The recent alleged discovery by Israel of a boatload of "Iranian weapons destined for Syria and Hizb'allah" is designed to distract from growing global public awareness that Israel is a terrorist state guilty of the most despicable war crimes.
The UN fact finding mission on the Israeli attack on Gaza from Dec 27th 2008 to Jan 18th 2009, aka "The Goldstone Report" was released on September 15th 2009. Initially the scope of the investigation was limited to violations of international and human rights law by Israeli forces alone. The official wording was:
to dispatch an urgent, independent international fact-finding mission, to be appointed by the President of the Council, to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully cooperate with the mission.
Israel drastically fails to meet all requirements of a tolerant pluralistic society, according to a US State Department report issued on Saturday.
The report, written by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, indicates that Israel is discriminating against Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians, women, Bedouins, and even Reform Jews, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Sunday.
Israel does not treat ethnic groups on equal terms and also does not show any respect toward certain holy sites and other historic sites, the document added.
Houthi fighters in Yemen say Saudi fighter jets are using phosphorous bombs to back a deadly Yemeni government offensive against them.
"Saudi combat fighter jets launched intense raids against border areas inside Yemeni territory on Sunday night," the fighters' spokesman Mohammad Abdessalam told AFP by telephone.
"The Saudi military used phosphorus bombs during those night raids, burning mountainous regions," he said adding that "The Saudi air raids resumed this morning (Monday). "
Abdessalam said that the raids targeted Malaheez, seven kilometers (3.8 miles) inside Yemen, as well as the border villages of Hassameh and Shida and several villages around Jebel (mountain) al-Dukhan straddling the border.
Man who had staked his career on reaching a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel will likely serve his people's needs better by leaving the scene
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced yesterday that he will step down as president of the Palestinian Authority, effective at the next election, scheduled for January. In doing so, he blamed Israeli and U.S. leaders for betraying the peace process he cherished.
But this man, who had staked his career on reaching a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, will likely serve his people's needs better by leaving the scene.
While crowds gathered last night in Ramallah to protest his resignation, and members of his ruling Fatah party said they will never find anyone to replace him, most Palestinians have held no great affection for the man for some time.
He brought a yawn to people's faces more often than a smile.
That's not to say that he didn't try.
Comment: Mr. Abbas is no Arafat but still, his postion is nearly untenable. It would hardly matter who holds his office, when dealing with a psychopathic opponent
Jimmy Carter The New York Times Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:28 EST
Judge Richard Goldstone and the United Nations fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict have issued a report about Gaza that is strongly critical of both Israel and Hamas for their violations of human rights. On Wednesday, a special meeting of the U.N. General Assembly began a debate on whether to refer the report to the Security Council.
In January 2009 rudimentary rockets had been launched from Gaza toward nearby Jewish communities, and Israel had wreaked havoc with bombs, missiles, and ground invading forces. Judge Goldstone's claim is that they are both guilty of "crimes against humanity." Predictably, both the accused parties have denounced the report as biased and inaccurate.
It is good to remember that Judge Goldstone, from South Africa, is one of the world's most widely respected jurists, with an impeccable record of wisdom, honesty and integrity. He is a devout Jew and has long been known as a fervent defender of Israel's right to peace and security.
Russia has spoken out more strongly than ever against Iran, warning that it may consider tougher sanctions against the country should it fail to accept a Western-backed nuclear proposal.
In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel on Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that, much to his reluctance, he would be forced to sign off on US-led sanctions on Iran.
"I do not want that all this ends up with the adopting of international sanctions because sanctions, as a rule, lead in a complex and dangerous direction," AFP quoted Medvedev as saying.
"[But] if the Iranian leadership takes a less constructive position, then in theory anything is possible," he added.
Barkat warmly received in Washington, with Congress members presenting to him legislation proposal to have US embassy moved from Tel Aviv to capital without need for president's consent
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat met with Democratic and Republican Congress members in Washington on Friday, and was pleased to find wall-to-wall support of the need to keep Jerusalem united.
The mayor, who is on a two-week visit to the United States and Canada, arrived at Congress accompanied by Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren. Barkat was received warmly, and learned that it is seemingly easier to run Jerusalem from the US capital than from the Israeli one.
One example of the support Barkat found for his position on Jerusalem can be found in the Senate, where a group of seven senators are working on legislation that will support maintaining a united Jerusalem.
Israel on Friday rejected a United Nations General Assembly resolution urging an investigation into a report saying war crimes were committed in Gaza, and condemned the world body vote as "completely detached from realities".
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said in response to Thursday's vote that Israel "maintains the right to self-defense", and would "continue to act to protect the lives of its citizens from the threat of international terrorism".
The resolution, endorsing a report on the Gaza war commissioned by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, was nonbinding and seen as unlikely to force either Israel or Islamist Hamas rulers in Gaza to investigate the findings.
Iran has decided to turn down proposals from the major powers for the supply of nuclear fuel, a leading member of parliament said on Saturday, in a serious setback for UN-brokered efforts to allay Western concerns about its ambitions.
Under the plan thrashed out in talks with France, Russia and the United States, Iran was to have shipped out most of its stocks of low-enriched uranium in return for fuel for a research reactor in Tehran.
The proposals were designed to assuage fears that Iran could otherwise divert some of the stocks and enrich them further to the much higher levels of purity required to make an atomic bomb.
But officials, who strongly deny any such intention, had expressed mounting concern that Iran's arch-foe Washington might welch on the deal and Tehran might ship out its uranium without receiving anything in return.
neverbeforecampaign YouTube Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:54 EST
If one wants to know why and how the conflict started in Palestine more than 60 years ago, the "confessions" of Israeli and Zionist leaders should make it very clear.
700,000 Palestinians (more than half of the Palestinian population at the time) were expelled in 1948.
More than 600 towns and villages were ethnically cleansed.
Thousands were killed and maimed.
... the crimes continue to this date, and so does the unjustified condoning attitude of "civilized" governments.
A leading researcher, writer, and psychotherapist in Pathological Love Relationships is investigating the effects of psychopathy and narcissism on children. If you are the parent/guardian of a child who has had exposure to these conditions in adults, please contact us to take our research survey. In 2009 we will be writing about pathological parenting and its long term effects on children. SafeRelationships.com
"The free press is the mother of all our liberties and of our progress under liberty" Adlai E. Stevenson
"There is no more important struggle for American democracy than ensuring a diverse, independent and free media. Free Press is at the heart of that struggle." Bill Moyers
"This is, in theory, still a free country, but our politically correct, censorious times are such that many of us tremble to give vent to perfectly acceptable views for fear of condemnation. Freedom of speech is thereby imperiled, big questions go undebated, and great lies become accepted, unequivocally as great truths." Simon Heffer in The Daily Mail, 7 June 2000
"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823
"A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press, must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the right of the people to know.": Murray I. Gurfein
One of the shrewdest ways for human predators to conquer their stronger victims is to steadily convince them with propaganda that they're still free. N.A. Scott
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The Existential danger facing Mahmoud Abbas