Micha Kurz, a former IDF soldier, speaks out

I have been editing the archives of the online radio program Jerusalem Calling, a production of the Council for the National Interest (CNI), an organization that began shortly after the ousting of Illinois Rep. Paul Findlay by Dick Durbin, (now one of Illinois' two senators along with Israel cheerleader Mark Kirk) with the aid of the Israel lobby. Findlay decided to alert the nation to the power of the lobby with CNI. Though he is now retired, the organization continues his mission of spreading the word.

I'm doing my part to help by taking the one hour Jerusalem Calling programs and removing all commercial content while at the same time making folks sound a bit better by removing "you know", "ahhhhhh", "ummmmmmm", "like I said", etc. to make the shows tighter. This process results in a program of just over 30 minutes of solid talk in MP3 format.

Jerusalem Calling aired each week from the fall of 2009 well into 2010 and is a remarkable record of notable voices involved in working to expose the power of the Israel lobby and make up for the lack of coverage of what Israel is doing by major media outlets in the United States. Unfortunately, money ran out and the show came to an end, but not before a great record of important voices was made.

Micha (MEE-kuh) Kurz is a native Israeli, born in Jerusalem. He served in the IDF and was repulsed by what he saw, founding a group of like minded IDF vets called Breaking the Silence. His descriptions of the situation are well worth hearing.

In this program, he is interviewed by Jewish American author and activist Anna Baltzer.

Who spends 30 minutes doing anything these days? I think you will find this half hour worthwhile, I've edited it so that none of your time will be wasted.

Jerusalem Calling with Micha Kurz first aired October 22, 2009

Outposts

Outposts usually grow into regular settlements. Here is a video (go to 1:50 in and watch to the end) that shows exactly how the process starts - a few trailers in this case watched over by an Israeli Army vehicle on a nearby hill. Remember that it is legal for those in outposts to carry firearms, while the Palestinians are forbidden the possession of weapons.



For an excellent overview of the outpost-to-settlement process, watch the following video from Jewish-American activist Anna Baltzer. She rightly emphasizes the economic support America gives to Israel that subsidizes the process and shows how settlers can attack Palestinians. She goes on to make the distinction between Jews, Israelis and Zionists, a distinction the Israeli authorities do not wish anyone to make. The entire video is worth watching. Anna has created a tutorial DVD covering the gamut of topics for the conflict.