Weiner-Baird debate over Goldstone Report lived up to its billing
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- Written by Philip Weiss Philip Weiss
- Published: 04 March 2011 04 March 2011
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See Brian Baird in action in the video this debate below:
Weiner-Baird debate lived up to its billing
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/03/weiner-baird-debate-lived-up-to-its-billing.html
Last night at the New School in New York, we had a great debate between two Democratic Party antagonists on the Israel/Palestine issue: Brian Baird, the former Washington state congressman, and Brooklyn congressman Anthony Weiner. The conversation was deftly moderated by Roger Cohen of the New York Times, who was not afraid to call Weiner out when the congressman said there are no Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, or when he said that all the settlements are in Israel.
The chief response to the debate so far (besides the predictable at the National Review) has been shock at Anthony Weiner's contempt for international law and Palestinian humanity. A politician who has distinguished himself on healthcare reform and economic justice issues in the U.S. resorts to "It's war, and war is hell" arguments when Brian Baird, a clinical psychologist by training, describes the destruction of schools and innocent families and U.N. compounds by Israeli bombing, and the collective punishment of millions of people denied lentils, toothpaste, building materials, and the freedom to move beyond a territory less than the size of New York City.
When Cohen pressed Weiner on where Israel's eastern border is, he said something about the Jordan River. I have the tape-- I have to dig that out. At this point a man in the audience shouted, Are you in Israel now? It was a New York crowd. A heckler from the other side attacked Brian Baird over his statement that the Israelis had bombed Al Quds hospital with white phosphorus. The heckler said that there were militants hiding themselves at the hospital. Baird (a contributor to our book on the Goldstone Report) shook his head in consternation. He said it was no credit to the heckler or the country he was supporting that he was actually defending the bombing of a hospital.
Writes one friend who was in attendance:
what I gathered is something rather surprising: I actually got the impression that Weiner doesn't really know much about the Israeli Palestinian conflict beyond some basic talking points. Him making a fool of himself claiming there was no occupation in the West Bank or that the border was on Jordan River are gaffes that an actual advocate for Israel in America was not likely to make. It suggests to me that Weiner is just badly informed and that his attachment to Israel is rather shallow: he is not really thinking about Israel beyond some ideal he has known ever since growing up in Brooklyn.
Writes another friend:
To my surprise, I learned something from tonight's debate. I thought about Anthony Weiner's insistence that the borders of Israel extend from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River -- a shocking statement to me even though I know this is the viewpoint of the settler movement in Israel. I didn't realize that it was the common currency of a "proud Zionist" as Weiner described himself. So, if Weiner and his ideological pals believe that all the land taken in the 1967 war is "Israel", no wonder negotiations can go nowhere even with the ever pliable Palestinian Authority. Weiner and his pals believe negotiations are "giving" land to the Palestinians -- an offer of any territory at all is a generous offer. And to hell with the UN resolutions establishing the state of Israel and its borders, and even to hell with the Israeli juridical position that the land is disputed territory. Does this mean that Israel no longer claims its legitimacy from the 1947 UN partition resolution? Mondo bizarro.
B'Tselem to authorities: Deploy to protect Palestinians from expected settler violence
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- Written by B'Tselem B'Tselem
- Published: 04 March 2011 04 March 2011
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3 March 2011: B'Tselem to authorities: Deploy to protect Palestinians from expected settler violence
Yesterday (3 March '11), B'Tselem wrote to the minister of defense, OC Central Command, and the commander of the Israel Police’s SHAI District requesting their urgent action to ensure that security forces are properly deployed in advance of violence by settlers actions against Palestinians and their property, which is expected to occur today, a “Day of Rage” proclaimed by settlers in reaction to the demolition of structures in the Havat Gilad outpost in the West Bank.
The burnt contents of a house torched in Huwara. Settlers are suspected of the act. Salma a-Deb'I, B'Tselem, 1 March '11
B'Tselem documented four acts of violence committed on the day of the demolitions alone (28 Feb. '11), that, it is suspected, were a response to the demolitions. These incidents included the torching of a house in Huwara, the rolling of burning tires down from the Yitzhar settlement to the Palestinian villages Burin and ‘Einabus, and the shattering of car windows in Hebron.
Settlers roll burning tires from the Yitzhar settlement to the Palestinian villages Burin and 'Einabus below. Footage: B'Tselem camera project, 28 Feb. '11.
In the letter, B'Tselem also noted that, during the demolitions and in the hours that followed, additional forces were deployed in the area and several arrests were made of persons suspected of committing violence. While this deployment is welcome, the fact that settlers still managed to carry out violent acts at a number of locations shows that deployment is needed on a larger scale.
Report: Israel company recruiting Gadhafi mercenaries
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- Written by Ma'an News Agency Ma'an News Agency
- Published: 03 March 2011 03 March 2011
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(TEL AVIV, Israel - Ma'an ) -- An Israeli company is recruiting mercenaries to support Moammar Gadhafi's efforts to suppress an uprising against his regime, an Israeli news site said Tuesday.
Citing Egyptian sources, the Hebrew-language news site Inyan Merkazi said the company was run by retired Israeli army commanders.
The report claims that many high-profile former Israeli officers have been illegally trading weapons in several African nations, and have faced interrogations over their activities in the past.
The news site said the head of the company recently met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli intelligence chief Aviv Cokhavi. It added that the officials all approved the company's recruitment of mercenaries to help Gadhafi.
The leader's brutal crackdown has killed at least 1,000 Libyans so far, human rights groups say.
According to the report, Israeli officials approved the recruitment out of fears that if toppled, Gadhafi would be replaced by an "extremist Islamic regime."
During Gadhafi's four-decade rule of the north African state, he has been one of Israel's most vocal critics.
Company representatives recently flew to Chad to discuss the matter with a high-ranking Libyan intelligence officer Abduallah Sanusi, the report said. During the meeting, Sanusi agreed to pay the company to recruit up to 50,000 mercenaries from African countries, according to the news site.
‘Light a Candle for Gaza’ –the rabbis’ piece the Washington Post refused to publish without major changes
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- Written by Rabbi Brant Rosen and Rabbi Alissa Wise Rabbi Brant Rosen and Rabbi Alissa Wise
- Published: 03 March 2011 03 March 2011
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A week ago Mondoweiss posted an important story (related by Felice Gelman) about two rabbis whose Op-Ed on Gaza was supposed to go online in an hour's time at a major newspaper last Hanukah when the authors were presented with a lot of Israeli-tilted questions about the piece. And the piece never ran.
Readers, some rabbis are very brave! Rabbi Brant Rosen got in touch with us to say that the piece was his and Alissa Wise's. And Wise agreed that we could use her name, too. Below, Rosen offers the piece, and then the newspaper's edits! Maybe the editor in question will offer his or her story about the censorship next?
Alissa Wise and I were the rabbis in question.
Read more on Mondoweiss
Gathering Firewood, 9 Afghan Boys Killed by NATO Helicopters
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- Written by ALISSA J. RUBIN and SANGAR RAHIMI ALISSA J. RUBIN and SANGAR RAHIMI
- Published: 02 March 2011 02 March 2011
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Gathering Firewood, 9 Afghan Boys Killed by NATO Helicopters
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and SANGAR RAHIMI
Published: March 2, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
KABUL, Afghanistan — Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake.
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The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived.
. . .