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American jewish community sharply divided over Isaraels actions in Gaza

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American Jewish Community Sharply Divided Over Israel’s Actions in Gaza
By Allan C. Brownfeld

ISRAEL’S assault on Gaza was vigorously supported by many leaders of American Jewish organizations. A delegation from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations visited the southern Israeli city of Sderot, where missiles from Gaza had landed, to show solidarity. The visiting group included Harold Tanner, a past chair of the Presidents Conference, as well as its executive vice chair and current interim chair, Malcolm Hoenlein, and Alan Solow, president of the Jewish Community Centers Association, who has been nominated to chair the Presidents Conference.

According to the Jan. 8, 2009 Washington Jewish Week, Tanner and Hoenlein declared: “We’re paying this visit to show our support and solidarity with the people and government of Israel as they confront Hamas terrorism and the continuous rain of rockets on civilian populations. We take seriously the threats issued by Hamas and their Iranian sponsors to destroy the Jewish state…”

 

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Covering up Isaraels Gaza crimes with un help

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Covering up Israel’s Gaza crimes with UN help


Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada

ban ki moon & shimon peres

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the UN in New York, 6 May 2009. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo)

 

May 13, 2009

In my last article, I considered how UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon might handle the inquiry into Israeli attacks on UN facilities in the occupied Gaza Strip last winter. I hoped for the best but feared the worst given press reports that Ban had been told by the United States not to publish the report in full lest that harm the "peace process."

Unfortunately, the worst fears were fully justified as Ban published and sent to the Security Council only a 27-page summary of the 184-page document submitted to him by a board of inquiry led by a former head of Amnesty International.

Moreover, Ban rejected a key recommendation that there be a full independent investigation into numerous killings and injuries caused to UN personnel and Palestinian civilians during the Israeli assault.

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Israel knows that peace just doesnt pay

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Israel knows that peace just doesn’t pay 
By Amira Hass

Successive Israeli governments since 1993 certainly must have known what they were doing, being in no hurry to make peace with the Palestinians. As representatives of Israeli society, these governments understood that peace would involve serious damage to national interests.

Economic damage:

The security industry is an important export branch – weapons, ammunition and refinements that are tested daily in Gaza and the West Bank. The Oslo process – negotiations that were never meant to end – allowed Israel to shake off its status as occupying power (obligated to the welfare of the occupied people) and treat the Palestinian territories as independent entities. That is, to use weapons and ammunition at a magnitude Israel could not have otherwise used on the Palestinians after 1967. Protecting the settlements requires constant development of security, surveillance and deterrence equipment such as fences, roadblocks, electronic surveillance, cameras and robots. These are security’s cutting edge in the developed world, and serve banks, companies and luxury neighborhoods next to shantytowns and ethnic enclaves where rebellions must be suppressed. 

 

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