Daily Archives: July 19, 2014

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Israeli goon squad attacks rally demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”

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Israeli goon squad July 13 2014

What is it about goon squads that make them so identifiable in any language? Is it their simian brow, the Rotweiler stance, or their steroidal physique? Anyone who’s ever worked with men like this can tell you their cowardice is in reverse ratio to the size of the weapons they carry. This bozo is one of several dozen in a right-wing goon squad that attacked several hundred Gaza solidarity activists with clubs last night in Tel Aviv.

Protesters were chased with clubs, threatened with violence, & one man was beaten so badly he had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Witnesses say police did nothing to stop the violence or arrest the offenders.

Netan-psycho-yahu & other Israeli politicians have whipped up a frenzied political environment that is unleashing the very worst elements in Zionist society–not unlike Nazism & the Third Reich. Israel may not have such an easy time controlling these anti-social elements once they’re unleashed. That’s their problem but points to the crevices in Zionist society.

It takes extreme courage & commitment to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza when you have goons like this coming at you. Our deepest respect & solidarity with the Israeli activists.

(Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

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Israel bombs center for disabled rehab claiming it was hiding Hamas rocket launchers

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Disabled center July 13 2014

Netanyahu (who we will refrain from describing with adjectives since the only suitable ones are epithets) is vowing to ignore international pressure & take out every rocket launcher & sniper’s nest in Gaza: “We will continue to forcefully attack anyone who is trying to hurt us,” he said. “No terrorist target in Gaza is immune.” So that explains why he hit the outdoor cafe, the mosque, the hospital, a rehab center for the disabled, & a charitable association for the disabled, bombed them into smithereens, & killed some of the residents & nurses. As hasbara & the Alibi Ikes of media would portray it, those disability centers were harboring Hamas rocketeers & had to be taken out.

But exactly what international pressure is Netan-psycho-yahu referring to? Since there isn’t any public opposition from a single government on planet Earth, he can only be referring to the thunderous international protests around the world demanding an end to the massacre in Gaza. For those who question if protests matter, Netan-psycho-yahu reminds us of Richard Nixon who used to claim he didn’t notice millions of anti-Vietnam War protesters marching in front of the White House because he was watching a football game. At all times, they measure how far they can go by the strength of public opposition which they pretend doesn’t exist.

These international protests do matter & right now are the only thing that can stay the hand of Israeli genocide. Last night, Israeli marines sitting in tanks on the Gaza border initiated the first ground incursion into Gaza. According to the official lies, they exchanged gunfire with “Hamas gunmen” & attacked a site used to launch long-range rockets. Was that site one of the disability centers? Or was it the mosque?

This photo is a young boy salvaging a wheelchair from the rehab center, which according to the caption “police said was struck by an Israeli tank shell.” Who the hell else would take out a rehab center? Evil fairies? Or the same space aliens who built the pyramids?

If you have any respect for the truth, support the economic boycott of Israel (barcode beginning 729); support the cultural boycott of Israel. And most importantly now, grab a placard & find a rally to demand “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”

(Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

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Neil Young: from troubadour for justice to minstrel for apartheid

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Rafah bombing July 11 2014

The musician Neil Young, who has made a career for himself as troubadour to progressive causes, was scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv next Saturday, July 19th. For months activists for the cultural boycott of Israel have been appealing to him not to throw away a lifetime of political cachet to become another jester for apartheid–in the same ignominious company as Bono, Elton John, & the Rolling Stones. Young refused to cancel &, according to a comment made to a fan, perhaps intended to give a little sermon on justice to his audience–from which Palestinians would be excluded.

Recently I posted to his fan page saying he would be singing in Tel Aviv–close enough to Gaza to provide the soundtrack for Israeli bombing & ethnic cleansing & in place of requiems at Palestinian funerals they would hear Young serenading the Israelis. I reminded him that the fight for social justice & social transformation is a collective commitment, not a grandstanding operation.

It didn’t look like Young was going to cancel from his certain encounter with disrepute but the war in Gaza has intervened to save his ass if not his reputation. The Tel Aviv concert organizers canceled the gig “due to rocket fire on Tel Aviv”. There is no indication whether he will re-schedule.

Young isn’t walking away from this shameful episode with his honor intact. He has all the resources necessary to thoroughly inform himself about Israeli apartheid & the Palestinian struggle. When you turn your back arrogantly on one of the most important political struggles of this era–at a moment of ethnic cleansing–we’re embarrassed for you, ashamed of you, & hope you don’t expect a warm reception at the next rally–or an invite.

This is a photo of Israeli bombing in Rafah, Gaza near the Egyptian border. It’s posted in place of a photo of Young. He was going to be putting music to this. From troubadour for justice to jester for apartheid: he can stuff his protest songs.

(Photo from Wall Street Journal)

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RIP Anas Qandeel: Long live Palestinian intifada!

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Anas Qandeel July 13 2014

Israel & its alibi agency (the media) talk about Israel’s precision bombing in Gaza to take out the homes of Hamas commanders, as if Hamas was an army with a command structure & bombing their families along with them was legitimate military practice rather than war crime. Overwhelming photographic documentation puts the lie to all this hasbara horse manure by showing Israeli aircraft indiscriminately dropping massive bombs over Gazan cities & creating massive property damage in residential areas. There’s nothing precision about it & that constitutes war crimes. Is the UN or Human Rights Watch taking note? Or are they still on the sidelines shaking their naughty fingers at both sides? Of course, when you call a spade a spade, standing on the sidelines in the midst of ethnic cleansing is tacit endorsement.

What Israel actually means by “precision bombing” is that the many Gazan infants & children we see in photographs being treated for injuries or prepared for burial (those the Israeli politician called the “little snakes”) & their Palestinian mothers, are precisely the ones Israel is going after. That’s why it’s called ethnic cleansing.

It’s too gruesome to post the photos of those small children. One feels daunted by the criminality & military might of Israel which we need our psychic & political energies to oppose. This is a photo of 17-year-old Anas Qandeel, a young Gazan teenager killed along with his father in an Israeli airstrike. Again, precisely the ones Israel is going after.

His FB cover photo is an image of intifada with the inscription in English & Arabic: “Palestine Resist”. He wrote on his wall just a few days ago: “I cannot sleep. When are you going to attack my home & finish?” This young boy wasn’t taunting fate; he was expressing trauma at hearing & huddling from hundreds of Israeli bombers trying to take out all of Gaza.

This beautiful vibrant young boy is now gone, taken out in one of Israel’s precision sorties. May he RIP. And may we keep him in mind as we continue to rally around the world demanding “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”

Pay your respects to young Anas & all those killed & injured by honoring the economic boycott of Israel (barcode beginning 729); supporting the cultural boycott of Israel; & demanding “No military aid to Israel!”

(Photo from thebowspring)

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Gaza solidarity rallies held around the world

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UntitleTel Aviv (Yafo) protest July 12 2014

There are reports & photos from around the world showing thousands rallying to support Gaza & condemn Israeli ethnic cleansing. Protesters marched in Algeria; London, Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Gloucester, & Manchester, England; Paris, France; Oslo, Norway; Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Belfast, & Derry, Ireland; Semarang & Jakarta, Indonesia; Athens, Greece; New Delhi, India; Tunis, Tunisia; Pretoria, South Africa; Brussels, Belgium; Ankara, Turkey; Shopian District, Bandipora District, & Srinigar, Kashmir; Sana’a, Yemen; Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, & Dundee, Scotland; Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, & Melbourne, Australia; San Salvador, El Salvador; The Hague, Netherlands; London, Ontario & Toronto, Canada; New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Pittsburgh, & Denver, USA–& many, many more places not yet reported. This photo is the protest in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, about 45 miles from the Gaza border.

This is the chant that’s gone round the world: Stop the massacre in Gaza! Our fullest solidarity with the people of Gaza!

(Photo by Yuyu Ilany)