Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for category Palestinians

isn’t that convenient

Jan 13

Posted by A. Peasant in Afghanistan, CIA, Canada, Corruption & Crime, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians, Terrorism, Think Tanks, Venezuela | 2 Comments

1. (random) terrorist group (conveniently) claims responsibility for Iranian scientist attack

TEHRAN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) — A terrorist group named “Iran Royal Association” took responsibility for Tuesday’s fatal bombing attack on an Iranian nuclear physicist, local Iran Daily reported Wednesday.  The Iran Royal Association, a group seeking to reestablish the Pahlavi reign in Iran, announced Tuesday in a statement that its ” Tondar Commandos” were behind the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, a particle physics professor in Tehran University, according to the report.   The website of the group said it had previously threatened Ali-Mohammadi with death.  The Iran Royal Association, headed by Foroud Fouladvand, was also responsible for a deadly bombing in the tourist city of Shiraz in April 2008, during which 13 people were killed and hundreds wounded.

more @ chinaview

2. Iran: we had information Israel, US intended to attack — US says that’s absurd, Israel has no comment

Iran received information days ago that Israeli and U.S. intelligence intended to carry out terrorist acts in Tehran, the country’s parliament speaker said on Wednesday, one day after the assassination of a university scientist.  Washington has rejected Iran’s allegations of U.S. involvement in Tuesday’s bombing that killed professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi near his home in the Iranian capital as absurd. Israel has not commented on the incident.

…Iran’s influential parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, said a U.S.-based pro-monarchy group had claimed responsibility for the attack, adding it was controlled by the CIA. Iran’s Fars News Agency on Tuesday said such an exile group had claimed the bombing in a statement, without saying how it obtained it. “An American-based monarchy group…claimed responsibility for this terrorist act,” Larijani said, the state broadcaster reported. “Maybe the CIA and the Zionist regime [Israel] thought they can mislead us with such an absurd statement.” “We had clear information several days ago that the intelligence apparatus of the Zionist regime and the CIA wanted to implement terrorist acts in Tehran,” he said.  Using such a “rootless group” as a cover was a new “disgrace” for U.S. President Barack Obama, Larijani said. “Why do you host this terrorist group in America?” he asked. Israel refused Tuesday to react to Iranian accusations that it or the United States was behind a mysterious explosion that killed an Iranian nuclear physicist in Tehran Tuesday.

…The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Ali Mohammadi was involved in a regional research project that also involved Israeli scientists. The project, called Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, or SESAME, is based in Jordan and operates under United Nations auspices. Iranian and foreign scientists told the Washington Post the project has applications in industry, medicine, nanotechnology and other fields unrelated to nuclear power. Palestinians also participate in the project, whose last meeting was held in November in Jordan. An Israeli scientist present at the meeting told the Washington Post that he talked to Ali Mohammadi during an informal group meeting. “We did not discuss politics or nuclear issues, as our project is not connected to nuclear physics,” Rabinovici told the paper. An Iranian scientist involved in the project denied that there had been any direct meetings between his delegation and the Israelis. “They are present in the same room, but there are no direct meetings,” Javad Rahighi, a nuclear researcher, told the Washington Post. “We are all shocked,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine anybody wanting to kill him. He was a scientist, nothing more.”

haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142366.html

3. now that he’s dead (convenient)…hey didn’t that CIA bomber also have something to do with the Madrid bombs???

MADRID - WESTERN intelligence services are investigating whether a Jordanian who blew himself up in Afghanistan, killing seven CIA agents, had a role in the deadly 2004 Madrid train bombings, a Spanish news report said on Tuesday. ‘Western secret services are investigating whether this terrorist is the author of the claim of responsibility that arrived at the Spanish newspaper ABC a few days after these attacks,’ news radio Cadena Ser reported. In several letters posted on jihadist websites, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, writing under the pseudonym Abu Dujana Al Khorasani, hailed the Madrid bombings, as well as the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and those on July 7, 2005 in London, it said. A total of 192 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured in the March 11, 2004 bombings of commuter trains in the Spanish capital. Responsibility was claimed by Islamic militants who said they acted on behalf of Al-Qaeda to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq, sent by then Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar in support of the US invasion. Three days after the attacks, Aznar’s conservative Popular Party was defeated in a general election by Socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who made good on a campaign pledge to withdraw the Spanish contingent.

Cadena Ser said ‘various data’ lead Western intelligence services to believe Balawi was behind the letter to ABC. These include the fact that it was signed by Abu Dujana, Balawi’s pseudonym, and that the Al-Qaeda claim of responsibility for his suicide attack had the ’same characteristics’ and was signed by ‘by the same suicide group’. — AFP

source: straits times

4. terrorists seek to enter the US via Canada, conveniently the government is on extended holiday there

OTTAWA - PRIME Minister Stephen Harper held talks with national security advisers after reports surfaced that would-be attackers were seeking to enter the United States via Canada, broadcaster CTV said on Tuesday.  Mr Harper’s office said he was briefed overnight by Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. According to CTV, the government asked Canadian airlines and airports on Saturday to remain vigilant and adhere to tough new passenger screening rules adopted after a failed Christmas Day attack on a US jet. Transport Minister John Baird said on Tuesday the government had received ‘two or three pieces’ of threat information since a young Nigerian tried to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit last month. CTV said British and US intelligence reports suggested 20 Yemeni-trained ‘terrorists’ were trying to get into Canada and then travel to the United States. Separately, Canadian intelligence officials had evidence that another group was also trying to enter Canada, the broadcaster said. — AFP

source: straits times

also see: PM holds meeting after potential terror threat

and Leaderless Canada, Israeli security services, and the Olympics

The questions many Canadian’s have asked: Why did Prime Minister Harper prorogue the government, until after the 2010 Vancouver Olympics? I had some question myself about this mysterious move on the PM’s part in this post Dec 30/09. One possible concern, and there were so many of them, is the potential for a false flag.

5. up next: al qaeda in Palestine — according to WINEP!! (super convenient) — hey i bet first al qaeda will penetrate the palestinian camps in lebanon…yeah that’s the ticket…those camps are a “time bomb”

Militant Islamist groups in Gaza seeking an alliance with Al Qaeda may be planning to carry out a large-scale attack in order to boost their credentials, warns a report released today by the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). “Al Qaeda-inspired groups in Gaza ‘think big’ and are regularly plotting large-scale attacks,” says the report, coauthored by a former deputy director of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service. It also quotes an anonymous member of one of these groups as saying his operatives are “waiting to carry out a big jihadist operation dedicated to Sheikh Osama Bin Laden.”

read more @ mother jones

6. Iraqi security forces do a sweep of the city, clear out a lot of explosives. will that prevent the next blast however? you have to wonder, if they clean up the place and another blast occurs, well where the fuck do the explosives come from???? those terrorists are always so wily (convenient) it’s like they have an inside track ya know?

BAGHDAD, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) — Iraqi security forces detained 25 insurgent suspects and seized explosives and mortar bombs during massive operations in Baghdad early on Tuesday, a military spokesman said.    Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad Operations Command, said in a statement that his troops confiscated 200 kg of C4 explosives, 200 kg of TNT, 60 mortar rounds and some 250 litre of ammonium nitrate which is used for making bombs during the search operations conducted early Tuesday morning.    The troops also arrested 25 people suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in Baghdad, Atta said….The source could not give the reason behind such sudden and wide-ranging operations, but said they are possibly based on tip-off on bomb attacks in the capital.

more @ chinaview

7. Chavez is crazy, man, i mean come on. nobody listens to that guy he’s a total whack-job. i mean just because they have problems in venezuela (convenient!) that doesn’t mean we would take advantage of the situation, come on… (wink wink wink wink)

WASHINGTON: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is making “baseless” accusations of a US military plot to distract Venezuelans from real troubles at home, such as a currency devaluation, a top Pentagon official told Reuters. Chavez, who on Friday announced a devaluation that could fan inflation, said the same day he had scrambled two F-16 jets to intercept a US military plane that twice entered Venezuelan skies. Frank Mora, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, said the “baseless” and “unfounded” accusations — which the United States had immediately denied — were part of a pattern by Chavez.

“The more that President Chavez is confronted with domestic challenges, the more his rhetoric heats up,” Mora said in an interview from his Pentagon office on Monday. Mora said he found it “interesting that he made this unfounded accusation … at the same time he was announcing a major currency devaluation,” adding repeated devaluations can lead to a potential scarcity of goods. “It is, in my view, a diversion of attention away from a particularly domestic challenge — and trying to scapegoat the issue by once again accusing the United States government.”

read more @ arab news


turkey plays central role in ME developments

Jan 12

Posted by A. Peasant in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Military, Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey | No Comments

1. Jim Jones to visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestinian territories

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones will visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, announced the White House on Monday….Diplomats of the Quartet, namely the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, will meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss a new U.S. plan to resume the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.  Meanwhile, representatives from the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany) are to meet in New York at the end of this week on additional sanctions against the Iranian government.

source: chinaview

2. Israeli campaign to conflate Lebanese Army and Hizbullah

Israel has launched a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading countries providing military assistance to Lebanon that any equipment and technology delivered to the Beirut government is likely to fall into Hizbullah’s hands, The Jerusalem Post reported. The newspaper quoted Israeli government sources as saying the Jewish state is trying to convince countries supporting Lebanon that the “Lebanese army and Hizbullah are indistinguishable. As such, Israel is calling on countries that provide military aid to Lebanon to rethink the matter.” An Israeli official told The Post that “there has been a great deal of concern” in the Jewish state since the adoption of the Lebanese cabinet’s policy statement, which gave Hizbullah “the mandate to defend Lebanon” against Israel. The main concern, the official said, is weaponry being provided or pledged by the U.S. The issue is likely to be raised by Israeli officials during the expected meetings on Tuesday with U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones.

source: naharnet

3. Erdogan, in joint statement with visiting PM Hariri, says he will not go to Davos

ANKARA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he would honor his word and would not attend this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos of Switzerland….Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said he will attend this year’s Davos meeting instead of Erdogan and stressed the importance of Turkey’s presence at Davos in terms of relations with international investors, the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reported on its website Monday.

more @ chinaview

4. Israel “hazes” Turkish ambassador

TEL AVIV - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the “hazing” of Turkey’s ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies. The media highlighted the fact that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon made Ambassador Ahmet Celikkol sit on a low couch while the Israelis sat on high chairs. Rather than summoning Celikkol to the ministry as is the norm, Ayalon saw him in his parliamentary office after making him wait in the corridor and telling staff to remove the Turkish flag and refreshments that were on the table. “The important thing is that people see that he’s sitting low down and we’re high and that there is one flag,” Israeli television aired Ayalon as telling invited photographers and camera crews.

more @ middle east online

5. Lebanon signs six agreements with Turkey

Lebanon and Turkey have signed major agreements on military, agriculture and transport cooperation, including a deal to lift entry visas and a Turkish pledge to supply Lebanon with natural gas and electricity. …The agreement on visa-free travel between Turkey and Lebanon comes after similar deals between Turkey and Syria, and Turkey and Jordan. Visa requirements have already been cancelled between Syria and Lebanon and between Syria and Jordan.

more @ naharnet

6. last week: Iran, Turkey to discuss industrial cooperation

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Minister of Industries and Mining Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergun on Thursday discussed ways to bolster the two countries’ cooperation in Industrial fields….Mehrabian said during Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Iran visit, Turkish and Iranian authorities agreed to boost commercial ties, and the two countries have been working on it.

more @ fars

7. Saudi Arabia awards prize to Erdogan

RIYADH: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose achievements have set an example of judicious leadership in the Islamic world, on Monday won the 2010 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for Service to Islam….According to the citation read out by Othaimeen, Erdogan has pioneered a major campaign that placed Turkey among the world’s leading countries, economically and industrially. “His unyielding position on various Islamic and global issues, particularly the rights of the Palestinian people, has gained him the respect and admiration of the entire Islamic world and the international community at large,” it added.

more @ arab news

8. Assad to visit Saudi Arabia

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is to travel to Riyadh on Wednesday for talks with King Abdullah, who paid a landmark visit to Damascus last October, Saudi Arabia’s official news agency SPA said.  The visit on Wednesday comes amid stepped-up efforts by Riyadh to build Arab unity around the Palestinians ahead of a possible resumption of peace talks with Israel.  Damascus-Riyadh ties were severely strained for years, partly over Syria’s role in Lebanon and its support for Hezbollah, before a thaw marked by King Abdullah’s trip to Damascus. But the two countries still differ over Lebanese politics, over the Palestinian division between the Hamas and Fatah factions, and Iran’s role in the region, according to diplomats and analysts.

source: al manar tv

coordinating flashpoints

Jan 8

Posted by A. Peasant in Israel, Lebanon, Palestinians, Syria | No Comments

1. various stories from Naharnet News Desk — Lebanon, Palestinian Camps, UNIFIL

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed readiness for war with Lebanon by next May 20 amid Israeli accusations that Hizbullah was responsible for placing large quantities of explosives in southern Lebanon. Barak warned that Israel would target Lebanon’s infrastructure if the Jewish state came under rocket fire by Hizbullah….Meanwhile, Israel said that 300 kilograms of buried explosives recently discovered by UNIFIL in the southern town of Khiam were likely planted by Hizbullah….Shalev did not say how Israel was informed of the discovery in the area of Mazraat Sarda near Khiam….She said the Hariri government is responsible for all violations of 1701 and must “take serious steps” to deal with Hizbullah’s growing military activity, particularly in civilian villages.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat said he has no information about an Israeli war on Lebanon. “There is no confirmed information about the possibility of an Israeli war on Lebanon soon, but analysis leads to this conclusion,” Jumblat said in remarks published Friday by al-Akhbar newspaper. He said Arab-Israeli Knesset member Saeed Naffaa has informed him that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to form a national unity government that will include Kadima party. “If this happened, it means he (Netanyahu) intends to launch a new war on Lebanon,” Jumblat explained.

The Lebanese army and UNIFIL launched a military exercise with live ammunition Friday morning in the border town of Naqoura. One portion of the exercise included firing 155-mm artillery shells and medium weapons. Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, force commander of U.N. peacekeepers, as well as senior Lebanese army officers will later Friday inspect the site where the military exercises took place.

The Lebanese army intelligence has reportedly arrested a suspected Fatah al-Islam member and seized devices and equipment during a raid of an apartment in Beirut. An Nahar daily on Friday described the man as a “hefty catch” given his participation in terrorist activities in Lebanon. It said the army intelligence raided a house in the Beirut area of Aisha Bakkar and arrested the suspected terrorist after monitoring his activities for eight months. According to information received by the newspaper, the suspect, who is a Palestinian residing in Lebanon, was “plotting for new terrorist operations.” Al-Akhbar daily, in its turn, said two security officials refused to confirm the information about the arrest. However, informed sources said the suspect lived in one of the Palestinian refugee camps in northern Lebanon. As for al-Liwaa newspaper, it said the army arrested the man in the Zeidaniyeh neighborhood’s Independence Street in Beirut and opened an investigation into what it called the “large mission” carried out by the army.

The Iranian-Hizbullah-Hamas alliance is connected via a underground tunnels - which, in Iran, hide Tehran’s nuclear facilities where enriched uranium can be used to produce a nuclear weapon, said a report published by Israel National News (INN) on its website.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign policy and security advisor Christoph Heusgen has reportedly informed Lebanese officials about the infiltration of terrorists from Arab countries into Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. An Nahar daily said Friday that Heusgen told the officials during his visit to Beirut about the necessity to monitor activity inside and outside the camps and the areas surrounding Beirut airport. Heusgen also expressed his government’s readiness to provide the necessary monitoring equipment, according to the newspaper.Well-informed sources told Ad-Diyar newspaper that Merkel’s envoy also discussed with Lebanese officials the issue of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, and the four Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped in 1982.

Israel presented UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen Claudio Graziano with its vision of arrangements in and around Ghajar following a possible Israeli army withdrawal from the village’s northern part, with diplomatic sources telling The Jerusalem Post that negotiations over a pullout are very much in their early stages. …The Israeli foreign ministry later issued a statement saying the Jewish state was committed to continuing to work toward reaching an agreement on Ghajar that would preserve Israel’s security interests, the well-being of the residents, and the fabric of life in the town, according to the Post. The daily quoted diplomats as saying that reaching an understanding over the issue had become “more complicated because Lebanon refuses” to deal with Israel and the negotiations are being conducted with UNIFIL.

2. Israel cuts off trees in Lebanon under UNIFIL eyes — must be protecting it’s “vision”

On Thursday, Israeli occupation forces, backed by military vehicles used an agricultural tractor equipped with a big electric saw to cut off trees on the Lebanese part of the border with occupied Palestine. Al-Manar’s correspondent videotaped the violation and took shots showing how the Israelis continued to cut off the trees while UNIFIL soldiers were just watching a few meters away. The United Nations Interim Forces in south Lebanon often take tough measures in case any Lebanese gets near the barbed wire on the border, including journalists.

The new Israeli provocation constitutes a breach of UNSCR 1701 that ended hostilities during the 2006 Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
The UNIFIL should have taken measures to stop Israel from violating the resolution and trespassing on Lebanese land.


read more @ al manar tv

3. Israeli aircraft pound Gaza, one Palestinian killed

GAZA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) — A Palestinian was killed and at least four others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a tunnel on Gaza-Egypt borders, medical sources and witnesses said on Friday. The attack was the latest in a series of bombings the Israeli airplanes has carried out in the Gaza Strip early Friday….Four earlier Israeli air strikes took place, targeting open spaces and a training site for the Islamic Hamas movement, security sources and witnesses said. The Israeli army started the attacks around midnight, and said that the targeted places were used by Palestinian militants to produce, store and fire rockets into Israel.

read more @ chinaview

4. jpost: Syria will back Hizbullah if Israel attacks

If Israel were to attack Hizbullah in Lebanon, Syria would respond and not sit idly by, the Qatari Al Watan newspaper quoted unnamed Syrian sources as saying in a report published Wednesday.  The sources reportedly added that Damascus considered any threat to Lebanon’s security and stability as a threat to Syria’s security.

read more @ the truth seeker

5. jpost article quickly disappears - analysis, see comments also

Clearly, Israel is allowing the situation in the Gaza to deteriorate to such a point that it will reach a flashpoint – and that flashpoint will be coordinated with a provoked flashpoint with Hezbollah at which time the Israelis will take the punt and attack Iran knowing that the US will not be able to stand by and watch Israel put itself at such risk without helping it.

read more @ damian lataan


Gaza, or Lebanon, or both?

Jan 7

Posted by A. Peasant in Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestinians, Syria, Ukraine | No Comments

1. report: Israeli troops training for new Gaza war

Israeli occupation forces completed a large-scale military drill in the Negev, the country’s Channel 10 news reported, preparing troops for a military offensive against the Gaza Strip. The report, aired Tuesday evening, speculated that the training could even be seen as preparation for a re-occupation of the area….According to Channel 10, training saw occupation soldiers educated in the use of a new digital device on Merkava Tanks, the largest of the armored vehicles, which allows soldiers in the units to track troops on the ground in densely-populated areas. It is intended to prevent “friendly fire” incidents.

pfft.

read more @ al manar tv

2. Israel closes Gaza crossing after Palestinian mortar fire

GAZA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — Israel shut down a main cargo crossing with the Gaza Strip on Thursday in response to Palestinian mortars at Israeli army posts near Gaza commercial crossings. Ten mortars landed near Kerem Shalom crossing, a major passageway used by Israel to deliver humanitarian aid and fuel to the besieged territory [what aid??? - ed.], and a military site near the closed Kissufim crossing in southeast Gaza, said Palestinian security sources. No injuries or damage were reported in the mortar attacks. Following the incident, Radio Israel said that Kerem Shalom crossing was sealed off. …Also on Thursday, Israeli planes dropped flyers in northern Gaza Strip, warning residents to stay away from an electric fence between the Hamas-controlled coastal Strip and Israel. The leaflets, printed with telephone numbers and emails, urged people to inform the army of any activities of the Palestinian militants in the border area.

pfft.

read more @ chinaview

3. Israel blames Lebanon for Israel’s failure to withdraw from Ghajar

Israel is not withdrawing from the northern part of Ghajar because of Lebanon’s “adamant refusal” to reach an understanding with Israel over security arrangements in the Lebanese part of the village, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. “The Lebanese government, apparently under pressure from Hizbullah, is not willing to provide any kind of commitments” that would allow a UNIFIL plan on Ghajar to be put into practice, The Post said. Beirut “fears” that the plan’s adoption would be seen as giving Israel legitimacy, according to the newspaper. “The talks, therefore, are solely between Israel and UNIFIL, with Lebanon unwilling to participate even indirectly,” the Israeli daily said. “The negotiations with UNIFIL are over what security arrangements and commitments UNIFIL - not the Lebanese - will provide.”

Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal and his team are scheduled to hold a second round of talks with UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano and his staff Thursday. The first round of talks on the Ghajar issue was held in early December.The Israeli government has reportedly approved a plan to turn over control of the northern half of the village to UNIFIL. Under the plan no physical barrier would be built between the northern and southern parts of Ghajar, but rather UNIFIL would patrol both the northern half and the perimeter. Graziano is to be replaced by Spanish Maj.-Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas on January 28. The Post said Israeli officials denied that Graziano’s departure was a deadline for “closing” the Ghajar deal, saying the Jewish state would continue talking to UNIFIL about the issue until it gets a commitment. According to Haaretz daily, Gal is also expected to congratulate Graziano on finding explosives near the Lebanese town of Khiam on December 26.
source: naharnet

4. Lebanese man killed in Ukraine
The body of a 47-year-old Lebanese, who was killed in Ukraine, arrived in Beirut overnight as his family urged Beirut authorities to ask officials in Kiev to follow up the investigation into the murder of Mounir Abdo Mansour. The National News Agency quoted Mansour’s family members as saying Thursday that they are planning to visit the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut to urge judicial authorities in Kiev to probe the man’s murder.

The family told NNA it was not the first time that a Lebanese was attacked in the Ukrainian capital. It said authorities there have also previously tampered with evidence at crime scenes to cover up the “heinous crimes” rather than bringing perpetrators to justice. “Lebanese youth are killed without restraint from anyone,” Mansour’s sister, Rima, told NNA. “Involved officials should interfere to follow up the issue.”

source: naharnet

5. Syrian parliament speaker: expansion of relations between Muslim states foils plots

In a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here in Tehran on Thursday morning, al-Abrash said, “Tehran-Damascus strategic relations is effective in the region.”  He also called for using all opportunities of the two neighbors to mature bilateral ties, the Iranian students news agency reported.  Ahmadinejad on his part called for strengthening relations between the two sides and said, “The resistance of nations including Iran and Syria has caused a deadlock in policies of Arrogant System in economic, political and military sections.” He also turned to presence of bulling powers’ forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen and said, “The enemies’ plots will harm themselves.”

source: fars

6. Kuwaiti-Palestinian relations “historic” — qualified: Abbas meets Kuwaiti emir…not sure that conflates to “Kuwaiti-Palestinian” relations in fact pretty sure it doesn’t but anyway, here you go.


passing the buck

Jan 6

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, China, Military, Oil, Palestinians, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, UK, Yemen | No Comments

1. where did Yemen get all the weapons? from Russia and China, according to Stockholm think tank, so if you’re gonna get mad at someone for this mess, blame Russia and China ‘kay?

NEW YORK - Russia has stolen a march over the United States in the multimillion-dollar arms market in cash-strapped Yemen, whose weapons purchases are being funded mostly by neighboring Saudi Arabia. The Yemeni armed forces, currently undergoing an ambitious modernization program worth an estimated $4 billion US, are equipped with weapons largely from Russia, China, Ukraine, eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics….According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), one of the world’s best-known think-tanks researching arms control and disarmament, Russia accounted for nearly 59% of all major weapons deliveries to Yemen from 2004 to 2008, followed by Ukraine at 25%, Italy at 10%, Australia’s 5%, and the United States at less than 1%….A resource-starved Middle Eastern nation, Yemen has negligible quantities of oil and is categorized as one of the world’s poorest countries. The US State Department has described Yemen as “desperately poor” but a “vital counter-terrorism partner”.

read more @ asia times

negligible quantities of oil? but location location location. - ed.

Saudi Arabia, engaged in a subtle, undeclared battle for regional influence with Iran, remains by far the largest defense spender in the Middle East, accounting for around $36 billion in spending in 2008. Forecast estimates that the Saudis will spend just under $39 billion in 2009 and exceed the $45 billion threshold by 2013. Due to internal security concerns and external challenges in the form of Iran, Saudi spending is unlikely to dip despite the fall in the price of oil, remaining fixed at about 33 percent of total annual state expenditures in the near term.


2. US and UK military spending in Yemen

US has increased military aid package to Yemen from less than $11m in 2006 to more than $70m in 2009

From just 11 million dollars to 70 million. A better then 6x increase? In 2009- US spent tens of millions of dollars boosting Yemen’s coastguard and border security and providing helicopters with night-vision cameras. The US has also provided intelligence gathered over Yemen by unmanned drones.

The US has not been alone, the UK has been there with them in all of 2009. The UK has also invested heavily in aid to Yemen. It has quadrupled its development assistance since 2007, allocating £105m between 2009 and 2011, though no figures on funds for military training were available

Both the US and UK have trained Yemen’s counter-terrorism unit

And the US has bombed and killed scores of civilians in Yemen Including a cruise missile attack on December 18th/09 ordered directly by the White House.

read more @ penny for your thoughts

3. CIA has been in Yemen since 2008: evidently we do the “training”

A new report released shows that the US and the CIA have opened a covert operation in Yemen against al-Qaeda to assist the nation’s military operations, according to AFP. In 2008, the CIA sent field operatives, who have experience in counterterrorism, to the region. The report further cites that the most secretive US special operations commandoes have begun training Yemeni security forces.

read more @ digital journal

guns don’t kill people, people kill people…

4. speaking of weapons, Thai detention of alleged arms traffickers extended — this one’s been in teh crockpot for a while…

The Bangkok Criminal Court on Wednesday extended by 12 days the detention of five alleged weapons traffickers, the crew on a transport plane detained at Don Mueang airport, as police continue to investigate their sanctions-busting flight from North Korea. The suspects claim they believed the cargo was oil drilling equipment bound for Ukraine, according to their lawyer Somsak Saithong.

But a flight plan obtained by researchers showed the plane was bound for Iran, while US intelligence chief Dennis Blair said last month that it was headed for an unspecified Middle East destination.

read more @ bangkok post
5. more crazy people with weapons: 6 police killed in North Caucasus

MOSCOW, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) — Six police were killed and about 10 others were injured in an explosion in Russia’s restive North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, Russian new agencies reported on Wednesday. A suicide bomber detonated his car laden with explosives outside the traffic police headquarters in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, local police source said….Dagestan and the other mainly Muslim regions of Russia’s North Caucasus have been plagued by instability and violence recently. Skirmishes between troops and militants, and attacks on police and other officials have been reported daily.

more @ chinaview

6. 1 killed, 4 wounded on israeli airstrike on Gaza — who are these “witnesses”?????

GAZA, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) — A Palestinian militant was killed and four wounded during an Israeli airstrike in southeastern Gaza Strip late Tuesday, witnesses and medical sources said. An Israeli drone fired a rocket on a group of militants that was monitoring the security fence separating between Israel and Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, killing one and wounding four, the witnesses said.

The fighters were apparently planning to fire a missile into the Israeli lands, added the witnesses.

The dead and the wounded were transferred to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis where officials identified the dead as Jihad al-Sumiri, a member of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an armed faction close to Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

read more @ chinaview


the shape of things to come

Jan 6

Posted by A. Peasant in Israel, Lebanon, Obama/Biden, Palestinians, Surveillance, Terrorism | No Comments

1. a fruitless search for al qaeda in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon

summary: camps are very crowded, dark, chaotic. multiple factions keeping order. intensive security to even get in. the Palestinians are completely isolated in these camps.

excerpt:

Almost everyone I have met in my journey through the Palestinian camps throughout 2009 tends to blame at least some of the daunting problems they face on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the specialized UN body that deals with Palestinian refugee issues.

end excerpt

read the whole thing @ asia times

Palestinian hostility toward the UN? remember that. -ed.

2. reposted from yesterday: jpost reports that Israel expects increased Hezbollah attacks on aircraft, plus:

Other than Hizbullah, Israel is concerned that al-Qaida is trying to recruit Europeans and Americans who have been indoctrinated with radical Islamic ideology to carry out attacks inside the Jewish state, the newspaper added.

more @ naharnet

radicalized Europeans and Americans carrying out attacks in the Jewish homeland?  remember that. - ed.

3. report: death threats for israeli defense minister ehud barak

Army Radio says Barak receives dozens of death threats over slowed construction of West Bank settlements.

read @ examiner

4. Rahm says Obama is fed up with all you people

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel recently told the Israeli consul in Los Angeles that the Obama administration is fed up with both Israel and the Palestinians, Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

read @ haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1140374.html

5. remember american ‘jewish terrorist’ Jack Teitel? the israelis knew about Teitel for years and did nothing about him. i’d give you the link but they deleted my news blog database.

November 2, 2009: An American-born Israeli man, described by police as a “Jewish terrorist,” is mentally unstable and in need of psychiatric help, his attorney told CNN Monday. Israeli authorities Sunday announced the arrest of Yaakov “Jack” Teitel, 37, a West Bank settler who was arrested last month.

more @ cnn

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/11/02/israel.terror.suspect/index.html

6. spam: exhibit A reposted from last week — the “al qaeda in the palestinian camps in lebanon” plan

7. more on that plan

8. bonus: israel, the master of airport security, has a great new technology to save you from all the hassles of the extra security  needed to keep you safe from terrorists! yes! it’s true! BIOMETRICS!

TEL AVIV - ISRAEL has unveiled new airport technology that it said could reduce intrusive security checks while making flying safer.

Airports Authority spokesman Maayan Malchin said the biometrics system is being tested at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. Instead of waiting in long lines to be checked by inspectors, travellers will swipe smart cards containing their photo, fingerprints and personal details.

The biometrics scanners are similar in size and appearance to cash machines. They are fitted with cameras that snap a picture of the traveler and compare it to the card. Travelers then answer basic security questions on the screen, Ms Malchin said.

Security checkers will stand by to assist with questions. They are also there to observe body language like excessive sweating and nervousness. Foreign travelers will be allowed to register with the system, Ms Malchin said.

The authority said the homegrown technology is the first of its kind, and if the test is successful, it could be used at all Israeli border crossings next year. Israel has long been a world leader in airport security - the result of hijackings and other attacks in past decades.

Airports around the world have gone on higher alert since a failed attempt by a Nigerian man to blow up a plane en route from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas. — AP

source: straits times

watch al qaeda show up in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon next. the groundwork has been laid.

Jan 5

Posted by A. Peasant in Experts, Lebanon, Palestinians, Terrorism | No Comments

1. Grenade attack on Fatah office in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Unidentified assailants threw a hand grenade at the office of Fatah movement in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday.  Fatah commander in Lebanon Sultan Abul Aynein said that the grenade was found next to the headquarters of the Fatah movement in the Rashdiyeh refugee camp, near southern Lebanese city of Tyre.    He added the assailants threw the bomb after a “family dispute”.     On Sunday, Abul Aynein accused external parties of seeking to “export” al-Qaida fighters to refugee camps across Lebanon.

read more @ chinaview

2. Merkel sends advisor to Lebanon in unannounced visit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign policy and security advisor Christoph Heusgen kicked off talks with top Lebanese leaders on Tuesday. Heusgen met with Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami and Premier Saad Hariri. He is also expected to hold talks with President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri during a several hour visit to Beirut.  An Nahar and al-Mustaqbal dailies said Berlin did not announce details of the visit. However, Merkel’s advisor will travel to Damascus later in the day through the Masnaa border crossing.

source: naharnet

3. Israel carries out two separate air raids on Gaza

GAZA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Israeli war jets on Monday evening carried out two separate air raids on Palestinian militants in northern and eastern Gaza Strip, no injuries were reported, witnesses and security sources said.  The witnesses said that an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired one missile at a group of Gaza militants east of Gaza City, the militants survived and no injuries or damaged were reported.  Hamas security sources said that Israeli warplanes, mainly F-16 and drones have been hovering over several areas in the Gaza Strip for several hours.

read more @ chinaview

4. last week: experts say ’sleeper cells’ in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon

Despite the relative calm of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps in recent months, experts warn that Islamist groups are still operating within and could strike at any time. At Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon’s 12 camps, which is known to harbor extremists and fugitives, small sleeper cells have kept a low profile but could mobilize quickly depending on developments, they say….By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians.

read more @ naharnet

5. February 2009: Brussels based think tank says Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps a “time bomb”

Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps are breeding grounds for extremist groups and constitute a “time bomb” that needs urgent attention, the International Crisis Group think-tank said Thursday. Successive Lebanese governments were largely to blame for a “catastrophic” situation in the camps which were set up after the creation of Israel in 1948, the Brussels-based ICG said in a report.

read more @ naharnet

it’s not that you’re israeli, it’s that you’re wrong

Sep 19

Posted by A. Peasant in Israel, Palestinians, Resistance | No Comments

This is so awesome. Found it at Atheo News.

Israel/America - A Rambling Poem

Every time I think of 9/11
I see burning flesh dripping off the bones of Iraqi children in Fallujah
Now Gaza
I tend to memorialize the forgotten
The collateral damage eclipsing our unpunished crimes

Maybe it’s because I’m a numbers guy
Because if I had a dollar for every time an Iraqi died since 2003
I’d be a millionaire

And don’t get me wrong
Sometimes I don’t know who I hate more
The governments in the West
Or the politicians in the East
Who sell their souls quicker than the oil they export
Straw men who use Palestine as a tool to line their pockets
And don’t give a nickel to their people
Quisling governments
Who stitch mouths shut for a check from Washington and AIPAC
How can you be their prototypical anti-Semite
If you are signing peace accords to oppress your own people?

And then Orientalists and idiots talk about how
We can’t have democracy in the Middle East
Because of what happened in Gaza
A Hamas boogyman wrapped in democratic elections
Rahm Emanuel wants to educate me and my people about democracy gone wrong
Why doesn’t he try implementing one in Israel first?
Instead of bowing down to terrorists like his father and the IDF
Lauding a third rate, racist, European society that’s imploding quicker
Than its moral standing in the world
Enlightened like 1950s Afrikaners and slave traders
Just because the house is beautiful
Doesn’t mean the bones you built it on have fully decomposed

The Israeli left is about as alive as Ariel Sharon
I’m sick and tired of asking for permission to resist
From antiquated leftists and progressives
Who care more about keeping it Kosher than moving things forward
I put down my pen and waving fist to resist with college kids and Palestinians
Boycott and divest!
Because who cares about preserving a living when governments are killing civilians
Complicity by silence and reserve units bombing Gaza
Your academics and scholars, theater groups and practitioners, are part of the problem

And if logic doesn’t fit into your long term plan of rejecting
My right to return, I’m sorry
Maybe one day you’ll return to reality
Where my people have babies quicker
Than Zionists can concoct Jordanian options

I don’t want your sympathy or introspective confessions
Won’t sit on my hands till they loose oxygen
Like the people of Balata and Rafah
Vote for Barack Obama
And pretend that his 22 day silence was golden
While emaciated children starved to death
Surrounded by their parent’s corpses

This can’t be America the Beautiful
A criminal with a few positive attributes
Doesn’t alleviate genocide
Bombing Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq
Into oblivion doesn’t make you historic
It makes you as blind and bloodthirsty
As the white men that came before you
Apathetic hipsters now excited about a president
Who broke history, but not poverty, occupation, or corporate interests

I’d rather proudly walk through the graveyard of peace accords
And failed dialogue sessions
Than see my people just as occupied or third class citizens
We are the gavel that will slam down like a verdict
We are not waiting for Israel or America or the Supreme Court to approve it
We’ll boycott Lev Leviev, Caterpillar and your apartheid companies
We’re taking back the right of return and the keys to a country
Because we never asked you to go back to Europe or sit in open air prisons
I’m not asking for your advice, I’m explaining the decision
You can stay here, with us, but only as equals
It’s not that you’re Israeli, it’s that you’re wrong
That’s why I fight for my people!

Remi Kanazi is the editor of the recently released collection of poetry, Poets For Palestine. He will be touring the US and Canada this fall on the upcoming Poets For Palestine tour.

from theory to practice

Sep 15

Posted by A. Peasant in Hasbara, Israel, Obama/Biden, Palestinians, Think Tanks | No Comments

I wrote this piece in January of this year:

Israel’s Security: An Idea Whose Time Will Never Come

And it’s long and involved because it’s about this convoluted paper written by Walter Russell Mead, the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Council of Foreign Relations. The paper is called Change They Can Believe In: To Make Israel Safe, Give Palestinians Their Due.

http://tinyurl.com/8o9jg4

Foreign Policy’s Shorter: If it hopes to bring peace to the Middle East, the Obama administration must put Palestinian politics and goals first.

My Shorter: Let’s buy off the Palestinians and internationalize the problem without requiring Israel to make a real sacrifice.

Are you ready for another bailout? That’s what this CFR paper is all about: the US, the international community, and (Israel), paying the Palestinians off. And like all the other bailouts we’ve had crammed down our throats so far, this one, too, is a waste of US taxpayer money that will never work.

The incoming U.S. administration of Barack Obama faces a daunting task. It needs to develop a Middle East peace strategy that makes a clear break with the past, that is politically sustainable at home and abroad, that offers real hope for a final resolution, and that in the meantime can bring benefits to the two peoples, the wider region, and the United States itself. But Washington will have only limited options. American public opinion strongly and consistently favors a pro-Israel orientation for U.S. foreign policy, and Israel’s friends in the United States can mobilize broad support on short notice. Decades of intensive diplomacy and scholarship have already delineated the possible solutions to the dispute. The outlines of a settlement — regarding borders, security, refugees, and water rights — are reasonably well understood by all parties, and Obama cannot do much to change them.

[snip]

Obama. Of course. HE will acknowledge the horrible wrongs the Palestinians have suffered (by Israel), and HE will compensate them for those wrongs (done by Israel), and HE will ensure a dignified future for “every Palestinian family.” Brush your hands together now. This big mess will all be swept up shortly. But first, let us be clear about this injustice thing…

What the Palestinians want from peace is, first of all, an acknowledgment of the injustices they have suffered. Israeli and Palestinian scholars have documented many incidents during Israel’s War of Independence in which massacres or threats of violence caused Palestinians to flee. Most Palestinians who left their homes and villages to protect themselves and their families were never allowed to return, and much of their property was confiscated by the new Israeli government. It is not a crime for civilians to flee combat, and international law recognizes the right of such people to return to their homes. Enforcing that right has been a centerpiece of U.S. policy in Bosnia, so why, the Palestinians ask, should they be treated any differently? This is a legitimate grievance, and the United States must lead the international community in reckoning with it fully and frankly. Any diplomatic effort hoping to build a secure peace with the Palestinians’ support must address this issue.

That said, it would be as unfair to place all responsibility for the Palestinian refugee problem on Israel as it is to overlook the injustices the Palestinians suffered. The Israelis argue that the War of Independence was a fight for survival: here were survivors from Hitler’s death camps suddenly facing not only the Palestinians but also the armies of five Arab states. Self-defense, the Israelis argue, justified their actions during and after the war. And although most Israelis acknowledge that wrongs were committed, almost all charge that, faced with similar choices, their critics would have done the same or worse. They are right. The responsibility for the nakba cannot simply be laid at Israel’s door.

Do you have that? Do you get it? It’s not Israel’s fault!! They HAD to kill those Palestinians!! It was SELF-DEFENSE when they ethnically cleansed all those villages!!! YOU WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME THING, they insist!!! And what does Mr. Mead say, “They are right.” It is just as simple as that. He just takes every self-serving excuse for Israel’s crimes and accepts them. That is why he gets paid the big bucks at CFR. And that’s how the US foreign policy establishment works. Whatever Israel wants, Israel gets. A little acknowledgment from Israel, and everybody else pays up.

And so forth.

Lo and behold. I remembered it upon seeing this today:

By Haitham Sabbah

A draft of the Obama peace plan, which is expected to be released at the UN Assembly meeting in New York, or at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, has surfaced.

The International Middle East Media Center’s website leaked the alleged draft of Obama’s peace plan given to them by Palestinian Legislator Hasan Khreisha. Khreisha added that the draft has been widely distributed among Palestinian and Arab leaders and the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, recently discussed the plan during his visit to the White House.

According to Khreisha, the draft includes ten main points detailed as follows:

1. International presence in the Jordan Valley, Palestinian Plains area, and other areas in the West Bank.

2. Annexing some parts of East Jerusalem to remain under Israeli control, while Muslim holy site would be under Arab control.

3. All Palestinian factions would be dissolved and transformed into political parties.

4. Large settlement blocs in the West Bank would remain under Israeli control, while negotiations would be conducted within three months of the plan agreement?, to discuss the future of smaller settlements.

5. Several areas in the West Bank would be disarmed, and Israeli would maintain aerial control.

6. Intensifying the Palestinian-Israeli security coordination.

7. The Palestinian Authority would not be allowed to have military alliances with regional countries.

8. The United States would guarantee the establishment of a Palestinian State in the summer of 2011.

9. Allowing an agreed upon number of refugees to return, and to be settled in the Plains area and other areas in the West Bank, particularly in the cities of Ramallah and Nablus. A special fund for supporting the refugees would also be established.

10. Israel starts releasing the Palestinian political detainees immediately after the peace deal is signed. Three years would be allocated for the release of the detainees.

I see an international presence. I see a special fund. I see US guarantees. I see Israel maintaining control. I see political limitations on the Palestinians.

And what does Israel sacrifice? Diddly-squat.

Check.

People who live in glass houses

Jan 29

Posted by Marlena in Evil, Israel, Palestinians, Religion, UK | 10 Comments

As a Catholic, I am accustomed to Catholic bashing. If you can’t stand a little Catholic bashing, you might as well not be a Catholic. It comes with the territory. None of which is to get into the myriad reasons for Catholic bashing, many of which are legitimate. But, you know, when people bash the Catholic Church–and Catholics do it all the time–I don’t usually take it personally. But one cannot help notice that Catholic bashing is quite popular. One wrong move and….WHACK!

Jewish leaders condemn Pope over Holocaust bishop

Leading members of Britain’s Jewish community have joined in condemnation of the Pope’s decision to lift the excommunication on a bishop who denies the Holocaust at the same time as the nation commemorates the six million Jews murdered in the Nazi death camps.

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday, in the middle of the Jewish Sabbath, lifted the excommunications on four bishops of the traditionalist Society of St Pius X, including the English Old Wykehamist Bishop Richard Williamson.

In an interview broadcast on Swedish television last week, Bishop Williamson said: “There were no gas chambers.” He also stated that he did not believe six million had died, and the number was between 200,000 and 300,000. In the past, he has endorsed the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The lifting of the excommunications could not have come at a more sensitive time for British Jewry, already facing an unprecedented increase in anti-Semitic attacks as a result of Israel’s action in Gaza.

Look at the Pope, making decisions affecting Catholic bishops in the middle of the Jewish Sabbath???? What was he thinking????? This is a sensitive time for British Jewry, coming on the heals of Israel’s vicious attacks on the Palestinians. And shouldn’t the Pope be thinking about British Jewry at all times? Clearly, the Pope has No Business conducting Catholic business at a sensitive time for British Jewry. Actually, it’s pretty much always a sensitive time for somebody somewhere, so why don’t we just skip any and all decisions that might upset some people someplace at any time ever. That makes more sense.

Dr Ed Kessler, of the Centre for the Study of Jewish Christian Relations at the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, said: “In the 20 odd years that I have been teaching Jewish-Christian relations I never thought I would witness a time when in the name of Christian unity, a German-bred Pope would bring back into the fold a Holocaust-denier. It is absolutely astonishing. While it is an internal decision for the Roman Catholic Church it has huge consequences, not just in terms of relations with Jews but also other faiths and ecumenical relations. It is a very very sad day for Catholic-Jewish relations.” [filling many tissues]

Dr Kessler said he doubted the Pope’s planned trip to Israel would now go ahead but warned that if it did, it would be dogged by huge controversy.

He said: “It is not enough to say that it is a technicality that these people are being brought back into the fold. This is not just a problem for the Jews, it is a problem most of all for the Catholics.” Traditional Catholics however continued to celebrate the lifting of the excommunications, timed to coincide with the end of the annual Week for Christian Unity.

How does Dr. Kessler presume to speak for the Catholics? That’s just amazing. He’s not even Catholic. After that all happened, the “scandal” escalated when the Chief Rabbinate broke Vatican ties.

Chief Rabbinate Director-General Oded Weiner wrote in a letter to Vatican officials that because of Pope Benedict’s decision to reinstate Britain’s Bishop Richard Williamson “without a public apology and recanting, it will be difficult to continue the dialogue,” The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

Weiner addressed the letter to Cardinal Walter Casper, chairman of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, saying he had canceled a meeting scheduled for March in Rome, the newspaper reported.

Apparently, the Pope’s decision to reinstate Bishop Williamsom without forcing him to publicly apologize and recant his positions effectively suspends relations with the Jews. I guess this is like the old “one drop” theory of racial purity, except in this case, even one Catholic Bishop believing something distasteful to the Jews poisons the whole relationship. Of course, the Pope quickly caved under this public pressure, and expressed solidarity with the Jews.

In his weekly audience with the public on Wednesday, Benedict said he “renewed with love” his “full and indisputable solidarity” with Jews, whom he called “our brothers of the first covenant.”

He added that he had repeatedly visited Auschwitz, the location of the “brutal massacre of millions of Jews, innocent victims of blind racial and religious hatred,” and said that the Holocaust “should be a warning for everyone against forgetting, denying or diminishing its significance.”

But tensions remained, a day after Israel’s highest religious body sent a letter to the Vatican asking to postpone an annual bilateral meeting and voicing “sorrow and pain” at the pope’s decision to welcome the bishop back into the fold.

[snip]

The Israeli ambassador to the Vatican, Mordechay Lewy, said he welcomed the pope’s remarks about the Holocaust and called them “instrumental in shaping the parameters of the existing and future relations between Jews and Catholics.”

Makes you wonder about those parameters. Well, while we’re putting people under the microscope for their beliefs, how’s about we ask some Rabbis to explain the Talmud? I mean, there’s a few bits in there that call for some public apologies and recanting. (Go get your box of tissues…I’ll wait…)

A place of Christian worship is called (1) Beth Tilfah, a house of vanity and foolishness, in place of Beth Tefilah, a house of prayer; (2) Beth Abhodha Zarah, a House of Idolatry; (3) Beth Hatturapi Schel Letsim, a house of Evil Laughter.

Chalises used in the Sacrifice of the mass are spoken of as vessels in which filth is offered up to the idol. Moses Kozzensis, in Hilkoth Abhodah Zarah (10b) says:
“A Jew who buys Chalises of the Goi, which are broken and thrown away, it is not permitted to sell them again to them, because their priest of Baal will use them in the worship of the idol.”

The Talmud calls the books of the Christians Minim - heretical books - Siphre Debeth Abidan - Books of the House of Perdition. The Talmud in particular speaks of the books of the Gospels. Thus in Schabbath (116a) Toseph:

“Rabbi Meir calls heretical books Aaven Gilaion (volumes of iniquity) because the call them Gospels.”

And Rabbi Jochanan calls these books Aavon Gilaion, evil books. The Schulchan Arukh, Crakow edition, gives this name as Aven Niktabh al Haggilaion - iniquity written in a book.

Buxtorf says: “In the Arukh there is a note Scheker Niktabh al Gilaion, which means, a lie written in a book.”

All the Talmudists agree that the books of the Christians should be destroyed. They differ only as to what should be done with the names of God contained in them. In Schabbath (116a) it says:

“The Glossaries of our own books and the books of the heretics are not to be saved from the flames, if they should catch fire on the Sabbath day. Rabbi Jose, however, says: ‘On festival days the divine names should be torn out of the books of the Christians and hidden away; what remains must be given to the flames.’ But Rabbi Tarphon says: ‘In order that I may be remembered by my children, if those books should ever fall into my hands I would burn them together with the divine names contained therein. For if one is chased by an assassin, or by a serpent, it would be better to take refuge in a pagan temple than in one of theirs; because the Christians knowingly resist the truth, whereas the pagans do so unknowingly.”

Christian prayers are called, not Tefillah, but Tiflah. They change the point and insert Iod, which makes it read to mean sin, foolishness and transgression.
Christian festivals, especially Sunday, are called Ion Ed - day of destruction, perdition, misfortune or calamity. They are also simply called Iom Notsri - Christian Days. The word Ed rightly interpreted means misfortune or calamity, as appears from the Gemarah and the Glossaries of Maimonides in Abhodah Zarah (2a):

“The word Edehem means the festivals of the Christians, since it is written (in Deuter. XXXII, 35): the day of their calamity.”

Maimonides also says in Abhodah Zarah (78c):

“The words Edehem means the foolishness of their festivlas. It is the name for their despicable feast days which do not merit the name of Moedim, for they are really vain and evil.”

Baretenora also writes:

“The word Edehem is the name for their ignominious festivals and solemnities.”
The marginal notes of Tosephtoth also give this name to Christian festivals. Thus in Abhodah Zarah (6a):

“The Day of Evil, that is the Christian Day, is forbidden to us as well as all their other feast days.”

Some Christian festivals are mentioned by name, such as the feast of Christmas and Easter. Moses Mikkozzi, referring to the above text of Abhodah Zarah , says:

“Rabbi Sammuel declares, in the name of Solomon Iarchi, that in particular the festivals of Christmas and Easter, which are their principal evil days and the foundation of their religion, are forbidden to us.”

Maimonides, in hilkoth Akum (ch. IX) has the same:

“Sammuel repeats the words of Rabbi Sal. Iarchi which forbid us particularly to celebrate the feasts of Christmas and Easter, which are celebrated on account of him who was hanged.”

Furthermore, indications of the impiety of the Jews are to be found in the names which they give to these Christian festivals: For in place of using Tav in the word Nithal, they often write Tet and call it Nital for the Latin word Natalis, the Feast of the Nativity. They make it appear as if this word were from the root Natal which connotes extermination or destruction. Likewise they refuse to use the word Paschal (Pesach) for the Christian feast of Easter. The substitute Koph for Phe and insert the letter iod and call it Ketsach or Kesach. Both pronunciations have an evil meaning. Ketsach is from the root Katsah, meaning to amputate or cut off from, and Kesach is from the root Kesa, meaning to wood or a gallows. This is done because the feast of Easter is celebrated by Christians in memory of Christ - the one who was hanged - who was put to death and who rose again from the dead.

Oh sad sad day. This is actually just a small sample of disturbing things in the Talmud. If you’re a Christian, are your feelings hurt knowing that your religion and everything about it is considered evil in the Talmud? Or is this “just a technicality?” I’m just curious how many Rabbis believe these vicious things about the Christian faith, and Christians, and do they teach these hateful things to their followers? And if so, shouldn’t this information also be dragged through every newspaper as scandalous? And shouldn’t these Rabbis be forced to publicly apologize and renounce such hateful teachings? Or is all this religious scrutiny just a one way street?