The landlady of my small cottage refuses to fix the mold problem (she insists my dogs are causing the smell under the sink) so after now three months I threatened to call city health inspectors. She responded by threatening to report my dogs to the city pound. I called her a slum lord. She threatened to evict me. I guess our fiduciary relationship is coming to a close. Time to start looking for another place. That’s life.

For those who take umbrage at my refusal to swoon when Natalie Portman recognizes Palestinian humanity: why should we patronize her intelligence & morality by accepting half-measures? She may recognize their humanity but she holds Jews superior & a Jewish-only state, exclusive of Palestinians, an imperative. We have not been delegated to accept discounts on self-determination on behalf of Palestinians. We don’t have a gun to our heads as do Palestinians. They don’t accept discounts, we don’t accept discounts. They put their lives on the line & we hold that line with them & do not retreat because someone throws them a paltry gesture. If you truly respect their humanity, then you recognize their human & democratic rights.

The actress Natalie Portman is being castigated by Israeli politicians for snubbing the 2018 Genesis prize, called the Jewish Nobel by ideologues but which is only a few years old & is one of Netanyahu’s stunts to legitimize Israel. Some have called Portman an enemy of the Jewish state, some call for her citizenship to be revoked, some say her rejection borders on anti-Semitism, others portray her as a dupe of Hamas & claim her snub is backhanded compliance with the cultural boycott of Israel by Palestinian supporters.

Portman is in fact a committed Zionist who assisted uber-Zionist Alan Dershovitz at Harvard in writing “A Case for Israel” & who has received Israeli funding for her films. No one familiar with her support for Israel would ever think her rejection of the Genesis thing was associated with BDS. She is a Zionist but she is not without principles when it comes to bombing & shooting unarmed Palestinians–unlike many other Zionist celebrities like the deceased Elie Wiesel. That’s why a false distinction is made between rightwing Zionists & liberal Zionists who both want a Jewish-only state. But the latter naively think there can be a Jewish-only state without apartheid & genocide of Palestinians. Portman has essentially the same position as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, & J Street, including opposition to BDS.

The Zionist furor against Portman refusing the Genesis exposes the almost cult-like character of Zionism. No criticisms of Israeli policies are allowed, unquestioning loyalty is required & vituperations & shunning are the consequence of breaching those taboos. But the furor also exposes the uncertainty of Israeli leaders so that such ideological control is exacted from Zionist supporters. If you are not obsequiously for everything Netanyahu does, then you are an enemy of the Israeli state. More significantly, the uproar exposes the impact & the threat felt from the growing influence of BDS. In 2005, when Palestinian organizations put out the call for a cultural & economic boycott of Israel as a peaceful means to force Israel to end apartheid & genocide, they could hardly have imagined the political impact it would have. It has strengthened & provides a way for everyone to support Palestinian solidarity, even if you can’t attend a rally.

As an ardent Zionist, Portman probably feels blindsided by the backlash against her decision to reject the award. But she is very unlikely to reconsider her support for Israel & a Jewish-only state. Nevertheless, her stand against Israeli violence & the occupation confirms the claims of Palestinians & can be used to build BDS whether she wants it to or not. That is why Israeli politicians are ballistic over her snub. One can admire Portman for her stand regardless of her Zionism but she remains part of the problem. In contrast to Dershowitz & others who cheer the occupation & the bombing of Gaza, she believes Palestinians are human beings & should not be bombed or shot down in cold blood but she will not face that Israel by its very nature requires genocide & that her liberal “humane” Zionism offers cover for that reality.

(Photo of Portman from Twitter)

https://auroraprize.com/en/aurora/article/finalists/12979/a-myanmar-lawyer-advocating-on-behalf-of-the-rohingya-people-/2018

Rohingya activist Imran Mohammed introduces us to 78-year-old U Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya lawyer & longtime fighter for Rohingya justice in Burma who has just won the 2018 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. The importance of these awards for human rights activists–like the 2017 Rafto human rights prize given to Kashmiris Parveena Ahangar & Parvez Imroz–is not just the recognition of individuals playing leadership roles but recognition of the struggles themselves. Unlike the Nobel Peace Prize which honors war criminals, these human rights awards strengthen the movements against war, genocide, genocide.

This is a deeply tragic story, one of many in occupied Kashmir. Sharjeel Ahmed Sheikh was a 27-year-old taxi driver who lived with his family in the Kulgam district of South Kashmir. He was the sole support of his family, including his father, ailing mother, & a younger brother. His family was making preparations for his marriage on the 15th of April.

On Wednesday, April 11th, the Indian occupying army & special forces were involved in a late night hunt to kill operation in his neighborhood & residents of the area were alerted to come out in defense of the militants being hunted down. The troops opened fire on the unarmed civilians & fatally shot four, including Sharjeel who was not a part of the protest. Media reports are somewhat delicate, but he was either taking a bath or using the toilet at a neighbor’s house when he was hit in the chest with one of the bullets. He died on the way to hospital.

His death just left a whole world of suffering to many people, including his fiancée & his immediate family. Not just the emotional wreckage but his parents relied on his work for survival, especially his mother who is ill. Kashmir is under Indian rule & India has no social security provisions for elderly or disabled so his death is a devastating emotional, social, & economic loss to the family. May he Rest In Peace.

End the occupation. Self-determination for Kashmir.

(Photo of Sharjeel Ahmed Sheikh’s funeral from The Kashmir Monitor)

As a propagandist, Eva Bartlett is a farce in three acts. Yesterday, she claimed she was hitching back from Eastern Ghouta, now under Russian occupation, with testimony from residents that there was no chemical attack on April 7th. She wasn’t the least worried about getting kidnapped by one of those ‘head-chopping jihadis’ or of being bombed by Syria or Russia. She’s a brave girl, that Canadian lassie. Also a shameless bullshit artist.

Back in Damascus yesterday, she showed this video of a conversation–more an interrogation–with “a random taxi driver” wearing Syrian military fatigues who said he was a member of the Palestinian Liberation Army (PLA) units integrated with the Syrian Army based in Yarmouk refugee camp. Oh that Eva is a cagey cat. So much left unsaid. How did one of Assad’s most well-known propagandists just happen to end up in the cab of a Palestinian soldier who supports Assad? As Bogart in “Casablanca” would have asked: ‘Of all the taxis, in all the towns, in all the world, she hops into his?’ Presumably, the guy is an active duty soldier. Or why is he wearing army fatigues which is prohibited off-duty by most armies? Why is he driving a taxi in Damascus? Are the wages that low? Is there that much time off during a war? Our cabbie says he’s based with the army in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp which Syria has been pummeling for days, ostensibly to clean out ISIS & Al Qaeda cells. And Assad gave him time off during the siege? To set the record straight, the PLA has never been under Palestinian control. It is controlled by the host countries where Palestinian refugees live & in Syria it is a conscription army integrated into & controlled by the Syrian Army. Those Palestinians not willing to take up arms against the Syrian Arab Spring uprising ended up in Assad’s gulag where many have been tortured & killed.

The reason for this propaganda stunt is that the Assad regime & its ventriloquist dummy Bartlett have manipulated a parasitical relationship to Palestine solidarity. The bombing of Yarmouk refugee camp will certainly not stand well with Palestinians & most of their supporters. So Bartlett did this fake news stunt which at best is a farce & at worst is a disgrace to sustain the malignant lie that Assad is a supporter of Palestinian self-determination.

https://www.facebook.com/EvaBoBeeva/videos/1910123288997656/?fref=mentions

Kashmiri media reports that this guy, Ankur Sharma–the defense lawyer for the adult men who tortured, mutilated, gang raped, & murdered 8-year-old Asifa–was caught on video inciting a rally of Hindu nationalists to boycott the Gujjar & Bakarwal community as part of whipping up support for his clients. The Gujjar & Bakarwal–Asifa’s tribe–are Muslim & pastoral nomads although it appears some have settled in Jammu. They make a living selling dairy & other products associated with goats & sheep. Such a boycott in a predominantly Hindu region is potentially devastating & could force them to relocate. The lawyer also urged nationalists not to sell their properties to Muslims.

In his vituperations, Sharma invoked Hindu gods, specifically Lord Krishna, to make his case for the boycott: “Lord Krishna has told us to fight against some people who are trying to oust us from our own lands in an organized way.” He also claimed–based on what some guy somewhere once told him–that the Gujjar & Bakerwal community were brought to Jammu to change the demography of the region to Muslim. Inflammatory, rancid stuff so it’s a good thing hearsay doesn’t hold up in court.

Many media sources refer to the rape & murder of Asifa as ‘the Kathua case’ but this has an unfortunate way of distancing us from Asifa & her community who are being legally & politically maneuvered out of justice.

(Photo of the dirtball is from ANI)