Zionism – Breaking News

Dispatch publishes major probe into Somali killings

by Kenichi Serino

The articles are being published online concurrently with the print edition of the newspaper, under the series headline “Dying to live”.  The newspaper’s lead story, headlined “Why I killed”,  is based on an interview with a man jailed for the murder of  Somalis.
In a front-page editorial, the paper wrote South Africans were giving the lie to the constitutional promise that the country belongs to all who live in it, united in diversity. "Instead, we behave like dogs snarling at a suburban gate when strangers come to call. Our series exposes the prejudice and hatred we hold in our hearts against those who are not one of ‘us’.

"Government policy is utterly inadequate, the system corrupt, and political leadership on this question is practically non-existent – and why, after all, should politicians care?" the editorial asks.

Read More »Dispatch publishes major probe into somali killings

The paradox of Israel’s pursuit of might 
by Max Hastings

The Guardian | "I was one of those foreigners who progressively fell out of love with Israel." 

Forty years ago, I was enraptured by Israel’s courageous sense of mission. For me today, as for many, that idealism has palled 

 I first visited Israel in 1969. It was a time when much of the western world was still passionately enthused about the country’s triumph in the 1967 six-day war. President Nasser had for years promised to sweep the Israelis into the sea. Instead, the tiny Jewish state, less than 20 years old, had engaged the armies of three Arab nations, and crushingly defeated them all. The Israelis successively smashed through Nasser’s divisions on the western front, scaled and seized the Golan Heights, and snatched east Jerusalem and the West Bank in the face of Hussein’s highly capable Jordanian army. Sinai was left strewn with the boots of fleeing Egyptians. The Israeli victory was an awesome display of command boldness, operational competence and human endeavour. 

 There was a euphoria in Israel in those days, which many visitors shared. We watched Jews from all over the world gathering to pray at the Wailing Wall for the first time in almost 2,000 years; Israelis of all ages revelling in the sensation of being able to work the kibbutzim of the north free from Syrian shells. From inhabiting one of the most claustrophobic places in the world, suddenly they found themselves free to roam miles across Sinai on a weekend. The soldiers of the Israeli army, careerists, conscripts and reservists alike, walked 10ft tall  the image of an exulting soldier made it on to the cover of Life magazine. They had shown themselves one of the greatest fighting forces of history, expunging almost at a stroke the memory of Jewish impotence in the face of centuries of persecution, of six million being herded helpless into cattle trucks for the death camps. 

Read More »The paradox of Isaraels pursuit of might

By Tahir Sema

“A ticking time bomb about to explode in Egypt’s face”

At exactly 11am on the 6th of October a new aid convoy of determined Egyptian delegates and activists from all over Egypt will attempt to break the Gaza siege. They are expected to enter through the Rafah crossing via Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip.

This attempt to break the siege in Gaza is organized by legislative Council member Jamal Al Khoudari, in partnership with the Egyptian Medical Union.

Media Review Network (MRN) an advocacy group based in Pretoria has reliably learnt that the convoy consists of more than 20 buses and 60 cars at this early stage. They intend to stay where ever the authorities stop them; they have with them moveable toilets and tents.

The convoy’s sole purpose is to provide medical assistance for the more than 1.5 million Palestinians faced with a lack of medical provisions and starvation. They also hope to encourage the authorities to reopen the Rafah border crossing permanently.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an opposition political party says “the siege is a ticking time bomb that would explode in Egypt’s face.”

The MRN expresses its admiration for and solidarity with the Egyptian delegates and activists that have embarked on this mission to break the siege on Gaza.

The Rafah border crossing is currently sealed off. No Egyptian is allowed to cross into Palestine through this crossing and vice versa. However, Israelis are allowed to use this border post freely. Dr. Firoz Osman Secretary-General of Media Review Network, says “It is a perversion of justice to allow the Zionist occupiers and persecutors of the Palestinians to tour Egyptian resorts & provide cheap fuel to Israel, and deny basic humanitarian aid, food and medicines to a besieged, starving 1,5 million imprisoned Palestinians. This persecution of the Palestinians by the Egyptian Government is unethical and immoral by any standards. The Egyptian Government is deeply mistaken if they think that this type of provocation will produce security for the Zionist state.” Dr Osman added that “the Egyptian convoy deserves widespread support as it emanates from the ground in opposition to a tyrannical Egyptian regime in cahoots with the Zionist Israeli entity imposing the unprecedented policy of starvation on innocent people.”

Dr. Rizq Abdel Fattah of the Medical Union says that the date 6 October is significant because it is the anniversary of the “historic victory of Egypt over the Zionist state of Israel.” He added that “The Egyptian army was able to break free from the Zionist’s grip of the past and now they hope that the same spirit of resistance will prevail so that on the 6th of October 2008 the siege on the people of Gaza will also be broken.”

According to the organizers this is certainly not the last attempt to break the siege. The organizers are currently working with international groups who would attempt breaking the siege via sea.

The International Middle East Media Centre reports that in August 2008, two boats of the Free Gaza Movement, set sail from Cyprus, arrived at Gaza port carrying 44 international human rights activists in a bid to break the siege.

Plans to send two other boats to Gaza had to be shelved for the time being due to unforeseen circumstances. It is hoped that this mission will be accomplished sooner rather than later.

** For further comment or interviews contact

Tahir Sema: +27 82 940 3403 (Media Review Network – South Africa)

Muhammed Yassen (Activist accompanying the delegation): 0020102869848 (Egypt)

Dr Hazim Farouk (Member of the Egyptian Parliament): 0020105231629 (Egypt)

Read More »Mrn exclusive new convoy to break Gaza siege on the 6th of october