MRN

The aspiration of the Media Review Network is to dispel the myths and stereotypes about Islam and Muslims and to foster bridges of understanding among the diverse people of our country. The Media Review Network believes that Muslim perspectives on issues impacting on South Africans are a prerequisite to a better appreciation of Islam.

War criminals who are professors at tel aviv university

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By: Michael Hoffman

(source: Rise 4 Truth – Invictus)

Asa Kasher: Academic Ethics, Censorship, and Assassination – Philosopher of pragmatics and ethics, Kasher is an Israel Prize winner (2000) and the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair In Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice at Tel Aviv University (TAU).

Kasher combines his work at TAU with instruction at the National Security College and has written the ethical codes for scores of state sectors, including the Police, the National Bank, and for Knesset Members. Notably, he is the author of the military’s ethical code: The Spirit of the IDF: Values and Basic Norms (1994). Kasher has developed the rationale and justification for military doctrines including the use of anti-personnel munitions, assassinations, and torture.

When leaders fail

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Sayed Dhansay, South Africa

(source: the people’s voice.org)

It has been just over three months since Israel unilaterally declared an end to operation Cast Lead and withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip following its 22 day onslaught there. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a total of 1,434 people were killed in the operation, approximately 960 of them civilians. Of these, nearly 300 victims were children. This, in addition to the 5000 plus who were injured, and the growing number of deaths due to the ongoing siege.

Other reports have indicated that over 20,000 buildings have been partially or completely destroyed, leaving an estimated one sixth of Gaza ruined and entire neighbourhoods obliterated. The already overburdened and crumbling infrastructure of Gaza is now on the brink of total collapse, exacerbated by the refusal of Israeli and Egyptian authorities to allow construction materials into the besieged territory. –Shocking as these few figures may be, of much greater concern is the manner in which our political leaders responded to this catastrophe as it unfolded.

Israel’s operation Cast Lead was a defining moment in recent history, bringing to light many truths about the condition of the society in which we live. The most obvious of these was the complete and utter failure of so-called world leaders and modern political diplomacy at a time when it was needed most.

Ahmadinejad speaks to cnn times

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

ahmadinejad

(source: Times.com)

TIME: Thank you very much, Mr. President for meeting with us. Before we start with the major issues, I wanted to ask you a personal question. I spent Election Day in your old neighborhood of Nasiabad and I was struck, as I always am, by the numbers of widows and orphans of the Iran – Iraq War. Most Americans don’t understand the impact of that war, a million casualties on your country. I wanted to ask you about your own experiences during that war. Did you see combat? Did friends of yours die? What impact did have on your worldview, on the way that you have conducted yourself since?

Ahmadinejad: I thank you for your question. If I may, I would like to improve on some of the questions you have raised. I did not live in Nasiabad; it was not my old neighborhood. Nasiabad is a locality in the south of Tehran and I lived in the eastern side of Tehran. A second point is with respect to the number of people who were martyred on Iranian side as a result of the war. The total number of people who lost their lives or were martyred as a result of the war that Saddam Hussein launched against our nation were about 160,000 and there are 70 million people in Iran, it is a very big nation. We have the exact figures and records of the number of women who have lost their spouses in the war, but nonetheless every life that was lost and every life matters. From our viewpoint, if one person is killed innocently it is the equivalent of the loss of life of all humanity.

Crime against the individual is the equivalent of crime against humanity. The Iranian nation has been witness to numerous36throughout history, various ones. In other words, the Iranian nation has lived with different36unfolding at different time junctures. But, I cannot claim that the imposed war by Saddam Hussein on Iran has left a specific impact on the psyche of the Iranian nation necessarily. Nonetheless it was endorsement of the historical witnessing by our nation of the various36that have befell it, and as a result throughout history, the Iranian nation has learned very well that it must stand on its own feet and the imposed war, if anything, proved that their perception is quite correct. That is precisely why Iranian nation seeks its own scientific development, its own economic development, its own innovations, and its own initiates.

The risks of de contextualizing Gaza war crimes

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

"By drawing attention to one short but bloody outburst of violence, an outburst that is cast and investigated as unusual, other periods may implicitly be rendered normal."

By Goncalo de Almeida Ribeiro, Vishaal Kishore and Nimer Sultany

(source:The Electronic Intifada)

The recent release of a report by the United Nations fact-finding mission chaired by jurist Richard Goldstone concerning the Israeli onslaught on Gaza in late December 2008 through January 2009 sheds important light on human rights violations in Israel/Palestine. One would hope that upon reading this report (or indeed any other from the long list of reports concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territories released by various human rights organizations) readers will be outraged by the ongoing atrocities committed in the region.

Despite expressly claiming to take into account the historical background to the Gaza events, the report, by its very nature, singles out a particular set of facts, and a limited period of time as the primary locus for investigation. In part this is justified. The conflict in Gaza involved levels of violence that are more or less exceptional. Yet, we fear that such a high-profile report, crafted specifically to address what is perceived to be an extreme or peculiar period of time in the lives of Palestinians under occupation, might have significant negative consequences. Particularly, we maintain that such a report, by focusing on one "drastic" period in the Israeli occupation, might in fact have the effect of overshadowing or downplaying the harsh and ongoing reality of the last 43 years of Israeli occupation.