Another War. Another Defeat.

A good commentary on Israel and Gaza by John J. Mearsheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and coauthor of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

“Israelis and their American supporters claim that Israel learned its lessons well from the disastrous 2006 Lebanon war and has devised a winning strategy for the present war against Hamas. Of course, when a ceasefire comes, Israel will declare victory. Don’t believe it. Israel has foolishly started another war it cannot win.

The campaign in Gaza is said to have two objectives: 1) to put an end to the rockets and mortars that Palestinians have been firing into southern Israel since it withdrew from Gaza in August 2005; 2) to restore Israel’s deterrent, which was said to be diminished by the Lebanon fiasco, by Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, and by its inability to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

But these are not the real goals of Operation Cast Lead. The actual purpose is connected to Israel’s long-term vision of how it intends to live with millions of Palestinians in its midst. It is part of a broader strategic goal: the creation of a “Greater Israel.” Specifically, Israel’s leaders remain determined to control all of what used to be known as Mandate Palestine, which includes Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians would have limited autonomy in a handful of disconnected and economically crippled enclaves, one of which is Gaza. Israel would control the borders around them, movement between them, the air above and the water below them.

The key to achieving this is to inflict massive pain on the Palestinians so that they come to accept the fact that they are a defeated people and that Israel will be largely responsible for controlling their future. This strategy, which was first articulated by Ze’ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s and has heavily influenced Israeli policy since 1948, is commonly referred to as the “Iron Wall.”

What has been happening in Gaza is fully consistent with this strategy. ” See full article HERE

One Mans Terror Is Another Man’s….

Besides all of the destruction that the powers that be are doing to Gaza and The Palestinians, they continue do do destruction to themselves as well. Todays bombing of The UN center is case in point. They may be perfectly happy killing children, but are unable to understand that there is this thing called the internet nowadays.

First off, if you have not seen this video please do. Its a great one to send to to anyone who has sent you this video of the Hama’s childrens show where they teach kids to hate Jews. See here HERE

From Randall Kuhn at The Washington Times comes an interesting piece…

“Think about what would happen if San Diego expelled most of its Hispanic, African American, Asian American, and Native American population, about 48 percent of the total, and forcibly relocated them to Tijuana? Not just immigrants, but even those who have lived in this country for many generations. Not just the unemployed or the criminals or the America haters, but the school teachers, the small business owners, the soldiers, even the baseball players.”

“What if we established government and faith-based agencies to help move white people into their former homes? And what if we razed hundreds of their homes in rural areas and, with the aid of charitable donations from people in the United States and abroad, planted forests on their former towns, creating nature preserves for whites to enjoy? Sounds pretty awful, huh? I may be called anti-Semitic for speaking this truth. Well, I’m Jewish and the scenario above is what many prominent Israeli scholars say happened when Israel expelled Palestinians from southern Israel and forced them into Gaza. But this analogy is just getting started.” See http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/14/when-israel-expelled-palestinians/

On Israel: Spin Vs Dead Childrens Bodies

That Israel cannot win this “war” in Gaza should really not come to a surprise to anyone. A look at the history books shows that whether it comes to Israeli wars, or any other wars, that the tactics that they have chosen are born to fail. And fail they shall. A make this worse for everyone they shall as well. Much much worse.

From Michell Goldfberg at The Guardian: Israel’s free ride ends…As Israel pulverises Gaza, questions and doubts about Israeli policy are becoming more prominent in the American media. See HERE

I guess Israel can’t use the old “The Palastinians use people as human shields” excuse anymore when THEY do it too. Actually, they have in the past and they continue do so now ( Give that excuse and use human shields) From The Turkish Weekly” Amnesty International said on Wednesday that both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters were endangering the lives of Palestinian civilians–including by using them as human shields and by battling in densely populated residential areas’ See more HERE

And from The UPI : So far, Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip has produced no surprises. On the physical level of war, the Israel Defense Forces are triumphing. The Palestinians are suffering about 100 people dead for every dead Israeli. To a Second Generation War military, which is what Israel’s formerly Third Generation War army has become, that is the main measure of victory.

On the moral level, the picture is reversed. Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is almost assured of victory. As Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld has observed, all it has to do to claim victory is survive, which it will. That claim will not be just propaganda: For Hamas to survive everything a modern state military can throw at it is a legitimate victory. In fact, it not only will survive but also will be strengthened by a worldwide flood of sympathy, which will translate in part into new recruits and more money.

In the end, if Israel wants to stop Hamas’ rockets, it will be able to do so only by making a deal with Hamas. Since that was equally true before the war, the question of why it was fought will soon present itself. The real reason is a tad sordid: The current Israeli government is trying to split the “get tough” vote to prevent the Likud Party from winning the next election. See more HERE

Israel Shoots Itself In The Foot Again

Israeli PM Olmert Claims He Made US Change UN Gaza Ceasefire Vote. It seems he called Bush at the last minute and demanded that he NOT vote for the UN Security Council Cease Fire Resolution. Olmert said “Olmert: “It transpired all of a sudden that a vote would be held in 10 minutes’ time. I tried to find President Bush, and I was told he was attending an event in Philadelphia. I know that if somebody tried to find me on the phone right now, it would have to be something unusual and extraordinary for them to say: Leave it all and go to some room to talk to me. In this case, I said: I don’t care, I have to talk to him right now. He was taken off the podium and brought to a side room.

I spoke with him; I told him: You can’t vote for this proposal. He said: Listen, I don’t know, I didn’t see, don’t know what it says. I told him: I know, and you can’t vote for it! He then instructed the secretary of state, and she did not vote for it.” See The NY Times HERE and The LA Times HERE

Now I don’t know if Olmert has found a soft spot in his heart for the “conspiracy theorist” out there who think that Israel controls The USA, or that if he is just some kind of crazy maniacal egotistical idiot, or if just maybe finds some sick pleasure in making mistake after mistake after mistake.

Maybe its all of the three?

Israel Is Losing This War

A must read article in THE PROGRESSIVE by Uri Avnery, which preety much sums up my opinion that Isreal has already lost the War in Gaza.

“The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions.

An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp.

Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army “revealed” that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification.

Later the official liar claimed that “our soldiers were shot at from inside the school”. Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees.

But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that “they shot from inside the school”, and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact.

So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas terrorist. Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a “symbol of Hamas rule”. Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the “most moral army in the world”.

read the article

THE TRUTH is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak – a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called “moral insanity”, a sociopathic disorder. HERE

Israel shoots self in foot

Israel, not happy with trying to convince the world that it is a democracy, has just decided not to allow two Israeli Arab political partys to run in next months elections. I mean really, they ought to put aside some of the money that they get from the USA to buy weapons for “self defense” and get a new public relations team. And soon. See the BBC article HERE

World Protest against Isreals actions in Gaza

Protest, and in some cases civil unrest have erupted in anger toward Israels actions in Gaza. From cities in The United States, London, Spain, France and well basically most cities around the world. Some highlights HERE

The War in Gaza: Naomi Klien, The Wall Street Journal on more…

Some good stuff on the I/P conflict.

First, Naomi Klein calls for a Boycott of Israel HERE

Very strong stuff as The Wall Street Journal comes against Israels actions and believes that they are committing war crimes…

“Israel’s current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel’s acts.” See HERE</a

Glen Greenwald at Salon.com has a nice take on the American governments approval of Israels war in Gaza
“The Israelis have deliberately made it impossible to know the full extent of the carnage and humanitarian disasters because they continue to prevent journalists from entering Gaza even in the face of a now week-old Israeli Supreme Court order compelling them to do so. According to Palestinian sources, there are now 700 dead Palestinians — at least 200 of them children — and well over 1,000 wounded. Those numbers are not seriously doubted by anyone. By comparison, a total of 10 Israelis have died — 10 — almost all of them by “friendly fire.” The unusually worded Red Cross condemnation of Israel was prompted by its discovery, after finally being allowed into Gaza, of starving Palestinian children laying next to corpses, with ambulances blocked for days by the IDF. Even with the relative “restraint” Israel is excercising (the damage it could cause is obviously much greater), this is not so much of a war as it is a completely one-sided massacre.” See HERE

And apparently Israel quietly rejected a cease-fire offer from Hamas just this past December. See HERE

Israeli Terror Hackers. PLUS its not legal to boycot Israel in America

Apparently not satisfied with the death toll on the ground in Gaza, a group of Israeli pro-war hackers want to use YOUR computer to attack those who might be critical of the war in Gaza. Unethical and Illegal in most countries and surely no surprise at all from the nation that brought us the Mossad. According to Wired’s Danger Room..

A group of Israeli students and would-be cyberwarriors have developed a program that makes it easy for just about anyone to start pounding on pro-Hamas websites. But using this “Patriot” software, to join in the online fight, means handing over control of your computer to the Israeli hacker group.

“While you’re running their program, they can do whatever they want with your computer,” Mike La Pilla, manager of malicious code operations at Verisign iDefense, the electronic security firm.

The online collective “Help Israel Win” formed in late December, as the current conflict in Gaza erupted. “We couldn’t join the real combat, so we decided to fight Hamas in the cyber arena,” “Liri,” one the group’s organizers, told Danger Room. See HERE

And did you know that it was ILLEGAL to boycott Israel in the USA? See the official notice from the US Government HERE

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More Blood in Gaza

News Round-up regarding The I/P situation.
Both Israel and the west will pay a price for Gaza’s bloodbath and whether the current ceasefire talks succeed or fail, Hamas has already been strengthened by the US-backed assault. See
HERE

And Robert Fisk has another great piece
“So once again, Israel has opened the gates of hell to the Palestinians. Forty civilian refugees dead in a United Nations school, three more in another. Not bad for a night’s work in Gaza by the army that believes in “purity of arms”. But why should we be surprised?” See HERE

And proof that Israel is using white phosphorus?
“Photographic evidence has emerged that proves that Israel has been using controversial white phosphorus shells during its offensive in Gaza, despite official denials by the Israel Defence Forces.

There is also evidence that the rounds have injured Palestinian civilians, causing severe burns. The use of white phosphorus against civilians is prohibited under international law.” See HERE

“Mom, Why Did the Rabbi Lie?”

Over at CounterPunch JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN had an interesting take llast week on the I/P crisis called If Hamas did not Exist
Also Jewish Women Occupy Israeli Consulate in Toronto Canada. See HERE And over at DaillyKos a nice diary called \"Mom, Why Did The Rabbi Lie?\"

Has Israel become its own worst enemy?

Is Israel its own worst enemy?  With well over 200 children dead so far and images of the dead all over television, newspapers and the internet it might be the case.  The Red Cross have called it a ‘Full-blown’ humanitarian crisis and most governments around the world (except for the USA) are calling for an immediate cease-fire.  Maybe, just maybe Israel has gone too far this time.

Avi Shlaim, a Jewish Professor at Oxford weighs in with what is maybe the best piece so far on this tragic crisis. See here How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state\’s legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions

Dear Israel, its not a question of WHY, its a question of HOW….

Day 10 of the War in Gaza, with more murder and death, and pictures of dead childrens bodies. I really don’t know what Israel excepts to get out of this. Yes yes, we know…Hamas hates you, assaults you and teaches its children to hate you. In fact they don’t believe that your country should even exist. And some of them want to kill you.  Hamas are Terrorist.  But that does not give you the right to do what you are doing. And unfortunately killing innocent children is not the kind of thing that is going to make ANYBODY like you very much. No matter how much you wish they didn’t exist, there are photos and videos of dead children that have been murdered EVERYWHERE on the internet. We understand that you have the right to defend yourself.  Everyone man, woman and child does. But what you are doing is NOT self-defense. Its is murder. Nothing but pure murder.

Some interesting stuff about the I/P crisis. First off, over at DailyKos Jews for a Permanent Diaspora which is a nice post by blogger there. Also at DailyKos Israel\’s attack on Gaza: Is it morally justified? . And finally What if Israel Was the Victim? . All three are rather good, so check them out.

If anyone wonders why OBAMA has been quiet regarding GAZA

Then you should look no further than when Obama addressed The American Israel Public Affairs Committee last year….

“I want you to know that today I’ll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever”.

Now it all makes sense doesn’t it? . See more HERE

Gaza War Update

Nothing but Tanks, rockets, death and terror: a civilian catastrophe unfolding. Incessant bombardment, no electricity, no water, and the hospitals full to overflowing…see how Gaza has been torn apart HERE And Israel seems to be using both cluster bombs and phosphorus shells (why don’t YOU tell me what you think of that) , see HERE and HERE

War,..who is it good for?

This war is good for NO ONE. On either side of the conflict. It IS good however for the extremist and racist on both sides of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. After all you need a villain to further your agenda. And you need war to fill your pockets with money if your a weapons contractor.
Here are a few websites/blogs that are interesting in regards to the I/P story. First off, Brian Eno weighs is with his opinion An Experiment in Provocation Stealing Gaza By BRIAN ENO And here is a blog by a self-described “Liberal New Your Jew” who has alot of coverage on Israel/Gaza Mondoweiss And finally a place to get story’s and links about the conflict is Global Voices Online

Tel Aviv rally decries Gaza assault

While in America the press is decidedly Pro-Israel, here in Europe things can sometimes be the opposite. This story of thousands of Israelis on the streets protesting the war in Gaza? Haven’t seen much about this in the Euro papers. Tel Aviv rally decries Gaza assault

Sarkozy the Shill

No surprise that EU President and French Prime Minister Sarkozy, while in the Czech republic says that “At the moment, from the perspective of the last days, we understand this step as a defensive, not offensive, action,” .
Sarko Well we all know what side Sarko would take, being a member of the NeoCon Elite, now didn’t we?

No Hamas? No Food Crisis? No Biased US Press? I/P News Roundup

What if Hamas did nit exist? Would there be a Palestinian State? No Hamas Is Israel lying about a food crisis to continue its war? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4060914/Israel-accused-of-downplaying-food-crisis.html And the US media is biased now, is it? US News

The American political consensus on Israel

Great article in Salon.com by Glen Greenwald. “Opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian dispute are so entrenched that any single outbreak of violence is automatically evaluated through a pre-existing lens, shaped by one’s typically immovable beliefs about which side bears most of the blame for the conflict generally or “who started it.” Still, any minimally decent human being — even those who view the world through the most blindingly pro-Israeli lens possible, the ones who justify anything and everything Israel does, and who discuss these events with a bottomless emphasis on the primitive (though dangerous) rockets lobbed by Hamas into Southern Israel but without even mentioning the ongoing four-decades brutal occupation or the recent, grotesquely inhumane blockade of Gaza — would find the slaughter of scores of innocent Palestinians to be a horrible and deeply lamentable event.”The American political consensus on Israel

If Americans knew

Did you know that 123 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,050 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000? And did you know that 1,062 Israelis and at least 4,876 Palestinians have been killed since September 29, 2000? And that During Fiscal Year 2007, the U.S. gave more than $6.8 million per day to Israel and $0.3 million per day to the Palestinians?
Go here to find out what everyone should know… If Americans Knew

Who is right in I/P conflict?

I couldn’t agree more with this great diary by Stephen Daugherty over at TheDailyKos : “Israel’s strategy is the geopolitical equivalent of putting a lid on a boiling pot and turning it up. It make keep your stove clean for the time being, but it definitely won’t cool the situation down, and sooner or later, you’ll get burned. Palestine, the Arab world, and Hamas’s strategy is the equivalent of seeing a hornet’s nest and justifying hitting it with a stick on the basis of the last stings you got from doing the same thing. The logic on both sides is questionable, and dependent on the idiocy of the other side to continue”.Forget the Horse Shit

Over 300 Palestinians dead. One Israeli dead.

War is Hell as they say. Its also a game played by liars, thieves and fools. Hama’s rockets have killed 20 Israelis in 8 years. Israeli rockets have killed 300 in 2 days. If you agree that in most if not all circumstances that murder is wrong, then who would be more of the “bad guy” here? Robert Fisk weighs in with his opinion tonight here….Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored

Thoughts on Israel and Gaza

The attacks by Israel against Gaza continue today and over 300 and counting are dead. Some in the mainstream news, at least when it comes to the internet (CNN, BBC, FOX) have gone from their typical bias (we all know what that is) to having to come clean on the situation, after all those images going around are sure hard to ignore.  And in the blogsphere as well, on sites which usually must be “careful”  about certain topics, some Jews and Israel supporters are coming out against the attacks in Gaza. Even some of the big papers in Israel have come out against the attacks. So the war as far as the media is concerned has already been lost, and with Israel being the loser. But one thing that is certain is that this new war in/on Gaza will be bad for everyone: Jews, Palestinians, and everyone else. And especially any innocent victims in Gaza.

Trouble in Paradise

Yesterdays strike in Gaza IS bad for everyone. DailyKos.com has some good post on the news that says it better than I ever could. Check it out.  Doomed, you say? Maybe so. But let\’s give it a shot Then there is The Israeli and Palestinian Conflict: Who is the real terrorist? AND THIS Israel\’s ongoing war