Philip's posts with tag: ant-semitism
24 March 08 by Gil Ronen (IsraelNN.com) Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is currently hiding his anti-Israel views in order to get elected, according to a well-known anti-Israel activist. The activist, Ali Abunimah, claimed to know Obama well and to have met him on numerous occasions at pro-Palestinian events in Chicago. In an article he penned for the anti-Israeli website Electronic Intifada, Abunimah wrote: "The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing. "As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, 'Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.' He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy [and said:] 'Keep up the good work!'" Barack, Michelle, Edward and Mariam
Abunimah's report included a photo of Obama with his wife Michelle seated at a table with virulently anti-Israeli Professor Edward Said and his wife Mariam, in what Abunimah said was a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Said gave the keynote speech. In an interview earlier this year for the leftist radio show "Democracy Now!," a daily TV and radio news program hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Abunimah said he knew Obama for many years as his state senator "when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time." "I remember personally introducing him onstage in 1999, when we had a major community fundraiser for the community center in Deheisha refugee camp in the occupied West Bank," he recounted. "And that's just one example of how Barack Obama used to be very comfortable speaking up for and being associated with Palestinian rights and opposing the Israeli occupation." About face 'to get elected'
The Arab-American activist went on to say: "In 2000, when Obama unsuccessfully ran for Congress I heard him speak at a campaign fundraiser hosted by a University of Chicago professor. On that occasion and others Obama was forthright in his criticism of US policy and his call for an even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." "Obama's about-face is not surprising," Abunimah wrote. "He is merely doing what he thinks is necessary to get elected and he will continue doing it as long as it keeps him in power."
When Obama first ran for the Senate in 2004, the Chicago Jewish News interviewed him on his stance regarding Israel's security fence. He accused the Bush administration of neglecting the "Israeli-Palestinian" situation and criticized the security fence built by Israel to prevent terror attacks: "The creation of a wall dividing the two nations is yet another example of the neglect of this Administration in brokering peace," Obama was quoted as saying.
February 3, '08 Last of Anti-Disengagement Protesters Get Jail Time by Ezra HaLevi  (IsraelNN.com) Two Jewish anti-Disengagement activists were sentenced to years in prison Sunday for planning a road blocking in 2005. Brothers Modechai and Elitzur Harel were sentenced to 40 and 30 months in prison, respectively, by Tel Aviv’s Magistrates Court judge George Kara, an Israeli-Arab. The brothers were arrested while preparing to block Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Expressway with their own burning vehicle. Their plan was a display of civil disobedience protesting what they saw as an illegal and immoral law –the 2005 Disengagement Law which paved the way for the expulsion of thousands of Jews from their homes in Israeli communities. They were found guilty of the crime of “endangering human life on a transportation route.” Boaz Yaakobi, a friend of the two brothers who was present at the sentencing, said that the judge compared their planned protest to placing an explosives charge in the middle of the freeway. "The judge and the prosecution turned them from planners of a roadblock protest into planners of a mass-casualty bombing," he said. The Harels’ severe treatment by the Israeli justice system did not begin Sunday. They were imprisoned for half a year without trial until finally being released. Then, they were summarily placed back in prison two months ago until the end of proceedings against them, in an unprecedented decision made by Judge Kara, with the support of Supreme Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch. The Honenu legal aid organization says that more than a dozen legal experts, professors and jurists who reviewed the case were all shocked at its “travesty of justice, which lacks comparison or proportion compared to the treatment of even murderers and rapists.” “There is a general feeling that this case constitutes a settling of accounts with those who opposed the expulsion from Gush Katif and northern Samaria,” Honenu said in a brief regarding the case. “In addition, in similar cases of students blocking roads [as part of last year’s students’ protests regarding tuition increases –ed.], the punishments were much lighter, with many not even resulting in indictments.” Honenu says it is organizing legal action against the continued political discrimination displayed by the justice system. Mordechai Harel is a father of six who teaches Talmud at the Torah academy set up in the hilltop community of Havat Gilad, in Samaria. He was one of the founders of the Ramat Gan Hesder Yeshiva twelve years ago. One of his students told Arutz Sheva that he and fellow students are flabbergasted by the prospect of their teacher being sentenced to years of active jail time.
Barack Hussein Obama and Israel
The American Thinker, January 16, 2008 *Redacted from an article by Ed Lasky* The ascent of Barack Obama from lowly state senator in Illinois to a leading contender for the Presidential nomination in the span of just a few years is remarkable. Especially, *in light of a noticeably unremarkable record -- a near-blank slate of few accomplishments and a disproportionately high number of missed votes.* However, in one area of foreign policy that concerns millions of Americans, *he does have a record* and it is a *particularly troubling one*. For all supporters of the *America-Israel relationship* there is enough information beyond the glare of the klieg lights to give one pause. In contrast to his canned speeches filled with "poetry" and uplifting aphorisms and delivered in a commanding way, behind the campaign façade lies a disquieting pattern of behavior. One seemingly consistent theme running throughout Barack Obama's career is his comfort with aligning himself with people who are anti-Israel advocates. This ease around Israel animus has taken various forms. As Obama has continued his political ascent, he has moved up the prestige scale in terms of his associates. *Early on in his career he chose a church headed by a former Black Muslim who is a harsh anti-Israel advocate and who may be seen as tinged with anti-Semitism. * This church is a member of a denomination whose governing body has taken a series of anti-Israel actions. As his political fortunes and ambition climbed, he found support from George Soros (CFR), multibillionaire promoter of groups that have been consistently harsh and biased critics of the American-Israel relationship. Obama's soothing and inspiring oratory sometimes vanishes when he talks of the Middle East. Indeed, his off-the-cuff remarks have been uniformly taken by supporters of Israel as signs that the inner Obama does not truly support Israel. This despite what his canned speeches and essays may contain. Now that Obama has become a leading Presidential candidate, he has assembled a body of foreign policy advisers who signal that a President Obama would likely have an approach towards Israel radically at odds with those of previous Presidents (both Republican and Democrat). *A group of experts collected by the Israeli liberal [far left!] newspaper Haaretz deemed him the candidate likely to be least supportive of Israel. _He is the candidate most favored by the Arab-American community. _* When Obama moved to Chicago and became a community organizer, he found it expedient to choose a Christian church to join. Even though his father and stepfather were both Muslims and he attended school [and a Mosque] as a Muslim while living in Indonesia, suspicions based on his days as a child are overheated and unfair. Still, his full name alone conveys the biographical fact that he has some elements of a Muslim background. Saul Alinsky, whose philosophy infused community organizing in Chicago, emphasized the importance of churches as a basis for organizing. There are literally hundreds of churches on the South Side of Chicago that Obama could have chosen. He selected one that was headed by Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. The anti-Israel rants of this minister have been well chronicled. Among the gems:*/The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now. It took a divestment campaign to wake the business community up concerning the South Africa issue. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community up and to wake Americans up concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism./* *Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Jr. is a supporter of Louis Farrakhan (who called Judaism a "gutter religion" and depicted Jews as "bloodsuckers") *and *traveled with him to visit Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi*, archenemy of Israel's and a terror supporter. Tucker Carlson of MSNBC has *called Pastor Wright a total hater* and wondered why the ties that bind Obama to Wright have not been given greater scrutiny. Mickey Kaus of Slate has also wondered when the ties between Obama and Wright will receive more criticism, given Wright's seeming bigotry, which is in contrast to the soothing melody of unity that Obama has trumpeted on the campaign trail. Some in the media have taken notice. As Obama took steps toward the United States Senate he found a very powerful sugar daddy who would help fund his rise: George Soros (CFR). The billionaire hedge fund titan began supporting Obama very early -- as befits a legendary speculative investor always looking for opportunities. Obama coveted support from George Soros (CFR) and Soros (CFR) responded -- along with many family members and probably the Soros (CFR) ring of wealthy donors. Soros even found a loophole that allowed him and assorted family members to exceed regular limits on campaign contributions. *Soros (CFR) is also a fierce foe of Israel, for years funding groups that have worked against Israel. * Every Presidential candidate assembles a foreign policy team of advisers. A glimpse into the makeup of Obama's team has leaked to the media.*Martin Peretz of The New Republic -- a supporter of Obama and of Israel -- had this to say about Obama's Foreign Policy team:****"I have my qualms, as you may know, about Barack Obama, and most especially about what his foreign policy might be.* If elected (and actually before he were to be elected), the first decision he would have to make would be who would represent him in the transition to power from early November to January 20. And, frankly, I* get the shudders since he has indicated that, among others, they would be Zbigniew Bzrezinski (CFR) Anthony Lake (CFR), Susan Rice (CFR) and Robert O. Malley (CFR)." Lake (CFR) and Brzezenski (CFR) both earned their spurs in the Carter (CFR) Administration. Jimmy Carter (CFR), of course, has led a very public campaign of vilification against Israel-defaming it as an apartheid state (a view that Obama's Pastor would concur with). * The appointment of Brzezenski (CFR) elicited much dismay among supporters of Israel since Brzezinski (CFR) is well known for his *aggressive dislike of Israel*. . He has been an ardent foe of Israel for over three decades and newspaper files are littered with his screeds against Israel. Brzezinski (CFR) has publicly defended the Walt-Mearsheimer (CFR) thesis that the relationship between America and Israel is based not on shared values and common threats but is the product of Jewish pressure. *Brzezinski (CFR) also signed a letter demanding dialogue with Hamas* - a group whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and is filled with threats to Jews around the world. Susan Rice (CFR) was John Kerry's (CFR) chief foreign policy adviser when he ran for President. One of the major steps Kerry (CFR) suggested for dealing with the Middle East was to appoint [Jew-Hater] James Baker (CFR) and [Israel-Hater] Jimmy Carter (CFR) as negotiators. Robert Malley (CFR) was part of the American negotiating team that dealt with Yasser Arafat at Camp David. He has presented a revisionist history of those negotiations since then: presenting a view that *blames Israel for the failures of the negotiations*. He has *_spent years representing the Palestinian point of view_*, co-writing a series of anti-Israel articles with Hussein Agha - a former Arafat adviser. Palestinian advocate. ... etc. etc. *_Obama's Choice. Fact - Not Rhetoric!_* Barry Chamish
|  | When the Ghetto walls came tumbling down.
August 17, 2007
Israpundit: AISH offers us a history lesson  Published: Sunday, August 12, 2007 | | | Following in the wake of the Napoleon Wars (1804-1815) in which Napoleon conquered much of Europe, came the emancipation of the Jews of Western Europe. For hundreds of years the Jews had been economically and politically marginalized and physically confined to the ghettos of Europe. After Napoleon, the Ghetto walls came down and the Jews of Western Europe were free to enter European society for the first time. For better and for worse, this represented one of the greatest periods of transformation for these Jewish communities. These new freedoms allowed the Jews of Europe to prosper and have tremendous impact on European society, but also led to a wave of secularization, assimilation and even conversion to Christianity. August 15th is the birthday of Napoleon. The following article, written by Mr. Ben Weider, the president of the International Napoleonic Society ,gives us much food for thought about anti-Semitism, assimilation and Jewish identity in the world today. One of the many contributions that Napoleon has made, and perhaps his most important and lasting one, was his Civil Code. This was written at a time in history when discrimination was rampant. It was then that Napoleon decided to liberate and offer Liberty, Equality and Fraternity to Jews, Protestants and Freemasons. He also opened the churches that were closed for years. The Civil Code of 1804 was to grant religious freedom to all of them. At the time, there were about 480,000 Calvinists and 200,000 Lutherans living in France.
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| Justice Minister: Justice System Biased | | | Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann supported the Right's contention that the justice system in Israel persecutes people who are not perceived as leftist enough, in an interview to Haaretz. Friedmann delivered a long, crushing critique of the Supreme Court in the interview. Among other things, he said the court should not have intervened on security matters such as the route of the security barrier; the law preventing "family unification" between Israeli Arabs and Arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza; the IDF procedure in which a local Arab is used as a shield when knocking on doors of suspected terrorists' homes, and the timetable for fortification of buildings in Sderot and the Gaza Perimeter. He said that the State Prosecution is too eager to press charges against public figures, and noted the examples of former minister Aharon Abuhatzira, as well as Aryeh Deri, Reuven Rivlin and Avigdor Lieberman. As for the case against Chaim Ramon, his predecessor in the Justice Ministry: Friedmann says it was "not even a borderline case, but a sub-borderline case," and hints that the prosecutors' views may have affected their judgment. Of the five cases mentioned above, only one – Ramon – is associated with the left wing Ashkenazi-secular elite. Abuhatzira and Deri are Sephardic and religious, and both represented Sephardic-religious parties. Reuven Rivlin was about to be appointed Justice Minister when he was served with an indictment he was exonerated from years later. The case against Avigdor Lieberman was dragged out for seven years before it was dropped. "I am not talking about bribery cases, about a heavy and clear cut case with real evidence," Friedmann explained to his interviewers, who asked him whether he believed the prosecution behaved conspiratorially. "I am talking about borderline cases… When the prosecution has such wide latitude of action, even if the prosecutor is simply behaving as his conscience dictates, and especially if he is influenced by his attitude towards that public figure… then [the public figure] is treated differently. If he is a person who belongs to one category then he is treated one way, and if he belongs to a different category then he is treated differently. This is a very unhealthy situation." Asked whether he is sure that this mode of action is used with people who are "disliked," Friedmann said: "I do not know. It is clear that the right wing feels that they are treated more severely." "We need to select judges with a different judicial attitude from the one that is currently prevalent in the Supreme Court… The judges currently in office are from a certain milieu, they live in their milieu and they don't see the public." Friedmann noted the late Judge Menachem Elon as a positive example of a judge who did not favor "judicial activism" like the current court does, and was more moderate. Judge Elon was a religious man, and his son, Benny Elon, is an MK for the National Union / National Religious Party. Minister Friedmann himself, an Israel Prize winning professor of law, is considered to hold political views that are left of center. | |
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News from Hebron: Special meeting of Knesset Subcommittee dealing with expulsion from Shalhevet neighborhood The Jewish Community of Hebron
August 16, 2007
Before and after - see full-sized picture here
or download pdf
Special meeting of Knesset Subcommittee dealing with expulsion from Shalhevet neighborhood Yesterday a subcommittee of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs committee, chaired by Kadima MK Otniel Schneller met for over four hours, discussing last week's expulsion of two families from the Shalhevet neighborhood (the 'Shuk') in Hebron. A number of interesting facts were revealed during the session.
Perhaps most important was the committee's recommendation: At the present, following expulsion of the 'squatting families' who were 'illegally occupying' the structures, the government should now allow legal residency of the site by Jewish families. The committee also recognized that it is possible to find a legal solution to allow Jewish residency of the site.
The committee members agreed unanimously that property upon which the old Arab market buildings are situated is Jewish-owned land, of which Hebron's Jewish community has legal title. They also accepted the fact that the Supreme Court did not order expulsion of the families from the building, rather the court removed any legal impediments that could have prevented their expulsion. It was definitively stated that the expulsion was executed solely for political reasons. The Israeli prosecutor's office was the driving force behind the expulsion in order to prevent 'illegal squatting.'
A Knesset Member told the committee that he had first-hand information that former chief prosecutor Edna Arbel, presently a Supreme Court Justice, agreed to arrange legal occupancy of the buildings by Jewish residents, and saw no legal problems that could prevent such residency.
Committee chairman Otniel Schneller told the committee that the agreement signed between Hebron's Jewish community and General Yair Golan a year and a half ago, was approved by both his immediate superior, Commander of the Central Region General Yair Naveh, and higher political echelons, including the cabinet. It will be recalled that the agreement called for Hebron residents to voluntarily move out of the buildings, whereby the government would allow them to 'legally' return within a few months. That agreement was voided by present attorney general Manny Mazuz, saying that General Golan was unauthorized to conclude such an agreement. The general was officially reprimanded by IDF chief of staff, Dan Halutz, despite that fact that the agreement was approved by both is immediate boss, higher-ups in the defense ministry and the Israeli cabinet.
Schneller also told of a document prepared by the prosecutor's office which, dealing with the legality of Jewish presence in the former Arab market, concludes that the Israeli custodian for abandoned property (which presently has legal jurisdiction over the buildings) must 'take into consideration the desires of the property's owners' when determining the usage of the structures.' Civil Administration officials had suggested that the buildings be leased to the community, however this suggestion was rejected by former attorney general and present supreme court justice, Eliyakim Rubenstein.
Schneller also told that legally, the previous leaser's contract (in this case, Arab renters) could be voided if they had an alternative place of business. The prosecutor's office officials admitted that the market had been reopened on the Arab-controlled side of Hebron.
Former Hebron police chief, presently deputy commander of police in Judea and Samaria Ali Zamir, testified that the expulsion could be defined as 'passive resistance' and that most of the protesters were not violent. He also determined that the demonstration was not totally illegitimate.
In conclusion, the committee decided to recommend to the Prime Minister and Defense Minister that Hebron residents be allowed to legally move back into the buildings in the Shalhevet neighborhood.
A Hebron spokesman issued the following statement:
The Knesset subcommittee yesterday confirmed all that Hebron community leaders have been saying for months and years: This is our land and our property, and we have a legal, legitimate right to live here. We made an agreement in January 2006 with General Yair Golan and carried through on our obligation, vacating the buildings within 48 hours. The government, despite it's initial agreement, reneged and broke that agreement. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's claims that 'there is no legal solution to Jewish residency at the site' is fictitious and false, based not upon law, rather upon his own politics, which do not recognize the legitimacy of Jews living in Hebron.
We call upon the Israeli government to:
1. Immediately allow Jewish families to return to the abandoned buildings in the Shalhevet neighborhood of Hebron.
2. Renovate the apartments destroyed by Israeli security forces for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
3. Reimburse the families expelled from their homes for the thousands of dollars of damages incurred during the expulsion.
4. Fire attorney general Menachem Mazuz, whose work ethics are founded upon politics rather than law.
5. Erase the 'black mark' on General Yair Golan's official record. He should not have been reprimanded; rather he should be praised for having reached an agreement which prevented serious violence in Hebron. www.hebron.com Ma'arat HaMachpela: www.machpela.com
Gift shop: www.hebrongifts.com
You too can Help Hebron - https://pro29.abac.com/hebron/english/donate.php
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