US commander visits Israel to finalize missile drill

By YAAKOV KATZ

12/20/2011 18:04

Israel, US to hold largest ever missile defense exercise this spring; thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel.

    
Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.

Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.

The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.

The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome.

Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.


He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises.

The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there.

The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.

The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012.

http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=250249

O Captain My Captain: America’s Aid for Israel’s Political ‘Continuum’

by Clive Hambidge on 12/04/2011

A military conquest

"... We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours ... When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do will be to scurry round like drugged roaches in a bottle." (Rafeal Eitan)

A 'moral articulation' by successive American administrations as to the primary reason for their unilateral support of 0.001% of the world's population, namely Israel, is not standing up to international law or American scrutiny. The perpetuated myth of an Israel surrounded by mortal enemies, battling heroically for its democratic rights against all odds fades as the world of right mindedness recognises in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip the daily abuse and horror for Palestinians under illegal occupation in Israel's 'battlefield' to test new weaponry. That abuse, brought into sharp focus by the U.S Department of State in early 2004, is systematic; perpetrated by Israel in 2011 and paid for by U.S tax payers' dollars in the form of indiscriminate, unwise and illegal aid according to America's own laws. The reason? Unquestioning support for Israel's militarised political continuum, where de jure occupation became de facto annexation, and where, according to Special Rapporteur Falk "the unbridled assault upon Palestinian rights" continues.

If one consciously moves in time backward and forward, that is in American/Israeli time, one finds the same pattern no matter the date. There is no change no progress. It is like watching a film, a play no matter where you cut, what montage you see, what curtain is lifted and what scene you view, it is the same film, the same play, the same day, from the same violent script. It is a continuum of brutal actions designed to oppress Palestinians enough to make them leave their own land. Pick a date at random and one finds the paradox of continuum. Israel is waiting for Godot

"Estragon: All the dead voices.
Vladimir: They make a noise like wings."

Matt Bowles, writing for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, makes plain the facts: America for decades allowing Israel to place "US aid into its general fund, effectively eliminating any distinction between types of aid. [means] Therefore, U.S. tax-payers are helping to fund an illegal occupation, the expansion of colonial-settlements projects, and gross human rights violations against the Palestinian civilian population." Facts continually denied by Israel, as it ruthlessly pursue 'the doctrine of politics free from law'.

Israel's persistent but illusory claim that its 'international human rights treaty obligations do not apply in the OPT' has been, according to Amnesty International, 'rejected' by the U.N Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Against Women, the Committee Against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the International Court of Justice', and every conscionable citizen on the planet.

So to February 2004, the U.S Department of State in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices makes clear the egregious human rights violations and status of Israel in the OPT 2003, "The international community does not recognize Israel's Sovereignty over any part of the occupied territories." All accredited missions are to be found rightfully, and legally, in Tel Aviv. "Israel's overall human rights record in the occupied territories remained poor and worsened in the treatment of foreign human rights activists." These abuses came in a fiscal year 2003 where Israel received from the U.S "a foreign military financing grant of $3.1 billion and a $600 million grant for economic security." (Jewish Voice for Peace - JVP); U.S dollars used in the advancing of Israel's policy of 'continuum' namely the illegal colonisation of Palestinian lands, the tormenting of its people and those that would assist them. Lest we forget, it was in March 2003 that Rachel Corrie, an American citizen performing a fundamental rule of law principle by campaigning for human rights in the OPT, lost her life under the tracks of a caterpillar bulldozer: 'Made in the U.S.A'.

The U.S Department of State found in the bloody year of 2003 that amongst other violations of international law:

• "Israeli soldiers placed civilians in danger by ordering them [Palestinians] to facilitate military operations."
• "Israeli forces sometimes arbitrarily destroyed, damaged, or looted Palestinian property".
• "Israeli security forces often impeded the provision of medical assistance to Palestinian civilians."
• "Israeli security forces harassed and abused Palestinian pedestrians."
• "Israel conducted mass, arbitrary arrests in the West Bank during military operations, summoning and detaining males between the ages of 15 and 45"
• "Israel carried out policies of demolitions, strict curfews, and closures that directly punished innocent civilians ... Israel often demolished homes after suspects had already been killed or arrested."
• Israel "maintained" according to the Department of State "that such punishment of innocents would serve as a deterrent against future terrorist attacks."

These insidious patterns have been sustained by all Israeli administrations and represent a 'continuum': a calculated militaristic policy of intimidation and worse toward the innocent civilians of Palestine. This being so, I must add my concerns to the concerns of the Rachel Corrie Foundation that "the State Departments Country Reports on Human Rights systematically exclude the State Departments own analysis of Israel's failure to perform a credible investigation into the killing of Rachel Corrie," and further concerns that "reports generated by international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which noted a pattern of negligence in Israeli investigations into civilians killed by the IDF, were ignored in the creation of the Country Reports."

In recognition of the illegality of American Aid to Israel, the Rachel Corrie Foundation in its submission to the U.N Universal Periodic Review called upon the U.S to "enforce 22 U.S.C. 2304 (1994), protocol on Human Rights and Security Assistance, and the "Leahy Amendments" to the Foreign Operations Appropriations and Defence Appropriations Acts (e.g. P.L. 105-118 570), which prohibit the provision of security assistance to countries and military units that engage in a pattern of gross violations of human rights." Where, according to JVP, "Massive military aid promotes militarism, which has led to a reliance on military, rather than diplomatic means to work for a solution to this ongoing conflict.". The planned aim of 'continuum'.

The Continuum 

"Zionism is a colonising adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. There is no other ethic" (Jabotinsky)

The U.N Mission Report (UNMR) on the Israeli operation in Gaza between December 27^th 2008 and 18^th January 2009 highlights that all Israel's operations must be viewed not as isolated moments in history where Israel feels threatened and then responds but, operation[s] that decidedly fit "into a continuum of policies aimed at pursuing Israel's political objectives with regard to Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole." Reel back, fast forward, press hold, you find 'continuum': "After we become a strong force, as the result of the creation of a State, we shall abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine." (Ben Gurion)
"The continuum is evident most immediately with the policy of blockade that preceded the operations [i.e Cast Lead] and that in the Mission's view amounts to collective punishment intentionally inflicted by the Government of Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip." (UNMR). Further, the Mission found "An analysis of the modalities and impact of the December-January military operations [also] sets them, in the Mission's view, in a continuum with a number of other pre-existing Israel Policies with regard to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The progressive isolation and separation of the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, a policy that began much earlier and which was consolidated in particular with the imposition of tight closures, restrictions on movement and eventually blockade, are among the most apparent." 'The plan that never changed' is the continuum that ever is, until God forbid "There is no more Palestine. Finished . . ." (Moshe Dayan)
Nothing has changed since 2004, nothing has changed since 1948. And nothing has changed in 2011. Pick a date between 1948 and 2011 and one finds systematic abuse, atrocities, and deaths of Palestinian civilians. One might pick Operation 'Defensive Shield' 2002, Operation 'Summer Rains' 2006 or 'Autumn Clouds' November 2006, I have picked December 2008/January 2009 and 'Cast Lead' from Israel's seasonal slaughter. Here's a U.N Report of 2009.

The 2009 Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict concluded, "The Mission found numerous instances of deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects (individuals, whole families, houses, mosques) in violation of the fundamental international humanitarian law principle of distinction, resulting in deaths and serious injuries. In these cases the Mission found that the protected status of civilians was not respected and the attacks intentional, in clear violation of customary law reflected in article 51 (2) and 75 of Additional Protocol 1, article 27 of the Four Geneva Convention and articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In some cases the Mission additionally concluded that the attack was also launched with the intention of spreading terror among the civilian population."

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In addition, the Mission found all of this was planned meticulously by Israel, "legal opinions and advice were given throughout the planning stages and at certain operational levels during the campaign. There were almost no mistakes according to the Government of Israel. It is in these circumstances that the Mission [concluded] that what occurred in just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability."

One would remind Israel's planners of Article 7 of the Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Mankind (1996), "The official position of an individual who commits a crime against the peace and security of mankind, even if he acted as head of State or Government, does not relieve him of criminal responsibility or mitigate punishment." And of these compassionate words thundering through the centuries from Caliph Abu Bakr to "the first Moslem Arab Army invading Christian Syria:

Do not commit treachery, nor depart from the right path. You must not mutilate, neither kill a child or aged man or woman. Do not destroy a palm tree, nor burn it with fire and do not cut any fruitful tree." (634 A.D)
After Cast Lead, Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, reported that "During and after "Operation Cast lead", human rights organizations asked the Attorney General (AG) to open an investigation based on prima-facie evidence of gross-violations of international law; the AG rejected our request. Previous requests to the Military Advocate General (MAG) to open investigations into numerous other cases were also denied." Adalah further found "petitions filed to the Supreme Court against the MAG and AG's policy of not opening criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinians remain pending years later. It also appears that the Supreme Court's inaction has resulted in a brake on the submission of petitions by human rights organizations."

"Israel cannot build a society based on the principles of democracy, human rights, and compliance with international law while brutally occupying another people and their land. The United States is currently paying for that occupation with its annual aid," (JVP, Statement on Peace, U.S Military Aid and Israel, 2004.) and further, "When Palestinian doctors remove bullets from the bodies of Palestinian children, the bullets are typically stamped. Made in the U.S.A." Nevertheless, and, in remorseless fashion the United States defies international opinion, its own law and international law in providing massive military aid to its client state Israel. America supplies the boots that fit the feet that press on the necks of Palestinians.

Massive military aid for continuum

"The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as war" (Ben Gurion)

The Congressional Research Service Report (CRSR) of 16^th September 2010 U.S Foreign Aid to Israel reported, "Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance." The Bush Administration unsurprisingly sanctioned an increase of 6 billion dollars in U.S military assistance to Israel in August 2007. And the Obama Administration, also unsurprisingly, responded to the Bush Neo Con reverberation by requesting $3 billion U.S in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Israel for fiscal year of 2011. So, add those figures in your moral mind space to this cumulative 'conservative estimate' given by the U.S organisation 'If Americans Knew' of "total direct aid to Israel [1949 to 2008] of $113. 8554 Billion. Massive by any standards.

Decades of murder and mayhem began with a trade loan in 1949 of $100.000. God only knows when and how it will end. Today the billions of US taxpayers dollars that pour through the 'aid funnel' are used to buy arms and equipment such as caterpillar bulldozers made in the U.S; indeed a stipulation by the U.S is that Israel uses "75% of its military aid from the U.S. It funnels this money to more than 1,000 U.S arms suppliers, which in turn lobby for policies that benefit them at the expense of peace in the Middle East." (JVP).

According to the CRSR, by giving unconditional aid to Israel, America seeks to and "maintains ...[Israel's] qualitative military edge over potential threats, and prevent[s] a shift in the security balance of the region." in fact that aggressive 'military edge' keeps Palestinians locked down in interminable suffering and the region a tinderbox. And make no mistake the 'qualitative military edge' is not for Israel but for The United States of America and its continued hegemonic ambitions through its proxy, Israel.

U.S blood money was/is for "a militarized Israel that will serve the U.S. interest of controlling the Petroleum reserves of the Middle East ... policy debate in elite circles takes for granted, on all sides, the goal of maintaining U.S. control over Middle East petroleum resources and the flow of petrodollars." (Chomsky, Fateful Triangle). If we take a sordid trip down Israel's blood soaked memory lane we find U.S Aid increasing in direct proportion to Israel's military aggression, perceived success therefore usefulness to American interests. Israel's continuum is vital for American control over the oil reserves of the region.

Stephen Zunes, The Strategic Functions of U.S. AID to Israel, shows how U.S Aid shoots up after Israeli military successes and its long term strategic cooperation with America. From the "spectacular victory" in the 1967 war, through the Civil War in Jordan 1970-71 and the countering of 'attacking Arab armies' in 1973, to the "fall of the Shah, election of the right wing Likud, and the ratification of the Camp David Treaty in 1979", through the years 1983-84 "when the United States and Israel signed memoranda of understanding on strategic cooperation and military planning." U.S Aid kept rising 450%, 800%, increasing, sevenfold, quadrupling, as did Israel's aggression. America force feeding Israel with military aid through the 'aid funnel,' whilst Palestinian children can scarcely keep mind, spirit, and body together.

Then came Clinton, Bush, Obama, all maintaining Israel's 'qualitative edge', all maintaining Israel's brutal military occupation. All, letting down the Palestinians' lawful drive for legitimate Statehood. All U.S Aid equated with destruction, acquainted with death. The long suffering Palestinians sold out with 'no objections' from the 'liberal left of America.'

Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Senior, Clinton, Bush "I'm doing it for my daddy" junior, and Obama, all preserving 'Continuity Of Government' (C.O.G.) indeed, all cogs in the all consuming gas guzzling American machine. It will all end in tears and it won't be Palestinian tears, for they have wept too much and for too long for their lost freedom and their lost children.

O Captain My Captain

"Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice." (Moshe Dayan)

Questions are being asked of Captain America from unlikely and likely quarters. Walter Pincus of the Washington Post, "The question for the Obama administration, Congress and, in the end perhaps the American public, is given present economic problems, should the United States supply the money to make up for the reductions the Israelis are making in their own defence budget." A financial question of course. A superior question, because a moral one, is if, the American public, who should be asked first, were informed of the extent, nature and illegality of U.S Aid to Israel, would the American public then sanction any military aid to Israel at all?

As Hassan Fouda of Northern California Friends of Sabeel reminds, "Congress is planning deep cuts in social security, unemployment compensation, educational grants and other programs that help vulnerable Americans. Transferring billions of taxpayer's money to Israel now is immoral. Americans need to speak up and be heard.

Valuing Human Rights 

Special Rapporteur John Duggard stated, "It is pointless for the Special Rapporteur to recommend to the Government of Israel that it show respect for human rights and international humanitarian law ... in these circumstances, the Special Rapporteur can only appeal to the wider international community to concern itself with the plight of the Palestinian people." (2006). After the end of the Israeli military operation Cast Lead 2008-2009 in Gaza, John Ging the UNRWA Director of Operations recalled a discussion that he had with a teacher in Gaza about 'strengthening human rights education in schools'. One would assume that the teacher had for obvious reasons a sceptical view of such an undertaking. In fact, recounts Ging "the teacher unhesitantly supported the resumption of human rights education." She said, "This is a war of values, and we are not going to lose it."

* Clive Hambidge is Human Development Director at Facilitate Global. He can be contacted at: clive.hambidge@facilitateglobal.org


http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/12/04/america-aid-israels/

US Congress approves further $235m for Israeli anti-missile programs

The money is for the Raytheon-Rafael David's Sling and for IAI's Arrow 3.

 

25 December 11 15:56, Yuval Azoulai

 

 The US Congress has decided to allocate $235 million for the continued development of Israel's anti-missile systems. The money, which will soon be transferred to Israel, will be used for the further development of the David Sling system against short and medium-range missiles and rockets developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), and for the next generation Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system, being developed by Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1). IAI will probably begin testing of the Arrow 3 in mid-2012. 

When the Arrow 3 becomes operational, it will be capable of intercepting incoming ballistic missiles while they are still in space, which will improve Israel's readiness in the event of an attack by missiles carrying unconventional warheads. 

Minister of Defense Ehud Barak said, "The aid from Congress is the next level in the strengthening of defense ties between Israel and the US. The further development of anti-missile programs will help Israel to better prepare for attacks against it, thereby strengthening Israel’s security." 

Congress made the decision despite the serious economic situation in the US, and despite pending cuts in the US defense budget. Nonetheless, the US administration is ensuring the continuation of $3 billion in annual military aid to Israel. 

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 25, 2011
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000709713

An American past in an Israeli future for an ever present and brutal occupation

by Clive Hambidge on 12/25/2011

 

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American Presidents: Romancing A Stone

An American past in an Israeli future for an ever present and brutal occupation

Happy Christmas Mr President or may I call you Barack this Yule Tide? As you know "Christmas is the day that holds all time together" (Alexander Smith) certainly as you rustle through your Christmas stocking and wrestle with your conscience perhaps to find as you dig deep in both and past 'hegemonic imperatives' an olive twig or a so-called 'peace process'? Perhaps not. But as you dig, can you hear the whispers? No. They are not the whispers from the Presidents of Christmas past, we will come to them; no? You are not listening attentively Mr President; that's because you've been genuflecting on the Christmas message of that other great statesman Prime Minister Netanyahu, "we are living in a time of great uncertainty and instability in the Middle East and Israel, throughout this instability, remains a beacon of religious freedom and pluralism." Wow. On what rock is Israel built and how Netanyahu bestrides it as America holds it, for "As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser" (Plato). And which is which?

No Mr President the whispers are coming from the stones of Palestine and Israel and they do "cry out" for past Presidents have remained quiet behind lofty rhetoric and where are they now? "It was [is] the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."(Dickens). You're a "keen student of history" Mr President what about the human condition and the children lost to a sordid history created by Israel and paid for by American tax dollars? Below are some of their names, the stone told me to tell you their names. God Bless you and God Bless America. Which way are you going?

Remember these Children Mr President: 

• "Yael Ohana, 11, of Hamra settlement, killed by Palestinian gunfire while in her home. 6 February 2002."
• "Fadi Tayseer al-Azazi, 16, of Rafaha, Gaza, killed by IDF shelling to his chest. 6 February 2002."
• "Total Israeli Deaths since September 2002," 125 children."
• "Total Palestinian Deaths since September 2002," 1470 children. ^[1]

The Stoned

The American stone cast, that gave rise to the ripples that became the waves that is the American Israeli tsunami that engulfs Palestine today, was even in the beginning unusually dense, in the sense obtuse. Quarried and romanced in the USA this stone was to be formed, scuffed then ruthlessly scored by matchless Zionist discontent and ambition, tossed, retrieved, polished and tossed again by successive American Presidents into the same murky American Zionist Israeli foreign policy sea. The rising waves, Israeli aggression and ambition, supported by Zionist America and Presidential weakness, merciless waves beating against the blameless lives of countless Palestinian children past and present and their valiant resistance through the lengthening shadows and dark hours of a brutal occupation as the international community crept decade after supine decade to rectify this grave and ongoing crime against humanity with all the energy of a sloth on diazepam.

American Presidential rhetoric the becoming edict that led to endless Israeli atrocities "unlawful Israeli behaviour [supported by US Aid] that start[ed] out as "facts" have over time been transformed into "conditions", or in the words of the American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, "subsequent developments" that are treated [unlawfully] as essentially irreversible." Moreover, "USAID and American taxpayers [are] financing, and thereby further entrenching, the Israeli de facto annexation of the West Bank." (Richard Falk, UNHRC, 16^th Session, Agenda Item 7, A/HRC/16/72, 10 January 2011), and the ruinous blockade and the deaths of Palestinian children.

For these two states America and Israel have been / are up to no good; are, in this criminality together, up to their necks "because everything that Israel does is done up to the limits that the United States supports and authorizes. So it's U.S. Israeli atrocities." (Noam Chomsky, Power And Terror). America and Israel justifying, "represent[ing] the institutionalization of a system of power in which justice is inoperative and its perversion hidden in clouds of rhetoric and obfuscation." and where, "The rule of law implicitly applies only to others." (Edward S. Herman and David Peterson)

Successive American and Israeli Administrations, each, an apostate to the other: "See!" he said to all the people "This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." Joshua 24:27.

All the Presidents then

President John Adams, his mind high on effulgent heroic, saw conquest, envisioning Mordeca Manue Noah in 1819 "Marching with them [the Israelites] into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the Dominion of it". An "independent nation" thought John Quincy Adams, because, they deserved declared Abraham Lincoln a "leg up". All saw the stone that would be a rock and declared it an American good. And the die and the dying in the stone were cast. Time then, wrapped around the stone, ran through it, became beloved in an American Hegemonic Zionist dream warping space and time, imprisoning Palestinians in a boxed 'continuum'. An American red hot wax seal legitimising the continuum making it 'official' in 1948 as the Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the stealing bit by bit of 'Mandated Palestine' had begun and in ferocious fashion. The Israeli aggression rewarded with a hundred thousand US dollars in 1949 and Israel's aggression rewarded with billions of dollars in 2011.

The Children of Palestine in 1948 were standing in an American Israeli wind tunnel they are standing in it today. And as we come back from the future and indeed as we move from the past to the present, we see the pernicious results of successive Presidential and illegal leg ups the art of hubris and a continuum of failure. Here then an American Presidential Israeli nightmare and the subtitles of the Palestinian river of suffering that runs through it:

• "14^th November 2011, Israeli aircraft attacked a small naval post building in North Gaza district. As a result, one police officer was killed and ten persons were injured, including one woman and six police officers."
• "In 2009 in North Gaza, Gaza, Dair El Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah, 1061 Palestinians lost their lives to Israeli aggression. In the Gaza strip in that same year, 323 children and 104 women were killed by the occupying forces." ^[2]
•  

Remember this Child Mr President:

• "Basel Muhammad Nafe abu-Edwan, 14 killed by an unexploded IDF ordinance while he and his brother were herding sheep near their home." Died 27th January 2011. ^[3]

The stone was picked up and skimmed across the surface of the brimming Zionist sea by the deft wrist of Woodrow Wilson 3^rd of March 1919 in reaction to the Balfour Declaration, the text of which was presented to him for approval before publication, "The allied nations with fullest concurrence of our government and people are agreed that in Palestine shall be laid the foundation of a Jewish commonwealth." Then President Warren G. Harding grabbed the stone from the Zionist air stating, "The Hebrew people restored to their historic national home," would enter a "new and yet greater phase of their contribution to the advance of humanity."

• "Number of houses demolished in Gaza strip, since the beginning of the intifada until the end 2009. North Gaza, houses 5399, residents, 54900. Gaza houses, 7060, residents,73149. Dair El Balah, houses 1004, residents, 8925. Khan Younis, houses, 1596, residents, 12247. Rafah, houses, 3774, residents, 32284. Total houses 18833, Total residents, 181505."
• "The number of damaged water wells. North Gaza, 120. Gaza, 154. Dair El Balah, 62. Khan Younis, 23. Rafah, 14. Total, 373."
• "2008 Women and children killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Children, 107, women, 23." ^[4]

Remember this child Mr President:

• "Shiran Ismail Abdullah abu-Shawareb 11, of Nuserat refugee camp, Gaza died of heart problems at Nasr paediatric Hospital in Gaza, which lacked necessary equipment, after Israel denied her entry for medical treatment. Doctors had requested transfer to an Israeli hospital on Dec. 27 [2010] On Jan. 10, believing permission for a transfer had been granted, Shiran's father took her to the Erez checkpoint where Israel again denied her entry." Died 15^th January 2008 ^[5]

The stone retrieved by Coolidge was polished with expressed "sympathy with the deep and intense longing which finds such fine expression in the Jewish National Homeland in Palestine." then caressed in short sighted rhetoric by President Hoover who as other Presidents before and after him couldn't see around histories sharp corner or dint want to saying 1932, "I am interested to learn that a group of distinguished men and women is to be formed to spread knowledge and appreciation of the rehabilitation which is going forward in Palestine under Jewish auspices."

• "Number of damaged industrial establishments by IOF's, in 2006 19, 2005 7, 2004 86, 2003 77."
• "Number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza strip; 2006 531, 2005 99, 2004 646, 2003 398."
• "Number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza strip (women, children) 2006 children 115, women 34, 2005 children 32, women 1, 2004 children 156, women 10, 2003 children 81, women 17." ^[6]

Remember this child Mr President:

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• "Muhammad Jaber hassan Adila Said, 15, of osreen, near Nablus, killed by IDF gunfire to his chest." January 2004. ^[7]

Franklin Roosevelt viewed the stone empathetically, could feel its vital pulse, perhaps he had a pet name for the stone perhaps it was ineluctable? Or was it inexorable he had in mind as he sat to write to Senator Tydings on October 19, 1938 as The Nakba loomed. "I have on numerous occasions, as you know, expressed my sympathy in the establishment of a National Home for the Jews in Palestine and, despite the set backs caused by the disorders there during the last few years, I have been heartened by the progress which has been made and by remarkable accomplishments of the Jewish settlers in that country."

• "Number of Palestinians killed by Israel occupying forces in the Gaza Strip, 2003 North Gaza 89, Gaza 118, Dair El Balah 75, Khan Younis 42, Rafah 72."
• "Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying forces in the Gaza strip (women children) 2002 children 94, women 25, 2001 children 69, women 4, 2000 children 38 women 0." ^[8]

Remember this child Mr President:

• "Muhammad Jamal Muhammad al-Durrah, 12 of Burejj refugee camp, Gaza, killed by IDF gunfire to his chest as his father tried to protect him during a demonstration at Netzarim Junction." ^[9]

Then shining with Zionist zeal, it was to morph into a rock in 1948 enfolded in to Israel's emboldened clenched fist, and as the British looked the other way, smashed Palestine leaving Palestinians between it and a hard place, supported by intellectuals with nothing in their heads but the propaganda they were fed, and a Presidential endorsement. Eleven minutes after Israel's proclamation of independence President Harry Truman declared, "I had faith in Israel before it was established; I have faith in it now." He further said in 1952 "I believe it has a glorious future before it- not just another sovereign nation, but an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization."

• "The majority of these [Palestinian] children were killed and injured while going about normal daily activities, such as going to school, playing, shopping, or simply being in their homes. Sixty-four percent of children killed during the first six months of 2003 died as a result of Israeli air and ground attacks, or from indiscriminate fire from Israeli soldiers".(Catherine Cook)

Remember these children Mr President:

• "Ophir Rahum, 16, of Ashkelon, killed by Palestinian gunfire in al-Birah after being led to believe he was meeting an internet acquaintance, 17^th January 2001."
• "Omar Farouq Khaled 11,of al-Bireh, died of head wounds sustained Jan.7 2001 from IDF gunfire during a demonstration." ^[10]

And after 1948, a Presidential stream of consciousness compounding the problem for Palestine with unquestioning and ever increasing aid for Israel's gluttony, her voracious appetite to oppress and appropriate, and kill those who would thwart her:

Eisenhower: "our forces saved the remnant of the Jewish People of Europe for a new life and a new hope in the reborn Israel. Kennedy: "Israel was not created to disappear- Israel will endure and flourish." Nixon: "The United States stands by its friends. Israel is one of its friends Peace can be based only on agreement between parties and agreement can only be achieved only through negotiations between them. The United States will not impose the terms of peace. [But] The United States is prepared to supply military equipment necessary to support the efforts of friendly governments, like Israel's to defend the safety of their people." Carter: "a few days ago in a conversation with about 30 members of the House of Representatives, I said that I would rather commit suicide than hurt Israel." President Regan: Israel exists; it has a right to exist in peace behind secure and defensible borders; and it has a right to demand of its neighbours that they recognize those facts." Bush Sr: "The friendship, the alliance between the United States and Israel is strong and solid, built upon a foundation of shared democratic values." Clinton: "The United States admires Israel for all that it has overcome and for all it has accomplished." And President George W. Bush: "Israel is a small country that has lived under threat throughout its existence. At the first meeting of my National Security Council, I told them a top foreign policy priority is the safety and security of Israel."

Remember this child Mr President:

• "Sara Abdul-Azim Abdul-Haq Hasan, 18 months, of Sarah, near Salfit, killed by Israeli settler gunfire to her head while riding with her father in a car. 1^st October 2000." ^[11]

And last but not the least short sighted lacking historical memory, also will as did the others President Barack Hussein Obama: "The American people and the Israeli peoples share a faith in the future and believe that democracies can shape their own destinies and that opportunities should be available to all. Throughout its own extraordinary history, Israel has given life to that promise."

Remember this child Mr President:

• "Haitham Ahmad Mustafa Maruf, 13 of Beit Lahiya, Gaza, died in Shifa Hospital, Gaza, of wounds sustained from an IDF drone attack while working on his family farm 29 August 2011." ^[12]

[1] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[2] http://www.mezan.org/en/messege.php?view=losesen

[3] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[4] http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=12933&ddname=IOF&id2=9&id_dept=9&p=center

[5] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[6] http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=12933&ddname=IOF&id2=9&id_dept=9&p=center

[7] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[8] http://www.mezan.org/en/details.php?id=12933&ddname=IOF&id2=9&id_dept=9&p=center

[9] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[10] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[11] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html

[12] http://www.rememberthesechildren.org/remember2011.html
* Clive Hambidge is Human Development Director at Facilitate Global. He can be contacted at: clive.hambidge@facilitateglobal.org

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/12/25/american-past-israeli-future-brutal-occupation/

US pledges more military aid to Israel

 Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:51AM GMT

US President Barack Obama (R) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (file photo)

US President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill which will provide additional military support to Israel on top of the annual three billion dollars of funding to Israel.

On Friday, US President Obama signed a bill which will grant over USD 200 million worth of military assistance to Tel Aviv to develop its three missile-defense programs in 2012.

“I am proud to say that no US administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours. None. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. It is a fact,” Obama said last week during the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism, a US representative group, at National Harbor, Maryland.

Earlier this week, Congress approved the financial assistance bill which had been introduced back in May, 2011.

The funding comes despite tough economic conditions in the US, as well as expected cuts to America's own military budget.

Since 2007, the US has invested more than USD 1 billion in missile and rocket defense programs in Israel.

The US gives as grant billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money to the Tel Aviv regime each year in the form of military and economic aid, legally justified as part of US government's foreign aid package.

Washington has never downsized its annual 3-billion-dollar grant to the Israeli regime despite going through its worst recession in decades which has prompted the government to impose major cuts on most public service programs for citizens.

The new US bill comes against a backdrop of nationwide Occupy demonstrations, which have been raging on since September 17 in protest against high-level corruption and corporate greed in the country.

GMA/AZ/MA

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/217428.html

Obama signs bill that includes added U.S. military assistance to Israel

• Published 02:41 24.12.11 Latest update 02:41 24.12.11

Week's wrap-up: U.S. announces bounty of $10 million for information leading to the capture of al-Qaida financier Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil; Joshua Pollack tells Haaretz why he believes India is the 'fourth customer' of Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear know-how.

By Natasha Mozgovaya 

1. President Obama signed a bill Friday that includes a provision to expand U.S. military assistance to Israel. The bill, which was introduced in May and approved by Congress this week, would have the U.S. provide additional support to the annual $3 billion for ten years that the U.S. is already committed to under the Memorandum of Understanding.


Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ), a member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, praised Obama's decision to sign into law "the highest levels of funding for the joint US-Israel missile defense programs in our history."

	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House, May 20, 2011.
	Photo by: GPO

Despite a tough economic climate and expected U.S. budget cuts - including drastic cuts to the U.S. military budget - U.S. lawmakers will provide $236 million in fiscal 2012 for the Israeli development of three missile defense programs: "Arrow-2", "David’s Sling", and "Arrow-3" medium-range interceptor. Some representatives described U.S. military support for Israel as an investment in "life-saving projects" and U.S. national security, since short- and medium-range missiles are becoming a widespread problem. The Israelis also view the funds as an investment in a common project, rather than financial aid.

Palestinian aid is on the budget, too, for the Obama Administration sees Palestinian funding crucial for stability and for Israel's security. However, funding is conditional upon the Palestinians putting an end to pursuing unilateral recognition at the United Nations. Israeli diplomats stressed that Israel supports aid to the Palestinians, but thanked lawmakers for temporarily freezing them in order to exert pressure on the Palestinians to return to negotiations.

2. The U.S. Department of State and Treasury Department announced a bounty of $10 million Thursday for information that leads to the capture of al-Qaida financier Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil (Yasin al-Suri). Khalil, who is based in Iran, succeeded in moving money and volunteers from the Persian Gulf region to al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, via Iran.

Robert Hartung, Assistant Director for the Threat Investigations and Analysis Directorate at the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, said that the "Rewards for Justice" program "has been an effective tool in our fight against international terrorism. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid more than $100 million to more than 70 people who provided credible information that prevented international terrorist attacks or helped to bring terrorists to justice".

3. Former head of the Israel Defense Forces Strategic Planning Division Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog wrote in a paper for The Washington Institute that it would be a mistake to think that bridging the gap on the Israeli-Palestinian territorial issue was even mildly easy.

In his paper, Herzog examines the significant difference between Israeli and Palestinian definitions. For instance, he says the 1967 "lines" and "borders" illustrate the Israeli position that the West Bank is "territory disputed rather than occupied, since no internationally recognized sovereign state existed there when Israeli forces seized it in self-defense in June 1967". He also discusses the religious significance of the land, and how the idea of land swaps first appeared in negotiations and what happened to it since. He concludes by saying, "[T]he basic narratives guiding their (Israeli and Palestinian) territorial viewpoints are still deeply at odds, as are the practical implications of these views".

4. In an article in "Playboy", Joshua Pollack identifies India as being the secret, unnamed "fourth customer" (after Iran, North Korea and Libya) to have purchased nuclear know-how from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the Pakistani nuclear program.

Pollack told Haaretz about the key reasons that he believes make India the most likely "fourth customer".

Firstly, he said, Khan often cheated his customers, and India bought centrifuge equipment from "any willing seller", so it is possible that the Indians were unaware of whom they were buying from. Secondly, said Pollack, there was one confirmed sale by Khan's network to the Indian centrifuge program, which took place in the late 1980s early 1990s, according to South African investigators.
Pollack's third reason was that India's centrifuge design resembles that of Pakistan's, which suggests they came from a common source. However, the centrifuges are not identical. "One possible reason for that is that the Indians didn't buy the designs from anybody at all, but tried to reconstruct them from open-source information, and just didn't do a good job. But another possible reason is that Khan sold them designs with pieces missing. He did this all the time to his other customers," said Pollack.
According to Pollack, a memoir by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Khan told interrogators that the Indians probably took his designs, and attributed this to an Indian spy within his network. Pollack says that in the context of circumstances surrounding the alleged spy, S. Mohammed Farooq, such a claim is "fishy".

Pollack's final argument revolves around the "special secrecy" of dealings with the "fourth customer." According to Pollack, members of Khan's network never referred to the "fourth customer" by name. Even when, in 2003 and 2004, Khan devolved the names of everyone he had ever done business with, he still did not mention the highly secret "fourth customer." Pollack said Khan acknowledged the Indians probably had his centrifuge designs, but blamed someone else for that.

"The fourth customer could be someone else. But the evidence is strongest for India," said Pollack.
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/obama-signs-bill-that-includes-added-u-s-military-assistance-to-israel-1.403268

America’s growing isolation because of President Obama’s grovelling for Jewish campaign funding and votes

by Alan Hart on 12/23/2011

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On 19 December, in the Jewish Daily Forward, Josh Nathan-Kazis wrote this:

"Top-level Jewish fundraisers from President Obama's 2008 campaign are sticking with the president in 2012.

"Despite reports that President Obama faces a loss of Jewish funders due to his Middle East policy, analysis of a list of elite bundlers from his 2008 race shows no defections among the president's top Jewish supporters in 2012."

That's not good news for the would-be presidents on the Republican side who are grovelling for Jewish campaign funds and votes.

On the same day, in what the BBC's Barbara Plett called "a highly unusual move", all the regional and political groupings on the UN Security Council sharply criticised Israeli settlement activities. They said in their statements that "continued settlement building threatened the chances of a future Palestinian state." They also expressed dismay at rising settler violence. ("They" were the envoys representing the European Union, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab Group and a loose coalition of emerging states known as IBSA).

It was UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant who read the statement of the EU group.

"Israel's continuing announcements to accelerate the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, (1000 new housing units tendered for last week), send a devastating message. We believe that Israel's security and the realisation of the Palestinians' right to statehood are not opposing goals. On the contrary they are mutually reinforcing objectives. But they will not be achieved while settlement building and settler violence continues."

As Barbara Plett noted,

"Despite the unanimity of views, the envoys did not try to draft a single Security Council statement because they knew the US would veto it." She also noted that the Obama administration's stance was that "anything to do with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks belongs in a US-led bilateral process, not at the UN."

It could be said, and I do say, that such criticism of Israel's settlement activities is 44 years too late. So what, really, is its significance?

My answer is in three parts.

The first is that it's a strong indication of America's growing isolation because of the Obama administration's unconditional support for Zionism's monster child.

The second, related, is that it seems to confirm what I have been saying and writing for several months – that behind closed doors almost all of the governments of the world, European governments in particular, are more than fed up with Israel's contempt for and defiance of international law.

The third is that the governments of most of the member states of the UN have come to terms with the fact that Zionism's assertion that a Palestinian state on the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip could and would pose a threat to Israel's existence is propaganda nonsense of the highest order. (This, of course, is only of academic interest because the two-state solution has long been dead if not yet buried).

When I am thinking about Obama's grovelling, my memory recalls a comment made to me by Dr. Hajo Meyer, the passionate anti-Zionist Nazi holocaust survivor and author of An Ethical Tradition Betrayed, The End of Judaism.

We had shared a platform in London and over breakfast the following morning I asked him a question. I said: "Hajo, you're well into your eighties and you are being vilified by Zionism's verbal hit-men for your efforts to unmask the Zionist monster. Why are you continuing with your truth-telling? Why don't you sit back in peace and quiet and enjoy what's left of your life?"

He replied with nine little words. "The first person I see every morning is me," meaning "I have to live with myself."

It's more than reasonable to assume that Obama looks in the mirror from time to time. I wonder if he can live with himself.

Footnote: My comments on Israel's response

Israel's response as delivered by Karean Peretz, spokeswoman for Israel's UN Mission, included this:

"The main obstacle to peace, has been, and remains, the Palestinians' claim to the so-called right of return and its refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state,"

That, too, is Zionist propaganda nonsense of the highest order.

Israel is not a Jewish state. How could it be when about a quarter of its citizens are Arabs and mainly Muslims? Israel could only be a Jewish state after it had resorted to a final round of ethnic cleansing. Israel is a Zionist state.

Because Arafat kept them informed through a secret channel, Israel's leaders have long known that in the event of a two-state solution, the PLO was reluctantly reconciled to the reality of the right of return being confined to the territory of the Palestinian state, which would mean that only about 100,000 refugees would be able to return, with the rest having to accept financial compensation for the loss, theft, of their land and rights.

As I explain in my book Zionism, The Real Enemy of the Jews, when they decided they had no choice but to be pragmatic, Arafat and his leadership colleagues took a degree of comfort from two hopes. One was that all Palestinian refugees everywhere could and would have a Palestinian passport. The other was that if there was a two-state solution, it could evolve over one or two generations into one state for all - i.e. because in peace and partnership enough Israeli Jews would say something like "We don't need two states". In the event of a one-state solution coming about by mutual consent, it was assumed on the Palestinian side at leadership level that, over time, all Palestinians who wanted to return would be able to return. So in theory the two-state solution was not necessarily the end-game on the right of return.

* Alan Hart is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. He blogs on www.alanhart.net and tweets on www.twitter.com/alanauthor

http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2011/12/23/americas-growing-isolation/

US Blocks UN From Condemning Israeli Settlement Expansion

14 UN Security Council Members Issue United Statements Slamming US by Jason Ditz, December 20, 2011  In a move Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin termed “historic,” all 14 other members of the United Nations Security Council united today to offer statements slamming the United States for its decision to block a UN Security Council resolution on Israel’s settlement expansion. Israel announced the latest in a long line of such expansions on Sunday, and it has been roundly criticized by virtually every nation on the planet, with European Union officials in particular warning the move harmed the prospect of peace talks. The US termed the UN Security Council divided, by which of course they meant a 14-1 division between the US and the rest of the world. Israel issued a statement condemning the UN Security Council for almost criticizing them and demanded that they instead focus on Iran. There have been no peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority since September 2010, when the partial freeze on settlement expansion ended. Since then Israel has announced several massive expansions in the occupied West Bank, with the most recent ones couched as “punishment” for the Palestinians for seeking UN recognition.  http://news.antiwar.com/2011/12/20/us-blocks-un-from-condemning-israeli-settlement-expansion/

Israel's treatment at the UN 'obsessive' and 'ugly,' U.S. diplomat says

• Published 23:51 15.12.11 Latest update 23:51 15.12.11

Speaking at Conference of Presidents event, American UN envoy Rice says Obama administration committed to oppose efforts to 'chip away at Israel’s legitimacy.'

By Natasha Mozgovaya
 

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice denounced the treatment Israel receives in the United Nations on Thursday, adding that American support of Israel's security was an "essential truth." 

Speaking at the annual reception of the Conference of Presidents Fund in New York, Rice said that the treatment Israel receives at the UN was “obsessive, ugly, bad for the United Nations and bad for peace.” 

	United Nations General Assembly Hall on Oct. 12, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

The ambassador stressed that the Obama administration was commitment to oppose all efforts to “chip away at Israel’s legitimacy,” adding that U.S. commitment to Israel’s peace and security was an “essential truth that will never change.” 

The American official said U.S. President Barak Obama “has been clear all along that our special relationship with Israel is deeply rooted in our common interests and our common values,” adding that these common interests and values were the reason the U.S. has increased its financing of Israel’s military capabilities to record levels. 

Other speakers at the Conference of Presidents event were Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor and Consul General of Israel in New York Ido Aharoni. 

At the event, Rice received a National Service Award from on behalf of the Conference of Presidents Fund for her service at the UN, particularly her opposition to the Durban III conference as well as her opposition to a unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood. 

While the event seemed to imply that the Obama administration had been supportive of Israel, a full page ad by the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), published in such leading newspapers such as the New York Times, the Miami Herald, and Variety, asked: "Why does the Obama administration treat Israel like a punching bag?" 

Speaking of the ad, the ECI's chair Bill Kristol said that “the Obama administration has been using Israel as a punching bag. The pro-Israel wing of the pro-Israel community is punching back."
Another story causing a storm amid the U.S. Jewish voting public was stirred by the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who in his column earlier this week titled "Newt, Mitt, Bibi and Vladimir" attacked Gingrich for calling the Palestinians "invented people," accusing him of pandering to Israel. 

However it was Friedman's attack against Netanyahu that garnered the attention, as the veteran columnist wrote: "I sure hope that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics." 

An Israeli official told "Haaretz" that "Friedman has crossed a line that true friends of Israel should never allow themselves to cross and inadvertently encouraged anti-Semitism."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-s-treatment-at-the-un-obsessive-and-ugly-u-s-diplomat-says-1.401675

U.S. shouldn't 'zero-out' Israel defense aid

• Published 21:19 06.12.11
• Latest update 21:19 06.12.11

Anyone who has a clue about our relationship with Israel understands that a robust, wide-ranging foreign aid program benefits U.S. interests in the region.

By Tom Dine


The recent political pledge made by Republican presidential contenders Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney to "zero out" foreign assistance appropriations and start over would be a direct assault on our security relationship with Israel. Anyone who has a clue about our relationship with Israel understands that a robust, wide-ranging foreign aid program is not only vital for Israel's security, but also greatly benefits our interests in the region and around the world.

	An Israel Air Force F-15 during takeoff.
	Photo by: Neil Cohen / IDF Spokesman

The subsequent insistence by the Perry-Gingrich-Romney troika that Israel would somehow be exempt from this policy of slash-and-burn budgeting could only be read as a disturbing misunderstanding of the vital role foreign economic assistance and security aid play in U.S. diplomacy, or worse, a deliberate attempt to distort the issue in order to score cheap political points.

I certainly expect they will take the opportunity to explain this indefensible policy on Wednesday when they address Jewish American Republicans gathered in Washington.

Last month, during a Republican debate, Gov. Perry said, "the foreign aid budget in my administration, for every country, is going to start at zero dollars. Zero dollars. And then we'll have a conversation."

His call to zero out all foreign assistance and then restore selected grants was surprisingly echoed immediately by both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Fearing the reaction from voters concerned about Israel's security, all three candidates later insisted they were not proposing to end or dramatically slash Israel's aid, but efforts to walk back their comments smacked of political opportunism, not thoughtful policy.

For several decades, the United States has played a vital role in supporting Israel's security, and in 2007, the United States committed to providing Israel with $30 billion in security assistance over the next decade. The policy advocated by the Gov. Romney, Gov. Perry, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich would break that trust.

When there are calls for the zeroing out of foreign aid - a program that makes up less than one per cent of the annual U.S. federal budget - it is the job of top Executive and Legislative branch leaders to remind Congress and the public that support for a robust foreign aid program not only serves the Jewish state of Israel, but the interests of the United States around the world.

There is no question that preserving security assistance to Israel remains a priority, especially as the Israeli people face grave threats from an Iranian regime pursuing nuclear weapons and a region in the midst of a sometimes-chaotic transition. But at the same time, it is also vital we remember the important role U.S. assistance plays in advancing our vital interests in the region.


Gutting America's foreign aid programs is not in the interest of Israel and it certainly isn't in the interest of the United States.

Centrist pro-Israel groups have long advocated expanding, not reducing, foreign aid programs - both as a boost to critical U.S. interests and because of Israel's continuing need for assistance. To his credit, President Obama has increased U.S. assistance to Israel to unprecedented record levels. The President seems to understand that a strong Israel, one supported by the United States, is important to maintaining security in the region.

Anti-foreign aid advocates have a long history of recklessly exploiting misperceptions about foreign assistance. They exaggerate its impact on the federal deficit, conspicuously ignore the boost it provides to America's image around the world and downplay its role in bolstering America's critical allies.


Drastically cutting or even eliminating aid entirely would severely damage America's interests while having little impact on our deficits; then arguing we should carve out an exemption for Israel is a cynical bit of political sleight of hand that would weaken the critical U.S.-Israel alliance and threaten political support for the special U.S.- Israel relationship.

Critically examining foreign aid grants and ensuring that every dollar is used efficiently must be a priority for the next administration and Congress. But promises of wholesale, indiscriminate cuts or even eliminating foreign aid entirely is extremely dangerous and either reflects an egregious lack of foreign policy judgment or, at worst, a cynical willingness to political gain above America's national interests.

The current crop of Republican presidential candidates claim they would "restore" U.S. leadership of the Free World, but seem willing to end programs that are critical to that role.

Now is not the time to retreat from America's leadership role, nor is it time to resort to political gimmicks that isolate Israel and harm American interests. Our security remains on the line - and so does that of our democratic friend and ally Israel.

Tom Dine was for thirteen years executive director of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and for four years an Assistant Administrator of USAID.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-shouldn-t-zero-out-israel-defense-aid-1.39997

Netanyahu Rejects U.S., International Calls To Release Palestinian Money

Wednesday November 23, 2011 10:15 by Saed Bannoura

Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, phoned Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to release Palestinian tax money Israel has been withholding since Palestine was voted as a full UNESCO member. Netanyahu also rejected a request from the U.N. in this regard.

Image By Arabs48

Officials at the Netanyahu office stated that Clinton phoned Netanyahu, but claimed that the call was focused on the Iranian file, and not the $200 Million Israel is withholding.

Last week, Israeli National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, phoned his Israeli counterpart, Yaakov Meridor, discussed measures regarding new sanctions on Iran, and informed him that the White House expects Israel to release the Palestinian tax money.

Israeli sources reported that Clinton demanded Netanyahu release the Palestinian tax money, but Netanyahu rejected the demand and stated that the majority of his cabinet is against the move.

He also stated that Israel will not make any decision until after Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, meets Hamas Political Bureau Chief, Khaled Mashal, in Cairo onThursday.

Israel opposes the Palestinian Unity Agreement, and punishes the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas whenever it makes amends with Hamas.

Also, a spokesperson of the United Nations stated that U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon phoned Netanyahu and asked him to release the Palestinian tax money.

The secretary-General also informed Netanyahu that settlement activities in the occupied territories, and in occupied Jerusalem, hinder the efforts to ensure the resumption of peace talks, adding that settlement construction violates the International Law.

He told Netanyahu that it is imperative to avoid any tension in the region, and to create a positive atmosphere that would help boost the peace process.

It is worth mentioning that Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, opposes the freeze of Palestinian tax money, and repeatedly stated that such a move would make the P.A. unable to pay wages, including the salaries of its security forces “that are helping Israel in countering terrorism”, according to Barak.

Israeli Finance Minister, Yuval Steinitz, pushed for freezing the Palestinian tax money in order to “punish the Palestinians for conducting unilateral moves at the U.N.” Israeli security leaders warned against the move, and said that the freeze harms the Palestinian security forces that coordinate their activities with Israeli.

On his part, Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, threatened to cause the collapse of the government coalition should Israel evacuate settlement outposts, and should it transfer the Palestinian tax money back to the P.A.

http://www.imemc.org/article/62549

Israel’s mania: Zionism, Racism and Culture

Last Modified: 17 Nov 2011 10:41:53 AM IST

		Sukumar Murlidharan        senior journalist

---

Binyamin Netanyahu

After blustery threats failed to banish the item from the agenda, the U.S. and Israel retaliated in their own ways when the U.N. cultural body UNESCO, voted overwhelmingly to admit Palestine as a full member.

 

The U.S. cut off all financial support and Israel announced plans to build a few thousand more dwelling units in occupied Palestinian land.

 

As the public discourse plays out about a world body that does not repay U.S. generosity with any manner of gratitude, a more realistic assessment, which nobody yet dares speak out loud, is gaining traction in the higher levels of the U.S. administration. Robert Gates, a legacy of the Bush administration and till recently U.S. Defence Secretary, in one of his final internal meetings before leaving office, reportedly said that the U.S. had done much and taken great risks for Israel, though Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was proving an “ungrateful ally”.

 

A few days after the UNESCO vote, U.S. President Barack Obama met his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the G20 summit and spoke informally about his disappointment at the French support for Palestinian membership. Unaware that their conversation, conducted through interpreters, was being heard by media personnel assembled in anticipation of a joint press conference, Sarkozy said quite simply that he found Netanyahu an impossible liar. Obama did not demur, only suggesting that Sarkozy’s frustration was nothing near the aggravations he faced in his daily dealings with the cocky and obstreperous Israeli.

 

Netanyahu’s disdain for all who would stand in the way of Israel’s infinite aggrandisement was evident in his address to the U.N. General Assembly in September, not long after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had submitted a claim on behalf of his people for full membership of the world body. The General Assembly he said, was “the theatre of the absurd”, which a religious mentor had, as he began his political career as envoy to the U.N., described as a “house of many lies”.

 

The Israeli Prime Minister spoke with unconcealed racist contempt, as when describing Israel’s challenge of security in terms of its proximity to hostile territory, comparable to the distance between certain boroughs of New York city. And the people within these boroughs he reminded his audience, “are considerably nicer than some of Israel's neighbours”.

 

Netanyahu accused the U.N. of having sanctified the “lie” that “the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest place” was “occupied Palestinian territory”. And with this airy denial of centuries of Palestinian settlement in the area, he quickly moved onto another tall tale to establish the antiquity of the Jewish claim to the land. Archaeologists, he said, had found in close proximity to the Western Wall, an ancient seal, close to 3,000 years old, imprinted with his surname. And his first name dated even further back. People who bore that name wandered in the area since distant millennia and there had been “a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since”.

 

Current scholarship, as exemplified in the Israeli historian Shlomo Sand’s acclaimed book The Invention of the Jewish People – now into a second edition -- has exploded this mythology in large part. But the facts of Netanyahu’s own life, which he has managed to artfully embellish, speak for themselves. Netanyahu’s father Ben-Zion Milikovski was a Polish settler in Palestine who adopted a surname of Hebraic provenance as a gesture of commitment to the Zionist myth. It was effrontery of a high order for the Israeli Prime Minister to strut his name before the General Assembly as an identity dating back millennia. But then, perhaps he was true to his ancestry in one respect: his espousal of a particularly rabid form of colonial ideology was much in the mould of his father, regarded as an incendiary element by even that most extreme Zionist, Menachem Begin.

 

The denial of the Palestinians’ right to exist acquires several forms: most of them overt, physical and brutal. Palestine has been a battle about culture and antiquity since the first expropriations of the native population by Zionist settlers in the 1920s. And it is no coincidence that among the first major projects that Israel undertook in East Jerusalem after it was seized in 1967, was an archaeological excavation to establish the area’s unbroken Jewish heritage.

 

These excavations have been controversial, their most observable feature being the use of bulldozers to cut through layers of antiquity to arrive at a distant Judaic past. Archaeology has been a profoundly political discipline everywhere, but nowhere more explosively so than in Palestine. In 2010, Israel entered into a public spat with UNESCO when the historic site in Hebron – scene of a grisly 1994 massacre of Palestinian worshippers by the extremist Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein – was designated as a mosque on the basis of its dominant features. In 1996, riots broke out all over the occupied territories when Netanyahu, in an earlier tenure as Prime Minister, ordered the opening of an archaeological tunnel that Palestinians believe, was deliberately laid under the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem to weaken its foundations. And in 1992, Albert Glock, an American archaeologist who had documented the principal features of Palestinian villages and heritage sites effaced in the creation of Israel, was shot dead in Birzeit on the West Bank, in a crime that was never solved.

 

Netanyahu’s locutions are increasingly an insult to basic rationality. His government is almost certainly going to disregard the consequences of Palestine’s newly acquired membership of UNESCO, much as it has every inconvenient U.N. resolution in the past. The Palestinian people though have gained a toehold within the institutional framework of multilateralism. They could use this limited opening to work towards salvaging their culture and heritage – as embodied in numerous sites of historic importance in the entire territory of historical Palestine – from the devouring myths of Zionism.

 

It is a largely symbolic victory, but significant nonetheless and one that needs to be consolidated.

 

(This article was first published on http://sukumar-md.blogspot.com)

 
http://www.pratirodh.com/international-news/104-17-Nov-2011/israel-rsquo-s-mania-zionism-racism-and-culture.html