This film is dedicated to the so-called Jewish ‘anti’ Zionists who were harassing and detracting us ahead of the Freiburg Conference (‘Palestine, Israel and Germany – Boundaries of Open Discussion). Ideally, we would like to see many Jews contributing to the discourse rather than attempting to dismantle it. However, we will prevail!!!
[youtube http://youtu.be/TNngjZ1COJA?]
by Keren Carmeli on September 11, 2011
“So looking back, how did we benefit from September 11th?” my teacher with the lazy eye asked as we all sat around in a circle in my 9th grade classroom in Or-Akiva on the first anniversary of the event. I’d been going to Israeli schools since my family relocated to Caesarea when I was four years old and as such those around me would often forget the fact that I was half-American.
I was appalled. How could she ask that? Who the hell was she? Who even thinks about benefiting from such a disaster, even if it is true?
Yes, Israel did benefit from September 11th. Just like the riding instructor at my barn said while the towers were falling, as we all sat on the floor of the nearby restaurant watching CNN International: “now those Americans will know how it feels.” And we felt it- in a big way.
Suddenly it was Us, Americans, Israelis, Europeans, against Them. Dark skinned people with outdated laws and obscure traditions. Those people with their terrible dictators (who we of course had no hand in appointing) and fanatic, merciless ideology. Them.
A new level of “understanding” was forged between Americans and the Israeli people; “they’ve lived in terror for years”, “their children are scared”, “how do they cope?” “trains, buses, cafés- we’re next if we don’t do something about this NOW!”
And we loaded our sons and daughters into air crafts and waved and saluted them as they took off, then saluted them again when they returned in coffins.
“I think it’s disgusting to think about what we’ve gained as the result of such a tragedy.”
Did I really just say that? I spoke up?
My teacher’s eye looked at the wall behind me, which let me know that in her mind she was addressing me. She’s embarrassed. She must have forgotten there was an American in her class. Now she’ll pay, I think to myself.
“How does anyone benefit from thousands of deaths?”
“Well, I just meant politically, ever since the attack Israel’s popularity abroad has increased, there’s no denying that. George Bush’s government has pledged more support for Israel than ever before.”
“How can you say that? So many people are dead.”
A guy who later on in the year would ask me out for my first date began arguing with me. He said that objectively, realistically, Israel was benefiting from the aftermath.
I knew it was true but how could you admit it out loud and discuss it in a group setting, in a classroom, so academically, so matter-of-fact? Like we were discussing a chapter in a history book which in a way we were. A chapter that was being written as we spoke and which would later appear in every history textbook. But why now? Why so soon, when the graves were still fresh and widows and children were still waking up believing it had all been a terrible dream?
“Did you cry when the buildings fell?” he asks.
I’m taken aback. I think I did. Did I? I remember being shocked. First watching like it was just a movie, a scene from Power Rangers, filmed in Japan. Those weren’t the twin towers, they were little cardboard constructions that were routinely torn down by monsters with elaborate headdresses and tentacles and which magically reappeared unscathed in next week’s episode.
Then I saw people. Little specks of people, waving out windows then jumping. And Slavoj Zizek announced that Americans were finally “Welcomed to the Desert of the Real”.
Did I cry? I don’t remember. Is that so important? If I shed one tear as opposed to three, does that make me a bad person? If I cried for twenty seconds or twenty minutes or twenty days, does that mean anything? Does it change anything?
Do I cry now, years later when people continue to die in the name of September 11th? People who had nothing to do with that day, some who weren’t even born when those attacks occurred?
Do you cry?
Did I cry when my cross-eyed teacher’s husband died in a helicopter accident during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, leaving her and three young children behind?
I didn’t.
Teach hate. Teach greed. Teach apathy. Teach to look for the potential advantages that can be gained from the deaths of thousands.
See where it gets you.
And I’ll keep watching on TV, as figures and charts and diagrams appear, and specialists argue and bicker and news casters get younger and more attractive as the news table is removed so that we can catch a glimpse of the new reporter’s legs in her increasingly shorter skirts. I’ll stare and feel nothing. It’s not the news, it’s Power Rangers.
Keren Carmeli is a recent graduate from State University of New York Geneseo with a degree in Media Studies. Carmeli grew up in Israel.
Ok first no one broke in to the Israeli embassy officially yesterday, it was an apartment used by the embassy as some sort of archives vault. I am not defending the action itself but you have to transfer the truth.
Second all the clashes that took place starting from Mid night till the dawn and resulted in the injury of 1049 and the death of 3 was not at the Israeli embassy but rather at the Giza security directorate which are couple of blocks away , in fact when I imagine the map in my head you got the Orman garden between them and the Orman garden is one of the biggest gardens in North Africa.
We got two separate incidents here , the first incident was breaking in to the archives vault apartment following the Israeli embassy in Egypt in the 18th floor. What happened at the building of the already is suspicious by all means , I can’t understand how the army security withdrew like that and why it let the protesters get in to the apartment in this way
The second incident was the Giza security directorate which included huge violent clashes resulted in the death of 3 “2 of them were killed by live ammunition while the third died from a heart attack” . The clashes started when a police vehicle ran over protesters yesterday near Saudi embassy before hiding at Giza security directorate which made the protesters angry to the level of torching other police vehicles and things erupted to the level we are sorry to see.
Officially SCAF warned from an attempt of attack or breaking in to a vital or security premises in its 74 message issued last Wednesday. All these photos of burning vehicles and clashes between the CSF conscripts and protesters were not at the embassy but rather at the Giza security directorate. It has nothing to do with Israel from near or far , it is all about the ministry of interior.
Third all the world has forgot on how Israel forces violated Camp David accords and entered our territories to kill our officers and soldiers without any regret or any official apology as they are not humans and as if Israel did not break any international law. Obama did express his concern after the death of soldiers and officers.
Today conscript Emad Abdel Malek has become officially the 6th martyr in the attack against our officers and soldiers on the borders, he was shot three times by Israeli forces. Of course international press does not recognize and will not recognize Abdel Malek as a human so his murder will be highlighted.
We got two separate incidents here , the first incident was breaking in to the archives vault apartment following the Israeli embassy in Egypt in the 18th floor. What happened at the building of the already is suspicious by all means , I can’t understand how the army security withdrew like that and why it let the protesters get in to the apartment in this way
The second incident was the Giza security directorate which included huge violent clashes resulted in the death of 3 “2 of them were killed by live ammunition while the third died from a heart attack” . The clashes started when a police vehicle ran over protesters yesterday near Saudi embassy before hiding at Giza security directorate which made the protesters angry to the level of torching other police vehicles and things erupted to the level we are sorry to see.
Officially SCAF warned from an attempt of attack or breaking in to a vital or security premises in its 74 message issued last Wednesday. All these photos of burning vehicles and clashes between the CSF conscripts and protesters were not at the embassy but rather at the Giza security directorate. It has nothing to do with Israel from near or far , it is all about the ministry of interior.
Third all the world has forgot on how Israel forces violated Camp David accords and entered our territories to kill our officers and soldiers without any regret or any official apology as they are not humans and as if Israel did not break any international law. Obama did express his concern after the death of soldiers and officers.
Today conscript Emad Abdel Malek has become officially the 6th martyr in the attack against our officers and soldiers on the borders, he was shot three times by Israeli forces. Of course international press does not recognize and will not recognize Abdel Malek as a human so his murder will be highlighted.
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| Late Emad Abdel Malek |
FYI Dr. Doaa Galal, the brother of Police Captain Ahmed Galal who was killed by the Israeli forces on the borders had a shelling testimony about her late martyr brother who talked before his death ,after his injury. Police captain Galal told his sister that the Israeli forces knew that they were attacking Egyptian police forces as there is coordination between them in securing the borders. Unlike what Israeli claimed Galal and his soldiers were wearing the black uniform of CSF not Egyptian army uniform, Galal told his sister that the Israeli counter point knew everyone by name and rank , he kept calling them on radio channels but they did not answer. Galal was shot in his head.
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| Late Galal in Sinai wearing his black uniform |
Our officers and soldiers were killed by forbidden ammunitions according to the official forensic report. They are not animals for God sake. I do not know why human rights watch and other international human organization do not include this in its reports , being a military does not make you less human.
The first position of late Galal was to protect the Israeli embassy by the way !!
If SCAF and Egyptian government took correct steps to restore the rights of these men as well as our dignity , all this would not happen in the first place.
Over the last 10 years Israel violated officially Camp David accords and killed not less 50 officer and solider on our borders , we were forced to be silent because of the Mubarak regime that used to bury them in secret and threat their families if they dared to speak up. Israel unleashed two wars against Lebanon and Gaza because of 4 or 3 soldiers if I am not mistaken.
Now despite it is unacceptable and against the international laws like Vienna convention to break in to an embassy like that , yet this is not the first time it happens in the world. I will not mention the Iran hostage crisis but in my mind we got the incident of breaking in to the American embassy in Beijing after bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. Also in January 2009 our Yemeni brothers stormed the Egyptian consulate after the attack on Gaza.
Many believe in Egypt that what happened in the Israeli embassy was a set up by SCAF , ministry of interior in cooperation with Israel to empower SCAF more. Now the emergency law is fully activated and many people can’t tolerate this chaos and this lack of security that jeopardize our relations with the outside the world now. Tantawy may not show up tomorrow to testify in the shooting of the protests case because of the lack security.
By the way here is a video shot , it clearly shows army soldiers and officers trying to convince them to leave the apartment. Of course the question is why the security forces left the entrance of the building in the first place to let this mob enter like that.
The first position of late Galal was to protect the Israeli embassy by the way !!
If SCAF and Egyptian government took correct steps to restore the rights of these men as well as our dignity , all this would not happen in the first place.
Over the last 10 years Israel violated officially Camp David accords and killed not less 50 officer and solider on our borders , we were forced to be silent because of the Mubarak regime that used to bury them in secret and threat their families if they dared to speak up. Israel unleashed two wars against Lebanon and Gaza because of 4 or 3 soldiers if I am not mistaken.
Now despite it is unacceptable and against the international laws like Vienna convention to break in to an embassy like that , yet this is not the first time it happens in the world. I will not mention the Iran hostage crisis but in my mind we got the incident of breaking in to the American embassy in Beijing after bombing the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999. Also in January 2009 our Yemeni brothers stormed the Egyptian consulate after the attack on Gaza.
Many believe in Egypt that what happened in the Israeli embassy was a set up by SCAF , ministry of interior in cooperation with Israel to empower SCAF more. Now the emergency law is fully activated and many people can’t tolerate this chaos and this lack of security that jeopardize our relations with the outside the world now. Tantawy may not show up tomorrow to testify in the shooting of the protests case because of the lack security.
By the way here is a video shot , it clearly shows army soldiers and officers trying to convince them to leave the apartment. Of course the question is why the security forces left the entrance of the building in the first place to let this mob enter like that.
[youtube http://youtu.be/-p3zwb8lbDo?]
Giza : Breaking in to embassy’s empty archive
Here is a link with more videos from that bloody night.
Of course the beard men and “Allah Akbar” chants do not mean it was made by radical Islamists on the contrary the Islamic powers in the country including the Muslim brotherhood who issueda strong statement about yesterday despite their stand from Israel. The April 6th movements “ The two fronts” are also against the events of yesterday as well as many parties like Al Adl. April 6th Movement “Maher’s front” accused Gamal Mubarak and his men of standing behind these violent clashes. Many public personalities also expressed refusal for what happened despite their stand from Israel like Yosri Fouda and Amr Hamzawy.
Of course in general people are extremely happy with the departure of the Israeli ambassador and are making jokes about it but officially now the emergency law is activated completely and according to it the MOI will be back in business by full force and instead of having military tribunals ,we will return back to the high supreme emergency. Of course Ofir Pasha has tweeted that the Israeli ambassador will return once again to Cairo just from few hours ago
I would be happy if the expel of the Israeli ambassador was taken by an elected democratic government and supported by an elected parliament , the ambassador was not expelled by he was recalled to his country and the gas is still exported while the 6th martyr from
We are emotional people , it is our biggest weakness as Arabs and Egyptians as we do not think of the implications of our actions and we cheer for short term easy mob victories
Despite we are not going to war any time soon whether from our side or Israel’s side , yet I would like to remind on how people cheered for the daring decision of Nasser in 1967 and how he deployed our forces in Sinai in 1967 in a show off move without thinking for one minute logically and strategically the implications of that decision. Unfortunately up till this moment we are paying the prices of his decisions in 1967 among his other decisions.
Ironically Nasser whose photos were held at the Anti-Military rules at Tahrir square last Monday was actually the reason of the military rule in Egypt , in fact the emergency law of 1958 was another product of his era.The 1958 emergency was fully reinstated after the 1967 defeat.
Miko Peled is the son of General Matti Peled, who was a leader in the 1967 war who also fought in the War of Independence in 1948. Like his father, Peled is an advocate for an end to the occupation of Palestine. As an Israeli, he offers an insider’s perspective on just how far Israel has strayed from its democratic principles, and how it has created a society marred by racism and indifference to the suffering of others. His observations are now collected in a book, “The General’s Son: The Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.” In this segment, Miko Peled tells of his experiences as a young soldier in the Israeli army. He describes a confrontation with the same army on a recent visit to Israel and the West Bank.
Miko Peled is a peace activist who dares to say in public what others still choose to deny. Born in Jerusalem in 1961 into a well known Zionist family, his grandfather, Dr. Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. His Father, Matti Peled, was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Sinai.
Miko’s unlikely opinions reflect his father’s legacy. General Peled was a war hero turned peacemaker.
Miko grew up in Jerusalem, a multi-ethnic city, but had to leave Israel before he made his first Palestinian friend, the result of his participation in a dialogue group in California. He was 39.
On September 4, 1997 the beloved Smadar, 13, the daughter of Miko’s sister Nurit and her husband Rami Elhanan was killed in a suicide attack.
Peled insists that Israel/Palestine is one state—the separation wall notwithstanding, massive investment in infrastructure, towns and highways that bisect and connect settlements on the West Bank, have destroyed the possibility for a viable Palestinian state. The result, Peled says is that Israelis and Palestinians are governed by the same government but live under different sets of laws.
At the heart of Peled’s conclusion lies the realization that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace as equals in their shared homeland.
[youtube http://youtu.be/T1h80fa1n1Y?]
The battalion commander explains how soldiers should react to rioters and stone throwers
Submitted by david on Sun, 09/04/2011 – 11:09
“Brand Israel” is on its way to Brussels.
On Thursday (8 September), an exhibition showcasing Israeli designers will open in the Belgian capital. The colorful “happy material” chairs and funky vases on display will try to present a cuddly image of Israel, concealing how the state is wedded to apartheid and colonial expansion.
A catalogue for PromiseDesign, as the touring exhibition is called, emphasizes this point. “Happily, it [Israeli design] does not mirror aspects of the political drama in Israel and the Middle East,” design historian Mel Bryars writes in its preface. “Domestic daily design, such as products for daily life, remains rather light-hearted. Unlike macabre Israeli fine art, you will find no bullet holes in chairs, blood dripping from draperies, or a cynical vocabulary.”
Part of a bigger international design festival, the Brussels exhibition is sponsored by the Israeli embassy in Belgium. PromiseDesign has previously visited Milan and Paris and clearly fits in with the concept of “Brand Israel.” That project was the result of several years of discussions between the Israeli foreign ministry and public relations firms (including the global giant Burson-Marsteller) to improve Israel’s image abroad.
“Brand Israel” had its first major international outing in Toronto in 2008, when a multi-million dollar promotional blitz began. The blitz culminated with a section devoted to Israeli cinema at the Toronto Film Festival the following year. This deliberate attempt to distract attention from Israel’s crimes – most particularly, its assault on Gaza in 2008 and 2009 – was denounced in a declaration signed by the writer Alice Walker, the singer David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads), the film-maker Ken Loach, journalists John Pilger and Naomi Klein, the theater director Juliano Mer-Khamis (who was murdered in Jenin earlier this year), and the subsequently deceased historian Howard Zinn.
Contrary to what Mel Bryars claims, art is not made in a vacuum. Allowing an exhibition to be sponsored by the Israeli state makes it political by definition.
And there is something obscene about celebrating “happy material” chairs from Israel, when schools in Gaza are so broke they struggle to provide seats for their teachers (as I heard John Ging, then head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), complain last year). The “light-hearted” design that Israel is promoting is intended to distract us from the suffocation of Palestine. For that reason, “Brand Israel” must be boycotted.
Gilad’ s New Book: The Wandering Who? will be out in October. It is already available (pre-order) on Amazon.com
bandannie read the book and was mesmerized by the accuracy of his analysis.
Jewish identity is tied up with some of the most difficult and contentious issues of today. The purpose in this book is to open many of these issues up for discussion. Since Israel defines itself openly as the ‘Jewish State’, we should ask what the notions of ’Judaism’, ‘Jewishness’, ‘Jewish culture’ and ‘Jewish ideology’ stand for. Gilad examines the tribal aspects embedded in Jewish secular discourse, both Zionist and anti Zionist; the ‘holocaust religion’; the meaning of ‘history’ and ‘time’ within the Jewish political discourse; the anti-Gentile ideologies entangled within different forms of secular Jewish political discourse and even within the Jewish left. He questions what it is that leads Diaspora Jews to identify themselves with Israel and affiliate with its politics. The devastating state of our world affairs raises an immediate demand for a conceptual shift in our intellectual and philosophical attitude towards politics, identity politics and history.
You can now pre-order the book on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
“A formidable improvisational array…a local jazz giant steadily drawing himself up to his full height…”-John Fordham, The Guardian
“Best Musician” living in the world today, Robert Wyatt, The Guardian
“…Atzmon is an astonishing musician.” John Lewis, Metro
Click below for samples of his music :
The Tide Has Changed by Gilad Atzmon
band annie's Weblog 