Puppet MastersS

Question

What was it all for? The murder of Palestinians and Israelis is just a prelude to the next Gaza war

Robert Fisk
The Independent
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 03:41 UTC
Gaza
© The IndependentA Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
So what was it all for? The 11-month old Palestinian baby killed with its entire family by an Israeli pilot, the 150-odd Palestinian dead - two thirds of them civilians - the six Israeli dead, 1,500 air raids on Gaza, 1,500 rockets on Israel. What fearful symmetry! But was all this done - and let us forget the billions of dollars of weapons spent by Israel - for a ceasefire? Not a peace treaty, not even a treaty, just a truce. Before the next Gaza war.

Cynics abound in Israel, and not without reason. "End of a military operation, beginning of an election campaign," ran a headline in The Jerusalem Post yesterday - albeit in a newspaper that has given its usual support to war in Gaza.

Hardly Churchillian

But surely Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign for the January elections began the moment he ordered the assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari, the Hamas leader, just over a week ago. Indeed, the bombing of Gaza moved seamlessly into the Netanyahu election project: if Israelis want security, they know who to vote for.

Or do they? It was evident after the ceasefire began on Wednesday night that Mr Netanyahu was worried.
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Target

London, Ontario, mayor Fontana denies fraud charges


CBC News
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 07:05 UTC
'I am innocent,' he says about charges linked to his time as Liberal cabinet minister.

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© CBC NewsJoe Fontana, mayor of London in southwestern Ontario, said Thursday he is not guilty of fraud charges filed on Wednesday.
Canada, Ontario - Mayor Joe Fontana said Thursday he will not step down as mayor and intends to plead not guilty to fraud charges filed against him this week.

"I am innocent of all of these charges and I intend to fight as hard as I can to clear my name," he said at a news conference held Thursday. "I've been given a mandate by the people of London. People call me every day saying they like the work I'm doing as mayor."

Fontana was charged Wednesday with fraud under $5,000, breach of trust by a public official and uttering forged documents.

The RCMP say the charges are linked to alleged inappropriate use of funds when he was a federal Liberal cabinet minister.

The London Free Press has reported that two government of Canada cheques were given to a London club to cover the cost of the wedding reception for Fontana's son in 2005. Fontana was federal labour minister at the time.

Fontana said he will step down from London's police services board, but will stay on as mayor despite increased pressure to step down.
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Propaganda

As Gaza is savaged again, understanding the BBC's role requires more than sentiment

John Pilger
OpEdNews
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:23 UTC
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We must understand the BBC as a pre-eminent state propagandist and censor by omission

In Peter Watkins's remarkable BBC film The War Game, which foresaw the aftermath of an attack on London with a one-megaton nuclear bomb, the narrator says: "On almost the entire subject of thermonuclear weapons, there is now practically total silence in the press, official publications and on TV. Is there hope to be found in this silence?"

The truth of this statement was equal to its irony. On 24 November 1965, the BBC banned The War Game as "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." This was false. The real reason was spelled out by the chairman of the BBC board of governors, Lord Normanbrook, in a secret letter to the then cabinet secretary, Sir Burke Trend.

"[The War Game] is not designed as propaganda," he wrote: "it is intended as a purely factual statement and is based on careful research into official material ... But ... the showing of the film on television might have a significant effect on public attitudes towards the policy of the nuclear deterrent." Following a screening attended by senior Whitehall officials, the film was banned because it told an intolerable truth. Sixteen years later, the then BBC director general, Sir Ian Trethowan, renewed the ban, saying that he feared for the film's effect on people of "limited mental intelligence."

Watkins's brilliant work was eventually shown in 1985 to a late-night minority audience. It was introduced by Ludovic Kennedy, who repeated the official lie.
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Vader

As Israel-Gaza charade concludes, West pivots back to Syria

Poor Richard
PoorRichard's Blog
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:07 UTC
ceasefire
As predicted, Israel accepts humiliating ceasefire to bolster partners in Syrian subversion - Egypt, Turkey, & Qatar.

Reuters reported in their article, "Jubilant Palestinians mob Gaza streets," regarding the ceasefire agreement "brokered" by Egypt that, "the agreement calls on Hamas and Israel to cease all forms of military activity, including Israel's targeted killings of militants, and for an easing of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza."

The article featured a photograph of cheering Palestinians in Gaza waving the Egyptian flag, reflecting both the true purpose and success of the Israeli-Gaza charade. Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's conveniently-timed visit to Gaza just days before hostilities erupted was designed to give the despotic Persian Gulf monarchy a boost in both legitimacy and credibility after the conclusion of this staged spectacle - as was highly publicized rhetoric made by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Israel.

Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, all in fact partners with Israel and its Western sponsors in the subversion and overthrow of Syria, now have a renewed popular mandate across the Arab World, as a direct result of Israel's premeditated, predictable failure in Gaza.
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Eye 2

Sterilize the Palestinian people, Dutch writer Leon de Winter says at meeting of Dutch Jews including Israeli ambassador

Ali Abunimah
Electronic Intifada
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 16:21 UTC
Leon de Winter
© Elke Wetzig / Wikimedia CommonsLeon de Winter
On the night a ceasefire came into effect ending eight days of Israeli slaughter that left 162 people, the vast majority unarmed civilians, dead in Gaza, Dutch columnist and author Leon de Winter proposed adding chemicals to Gaza's water supply to sterilize the population.

The website PowNed reported that de Winter "made his proposal for forced eugenics yesterday evening in Amsterdam at a solidarity meeting of Dutch Jews," and that the speech by de Winter was broadcast this morning by Dutch mainstream and publicly-funded Radio 1.
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Play

The chaotic and desperate situation in Gaza the media won't show you

Mohammed Suleman Khan
Facebook
Mon, 19 Nov 2012 12:38 UTC

Comment: Powerful video showing the ferocity of Israeli air-strikes and use of white phosphorus on the Gazan population. (Larger video at source)

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Heart - Black

Alan Dershowitz - analyzing the devil's advocate

Gilad Atzmon
Gilad Atzmon Blog
Thu, 22 Nov 2012 10:28 UTC
Alan Dershowitz
Ethnic cleansing advocate Alan Dershowitz is not at all happy. He is devastated by the media and international community's failure to distinguish between the Israeli military and 'Hamas terrorists' (this is how he refers to Palestinian freedom fighters). Last week, Haaretz lent its pages to the Talmudic spin-meister - and I was delighted because Dershowitz' arguments throw new light on the depths of Jewish ideological and political morbidity.

"As Hamas continues to target Israeli civilians in their homes, Israel continues to target terrorist leaders and other legitimate military targets." It seems that Dershowitz has found the magic formula that distinguishes between the 'Jew' and the 'Goy' in this conflict. The Jew is always a 'civilian' who happens to be a 'victim', while the dozens of babies, children and women murdered in the last week by Israel, they must have been 'terrorist leaders'.

Dershowitz argues that the Hamas policy is "designed to sow terror among the Israeli population." This is a peculiar argument. Due to its limited means, Hamas is confined to the use of primitive rockets. If Hamas had cruise missiles at its disposal and still used them to target civilians, then I would be the first to agree with Dershowitz and even support his argument. But the contrary is true: It is the IDF that possesses the most sophisticated weaponry and is capable of targeting military targets with precise, even astonishing accuracy. So, with that in mind, every Palestinian civilian casualty caused by the Jewish state must be counted as an Israeli attempt at massacre and therefore, nothing short of a vile war crime.
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Star of David

"Most" killed in Gaza "deserved it" even though they were children and civilians, says Israel's Danny Ayalon

Ismael Mohamad
United Press International
Wed, 21 Nov 2012 18:52 UTC
Palestinian medic carries the body
© Majdi Fathi / APA imagesA Palestinian medic carries the body of Abdel Rahman Majdi Naim, 2, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a building housing media offices in Gaza City on 21 November 2012.

In a clear indication of Israel's shocking callousness and disregard for civilian lives, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon today told PRI's The Takeaway that most of those killed and injured in Israel's eight day long bombardment of the Gaza Strip "deserved it."

"If you compare the situation in Gaza to the situation in Syria today," Ayalon said, "where the Assad regime just mercilessly butchers people and children there is a big difference and I would say that most of the people that were hit in Gaza deserved it as they were just armed terrorists."


Vast majority killed and injured are civilians and children

But in fact, the vast majority of those killed and injured were unarmed civilians. Up to 20 November, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 91 of the 136 Palestinians killed were civilians, including 28 children and 13 women, and 922 of the 941 wounded were civilians, including 258 children.

So 66 percent of those killed, and 97 percent of those injured were civilians. Almost one third of the dead are children.
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Star of David

Best of the Web: Israeli Chief of Staff: "We will continue to pound Gaza despite truce mediation"

Saed Bannoura
International Middle East Media Center
Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:52 UTC
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© sabbah.bizChild killed in Gaza by Israeli rockets
Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Benni Gantz, stated Wednesday that the Israeli army will continue its offensive against the Gaza Strip "as if mediation efforts are not ongoing", and added that the army is following an agenda that will be implemented despite of what happens on the political spectrum.

Gantz held a session with senior Israeli military and security officials to evaluate the current operations against Gaza, and said that the army is bombarding "high value" targets, including Hamas's institutions such as banks, security centers and weapons storage warehouses, in addition to bombarding infrastructure such, as roads and bridges.

He also said that the army fired missiles at fuel pipes that provide Gaza with fuel by running from the Egyptian side into Gaza through the siege-busting tunnels across the border.
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Light Sabers

Israel and Hamas agree Gaza ceasefire


Al Jazeera
Wed, 21 Nov 2012 12:02 UTC
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What good is a truce for this terrified population when Israel will just turn around and terrorise them anew with more bombings in a few months or years' time?
Egyptian foreign minister say truce will begin at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday, after eight days of attacks.

The Egyptian foreign minister has announced that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will come into effect at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Mohamed Kamel Amr thanked all parties involved in brokering the truce as he made the announcement in a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Israeli sources said Israel had agreed to the truce but would not lift its blockade on the Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continued for an eighth day, as diplomatic efforts were under way to secure a ceasefire.

At least a dozen people were killed in Gaza on Wednesday, according to medical officials, bringing the death toll to a total of 149 since Israel's military operation was launched. A two-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl were among those killed.

Israel said it struck more than 100 targets, including a cluster of Hamas government buildings.
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