LINKS TO NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINIONS

Atlanta Jewish Times: Assasi- nate Obama To Save Israel--Do you remember when Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu visited the U. S. last May and Republicans insisted that by calling for Israel to return to the negotiations with the Palestinians and agree to land swaps that start with the 1967 borders, President Obama had “thrown Israel under the bus”? The idea that is running rampant among conservative evangelicals who support Israel at all costs and Republican politicians who pander to them and want to attract Jewish voters is that President Obama is somehow an enemy of Israel. Read article.

Israel's legal 'abuse' of Arab minority is undemocratic--Haaretz--It is difficult to compare the democratic State of Israel to a dark dictatorship, yet they have one thing in common: People don't sleep well at night under either regime. In dictatorships, they fear a revolution on the part of the majority. In Israeli democracy they do not stop studying the graphs of the birth rate among Arabs, in case the demographic balance is upset. In a dark dictatorship, the minority oppresses the majority while in Israel, the regime which is supported by an ethnic majority that oppresses the minority. Read article.

Mic-Leak: Netanyahu Called Liar--The presidents of America and France have aired complaints about the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the course of a private conversation overhead by journalists, reports say. President Sarkozy went so far as to call Netanyahu a liar.“I can’t stand him!” the Frenchman told his American counterpart in a would-be confidential discussion. Obama’s reply was “You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!” The exchange is alleged to have happened on Monday on the fringes of the G20 summit, following a media conference. Read article.

Israeli strike on Iran nuclear program?--Christian Science Monitor-- The day before a new report on Iran's nuclear program is expected to be released, China spoke out against any use of force to stop the program's progress, but also urged Iran to "show flexibility and sincerity."Based on leaks ahead of the official release, the report is expected to reveal that Iran is further along in its nuclear program than previously believed. Those expectations have already prompted a flurry of fighting words and, in response, efforts to tone down discussions among world leaders. Read article.

U.S. Threatens to Halt Gaza Aid Over Hamas Audits--NY Times--US State Dept. warned Gaza’s Hamas  leaders on Thursday that it would withdraw $100 million of spending in Gaza on health care, agriculture and water infrastructure if they continued to demand to audit books of American-financed charities operating there. The threat came after Hamas officials suspended the operation of the International Medical Corps on Sunday for its refusal to submit to a Hamas audit at the charity’s site. Read.

Israel Battles Gaza Flotilla on Two Fronts--James Wall--A year ago, the Israeli Defense Forces handed Israel one of its worst media defeats in modern history. Israeli commandos, filled with their government’s propaganda that Israel’s security was at stake, landed on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, ready for battle and determined to keep the ship from breaking Israel’s control over Gaza’s shores. Nine Turkish citizens were killed, one of whom was a Turkish-American. This year Israel took the job of boarding flotilla ships away from the IDF and gave it to the Greek Coast Guard. On the fourth of July, as Americans celebrated their Independence Day, Israel expanded its Gaza blockade to the Aegean Sea. Read article.

The Freedom Flotilla, Civil Disobedience and Government Collusion--Amnesty International--Greece has offered to deliver any humanitarian aid contained on Freedom Flotilla boats to Gaza through “existing channels”. Israel as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon have accepted this idea - except one thing - Greece’s offer misses the point. In addition to the continuing humanitarian concerns, even after Israel’s ‘easing’ of restrictions and the recent ‘opening’ of the Rafah crossing by Egypt, there is the blockade itself. Even if all the humanitarian needs of the population were relieved, the Israeli-imposed Gaza blockade would still violate the Gazans’ basic human rights. The blockade does not target specific individuals, but collectively punishes the entire population which contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention. Read article.

Co-authors Back Goldstone Report Blast Critics--AP--The co-authors of a scathing U.N. report on Israel's conduct during its 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza said Thursday they stand by their work...Goldstone's three colleagues said there was "no justification" for any move to review or rescind the 575-page report — which among other things accuses Israel of deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign against Hamas militants. Read article.

Goldstone and the Israelis — Analysis by Uri Avnery with comment by Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun--THERE IS something tragicomic about the persona of Richard Goldstone. First there was a veritable storm of fury when the original Goldstone report was issued. What a fiend! A Jew who claims to be a Zionist and an Israel-lover, who publishes the most abominable slanders about against our valiant soldiers, aiding and abetting the worst anti-Semites around the world! The very prototype of a self-hating Jew! Still worse, a “mosser” – a Jew who turns another Jew over to the evil Goyim, the most detested figure in Jewish folklore. And now the turnabout. Goldstone, the Jew who has recanted. Goldstone, the Man of Stone, has become Goldstone, the Man of Gold. A man of conscience! A man to be admired! It was, of course, Binyamin Netanyahu who had the final word. Goldstone’s recantation, he summarized, has confirmed once again that the IDF is the Most Moral Army in the World. Read.

Revealing Gaza: 19 dead, 60 injured, 12 in critical state--Gaza, April 9, Israeli continues their brutal assaults in Gaza giving us a vivid taste of Gaza war 2008-2009. Three days of constant bombing, shelling & targeting with missiles on numerous locations in Gaza. Last night Israeli shells fell on a populated area near shuhada cemetery and hitteen school, it was a real massacre...Israeli missiles also targeted 2 civilian cars, populated areas like Shawwa sq., populated street behind an UNRWA school, heavy shelling on Al zaytoon area, raids on Shyja’eya and also Jabaliya. Read.
 

Israeli actor Juliano Mer-Khamis shot dead in Jenin--Haaretz--Israeli actor and political activist Juliano Mer-Khamis, 52, was shot dead on Monday outside a theater which he founded in a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin. Jenin police chief Mohammed Tayyim said Mer-Khamis was shot five times by masked Palestinian militants, but that Israeli security forces were still investigating the circumstances of his murder. Mer-Khamis' mother, Arna Mer, was an Israeli Jewish activist for Palestinian rights. His father, Saliba Khamis, was a Christian Palestinian. Mer-Khamis was well-known as an actor for his film and theater roles, both in Israel and abroad, and had made a name for himself as a director and a political activist, as well. Mer-Khamis was affiliated with the local theater in Jenin, established by his mother in the 1980s. In 2006 he opened the Freedom Theater in Jenin, along with Zakariya Zubeidi. Read article.

“Miral” Asks Questions The Israel Lobby Does Not Want You to Hear--James Wall--The film is is based on an autobiographical novel written by Rula Jebreal, a Palestinian journalist. Miral had its official US opening at the United Nations auditorium March 14. (It had earlier been shown in film festivals around the world). Prior to the UN screening, the AJC hit the film with the tactics all too familiar to anyone or any group which schedules an event, film, or discussion that does not meet the AJC seal of approval. An American Jewish Committee press release issued before the screening complained that “the Israeli Mission to the UN was not even given the minimal courtesy of being consulted in advance about the wisdom of showing such a film”. Read article.

Saudi Arabia chides U.S. for vetoing UN resolution on Israeli settlements--Haaretz--Saudi Arabia voiced regret on Monday over a U.S. veto of a U.N. resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, in a rare criticism of Washington by its close Arab ally. "The council [of ministers] expressed regret on behalf of the kingdom over America's use of its veto right against the Palestinian-Arab resolution condemning Israeli settlements.". Read.

Israel 'deeply appreciates' U.S. veto on UN resolution condemning settlements--Haaretz--
Israel said it was deeply grateful to the United States on Saturday after it vetoed a United Nations resolution put forward by the Palestinian leadership condemning Israeli settlement activity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Israel was "prepared to pursue negotiations vigorously".  Read article.

The Great Arab Revolt--Juan Cole in The Nation--The Arab world’s presidents for life and absolute monarchs are quaking in the aftermath of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Arab politics had been stuck in a vast logjam for the past thirty years, from which its crowds are now attempting to blast it loose. The protesters put their fingers on the phenomenon of the vampire state and concluded that before anything important could change, they had to put a stake through its heart. Under European colonialism the Middle East had a few decades of classic liberal rule in the first half of the twentieth century. Egypt, Iraq and Iran had elected parliaments, prime ministers and popular parties. However, liberal rule was eventually discredited insofar as it proved to be largely a game played by big landlords overly open to the influence and bribery of grasping Western powers. Read article.

The United States Stands Alone with Israel in Security Council--Richard Falk--In what appears to be as close to a consensus as the world community can ever hope to achieve, the United States reluctantly stood its ground on behalf of Israel and on February 18, 2011 vetoed a resolution on the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that was supported by all 14 of the other members of the UN Security Council. In the face of such near unanimity the United States might have been expected to some respect for the views of every leading government in the world, including all of its closest European allies, to have had the good grace to at least abstain from the vote. Read article.

Palestinians rally against U.S. veto on settlement resolution--Haaretz--Nearly 3,000 Palestinians demonstrated Sunday in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest at the United States veto of a United Nations resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian media reported. Some of the demonstrators chanted "Get Out, Obama!" in the Al Manara main square of the city. Their protests were backed by members of Fatah, the party of the Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas. Read article.

If We Don't Act, They Will--"Our status as a Western democracy will not survive our ruling over the Palestinians." Jerusalem Post--We appear to have reached the end of the latest fruitless attempt at resolving this too-long and too-bloody conflict. There’s plenty of blame to go around. The Americans’ early focus on a settlement freeze ensured that the Palestinians would have a perfect excuse to avoid direct negotiations – even though this had never before been a condition for peace talks. Meanwhile, the revelation that Mahmoud Abbas had rejected Ehud Olmert’s parting offer ... Read article.