19/01/2009 (Spanish and Hebrew)
bandannie just found this video and article on Norman Finkelstein’s facebook and although it goes back to the war on Gaza, she is afraid it is still relevant
Televisión israelí se mofa de las muertes y destrucción en Gaza
“Es una sociedad de sádicos y psicópatas”, afirma el doctor Muhamad Yadala.
El último programa Eretz Nehederet (Un país maravilloso) que sale a antena cada semana en el Canal 2 de Israel, giró en torno a la guerra de Gaza y las burlas más sarcásticas se dedicaron al número de palestinos muertos en los intensos bombardeos del Ejército. Los humoristas se ríen incluso de las explosiones de las guarderías. Un actor que representa a un corresponsal militar transmite al estudio constantemente el número de víctimas del conflicto. “Ya van quinientos contra cuatro”, dice en alusión a los palestinos y los israelíes muertos. “Acabamos de bombardear un estudio de moda, ya tenemos 501 puntos”, añade al poco rato. Los locutores usan un tono fútbolístico para narrar un bombardeo. La cuenta va creciendo y desde el estudio central se conecta con varias capitales europeas para que los corresponsales voten el número de muertos palestinos que cada país estaba dispuesto a permitir.
El programa también realiza una conexión con la ciudad de Gaza para hablar con un miembro de Hamás que ha montado un jardín de infancia para criar niños que luego se convertirán en escudos humanos. “Tenemos niños muy majos que pueden servir de escudos humanos”, dice el supuesto director del jardín de infancia. El sarcamo se ceba con las muertes infantiles: “Si vais a bombardear una zona civil, podéis avisarnos para que podamos enviar nuestras cámaras de televisión”.
“El programa refleja que más del 90% de los israelíes apoyan la guerra y seguramente también respaldan estos programas. Es una sociedad de sádicos y psicópatas”, afirma el doctor Muhamad Yadala.
In newly released recordings, alleged Shin Bet agent can be heard urging Chaim Pearlman to assassinate Sheik Ra’ad Salah.
By Chaim Levinson
New recordings released Thursday claim to prove that Chaim Pearlman, a right-wing Israeli extremist arrested Tuesday over the murder of four Palestinians, was encouraged by an alleged Shin Bet agent to commit violent acts, including the assassination of Sheik Ra’ad Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
Chaim Pearlman was arrested earlier this week, initially on suspicion of carrying out two murders in 1998, and for a series of attacks against other Palestinian victims over the last 12 years. The Petah Tikva Magistrates’ Court on Thursday extended his remand by six days.
According to Pearlman, he was contacted by a person who allegedly worked for the Shin Bet security service while disseminating fliers for the extreme right-wing Kach movement. Pearlman maintains that the person had tried to convince him to get involved in violent acts.
Pearlman recorded all his conversations with the man and says he has 20 hours of recordings.
The Shin Bet denied Thursday claims it tried to coerce Pearlman into carrying out attacks against Arabs, saying the exchanges recorded in the tapes released earlier Thursday represented a legitimate method of extracting a confession from a suspect.
In his conversation with the person Pearlman claimed was a Shin Bet agent, Pearlman can be heard supporting non-violent, educational activities, with the alleged agent apparently incites him to violence.
In the recordings released Thursday, the alleged agent can be heard saying that only an “extreme move” could change public opinion, citing the assassination of Sheik Ra’ad Salah as one such extreme move.
“I could do it,” the agent can be heard saying, referring to the proposed killing of the Islamic Movement leader, saying that Salah’s security would prevent him from succeeding, adding that if he were Pearlman he would commit the assassination.
“It’s not about hitting him [Salah] and getting in trouble. It’s about coming over, hitting him, and see you later, like that guy in Bar Noar” the alleged Shin Bet agent can be heard saying, referring to the killing of a counselor and a teenager at a Tel Aviv gay center last year.
The agent continues to explain how he would carry out Salah’s assassination, saying Pearlman would have to “use another person for that,” adding that if he himself had grown up where Pearlman had grown up, “I wouldn’t be spray painting slogans.”
“You don’t really want to do it,” Pearlman can be heard as saying, with the alleged Shin Bet agent replying: “Says who? Says you? What are you relying on? Can you check me? Come check me, I’m ready.”
When Pearlman asked if the alleged Shin Bet agent understood the ramifications of such an act, and if he would be willing to take responsibility for it, the agent said: “sure, why not.”
“How long will the noise continue? Will it lead to war? Won’t there be war without it happening?” the agent can be heard asking, adding that “war has casualties.”
“Listen I don’t have a problem [inaudible] someone who takes a life once and gets that feeling…. I would never do it to a Jew. It would be hard,” the alleged Shin Bet agent said, adding, “but I wouldn’t have a problem with one of those.”
After again discussing the risks such an action would entail, Pearlman can be heard asking if the alleged agent even knew where Salah lived, with the agent answering: “somewhere in the North, in one of the villages in the North.
“Look, it shouldn’t be much of a problem. The car passes. You shoot a burst. Chances are the driver will get killed,” the agent added, saying that Pearlman would have to either “finish him with one burst, or a few split ones.”
The alleged agent continues his description of the potential assassination, saying that it would not be the kind of operation where one would “come in close.”
“You need to be as far away as you can in this kind of situation. Or put a bomb in the car. That’s the classic one. Nothing’s left, everything goes everywhere,” the agent added, saying Salah would then “go to all hell.”
Throughout the recordings Pearlman can be heard rejecting the alleged agent’s call for violence, and instead supporting educational and spiritual activity.
At one point Pearlman can be heard saying that he was “a youth counselor, I organized rallies. I organized a rally in front of a store that sold pork.” The alleged Shin Bet agent subsequently asks Pearlman “and where did that get you?”
When Pearlman answers that he wanted to raise awareness to the fact that the store had been selling pork, the alleged agent asks if it wouldn’t have been “simpler to throw a fire bomb – people would get the message.”
“If you throw a fire bomb twice, the insurance [companies] won’t insure him anymore,” the alleged Shin Bet agent can be heard saying.
When Pearlman apparently rejects the idea of physically attacking the shop, saying that such a course of action could not be sustained, since he would eventually be caught, the person he claims is a Shin Bet agent can be head saying: “you throw once, you throw twice, and the insurance won’t insure. No one will open there.”
“That could mean prison for several years. I’m talking about spreading ideas,” Pearlman can be heard saying, adding that he was after “the long run, not a one time thing.”
To that the alleged agent answers “sometimes the one-time thing affects the long-run,” adding “let’s do something you and me. Let’s do something,” to which Pearlman replies that he is more interested in family.
The recordings continue to document the discussion between the two, in which Pearlman insists on the value of educational action, with the alleged Shin Bet agent dismissing that approach.
The agent can then be heard suggesting that Pearlman take the same people he had been working with distributing fliers and “sit on a nice village and organize a fireworks show,” referring to an armed assault on an Arab village.
“The Shin Bet is everywhere,” Pearlman can be heard answering, adding that “every second or third person is connected.”
“They keep taking people in to give them warnings. Arrest them for nothing, take people and frighten them,” Pearlman says, adding that the Shin Bet were conducting arrests and were “listening to every call.”
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 1/6
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 2/6
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 3/6
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 4/6
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 5/6
Judge Napolitano in C-SPAN with Ralph Nader – Part 6/6
Bush Should Have Been Indicted
By David Edwards
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst made some surprising remarks Saturday that may go against the grain at his conservative network.
July 15, 2010 “Rawstory” — In a interview with Ralph Nader on C-SPAN’s Book TV to promote his book Lies the Government Told You, Judge Andrew Napolitano said that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should have been indicted for “torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrant.”
The judge believes that it is a fallacy to say that the US treats suspects as innocent until proven guilty. “The government acts as if a defendant is guilty merely on the basis of an accusation,” said Napolitano.
Nader was curious about how this applied to the Bush administration. “What about the more serious violations of habeas corpus,” wondered Nader. “You know after 9/11 Bush rounded up thousands of them, Americans, many of them Muslim Americans or Arabic Americans and they were thrown in jail without charges. They didn’t have lawyers. Some of them were pretty mistreated in New York City. You know they were all released eventually.”
“Well that is so obviously a violation of the natural law, the natural right to be brought before a neutral arbiter within moments of the government taking your freedom away from you,” answered Napolitano.
“So what President Bush did with the suspension of habeas corpus, with the whole concept of Guantanamo Bay, with the whole idea that he could avoid and evade federal laws, treaties, federal judges and the Constitution was blatantly unconstitutional and is some cases criminal,” he continued.
“What should be the sanctions [for Bush and Cheney]?” asked Nader.
“They should have been indicted. They absolutely should have been indicted for torturing, for spying, for arresting without warrant,” said Napolitano.
“I’d like to say they should be indicted for lying but believe it or not, unless you’re under oath, lying is not a crime. At least not an indictable crime. It’s a moral crime,” he said.
This isn’t the first time that Napolitano’s comments have veered away from the standard talking points at Fox News. He has predicted that Arizona’s controversial immigration law will be blocked by the court. Napolitano also said Arizona’s governor would “bankrupt the Republican Party” fighting for the law.
by Adam Horowitz on July 15, 2010 ·
Activists from Just Jerusalem (the main Israeli organization working on the Sheikh Jarrah protests) greeted moviegoers attending the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival with a scene they’ll not soon forget. Members of the group acted as “detainees” and “guards” to, in their words, “convey the essence of the occupation to the escapist public.” The action was called “Bringing the Blindfolded to Jerusalem Film Festival” and the activists explain, “[The street theater was] simulating what thousands of Palestinians suffer. Our objective was to force Israelis to recognize the reality that is done on our behalf.”
The Jerusalem Film Festival has already been in the news for attracting protest. It seems the message might have been lost on some of eyewitnesses however. One protester reports, “Many people thought this was real and thanked the “guards” for protecting them.”
Shir Hever is an economic researcher in the Alternative Information Center, a Palestinian-Israeli organization active in Jerusalem and Beit-Sahour. Researching the economic aspect of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, some of his research topics include international aid to the Palestinians and Israel, the effects of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories on the Israeli economy, and the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of the economy of the Israeli occupation.
By Ned Parker and Nadeem Hamid
The transfers come as American forces prepare to end their control of the sole remaining U.S. prison facility in Iraq.
July 14, 2010
Reporting from Baghdad —
The United States has handed over 29 members of Saddam Hussein’s government to Iraqi custody in recent weeks, including Tariq Aziz, the urbane, cigar-chomping official who served as the regime’s global spokesman, Iraqi officials and Aziz’s relatives said Wednesday.
The U.S. military confirmed that it transferred 26 former regime officials Monday and three others last month. It added that it continued to hold eight high-ranking members of Hussein’s government and his ruling Baath Party.
Both Aziz’s son and the Iraqi government said the former foreign minister and deputy prime minister has in an Iraqi prison since Monday.
His son, Ziad Aziz, said his father, who suffers from heart disease and diabetes, called him Wednesday and complained that he was now being held in a tiny cell and deprived of his medications. His son said the former official described the situation as “hard circumstances.”
“He hasn’t taken his medicine in three days. There’s no place to sit. He hasn’t seen a doctor,” Ziad Aziz said. He added that his father has been in a wheelchair in recent months after suffering a stroke. A medical report sent to the family by the International Committee for the Red Cross listed Aziz as also suffering from dementia and slurred speech.
Iraq’s deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim, denied that Aziz or any other detainees were being mistreated.
“This is street talk,” Ibrahim said. “The Ministry of Justice doesn’t have anything to hide, whether with former regime officials or former terrorists. Each has his rights and [the ministry has] duties to fulfill according to the international standards.”
Iraq’s detention facilities have been plagued by poor living conditions and allegations of abuse by guards. The justice, defense and interior ministries have implemented human rights inspections, but violations still occur. A U.N. human rights report released last week raised concern about abuses committed against detainees.
Tariq Aziz first gained notoriety in 1990 after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He continued to promote Hussein’s views to the international community in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Fluent in English and well-educated, the former foreign minister came to symbolize Hussein’s regime in the West. He was Iraq’s senior-most Christian official.
In March 2009, an Iraqi court sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants who had been accused of price-fixing. He received another seven-year sentence in August 2009 for the displacement of Kurds in 1980.
In addition to the 29 detainees handed over by the Americans, Ibrahim said 26 other high-ranking former regime officials had been transferred to Iraqi custody about eight months ago.
The latest transfers come ahead of the end of American control of Camp Cropper at Baghdad’s international airport, the sole remaining U.S. prison facility in Iraq. On Thursday, the U.S. military will hand over a final 1,600 detainees, while another 200 prisoners will be held under joint Iraqi-U.S. custody, Ibrahim said.
The shutdown of U.S. detention facilities marks a major step as American forces wind down their formal combat mission in Iraq and reduce their troops to 50,000 by the end of August. All remaining U.S. soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
The United States will continue to hold in joint custody with the Iraqi government eight high-ranking members of the old regime, including Hussein’s half-brothers Watban Ibrahim Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan. Both men have been sentenced to death by Iraqi courts.
The most controversial case remains that of Hussein’s former defense minister, Sultan Hashim Ahmad Jabburi Tai. Jabburi Tai was sentenced to death in 2007 for his role as a general in the north during the Hussein regime’s 1980s Anfal military campaign against the Kurds.
Jabburi Tai has been spared execution because Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, has refused the orders. Talabani has argued that Hashim should be spared for his contacts with the Iraqi opposition before 2003. It has long been rumored that Jabburi Tai helped to stand down the Iraqi army during the U.S. military invasion.
But many Shiite leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, have pushed for his execution.
Ibrahim hinted that the Iraqi authorities were pushing for Jabburi Tai and the remaining seven regime officials to be transferred over as soon as possible.
“There are no negotiations,” the deputy justice minister said. “Whoever we want, we just inform the American side. We are running Iraq right now. The Americans are supporting us.”
– ned.parker@latimes.com
Hamid is a Times staff writer.
The U.S. Supreme Court was requested to review the constitutional validity of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
Introduced by Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the bill was adopted by an overwhelming majority in response to the Oklahoma City bombing and enthusiastically signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
One of the clauses prescribing that a terrorist suspect can file only one petition for a writ of habeas corpus (a protection against illegal imprisonment) came under heavy fire. In its decision Felker versus Turpin (1997), the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that the limitation was not in breach of article 1 Section 9 paragraph 2 of the Constitution. True, in itself, it does not constitute an extension of the temporary detention even if, after a first appeal rejection, there is no mechanism to prevent the temporary detention from becoming permanent.
Another stipulation of the law was subject to further comment. It prohibits the willful provision of support of whatever nature – with the exception of medical assistance or a religious service – to any foreign terrorist organization. Following pleas by successive administrations – those of Clinton, Bush and Obama – in the past 12 years the courts have ruled that this applies to an association that provided legal advice to the PKK and to the Tamil Tigers even though such advice envisaged a peaceful solution to the Kurdish and Tamil conflicts by bringing the cases before the United Nations. In its decision Holder versus Humanitarian Law Project, of 21 June 2010, the Court held:
That the terms of the law are sufficiently clear to ensure that a person awaiting trial is in no doubt as to what is prohibited;
That this interdiction does not infringe a person’s freedom of speech, as nothing prevents a subject from expressing his support for causes defended by terrorists;
That neither does this interdiction violate his freedom of assembly as it does not prohibit meeting with terrorists or conversing with them.
Traditionally, the US Supreme Court takes a puritanical view of mankind. Just as puritans prohibit assisting a sinner in distress as long as he has not specifically renounced sin, the Court prohibits providing assistance to terrorists as long as they have not repudiated armed activity. In its view, those who assist them legally, educationally, culturally, socially or in any other manner, enable them to conserve their energy for the commitment of Evil.
Moreover, in United States law a terrorist organization is not an organization that has been sentenced for precise criminal acts but a group designated as such on political grounds by the State Department.
In consequence, all types of activity may be punished as “terrorist” by US courts. This is the case, for example, with the provision of UN food aid to Gaza if it is distributed by local councillors who are members of Hamas.
Thank you tlaxcala and have a look at its new look
band annie's Weblog 