PM slams UN Human Rights Council for condemning Israel in five resolutions last week

Jerusalem Post

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

03/30/2014 14:44

Netanyahu: UNHRC continues its 'march of hypocrisy' against Israel

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Israeli official: European countries failed to show moral leadership.
 

THE MEETING hall of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Photo: Reuters

 

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed the United Nations Human Rights Council for “absurdly” condemning Israel in five resolutions last week while censuring Syria and Iran only once.

“This march of hypocrisy is continuing and we will continue to condemn it and expose it,” he told his cabinet at the start of its weekly meeting in Jerusalem.

Related:

• UN rights investigator accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'

“The UN Human Rights Council condemned Israel five times, this at a time when the slaughter in Syria is continuing, innocent people are being hung in the Middle East and human rights are being eroded.

“In many countries free media are being shut down and the UN Human Rights Council decides to condemn Israel for closing off a balcony. This is absurd,” said Netanyahu.

On Friday the UNHRC ended its 25th session by almost unanimously, voting 46-1, on four resolutions condemning Israeli treatment of Palestinians. It also condemned Israeli human rights abuses against Syrian citizens of Israel who live on the Golan Heights, voting 33 to 1, with 13 abstentions.

Out of the 42 resolutions adopted by the council on a wide range of human issues only 10 censured the actions of a specific country, out of which five of the condemnations were leveled against Israel.
A resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was approved by consensus.

But none of the condemnations of other countries, including those of Iran and Syria, on the issue of human rights received the same level of support from member states as the charges against Israel.

The 47-member UN Human Rights Council voted 21-to-9, with 16 abstentions on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

It voted 23-to-12, with 12 abstentions on “reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.”
It voted 30-to-6 ,with 11 abstentions on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It voted 32-to-4, with 11 abstentions on the grave deterioration of human rights and the humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic. This resolution strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons. It also condemned the “bombardment of civilian areas, in particular the indiscriminate use of barrel bombs, ballistic missiles and cluster bombs and other actions which may amount to war crimes against humanity.”

An Israeli official said the fact that Israeli actions on the Golan Heights garnered slightly more support, with 33 countries approving it, was “almost a bad joke.”

It was particularly upsetting, the Israeli official said, that the UNHRC approved such a resolution at a time when hospitals in the north of Israel are treating scores of Syrian victims from the civil war in their country.

The Israeli official also took issue with the strong united stance against Israel by nine member states of the European Union including: Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Ireland. 

All nine EU countries supported the four resolutions which condemned Israeli treatment of Palestinians, supporting the Goldstone Report on Israeli actions in Gaza and encouraged a boycott of West Bank settlements and Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

They abstained but did not reject the resolution condemning Israeli violations of of human rights against Syrian citizens of Israel on the Golan Heights.
“It’s a pity that some western democracies choose to jump on the automatic anti-Israel band wagon at the UNHRC,” an Israeli official said.

“It is a pity they did not use that moment to demonstrate moral leadership, instead of that they became part of the travesty. They became partners in a cynical one sided farce,” the official said.

But the official lauded the United States, which was the sole country to stand with Israel and reject all five resolutions.

“They showed moral leadership,” the official said.

The Palestinians, however, welcomed the almost unanimous support at the UNHRC and said such resolutions showed Israel that it could not “flout” international law.

“This vote confirms the world’s clear condemnation of the systematic human rights violations committed by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people and their fundamental rights,” said Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki.

The Foreign Ministry was not present at the UNHRC's meetings this week, due to its ongoing strike against the government over equitable wages.

National Geographic rates the Abraham Path the #1 New Walking Trail in the World!

We are privileged to announce that National Geographic Traveler has selected the Abraham Path (Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalil) as the world’s number one walking trail!  This is a great honor for Palestine which hosts part of this walk, and for the Palestinian people who welcome walkers from all around the world. Walking in Palestine, one discovers its natural beauty, as well as the warm welcoming and hospitality of the Palestinian people.  As National Geographic’s Ben Lerwill describes the “landscape has a hardiness that conceals gifts: mistletoe, wagtails, dragonflies and pink cyclamen. And the walking is often dramatic, particularly in the canyons of Wadi Auja, where the only sounds are birdsong and footfall on loose rock.”   The “long-distance hiking trail that, once complete, will stitch a route across almost the entire region; through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel.”  Siraj is committed to working hard to offer the inquisitive walker opportunities to explore and experience Palestine’s unique landscape, rich history, culture and its hospitable people, who generously offer the walker home stays and home cooked traditional Palestinian meals.   Many thanks to National Geographic Traveller and Ben Lerwill for bringing Palestine to the forefront as a destination for hiking.  We are grateful to every single person who has contributed in creating this one of a kind path in order to build bonds between international visitors and Middle East communities. “With your help, we can build a path of discovery and human connection for the ages, a genuine beacon of hope for a better and kinder world."  - William Ury, Founder and Chair of the Abraham Path Initiative Read more: http://natgeotraveller.co.uk/how/features/317744/ We welcome YOU to experience Palestine through our walks! For more information:  info@sirajcenter.org  While I'm not particularly a fan of Abraham myself I do recommend this Palestinian peace organization's tours as they are a wonderful way for Internationals to learn real as opposed to Zionist propaganda of the Palestinian situation while experiencing the real ancient environmental conditions. Great work, Siraj Center, kudos!

Sawan Masih: Pakistani Christian gets death penalty for blasphemy

BBC News

28 March 2014 Last updated at 03:28 ET

Christian families had already fled when the rioters struck

A Pakistani Christian man has been sentenced to death for blasphemy, in a case which sparked fierce rioting in the eastern city of Lahore last March.

Sawan Masih was convicted of using derogatory remarks against the Prophet Mohammed in a row with a Muslim friend.

Hundreds of Muslims attacked the city's Christian Joseph colony, torching homes, when the allegations surfaced.

Allegations of blasphemy against Islam are taken very seriously in Pakistan, where 97% of the population are Muslim.

Several recent cases have prompted international concern about the application of blasphemy laws.

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Sawan Masih's lawyer said a judge announced the verdict during a hearing at the jail where the trial has been held, amid fears for his client's safety if he attended courThe 26-year-old Masih, who is a father of three, has consistently maintained his innocence during the year-long trial. He argues the real reason for the blasphemy allegation was a property dispute between him and his friend.His father, Chapman Masih, said: "My son is innocent... we are not being treated fairly", the BBC's Shumaila Jaffrey in Lahore reports. The rioting that followed the incident lasted days and saw about 3,000 Muslims attack the Christian neighbourhood, starting fires. Two churches and dozens of bibles were also desecrated in the attack
A de facto moratorium on the death penalty means that he is unlikely to face the gallows any time soon.
Since the 1990s, scores of Christians have been convicted for desecrating the Koran or blaspheming against the Prophet Mohammed.

While most of them have been sentenced to death by the lower courts, many sentences have been overturned due to lack of evidence. Sawan Masih now has 30 days to appeal

Critics argue that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are frequently misused to settle personal scores and that members of minority groups are also unfairly targeted.

Muslims constitute a majority of those prosecuted, followed by the minority Ahmadi community.
In 2012 the arrest of a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, on blasphemy charges provoked international outrage. After being detained in a high security prison for several weeks she was eventually released and her family subsequently fled to Canada.

More recently the conviction for blasphemy of Muhammad Asghar, an elderly British man with a history of mental illness, prompted global concern.

 And Obama, the supposed Christian, gives aid money and weaponry to Pakistan and doesn't protect Christians there from obvious fascist Islamic religious repression. Obama's a big skinny whimp of a Prez when push comes to shove in really protecting human rights of people around the world under threat of religiously inspired fascist terrorism and repression. We need an American leader in our highest office and not these front people for hidden agenda special interest groups like the Zionists, the Big Oil and Bigger Heroine, human traffic trade networks, and weaponry mfgs, making billions of dollars off of promoting and maintaining human suffering when leadership could begin ending it tomorrow.

 

Arab Summit Rejects Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State.

Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, right, and Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil El Araby, left, attend the closing session of the Arab League Summit at Bayan Palace, Kuwait, March 26, 2014.

Phillip Walter Wellman

March 26, 2014 

KUWAIT CITY — Arab leaders say they will continue to regard Israel as an illegitimate state and have put all blame for troubled peace efforts on the Israelis.  Leaders were meeting at the 25th Arab League Summit in Kuwait City which closed Wednesday.

This year’s meeting was marked by deepening divisions among member countries, but a united stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was always expected.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallha read out a final communiqué at the summit’s close, saying “the Palestinian cause remains at the center of our concerns in the Arab world."

The body condemned Israeli settlement expansion and what it calls the desecrating of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.

“We hold Israel entirely responsible for the lack of progress in the peace process and continuing tension in the Middle East,” the declaration said.  “We express our absolute and decisive rejection to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.”

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been demanding Palestinian leaders give such recognition during the current peace talks.

Arab leaders also expressed their “utter solidarity for the Syrian people,” and urged President Bashar al-Assad to halt all military action.

They endorsed a peaceful solution to Syria's civil war, despite a call at the summit from opposition Syrian National Coalition leader Ahmad al-Jarba for the international community to provided sophisticated weapons to rebels.

League delegates also pledged to work together to fight terrorism and promote economic activity in the region.

The secretary-general of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, on Wednesday admitted there were originally doubts over whether the Kuwait meeting would take place because of numerous disagreements between members over issues like Egypt and Syria.  He called for solidarity in the months ahead.

“We need to join forces for a better future,” he said.

At the summit’s closing ceremony, the acting president of Egypt, Adly Mansoor, also called for greater Arab collaboration, suggesting discord was undermining the league and preventing it from making meaningful improvements to the Arab world.

“We aspire to reaching a day when Arab citizens feel the results of our activities,” he said.

Egypt will host the next Arab League Summit in 2015. 

Whenever you hear Israelis bragging about how Israel is the Middle East's only democracy, don't kid yourself. It is not for Israeli Palestinians who do not enjoy equal rights in Israel with Israel Jews. Just Google most any Israeli Palestinian organization to confirm this truth. Israeli Palestinians constitute 20% of Israel's population and to have Israel as a Jewish State automatically denies them democratic equality with Israeli Jews. Bare in mind that Zionism is racially based and will, if not stopped, attempt to empty all of Palestine of Palestinian Arabs and replace them with Jews, mostly descendants of European immigrants allowed to mass migrate to Israel while Palestianians were being driven off by Israeli terrorist gangs so that their homes and land could be taken over by European Jews. Zionism is Jewish ethnic cleansing stealth style so Americans and Western nations don't see the cumulative effects of genocide of Palestinian society.

Cri me a River..Obama to Putin, my dick is still bigger than yours.

25 March 2014 Last updated at 17:43 ET

Ukraine: Obama says Russia 'acting out of weakness'

Barack Obama says Vladimir Putin has a choice to make whether to abide by international law or face "disruptive sanctions"

US President Barack Obama has said Russia is acting "not out of strength, but out of weakness" in Ukraine.

He also warned of the possibility of further sanctions against Russia if it encroached further into Ukraine.
Speaking in The Hague, Mr Obama said he was encouraged by the willingness of EU countries to consider sanctions that could possibly hurt them as well.

The US has already imposed sanctions on Russian individuals after Moscow annexed Crimea earlier this month.

Mr Obama, who is attending a meeting of G7 countries, said the annexation was not a "done deal" as the international community had not recognised it but admitted that "the facts on the ground are that the Russian military controls Crimea".

He expressed concern about the large numbers of Russian troops massed on the border but did say Russia had the right to deploy troops on its own territory.

"It is up to Russia to act responsibly and show itself once again to be willing to abide by international norms and... if it fails to do so, there will be some costs," he said.

A Russian warship prepares to make its way in the bay in the Crimean city of Sevastopol

 

Russian marines march at a military base in Sevastopol

 

Mr Obama said that certain sanctions discussed with European countries could "cause some disruptions to each of our economies, or certain industries" but said he was "encouraged by... the firmness and willingness on the part of all countries to look at ways in which they can participate in this process".

He added that he hoped the International Monetary Fund would quickly finalise an aid package for Ukraine, adding that it was important to help Ukraine hold successful elections in May.

Also on Tuesday evening, there were reports that Russian troops had seized the last remaining Ukrainian warship in Crimea.

A Ukrainian defence spokesman said a Russian-flagged tugboat was towing away the minesweeper Cherkassy.

The last military base under Ukrainian control in the region, in Feodosia, was seized by Russian forces on Monday.

G-7 leaders agree to freeze out Russia: This global politics at a new level: A Macho Man threatens world peace

Los Angeles Times

Russia is shut out of the G-8 over its Crimea annexation. World leaders threaten more sanctions if Moscow further invades Ukraine, and they move their annual meeting out of Sochi.


By Kathleen Hennessey and Christi Parsons

March 24, 2014, 8:31 p.m.

THE HAGUE — Leaders of seven of the world's largest economies on Monday agreed to freeze Russia out of the Group of Eight nations and threatened sanctions against key sectors of its economy if Moscow further invades or seeks to destabilize Ukraine.

The moves, approved by the heads of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, represented a growing alignment behind a strategy to prevent any escalation of the crisis involving Russia's incursion into Ukraine. But implicitly, the Group of Seven nations acknowledged that the standoff — with Russia in control of the Crimean peninsula and Europe moving only slowly to isolate Russia — may stretch on for months or years.

In a statement issued from the sidelines of a previously scheduled nuclear security summit, the leaders agreed that Russia's annexation last week of Ukraine's Crimea region was in "contravention of international law" and against the "shared beliefs and shared responsibilities" of the elite diplomatic club, which was expanded to include Russia in 1998.

The group revoked Moscow's participation "until Russia changes course" and moved its annual meeting on the world economy from Sochi, Russia, to Brussels.

President Obama arrived at the meeting in The Hague — his first day of a weeklong trip to Europe and Saudi Arabia — intent on pushing a harder line against Russia, and he appeared to have had some success.

"Europe and America are united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people. We're united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far," Obama said early in the day at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, standing in front of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch," a massive oil masterpiece depicting a militia rallying to fight.

Moving the June gathering from Sochi— a town that President Vladimir Putin redeveloped as a symbol of modern Russian might and which hosted this year's Olympic Winter Games — to the seat of the European Union was laden with symbolism but limited in impact. Still, it marked another milestone in Russia's shifting relationship with Europe in the post-Cold War era.

"Symbols do matter," said Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia who left his post this year and is now a Hoover fellow at Stanford University. When Russia formally joined the G-8, he said, it was heralded as an arrival.

"For them, it was a symbol of being a part of the big-boy club, the great-powers club and a club of democracies, I might add," he said. "Those aspirations are over or, at least, put on hold for now."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who attended the nuclear security summit, dismissed the G-7's decision as insignificant, saying that most major problems can be discussed at other international bodies.

"The G-8 is an informal club, no one gives out membership cards and no one can expel members," Lavrov told reporters. "If our Western partners believe that this format has exhausted itself, let it be. We are not clinging to it."

Obama and Putin last week imposed sanctions on each other's top aides and other government officials because of the dispute over Crimea. Earlier in the week, Washington and the 28-nation European Union jointly imposed travel bans and asset freezes against about two dozen Russian and Ukrainian officials. The EU later added more Russian officials to the list.

As leaders met in The Hague on Monday, Russian forces were consolidating their hold on military sites in Crimea. U.S and NATO officials said they were also keeping a wary eye on Russian troops massing elsewhere in southern Ukraine and in the east.

Russia rallied its own international clique to its defense. A group of emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — also met. The so-called BRICS nations issued a statement disavowing sanctions on Russia and urging nations to resolve their conflict at the United Nations "in a calm and level-headed manner."

The current approach does not "contribute to a sustainable and peaceful solution," the group said.

In Washington, the Senate moved forward on $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine, but the bill still faces opposition from House Republicans who are crafting their own version of the measure.

At the summit on nuclear security in The Hague, more than 50 counties are discussing ways to prevent a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons. But the dispute over Crimea dominated the conversations. European nations had expressed reluctance to threaten broad sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy, mindful that such a move could damage their own still-fragile economies. But Monday's statement warns of the possibility of "sectoral sanctions."

A senior Obama administration official said the leaders discussed sanctions on arms, banking and energy. But European nations that depend heavily on Russian gas and oil are worried about restricting Moscow's energy exports.

The U.S. has offered to "mitigate" the impact of such sanctions, expressing support for expansion of U.S. natural gas exports and encouraging Europe to diversify its energy sources, said the official, who asked to not be named discussing private talks.

The official noted that the Energy Department on Monday approved a conditional order to authorize exports of liquefied natural gas from a proposed terminal in Coos Bay, Ore. The order depends on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of an environmental review.

Putin's acting out is so sick and twisted behavior for any leader of a major nation. Putin is getting up there with North Korea Kim and gadzooks, shades of Hitler too. Russia needs to reign in their bozos on parade that seem more the Russian Mafiosos than anything else. Obama's macho war posturing act "I'll get Osama!" was bad enough circus of psychos in high office, and now we've got another Marlboro Man wannabe parading his dick in public.

Pope Francis denounces 'evil, blood-stained' mafia

BBC News

21 March 2014 Last updated at 19:31 ET

 

The Pope was uncompromising in his criticism of the mafia as he met family members bereaved by organised crime

Pope Francis has launched a stinging attack on the mafia, warning gangsters that they will go to hell unless they repent and stop doing evil.

"Blood-stained money, blood-stained power, you can't bring it with you to your next life. Repent," he said.
He was speaking at a prayer vigil for relatives of those killed by the mafia.

The Pope has spoken out frequently about the evils of corruption and wrote a booklet on the subject in 2005 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

'No joy'

  The meeting near Rome on Friday - organised by a citizens' group called Libera - was aimed at demonstrating the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to organised crime, rejecting historic ties with mafia bosses claiming to be good Catholics.

 

The vigil is held every year, but this was the first time that it was attended by the Pope

 

 

The Pope told told Italy's mobsters to relinquish their 'blood-stained money' which 'cannot be taken into paradise'

 

 

More than 1,000 people attended prayers with the Pope at a church near the Vatican

 

 

 

The meeting was an attempt to draw a line under the church's historic ties with mafia dons claiming to be God-fearing Roman Catholics

 

The vigil was filled with those who have suffered at the hands of the mafia, including people whose family members and loved ones had been killed.

As the names of those murdered were read out, the Pope listened, deep in sombre thought, says he BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome.

After expressing solidarity with the 842 people at the vigil, he said that he could not leave the service without addressing those not present: The "protagonists" of mafia violence.

"This life that you live now won't give you pleasure. It won't give you joy or happiness," he said.
"There's still time to not end up in hell, which is what awaits you if you continue on this path."

Our correspondent says there is a long list of brave priests in Italy who have stood up to the mafia, and some have paid with lives.

But he says that the wider Church has been accused of not doing enough to confront the gangsters.
Anti-mafia activists hope that the Pope's words are a signal that he is on their side.

Israel's Elbit Systems Wins £87m Contract on US-Mexico Border Fence

• By Jack Moore March 7, 2014 18:06 GMT

Israeli soldiers patrol the border with the northern Gaza Strip during a drill near Netiv HaasaraReuters

 

Israeli company Elbit Systems, the largest supplier to the Israeli military, has been awarded a $87m contract from the US Department of Homeland Security to produce and install surveillance systems for the US-Mexico border fence.

The contract is for an unspecified number of observation posts to be built along the US-Mexico border fence in the area of Nogales, south of Tuscon.

Elbit Systems was involved in the West Bank wall separating the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel. The company provides "intrusion detection systems" and infrastructure support for the barrier.

Arizona's Republican senator John McCain said: "Arizonans have been waiting more than a decade for the Department of Homeland Security to place the needed technology along our border to support the Border Patrol and fully secure our southern border.

"After many months of delay, the awarding of this contract to Elbit Systems is an important development toward fully securing the border in Arizona. These Integrated Fixed Towers in southern Arizona will give our agents the ability to detect, evaluate and respond to all illegal entries crossing our border."

Elbit Systems is the Israeli military's largest supplier of drones, military technology and surveillance. Its drones are described on its website as "the backbone of the Israel Defence Force's UAS [unmanned aerial system] force". They have been used on Palestinian civilians in strikes on Gaza.

As part of its US tender, Elbit said that Homeland Security needed to "adopt a more complete border security system, which combines radar and electro-optical sensors, unattended ground sensors, unmanned air systems, and manned or unmanned ground vehicles to enhances agents' flexibility and responsiveness".

The United States of Israel in action, folks. Our country being subverted from within by Zionists 5th Columnists now controlling our U.S. government.

Following settlers' demand, IDF removes Palestinian flag from Hebron roof

Haaretz

Owner says he agreed after soldiers promised to release neighbor they arrested for throwing stones.

By Chaim Levinson | Mar. 17, 2014 | 4:53 AM | 1

Hebron resident tries to remove Palestinian flag.

By Chaim Levinson | Mar. 13, 2014 | 3:47 PM | 11

Israeli soldiers turned up for the second time on Saturday at a home in Hebron to order the removal of a Palestinian flag, even though the Israel Defense Forces said last week there is no policy against displaying flags.

Shadi Sider, a member of a Palestinian family living near the Jewish settlement enclave of Beit Hadassah, said the soldiers had arrested a neighbor for allegedly throwing stones and conditioned his release on the removal of the flag. Sider said he capitulated to their demand and took it down.

“[The soldiers] arrested a youth who lives in the building, claiming he threw stones,” Sider said. “They said they would release the boy if we took down the flag. There was an important officer with them so we agreed and took it down.”

An IDF official denied Sider’s claim about the Palestinian youth who was arrested, saying he was freed because he is too young to be criminally responsible. Convincing is all it took to get the flag removed, the source said.

The IDF declined to give an official comment.

Just over a week ago, following the first attempt by soldiers to have the flag removed, the IDF said there was no official policy that says Palestinians cannot display flags. “There is no intention to implement such a policy,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said. “It was a local decision. The matter will be looked into.”
However, the IDF commander in Hebron, Avi Bluth, later decided to have the flag taken down, explaining its display has disturbed the status quo between Jewish settlers and Palestinian residents in Hebron.

What prompted the initial visit by Israeli soldiers to Sider’s house was a request by a settler who only turned to the soldiers for help after failing to remove the flag himself. The settler had climbed onto a ladder to try and reach the flag, but became entangled in barbed wire. He attracted a crowd of onlookers who recorded the scene. After a short while soldiers arrived to extricate him.

When the soldiers, who were accompanied by an officer, knocked on Sider’s door to ask him to remove the flag they were met with refusal. They said they were acting on orders from brigade headquarters. Tempers quickly flared, and the soldiers threatened to arrest Sider. But then the officer called brigade headquarters to warn that cameras were present, asking, “Do you want me to remove it by force?” About 10 minutes later, the soldiers left but said they would return with an official order.

Hebron settlers released a statement saying the footage of the affair, taken by a tourist, only shows half the story, and that Sider “provoked” the settler by waving the flag and “taunting” him.

“The flag may not be defined as illegal but it represents the [Palestine Liberation Organization], a terrorist organization that has never recognized Israel and has never renounced its murderous intentions,” the Beit Hadassah statement read.

Hebron is in West Bank Palestine, not Israel. So IDF is saying it is illegal for Palestinians to show a Palestinian flag in Palestine. Our American dollars pay for these Israeli Zionist goon squads protecting Jewish fascist racist aggression against Palestinians in Palestine.

Gun lobby shoots down PIO’s nomination as top US doctor

Chidanand Rajghatta,TNN | Mar 16, 2014, 03.54 AM IST

A

 Murthy is one of four nominees who has run into trouble this month after some Democrats have balked.

 

WASHINGTON: America's powerful gun lobby may have succeeded in shooting down the Obama administration's nomination of Vivek Murthy as the nation's surgeon-general, the first time the post would have gone to someone of Indian-origin.

The White House is said to be considering delaying a vote in the full senate on the confirmation — or advising Dr Murthy to withdraw altogether — after at least 10 Democratic Senators are believed to have backed out from a yes vote under pressure from the gun lobby. Murthy has been vocal in his support for various gun control measures like an assault weapons ban, mandatory safety training and ammunition sales limits.

Although he toned down his strong views during the early stage of the confirmation process, saying he won't make gun control a priority if he gets the job, the National Rifle Association (NRA) rallied it troops to torpedo his confirmation after it passed the Senate committee stage.

"Mr Murthy is not just a gun control supporter, he's a gun control activist and it is clear his agenda is to treat a constitutional freedom as a disease. That's not something the National Rifle Association is going to sit idly by and watch happen," an NRA spokesman said this week, even as the organization sent out a grass-roots alert to millions of its members and subscribers across the country, urging them to "contact your senators and ask them to oppose confirmation of President Obama's radically antigun nominee."

One such Senator who felt pressure from his constituents was Alaska's Mark Begich of Alaska, according to media reports. Begich who is up for re-election, reportedly received angry letters from his constituents, and told them he shared their concerns and would vote against Murthy's confirmation. There are said to be at least ten such Democratic senators from states such as Arkansas, Montana, and Louisiana, which have a strong pro-gun constituency.

Democrats currently hold a 53-45 majority in the Senate with two independents voting with Democrats to make it 55-45. They can pull it off losing five senators (no support can be expected from Republicans), but ten is too wide a chasm to bridge. So from all accounts, the administration would rather withdraw its nominee from the fray and live to fight another day.

Iran's Zarif says Israel lying about Gaza rocket ship

BBC News

6 March 2014 Last updated at 07:12 ET

The Israeli military released pictures of the ship's cargo on its blog on Wednesday

Iran has rejected Israeli allegations that it was behind a shipment of Syrian-made rockets intended for Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed them as "failed lies".

He claimed they were published "just in time" for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference, which took place earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Israel's military said it had found the rockets on a ship it seized in the Red Sea off Sudan.
The Klos-C, a Panamanian-flagged vessel, is currently being escorted to the southern Israeli port of Eilat, and is expected to arrive on Saturday. Its 17-member crew were apparently unaware of their cargo.
'Anti-Iran campaign'

  The Klos-C was transporting dozens of M-302 rockets, which have a range of 150km to 200km (93-124 miles), Israeli military spokesman Brig-Gen Moti Almoz said.

"The ship may be carrying other weapons as well, but we can only know this when it reaches Eilat."

“Iran has been exposed for what it is” Benjamin Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister

"There is clear and unequivocal information that this came from Iran."

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had tracked the weapons for several months as they were flown from Damascus to Tehran and then taken to a port in southern Iran.
From there, it added, they were loaded on to the KLOS-C, which sailed to Iraq, where containers of cement were added. The ship was eventually intercepted while on its way to Sudan.

On Thursday, Mr Zarif rejected the allegations and questioned why they had surfaced just after the conference a pro-Israel US lobby group.

"An Iranian ship carrying arms for Gaza," he wrote on Twitter. "Captured just in time for annual AIPAC anti-Iran campaign. Amazing Coincidence! Or same failed lies."

A spokesman for Hamas, the militant Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, said they were a "silly joke".

Israel has long accused Iran of arming groups such as Hamas.

More than 60 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have hit Israel since the start of last year, Israel says.
Hamas denies that it has fired any rockets since a 2012 ceasefire agreement with Israel, with other Gaza-based groups claiming responsibility. However, Israel says it hold Hamas responsible for any attacks from Gaza and has repeatedly launched deadly air strikes.

'True face'

  During a visit to California on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the discovery of the shipment had revealed "the true face of Iran" to world powers attempting to negotiate a comprehensive agreement on its controversial nuclear programme.

In his speech to AIPAC, Benjamin Netanyahu said it would be a grave error to allow Iran to enrich uranium

"Iran has been exposed for what it is," he told reporters. "It smiles in the Geneva talks about its own nuclear ambitions, gives soothing words, and as they're doing that, they're shipping these deadly weapons to the world's worst terrorists."

In a speech at the AIPAC conference on Tuesday, Mr Netanyahu had reiterated his unhappiness with the prospect of a long-term deal that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium and engaging in other activities that might allow it to develop nuclear weapons.

At a news conference in Jakarta on Thursday, Mr Zarif insisted that Iran's nuclear programme was solely for peaceful purposes.

"I do not believe dismantling of this programme is helpful to the cause of non-proliferation because Iran has technology, Iran has the scientists, Iran has the capability," he said.

"So the best way to ensure that these scientists, and the technology, and the capability, and the workshop are designed only for peaceful purposes and used exclusively for peaceful purposes is to have them out in the open under international monitoring," Iran's foreign minister added.

America Has a Plan. And, No, It Isn't One That Israel Would Like.

Argument

New poll shows that if the two-state solution collapses, U.S. public favors democracy over Jewishness.

• BY Shibley Telhami
• MARCH 2, 2014

Middle East leaders are beating a path to the White House's door. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Barack Obama on March 3, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will arrive on March 17 to discuss the U.S. administration's diplomatic effort to reach a two-state solution.
Although Secretary of State John Kerry has said that "failure is not an option" in these talks, the reality is that both Israelis and Palestinians assume that there is only a slim chance of finding a conflict-ending solution. The president himself put the odds at less than 50 percent. With the Obama administration's goal to reach a negotiated settlement set for the end of April, we could be witnessing the death of the two-state solution. A key, but often unasked, question is whether the American public even cares.

A public opinion survey I commissioned, which was conducted by the polling firm GfK, found that U.S. popular support for a two-state solution is surprisingly tepid. What's more, if the option is taken off the table, Americans support the creation of a single democratic state -- in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories -- in which Jews and Arabs are granted equal rights. The GfK survey consisted of 1,000 interviews conducted through an Internet panel and was weighted to ensure that the results were consistent with several demographic variables, such as age, education, and income.

The Obama administration's focus on mediating an end to the conflict has been predicated on two assumptions -- that a two-state solution is in the national security interest of the United States, and that the current diplomatic efforts may be the last chance to achieve it. Americans themselves, however, are more lukewarm on the possibility of Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side: fewer than four in 10 survey respondents preferred a two-state solution.

If the Obama administration is right that the window to reach a two-state solution is closing, the plurality of Americans who do support that option may start thinking about other ways to resolve the conflict. If efforts to negotiate creation of a separate Palestinian state fail, my poll shows that about two-thirds of those who had preferred the two-state solution would shift their support to a one-state solution, with equal citizenship for Jews and Arabs.
Even among respondents who said they wanted American diplomacy to "lean toward Israel," 52 percent said they would support one state with equal citizenship -- which could, of course, mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state.

For Israelis, a shift in U.S. public opinion toward a one-state solution -- which is not even an option on the negotiating table -- would be extremely problematic. That is to say, most Israelis prefer not to make the choice between Israel's Jewishness and its democracy but when forced to do so, they are divided: Roughly half of Israeli Jews say that they care about Jewishness and democracy equally, while a quarter favor one over the other. Palestinians may welcome support for equal citizenship in one state, but will not have the power to achieve it on their own without Israeli cooperation.

While Israelis are divided over whether to prioritize their state's Jewishness or democracy, Americans' preferences are less ambiguous. When asked which of the two options they favor for Israel, two-thirds of respondents chose democracy over Jewishness. Unequal citizenship is simply antithetical to being an American -- whether one is pro-Israel, pro-Palestine, or neutral.

So what does it all mean? It means that if the two-state solution fails, the conversation among the American public might shift to that of a one-state solution as the next-best thing. If American officials feel pressured to respond to this, it will likely create tension in U.S.-Israeli relations.

American public opinion, of course, is fluid. If Israeli-Palestinian negotiations fail, both sides will engage in a war of narratives in an attempt to convince the American public that the other side is to blame for the collapse of the talks.

Israelis usually do far better than Arabs in these contests. Just look at what happened after the 2000 Camp David talks: Although President Bill Clinton promised the Palestinians they would not be blamed should negotiations fail, that was just what he did as soon as the summit ended. Regardless of what Obama or Kerry would do if these negotiations fail, many U.S. politicians can be counted on to quickly embrace the Israeli version of events.

But as soon as the dust settles, the end of the two-state solution will exert a powerful transformation on American attitudes. For U.S. officials, the effect would be paralyzing -- American leaders simply wouldn't know what to advocate if two states were not on the table. At the moment, it is not politically feasible to advocate for a one-state solution with equal citizenship, nor accept a permanent occupation or Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories without equal citizenship.

This dilemma may partially be driving Washington's current diplomatic push. And if the Obama administration's efforts fail, it is unlikely that American leaders would do anything but pretend that the two-state solution was still on the table. No American politician wants to choose between Israel's democracy and its Jewishness -- even if the polls show that the choice is clear to the American people.

Pretending neatly rationalizes paralysis, but it would not hide the naked truth for most people. If the peace talks fail, no number of assurances from the White House could stop the inevitable sense of resignation at home and abroad. The American people are clear about their views: Occupation and unequal citizenship are a losing cause.

RONEN ZVULUN/AFP/Getty Images

How Aborigines could solve Australia's bushfire problem

BBC News
1 March 2014 Last updated at 16:36 ET
By Jim Carey Sydney, Australia
 

Strong winds and soaring temperatures have led to dozens of bushfires in southern Australia. Could Aboriginal "gardening" techniques be used to control them in future?

I am only an hour into visiting a retired couple just north of Sydney when I realise Bill Plant has left the room and not come back.

"Must have smelt smoke," his wife Julie suggests.

Bill's compunction is a lifetime in the making, an olfactory fire alarm he shares with many of his fellow compatriots.

"If you find fire, you phone neighbours, get buckets and go help," Bill explains upon his return.

From Our Own Correspondent

Largely ascribed to global warming, average temperatures are increasing in Australia.

The land dries crisp and tinderbox very quickly. One careless cigarette butt, bolt of lightning, or piece of broken glass can instigate voluminous bushfires which race and rage across the land, incinerating everything in their path.

The most prolific tree in the Australian bush is the iconic eucalyptus, nicknamed the "gum tree" and described to me by one fireman as "a living firebomb".

The bark of the tree falls away in thin flammable sheets - a touch paper to any passing spark - whilst the air in and around a eucalyptus forest hangs with the oil for which the tree is renowned. It creates an incendiary haze which sometimes causes the air to burn by itself.

The Blue Mountains are a vast carpet of heritage listed forest in the state of New South Wales, so named because, from a distance, this cloud of oil gives the mountains a slate blue hue.

 

 

At the end of last year, ferocious fires here burnt 200 homes to the ground. On my way to view the damage three months on, the car radio warns of another fire alert in the neighbouring state of Victoria with the ominous words: "It is now too late to leave the area. Ready yourself."

When I arrive at Yellow Rock, the scorched valleys are a surreal sight. Heavily blackened trunks stand stubborn in the burnt dust. But sprouting from their spiky tops are iridescent explosions of green shoots.
"Everything about the eucalyptus tree is designed to catch fire, spread fire and then grow back once its competitors have been destroyed in that fire," observes Bill Gammage.

I am crouched on a heat-cracked rock overlooking a valley of burnt bush as I talk to Bill, a semi-retired history professor from the Australian National University.

"What people have forgotten is that a lot of these trees were not here when the Europeans first arrived," he asserts.

 

 The highly flammable eucalyptus tree 

 

As a historian, Bill examined thousands of old eyewitness testimonies, paintings and drawings and found that, before the Europeans arrived, places like the Blue Mountains once contained significant amounts of grass pasture. His book on the subject won the Prime Minister's Literary Award.

Having lived and evolved on the continent for millennia, Aborigines managed the land almost like a garden - effectively using expertly controlled fires to keep the flora in check.

The resulting grasslands not only attracted animals which the Aborigines could hunt, they also provided massive firebreaks preventing the kind of destructive fires Australia is increasingly suffering.
When the Europeans arrived they kicked the gardeners out of the garden. And the garden went wild.
The common notion, fought for by the powerful green lobby, is that eucalyptus forest is the natural state of Australia and that every tree must be protected. Hence you have to apply for a licence to chop down even one tree growing near your house.

"It is too late to reverse the clock back to 1788," says Prof Gammage. "But the kind of damage we are looking at today could be lessened if we employed Aborigines to do something they spent tens of thousands of years perfecting."

Jack Saunders, a 17-year-old New South Wales firefighter, is keen to show me his copy of the official Bushfire Fighting Manual. The chapter on fire prevention acknowledges that controlled burning may be used "to maintain the natural condition of the environment and imitate the use of fire by its traditional owners over tens of thousands of years".

But there is an odd tension here, which rather unusually pitches conservation groups against an ancient knowledge. What exactly is the "natural" environment of Australia?

Is it the massive forests which have proliferated since 1788? Or is it the Australia gardened by the Aborigines for the tens of thousands of years prior to that?

Aborigines were once the 'gardeners' of the land, expertly controlling fires

Local residents thank fire fighters for their work fighting the bushfires

A banksia bush seed pod only opens in the heat of a flame 

 

In the burnt Blue Mountains bush I reach down to pick up the charred husk of a seed pod. It comes from the banksia shrub, the seeds of which are only released by the heat of flames.

Another timely reminder of how, along with the gum tree and the human being, Australia has evolved with, and been forged by, fire.

Embedded in this article is the disturbing pattern of environmentalist activists going off half-cocked with faulty environmental information and then pushing strongly for wrong environmental policies that don't work and actually make things worse. One can point to the spotted owl fiasco here in our California woods where now foresters are shooting barred owls when it wasn't too long ago timber workers were losing their jobs and being blamed for what barred owls were doing while environmentalists were screaming for timber workers jobs to end. In ranch lands enviros screamed for removal of cattle as destroyers of the environment and then we found out it was precisely cattle ranches protecting environment because when they were converted to subdivisions massive eco-destruction occurred. Same thing happened here when timberlands were subdivided for homestead back-to-the-land movement people who brought with them massive stream destruction and yet these people form the economic backbone of local environmental "protection" organizations.

Uh oh. Trouble in Paradise for Francis if this isn't a hoax.. Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, Queen Elizabeth and Jesuit Superior charged, pretrial set

Examiner.com

March 1, 2014

Today Pope Benedict, Queen Elizabeth, Jesuit Superior General Adolfo Nicolas Pachon and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby were delivered a summons to appear before a Brussels international court on 31 March 2014. www.itccs.org

They were charged with aiding and abetting the torture, trafficking and murder of children, plus concealing evidence regarding:

* Albert Hance, age 9: starved to death at the Anglican St. George's school in Lytton, British Columbia

* Richard Thomas, age 15: beaten to death by Catholic Priest Terrance MacNamara at the Kuper Island school, British Columbia

* Shirley Tatooche, age 10: raped and murdered by Catholic priests at the Fort Albany school, Ontario

* Efforts since 2008 to thwart excavation of 32 child mass grave sites on Canadian native residential school grounds by Queen Elizabeth, the Catholic Church, United Church of Canada, Anglican Church and Canadian government. A 25 Feb. 2013 Brussels International Court had found all guilty in the case of 50,000 missing native children who were found raped, tortured, sex trafficked and/or killed at 80 residential schools across Canada. Review the evidence in "Hidden No Longer" available for free at: www.hiddennolonger.com and www.ChildAbuseRecovery.com

* Pope Benedict's role in the 1987 murder of a female child at a French chateau in Holland. At least three witnesses have agreed to testify. http://itccs.org/category/ritual-rape-and-torture-of-children/

* Pope Francis' fast ascension to head of the Catholic Church in Argentina was suspected to be a result of his agreement with the Junta military to traffic children from Catholic orphanages during Argentine's 1970s Dirty War. An Argentine civil servant who took extensive notes of meetings between Francis and Junta military officials, has agreed to come out of hiding in Spain to testify.

* Pope Francis', Pope Benedict's and Queen Elizabeth's use of an agreement called Crimen Sollicitationas to prevent release of information to legal authorities for prosecution of crimes against millions of Anglican and Catholic Priest Abuse victims. A Vatican source claimed Queen Elizabeth signed the document with Pope Benedict on 16 Sept. 2010 at Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh.

* The 2013 international court also found Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip guilty of taking ten children from the Kamloops Catholic residential school on October 10 1964. Parents haven't seen their children since. Three witnesses to the abduction died of mysterious causes prior to the court hearing. Four ITCCS members attempting to publicize Queen Elizabeth's arrest warrant were at different times, detained, held for days without charges and released only because of public outcries.

"We ask all people of conscience to remember and act not only for children who are presently suffering and dying at the hands of church-protected child rapists and traffickers, but for countless children who have died" stated Kevin Annett of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State which is heading prosecution. "Anyone with evidence related to this matter is invited to submit it to the Office of the Citizen Prosecutor of the Court at itccscentral@gmail.com."

A Day of Silence to End Church Violence Against Children has been called for 30 March 2014. The ITCCS and its affiliates invited people of conscious to join them in prayer, fasting and reflection for abused children.
The 25 Feb. 2013 Brussels court found Queen Elizabeth, Pope Benedict and 28 other global elites guilty of Crimes Against Humanity. Pope Benedict resigned from office that same day.

Catholic Popes and the Queen getting charged with crimes against humanity. They can all stand trial together with Israel and America's Presidents and members of Congress who support crimes against humanity like the killing of a mentally ill Palestinian woman and the killing of any Palestinian who throws a rock at the people the West sent in to destroy them by waving a doctored U.N. vote at the world in 1948.

Israelis shoot dead 'mentally ill' woman near Gaza barrier

BBC News

 1 March 2014 Last updated at 05:13 ET

The fence, shown in the distance, separates Gaza from Israel and is declared a no-go zone for Palestinians

The Israeli military have shot dead a Palestinian woman who locals say was mentally ill, near the Gaza-Israel security barrier.

The area near the border is declared a no-go zone by Israel.

The incident happened near the southern city of Khan Younis, late on Friday.

The Israeli military said she was part of a group who ignored orders to leave the area, at which point they fired at the legs of the group, hitting one.

Gaza authorities and the woman's neighbours said Amna Qdaih suffered from mental illness and they did not know why she was near the fence.

 

The incident happened in the south of the Gaza Strip

 

Ms Qdaih's body was found and transferred to a hospital early on Saturday. Local authorities claimed she was hit by several bullets.

On Friday the Israeli military said one of its aircraft had struck a site in Gaza used to launch rockets into Israel. No casualties were reported.

All Palestinians are only collateral damage to Zionists Israelis. Zionism must be stopped. It is the last vestige of European religious colonial imperialism left on the planet. Perhaps us European neanderthals are winning a racial war to reestablish our prehistoric base in ancient Canaan.