Hamas Lawmaker: Gaza Flotilla Did More Than 10,000 Rockets
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- Written by Robert Naiman, t r u t h o u t Robert Naiman, t r u t h o u t
- Published: 08 July 2010 08 July 2010
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Not Hamas parliamentarian Aziz Dweik, The Wall Street Journal reports:
"When we use violence, we help Israel win international support," said Aziz Dweik, a leading Hamas lawmaker in the West Bank. "The Gaza flotilla has done more for Gaza than 10,000 rockets."
A few months ago, the Israeli government's blockade of Gaza was not a prominent issue on the world's agenda. Now, the Israeli government is being politically compelled to "ease" the blockade. Not end it: still, materials for reconstruction are not yet being let it in; still, exports from Gaza are not yet being allowed out; still, inputs for Gaza's factories are not yet being allowed in. But even the measures to ease the blockade, which have now been announced, such as replacing the list of allowed items with a list of prohibited items, are demands which, prior to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, the Israeli government summarily rejected.
And this story is far from over: international press are reporting on the blockade as they did not do before, scrutinizing Israeli government claims as they did not do before, citing the counterclaims of Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights groups as they did not do before. And more boats are on the way.
What else could be accomplished if governments and mass movements that oppose Israeli government policies toward the Palestinians threw their weight behind other strategic and morally irrefutable demands?
What if, for example, governments and mass movements that oppose Israeli government policies toward the Palestinians demanded that the US government stop subsidizing, through abuse of the US tax code by pro-settler groups, Israeli settlements in the West Bank that even the Israeli government says are illegal?
Many groups in the US are using tax-exempt donations to help Israeli settlers establish permanence in the Israeli-occupied territories, effectively obstructing the creation of a Palestinian state, against the stated policy of the US government and even of the Israeli government, The New York Times reports.
The Times notes several remarkable things about this activity:
some of it appears to run clearly afoul of the US tax code
some of the Israeli settlements subsidized by this activity are illegal under Israeli law
the Israeli government does not grant tax-exempt status to groups supporting the settlements which, as US law is currently (not) being enforced, are de facto exempt in the US
US officials and Israeli military officials are privately complaining about this activity, in part because some of the supported groups are openly defiant of the Israeli government and regularly engage in violence to resist Israeli government policy.
much of this activity is funded by right-wing Christian "Dispensationalist" groups that actually want to foster conflict between Israel and its neighbors because they believe that war between Israel and its neighbors fulfills biblical prophecy.
What if governments and mass movements that oppose Israeli government policies toward the Palestinians demanded that the US government stop subsidizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank by granting tax-exempt status to groups that are promoting Israeli settlements in the West Bank? In particular, what if they demanded that:
the US government vigorously enforce its own tax laws against groups that are supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank
the US government deny tax-exempt status to any activity that supports Israeli settlements in the West Bank that the Israeli government considers illegal
the US government deny tax-exempt status to any activity in the West Bank in support of Israeli settlements there that is not tax-exempt under Israeli law
How could the US government plausibly explain in public its refusal to accede to these demands? If this issue became an international liability for the US government, wouldn't some Washington think tanks, pundits, peace groups and members of Congress start to speak up?
The Israeli military attack on the Mavi Marmara brought forth a lot of loose talk in the world about "boycotting Israel." This is an arena where a government like Turkey - and other governments of "moderate" Muslim-majority countries - could help change history by providing strategic leadership to this unfocused energy. As Naomi Klein has written, "Boycott is not a dogma; it is a tactic." Boycotts are much more likely to be effective when they are strategic, when they are specifically targeted against extreme behavior which the broad mass of humanity can be united against. It's not the nation, it's the occupation.
Imagine if the government of Turkey - which has threatened to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel over the Gaza blockade - were now to announce that it is prepared to lead an international boycott of corporations linked to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. What if Turkey banned the import into Turkey of Caterpillar bulldozers, like the one that killed Rachel Corrie?
What if Turkey and other "moderate" Muslim-majority countries were to introduce a resolution in the Organization of the Islamic Conference in support of boycott of corporations linked to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem? What plausible argument could the government of the United States make publicly against such a move, when by targeting the occupation, these Muslim-majority countries would simply be attempting to implement stated US government policy?
Memo to Hamas and all results-oriented Islamists: if you are looking for strategic companies linked to the Israeli occupation to target, Jewish Voice for Peace has published some key examples here: http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/campaigns/tiaa-cref-divest-occupation. The sea is behind us and the adversary in front.
A case study in failure: the Israel lobby at Toronto Pride
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- Written by Andrew Brett Andrew Brett
- Published: 07 July 2010 07 July 2010
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A case study in failure: the Israel lobby at Toronto Pride
How the campaign to pinkwash Israeli apartheid backfired at Toronto Pride.
Rocco Rossi and Bernie Farber at Pride 2010 [2]
Just one month ago, Israel lobby groups in Canada were celebrating the decision of Pride Toronto to prohibit the participation of the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid [3] (QuAIA) at the 2010 Pride parade. The group has marched in the parade since 2008 in response to a public relations campaign [4] to rebrand Israel as a safe haven for queers in the Middle East, effectively pinkwashing the occupation and Israel's apartheid practices –- which deny rights to queer Palestinians.
After two years of backroom lobbying of the Pride board of directors, their sponsors and city officials who make funding decisions for the festival, the organization succumbed to pressure and announced that it would censor the term "Israeli apartheid" from the parade.
In its May 28 editorial A case study in activism [5], the National Post hailed the decision as a landmark victory that would have “significant repercussions for the intellectual climate in this country.”
Less than a month later, Pride Toronto reversed its decision and allowed Queers Against Israeli Apartheid to march in the parade. As a result of the controversy, hundreds of people joined the group at Pride last weekend, forming the largest Palestine solidarity contingent in the parade’s history.
How did this happen? The Israel lobby applied many of the same tactics it used successfully against other community groups, unions, student associations, artists and academic institutions. Why did they backfire this time?
When Naomi Klein made a surprise appearance [6] at a cabaret fundraiser for Queers Against Israeli Apartheid at a Toronto nightclub last week, she summed it up in six words: “They messed with the wrong community.”
Queers and censorship
Canada’s queer community has a long history of battles against censorship. From pornography laws to Canada Customs, queer activists have discovered that tools of censorship are blunt instruments, which are more often used to target marginalized communities than protect them.
Pink Triangle Press, which owns the lion’s share of LGBT news media in Canada, won two pivotal court cases in 1978 and 1982 when charged with publishing indecent material. As a result of its own struggles against censorship, its editorial policies commit its publications to supporting freedom of expression.
Censorship in Pride parades across Canada has also been a source of contention, with some (mostly straight) observers complaining about everything from drag queens to men dressed in leather. Attempts to censor any contingents -- including the 2002 arrest of nudists in the Toronto pride parade -- have traditionally been met with backlash from the queer community.
Despite this historical context, Israel lobby groups thought it would be a wise move to launch a campaign to censor the Pride parade, in a community hostile to censorship.
Hate speech
Aside from the outlandish claim that Pride parades are not political, the primary argument used by Israel lobby groups to justify censorship is that the term "Israeli apartheid" constitutes hate speech. The claim has been made several times by Israel lobby groups and even some mayoral candidates, but surprisingly no one has bothered to call the police to report this apparent crime.
This is because they know very well that criticism of a government is not hate speech, and it is only being framed this way by defenders of the Israeli government to smear its critics in the court of public opinion.
According to documents [PDF [7]] from a 2009 meeting with City of Toronto officials obtained through a Freedom of Information request, Israel lobbyists admitted that the term Israeli apartheid “does not meet the criminal standard of hate law in the Criminal Code of Canada.”
While extra-judicial interpretations of hate laws may work for right-wing mayoral candidates, it doesn’t convince a community that knows very well what actual hate speech is.
Credibility
The first groups to challenge the inclusion of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in the Pride parade were B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress, two groups with questionable records on LGBT rights.
While the CJC was telling Pride Toronto how to run its parade in 2009, its co-president was Reuven Bulka, a homophobic rabbi who sat on the scientific advisory committee of the U.S.-based National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which advocates conversion therapy for queers and supports the re-listing of homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder. Bulka still sits on the board of directors of the CJC.
At the same time, B’nai Brith was working closely with Canada’s most prominent anti-gay activists, including Charles McVety of the Canada Family Action Coalition. McVety is still campaigning to repeal same-sex marriage in Canada, and he led the charge against Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum.
The track record of these Israel lobby groups on LGBT issues damaged their credibility when they lectured the queer community about which groups should be allowed in the parade.
After these groups failed to convince Pride Toronto to censor the parade in 2009, a new spokesperson emerged to lead the charge against QuAIA. The National Post [5] said that unlike previous lobbyists on the issue, Martin Gladstone “had grass-roots credibility within the gay community,” even though most queer activists had never heard of him before [8].
“I don’t consider myself an activist,” Gladstone told the Jewish Tribune [9] in May 2009. Yet he was subsequently described as a “gay rights activist” by Israel lobby groups [10] and the right-wing press [11] in an attempt to lend credibility to their front person.
On the other side of the debate, activists with long histories of contributions and commitment to queer activism spoke out against the censorship of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
When Pride Toronto announced its censorship decision, the founders of the 1981 Toronto Lesbian and Gay Pride Day issued an open letter expressing solidarity with QuAIA. The grand marshal and honoured dyke both refused their appointments, and 21 former grand marshals, honoured dykes and Pride Toronto award recipients returned their honours in protest. The 519 Church Street Community Centre and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, two of the city’s prominent queer institutions, publicly opposed the censorship. Gay Olympic gold medalist Mark Tewksbury and prominent South African AIDS activist Zackie Achmat both criticized the decision.
Backroom lobbying
The failure of Israel lobby groups to mobilize support among credible queer voices was not just a strategic error. It was the inevitable result of a long-term shift in the priorities and politics of these groups from human rights organizations to lobby groups with a narrow focus on unconditional support for the Israeli government. While activists in Queers Against Israeli Apartheid were tapping into networks and relationships they had formed through years of solidarity work, Israel lobbyists could only rely on pressure tactics against Pride Toronto and its funders.
Queers opposed to censorship were taking the discussion to the community, with a packed town hall held at the queer community centre. Gladstone and the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre chose the backroom approach, initiating secret meetings with city bureaucrats, insisting that they pressure Pride Toronto as one of its funders.
Through this kind of backroom lobbying, a slim majority of Pride Toronto board members were swayed to censor the parade in the interest of preserving the organization’s funding.
Yet the decision to only pressure the leadership -- while ignoring the community Pride Toronto is accountable to -- set the stage for a community revolt. The loud community response created the exact situation that Pride funders were desperately trying to avoid: a political controversy about Israel/Palestine, with sponsors implicated, taking one side of the debate.
The tide is turning
It’s not just the colossal series of strategic missteps made by Israel lobby groups that resulted in this failure. Although Canada arguably has the most pro-Israel government in the world right now, attitudes are shifting in this country and globally against Israeli policies.
It was only one week after Israeli soldiers boarded an aid ship in international waters and murdered nine peace activists, when a town hall was held at the 519 Church Street Community Centre in response to Pride Toronto’s censorship. It was standing-room only in the auditorium where more than 400 queer community members gave a standing ovation to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.
One by one, as representatives of different organizations expressed their solidarity with QuAIA, it became clear that many in attendance were not just supportive of free speech, but also becoming increasingly aware of Israeli government practices and how they disproportionately harm queer Palestinians.
“We are Black queer and trans people against Israeli apartheid,” announced Syrus Ware from the Blackness Yes Committee, to cheers from the audience. Amy Gottlieb, one of the founders of the 1981 Pride Day, spoke while wearing a “Jews Against the Occupation” button.
As opinions continue to shift against the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, Israel lobby groups are stepping up their campaign to silence critics in Canada. The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism -- a pseudo-parliamentary committee of pro-Israel MPs -- is using anti-Semitism as a front to develop strategies to curtail criticism of Israel. One of the deputations to the committee hearings was made by Martin Gladstone, whose submission falsely accused [12] Queers Against Israeli Apartheid of displaying swastikas at the 2009 Pride parade.
However, as the Pride Toronto example demonstrates, these desperate measures only bring more attention to criticisms of Israeli policies, and encourage discussion about the plight of Palestinians. Every time an attempt is made to censor the term “Israeli apartheid,” more people ask questions about how Israeli policies constitute apartheid under international law. And they get answers [13].
On May 28, the National Post prematurely celebrated the “wonderful irony that the professional ‘activists’ at QuAIA got beaten at their own game.” As we can see now, the real irony is that Martin Gladstone’s game only helped to make “Israeli apartheid” a household term in Toronto’s queer community and beyond.
And now that we know what Israeli apartheid is, it’s time for us to end it [14].
Source URL (retrieved on Jul 7 2010 - 6:09pm): http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/andrew-brett/2010/07/case-study-failure
Links:
[1] http://rabble.ca/category/bios/andrew-brett
[2] http://rabble.ca/sites/rabble/files/node-images/RoccoBernie.jpg
[3] http://www.queersagainstapartheid.org
[4] http://queersagainstapartheid.org/gayisrael/
[5] http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=3080545
[6] http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2010/07/features/naomi-klein-there-has-been-very-powerful-attack-freedom-expr
[7] http://quaiatoronto.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/09-11-17-martin-gladstone-agenda-for-meeting-with-city1.pdf
[8] http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Who_is_Martin_Gladstone-8711.aspx
[9] http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/200905261677/Pride-parade-mircocosm-of-anti-Semitism-happening-globally.html
[10] http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Friends-Simon-Wiesenthal-Center-Holocaust-Studies-Commends-Mayoral-Candidates-Motion-1281889.htm
[11] http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/06/25/pf-14511236.html
[12] http://queersagainstapartheid.org/2010/03/31/martin-gladstones-campaign-of-lies-and-defamation/
[13] http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10578.shtml
[14] http://bdsmovement.net/
[15] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/andrew-brett/2010/07/case-study-failure#comment-1159950
[16] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/andrew-brett/2010/07/case-study-failure#comment-1160142
[17] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/andrew-brett/2010/07/case-study-failure#comment-1160183
[18] http://rabble.ca/user
[19] http://rabble.ca/user/register
Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan cancel Israel appearances
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- Written by JTA JTA
- Published: 07 July 2010 07 July 2010
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Ryan canceled her appearance the day after the Gaza flotilla incident, The Jerusalem Post reported, quoting Cinematheque associate director Yigal Molad Hayo.
Molad Hayo said Hoffman broke off negotiations, which had reached an “advanced" stage, the day after the incident in which Israeli Navy commandos boarded a Gaza-bound vessel attempting to break a maritime blockade, resulting in the death of nine passengers.
While neither actor said explicitly that the flotilla incident was the reason, “it became quite clear that this was the reason,” Hayo told the Post.
In addition to the actors, Prince Albert of Monaco canceled his
participation in the event, which begins Thursday and runs for two
weeks. The film festival is scheduled to have a tribute to actress
Grace Kelly, the prince's mother.
Israel's land grab in the West Bank: 42 per cent of territory is controlled by settlers
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- Written by Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem and David Usborne Catrina Stewart in Jerusalem and David Usborne
- Published: 07 July 2010 07 July 2010
- Hits: 3445 3445
Exposed: The truth about Israel's land grab in the West Bank
As President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet, a report reveals 42 per cent of territory is controlled by settlers
Jewish settlers, who claim a divine right to the whole of Israel, now control more than 42 per cent of the occupied West Bank, representing a powerful obstacle to the creation of a Palestinian state, a new report has revealed.
The jurisdiction of some 200 settlements, illegal under international law, cover much more of the occupied Palestinian territory than previously thought. And a large section of the land has been seized from private Palestinian landowners in defiance even of an Israeli supreme court ruling, the report said, a finding which sits uncomfortably with Israeli claims that it builds only on state land.
Drawing on official Israeli military maps and population statistics, the leading Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, compiled the new findings, which were released just as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arrived in Washington to try to heal a gaping rift with US President Barack Obama over the issue of settlements.
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"The settlement enterprise has been characterised, since its inception, by an instrumental, cynical, and even criminal approach to international law, local legislation, Israeli military orders, and Israeli law, which has enabled the continuous pilfering of land from Palestinians in the West Bank," the report concluded.
Mr Obama's demand for a freeze on illegal building has caused months of friction between his administration and the Israeli government. But the US president, facing mid-term elections in November, appeared eager to end the dispute with Israel yesterday.
He said the country was making "real progress" on improving conditions in the Gaza Strip and was serious about achieving peace.
The two men made a joint public appearance, carefully choreographed to convey mutual ease and friendship.
When Mr Netanyahu last visited the White House, in March, US anger at his refusal to end construction meant the Israeli premier was denied a joint appearance with Mr Obama before the cameras. This time the photo-op was granted and the two men afterwards shared a meal – although not a state dinner but a working lunch.
"Reports about the demise of the special US-Israel relationship aren't premature, there are just flat wrong," Mr Netanyahu said, in response to a reporter's question about the perceived tensions. Playing to the same script, Mr Obama said that the "bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable".
But the revelations in the B'Tselem report suggest that despite Mr Netanyahu's stated desire for peace, his policy on settlements remains a dangerous obstacle to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and therefore to a durable peace.
They cast an uncompromising spotlight on Israeli practices in the Palestinian territories that have long drawn international criticism for establishing "facts on the ground" hampering the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
While most of the Jewish settlement activity is concentrated in 1 per cent of the West Bank, settler councils have in fact fenced off or earmarked massive tracts of land, comprising some 42 per cent of the West Bank, B'Tselem said.
And despite the outlawing by Israel of settlement expansion on private Palestinian land, settlers have seized 21 per cent of land that Israel recognises is privately-owned.
B'Tselem alleged that Israel had devised an extensive system of loopholes to requisition Palestinian land.
At the same time, Israel has built bypass roads, erected new checkpoints, and taken control of scarce water resources to the benefit of the settlers. The measures have effectively created Palestinian enclaves within the West Bank, the report said.
Under international law, any Jewish settlements built on occupied territory are illegal. These include all the settlements in the West Bank, and thousands of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, the Arab-dominated sector of the city annexed by Israel after the 1967 Six Day War. The international community still regards East Jerusalem as occupied territory. Despite firm commitments from successive Israeli governments to dismantle illegal outposts built after 2001 and to cease expansion of the settlements, Israel has provided millions of dollars worth of incentives to encourage poorer families to move into the West Bank. Some 300,000 settlers live in the West Bank.
Settlers immediately attacked the report, claiming it was timed as a spoiler to the Washington meeting.
In Washington, no concrete breakthroughs were announced but Mr Obama said that he believed the Israeli leader was ready to move towards direct talks with the Palestinians. Indirect talks began earlier this year, mediated by special US envoy George Mitchell.
Mr Netanyahu showed signs of responding to the pressure. "Peace is the best option for all of us and I think we have a unique opportunity to do it," he said. "If we work together with [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas then we can bring a great message of hope to our peoples, to the region and to the world."
The Palestinians continue to refuse direct talks with Israel while new settlement construction is allowed. Settlement activity continues in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians aim to include in a new state.
With US-Israel ties already frayed, Mr Netanyahu postponed a visit to the White House last month in the aftermath of Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish-led flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian goods to Gaza.
For Mr Obama, the danger is clear that any long-lasting record of animosity towards Israel could translate into lost votes at the mid-term elections.
Quote of the day
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- Written by Albert Einstein Albert Einstein
- Published: 06 July 2010 06 July 2010
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