Zionism – Features

By Sayed Dhansay

(source: Electronic Intifada)

Gaza, including the killing of 320 children, lacks credibility. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

After Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza last winter, the UN-commissioned Goldstone fact-finding team and subsequent report accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Released in September 2009, the Goldstone report recommended that both parties conduct impartial, independent investigations into these accusations within six months, failing which, the matter would be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While both parties to the conflict were cited for possible war crimes, the Goldstone report reserved the majority of its condemnation for Israel because of the vast difference in casualties on the two sides — more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and 13 Israelis. Four Israeli civilians were killed by rocket fire from Gaza, while more than 900 unarmed Palestinian civilians, including some 320 children, were massacred in Gaza.

Read More »Israels contemptuous response to goldstone findings

By Jonathan Cook

(source: AntiWar.com)

Two Israeli Arab brothers have won $8,000 in damages from Israel’s national carrier, El Al, after a court found that their treatment by the company’s security staff at a New York airport had been "abusive and unnecessary."

Abdel Wahab and Abdel Aziz Shalabi were assigned a female security guard who watched over them at the airport’s departure gate for nearly two hours, in full view of hundreds of fellow passengers, after they had passed the security and baggage checks.

Later, El Al’s head of security threatened to bar Abdel Wahab, 43, from the flight if he did not apologize to the guard for going to the toilet without first getting her approval. Abdel Aziz said he had been humiliated and "cried like I’ve never cried before in public."

Read More »New york airport blind to el al racial profiling

By Sapa-AP

(source: The Star – June 24, 2010 Edition 1)

STOCKHOLM: Swedish dock workers launched a week-long boycott of Israeli ships and cargo yesterday to protest over Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists last month.

About 1 500 members of the Swedish Port Workers Union began the boycott at Sweden’s ports, which handle up to 95 percent of the country’s foreign trade. The action is due to end on June 29.

"Even if goods arrive in trucks, dock workers often have some role in handling them when they arrive in port," said Per Helgesson, attorney and chief negotiator at Ports of Sweden, an industry and employers’ organisation for the sector.The union supported the international aid convoy and demands that Israel lift its blockade on Gaza.Several Swedish activists were on the flotilla when Israeli commandos attacked it on May 31.

Israel recently eased the three-year-old blockade under international pressure, but union spokesman Bjorn Borg said the measure was insufficient. "We don’t think it is far-reaching enough," Borg said. "We want them to lift the blockade."Borg said stevedores in the south-western port of Goteborg had already refused to handle about a dozen containers containing cargo from Israel or goods destined for it.

Officials said they expected the boycott to have a minimal impact on Swedish-Israeli trade, which accounts for 0.2 percent of the Nordic country’s total imports and exports.Last year, Swedish exports to Israel were valued at 2.5 billion kronor (R2.4bn) and imports amounted to about 850 million kronor, according to the Swedish Trade Council.

Read More »Swedish dock workers act against Isarael