Politics

NOVANEWS Gilad Atzmon discusses Tolerance, History and Revisionism on Aspen GrassRoots TV July 12,2010 This  set of six video clips covers an almost taboo controversy to do with freedom of speech.  In the discussion,  I stress the ethical and logical need for history to be open to revision. Participants, left to right:  Gilad Atzmon  —  Harvie Branscome (Moderator) — Steve Kaufman (founder director of Access Roaring Fork ( http://www.accessrf.org/ ) — Michael Conniff of KUUR-FM Aspen, Colorado Please note:  The original program was just under one hour, and has been edited into six parts, and a few pauses, repetitions and hesitations have been removed.  The editing has not in any way changed the sense of what any of the speakers said, and the original program can be viewed here: http://...

NOVANEWS Helpful hints for American reporters (Israel=bad, Arabs=bad) Sydney fund-raiser for the next Gaza flotilla “We must learn from the Nazi tactics”, says retired Israeli judge Where do oil companies pay a price for their criminality? Of course the Palestinian Authority loves Sri Lanka The fury of oppression is global Washington and Tel Aviv can’t speak honestly to each other Australians and Bob Hawke meet again Meg Ryan and Dustin Hoffman taking a stand for Palestine? Hamas is evil, Hamas is evil, Hamas is evil (repeat after me) Helpful hints for American reporters (Israel=bad, Arabs=bad)Posted: 07 Jul 2010 Following the firing of a CNN journalist for daring to praise the recently deceased Lebanese religious leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, it’s clear th...

NOVANEWS Give History a Chance by Gilad Atzmon Thursday, July 15 A talk given at the "Debunking the War on Terror" Symposium on July 14th The War on Terror Within 1 The more pain we inflict on others the more we become familiar with evil, aggression and brutality. 1.1  The more cruel we are towards others, the more devastated we are by the possibility that  the subjects of our brutality may also be as nasty as we happen to be. 1.2   According to Freud this is what projection is all about. 1.2.1 Otto Weininger refines it, ‘we hate in others, that which we don’t like in ourselves’ he says. 1.3  As it happens, the dynamic of projection is amplified once the subject of our terror is hopeless and defenseless. 1.3.1 The reason is obvious. The more hopeless the subject of our terror is, the mor...

NOVANEWS Mohammed Oudeh, a former math teacher who became the mastermind of the deadly attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, died Friday in Damascus. Enlarge This Image Bassem Tellawi/Associated Press Mohammed Oudeh in 2006. He died of kidney failure, his daughter, Hana Oudeh, told The Associated Press. He was 73. In later years, as a graying member of the Palestinian old guard, Mr. Oudeh, most commonly known by his guerrilla name, Abu Daoud, showed no remorse for the botched hostage taking and killings of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team that shook the world. He saw the attack as instrumental in putting the Palestinian cause on the map. “Would you believe me if I tell you that if I had to do it all over, I would?” he said in a 2008 interview with The Asso...

NOVANEWS 1.Each village is a reminder by Brian Lenzo Tuesday, July 13 After his Rochester performance, Atzmon sat down with Brian Lenzo to discuss music, politics and his thoughts on the future of peace in the region. The Palestinian refugee community of Shu'afat sits behind Israel's separation wall, cut off from other Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem (Jeremy Price) YOU GREW up in Israel, right when the Palestinian National movement had come on to the scene. Were you aware of it? What was it like growing up in Israel at that time? THIS IS a very interesting question. When you read what Jews have written about their suffering, the philosophers and historians, they always talk about the magmatic effect of irrational hatred. About the Germans: "It was madness." Now the Turkish: 'They...

NOVANEWS For many years, the IDF has been trying to remove Palestinians from the Beqa Valley , east of Kiryat Arba and Givat Harsina.  The army has demolished homes, destroyed farmers’ crops and their cisterns for collecting water (See “Don’t Say … #167).  On Tuesday, 6th July 2010, personnel from the Civil Administration backed up by the Border Police, and accompanied by labourers, came to the area and began to uproot water drip irrigation pipelines belonging to Palestinian farmers in the Beqa Valley .  The workmen also uprooted the protective covers of tomato crops.  They similarly destroyed the irrigation system for approx. 35 dunams belonging to six families.  Any Palestinian at the site, or who came to it, was violently forced to a distance – the IDF used blows and beatings, tear gas ...

NOVANEWS Many of you will have met Robert McClenaghan who is quoted at the end of this article when he was with us in England campaigning for An Fhirinne (The Truth) - the campaign for the truth about collusion between British state agencies and Unionist death squads in the killing of citizens of Ireland. Below are suggestions of what we might do to support the relatives of this outrageous miscarriage of justice. Attached is a letter I have written to Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Use it as a model for other letters if you think it is appropriate. In solidarity Mary Ombudsman’s future in doubt as McGurk’s Bar report is delayed Belfast Telegraph 10/07/10 See also at http://www.troopsoutmovement.com/latestnews.htm Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson is facing questions o...

NOVANEWS Owen Patterson Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Office 11 Millbank SW1P 4PN                                                                                                                12.7.2010 Dear Mr Patterson Re: Northern Ireland Ombudsman’s Report into the bombing of McGurks Bar on 4.12.71 I am deeply concerned that the recent report given to the relatives of those killed in the UVF attack on McGurks bar was so inaccurate that even the year the attack happened was wrong and the names of those killed incorrect. Surely this deeply flawed report must be withdrawn and destroyed. A new report is needed which deals thoroughly with the facts in the case. These include the reality that the RUC wrongly and deliberately blamed the IRA for the bombing and was s...

NOVANEWS [Click here for a video of Davies'  remarks.]

NOVANEWS NEWS MIDDLE EAST Lebanon buries leading Shia cleric Rula Amin reports from Lebanon where Shia Muslims mourned the death of Ayatollah Fadlallah Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanon's most influential Shia Muslim figure, has been buried at the Hassanein mosque in Beirut. Supporters carried Fadlallah's body around Shia neighbourhoods in the south of the capital before returning him to the mosque to be laid to rest. Thousands of mourners had gathered at the mosque on Tuesday for prayer services before the funeral procession got under way. Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from outside the mosque, said a diverse set of people had turned out for the funeral. "The people here who came ... were a mix of men and women, they were old and young, an...