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Dutch police’s National Crime Squad raids the offices of the Riwal Holding Group

Dutch police raided the offices of a company leasing cranes for building the West Bank Separation Fence and settlements. Company executives, including the Israeli Doron Livnat, may face trial for violating International Law. Dutch government warned the Riwal Company two years ago not to engage in construction in the Occupied Trritories. Gush Shalom: another warning sign of the abyss of international isolation into which the Government of Israel leads us

A few days ago, the Dutch police’s National Crime Squad raided the offices of the Riwal Holding Group in the city of Dordrecht, confiscating computers documents relating to the leasing of cranes owned by the the company’s Israeli branch for the construction of the “Separation Wall” and of settlements in the Occupied Territories. Police findings have been passed on to the Dutch State Prosecution, which should decide whether or not to prosecute the corporate executives – including the Israeli businessman Doron Livnat – on charges of violating International Law.

The affair started with the 2004 ruling by the International Court in The Hague, which determined that construction of the “Separation Wall” within the West Bank territory constituted a violation of International Law, and that if Israel wants to build a border fence to prevent infiltration into its territory it should have been placed on the border, i.e. on the  Green Line. Accordingly, the International Court judges called for upon all UN member states and Geneva Convention signatories not to cooperate with erection of the Wall and to prevent their citizens from any such cooperation.

In 2006, a Dutch television crew filmed cranes active in construction of the Separation Fence and of settlements, which bore the Riwal Company logo. Dutch Labour Party MP’s raised the issue and addressed parliamentary questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. As a result, the Dutch Government in 2008 warned the Riwal company not to engage in activities at the Occupied Territories. But the organization “United Civilians for Peace” in Amsterdam found evidence that the company ignored the government warning and continued this activity.

Last year the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq of Ramallah engaged the Dutch law firm Bohler. On its behalf, Adv. Liesbeth Zegveld lodged this year a complaint to the legal authorities. The raid on the Riwal Dordrecht offices is a tangible result of this activity.

Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, regards this episode as yet another alarming sign of Israel’s deteriorating international position, fast slipping down to a disastrous total isolation. “A decade ago, authorities in the Netherlands would not have considered taking such measures. The Israeli Government,  renewing settlement construction, promoting loyalty oaths and ever new provocations, confronts the entire the world, alienates Israel’s best friends and takes us on a mad gallop into the abyss”.

 

Riwal is the largest company in the Netherlands in the field of building cranes, and among the largest in the world.  The Riwal Israel Company, active also under the name “Lia Holding”,  was in the news a few years ago when a business dispute between it and the competing “Avi Cranes” escalated  into violence and the setting of cranes on fire.

 

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Ireland cancels munitions deal with Israel for forging Irish passports used in the Mabhouh assassination

Monday, 11 October 2010 14:30
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Ireland cancels munitions deal with Israel for forging Irish passports used in the Mabhouh assassinationOn Monday (11.10.2010), the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, reported that the Irish Ministry of Defence has cancelled a contract with Israel to supply the Irish army with more than 20 million bullets annually which are used as ammunition by the various Irish military forces.

Maariv quoted the Irish press as saying that after having purchased millions of Euros worth of ammunition from Israel over the past five years, the Irish Ministry of Defence has decided to cancel its contract with Israel and to sign an alternative deals with Belgium and Brazil among others.

Irish newspapers interpret this decision as a response to the Dubai assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in January of last year. The ring of Mossad assassins, according to international sources, used forged Irish passports.

This indicates that in the past five years, Ireland has bought Israeli made ammunition to the value of 14 million Euros following the government’s insistence on excluding Israel from all boycott – despite international political protest.

However, this year, against the backdrop of developing tensions in relations with Israel due to the Mabhouh assassination, Dublin has decided to transfer the contract to supply the Irish army with ammunition to other countries.

Source: Sama

 

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Turkish PM announces boycott of Athens Conference if Netanyahu attends

Tuesday, 19 October 2010 12:25
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Turkey's Prime Minister has announced that he will not attend the climate conference in Athens next Friday if his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu takes part.Israeli-Turkish relations have deteriorated drastically since Operation Cast Lead

Turkey’s Prime Minister has announced that he will not attend the climate conference in Athens next Friday if his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu takes part. In an interview with Greek television on Monday evening, Recep Tayyip Erdogan also stated that Israel was on the brink of losing a very important ally in the region, namely Turkey.

Israeli-Turkish relations have deteriorated drastically since Operation Cast Lead in December 2008 and January 2009 and the subsequent Israeli attack on the Marvi Marmara as it attempted to sail to Gaza and break the Israeli siege. During the deadly assault, nine unarmed Turkish humanitarian activists were killed by Israeli commandos. source

 

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Antiwar Radio – Max Blumenthal – 9/1/2010

During a recent appearance on Antiwar Radio author and investigative journalist Max Blumenthal discusses his recent article on the Torat Ha’Melech, or the King’s Torah, a 230 page “guidebook” for Jews who are considering killing non-Jews.

According to Blumenthal:

As soon as it was published late last year,Torat Ha’Melech sparked a national uproar. The controversy began when an Israeli tabloid panned the book’s contents as “230 pages on the laws concerning the killing of non-Jews, a kind of guidebook for anyone who ponders the question of if and when it is permissible to take the life of a non-Jew.” According to the book’s author, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, “Non-Jews are “uncompassionate by nature” and should be killed in order to “curb their evil inclinations.” “If we kill a gentile who has has violated one of the seven commandments… there is nothing wrong with the murder,” Shapira insisted. Citing Jewish law as his source (or at least a very selective interpretation of it) he declared: “There is justification for killing babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults.”

Read more here.

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AhavaProtestLondon09102010.avi

Latest in the series of two weekly protest demos outside the Ahava shop in London, which markets so called “Israeli” goods which are in fact goods made in an illegal settlement on stolen Palestinian land with chemicals stolen from the Palestinian territory at the north western corner of the Dead Sea.. This explains Ahava’s reluctance to go to court against pro-Palestinian activists as they know they are involved in the illegal sale of stolen goods.

says the sender of this clip :This is another one from Seymour Alexander. I sing a boycott version of Hava Nagila, the ‘Ahava Laughing Song’ and I taunt Jonathan Hoffman by singing the ‘Barcarolle’ from the Tales of Hoffman at him! The end is rather amusing, but wait and see! Meanwhile, Millet can be seen, doing his usual, menacing stalking around at the front with his camera. Martin Sugarman is the spidery man with the beard.

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Groundwork laid for media narrative of failed peace talks: It’s the Palestinians’ fault

Oct 13, 2010 07:10 pm | Alex Kane

With direct “peace talks” between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government headed nowhere fast after the Netanyahu government let the so-called “settlement freeze” lapse, the groundwork for the media narrative on who to blame if the “peace talks” officially break off is being laid. Predictably, it will be, and already is, a narrative of Palestinian rejectionism versus Israeli generosity.

Matt Duss, a must-read blogger on Middle East issues over at Think Progress’ Wonk Room, picks up on this, pointing to the headlines written after the Palestinian Authority said “no” to Netanyahu’s “offer” of a partial extension of the “settlement freeze” in exchange for the Palestinians recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. The Palestinians recognizing Israel as such would effectively sign away the Palestinian right of return and relegate once and for all Palestinian citizens of Israel to institutionalized and official second-class status (which is the case already.)

Duss writes:

As opposed to a settlement freeze, the demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish State is an entirely new one. What Netanyahu is essentially saying to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, then, is that, in return for Abbas meeting this new demand, Netanyahu generously offers to partially, temporarily meet one of Israel’s already existing obligations.

Of course the Palestinian Authority has refused this “offer.” Is it really unclear why? Now let’s look at some of the headlines:

The Washington Post: “Israeli prime minister offers conditional settlements freeze”

Associated Press: “Israeli PM offers conditional settlements freeze”

Ha’aretz: “Netanyahu pleads to save talks as Palestinians threaten walkout”

Jerusalem Post: “PA quashes PM’s offer for renewed building freeze”

And thus, magically, the Palestinians have threatened the talks by rejecting yet another generous Israeli offer.

Here’s some more headlines on that theme:

–Palestinians Reject Israel’s Offer on Settlement Freeze, Voice of America News

–Palestinians Reject Israel Offer, Wall Street Journal

–Palestinians reject Israeli offer on settlement freeze, BBC News

–Palestinians reject Israeli demand, Reuters

You get the picture. Israel is now essentially saying: we will partially obey international law for 60 days (and then go back to violating it), as long as you sign away basic human rights–refugees and their descendants returning to homes they were expelled from and equality for all–forever. And media, both in the U.S., in Israel and around the world, are adopting Israel’s framing of the issue.

The media narrative of Israeli generosity and Palestinian rejectionism is an old one that was prominently displayed in the aftermath of the collapsed Camp David peace talks in 2000.

Seth Ackerman, writing for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’s Extra! magazine in July/August 2002, documented the U.S. media’s telling of the Camp David story in an excellent article:

The seemingly endless volleys of attack and retaliation in the Middle East leave many people wondering why the two sides can’t reach an agreement. The answer is simple, according to numerous commentators: At the Camp David meeting in July 2000, Israel “offered extraordinary concessions” (Michael Kelly, Washington Post, 3/13/02), “far-reaching concessions” (Boston Globe, 12/30/01), “unprecedented concessions” (E.J. Dionne, Washington Post, 12/4/01). Israel’s “generous peace terms” (L.A. Times editorial, 3/15/02) constituted “the most far-reaching offer ever” (Chicago Tribune editorial, 6/6/01) to create a Palestinian state. In short, Camp David was “an unprecedented concession” to the Palestinians (Time, 12/25/00).

But due to “Arafat’s recalcitrance” (L.A. Times editorial, 4/9/02) and “Palestinian rejectionism” (Mortimer Zuckerman, U.S. News & World Report, 3/22/02), “Arafat walked away from generous Israeli peacemaking proposals without even making a counteroffer” (Salon, 3/8/01). Yes, Arafat “walked away without making a counteroffer” (Samuel G. Freedman, USA Today, 6/18/01). Israel “offered peace terms more generous than ever before and Arafat did not even make a counteroffer” (Chicago Sun-Times editorial, 11/10/00). In case the point isn’t clear: “At Camp David, Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians an astonishingly generous peace with dignity and statehood. Arafat not only turned it down, he refused to make a counteroffer!” (Charles Krauthammer, Seattle Times, 10/16/00).

This account is one of the most tenacious myths of the conflict. Its implications are obvious: There is nothing Israel can do to make peace with its Palestinian neighbors. The Israeli army’s increasingly deadly attacks, in this version, can be seen purely as self-defense against Palestinian aggression that is motivated by little more than blind hatred.

As the cliche goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This piece originally appeared on Alex Kane’s blog.

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Laid on a little too thick

Gaza, hasbara version

The two  videos below are being targeted by a clever hasbara outfit  which proposes you to download its program so you are informed of any unfavorable piece of news about Israel and you are urged to strike back.  Do they really believe that they can continue to  fool us ?

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Palestinian Israelis are to have ‘Jewish’ nationality (as Jews once had to be public Christians in Europe)

by Shmuel Sermoneta-Gertel on October 10, 2010

Today the Israeli government approved a proposal by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to change the declaration of loyalty required of all non-Jews applying for Israeli citizenship (excluding those entitled to citizenship according to the Law of Return).  Neeman’s proposal seeks to amend the current declaration – “I declare that I will be a loyal national of the State of Israel” (Nationality Law 5712-1952, art. 5c) – to include the words “as a Jewish and democratic state”.

The timing is symbolic. Exactly ten years ago, the first ten days of October 2000 were marked by protests in northern Israel, brutally repressed by Israeli police, who used live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas against Palestinian Israeli citizens, leaving 13 dead. Israeli security forces have never used live ammunition against Jewish protesters – no matter how violent. The contradiction between “Jewish” and “democratic” could not have been more poignant. The events were a watershed for Palestinian Israelis, comparable to 30 March 1976 (“Land Day”), demonstrating once again their second-class citizenship and exclusion (“treated as enemies”), and affirming their connection to Palestinians on the other side of the “green line”.

And for many Jewish Israelis, the protests themselves (in solidarity with Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the OPT) reflected the basic disloyalty of Palestinian citizens to the Jewish state.

A commission of inquiry (the Or Commission) identified institutional discrimination as one of the root causes of Palestinian discontent, and made a series of recommendations to address this inequality. Not only have the commission’s recommendations been ignored, but since October 2000, efforts have been redoubled to “Judaise” the Galilee, Wadi ‘Ara and the Triangle, and to discredit Palestinian Israeli leaders and representatives in the Knesset. The ban on Palestinian family unification (where one spouse is an Israeli citizen and the other a Palestinian from the OPT) can also be traced to these events, as can recent attempts to reinforce Israel’s “Jewish character” – in proposed legislation such as the amendment to the declaration of loyalty (for other examples, see the Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s position paper Harming Democracy in the Heart of Democracy), and in the repeated demand for international and especially Palestinian recognition of Israel “as a Jewish state”.

Another Israeli policy with roots in the October Events is the crackdown on Palestinian civil society, as described by Ameer Makhoul.

In The Time of the Green Line, Yehouda Shenhav compares the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel to that of emancipated Jews in 19th-century Europe (beginning with Prussia, in 1841), who were afforded individual freedoms, but required to be “Christians” in public. Shenhav writes:

According to the model of the green line, Palestinian nationalism must accept the Judaism of the public sphere; it does not allow recognition of Palestinian nationalism that is not subservient, and denies Palestinian citizens of Israel collective political rights. The demand that the state be Jewish and democratic requires Palestinian citizens of Israel to define their nationality as Jewish, even if they are Muslims or Christians by religion. … Palestinian citizens of Israel are not willing to define their nationality as Jewish … all the more so, because the Jewish state defines their own nationality as that of an enemy.

During the Oslo years, many Israeli Jews, even on the left, believed that this transformation had largely been accomplished, that Israel’s Palestinian citizens had developed a national identity distinct from that of other Palestinians, a “Jewish” identity. The events of October 2000 shattered those illusions, but led very few to question the political and ideological system behind them, opting instead for more of the same: forced Judaisation, not only of the land, but of all of its inhabitants – with the caveat that they will never be treated as equals.

source

 

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New Side-by-Side Gaza Flotilla Timeline Report Discredits Israeli Version of Events

 

Navi Marmara

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON D.C., October 7, 2010: A comprehensive report examining the minute-by-minute versions of the same events during the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla attack by Israel was released by two charity groups today. Contrasting passenger testimonies against official Israeli accounts side-by-side to each other, a complete picture can be seen as to exactly what transpired in the days and hours leading up to the incident as well as its aftermath.

The attack took place in international waters in the early hours of May 31, 2010 as humanitarian aid workers carrying goods and supplies, including medical equipment, attempted to break the Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza. The attack on the six ships in the flotilla led to the deaths of nine passengers on the Turkish-supported Mavi Marmara ship. The result has been an intense worldwide condemnation of Israeli policies towards the increase in aid missions.

The Timeline and Inconsistencies Report, co-sponsored by the International Bureau of Humanitarian NGOs (IBH) in Geneva and Paris, and the Friends of Charities Association (FOCA) in Washington D.C., takes each individual action as it happened, and aligns the passenger version against the Israeli account. The “conclusions are in sharp contrast to the Israeli official version of events,” the report found.

Released as an advance copy coincidentally on the same day as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) issued its damning conclusions of Israeli actions, the timeline analysis lets the evidence speak for itself.

Tom Nelson, lawyer and spokesperson for FOCA, presented the Timeline Report to colleagues in Europe this week. “It got absolutely raving positive reviews here in Brussels,” he said, adding, “It is a powerful supplement to the UN Human Rights Commission report.”

IBH and FOCA conducted the research over a 4-month period based on information gathered from passenger testimonies, government authorities, world press coverage, official videos and film smuggled from the ship, as well as the United Nations report, Israeli self-inquiry, and Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) report.

Conclusions  show  that  Israel  clearly  manipulated  evidence  to  bolster  its  argument  that  the  attack  on  the Mavi  Marmara  was  in  self-defense  against  armed  violent  activists.   Using  second-by-second  analysis,  the reports shows how the six passengers killed were victims of execution-style murders by the Israeli soldiers.

Examples  of  manufactured  computer-generated  images  installed  into  the  official  Israeli  video  released  are revealed as individual frames.

The report goes on to note that when passengers were detained and independently and consistently testified to  being  beaten,  sexually  harassed  and  abused,  “no  argument  as  to  imminent  threat  could  be  justified”  by the Israeli authorities.

The report can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.foca.net/media/documents/timeline-inconsistencies-gaza-flotilla-attack-31052010.pdf

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ABOUT THE REPORT SPONSORS

International Bureau of Humanitarian NGOs (IBH) and Friends of Charities Association (FOCA)

IBH and FOCA are non-profit organizations that advocate the rights of Islamic charities throughout the world, promote ties with civil society groups, and support the reform of global security laws and policies that impact charities of all denominations.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Wendell Belew: Tel +1202 255 3808; Email wbelew@belewlaw.com

Tom Nelson: Tel +1 503 622 3262; Email nelson@thnelson.com

_________________________________

Friends of Charities Association (FOCA) 1150 Connecticut Avenue NW

Suite 900

Washington, DC 20036

Tel: + 1 202 862 4348

Fax: +1 202 364 8868 Email: info@foca.net

www.foca.net

International Bureau of Humanitarian NGOs (IBH)

Geneva and Paris

Tel & Fax: +33 1 4746 1988

Email: ibh@ibh.me

www.ibh.me; www.humanitarianibh.net

Source: FOCA, IBH

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