there's big money in occupation

The occupation is a money maker for Israel.

This is because Israel has complete control over everything that goes in and out of the occupied territories and can, and does, tax them all.

In addition, because of the severe restrictions on imports, Palestinians are forced (except for items brought in through the Gaza tunnel system) to resort to Israeli products.

In the following segment of an episode of the Max Keiser Report, economist Shir Hever gives a fact filled account of the situation that is well worth hearing. Go to 12:45 in and watch to the end. Keiser gives Hever the floor almost without interruption - a we, the viewers, benefit.

human rights? Change the subject.

What of Khader Adnan, the prisoner without charges against him on a hunger strike? What follows is a video worth watching for several reasons.


In this interview from CNN International with a spokesman for Israel, you will not only learn of the situation regarding Adnan, but can see the process of avoiding questions that is the field of expertise for government spokespersons. Note as the interview progresses that the questioning is insistent and the interviewee is not allowed to simply speak nonsense and then be thanked and dismissed as is often the case with U.S. domestic news organizations particularly when the subject has to do with Israel.

The red herring is dear to Israel - illustrated here with the continual effort to change the subject from a man held without charge to terrible terrorism. This has a logic to it for Israel because it is what allows that country to believe it is doing justice when it is in fact flouting it.

Thanks to Glenn Greenwald for bringing this clip to my attention. Greenwald is a tireless expositor of the hypocrisy of the U.S. in condemning other nations for doing things we do.

can Jews be criticized?

Joshua Holland writes an excellent post - "Dear Israel Lobby, We Give Up. Please Give Us an Acceptable Way of Insulting You"

Here is my take on the hypocrisy of Zionists in a comment on his posting

You’ve said it perfectly and I call it Holocaust leverage. Because we all feel at the least ashamed of that terrible historical event, Zionists have run with it by taking full advantage of the fact that any comment regarding Jews in a negative way is uncomfortable. Take any statement about people as a group – Irish, Vietnamese or what have you and people make comments all the time that don’t give pause in the way that the same statement would if “Jews” were substituted while in the US, the Arabs are subject to all manner of outrageous statements without a second thought.

Norman Finkelstein got it right when he said that Zionists use the Holocaust as a club with which to beat the Palestinians. The height of irony – the suffering of innocents in history is fashioned into a shield to protect those who cause the suffering of innocents.

Israel is unique in history for this factor and it explains in large part the fact that it has pulled off overt racism in direct contradiction to the trend of modern times.

It’s only now that this invisible shield is crumbling. It’s crumbling because those who use it are becoming so strident and the factual evidence of what they are doing so obviously hypocritical that only money and other-worldly Christians keeps the project going. The exemplar of the whole phenomenon is Abe Foxman, a terribly overweight guy who sees himself as the voice of the skin-and-bones Holocaust victims as he tours the world dining in the finest restaurants, lecturing those in power on how they can be more righteous in the eyes of the ADL. The self-righteousness is staggering. Hypocrisy, thy name is Israel.

Pirates - Somali and Israeli

Dear Senator Durbin:

Not long ago, US forces in the Persian Gulf captured some Somali pirates. The pictures showed scrawny men with legs like toothpicks, but there is no justification for piracy no matter how dire the situation of those who attempt it.

This makes me wonder how Israeli pirates have been at work for over 40 years, stealing the lands of the Palestinians while the U.S. Congress covers for them. Right now the United States is saying nothing about the long-standing international law violations that we alone have excused Israel, nor the nuclear weaponry of Israel to which we turn a blind eye even as we do everything we can to punish Iran for only the possibility of obtaining them. Israel is a country gone wild under the unlimited protection of a superpower. It fears not atomic attack but the check that even one Iranian nuclear weapon would place on Israel's ability to act with military impunity in the region.

Stop covering for the mouse that roars, that issues threats and dictates to its neighbors, pulling a purchased Congress behind it like a poodle, taking us to new levels of hypocrisy. To expel a population then claim those remaining make up a democracy is a fraud. The U.S. has no business backing every action of a distant colony, bringing destitute Somalis to justice while putting all our military and financial might behind Israel, a country dedicated to relieving the Palestinians of all they have. That's what pirates do.