Israeli dissidents

In Memory of Martin Luther King

Author : Gilad Atzmon

I also have a dream that one day the Jewish state, a state sweltering in the heat of injustice, sweltering in the heat of oppression; will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and fairness.

I have a dream that in the ‘Jew-Only State’ people will not be judged according to the blood of their (Jewish) mother, but rather by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Israel in spite of their racist Foreign Minister, mas-murderer Defense minister and Jewish supremacist Prime Minister, one day right there in between the river and the sea boys and girls will be able to join hands as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every ‘Separation Wall’ will be rubble. The horror of the refugee camps will be made plain and the crooked Israeli town will be made straight by Palestinians returning to their homes, villages, fields and orchards. “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” God Almighty, we are free at last!

I have a dream today and this dream will become true. However when this happens the Jewish state will be called Palestine and it will be one and a state of its citizens.

source

January 22, 2010 0

VANUNU : FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW

vanunu

Hi,From june 2009,
This is Vanunu . NO any news here.
The 6 th’ year restrictions,not to leave the country.continue.
AFTER 18 YEARS PRISON.
The isreal stupid spies will not get any thing from here.
FROM NOW ON,FOR $1,000,YOU CAN MEET ME HERE,VANUNU.
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW.
VMJC.

—
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW.
VANUNU MORDECHAI (John Crossman).
KIDNAPPED IN ROME SEP’ 30 TH’-1986.
18 YEARS IN ISRAEL PRISON.OUT IN APR’-21-2004.
Waiting In East Jerusalem. To Be Free,To Leave .
YouTube – vanunuvmjc
http:/www.vanunu.com
Email. vanunuvmjc@gmail.com
Mobile ( 9 7 2 ) 0 5 2 3 7 4 4 5 6 9.

Here is a comment I received and which most people might miss :

eileen fleming Says:

October 22, 2009 at 8:11 pm | Reply edit

I saw Vanunu last on June 14, 2009 and he told me:

“They renewed the restrictions to not speak to foreigners until November. I meet foreigners every day. I am talking with people every day.

“The Central Commander of the General Army testified in court that it is OK if I speak in public as long as I do not talk about nuclear weapons.”

On July 6, 2009, Israeli Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish continued to deny Vanunu the right to leave the state, claiming his “case is still generating great interest, like any other security-related case. The media’s attention he gets is proof of that.”

I phoned Vanunu that day to express my disappointment and distress, and he replied:

“You have freedom of speech and freedom of movement. Do what you want. But I am not publishing anything. Everything is already on the Internet.”

See and hear Vanunu speak for himself in 2005, 2006 and 2008 video freely streaming @ VANUNU ARCHIVES:

http://www.wearewideawake.org/

October 22, 2009 1

Autumn in Shanghai by Gilad Atzmon

shanghai_pudong-1

Shanghai is modernity in action, it is up for business, its many staggering new high-rise buildings, spear the imagination as well as the sky. It is saturated with festive almost unreal glamour, it is soaking in wealth, it is overwhelmingly proud and yet, it is humane, very humane in fact. It is habitable, it is relatively quiet, it feels safe, it welcomes you on board. It is the Western Metropolis wannabe, yet it is in the East.

read on

October 21, 2009 0

The excommunication of Judge Goldstone

Vicious, vicious, vicious attacks on Goldstone from his South African Jewish community at forecast highs. Don’t worry, judge, you are a great Jew, they did this kind of thing to Spinoza.

This Yom Kippur, had Judge Richard Goldstone asked for forgiveness, which he didn’t, [how do you know what he did on Yom Kippur, you spiritual thug?] he would have found that even the most virtuous members of his old community [oh now you can sort out the virtuous?] could not bring themselves to grant it. From their golden boy, he has gone to being the wicked son.

There is palpable anger at Goldstone within the mainstream South African Jewish community; a feeling that one of their own has betrayed them, sold them out.

read on

October 6, 2009 1

Tikkun’s Interview with Judge Richard Goldstone

This interview was conducted on October 1st, 2009, with Judge Richard Goldstone, the chair of the UN commission investigating the War in Gaza in 2008 and 2009. In the latter years of Apartheid in South Africa, Goldstone served as chairperson of the South African Standing Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation, later known as the Goldstone Commission.

read on

October 4, 2009 0

A Crucial Factor in Colonial Conflicts: Opposition from Within

AUTHOR: Michel WARSCHAWSKI

In a colonial conflict, the main protagonists are, on the one hand, the colonial power and, on the other, the colonized population, and, when it exists, the liberation movement of the latter. This was the case in the Algerian liberation war, the struggle of the Vietnamese people, in Angola and in Mozambique. The ability of the national liberation movements to create, by civil and/or military struggles, a favorable relation of forces in relation to the colonial military and administration, determines, in last account, the end of the colonial domination.

read on here

August 28, 2009 0

On Thursday, August 20 the LA Times published an op-ed in which Ben Gurion University Professor Neve Gordon, a prominent political scientist and long-time peace activist, wrote that the question that kept him up at night, both as a parent and as an Israeli citizen, was how to ensure that his two children as well as the children of his Palestinian neighbors do not grow up in an apartheid regime. His pained conclusion is that the only strategy left is “massive international pressure” in the form of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). He therefore endorses the Palestinian BDS campaign proposed by a wide swath of Palestinian civil society.(1)

Following the publication of the article there has been a vehement and aggressive attack against Gordon in Israel that calls into serious question Israel’s committment to academic freedom and the democratic right to free speech.

We now believe that “massive international pressure” will be needed to keep him from being fired from his job.

Tell Ben Gurion University and the Israeli Minister of Education to defend academic freedom.

Prof. Gordon’s endorsement of economic pressure offers what Naomi Klein termed “the most effective tools in the nonviolent arsenal” to address the Israeli occupation (2).

And yet, Prof. Rivka Carmi, the President of Ben Gurion University, was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying that the “university may no longer be interested in his services.” She added that “Academics who feel this way about their country, are welcome to search for a personal and professional home elsewhere.” (3)

Is Prof. Carmi really calling on Prof. Gordon to leave his country?

Several Knesset members from the right called upon Carmi and the Minister of Education to sack Neve Gordon, while Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the article “repugnant and deplorable.”(4) In the thousands of talkbacks generated by articles in Israel, hundreds of angry readers have called Gordon a traitor, a virus, cancerous, and have threatened to expel him from Israel and some have even called for his execution. Unsurprisingly Israeli rights-abusive policies, the occupation and how one might resolve the conflict are side-stepped, and the central issue becomes how to do away with the messenger.

In Prof. Gordon’ words: “From the responses to the article it seems most people don’t have the courage to discuss the main issues: Is Israel an apartheid state? How can the Israeli-Palestinian conflict be resolved? Is the settlement project good for Israel or will it cause the state’s destruction? It’s easy to criticize me while evading the tough and important questions.” (5)

The dismaying response to Prof. Gordon’s article is but the latest manifestation of attempts to silence dissent within Israel. In only the last six months, activists from New Profile have been arrested and investigated, Ezra Nawi is in danger of going to jail for non-violently defending the destruction of a Palestinian home, and just last week the Vice Prime Minister called Peace Now “a virus.” Are these the actions of a democracy?

BDS is a legitimate non-violent strategy with a storied history, most famously in South Africa. It deserves honest, thoughtful appraisal, such as Dr. Gordon offered in his recent article. By supporting Professor Gordon, we are protecting the ability to talk openly about the Israeli occupation and about nonviolent options to address it, including boycott, divestment, and sanctions.

Write a letter to the President of Ben Gurion University and to the Ministry of Education in Israel to defend Dr. Neve Gordon’s, and every Israeli’s, ability to discuss political issues without fear of losing their jobs.
Notes
(1) http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-gordon20-2009aug20,0,1126906.story

(2) http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/01/israel-boycott-divest-sanction

(3) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418674692&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

(4) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109492.html

(5) http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3765612,00.html