What Atrabs want

The other day, I heard a terrorism expert--yes, one of those--speaking on Fox News. He said that Arabs really want Israel to bomb Iran. When Zionists speak about Arabs now, you know that they are referring to the oil kings, princes, and shaykhs.

Obama Doctrine Explained

"Still, the U.S. involvement in the strike in southeastern Yemen -- along with a similar strike in the country last week -- appears to reflect greater willingness by the Obama administration to use military force in confronting terrorists outside the traditional war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week's strike was seen at the time as the most significant example of the new approach, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the planning and execution of the attack. It was not clear whether U.S. firepower was employed in either attack. A U.S. official said the United States did provide intelligence and other support." (thanks Olivia)

Bahrain King hearts Israeli wars and occupation

"A Bahraini pro-Palestine NGO has called for the reinstatement of an imam who has been suspended allegedly after he harshly criticised the Egyptian authorities for building a steel fence on the borders with the Gaza Strip to prevent smuggling through the borders." (thanks Fahad)

Veolia, Alstom in legal muddle

"Two French transport giants Veolia and Alstom could face trial in France over their involvement in the Jerusalem Light Rail project that aims to link the eastern and western parts of Occupied Jerusalem to Jewish colonies in the West Bank. Campaigners against the two companies have won a major step in a legal battle in France that they see as necessary to curb Israel's expansion in occupied Palestine, and set a precedent for companies in Europe eyeing Israeli contracts in the West Bank and Occupied East Jerusalem." (thanks Abbas)

a courageous American has died

"In the 1930s and early ’40s, Mr. Rodney, a grandson of Jewish immigrants from Europe, became an outspoken voice among sportswriters, apart from the black press, in condemning racial discrimination in professional sports. Running a six-day-a-week Daily Worker sports section that he introduced in 1936, more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier, Mr. Rodney pressured the baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the major league club owners to end baseball’s racial barrier."

Dahiyah

"Israel was accused of using disproportionate force in Lebanon, particularly after it flattened the Dahiya district in Beirut, a Shiite neighborhood." Neighborhood? A neighborhood? It is more like a city with half a million people living there. But hey: I understand the need for Kershner to justify the destruction of the suburbs and the murder of hundreds of people.

Valuable con man

"Six years later, Playboy magazine has revealed that the CIA fell victim to an elaborate con by a compulsive gambler who claimed to have developed software that discovered al-Jazeera broadcasts were being used to transmit messages to terrorists buried deep in America. Dennis Montgomery, 56, the co-owner of a software gaming company in Nevada, who has since been arrested for bouncing $1m worth of cheques, claims his program read messages hidden in barcodes listing international flights to the US, their positions and airports to be targeted." (thanks David S.)

For Jamal Mubarak

Expect the Egyptian services to Israel to grow and expand in the next months and years as long as Husni Mubarak is alive. He is trying very hard to get US approval for his son as his successor. The US government seems to be playing coy, sending different messages and even flirting with Muhammad Al-Baradi`i (or Baradeeeehhhh, in the pronounciation of US media) perhaps to extract more concession on behalf of Israel from Mubarak. The US seems to be leaning from my reading towards Jamal because `Umar Sulayman (a favorite of US and Israel) is rather old (over 70) and `Amr Musa is hated by US and Israel.

Person of the Day

New TV has a daily feature called Person of the Day. By and large, they are very shallow and ill-informed. Most carry the footprints of Wikipedia.

Isabel Kershner: her services for Israeli propaganda continues

There is not a single article that appears with her name in the NYT that does not show from the first or second sentence intentions of Israeli propaganda in the whole article. Look at this sentence: "In the year since Israel launched its devastating military offensive against Hamas in Gaza." So the entire Israeli war on Gaza was directed against Hamas, according to her propaganda language. The buildings, the children, the infra structure, the civilian men and women all were Hamas, according to Kershner. As for the rest of the article, it is naked Israeli propaganda directed at the Arabs to scare them and intimidate them. It is intended to say that Israel was restrained in the last two wars--to explain its humiliation and its inability to achieve victory--and that Israel will be more savage and brutal in the next round. As if Israel held back. Unless Isabel Kershner wants reader to know that Israel plans to kill more women and children in the next war, and that it can do, but more than it has already? Notice that in this long article the other side is not ignored and disregarded while all New York Times articles dealing with Palestinians--including articles about domestic Palestinian politics--always cite and quote Israelis.

More Lebanese lobyying in the US

This is by the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation. And David sent me more (I cite with his permission): " The Lebanese Renaissance Foundation has paid DLA Piper over 1 million in lobbying fees over the last couple of years (making the foundation one of the high-powered law firm's largest customers for lobbying services). Firas Maksad works for DLA Piper and is also the executive director of the LRF. Anyway, the LRF has also been paying former Congressional candidate (IL-10) Jay Footlik a much, much smaller amount for lobbying services. Footlik is a lobbyist, former Clinton WH aide, and Kerry campaign Jewish community liaison. He lived in Israel for a while, and had this to say to the UJA Federation in Toronto about his meeting with some of his 'LRF friends' (the Meow Lebanon [he means the Now Hariri] crowd) in Lebanon over the summer of 2008: "Footlik, who was in Beirut over the summer, said he was surprised by 'how many people were eager and anxious to establish relations with Israel.'" Back to the future, I guess. Is it May 17, 1983 yet? Even funnier is that during Footlik's unsuccessful run for Congress in 2008, an aide to his Republican opponent called Footlik 'anti-Semitic' for attending a DailyKos event in Chicago, which lead Footlik, who might be a dual citizen (his wife is Israeli) to proclaim loudly his Zionist bona fides. In general, I don't really like the dual-citizen accusation, but it would make his presence in Lebanon illegal under Lebanese law. Only in America, I guess." And then this: "This does not change what I sent you earlier, but just to be precise: From the Senate records, it looks like the LRF has paid Footlik (thru DLA Piper) about $120,000 since 2008 (although, of course, the 2009 records are not complete yet). According to those same records, the LRF has paid DLA Piper 1.3 million US. I cannot really tell what Footlik does for the LRF (other than being very well-connected to pols like Kerry, Lieberman, Ackerman (?) etc and Jewish lobbying/fundraising groups). Maybe he helps them coordinate with groups like the AJC in getting congressional resolutions about Lebanon. I really don't know. Here is the breakdown (and documentation) for LRF lobbying: As a DC lobbyist, Footlik is partners with Yuval Rabin, son of who you know whom, and one of the big parts of their lobbying/consulting business is apparently helping Israeli companies do business in the US. I really have no idea if Footlik has made his 'ascent' (aliya) and would now have an Israeli passport, but from his biography, it seems at least possible. Happy holidays -- david
PS: If you post any of this, I insist that you call it Meow Lebanon. That sobriquet is the invention of a Lebanese/Palestinian woman, so you will not be borrowing it from me, the often quintessential 'white man.' I am not yet willing to call it Now Hariri, because I still have my suspicions about whether or not it got US monies (public or public-private or private)."

Adam Ereli in Damascus: Why not Send Ariel Sharon?

So you have a new US ambassador in Damascus. Here what I had written about him before.

Fu'ad Makhzumi's lobbying in the US

David sent me this (about the post below about this Lebanese billionaire dude): " Makhzumi paid Barbour, Griffith and Rogers at least $320,000 in lobbying fees in 2006."

Israel is now welcome at UAE

While censorship grows in the UAE, I have received news that the UAE censors have lifted the ban on Israeli websites two or three months ago, without fanfare or announcements.

'Our kids can’t live with Arabs’

"Dozens of parents and their disabled children protested Thursday opposite the Welfare Ministry in Jerusalem over plans to house their children in a hostel located in an Arab neighborhood."

If Muslim kids did that, it would be on the front page of the NYT

"About 200 teens soon to be drafted into the Israeli army sent a letter to the defense minister saying their loyalty to the Torah comes before military orders." (thanks Olivia)

Oh, come on: what is uniquely American

"But stand-up and its emphasis on self-deprecation and crossing red lines is uniquely American." Oh, come on. Enough of this quintessential American sport of self-praise, which De Tocqueville talked about. But this is not uniquely American at all: there are elements of that in Jewish Yiddish humor, and even in classical Arabic literature. Al-Hutay'ah, the classic Arab poet, wrote poems mocking his own mother, father, and...himself.

Dirty Lebanese hands: the case of Fu'ad Makhzumi

" David Cameron was facing pressure tonight to explain whether the Conservatives have complied with the spirit of electoral law after the party accepted £100,000 from the British wing of a company controlled by a multibillionaire Lebanese former arms dealer. Labour accused the Tories of returning to the era of sleaze after the party accepted two donations of £50,000 from the British arm of Future Pipe Industries, controlled by Fouad Makhzoumi, an ally of the disgraced former Conservative cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken. Future Pipe Ltd donated £50,000 to the Tories one month before the 2005 general election. A second donation for the same amount was made in August last year." I have written about this opportunist Lebanese politician (with a popular base of his family) before: teachers in school run by him have complained to me about the pressures that they are subjected to in order to join his silly (and empty) National Dialogue Party. And he is part of the March 8 coalition: an ally of Jonathan Aitken in UK, and an ally of Hizbullah in Lebanon. And when he comes to the US, he is invited by the Wilson Center to offer his observations about Lebanon. When I was in my first year at IC elementary school, he was in his last year in high school. His brother was in my school bus. (thanks Leila)

When I write "thanks X"

Some people may have misunderstood. When I end a post by saying "(thanks X)" is it meant as a thanks to a person who sent me a link, and for that alone I thank them. I however am the one who writes the comments or criticisms or praise, as the case may be. I am the one responsible, for good or for worse, for the blog comments and postings.

Israel will decide whether your criticisms of Israel are anti-Semitic: but has Israel ever considered criticisms of Israel non-anti-Semitic?

"When asked to comment on the view of some in the Israeli government that the Goldstone report was anti-Semitic, Rosenthal said: "I do believe that some of the criticism against Israel is anti-Semitism but not all of it is." So since some of the criticisms are anti-Semitic, why not assign a government official of the Zionist usurping entity to authorize any and every criticism of Israeli terrorism to make sure it is acceptable, non-anti-Semitic criticism. (thanks Joe)

Prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of stunting, underweight, and overweight among Palestinian school adolescents

"Overweight/obesity was more prevalent in Ramallah than in Hebron and affected more girls than boys. Using the 2000 CDC reference, the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Ramallah among boys was 9.6% and 8.2%, respectively versus 15.6% and 6.0% among girls."

The Mubarak regime versus Muhammad Al-Baradi`i (or Baradeeeh, as it is pronounced in US TV news)

Mubark regime plots against Muhammad Al-Baradi`i who wants to succeed Mubarak. Both have the charisma of sliced cucumbers.

The anguish of the murderous occupiers: the liberal Zionism of Eric Alterman

Since I came to this country, I have always believed that the worst Zionists in the US are the liberal Zionists--because they are so bad and don't even know it. They are bad and yet they think they are good. Right-wing Zionists in the US are blatantly racists and are bigoted toward Arabs and Muslims and make no bone about it. Not the case with liberal Zionists. Take this guy, Eric Alterman: I have mentioned him before. He is callous and insensitive toward the Palestinians but yet have a very high opinion of himself as a sensitive liberal when all his writings on the Palestinians and Arabs in general drip with racism and contempt for the natives. And I can tell you this: whenever I read in any article the use of the word "anguish" I know immediately what I will get. As in: "Israeli anguish is also front and center." This word is used always to imply that the suffering of the oppressed and occupied matches the suffering of the murderous occupiers because when they kill (as in the movie Waltz with War Crimes) they sometimes spend sleepless nights and that you therefore should show sympathy for the killers because the killing business sometimes distress them. And then this Alterman guy argues that the lives of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation in the West Bank is not bad. His evidence? A reporter for the occupiers in Haaretz. What is the difference between this contention by Alterman and those white supremacist writers in the 19th century who argued that slaves are content and that they should be left in their conditions of slavery. But then again: what do you expect from somebody who seeks the moral voice in the writings of Amos Oz, who more than anybody else in contemporary Zionist writings popularized the dehumanization of the Palestinian people? Amos Oz who never met a war (including the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006 and the recent war on Gaza) by Israel that he did not endorse: although he usually comes out towards the end of every war to say, that Israel has rightly killed enough Arabs and now may stop. That is considered by Alterman and by other Zionist advocates of Israeli supremacy as a moral stance. (thanks Karim--another Karim)

"Those people" can laugh: and they sometimes use knives and forks

Look at this intro in the NYT: "For all of the animosity, mistrust and lack of understanding between the West and the Muslim world, this small Middle Eastern country has demonstrated that most people here have the capacity to laugh at themselves — and at jokes about bodily functions, too." First of all, what does the "West" have to do with anything here? Unless it is implied that the West invented humor, in addition to blenders of course. Secondly, what kind of assumption is being dispelled here? That "those people" can laugh, so wake up the children and release the pigs from the barn? What is next for the foreign investigative team of the New York Times? A story how Arabs know how to flush their toilets and to use a towel? How condescending. (thanks Karim)

Chaim Weizmann

I woke up and on my way to pick up my two newspapers, I encountered one of the volumes of Chaim Weizmann's letters and papers in my library (or my excess library, located in the garage of my house). I was reading it this morning and thought of this: 1) we still don't have a critical anti-Zionist biography of either Weizmann or Herzl or Ben-Gurion. That is a big gap in the literature. Some new PhD with fluency in European languages and Hebrew should focus on that. There are Arabic biographies of those people but they are not worthwhile. 2) Because the Zionist colonizers prevailed in Palestine, we still don't know much about the alternative Zionist plans. I mean, it was clear in those papers that the Zionist discussions were occupied for years with Uganda as a the destination. In fact, Weizmann suspected that Herzl was cooking a scheme to finalize the Uganda plan. 3) there are references in those papers to the "Mesopotamia" plan that was cooked by Herzl (presumably for Jewish colonization in Iraq) and on which we don't know much; 4) When you read the private papers or letters of the founders of Zionism you clearly more than detect a contempt and condescension on the part of those leaders toward Jewish masses (rabble in the language of this lousy Weizmann).

Saudi propaganda logic

So the private station of King Fahd's brother-in-law was airing a discussion on Yemen and the alleged alliance between Al-Qa`idah and the socialists of South Yemen. The guest was a propagandist for the Yemeni dictator. He admitted that there is no ideological affinity between Al-Qa`idah and the South Yemeni movement, but he added that there is something common between them. They both oppose the government of Salih, he said. That is it. He found the link.

Al-Qa`idah conspiracy

Is there one Arab dissident group that is not accused now of links with Al-Qa`idah? And while you are at it, answer this: during the Cold War, has there been an Arab dissident group that was not accused of links to communism?

Look at this chutzpah headline

"One Pakistan is Enough: We don't need nuclear-armed, terrorist-run Palestinian state next to Israel." (thanks Rashid)

South Yemen

Saudi propaganda knows no limits or standards of any kind. The royal family that supported the South Yemen movement after 1991 to punish Ali Abdullah Salih for his opposition to US war on Iraq, is now airing footage of crowds--kid you not--and saying this is evidence of Al-Qa`idah's headquartering in South Yemen. Al-Arabiyyah TV (the private station of King Fahd's brother-in-law and is controlled increasingly by Prince `Azzuz) has been focusing on this today.

There are good liars and there are bad liars: here is a bad one

"The [US] official added that the US did not support any Lebanese political groups or politicians."

Lebaese self-image: reality versus perception

"“Interestingly, when we asked the respondents to rate their own Internet capabilities, those in Lebanon came out as the most competent, with 40 per cent considering themselves to be Internet experts – the highest figure among the surveyed countries,” said Joanna Longworth, chief marketing officer, YouGov Siraj." (thanks Tom)

if you want critical, invesitgating reporting, please refer to Hassan Fattah's newspaper for the eyes of the Nahyan dynasty

" No rest for Sheikh Abdullah in a whirlwind year" The subtitled should have read: and no rest for his brother, who was busy torturing his servants. (thanks Fawzi)

Foreign workers in Jordan

"Foreign workers in the Kingdom are still subject to abuses and unacceptable work conditions inconsistent with international standards despite government efforts, a study said on Monday. Conducted under the Labour Watch Project by the Phoenix Centre for Economic and Information Studies, the report paints a dim picture of the situation in the country saying that many foreign workers are still paid less than the JD150 minimum wage, with others working long hours without being compensated for the overtime work. "There are still cases where domestic helpers are denied their rights to have annual leaves or meet with members of their families working or residing in the Kingdom," the report said, adding that many helpers complained against physical and verbal abuse by their employers." (thanks Marcy)

Israeli laws

It is clear to me that many American liberals don't know much about the nature of the Israeli state and its laws. Recently, after my talk at U Mass, a young college student approached me and introduced himself. He told me that he was raised to admire Israel by his parent but that he felt ashamed listening to my talk because he had no idea that Israel "has done all that". Here is a sample: "While the current law prohibits public display of leavened products for the purpose of sale, the amended version would omit the word "public."" (thanks Sarah)

Zionism is racism, even when it comes to noise

"The sounds of Jewish music around the area of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron may be loud, but not beyond the legal noise limit, according to the Environmental Protection Ministry. Not so the sounds of Arab worship, however: according to Hevron Jewish community spokesman David Wilder, the same tests found the speakers used to broadcast the daily prayers of the Muslim muezzin exceeded the legal limits."

Disgrace unto the nations

" 'Another of Ben-Gurion's stupidities, "a light unto the nations," from the days of the raids on Qibya in 1953 and the Gaza Strip, became over the years an extinguishing of the lights so no one would see and no one would know. In short, Pnina Sharvit-Baruch, who provided legal
advice to the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza, was invited to teach law at Tel Aviv University while the real work of "a light unto the nations" was done by the Jewish judge Richard Goldstone.'" (thanks Maryam)

US agenda for democracy and human rights

"US defence group Lockheed Martin has won a contract worth $841.9m (£528.2m) to supply Morocco with 24 F-16 fighter aircraft and support equipment." (thanks Mariam)

Israeli guards

"The man claimed the two officers stopped him to look at his papers, ordered he get in their car and drove him to a secluded place, where they assaulted him, robbed him and took away his visa papers, before leaving him behind and fleeing the scene."

This is Israel: a disgrace unto the nations

"Israel prevents Gaza Christian and his Bethlehem fiancée from marrying" (thanks Olivia)

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd

Egyptian thinker Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (who angers Al-Azhar University for Obscurantism) suffers from Kuwait and Egyptian oppression. Of course, you will not hear about that in the New York Times because both Kuwait and Egypt are regimes that please the US and Israel.

Jamilah

The story of Jamilah Buhayrad. (thanks Raed)

Arab leaders

I hate when Arab leaders think that if they are seen driving their car before the cameras, it is a sign of their modesty and reformist tendencies. It is spreading now: Saddam, King Husayn, Bashshar Al-Asad, Saud Al-Faysal, Rafiq Hariri, Jordanian King PlayStation and other have resorted to such gimmicks. Somebody need to tell them: stop oppressing and torturing your own people, and the people will not mind if you don't drive your own cars.

Images of US puppets in the Middle East

"King Abdullah II, popularly perceived in the West as being among the most enlightened Middle East leaders." Now this statement by Slackman in the article requires further elaboration and explanation. He is right of course that the Jordanian king enjoys an image of a supporter of democracy and human rights in the West. But there is no mystery there at all. His father enjoyed that image while his regime was cracking down brutally in the 1950s and 1960s, and while he was massacring Palestinians in Black September. In fact, if you go back to the 1960s and look at official US rhetoric on the Middle East during the Cold War, you will find that US predicated its support for some of the most brutal dictators, like the Shah or King Faysal or Shaykh Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi or Sultan Sa`id bin Taymur or the Jordanian king, in the name of "freedom". So this is not new. The labels that the US (and its submissive unquestioning mainstream media) accords to dictators around the region is based on two criteria only (and they are related): 1) the extent to which those regimes please Israel and its interests; 2) the extent to which those regimes follow US dictates. Look at Libya: the tone and textures of articles about the Libyan regime changed markedly only because he changed his foreign policy, but not else. If the Syrian regime were to sign a peace treaty with Israel tomorrow, the New York Times will carry a front page article about the reformist agenda of Bashshar. And this hypocrisy in US media coverage explains why most Arabs who consume Western media have no respect for the journalistic standards of those media. I can go on on this but you get the point.

For reliable reporting on Iran, I alwasy turn to the new York Times

"and a Web site in Iran reported that “many” of the protesters had been injured." And I know a website which claims that Bin Laden is hiding in the US under US government protection. Another website blames UFOs for the assassination of JFK.

Lessons about objectivity

" which does not always strive for journalistic objectivity on the subject of his treatment." Unlike the New York Times which strives for journalistic objectivity on the subject of any mistreatment by its reporters, or like Newsweek which has been objective about the weeks' long captivity of one of its correspondents in Iran.