Category: Israel

Maritime Martyrs

Text exactly copied from the video publisher

Finally! Since the beginning of this fiasco, where the international community has lined up against Israel for legally enforcing its blockade on the genocidal Islamists in Gaza, CJHS has been waiting for someone to put together a fully documented expose on the lies and fabrications being thrown around in the media. That video has finally arrived. Please watch this explanation, which begins with the blockade itself and moves backward and forward, exposing the “humanitarian disaster” and the “Israeli aggression” myths for what they are – calculated and dishonest attacks meant to delegitimize the very possibility of Jewish self-defense.

Maritime Martyrs from CJHS on Vimeo.

June 21, 2010
Armada Of U.S. And Israeli Warships Head For Iran

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
June 19, 2010

More than twelve U.S. and Israeli warships, including an aircraft carrier, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday and are headed for the Red Sea. “According to eyewitnesses, the U.S. battleships were the largest to have crossed the Canal in many years,” reported the London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi on Saturday.

The Israeli newspaperHaaretz reported Egyptian opposition members criticized the government for cooperating with the U.S. and Israeli forces and allowing the passage of the ships through Egyptian territorial waters. The Red Sea is the most direct route to the Persian Gulf from the Mediterranean.

Retired Egyptian General Amin Radi, chairman of the national security affairs committee, told the paper that “the decision to declare war on Iran is not easy, and Israel, due to its wild nature, may start a war just to remain the sole nuclear power in the region,” according to Yedioth Internet, an Israeli news site.

The passage of a warship armada through the Suez Canal and headed for the Persian Gulf and Iran is apparently not deemed important enough to be reported by the corporate media in the United States.

Egypt recently rejected an Israeli request to prevent Gaza aid ships from passing through the Suez Canal. According to a report by al-Jazeera, Israel appealed to Egyptians asking them to prevent the passage of Iranian ships through the Suez Canal. The Egyptians responded that due to international agreements on movement through the Suez Canal, Egypt cannot prevent ships from passing through the canal unless a ship belongs to a state that is at war with Egypt. Iran and Egypt are not at war.

The United States and Israel, the sole nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, have not ruled out a military strike to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.

A number of Israeli politicians and scholars have admitted Israel has used its nuclear weapons for “compellent purposes,” in short forcing others to accept Israeli political demands.

Israel’s threats to use nuclear weapons have increased significantly since it was discovered in 2002 that Iran was building uranium enrichment facilities. Israel’s former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “called on the international community to target Iran as soon as the imminent conflict with Iraq is complete,” the Sunday Times reported on November 5, 2002. The United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003.

Earlier this month Israel leaked to the press that they had permission from Saudi Arabia to use their air space to attack Iran. “In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran,” the Sunday Times reported on June 12. On June 14, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to UK Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf issued a categorical denial of the report.

On June 17, Iran’s parliament warned it will respond in kind to inspection of its ships under a fourth round of sanctions imposed on the country by the UN Security Council. “Even if one Iranian ship is stopped for security-check, we will act likewise and thoroughly inspect any (western) ship passing through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz,” member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi said.

Also on Saturday, Iran accused the United States of “deception” and insisted its missile program is for self-defense after a top U.S. official claimed that Iran had the capacity to attack Europe. “The Islamic Republic’s missile capability has been designed and implemented to defend against any military aggression and it does not threaten any nation,” Defense MinisterAhmad Vahidi said in a statement carried by state media.

Vahidi announced on April 10 that Iran will use all available options to defend itself if the country comes under a military attack. “Americans have said they will use all options against Iran, we announce that we will use all options to defend ourselves,” Vahidi told the Tehran Times.

Info Wars

June 19, 2010
Activists in Mavi Marmara talk

Activist in Mavi Marmara talk.

Dehşet Anları – 1 / 2 @ Yahoo! Video

Dehşet Anları – 2 / 2 @ Yahoo! Video

June 18, 2010
Israel owes Turkey an apology over killings

ALTAY CENGIZER

OPINION: Turkey has not become anti-Israel but Israel steadily alienates people around the world by its conduct. Future historians may have a different perspective to the one predicted on these pages recently by the Israeli ambassador

IT WAS only a few months ago that Israel placed the Turkish ambassador in a lower seat and banished the Turkish flag. The incident was childish more than anything else, but Israel had the good sense to apologise for it.

Now, more than a fortnight after the killing of nine compatriots of mine on the high seas aboard the Mavi Marmara , carrying much needed humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza, Israel has yet to apologise. The Israeli government seems to think it does not owe us, at the very least, an apology for what it believes was an act of self-defence.

This is exactly where the crux of the problem lies: Israel’s self-image and its doctrine of self-defence. The reaction of the Israeli authorities to this grave event has been appalling. Instead of showing genuine remorse for what took place in international waters in the early hours of May 31st, and not even feigning concern, they initiated a wide-ranging campaign to depict the activists as terrorists with links to al-Qaeda.

A 19-year-old boy and men in their 50s and 60s hardly make for a terrorist gang.

Are we not to feel strongly any more about anything, without the threat of being labelled as terrorists? After all, the urge for a humanitarian aid flotilla was already there as world opinion continued to witness the perilously deteriorating conditions in the open-air prison that is Gaza.

A year ago, the Middle East quartet – the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia – called for the unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where even house plants, cocoa powder and coriander are banned from entry for reasons that are anyone’s guess.

The victims had multiple gunshot wounds, they were shot in the back or in the back of the head. A total of 32 bullets were extracted from their bodies. It took more than an hour for medical help to arrive while the wounded bled. The ship was carrying no weapons at all. There was absolutely no need to employ the Shaiatet 13 elite commandos.

Thanks to recent research, we now know that even bottlenose dolphins use short vocal bursts to send messages to avoid conflict at times of high excitement and aggression. But Israel stormed a civilian vessel 72 nautical miles off Gaza, nowhere near the blockade zone.

Hours passed, and the Israeli authorities did nothing to alleviate the gravity of the situation. They handcuffed everyone, and imposed a blackout on communications. This is why we did not see the video footage of Dr Uysal on the Mavi Marmara cleaning and treating the bruises of an Israeli commando.

Contrary to what Israel is saying, Turks from all walks of life and of different political persuasions were part of the humanitarian aid group. It is not that the Turks are becoming more radical vis-a-vis Israel, but that Israel steadily alienates large segments of public opinion, almost everywhere, including Turkey.

Now, if we are to believe the general tone emanating from Israel, Turkey is no longer a member of the comity of western nations, just on account of its diplomacy. Pretty much nonsense!

There is nothing un-western or un-European in asking for the lifting of the inhumane blockade on Gaza.

Neither is it un-western to try to exhaust diplomacy and all legitimate means at the international community’s disposal before punishing Iran, which would be a step with unpredictable consequences.

In its defence, the government of Israel refers to an obscure document called the San Remo manual.

This is not an international convention. Nobody was requested to sign up to it, and it relates specifically to legal practice in time of war. Israel is not at war with Turkey, but it attacked a ship flying the Turkish flag in international waters. This is precisely why there must be an international commission of inquiry. Then we can talk of credibility and transparency.

Only in 2008, the Israeli-Turkish trade reached a record high of $3.5 billion. Only in 2008, Turkey was just about to broker a historic political deal between Israel and Syria. One should wonder what took place to warrant this crisis. Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008 that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, 431 of them children, lies at the centre of this chasm. Sadly, it has deepened even further with the killing of nine innocent Turks.

Historians may well ask what kind of hubris, what degree of intransigence and what levels of indifference caused Israel to lose Turkey, a land where Jews have felt a genuine welcome for so many centuries, and a traditional friend.

Whether May 31st, 2010, comes to signify a positive or a negative turning point for this important relationship, as well as for the whole region, depends on what Israel chooses to do now.

Altay Cengizer is Turkish ambassador to Ireland

June 18, 2010
U.S. Jewish groups skip meet with Turkish officials

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman says ‘there comes a point at which it becomes useless to have a conversation.’

By Natasha Mozgovaya

On the fringes of the Washington meetings of Turkish official delegations, there is usually a special place for outreach with the American Jewish community. But several Jewish groups intend to skip the meeting Wednesday evening with members of the Turkish ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party). The America Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), B’nai Brith International and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have decided to decline the invitation to protest the deteriorating relations between Ankara and Jerusalem.

Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League. Photo by: Haaretz

Ties between Israel and Turkey have been in decline since Israel launched a three-week military operation in Gaza in December 2008, aimed at halting rocket fire on its southern communities. Tensions between the two formerly strong allies were exacerbated when nine people were killed during violent clashes with Israeli troops aboard a ship carrying aid to Gaza.

“I believe in dialogue and meetings but there is a point at which it becomes useless to have a conversation,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman told Haaretz on Wednesday.

“You can disagree with Israeli government and its policies but why should you cancel visit of Turkish teachers and scholars to Yad Vashem [Israel’s national Holocaust memorial]? I read that the prime minister of Turkey compared the Star of David to a swastika – it’s ugly and anti-Semitic, it’s what our enemies did. So ‘yesh gvul [there’s a limit].”

Foxman said that he would be happy to resume the outreach meetings once the Turkish government restored ties with Israel.

“Let them first reconcile with Israeli government, and them I’ll be delighted to talk to them,” he said. “But at the moment they’ve decided to use Israel as a whipping boy and provoke negative attitudes in Israel”

The American Jewish Committee (AJC), however, decided to attend the meeting, believing that traditional ties should not be abandoned hastily.

“We’ve had an increasingly rough dialogue with leaders in Turkey, but we believe that we want to take an opportunity to deliver a tough message”, AJC spokeswoman Alex Weininger told Haaretz. “There is a history of relations between the U.S. and Turkey and Israel and it shouldn’t be easily discarded.”

Turkey was also the subject of strong words from Congress on Wednesday, at a bipartisan press conference on the Hill in support of Israel’s right to defend itself.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) warned Ankara that “There will be a cost” if Turkey keeps on its current course of “growing closer to Iran and more antagonistic to the State of Israel”.

Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nevada) added that, “If Israel is at fault in any way, it is for falling into the trap that was set for them by Turkey. The Turks have extraordinary nerve to lecture the State of Israel, when they are occupiers of the island of Cyprus, where they systematically discriminate against the ecumenical patriarch, and they refuse to recognize Armenian genocide. And this is the country that not only funded but sanctioned the flotilla. They did not do this for humanitarian reasons. They did this to provoke an international confrontation. As far as I’m concerned, Turkey is responsible for the nine deaths aboard that ship. It is not Israel that is responsible. Israel’s troops were attacked”.

A letter currently circulating these days on the Hill in support of Israel in the wake of the flotilla raid has now provoked another letter, by the J Street organization, urging Congressmen not to rush to sign the original letter of support.

“The blockade of Gaza was instituted to stop terrorists from smuggling weapons into Gaza to murder innocent civilians,” said the first petition. “The several dozen who attacked the Israeli soldiers were not peaceful aid workers, but extremists who sought to aid the Iran-backed terrorist Hamas regime in Gaza. The U.S. should make every effort to thwart international condemnation and focus the international community on the crimes of the Iran-backed Hamas leadership against Israel and the Palestinian people”.

J Street has urged Congressmen not to sign the letter, saying it is counterproductive and does not deal with the issue of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“J Street – the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby – is not supporting sign-on letters to the President now circulating in the [House] regarding the Gaza flotilla,” wrote J-Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami.

“As is far too often the case, these letters have been drafted primarily for domestic political consumption rather than to advance the U.S. interest in peace and security in the Middle East. With tensions in the region already high and vital American and Israeli interests at stake, J Street urges members of Congress to seek changes to the letters currently circulating before signing – or to write their own.

“The petitions now circulating in the House and Senate, while expressing strong American support for Israel – a position we endorse – fail to address the impact of the present closure of Gaza on the civilian population, the deep American interest in resolving this conflict diplomatically, or the urgency of moving forward with diplomacy before it is too late”.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations has urged lawmakers to sign the petition. The organization’s vice-chairman Malcolm Hoenlein told Haaretz that his organization was not scheduled to take part in a meeting of Jewish leaders with Turkish lawmakers, but added that it is “clearly not the right time for a constructive dialogue.”

www.haaretz.com, 17.06.10

June 17, 2010
Sources say Turkey could help oversee Gaza crossings

Turkey could be given a central role in supervising the border crossings with the Gaza Strip as part of a deal to repair ties between Israel and Turkey, according to Arab diplomatic sources, the Lebanese Ad-Diyar reported newspaper yesterday.

The relationship between Israel and Turkey has deteriorated dramatically since the Israeli naval commando raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31 in which nine Turkish citizens (including one with dual Turkish-Amerian citizenship ) were killed.

According to the Lebanese newspaper report, Turkey would supervise all humanitarian aid entering Gaza, as well as commit to preventing the entry of weapons and money destined for Hamas. In this position, Turkey would play a meaningful role in lifting the blockade of Gaza and play the role of a central figure in the Middle East, which will enable the Islamic country to mediate between Israel and the Arab world in the future, as Turkey has sought in the past, the paper said.

The report has not been confirmed by Turkish or Israeli officials.

On Friday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul told the French daily Le Monde that Israel must make amends to be forgiven for a commando assault on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla, including apologizing for the attack and paying compensation.

Gul added that if Israel made no move to heal the rift, then Turkey could even decide to break diplomatic ties.

In an interview published on Friday, Gul said the fatal Israeli attack at the end of May was a “crime” – one that might have been carried out by the likes of Al-Qaida rather than a sovereign state. “It seems impossible to me to forgive or forget, unless there are some initiatives that could change the situation,” Gul was quoted as saying in Le Monde. Asked what these might be, he said: “Firstly, to seek a pardon and to establish some sort of compensation.” He added that he also wanted to see an independent inquiry into the botched raid and a discussion on lifting Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Asked if Turkey might break relations with Israel if nothing was done, Gul said: “Anything is possible.”

By Jack Khoury

Source: haaretz.com

June 17, 2010