USA

NOVANEWS by David Bromwich President Obama, having dared an unusual show of strength, declined yesterday to reproach Israel for any fault beyond a local violation of decorum. Instead, in his customary manner, he took one step back, one deep breath, and declared: "Israel’s security is sacrosanct." The dictionary definition of sacrosanct is "most sacred and holy." Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, takes up the cue in a New York Times Op-Ed today. As, in a personal letter, the motive for writing often appears in a PS, so in an op-ed by a government official the motive often shows in a single paragraph near the end: "Though Israel will always ultimately rely on the courage of its own defense forces, America’s commitment to Israel’s security is essential to give Israeli...

NOVANEWS ‘If Netanyahu has jolted Joe and others out of their romantic reveries about Israel, good. At least now we no longer see as through a glass darkly’ By Patrick J. Buchanan Actually, Joe set himself up. From the moment he set foot on Israeli soil, our vice president was in full pander mode. First, he headed to Yad Vashem memorial, where he put on a yarmulke and declared Israel “a central bolt in our existence.” “For world Jewry,” Joe went on, presumably including 5 million Americans, “Israel is the heart. … Israel is the light. … Israel is the hope.” Meeting Shimon Peres the next day, Joe confessed that when he first visited at age 29, “Israel captured my heart.” In Peres’ guestbook, he wrote, “The bond between our two nations has been and remains unshakeable.” He then told Peres...

NOVANEWS by James Buchanan An ex-president of Italy, Francesco Cossiga. has told the respected Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that “the disastrous (911) attack was planned and realized by the American CIA and Mossad with the help of the Zionist world to put under accusation the Arabic Countries and to persuade the Western powers to intervene in Iraq and Afghanistan.” This is truly outstanding news! This statement supports the suspicions of the 911 truth movement, which rejected the “official” 911 explanation from the government long ago. Most people –once they study the facts and details of the World Trade Center collapse– immediately become suspicious about the government account. Why did the World Trade Center 7 building collapse –even though it had NOT been hit by an airplane? ...

NOVANEWS Tim King Salem-News.com Israeli influence over U.S. policy is reaching new record levels, as word is announced that the U.S. is moving serious weapons into place for a possible strike on the people of Iran. Courtesy: payvand.com (SALEM, Ore.) - Iran has never attacked another nation, and according to the international group that oversees nuclear activities, Iran is not developing nuclear weapons. Israel, on the other hand, possesses at least 150 nuclear warheads that could take the world out several times over. Undeclared nukes illegal with the world community. Who should we really question? Iran's infrastructure does not support the ability and the country has firmly stated that it is not developing nuclear arms, only nuclear power, like so many other countries on this ea...

NOVANEWS Has the vice president gone missing? Or is he hiding in a secure undisclosed location? Strong words delivered by Joe Biden during his visit to Israel were widely reported last week. “This is starting to get dangerous for us,” Biden warned his Israeli hosts. “What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace.” Many in Washington were apparently so shocked that Biden could have said something like this, they were, for several days, dumb-struck and rendered immobile. One of the first to regain his senses was Jeffrey Goldberg. It can’t be true, Goldberg thought, and then set about getting to the bottom or at the very least the periphery of the story. Where would one turn if...

NOVANEWS A former member of John McCain’s braintrust, neocon RobertKagan is in the Washington Post to say that Obama’s alienating every other country, not just Israel. This is when my dual loyalty light goes on. Why aren’t these people lining up against a colonialist project? Why is the Washington Post running this stuff? What is their vision of a future of continued Palestinian statelessness and blind American support for that condition? Do these people fly on airplanes? Related posts: McCain Adviser ‘Has Caused More Tragedy to Palestinians Than Any Other Rabbi’ Now he tells us: Bill Kristol says Obama-McCain election was about Israel Yeah, and if we could only get rid of the black vote, John McCain would be president

NOVANEWS Mearsheimer: the lobby can’t hide the fact it is siding with Israel against the US president  John Mearsheimer at LRB says one great thing about the contretemps is that it has forced the lobby out into the open, taking a stand against the US president and still claiming that it is operating in the American interest: Siding with Israel against the United States was not a great problem a few years ago: one could pretend that the interests of the two countries were the same and there was little knowledge in the broader public about how the Israel lobby operated and how much it influenced the making of US Middle East policy. But those days are gone, probably for ever. It is now commonplace to talk about the lobby in the mainstream media and almost everyone who pays serious atten...

NOVANEWSRasmussen poll, reported by Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 49 percent of Americans believe that “Israel (should) be required to stop building new settlements in occupied Palestinian territory,” while only 22 percent believe it should not. That represents a strong endorsement of the position taken by the Obama administration. An even-more overwhelming percentage of Americans — 75 percent — believe that “Palestinian leaders (should) be required to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state” as part of a peace agreement." But here are the most troubling numbers from Israel’s perspective: In the poll taken March 15-16, 58 percent of Americans said they consider Israel an ally of the United States, while 32 percent consider it somewhere between an ally and ene...

NOVANEWS Max Blumenthal, The Electronic Intifada, 15 March 2010 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11134.shtml One night about two weeks ago, while I was walking down Bleecker Street in New York City's West Village, I crossed paths with Norman Finkelstein. He was wearing a light jacket and eating a banana, seemingly impervious to the bitter wind and heavy snowfall pouring from the sky. I told Finkelstein that a YouTube clip of him parrying attacks from Zionist student activists during a speech he gave at the University of Waterloo was gaining popularity online. "Well, that scene hasn't been very good for me," he remarked in a near whisper. The YouTube clip was an excerpt from American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein, a riveting 2009 documentary that has just opened in US th...

NONANEWS "The episode, titled "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," includes scenes of Homer and Bart at the Western Wall with their Zionist tour guide, who will be voiced by British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen, of Borat and Bruno fame."