Another Month, Another Haet List

Giyus Megaphonies

Giyus megaphoney onanistic revelry:

Report hate spreading users

Fighting hate is a tedious job – it seems that for every user we report 5 new ones spring up in its place. But this only makes me more determined to stand up to hate and anti Semitism. The list of links today are all of users that spread hate, promote anti Semitism and de-legitimise Israel. Please report them to Facebook or Twitter respectively.Facebook

Login into your facebook account and click on any of these links. Click on the “Report/Block this person” or the “Report page” link on the left hand side of the screen.

* Students for Justice in Palestine – spreading anti semitic hate messages claiming Israel is engaged in ethnic cleaning
* Justice for Palestine – blames Israel of brainwashing Christian children and encourages people to sign up for the next flotilla to Gaza.
* Abdus Ayydin Rayyan Samad – justifies shooting rockets on civilians in Israel

Twitter

Login into your twitter account and click on any of these links. click on the options button located on the upper right hand side Twitter button. Choose the 3rd option which would report that user to Twitter.

* cactijakeye – bluntly calls himself anti Semitic in his profile – supports hateful conspiracy theories like 9/11 was an inside Israeli job
* xXKelly82Xx – claims Zionists are not human and other fanatic hate speech
* BoycottAhava – behind the global campaign to boycott Ahava products claiming Ahava Cosmetics are made by Israeli profiteers in Occupied Palestine.
* Ziggy stardust – with twits like “racist zionist settlers kill Palestinian children” there is no doubt Ziggy Stardust is anti Zionist and Anti Semitic
* Remroum – openly supports terrorism against Israel
* Tha Captain – Anti zionist calling Israel a murdering state
* Ali Abunimah – constantly spreads Israel Apartheid mantra
* Jinjirrie – Promotes flotilla anti zionist and anti Semitic causes
* Worldpeace2day – obsessively promotes Israel Apartheid messages
* Nouren shiraz – constantly calling Israel a racist terrorist state engaged in “ethnic cleansing”

Thank you for taking part in this effort – all of us in Giyus.org are for free speech but that does not entitle anyone to delegitimize Israel and spread hate against the Jewish people as a whole.

What, then, does one do, when faced with one’s appearance on this ridiculous haet lsit? Why, message the perpetrator, of course 🙂

Jinjirrie: . @giyusgirl – pls get yr hasbaroid witchhunt rap correct – i’m anti-zionism, anti-occupation, anti-racism & anti-bigotry – that means you #

giyusgirl: @Jinjirrie anti-Zionism = no country for Jews = Jews are not entitled to their own country = Antisemitism . Enough said. #

Jinjirrie: . @giyusgirl anti-zionism = anti-racism & anti-fascism = equal rights & true democracy instead of ethnosupremacy = justice #

This is not the first zionist haet lsit on which I’ve appeared – the JIDF have me on several of their puerile witchhunt campaigns also. For some of my historical brushes with them, see here.

Zionism is a secular political ideology which grew alongside other nationalist movements in the 19th century. Similar to some other nationalisms, zionism exhibits toxic symptoms of white supremacism in its colonialism – indigenous arabs were and are regarded largely as inconvenient sub-humans, to be expelled and exterminated whilst the entitled, privileged ‘race’ usurp their land. Racists like @giyusgirl see indigenous Palestinians in Israel and the Territories it occupies as excess humans, and that challenging this zionist ethnosupremacism and colonialism is ‘anti-semitic’. Yet *all* colonialism is chauvinistic, shored up by a sense of rightness, privilege and entitlement. The erroneous concept of ‘races’ is essential to racists who desire superior privileges for their own ‘race’. There is only one race, the human race, and all humans are entitled to equal rights, respect and dignity wherever they may be, wherever they were born.

Palestine / Israel Links

@georgehale Get this: On Thursday’s “day of rage”, Israel settlers distributed threatening flyers to several diplomats in the West Bank. #

Australia Links

The Spectre of Democracy : All you need to know that is wrong with The Australian is in this picture:
Darkness at Noon: Bradley Manning
She’s back: Hanson to run

Other Links

Celebrating International Women’s Day : A day of working women’s solidarity
UAE activists demand direct elections
Whistleblowers: Despite reforms, insiders who blow the whistle at institutions like the World Bank, face retaliation
Cote D’ivoire: “It’s sheer horror we’re living here… People are being burned alive and hacked to bits”
Haunting 9/11 video captured by NYPD helicopter shows World Trade Center’s Twin Towers collapse

Ali Abunimah on the 9th International Al-Awda Convention

The Ninth International Al-Awda Convention is to be held at:

The Embassy Suite Hotel, Anaheim South
11767 Harbor Boulevard
Garden Grove, California 92840
April 29, 30, 2011

We call on all Palestinians regardless of organizational affiliation to join Al-Awda’s members and supporters at this year’s convention. We will address and collectively take steps toward changing our destiny as a people while we reaffirm our determination to return to our homes and lands. We can no longer stay silent while an un-elected, illegitimate leadership beholden to its U.S. and occupation masters is cravenly giving up on our rights.

To address these critical issues that our cause is facing, planning discussions that will merge brain storming ideas, strategy, tactics with action items will include:

* The Palestine Papers and the Arab people’s uprising; Impact on the Palestinian struggle and future organizing. Round-table and panel discussion with key speakers
* Boycotts & Divestment
* Refugee Support
* Cultural Resistance Through Various Forms of Art
* Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign

Several young activists from the refugee camps will be taking part this year in hands-on workshops.

Among the Speakers at the Ninth Al-Awda convention are:

* Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, General Coordinator Palestinian Right of Return Congress, Founding President of the Palestine Land Society
* Abbas Al-Nouri, Syrian Arab actor of “bab el-h7ara” fame, political activist
*Diana Buttu, Palestinian lawyer, former legal advisor to Palestinian negotiating team
* Lubna Masarwa, Palestinian activist, survivor of Mavi Marmara massacre
* Laila Al-Arian, Palestinian Author, writer and producer with Al-Jazeera English, one of the lead producers of the Palestine Papers
* Dr. Jamal Nassar, Specialist in Middle East politics and Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at CSUSB
* Rim Banna, Palestinian singer & activist
* Najat El-Khairy, Palestinian porcelain painting artist
* Remi Kanazi, Palestinian spoken word artist, activist
* Youth from Refugee Camps

Palestine / Israel Links

Former Dutch PM tells Haaretz: European leaders can’t trust Netanyahu
ei: How Palestine’s uprising inspired Egypt’s
Israel Lobbyist Abraham Feinberg’s FBI File Released – Israeli mole raised money for Dems and for the secret Israeli nuclear weapons campaign.
Israeli Jets Level University Buildings in Gaza – What excuse does apartheid belligerent Israel have this time for destroying the University in Gaza? Knowledge is dangerous and Israel must defend against it?
Troops Arrest Eight Civilians and Distribute Demolition Orders to Villagers in the West Bank
Israel may ask U.S. for $20 billion more in security aid, Barak says
Netanyahu: If enemy rockets get to Jordan Valley, all of Israel will be a target
Knesset to outlaw consumer protests against the occupation
Details from Peace Now on massive new land grab by Israel in the West Bank – Israeli evil never fails to disappoint
Traditional cuisine ingredients are disallowed to indigenous Palestinians by the introduced human Occupiers.
Israeli PM: Military must remain in West Bank
The message warns foreigners that “meddling” by the US and EU is “putting your stay at risk”
Get this: On Thursday’s “day of rage”, Israel settlers distributed threatening flyers to several diplomats in the West Bank. #
MPs seek Green help to save upper house

Two of Labor’s leading left-wing MPs – the Deputy Premier, Carmel Tebbutt (Marrickville) and the Education Minister, Verity Firth (Balmain) – have written to their Greens opponents, Fiona Byrne and Jamie Parker, proposing a preference swap.

The Labor candidate for Sydney, Sacha Blumen, has also written to his Greens rival, De Brierley Newton.

”While I note that media reports have indicated that the Greens will not be preferencing Labor in the upper house statewide, I believe we can show leadership in the community of Marrickville,” Ms Tebbutt wrote to Ms Byrne. ”I suggest that both our parties should indicate to voters that we will recommend an exchange of preferences locally and in the upper house in the electorate of Marrickville.”

The three inner-city seats accounted for more than 10 per cent of the Greens’ upper house vote at the 2007 election. Labor believes if it can persuade the Greens to swap preferences in these seats it could alter the balance of power in the upper house.

However, the Greens campaign spokesman, Chris Holley, said: ”The Greens are encouraging voters to make up their own minds about whether to give a preference or not. The best way to avoid a conservative dominated upper house is to vote for the Greens.

Danby calls on O’Farrell to block Greens in Marrickville
ALP launches dirty tricks campaign

“There is absolutely no plan or intention to boycott China”, she [Byrne] said that day.

It was clearly a set-up by the ALP machine to try and smear the Green mayor.

The real story here is that the Labor party has been under pressure from supporters of Israel to reverse the council’s decision on the BDS.

Yet, all five Green councillors, all four Labor councillors and one independent councilor supported the motion.

Carmel Tebbutt, deputy Premier and Labor MP for Marrickville, made a point of stating at the candidates’ meeting that she did not agree with the council’s support for BDS.

She also tried to stop the chairperson — Eva Cox — from asking an anti-BDS speaker to finish up and ask a question. Tebbutt defended the person arguing that her “question” (it was a speech) had been “placed on notice”.

It is understood that some of the Labor councillors and rank-and-file members are furious with the Labor machine for its attacks over BDS.

As the countdown to March 26 begins, we can expect a lot more dirty tricks from Labor as the party faces an electoral wipeout, including possibly in a seat it has held since 1910.

Give Israel the South African treatment

As a Palestinian and a Jew, we salute Marrickville council for understanding that words about “two-state solution” and “peace process” are soothing to elite media and political ears, but desperate facts on the ground in Palestine require direct action in a consultative and non-violent way.

When governments fail to arrest the illegal march of colonisation on Palestinian land, it is not enough to wait for futile peace negotiations that only lead to a more deeply entrenched occupation.

Marrickville council is at least trying to advance the debate about occupation while our leaders visit Israel and dine with Benjamin Netanyahu.

Burqas under your bed
Wacky petition: Reprimand Terrorist-Sympathisers at Marrickville Council, Australia Q Society of Australia Inc

Ten local councillors from the suburb of Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia, in their official role as elected representatives of approximately 75,000 residents, have put forward an official resolution in December 2010 to:

“…boycott all goods made in Israel and any sporting, institutional, academic, government or institutional cultural exchanges…”.

By this action, the ten councillors have formally aligned their municipality with terrorist organisations seeking to overthrow the State of Israel, the one free and democratic nation in the Middle East, fellow UN member, and notably the only multi-ethnic state in the region where freedom of expression, equality, non-discrimination, free union movements, freedom of press and the rule of law are established and guaranteed. In short, they have espoused totalitarian values over Australian democratic values. They are playing into the hands of the Islamist Global BDS Movement and supporting the Hamas and Hizbollah terror groups and other international racist and anti-Semitic organisations..

This irrational act is not only alarmingly naïve, but by supporting the worldview of totalitarian Islam, represents an appalling abuse of our democratic process.

A council’s brief is to act in the interests of their residents, by organizing such things as rubbish collection, social services, catching stray dogs and regulating fence heights. They are not elected to engage in partisan foreign politics or involve themselves in the domestic affairs of other states. In particular, they must never be seen to side with totalitarian, anti-democratic religious fanatics who use terrorism and murder in seeking to destroy the democratic nation of Israel, with which Australia has strong and friendly relations.
Petition:
We ask the Hon Minister for Local Government in the State of New South Wales (Australia) to reprimand the council of Marrickville for engaging in conduct unbecoming of a local municipality in Australia.

We consider that the conduct of this council is divisive, irrational and ill-informed, and that it deals with matters which do not and should not be included in the jurisdiction of a local municipality.

Muslim prayer group targeted
Fear, intolerance and a Muslim prayer group

Media Statement : Slander in Reporting on the Alma Road Community House Petition

The aim of Q Society of Australia is to tell the truth about Islam and Sharia law as we see it: That Islam is a totalitarian, political and religious ideology, of which Sharia law is an integral part, and that the further spread of Islam and Sharia law threaten our free, egalitarian and democratic society. Many national and international political leaders have voiced exactly the same concern. …

In consequence, our objection to the expanding use of this small Community House in Melbourne’s Jewish heartland as instant part-time mosque for up to 100 faithful, is not racist by any measure.
The nationality, race or ethnicity of the people involved is immaterial and was never raised by us. Q Society is very much in favour of a multi-ethnic Australia. We are not petitioning against Muslims praying, neither do we have any concern with members of Australia’s Islamic community peacefully gathering to worship in private, or in a designated place of worship. Peaceful assembly for worship
is the right of all Australians and there are now many mosques in Melbourne for this purpose. …

sermons are often used to incite violence against non-believers. So it is hardly alarmist to acknowledge local residents’ concern about this. It is evident that Friday prayers in the heart of Jewish Melbourne will inevitably create unease in a community already forced to employ security guards outside its schools and synagogues. It is a fact that foundational Islam contains many words fostering hatred of Jews and Christians, with the result that anti-Semitism and violence against Christian minorities is rife in the Islamic world.

While it is true the prayer group has received support from some Jewish groups, these are not representative of the whole of the Jewish community, but mostly progressive elements, who also support Palestinian causes either out of self-interest or a misplaced concern for “the Other”. Deborah Stone of the ‘Anti-Defamation Committee’ (ADC), proclaims “We at the ADC understand that by defending everyone’s freedom we ensure a freer society for ourselves.” But she fails to acknowledge that defending the freedom of intolerant Islam and Sharia ultimately threatens to destroy both her and our freedoms.

Civil rights organisation slams anti-Islam group

Egypt Links

Let’s buy democracy
Still Fighting in Cairo
Egypt activists call for Million Woman March
Feminism, Fear of Women, and Britain’s Student Protests

Libya Links

U.S. Prepares to Make Its Lunge at Libya’s Oil Fields
Video: Gaddafi insists al Qaeda is to blame for chaos and killings : is Israel orchestrating Gaddafi’s PR campaign?
Gaddafi sends negotiators to Benghazi

‘Asharq Al-Awsat- Informed Libyan sources in the city of Benghazi, where the headquarters of the Interim National Council are located, which has recently put forth its candidates to administer the country in the coming period, have revealed that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi yesterday sent a negotiator on his behalf to visit the Council. [Via the negotiator], the Libyan leader declared his readiness to abandon power and leave Libya, in return for ensuring the safety of himself and his family.’

International Women’s Day 2011

Outside our comfort zone, the raped and repressed face a long road to change
Abortion law reform is still unfinished business :

The law’s lack of clarity, its paternalism, the profound disconnect between it and community standards about privacy, gender equity and the entitlement of patients to ethical and professional medical care unequivocally demonstrates that it is indeed broke.

The charging of Cairns couple Tegan Leach, 19, and Sergie Brennan, 21, in 2009 with abortion-related crimes was a game changer. Here, at last, was incontrovertible proof that not only did the law of abortion denigrate, patronise and discriminate against Australian women, it also put them and their partners at very real risk of being charged, tried, convicted and sent to jail for undertaking what the World Health Organisation says is “one of the safest medical procedures.”

The Cairns case also exposed how confused Australians of reproductive age such as Leach and Brennan are about the laws of abortion that reign in their state or territory. How many Australians, perhaps even most, mistake the relative availability of safe abortion services as evidence that abortion is no longer a crime?

Wikileaks Links

Cyber fighters: The force with no name
Bradley Manning Now “Catatonic”; Obama ENOUGH!
‘There will be consequences’ for Manning’s mistreatment, Kucinich warns Sec. Gates

Indigenous Links

Traditional Education

Other Links

Sri Lanka: US Senate Calls for Justice
Protesters say Maliki is using special security forces to shut down demonstrations in Iraq

“Maliki is starting to act like Saddam Hussein, to use the same fear, to plant it inside Iraqis who criticize him,” said Salam Mohammed al-Segar, a human rights activist who was among those beaten during a sit-in. “The U.S. must feel embarrassed right now – it is they who promised a modern state, a democratic state. But in reality?”

Failing in Afghanistan successfully :

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of troops, the US is unable to conclude its longest war. All of which explains the rather blunt comments made in a speech at the end of February, by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates when he said “… any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.”

Securing the Evolution – pidder

Boycott Apartheid Israel from All Sports

Apartheid rogue entity, Israel, insinuates its association with western imperialism through football, traditionally a sport where racists are banned or ostracised as with apartheid South Africa. While Israelis enjoy carte blanche on the world football scene, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are lucky to play at all, and are barred from competing in international sporting competitions.

Please sign the petition here so the UEFA recants its decision to allow apartheid Israel to host the U21 Football Championship in 2013.

Find more information on the Palestinian call to boycott apartheid Israel until it obeys international law at http://bdsmovement.net and http://pacbi.org

Palestine / Israel Links

David Yerushalmi, Islam-Hating White Supremacist Inspires Anti-Sharia Bills Sweeping Tea Party Nation
alQaws and Aswat Statement to the LGBT Center in NY
After Mossad Cloned British Passports to Kill al-Mabouh, Promised Never to Do It Again, IDF General Does
Woman from Gaza confronts Zionist enforcer of status quo
While Nutanyahoo plans how to ‘legalise’ illegal settlements whilst using the cover of razing ‘illegal’ outposts, the NYT covers for him by blithering about a supposed new ‘interim peace plan‘.
Illegal settlement gets nod from Tel Aviv
Pope finds Jews not to blame for death of Jesus
Palestinian boycott call is part and parcel of the Arab spring that is sweeping the region
IOF troops uproot olive trees, detain Jerusalemite and serve demolition notices
How Palestine’s uprising inspired Egypt’s
IOF troops demolish Tana for the sixth time
Palestinians try to create ‘Facebook revolution’
Diplomat: I can no longer represent Israel
Marrickville community’s fighting fund – zionists in Australia attempt to stop Marrickville Council’s principled boycott of Israeli apartheid. (This story has been pulled). It was recorded however here and here.

The Jewish community in Sydney’s Inner West is calling for funds to finance its campaign against Marrickville Council who have plans on the table to boycott Israeli made goods. The Inner West Jewish Community and Friends Peace Alliance is a local …

Marrickville’s Israeli boycott bites? 2UE ‘satire’

IOF troops detain 6 Palestinians in Al-Khalil, destroy pond as settlers escalate
Top Israeli Academics Censure Bar Ilan for Firing Professor Over Political Beliefs

Libya Links

Official puts toll in Libya at 6,500
Robert Fisk: The historical narrative that lies beneath the Gaddafi rebellion
From Peacocks to Plato: The Fabric of Democracy
Hypocrisy trumps policy in West’s dance with Gaddafi
Intervention in Libya would poison the Arab revolution
Arab League chief says mulling Chavez proposal to end Libya crisis : Amr Moussa’s comments come as U.S. officials downplay possible military actions in Libya, saying even the proposed placement of a ‘no-fly zone’ would entail a full-on attack.

Egypt Links

From Nasser to Mubarak or full article here
Egyptian military jails activist

Wikileaks Links

Manning’s death penalty charge treats the media as the enemy

Other Links

Madison, Wisconsin: IWW General Strike Pamphlet
Canvaslife – implementation with HTML5 of Conway’s Game of Life.
Blowback From the Arrest of the CIA’s Raymond Davis
We only became independent of Britain on this day in 1986

The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra

Adalah-NY and supporters creatively protest the performance of the “Brand Israel” Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on February 22. In the background, celebrated Irish composer and prominent activist for Palestinian rights, Raymond Deane, appreciates the innovative music of The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra*.

The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra
Credit: Ellen Rachel Davidson
The Whitewash Apartheid Orchestra
Credit: Ellen Rachel Davidson

Noelle Ghoussaini from Adalah-NY explains:

“Tonight we sent a clear message to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israeli government’s “Brand Israel” campaign that their music cannot drown out Palestinians’ calls for justice.” The US protests respond to the call from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to boycott cultural institutions like the IPO that work to normalize Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and whitewash the oppression of Palestinians in Israel, the occupied territories, and in exile.

Hundreds of well-dressed concert-goers paused on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Carnegie Hall, and looked across the street at the protesters’ signs, and listened to their chants and songs. Many were handed a mock IPO program that featured a cover photo of a past IPO performance in front of Israeli tanks for the Israeli army, and, on the inside, the PACBI’s call for an international boycott of the IPO.

Protesters held signs saying, “Israel Fiddles while Palestine Burns,” “Justice Presto not Lento,” “Without Justice There’s No Harmony,” and “Boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;” and they carried a banner with the words “Don’t Harmonize with Israeli Apartheid,” surrounded on each side by a violin with a rifle barrel as its neck. Protesters chanted, “We love Gustav, we love Mahler, but occupation makes us holler;” “For liberation take a stand, don’t let Is-ra-el rebrand;” and “Muslims, Jews, Atheists and Christians, stand for justice like Egyptians.”

In a street theater skit, a protester­­-turned-IPO conductor asked the crowd, “How can apartheid continue without us promoting the new, positive, aesthetically vibrant and civilized Israel? Don’t forget, there is “art” in “apartheid.” The conductor instructed three violinists to play progressively louder in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to drown out and cover up Israeli crimes against Palestinians that kept welling up behind the orchestra.

View the complete photo collection.

* Raymond Deane’s work “March Oubliee” will feature at a concert with Irish ensemble, the ‘Fidelio Trio’, in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia on the 24th February at 7.30pm.

The Fidelios Trio will also conduct a residency at the University of Illinois on the 27/28 February playing “March Oubliee”.

Other Current BDS Actions to Support

Support BDS in Marrickville – send a Marrickville Councillor a note of encouragement for their important stand for human rights.
CJPP Carry Bags – An environmentally-friendly, Palestine-friendly, ecosilk shopping bag. Strong, light and compact, to fit in your handbag or pocket. A stylish alternative to plastic bags!

Palestine / Israel Links

Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
This is the occupation: A letter from a reasonable woman
PFLP condemns Gaddafi regime’s massacres against the Libyan people | Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Israeli airstrikes injure 16 Gazans
Army, Settlers, Destroy Palestinian Olive Trees in Al-Jab’a
Netanyahu: Mideast instability could last for years – dreaming of regional conquent still
The emergence of a new Arab world?
Obama’s folly: the human cost of the West Bank settlements

Libya Links

If the tide turns: some pros and cons of military intervention in Libya

Saudia Links

Saudi’s $36bn bid to beat unrest

Other Links

Dozens slaughtered by US forces in Afghanistan-Pakistan air attacks

One village resident told Pajhwok Afghan News that foreign forces intercepted a vehicle taking the wounded father to hospital, halting it for two hours. “The troops beat us and tied our hands,” the man, Psarlay, said. “Meanwhile, Patang died because of excessive bleeding.”

Another resident, 26-year-old Ezatullah, told the Wall Street Journal: “The house was completely destroyed by the strike. Only two children [aged] four and six survived.” He added that “thousands of people attended the funeral of the slain family Monday and are planning a protest against coalition forces Tuesday”.

Deputy AG loses job after tweet drama
Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox is now Former Dept. Attorney General Jeff Cox and no longer is part of the Indiana AG’s office.
Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama & Neo-Liberalism are the Daleys’ Gifts to Chicago and the Nation. Thanks.
Fox reverses poll results to portray public as anti-union
Ruling on Assange’s Extradition Is Due on Thursday
The origins of the ALP
Egypt May End the ‘Obama Arms Bazaar’ – NOT!
Military budget of the United States

For the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $533.8 billion. Adding spending on “overseas contingency operations” brings the sum to $663.8 billion.[1][2]

When the budget was signed into law on October 28, 2009, the final size of the Department of Defense’s budget was $680 billion, $16 billion more than President Obama had requested.[3] An additional $37 billion supplemental bill to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to pass in the spring of 2010, but has been delayed by the House of Representatives after passing the Senate.[4][5] Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $319 billion and $654 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $1.01 and $1.35 trillion in fiscal year 2010.[6]

Will the US Veto Assist Palestinian Unification?

While the US ambassador to the UN, “>Susan Rice disingenuously claimed that “We think it unwise for this council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians” with regard to the UNSC resolution against illegal Israeli settlements, the fallout against the US and Israel may turn out to be a decisive factor in unifying Palestinians in Gaza, Israel and the West Bank along with consolidating the resistance of Arabs across the Middle East against US imperialism and its belligerent, expansionist, apartheid special friend.

In Gaza, Hamas described the US position as outrageous and said Washington was “completely biased” towards Israel.

Ibrahim Sarsour, an Israeli-Arab member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, said it was time to tell the US president, Barack Obama, to “go to hell”.

“Obama cannot be trusted,” he wrote in an open letter to the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. “We knew his promises were lies. The time has come to spit in the face of the Americans.”
The Egyptian foreign ministry said the US veto would “lead to more damage of the United States’ credibility on the Arab side as a mediator in peace efforts”.

The use of the veto for the first time under Obama will strengthen perceptions in the Arab world that for the US, protection of its ally Israel overrides its desire for a just outcome for Palestinians in the decades-old conflict.

There’s also the strong possibility that the US interactions with Abbas were stage-managed – had Abbas not stood firm backing the UNSC resolution, his leadership likely would be challenged by outraged Palestinians in the West Bank. Now, the US’s investment in their collaborator satrap for converting the West Bank into neoliberal-friendly, pliant industrial zones and encouraging by default the growth of illegal Israeli settlements has outweighed any justice dividend. This US decision seems likely to prove unwise, damaging US credibility across the globe and adding fuel to burgeoning anti-imperialism in the region and beyond. With grass-roots revolutions for democracy in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia. Yemen and Libya flourishing, the days of US hegemonical control of the vast resources of the Middle East may be numbered.

In other outrages, the US has refused a visa for Palestinian BDS leader Omar Barghouti, preventing him from attending his speaking tour in the US to promote his latest book. Barghouti squarely nails the problem Palestinians, and other folks in the region face, and the appropriate response.

Freedom, from the US establishment’s perspective, amounts to the “liberty” to bow to their hegemony and accepting their multinationals’ pillage of the world as fate. We shall continue to speak truth to power no matter what the consequences. We shall continue to struggle for nothing less than full freedom, full justice, full self determination, and full emancipation from US imperial hegemony.

Palestine / Israel Links

B.D.S. Song/Dance Flash Mob : Step-by-Step How-To Kit
From Tahrir Square to Shatila Camp: “Cry Hurriya!” (freedom!)
Hitting Israel where it hurts most
Arab anger to turn against U.S.
Israeli army arrests children in Beit Ummar
Palestinians plan ‘day of rage’ after US vetoes resolution on Israeli settlements
McEwan attacks the “great injustice” in Middle East (Hamas called for an end to suicide bombings in 2006.)
Author McEwan protests in Jerusalem

The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement lauded McEwan’s support for its cause.
“Ian McEwan today joined a long list of figures – including former President Jimmy Carter, writer Mario Vargas Llosa, and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahanman – who honored the protestors with their presence,” group member Avner Inbar said.

Palestinians shun McEwan over Israel honor – McEwan denies Palestinians agency:

“The message has come through to me that they can’t meet me. They won’t meet me. Pressure has been brought to bear – I guess, of a parallel but probably much more vigorous kind than was brought to bear on me”

Jerusalem Prize Acceptance Speech
Let the tribute fit the crime

Novelist Ian McEwan criticizes Jewish settlements
McEwan receives Jerusalem prize, criticizes Israel
The prize of democracy
Next, Palestine
Israel and Chile cooperated to spy on Iran, WikiLeaks reveals
The United States Stands Alone with Israel in the UN Security Council [or How (Dis)honest is the Honest Broker?]

After all for more than 43 years the Israelis have been whittling away at the substance of the two state consensus embodied in unanimous Security Council Resolution 242 (1967), contending at every phase of the faux peace process that an agreement must incorporate ‘subsequent developments,’ that is, unlawful settlements, ethnic cleansing. In the end, the Israelis may turn out to have been more clever by half, creating an irresistible momentum toward the establishment of a single secular democratic state of Palestine that upholds human rights for both peoples and brings to an end the Zionist project of an exclusive ‘Jewish state.’

Oslo demands relocation of Israeli embassy : City officials say embassy poses security threat to surroundings; demands it be moved to an alternate site within a year. Ambassador: No one wants to sell us property

Egypt Links

Egyptian independent trade unionists’ declaration – Demands of the workers in the revolution
Egyptians Are Buying Pizza for Wisconsin Protestors
The Egyptian military ‘ignored the advice of the Saudis, who, in calls to Washington, said that President Hosni Mubarak should open fire if that’s what it took, and that Americans should just stop talking about “universal rights” and back him.
Egyptian army pokes itself and joins Facebook

As the contagion of democracy protests spread in the Arab world last week, Bahrain’s far less disciplined forces decided, in effect, that the Saudis, who are their next-door neighbors, were right. They drew two lessons from Egypt: If President Obama calls, hang up. And open fire early.’

Libya Links

Live Blog – Libya
@AJELive Moftah, Benghazi protester, told Al Jazeera earlier that security and military forces have withdrawn and the city is run by “young people”. #

Concern over rising Libya violence – Top US diplomats condemn crackdowns on protesters but stopped short short of calling for a change of government.
Libya clashes spread to Tripoli – Clashes between anti-government protesters and Gaddafi supporters escalate as army unit ‘defects’ in Benghazi.
@freeourlibya: PLEASE RT URGENT Google Speak2tweet 4 #LIBYA. Numbers: +16504194196 (ct) http://deck.ly/~NRc5r #

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