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‘I do not support U.S. gov’t war guarantees or military aid to any country’ — John Dennis

By John Dennis | Mondoweiss | October 25, 2010

Over the weekend Mondoweiss ran a post criticizing the Israel-Palestine stance of John Dennis, an antiwar Republican who is challenging Nancy Pelosi from the left in her San Francisco district. John Dennis had this response today:

Matthew Taylor’s blog post referenced statements I made in a debate this past spring. In it, I attempted to make a nuanced point about how to handle U.S.-Israeli relations in the likely event that foreign aid for Israel continues. His blog post misinterpreted my statements and doesn’t represent my record and beliefs.

For the record, I do not support U.S. government foreign aid to any country. I do not support U.S. government war guarantees or guaranteed military support for any country. My read is that the U.S. government does not have the constitutional authority to give foreign aid or military assurances to any country. This works well for me, because I also happen to think that aid and/or assurances are not prudent for all parties involved.

I am a committed non-interventionist running for federal office. The Constitution and the writings of the founders, I think, support a non-interventionist foreign policy. I am also an advocate of peaceful solutions to conflict and disagreement. I would like for nothing more than the people in the Middle East to live in peace.

However, I cannot run for elective federal office and concurrently be a political activist. Should I now, or in the future, become an elected official, I would best serve my district and my oath to the Constitution by staying committed to non-interventionist principles.

I appreciate all fair attempts to keep anyone running for office on his/her toes. I welcome the chance from Mondoweiss to clarify.

I am also willing to debate my opponent, Nancy Pelosi, on this matter. I am happy to take any questions on this or any other matter from the media or the constituents of the 8th Congressional District of California.

In this case, as much as I appreciate the blogger’s challenge, a fairer, more interesting and far less provocative discussion might have come by simply asking me to clarify my statements.

In liberty,

John

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Militarism, Wars for Israel | Leave a comment

Antarctic Ocean: The Big Kahuna of glacial period carbon sinks

October 25, 2010 by Anthony Watts

UF research gives clues about carbon dioxide patterns at end of Ice Age

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — New University of Florida research puts to rest the mystery of where old carbon was stored during the last glacial period. It turns out it ended up in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.

The findings have implications for modern-day global warming, said Ellen Martin, a UF geological sciences professor and an author of the paper, which is published in this week’s journal Nature Geoscience.

“It helps us understand how the carbon cycle works, which is important for understanding future global warming scenarios,” she said. “Ultimately, a lot of the carbon dioxide that we’re pumping into the atmosphere is going to end up in the ocean. By understanding where that carbon was stored in the past and the pathways it took, we develop a better understanding of how much atmospheric carbon dioxide the oceans can absorb in the future.”

Scientists know that during the transition from the last glacial period to the current inter-glacial period about 14,000 years ago, carbon dioxide levels rose very quickly at the same time that the age of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere fell, as measured by radiocarbon data. That suggests carbon dioxide had been stored in the ocean and suddenly released, she said.

One idea holds that it was building up in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where extensive sea ice on the surface of the ocean initially prevented the exchange of gasses into the atmosphere, Martin said. The other possibility is that the same process occurred in the Northern Hemisphere with ice sheets in the North Pacific Ocean, she said.

In her lab, Martin and lead author Chandranath Basak, a UF graduate student in geological sciences; Keiji Horikawa, a UF postdoctoral fellow in geological sciences; and Thomas Marchitto, a University of Colorado geology professor, studied that question by using a technique to measure isotopes of neodymium, a rare earth element not commonly found in marine sediments but preserved in microscopic fossil fish teeth. The isotopic signature of a water mass, which is captured in the fish teeth, reflects the location where the water mass came from, she said.

“It’s essentially what we call a water mass tracer,” Martin said. “You can tell where the water masses have formed and where they have moved to by using this tracer.”

The researchers took samples that had been shown to have old carbon in them and measured the neodymium isotopes on fish teeth from the sediments to see if they could reconstruct whether they had come from the North Pacific or the Southern Ocean, she said.

“When we did this, we got a signal that looks very much like the Southern Ocean,” she said. “It implies that all the carbon was being stored in the Southern Hemisphere and as the ice sheet melted back, it released that carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing part of the big increase in carbon dioxide and introducing old carbon back into the atmosphere.”

By giving information about environmental conditions during the last glacial period, the research findings can help scientists to reconstruct what the world was like at that time, she said.

The implications are that while large amounts of carbon could be stored in the ocean when there was a great deal of sea ice, the opposite is the case in a world that is warming, with less ice, which allows more carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, Martin said. Thus, in a warming scenario the oceans may not be able to store as much carbon dioxide as they could under glacial conditions

The oceans are a critical part of the carbon dioxide cycle, Martin said. “The oceans have 60 times more carbon dioxide in them than the atmosphere, so when we worry about what’s happening with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we often look to the oceans as a potential source or sink.”

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the glacial periods was about 200 parts per million, compared with 280 parts per million during a typical interglacial period, Martin said. Today that level has soared to about 380 parts per million, she said.

The time period that encompasses the last glacial period to the current interglacial period when carbon dioxide levels went up very quickly is often referred to as the “mystery interval” because scientists hadn’t known where the carbon was stored, Martin said.

“Now we have a better understanding of how the system worked,” she said.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | Leave a comment

Soldiers abandon Palestinian farmers in Kufr Qalil

24 October 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Farmers in Kufr Qalil, near Nablus, were scheduled to receive army protection yesterday through the Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO), in order to harvest their olives on land near the illegal Bracha settlement. The family, accompanied by four international activists, went to the land and was initially pleased to find army jeeps nearby as planned. Later in the morning, two settlers came down from the nearby outpost, yelling at the Palestinians and internationals from across the settler-only road. As the nearby army vehicle came down, seemingly to intervene, the farmers were again relieved by the fact that the DCO was keeping their word. But the jeeps soon disappeared, while the settlers remained. Tension was high in the olive groves, and fear of what could happen prompted a phone call to Rabbis for Human Rights, who got in touch with the DCO, demanding that the “protection” return. The soldiers eventually came back, driving to the settlers and joining them across the road from the olive fields. They walked together, talking casually, but the army never approached the Palestinian farmers. After a short time, the owner of the farmland decided to give up and continue harvesting a safer plot of land, farther from the settlement, as he was feeling very nervous, and had three of his young grandchildren with him.

The Israeli DCO provides farmers with permits to access their own land with the protection of Israeli forces. Often these permits are only for a day or two (usually not long enough to complete a harvest), and the DCO decides which days the farmers can go. This means that they frequently have to choose between “army protection” and the best day for harvesting their livelihood, which often results in the army playing the opposite role, forcing farmers to leave their land. As can be seen from yesterday, even when Palestinians receive a permit and comply with the decisions of the DCO, they often don’t receive any sort of real protection, with the army leaving, or even protecting settlers when they harass the farmers.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | 1 Comment

Iran: US behind Wikileaks revelations

Press TV – October 25, 2010
Mohammad-Javad Larijani

A senior Iranian diplomat says recent revelations by whistleblower website Wikileaks are Washington’s ploy to cover up human rights violations by the US.

In the largest-ever revelation of secret US military documents, Wikileaks released nearly 400,000 classified reports about the US-led war in Iraq.

The leaked documents, which cover the period between January 1, 2004, and January 1, 2010, have shed light on a myriad of crimes and offences committed in Iraq over the past few years, including assassinations, murders, torture and rape.

“It seems that these [revelations] are made upon the order of the US,” Secretary-General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Mohammad-Javad Larijani said on Monday at the summit for reviewing the human rights situation in the US.

“The message of Wikileaks documents is that the Iraqi people have been tortured by Iraq’s security forces, and the only wrongdoing of Americans is that they witnessed the incidents and remained silent,” IRNA quoted Larijani as saying.

“This is while the US had the main role in these incidents and is the defendant,” the Iranian diplomat added.

Larijani said unfortunately the Internet, which was supposed to provide all people with vast information, is being used for publishing anti-information in the world.

The head of Iran’s human rights council stressed that the US and certain Western countries take advantage of human rights violations and that “it is necessary to prevent and resist these political abuses.”

The new Wikileaks documents comprise the second such release from the controversial website, which accused the United States of “war crimes” after earlier releasing some 92,000 similar secret military files detailing operations in Afghanistan.

These documents charge the United States Defense Department with instructing American troops to ignore reports recounting torture; they also suggest “hundreds” of civilians have been killed at US military checkpoints since the beginning of the war.

Refusing to discus the Wikikeaks disclosures, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton merely condemned the leak of any document “putting Americans at risk.”

“We should condemn in the most clear terms the disclosure of any information by individuals and or organizations which puts the lives of United States and its partners’ service members and civilians at risk,” she said.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Deception, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | 6 Comments

Children of Jahalin get innovative school

Aletho News | October 25, 2010

This year the Palestinian Bedouin children of Jahalin have a new school building built of bamboo. The new ‘desert school’ of the Wadi Abu Hindi community is the latest project of the Italian NGO Vento Di Terra and the Arcò group of architects.

The community was displaced from the Negev in 1948 and re-established in the West Bank, the community falls into the ‘Zone C’ area of Israeli civilian and military control. In 1997 the community resolved to build a school, but Israel demolished both the school and the homes twice.

Finally an Israeli court ruled the demolitions illegal and granted a temporary reconstruction permit. Like most of the constructions in Bedouin villages in area C, the school was a sheet metal structure which becomes unbearably hot. Despite the harsh conditions the school served 120 children. Vento di Terra has now improved the conditions with the use of special materials.

The ‘Desert School’ project faced specific restrictions imposed by the Israeli military authorities. Vento di Terra was able to respond to all of the challenges with the use of bamboo, earth and straw. The project moved forward with the community playing an active role in its planning, organization and realization. Local labor was utilized in retrofitting the buildings with improved climatic and acoustic insulation.

Respecting the centuries old history that has seen the Bedouins crossing the deserts of the Middle East, which continues to this day, dozens of kids cross the mountains by foot or with their inseparable mule to go from home to school. As soon as the bell announces the end of the school, a long line of children and mules disappear into the Palestinian desert.

Photographers: Andrea and Magda. (more pictures: http://www.andrea-magda.com/en/portfolio-8971-0-80-la-scuola-nel-deserto-by-vento-di-terra-e-arco.html )
If you are interested in hosting the exhibition or if you want to buy some pictures, please contact contact@andrea-magda.com
For any information about the school please visit www.ventoditerra.org or contact ventoditerra@ventoditerra.org

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Aletho News | Leave a comment

‘AJC’ A PROPAGANDA MACHINE AT WORK

David Harris, as Executive Director of the AJC (American Jewish Committee), has been the organization’s leading spokesman.  In short, he has been their chief propagandist in America for Israel.

By Paul Balles –  My Catbird Seat – October 25, 2010

A few days ago, Robert Elman, President of the American-Jewish Committee (AJC), published a letter praising David Harris, executive director of the AJC.

The AJC (American-Jewish Committee),  boasts that it has worked since 1906 to safeguard Jewish life and to protect the dignity of all people.

In that motto alone, the thinking reader must see a dichotomy, a contradiction that casts doubt on what the organization represents.

If the AJC (American-Jewish Committee) has worked to “safeguard Jewish life”, it cannot honestly claim to protect the dignity of all people in the same breath, under which lays its treatment of Palestinians.

David Harris, as Executive Director of the AJC, has been the organization’s leading spokesman.  In short, he has been their chief propagandist in America for Israel.

A closer look at Elman’s letter reveals how Harris and the AJC have used their propaganda machine to brainwash America.

In praising Harris for his 20 years of service as AJC Executive Director, Elman says:

“No single professional has epitomized AJC’s values, vision, activism, humanitarianism and achievement more than David Harris. David has been hailed as one of the Jewish people’s foremost advocates and most distinguished and eloquent spokesmen.”

Elman adds, “Looking to the future, David will continue to advocate for the issues most important to the Jewish people…”

Here are the mythical issues Elman attributes to Harris. Each has an element of propaganda in it:

Supporting a democratic Israel in its quest for peace and security.

Israel’s claims to be democratic are belied by its treatment of the Israeli Arabs as lesser members of an apartheid state.

Its so-called “quest for peace and security” has been proven to be nothing more than sound-bites for peace and military hardware for security.

Speaking out against Iran’s mission to build nuclear weapons.

This is an outright lie similar to the lie about Iraq having WMDs aimed at Israel. There’s not a shred of proof that Iran’s nuclear development involves weapons.

Building mutual respect between different religious and ethnic groups, leading to a more tolerant world.

Instead of working toward mutual respect, Israel has done everything possible to breed animosity.

Moving America towards energy independence — critical for both our national security and our environment.

In other words, cut American dependence on foreign oil, thereby diminishing positive relationships with Arab oil-producing countries.

Seeking a world in which all people are afforded human rights, human dignity and human freedom.

Before anyone can believe this Goebbels type rubbish, Israel will have to vastly upgrade its relationships with the Palestinians.

Three themes run through most Zionist propaganda:

  • 1.  Brainwash the public into believing that Arabs are devils and all Moslems are extremist bombers.

Professor Jack Shaheen’s in-depth studies of American films thoroughly establish how Arabs have been consistently vilified in that medium for a century.

  • 2.  Convince the public to believe it’s a hate crime to criticise Israel, while propagating guilt for the holocaust.

Criticism of Israel in America is a guaranteed route to castigation as anti-Semitic at best and unemployment, like Helen Thomas’s, at worst.

  • 3. Instil fear in Jews and their supporters that others are out to destroy Israel and Jews. “Israel is surrounded by enemies,” writes Steven Rosen. If true, why?

This theme ignores Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan.  More importantly, it overlooks the fact that Israel thrives on keeping Syria and Lebanon as antagonists and Iran as a threat.  The propaganda device maintains unrestrained American support.

AJC (American-Jewish Committee), propaganda does more harm than good.  Israel needs healthy criticism from Jews in America and around the world.

Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years.  He’s a weekly Op-Ed columnist for the Gulf Daily News.  Dr. Balles is also Editorial Consultant for Red House Marketing and a regular contributor to Bahrain This Month.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Wars for Israel | 1 Comment

French strike costing €400mn daily

Press TV – October 25, 2010

France’s Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has warned that the country’s massive strikes are costing the French economy up to 400 million euros a day.

Lagarde said on Monday that the economic cost is between 200 million euro (£178 million) and 400 million euro (£356 million) every day the unions call for strikes protesting the pension reform law, the Associated Press reported. The French minister added that the media images showing street battles between the anti-riot police and protesters have damaged the country’s image. She warned that strikes against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform have threatened to derail France’s still fragile economic recovery.

“Today, we shouldn’t be weighing down this recovery with campaigns that are painful for the French economy and very painful for a certain number of small and medium-sized businesses,” Lagarde noted.

Ongoing protests and strikes against the government’s pension reforms have led to fuel shortages and travel chaos throughout the country. A quarter of the country’s gas stations have run dry due to strikes at refineries and blockades of fuel depots by the protesters.

The strikers are hoping the disruptions will finally force Sarkozy’s government to cancel a plan to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62. But the government insists that the reform is necessary to reduce the country’s budget deficit.

The French Senate voted Friday to pass the proposed pension reform, which is expected to win final approval this week.

A recent opinion poll shows Sarkozy’s approval rating has sunk to a record low of 29 percent. The latest polls have also shown that a vast majority of the French people support the walkout.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Economics, Solidarity and Activism | Leave a comment

Jeffery Blankfort: Israel Is The Most Immediate Threat To The Future Of The Planet

Kourosh Ziabari | October 25, 2010

Jeffrey Blankfort is an American photojournalist, radio producer and Middle East analyst. He currently hosts radio programs on KZYX in Mendocino, CA and KPOO in San Francisco. Blankfort was formerly the editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee of the Middle East. In February 2002, he won a lawsuit against the Zionist organization Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was found to have been spying on the American citizens critical of Israel and its expansionist policies.

Jeffrey joined me in an exclusive interview to discuss the influence of the Israeli lobby on the decision-makers of the U.S. government, Israel’s illegal, underground nuclear program, the prospect of Israeli – Palestinian conflict and the imminent threat of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Blankfort is quite outspoken in his criticism of the apartheid regime of Israel and believes that Israel is the most immediate threat to the future of our planet.

Kourosh Ziabari: In your article “The Israel Lobby and the Left: Uneasy Questions”, you elaborately explore the dominance of the Israeli lobby over the U.S. administration and cite good examples of the influence of well-off Zionists on multinational companies and mainstream media in America. My question is, what are the root causes of this enormous power and immense wealth which the Zionists have possessed?

How did the Jews take over the vast resources of power and money that have made them capable of framing, modifying and overturning the political equations in the United States?

Jeffrey Blankfort: That question requires a long and complicated answer. In short, an important, well organized segment of the American Jewish community emerged after World War II that has been dedicated to the establishment and prospering of a Jewish state in historic Palestine in which the lives and well being of the indigenous Palestinian Arabs were of no consequence.

That this segment did not and has never represented the majority of American Jews has been more than made up for by its concerted activity on Israel’s behalf in every critical sector of U.S. society and at every level of the nation’s political life. Its success would not have been possible, however, were it not for the fact that within its ranks have been a sizeable number of wealthy Jewish businessmen who have been quite willing to expend the funds necessary to either purchase the support of the U.S. Congress as well as virtually all of the state legislatures or intimidate Israel’s would-be critics into silence.

KZ: In your articles, you’ve alluded to the conflicts and struggles between the U.S. and Israeli administrations during the past decades in which the U.S. Presidents, starting from Richard Nixon, tried to curb the expansionist policies of Israel and bring about an improved living condition for the oppressed nation of Palestine. Should you believe that there have been such efforts on the side of the U.S. administration, what has led to their failure, having in mind that they’ve repeatedly proclaimed their commitment to the security of Israel?

 

JB: There has not been the slightest interest on the part of any US president, I suspect, in improving the living conditions for the Palestinians. Halting Israeli expansion and getting Tel Aviv to withdraw from all the territories it conquered in 1967 has been seen as being in the U.S. national interest.

All the past efforts have failed because none of the presidents have been willing to spend the domestic political capital that would be necessary to force an Israeli withdrawal and particularly so when they know their efforts will be opposed by the overwhelming majority of both houses of Congress irrespective of party affiliations as well as by the Zionist dominated media.

The only one who made a serious effort and who was willing to confront the Zionist network and Congress was George Bush Sr., when he denied Israel its request for $10 billion in loan guarantees in 1991 and again in 1992 but even he was eventually forced to surrender.

KZ: Israelis are used to employing the anti-Semitism label to defame and vilify whoever dares criticize their belligerent, aggressive policies and actions. They accuse whoever criticizes them of being anti-Semitic. This makes the politicians and opinion-makers hesitant and demoralized in talking of Israel negatively. Is there any solution to reveal the futility of the anti-Semitism label and educate the public that criticism of Israel is different from criticizing Judaism?

 

JB: The allegation of “anti-Semitism” leveled against critics of Israel does not carry the weight it once did but it still is extremely effective, particularly, when the accused is employed by the mainstream media as we have seen recently in the case of Helen Thomas, Octavia Nasr and Rick Sanchez, and in the film industry which has long been a Zionist bastion and which was brought into existence by Jews in the last century, although none at the time were Zionists.

The power of the accusation of anti-Semitism to bring public figures to their knees will continue to exist until there is a sufficient number of prominent Americans who are willing to challenge it. When that will be I won’t begin to speculate.

KZ: Although undeclared, it’s confirmed by the Federation of American Scientists that Israel possesses up to 200 nuclear warheads. Being a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel has never allowed the IAEA to probe into its nuclear arsenal. We already know about the destiny of Mordecai Vanunu who swapped his freedom for the expression of truth. What’s your viewpoint about the destiny of Israel’s nuclear program? Will Tel Aviv continue enjoying immunity from responsibility?

 

JB: As long as the Zionist support network controls Congress and as long as no American president has the courage to even mention the existence of Israel’s nuclear weapons, and while the U.S. continues to hold the purse strings to the UN, Israel will continue to enjoy both immunity and impunity. Had the leadership of the now non-existent anti-nuclear movement in the US, like the “peace movement”, not been also Zionist-dominated, there might have been some debate on the issue but, because it was [non-existent], the subject was considered off limits.

KZ: Let’s turn to Iran. Iran’s is being portrayed by the U.S. mainstream media in a distorted and hypocritical way. Many Americans, who hadn’t even heard the name of Iran before, are now exposed to a horrifying and dreadful image of the country presented to them by the Zionist-led media outlets. They aren’t aware of the historical civilization of Iran and its unique cultural and social features. How is it possible to unveil the concealed realities of Iran for the Americans who don’t find the proper opportunities to become familiar with a misrepresented Iran?

 

JB: Most Americans would have a problem finding Iran or any other country in the Middle East, or for that matter, anywhere in the world on a map. They are, for the most part, what can be called “geographically challenged,” as well as historically challenged. There is no antidote to that on the horizon which is why Washington is able to get away with making war on countries and peoples that have never done them harm. If there was a military draft as there was during the Vietnam War, neither the war in Iraq or Afghanistan would have gone on as long as they have and there would be opposition to an attack on Iran.

When Nixon cleverly halted the draft of 18-year olds in the early 70s, that took the backbone out of the anti-war movement and that is the reason that as hard pressed as the U.S. is today to maintain an army large enough to fight multiple wars, Washington will not bring back the draft. Hiring private contractors became the alternative. Without the fear of 18-year olds that they will be taken into the army, there is no anti-war movement and there is none worthy of the name at this moment in the United States.

KZ: Many people around the world have come to believe that the media in the US have unrestricted freedom and can express whatever they want, without any impediment or obstruction imposed on them by the administration. It’s almost accurate to say that the US government doesn’t have any direct involvement in media-related affairs; however, there seems to be an implicit pressure on the media not to cross the red lines and violate unwritten laws, including the criticism of Israel. Can you elaborate on this more precisely?

 

JB: It is not the government that prevents criticism from Israel in the media but fear of the repercussions that are guaranteed to follow any genuine criticism be it written or in cartoon form in the U.S. media, even when that criticism is leveled by a Jewish journalist. There are several organizations, most prominently the Anti-Defamation League, CAMERA, and HonestReporting which are able to unleash at a moment’s notice a torrent of emails and letters to the editor, and in certain cases, visits to the offices of an offending newspaper, to make sure those in the media know what they can and cannot write. Since there is no corresponding pressure from Israel’s critics in the public, most editors choose to avoid a fight.

There was a time when a number of columnists in the mainstream press did write critically of Israel and got away with it. But that was 20 years ago and they are no longer around.

KZ: As the final question, what’s your prediction for the future of Israel? Will it continue to determine the U.S. foreign policy and rule the American politicians? Is it capable of maintaining the blockade of Gaza? After all, will Israel succeed in surviving politically?

 

JB: As long as Israel’s supporters, or agents in the U.S., are able to control the U.S. Congress and intimidate whoever happens to be president and as long as those same forces dominate the media there will be no change in the US or in the situation in Gaza. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, while slowly growing in the US, does not have the intensity that it has elsewhere and its targets are limited to what Israeli and US companies do in the West Bank so, realistically, there is unlikely to be any meaningful pressure coming from the US.

What Israel does, however, may produce changes that are unpredictable at the moment. Having twice been defeated by Hezbollah, Israeli officials keep threatening another war on Lebanon and since the US, Europe and the UN have let them get away with all their previous wars on Lebanon, they are likely to try again.

Unlike the Palestinians, the Lebanese are able and willing to aggressively fight back as the Israeli soldiers know all too well, from their resistance to occupation and their halting of the vaunted Israeli wehrmacht in 2006. Should Israel find a way to attack Iran, the repercussions from that might be sufficient to send Israel on the road to what will ultimately be viewed as self-destruction. At the moment, thanks to the unconditional backing by the US for all it crimes, and given its arsenal of nuclear weapons, I consider Israel to be the most immediate threat to the future of the planet.

Kourosh Ziabari is an Iranian freelance journalist and interviewer.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | 3 Comments

Report: Mossad behind blast at Iran base

Ma’an – 25/10/2010

BETHLEHEM — Mossad was behind a blast at an Iranian military base on 12 October that killed 18 Iran Revolutionary Guards and injured 14 others, Israeli Hebrew-language news site Enyan Merkazi reported Monday.

According to the news site, Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, recruited Iranian agents who penetrated an ammunition storage area in the top-secret base in the city of Khoramabad, 500 kilometers southwest of the capital, Tehran.

The news site reported that Iran’s Shehab-3 medium-range missile launchers were stored in the arms depot, “stocked for striking Israel in the event of war.”

The Iranian government-backed IRNA news agency reported that the blast was caused by a fire that had reached the storage area, with most news sites saying the explosion was an accident.

A day after, Iranian MP Reza Rahiminasab told The Tehran Times that the blast was not a “terrorist incident.”

“Other reports about the incident are rumors and should not be heeded,” he added.

Reports of Israel’s involvement in the blast follow the airing of footage of a nuclear reactor in the Galilee, marking the first time Israel’s nuclear facilities have been openly broadcast to the public.

October 25, 2010 Posted by | War Crimes | Leave a comment

Photos of Israeli soldiers humiliating Palestinian detainees disclosed

Occupation soldier leaves threat: “we will be back”
Press TV – October 25, 2010

Israeli troops have abused Palestinian detainees during the 2008-2009 attack on the Gaza Strip, new photos released by a rights group show.

The photos were published on Monday by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group of veteran combat soldiers who collect testimonies and photos of troops who have served in the occupied territories.

One picture shows a soldier pointing his assault rifle at the face of a blindfolded Palestinian detainee.

Other images show soldiers smiling and posing inside what appears to be Palestinian homes and in one picture a woman in a headscarf is cooking at a stove.

Yehuda Shaul, a founding member of Breaking the Silence, said the group has received dozens of similar pictures that point to a widespread phenomenon.

“It’s the norm in the Israeli military and it’s a direct consequence of being in a place where you control and rule civilians on a daily basis,” he said.

“You become corrupt, and you are not able any more to see them as human beings like you,” he added.


Blindfolded and bound Palestinian girl on her knees with four Israeli soldiers pointing their guns and laughing provocatively

The Israeli military would not immediately comment on the photos.

The Israeli military launched a deadly assault on the beleaguered Gaza Strip at the turn of 2009, killing at least 1,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Photos – IMEMC
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October 25, 2010 Posted by | Subjugation - Torture, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , , | 7 Comments