I do think that taking Tax from Jews is nothing less than Anti Semitism in practice. After the Holocaust and 2000 years of Jewish suffering we should accept that Jews have the right to hide some money from the tax authorities, just in case the horror repeats itself.
The BBC reported today that A US watchmaker told the American court that he “hid $10,000,000 in a Swiss bank account because of ‘survival behaviour’ learned from the Holocaust”.
Southsidebhoy
On Saturday a couple of zionist’s organised a pro Israel picket on byres road in the west end of Glasgow unexpectedly. 7 comrades from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) were out anyway to setting up a boycott Israeli goods stall.
The zionists dreadful attempt was to distribute free Israeli produce. However after 3 hours they gave up distributing free fruit which only reaching the single digits. This is the result of the strong intervention of our activists who stood their ground, till the Israeli Zionist activists left. The police turned up and left after a while knowing we were peaceful.
The Zionists admitted it would have been easier to distribute the free fruit if we weren’t there. Many individuals accepted the free fruit but our activists explained to people the true origins of the fruit and many people returned the free fruit to the Israeli’s embarrassment. On numerous occasions members of the public gave the fruit to our activists who delivered it back to the Israeli activists. While walking to the Israeli’s fruit box to give back the free fruit our peace activists exclaimed loud, so many people on the very sunny busy byres road turned their heads learning that these formerly deceived members of the public would’nt accept these free fruits of oppression from stolen Palestinian land.
The fruit’s were dropped from high above crashing, creating a loud thud when it landed in the Zionists produce of Israel box. Their faces said it all. Despite their lame attempts to convince people it’s low cost and high quality for themselves to buy whenever.
read on
Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
One day after Osama reminded us all that he is still a threat to the entire world (and quite possibly the known universe), as if by magic, three bombs explode in Egypt’s Sinai resort of Dahab, killing 30 people and wounding dozens more.
Only two of the dead were foreigners, the rest were ordinary Egyptians workers, which is simply more proof that Osama really is a nihilist and al-Qaeda have forsaken their Islamic ideology and just want to kill. Anyone will do; Arabs, Muslims, Jews, Papua New Guineans, Americans, primates, all are fair game in al-Qaeda’s struggle to destroy not just Western civilisation but ALL civilisation on the planet, it seems.
Initially, a Dubai based news agency quoting “intelligence sources” said that two suicide bombers were involved. How they came by this information is not known. Later however, Egyptian security sources said that it was unlikely that suicide bombers were involved. The simple fact is that, without a detailed forensic examination of the scene, there is no way to tell whether an explosion in a packed restaurant was the result of a bomb attached to a person or just to the table at which a person was sitting. In both cases the result is the same: body parts and fixtures strewn everywhere.
From December 1947 until November 1948, Zionist forces (namely the Irgun, Lehi, Haganah terrorist gangs) expelled approximately 750, 000 indigenous Palestinians–almost 2/3 of the population–from their homes.
Hundreds of Palestinians were also murdered for refusing to leave their homes. The most notable massacre is the Deir Yassin Massacre, in which an estimated 120 Palestinian civilians were brutally murdered by an Irgun-Lehi force. Other massacres include the ones at Sahila (70-80 killed), Lod (250 killed), and Abu Shusha (70 killed). About 40 other massacres were carried out by Zionist forces in just the summer of 1948.
Not only did Zionist forces conduct massacres of Palestinian civilians, rape occured as well. According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, “In Acre four soldiers raped a girl and murdered her and her father. In Jaffa, soldiers of the Kiryati Brigade raped one girl and tried to rape several more. At Hunin, which is in the Galilee, two girls were raped and then murdered. There were one or two cases of rape at Tantura, south of Haifa. There was one case of rape at Qula, in the center of the country. At the village of Abu Shusha, near Kibbutz Gezer [in the Ramle area] there were four female prisoners, one of whom was raped a number of times. And there were other cases. Usually more than one soldier was involved. Usually there were one or two Palestinian girls. In a large proportion of the cases the event ended with murder. Because neither the victims nor the rapists liked to report these events, we have to assume that the dozen cases of rape that were reported, which I found, are not the whole story. They are just the tip of the iceberg.”
During Al Nakba, Palestinians were murdered, raped, and ethnically cleansed from their villages. According to Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, “In a matter of seven months, 531 villages were destroyed and 11 urban neighborhoods emptied.”
Palestinians were forced into were forced out of Palestine and into neighboring countries (i.e. Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan), where they lived in refugee camps. Many were also sent to camps in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Most Palestinian towns were demolished and taken by the newly established Israeli government to make room for new Jewish immigrants. Old Palestinian infrastructures, as well as many ruins dating back from the Canaanites, Romans, Greeks, Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks were completely destroyed. This signified the end of historical Palestine and the birth of modern-day Israel.
Al Nakba marked the beginning of the Palestinian refugee crisis. Al Nakba destroyed a thriving and diverse Palestinian society and scattered them into diaspora. According to the UNRWA, the number of registered Palestinian refugees today is approximately 4.5 million. These refugees are dispersed throughout the world, many of which are still living in poverty-stricken refugee camps. Today, the situation keeps worsening and thousands die from malnutrition, contaminated water, or scarce medical supply.
Israel has since refused to allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, and has refused to pay them compensation as required by UN Resolution 194, which was passed on December 11, 1948.
Historically, the Israeli government, Israeli schools, and Israeli historians have denied that Al Nakba has occured. However, The New Historians, a loosely-defined group of Israeli historians, have recently published information recognizing the Al Nakba tragedy and controversial views of matters concerning Israel, particularly events concerning its birth in 1948. Much of their material comes from recently declassified Israeli government papers. Leading scholars in this school include Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim, and Tom Segev. Many of their conclusions have been attacked by other scholars and Israeli historians, who continue deny Al Nakba even occured.
Protest Veolia!!
Veolia Water UK manager hosted by Edinburgh University Business School
Tuesday 6th April from 5.30pm onwards – 7 Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AL
Veolia, is complicit in Israel’s breach of International law and ongoing war crimes in Palestine.
Veolia, a French multinational with various subsidiaries (such as Connex, Onyx or Cleanway), is involved in providing services for the State of Israel. These services cement Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and aid the establishment of an apartheid state.
Israel’s Occupation of Palestine is illegal under international law. As is the building of “settlements” and the annexation of East Jerusalem, including the ongoing evictions of Palestinians from their homes.
Veolia’s collaboration with Israel is immoral. It profits from Israel’s crimes in the following ways –
1. Veolia is a major partner in the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), which is set to link Israeli West Jerusalem to illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem (Palestine).
2. Veolia runs two bus services (109 and 110), which connect Israeli West Jerusalem to illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem, using roads on which Palestinians are forbidden to travel.
3. Through its subsidiary TMM, Veolia owns and operates the Tovlan landfill site in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank. This site is set up to service the illegal settlements, dumping waste on Palestinian land, and by extension, the illegal occupation.
Veolia is currently being dragged through the French courts for its illegal actions and has already lost contracts to the value of billions of euros in Europe alone due to boycott actions.
Come to protest Veolia’s disregard for international and human rights law and their proffiting from Israel’s crimes.
For more information please check:http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_sectionex&view=category&id=50&Itemid=200209
And SPSC Veolia factsheet: www.scottishpsc.org.uk
Official statement released by the JQ on 30 March 2010 re the Wigmore protest. Please compare their announcement with the evidence provided by Vanesa Fuertes [see at the bottom of this email].
The announcement claims they are “not politicians”, yet it reads as if written by an Israeli official. While they claim “We are musicians, not politicians”, they try to score political points because “two of us are regular members of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of Israeli and Arab musicians”. In concert with Israeli propaganda they portray the image of Israel free of Apartheid, in which all is needed is for “Israeli and Arab” to be seen together. They don’t even utter the identity of these Arabs, recognised by others as Palestinians.
As true Israeli politicians, they demand that we refrain “It is destructive of our attempts to foster Israel-Arab relations for us to be the subject of demonstrations of the kind we suffered yesterday”
In compliance with Israeli propaganda, their entire announcement not once mentions Gaza or the Siege, the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, etc etc. The people they recognise to endure any sufferings are “the audience in the Hall, the staff of the Hall, and the radio audience wishing to hear the concert”, who were victims of the “upsetting” “acts of the demonstrators inside the Hall”. Of course they did not omit another group of victims: themselves, for suffering from being “subject of demonstrations of the kind” at Wigmore Hall.
According to the JQ even Israeli soldiers are just “fellow citizens” for whom they played during their military service.
The JQ had not a single word of criticism of Israel, not a single criticism of it policies and actions against Palestinians, not a word of compassion for children in Gaza who have no chance of developing their musical experience under siege which deprive them of food and clean water and even pen and paper.
On the other hand, the JQ don’t hesitate to criticise “The demonstrators” for being “mistaken and ignorant and inconsiderate”.
Now that the JQ made clear its position, there should be little doubt it is a legitimate target for boycott. That is until it would genuinely change.
Yael Kahn
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
30 March 2010
announcement by the Jerusalem Quartet
Our lunchtime concert at the Wigmore Hall yesterday, 29 March 201, was repeatedly interrupted by protesters seeking to demonstrate against the Government of Israel. The acts of the demonstrators inside the Hall were upsetting to the audience in the Hall, the staff of the Hall, and the radio audience wishing to hear the concert on Radio Three. The demonstrators were mistaken and ignorant and inconsiderate.
The demonstrators were mistaken because we are not representatives of the Government of Israel. We are Israeli citizens, but have no connection with or patronage by the Government. We no more represent the Government of Israel than the audience at the Wigmore Hall represented the Government of the United Kingdom.
As Israeli citizens, we were required to, and did, perform our National Service when we were aged 18. As it happens, none of us was in a combat unit. We served our conscription as musicians playing for our fellow citizens. To identify our conscription, particularly since it was so long ago, with support for government policies is as irrational as blaming members of the Territorial Army in this country for the invasion of Iraq.
The demonstrators were ignorant of the fact that two of us are regular members of Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, composed of Israeli and Arab musicians. We teach and lead our respective sections of that orchestra. It is destructive of our attempts to foster Israel-Arab relations for us to be the subject of demonstrations of the kind we suffered yesterday.
We are musicians, not politicians. We want our audiences to enjoy our music, whoever they may be, whatever their religion or nationality or ethnicity, without unthinking interruptions of the kind that we, our audiences and the staff suffered yesterday.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The evidence provided by Vanesa Fuertes:
JERUSALEM QUARTET – CULTURAL AMBASADORS OF ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Quartet
· perform for Israeli Ambassadors
· accept they are cultural ambassadors for Israel
· are sponsored on tours by the Israeli Government
· were introduced to the audience by an Israeli Ambassador on stage
· have an official status inside the Israeli Army as Distinguished IDF Musicians, a status reported around the world, a status that was never withdrawn and never repudiated by them
· are seen by Palestinians as a legitimate target for the cultural boycott on the basis of accurate information.
Contents
FUNDED AND SUPPORTED.. 1SPONSORSHIP BY THE ISRAELI STATE.. 4THEIR IMAGE TO THE WORLD.. 4TOURS CLEARLY FUNDED BY THE STATE OF ISRAEL. 5ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UK REPLY TO OUR ACTIONS.. 6
FUNDED AND SUPPORTED
1) Created, supported and promoted by the Jerusalem Music Centre
“the quartet was founded within the framework of the Young Musicians’ Group of the Jerusalem Music Centre and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation [AICF] in co-operation with the Conservatory of the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music and Dance”.
http://www.jmc.co.il/artist.asp?aid=1
(Document A)
“the Quartet has been busy playing concerts in Israel and abroad, including a concert in Amman at the residence of Israel’s ambassador to Jordan; the Israeli premiere of 12 Microludes by Gyorgy Kurtag in the presence of the composer; a European concert tour sponsored by the Israel Foreign Ministry featuring concerts in Oslo, Stockholm, Vienna, The Hague, Copenhagen, and Bratislavia; a concert tour to South Africa under the auspices of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation…”
http://www.jmc.co.il/musicfile.asp?mid=9
(Document A2)
To this day they are still very much supported and promoted by the JMC:
The JMC “presents the best of Israel’s chamber groups, as well as a few visiting ensembles, with an emphasis on artists affiliated with the JMC, in particular the Jerusalem Quartet.”
http://www.jmc.co.il/thejmcact.asp?cid=1
(Document B)
1.1) The Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC), which worked to get the Jerusalem Quartet into the Israeli Army, was established by the mainstream Zionist organisation, the Jerusalem Foundation, which PACBI refers to in their support for a boycott of the Jerusalem Quartet.
The JMC/IDF link remains, as a 2007 JMC report indicates: They secured “funding [for] a part-time coordinator for the Outstanding Musicians in the IDF program, which had been run by JMC staff up until then on a volunteer basis…IDF Outstanding Musicians now have [support to]… reconcile the demands of military service with those of their musical training (and make sure they make the best of both)…”
“The Jerusalem Music Centre is the Quartet’s “home base” in Jerusalem.”
(Document B2)
1.2) The JMC is located is an illegal settlement in the Occupied West Bank, illegal under international law.
“Our “headquarters” is situated in one of Jerusalem’s most picturesque corners – Mishkenot Sha’ananim, the first Jewish neighborhood established outside the walls of the Old City”
http://www.jmc.co.il/thejmc.asp?cid=3
(Document C)
1.3) “Our independence allows us to operate, to some extent, as a laboratory: free from the rule of rating and the burden of bureaucracy, we can afford to explore and experiment. At the same time, we cooperate regularly with practically all leading organisations of music and music education in Israel: the Buchman-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University; the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance; the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; the New Israeli Opera; the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Science, Culture & Sports; pre-academic music schools all over the country; and so on. “
http://www.jmc.co.il/thejmc.asp?cid=2
(Document C2)
2) Funded and supported by the America Israel Cultural Foundation
“In the past five years alone, AICF has awarded over $6.5m in scholarships to Israeli students of the arts, supporting the next generation of Israel’s cultural ambassadors.”
(Document D)
Their mission is to “Depict the State of Israel as a thriving cultural environment that stimulates creativity and artistic life.”
http://www.aicf.org/about/mission
(Document D2)
“Here are a few of our most prominent artists and the years they were funded:” …
Jerusalem Quartet: Alexander Pavlovsky, violin, 1992-1999; Sergei Bresler, violin, 1991-1999; Amihai Grosz, viola, 1993-1999; Kyril Zlotnikov, cello, 1991-1999
http://www.aicf.org/about/impact/artists(Document E)
“Through the enthusiastic contributions of AICF patrons, millions in early support was given … towards the founding of the Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC). Responding to the needs for Israel’s growing pool of talented musicians, the AICF provides vital scholarships for musical study, including numerous chamber groups such as the Jerusalem Quartet, who were created, nurtured and launched onto the world scene from the JMC.”
http://www.aicf.org/pics/userpics/File/AICF-Brochure.pdf (page 4)
(Document E 2)
From AICF homepage: “Unfortunately, the bulk of AICF’s endowments were invested with Bernard L. Madoff Securities”.
AICF homepage asks for donations; “funding for the arts is scarce with most resources going to security”
(Document E3)
Donation link is http://www.saveisraeliculture.org/
(Document E4)
“For over three generations AICF has supported over 11,000 artists and 600 cultural institutions in Israel. Included are such widely recognized names as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, the Israel Philharmonic, the Batsheva Dance Company, and the Israel Museum. [and the JQ]
These artists and institutions represent Israel throughout the world. Israel’s need to allocate scarce resources to defense and security necessitates AICF’s vital contribution to the arts. ”
SPONSORSHIP BY THE ISRAELI STATE
Sponsorship or funding by the Israeli state comes with strings attached as Yitzhak Laor points out in this newspaper article – Haaretz:
Contract is “Between the State of Israel, via the Foreign Ministry, Division for Cultural and Scientific Affairs
“The service provider undertakes to act faithfully, responsibly and tirelessly to provide the Ministry with the highest professional services. The service provider is aware that the purpose of ordering services from him is to promote the policy interests of the State of Israel via culture and art, including contributing to creating a positive image for Israel.”
In order to conceal the above – after all, culture is “culture,” without intervention, without mechanisms, without state-sponsored translation machines – Paragraph 13 stresses:
“The service provider will not present himself as an agent, emissary and/or representative of the Ministry.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1005287.html
(Document F)
THEIR IMAGE TO THE WORLD
1) This article explains about how the JQ started as a quartet, the support given by the Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC), and the link to the military (in this article they were describe as “for the three immigrants, carrying a rifle in one hand and a violin in the other is the ultimate Zionist statement)
The World Zionist Press Service in 1998:
http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/980619/musician.shtml
(Document G)
2) This article explains about their start as a quartet, the support given by the Jerusalem Music Centre (JMC), and the link to the military describing their status as “status to Distinguished IDF Musicians and continue to play for troops three times a week when they’re in Israel”.
Jewish Independent of British Columbia, 21 March 2003:
http://www.jewishindependent.ca/Archives/Mar03/archives03Mar21-06.html
(Document H)
2.1) in this article it mentions how the JMC is located in the Mishkenot Sha’ananim, where the JQ has been allocated to built studios there to practice and what they call home.
Mishkenot Sha’ananim is an illegal Israeli settlement in Palestinian occupied West Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishkenot_Sha’ananim
3) Their on CD booklet in 1996 explains how “The four members of the Quartet joined the Israeli Defense Forces in March 1997 and are serving as Distinguished Musicians”
The Jerusalem Music Centre website:
http://www.jmc.co.il/musicfile.asp?mid=9
4) In 2006 in an article they were quoted as saying ”People say we are the best ambassadors from Israel, and we are happy about that,” cellist Kyril Zlotnikov said in Melbourne yesterday.
The Australian, 14th March 2006: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
(the article can be seen in the archive but to download it they require payment)
TOURS CLEARLY FUNDED BY THE STATE OF ISRAEL
2001
‘The quartet played at a public concert for Musica Viva at Llewellyn Hall, but on Sunday, their concert was for guests of the Israeli ambassador, Gabby Levy and his wife, Irit.’
Canberra Times, August 21, 2001
2004
The Jerusalem Quartet are sponsored on their tour of Australia and NZ by the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, according to the Canberra Times of May 5, 2004.
The same day’s Courier Mail from Queensland, reported that the Jerusalem Music Centre actually helped to facilitate the Jerusalem Quartet’s entry into the Israeli military. They also confirm the Jerusalem Quartet’s official Israeli Army status up to at least 2004
‘The Jerusalem Music Centre even negotiated with the Israeli army for the ensemble to be conscripted as musicians. This was an unprecedented move and the quartet remains today the official Quartet-in-Residence, a role they juggle within their busy international concert touring schedule.’
2007
1) Jerusalem Quartet concerts from the Library of Congress (across from the U.S. Capitol) in April saw the Israeli Ambassador introducing the JQ.
Where an admirer in April 2007 quotes a contemporary media release from their Record Label that ‘They now enjoy the status of Distinguished IDF’ and went on to say that ‘a group of angry Palestinian students succeeded in stopping a performance in Manchester, England.’ The concert-goer expresses irritation at the Israeli Ambassador’s ‘crude’ and ‘clumsy’ introduction of the Quartet that ‘really rub[bed] in the propaganda aspect of the event’ in Washington:
http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2007/04/jerusalem-quartet-at-libr.html
(Document I)
2) During autumn 2007 the JQ played in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel, obviously sponsored by the Embassy of Israel
(Document J)
Jerusalem Quartet concerts from the Library of Congress (Coolidge Auditorium is located on the Ground Floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress (1st and Independence Sts., SE — across from the U.S. Capitol) were advertised as “Co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel”
http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/0708-schedule.html
(Document K)
2009
November tour of Australia funded by the Israeli Government
http://www.theage.com.au/national/boycott-urged-on-quartet-20091028-hl17.html
(Document L)
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UK REPLY TO OUR ACTION
The Israeli Ambassador replied to our boycott action with the following “”We must not give in to the attempts to sabotage the marketing of Israeli art and culture in Britain.”
The Jewish Chronicle 4 Sep 2008
http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/israel-heckled-edinburgh-festival
(Document M)
by Omar Barghouti, a leader of the international movement to boycott Israel
Rabbi Doug Kahn Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council
It has recently come to my attention that pending the advice of a working group of which you were a member, the Jewish Community Federation has chosen to itself boycott groups advocating a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) program targeting Israel. As one of the founding members of the global BDS campaign, I cannot but note the irony of your use of boycott as a tool to suppress views that support the boycott against Israel. I can only conclude that you do approve of the efficacy and appropriateness of boycotts, as a non-violent form of activism and a catalyst for change, but condemn them when the change they set out to achieve is related to ending Israel’s occupation as well as its grave violations of international law and Palestinian rights.
For years, Palestinian civil society has been advocating the tool of boycotts, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, as a means of challenging Israel’s impunity and redressing the wrongs done to the Palestinian people by the violent and oppressive Israeli policies and actions. Wouldn’t you agree, given you in-principle embrace of boycotts, that this effective, non-violent form of struggle is far superior, morally speaking, to the “tactics” of white phosphorous, Walls, siege, forced displacement and apartheid?
band annie's Weblog 