CiF comment should be free

Gil Scott-Heron: poet, campaigner and America's rough healer

2010-04-18T10:50:00.000-07:00

Four different comments by three contributors were deleted from the discussion on this article

They have now deleted a further comment from Ilan making five

· ilan

18 Apr 2010, 3:06AM

· Of course Gil taking drugs does not detract from his writing about the harm that drugs can do but his playing in Israel does suggest that his anti-apartheid days are well and truly over. Jamie Byng makes no mention of this. He does indeed have a lot in common with the formerly great man. Gil Scott Heron doesn't list his gig in Tel Aviv on his website either.

The Israeli media isn't so bashful. Au contraire

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

· diana1711

18 Apr 2010, 5:52AM

· Oosdadaddy says that Gil Scott Heron will be playing for anti-Zionist Israelis. .
I am afraid that there are almost no Israelis who are anti-Zionist. In fact the majority of Jewish Israelis expect to maintain their privileged position vis a vis the Palestinians. They benefit economically from the occupation and show no interest in challenging Israel's apartheid state. They serve with pride in their army of occupation and defend the country when abroad. They would still go to see Gil Scott Heron and enjoy his performance as they have a disjunction between their treatment of the Palestinians and other racisms. They genuinely believe that they have impunity. They are encouraged to see themselves as victims and think that those they persecute are a threat to their security. Impartial observers would believe that this is the opposite of the truth..
There are concerned Israelis in despair about the nature of their extremist apartheid society and they join with the rest of the world in asking that we show their compatriots that there is a price to pay for benefiting from the subjugation of another people. When someone with the anti-racist credentials of Gil Scott Heron decides to play in Tel Aviv he undermines all the hard work that the Palestinians and their Israeli comrades are doing to challenge Israeli apartheid. If he continues to play and take the Israeli shekel, he will undermine his anti-racist credentials.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

· ilan

17 Apr 2010, 5:12PM

oosdaddy - there were many South African whites who opposed apartheid but Gil Scott Heron boycotted South Africa and called on others to do the same. Israel is worse than an apartheid state. It is a state predicated on colonial settlement, ethnic cleansing and racist laws to copper-fasten the colonial settlement and ethnic cleansing of the past and to facilitate more of the same for the future.

If you are so sure that Gil Scott Heron is going to play for anti-zionist Israelis then why has he not announced his up-coming gig in Israel on his website? I am guessing that his time with drugs and in prison has left him a little skint and that is why he feels that an offer from Israel is one he can't refuse.

Well he should refuse if he wants to be true to his anti-colonialist past and lyrics. The idea of him singing What's the word? Johannesburg in the last of the colonial settler states would be ridiculous.

Israel has been militarily unassailable for decades now (in fact pretty much since its inception) and yet its violence against natives and neighbours of Palestine has been relentless and it is intensifying. The attack on Gaza 2008/9 that the Israeli government named after a festive family game, Cast Lead, was a case in point. The war was no different from the war on Lebanon in 2006 and yet Israel was reckoned to have lost the Lebanon one whilst it is said to have won in Gaza. The reason for that is that the government didn't set any war aims in Gaza, it simply set out to kill lots of Arabs, which of course it did. In Lebanon the aim was the same but the government claimed that it was going to defeat Hizbullah, which it didn't do.

Through being treated as normal, indeed better than normal by its allies in the US and EU, Israel has now incorporated increasing violence into its guiding zionist ideology. In common with many states, the zionists used violence to secure their state. Now they secure the state to inflict the violence. The end has become the means and vice versa. And America gives Israel aid and the EU gives it preferential trade.

By playing in Israel, Gil Scott Heron will be conveying the impression that Israel is nothing like the South Africa he refused to play in. If he goes ahead with this we could see the curious spectacle of many people in the new South Africa boycotting him.

You claim you are no friend of Israel but anyone who treats this racist entity as a normal state is a friend of Israel. If Gil Scott Heron plays there, he is being a friend of Israel. That is why clear thinking anti-racists who have enjoyed Gil Scott Heron's work and his message over the years are calling on him to cancel this gig. The zios who have hired him will probably sue him but then he could do fund-raisers for himself and get a hero's welcome worldwide for re-joining the anti-racist camp.

Anyway, please check out the link and ask yourself why the Israel performance in May 2010 is missing from a list that runs from April to September 2010. He is showing one shred of decency; he is ashamed, as well he might be.
________________________

ilan

@Doorsofperception:

Now you're being ridiculous and projecting your own presumptuousness onto others. You know nothing of anti-zionists and Palestine solidarity activists, save what they say about themselves.

When someone does something that is in breach of their previously professed principles then there has to be a reason. If the reason isn't given nor the breach even publicised or announced by that person then it is fair for supporters of that person's previously professed position to draw logical inferences.

Gil Scott Heron is very politically articulate and knowledgeable . He presumably knows that Israel practices segregation both within its pre-1967 boundary and more intensely in the territories it occupied in 1967. He presumably knows that zionists were ethnically cleansing Arabs from the time of their arrival in Palestine but that there were two great rounds of ethnic cleansing in 1947-49 from what became Israel and 1967/8 from the West Bank. He presumably knows that Israel has been relentlessly aggressive to the natives and neighbours of Palestine since then and that it is getting more racist and more violent the stronger it becomes and the more the west looks the other way and pretends that Israel is normal.

As an American he must know of the various propaganda ploys of the zionists including the co-option of anti-apartheid and anti-segregation campaigners to absolve themselves of state backed racist rule.

He must therefore know that his decision to perform in Tel Aviv would dismay those fans who like him as much for his music as for his politics. He should therefore know that his action is in need of an explanation or people will assume not that such a bright spark is ignorant that he has gone to lecture racists in Tel Aviv but that he has taken the shilling.

All fair assumptions.

The idea that those of us who are opposed to zionism are interested in boosting our egos is preposterous. If that was it, why don't we support a position that doesn't get routinely deleted from the comments here? Why don't we support a position that would get us into the mainstream media rather than mostly excluded from it?

You have no backing for your ludicrous presumption. His motive for playing Tel Aviv is neither here nor there but our position on why Gil Scott Heron is playing in Tel Aviv is perfectly sound given that he has not publicised the event on his website. If he had that much to say to expose the racist war criminals of the State of Israel then he could use his site first. That he has failed to do so suggests that he is ashamed of what he is doing and anyway, given the use to which the zionists will inevitably put the support the State of Israel is getting from him, anything he says against Israel will be negated by the fact that he is there.

Whether or not Mandela rejected violence is completely irrelevant to a non-violent strategy of boycotting. And the reference to Gandhi is equally irrelevant for the same reason. Boycotting Israel is not an act or violence, it is an act of non-violence.

I was going to ignore the silliest of your suggestions but since space allows for it, no one has said that Gil Scott Heron has become a racist. By playing Israel he is giving respectability to a racist state. His motive doesn't matter. His action does. It's not too late for him to pull out and, rather than making excuses for him or casting aspersions on the motives of his critics, anti-racists should be trying to persuade him not to go.

I am guessing that many zionists will be anonymously or pseudonymously making comments making out that as anti-zionists they feel a boycott is inappropriate. Just as Gil Scott Heron must be wise to Israel, I'm sure he will be wise to the false flag antics of its supporters on line. They won't bring him comfort. Hopefully they will make him realise how low he has sunk in performing for such a dishonest bunch.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This item was posted and removed several times. An edited and reduced version was eventually allowed but this version wasn't.

No2Genocide

17 Apr 2010, 5:48PM

@oosdadaddy

Indeed there are "Israelis Who are vehemently against Zionism and the oppression and persecution of the Palestinians" - I am one of them.

We do this by, among other actions, supporting the Palestinians' "CALL FOR ACADEMIC AND CULTURAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL".

See the call by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel) at: http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869 <http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869>

Unfortunately, there are NOT "a lot of Israelis Who are vehemently against Zionism and the oppression and persecution of the Palestinians". So far we are very few, though we have campaigners for justice who are doing fantastic work against "the oppression and persecution of the Palestinians".

The problem is that many Israelis like the world to perceive Israel in better light than it deserves. They thrive to obtain international recognition that Israel is a nice place (democracy, gay friendly, etc) and the only problem is the "ardent rightwingers", etc. This is how the apologists promote Israel and this is the whitewash veneer we are trying to remove by the academic and cultural campaign.

My guess is that the majority of the Israelis, who would be entertained by Gil Scott-Heron at the Tel Aviv gig, would be those protecting their privileges and refusing to share their future with Palestinians and accept their Right of Return. Yet they wish to portray themselves as conscientious to human sufferings, except of course to their own victims, the Palestinians.

One can observe this contradiction in the efforts made to demonstrate Israel's dedication to save lives in ... Haiti, while it daily prevents food, medicine and humanitarian workers from entering Gaza. It team was seen rescuing people in Haiti from the rubbles, but they could have saved many more human lives had they stopped Israel's wanton killings and mass destruction in Gaza.

The Israeli war crimes are NOT exclusively committed by the "ardent rightwingers". In fact, it isn't that long ago that the latter were a very small minority in the military leadership.

I mourn The Bill's passing

2010-04-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ian Blair wrote a sentimental piece about teh axing of The Bill. Comments that taleked about police corruption of the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes were moderated including:

MartynInEurope
28 March 2010 11:32AM
LOL Nice one. Are you angling for a badge of honour too? I acquired mine earlier, along with a few other notable and noble entries.

As for police TV series I prefer the German Cobra and the Spanish Los Hombres de Paco

BTW Despite having 40 years of mediaevalism, brutality, torture, state murder and out od control authoritarianism, Spain will send bent officials to jail if need be.

When is the UK going to catch up.

[I am not clear if the moderators found attacks of the Fascist Franco or on bent cops most offensive]

They even removed metacomments such as "so far 38 out of 87 comments are showing as removed" - its the moderators equivalent of a super-injunction. Not only is there censorship, they censor mention of the censorship.

You can see before and after screen shots at http://www.chaldcroft.co.cc/

2010-02-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

Murdoch's hunger for power is a looming threat to democracy

No2Genocide
28 Feb 2010, 4:33AM

let us be quite clear that Murdoch's primary interest is commercial

Judging by Fox News and Rupert Murdoch statements, his political agenda cannot be ignored.
For example, Rupert Murdoch's political agenda regarding Israel, as been evidence, such as his statement on Receiving AJC National Human Relations Award, March 4, 2009 [see http://www.ajc.org/site/c.ijITI2PHKoG/b.5018279/k.7184/AJC_Honors_Rupert_Murdoch.htm], in which not once the Israeli violation of Palestinians were mentioned, though it was only a few weeks after the Israeli slaughter of Gaza.
Similarly, the Rupert Murdoch owned Australian led the charge in defending Israel?s war crimes. After the October 19 UN Human Rights Council vote endorsing the Goldstone report, the Australian editorial on October 21 called the vote ?A poisonous outcome? [see http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/a-poisonous-outcome/story-e6frg71x-1225788094737].
The danger of Rupert Murdoch's commercial interests are compounded by his political agenda.

[note this comment had 45 recommendations before it was deleted by a moderator.

2010-02-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

This is no ripping yarn, but a murder to fan more conflict

From Haim Brasheeth

An Excellent article, Mr. Milne!

The poisonous eddies radiating outward from Israel after the Dubai murder, seem to further prove the sea-change, after the Gaza carnage. Israeli brutalities, illegalities and continued oppression of the Palestinians, accepted for so long as some god-given right, or a strange kind of natural disaster, one to be regretted but always overlooked, are now no longer seen as such, but as the Israeli-made disaster of cogent, if brutal colonial policies in Jerusalem, broadly accepted and backed in Israel by a docile and divided polity, which has lost its human compass. Without any prophetic skills, one can foresee the continued decline in support for this racist, immoral and increasingly illogical brutal regime of occupation, across the globe, and an environment in which every ?success? of the Israeli military machine is indeed a deep and radiating failure, another faultline in the thin ice on which Israel has been skating for so long.

The fact that civil society in Israel - the political parties, the media, academia, the arts and professions ? are still very strongly in support of whatever their government is concocting, is indeed a mark of the deep sickness of the Israeli polity. While is reminds one of South African whites a the height of apartheid, it is obviously much more far-reaching and its implications are far wider than those of apartheid. While apartheid south Africa was behind much of African in-fighting during some decades, the apartheid policy was never hellbent on expelling the black population; it was content to oppress and exploit them. The Zionist colonising agenda is a completely different one, a more extreme and finite approach. It would be unfortunately correct to point out that the Jewish population of Israel, and most Jews elsewhere, have bought into this toxic mix of racism and nationalism, peppered as it is with religious fundamentalism to boot. This was also either overlooked or even embraced by other countries, as their elite saw in Israel a bulwark against sprawling Islam, in a typical, orientalist mindset. There are now serious signs that this whole edifice is crumbling.
The important variant on South Africa is the global field in which Israel is batting, being a bridesmaid of entrenched conflicts, and the catalyst of western military intervention just about everywhere; Iran is just one example where the war prepared against a country which MAY in the future have nuclear weapons, is whipped into frenzy by a country that has had them for decades. Will the western nations continue to follow Israeli dogma like lemmings?

One year on, we need progress in Gaza

2010-01-07T08:47:00.001-08:00

From no2genocide

28 Dec 2009, 5:20PM

Every person opposing war crimes should publicly condemn the Israeli wanton destruction and phosphorous attacks at Palestinian civilians in Gaza. It is disgrace to attack those who condemn it and those who did so in this debate should apologise.

The Israeli wanton destruction of neighbourhoods in Gaza was a war crime. Similarly, Israel's use of white phosphorous against Palestinian civilians in Gaza was a war crime and thus Lt. Col. David Benjamin, who is thought to be behind this, is therefore a war crime suspect.

Crimes under international law are defined in treaties and also in customary international law. Violations of fundamental humanitarian rules applicable in all types of conflict entail individual criminal responsibility under customary law. They encompass crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Other crimes not necessarily committed as a war crime or crime against humanity are torture and enforced disappearance.

I believe Israel is committing each of these crimes.

Those in this discussion who fail to condemn the Israeli siege of Gaza, should be aware that it constitutes collective punishment of a civilian population, which is prohibited in international humanitarian law under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Denying civilians the food, fuel and medicine needed to survive, is a policy amounting to collective punishment. Israeli officials acknowledge that the siege amounts to collective punishment.

Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention places a duty on an occupying power to ensure the food and medical supplies of the population, as well as to permit and facilitate the consignments of humanitarian relief. A deliberate refusal to permit access to these supplies constitutes collective punishment or an illegal reprisal against the civilian population

Vanunu: our duty to speak up

2010-01-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

From BTBLondon

@midvarshekertirchok

Re land theft, the land around Beilin was where the Hasmoneans defeated the Greek-Syrian armies over 2,000 years ago, and recently commemorated again in the festival of Chanukah. If arabs don't like the Jews being in that part of the world i understand it, but it's not exactly theft now is it?

If restoration of land rights lost in battle up to 2000 years ago is to be the basis for current legal rights we have some interesting effects.

First of all are the restoration of the whole of the USA (indeed all of the Americas), Australia etc. to the native peoples the Europeans kicked out. Indeed, I suspect there are some people in Powys who would have a claim to my London house after their distant ancestors unfortunate defeat by the Romans.

This is why the Geneva conventions were incorporated into international law to stop this chaos, conventions that Israel breaches every day in the occupied territories and indeed in 48 Israel in the Galilee and elsewhere. Unlike the NPT [Nuclear Proliferation Treaty] Israel cannot opt out of these.

Vanunu was kidnapped, again in breach of national and International law, and imprisoned. On release, oppressive restrictions were placed on him for vindictive not 'security' reasons.

If Israel wants to be treated like a civilised state it needs to start acting like one. Until then refusing to do business or have normal contact with it and its institutions is a requirement for global civil society

Palestinians must prepare for statehood

2009-11-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

The Palestinian Authority is taking a unilateral approach to institution-building. It's a policy that demonstrates maturity

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/02/palestinian-statehood-institution-building?commentpage=2

03 Nov 09, 12:26pm

wordsareimportant
You claimed:

A murderous ... who should and will be rejected by 99.9% of all Israelis, Jews and Americans. And in Israel, he will be put in jail, not given a medal and a tickertape parade.

The evidence contradicts your claim:
Teitel was NOT put in jail when he admitted [probably bragged] in 1997 that he killed 2 Palestinians. He was released without trial! Furthermore despite his own admission and his statement, during his investigation re the double murder, that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians, in 2003 he was formally notified that the Police had dropped their investigation!

Teitel has said that in June 1997 he killed an Arab taxi driver and a Palestinian shepherd. Two months later, the Shin Bet security service arrested him; he said during his investigation that he came to Israel precisely to carry out attacks against Palestinians, in revenge for suicide bombings.

Source "From Dentist's Son to Jewish Terrorist" http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125243.html

It is NOT unusual to Israelis to terrorise Palestinians with impunity. In fact, there is evidence of Israeli mass murderers of Palestinians enjoying protection from the state and public adulation. For example, another American born, Baruch Kappel Goldstein, massacred dozens of Palestinians. On February 25, 1994, Goldstein fired at hundreds of defenseless praying Palestinians in Hebron, killing 52 and injuring more than 100. A plaque near the grave reads "To the holy Baruch Goldstein, who gave his life for the Jewish people, the Torah and the nation of Israel." The gravesite became a pilgrimage site.

His followers were able to make their contribution to the mass killing in Gaza earlier this year:

In addition to the official publications, extreme right-wing groups managed
to bring pamphlets with racist messages into IDF bases. One such flyer is
attributed to "the pupils of Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg" - the former rabbi at
Joseph's Tomb and author of the article "Baruch the Man," which praises
Baruch Goldstein, who massacred unarmed Palestinians in Hebron. It calls on
"soldiers of Israel to spare your lives and the lives of your friends and
not to show concern for a population that surrounds us and harms us. We call
on you ... to function according to the law 'kill the one who comes to kill
you.' As for the population, it is not innocent ... We call on you to ignore
any strange doctrines and orders that confuse the logical way of fighting
the enemy."

Source 'IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel', Haaretz, 26 January 2009 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058758.html

Some of the crimes committed by the Israeli army are recorded in the Goldstone report and no Israeli has been brought to justice.

no2genocide

Alan Johnson sacking David Nutt

2009-11-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

31 Oct 09, 12:39am

Every person courageous to state inconvenient truth is inspiring. I dare say that had we had courageous people like Professor David Nutt we might have never attacked Iraq on false claims of 45 minutes and non-existence Weapons of Mass Destruction.

This week inconvenient truth was published in the Israeli paper, the Jerusalem Post:

We're fighting off the world with the Holocaust; witness Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the UN with his Auschwitz props. "We won't go like lambs to the slaughter again," vowed his protégé, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, in a cabinet discussion of the Goldstone report.
...
This is what we tell ourselves and the world, and, in the face of what we did and are still doing in Gaza, it has become intolerable. We are not the 6 million. The 6 million were powerless Jews three generations ago; we cannot wrap our abuses of power in their tragedy.

From Rattling the Cage: Some victims we are at:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256740787801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

No2Genocide

No2Genocide (3)

2009-11-07T15:34:00.001-08:00

28 Oct 09, 10:54am

· The article's highlighted disastrous consequences of declaring a Palestinian state under occupation are frightening. Yet, I fear it would be even worse.

The life of most Palestinians under the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unbearable. Declaring a Palestinian state under occupation would only intensify the Israeli systematic destruction of Palestinian lives.

To add to orwellwasright, regarding Israel's policy of total destruction - the Dahiyah Doctrine:

On 10 February 2008, Meir Sheetrit [then the Israeli Interior Minister] said:

"... I would bomb neighborhoods, etc…. We did it in Lebanon in 2006; we wiped out a whole neighborhood, the Dachya, including tall buildings, sometimes with people in it ..."

A few months after his threat, the Israeli military wiped out not one but many whole neighbourhoods in Gaza.

I hope Sheetrit and other Israeli government ministers would indeed be brought to justice, as suggested in the Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/27/olmert-could-face-warcrimes-arrest with the subtitle Prosecution of Israelis likely, says solicitor

No2Genocide (2)

2009-11-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

03 Nov 09, 10:51am

· Israel is a brutal occupier involved in destroying Palestinian lives. Unfortunately, so far the PA showed itself to be a more faithful partner to Israel than the Palestinians.

For example, an Israeli settler, Jack Teitel, who murdered Palestinians in the West Bank, is being investigated by Israeli authorities, not the PA. At the same time the PA is engaged in rigorous investigations of Palestinians suspected of ... struggling against the Israeli occupation.

It is claimed Jack Teitel started his career of [serial?] murderer as an American tourist in the West Bank. He seems to like it so much he decided to stay... As other Israeli murderers he was not stopped while his victims were only Palestinians. Then he started attacking Israeli Jews, so eventually he might now face prison.

Police said two Palestinians, a shepherd and a taxi driver, were among his victims, killed more than a decade ago when he was in Israel as a tourist.

Source the Guardian of 2 November 2009, "American-Israeli settler questioned over terror attacks" http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/02/yaakov-teitel-israel-settler

Teitel had already confessed in June 1997 to killing 2 Palestinians, yet he was released by the Israeli authorities! He admitted he came to Israel to murder Palestinians. Despite this he was released and in 2003 was formally notified that the Police had dropped their investigation!

Source "From Dentist's Son to Jewish Terrorist" http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125243.html

While the PA has no role in the arrest of the Israeli settler, Jack Teitel , the PA is involved in numerous arrests of Palestinians. The PA torture of Palestinians has become so widespread, it no longer could be sidelined to human rights reports. In fact the UK government had to acknowledge its trained Palestinians forces are engaged in torture.

The Government is sending British police and intelligence officers to the West Bank to try to stop a wave of brutal torture by Palestinian security forces funded by UK taxpayers.

Source Daily Mail of 25th October 2009 "British police and intelligence officers sent to tackle UK-funded torturers on West Bank" http://tinyurl.com/yhzm4nf

David Hanson and Shahid Malik want us to believe the Prevent programme is in our interest.

2009-11-07T15:31:00.001-08:00

With great sadness and at times with complete horror, I have been watching the drastic changes in the UK. As an Israeli I recognise the use of fear to exclude communities and to tamper with civil liberties.

There have been quite a few admissions by British officials that they have adopted Israeli methods. The latest I read was last week [on 29 Oct 09], that Former British Army Colonel, Richard Kemp, had implemented the Israeli "anti terrorist" methods in the British army doctrine [sorry, cannot quote precisely, as it was in Hebrew, in the Israeli paper, Haaretz].

We get further insight into Col. Kemps views in his defence of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, when he denied that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza [see the Statement he delivered October 16, 2009, to the UN Human Rights Council Special Session on Goldstone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX6vyT8RzMo]. For example, his claim that Hamas used civilians as human shield is in contrast to Goldstone findings. Incidentally, Kemps claim conforms with the Israeli propaganda. In fact, the Goldstone Report finding was that Israel used civilians as human shields ...

Meanwhile, Israel is increasingly successful in also affecting the freedom of the British Press. The latest in this very sad saga was published in another Israeli media, Ynetnews, on 30 Oct 09. In the presence of Israeli Ambassador in London, the plan discussed was:

Every journalist who refers to us as war criminals or child killers needs to know that the next day his newspaper will be slapped with a million pound lawsuit on behalf of the State of Israel.
...

Newspapers dont like lawsuits, I said. It takes time, it costs money, the papers insurance company raises their premium, stockholders are wondering why they got into this mess to begin with, and the editor in chief is infuriated after he discovers that he needs to waste two days on testifying in respect to an article that he didnt even read.

See http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3797828,00.html

In this respect the Guardian was mentioned...

The dark side of Tel Aviv by Abe Hayeem

2009-10-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/13/tel-aviv-origins-centenary

The dark side of Tel Aviv by Abe Hayeem

No2Genocide 13 Oct 09, 7:42pm

This post is very similar to the one posted an hour earlier, at 6:35pm, but when it was removed I amended it and re-posted it, hoping I identified the reasons for the censorship. I would appreciate any suggestions as for the possible pretext for the removal of this second attempt.

· Why choose Tel Aviv as a holiday destination, while it is directly involved in the CURRENT deliberate and calculated imposed hunger on 1.5 million Palestinian in Gaza?? Even the calories allowed for the children and adults in Gaza are calculated by the Israeli military, with its HQ in Tel Aviv [HaKirya].
According to the Israeli paper, Haaretz, Israel even calculates the survival calories required:

"four pages filled with detailed charts of the number of grams and calories of every type of food to be permitted for consumption by Gaza residents (broken down by gender and age)"

See Gaza bonanza at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092196.html

These policies, the carpet bombing of Gaza and other war crimes, are carried out and monitored by the Israeli military, among them thousands serving in HaKirya, in the heart of Tel Aviv. This is why it is relevant that HaKirya is in the heart of Tel Aviv.

One of the posts here denied that Gaza was carpet bombed by Israel - how can anyone deny this?? My parents escaped Nazi Germany and my lesson was to never deny a holocaust, but fight it before it is too late. I therefore find denyial of the Israeli atrocities and war crimes, as offensive as Holocaust denial.

The dark side of Tel Aviv

2009-10-16T15:40:00.001-07:00

The dark side of Tel Aviv by Abe Hayeem

No2Genocide 14 Oct 09, 9:16am
When this post was removed I amended it and re-posted it, but it was removed again. I would appreciate any suggestions as for the possible pretext for the removal of this second attempt.

We should not forget the numerous Israeli declarations of intention to inflict collective punishment on the Palestinians. Many of these made in the build up to the attack on Gaza and then were actually implemented.

On 10 February 2008, Meir Sheetrit [then the Israeli Interior Minister] said:

"... I would bomb neighborhoods, etc…. We did it in Lebanon in 2006; we wiped out a whole neighborhood, the Dachya, including tall buildings, sometimes with people in it ..."

Those of us who are not in the business of denial, recognise this - a few months after his threat we saw the Israeli military wiping out not one but many whole neighbourhoods in Gaza.

For those who think a comparison of Gaza with the Warsaw Ghetto is absurd, I refer them to an even more serious declaration of intention - Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai on 29 Feb 2008 threatened Gaza with "a bigger shoah" (holocaust). As with Sheetrit’s threat, actions followed Vilnai’s threat. A year later Vilnai is ensuring that Gaza is starved of essential food and medicine. The calories of permitted food are calculated [see Gaza bonanza at:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092196.html] and are not enough for the survival of the 1.5 million Palestinians.

For those who are interested in the facts of the Holocaust, we know that in the Warsaw Ghetto the calories permitted to Jews were calculated to only 184 per day. As in the Warsaw Ghetto, for each attack on the jailers an extremely high and disproportionate number of the captive population is killed in revenge.

The UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk said:

"To lock people into a war zone is something that evokes the worst kind of international memories of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sieges that occur unintentionally during a period of wartime", referring to the starvation and murder of Warsaw's Jews by Nazi Germany in World War II.

See http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058196.html

How can Tel Aviv be celebrated when it is implicated, in so many ways including hosting the Israeli military HQ and many other bodies linked to the military, in imposing the siege?? Even education of children is mercilessly attacked:

"many students stop attending classes due to shortages of books, pens and paper"

See http://www.newstatesman.com/education/2009/10/gaza-school-students-israel

Israel is now condemning a generation of Palestinian children, already traumatised from the horror of its bombardment, to be also illiterate.

Tony Greenstein's experience

2009-10-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

Tony Greenstein has blogged about his experience of CiF censorship:

http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2009/04/guardian-comment-is-free-and-newspeak.html

http://azvsas.blogspot.com/2009/04/anything-but-free-guardians-cif-under.html

The dark side of Tel Aviv

2009-10-16T11:02:00.001-07:00

The dark side of Tel Aviv

My comment 13 Oct 09, 6:35pm

According to the Israeli paper, Haaretz, Israel even calculates the survival calories required:

"four pages filled with detailed charts of the number of grams and calories of every type of food to be permitted for consumption by Gaza residents (broken down by gender and age)

See Gaza bonanza at: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092196.html

The Israeli deliberate and premeditated policy to cause hunger is led by Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai [as shown in the Haaretz report], who on 29 Feb 2008 threatened Gaza with "a bigger shoah" (holocaust). Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister during the onslaught of Gaza, Ehud Olmert, talked of putting Gazans "on a diet". This reminds me of Governor General Hans Frank in Nazi-occupied Poland, who spoke of "death by hunger". Im reminded of the siege of the Warsaw Ghetto.

These policies, the carpet bombing of Gaza and other war crimes, are carried out and monitored by the Israeli military, among them thousands serving in HaKirya, in the heart of Tel Aviv.

Visiting the clubs, beach and cafes in Tel Aviv, there is no escape from being next to Israeli soldiers, with or without uniform. This is why I no longer live in Tel Aviv. I now live in London and disgusted to see the despicable attempt to promote Tel Aviv here.

One of the posts here denied that Gaza was carpet bombed by Israel - how can anyone deny this?? My parents escaped Nazi Germany and my lesson was to never deny a holocaust, but fight it before it is too late. I therefore find many of the posts here, denying the Israeli atrocities and war crimes, as offensive as Holocaust denial.

Yael Oren Kahn

No2Genocide (1)

2009-10-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/13/tel-aviv-origins-centenary

13 Oct 09, 3:16pm
[note this post attracted 100 recommendations before it was deleted]

I lived in Tel Aviv during the first Palestinian Intifada and I travelled weekly to Gaza during the 1988-2001 uprising [that was before the current siege imposed by Israel, which now suffocates Gaza and makes such visits completely impossible].

Even then, long before the Israeli carpet bombing of Gaza earlier this year, I found horrendous hardship in Gaza in strike contrast to affluent Tel Aviv.
Travelling to Gaza by public transport from Tel Aviv was from … Jaffa. That was a poignant reminder that my journey to visit the refugee camps started from the town from which the Palestinian refugees had been ethnic cleansed in 1948.
As Abe Hayeem eloquently writes, Tel Aviv was built on the ruins of a number of Palestinian communities. The Palestinians were ethnic cleansed, many of them transferred into Gaza.
The propaganda stunt this week of promoting Tel Aviv in the heart of the city of London is despicable not only because of its history, but because Tel Aviv is closely linked to the latest war crimes against Gaza [see the Goldstone Report and Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/18/israel-war-crimes-gaza-conflict, .
For example, the heart of Tel Aviv is the home for the Israeli military, in an area called HaKirya, which has served as the IDF headquarters since its founding in 1948 [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HaKirya ]. It accommodates the Israeli military in numerous buildings and underground bonkers. As an Israeli, I suspect the pre-planning [e.g. the Israeli military legal team authorising the usage of white phosphorous and other lethal attacks on civilians, etc] and the daily orders for the assaults on Gaza were made in HaKirya, in the heart of Tel Aviv.
Celebrating Tel Aviv is like dancing on the graves of Palestinians just before the first anniversary of Israels wanton killings and mass destruction in Gaza.
Yael Oren Kahn

Criticising Zionist outrage at Goldstone

2009-10-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

This was removed but re-instated after I protested. There is a mistake in the post I should have referred to mole or agent-provacateur in the first line and not stool pigeon.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/16/richard-goldstone-report-israel-gaza

Kosky must be a Hamas stool-pigeon within the Zionist establishment, either that or an expert satirist. His extremist defence of Israel is so patently incredible it cannot have been posted with the serious intent of defending Israel.
Why else would he discount evidence form the UN, ICRC and many others? Why would he fail to recognise the crime of the blockade of Gaza/ Why would he not se ethat a kill ration of 100:1 in itself raises crucial questions of proportionality? - more rhetorical questions would become tedious.
Kosky complains "Goldstone's so-called investigation is largely reliant upon "eyewitness" Gaza testimony". It has always appeared to me that interviewing witnesses is the normal start of any forensic investigation - if it is unnecessary police forces around the world could save much time and money. It would appear that Kosky's preferred approach would have been a phone call to the alleged perpetrator along the lines 'Did you do do it?', 'No', 'Sorry to bother you have a good day.' Job done. Investigations of the banking crisis seems to have followed that path to much derision

btbLondon