Middle East

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, As usual there is more to read than I can reasonably send you.  But of those selected, the first 5 below capture much of the more important events concerning this area (Israel-Palestine) of the past 24 hours.  The final one, the 6th,  relates statistics and conditions regarding Palestinians taken prisoners by the IOF in October, including 140 children.  Imagine, 140 children in just one month!  The first 3 items are, for a change, positive ones. Item one relates the disruption of Netanyahu’s speech in New Orleans yesterday.  While the disruption is itself significant, yet more significant is the declaration of the Young Jews.  Let us see how many adherents will join it.  This event and the declaration are handwriting on the wall that Israel’s leaders should pay atten...

NOVANEWS 11/07/2010 Jewish Federations acknowledge Israel’s ‘paradigm shift,’ then circle the wagons The settlements have been a project of main street Jewish America It’s time to dismantle the PA My breakfast with Zizek ‘Let us out of the box’ Sheldon Adelson and Lester Crown, together again Upper West Side synagogue and Brooklyn Jewish Center to commemorate extremist Kahane An appeal to Arabic-speakers The audacity of dopes A scene from the boycott movement, 2010 Jewish Federations acknowledge Israel’s ‘paradigm shift,’ then circle the wagons Nov 06, 2010 Philip Weiss  I like to say the fat is in the fire, and the fat is in the fire. This week the Jewish Federations, the leading civic Jewish organizations in American cities, are holding their Ge...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, Tonight’s 6 include a brief report about Dror Feiler, who was refused entry, along with his compatriot, MP Mehmet Kaplan.  When I wrote yesterday about Dror, I was unaware of the fact that he was no longer an Israeli citizen, hence deportable.  The anticipated happened: entry was denied.  Will Dror every recoup his saxophone?  Surely Israel has no right to keep personal items as musical instruments.  But, then, what foreign government will call Israel on the carpet for that? The 2nd item is infuriating.  Ajami had been a Palestinian neighborhood in Jaffa for eons, and then became a mixed neighborhood, but hence forward, as with so many other areas in Israel, is to be Jewish only, and this with the blessing of Israel’s High Court (leave the justice off!).  I, having g...

NOVANEWS Destroy Iran and be called a moderate US politician How dare critics challenge the “glorious heritage” of Zionism? Abusing detainees and bike hiring; in a day’s work for Serco Rajapakse gets a taste of his caged future Assange loves and loathes the MSM Destroy Iran and be called a moderate US politician   07 Nov 2010 A leading American politician on utterly destroying the Islamic Republic. Just imagine if an Iranian leader spoke about bombing and killing US troops: A leading US senator on defense issues said Saturday any military strike on Iran to stop its nuclear program must also strive to take out Iran’s military capability.  Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who sits on the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, said the ...

NOVANEWS          *  Sell everything to the highest bidder (cos the state won’t pay) Don’t forget what Hillary Clinton really represents Real friends of Israel see it running off a cliff Sell everything to the highest bidder (cos the state won’t pay)07 Nov 2010 Great American writer and Rolling Stone contributor Matt Taibbi has a new book out, Griftopia. It tells the story of America’s financial crisis and its outsourcing to various shady characters from across the world. Privatisation on speed (something I’m also examining in a forthcoming book): In the summer of 2009 I got a call from an acquaintance who worked in the Middle East. He was a young American who worked for something called a sovereign wealth fund, a giant state-owned pile of money that swims around the world ...

  NOVANEWS Dear All, Israel is probably one of the most fortressed countries in the world.  I do not mean the wall; its purpose is not security but land theft.  I mean the security guards at the entrance of banks, supermarkets, cafes, etc etc etc, and I mean the deportations—a kind of psychological fortress against Israel’s critics.  The first item, in which Ann relates her sad experience, is one too often repeated.  But Ann is not an Israeli citizen.  That does not make her deportation right or just.  The reason that I mention the fact is because the 2nd case is with respect to an Israeli citizen. There is now a bill awaiting Knesset ratification to turn it into a law that will allow deportation of Israeli citizens—ones not sufficiently loyal.  But if the press release below is correct, t...

NOVANEWS       Dear,Last week, the oldest and most respected Jewish paper in the United States,the Jewish Daily Forward, did the unimaginable. They named Rebecca Vilko- merson, the director of of Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the top 50 Jewish leaders in the United States. Rebecca's inclusion on the list is really a symbol of JVP becoming a force that cannot be ignored. It is a stunning acknowledgement of the work of  the staff, board, chapters and countless volunteer activists who have spent years making Jewish Voice for Peace what it is, a sign of our extraordinary progress. Today, we are the only national U.S. Jewish group that fights for full equality for Israelis and Palestinians. We can't stop now. We've got our foot in the door - and now it's time to kickit...

NOVANEWS 11/06/2010          *   The reunification of my parents Brooklyn-Jenin: Wars of the Jews Today in Bil’in 13-year-old Palestinian put under 5-month house arrest for maybe throwing some stones The Battle of Nahr al-Barid: Iraq Comes to Lebanon – an excerpt from Nir Rosen’s new book Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America’s Wars in the Muslim World Second ‘Jewish Perspective on BDS’ event taking place next week Defending Jean-Luc Godard My mixed loyalties   The reunification of my parents Nov 05, 2010 Linah Alsaafin Linah's parents together in March, 2009 Yesterday my mother crossed the Allenby bridge, from the West Bank to Jordan, to see my father in Amman. What makes this banal act unusual is that she had to wait almost a year to be finally gran...

NOVANEWS Dear Friends, The 4 items posted below begin with incidents [items 1 and 2] and end with theorizing [item 4].  Item 3 is Neve Gordon’s report on the fascist bills now before the Knesset, and that very likely will pass to become laws. The initial item is atrocious on several counts: 1.  a 13 year old boy is subjected not only to jail, but also to treatment there that no parent or decent human being would want a youngster to have to face.  2.  As if that punishment (for a crime he denies committing) were not enough, the boy is now under house arrest for 5 months, and not allowed to go to school (brilliant thinking of those who hand out punishments to Palestinian children.  Would they wish their own kids to be subjected to like circumstances?).  3.  Now when he needs to see a psychol...

NOVANEWS Cut US aid to Israel and do everybody a favour What media companies support (and it’s not mostly stray dogs) Fisk on US lies over Wikileaks Why privatising our lives must be highlighted and stopped The Left don’t want or like Obama and that’s more than fine The power of music in the horror of the Holocaust Counterfire interview on Israel/Palestine Liberals should love Israel (if Palestinians are absent) Bush and Obama see “terrorists” in the same way The colony building business is making less business sense Cut US aid to Israel and do everybody a favour 05 Nov 2010 Andrew Sullivan, a leading American blogger and increasing critic of Israel, mirroring the justified mood of the times: I’d cut off aid myself – because they don’t need it and we cannot aff...