Catching up..

It's been some time since I updated this blog. In the intervening time, a lot has happened, both in my personal life, and in relation to Palestine. Apologies to Judith for the lack of activity, but Judith is aware of my current circumstances.

There are now two Palestines - the West Bank, controlled by Fatah, and the Gaza strip, effectively under the control of Hamas.

This plays directly into the hands of those sympathetic to Israel, and the situation was actually induced by the USA and the EU by withholding aid from a duly elected Palestinian Government. One could be forgiven for thinking that the situation was deliberately engineered through collaboration between Israel, the UK and the USA. "Divide and Conquer" strategies have been taking place in Israel and the Occupied Territories since Roman times (See Ch. 8 para. 5 of "War of the Jews", Titus Flavius Josephus, 1st Century(AD)).

While the different Palestinian factions are busy fighting each other, Israel can relax and take the moral high ground - allowing them to conduct "business as usual" with the media attention distracted elsewhere.

The Poodle has been retired, but was rewarded with the post of "International Middle East peace envoy". Fatah (Israel and the USA's preferred government) approve, Hamas doesn't. This is the man who if he didn't actually sanction, turned a blind eye to the transport of war materials (mainly bombs and ammunition) from the USA to Israel via the UK for use by Israel during their last attack on Lebanon. Not an ideal qualification for a middle east peace envoy, is it?

Talking of Lebanon, American-based human rights organisation "Human Rights Watch" recently published two report based on investigation of events which took place during the war. The first, published last month, was "Civilians under Assault: Hezbollah’s Rocket Attacks on Israel in the 2006 War". This is highly critical of Hezbollah’s tactics of hiding close to populated areas, and indiscriminate rocket attacks. The second report (published last week) "Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War" places the blame for excessive civilian casualties squarely on the Israelis. The only extract from the report that I will quote now is from the last paragraph of the section "Israeli Policies Contributing to the Civilian Death Toll" on pages 13/14 of the report.

"...they conducted numerous attacks that were indiscriminate, disproportionate, and otherwise unjustified. Such attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law. To the extent such attacks were conducted with knowledge or reckless indifference to the civilian nature of those being attacked, then those who ordered these attacks would have the criminal intent needed for the commission of war crimes as defined by international humanitarian law. And to the extent that senior commanders or officials knew or should have known that war crimes were being committed, and were in a position of authority to stop the attacks or punish those responsible and did not do so, they would be responsible for war crimes as a matter of command responsibility under international humanitarian law."

Note the references to "war crimes" above. When victims of war crimes are European (Serbian, Bosnian, Kosovan for example) the perpetrators are hunted down, and if they are caught, they are tried at the European Court of Human Rights. I somehow don't think any Israelis will be tried for war crimes against Lebanon (or indeed Lebanese tried for war crimes against Israel).

When examining the morality aspects, consider the imparity between the two parties. The Israeli Defence Force is well equipped, disciplined, organised, trained, and funded. Hezbollah are poorly equipped, organised, disciplined, trained and funded. Which side ought to be better able to identify and punish war crimes?

A couple of final points before I reluctantly finish this update. There was a rocket attack on Israel from the Gaza strip yesterday, injuring about 70 Israeli soldiers, 4 of them seriously. These attacks do absolutely nothing to highlight the plight of the Palestinians, and actually damage any prospect of gaining international support. No doubt the Israelis will respond with their usual neglect for the safety of non-combatants.

Finally, 8 people were arrested in Israel on suspicion of conducting neo-NAZI attacks on homosexuals, drug addicts, and Orthodox Jews. When the victims are Jewish, it seems that Israel has no stomach for NAZIs, but when the victims are Lebanese or Palestinian, the Israelis are the NAZIs.

Joe McGonagle

Israel 'human shield' suspension

Full article is available at the BBC News web site.

The Israeli army says it has suspended a commander after the unit he led was accused of using Palestinians as human shields in a West Bank raid.

Amateur video footage shot earlier this week showed Israeli soldiers apparently forcing Palestinians to stand in front of their armoured jeep.

Israeli law forbids the military from using human shields.

The Israeli army said it was investigating the incident, which reportedly took place in Nablus.

[end quote]

This is a tactic used by the Israelis on a regular basis, the only unusual thing about this case is that they were caught in the act. When placed on the spot, the Israelis usually excuse their behaviour by saying that the Palestinians use similar tactics. This may be true, but I thought the Palestinians were bloodthirsty terrorists, and the Israelis were peace-loving, honourable, generous victims of the situation?

Pah!

Joe McGonagle

The poodle yelps at LFI Annual Reception

Last September, Tony (poodle) Blair gave a speech at the Labour Friends of Israel. Again, he betrayed a total lack of understanding of the situation, concluding his speech with the following:

"...So it will not be easy but one thing for all the criticism over the past few months, I can tell you this. I have never actually found it hard to be friend of Israel, I am proud to be a friend of Israel."

It reminds me of the scene in "The Life of Brian" where the prisoner was espousing the virtues of his Roman captors.

I can't make up my mind if he is just deluded, uninformed, or morally bankrupt. The sooner he goes, the better, he is starting to sound more like GW Bush every day.

Joe McGonagle

Palestinians carrying out Israeli objectives.

Much though I sympathise with the Palestinian cause, they are their own enemies much of the time.

BBC Journalist Alan Johnson is a good example. Alan was also sympathetic to the Palestinian people and in return for his efforts to expose the reality of Israeli oppression, he was rewarded by being kidnapped and probably murdered by the very people he was helping. The Israelis will be pleased because there is one less person to report on their actions, and also because it supports their projection of the Palestinians as brutal, ruthless murderers.

Another example of Palestinians doing the Israeli's work for them, is the conflict between Hamas and Fatah. If Palestinians go on killing other Palestinians, Israel will eventually be the uncontested "owner" of the occupied territories because there won't be anyone left to challenge them. Once again, Palestinian action lends support to the Israeli projection of Palestinians as bloodthirsty criminals.

The relatively recent flare-up of hostility between Hamas and Fatah was orchestrated by Israel, the USA, and Europe (especially the UK). By withholding financial support, social conditions in the West Bank and Gaza degenerated to such an extent that civil disorder was almost inevitable. This fact could not have been unexpected by the countries who withheld the aid, and they should be held accountable for their part in the humanitarian crisis which developed.

This does not excuse the stupidity of the Palestinians who fell into the trap that was set though. They should have realised that this was the objective of the USA and UK, and refused to carry out their dirty work.

Grow up Palestine and face the facts. Israel exists - no amount of denial will change that. Reluctance to acknowledge that fact and also recognise that they now have the right to exist by virtue of the fact that they have possession of the territory and the military might to hang on to it is like saying that men have the right to bear children, even though they do not have the necessary organs. History dictates that in these circumstances, the group with the power will prevail. What does Palestine stand to lose if they acknowledge the right of Israel to exist, and what do Palestinians stand to gain? Make the concession, gain strength, and when Palestine is in a position of power, wield that power. Just don't do so in the way that Israel is now doing.

Joe McGonagle

Labour Friends of Israel

In December 2006, I emailed a group called "Labour friends of Israel" as follows:

Subject: B'Tselem annual report
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 07:01:13 +0000
From: Joe McGonagle
To: mail@lfi.org.uk

Hello,

Israeli civil rights organisation "B'Tselem" published it's
annual report two days ago. Some of the low-lights are:

* 660 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces, at least
322 of which were not involved in active hostilities at the time,
and 141 of which were minors. This is in comparison to a total of
23 Israelis killed by Palestinians including 17 civilians, one of
which was a minor.

* Israel demolished in the order of 300 Palestinian homes,
rendering about 1,800 Palestinians homeless. The Palestinians
didn't demolish any Israeli homes.

The report can be read in all of it's gory detail at:

http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20061228.asp

Please can you advise:

1) What pressure LFI is bringing to bear on Israel to curtail
their inhumane activities against the Palestinians?

2) Does LFI regard B'Tselem as a reliable source of information?
If not, why is that?

3) What are LFI's views about the contents of B'Tselem's annual
report?

Regards,

Joe McGonagle
(UK voter, Stoke-on-Trent)

Guess what? No response.

Taking a look at the members list of LFI is reminiscent of the "cash for Honours" scandal. Elsewhere, I mentioned a reported scam whereby US grants to Israel were being filtered back to lobby groups and political parties in the USA. Could something similar be happening here? Let's hope the "cash for honours" investigation turns something up.

Joe McGonagle

Israeli and Lebanese silence

In September last year, I sent a letter to the Lebanese Embassy, and emailed the Israeli Embassy and the British Foreign Office, requesting each of their perspectives on the incident which triggered the Israeli attack on Lebanon. I received the following from the UK FCO:

Dear Mr McGonagle

Thank you for your email of 30 September about the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah on 12 July.

The Israeli authorities are clear that the two Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers were abducted by Hizbollah from Israeli territory during an IDF patrol in Zar'it close to the Lebanese border. We are not aware of claims to the contrary by the Lebanese government. Once the soldiers were captured, some IDF personnel went into Lebanon in pursuit, some of whom were killed.

Steven [removed]
Head, Correspondence/Parliament Unit
Middle East Peace Process and Near East Teams
Arab/Israel and North Africa Group
Middle East and North Africa Directorate

W.2.80
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH

Email: [removed]@fco.gov.uk

I have had absolutely no response from the Lebanese or Israeli embassies. I find that difficult to understand - if either the Lebanese or the Israelis wanted to clarify the situation, this was their opportunity. I am inclined to put down the Israeli lack of response to embarrassment, but what of the Lebanese response? This really does call into question all of the rumours spreading about the trigger event, and I can quite understand why HMG take the view which they do in the absence of any official refutation from Lebanon.

Joe McGonagle

Blair on Democracy in the Middle East

From a speech by our great leader to business leaders in Dubai on 20th December:


..."Our task is to mobilise that desire and harness it to ensure that all people here can have opportunities for safety, security, democracy, freedom and economic prosperity. Otherwise we allow the forces of extremism to win in the absence of a clear and constantly articulated alternative vision."...

The Palestinians exercised democratic freedom, and in return, Bliar and other Western countries withdrew funding from the Palestinians, crippling their economy, security, and rights to freedom and justice.

..."The lesson of all of this I see as startlingly real, clear and menacing. There is a monumental struggle going on worldwide between those who believe in democracy and modernisation, and forces of reaction and extremism. It is the 21st century challenge. Yet a great part of our own opinion either thinks there is no common theme to it all; or if there is, is inclined to believe that it is our - that is America and its allies - fault that this is so."...

The lesson as I see it is that the West is supporting a ruthless and corrupt state of Israel against a struggling society in Palestine. America and it's allies (including the UK) are complicit in supporting criminal genocidal policies being implemented by the Israelis. Is it any wonder that moslems generally see the UK and USA as bullying, hypocritical, self-interested parties that can't be trusted?

..."Here are elements of the Government of Iran openly supporting terrorism in Iraq to stop a fledgling democratic process, trying to turn out a democratically elected Government in Lebanon, flaunting the international community's desire for peace in Palestine - at the same time as denying the Holocaust and trying to acquire a nuclear weapon capability: and yet a huge part of world opinion is frankly almost indifferent. It would be bizarre if it weren't so deadly serious."...

Here are elements of the Government of the United Kingdom openly supporting Israeli terrorism and genocide, undermining a democratically elected Palestinian Government, ignoring the non-aryan desire for justice in Palestine.

More faces than a Dodecahedron... put the pooch out of his misery, for the sake of the next 600 victims of Israeli tyranny.

Joe McGonagle

Israeli atrocities on the increase in 2006

Israeli civil rights organisation "B'Tselem" published it's annual report two days ago. Some of the low-lights are:

• 660 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces, at least 322 of which were not involved in active hostilities at the time, and 141 of which were minors. This is in comparison to a total of 23 Israelis killed by Palestinians including 17 civilians, one of which was a minor.
• Israel demolished in the order of 300 Palestinian homes, rendering about 1,800 Palestinians homeless. The Palestinians didn't demolish any Israeli homes.

Clearly, the nasty, ruthless Palestinians aren't as good as the Israelis at terrorism, and the nice, civilised, humanitarian Israelis are getting into the swing of this genocide thing.

Joe McGonagle

What started the war in Lebanon?

In an attempt to gain clarity about the events leading up to Israel's attack on Lebanon, I asked the Lebanese and Israeli embassies in London which version of the incident was correct. One version is that an Israeli patrol was attacked inside the Lebanese border, and another version is that the patrol was on Israeli soil at the time of the attack.

Several months have passed since I wrote to the embassies, but I have had no reply from either as yet. Perhaps the Lebanese and Israelis are both uncertain of the truth.

I also asked the UK Foreign and Commonwealth office which version they accepted, and why. They informed me that they accept the Israeli version, because the Lebanese Government has not denied it.

I am left little option but to assume therefore that the Israeli version is correct, unless any readers have some substantive evidence to the contrary?

Joe McGonagle

Cluster bomb casualties still occuring

In the last few hours of Israel's unwarranted attack on Lebanon, they increased their use of cluster bombs. These are notorious for failing to detonate, and have a similar effect to anti-personnel mines which are illegal. There was no tactical or strategic justification for the use of these weapons, especially at such a late stage in the conflict. The main effect of their use has been to impede the return of the civilian population and the delivery of vital aid to areas which are most in need.

According to a press report, 5 more lives have been claimed by these devices in Lebanon on Christmas eve, and two Belgian soldiers on mine-clearing operations have been injured according to a BBC news item yesterday. Fatalities due to cluster bombs since the official cease-fire on 14/8/06 stand at at least 28.

...and some deluded people still insist that the Israelis are just defending themselves???

Joe McGonagle

Religion - the font of madness.

There were some surprises in the The Times last Thursday (21/12/06). Starting with an article about Rabbi Ahron Cohen, a member of a Jewish anti-Zionist group called "Neturei Karta" who attended a bizarre conference in Iran.

Though I have the greatest respect for Rabbi Cohen's stance on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, and Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, I think he made a very ill-considered decision to attend the conference. Also present at the conference was a former "Imperial Wizard" of the Klu Klutz Klan (David Duke, typo deliberate), and holocaust denialists such as Robert Faurisson and Fredrick Töben.

In an earlier article in The Times, Cohen is quoted as saying:

"There is no question that there was a Holocaust and gas chambers. There are too many eyewitnesses. However, our approach is that when one suffers, the one who perpetrates the suffering is obviously guilty but he will never succeed if the victim did not deserve it in one way or another. We have to look within to improve and try to better ourselves and remove those characteristics or actions that may have been the cause of the success of the Holocaust."

If we take his statement at face value, this would mean that the Palestinians deserve whatever they get, because God/Allah would have protected them if they were deserving. The same applies to any form of suffering on the planet. Is it only Christianity that (hypocritically) preaches forgiveness and tolerance?

Other aspects of the doctrine of Neturei Karta is that the very concept of a sovereign Jewish state is contrary to Jewish Law, and that they are the only "true" practitioners of Judaism.

What a crazy, mixed up world we live in - not only do we have Sunni, Druze and Shia Moslems tearing each other apart, Catholic, Protestant and plain whacky Christians, but the Jewish faith is also clearly splintered. On balance, the nature of any organised religion of any faith is chaos and killing. Remove religion, and the world would be a happier and safer place for all of us - or would we just find other ways to damage ourselves? Perhaps eye/hair colouring, or preference for certain foods would become new mass-movements to provide reasons for killing each other in addition to political beliefs, racial origin, sexuality, etc?

Joe McGonagle

Child casualties of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict during September 2006

The folllowing information was obtained from www.rememberthesechildren.org.

Palestinian children killed by the civilised, compassionate, democratic state of Israel:

10 September 2006
Jihad Selmi Abu Snaima, 14 of al-Shouka village, east of Rafah Killed by shrapnel from an Israeli shell.

11 September 2006
Ma’ath al-Shayeb, 17 of Kufor Ne’ma village, west of Ramallah, Killed by an explosion of unknown origin. (Comment from Joe - Okay, it is possible that this one was making a bomb to kill the nice cuddly Israelis, but it is possible that he was killed by unexploded ordinance from Israeli action - maybe a cluster bomb?).

12 September 2006
Mohammed ‘Omar ‘Awad Shoriya, 13 of Rakhma village, southeast of Bethlehem, Shot in the back by Israeli forces. (Comment from Joe - those brave Israeli soldiers couldn't even look this 13-year-old terrorist in the eye when they killed him).

14 September 2006
Hanan Mohammed Isma’il Abu ‘Oudeh, 16 of Beit Hanoun, Gaza, Died in an Israeli hospital from gunfire wounds sustained on Sep. 2, when she tried to rescue the bodies of her father and brother during an Israeli ground offensive. (Comment from Joe - she must have deserved it, trying to save a terrorist).

21 September 2006
Ala Saqer Dahrouj Abu Dahrouj, 15, Zeidan Rafiq Mohammad Abu Rashid, 16, Mohammad Selmi Mohammad Masalha, 17 , all of of Jabalya, Gaza Strip, Killed by an Israeli surface-to-surface missile while herding sheep. (Comment from Joe - no doubt the "Sheep" were actually rocket launchers in disguise).

Israeli children killed by the ruthless, evil Palestinian terrorists:

None.

Joe McGonagle

Israelis continue the killing following the Lebanon "withdrawal".

Towards the end of the recent conflict in Lebanon, Israel increased it's use of cluster bombs. There is no obvious military reason for doing so, other than to inflict more casualties _after_ the "end of hostilitities".

Cluster bombs are notorious for failing to detonate, and in effect become anti-personnel mines. As refugees start to return to the areas which they were forced out of by the Israelis, and relief agencies start to move in to the worst effected areas, it is inevitable that there would be more casualties. It is also inevitable that most of the casualties will be children.

In Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" an IDF commander expressed his concerns about the totally inappropriate use of these weapons:

"What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war.

Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets.

In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

According to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (Jan Egeland):

“These devices are going to be with us for many, many months, and possibly years”, he said. What was “shocking and completely immoral” was that 90 per cent of the cluster-bomb strikes had occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when everybody knew that there would be an end to hostilities. “It shouldn’t have happened”, he said. Every day, people were maimed and killed by those devices. Civilians were going to die, disproportionately, again -– not during the war, but after the end of the conflict.

So, why would Israel deliberately take actions which would indiscriminately continue killing Lebanese (or international relief workers) beyond the "official end to hostilities"? The only reasons that I can think of are:

1. To inhibit the deployment of relief to the effected areas, thereby increasing the risk of starvation and disease to returning refugees.

2. To increase the Lebanese casualties beyond the cease-fire agreed with the UN.

Are these the actions of a state that was genuinely defending it's citizens, or are they effectively further examples of genocidal policy in Lebanon? The answer should be clear to anyone reading this.

Joe McGonagle

More faces than a Dodecahedron...

Last week I saw both Bush and his poodle Blair giving speeches. I couldn't believe what I was watching and hearing.

Firstly, both of them expressed a willingness to assist with a resolution to the "Palestinian problem". This in spite of the fact that both withdrew funding for the Palestinian territories after HAMAS was democratically elected by the Palestinian people to represent them.

Both of them expressed a desire to encourage democracy in the Middle East. Quite aside from the fact that it isn't up to them to decide what type of government administers any foreign state, when a government which they don't approve of _is_ democratically elected, they immediately withdraw support for it! Which states in the Middle East can credit either Blair or Bush with any sincerity when they rabbit on about democracy?

Blair also whined that he wants to help the Lebanese peope recover from the Israeli attacks. All well and good Tony, but how can you reconcile this with the tacit approval given to the USA to use British soil and airspace to resupply the Israeli war machine during the Lebanese conflict?

It is up to the American people to decide the fate of their President. For myself, I will not support any party that has a multi-headed Hydra for a leader. Labour, it is definitely time for a change of leader, not when the poodle decides it is time for "walkies", but now!

With so many faces, I wonder what the costs of cosmetics are for both Blair and Bush? It cost the Lebanon 1,600 lives and a legacy of thousands of crippled, deprived, and unhappy citizens. The Palestinians are still clinging to survival, in spite of the actions of Israel and British and American support of Israeli genocidal policy.

Joe McGonagle

Israel denies humanitarian aid to Palestinians

Here is evidence of the Israeli policy in respect to the Palestinians (keep them poor, keep them sick, keep them uneducated, and keep them weak).

Source: United Nations Relief and Works Agency

UNRWA PRESS RELEASE
Press Release No. HQ/G/15/2006
24 August 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Children Pay the Price as UNRWA Operations in Gaza are Grinding to a Halt

UNRWA warned on Thursday that the Agency’s Gaza operation is grinding to a halt because of the lack of access in and out of Gaza. The principal goods terminal, Karni, remains closed for the
seventh consecutive day. As a result, shortages of food, fuel and constructions supplies are jeopardizing every element of UNRWA’s Gaza operation at the moment. John Ging, UNRWA’s
Director of Operations in Gaza said that “the food distribution to 830,000 people will not commence as planned next week, unless Karni opens and a solution is found to get the containers quickly through the port of Ashdod, where there are also massive delays because of the fallout from the conflict with Lebanon.”

The Agency has just one week’s fuel supply remaining. Since the Gaza Power Plant was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in late June, the operation of UNRWA health clinics is heavily dependant on generator power. “If we run out of fuel, this will be extremely serious in terms of the storage of medical supplies and the operation of medical equipment at UNRWA’s 18 health centers throughout the Gaza Strip,” John Ging said.

As for construction supplies, UNRWA highlighted that almost none have entered Gaza since late June, which is a particular problem as the Agency prepares for the return of its 194,000 students next week. “The work to repair the schools damaged in the military operations over the past two months is not finished as supplies have run out,” John Ging said. The long-awaited extension to the UNRWA vocational training center in Gaza City is also half-finished and with no alternative accommodation available, UNRWA has been forced to postpone commencement of the seven technical courses involved until November. “Children are once again paying the price in this conflict,” Ging stated.

Ging described the overall humanitarian living conditions in Gaza, as “miserable, frustrating and still deteriorating.” He said that “the opportunities opened up by last year’s disengagement by Israel from the settlements in Gaza are fading. The prospects are very worrying as Gaza is now cut off economically from the outside world and even keeping our humanitarian operations going is an expensive struggle”.

UNRWA is now facing a bill of some 1 million dollars from its Israeli shipping agents in demurrage charges directly arising from the closures of Karni crossing.

For more information please contact:

Jerusalem: Gaza: Gaza:
Johan Eriksson Adnan Abu-Hasna Jamal Hamad
Office: +972-2-5890249 Office: +972-8-6777531 Office: +972-8-6777488
-5890408 Mobile: +972-599428061
Mobile: +972-542402632

Lebanon conflict - casualty statistics

There is a very good article at Wikipedia which attempts to provide statistics about casualties during the conflict. It is very difficult to obtain accurate figures; For example, Israel claims it killed 500 Hezbollah fighters, Hezbollah claim that only 74 were killed. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Because of the propoganda, only an idea of the true casualties can be obtained.

Whichever way you cut the figures, at least 66% of people killed by the Israelis were civilians, whereas only 25% of those killed by Hezbollah were civilians. Importantly, Hezbollah did not have the accurate technology which was available to the Israelis, if they did, their figure would probably be even less than 25%.

Against this, it has been argued (probably correctly to some extent) that Hezbollah sited their forces close to civilians. I still don't think that this argument justifies the differential, given the better technology available to the Israelis, the sparseness of the civilian population in Southern Lebanon (many of the civilians left the area quite early in the conflict), and the fact that the Israelis had the option as to whether or not to attack a particular target.

The only conclusion that I can reach is that Israel were negligent in their targeting policy, or else they were deliberately targeting civilians. Either way, it demonstrates that they considered Lebanese civilians as expendable (in the order of 1,600 were killed outright and 3,600 wounded).

The Israelis must be disappointed that they had to stop killing civilians before they managed to finish the job completely - just as Hitler failed to eradicate the Jews in WWII. Still, they have scope for more success in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, maybe they will manage to complete the task there (the West are still turning a blind eye to the Israeli attempts of genocide against the Palestinians).

Joe McGonagle

Proportions

Since September 2000, 121 Israeli children have been killed in the course of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

In the same period, 779 Palestinian children have been killed.

So far this year, 1 Israeli child has been killed, and 73 Palestinian children.

What does this say about Israeli morality, political, and military policy? Israel is supposed to be the advanced, civilised state, and the Palestinians the nasty, murderous terrorists. This is not the situation reflected by the cold hard statistics.

www.rememberthesechildren.org is a site which tries to record the details of each child killed on either side. If you are religious, you might like to visit the site and say a prayer for the slaughtered innocents (and the potential terrorists). Whether you are religious or not, please circulate the link to raise awareness of the true situation.

Joe McGonagle

End of the war?

Hostilities appear to have ceased in Lebanon, does this mean that the war is finished?

I think it is unlikely. Israel's actions have increased support for the very groups that they have tried to eliminate. There are now many more Lebanese widows, widowers, orphans, and people crippled or impoverished by the Israeli war crimes.

The attack on Lebanon has increased global awareness of the injustices being perpetrated by Israel (although incredibly many people still don't recognise them as such).

Regardless of what transpires in Lebanon, I shall continue to highlight Israeli injustice on this blog. The fact is, I am spoilt for choice when it comes to material. Items that I intended to place on the blog weeks ago are still crowding my inbox, and I am conscious that many readers have neither the time or the patience to thoroughly read and digest all of my postings here, so I intend to trickle-feed material so as not to present too large a volume for readers to consume in one sitting.

Joe McGonagle

Go get 'em, George (Galloway)

Sorry for the infrequent updates recently, I don't have a lot of time so a more detailed update will appear at a later date.

I am no fan of George Galloway, I suspect his motives and his morals, but in this interview for Sky News (UK), I can't fault him - he speaks the truth, without pulling any punches, making a total fool out of the interviewer in the process. To view the interview, click on the following link (make sure you turn the volume down!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=249JaIaubVw

Thanks to Judith for the lead.

Joe McGonagle

Even 3-year-olds are valid military targets (so long as they are not Israeli)

Here are more examples of the deliberate murder of Palestinian children by members of the Israeli Defence Force.

The first took place on October 5th 2004 in the Gaza strip. Imam Al-Hamas was a 13-year-old girl on her way to school, wearing a school uniform and carrying her books in a back pack. As she passed an Israeli observation post, she was fired on. A transcript of radio traffic between the observation post, the local commander, and the operations room is as follows:

Observation post: "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."

Ops room: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"

Observation post: "A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."

[shots fired at Imam]

Observation post: "I think that one of the positions took her out."

Local commander: "I and another soldier are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill. [pause] Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."

Local commander: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

Links to coverage of this event:

Washington Post
Mindfully.org

The next event is undated. It is an eyewitness account by Chris Hedges, a reporter for the New York Times, recounted during an interview with National Public Radio:

"....over the loudspeaker from an Israeli army Jeep on the other side of the electric fence they were taunting these kids. And these kids started to throw rocks. And most of these kids were 10, 11, 12 years old. And, first of all, the rocks were the size of a fist. They were being hurled towards a Jeep that was armor-plated. I doubt they could even hit the Jeep. And then I watched the soldiers open fire. And it was - I mean, I've seen kids shot in Sarajevo. I mean, snipers would shoot kids in Sarajevo. I've seen death squads kill families in Algeria or El Salvador. But I'd never seen soldiers bait or taunt kids like this and then shoot them for sport. It was--I just--even now, I find it almost inconceivable. And I went back every day, and every day it was the same".

Read a transcript of the interview at Palestine Media watch or listen to the interview at National Public Radio (fast forward 24 minutes into the programme).

The third incident in this blog entry occured in January of this year (2006). 9-year-old Aya al-Astal was killed by Israeli soldiers while wandering close to a fence separating Gaza Strip from Israel. For the full article, visit the Australian Broadcasting Company web site.

I could go on, but the list of child casualties amongst Palestinians is endless and continuing. Your Government wherever you are needs to act to prevent these needless deaths, and curb the Israeli genocidal programme. I can't do that for you - you, the reader needs to bring these facts to light with your local government representative.

Joe McGonagle

THE SHAME OF BEING AN AMERICAN (or an American poodle state)

"The shame of being an American" is the title of an article written by Paul Craig Roberts, who has been an editor for the Wall Street Journal, Economic advisor to the Reagan administration, and holder of numerous academic positions. His full biography can be viewed here.

The article is a condemnation of Israeli and US policy in the Middle East, and supportive of th eplight of the Palestinians and Lebanese. It has really got the rednecks worked up, many of them accusing him of being a communist, anti-semite, traitor to the American nation, etc. It has also been published on numerous web-sites, most of them concerned with Human Rights, conspiracy theories, and yes, some anti-semitic sites as well. The full article can be read here.

One of his accusations in the article is as follows:

" Indeed, Israel, which has one of the world's largest per capita incomes, is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Many believe that much of this "aid" comes back to AIPAC [American Israeli Public Affairs Committee], which uses it to elect "our" representatives in Congress."

Whatever your position, you can't simply ignore what this man is saying - he is well qualified, and has been involved in US policy decisions in the past. He is the author of several books on the topics of economics and politics which have been well received. I would question if anyone else is better qualified than he is to make such a statement as that above, he seems also to be spot-on in respect of some of his other accusations in the article.

Thanks to Judith Jaafar for the lead.

Joe McGonagle

Get out or die (by the way, we won't let you use your vehicles)

In typical NAZI fashion, Israel has dropped leaflets on the Lebanese city of Tyre, telling civilians to leave the area because they are going to bomb the sh*t out of it. In the same leaflet they say that any moving vehicle on the roads in the area will be considered as a military target.

Israel has bombed most, if not all of the bridges and main roads heading North from Tyre. Many of the people currently in Tyre are refugees from other areas of Southern Lebanon. Where are they meant to go, and how are they meant to get there?

The leaflet drop by the Israelis is intended to provide them with an excuse when they kill more civilians - "they were warned that they should leave" they will say, proving that they are after all humanitarian and want to keep civilian deaths to a minimum.

We're not all as stupid as you think, Israel.

Joe McGonagle

163 Palestinians killed in Gaza in July - 48% of them civilians

Almost half the fatalities in the Gaza Strip in July were civilians not taking part in the hostilities

In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six of the fatalities were minors, and 20 were women. In the West Bank , 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in July. The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest in any month since April 2002.

Of the incidents B'Tselem investigated in Gaza over the past month, the organization has identified three cases in which Israel may have committed grave breaches of the laws of war. A total of 13 Palestinian civilians were killed in these incidents, including 6 minors, the details of which are as follows:

Full details at the B'TSELEM web site.

Don't forget the plight of the Palestinians...

With Israeli action in Lebanon dominating the news, it would be very easy to forget that the Israelis are still commiting atrocities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

I am pleased to note that B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories continues to monitor human rights abuse in the region. Not all Israelis are without a conscience, it would seem.

Joe McGonagle

Contact your MP

Not all of our elected representatives agree with Government policy in respect of the Middle East situation. I have been in touch with my local (Labour) MP, Joan Walley, who told me that she wants "to see the UK government call for an immediate cease fire backed up by all the diplomatic efforts that will be needed to secure a way forward" and that she is applying what pressure she is able to.

Thank you Joan, I hope there are more MPs like you. If any other British residents want to contact your own MP, you can do so on-line, just follow the instructions here. Make your message as clear and concise as you can, the wording which I used was as follows:

Subject: Please oppose the Israeli action in Lebanon

Hello Joan,

I am unaware of your position in relation to the Israeli action
in Lebanon, and appeal to you as my MP to take whatever action
you can to oppose the apparent British Government support for the
events now taking place in the Middle East. The actions of our
current Government and also past Governments are a matter of
shame to the British people.

(you should also include your full name and address, and remember, only your local MP is obliged to represent your views!)

Proportional body-count

These were the figures as a 8th August 2006 (day 28 of the criminal slaughter) according to The Independent (UK national newspaper):

Prisoners of War:

Israeli prisoners (held by Hezbollah) - 2
Lebanese prisoners (held by Israel since this outbreak) - not known.

Killed/ missing, presumed dead:

Israelis: 94
Lebanese: 1,008 (45 % of them children, probably considered by the Israelis as "potential terrorists").

Ratio - 1 Israeli to 10 Lebanese.

Wounded:

Israelis: 1,867
Lebanese: 3,293

Ratio - 5.6 Israeli to 10 Lebanese.

Airborne attacks:

Hezbollah (rockets): 3,000
Israeli (Bombing missions): 8,700

Ratio - 2.9 Israeli bombing missions to every Hezbollah rocket launched.

Note that the Israeli missions may involve multiple bomb deliveries, and that Hezbollah rocket technology is far less accurate than Israeli (US) bombing technology.

Other statistics:

Lebanese bridges destroyed: 146
Lebanese people displaced: 900,000 (including 300,000 potential terrorists)

Rate of rocket attacks by Hezbollah (first week - 90/day) (last week - 169/day)
An increase of 88% - what are the Israelis bombing? - potential terrorists I suppose.

Countries against demanding an immediate ceasefire - USA, UK, Israel.
Countries for demanding an immediate ceasefire (AKA terrorist sympathisers) - the rest of the world.

Joe McGonagle

The Poodle Yelps....(did anyone notice?)

The poodle made a speech on 1st August in Los Angeles to the "Los Angeles World Affairs Council", the full text of which is available at the poodle's own web site.

The speech itself is full of woolly references like "a complete renaissance of our strategy" and other meaningless oratory, and nothing of substance. Many of his comments reveal either total cynicsm, a belief in "the power of democracy", total acceptance of the Israeli version of events, and a lack of will to confront the Israeli aggressors.

I comment below on selected extracts from his speech:

"The purpose of the provocation that began the conflict was clear. It was to create chaos, division and bloodshed, to provoke retaliation by Israel that would lead to Arab and Muslim opinion being inflamed, not against those who started the aggression but against those who responded to it".

Stories about the incident which sparked Israel's action vary. My own recollection is that Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. I am now inclined to think that the sequence of events is as follows, based on articles such as those at http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=9401
and at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/israeli_solders.html

1. Israeli soldiers cross the Lebanese border to make an arrest in a village close by.
2. Inside Lebanese territory, the military convoy is attacked by Hezbollah, killing 8 Israelis and taking two prisoner.

Later, a story surfaces that the Israeli soldiers were kidnapped on Israeli soil, and that a simultaneous rocket attack near a village called Shelomi was launched by Hezbollah as a distraction.

It's not clear-cut, but my gut instinct tells me that the sequence of events is as per 1 and 2 above. The "news" of the Shelomi "rocket attack" did not emerge until some time after the Hezbollah capture (not kidnapping - the Israeli's were on Lebanese territory) of the 2 Israeli soldiers. There were no reports of casuaulties, and I have seen no real details of the supposed rocket attack. It is my opinion that the stotries of the rocket attack and that the Israelis were on Israeli soil were generated by Israel in order to justify the all-out war on Lebanon. If anyone can produce convincing evidence to the contrary, please add it to the comments here - I very much doubt that any convincing evidence will be available.

Given that my opinion is correct, the statement by the poodle above should be a condemnation of Israel.

"We will continue to do all we can to halt the hostilities."

A blatant lie - as of yesterday, US flights carrying ammunition to Israel were still refuelling in the UK.

"we will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force, unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world."

Poodles apparently have no concept of "even-handed" or "fair". Oterwise, his statement is correct.

"What are the values that govern the future of the world? Are they those of tolerance, freedom, respect for difference and diversity or those of reaction, division and hatred?"

How much tolerance, freedom, or respect do the Israelis grant the Palestinians? Even poodles have more of each of them (I mean dogs in general, not just British Prime Ministers).

"We committed ourselves to supporting Moderate, Mainstream Islam. In almost pristine form, the battles in Iraq or Afghanistan became battles between the majority of Muslims in either country who wanted democracy and the minority who realise that this rings the death-knell of their ideology."

[The following quote is out-of order, but directly related to my comments below]

"Its [terrorism's] purpose is explicitly to prevent those countries becoming democracies and not "Western style" democracies, any sort of democracy. "

And when the Palestinians used democratic process to elect HAMAS, did the West support the democratic process? No, they withdrew all funding, forcing the Palestinians even deeper into poverty and disarray. Is it any wonder that most Palestinians and their supporters view the West as duplicitous supporters of the oppressive Israeli regime? Are they wrong in this view? I see plenty of evidence that they are exactly right.

"To turn all of this around requires us first to perceive the nature of the struggle we are fighting and secondly to have a realistic strategy to win it. At present we are challenged on both fronts."

This is one of the few statements which I agree with - the West needs to treat Israel just like we treated Croatia. This is probably not what the poodle meant though.

"Suddenly, without warning, Hizbollah who have been continuing to operate in Southern Lebanon for two years in defiance of UN Resolution 1559, cross the UN blue line, kill eight Israeli soldiers and kidnap two more. They then fire rockets indiscriminately at the civilian population in Northern Israel."

Er, can we have a fact check here please? I know that my opinion may be wrong, but what does a poodle base it's opinion on? Who feeds it?

The speech goes on, so does the killing and the oppression. We need a regime change in the UK, the poodle needs to be put down.

Joe McGonagle

More Israeli Quotes

Judith Jaafar, a Lebanese citizen resident in the UK (with family still residing in the Lebanon) kindly sent me the following quotes by Israeli figures:

Some famous quotes from Israeli Prime Ministers regarding the Middle East conflict:

"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." - Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.

David Ben Gurion (the first Israeli Prime Minister): " If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?" Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp. 121-122.

"We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinian refugees] never do return... The old will die and the young will forget."-David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, July 18, 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's "Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet," Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157.

"We must expel Arabs and take their places." - David Ben Gurion, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985.

"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population." - David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to the General Staff. From Ben-Gurion, A Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New York 1978.

"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, 'What is to be done with the Palestinian population; Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!'? Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979; Rabin's description of the conquest of Lydda, after the completion of Plan Dalet.

"Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country." - David Ben Gurion, quoted on pp 91-2 of Chomsky's Fateful Triangle, which appears in Simha Flapan's "Zionism and the Palestinians pp 141-2 citing a 1938 speech.

"There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn't exist." - Golda Meir, statement to The Sunday Times, 15 June, 1969.

"How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to." - Golda Meir, March 8, 1969.

"This country exists as the fulfillment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy." - Golda Meir, Le Monde, 15 October 1971

"I have learned that the state of Israel cannot be ruled in our generation without deceit and adventurism." --Moshe Sharett, Israel's first Foreign Minister and later a Prime Minister (p.51 Simha Flapan, "The Birth of Israel", 1987)

"The state of Israel must invent dangers, and to do this it must adopt the methods of provocation and revenge.... And above all, let us hope for a new war with the Arab countries so that we may finally get rid of our troubles and acquire our space." -From the diary of Moshe Sharett, Israeli's first Foreign Minister from 1948-1956, and Prime Minister from 1954-1956.

"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs."-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25, 1982.

"(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." - Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988

"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force...." - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, quoted in Associated Press, November 16, 2000.

"I would have joined a terrorist organization." - Ehud Barak's response to Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Ha'aretz newspaper, when Barak was asked what he would have done if he had been born a Palestinian.

"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories." Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, tells students at Bar Ilan University, From the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989.
--

[note from Joe follows]

While it is true that anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish factions have made similar statements against Israel and Judaism, it is important to note that only Israel has the military might and the international support to actually carry out their threats. They also have vulnerable (and captive) populations on which to carry their threats outs.

It is also important to distinguish between someone being anti-Israeli and anti Jewish. Many Jews would actually agree with most, if not all of the sentiments expressed in this blog. Just check the list of names in the open letter from the Canadian Health Professionals earlier in this blog (under the title "Gaza Strip facing starvation and disease") - quite a few of the names appear to be of Jewish extraction. It is of course very difficult for Jewish people to express anti-Israeli views publicly, yet some are brave and honourable enough to do so.

I also wish to add that I am ashamed of the support provided by the British Government over the years to the tyrannical Israeli regime. If Palestine was Kosovo, Poland, or Bosnia, matters would be very different.

Joe McGonagle

Israeli abuse of Palestinian children

Source:
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section

"The Israeli intelligence services (Shabak) continually seek to recruit children as informants. A field survey with former child detainees conducted in 2003 by DCI-PS, estimated that 60 per cent of the children interviewed, some of them are as young as 12, were reported to have been tortured or subjected to other forms of coercion or inducement in an attempt to make them cooperate. By
late 2003 in Gaza alone there were on average 40 attempts to recruit minors every month."

Joe McGonagle

Legal definition of a child in Israel

Source:
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
Israel's Human Rights Behaviour July 2004-July 2005

"According to the Military Order 1500 put in place during the British Mandate period in Palestine, children in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] aged 12 and older can be tried in military courts, and a child over the age of 16 is considered an adult.

Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that “a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years.” It must be noted that Israel keeps to the internationally recognised definition of a child among its own citizens but applies a different standard to Palestinian minors in the OPT. "

Joe McGonagle