Latest Updates: Gaza Massacre RSS

  • johnpi 4:55 pm on February 1, 2010 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , ,

    Israel disciplines top officers over UN compound attack.

    The Israeli military said Monday it has reprimanded two high-ranking officers for approving the firing of artillery shells toward a U.N. compound during the Gaza Strip war last year – the first admission of any high-level wrongdoing during the offensive.

    Israel announced the punishment in a document submitted to the United Nations last Friday in response to a U.N. report that has accused Israel’s military of committing war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus, an incendiary munition, in the warehouse attack.

     

  • johnpi 10:06 am on January 23, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , reparations,

    Israel pays UN for damage in Gaza offensive.

    That’s swell of them. As long as we’re on the topic of reparations…

     

  • johnpi 9:10 pm on January 18, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Gaza Massacre, , ,

    Turkish prime minister disses Arab world: Muslim leaders’ response to Gaza suffering ‘pitiful.’

    He made the remarks when asked to compare the attitude of other Muslim countries to Turkey’s vehement outbursts against Israel over its devastating war on Gaza last year and its ongoing blockade of the impoverished enclave.

    “The governments have failed to display the reactions that the world’s Muslims expected from them. And this has been a pitiful aspect of the matter,” Erdogan told reporters.

     

  • johnpi 8:04 am on December 27, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gaza Massacre, , ,

    Major cities throughout the world today will see protests marking the first anniversary of Israel's Gaza massacre. Protests will demand that the ongoing siege violence end and that Israeli war criminals be brought to justice.

     

  • johnpi 7:36 am on November 4, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , , , , ,

    Former moderate Muslim magazine editor in Sweden comes out as an ‘Islamist radical,’ forms anti-Semitic political party.

    (More …)

     

  • johnpi 9:33 am on November 3, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gaza Massacre, , , Israeli academy

    War dividends: New boycott proposed by Norwegian academics against Israel, targets that country’s colleges and universities.

    The group accused Israeli universities and institutions of higher education of playing “a key role in the policy of oppression” and said “historians and archaeologists are important in the development of the Zionist ideology and renouncement of Palestinian history and identity.”
    ….

    The letter also blasted Israeli institutions for “systematically” discriminating against Palestinian staff and students, which they said showed Israel had no regard for “the ideals of open universities and academic freedom.”

    The group called for the boycott to “cover the educational, research and culture institutions of the state of Israel and their representatives, regardless of religion or nationality” and said they hoped it would continue “until guarantees are issued that the occupation of Palestinian land will be terminated.”

    And I suspect this was the catalyst:

    The letter also criticized Israel’s 22-day land, air and sea assault of Gaza for inflicting “immense human suffering” that “shocked the world.”

     

  • johnpi 9:32 pm on October 17, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , ,

    Israeli PM vows to “delegitimize” UN Gaza report.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a lengthy diplomatic battle to “delegitimize” the United Nations charges that Israel committed war crimes in its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip, an official said on Saturday.

    The U.N. Human Rights Council singled out the Jewish state for censure in a resolution on Friday, while endorsing a report by South African jurist Richard Goldstone which condemned both Israeli and Hamas actions in a war last December and January.

    Netanyahu, who has said the Goldstone report could undermine U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace moves, was quoted as saying Israel would wage a protracted struggle against the criticism.

    Abu Aardvark had the best response to this: “If Netanyahu decided to walk away from peace talks, how would anyone be able to tell the difference?”

     

  • johnpi 9:50 pm on October 10, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre,

    Hundreds of war crimes lawsuits filed against Israelis.

    Almost 1,000 lawsuits alleging war crimes by Israeli ministers and military personnel have now been filed around the world, Israel has admitted.

    And the situation could become immeasurably worse for Israel’s politicians and soldiers as efforts continue to have the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Hamas of crimes against humanity during last winter’s Gaza Strip invasion, raised at the United Nations.

    Last week, Moshe Yaalon, one of four deputies to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, cancelled a planned fundraising trip to Britain because he feared arrest on war-crimes warrants issued by human rights and pro-Palestinian groups.

    The week before, the defence minister, Ehud Barak, only avoided arrest on a visit to the British Labour Party conference in Brighton after a court ruled that he had diplomatic immunity.

    Israelis travelling without such diplomatic protection now face the possibility of arrest in many countries across the globe, including Norway, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Holland and Canada.

    Human rights lawyers are using the principle of universal jurisdiction in international law to file suits worldwide for war crimes, genocide, torture and crimes against humanity.

     

  • johnpi 7:10 pm on October 7, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , , , , , , , ,

    Richard Silverstein sheds light on some interesting facts about Libya’s status at the UN that makes the Goldstone report – which indicts Israel for war crimes – an issue that can’t be easily dispensed with a security council veto from the US.

    Libya not only sits on the Security Council, it also is president of the General Assembly. So that means that Qaddafi has the U.S. over a boulder twice over. If the U.S. vetoes Security Council consideration of the Report, Libya can introduce it before the General Assembly, where we don’t have veto. If Abbas hadn’t singed himself so badly in mishandling this affair, he might’ve been able to weasel out of this by telling Libya to take a hike. But Hamas already has his ass in a sling over his betrayal of the Gazans. He can’t very well dump Goldstone twice.

    So Obama may have the Goldstone nightmare return to haunt him in the Security Council. It might even be passed by the General Assembly. So much for our president’s supposed political adeptness.

     

  • johnpi 5:50 am on October 7, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , , , ,

    UN council mulls emergency meet on Gaza report.

    The United Nations Security Council will hold closed-door consultations on Wednesday to consider whether to accept a Libyan request for a meeting mainly to discuss a U.N. report that accused Israel and Palestinian fighters of war crimes during Israel’s assault of Gaza, diplomats said.

    Libya’s deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told AFP that his country circulated a letter on behalf of the U.N. Arab group requesting “an emergency meeting” of the 15-member body to consider the U.N. report.
    ….

    A spokesman for Libya’s U.N. mission, Ahmed Gebreel, said his country, which currently has a Security Council seat, had requested a meeting “because of the seriousness of the report and because we think it’s too long to wait until March.”

    “We are welcoming Libya’s step that they have asked the Security Council to meet to discuss the Goldstone report,” Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said in a telephone conversation from Rome.

    “Libya’s step is supporting the Palestinian people’s rights.”

    Critics of the Palestinian Authority have accused Abbas of letting his people down by agreeing to the postponement. A statement by the Palestinian observer mission at the United Nations said it fully supported the Libyan request for a Security Council meeting.

     

  • johnpi 5:03 pm on October 6, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , ,

    Palestinians to ask UN to pass Goldstone report after all.

    The move appeared to mark a change in position, as the Palestinian delegation on Friday backed a move at the U.N. Human Rights Council to defer a vote on whether the report should be passed on.

    Erakat said Abbas’s decision came “in light of the controversy that has arisen” around the report, which accused Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during the three-week land, air and sea assault on Gaza that Israel started on Dec. 27.

    “We want to discuss the report in international bodies so they will take decisions on what emerged in the report, in order to insure that the crimes committed by Israel against our people are never repeated,” he said.
    ….

    The Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza has led a chorus of criticism of the move, accusing Abbas of betraying the 1,400 Palestinians killed in Israel’s.

     

  • johnpi 4:50 pm on October 6, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , , , ,

    Marc Lynch considers the ramifications to the Obama administration and the Palestinian Authority of the stifling of the Goldstone report (via Richard Silverstein).

    The most likely tactical considerations behind the administration’s decision [to block Goldstone] seem short-sighted. Its move likely responded to the intense public and private Israeli campaign against the report, and probably aimed at winning back some positive relations with the Israelis and maintaining momentum on the peace process. But if the administration’s hope was that killing the report would make the issue quietly go away while winning some political capital with the Israelis, it is likely to be disappointed. Quite the contrary: the report is becoming a major political issue in the Arab world, badly damaging the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority, while Obama seems to be getting little credit from Israeli public opinion or the Israeli government.

    …There seems to be little question that Abbas’s decision to go along with American pressure will have a significant impact on the popularity and legitimacy of the PA…Whatever gains made by Fatah after its Bethlehem conference and by Fayyad with the announcement of his agenda for a Palestinian state are likely to be washed away in this deluge. The credibility of the Hamas narrative about the PA’s collaboration with Israel and unrepresentative nature will be strongly enhanced. And it will not help Salam Fayyad establish authority that he has been fingered by some sources as the person directly responsible for the decision.

    Why was the PA leadership put in this untenable situation?

    Lynch goes on to point out that the Israelis seem to have taken the American protection for granted while continuing to villify and dismiss Obama. Lose-lose for Obama all the way around.

     

  • johnpi 9:02 pm on October 5, 2009 | 3 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, , Mamoud Abbas, ,

    There are three dominant theories being floated as to why the West Bank government of Mahmoud Abbas scuttled a resolution “calling for the most incendiary international criticism of Israel’s actions during the Gaza War to date.”

    The first posits that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made a clandestine deal with the U.S. to scuttle the Goldstone report in return for U.S. pressure to stop all Israeli construction in the Palestinian territories. Ibrahim Khraishi, the ambassador of the PLO to the U.N., was quoted as saying that the Palestinian negotiation had only agreed to postpone voting on the resolution so as to avoid creating “an obstacle” for the Americans.
    ….

    The second theory is that Israel threatened to cancel the licensing of Al-Wataniya, a second Palestinian mobile phone operator into which a number of Palestinian political leaders have personally invested [a $700 million investment].
    ….

    The final theory, and arguably the most conspiratorial among them, centers on the premise that Israel has recordings of senior Palestinian officials encouraging Israel to continue the January war with Hamas in Gaza, including a video of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas enthusiastically trying to convince Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to continue the attack on Hamas. The theory is that an Israeli threat to release the tapes to the U.N. committee led to the Palestinian leadership pulling out of the resolution.

    “Aside from the threat regarding Al Wataniya, Avigdor Lieberman threatened the PA to expose evidence of their deep complicity in Israel’s massacre in Gaza,” Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian analyst and founding member of the Palestinian civil society campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, told The Media Line. “That would have caused several top heads to roll, so to speak.”

     

  • johnpi 5:36 am on July 14, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Gaza Massacre, ,

    Britain revokes Israeli arms licenses over Gaza attack.

     

  • johnpi 10:32 pm on June 26, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, ,

    Incredible website memorializes the three daughters of a Palestinian doctor who were slain in Israel’s recent Gaza violence.

    Photobucket

    Richard Silverstein writes:

    On January 16th he walked out of his home for a moment and the tank which had sat in front of his home for some time fired two shells directly at his house. The second hit its mark. His three daughters, Bessan, Aya, and Mayar [pictured above] were killed along with a cousin.

    Shortly after the shells hit their mark, Dr. Abu-Laish called Channel 10 begging for help. His cries, a father’s helpless cries live on the air are enough to rend the flesh and break the heart. For me, the Abu-Laish daughters should’ve been the Neda Aga Soltans of the Gaza war. The fact that they weren’t, but were rather a footnote and bit of collateral damage testifies to the hardened hearts of Israelis innured to 42 years of Palestinian (and Israeli) suffering and Occupation.

     

  • abunoor 10:52 am on February 18, 2009 | 12 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bar Refaeli, Brand Israel, Gaza Massacre, Objectification of women

    I found this piece from Haaretz interesting. It talks about the promotion of Israeli women as sexual objects as part of the Israeli government “Brand Israel” program to emphasize to people in the “West” that Israel is a “western outpost” in the fight against Islamic extremism.

    This story is written in the light of the current Bar Rafaeli SI swimsuit cover and the Maxim “Girls of the IDF” from a couple of years ago.

    Her photo in a bikini was put on an airliner and the Israeli media were thrilled that another of ours had made it big abroad.

    Refaeli presents herself everywhere as an Israeli, and even expressed her support for Livni on the eve of the elections. The enormous international exposure she enjoys raises the question of whether she helps Israel’s public-relations campaign abroad, and whether her photos on the beach soften the hard images of the war in the Gaza Strip.

    At the Foreign Ministry they believe that she helps.

     

  • abunoor 1:56 pm on February 7, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, ,

    Andrew Sullivan points to a post which compares another Palestinian poll with somewhat different results to the one I linked to earlier.

     

  • abunoor 9:17 pm on February 6, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Gaza Massacre, ,

    For the first time, an opinion poll shows that Hamas is more popular than Fatah among Palestinians.

    In Gaza, the poll put Hamas at 28 percent against 33.6 percent for Abbas’ Fatah. In the West Bank, the poll gave Hamas 29 percent support against 24.5 percent for its rival.

    The balance was shared by a myriad of smaller parties.

    Some 27.7 percent of those questioned said they trusted Hamas, compared with 26 percent for Fatah.

    The poll found that Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, who Abbas dismissed after the Islamist takeover of Gaza, is the most trusted Palestinian politician with 21.1 percent support, far ahead of the incumbent president with 13.4 percent.

    Of course, Puppet Usurpers and Collaborationist Gangs do not need popular support, they rely on support and funding from the enemies of the Palestinian people.

    The swing in favor of Hamas was more prominent in the West Bank than Gaza, not sure if this is because those in Gaza had to suffer from the Israeli offensive or if it is because those in West Bank have to deal with Fatah gangs.

     

  • abunoor 8:54 pm on January 22, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Ari Emanuel, Ben Affleck, Gaza Massacre, , , Rahm Emanuel

    Ben Affleck steps up to the plate on behalf of Gaza.

    Affleck was railing about the Israeli invasion of Gaza. And, thanks to his special access, he said he has already registered his concerns with the highest echelons of the Obama administration. He said he gave White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel an earful about Israel at a private dinner the night before.

    It pays to have an agent who is the brother of the new White House chief of staff. Affleck’s agent is Ari Emanuel, the model for obnoxious Hollywood super agent Ari Gold in the hit HBO show “Entourage.”

     

  • abunoor 4:06 pm on January 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Angry Arab, Gaza Massacre,

    As’ad Abu Khalil (The Angry Arab) gives his wrap up analysis of the Israel invasion of Gaza.

    But Hamas performed far better than the expectations of its enemies and even of its leadership in Syria and Lebanon. Israel would have succeeded if it achieved what it wanted: to achieve an unconditional surrender of Hamas. That’s what it used to get from Fatah in the West Bank: Arafat would negotiate the terms of his surrender with third-parties and that would be that (like in Bethlehem). Yet, Hamas defiance and the launching of rockets continued to the last day–in fact it continues as I write this from what I see on the screen. Hamas leaders did not leave as Fatah leaders and fighters would (in the era under Arafat-Dahlan-Rajjub in the West Bank bantustan after Oslo), but continued in stiff resistance and defiance to the very last end. So Israel failed in 1) achieving a total surrender of Hamas; 2) in propping up the Dahlan-Abu Mazen gangs who are more discredited today than ever. Early in the campaign, Dahlan appeared on Al-Arabiyya and on Egyptian TV and was quite bombastic because he was expecting that the matter would be over in the first week. When that did not happen, he disappeared, and some say that he went back to Montenegro–his news base. 3) Israel failed in achieving a victory that it needed: a victory that would once and for all put to rest the humiliating defeat of Israel in 2006. Hamas knew that its performance was extremely influential in possibly dramatically altering the image of the Israeli soldiers in the eyes of all Arabs: fighters and lay people alike, and it knew that expectations were in building on the performance on Hizbullah in 2006; 4) Israel failed in creating a rift between the Palestinian people and Hamas, just as it failed to create a rift between the population of the South and Hizbullah, its silly SMS messages notwithstanding;

     

  • richard 3:19 am on January 16, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , anti-war protest, Gaza Massacre

    American Jews denounce Gaza massacre.  Verso Books, publisher of A Time to Speak Out, Jerry Haber of Magnes Zionist and I have created a statement of protest by American Jews against Israel’s war against Gaza.  Please urge any Jewish Americans you know to consider signing it.  Our goal is for it to be published in The Nation.

    Signatures should be e mailed to this address.

     

  • abunoor 4:17 pm on January 14, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Bolivia, Evo Morales, Gaza Massacre, , Shimon Peres, , ,

    Bolivia Cuts Israel Ties over Gaza

    Evo Morales joins Hugo Chavez in strong protests over Gaza Massacre.

    Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, says he is breaking off ties with Israel in protest against its war in Gaza, which has left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead.

    Morales said on Wednesday that he would seek to get top Israeli officials, including Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, charged with “genocide” in the International Criminal Court.

    The Bolivian president also dismissed the United Nations and its “Insecurity Council” for its “lukewarm” response to the crisis and said the general assembly should hold an emergency session to condemn the invasion.

    “Considering these grave attacks against … humanity, Bolivia will stop having diplomatic relations with Israel,” Morales told diplomats in the Bolivian capital, La Paz.

    He also said that Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, should be stripped of his Nobel Peace Prize for failing to stop the invasion.

     

  • abunoor 2:44 pm on January 13, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gaza Massacre, , ,

    Tariq has video of Rep. Keith Ellison getting shouted down at a rally for Gaza by Muslims upset over his “Present” vote on the Congressional resolution to support Israel’s massacre in Gaza refusal to condemn the Israeli invasion of Gaza.  He later voted “Present” on a Congressional resolution expressing support for Israel’s actions in Gaza.

     

  • abunoor 1:53 pm on January 11, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Gaza Massacre, Hikmah,

    As the world watches the grave events unfolding in the Gaza Strip, history is awaiting to document the actions humanity is about to take:

    Shameful Inaction or Heroic Justice?

    It is human nature to feel all kinds of intense emotions towards the atrocities in Gaza: anger, sorrow, shame, fear, sadness….yet history is filled with stories of these very emotions resulting in dangerously wrong courses of action. It is evident, then, that these natural feelings act as fog: blurring our hindsight and preventing us from seeing the big picture.

    null
    The question then is: in these trying times, how do we use hikmah (wisdom) instead of emotion when taking the right course of action for our Ummah?

    Join us for a special Ilminar as we answer this very question and in co-operation with Islamic Relief launch a unique ONLINE fundraising effort for our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Be among those whom history documents as partakers of heroic justice, and above all, those who embodied the true message of Islam.

     

  • abunoor 9:58 pm on January 6, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gaza Massacre, ,

    Hugo Chavez expels Israeli ambassador in protest over Gaza Massacre.

    “The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the president of the United States.”

     

  • abunoor 10:59 am on January 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Gaza Massacre, ,

    Andrew Sullivan analyzes the current Israeli campaign in Gaza using the framework of tradtional Catholic just war theory and finds that “Israel’s actions in Gaza fail every traditional just war justification.”

     

  • abunoor 1:48 pm on January 3, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Gaza Massacre,

    As’ad Abu Khalil passes along at his Angry Arab blog a response from a “journalist whose knowledge of Egypt he respects” to his inquiries about the possibility of a coup in Egypt.

    obviously, the longer the gaza situation remains as is and hamas puts on a strong defense, the more likely it will happen. one of the journalists who has been in touch with people there says anything that provides a context for a coup at this stage will be used, people are just fed up. one has to be on ground to give smart estimate but i believe chances for either revolt or coup remain low to medium at best- the former less likely than the latter. any sustainable coup in my opinion has either to secure the support or sympathy of ikhwan or get green light from washington-, otherwise it will have no muscle and will be left exposed. but you know these things, when they happen , there is a rupture that one can hardly rationalize.

     

  • abunoor 1:28 pm on January 3, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Civil Disobedience, Gaza Massacre, ,

    Umar Lee calls for a “fleet of martyrs” to be put together from Western Muslims to try to come to the aid of Gaza.

    The idea of American, Canadian, British and other Western Muslims setting up a fleet to go into Gaza at once is something I would like to see the major Muslim organizations take on. It is a win-win situation. If the fleet arrives those who made it possible will be rewarded for the good deeds and the people of Gaza will be helped and if the fleet is attacked then I pray that Allah will grant those on board martyrdom and this event will be used to create an international al outcry for the people of Gaza.

    Check out his whole post on Gaza here.

     

  • abunoor 11:58 pm on January 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Ali Shehata, , Gaza Massacre, Passivism

    Growing up as a Muslim in the last thirty years has been a trying experience for all of us who have lived it. We are confronted almost on a daily basis with catastrophes in multiple places throughout the Muslim world – so many that you start to lose count. Your own “issues” of trying to grow up sane and balanced in the 21st century pale in front of the practical genocides that we have witnessed (Srebrenica) as well as those we continue to witness (Palestine, Chechnya, etc.). It is enough to lead some into clinical depression, others into losing their faith and yet others to acts of terror and extremism. There seems to be a great amount of confusion regarding the correct Islamic response to these tragedies – what would the Prophet (saas) do in such circumstances? That question though is not as hard to answer as some imagine it to be – at least in theory.

    Ali Shehata has some thoughts regarding What would the Prophet (saw) do? over at Muslim Matters.

     

  • abunoor 11:52 pm on January 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gaza Massacre, Marryam Haleem, ,

    Poem: It’s Only Thunder by Marryam Haleem

    “I was telling them this is thunder, don’t worry, don’t be afraid.”

    —Ayman Atalla, 38, talking of his three children in the December 2008 Israeli massacre of Gazans

    it’s only thunder
    don’t you worry
    don’t be afraid
    lay your head down
    close your eyes
    because its only thunder

    but father, father
    the bombs are dropping
    and i am afraid
    our house is shaking
    our windows breaking
    and i am afraid

    no child no
    it’s only thunder
    so don’t you worry
    don’t be afraid
    just lay your head down
    and close your eyes now
    for its only thunder

    Read the rest of the Poem and More at Sister Marryam’s blog.

     

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