Zionism – Features

Obama orders assassination ofUScitizen

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Tom Eley

(source: World Socialist Web Site)

For the first time in history, an American president has officially ordered the assassination of a US citizen.

President Barack Obama has approved the “targeted killing” of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born Muslim cleric who is reported to be in hiding in Yemen. No substantial evidence has been brought to bear against Awlaki, 38, who is accused of terrorism, and he will be afforded no legal recourse against the death sentence.

Word of Obama’s decision has been intentionally leaked by multiple intelligence officials to various media sources. Reuters and the Wall Street Journal published news articles on the story on Tuesday, and these were confirmed by stories in the Washington Post and New York Times on Wednesday.

Why muslims should rethink Palestine

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Ramzy Baroud

(source: Ramzy Baroud’s ZSpace Page)

Thousands of faithful assiduously listened as I outlined the challenges facing Palestine and its people. Cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ – God is Great – occasionally resounded from a corner of the giant South African mosque. Many whimpered as I described the tragedy that had befallen Gaza as a result of the Israeli siege. They cheered, smiled and nodded as I emphasized how the will of the Palestinian people would not be defeated. A few older people at the front simply wept throughout my talk, which preceded a Friday sermon in Durban a few months ago.

If passion and kindness were powerful in and of themselves, then the compassion that poured from those Muslim faithful could surely better the world in a myriad ways. The sheer love and concern displayed by men and women of different races, age groups, class affiliation and languages was most uplifting and validating.

As a collective, Palestine and its struggle for freedom and justice is closer to the hearts and minds of Muslims all over the world than any other group I have reached out to. To garner support among Muslims, one is never obligated to make a case, to justify, or to respond to accusations heralded from left and right. Needless to say, Muslim affinity to Palestine is historic, based on Islamic principles articulated in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (the legacy of Prophet Mohammed).

No consequence for Isarael

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Iqbal Jassat

(source: Palestine Chronicle / Voice of the Capefm Online)

Noam Chomsky calls it one of the most humiliating moments in US diplomatic history. Sam Bahour refers to it as a dead end. Both are referring to President Obama’s pathetic capitulation to Israel on the issue of settlement freeze. Indeed, watching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on TV broadcasts explaining why America has backed off from these demands, revealed beyond any doubt that the US is extremely weak with questionable motives and thus cannot be trusted as a fair and impartial mediator.

Following this latest failure by the Obama administration to impose its considerable weight, it has become easier for many more people to accept Bahour’s thesis that the Israeli agenda has become a domestic US issue and is integrally linked to US elections, US foreign policy, aid and the US military-industrial complex.

The stark nakedness of the US position and the embarrassment it ought to cause senior public figures within the White House seems to be of zero consequence. That the Netanyahu regime spurned Obama’s lavish array of ‘gifts’ that included $3 billion for fighter jets, is sufficient evidence of how Obama, like his predecessors, is totally straitjacketed within the Zionist lobby.

While the far-right Israeli government continues to float frightening scenarios of “existential threat” to its survival as a “besieged Jewish state”, Chomsky points to a very different picture. He says that Israeli and US high-tech civilian industries are closely integrated. US arms manufacturers are subsidized not only to develop and produce advanced equipment for Israel, a state “that is virtually part of the US military-intelligence establishment” but also to provide second-rate military equipment to the Gulf states – currently a precedent-breaking $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. The Saudi deal also allows for recycling petrodollars to an ailing US economy.

A state which demands the right to protect its borders must define where the border is

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

(source: Gush-Shalom.org)

Uri Avnery on the Naksa Day36at the Syrian border:

Following the36on the Syrian border, Gush Shalom activist and former Knesset member Uri Avnery said: “Today the army inflicted disproportionate violence on unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in the Golan Heights, more than what is required to protect the border, leading to unnecessary bloodshed. The trigger-happy approach is particularly striking in light of the contrast with the softness towards violent settlers who just three days ago attacked the police in broad daylight, hurling Molotov cocktails and burning the police chief’s car.

Then, the army and police knew how to end a most serious incident without bloodshed – but this time the intention was from the start deterrence at the expense of taking lives. Prime Minister Netanyahu had hinted at it explicitly.”

Regarding the issue of border protection Avnery added: “The state may protect its borders and prevent illegal entering into its territory. This is an essential part of sovereignty. However, to effectively defend its borders, the state first needs to know itself where its borders are, and get them the recognition of the international community – a decision the state of Israel refrained from taking for decades.

“A country which is tresspassing on its neighbors territory, taking the land and building more and more settlements has a hard case justifying the actions needed to protect Israel’s own borders. Contrary to the words of Prime Minister Netanyahu, only an agreed upon recognized international border – that is, a border based on the 1967 lines – is really a defensible border.”