Western governments and most of the Western media have accepted a number of Israeli claims justifying the military assault on Gaza: that Hamas consistently violated the six-month truce that Israel observed and then refused to extend it; that Israel therefore had no choice but to destroy Hamas's capacity to launch missiles into Israeli towns; that Hamas is a terrorist organisation, part of a global jihadi network; and that Israel has acted not only in its own defence but on behalf of an international struggle by Western democracies against this network.
I am not aware of a single major American newspaper, radio station or TV channel whose coverage of the assault on Gaza questions this version of events. Criticism of Israel's actions, if any (and there has been none from the Bush administration), has focused instead on whether the IDF's carnage is proportional to the threat it sought to counter, and whether it is taking adequate measures to prevent civilian casualties.
Middle East peacemaking has been smothered in deceptive euphemisms, so let me state bluntly that each of these claims is a lie. Israel, not Hamas, violated the truce: Hamas undertook to stop firing rockets into Israel; in return, Israel was to ease its throttlehold on Gaza. In fact, during the truce, it tightened it further. This was confirmed not only by every neutral international observer and NGO on the scene but by Brigadier General (Res.) Shmuel Zakai, a former commander of the IDF's Gaza Division. In an interview in Ha'aretz on 22 December, he accused Israel's government of having made a 'central error' during the tahdiyeh, the six-month period of relative truce, by failing 'to take advantage of the calm to improve, rather than markedly worsen, the economic plight of the Palestinians of the Strip . . . When you create a tahdiyeh, and the economic pressure on the Strip continues,' General Zakai said, 'it is obvious that Hamas will try to reach an improved tahdiyeh, and that their way to achieve this is resumed Qassam fire . . . You cannot just land blows, leave the Palestinians in Gaza in the economic distress they're in, and expect that Hamas will just sit around and do nothing.'
The truce, which began in June last year and was due for renewal in December, required both parties to refrain from violent action against the other. Hamas had to cease its rocket assaults and prevent the firing of rockets by other groups such as Islamic Jihad (even Israel's intelligence agencies acknowledged this had been implemented with surprising effectiveness), and Israel had to put a stop to its targeted assassinations and military incursions. This understanding was seriously violated on 4 November, when the IDF entered Gaza and killed six members of Hamas. Hamas responded by launching Qassam rockets and Grad missiles. Even so, it offered to extend the truce, but only on condition that Israel ended its blockade. Israel refused. It could have met its obligation to protect its citizens by agreeing to ease the blockade, but it didn't even try. It cannot be said that Israel launched its assault to protect its citizens from rockets. It did so to protect its right to continue the strangulation of Gaza's population.
Everyone seems to have forgotten that Hamas declared an end to suicide bombings and rocket fire when it decided to join the Palestinian political process, and largely stuck to it for more than a year. Bush publicly welcomed that decision, citing it as an example of the success of his campaign for democracy in the Middle East. (He had no other success to point to.) When Hamas unexpectedly won the election, Israel and the US immediately sought to delegitimise the result and embraced Mahmoud Abbas, the head of Fatah, who until then had been dismissed by Israel's leaders as a 'plucked chicken'. They armed and trained his security forces to overthrow Hamas; and when Hamas - brutally, to be sure - pre-empted this violent attempt to reverse the result of the first honest democratic election in the modern Middle East, Israel and the Bush administration imposed the blockade.
Israel seeks to counter these indisputable facts by maintaining that in withdrawing Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005, Ariel Sharon gave Hamas the chance to set out on the path to statehood, a chance it refused to take; instead, it transformed Gaza into a launching-pad for firing missiles at Israel's civilian population. The charge is a lie twice over. First, for all its failings, Hamas brought to Gaza a level of law and order unknown in recent years, and did so without the large sums of money that donors showered on the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. It eliminated the violent gangs and warlords who terrorised Gaza under Fatah's rule. Non-observant Muslims, Christians and other minorities have more religious freedom under Hamas rule than they would have in Saudi Arabia, for example, or under many other Arab regimes.
The greater lie is that Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza was intended as a prelude to further withdrawals and a peace agreement. This is how Sharon's senior adviser Dov Weisglass, who was also his chief negotiator with the Americans, described the withdrawal from Gaza, in an interview with Ha'aretz in August 2004:
What I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements [i.e. the major settlement blocks on the West Bank] would not be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Finns . . . The significance [of the agreement with the US] is the freezing of the political process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and you prevent a discussion about the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package that is called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed from our agenda indefinitely. And all this with [President Bush's] authority and permission . . . and the ratification of both houses of Congress.
Do the Israelis and Americans think that Palestinians don't read the Israeli papers, or that when they saw what was happening on the West Bank they couldn't figure out for themselves what Sharon was up to?
Israel's government would like the world to believe that Hamas launched its Qassam rockets because that is what terrorists do and Hamas is a generic terrorist group. In fact, Hamas is no more a 'terror organisation' (Israel's preferred term) than the Zionist movement was during its struggle for a Jewish homeland. In the late 1930s and 1940s, parties within the Zionist movement resorted to terrorist activities for strategic reasons. According to Benny Morris, it was the Irgun that first targeted civilians. He writes in Righteous Victims that an upsurge of Arab terrorism in 1937 'triggered a wave of Irgun bombings against Arab crowds and buses, introducing a new dimension to the conflict'. He also documents atrocities committed during the 1948-49 war by the IDF, admitting in a 2004 interview, published in Ha'aretz, that material released by Israel's Ministry of Defence showed that 'there were far more Israeli acts of massacre than I had previously thought . . . In the months of April-May 1948, units of the Haganah were given operational orders that stated explicitly that they were to uproot the villagers, expel them, and destroy the villages themselves.' In a number of Palestinian villages and towns the IDF carried out organised executions of civilians. Asked by Ha'aretz whether he condemned the ethnic cleansing, Morris replied that he did not:
A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them. There was no choice but to expel that population. It was necessary to cleanse the hinterland and cleanse the border areas and cleanse the main roads. It was necessary to cleanse the villages from which our convoys and our settlements were fired on.
In other words, when Jews target and kill innocent civilians to advance their national struggle, they are patriots. When their adversaries do so, they are terrorists.
It is too easy to describe Hamas simply as a 'terror organisation'. It is a religious nationalist movement that resorts to terrorism, as the Zionist movement did during its struggle for statehood, in the mistaken belief that it is the only way to end an oppressive occupation and bring about a Palestinian state. While Hamas's ideology formally calls for that state to be established on the ruins of the state of Israel, this doesn't determine Hamas's actual policies today any more than the same declaration in the PLO charter determined Fatah's actions.
These are not the conclusions of an apologist for Hamas but the opinions of the former head of Mossad and Sharon's national security adviser, Ephraim Halevy. The Hamas leadership has undergone a change 'right under our very noses', Halevy wrote recently in Yedioth Ahronoth, by recognising that 'its ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future.' It is now ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state within the temporary borders of 1967. Halevy noted that while Hamas has not said how 'temporary' those borders would be, 'they know that the moment a Palestinian state is established with their co-operation, they will be obligated to change the rules of the game: they will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original ideological goals.' In an earlier article, Halevy also pointed out the absurdity of linking Hamas to al-Qaida.
In the eyes of al-Qaida, the members of Hamas are perceived as heretics due to their stated desire to participate, even indirectly, in processes of any understandings or agreements with Israel. [The Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled] Mashal's declaration diametrically contradicts al-Qaida's approach, and provides Israel with an opportunity, perhaps a historic one, to leverage it for the better.
Why then are Israel's leaders so determined to destroy Hamas? Because they believe that its leadership, unlike that of Fatah, cannot be intimidated into accepting a peace accord that establishes a Palestinian 'state' made up of territorially disconnected entities over which Israel would be able to retain permanent control. Control of the West Bank has been the unwavering objective of Israel's military, intelligence and political elites since the end of the Six-Day War.[*] They believe that Hamas would not permit such a cantonisation of Palestinian territory, no matter how long the occupation continues. They may be wrong about Abbas and his superannuated cohorts, but they are entirely right about Hamas.
Middle East observers wonder whether Israel's assault on Hamas will succeed in destroying the organisation or expelling it from Gaza. This is an irrelevant question. If Israel plans to keep control over any future Palestinian entity, it will never find a Palestinian partner, and even if it succeeds in dismantling Hamas, the movement will in time be replaced by a far more radical Palestinian opposition.
If Barack Obama picks a seasoned Middle East envoy who clings to the idea that outsiders should not present their own proposals for a just and sustainable peace agreement, much less press the parties to accept it, but instead leave them to work out their differences, he will assure a future Palestinian resistance far more extreme than Hamas - one likely to be allied with al-Qaida. For the US, Europe and most of the rest of the world, this would be the worst possible outcome. Perhaps some Israelis, including the settler leadership, believe it would serve their purposes, since it would provide the government with a compelling pretext to hold on to all of Palestine. But this is a delusion that would bring about the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
Anthony Cordesman, one of the most reliable military analysts of the Middle East, and a friend of Israel, argued in a 9 January report for the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the tactical advantages of continuing the operation in Gaza were outweighed by the strategic cost - and were probably no greater than any gains Israel may have made early in the war in selective strikes on key Hamas facilities. 'Has Israel somehow blundered into a steadily escalating war without a clear strategic goal, or at least one it can credibly achieve?' he asks. 'Will Israel end in empowering an enemy in political terms that it defeated in tactical terms? Will Israel's actions seriously damage the US position in the region, any hope of peace, as well as moderate Arab regimes and voices in the process? To be blunt, the answer so far seems to be yes.' Cordesman concludes that 'any leader can take a tough stand and claim that tactical gains are a meaningful victory. If this is all that Olmert, Livni and Barak have for an answer, then they have disgraced themselves and damaged their country and their friends.'
Henry Siegman, director of the US Middle East Project in New York, is a visiting research professor at SOAS, University of London. He is a former national director of the American Jewish Congress and of the Synagogue Council of America.
Contextually Related posts:
My humble thanks to Seigman, Shlaim, Amira Haas, Sara Roy, Gideon Levy and so many other Jews, whose sense of honor and morality has never deserted them. We are all indebted to them forever, for being brave enough to tell the truth.
A columnist, Michael Brackman, based in Britain and working for a Melbourne newspaper, The Age, has apologized for offending the Jewish people. Here is an article which proves there is no free speech in Australia when it comes to criticism of Israelis or Israel’s war atrocities:
AJN (Australian Jewish News) “The Age Editor Apologises For ‘Error of Judgement.’”
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=6934
“Brackman Sorry For Age Article.”
http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=1970
When Israel withdrew its settlements in Gaza in 2005, it was removing Israelis from danger from the Israeli government’s future attacks on Gaza, which were being planned even then. That is clear from Weisglass’ statements in 2004 about “freezing the political process” with the Americans over the question of a Palestinian state. They wanted to “freeze” the process because neither Israel nor the United States has ever wanted a Palestinian state, will never accept it, and will rather either exterminate the Palestinians or force them to emigrate. This has been Israel’s goal since its foundation in 1948, and it continues to be its goal.
All this is with the blessing of my country, the United States, whose elite, like Israeli’s elite, considers Palestinian society a breeding ground for “terrorists.” My country is ruled by Zionist Jewish Freemasonic Satanists, and always has been. Nearly all U.S. presidents have been JEWISH, although they successfully hid their Jewishness from the U.S. electorate by pretending to be Christians. Barak Obama, for example, is 1/4 Jewish, despite his middle name, “Hussein.” These “Jews,” however, do not worship God, but Satan, and they have always used the United States to carry out their plan of a “New World Order,” a complete world tyranny modelled on Nazi Germany, but with far more power and technology.
These Satanic “Jews” control all Western governments and societies, especially Israel and the United States. They are bringing down the world’s economy deliberately, and destroying the United States from within, in order to bring about their New World Order. The United States, and all of the world’s nation-states, have outlived their usefulness. That destruction will be completed by a new world war, a thermonuclear war between the forces of Europe, the United States, Russia and China. Satan will appear in human form during this war and appear to bring the world “peace,” but he will use that “peace” to murder all those in the world who refuse to renounce God. Then he intends to rule the world with absolute power from a rebuilt Temple on Temple Mount in Jerusalem (after destroying the Al Aqsa mosque), and he will demand to be worshipped by all humanity as god.
I echo Mountair’s thanks to Henry Siegman, Uri Avnery, Gideon Levy, the Shminitsim and other refusniks. I grew up believing, as Henry Siegman did, that the foremost values that made me Jewish were a belief in justice, equality, fairness, over everything else. My grandparents were labor organizers, my parents took me to civil rights marches and anti-war marches from a young age. Now I look around me at the Jews in my community, my country, and in Israel, and I feel confused, dismayed, even hopeless. Who are these Jews? Where did those other Jews go?
One should never run away from the truth, only has to see the massive scale of the destruction that the IDF has inflicted on the ordinary people of Gaza to understand that Israel has committed war crimes in its ‘war on the Gazan Palestinians’. Some people have condemned those of us who have compared Israel’s recent behavior with the Hitlerite nazis, claiming we are being insensitive and plain wrong to make such accusations. In reply, true the killing is not on an industrial scale that the Nazis inflicted on the Jewish people, but it is comparable to the reprisals the nazis carried out against all who opposed them within occupied Europe. As with the Nazis the IDF massacred whole families in there own homes, destroyed villages, farmland and crops and fired heavy ordinance into built up areas without a shred of mercy.
Maybe one should look at the link……….
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=51647126393&h=5_2Cp&u=4sYOV
One has heard about the European holocaust against the Jews since I was a small child. It was so wrong as to what happened, recognition to the level of atrocity mankind is capable of sinking. The surviving Jews who rose up against human indignity in the Warsaw Ghettoes are called heroes,those who lost their lives are martyrs, A Palestinian who tosses a rock in desperation is a terrorist.
Nazis”s committed the holocaust in the Warsaw ghetto from 1941 to 1945, the Jews have been committing holocaust for the last 60 years, in the Gaza ghetto. May I add the atrocities are far worst then imaginable, hence the limited coverage by the media, as not to upset our Israeli allies.
We have double standards here,anyone who disagrees, please look at the coverage on youtube, if you look hard enough, you will find even the moderate Jews, are against the genocide, of the Palestinian people. A freedom fighter will always be a freedom fighter, not as depicted by the media in the west, TERRORIST
Have you not seen the video’s, were they some clips from hollywood movies? So the Palestinian’s slaugter their children to show to the west what the IDF is doing? Israeli are freedom fighters,( who are invader), the Palestinians, who are trying to protect their own land are terrorist. My profile has hundreds of photo’s, video’s and links to depict the truth, but Graham you think its just all fabrication to make the IDF look bad, I care for humanity and will be vocal to the truth. There is so much one can say, but it pointless, you stick to your beliefs, i will just go with the truth,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Just as we have seen throughout history…. From Palestine thru Europe to The Ukraine…from Jews….Those Bolshevik Communist German and Khazarian (Ashkenazi) Jews….
Hitler was Right. While he was busy rebuilding Germany’s Wrecked Economy, Stalin was busy “purging” the Christian/Muslim Seperatists” in the Ukraine….to the tune of some 10,000,000 people.
What the Lying and Denying Jews will never admit is…..
They formed the majority of people in the German Communist Party during the 1920′s and 1930′s….
As well as the “Top” positions in the Karl Marx/Herzl Jewish Bolsheviks in Russia during the Revolution…
My Grandfather , apparently, fought for Britian in a War to liberate Europe from “the evils of Nazi-ism”…..but he, like many others’ …years later, came home sharing the same opinion as General Patton….
“We fought the WRONG Enemy!!!” It was Moscow we should have attacked! Take the Germans and Keep on Going!”
No MATTER HOW MUCH THE LYING AND DENYING JEWS AT THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE or WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS try to convince me that General Patton, My Grandfather, and I are wrong….
I will say….FUCK YOU AND DIE!!! YOU DESERVE IT!!!
Here’s a Comment from Menachim Begin that sums up Zionism…given in an address back in 1977:-
“Our race is the Master Race.
We are divine gods on this planet.
We are as different from the inferior races
As they are from insects.
In fact, compared to our race,
Other races are beasts and animals,
Catle at best.
Other races are considered as human excrement.
Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races.
Our earthly kingdom will be ruled
By our leader with a rod of iron.
The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.â€
I think the Terrorist Jew is referring to Niggers, Pakis, Chinks, Japs, Christians, A-Rabs, Muslims (Sand Niggers), and anybody else who doesn’t buy into their “Rules of the Game”….
Yeah, truth is….The ADL covers up the atrocities committed by Jews…
It’s not right to call a Black Man “A NIGGER”, unless he’s a Jewish Settler telling a Nigerian UN Soldier to keep the Fuck off their Land…
Racism was invented by Jews to create Animosity between the Cultures for them to Exploit….
Ask a Jew who brought Africans to North America, and they will tell You Christopher Columbus…..
but then ask the Jew, “But Who Owned the Ships and Put the Colored Folks on there, against their will???”
The Silence will be Deafening, followed by a stare….followed by the usual…..”You’re Anti-Semetic”….
The Dutch East Indies Trading Company….
Sorry, History can’t completely erase itself….
The young man being shot at point blank rage, is typical of the brutality employed by Zionists…
The BBC can cover it up….
CNN, CNBC, ABC, CBS, FoxNews can cover it up….
The White House can cover it up…
#10 Downing Street can cover it up….
The Egyptians, The Saudis, and Jordanians can cover it up…..
BUT THEY WILL NEVER COVER THOSE OF US WHO DESPISE COMMUNISM, IN COMMUNISM!!!
DO NOT FEAR THEIR OPPRESSION, THEY CANNOT WIN….
NO MATTER HOW MANY GUNS THEY HAVE…
NO MATTER HOW MANY TANKS THEY HAVE…
NO MATTER HOW MANY JETS THEY HAVE…
NO MATTER HOW MANY PROPAGANDA NEWS SERVICES THEY HAVE!
We cannot EVER Give Up, Informing our friends’, co-workers of the Truth!!!
WE ARE ALL UNITED AGAINST TYRANNY OF GOVERNMENT!!!
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