All posts by BabakJoy2014

‘Female Palestinian terrorists’ with rocks scare the dickens out of Israeli soldiers with assault weapons

Palestinian women throwing rocks (EPA) Oct 8 2015

Just so the relationship of forces is crystal clear, this is a photo of those identified by Israeli police as “female terrorists” here “throwing missiles in anger over Israeli security measures at Al-Aqsa mosque.” How do you turn a rock into a “missile”? Are they also high-velocity & guided?

How irascible those Palestinians get when denied entrance to worship at the mosque, when they protest against Israeli extremists & “tourists” trying to vandalize the mosque, when they stand with rocks against live ammunition, stun grenades, & tear gas! If they just peacefully submitted to apartheid & ethnic cleansing, would there be no need to go after them with full military might?

Israel is attempting to provoke Palestinians so they can come down on them with the full arsenal of repression & violence. This is a call to arms for Palestinian supporters to hold emergency rallies & to continue to build BDS, the economic, cultural, & academic boycott of Israel.

Long live Intifada! End the Israeli occupation! Hands off Al-Aqsa!

(Photo from EPA)

Media is revving it to cover for Israeli rampage against Palestinians

Israeli soldiers in WB with rifles (Osama Qawasma:Demotix) Oct 8 2015

Media is operating in overdrive trying to justify Israel’s rampage at Al-Aqsa, in East Jerusalem & the West Bank with comments like this:

“Palestinian assailants carried out a series of stabbings across Israel.” (Like spontaneous combustion, Palestinians with knifes rose up across Israel? Any evidence of such a phenomenon?)

The site of Al Aqsa, “revered by Muslims & Jews, has been the scene of recent protest after Palestinians responded by barricading themselves inside the mosque & hurling stones, firebombs & fireworks at Israeli police.” (What were Palestinians responding to? Extremist thugs trying to vandalize the mosque? Israeli riot police firing rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades, pepper & tear gas right at their heads? Shouldn’t somebody tell the whole story?)

“An 18-year-old Palestinian woman was allegedly shot by an Israeli man after she stabbed him during an altercation in Jerusalem’s Old City.” (She was “allegedly shot”–that is, there is no proof–but they know for sure she stabbed him?)

“Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, was seen carrying an assault rifle while visiting an Arab neighborhood.” (Israeli media cannot bring themselves to say “Palestinians.” But surely carrying an assault weapon into a Palestinian neighborhood should be considered a provocation–no?)

“Leaders on both sides have called for their people to put an end to the bloodshed.” (See how impartial media is. They place equal blame on the Israeli rampage & Palestinians defending themselves.)

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand lies. Like this one of Israeli police taking aim during “violent clashes in the West Bank.” ‘Violent clashes’ of unarmed Palestinians against tanks & other armored vehicles, assault weapons, stun grenades, live ammunition, pepper & tear gas. The caption to this photo tried to make military aggression look like self-defense by adding they took aim “after an Israeli soldier was stabbed.” Not “allegedly” stabbed?

It must never be forgotten that Israel is an occupying army supporting thousands of settlers from all over Kingdom Come moving in to take over Palestinian land by waving a deed from the Old Testament. If Palestinians defend themselves & a soldier gets caught in the crossfire once in a while, that’s too bad.

The only way to oppose media lies is to build the hell out of BDS, the economic, cultural, & academic boycott of Israel & to demand no military aid to Israel.

(Photo by Osama Qawasma/Demotix)

On 14th anniversary of war, CodePink co-founder blasts misogyny in Afghanistan & not US-NATO war; CodePink has some explaining to do–like which side are they on?

Afghan woman in Palkistan (Muhammed Muheisen) Oct 7 2015

Today is the 14th anniversary of the US-NATO war in Afghanistan–typified by barbarism & war crimes & justified by claims the US was a liberation army for Afghan women. Alternet took this opportunity to publish an article titled “After Over a Decade of Occupation & $1.5 Billion in US Aid, the Reality Facing Women in Afghanistan Has Barely Changed” co-authored by Jodie Davis, a co-founder of CodePink & Amie Ferris-Rotman, a former Reuters reporter in Afghanistan with her head embedded up the ass of US-NATO.

It is a shameful, dishonest, scurrilous, racist, & colonial piece of war mongering journalism. Alternet should repudiate it & Davis should hang her head in shame. Ferris-Rotman is simply repeating the crap she’s reported from Afghanistan for a long time where her sources are US officials. She’s uncritical of the US in Afghanistan & writes rubbish praising US women soldiers deployed there.

It not only gives complete credence to war propaganda that US-NATO went there to liberate women from the Taliban but takes out the whole of Afghan culture with this kind of comment: “Like many nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping Afghanistan’s women & girls, CODEPINK has spent years watching the forces in Afghan society, culture & politics wreak havoc on ordinary people’s lives. The American effort to install a pro-Western government, including laws that recognize the rights of women & girls, is constantly running into cultural barriers & biases that considers misogyny normal & traditional.” If this is true, CodePink has some questions to answer. Like, whose side are they on in the Afghan war? Or is this just Davis–who has political associations with pro-Afghan war feminists & the Democratic Party–speaking?

As for all that dough USAID has been throwing at Afghan women to liberate them, if you don’t have your head stuck up the general’s asses, you can investigate & find out that USAID doesn’t dispense any kind of humanitarian aid but uses it primarily to blackmail & bribe Afghan officials.

The article really has to be read to appreciate how racist it is, how colonial in mentality, how shameful Alternet would publish it. But CodePink really has to weigh in on the assertions & analysis of Jodie Davis. Do they agree? Because if they do, they are war-mongers. If they don’t, they need to politically kick her ass to the curb for discrediting the organization she helped found.

Photo is Afghan woman living the high life of a refugee in Pakistan as a result of US-NATO liberation.

(Photo by Muhammed Muheisen)

This is link to the piece of war propaganda referenced in this post:http://www.alternet.org/…/after-over-decade-occupation-and-…

A tribute to Palestinian freedom fighters against Israeli apartheid & ethnic cleansing

Palestinian youth at Nablus, WB (Jaafar Ashtiyeh:AFP:Getty Images) Oct 7 2015

This is a Palestinian youth at Nablus in the West Bank, an epicenter of the current Israeli violence under the guise of a manhunt for the gunman who fatally shot two settlers.

A central feature of the Israeli narrative justifying apartheid & colonialism is vilifying Palestinian young people as terrorists & that has prevailed for decades. On the contrary, they are the front lines of one of the most important & historic freedom struggles in the world today. Their victory against the arrayed forces of tyranny would be monumental. And so their defeat.

Small consolation though to young people whose lives are wrenched from them by colonial repression & violence. When they should be courting, studying, exploring the world, goofing off with their friends, they are instead called to fight for their existence & to stand unarmed against one of the mightiest military forces in the world. They are assaulted by thugs; incarcerated & tortured in the Israeli gulag for their defiance; face jail sentences for using one of the only weapons they have–stones; forced to navigate through life military checkpoint to checkpoint. Many have sustained serious injuries, others have died.

We should take a moment to honor them–but of course that would be hollow if we did not actively engage to support them through rallies & building BDS. Their struggle against Israel, backed by the US, is so daunting but with their intransigent spirit & international solidarity it can be won.

Long live Intifada! Build the economic, cultural, & academic boycott of Israel!

(Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/getty Images)

Israeli police on rampage in occupied-East Jerusalem

E Jer

Israeli police have closed down access to the Old City, the area in occupied East Jerusalem around the Noble Sanctuary where Al-Aqsa is located. Palestinian men who are not residents in the area are excluded but it is open to Old City residents, local business owners, students who attend school in the area, Israeli citizens (presumably they mean the extremists), & “tourists”. That’s called martial law.

Now who would want to be touring an area where police are shooting off rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades, pepper & tear gas? And isn’t Israel afraid one of those “tourists” will get struck, maybe killed, & cause an international incident? Or aren’t they really tourists at all?

Al Jazeera tells us “the unrest has spread to the West Bank” & that dozens of Palestinians have been injured in “clashes with Israeli troops” on arrest raids in villages & refugee camps looking for “men involved in terrorist activities.” The language intentionally suggests Israel’s brutal repression & violent rampage are a response to Palestinian terrorism rather than the cause of Palestinian self-defense.

Prominent Palestinians were interviewed about the Israeli assault. Saeb Erekat, a chief negotiator of the betrayal called the Oslo Accords, said Netanyahu is exploiting the volatile situation “to derail the two-state solution.” You can’t imagine a guy could miss the point of martial law so badly–or not recognize that the train for a bantustate left the station a long time ago. But if you broker a betrayal you probably want to ride it out.

Ahmad Ruwaidy, an aide to Mahmoud Abbas, said Palestinian violence was a “natural reaction to Israeli policies”. Oh really!? A “reaction,” not defense against Israeli violence? But at least he pointed out the refusal of the Netanyahu regime to hold a credible investigation into the arson murder of the Dawabsheh family or to hunt for & arrest the settlers who did it along with constant attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank & East Jerusalem.

This is a call to arms for Palestinian supporters. Emergency rallies & continued campaigns to build BDS, the economic, cultural, & academic boycott of Israel are imperative.

Photo is Israeli police arresting a Palestinian man in East Jerusalem. Since Palestinians live in the area, he may have just been out & about on an errand.

(Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Shame on Bernie Sanders supporters who call themselves socialists

Not to be petulant at a time like this for Palestinians, but if you call yourself a leftist & continue to support Bernie Sanders, knowing he supports Israel in its monstrous pogroms against Palestinians (& if he does not speak out vehemently against what’s going on, he supports it), you’re either a François Hollande-Hosni Mubarak kind of socialist, possibly completely stupid, or hopelessly unprincipled. There’s no nice way to say that. Sometimes the truth is ugly. And by the way, shame on you.

Israeli settlers & soldiers on rampage in West Bank

Burin, West Bank (Jaafar Ashtiyeh:AFP:Getty Images) Oct 5 2015

The fatal shooting of an Israeli settler couple in the West Bank (last Thursday) has unleashed an alarming maelstrom of settler & military violence against Palestinians–even though Israeli authorities don’t know who committed the crime. If people recall, the carpet bombing siege of Gaza in 2014 was initially justified by the kidnapping of three settler teens in the West Bank. Israel immediately attributed the crime to Hamas when we later learned they knew that to be false.

When we look at the provocations at Al-Aqsa mosque in conjunction with the pogrom launched against Palestinians in the West Bank, we might conclude Israel is deliberately provoking Palestinians so they are accused of perpetrating violence when they defend themselves against it.

Settler & military violence against Palestinians & their property is routine in the West Bank. According to the UN, the Israeli army has injured 1,740 & killed 26 Palestinians this year in 151 reported attacks. But as a result of the killings, hundreds of settlers are now rioting, entering Palestinian villages, beating Palestinians, attacking homes & vehicles, including an ambulance, torching things & spray painting graffiti–all under the protection of soldiers. The army has deployed four extra battalions, ostensibly to raid villages on a manhunt for the gunmen. Ten Palestinians have been injured by live Israeli fire.

The Guardian-UK caption to this photo said Palestinian protesters “stand among fires during clashes with Israeli settlers in the village of Burin” without identifying who set the fires. It’s highly unlikely Palestinians are torching their own villages but if the Guardian acknowledges Israeli settlers are doing this, that would expose to the world the nature of Israeli settlements & occupation in the West Bank.

This is a call to arms & for emergency rallies in defense of Palestinians. In the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued an alert to Muslim civil rights organizations & mosques that hate rallies are planned in 20 US locations on October 9th & 10th, possibly by armed anti-Muslim extremists targeting mosques.

If pogroms in the West Bank & hate rallies in the US & elsewhere are not met with a powerful political response, they will crescendo out of control. Solidarity activists around the world should immediately consider rallies combining support for Palestinians & for Muslims.

(Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli settlers & police on rampage at Al-Aqsa mosque

Pepper spray at al-Aqsa (Ammar Awad:Reuters) Oct 5 2015

This Israeli cop is using pepper spray on a Palestinian activist defending Al-Aqsa mosque. It should be noted that when a campus cop at the University of California (UC) pulled this on students during the Occupy movement in 2011, photos & videos of the incident went viral because it is so egregious & gratuitous in aggression. One of the UC students sprayed that day said the pain is like “thousands of pieces of glass shooting into your eyes.” There are also deleterious health affects from pepper spray, especially for those with respiratory problems.

The way the Guardian-UK tempered outrage at this image was by another of their political non sequiturs in the caption which said this incident happened “following the deadly shooting of an Israeli couple in the occupied West Bank.” What does this guy several miles away in Jerusalem have to do with that incident? Is this an admission that Israeli police engage in revenge violence?

When you look at the report of that West Bank shooting, you learn first of all that they don’t know who the assailants in the incident are; they only allege a Palestinian, without a shred of evidence. It could just as well be another Israeli settler in a dispute over dividing up stolen Palestinian property or an Israeli soldier who flipped his cork. But if it was a Palestinian, there are plenty of motives since there are hundreds of incidents every day of settler aggression against Palestinians: the torching of Palestinian homes & mosques; assaults on Palestinians defending their lands; incarceration of Palestinian protesters, including kids; the destruction of water wells & olive trees; & Israeli government demolitions of thousands of Palestinian homes leaving hundreds of families homeless.

To justify calls by extremist Israelis to visit Al-Aqsa to worship & vandalize & to support police assaults, the Guardian tells us “In ancient times, Jews made pilgrimages to Jerusalem on Sukkot,” a Jewish holiday. ‘In ancient times’, some people’s ancestors prayed to tree stumps in the Black Forest but that doesn’t give them claim to take back the forest. Now that Sukkot has ended, we should see the end of Israeli violence at Al-Aqsa–but of course we won’t. Israel will just come up with another Jewish holiday or pretext to harass Palestinian worshippers in the ongoing campaign to destroy the mosque & replace it with a temple.

Build the economic, cultural, & academic boycott (BDS) & demand no military aid to apartheid Israel.

(Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Richard Dawkins is a hateful dope

Richard Dawkins caricature (Martinus Van Tee) Oct 4 2015

Since the death of evolutionary biologist Stephen J. Gould in 2002, there’s been no scientist of his intellectual stature & political clarity to answer the intellectual flatulence & pomposities of Richard Dawkins. Gould was always more than collegial in debates about Dawkins’ mechanical views of evolution–as befits two elite university professors. But some still think he should have used a meat cleaver as a more suitable instrument for the paltry-assed ideas expressed in Dawkins’ “The Selfish Gene.”

With Gould gone, the evolutionary psychologist–the pseudo-science best known as evo psycho–Dawkins has moved his provocations on to religion & the existence of a deity–bringing as much clarity to that as he did to evolution. Atheists admire him & often cite him as an authority when his comments on politics & religion often sound deranged or drunken binges of social hatred. If you’re gonna do gurus, you ought to be selective & find someone who’s sane & sober & not steeped in petty & conformist animosities.

He’s a ferocious, profoundly stupid misogynist who once said stranger rape at knifepoint was worse than date rape–as if he had a clue about the character of either. He directs his pornographic animosity particularly at Muslim women. He also once claimed child sexual abuse scandals are exaggerated because ‘mild pedophilia does not cause lasting harm.’ He’s a guy who shoots off his mouth without thinking, let alone informing himself. With Gould gone, he thinks he’s speaking ex cathedra when he’s talking out his ass.

He has many other reactionary, sickening views, including support for the US-NATO war in Afghanistan. He often criticizes Christianity but becomes completely unhinged when it comes to Islam. Now he’s going after Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Muslim boy arrested in a Texas school for bringing a clock they thought might be a bomb. He thinks the kid might have set the whole thing up to wrangle an invite to the White House. To his disordered mind, that’s Muslims for you.

You can’t reason with such imbecilities & there’s no reason to be polite about it. If a meat cleaver won’t cut through it, scoffing at his idiocies will serve. But for pete’s sake, don’t quote him as an authority. He belongs to the same intellectual (using the word lightly) genre as Slavoj Žižek: high comedy, lowbrow thought, puerile hatreds.

(Caricature of Dawkins by Martinus Van Tee)

October 7th is the 14th anniversary of U.S.-NATO barbarism in Afghanistan

Wednesday, October 7th, is the 14th anniversary of the US-NATO war in Afghanistan. As we know–from mostly alternative media’s altogether scanty reporting–bombing continues & Green Beret atrocities continue against civilians. Obama lies about the war winding down–& Afghans continue to die & suffer.

The international antiwar movement, including in the US, is weak at a time when US bombing & wars are expanding at an alarming pace. You can’t magically wish an antiwar movement into existence–no matter how imperative the need for solidarity with the people of Afghanistan & elsewhere. But that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to that political default.

We weren’t able to pull together an action in this area but I always keep in mind that single Palestinian picketer during the 1967 Israeli war over Palestine who, despite the pro-Israeli hysteria, stood alone in front of the student union with a placard opposing the war. He began my education in Palestinian solidarity.

So I’m heading out to Bentsen Towers in McAllen on Wednesday, come hell or high water, with a placard demanding the immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan. I would love not to be alone & welcome any who also want to express their opposition to this war. If you do, let me know. If we just reach one person & draw them into activism, our slight discomfort will more than be worth it. Many more would be better.