Israel continues its merciless pounding of the defenceless.

[Park Life 70]

Where is ferp anyway, downloaded himself into second life for a 2 week holiday?

 

He doesn't recognise the Judeo Christian calendar apparently.

[Happy Face 29]

Barack Obama has been busy - offering the Jewish People blessings for Rosh Hashanah, and recording a flattering video for the President's Conference in Jerusalem and another for Yitzhak Rabin's memorial rally. Only Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah surpasses him in terms of sheer output of recorded remarks.

 

In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything - even just a temporary freeze on settlement building - to advance the peace process.

 

The president's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has also been busy, shuttling between a funeral (for IDF soldier Asaf Ramon, the son of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon) and a memorial (for Rabin, though it was postponed until next week due to rain), in order to find favor with Israelis. Polls have shown that Obama is increasingly unpopular here, with an approval rating of only 6 to 10 percent.

 

He decided to address Israelis by video, but a persuasive speech won't persuade anyone to end the occupation. He simply should have told the Israeli people the truth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived here last night, will certainly express similar sentiments: "commitment to Israel's security," "strategic alliance," "the need for peace," and so on .

 

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

 

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

 

Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world's policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

 

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 - which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement - then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.

 

It is true that unlike all the world's other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage. The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement free ze and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel's inaction.

 

When Clinton returns to Washington, she should advocate a sharp policy change toward Israel. Israeli hearts can no longer be won with hope, promises of a better future or sweet talk, for this is no longer Israel's language. For something to change, Israel must understand that perpetuating the status quo will exact a painful price.

 

Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year - Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124928.html?

[Park Life 70]

Barack Obama has been busy - offering the Jewish People blessings for Rosh Hashanah, and recording a flattering video for the President's Conference in Jerusalem and another for Yitzhak Rabin's memorial rally. Only Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah surpasses him in terms of sheer output of recorded remarks.

 

In all the videos, Obama heaps sticky-sweet praise on Israel, even though he has spent nearly a year fruitlessly lobbying for Israel to be so kind as to do something, anything - even just a temporary freeze on settlement building - to advance the peace process.

 

The president's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has also been busy, shuttling between a funeral (for IDF soldier Asaf Ramon, the son of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon) and a memorial (for Rabin, though it was postponed until next week due to rain), in order to find favor with Israelis. Polls have shown that Obama is increasingly unpopular here, with an approval rating of only 6 to 10 percent.

 

He decided to address Israelis by video, but a persuasive speech won't persuade anyone to end the occupation. He simply should have told the Israeli people the truth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived here last night, will certainly express similar sentiments: "commitment to Israel's security," "strategic alliance," "the need for peace," and so on .

 

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

 

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

 

Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don't change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world's policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

 

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 - which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement - then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.

 

It is true that unlike all the world's other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage. The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement free ze and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel's inaction.

 

When Clinton returns to Washington, she should advocate a sharp policy change toward Israel. Israeli hearts can no longer be won with hope, promises of a better future or sweet talk, for this is no longer Israel's language. For something to change, Israel must understand that perpetuating the status quo will exact a painful price.

 

Israel of 2009 is a spoiled country, arrogant and condescending, convinced that it deserves everything and that it has the power to make a fool of America and the world. The United States has engendered this situation, which endangers the entire Mideast and Israel itself. That is why there needs to be a turning point in the coming year - Washington needs to finally say no to Israel and the occupation. An unambiguous, presidential no.

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124928.html?

 

I would nuke Israel without a moments hesitation. This place and the diaspora of its people is the cause of nearly every single problem on this planet. If the anti-christ came I bet he w2ould be Jewish.

[Happy Face 29]

I would nuke Israel without a moments hesitation. This place and the diaspora of its people is the cause of nearly every single problem on this planet. If the anti-christ came I bet he w2ould be Jewish.

 

To be fair, that article comes from Israels oldest daily newspaper. The people recognise what they do is wrong while the government persist with it.

 

A bit like in the UK and the US.

 

Democracy FAIL!

[Park Life 70]

I would nuke Israel without a moments hesitation. This place and the diaspora of its people is the cause of nearly every single problem on this planet. If the anti-christ came I bet he w2ould be Jewish.

 

To be fair, that article comes from Israels oldest daily newspaper. The people recognise what they do is wrong while the government persist with it.

 

A bit like in the UK and the US.

 

Democracy FAIL!

 

I know, I know, there are many Israeli's who are against the blatant Zionism. How about Obama threatens to cut the aid? Dis his time at the madrassa count for nothing..?

[Happy Face 29]

Police in Dubai are to issue arrest warrants for 11 "agents with European passports" suspected of assassinating a top Hamas official last month.

 

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was murdered in his hotel room in Dubai on 20 January.

 

Reports have suggested that he was in Dubai to buy weapons for Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. It has accused Israeli agents of killing him.

 

Dubai's police chief said six of the suspects had British passports, three were Irish, one French and one German.

 

The Britons were named as James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Paul John Keeley, Michael Lawrence Barney, Jonathan Lewis Graham and Melvyn Adam Mildiner.

 

One of the group was a woman with Irish papers in the name of Gail Folliard. The other Irish suspects were named as Kevin Daveron and Evan Dennings.

 

Officials in Dubai said the team appeared to be a professional hit-squad, most likely sponsored by a foreign power, suggesting the team were operating on false documents.

 

He showed CCTV footage of the group entering the hotel where Mr Mabhouh was staying.

 

At one point the men appear to don wigs and false beards.

 

"We do not rule out the involvement of Mossad (the Israeli secret service), but when we arrest those suspects we will know who masterminded it," Lt Gen Dhafi Khalfan Tamim said.

 

"We have no doubts that it was 11 people holding these passports, and we regret that they used the travel documents of friendly countries," Lt Gen Tamim said.

 

'Suffocated'

 

Lt Gen Tamim said the identities had been passed on to Interpol, as part of an official request for international arrest warrants to be issued.

 

Mr Mabhouh was electrocuted and suffocated, according to reports last month.

 

Lt Gen Tamim said the suspects had followed Mr Mabhouh into Dubai from Syria, where he lived since 1989, before fanning out to stay at different hotels to avoid detection.

 

Two Palestinians who aided the team have been arrested, the police said.

 

Mr Mabhouh was a founder member of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and was thought to be behind the kidnap and murder of two Israeli soldiers in 1989 during the first Palestinian Intifada.

 

The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades have been responsible for suicide bombings and rocket attacks across Israel.

 

Israel has refused to comment on the accusations its security forces were behind the killing.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8516901.stm

 

The British and Irish governments have said that passports belonging to the alleged killers of a top Hamas official are fake.

 

Ireland said the names Gail Folliard, Evan Dennings and Kevin Daveron, and their passport numbers, did not match anything issued by its officials.

 

Britain said it believed six British passports were also fakes.

 

The suspects were named by police in Dubai where Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was murdered in his hotel on 20 January.

 

A French man and a German man were also suspected of playing parts in the assassination.

 

Dubai police said on Monday it would issue arrest warrants for 11 people suspected of the assassination of Mr Mabhouh.

 

Reports have suggested that Mr Mabhouh was in Dubai to buy weapons for Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

 

Hamas have accused Israeli agents of killing him.

 

A day after Dubai police announced the names of the suspects, a spokesman for Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said: "We are unable to identify any of those three individuals as being genuine Irish citizens.

 

The passport numbers had the wrong number of digits and did not contain letters as authentic passports do.

 

"These purported passports are false. These are not genuine passports," the spokesman said.

 

The Britons were named as James Leonard Clarke, Stephen Daniel Hodes, Paul John Keeley, Michael Lawrence Barney, Jonathan Lewis Graham and Melvyn Adam Mildiner.

 

But the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We believe the passports used were fraudulent and have begun our own investigation.

 

"We have informed the authorities in the UAE that this is the case, and continue to co-operate closely with the Emiratis on this matter."

 

One man with the same name as a British suspect said it was not him, according to Reuters news agency.

 

Melvyn Adam Mildner, a British man living in Israel, told Reuters: "I am obviously angry, upset and scared - any number of things. And I'm looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name."

 

"I don't know how this happened or who chose my name or why, but hopefully we'll find out soon," said Mr Mildiner, adding that he had his passport with him.

 

Officials in Dubai said the team appeared to be a professional hit-squad, most likely sponsored by a foreign power, suggesting the team were operating on false documents.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8518481.stm

[NJS 3984]

Surely the Israelis wouldn't need outside contractors?

 

I suppose it could be a double bluff of deniability.

[Park Life 70]

Surely the Israelis wouldn't need outside contractors?

 

I suppose it could be a double bluff of deniability.

 

Israeli passport holders have trouble getting into Duabi it is rare. I realise this is probably news to you...

 

Dubai Reaffirms Policy of Refusing Entry to Israelis

 

by Michael Freund, INN International Affairs Correspondent

Follow Israel news on Twitter and Facebook.

 

(IsraelNN.com)

“We don’t give a permit for Israeli passport holders to enter the country,” Mohammed Ali al-Mohari of the Entry Permits Section of Dubai’s Interior Ministry said in a telephone interview. “It’s a rule.”

 

Asked to explain the reason behind the policy, Al-Mohari laughed and said that he thinks this is the case for most Arab countries. “This is how it is in most of the Arabic lands, I am sure,” he said.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Park Life

[Guest alex]

Wonder if they posed as footballers / WAGS.

[NJS 3984]

Yeah but I didn't get the impression they were simply Israelis with European passports - maybe my mistake.

[Park Life 70]

Yeah but I didn't get the impression they were simply Israelis with European passports - maybe my mistake.

 

They basically don't let Israeli passport holders in so if there is monkey busieness to be done the Isralis hire other nationals.

 

But these guys wouldn't be Joe off the hight street they could well be our own or private security firms/ Govt operatives. So hence the full denial...

 

For instance after 9/11 the CIA ran checks on all Israeli passport holders entering one month prior....

Edited February 16, 2010 by Park Life

[Guest alex]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

[NJS 3984]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

 

I was just talking to someone the other day how generally we've gone wrong since about the 17th century in that the people who run wars never get involved or suffer and things would have turned out differently if instead of thousands of cannon fodder dying, hit squads had just gone in and killed people like the German Kaiser or more recently Martin McGuinness (and his equivalent).

[LeazesMag 0]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

 

I was just talking to someone the other day how generally we've gone wrong since about the 17th century in that the people who run wars never get involved or suffer and things would have turned out differently if instead of thousands of cannon fodder dying, hit squads had just gone in and killed people like the German Kaiser or more recently Martin McGuinness (and his equivalent).

 

hmmm.......advocating the murder of "innocent until proven guilty" people by SAS/SBS teams then ?

[NJS 3984]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

 

I was just talking to someone the other day how generally we've gone wrong since about the 17th century in that the people who run wars never get involved or suffer and things would have turned out differently if instead of thousands of cannon fodder dying, hit squads had just gone in and killed people like the German Kaiser or more recently Martin McGuinness (and his equivalent).

 

hmmm.......advocating the murder of "innocent until proven guilty" people by SAS/SBS teams then ?

 

No I'm talking about bringing the war to those obviously responsible on a personal level.

 

That does not include people where there are doubts or collateral civilians.

[LeazesMag 0]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

 

I was just talking to someone the other day how generally we've gone wrong since about the 17th century in that the people who run wars never get involved or suffer and things would have turned out differently if instead of thousands of cannon fodder dying, hit squads had just gone in and killed people like the German Kaiser or more recently Martin McGuinness (and his equivalent).

 

hmmm.......advocating the murder of "innocent until proven guilty" people by SAS/SBS teams then ?

 

No I'm talking about bringing the war to those obviously responsible on a personal level.

 

That does not include people where there are doubts or collateral civilians.

 

exactly. "Obviously responsible on a personal level" means that you accept they may possibly be "innocent until being proven guilty". FWIW I totally agree with you if this is what you mean, but it's what I've always said.

[Rob W 0]

Some Israeli on the Beeb this morning saying it was a stupid operation - 12 agents compromised, "Israel murders people" headlines, modus operandi revealed, UAE pissed off, anglo-jews pissed off due to identity theft, Hamas all steamed up ................

 

and what for? He'd been around for ages - a pain in the a*** certainly but not exactly Mullar Omar

[Guest alex]

Even a bleeding-hearted liberal like me doesn't have much sympathy for him like.

 

I was just talking to someone the other day how generally we've gone wrong since about the 17th century in that the people who run wars never get involved or suffer and things would have turned out differently if instead of thousands of cannon fodder dying, hit squads had just gone in and killed people like the German Kaiser or more recently Martin McGuinness (and his equivalent).

Seems like an obvious thing to say but would Bush or Blair have been so gung-ho re: Iraq if they'd had kids in the military?

[Anth 54]

What I dont understand (though I have to admit I'm not exactly clued up on how these things work) is why 11 people were needed to carry this out? Surely you would need one or two max??

One paper this morning were alluding to the fact that it wasn't mossad but simply made to look like them.

[Park Life 70]

What I dont understand (though I have to admit I'm not exactly clued up on how these things work) is why 11 people were needed to carry this out? Surely you would need one or two max??

One paper this morning were alluding to the fact that it wasn't mossad but simply made to look like them.

 

This is a staged event.

 

Why didn't they just kill JFK when he was doing his gardening?

[The Fish 9008]

Because his garden wasn't anywhere near the Texas book depository?

[Park Life 70]

Because his garden wasn't anywhere near the Texas book depository?

 

The first rule of hits is never strike a moving target if you can avoid it, especially one that on that day was surrounded by max security. When you unpack the world fish you'll understand these things like you understand stories.

[Happy Face 29]

Because his garden wasn't anywhere near the Texas book depository?

 

The first rule of hits is never strike a moving target if you can avoid it, especially one that on that day was surrounded by max security. When you unpack the world fish you'll understand these things like you understand stories.

 

And there's no security in The White House garden?

 

[Park Life 70]

Because his garden wasn't anywhere near the Texas book depository?

 

The first rule of hits is never strike a moving target if you can avoid it, especially one that on that day was surrounded by max security. When you unpack the world fish you'll understand these things like you understand stories.

 

And there's no security in The White House garden?

 

 

Probably a lot less than when he visited Texas (where many hated him and he was actually told not to go) and was constantly moving plane-car-distance to target.

 

Imagine they would have missed, the chance to have another crack at him would immediately become twice as hard...Right?

 

Would it not have been a lot simpler to hit JFK when he was out of the spotlight (a grandstand event) perhaps visiting a school or something? Of course it would be.

 

The JFK hit was staged for public consumption like 9/11. The staging is mythological....Deeper stories that trouble us....That make us give over our consent subconsciously.

[Guest alex]

Oswald could have been a loan nutter like. The shot wasn't anywhere near as hard as the more outlandish conspiracy theories suggest either.