Medicaid expansion in U.S. states found to cut death rates
By Lewis Krauskopf
Wed Jul 25, 2012 5:21pm EDT
(Reuters) - State expansions of the Medicaid health insurance program for poor Americans reduced adult mortality rates by more than 6 percent compared to states that did not broaden eligibility for their plans, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine could fuel a political furor over new plans for a nationwide expansion of Medicaid that erupted after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to uphold President Barack Obama's healthcare law in late June.
In an unexpected move, the high court ruling also left it up to states to decide whether to participate in the law's broader eligibility criteria for Medicaid that would extend insurance coverage to as many as 16 million more Americans starting in 2014. At least five Republican governors who opposed the healthcare law have vowed to opt out of the expansion, saying the program will pose a huge financial burden.
The lead author of the study was Benjamin Sommers, an assistant professor in health policy and economics at the Harvard School of Public Health who is temporarily working as an advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to a disclosure note in the study, the paper was conceived and drafted while Sommers was employed at Harvard and the findings do not reflect official U.S. government policy.
The study examined three states that substantially broadened Medicaid eligibility for adults since 2000 -- New York, Maine and Arizona. They were compared to neighboring states that did not implement expansions -- Pennsylvania (for New York), New Hampshire (for Maine) and Nevada and New Mexico (for Arizona).
Adults between the ages of 20 and 64 years old were studied for five years before and after the expansion, using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Medicaid expansions were associated with a reduction in mortality from all causes, by 19.6 deaths per 100,000 adults, for a 6.1 percent decrease compared to the states without expansions.
The mortality declines were greatest among adults between ages 35 and 64, minorities and residents of poor counties.
The expansions also led to decreased rates of uninsurance, lower rates of delayed care because of costs, and an increase in the rate of people reporting their health status as "excellent" or "very good".
"The takeaway is that state expansions of Medicaid coverage to adults appear to be effective at improving both access to care and health for low-income Americans," Sommers said in an interview.
The results corresponded to 2,840 deaths prevented per year in the states with Medicaid expansions. That figure suggests that 176 additional adults would need to be covered by Medicaid in order to prevent one death per year, according to the study.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Carol Bishopric)
13 states aim to limit Medicaid
By Phil Galewitz and Matthew Fleming, Kaiser Health News
Thirteen states are moving to cut Medicaid by reducing benefits, paying health providers less or tightening eligibility, even as the federal government prepares to expand the insurance program for the poor to to as many as 17 million more people.
States routinely trim the program as tough times drive up enrollment and costs. But the latest reductions — which follow more extensive cuts last year — threaten to limit access to care for some of its 60 million recipients.
"With more people on Medicaid, states will have to continue to ratchet down payments and limit services," says Nina Owcharenko, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
MORE: Doctors: Limiting prescriptions adds risk
MORE: State-by-state chart
Some worry the cuts to doctors and hospitals could make it more difficult to expand the state-federal program in 2014, as called for by the federal health law. "Some providers may be unwilling to accept new Medicaid patients," former New York Medicaid director Deborah Bachrach says.
But she notes the law may counter that effect with its funding boosts to community health centers and its temporary rate increases for primary care doctors, beginning in January 2013.
Most of the cuts went into effect this month, according to a 50-state survey by Kaiser Health News for USA TODAY. Among them:
•Illinois limited enrollees to four prescriptions a month; imposed a co-pay for prescriptions for non-pregnant adults; raised eligibility to eliminate more than 25,000 adults; and eliminated non-emergency dental care for adults.
•Alabama cut pay for doctors and dentists 10% and eliminated coverage for eyeglasses.
•Florida cut funding to hospitals that treat Medicaid patients by 5.6% — following a 12.5% cut a year ago. The state also seeks to limit non-pregnant adults to two primary-care visits a month, and to cap emergency room coverage at six visits a year.
•California added a $15 fee for those who go to the emergency room for routine care. It cut reimbursements to private hospitals by $150 million and to public hospitals by $41.5 million.
•Wisconsin added or raised monthly premiums for most non-pregnant adults with incomes above $14,856 for an individual.
Colorado, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire and South Dakota also are making reductions to their programs. Connecticut is weighing cuts likely to go into effect this fall.
A few states have increased Medicaid benefits, including Arizona, which will boost pay for mental health providers next April. And some are looking to restore cuts made during the worst of the recession, says Vernon Smith, managing principal with consulting firm Health Management Associates and a former Michigan Medicaid director.
Stacey Mazer, senior staff associate with the National Association of State Budget Officers, notes that fewer states are cutting the program this year, partly because many are in better economic shape and partly because of reluctance to make further cuts.
"States are hearing a lot of hue and cry about the impact on access," she says.
Last November, for instance, about 3,500 Medicaid recipients in New Hampshire had to find new doctors after cuts led LRGHealthcare in Laconia to stop offering primary care to non-pregnant adults, Senior Vice President Henry Lipman says.
"To see two decades of providing access for our community basically erased has been very disheartening," he says.
It is unclear how many states will participate in the law's Medicaid expansion since the Supreme Court ruled last month that they may not be penalized for opting out. A number of Republican governors have vowed not to participate, citing costs. Although the federal government will pay for the first three years, states will have to cover up to 10% of the costs after that.
Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan health policy research and communication organization not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
When governments choose providing higher salaries for government workers, choose to support tax cuts for the rich, choose to cut healthcare for the poor, they are in effect killing the poor. Why do we let this happen in America? Do something!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Under Israeli blockade of Gaza, books are a rare, cherished commodity
Israel does not explicitly ban importing books to Gaza, but the blockade makes it extraordinarily difficult to do so. The shortage amounts to a kind of censorship, Gazans say.
By Ruqaya Izzidien, Contributor / July 24, 2012
The Christian Science Monitor
Gaza City, Gaza
The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has been blamed for a multitude of problems facing the population there: malnutrition, unemployment, limited access to electricity and potable water.
Gazan students and educators say that under the Israeli-imposed siege, education is suffering too. The blockade makes it so difficult to bring in books that they are forced to resort to bootlegging and smuggling, they say. The limited supply of original books has driven up costs, making them difficult for most Gazans to afford.
Part of the problem is that Israel does not communicate directly with Hamas, the Islamist militant party that governs Gaza, instead relying on the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) to handle issues in both of the Palestinian territories. However, Gaza is isolated from the West Bank, both geographically and politically, so the limited number of books entering Gaza via Israel are chosen by the PA, not Gazans.
Hamas may be Israel’s target when circumventing dialogue with Gaza’s book-buyers, but Gazan students say they're the ones paying the penalty and that the shortfall in book supply amounts to an infringement on their freedom to get an education.
Work-arounds
Book smugglers in Gaza are reluctant to disclose details on their routes, fearing ramifications from the Israeli government, which already bombs the Egypt-Gaza tunnels several times a year, and the Hamas government, which has increased its searches at the passenger-only Rafah border crossing, through with retailers also attempt to smuggle goods. The Gazan government considers the tunnels a legitimate trade route, so it allows goods to pass through there.
Gazan education officials assert that the tunnels are key to the education of Gaza’s 500,000 students. Awni Maqayyid, head of the Hamas-run Islamic University’s Central Library, says that “the education system would collapse” without the tunnel industry.
Despite smugglers' attempts to stock Gaza’s libraries and bookstores – around 5 million textbooks are required per year – Palestinians are still frustrated by the lack of books in Gaza. They hold Israel responsible, arguing that the restrictions on book imports amounts to a censoring of their education.
One Gazan bookshop owner, who introduced himself as Mohammed Ahmed, says that it is too difficult to import books via Israel, “so we travel to Egypt, buy books, and bring them back in our bags.” Many bookshop owners tell the same story.
And although it is possible for bookshop owners to buy books from Israel, they claim that Israeli book prices are unaffordable for Gaza’s underemployed and besieged population. Smuggling books from distant countries can be less expensive than buying them from just across the Israeli border.
A bookshop employee who is also a medical student explains how he smuggles books in his luggage through Rafah, which is a passenger-only crossing: “I cross into Egypt, buy a plane ticket to London to purchase the books for medical students. This way is easier and even cheaper than it is to import the books through Israel," says the man, who introduced himself as Mahmood Bakri.
Bootleg textbooks are another "solution." Osama Almassri, a lecturer at Gaza’s Ummah University, borrows textbooks from other universities and makes copies – a tactic widely and openly practiced in Gaza. "Textbooks are so few in number that some teachers even type up entire books by hand in order to produce legible textbooks," Almassri says.
The Israeli authorities are unaware of the book shortage, according to Maj. Guy Inbar, spokesman for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has never raised the issue, he says.
Zeyad Thabit, deputy minister for education in Gaza, claims that the Gaza Strip has been unable to acquire school textbooks via Israel since 2007. Mr. Thabit (whose jurisdiction does not include those schools run by the United Nations refugee agency) says the requests were made but were turned down.
“We tried many times since the siege began to get textbooks in, making sure that we only ask for plain academic books.” When that failed, Thabit says, “We started printing and photocopying books. But no paper is entering Gaza from Israel to allow the Ministry of Education to print textbooks, so all paper enters via the tunnels from Egypt.”
Israel's Maj. Inbar explained that Israel transfers books to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority or, in the case of schools run by the United Nations refugee agency, via the UN. As a result, most Gazans have no influence over what books are sent to the besieged territory.
If Hamas is so bothered by the existence of Israel, “then Hamas can take their books through Rafah," Inbar says.
Another kind of 'censorship'
But many Gazan students, unable to buy the books they want, view the lack of books as amounting to censorship, regardless of whether it is intentional or merely an unintended side effect of policies.
Rana Baker, a business student who also blogs about Palestinian social and political issues, considers the lack of political and historical books in Gaza censorship and an infringement on her right to education.
“The books at my university are old, and it doesn’t have the kinds of books that I like to read: books that speak about Palestine, its culture, refugees, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid," she says.
“Regardless of whether they censor books coming in or not, in a country that's not under siege, you can go into a bookshop and buy a book without having to smuggle into the country. That itself is censorship."
The Gaza branch manager of an international mail courier, who refused to give his name, insists that the lack of political books entering Gaza is deliberate.
“I’ve worked at the Karam Abu Salam (Keren Shalom) goods crossing between Gaza and Israel for ten years and I know what is prohibited,” he explained. “Books related to politics or movements are forbidden. Also forbidden are images of violence, or anything that we call ‘resistance,' but Israel deems as 'terrorism'."
However, it doesn't seem to be a blanket restriction. To test it, this reporter sent a copy of The Holocaust Industry by Norman Finklestein, which argues that Israel has exploited the issue of the Holocaust for political ends, from Egypt to the Gaza Strip via the courier Aramex in May 2012. It was not confiscated and arrived in Gaza within 20 days.
But last year, Pam Bailey, a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., tried to mail nine books to a friend in Gaza via the shipping courier DHL. “The books were a mix of novels and histories of Palestine,” recalled Ms. Bailey. "I had been told that although some items were banned altogether, papers [and therefore books] were ok."
"Four days later, however, the package was returned as ‘not deliverable’," she says. DHL refused to offer a reason.
Inbar suggested that Gazans can request a book by ordering it from abroad and requesting it be sent to Gaza by courier, but this is not usually an option for average Gazans, 80 percent of whom live below the poverty line, according to Israeli human rights organization B’tselem.
Jehad A., who works for a Gaza-based think tank and refused to give his full last name, believes that the inconsistent import rules, which go far beyond textbooks, are a destabilization tactic.
“If people are living in a stable situation, they will behave stable. But if their situation is unstable, that causes the attacks that you see in the streets, the recklessness and radicalization. Things here are not stable. They fluctuate and the goal is to isolate Gaza because the most critical impact of the siege is the psychological one.”
By Ruqaya Izzidien, Contributor / July 24, 2012
The Christian Science Monitor
Gaza City, Gaza
The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has been blamed for a multitude of problems facing the population there: malnutrition, unemployment, limited access to electricity and potable water.
Gazan students and educators say that under the Israeli-imposed siege, education is suffering too. The blockade makes it so difficult to bring in books that they are forced to resort to bootlegging and smuggling, they say. The limited supply of original books has driven up costs, making them difficult for most Gazans to afford.
Part of the problem is that Israel does not communicate directly with Hamas, the Islamist militant party that governs Gaza, instead relying on the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) to handle issues in both of the Palestinian territories. However, Gaza is isolated from the West Bank, both geographically and politically, so the limited number of books entering Gaza via Israel are chosen by the PA, not Gazans.
Hamas may be Israel’s target when circumventing dialogue with Gaza’s book-buyers, but Gazan students say they're the ones paying the penalty and that the shortfall in book supply amounts to an infringement on their freedom to get an education.
Work-arounds
Book smugglers in Gaza are reluctant to disclose details on their routes, fearing ramifications from the Israeli government, which already bombs the Egypt-Gaza tunnels several times a year, and the Hamas government, which has increased its searches at the passenger-only Rafah border crossing, through with retailers also attempt to smuggle goods. The Gazan government considers the tunnels a legitimate trade route, so it allows goods to pass through there.
Gazan education officials assert that the tunnels are key to the education of Gaza’s 500,000 students. Awni Maqayyid, head of the Hamas-run Islamic University’s Central Library, says that “the education system would collapse” without the tunnel industry.
Despite smugglers' attempts to stock Gaza’s libraries and bookstores – around 5 million textbooks are required per year – Palestinians are still frustrated by the lack of books in Gaza. They hold Israel responsible, arguing that the restrictions on book imports amounts to a censoring of their education.
One Gazan bookshop owner, who introduced himself as Mohammed Ahmed, says that it is too difficult to import books via Israel, “so we travel to Egypt, buy books, and bring them back in our bags.” Many bookshop owners tell the same story.
And although it is possible for bookshop owners to buy books from Israel, they claim that Israeli book prices are unaffordable for Gaza’s underemployed and besieged population. Smuggling books from distant countries can be less expensive than buying them from just across the Israeli border.
A bookshop employee who is also a medical student explains how he smuggles books in his luggage through Rafah, which is a passenger-only crossing: “I cross into Egypt, buy a plane ticket to London to purchase the books for medical students. This way is easier and even cheaper than it is to import the books through Israel," says the man, who introduced himself as Mahmood Bakri.
Bootleg textbooks are another "solution." Osama Almassri, a lecturer at Gaza’s Ummah University, borrows textbooks from other universities and makes copies – a tactic widely and openly practiced in Gaza. "Textbooks are so few in number that some teachers even type up entire books by hand in order to produce legible textbooks," Almassri says.
The Israeli authorities are unaware of the book shortage, according to Maj. Guy Inbar, spokesman for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has never raised the issue, he says.
Zeyad Thabit, deputy minister for education in Gaza, claims that the Gaza Strip has been unable to acquire school textbooks via Israel since 2007. Mr. Thabit (whose jurisdiction does not include those schools run by the United Nations refugee agency) says the requests were made but were turned down.
“We tried many times since the siege began to get textbooks in, making sure that we only ask for plain academic books.” When that failed, Thabit says, “We started printing and photocopying books. But no paper is entering Gaza from Israel to allow the Ministry of Education to print textbooks, so all paper enters via the tunnels from Egypt.”
Israel's Maj. Inbar explained that Israel transfers books to Gaza through the Palestinian Authority or, in the case of schools run by the United Nations refugee agency, via the UN. As a result, most Gazans have no influence over what books are sent to the besieged territory.
If Hamas is so bothered by the existence of Israel, “then Hamas can take their books through Rafah," Inbar says.
Another kind of 'censorship'
But many Gazan students, unable to buy the books they want, view the lack of books as amounting to censorship, regardless of whether it is intentional or merely an unintended side effect of policies.
Rana Baker, a business student who also blogs about Palestinian social and political issues, considers the lack of political and historical books in Gaza censorship and an infringement on her right to education.
“The books at my university are old, and it doesn’t have the kinds of books that I like to read: books that speak about Palestine, its culture, refugees, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid," she says.
“Regardless of whether they censor books coming in or not, in a country that's not under siege, you can go into a bookshop and buy a book without having to smuggle into the country. That itself is censorship."
The Gaza branch manager of an international mail courier, who refused to give his name, insists that the lack of political books entering Gaza is deliberate.
“I’ve worked at the Karam Abu Salam (Keren Shalom) goods crossing between Gaza and Israel for ten years and I know what is prohibited,” he explained. “Books related to politics or movements are forbidden. Also forbidden are images of violence, or anything that we call ‘resistance,' but Israel deems as 'terrorism'."
However, it doesn't seem to be a blanket restriction. To test it, this reporter sent a copy of The Holocaust Industry by Norman Finklestein, which argues that Israel has exploited the issue of the Holocaust for political ends, from Egypt to the Gaza Strip via the courier Aramex in May 2012. It was not confiscated and arrived in Gaza within 20 days.
But last year, Pam Bailey, a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C., tried to mail nine books to a friend in Gaza via the shipping courier DHL. “The books were a mix of novels and histories of Palestine,” recalled Ms. Bailey. "I had been told that although some items were banned altogether, papers [and therefore books] were ok."
"Four days later, however, the package was returned as ‘not deliverable’," she says. DHL refused to offer a reason.
Inbar suggested that Gazans can request a book by ordering it from abroad and requesting it be sent to Gaza by courier, but this is not usually an option for average Gazans, 80 percent of whom live below the poverty line, according to Israeli human rights organization B’tselem.
Jehad A., who works for a Gaza-based think tank and refused to give his full last name, believes that the inconsistent import rules, which go far beyond textbooks, are a destabilization tactic.
“If people are living in a stable situation, they will behave stable. But if their situation is unstable, that causes the attacks that you see in the streets, the recklessness and radicalization. Things here are not stable. They fluctuate and the goal is to isolate Gaza because the most critical impact of the siege is the psychological one.”
Monday, July 23, 2012
Egypt's move to allow Palestinians freer entry draws cheers and confusion
Published July 23, 2012
Associated Press
CAIRO – Egypt is allowing freer
temporary entry for Palestinians into the country in an unprecedented
move that eases long-imposed travel restrictions, particularly on
Gazans, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said Monday.
The decision has caused confusion among the security agencies here -- and appeared to bring some resistance. Some officers at the airport refused to implement the measures, an airport official said, in a sign of how deeply some in the security forces view the Palestinians as a potential threat.
Even as some officials initially denied any easing, airport officials said seven Gazans were allowed into Egypt by dawn Monday without the usual restrictions.
The changes appeared to be a gesture to the Palestinians after separate meetings last week between Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, whose group controls Gaza.
Egypt's powerful security agencies have monopolized policy-making toward the Palestinians for years, generally working closely with Israel and taking a tough line for fear of Hamas and the spread of militancy. But security forces have been shaken since the fall last year of Hosni Mubarak -- and now particularly with the election of an Islamist as his successor. The initial reaction from some officials could reflect fear the president was moving into their usual spheres of power.
The new measures ease the situation for those living in Gaza, which has been subject to a 5-year-old Israeli blockade keeping them penned into the tiny, Mediterranean coastal territory. The only non-Israeli outlet from the strip is through Egypt, and for years Cairo assisted the blockade. Even after Egypt officially opened the border crossing it imposed heavy restrictions.
Until now, any Palestinian under 40 was escorted by security agents to or from the Gaza border to ensure they spent no time in Egyptian territory. Palestinians saw the practice as a humiliation, especially since it often meant detention at the border or airport for up to three days, often in small rooms alongside criminals, as they waited for an escort.
The new measures end the procedure and allow Palestinians to cross through Egypt on their own arrangements, allowing them to stay in the country for up to 72 hours to do so. The measures came into effect early Monday, and took many security agencies by surprise because it came before a formal announcement was made.
An unidentified Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing separating Egypt and Gaza confirmed to the official news agency MENA that the "deportation" policy had been "abolished" at the crossing.
The official also said an existing black list for Palestinians barred from entering Egypt or traveling abroad is currently under review. Some on the list date back to the 1970s, following Egypt's peace deal with Israel.
Egypt's ambassador to the West Bank, Yasser Othman, said transiting Palestinians must have Palestinian national identification and passports, or a proof of residency in a third country.
"We are planning for more procedures to facilitate the movement of the Palestinians but there are no plans to cancel the visa requirement if Palestinians want to enter Egypt," Othman said.
A Palestinian official in Cairo said more easing of restrictions are being negotiated. He and airport officials in Cairo spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Palestinians have generally been subjected to strict Egyptian travel requirements that have kept many of them, particularly after the 2000 uprising against Israel, from entering the country. The situation became more complicated as Egypt under Mubarak closely coordinated its security plans with Israel, and observed the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.
After a partial easing of the blockade Egypt allowed a limited number of Gazans out of the territory on humanitarian grounds. Most were subjected to the "deportation" unless they had visas to stay in Egypt.
The director of the border crossing in Gaza, Maher Abu Sabha, said more than 20,000 Gazans are on a two-month waiting list to exit the territory.
Another Egyptian border crossing said more than 600 Gazans have already crossed into Egypt and less than 200 returned to th seaside strip Monday. The official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said the number of those who benefited from the easing of restrictions is not yet determined.
After years of such strict treatment, many Palestinians in Gaza were hopeful but skeptical there will be a change of treatment.
"Imagine yourself locked in a small room in the basement of the airport, not allowed to smoke, eat or go to the bathroom except after approval from a security official," said Youssef Ramadan, a 36-year old merchant from Gaza who often travels to China through Egypt. "Humiliation is not the word. It is a nightmare."
He spent 36 hours in such conditions on his way back from China in May.
"It's time to end this and forever. It makes no sense to travel all over the world then Egypt, an Arab country, treats you like an animal."
The decision has caused confusion among the security agencies here -- and appeared to bring some resistance. Some officers at the airport refused to implement the measures, an airport official said, in a sign of how deeply some in the security forces view the Palestinians as a potential threat.
Even as some officials initially denied any easing, airport officials said seven Gazans were allowed into Egypt by dawn Monday without the usual restrictions.
The changes appeared to be a gesture to the Palestinians after separate meetings last week between Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, whose group controls Gaza.
Egypt's powerful security agencies have monopolized policy-making toward the Palestinians for years, generally working closely with Israel and taking a tough line for fear of Hamas and the spread of militancy. But security forces have been shaken since the fall last year of Hosni Mubarak -- and now particularly with the election of an Islamist as his successor. The initial reaction from some officials could reflect fear the president was moving into their usual spheres of power.
The new measures ease the situation for those living in Gaza, which has been subject to a 5-year-old Israeli blockade keeping them penned into the tiny, Mediterranean coastal territory. The only non-Israeli outlet from the strip is through Egypt, and for years Cairo assisted the blockade. Even after Egypt officially opened the border crossing it imposed heavy restrictions.
Until now, any Palestinian under 40 was escorted by security agents to or from the Gaza border to ensure they spent no time in Egyptian territory. Palestinians saw the practice as a humiliation, especially since it often meant detention at the border or airport for up to three days, often in small rooms alongside criminals, as they waited for an escort.
The new measures end the procedure and allow Palestinians to cross through Egypt on their own arrangements, allowing them to stay in the country for up to 72 hours to do so. The measures came into effect early Monday, and took many security agencies by surprise because it came before a formal announcement was made.
An unidentified Egyptian official at the Rafah crossing separating Egypt and Gaza confirmed to the official news agency MENA that the "deportation" policy had been "abolished" at the crossing.
The official also said an existing black list for Palestinians barred from entering Egypt or traveling abroad is currently under review. Some on the list date back to the 1970s, following Egypt's peace deal with Israel.
Egypt's ambassador to the West Bank, Yasser Othman, said transiting Palestinians must have Palestinian national identification and passports, or a proof of residency in a third country.
"We are planning for more procedures to facilitate the movement of the Palestinians but there are no plans to cancel the visa requirement if Palestinians want to enter Egypt," Othman said.
A Palestinian official in Cairo said more easing of restrictions are being negotiated. He and airport officials in Cairo spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Palestinians have generally been subjected to strict Egyptian travel requirements that have kept many of them, particularly after the 2000 uprising against Israel, from entering the country. The situation became more complicated as Egypt under Mubarak closely coordinated its security plans with Israel, and observed the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip.
After a partial easing of the blockade Egypt allowed a limited number of Gazans out of the territory on humanitarian grounds. Most were subjected to the "deportation" unless they had visas to stay in Egypt.
The director of the border crossing in Gaza, Maher Abu Sabha, said more than 20,000 Gazans are on a two-month waiting list to exit the territory.
Another Egyptian border crossing said more than 600 Gazans have already crossed into Egypt and less than 200 returned to th seaside strip Monday. The official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said the number of those who benefited from the easing of restrictions is not yet determined.
After years of such strict treatment, many Palestinians in Gaza were hopeful but skeptical there will be a change of treatment.
"Imagine yourself locked in a small room in the basement of the airport, not allowed to smoke, eat or go to the bathroom except after approval from a security official," said Youssef Ramadan, a 36-year old merchant from Gaza who often travels to China through Egypt. "Humiliation is not the word. It is a nightmare."
He spent 36 hours in such conditions on his way back from China in May.
"It's time to end this and forever. It makes no sense to travel all over the world then Egypt, an Arab country, treats you like an animal."
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Tax havens: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn
A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study.
The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined. The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, and commissioned by the Tax Justice Network. He said $21tn is a conservative figure and the true scale could be $32tn. A trillion is 1,000 billion.
Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments. His study deals only with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts. The report comes amid growing public and political concern about tax avoidance and evasion. Some authorities, including in Germany, have even paid for information on alleged tax evaders stolen from banks. The group that commissioned the report, Tax Justice Network, campaigns against tax havens.
Mr Henry said that the super-rich move money around the globe through an "industrious bevy of professional enablers in private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries. "The lost tax revenues implied by our estimates is huge. It is large enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries. "From another angle, this study is really good news. The world has just located a huge pile of financial wealth that might be called upon to contribute to the solution of our most pressing global problems," he said.
'Huge black hole'
The report highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens that is put beyond the reach of local tax authorities. Mr Henry estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3tn to $9.3tn of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010. Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Mr Henry said.
Other findings in the report include:
At the end of 2010, the 50 leading private banks alone collectively managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private clients The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. Less than 100,000 people worldwide own about $9.8tn of the wealth held offshore.
I wrote the following back in 1998 and it still applies:
Tax the Super Rich
End Poverty, hunger and despair for millions of human beings in America and throughout the World: Tax the Super Rich and create an Economic Boom in the process.
The Super Rich are an abomination before God. They are an abomination to any decent society. They are a serious threat to the Nation's international trade relationships. And they are supreme evidence of a dysfunctional social system guaranteeing social destabilization caused by enormous disparities in the distribution of socially produced goods and services. The Super Rich get that way by unconscionable conduct. By using unfair economic advantages over less economically fortunate or less aggressive individuals, the Super Rich are those individuals and families who run monopoly empires, ruling like kings over mass distribution systems such as energy, computers, drugs, weapons, sports, entertainment, communications, any systems or products that have gigantic mass markets. Once an enterprise or an individual reaches the multi-million dollar bracket, further gains become almost automatic. Bank interest payments alone will continually add gigantic amounts of new wealth to these few individuals and families.
Our current legal and business system favors Big Money enterprise over smaller enterprises. Competition gets reduced and eliminated as corporate monopoly players team together to force out competition from smaller enterprises. It's time to put a stop to the social irresponsibility of letting the Super Rich system continue. Putting enormous fortunes into the hands of a privileged few who earn as much as the combined earnings of 90% of American citizens cannot be tolerated. Putting enormous fortunes in the hands of these few Super Rich while millions upon millions of people live in constant threat of starvation is barbaric behavior and totally unconscionable in any civilized society worthy of the name. We must end the Super Rich socially criminal behavior like we ended Al Capone's criminal career. We tax them out of existence. We regain our economic strength by having Congress legislate either an Act of Congress or an Amendment to the Constitution that simply states:
1) All U.S. citizen will be taxed at a rate of 100% for any income exceeding one million dollars per year, with no exceptions, no loopholes, no way for any individual to acquire over one million dollars per year.
2) No individual or corporation can hold assets exceeding one million dollars per year or transfer assets exceeding a million dollars per year into foreign bank accounts without the same tax law applying.
3) All taxed income over one million dollars per year is to distributed to Social Security programs, Medicare programs, educational grants, low interest home and business loans to low and moderate income families and individuals, and environmental protection projects.
4) A fund will be established for United Nations and various church and charitable organizations' for bringing food, clothing, shelter, and cooperative community self-sufficiency programs and advisers to the world's desperately poor.
Taking this action will only effect the illegitimate prosperity of a very few number of individuals while it will bring the middle-class back into its rightful prominence as the stable economic and social backbone of America. This action will also begin an Economic Boom era for America's economy as the Super Rich are forced to divest their holdings and companies. With divestment mandatory, re-investment will occur and hundreds, if not thousands of new businesses and jobs will be opened up. This action will rightfully gain America new productive members of society as well as opening up huge new markets both within the U.S. and throughout the world. This action will start a worldwide precedent for all nations laboring under the thumbs of about 250 Super Rich individuals who's combined yearly incomes could feed and house the majority of the world's people and allow them the opportunity to rise out of unnecessary poverty and hopelessness. And this action won't stop the benefits of entrepreneurism. There's still plenty of room left for enterprising individuals to prosper with every year with the opportunity to become multi-millionaires.
Society should rightfully honor those individuals who organize economic enterprises that service and enhance our lives. But the economic rewards of entrepreneurial creation must not become ends in themselves or society suffers. A taxation system like this will return us pride in being Good Americans--giving as we receive--just as this taxation system will brings us new days when to be a "millionaire" will really mean something special once again.
The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined. The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, and commissioned by the Tax Justice Network. He said $21tn is a conservative figure and the true scale could be $32tn. A trillion is 1,000 billion.
Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments. His study deals only with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts. The report comes amid growing public and political concern about tax avoidance and evasion. Some authorities, including in Germany, have even paid for information on alleged tax evaders stolen from banks. The group that commissioned the report, Tax Justice Network, campaigns against tax havens.
Mr Henry said that the super-rich move money around the globe through an "industrious bevy of professional enablers in private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries. "The lost tax revenues implied by our estimates is huge. It is large enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries. "From another angle, this study is really good news. The world has just located a huge pile of financial wealth that might be called upon to contribute to the solution of our most pressing global problems," he said.
'Huge black hole'
The report highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139 developing countries of money held in tax havens that is put beyond the reach of local tax authorities. Mr Henry estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these 139 countries had amassed $7.3tn to $9.3tn of "unrecorded offshore wealth" by 2010. Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the world economy," Mr Henry said.
Other findings in the report include:
At the end of 2010, the 50 leading private banks alone collectively managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private clients The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs. Less than 100,000 people worldwide own about $9.8tn of the wealth held offshore.
I wrote the following back in 1998 and it still applies:
Tax the Super Rich
End Poverty, hunger and despair for millions of human beings in America and throughout the World: Tax the Super Rich and create an Economic Boom in the process.
The Super Rich are an abomination before God. They are an abomination to any decent society. They are a serious threat to the Nation's international trade relationships. And they are supreme evidence of a dysfunctional social system guaranteeing social destabilization caused by enormous disparities in the distribution of socially produced goods and services. The Super Rich get that way by unconscionable conduct. By using unfair economic advantages over less economically fortunate or less aggressive individuals, the Super Rich are those individuals and families who run monopoly empires, ruling like kings over mass distribution systems such as energy, computers, drugs, weapons, sports, entertainment, communications, any systems or products that have gigantic mass markets. Once an enterprise or an individual reaches the multi-million dollar bracket, further gains become almost automatic. Bank interest payments alone will continually add gigantic amounts of new wealth to these few individuals and families.
Our current legal and business system favors Big Money enterprise over smaller enterprises. Competition gets reduced and eliminated as corporate monopoly players team together to force out competition from smaller enterprises. It's time to put a stop to the social irresponsibility of letting the Super Rich system continue. Putting enormous fortunes into the hands of a privileged few who earn as much as the combined earnings of 90% of American citizens cannot be tolerated. Putting enormous fortunes in the hands of these few Super Rich while millions upon millions of people live in constant threat of starvation is barbaric behavior and totally unconscionable in any civilized society worthy of the name. We must end the Super Rich socially criminal behavior like we ended Al Capone's criminal career. We tax them out of existence. We regain our economic strength by having Congress legislate either an Act of Congress or an Amendment to the Constitution that simply states:
1) All U.S. citizen will be taxed at a rate of 100% for any income exceeding one million dollars per year, with no exceptions, no loopholes, no way for any individual to acquire over one million dollars per year.
2) No individual or corporation can hold assets exceeding one million dollars per year or transfer assets exceeding a million dollars per year into foreign bank accounts without the same tax law applying.
3) All taxed income over one million dollars per year is to distributed to Social Security programs, Medicare programs, educational grants, low interest home and business loans to low and moderate income families and individuals, and environmental protection projects.
4) A fund will be established for United Nations and various church and charitable organizations' for bringing food, clothing, shelter, and cooperative community self-sufficiency programs and advisers to the world's desperately poor.
Taking this action will only effect the illegitimate prosperity of a very few number of individuals while it will bring the middle-class back into its rightful prominence as the stable economic and social backbone of America. This action will also begin an Economic Boom era for America's economy as the Super Rich are forced to divest their holdings and companies. With divestment mandatory, re-investment will occur and hundreds, if not thousands of new businesses and jobs will be opened up. This action will rightfully gain America new productive members of society as well as opening up huge new markets both within the U.S. and throughout the world. This action will start a worldwide precedent for all nations laboring under the thumbs of about 250 Super Rich individuals who's combined yearly incomes could feed and house the majority of the world's people and allow them the opportunity to rise out of unnecessary poverty and hopelessness. And this action won't stop the benefits of entrepreneurism. There's still plenty of room left for enterprising individuals to prosper with every year with the opportunity to become multi-millionaires.
Society should rightfully honor those individuals who organize economic enterprises that service and enhance our lives. But the economic rewards of entrepreneurial creation must not become ends in themselves or society suffers. A taxation system like this will return us pride in being Good Americans--giving as we receive--just as this taxation system will brings us new days when to be a "millionaire" will really mean something special once again.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hungary arrests the 'most wanted living Nazi'
Jerusalem Post
Hungarian prosecution said it indicted the 95-year-old for the part he played in sending 15,700 Jews to Nazi death camps when he was the police chief of Kosice.
Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who tracked down Csatary to a suburb of Budapest late last year, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after the arrest took place he was overjoyed by the news.
"Hallelujah," he said. "You can't understand what this means to me. It's a great victory and a very important one."
The Jerusalem Post ran a story on Zuroff's claims against Csatary last April, but it wasn't until The Sun sent a journalist to Hungary last week and published shirtless photos of the pensioner answering the door that it made headlines around the world. Over the past week the story has been picked up by media outlets around the world putting pressure on Hungary to act.
"It's very simple, we owe our debt to The Sun," said Zuroff. "People may snicker but The Sun spent thousands of pounds to photograph him and embarrass him. To get a nazi in prison you have to take a photo of him in his underwear."
The visit by Hungarian President Janos Ader to Israel on Tuesday, where he is set to attend a ceremony at Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, may have also also played a part in the decision to prosecute the Hungarian national.
Zuroff said he had sent a letter to senior Israeli politicians ahead of Ader's arrival calling for them to ask for the arrest of Csatary, but he had no idea if they received it.
Csatary was the police chief of Kosice during the deportation of 15,700 local Jews to Auschwitz in spring 1944, according to Zuroff.
After the war he emigrated to Canada but was stripped of his citizenship in 1995 when his wartime role was discovered and he subsequently returned to his country of birth.
Zuroff said on Thursday he hoped Csatary's trial will be swift due to the suspect's age.
Asked why he insisted on bringing the remaining Nazis and their collaborators --the youngest of which are well in their 90s-- to trial over 60 years since World War II ended, Zuroff said "the passage of times does not diminish the guilt of the killers."
"Don't look at Csatary when he if old and frail, look at a man who when he was at the height of the his powers devoted them to killing people," he said.
I'm sorry but this religious insanity and indicative of a very warped mindset that seems unfamiliar with the concept of forgiveness without which violent conflicts cannot be resolved peaceably. One has to compare the insane Jewish wish for revenge with the African Obuntu spirit that allowed South Africans to forgive their white oppressors instead of seeking revenge. Here where I live I work with descendants of Native American survivors of one of America's worst massacres of Native Americans and they too do not have this sickness that carries hatreds for generations as do the Jews. Yes, I have ancestors from Poland who died at the hands of Nazis but this 2012, not 1944, and I don't know of any Jewish memorial to the American men like my father who risked their lives to get rid of Nazis. I don't hear any Jewish praise of America for never having any pogroms against Jews as did Europe by the scores. And lastly, what makes Jews think that taking out their revenge against Gentile Arab Palestinians in any way makes up for the European holocaust caused by Europeans without a single Palestinian involved?
07/18/2012 13:39
Police in Hungary on Tuesday arrested Laszlo Csatary, said to be the world's most wanted living Nazi, and charged him with war crimes related to the deportation of thousands of Jews to Auschwitz during World War II.
Hungarian prosecution said it indicted the 95-year-old for the part he played in sending 15,700 Jews to Nazi death camps when he was the police chief of Kosice.
Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who tracked down Csatary to a suburb of Budapest late last year, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after the arrest took place he was overjoyed by the news.
"Hallelujah," he said. "You can't understand what this means to me. It's a great victory and a very important one."
The Jerusalem Post ran a story on Zuroff's claims against Csatary last April, but it wasn't until The Sun sent a journalist to Hungary last week and published shirtless photos of the pensioner answering the door that it made headlines around the world. Over the past week the story has been picked up by media outlets around the world putting pressure on Hungary to act.
"It's very simple, we owe our debt to The Sun," said Zuroff. "People may snicker but The Sun spent thousands of pounds to photograph him and embarrass him. To get a nazi in prison you have to take a photo of him in his underwear."
The visit by Hungarian President Janos Ader to Israel on Tuesday, where he is set to attend a ceremony at Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, may have also also played a part in the decision to prosecute the Hungarian national.
Zuroff said he had sent a letter to senior Israeli politicians ahead of Ader's arrival calling for them to ask for the arrest of Csatary, but he had no idea if they received it.
Csatary was the police chief of Kosice during the deportation of 15,700 local Jews to Auschwitz in spring 1944, according to Zuroff.
After the war he emigrated to Canada but was stripped of his citizenship in 1995 when his wartime role was discovered and he subsequently returned to his country of birth.
Zuroff said on Thursday he hoped Csatary's trial will be swift due to the suspect's age.
Asked why he insisted on bringing the remaining Nazis and their collaborators --the youngest of which are well in their 90s-- to trial over 60 years since World War II ended, Zuroff said "the passage of times does not diminish the guilt of the killers."
"Don't look at Csatary when he if old and frail, look at a man who when he was at the height of the his powers devoted them to killing people," he said.
I'm sorry but this religious insanity and indicative of a very warped mindset that seems unfamiliar with the concept of forgiveness without which violent conflicts cannot be resolved peaceably. One has to compare the insane Jewish wish for revenge with the African Obuntu spirit that allowed South Africans to forgive their white oppressors instead of seeking revenge. Here where I live I work with descendants of Native American survivors of one of America's worst massacres of Native Americans and they too do not have this sickness that carries hatreds for generations as do the Jews. Yes, I have ancestors from Poland who died at the hands of Nazis but this 2012, not 1944, and I don't know of any Jewish memorial to the American men like my father who risked their lives to get rid of Nazis. I don't hear any Jewish praise of America for never having any pogroms against Jews as did Europe by the scores. And lastly, what makes Jews think that taking out their revenge against Gentile Arab Palestinians in any way makes up for the European holocaust caused by Europeans without a single Palestinian involved?
Gaza Christians protest what they call forced conversion to Islam
Los Angeles Times
July 17, 2012 | 11:26 pm
GAZA CITY -- Scores of Christians in the Gaza Strip organized a sit-in Tuesday at the Greek Church of Gaza to protest what they call the "kidnapping” of five Christians by an unknown Islamist group seeking to forcibly convert them to Islam.
A smaller protest was held Monday at the church in which Christians, who have long complained of persecution in Gaza, demanded that Hamas, which controls the seaside territory, return the five individuals.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in a statement Tuesday that the five people had met with their family members and affirmed that they had not been forced to convert.
Family members of the five Christians believe the young man, a woman and her three children are being held against their will by a Hamas lawmaker, and say that it is impossible that they have changed their beliefs.
"If my son is not kidnapped, why don't they just let him go home with me?" asked Huda Amash, mother of Ramez Amash, 25, the missing young man. “My son was brought up as a Christian. His love of Jesus is strong enough to keep him Christian. He cannot change his beliefs all of a sudden."
The Hamas police, however, said the five people had not been kidnapped and that they have converted to Islam voluntarily and without any pressure. Hamas officials said the individuals are staying with a Muslim family under the protection of the police.
Christian leaders in Gaza say there are about 1,500 Christians in Gaza, down from about 3,500 in 2008.
-- Ahmed Aldabba
At some point soon Christians from Western countries will unite in a boycott of all Muslim countries in which Christians are being persecuted by Muslims. Muhammad's Islam is plagued by ancient social barbarity and religious warfare and Muslims will have to make a choice of either welcoming foreign Christian tourists in their countries who spend quite a bit of money or being even poorer by treating their own Christians badly forcing wealthier Christians to stay away. Most of America and Europe still are nominally Christian so a mass boycott by Christians united would not be a small thing.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
UNESCO chair at Gaza University angers Israel
By IAN DEITCH, Associated Press
–
1 hour ago
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has condemned UNESCO's decision to establish a
chair at the Islamic University of Gaza, calling the institution "a
breeding ground for terrorists."Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday that "(Palestinian militant group) Hamas uses Gaza University laboratories to develop and produce explosives and rockets and has even run a course on explosive making."
Gaza militants often bomb southern Israel with mortars and rockets.
Israel, the US, EU and others consider Gaza's Hamas rulers a terror group because of their suicide bombings and attacks on civilians that kill hundreds.
UNESCO said the chair is to promote astronomy, astrophysics and space sciences.
Earlier this month, it approved Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity as an endangered site. The U.S. and Israel dismissed the move as cynical politicization of the cultural body.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The tag-team, Israel and the U.S., now a puppet state of Israel which controls Congress and the Presidency and has since 9-11.
Israeli jailed for illegal US kidney transplants
BBC News11 July 2012 Last updated at 22:24 ET
Levi Izhak Rosenbaum, 11 July 2012 Rosenbaum was arrested during a huge operation into corruption in many walks of life
An Israeli convicted of arranging US kidney transplants for profit has been given a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum admitted brokering kidney transplants for profit, becoming the first person convicted over illegal organ sales in the US, prosecutors say.
He was alleged to have charged between $120,000 (£77,400) and $160,000 to arrange kidneys for three people.
He was caught trying to arrange fourth operation when the FBI launched a sting operation in 2009.
New Jersey prosecutors said Rosenbaum, an Israeli living in Brooklyn, used newspaper adverts in his homeland to find donors willing to give up a kidney in return for cash.
He was alleged to have paid as little as $10,000 to secure a donor organ.
He then helped set up blood test and services to ensure a proper match was arranged for those in need of a transplant in the US.
'The cause was good'
Although at least one recipient of a kidney spoke up in defence during Rosenbaum's sentencing hearing, one other said they had felt exploited.
"It was wrong, but I thought the cause was good," Rosenbaum, 61, told the court.
"I can assure this court I will never do this again."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
There are no victims here. The donors are happy and the recipients are happy”
Rachel Warshower Family friend
Prosecutor Paul Fishman said Rosenbaum was motivated by profit, not by a desire to heal the sick.
"A black market where the moneyed sick can buy replacement parts from the less fortunate is not only grim, it apportions lifesaving treatments unfairly, insults donor dignity, and violates the law," he said in a statement.
"Although Rosenbaum painted himself as a benevolent kidney matchmaker, the criminal profits went right into his pocket," Mr Fishman added.
But those who spoke in support of Rosenbaum described him as a devout Orthodox Jew who was dedicated to helping people.
"There are no victims here," Rachel Warshower, who travelled from Brooklyn to support Rosenbaum, told the Associated Press.
"The donors are happy and the recipients are happy. Izhak Rosenbaum is not the monster the media has made him out to be."
In other words, we can do no wrong. It's not a crime for richer people if they're Jewish to take advantage of poorer people desperate enough to sell body parts.
An Israeli convicted of arranging US kidney transplants for profit has been given a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum admitted brokering kidney transplants for profit, becoming the first person convicted over illegal organ sales in the US, prosecutors say.
He was alleged to have charged between $120,000 (£77,400) and $160,000 to arrange kidneys for three people.
He was caught trying to arrange fourth operation when the FBI launched a sting operation in 2009.
New Jersey prosecutors said Rosenbaum, an Israeli living in Brooklyn, used newspaper adverts in his homeland to find donors willing to give up a kidney in return for cash.
He was alleged to have paid as little as $10,000 to secure a donor organ.
He then helped set up blood test and services to ensure a proper match was arranged for those in need of a transplant in the US.
'The cause was good'
Although at least one recipient of a kidney spoke up in defence during Rosenbaum's sentencing hearing, one other said they had felt exploited.
"It was wrong, but I thought the cause was good," Rosenbaum, 61, told the court.
"I can assure this court I will never do this again."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
There are no victims here. The donors are happy and the recipients are happy”
Rachel Warshower Family friend
Prosecutor Paul Fishman said Rosenbaum was motivated by profit, not by a desire to heal the sick.
"A black market where the moneyed sick can buy replacement parts from the less fortunate is not only grim, it apportions lifesaving treatments unfairly, insults donor dignity, and violates the law," he said in a statement.
"Although Rosenbaum painted himself as a benevolent kidney matchmaker, the criminal profits went right into his pocket," Mr Fishman added.
But those who spoke in support of Rosenbaum described him as a devout Orthodox Jew who was dedicated to helping people.
"There are no victims here," Rachel Warshower, who travelled from Brooklyn to support Rosenbaum, told the Associated Press.
"The donors are happy and the recipients are happy. Izhak Rosenbaum is not the monster the media has made him out to be."
In other words, we can do no wrong. It's not a crime for richer people if they're Jewish to take advantage of poorer people desperate enough to sell body parts.
Monday, July 09, 2012
Pakistan shuns prize-winning physicist linked to ‘God particle’ because of religious beliefs
By Associated Press, Published: July 8 (what an old photo!)
ISLAMABAD — The pioneering work of Abdus Salam, Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate, helped lead to the apparent discovery of the subatomic “God particle” last week. But the late physicist is no hero at home, where his name has been stricken from school textbooks.
Praise within Pakistan for Salam, who also guided the early stages of the country’s nuclear program, faded decades ago as Muslim fundamentalists gained power. He belonged to the Ahmadi sect, which has been persecuted by the government and targeted by Taliban militants who view its members as heretics.
Their plight — along with that of Pakistan’s other religious minorities, such as Shiite Muslims, Christians and Hindus — has deepened in recent years as hardline interpretations of Islam have gained ground and militants have stepped up attacks against groups they oppose. Most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims.
Salam, a child prodigy born in 1926 in what was to become Pakistan after the partition of British-controlled India, won more than a dozen international prizes and honors. In 1979, he was co-winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, which theorizes how fundamental forces govern the overall dynamics of the universe. He died in 1996.
Salam and Steven Weinberg, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize, independently predicted the existence of a subatomic particle now called the Higgs boson, named after a British physicist who theorized that it endowed other particles with mass, said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist who once worked with Salam. It is also known as the “God particle” because its existence is vitally important toward understanding the early evolution of the universe.
Physicists in Switzerland stoked worldwide excitement Wednesday when they announced they have all but proven the particle’s existence. This was done using the world’s largest atom smasher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva.
“This would be a great vindication of Salam’s work and the Standard Model as a whole,” said Khurshid Hasanain, chairman of the physics department at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Salam wielded significant influence in Pakistan as the chief scientific adviser to the president, helping to set up the country’s space agency and institute for nuclear science and technology. Salam also assisted in the early stages of Pakistan’s effort to build a nuclear bomb, which it eventually tested in 1998.
Salam’s life, along with the fate of the 3 million other Ahmadis in Pakistan, drastically changed in 1974 when parliament amended the constitution to declare that members of the sect were not considered Muslims under Pakistani law.
Ahmadis believe their spiritual leader, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908, was a prophet of God — a position rejected by the government in response to a mass movement led by Pakistan’s major Islamic parties. Islam considers Muhammad the last prophet and those who subsequently declared themselves prophets as heretics.
It seems in every century one or more of the Abrahamic religions goes overboard in its willingness to forget about God's goodness and mercy in efforts to "purify" everyone else who doesn't believe the same way. I love the Ahmadiyyahs who fantastically are able to glean real peacefulness from Muhammad's Quranic teachings although these are filtered through a messianic Ahmadiyyah prophet which upsets the Muslim purists who really do think God speaks only through one man in history. Ah, the day that the Abrahamic Emancipation Proclamation takes effect worldwide will be the day of peaceful reconciliation of all peoples escaping the lunacies of fundamentalist believers.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Israel won't cooperate with UN settlement probe
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, JPOST.COM STAFF
07/06/2012 21:13
Three jurists appointed to fact-finding probe into Israeli settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem.
Israel reiterated Friday that it would refuse cooperation with a a UN Human Rights Council fact finding mission to probe Israeli West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem.
The Geneva-based council appointed three international jurists to the mission on Friday, eliciting a rebuke from Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
"The fact finding mission will find no cooperation in Israel and its members will not be allowed to enter Israel and the territories. Its existence embodies the inherent distortion that typifies the UNHRC treatment of Israel and the hijacking of the important human rights agenda by non democratic countries," he said.
The three jurists are: Christine Chanet of France, Unity Dow of Botswana and Asma Jahangir of Pakistan.
“I have appointed three highly distinguished individuals to carry out the Council’s fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem,” said UNHRC President Laura Dupuy Lasserre.
She spoke to the council of the settlement probe as it wrapped up its 20th session in Geneva. The council ordered the probe at its 19th session in March.
At the time Israel said that it did not plan to cooperate with the probe and cut its ties with the council in protest.
On Friday, Lasserre called on Israel “not to obstruct the process of the investigation and to cooperate fully with the mission.”
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva based non profit group UN Watch, immediately attacked the announcement. “While there are genuine human rights victims on all sides, this inquiry’s mandate is imbalanced and lacks credibility,” Neuer said.
“Its terms were framed in a four-page resolution, co-sponsored by the Arab and Islamic groups, that omits any reference to Arab terrorism against Israeli civilians, including the hundreds of rockets fired recently from Gaza and Sinai into Israeli towns and villages."
The UNHRC on Friday provided background on the the three panel members, however, which showed that they had a distinguished history of judicial credentials.
Chanet, who chairs the committee, was part of the Round Table Conference at the Peace Palace at The Hague in November 2001, in which the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct were finalized. She has been a member of the UN Human Rights Committee since 1996 and was twice its chairperson.
Jahangir is the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and has twice chaired her country's Human Rights Commission. She directs the AGHS Legal Aid Cell which provides free legal assistance to the needy. She has also served as UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the Council of Human Rights. In 1983 she was imprisoned for for her activism against her country's military regime.
Dow has been Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists since 2004. She was re-elected in 2009. She is a practicing lawyer in Botswana. From 1998 to 2008 she was Botswana's first female High Court judge. She is also novelist and has authored books such as Juggling Truths, The Screaming of the Innocent and Far and Beyond.
07/06/2012 21:13
Three jurists appointed to fact-finding probe into Israeli settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem.
Israel reiterated Friday that it would refuse cooperation with a a UN Human Rights Council fact finding mission to probe Israeli West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem.
The Geneva-based council appointed three international jurists to the mission on Friday, eliciting a rebuke from Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.
"The fact finding mission will find no cooperation in Israel and its members will not be allowed to enter Israel and the territories. Its existence embodies the inherent distortion that typifies the UNHRC treatment of Israel and the hijacking of the important human rights agenda by non democratic countries," he said.
The three jurists are: Christine Chanet of France, Unity Dow of Botswana and Asma Jahangir of Pakistan.
“I have appointed three highly distinguished individuals to carry out the Council’s fact-finding mission to investigate the implications of Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem,” said UNHRC President Laura Dupuy Lasserre.
She spoke to the council of the settlement probe as it wrapped up its 20th session in Geneva. The council ordered the probe at its 19th session in March.
At the time Israel said that it did not plan to cooperate with the probe and cut its ties with the council in protest.
On Friday, Lasserre called on Israel “not to obstruct the process of the investigation and to cooperate fully with the mission.”
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva based non profit group UN Watch, immediately attacked the announcement. “While there are genuine human rights victims on all sides, this inquiry’s mandate is imbalanced and lacks credibility,” Neuer said.
“Its terms were framed in a four-page resolution, co-sponsored by the Arab and Islamic groups, that omits any reference to Arab terrorism against Israeli civilians, including the hundreds of rockets fired recently from Gaza and Sinai into Israeli towns and villages."
The UNHRC on Friday provided background on the the three panel members, however, which showed that they had a distinguished history of judicial credentials.
Chanet, who chairs the committee, was part of the Round Table Conference at the Peace Palace at The Hague in November 2001, in which the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct were finalized. She has been a member of the UN Human Rights Committee since 1996 and was twice its chairperson.
Jahangir is the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and has twice chaired her country's Human Rights Commission. She directs the AGHS Legal Aid Cell which provides free legal assistance to the needy. She has also served as UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the Council of Human Rights. In 1983 she was imprisoned for for her activism against her country's military regime.
Dow has been Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists since 2004. She was re-elected in 2009. She is a practicing lawyer in Botswana. From 1998 to 2008 she was Botswana's first female High Court judge. She is also novelist and has authored books such as Juggling Truths, The Screaming of the Innocent and Far and Beyond.
Friday, July 06, 2012
U.N. names experts to probe Israeli settlements
GENEVA | Fri Jul 6, 2012 2:03pm EDT
(Reuters) - The United Nations named French judge Christine Chanet on Friday as the leader of a team of three experts who will investigate whether Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories violate human rights law.
The other team members are Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir and Botswana judge Unity Dow. Jahangir has been the subject of human rights cases in the past, having been put under house arrest in 1983 and warned of a plot to assassinate her last month.
The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) launched the probe in March under an initiative brought to the 47-member forum by the Palestinian Authority. Israel's ally the United States was the only member to vote against it.
The council said Israel's planned construction of new housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem undermined the peace process and posed a threat to the two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel on Friday condemned the investigation. "The establishment of this mission is another blatant expression of the singling out of Israel in the UNHRC," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
"This fact-finding mission will find no co-operation in Israel, and its members will not be allowed to enter Israel and the Territories."
The council's president, Uruguay's ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, announced the names of the investigators after holding consultations among member states, diplomats said.
As the team will not be allowed access to Israeli settlements, they are likely to have to gather information from second-hand sources, including media.
Even if the investigators conclude settlements violate human rights law, U.S. opposition is likely to stymie any attempt to impose any punishment on Israel.
About 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. Palestinians seek the territory for an independent state along with the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians say settlements, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, the highest U.N. legal body for disputes, would deny them a viable state.
Israel cites historical and biblical links to the West Bank and says the status of settlements should be decided in peace negotiations.
On Monday Richard Falk, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, told a news conference that the acceleration of settlement building had "closed the book" on the feasibility of a two-state solution.
"The Palestinian position gets weaker and weaker through time and the Israelis get more and more of a fait accompli through their unlawful activities," he said.
"Is it just a delaying tactic that allows the Israelis to expand the settlements, expand the settled population, demolish more and more Palestinian homes and structures and engage in a program that has assumed such proportions that the language of ethnic cleansing is the only way to describe the demographic changes in East Jerusalem?"
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles; Editing by Pravin Char)
Presbyterian assembly narrowly rejects Israel divestment
Jul 06, 2012
USA TODAY
By Douglas Stanglin,
Updated 42m ago
The General Assembly of the 2-million strong Presbyterian Church (USA) has narrowly rejected a motion to divest in three companies over the Israeli military's use of their products in the Palestinian territories, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The proposal, presented by the assembly's Committee on Middle East and Peacemaking Issues, was rejected late Thursday by a vote of 333-331, with two abstentions.
BLOG: A long-simmering issue for the church
The New York Times reports that the results were so close that a collective gasp went up from the convention floor when the tally was posted electronically.
Divestment supporters argue the targeted companies — Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motorola — are profiting from Palestinian suffering, the Associated Press reports. The American Jewish Committee, a public policy group, has said the proposal demonizes Israel and threatens Christian-Jewish relations.
Other major American Protestant denominations, including the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church, have rejected past divestment proposals, the AP reports.
USA TODAY
By Douglas Stanglin,
Updated 42m ago
The General Assembly of the 2-million strong Presbyterian Church (USA) has narrowly rejected a motion to divest in three companies over the Israeli military's use of their products in the Palestinian territories, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The proposal, presented by the assembly's Committee on Middle East and Peacemaking Issues, was rejected late Thursday by a vote of 333-331, with two abstentions.
BLOG: A long-simmering issue for the church
The New York Times reports that the results were so close that a collective gasp went up from the convention floor when the tally was posted electronically.
Divestment supporters argue the targeted companies — Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Motorola — are profiting from Palestinian suffering, the Associated Press reports. The American Jewish Committee, a public policy group, has said the proposal demonizes Israel and threatens Christian-Jewish relations.
Other major American Protestant denominations, including the United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church, have rejected past divestment proposals, the AP reports.
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Yasser Arafat: Palestinians call for poison inquiry
BBC News
4 July 2012 Last updated at 13:05 ET
Yasser Arafat led the Palestine Liberation Organisation for 35 years
Palestinian officials are calling for an international inquiry into former leader Yasser Arafat's death, over renewed claims that he was poisoned.
Swiss scientists told an al-Jazeera TV documentary the radioactive material polonium-210 was on belongings given to his widow after he died in 2004.
She objected to a post-mortem at the time, but now wants his body exhumed to enable further tests to be carried out.
Arafat's medical records say he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.
Mr Arafat's former aide, Nabil Abu Rdeinah, who is now spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said "there is no religious or political reason that prevents further investigation into this matter, including exhuming his body" provided the request came from the former Palestinian leader's family.
Another senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, said what was most important was to "secure an international investigation committee through the (UN) Security Council or the International Court of Justice to deal with the matter as a whole".
Many Palestinians continue to believe Arafat was poisoned by Israel, which saw Arafat as an obstacle to peace and had put him under house arrest. Israel has denied any involvement.
Others allege that he had Aids.
'Unexplained'
Arafat, who led the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) for 35 years and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1996, fell violently ill in October 2004 at his besieged West Bank compound.
Two weeks later he was flown to a French military hospital in Paris, where he died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75.
French doctors bound by privacy rules did not release information about Arafat's condition.
On Tuesday, al-Jazeera reported that the Institute of Radiation Physics (IRA) at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland had found "significant" traces of polonium-210 present in samples taken from Arafat's personal effects, including his trademark keffiyeh.
"I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," Dr Francois Bochud, the director of the Institute of Radiation Physics, told al-Jazeera.
In some cases, the elevated levels were 10 times higher than those on control subjects, and most of the polonium could not have come from natural sources, the scientists said.
However, a spokesman for the institute, Darcy Christen, told the Reuters news agency that the clinical symptoms described in Arafat's medical records were not consistent with polonium-210 poisoning.
The former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died of exposure to polonium-210 in London in 2006. The UK authorities have accused Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB officer, of poisoning his tea.
International inquiry
To confirm the theory that Arafat was poisoned by polonium-210 it would be necessary to exhume and analyse his remains, Dr Bochud said.
"If [Suha Arafat] really wants to know what happened to her husband [we need] to find a sample," he added. "An exhumation... should provide us with a sample that should have a very high quantity of polonium if he was poisoned."
Mrs Arafat confirmed that she would make such a request, telling al-Jazeera: "We have to go further and exhume Yasser Arafat's body to reveal the truth to the Muslim and Arab world."
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, said exhumation could take place if an international inquiry demanded it.
"We need to discuss this issue and look at it from all angles," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, told the BBC.
"I think that if there is an international court case - and I think there should be - we should do everything we can to help the case, including exhuming the body of the late President Yasser Arafat, in order to reach a conclusion."
In 2005, the New York Times obtained a copy of Arafat's medical records, which it said showed he died of a massive haemorrhagic stroke that resulted from a bleeding disorder caused by an unknown infection.
Independent experts who reviewed the records told the paper that it was highly unlikely that he had died of Aids or had been poisoned.
4 July 2012 Last updated at 13:05 ET
Palestinian officials are calling for an international inquiry into former leader Yasser Arafat's death, over renewed claims that he was poisoned.
Swiss scientists told an al-Jazeera TV documentary the radioactive material polonium-210 was on belongings given to his widow after he died in 2004.
She objected to a post-mortem at the time, but now wants his body exhumed to enable further tests to be carried out.
Arafat's medical records say he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.
Mr Arafat's former aide, Nabil Abu Rdeinah, who is now spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said "there is no religious or political reason that prevents further investigation into this matter, including exhuming his body" provided the request came from the former Palestinian leader's family.
Another senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, said what was most important was to "secure an international investigation committee through the (UN) Security Council or the International Court of Justice to deal with the matter as a whole".
Many Palestinians continue to believe Arafat was poisoned by Israel, which saw Arafat as an obstacle to peace and had put him under house arrest. Israel has denied any involvement.
Others allege that he had Aids.
'Unexplained'
Arafat, who led the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) for 35 years and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1996, fell violently ill in October 2004 at his besieged West Bank compound.
Two weeks later he was flown to a French military hospital in Paris, where he died on 11 November 2004 at the age of 75.
French doctors bound by privacy rules did not release information about Arafat's condition.
On Tuesday, al-Jazeera reported that the Institute of Radiation Physics (IRA) at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland had found "significant" traces of polonium-210 present in samples taken from Arafat's personal effects, including his trademark keffiyeh.
"I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," Dr Francois Bochud, the director of the Institute of Radiation Physics, told al-Jazeera.
In some cases, the elevated levels were 10 times higher than those on control subjects, and most of the polonium could not have come from natural sources, the scientists said.
However, a spokesman for the institute, Darcy Christen, told the Reuters news agency that the clinical symptoms described in Arafat's medical records were not consistent with polonium-210 poisoning.
The former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died of exposure to polonium-210 in London in 2006. The UK authorities have accused Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB officer, of poisoning his tea.
International inquiry
To confirm the theory that Arafat was poisoned by polonium-210 it would be necessary to exhume and analyse his remains, Dr Bochud said.
"If [Suha Arafat] really wants to know what happened to her husband [we need] to find a sample," he added. "An exhumation... should provide us with a sample that should have a very high quantity of polonium if he was poisoned."
Mrs Arafat confirmed that she would make such a request, telling al-Jazeera: "We have to go further and exhume Yasser Arafat's body to reveal the truth to the Muslim and Arab world."
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, said exhumation could take place if an international inquiry demanded it.
"We need to discuss this issue and look at it from all angles," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, told the BBC.
"I think that if there is an international court case - and I think there should be - we should do everything we can to help the case, including exhuming the body of the late President Yasser Arafat, in order to reach a conclusion."
In 2005, the New York Times obtained a copy of Arafat's medical records, which it said showed he died of a massive haemorrhagic stroke that resulted from a bleeding disorder caused by an unknown infection.
Independent experts who reviewed the records told the paper that it was highly unlikely that he had died of Aids or had been poisoned.
Scientists: Radioactive polonium-210 found on Yasser Arafat's toothbrush, clothes
By Reuters
ZURICH - Traces of the poisonous element polonium have been found in the belongings of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a Swiss institute said on Wednesday, and a television report said his widow had demanded his body be exhumed for further tests.
Arafat died at a hospital in France in 2004, after a sudden illness which baffled doctors. Many Palestinians have long suspected he was poisoned.
Darcy Christen, spokesman for the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, told Reuters on Tuesday it had found "surprisingly" high levels of polonium-210 in Arafat's belongings.
But he stressed that clinical symptoms described in Arafat's medical reports were not consistent with polonium-210 and that conclusions could not be drawn as to whether the Palestinian leader was poisoned or not.
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite channel said the institute had tested Arafat's personal effects, given them by his widow.
'Unexplained'
Its documentary said they showed that his clothes, toothbrush and kaffiyeh headscarf contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element.
"I can confirm to you that we measured an unexplained, elevated amount of unsupported polonium-210 in the belongings of Mr. Arafat that contained stains of biological fluids," Francois Bochud, director of the institute, said in the documentary.
Palestinian: US supports 'an apartheid system that is suffocating us'
Bochud said the only way to confirm the findings would be to exhume Arafat's body to test it for polonium-210.
"But we have to do it quite fast because polonium is decaying, so if we wait too long, for sure, any possible proof will disappear," he told Al Jazeera.
Polonium was found to have caused the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, and he was assumed to have been deliberately poisoned.
Dateline NBC from 2007: Litvinenko assassins likely to escape justice
Arafat's widow Suha said she would ask for Arafat's body - buried in the West Bank town of Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian self-rule authority - to be exhumed.
Speaking at the end of the documentary, aired on Al Jazeera's English and Arabic channels, she said: "We have to go further and exhume Yasser Arafat's body to reveal the truth to all the Muslim and Arab world."
Arafat led the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's fight against Israel from the 1960s but signed a peace agreement with the Jewish state in 1993 establishing Palestinian self-rule areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
His mysterious death came four years into a Palestinian uprising, after years of talks with Israel failed to lead to a Palestinian state. French doctors who treated Arafat in his final days could not establish the cause of death.
French officials refused to give details of his condition, citing privacy laws, fuelling a host of rumors and theories over the nature of his illness.
Friday, June 29, 2012
UNESCO: Nativity Church heritage site in 'Palestine'
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
06/29/2012 16:40
Fayyad: This gives hope to our people on the inevitable victory of our just cause;
US "profoundly disappointed."
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Friday became the first World Heritage Site to be listed under the name of Palestine.
Its approval, by a 13 to 6 vote with two abstentions, marks the second victory in less than a year for the Palestinian Authority’s pursuit of unilateral statehood at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The vote, which was held by a secret ballot, gives an emotion boost to the Palestinian drive to eventually be recognized unilaterally as a member state of the United Nations.
Resounding applause greeted the announcement of the vote by the World Heritage Committee at its 36th meeting at its 36th session held this week and next in St. Petersburg Russia.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister Riad Malki who was in St. Petersburg for the vote thanked the committee for helping the Palestinians obtain their cultural right to self-determination.
Already in October UNESCO agreed to accept Palestine as its 195th member state, even though it is not a member of the overall United Nations. It does, however, now have state rights in all UNESCO related bodies, such as the World Heritage Center.
For technical reasons relating to the signing of the convention, the PA must meet the cut-off to submit the church for registration as a World Heritage site, and therefore requested that it be considered under an emergency procedure. It said that the church needed urgent repairs and that it was additionally in danger from Israel’s “occupation” of the area.
The World Heritage’s technical advisory body, as well it’s the committee’s secretariat both advised the committee prior to its Friday meeting that the application did not meet the necessary criteria to be listed through the emergency procedure. But 13 of the 21 member states on the committee disregarded that advice.
Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan said that it was a mistake for the committee to ignore the technical advice of its own advisers.
There was no link he said between the water damage to the church roof and its placement on the list through an emergency procedure.
He noted that nothing prevented the Palestinian Authority from fixing the roof.
Israel has in the past said that it believes that the church, known as Jesus’s birthplace, is worthy of inscription as a World Heritage Site, but that it opposes the Palestinian use of the mechanism to advance a political agenda of unilateral statehood.
Malki, however, said that UNESCO has an important role to play in helping protect Palestinian land, which is the “cradle of civilization.”
He said that the Church as well as other West Bank sites were threatened by Israel’s “occupation,” the barrier and settlers.
"This gives hope and confidence to our people on the inevitable victory of our just cause," said Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a statement following the decision.
"It increases their determination to continue efforts at deepening readiness for the establishment of an independent State of Palestine, with its capital in East Jerusalem within the 1967 borders," Fayyad said.
Meanwhile, Gideon Koren, Israel's Vice President of the International Council on Monuments and Sites slammed the decision as "irresponsible." The US Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion also criticized the move, saying he was "profoundly disappointed by the decision."
Oddly, the committee’s next move was to approve a bid by Israel to inscribe a series of adjacent caves in the Mount Carmel region to the World Heritage List for their fossilization of human evolution.
Reuters contributed to this report
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Israel stages Holocaust survivor beauty pageant?!
BBC News
28 June 2012 Last updated at 22:41 ET
Hava Hershkovitz, 79, who had to flee her native Romania, was crowned the winner of the pageant.
A beauty pageant for Holocaust survivors has been held in Israel for the first time, stirring controversy.
Fourteen women, aged 74 to 97, walked along a red carpet in
the city of Haifa and described their personal sufferings from the Nazis
during World War II.Hava Hershkovitz, 79, who had to flee her native Romania, was later crowned the winner of the pageant.
Organisers said the contest was a celebration of life, but critics denounced it as offensive.
'Macabre'
The beauty pageant was organised by Shimon Sabag organisation, who said the 14 finalists had been chosen from hundreds of applicants based on their personal stories of survival and their later contributions to local communities across Israel.
Physical appearance contributed only about 10% of the criteria, Mr Sabag was quoted as saying.
The four-member panel of judges finally declared Mrs Hershkovitz as the overall winner on Thursday.
"It's not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest," the silver-haired winner said, according to AP news agency.
"But we're all doing it to show that we're still alive."
However, critics said that judging women who had suffered persecution on physical appearance was inappropriate.
"It sounds totally macabre to me," Collete Avital, chairwoman of Israel's Holocaust survivors' umbrella group told the AP.
"I am in favour of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading [survivors] with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful," she said.
About six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during WWII, and Israel's annual Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar.
Nearly 200,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today.
Still another way to exploit the Jewish holocaust. And remember, you can't diddle with the Jewish estimated number of holocaust dead or you'll get thrown in prison in several countries and booted out of any college you teach at in America. Free speech in this case does not apply to Jews unlike the rest of Americans.Wonder how the Nei Karta ultra-orthodox view this quite sick and twisted exploitation of holocaust victims done to counter Nei Karta's attack on the holocaust museum reported below.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial defaced
BBC News
11 June 2012 Last updated at 07:13 ET
Vandals have defaced the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem with graffiti denouncing Zionism.
One of the slogans daubed in paint on the walls of the
memorial read: "If Hitler had not existed, the Zionists would have
invented him.""This unprecedented act crosses a red line," Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement.
Suspicion for the attack has fallen on radical ultra-Orthodox Jews who oppose the creation of the state of Israel.
Mr Shalev pointed out in comments to local media that one of the slogans was signed "world ultra-Orthodox Jewry".
"We are shocked and dazed by this callous expression of burning hatred against the Zionists and Zionism," Mr Shalev said.
Photos of some of the other slogans have been published in the Israeli press, including one reading: "Thanks Hitler for the wonderful Holocaust you organised for us. Only thanks to you we got a state from the UN."
Another reads: "Honourable government of Poland, stop allowing the Zionists to hold manipulative 'memorial' ceremonies in Auschwitz."
Education Minister Gideon Saar condemned the graffiti, saying: "Whoever desecrated and soiled Yad Vashem with these disturbed slogans did it with the aim of harming public sensibilities."
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said an investigation was under way.
Some ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that a Jewish state can be established only after the coming of the Messiah, and that the state of Israel is therefore illegitimate.
Yad Vashem was established in 1953 and commemorates the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
Very likely the work of Ultra Orthodox Jews who bitterly oppose the establishment of modern Israel and side with Palestinian resisters. These are the only Jews who have opposed Zionist colonial imperialism from the start as religious heresy which it is. The nation of Israel is supposed to be established as a moral beacon to humanity, not as Fortress Israel where Jews act the role of Nazis to the people whose land they've come in and stolen, killing anyone they can find who actively resists their armed invasion and occupation, all done in order to set up racial discrimination against Arab Palestinians as state policy for Jewish settlers.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Hundreds protest in Israel illegal immigration battle
By Dan Morgan and Guy Azriel, CNN
updated 1:58 PM EDT, Sun June 10, 2012
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Several hundred Sudanese immigrants rallied Sunday on the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding refugee status.
Marching towards the United Nations Refugee Agency building, the demonstrators held up banners reading "We are not infiltrators, we are refugees," "We are human beings too" and "We are refugees, we are not criminals."
The issue of illegal African migrants has been of growing concern in the Jewish state in recent months.
Some residents of southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods, where there is a large concentration of Africans, have blamed their new neighbors for increasing levels of crime and suffocating the infrastructure and public services. Some also complain the illegal immigration is changing the fabric of Israel.
According to government records, more than 59,000 illegal African immigrants have entered the country in recent years through its southern border with Egypt. Israel is spending millions on the construction of a border barrier, due to be completed later this year.
But for now, the numbers continue to grow, with 2,031 new migrants reported over the last month.
Most of the immigrants originate from Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan. They hold temporary permits to remain in the country, but Israel says it is looking for ways to send them back to their home countries.
Last week, an Israeli court approved a government plan to deport 1,500 citizens of South Sudan.
Many Israeli refugee agencies and officials are pushing against those plans, and calling on the government to allow the immigrants to stay.
Also on Sunday, Human Rights Watch called on the Israeli parliament to immediately repeal or amend a newly revised law which, according to the human rights group, "punishes asylum seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel, in violation of their basic rights."
In May, a protest in Tel Aviv turned violent, leading to the arrests of 17 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the violence. "The problem of infiltrators must be resolved, and we will resolve it," he said after the protest last month. "We will complete the construction of the security fence in several months and soon will start the process of sending the migrants back to their home countries."
He added, "We will solve the problem and will do so responsibly."
The most paranoid state on earth now, Israel tops North Korea. Yet North Koreans have never invaded a country 1000's of miles away from them and tried to take it away from the indigenous population. Oh, the problems European invaders have with these darker skinned natives who just don't get it. White European people rule wherever they settle.
;
updated 1:58 PM EDT, Sun June 10, 2012
Jerusalem (CNN) -- Several hundred Sudanese immigrants rallied Sunday on the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding refugee status.
Marching towards the United Nations Refugee Agency building, the demonstrators held up banners reading "We are not infiltrators, we are refugees," "We are human beings too" and "We are refugees, we are not criminals."
The issue of illegal African migrants has been of growing concern in the Jewish state in recent months.
Some residents of southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods, where there is a large concentration of Africans, have blamed their new neighbors for increasing levels of crime and suffocating the infrastructure and public services. Some also complain the illegal immigration is changing the fabric of Israel.
According to government records, more than 59,000 illegal African immigrants have entered the country in recent years through its southern border with Egypt. Israel is spending millions on the construction of a border barrier, due to be completed later this year.
But for now, the numbers continue to grow, with 2,031 new migrants reported over the last month.
Most of the immigrants originate from Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan. They hold temporary permits to remain in the country, but Israel says it is looking for ways to send them back to their home countries.
Last week, an Israeli court approved a government plan to deport 1,500 citizens of South Sudan.
Many Israeli refugee agencies and officials are pushing against those plans, and calling on the government to allow the immigrants to stay.
Also on Sunday, Human Rights Watch called on the Israeli parliament to immediately repeal or amend a newly revised law which, according to the human rights group, "punishes asylum seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel, in violation of their basic rights."
In May, a protest in Tel Aviv turned violent, leading to the arrests of 17 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the violence. "The problem of infiltrators must be resolved, and we will resolve it," he said after the protest last month. "We will complete the construction of the security fence in several months and soon will start the process of sending the migrants back to their home countries."
He added, "We will solve the problem and will do so responsibly."
The most paranoid state on earth now, Israel tops North Korea. Yet North Koreans have never invaded a country 1000's of miles away from them and tried to take it away from the indigenous population. Oh, the problems European invaders have with these darker skinned natives who just don't get it. White European people rule wherever they settle.
;
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Bethlehem nuns in West Bank barrier battle
BBC News
2 May 2012
Last updated at 23:44 ET
By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem
The barrier Israel has been building in and around the West Bank is set to deprive a Christian community of its land, and appears to have caused an unholy row between some monks and nuns - who could now end up on opposite sides.
In the green Cremisan valley, west of Bethlehem, a goatherd leans against a rock while his flocks graze under the olive and fig trees.
Nearby, a narrow road winds along the hillside to a 19th Century convent and a secluded monastery where monks run the only Palestinian winery.
For the mainly Christian town of Beit Jala, this is the local beauty spot. Residents come here to take a stroll or for a weekend barbecue. Many own small plots of agricultural land.
They also send their children to the convent school and visit the monastery to sell grapes or buy its wine.
That is why an Israeli government plan to build a wall through the valley, cutting off their access to most of it, is causing great alarm.
Map showing Cremisan monastery and convent
In an unusual move, priests like Father Ibrahim Shomali are speaking out.
"When people suffer the Church must be near them. This is not politics. This is human rights and this is Christians who must be defended," he says.
"Here, 57 Christian families will lose their land. Losing the land means losing their hope."
Bethlehem wall Part of the wall around Bethlehem
Every week, Father Ibrahim invites members of the community to join an outdoor mass as a form of peaceful protest.
Large parts of Israel's West Bank barrier have already been built.
From the Cremisan valley, the high concrete wall separating Palestinian Bethlehem from Jerusalem is clearly visible in the distance.
When it is extended here, the purpose will be to divide Beit Jala from two Jewish settlements - Har Gilo and Gilo - which sit on opposite hilltops.
While both are considered illegal under international law, Israel disputes this.
Map showing proposed routes of barrier
Palestinians see the barrier as a land grab and believe this valley is wanted for settlement expansion.
Israeli officials argue that security is their main concern.
"The route of the security barrier is based on the specific security considerations of the area. In the Beit Jala region, it is there solely to keep terror out of Jerusalem," says Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman, Joshua Hantman.
West Bank barrier
Total length is 708 km (440 miles), more than twice the length of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) between Israel and West Bank
About 61.8% of the barrier is complete; a further 8.2% is under construction and 30% is planned but not yet constructed
When completed, only about 15% of the barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel, isolating 9.4% of the West Bank
Source: UN 2011
He adds that 10 years ago, during the second Palestinian uprising or intifada, there were regular attempts to shoot at Gilo from Beit Jala.
Local Palestinians have launched legal action to prevent them from being blocked off from the Cremisan land.
This is one of dozens of cases that have ensured that work on the barrier, begun in 2002, remains only two-thirds complete.
What makes this case different is the presence of the convent and monastery.
Two years ago, the Salesian Sisters of Cremisan joined the challenge to the route in an Israeli court.
"We want to build bridges, not walls," their director, Sister Fides says through lawyers, emphasising the importance to the convent of its primary school for West Bank children.
Schoolchildren at the school run by the nuns at the Cremisan convent The Salesian Sisters worry that the barrier could close down their school for Palestinian children
"We are committed towards education for justice, peaceful living and peace between all people without distinction."
The latest proposals for the barrier would see it looping round the convent, keeping it on the Palestinian side, but splitting it from the neighbouring monastery.
Children would still be allowed to attend the school, though they would have to pass by soldiers at an Israeli checkpoint to do so. Landowners would be given limited access via an agricultural gate, at the time of the olive harvest, for example.
Unfinished concrete wall near Cremisan monastery For now, the barrier stops half-way up a hill behind the monastery
For a long time the monks remained silent about the developments, earning criticism from others in the Christian community.
"It is of vital importance to have all the interested parties together against this wall because together we are strong," says Samia Khalilieh, who is involved in the court case.
"The monastery being with us is an important factor. It is part of our heritage."
In December, the monks published a carefully worded condemnation of the barrier route.
It said they never asked to "pass on the Israeli side" and that "the entire route of the wall was established independently by the Israeli authorities".
The monastery also tried to join the legal appeal but the court would not allow it.
Nuns and residents are due in court again in September.
I have a personal stake in this very same Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem where God told me to take Paxcalibur in 2010 to do a ritual prayer calling for the complete dismantlement of all the Separation Walls and fences and barriers. What do Israelis think? That making Israel into an armed camp is creating a nation?
God says the barrier Walls will come down as no one is going to divide the Holy Land permanently.
Pax and me at the Wall outside Bethlehem. Lulu Awad, the daughter of my good friend Sami Awad who is the director of the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, blessed Paxcalibur before I did the ritual prayer. The prayer called for the Wall to come down in three years. Next year is the third year. The Keeper of Paxcalibur is the head Melkite Greek Orthodox priest in Nazareth, Israel.
Israel is just a temporary name for the Holy Land until the Palestinians regain possession which will happen inevitably. Palestinians will be the majority population in Palestine and in Israel itself by 2050.
2 May 2012
Last updated at 23:44 ET
By Yolande Knell BBC News, Jerusalem
The barrier Israel has been building in and around the West Bank is set to deprive a Christian community of its land, and appears to have caused an unholy row between some monks and nuns - who could now end up on opposite sides.
In the green Cremisan valley, west of Bethlehem, a goatherd leans against a rock while his flocks graze under the olive and fig trees.
Nearby, a narrow road winds along the hillside to a 19th Century convent and a secluded monastery where monks run the only Palestinian winery.
For the mainly Christian town of Beit Jala, this is the local beauty spot. Residents come here to take a stroll or for a weekend barbecue. Many own small plots of agricultural land.
They also send their children to the convent school and visit the monastery to sell grapes or buy its wine.
That is why an Israeli government plan to build a wall through the valley, cutting off their access to most of it, is causing great alarm.
In an unusual move, priests like Father Ibrahim Shomali are speaking out.
"When people suffer the Church must be near them. This is not politics. This is human rights and this is Christians who must be defended," he says.
"Here, 57 Christian families will lose their land. Losing the land means losing their hope."
Bethlehem wall Part of the wall around Bethlehem
Every week, Father Ibrahim invites members of the community to join an outdoor mass as a form of peaceful protest.
Large parts of Israel's West Bank barrier have already been built.
When it is extended here, the purpose will be to divide Beit Jala from two Jewish settlements - Har Gilo and Gilo - which sit on opposite hilltops.
While both are considered illegal under international law, Israel disputes this.
Map showing proposed routes of barrier
Palestinians see the barrier as a land grab and believe this valley is wanted for settlement expansion.
Israeli officials argue that security is their main concern.
"The route of the security barrier is based on the specific security considerations of the area. In the Beit Jala region, it is there solely to keep terror out of Jerusalem," says Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman, Joshua Hantman.
West Bank barrier
Total length is 708 km (440 miles), more than twice the length of the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) between Israel and West Bank
About 61.8% of the barrier is complete; a further 8.2% is under construction and 30% is planned but not yet constructed
When completed, only about 15% of the barrier will be constructed on the Green Line or in Israel, isolating 9.4% of the West Bank
Source: UN 2011
He adds that 10 years ago, during the second Palestinian uprising or intifada, there were regular attempts to shoot at Gilo from Beit Jala.
Local Palestinians have launched legal action to prevent them from being blocked off from the Cremisan land.
This is one of dozens of cases that have ensured that work on the barrier, begun in 2002, remains only two-thirds complete.
What makes this case different is the presence of the convent and monastery.
Two years ago, the Salesian Sisters of Cremisan joined the challenge to the route in an Israeli court.
"We want to build bridges, not walls," their director, Sister Fides says through lawyers, emphasising the importance to the convent of its primary school for West Bank children.
"We are committed towards education for justice, peaceful living and peace between all people without distinction."
The latest proposals for the barrier would see it looping round the convent, keeping it on the Palestinian side, but splitting it from the neighbouring monastery.
Children would still be allowed to attend the school, though they would have to pass by soldiers at an Israeli checkpoint to do so. Landowners would be given limited access via an agricultural gate, at the time of the olive harvest, for example.
For a long time the monks remained silent about the developments, earning criticism from others in the Christian community.
"It is of vital importance to have all the interested parties together against this wall because together we are strong," says Samia Khalilieh, who is involved in the court case.
"The monastery being with us is an important factor. It is part of our heritage."
In December, the monks published a carefully worded condemnation of the barrier route.
It said they never asked to "pass on the Israeli side" and that "the entire route of the wall was established independently by the Israeli authorities".
The monastery also tried to join the legal appeal but the court would not allow it.
Nuns and residents are due in court again in September.
I have a personal stake in this very same Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem where God told me to take Paxcalibur in 2010 to do a ritual prayer calling for the complete dismantlement of all the Separation Walls and fences and barriers. What do Israelis think? That making Israel into an armed camp is creating a nation?
God says the barrier Walls will come down as no one is going to divide the Holy Land permanently.
Pax and me at the Wall outside Bethlehem. Lulu Awad, the daughter of my good friend Sami Awad who is the director of the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, blessed Paxcalibur before I did the ritual prayer. The prayer called for the Wall to come down in three years. Next year is the third year. The Keeper of Paxcalibur is the head Melkite Greek Orthodox priest in Nazareth, Israel.
Israel is just a temporary name for the Holy Land until the Palestinians regain possession which will happen inevitably. Palestinians will be the majority population in Palestine and in Israel itself by 2050.
Monday, June 04, 2012
African migrants hurt in Jerusalem 'arson attack'
BBC News
4 June 2012 Last updated at 10:35 ET
Four African migrants have been hurt in a suspected arson attack on their home in Jerusalem, Israeli police say.
The fire was started at the entrance to the two-storey building on Jaffa Street in the city centre after 03:00 (00:00 GMT), trapping the 10 Eritreans inside.
Graffiti found at the scene read: "We want the foreigners out."
There is increasing argument and dissent in Israel over what to do with the 60,000 Africans who have entered the country illegally in recent years.
On Sunday, a new law came into force allowing immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants for up to three years.
'Targeted specifically'
The four Eritreans injured in Monday's attack were taken to hospital with burns on their hands and suffering from smoke inhalation.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "We believe that those individuals from the African foreign community were targeted specifically."
He said the building had graffiti sprayed on its walls saying: "We want the foreigners out."
In recent weeks there have been violent scenes in Israeli towns and cities where many migrants live and work, reports the BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem.
In south Tel Aviv, in particular, African-run businesses have been attacked and many migrants have been abused in the streets, our correspondent adds.
"This was the first incident which has taken place... on a level of a specific attack," Mr Rosenfeld said.
The police spokesman said that of the 60,000 illegal immigrants living in Israel, an estimated 35,000 of them lived in the Tel Aviv area and about 5,000 in Jerusalem.
'Infiltrators'
In a newspaper interview on Friday, Interior Minister Eli Yishai referred to African migrants as a demographic threat who could "end the Zionist dream".
"We don't need to import more problems from Africa," Mr Yishai, leader of the religious Shas party, told Maariv.
"Most of those people arriving here are Muslims who think the country doesn't belong to us, the white man."
One politician from the governing Likud Party recently compared asylum seekers to "a cancer."
While such language has been deplored by human rights groups, politicians from right-wing parties in the governing coalition say something has to be done about illegal immigrants who are mainly from Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea, our correspondent says.
They blame the migrants for a rise in crime and say they could eventually undermine Israel's Jewish majority.
The Israeli government also dismisses claims that the migrants, who cross the Sinai desert at the rate of 2,000 a month, are fleeing persecution in their own countries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently described African migrants as "infiltrators" who had come here for economic reasons and who were a problem that had to be "solved".
The new law will allow immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants for up to three years, without trial or deportation.
An interior ministry spokesman said it would hopefully stem the flow of Africans entering Israel illegally across the vast desert border with Egypt.
European Israelis showing their true colors as European racists believing Europeans can go anywhere in the world to colonize territory for Europeans.
4 June 2012 Last updated at 10:35 ET
The fire was started at the entrance to the two-storey building on Jaffa Street in the city centre after 03:00 (00:00 GMT), trapping the 10 Eritreans inside.
Graffiti found at the scene read: "We want the foreigners out."
There is increasing argument and dissent in Israel over what to do with the 60,000 Africans who have entered the country illegally in recent years.
On Sunday, a new law came into force allowing immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants for up to three years.
'Targeted specifically'
The four Eritreans injured in Monday's attack were taken to hospital with burns on their hands and suffering from smoke inhalation.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "We believe that those individuals from the African foreign community were targeted specifically."
He said the building had graffiti sprayed on its walls saying: "We want the foreigners out."
In recent weeks there have been violent scenes in Israeli towns and cities where many migrants live and work, reports the BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem.
In south Tel Aviv, in particular, African-run businesses have been attacked and many migrants have been abused in the streets, our correspondent adds.
"This was the first incident which has taken place... on a level of a specific attack," Mr Rosenfeld said.
The police spokesman said that of the 60,000 illegal immigrants living in Israel, an estimated 35,000 of them lived in the Tel Aviv area and about 5,000 in Jerusalem.
'Infiltrators'
In a newspaper interview on Friday, Interior Minister Eli Yishai referred to African migrants as a demographic threat who could "end the Zionist dream".
"We don't need to import more problems from Africa," Mr Yishai, leader of the religious Shas party, told Maariv.
"Most of those people arriving here are Muslims who think the country doesn't belong to us, the white man."
One politician from the governing Likud Party recently compared asylum seekers to "a cancer."
While such language has been deplored by human rights groups, politicians from right-wing parties in the governing coalition say something has to be done about illegal immigrants who are mainly from Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea, our correspondent says.
They blame the migrants for a rise in crime and say they could eventually undermine Israel's Jewish majority.
The Israeli government also dismisses claims that the migrants, who cross the Sinai desert at the rate of 2,000 a month, are fleeing persecution in their own countries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently described African migrants as "infiltrators" who had come here for economic reasons and who were a problem that had to be "solved".
The new law will allow immigration authorities to detain illegal migrants for up to three years, without trial or deportation.
An interior ministry spokesman said it would hopefully stem the flow of Africans entering Israel illegally across the vast desert border with Egypt.
European Israelis showing their true colors as European racists believing Europeans can go anywhere in the world to colonize territory for Europeans.
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Israel using cyberspace to attack enemies
June 4, 2012 - 4:07AM
DPA
Israel has admitted that it uses cyberspace to attack its enemies.
The confession came in a statement on the Israeli military's website on Sunday.
The website said it was "for the first time" revealing a document recently written by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Operations Department, detailing the goals and methods of its cyber warfare.
"The IDF has been engaged in cyber activity consistently and relentlessly," said the statement.
It said it had been using cyberspace for intelligence gathering and "will" also use it "to execute attacks" and "clandestine" operations.
Cyber activity would also be used to maintain Israel's military edge over its enemies, and to curtail their military capabilities.
Another goal was "thwarting and disrupting enemy projects" targeting the Israeli military and government.
The statement comes less than a week after one of the world's top virus-hunting agencies said it discovered a virus codenamed Flame on computers in Iran and several Middle East countries.
The virus was designed to carry out cyber espionage by stealing images, audio conversations and other data, and had been in use for more than two years without being noticed.
Flame targets computers running the Windows operating system and apparently spreads through infected thumb drives, websites and manipulated emails.
The Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said most infections (189) were found in Iran, and, although other infections (98) were also found in Israel and the Palestinian territories, its sophistication has triggered media speculation that it was created by Israel.
Kaspersky Lab compared Flame to Duqu and Stuxnet, two other virus programs that targeted Iran.
There has also been speculation Israel was behind Stuxnet, a worm that infiltrated industrial systems of the German company Siemens, apparently to disrupt uranium enrichment in Iran.
Israel has admitted that it uses cyberspace to attack its enemies.
The confession came in a statement on the Israeli military's website on Sunday.
The website said it was "for the first time" revealing a document recently written by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Operations Department, detailing the goals and methods of its cyber warfare.
Advertisement: Story continues below
It said it had been using cyberspace for intelligence gathering and "will" also use it "to execute attacks" and "clandestine" operations.
Cyber activity would also be used to maintain Israel's military edge over its enemies, and to curtail their military capabilities.
Another goal was "thwarting and disrupting enemy projects" targeting the Israeli military and government.
The statement comes less than a week after one of the world's top virus-hunting agencies said it discovered a virus codenamed Flame on computers in Iran and several Middle East countries.
The virus was designed to carry out cyber espionage by stealing images, audio conversations and other data, and had been in use for more than two years without being noticed.
Flame targets computers running the Windows operating system and apparently spreads through infected thumb drives, websites and manipulated emails.
The Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab said most infections (189) were found in Iran, and, although other infections (98) were also found in Israel and the Palestinian territories, its sophistication has triggered media speculation that it was created by Israel.
Kaspersky Lab compared Flame to Duqu and Stuxnet, two other virus programs that targeted Iran.
There has also been speculation Israel was behind Stuxnet, a worm that infiltrated industrial systems of the German company Siemens, apparently to disrupt uranium enrichment in Iran.
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Warnings about ‘Flame’ virus come amid suspicions of US role in launching secret cyberweapons
By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, June 2, 5:46 AM
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is warning American businesses about an unusually potent computer virus that infected Iran’s oil industry even as suspicions persist that the United States is responsible for secretly creating and unleashing cyberweapons against foreign countries.
The government’s dual roles of alerting U.S. companies about these threats and producing powerful software weapons and eavesdropping tools underscore the risks of an unintended, online boomerang.
Unlike a bullet or missile fired at an enemy, a cyberweapon that spreads across the Internet may circle back accidentally to infect computers it was never supposed to target. It’s one of the unusual challenges facing the programmers who build such weapons, and presidents who must decide when to launch them.
The Homeland Security Department’s warning about the new virus, known as “Flame,” assured U.S. companies that no infections had been discovered so far inside the U.S. It described Flame as an espionage tool that was sophisticated in design, using encryption and other techniques to help break into computers and move through corporate or private networks. The virus can eavesdrop on data traffic, take screenshots and record audio and keystrokes. The department said the origin is a mystery.
The White House has declined to discuss the virus.
But suspicions about the U.S. government’s role in the use of cyberweapons were heightened by a report in Friday’s New York Times. Based on anonymous sources, it said President Barack Obama secretly had ordered the use of another sophisticated cyberweapon, known as Stuxnet, to attack the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities. The order was an extension of a sabotage program that the Times said began during the Bush administration.
Private security researchers long have suspected that the U.S. and Israeli governments were responsible for Stuxnet. But the newspaper’s detailed description of conversations in the Oval Office among Obama, the vice president and the CIA director about the U.S. government’s responsibility for Stuxnet is the most direct evidence of this to date. U.S. officials rarely discuss the use of cyberweapons outside of classified settings.
Stuxnet is believed to have been released as early as 2009. It was discovered in June 2010 by a Belarusian antivirus researcher analyzing a customer’s infected computer in Iran. It targeted electronic program controllers built by Siemens AG of Germany that were installed in Iran. The U.S. government also circulated warnings to American businesses about Stuxnet after it was detected.
The White House said Friday it would not discuss whether the U.S. was responsible for the Stuxnet attacks on Iran.
“I’m not able to comment on any of the specifics or details,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “That information is classified for a reason, and it is kept secret. It is intended not to be publicized because publicizing it would pose a threat to our national security.”
Cyberweapons are uncharted territory because the U.S. laws are ambiguous about their use, and questions about their effectiveness and reliability are mostly unresolved. Attackers online can disguise their origins or even impersonate an innocent bystander organization, making it difficult to identify actual targets when responding to attacks.
Viruses and malicious software, known as malware, rely on vulnerabilities in commercial software and hardware products. But it is hard to design a single payload that always will succeed because the target may have fixed a software vulnerability or placed computers behind a firewall.
On the Internet, where being connected is a virtue, an attack intended for one target can spread unexpectedly. Whether a cyberweapon can boomerang depends on its state of the art, according to computer security experts. On that point, there are deep divisions over Flame.
Russian digital security provider Kaspersky Lab, which first identified the virus, said Flame’s complexity and functionality “exceed those of all other cybermenaces known to date.” There is no doubt, the company said, that a government sponsored the research that developed it. Yet Flame’s author remains unknown because there is no information in the code of the virus that would link it to a particular country.
Other experts said it wasn’t as fearsome.
Much of the code used to build the virus is old and available on the Internet, said Becky Bace, chief strategist at the Center for Forensics, Information Technology and Security at the University of South Alabama. Flame could have been developed by a small team of smart people who are motivated and have financial backing, she said, making it just as likely a criminal enterprise or a group working as surrogates could have been responsible.
“Here’s the wake-up call as far as cyber is concerned: You don’t have to be a nation-state to have what it would take to put together a threat of this particular level of sophistication,” said Bace, who spent 12 years at the National Security Agency working on intrusion detection and network security. “There’s no secret sauce here.”
Stuxnet was far more complex.
Still, Stuxnet could not have worked without detailed intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program that was obtained through conventional spycraft, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a digital security company in Helsinki, Finland. The countries with the motivation and the means to gather that data are the United States and Israel, he said.
“This is at the level of complexity that very few organizations in the world would even attempt,” said Hypponen, who has studied Stuxnet and Flame. “Basically you have to have moles. Most of what they needed to pull this off was most likely collected with what we would characterize as traditional intelligence work.”
The more intricately designed a cyberweapon is, the less likely it will boomerang. Stuxnet spread well beyond the Iranian computer networks it was intended to hit. But the collateral damage was minimal because the virus was developed to go after very specific targets.
“When some of these super sophisticated things spread, it’s bad but it may not have the same impact because the virus itself is so complex,” said Jacob Olcott, a senior cybersecurity expert at Good Harbor Consulting. “It’s designed to only have its impact when it finds certain conditions.”
Israel is a world leader in cybertechnology and senior Israeli officials did little to deflect suspicion about that country’s involvement in cyberweapons. “Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to hobble it,” said Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief and minister of strategic affairs.
A senior defense official involved in Israel’s cyberwarfare program said Friday that, “Israel is investing heavily in units that deal with cyberwarfare both for defense and offense.” He would not elaborate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak with the media.
Isaac Ben-Israel, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on cybersecurity issues, declined Friday to say whether Israel was involved with Stuxnet.
It could take years to know who is responsible, which is what is so unsettling about attacks in cyberspace. “We are very good as an industry at figuring out what a piece of malware does,” said Dave Marcus, director of advanced research and threat intelligence at digital security giant McAfee. “But we are less accurate when it comes to saying what group is responsible for it, or it came from this country or that organization.”
Associated Press writers Anne Gearan in Washington and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israel and the U.S. destabilizing Middle East governments in order to keep Muslims from forming a united front against them. We Americans pay the bill for this wickedness, both monetarily and reputation-wise around the world. You know I voted for Obama hoping he would live up to his promises but he's turned into just a black Hillary, these people are under the thumb of Israelis who I believe are blackmailing top American leaders or scaring them into becoming pawns of Israel's plans to build Fortress Israel and controlling power in the Middle East.
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is warning American businesses about an unusually potent computer virus that infected Iran’s oil industry even as suspicions persist that the United States is responsible for secretly creating and unleashing cyberweapons against foreign countries.
The government’s dual roles of alerting U.S. companies about these threats and producing powerful software weapons and eavesdropping tools underscore the risks of an unintended, online boomerang.
Unlike a bullet or missile fired at an enemy, a cyberweapon that spreads across the Internet may circle back accidentally to infect computers it was never supposed to target. It’s one of the unusual challenges facing the programmers who build such weapons, and presidents who must decide when to launch them.
The Homeland Security Department’s warning about the new virus, known as “Flame,” assured U.S. companies that no infections had been discovered so far inside the U.S. It described Flame as an espionage tool that was sophisticated in design, using encryption and other techniques to help break into computers and move through corporate or private networks. The virus can eavesdrop on data traffic, take screenshots and record audio and keystrokes. The department said the origin is a mystery.
The White House has declined to discuss the virus.
But suspicions about the U.S. government’s role in the use of cyberweapons were heightened by a report in Friday’s New York Times. Based on anonymous sources, it said President Barack Obama secretly had ordered the use of another sophisticated cyberweapon, known as Stuxnet, to attack the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities. The order was an extension of a sabotage program that the Times said began during the Bush administration.
Private security researchers long have suspected that the U.S. and Israeli governments were responsible for Stuxnet. But the newspaper’s detailed description of conversations in the Oval Office among Obama, the vice president and the CIA director about the U.S. government’s responsibility for Stuxnet is the most direct evidence of this to date. U.S. officials rarely discuss the use of cyberweapons outside of classified settings.
Stuxnet is believed to have been released as early as 2009. It was discovered in June 2010 by a Belarusian antivirus researcher analyzing a customer’s infected computer in Iran. It targeted electronic program controllers built by Siemens AG of Germany that were installed in Iran. The U.S. government also circulated warnings to American businesses about Stuxnet after it was detected.
The White House said Friday it would not discuss whether the U.S. was responsible for the Stuxnet attacks on Iran.
“I’m not able to comment on any of the specifics or details,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “That information is classified for a reason, and it is kept secret. It is intended not to be publicized because publicizing it would pose a threat to our national security.”
Cyberweapons are uncharted territory because the U.S. laws are ambiguous about their use, and questions about their effectiveness and reliability are mostly unresolved. Attackers online can disguise their origins or even impersonate an innocent bystander organization, making it difficult to identify actual targets when responding to attacks.
Viruses and malicious software, known as malware, rely on vulnerabilities in commercial software and hardware products. But it is hard to design a single payload that always will succeed because the target may have fixed a software vulnerability or placed computers behind a firewall.
On the Internet, where being connected is a virtue, an attack intended for one target can spread unexpectedly. Whether a cyberweapon can boomerang depends on its state of the art, according to computer security experts. On that point, there are deep divisions over Flame.
Russian digital security provider Kaspersky Lab, which first identified the virus, said Flame’s complexity and functionality “exceed those of all other cybermenaces known to date.” There is no doubt, the company said, that a government sponsored the research that developed it. Yet Flame’s author remains unknown because there is no information in the code of the virus that would link it to a particular country.
Other experts said it wasn’t as fearsome.
Much of the code used to build the virus is old and available on the Internet, said Becky Bace, chief strategist at the Center for Forensics, Information Technology and Security at the University of South Alabama. Flame could have been developed by a small team of smart people who are motivated and have financial backing, she said, making it just as likely a criminal enterprise or a group working as surrogates could have been responsible.
“Here’s the wake-up call as far as cyber is concerned: You don’t have to be a nation-state to have what it would take to put together a threat of this particular level of sophistication,” said Bace, who spent 12 years at the National Security Agency working on intrusion detection and network security. “There’s no secret sauce here.”
Stuxnet was far more complex.
Still, Stuxnet could not have worked without detailed intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program that was obtained through conventional spycraft, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure, a digital security company in Helsinki, Finland. The countries with the motivation and the means to gather that data are the United States and Israel, he said.
“This is at the level of complexity that very few organizations in the world would even attempt,” said Hypponen, who has studied Stuxnet and Flame. “Basically you have to have moles. Most of what they needed to pull this off was most likely collected with what we would characterize as traditional intelligence work.”
The more intricately designed a cyberweapon is, the less likely it will boomerang. Stuxnet spread well beyond the Iranian computer networks it was intended to hit. But the collateral damage was minimal because the virus was developed to go after very specific targets.
“When some of these super sophisticated things spread, it’s bad but it may not have the same impact because the virus itself is so complex,” said Jacob Olcott, a senior cybersecurity expert at Good Harbor Consulting. “It’s designed to only have its impact when it finds certain conditions.”
Israel is a world leader in cybertechnology and senior Israeli officials did little to deflect suspicion about that country’s involvement in cyberweapons. “Whoever sees the Iranian threat as a significant threat is likely to take various steps, including these, to hobble it,” said Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief and minister of strategic affairs.
A senior defense official involved in Israel’s cyberwarfare program said Friday that, “Israel is investing heavily in units that deal with cyberwarfare both for defense and offense.” He would not elaborate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak with the media.
Isaac Ben-Israel, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on cybersecurity issues, declined Friday to say whether Israel was involved with Stuxnet.
It could take years to know who is responsible, which is what is so unsettling about attacks in cyberspace. “We are very good as an industry at figuring out what a piece of malware does,” said Dave Marcus, director of advanced research and threat intelligence at digital security giant McAfee. “But we are less accurate when it comes to saying what group is responsible for it, or it came from this country or that organization.”
Associated Press writers Anne Gearan in Washington and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Israel and the U.S. destabilizing Middle East governments in order to keep Muslims from forming a united front against them. We Americans pay the bill for this wickedness, both monetarily and reputation-wise around the world. You know I voted for Obama hoping he would live up to his promises but he's turned into just a black Hillary, these people are under the thumb of Israelis who I believe are blackmailing top American leaders or scaring them into becoming pawns of Israel's plans to build Fortress Israel and controlling power in the Middle East.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
We are Holy One
Altarnative
About Me
- Steve Lewis
- Prophesy bearer for four religious traditions, revealer of Christ's Sword, revealer of Josephine bearing the Spirit of Christ, revealer of the identity of God, revealer of the Celestial Torah astro-theological code within the Bible. Celestial Torah Christian Theologian, Climax Civilization theorist and activist, Eco-Village Organizer, Master Psychedelic Artist, Inventor of the Next Big Thing in wearable tech, and always your Prophet-At-Large.