Guns and Butter interview with Former head of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), General Hamid Gul.

On Wednesday host Jeffrey Blankfort interviewed Grant F. Smith on his public radio program "Takes on the World" about newly unsealed Senate Foreign Relations Committee files investigating the Israel lobby.
Today the Israel Lobby Archive releases correspondence between the Jewish Agency (a quasi governmental organization headquartered in Jerusalem) and the American Zionist Council which housed AIPAC as its lobbying division. The documents reveal quarterly $5,000 payments from the Jewish Agency to AIPAC for the lobbying newsletter "Near East Report" and stealth public relations programs to undermine American free speech. The implications are discussed in the radio interview. Listen to the podcast here:

The interview is available for download in the following audio link:
http://www.irmep.org/mp3/09082010kzyx.mp3

Interview Highlights:

00:00:45 Host Jeffrey Blankfort: peace processing and the Israel lobby
00:01:22 Legitimacy crisis: Abbas in, Hamas out and the US as "neutral" arbitrar
00:02:20 Colonization during the "settlement freeze"
00:03:15 $5 billion F-35 jet fighter potlatch
00:05:10 Massive US JP-8 jet fuel shipment to Israel
00:09:00 Purchase priorities: Iraqi and other ME weapons procurement
00:11:35 In trouble with the lobby EU to US: Stone, Thomas, Nasser, and de Groote
00:14:10 IRmep and Grant Smith's investigatory work
00:15:45 "Israel's Nuclear Arsenal" panel at the Spy Museum: free DvD offer
00:16:45 1960's birth of the Israel Lobby: The DOJ and Senate investigate
00:17:25 Key Findings: AIPAC's 7 year campaign to alter US ME press coverage
00:18:22 The Senate classified findings, because investigation failed
00:19:30 Am. Council for Judaism calls for investigation of Jewish Agency money laundering
00:20:26 AIPAC's campaign to shut down competing ideas: academia, media and government
00:20:50 Half century of targeting American free speech rights
00:21:16 Abraham Feinberg: Israel's nuclear weapons program funding coordinator and AIPAC donor
00:21:39 Two prong attack: Dimona propaganda, undermining Kennedy nonproliferation drive
00:22:03 The AIPAC media cover-up: Israel's Dimona nuclear weapons plant as "peaceful"
00:25:00 The mobsters who funded AIPAC when legitimate donors wouldn't
00:26:23 The American Council for Judaism's moral and legal challenges to AIPAC
00:27:18 The Israel lobby's hidden business model: global swaps with the Israeli gov't
00:30:50 The Jewish Agency's man on the Obama National Security Council: Dennis Ross
00:32:20 NPR turns down preferential access to declassified Israeli media manipulation files
00:34:23 Israel lobby coverage: overseas and alternative news only, forbidden in America
00:35:00 "62 tactics" to undermine American free speech rights in effect for 50 years
00:37:00 Free trips to Israel for opinion leaders, politicians and media personalities

Quite apart from his dismissal of the power of the pro-Israel lobby and, consequently, the role of Congress which I have found to be the foremost obstacle in trying to educate people around that issue, Chomsky's opposition to BDS, (what he now describes as qualified support) and his ongoing efforts to dissuade people from using the term, apartheid, to describe Israel's control over Palestinian society, should raise serious questions about Chomsky's judgment, not to mention that his reason for opposing the Palestinian right of return and a one-state solution is identical to that of most liberal Zionists, i.e., that it would lead to Jews becoming a minority in that single state.

The question as to whether or not to use the term apartheid is a critical one. That Chomsky objects to the use of the term despite the fact that such a description has long been made by both Israeli critics of their country's policies and by former victims of South African apartheid, all of whom are in a far better position than him to know what they were talking about can not simply be dismissed as a difference of opinion.

Everyone knows the negative connotations that word carries and that if widely applied to Israel it would most certainly raise the level of public consciousness in this country and with it the possibilities of changing US policy. The attacks on Jimmy Carter by the entire Jewish establishment for his use of the word in the title of his book was a clear indication of the latter's fear of that happening. Motivations aside, Chomsky should be embarrassed to see whose side he is on when it comes to this issue.

That otherwise intelligent people have not seen through Chomsky’s deceptions by this time I attribute to their having confused his admittedly harsh criticism of Israeli actions and US support for those actions with what is needed in the US to counter that support. This requires challenging the power of the Zionist establishment and that is something that Chomsky would have us believe is irrelevant.
If any other public figure revered on the left would take positions on Palestine as those of Chomsky, he or she would be dimissed as a Zionist apologist. (Imagine if someone purporting to be an anti-apartheid activist had taken similar positions on South Africa.) In Chomsky's case, because of the excellent writings and statements that he has made on other issues outside of the Israel-Palestine conflict, he seems to have been given a pass for his questionable positions on Palestine. This amounts, in practice, to saying that the man, Chomsky, is more important than the issue, justice for Palestine. I don't think anyone seriously concerned with the latter actually thinks or would say that but, unfortunately that is the only conclusion one can draw from the fact that Chomsky still continues to be invited to speak by groups whose dedication to justice for Palestine can not be questioned.

As a result of reading Noam Chomsky's statements in a 2003 interview in the South African journal, Safundi, opposing BDS against Israel (because the Israelis would be against it!) and against using the term, apartheid to describe the Palestinian situation, and adding that to his long history of denying the destructive power of the pro-Israel lobby, I decided to write a critical article about his stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict which was published in Left Curve in the Spring of 2004. -- Jeff Blankfort

Following is Kevin Barrett's interview with Jeff Blankfort*, pro-Palestinian activist, critic of Zionism, and long-time critic of Noam Chomsky.

Play:

* Jeffrey Blankfort was raised in a Jewish non-Zionist family. He produces a radio program on KZYX, the public radio station for Mendocino County in Northern California and has written extensively on the Middle East. He was formerly the editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee of the Middle East. His photographs of the Anti-Vietnam War and Black Panthers Movements have appeared in numerous books and magazines. “In February 2002, he won a lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was found to have had a vast spying operation directed against American citizens opposed to Israel’s policies in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza and to the apartheid policies of the government of South Africa and passing on information to both governments.” -IfAmericansKnew.org

From left: Ali Abunimah and Jeffrey Blankfort

Download podcast: http://aud1.kpfa.org/data/20100113-Wed1900.mp3

Podcast link: http://kpfa.org/archive/id/57784

Alan Sabrosky, PhD, former director of studies at the US Army War College discusses and delves into the who, what, where, when, why and how of Obama's recent decision to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan.

Between June 12th and 19th 2007, in West Jerusalem, Clemens Messerschmid, presented his a two-part lecture series sponsored by the Alternative Information Center, titled "Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict." Mr. Messerschmid is a German hydrogeologist who has worked for many years on international water projects in the West Bank.

In his first lecture, he introduced the physical settings of water resources in the region and their extremely asymmetrical allocation between the Palestinians and Israelis.

In addition, he gave an introduction to the hydrogeology of the shared aquifers and an overview of the historical development of their utilization, focusing on the years of overt occupation between the 1967 War and The Oslo Interim Agreement of September 1995.

In the second lecture, Clemens focuses on the hydro-political developments during the Oslo and post-Oslo periods up to the present, examining the diverging agendas of Palestinians and Israelis, and also of the donor states and their water projects.

Finally, Clemens presents a critical discussion of possible solutions to the situation, examining their technical and political merits.

To download the first part of the podcast file, right button click here and save.

To download the second part of the podcast file, right button click here and save.

Alternatively, you can listen to the podcast here and here.

Also, you can download the slide presentation that goes along with the lecture, from here.

Via: The Alternative Information Center

Ahmad Abu Haniya, the Youth Project Coordinator for the Alternative Information Center (AIC), was released from administrative detention on 14^th May 2007, after two years of imprisonment without any trial or formal charges being brought against him.

Ahmad was detained at an Israeli military checkpoint on his way to work on 18^th May 2005 and placed in administrative detention, which is imprisonment without charge or trial. Ahmad and his attorney were not even permitted to know the accusations against him.

The detention of Ahmad and so many other Palestinians, blatantly violates international humanitarian law and the fundamental right to liberty.

The administrative detention has been used by Israel as a tool to oppress political activists in Palestine who struggle non-violently against the Israeli occupation and for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

This is an interview with Ahmad on the 21^st of May, one week after his release from prison, at the offices of the AIC in Beit Sahour. Listen to his experience of administrative detention in Israeli Prisons:

What is the power and influence of "The Lobby" (a.k.a. AIPAC) on US Foreign Policy?

The explanation for the support is to be found in the activities of the Israel Lobby, also known as the Jewish Lobby, or as AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee), which uses its formidable influence to shape American foreign policy in accordance with Israeli interests. This opinion has most recently been associated with an article published in the London Book Review, co-authored by Professor Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Professor Walt of Harvard University (more about this here and here).

Here is a debate on this subject between Norman Finkelstein (professor of political science at De Paul University) and James Petras (an Emeritus Professor of sociology at SUNY, Binghamton):

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Listen to more information about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 in these two lectures (sound files) of the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, who did extensive research in the military archives of Israel. [Hat tip: Stan van Houcke]

On January 26, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe gave a lecture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Pappe was in the Netherlands on invitation of United Civilians for Peace and Another Jewish Voice. On January 27 he presented his latest book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” in ABC Treehouse Gallery and On January 28, he lectured at Desmet in Amsterdam.

Download his lecture here: Part 1 (MP3) | Part 2 (MP3)

Pappe’s book shows that in 1948, the Zionist movement waged a war against the Palestinian people in order to implement its long term plans of ethnic cleansing. The Arab world tried to prevent this cleansing, but was too fragmented, self-centered and ineffective to stop the uprooting of half of Palestine’s native population, the destruction of half of its villages and towns and the killing of thousands of its people.

Here is the speech (Arabic):

Podcast: Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday Hezbollah guerrillas would fire rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut.

"If you strike Beirut, the Islamic Resistance will strike Tel Aviv and it is able to do so," Nasrallah said.

"(If) at any time you decide to stop your campaigns on our cities, suburbs, civilians and infrastructure, we won't strike with rockets any settlement or Israeli city ..." he said.

"You can't destroy Hizbollah ... because the resistance is not a classic army or a regular state ..." he said. "The resistance is a people who has the belief, the will and who loves martyrdom.

"The resistance will not be broken, the resistance will not be defeated."

"The Israeli army is a giant machine that is blind, stupid and incapable," he said.

"I assure (you that) whatever the results of the war, Lebanon won't be American and Lebanon won't be Israeli and Lebanon won't be one of the bases for the 'new Middle East' which George Bush wants and which Condoleezza Rice wants," he said.

Here is the speech (Arabic):

Podcast: Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed to impose conditions on Lebanon and to serve Israeli interests during her diplomatic mission to the region.

"Rice is returning to the region to try to impose her conditions on Lebanon again to serve her new Middle East project and to serve Israel," Nasrallah said in a television speech.

"The Israelis are ready to halt the aggression because they are afraid of the unknown," he said.

"The one pushing for the continuation of the aggression is the U.S. administration."

"When in any Arab-Israeli conflict were two million Israelis forced to flee or enter bomb shelters?"

During the airing of Nasrallah’s speech sirens were heard in Carmiel; three rockets landed in the northern city, but no injuries or damage were reported in the strike.

"Israel's largest pitfall is the militaristic belief in the country and its leadership."

"Israel was established as a military state; the army was not established as an army of a country."

"The Lebanese are standing strong and it is clear that the enemy has not achieved any military objectives," he said, adding that analysts all over the world, including those in Israel, agree on this.

Nasrallah said Israel's only 'achievement' is the destruction of infrastructure and killing of innocent people.

"The enemy suffered major military failures – a vessel that is most important to the Israeli Navy was destroyed, and the Golani Brigade suffered a major blow," he said. "Elite Golani forces were all annihilated – killed and injured. You can see photos of wounded Golani soldiers being evacuated on their stomachs to hide their injuries."

BTW, for the dictionary of those who were crying over the names of the rockets of Hezbollah and it history implications, for your information, 'Nasrallah' means in Arabic "God's victory", and 'Hezbollah' means in Arabic "the Party of God." Maybe his parents saw in him (the day he was born) something that is now applicable?!

Podcast: “I would like to declare that, after this escalation, we have gone beyond the Haifa phase,'' Nasrallah said in a TV address broadcast on Al-Manar television channel, vowing to move “to the phase of beyond ‘beyond Haifa', if need be.''

Here is the full speech (Arabic):

Podcast: Interview with Karen Abu Zeid, head of the United Nations Refugee Works Agency, talking about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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Here is today speech of el-Sayed Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic):

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