a stance welcomed by Israel’s supporters in Australia. MP Michael Danby, one of two Jewish members of Parliament and a strong supporter of Israel, told us that after the Gaza statement he had a new appreciation of Gillard’s leadership within the ALP (ref B). Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem told us that Gillard has gone out of her way to build a relationship with Israel and that she asked him to arrange an early opportunity to visit. He will accompany Gillard and a delegation of Australian officials (including newly-appointed Minister Mark Arbib and Liberal Party heavyweights former Treasurer Peter Costello and Chris Pyne, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) to a meeting of the Australia-Israel Leadership Forum later this month.

The Australian comments on Gillard’s plans for a leadership coup, with Senator Farrell ‘telling US embassy staff in June last year Ms Gillard was trying to knock off Mr Rudd’.

“Don Farrell, the right-wing union powerbroker from South Australia, told us Gillard is ‘campaigning for the leadership’ and at this point is the frontrunner to succeed Rudd, conceding that the Right did not yet have an alternative,” the cable states.

If correct, this means Ms Gillard was eyeing off Mr Rudd’s job before Tony Abbott replaced Malcolm Turnbull as Coalition leader, and before the international climate change talks at Copenhagen had failed and Labor’s carbon pollution reduction scheme was shelved.

At that time, Newspoll had the government ahead by a 10-point two-party-preferred lead over the opposition, and Mr Rudd had a 32-point lead over Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull as preferred prime minister.

…

The cable says several Rudd “confidants have told us that Rudd appreciates Gillard and sees her as a possible PM, but that he wants to avoid anointing her to head off a possible leadership challenge when his poll numbers inevitably sag”.

They said Mark Arbib, the right-wing powerbroker behind the coup, “once told us a similar story, though he stressed Rudd appreciates Gillard’s strengths. However, another Rudd adviser told us that while the PM respects Gillard, his reluctance to share power will lead to a falling out, while Gillard will not want to acquiesce in creating potential rivals.”

The leaked US embassy briefings show Washington took a keen interest in the rise of Ms Gillard, and her migration from Labor’s Socialist Left faction to the party’s centre. The cables note that after the ALP won government in 2007, Ms Gillard sought to alter her left-wing image, particularly in asserting her credentials as a supporter of Israel and the US alliance.

Australian Ex Secretary of Defence, Primary Industries and Energy, Paul Barratt confirms there are two sine qua nons for being in office in Oz – being pro-ANZUS and pro-Israel. To hold Australia’s top job, one must be pro-imperialism, pro-neoliberalism, and pro-apartheid. No left-wingers or humanists need apply! Remember the lesson the US gave Australia when Gough Whitlam, the last left wing ALP leader, who ended conscription for the appalling US war on the people of Vietnam, was summarily dismissed.

Michael Hand helped forge documents used by the media to discredit the Whirtlam government, while his partner Frank Nugan was the conduit for CIA money to the Liberal Party. Millions of dollars flowed to the conservative parties via Nugan Hand.

Shackley played a key role in the security crisis of November 1975, which revolved around the US military base at Pine Gap. Whitlam had threatened that if the US tried to “bounce” his government, he would look at the presence of US bases in Australia.

The lease for Pine Gap was due for renewal in December 1975. On 10 November 1975, the day before Whitlam was sacked, Shackley sent an extraordinary cable from the CIA to ASIO’s director general, threatening to remove ASIO from the British-US intelligence agreement because he considered Whitlam a security threat.

The cable was published by the Financial Review in 1977 and has been widely reprinted. It shows Shackley’s involvement in the security crisis.

Shackley was furious that Whitlam had accused the CIA of funding the opposition conservative parties and had claimed CIA money was being used to influence domestic Australian politics. In particular, Whitlam was asking questions about the close relationship between Richard Stallings, who ran the so-called joint facility at Pine Gap, and National Party leader Doug Anthony.

“The CIA has grave concerns as to where this type of public discussion may lead”, Shackley’s cable said.

In his 1977 speech calling for a royal commission into the activities of the CIA in Australia, Whitlam called Shackley’s cable “a clear example of the attempted deception of the Australian Government by the American intelligence community … The message was offensive in tone, deceitful in intent and sinister in its implications.”

Australia’s lack of integrity is laid bare by Wikileaks. Another cable, 08CANBERRA609 sent on June 13, 2008, reveals Julia Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney has been a confidential source of information for United States embassy officials in Australia.

All Australian political snitches and sycophants who have dragged Australia through the mud by asserting a prior allegiance for apartheid Israel and US imperialism should resign NOW!

UPDATE

Arbib claims Fairfax got its facts wrong reporting from WikiLeaks cable :

Senator Arbib told The Weekend Australian yesterday that “the unedited cables show that there are serious factual errors in the original story, which is very disappointing”. The Weekend Australian cross-checked the WikiLeaks cable against the Fairfax report and discovered a comment attributed to Senator Arbib in one report was in fact made by Kevin Rudd’s brother, Greg Rudd.

Several other errors have emerged, including misquoting former US ambassador Robert McCallum and claiming former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s resignation was a “blessing in disguise” when the WikiLeaks cable quoted US officials saying it was a “blessing for the government”.
…
The Australian also established from the cables that Ms Gillard’s speechwriter, Michael Cooney, was designated as a “protected source” by the US embassy, just like Senator Arbib and Mr Howes.

Mr Howes yesterday said he had “no idea what being a protected source means”.

“I have met with the embassy a few times; I know colleagues have as well. The fact that moderates in the ALP support the US alliance is hardly news,” he said.

OTHER NOTABLE POINTS RE THE AUSTRALIAN/US/ISRAEL ALLIANCE

06CANBERRA1366 9/8/2006 :

Beazley: “The Labor Party, for its part, could be counted on to continue to support the alliance’s core elements of ship visits, the joint facilities, and joint exercises.”

“the Howard government had had full knowledge of the Australian Wheat Board’s violations of the Iraq sanctions regime”

“Rudd had also provided a candid description of where Labor differed from the U.S. approach on certain issues, while reaffirming the leadership’s ironclad commitment to the overall alliance.”

“Australians remained obsessed with the United States, and followed Washington,s every move, perhaps to a fault.”

“In the meantime, the Ambassador told Beazley that he was committed to ensuring Washington had a comprehensive picture of Australian views, which meant those of the Opposition and well as those of the Government.”

“The government, and Foreign Minister Downer in particular, had badly misstated the facts, Beazley charged, when Downer claimed in August of 2004 in Beijing that a conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would not necessarily trigger Australia,s ANZUS obligations to aid the U.S. In the event of a war between the United States and China, Australia would have absolutely no alternative but to line up militarily beside the U.S., Beazley said.”

“Labor supported Australia,s military contributions in Afghanistan, and would continue to do so until Hell freezes over, since Australia,s actions clearly fell under its ANZUS obligations to respond to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Iraq was different, he maintained, and was a terrible mistake because it damaged, rather than strengthened, the overall war on terror. Labor would not commit an act of vandalism, however, if it came to power.”

“David Hicks was a ratbag who had almost certainly been up to nefarious things, and should probably spend a long time in jail, Beazley said.”

“Although the reasons for Mark Latham’s loss to John Howard in 2004 are legion, Labor recognizes that his multiple, embarrassing pronouncements on issues affecting the alliance represented blunders of the first order”

06CANBERRA1574 10/5/2006 :

(Ongoing as I trawl through the Australian cables)

Today’s Wikilinks

HRW – US: Don’t Prosecute WikiLeaks Founder
WikiLeaker Bradley Manning’s Brutal Detention
Julian Assange bail decision made by UK authorities, not Sweden
State Department Bars Employees From Reading Wikileaks on ‘Personal Time’
The evolving Wikileaks website (and its attackers) – Watch Washington try and find something, anything, to get Julian Assange and how many Western states are keen to help them.
The Media Gets It Wrong on WikiLeaks: It’s About Broken Trust, Not Broken Condoms
WikiLeaks cables: Thai leaders doubt suitability of prince to become king
Misuse of the European arrest warrant
Wikileaks is currently mirrored on 2194 sites
U.S. Air Force blocks NYT, Guardian over WikiLeaks
Afghan civilian killed and children hurt in NATO strike
The Costs of War: Afghan Civilian Casualties Spike, says ICRC
Protect Assange, Don’t Abuse Him
2010-12-16: German newspapers call for WikiLeaks protection
How the US could charge Assange
Helping US spy on Fiji in the name of democracy
2010-12-16: Sweden case updates: Bail appeal hearing [Update 1]
TIME picks ‘wrong person’ this year
WikiLeaks’s Assange walks free on bail in London
Congress Hears WikiLeaks Is ‘Fundamentally Different’ From Media
Angry Wikileaks founder Julian Assange back online
Angry Assange back online
Rundle: Assange, the wikikids, a soldier, mum, an Icelandic ice-god … then it starts again
United States Antarctic Program Responds to Wikileaks: You Are Not Allowed to Look at the Classified Information That’s All Over the Internet.
Wikileaks’ Julian Assange tells of ‘smear campaign’
WikiLeaks: Anonymous hierarchy emerges
WikiLeaks cables: India accused of systematic use of torture in Kashmir
India: Official Spokesperson on allegations by Red Cross as per Wikileaks
WikiLeaks: US fears bioweapons from India labs
Sir Tim Berners-Lee on WikiLeaks Vs. Open Government
WikiLeaks cables: Mervyn King plotted banks bailout by four cash-rich nations
US embassy cables: Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya received many death threats, said embassy contact
US embassy cables: Pirate party rides an electoral wave in Sweden
WikiLeaks: CIA torture flights through Shannon