The more I read about the Chilcot inquiry the more disturbed I am. The fallacy imbued in the heart of British ‘democracy’ is staggering. While some commentators are concerned with questions to do with the legality of the war, the most crucial issue here is actually the disappearance of ethical judgment from our public and political life. Rather than being concerned with morality and ethics British politicians are concerned with legalism. In other words, if someone would manage to prove that the war was ‘legal’ then the murdering of a million and a half Iraqis would be well justified. Let’s all face it, our politicians are corrupted to the bone.
BenvenistiJanuary 2010
The article below, an extract from a longer book, was published today in the Hebrew edition of Ha’aretz. It did not appear in the English edition but has been translated by Profs Zalman Amit and Daphna Levitt and circualted by email.
Introduction to an interview with Benvenisti in Challenge magazine, # 99, September – October 2006
Meron Benvenisti’s unflinching analyses often cause squirming both on the Right and the Left. He served as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem in the 1970’s, administering the city’s annexed Arab sections. In the 1980’s, before the first Intifada, he founded and directed the West Bank Data Project, an eye-opener with regard to the effects of Israel’s policies. His most controversial conclusion was that these policies amounted to de facto annexation. He claimed that because of the settlements (then a mere smattering compared to today), the situation had become irreversible. As a corollary, Benvenisti has long maintained that, given the realities of population and resources, the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean cannot accommodate two states.
Jonathan Cook
The National
NAZARETH // Leaders of the Arab minority in Israel warned this week that they were facing an unprecedented campaign of persecution, backed by the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, designed to stop their political activities.
The warning came after Said Nafaa, a Druze member of the Israeli parliament was stripped of his immunity last week, clearing the way for him to be tried for a visit to Syria three years ago.
In recent weeks legal sanctions have been invoked against two other Arab political leaders, following clashes with the Israeli security forces at demonstrations against the occupation, and pressure is growing for two more MPs to be investigated.
Arab politicians are particularly concerned about a bill introduced last month requiring all parliamentary candidates to swear loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state. If passed, the seats of the 10 Arab MPs belonging to non-Zionist parties in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset, would be under threat.
Jamal Zahalka, one of those MPs, said: “Every week either the Knesset or the government try to impose new restrictions on our activities and freedom of speech. There is a growing trend towards anti-democratic legislation.”
Israel has accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of inciting “anti-Semitism” by making remarks on the war crimes committed against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
A new report prepared by the foreign ministry in Tel Aviv charges that although Erdogan has stresses that anti-Semitism is “a crime against humanity,” he “indirectly incites and encourages” it in Turkey, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
“In our estimate, ever since his party took power, Erdogan has conducted an ongoing process of … fashioning a negative view of Israel in Turkish public opinion,” through endless talks of Palestinian suffering, repeatedly accusing Israel of war crimes and even “anti-Semitic expressions and incitement,” read the report.
The seven-page report written by the Center for Political Research has already been distributed to Israeli embassies and consulates abroad.
“For Erdogan and some of those around him,” the report claimed, “there is no distinction between ‘Israeli’ and ‘Jewish,’ and therefore, [their] anti-Israel fervor and criticism become anti-Jewish.”
“Turkey today, under the leadership of the AKP [Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party], is different from the Turkey with which Israel forged a strategic relationship in the early 1990s,” the report concluded.
Relations between Israel and Turkey began to deteriorate after Erdogan publicly slammed Israel over its late 2008 incursion into Gaza and charged the regime with committing “barbarian” acts against the Palestinian civilians.
(Press TV)
Saturday 30th of January 2010 02:13:17 AM
Knesset members visiting Krakow surprised to see ads against opposition chairwoman, defense minister on number of bulletin boards across city
Israeli leaders continue are still wanted in Europe, but not in a positive way: Knesset members visiting Poland for ceremonies marking International Holocaust Day were surprised to see ads against Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni in the city of Krakow on Tuesday evening.
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