Max Brenner Chocolates is a 100% Israeli-owned company belonging to the Strauss Group, the second largest Israeli food and beverage company. On the “corporate responsibility” section of its website, the Strauss Group emphasises the support it gives to the Israeli army. The Strauss group is proud that for more than 30 years, it has supported the Golani reconnaissance platoon infamous for its involvement 2006 invasion of Lebanon and other atrocities. As their website puts it: “Our connection with soldiers goes as far back as the country, and even further. We see a mission and need to continue to provide our soldiers with support, to enhance their quality of life and service conditions, and sweeten their special moments.”
PROTEST: Sat August 27 Gather at 1pm in park on cnr of Merivale & Glenelg St for a march to Max Brenner store at South Bank, Brisbane.
The efforts of the Greek government at the behest of the US, Israel and EU to stop the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2 have served to highlight the inhuman oppression and illegal blockade which Israel, with the complicity of those aforementioned nations, perpetrates against the defenceless civilian population of Gaza, half of whom are children.
It seems only the Palestinian people in Gaza must seek their freedom through established humanitarian channels that rely on the whim of their oppressor and the occasional glance of attention from the international community. Being born in Gaza is being born into a life sentence of living in a virtual cage, without fundamental human rights.
The flotilla effort, initiated by the Free Gaza Movement in 2008 when it sailed small fishing ships to Gaza and successfully reached the port of Gaza, is not about humanitarian aid. It is about Palestinian freedom and their rights to access the world as any other people.
And despite the chorus of “the flotilla is not necessary”, reality on the ground shows that it non-violent direct action that has been the only effective power to make change in the lives of Palestinians.
Greece’s offers to deliver the aid aboard the Flotilla vessels is irrelevant, as it is Israel’s illegal blockade which must be challenged. Edith Garwood from Amnesty USA writes:
The blockade does not target specific individuals, but collectively punishes the entire population which contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention. It violates the Gazans’ right to health (including access to clean drinking water and sanitation), education, work, an adequate standard of living and freedom of movement. It violates their basic dignity; their basic human rights.
The blockade is illegal and must end. Period. And Israel, as the occupying power (in effective control of area), is responsible for ending it. Israel is a sophisticated, militarily advanced country that should be able to effectively meet their national security needs without unjustly punishing an entire population
Three others — Torontonian Sandra Ruch, 50, Soha Kneen, 40, of Ottawa, and Aussie Michael Coleman — were released from jail Tuesday but will appear in court Wednesday, facing charges related to a clever getaway plan that ended with Greek commandos taking the ship.
Kneen and Coleman are charged with obstructing the vessel, a relatively minor crime.
Ruch, who lived in Greece for several months preparing for the flotilla, is charged with more serious offences related to sailing without permission. She was not on the boat when it made its run Monday but represents the company that owns the boat.
“They are felony and criminal charges, which I am proud to accept,” said Ruch.’
The vessel’s passengers include Olivier Besancenot, head of the New Left Party in France, French politician and member of the European Parliament Nicole Kiil-Nilsen, and other well-known French personalities.
In Athens, some activists from the Spanish flotilla vessel, the Guernica, are occupying the Spanish Embassy.
Alejandro Fierro, an activist aboard a Spanish boat, Guernica, that is currently in port in Crete, told Al Jazeera that activists from his boat remained fully committed to going to Gaza.
“We have a few people on the boat now, and they will remain on the boat, in Crete, until they can go to Gaza,” Fierro said, “Some people are going back to Spain, but we are going to continue to keep our boat in Crete, and keep people on the boat, until we can sail to Gaza.”
Some of the members of the Spanish boat are currently occupying the Spanish embassy in Athens, and have hung a Palestinian flag from the balcony of the embassy.
Demonstrators in Athens protest the Greek government’s blocking of the Flotilla at Syntagma Square and in front of the American Embassy.
@ibnezra: I clearly spoke to soon. Coast guard is en route according to sources on the ground. Looks like a repeat. #flotilla2
@Soha Kneen We’re free! Got a 30 day suspended sentence for obstruction (aka being kayactivists) in Greek court today!!!! #
@ibnezra: A Greek flagged vessel has apparently set sail for Gaza with the last hours #flotilla #
@ibnezra MV Juliano arriving at first stop. Coast guard is still close. flotilla Broadcasting live at http://ustre.am/zQHM
Juliano ship heads for Gaza“We are at sea,” former Israeli Dror Feiler, one of the organizers, told Ynet. “All roads lead to Gaza. It will be a small but high-quality flotilla.”
Turkey is concerned over some of the clauses in the delayed report, which accuse the state of having ties with the IHH as well as direct involvement in the flotilla.
In addition, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stressed Wednesday that Ankara would continue to demand an apology and compensation for the nine casualties in the May 31 IDF flotilla raid.
Earlier Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he does not believe Israel should offer such an apology. “There are some things I’m willing to discuss and some things I’m not willing to discuss. I will not have an apology harm Israel’s national dignity and I will not see IDF soldiers humiliated,” he said.
But Turkey remains adamant. “We have been saying the same thing since last year. Israel owes an apology and compensation. This is our principled stance on this matter,” he said.
The teen is then alleged to have screamed “no, no” after which, when she finished her countdown Sivilya pulled the trigger while yelling “Death to Arabs” and “All Arabs are whores”. During the incident Benishti urged Sivilya to stop, but she refused.
In the revised indictment sheet Sivilya admits to forcefully hitting the minor with her fists, while slapping his head and shoulders. The sides have not reached an agreement over the sentence and the Police Internal Affairs Bureau has made it clear that it will demand a prison sentence.
In response, Sivilya’s attorney Refael Farig said: “I believe that the person convicted in this case was not just Shani Sivilya but all those who enlist 18-year old teens to serve in the Border Guard and put them at the center of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
“Though we haven’t decided upon a specific sentencing in this case, we did agree that the probation service would present a review of the defendant’s case and examine the possibility of closing this case without a criminal conviction.”
In its conclusions the secretary general expresses concern about Nakba Day and notes that IDF soldiers “used direct live fire against unarmed demonstrators” who tried to breach the border fence.
‘In response to the brutal attack on the protest in Melbourne, we have decided to launch an all out effort to build a protest on August 27 against Max Brenner inBrisbane. We will launch this campaign at the BDS protest that will take place here this Saturday.’
the ASA released a ruling on 5 July 2011, dismissing each and every complaint made by the SAJBD against the advert and instead ruled in favor of the submissions made by SA Artists Against Apartheid. The ASA also refused to provide any sanctions in favor of the SAJBD.
Reggae DJ, “The Admiral”, and member of the SA Artists Against Apartheid collective, welcomed today’s decision:
“The ASA decision is significant due to our own history of Apartheid. The decision sends a clear message to the Zionist lobby that the time has come for an end to the baseless accusations of “discrimination” and “hate speech” whenever criticism of Israel is voiced. Calling Israel an Apartheid state is legitimate because Israel practices Apartheid. The boycott of such an oppressive regime should be supported as it was in our own Anti-Apartheid freedom struggle.”
Israel corrupts British justice. ‘Unfounded claims against Salah were first made by the Zionist media in Britain, which has become an uncritical cheerleader for Israel, and by the Board of Deputies, Britain’s representative body for Jews.’
Detailed Information on the Sabotage to the MV Saoirse “It looks very much like underwater explosives, probably plastic explosives, were used on the shaft.”
In Al Jazeera’s latest Inside Story, “Outsourcing the Gaza blockade” , it is highlighted that pressure is being brought to bear on Greece by Israel and its undying friend the US, and as well by countries in the EU. Huwaida Arraf and Mustafa Barghouti insist to Akiva Eldar that the truth of apartheid and denial of Palestinian human rights must be acknowledged despite the lily-livered Israeli faux left thinking it is not palatable to the Israeli public.
Turkey Rebuts Barak’s Claim It Supported the Prevention of the Flotilla
@Levent Basturk: ”Ibrahim Kalin, the chief foreign policy adviser to PM Erdogan, has recently sent a twitter message saying that Barak’s statement regarding Turkey’s cooperation to prevent flotilla is A FABRICATION. The Turkish Foreign Ministry will soon deny what Barak said regarding Turkey’s role in thwarting the mission of the flotilla.” #
The statement of the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak with respect to Turkey’s “positive position” in thwarting the mission of the Gaza flotilla was denied by Ankara .
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said the participants of the fleet going to Gaza was entirely composed of international non-governmental organizations, therefore, was not affiliated in any way with the Turkish government.
“Flotilla, Totally A Civilian Initiative …”
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Selcuk Unal emphasized that the flotilla was totally a civil initiative.
Unal said “the news about a group of countries that tried to prevent this civilian initiative does not reflect the reality and is groundless with respect to Turkey.”
Israeli Defense Minister Barak has said previously Greece, Cyprus and Turkey had positive approaches in efforts to thwart the mission of the flotilla heading to Gaza.
I’ll end with a diversion to the past :
“And Phrygia shall with earthquakes groan again
Wretched. Alas, alas, Laodicea”
Geoffrey Palmer, the head of the commission that’s investigating the incident that led to the death of nine Turks as they tried to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, has said he intended to issue his committee’s report on Thursday – regardless of whether Israel and Turkey came to a prior agreement on a statement on the matter Israeli hasbara site CAMERA seems to think the Palmer report has been released already too. If a compromise is not reached soon, the UN report will be released as is, and bilateral ties will likely be frozen for a long period, the source said. If a compromise is reached, the report will be reworded and toned down.
who nearly two years ago humiliated the Turkish ambassador to Israel by deliberately placing him in a lower chair during a televised meeting. In a meeting last month with seven Turkish journalists, Ayalon said he never meant to humiliate the ambassador, that he had meant it as a joke, and that he had immediately sent a letter of apology to him.
He told the journalists that the time was ripe to restore Israeli-Turkish relations and that he supported Turkey’s decision to have talks with Hamas in an attempt to forge a unity government with the Palestinian Authority.
“We would kiss the hands of every Turk if Hamas said they accept the Oslo [Treaty], condemn terror and recognize Israel,” Ayalon said.
The Gaza Flotilla is indeed a courageous act of political protest, an expression of worldwide solidarity with the Palestinian people and rejection of Israeli practices of oppressive occupation, as manifested in the continuing siege and blockade of Gaza and the imposition of collective punishment upon a mass of civilians.
Israeli Likud politician, Ayoub Kara, deputy minister for Development of the Negev and Galilee, has no qualms about meeting with ‘Patrick Brinkmann, a Swedish right-wing extremist who has supported neo-Nazi and right-wing populist parties in Europe’. Building islamophobia is a shared interest.
‘They are the elite commando unit leading the nation and paving the way’.
This as an extremely telling quote illustrating Nut’s cynical use of myth and it verifies the mechanism of expansionism – how the secular zionist gameplayers utilise messianic settlers, and why these extremist rabbis are supported by government.
Israel’s strategy, tactic and aim is always expansionism and each supports the other. This is the nexus which underlies what Jeff Halper describes as the ‘matrix of control’. The settlers advance, which requires military backup. The next beachhead/hilltop is taken, then rinse and repeat. The infrastructure follows, all justified by the hasbara of ‘security’ to protect the ‘civilians’. Obviously, these ‘elite commandos’ aren’t civilians.
Equal rights for all as a principle, contained in BDS, attacks the basic zionist strategy, tactic and aim. This might be the main reason why the zionists hate BDS so much. From the ongoing zionist wailing about it, BDS appears more effective than a settlement freeze. Equal rights for all as a principled aim also has more chance of resounding in the working class who after all are the puppets of the international elite, the main beneficiaries of the government-assisted religious bigotry/apartheid/racism/elitism and other societal divisions.
There’s a distinct sociopathy in the sheer malevolence of the design and practice of the governmental gameplayers who use these rabbis to inspire and lead settlers to steal Palestinian land.
The rabbis are cultists, which means that some are not technically insane, they are delusional, but since their delusion is supported by the government, it’s probably better to examine those who are the malignantly narcissistic gameplayers at the top who cynically use the rabbis and who farm them, paying for their delusional education and employment as the part of the strategy of expansionism, as a tactical vanguard commando unit to achieve military and political goals.
Max Brenner Chocolates was targeted because it is owned by the Strauss Group, the second largest Israeli food and beverage company. The company boasts on its website that it has supported the Golany reconnaissance platoon of the Israeli Army for more than 30 years.
Danby said: “There was no meeting with Danny Danon in the Knesset during my recent visit. Many Knesset members attended a session at the International Conference of Jewish Parliamentarians with myself and other Jewish Mps such as Irwin Cotler ( Canada) and Gary Ackerman ( Democrat of New York). I have not discussed with Mr Danon the possibility of Australia taking refugees from Israel. I did not meet him. I have no such power as the Jerusalem Post claims to bring this before parliament, and I was never contacted by the Jerusalem Post to check the validity of the claims made in the article. There was no meeting, no discussion and no agreement. Danny Danon is a nice guy. He must have been misquoted. The last time I saw him was at the leadership forum in Israel in December, where I made a public speech outlining the recent history of Australia’s immigration policy. I deplore the use of terms like ‘Muslim infiltrators’. I publicly told the forum then that the Israelis had to do what we did, and that is make an assessment of asylum seekers status and background. I said publicly then and restate that it is impossible for any one country, Australia or Israel to forcibly return people who have good grounds for fearing for their lives. That is not to say that Australia or Israel cannot return people to their countries of origin if they have agreements with those governments and that the people being returned have not been assessed as refugees or have legitimate fear for their lives.”
Danby’s judgment is suspect. Danny Danon is not a ‘nice guy’. Recently in his NYTimes Op Ed he proposed Israel annex all West Bank settlements and uninhabited lands.
‘Moreover, we would be well within our rights to assert, as we did in Gaza after our disengagement in 2005, that we are no longer responsible for the Palestinian residents of the West Bank, who would continue to live in their own — unannexed — towns.
These Palestinians would not have the option to become Israeli citizens, therefore averting the threat to the Jewish and democratic status of Israel by a growing Palestinian population. ‘
, said although there was no proof of Israeli involvement, the Jewish state was “the only party who would benefit” from such vandalism.
Israel has made no secret of its determination to prevent the flotilla reaching Gaza and has accused passengers of harbouring “terror activists” who are “looking for blood.”
Nor does Lior stop at non-Jews. Leading rabbis have testified that Lior was the source of rulings labeling the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin a “rodef” and a “moser” (a traitor who endangers Jewish lives ). Here, too, he didn’t stop at incitement. Rabin’s assassin used to travel to Hebron to see the rabbi. Baruch Goldstein (who massacred Arabs at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994 ) also visited King Lior for instruction. After he massacred dozens of people, the rabbi ruled that Goldstein was “holier than all the martyrs of the Holocaust.”
The dichotomous perception of the choice in the orientation of Turkish policy between “pro-Western” and “anti-Western”, or “pro-Muslim”, is more reflective of a mental division of the world between Occident and Orient than of the complex reality of 21st-century international politics.
From Samah Sabawi, Palestinian Advocate for Australians for Palestine.
Who says Israel blockade of Gaza is illegal and is a violation of international humanitarian Law? Here are a few and there are many more where these come from:
1) U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay “Israel’s blockade of Gaza is illegal and should be lifted” “International humanitarian law prohibits starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and…it is also prohibited to impose collective punishment on civilians” http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/05/us-israel-flotilla-un-idUSTRE6541JD20100605
2) UN Panel of Human Rights Experts published report compiled by by a former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, a judge from Trinidad, Karl Hudson-Phillips, and a Malaysian women’s rights advocate, Mary Shanthi Dairiam. They reiterated “the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave is illegal because of the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/23/un-panel-israel-war-crimes
8) OXFAM “Though Israel has the duty to protect its citizens, it cannot impose a blockade on every civilian in Gaza. This constitutes collective punishment, which is illegal under international law. The EU should make any future upgrade in economic and political relations dependent on the end of the blockade.” http://www.oxfam.org/pressroom/pressrelease/2010-03-17/eu-foreign-policy-chief-gaza-blockade
9) The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.Mr. Richard Falk “In the Gaza Strip, the illegal blockade continued to violate the human rights of Palestinians in Gaza, despite the much proclaimed “easing” of the blockade by Israel in 2010.” http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10871&LangID=E
10) Ambassador Craig Murray, an internationally recognized authority on maritime jurisdiction and naval boarding issues. He is former Alternate Head of the UK Delegation to the United Nations Preparatory Commission on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. He was deputy head of the teams which negotiated the UK’s maritime boundaries with France, Germany, Denmark (Faeroe Islands) and Ireland. “San Remo only applies to blockade in times of armed conflict. Israel is not currently engaged in an armed conflict, and presumably does not wish to be. San Remo does not confer any right to impose a permanent blockade outwith times of armed conflict, and in fact specifically excludes as illegal a general blockade on an entire population.” http://www.freedomflotilla.eu/en/information/13-opinion/130-the-blockade-is-illegal-no-matter-what-israel-claims
