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Category: Middle East

  • Gilad Atzmon: Israel needs Turkey

    Gilad Atzmon: Israel needs Turkey

    The world famous Israeli- born musician Gilad Atzmon said to TIMETUR:“Turkey’s friendship is very important for Israel and Israel needs Turkey.”

    Hasan: Dear Gilad, How do you evaluate the Israeli carnage in Gaza?

    Gilad: Dear Hasan, I don’t really think that it is a matter of evaluation. We are all aware of the level of destruction brought upon innocent civilians by the Jewish state. Gaza looks as if it was nuked. Yet, as we know, the devastation is not the outcome of a single atomic bomb. It was actually a merciless and lengthy campaign conducted by a national and popular army that employed a chain of heavy bombardment using conventional and unconventional shells.  Gaza’s carnage is the outcome of a sinister, continuous, intense air raid against civilians in the most populated spot on this planet.  Hence, rather than evaluating the carnage itself, I am very interested in the evaluation of the people who are capable of bringing such destruction about. In other words, I am interested in the Israeli and the Jewish collective identity. I wonder how is it possible that the Israelis, the people who were ‘raised from the ashes’, have matured collectively into the embodiment of modern evil. How is it that Diaspora Jews happen to institutionally support Israel and its crimes against humanity?

    Hasan: Why does Israel always break the international laws and does not obey the agreements?

    Gilad: I assume that the Israeli is imbued with feelings of superiority that have something to do with the secular interpretation of the notion of Jewish Chosenness. At the end of the day, Israel is the Jewish state. Though Israel is largely a secular society, it manages to maintain the Judaic heritage of racial supremacy. It is actually the secular nationalist interpretation of Judaic tradition that had evolved into a collective murderous inclination. It is important to note that while within the Judaic context, chosenness is interpreted as a moral burden in which Jews are demanded to stand as an exemplification of ethical behaviour, in the Jewish state, chosenness is interpreted as an entitlement to dominate and kill. Since the Israelis regard themselves as the chosen people, they clearly feel free of any ethical or moral concerns. Moreover, they are not concerned at all with other peoples’ or nations’ judgment or thought. This arrogant philosophy was defined by Israeli PM David Ben Gurion in the 1950’s when he said, “it doesn’t matter what the Goyim (Gentiles) say, the only thing that matters is what the Jews do.”

    Hasan: What is the importance of PM Erdogan’s reaction in Davos?

    Gilad: For me it is clear that PM Erdogan was rather courageous in confronting the Israeli lie on an international stage. Moreover, he really hit the nail on the head by exposing the ultimate symbol of this very lie. I am referring here to war criminal President Shimon Peres, who in spite of his devastating past (Kefar Kana, Nuclear reactor Dimona etc.) has managed to grab a Nobel Prize for peace. Considering his contribution to the Dimona WMD project, a Nobel Prize in nuclear physics would be more appropriate.

    Hasan: How does / can the Jewish lobby work against PM Erdogan and the Jews with conscience?

    Gilad: This is a very good question, I am not an expert on Jewish lobbying tactics. However I am fully aware of their influence. As long as British Labour finance is run by rabid Zionists such as Lord cash Machine Levy and as long as White House chief of staff is a rabid Zionist, we should expect Zionist interests to shape our reality and this means a lot of conflicts, carnage and blood of innocent civilians.

    However, we have to bear in mind that the tide is turning. What we see and hear in Gaza brings about a mass indignation against Israel and its lobbies around the world.

    It is hard for me to predict what the measures taken by Jewish lobbies against PM Erdogan will be. He can probably expect himself to be presented as their new anti-Semite protagonist.  As we know it doesn’t take a lot to become one. While in the old days, anti-Semites were those who didn’t like Jews, nowadays, anti-Semites are those the Jews Hate.

    Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that Turkey’s friendship is very important for Israel. Turkey had been Israel’s only friend in the region. Lately, it had been a negotiator with Syria.  In short, Israel needs Turkey.

    Hasan: How can the Israeli-Turkish relations be effected after the Erdogan-Peres clash in Davos?

    Gilad: I really prefer not to answer this question, I am not exactly an expert on the subject…

    Hasan: What kind of days are waiting for Israel and Turkey in the global political arena?

    Gilad: Again, international affairs isn’t exactly a topic I specialise in.

    Hasan: Do you have a final message for the world and the Turkish people?

    Gilad: I do not like to come with final messages for three reasons:

    1.      I do not like final statements, I insist upon reserving the option of regretting and want to be able to revise my views on every possible topic.

    2.      I believe that people who come with ‘final messages’ must be very important and clever. I am more of an artist. I look into myself, and I share what I see with my listeners and readers.

    3.       Unlike politicians who know what is right and wrong for other people, I hardly know what is right for myself.

    However, my politics, so to say, are very simple. I am looking for an ethical voice. It means that in any given circumstance, I would try to find out myself what is right and what is wrong. I do not believe in dogmatism. I insist that the ethical search is a dynamic process of shaping and reshaping.

    A week ago or so, a friend of mine, the legendary musician Robert Wyatt, helped me put it into words in the most eloquent and simple way. “My politics”, he said,  “is very simple, I am just an anti-racist”.  This is really what it is all about, being an ‘anti-racist’.

    I am totally against any form of racist politics and this is why I despise any form of Jewish politics left, right and centre. I am tired of all these ‘Jew only’ settings. Whether it is the ‘Jews only state’ or ‘Jews for peace’. I am against it because; it is there to promote Jewish tribal interests rather than humanity and brotherhood. The Jewish political experience is somehow always racially orientated and chauvinist to the bone.

    Though I believe that people are entitled to fight for their rights e.g., the Palestinian national struggle, I also believe that people should know how to reinstate peace and harmony. As far as Israel and Jewish politics is concerned, this is exactly what we lack. All we see is vengeance and anger that lead to more and more violence. It is rather apparent that Israelis are not familiar with the notion of mercy and compassion. Jesus’ spiritually harmonious suggestion known as ‘turning the other cheek’ sounds to the Israeli as an amusing ludicrous concept. Apparently, for them, ‘shock and awe’, sounds far more appealing. They democratically vote for carnage, destruction and genocide. At the end of the day, they are entitled to vote. They are the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’, at least this is what they claim to be.

    Source:  , 07 February 2009

  • Talking Turkey About Israel

    Talking Turkey About Israel

    Philip Giraldi *

    The Israeli invasion of Gaza and the slaughter of civilians was such an egregious error in judgment that the usual suspects are working overtime to make it all look like a heroic defense of democratic values. The expected beneficiary of the “defensive action,” the ruling Kadima Party, so miscalculated that it is now likely to lose today’s election, with the Israeli electorate convinced that an even more extreme right-wing government is the only solution to the moderate right-wing bungling.

    Israel will likely choose hard-right nationalism by electing Bibi Netanyahu as the next prime minister. Netanyahu has never let any values, democratic or otherwise, stand in his way in his quest for a Greater (Arab-free) Israel encompassing all of the West Bank and running from the Litani River in Lebanon in the north to the Suez Canal in the south. He has already promised that if elected he will not turn any occupied land over to the Palestinians.

    There have been numerous signs that the world is no longer buying into the Israeli creation myth, even in the United States, where the suffering of the Gazans, neatly concealed by most of the mainstream media, nevertheless produced an outpouring of sympathy. The beleaguered little state of Israel founded as a homeland and refuge for the victims of persecution in Europe has become a regional military superpower ruled by a corrupt political class, with a socialist economy kept afloat by the U.S. taxpayer. Israel continues and even expands its occupation of the lands of its neighbors and engages in the brutal suppression of those who resist. Far from seeking a political solution that would create two states side by side, it has deliberately aborted every genuine peace initiative and now seeks absolute regional hegemony, pressing forward with racist policies that marginalize its own citizens of Arab descent. Most of the world has finally realized that claiming perpetual victimhood as a shield against criticism does not work very well when you can muster Merkava tanks, helicopter gunships, and white phosphorus against a civilian population.

    The sharp exchange between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Davos on Jan. 29 exemplifies Israel’s public relations problem and also casts light upon what steps the Israeli government and its friends in the United States are taking to counteract the negative press. Media reports suggest that Israel preceded its attack on Gaza by alerting a network of supporters to post comments on blogs, saturating the Web with the Israeli government’s justification for its action. This was evident on a number of blogs, including Huffington Post and the Washington Note. Many of the posters were Israelis, and it is believed that a number of them were active-duty military personnel selected for their fluency in English and other European languages as well as their familiarity with the Internet.

    The coverage of the Erdogan-Peres exchange was carefully managed in the U.S. media, but less restrained in Europe and the Middle East. In a one-hour discussion of Gaza moderated by David Ignatius of the Washington Post, an odd choice for such an important discussion, Peres was allowed 25 minutes to speak in defense of the Israeli attack. Erdogan and two other critics on the panel were given 12 minutes each. The YouTube recording of the debate shows Peres pointed accusingly at Erdogan and raised his voice. When Erdogan sought time to respond, Ignatius granted him a minute and then cut him off claiming it was time to go to dinner. Erdogan complained about the treatment and left Davos, vowing never to return. Back in Turkey, he received a hero’s welcome.

    Four days later the Washington Post featured an op-ed entitled “Turkey’s Turn From the West” by Soner Cagaptay, a Turkish-born, American-educated academic who is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). WINEP was founded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Cagaptay is also on the board of the American Turkish Friendship Council, one of several Turkish lobbying groups that are supportive of the Israel-Turkey relationship. A review of Cagaptay’s writings reveals that he is AIPAC’s go-to guy for any argument that Turkey is becoming more anti-Western and religious.

    That Cagaptay is a genuine expert on the country of his birth is clear, but his view on developments there is very much shaped by who pays him. He finds anti-Semitism lurking everywhere in Turkey and being “spread by the political leadership.” He is astonished by Erdogan’s assertion at Davos that Israel is “killing people.” He finds inexplicable the prime minister’s belief that there was “Jewish culpability for the conflict in Gaza” and that the “Jewish-controlled media outlets were misrepresenting the facts.” For good measure, Cagaptay believes it “doubtful whether Turkey would side with the United States in dealing with the issue of nuclear Iran,” and he sees a regrettable Turkish “solidarity with Islamist regimes or causes.”

    AIPAC’s Turkey expert might be surprised to learn that most of the world, which saw the images of dying Palestinian children on nightly television, would probably agree with Erdogan. Israel planned its invasion of Gaza six months in advance, timed the assault for maximum political benefit for the ruling party and to engage the incoming U.S. president in its policies, committed war crimes against a largely defenseless civilian population, and then kept journalists out of the combat zone so it could lie about everything that it was doing. The U.S. media in particular chose to ignore the carnage and present the Israeli point of view. Though it would be unfair to claim that the media is controlled by any ethnic or religious group, it is certainly true that Jewish organizations mobilized to make sure that pro-Israel commentary far exceeded any reporting of Palestinian suffering.

    Cagaptay likewise fails to see what the rest of the world sees regarding Iran. No one admires Iran’s government, but America’s European allies, not just Turkey, will not support yet another war in the Middle East, even if Tehran does move closer to acquiring a nuclear weapon. Turkey’s development of closer ties with the Islamic world, which Cagaptay tellingly insists on calling “Islamist,” is also an understandable response to being repeatedly snubbed in its bids to join the European Union, something that even WINEP’s reliable scholarly claque surely knows to be true.

    Efforts to control and spin the narrative, to turn black into white, have been unrelenting since the Israelis decided to attack Gaza. Cagaptay is only a part of that effort, but his smearing of Turkey and its elected leaders is unfortunate, particularly as his newspaper audience probably knows little about Turkey and will assume that the analysis is credible. Anyone who knows Turks well knows that they are an exceedingly stubborn and honorable people who will invariably say what they think to be true. Prime Minister Erdogan spoke the truth in Davos and has been speaking the truth about the invasion of Gaza. Attempts to label him anti-Semitic and to denigrate the Turks in general will certainly have some impact, most certainly on the U.S. Congress, which will rapidly fall into line and comply with AIPAC’s instructions on an appropriate punishment. But Israel’s attempt to portray itself as always the victim of a global anti-Semitic, anti-Western conspiracy just will not stand any more, no matter how many Soner Cagaptays are paid by AIPAC to write for the Washington Post.

    Source: www.antiwar.com, 10.02.2009

    * Philip Giraldi is a former officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency who became famous for claiming in 2005 that the USA was preparing plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons in response to a terrorist action against the US, independently of whether or not Iran was involved in the action. He is presently a partner in an international security consultancy,  Cannistraro Associates.

  • THE DEPKA REVIEW

    THE DEPKA REVIEW

    Summary of DEBKAfile’s Exclusives in the Week Ending February 5, 2009
    Hamas fires first shore-to-ship C-802 missile 31 Jan.: DEBKAfile’s military sources reveal a formidable addition to Hamas’ arsenal: The missile fired from Gaza out to the Mediterranean last week was not a Qassam as reported but a C-802, the Iranian shore-to-ship Nur C-802 missile, which is based on the Chinese “Silkworm.”

    It was launched by Iranian officers who are training Hamas operatives in its use before delivering a large consignment. With its 120-km range and 165-kilo warhead, the C-802’s mission is to break Israel’s 40 km blockade of Gaza’s waters. This is now the key objective of Tehran and the Palestinian Islamists.
    The Israeli Navy’s first brush with the C-802 was in the 2006 Lebanon war. On July 14, it was used by Hizballah to cripple the Hanit missile ship opposite Beirut.

    Our sources affirm that arms smuggling to Gaza continues by land and sea at the pre-war tempo notwithstanding the brave talk in Jerusalem, Washington and Cairo of a concerted effort to stem the flow.

    Since 2006, military experts note, Iran has upgraded the C-802 in an important respect. A new version, of which 1,000 have been delivered to Hizballah, operates without radar. It has the attributes of a cruise missile with small radar reflectivity, a strong anti-jamming capability and the ability to skim as low as 5-7 meters from the water’s surface under the targeted ship’s radar. Tehran claims 98 percent targeting effectiveness for its updated Nur anti-ship missile.

    Ahmadinejad: Iran’s Islamic Revolution not limited to its borders 31 Jan.: Iran’s government spokesman is quoted as saying Saturday, Jan. 31 that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of Khomeini’s overthrow of the shah that Iran’s Islamic revolution was not limited to its borders. His response to the US president Barack Obama’s overtures was a demand that America apologize for 60 years of “crimes against Iran” and its new president carry out a “deep and fundamental change.”

    Gaza rocket alarms Ashkelon Saturday in another Hamas ceasefire breach

    31 Jan.: Hamas again breached its own ceasefire declared Jan. 19 Saturday, Jan. 31, with a Grad rocket against the town of Ashkelon to the north. It exploded harmlessly on open ground after a siren alerted the population. An Israeli air strike hit the rocket team. Last Tuesday, a roadside bomb on the Israeli side of the Gaza border killed an Israeli soldier and injured three, drawing minor Israeli responses followed by two rounds of Qassam fire. The flare-up accompanied the first trip to the region of Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, cancelled his talks in Washington with US defense secretary Robert Gates last Wednesday amid expectations of a major Israeli response to Hamas violations.

    Egyptian-Hamas talks on a long-term ceasefire in Gaza limp along after Hamas-Damascus rejected Cairo’s first proposals out of hand.

    Meshaal urges Iranian students to join Islamist liberation of all Palestine 2 Feb.: On the third day of his talks with Iranian leaders in Tehran, Hamas’ supreme leader Khaled Meshaal urged Iranian students to join his Islamist movement in helping liberate all of Palestine, secure the return of all Palestinians and retake Jerusalem so that “we can pray together.”

    DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources disclose the three topics uppermost in Meshaal’s talks with Iranian leaders:
    1. Tehran is playing tough in Middle East, including Gaza, to intimidate the Obama administration ahead of direct talks.

    2. Iran will torpedo Hamas’ long-term truce talks in Cairo so as not to grant president Hosni Mubarak any advantages on the Palestinian playing field.

    3. Hamas needs urgent injections of military and economic assistance to shore up its rule in the Gaza Strip.

    If Tehran holds back, the Palestinian Islamists may turn to Cairo and Riyadh for the proffered Saudi-Egyptian aid package for reconstruction. If Iran delivers, Meshaal will instruct the Hamas delegation to ditch the Egyptians and their proposals.

    Israel air raids blow up six Hamas tunnels after Palestinian missile-mortar salvoes 2 Feb.: After 14 missiles and mortar rounds were fired into Israel Sunday, Feb. 1, Israel launched air strikes against a Hamas building in central Gaza and six out of roughly 300 smuggling tunnels running under the southern Gazan border corridor with Egypt.

    The building was empty after Israel forewarned dwellers by telephone of the coming attack. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that although missile, rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel have been building up for the past week , defense minister Ehud Barak stands fast against demands for a major reprisal.

    He maintains that the main threat to Israeli security now emanates from Hizballah.

    Hizballah terror teams fan out in six countries prompting maximum Israeli alert
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report     2 Feb.: The Lebanese Hizballah has deployed terrorist teams in six countries for attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in revenge for the death of its military chief Imad Mughniyeh who it accuses Israel of killing a year ago.

    This intelligence prompted the counter-terror bureau in Jerusalem to publish Sunday, Feb. 1, an exceptionally high alert for traveling Israelis to beware of assaults and abductions. Security is also high in Israel and at embassies and Jewish institutions worldwide.

    Hizballah also believes it can disrupt Israel’s general election on Feb. 10 by assassinating a senior official.
    According to our sources, terrorist teams have also been drawn from the covert spy and terror cells Hizballah maintains in other parts of the Middle East as well as Africa and Europe.

    Israeli travelers were specifically warned to avoid Arab and Muslim countries – especially Sinai – watch out for unusual occurrences, refuse tempting offers and invitations from strangers, rendezvous with contacts only in public places along with trusted companions and avoid patronizing the same locations, such as hotels and restaurants, with predictable regularity.
    Israeli holidaymakers in Sinai were warned to leave at once.

    Long-range Grad rocket explodes in central Ashkelon 3 Feb.: The Grad rocket from Gaza which exploded in central Ashkelon Tuesday, Feb. 3, damaged vehicles in central Ashkelon and left three people in shock. A busload of passengers escaped to safety with seconds to spare.

    Iran’s first spy satellite launch Tuesday signifies nuclear-capable rocket in hand 3 Feb.: The launch of Omid (Hope), Iran’s first home-made satellite into orbit early Tuesday, Feb. 3, is a breakthrough demonstrating the Islamic Republic has managed to develop long-range, three-stage ballistic rockets propelled by solid fuel and capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

    Cont. Next Column

    		 Israel and Western officials have been playing down this fast-developing capability while proving helpless to hold back Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

    DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report the new satellite is designed for tracking, research and tele-communications and carries digital measuring instruments. Iran’s top-secret “Military Group” – the team of scientists and technicians working on its clandestine nuclear bomb program – is clearly moving ahead undisturbed by UN sanctions or technical difficulties.

    Obama administration gravely concerned by first Iranian satellite 3 Feb.: The White House and Pentagon issued strong statements Tuesday, Feb. 3 about the dangers posed by the launch of Iran’s first homemade satellite into space. DEBKAfile notes that none of the leading contenders in Israel’s Feb. 10 general election, including the defense and foreign ministers – or even prime minister Ehud Olmert – saw fit to react to the event.

    White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said any effort to develop missile delivery capability, continue an illicit nuclear program, threaten Israel and sponsor terror is an “acute concern to this administration.”

    Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters that Iran poses “a real threat and a growing threat.” DEBKAfile’s Washington sources report that the Obama administration is getting fed up with Tehran continually laying down hard facts ahead of any dialogue begins between the two governments.

    Our Iranian sources see no sign of Tehran softening its attitudes on nuclear or missile issues ahead of those talks.

    Barak loses Gaza truce gamble, Cairo decides to slam Rafah door shut4 Feb.: Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak held off responding to ten days of missile-mortar salvoes from Gaza in the hope of Cairo successfully negotiating a long-term truce deal with Hamas.

    DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Egypt’s announcement Wednesday, Feb. 4, that as of Thursday, its only border crossing with Gaza at Rafah would be closed down for all traffic signaled the breakdown of those negotiations. It followed Cairo’s discovery that Hamas was under orders from Tehran to keep the truce talks dragging on aimlessly together with daily missile and mortar fire against Israel. Barak’s policy of relying on Egypt for results has been discredited. Hamas is expected to respond to its cutoff from Egypt by stepping up cross-border attacks against Israel.

    Wednesday, Christopher Guinness, spokesman of the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNWRA, complained that Hamas police raided its warehouse in Gaza City and stole 3,500 blankets and nearly 500 food packages that were to have been distributed to poor Gaza families. UNWRA demanded their immediate return.

    Five days to Israel’s poll: Frontrunner Netanyahu is slipping
    DEBKAfile Special Analysis     5 Feb.: The man certain to form the next Israeli government after the general election of Feb. 10, Likud’s Binyamin Netanyahu, who started out with a handy lead of well over 30 Knesset seats (out of 120), is losing ground to Avigdor Lieberman’s right-wing Israel Beitenu.

    His campaign blunders include his apparent choice of the unpopular Labor leader, Ehud Barak, to carry on as defense minister in the next government. Another is his refusal to name a finance minister for a country worried sick by the slide into serious recession and growing unemployment.

    Both those decision deny the voter hope for a much needed change – especially a new defense minister to replace Ehud Barak, whose policies are widely condemned.

    The average, middle-of-the road voter is worried about national security and therefore leans to the right – away from his Labor party. Polling-day falls amid high security alerts on two potential warfronts, Gaza in the South and Lebanon in the north. The gap between this fraught situation and Barak’s claims of restored deterrence equals his credibility gap.

    His policy of tying Israel’s security to Cairo’s uncertain good offices instead of letting the military do its job crashed with the ill-fated Egyptian-Hamas negotiations in Cairo for a long-term truce. Day by day, Hamas violates its ceasefire pledge by blasting Israel with missiles and mortars. IDF reprisals are confined to aerial bombardments of empty buildings and sandy expanses in the Gaza Strip.

    On top of this unpopular alliance, Netanyahu is unclear on his future policies. It took him until this week to come out with an explicit statement on a key security issue, when he said: “Iran will not acquire nuclear arms. Period.” While promoting an “economic peace” plan for the West Bank, the Likud leader has never come right out and stated his views on George W. Bush’s two-state solution of the conflict.

    Israeli Beteinu is therefore cutting into Likud’s support and threatening to overtake foreign minister Tzipi Livni’s Kadima.

    But although the right-of-center bloc can count on a Knesset majority, the Likud leader will deny the country stable government if he insists on handing out the key defense and finance portfolios to figures outside that bloc for the sake of “a national unity government.” By linking his Likud to Labor, Netanyahu will reach his second term as prime minister from a position of weakness rather than the strength he started out with.

    Israeli naval commandoes board a Lebanese aid ship

    5 Feb.: After the captain refused to heed the Israeli navy’s orders to leave embargoed waters, Israeli seamen boarded the ship and had it towed to Ashdod port. No arms were found on the vessel only a small amount of aid destined for Gaza and a number of Syrian and Lebanese pro-Hamas activists who were taken off for interrogation. They will be sent back to the ship which on no account will be allowed to dock at Gaza.

    Barak: More Iranian ships bound for Gaza
    DEBKAfile Special Report

    5 Feb.: Although defense minister Ehud Barak did not confirm that the Iranian ships on their way to the Gaza Strip carry arms for Hamas, DEBKAfile’s military sources report that they are in fact arms vessels. Tehran will try and break the blockade on Gaza, encouraged by the failure of the US, Egyptian and Israeli navies to confiscate the arms aboard the Cypriot-flagged arms ships now docked at Limassol. Some are already on the way, expected to enter the Gulf of Suez and waters opposite Gaza over the weekend and try to drop their cargoes of weapons containers off shore. Israeli warships and spy planes are tracking them.

    At a special conference Thursday, Feb. 5, prime minister Olmert, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and the defense minister agreed the Iranian arms ships must be prevented from unloading their cargoes, even at the cost of a marine clash with Iran. At stake is the entire international effort to stop the Palestinian Islamists rearming.

    The Cypriot authorities are unloading the Iranian arms ship of cargo that contravenes the UN Security Council sanctions resolution 1747 which bans Iranian arms exports. DEBKA file’s military sources disclosed it was carrying 10 containers of Iranian rockets and other weapons for rearming Hamas in the Gaza Strip in violation of Israel’s terms for accepting a Gaza ceasefire last month.


  • Middle East parties must be brought together

    Middle East parties must be brought together

    Gordon Brown has insisted that all parties to the Middle East dispute over Palestine must be brought together to thrash out a lasting peace settlement despite the recent hostilities in Gaza.

    Speaking at a press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Downing Street on Thursday, the PM said that peace could be achieved in the Middle East based on a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state. Progress on the issue remains a top priority for the UK and international partners will be urged to work together to come to an agreement, he said.

     

    www.number10.gov.uk

  • Drama in Davos: A reading of the bizarre incident

    Drama in Davos: A reading of the bizarre incident

    By Ferruh Demirmen

     

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s walkout from the Gaza panel in Davos last week created quite a stir on the international scene. The walkout strained the Israeli-Turkish relations, and the direction the Turkish foreign policy is headed became a subject of debate.

     

    The occasion was a panel discussion on the Gaza crisis where two of the four panelists were Erdogan and Israeli President Shimon Peres. During his talk Erdogan blamed Israel for the Gaza violence, and Peres passionately defended his country’s policy. The tempers became inflamed when the moderator refused to allow Erdogan sufficient time to reply to Peres. This brought the panel discussion to a breaking point, and the PM walked off.

     

    The prevailing sentiment in Turkey is that Erdogan was justified in his action. Upon return from Davos, the PM was welcomed as a courageous leader by his supporters in Istanbul. The Arab world, in particular Hamas, lauded Erdogan’s action. There were alarm signals from the American Jewish lobby and the Israeli media, the former warning that Turkey’s image was damaged and making a sarcastic reference to PKK. In the rest of the world, the reaction was one of bemusement,

     

    The substance

     

    In substance, it is difficult to disagree with Erdogan on his criticism of Israel on the Gaza crisis. While the Jewish state deserved sympathy for the plight of its citizens that came under rocket attack from Hamas militants, its response was grossly disproportionate. Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip created a humanitarian crisis in an area that was already reeling under a military lockdown. Some 1300 Palestinians lost their lives, as opposed to 13 on the Israeli side. Gaza’s industry was destroyed, and even schools, mosques, hospitals and a UN compound came under attack.

     

    The notion that a vastly superior military firepower was turned on a nearly defenseless population under siege, with graphic images of Palestinian civilians suffering and dying, was too much to bear for the world at large, in particular the Islamic world. Erdogan verbalized these sentiments.

     

    What made the Israeli action particularly offensive was that the military campaign appeared to be planned months in advance, and that Israel was timing its military campaign according to presidential turnover at the White House. Israel’s banning of journalists from the war zone also exacerbated anti-Israeli sentiments.

     

    The style

     

    Putting substance aside, the manner in which Erdogan handled himself in Davos was both right and wrong. To make sense of conflicting reports of the incident, this writer viewed the official webcast of the panel discussion. It is clear from the webcast that Erdogan was justified in protesting to the moderator.

     

    A cardinal rule in panel discussions is that the participants are allowed equal time. In this case, Peres was allowed to speak considerably longer than Erdogan.

     

    It is also a standard practice in panel discussions to allow a second chance to the speakers to respond to each other. There was no such provision in the panel discussion. Erdogan wrestled to get additional time to respond to Peres, the last speaker, but when the moderator cut him off after two minutes, the PM became visibly agitated. Turning red-faced, he stormed out.

     

    Because the other two panelists had talked shorter than both Erdogan and Peres, the moderator could have allowed Erdogan more time to respond, thereby preventing a diplomatic crisis.

     

    On the other hand, the PM could have chosen to remain calm, letting the audience judge the unfairness of the situation. His parting remark to the moderator, “For me, Davos is finished,” was unnecessary, and his rhetoric aimed at Peres, “You are older than me. Your voice is coming strong, this has to do with a guilty conscience.” … ”You know well how to kill,” were quite inappropriate. He had lost his temper.

     

    In diplomacy, there is no substitute for composure.

     

    In Ankara, retired Turkish diplomats who criticized Erdogan’s behavior in Davos also drew the PM’s ire, who called them “monsieurs” – a thinly disguised pejorative term.

     

    Some commentators in Turkish media compared the PM’s action to the bluster of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev when he, in a fury, took his shoe off and banged it at the table at a United Nations conference in 1960. The comparison, however, was off the mark.

     

    The motive

     

    Erdogan’s action raised some basic questions. What was the PM trying to accomplish by becoming the spokesman for Hamas when the Arab world is almost indifferent to the plight of Palestinians on the Gaza Strip?

     

    And if the PM was sincere in his humanitarian concerns over the Gaza crisis, why did he not raise similar objections to the killing fields in Darfur, and, for that matter, next-door Iraq?

     

    Erdogan twice welcomed in Ankara Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir – a radical Islamist – who has been accused of war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court. These are questions only the PM can answer.

     

    But there is little doubt that Erdogan’s stance in Davos was driven at least in part by domestic politics. Local elections are scheduled for March, and by embracing the staunchly Islamic-oriented Hamas, the PM calculated that he could boost his popularity with his Islamist base at home. His popularity, in fact, did receive a boost, at least temporarily.

     

    The rallying welcome the PM received at the Istanbul airport in the early hours of the morning just after leaving the panel discussion was obviously planned in advance.

     

    Israeli-Turkish relations

     

    The larger issue with the Davos incident is whether it heralded a major shift in Turkey’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Israel. In press releases, both sides tried to downplay the significance of the event, claiming that the relations between the countries remained fundamentally strong.

     

    There is considerable truth in that assessment, as the two countries have long had close bilateral ties, from tourism to commerce to defense. The two countries also have shared common strategic interests, a point verbalized by Peres during his talk at the Turkish Parliament in November 2007. Both countries will want to continue the alliance.

     

    The alliance, however, will face challenges. Hamas is widely recognized as a terrorist organization, and unless the organization becomes more moderate, a serious rift in the Israeli-Turkish alliance will be inevitable. Turkey’s relationship with the US and the EU will also be affected.

     

    There is also the concern, raised by the American Jewish lobby, but also by the Turkish Jewish community, that Erdogan’s pro-Hamas stance may stoke anti-Semitism in Turkey. The PM tried to allay this concern by stating that his quarrel is with the Israeli administration, not Jewish people.

     

    The problem with this argument is that his constituents in the Islamic camp may not make such distinction.

     

    Any rise in anti-Semitism in Turkey would be very unfortunate. Since the Ottomans welcomed Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in the 15th century, Turks and Jews have lived in peaceful coexistence. The secular republic established by Kemal Atatürk bestowed full citizenship rights on Jews, as it did on other religious and ethnic groups.

     

    Conclusion

     

    In summary, a badly administered panel discussion was at the root of a bizarre incident in Davos. Although there will be challenges, Turkey and Israel should put the bizarre incident behind and move on. The Jewish state should use the Davos incident as a wakeup call from a friend for resolution of the long-festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Turkey’s part, it should weigh carefully its association with Hamas. A lasting peace in the Middle East is far too important to let an emotionally charged panel discussion to be a distraction. On Erdogan’s part, he should learn how to control his anger in conflict situations.

     

    ferruh@demirmen.com

     

  • Greater Israel

    Greater Israel

    By Wayne Madsen
    Online Journal Contributing Writer

    Jan 30, 2009, 00:20

    WMR) — Israeli expansionists, their intentions to take full control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and permanently keep the Golan Heights of Syria and expand into southern Lebanon already well known, also have their eyes on parts of Iraq considered part of a biblical “Greater Israel.”

    Israel reportedly has plans to relocate thousands of Kurdish Jews from Israel, including expatriates from Kurdish Iran, to the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Nineveh under the guise of religious pilgrimages to ancient Jewish religious shrines. According to Kurdish sources, the Israelis are secretly working with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to carry out the integration of Kurdish and other Jews into areas of Iraq under control of the KRG.

    Kurdish, Iraqi Sunni Muslims, and Turkmen have noted that Kurdish Israelis began to buy land in Iraqi Kurdistan, after the U.S. invasion in 2003, that is considered historical Jewish “property.”

    The Israelis are particularly interested in the shrine of the Jewish prophet Nahum in al Qush, the prophet Jonah in Mosul, and the tomb of the prophet Daniel in Kirkuk. Israelis are also trying to claim Jewish “properties” outside of the Kurdish region, including the shrine of Ezekiel in the village of al-Kifl in Babel Province near Najaf and the tomb of Ezra in al-Uzayr in Misan Province, near Basra, both in southern Iraq’s Shi’a-dominated territory. Israeli expansionists consider these shrines and tombs as much a part of “Greater Israel” as Jerusalem and the West Bank, which they call “Judea and Samaria.”

    Kurdish and Iraqi sources report that Israel’s Mossad is working hand-in-hand with Israeli companies and “tourists” to stake a claim to the Jewish “properties” of Israel in Iraq. The Mossad has already been heavily involved in training the Kurdish Pesha Merga military forces.

    Reportedly assisting the Israelis are foreign mercenaries paid for by U.S. Christian evangelical circles that support the concept of “Christian Zionism.”

    Iraqi nationalists charge that the Israeli expansion into Iraq is supported by both major Kurdish factions, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headed by Iraq’s nominal President Jalal Talabani. Talabani’s son, Qubad Talabani, serves as the KRG’s representative in Washington, where he lives with his wife Sherri Kraham, who is Jewish.

    Also supporting the Israeli land acquisition activities is the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, the president of the KRG. One of Barzani’s five sons, Binjirfan Barzani, is reportedly heavily involved with the Israelis.

    The Israelis and their Christian Zionist supporters enter Iraq not through Baghdad but through Turkey. In order to depopulate residents of lands the Israelis claim, Mossad operatives and Christian Zionist mercenaries are staging terrorist attacks against Chaldean Christians, particularly in Nineveh, Irbil, al-Hamdaniya, Bartalah, Talasqaf, Batnayah, Bashiqah, Elkosheven, Uqrah, and Mosul.

    These attacks by the Israelis and their allies are usually reported as being the responsibility of “Al Qaeda” and other Islamic “jihadists.”

    The ultimate aim of the Israelis is to depopulate the Christian population in and around Mosul and claim the land as biblical Jewish land that is part of “Greater Israel.” The Israeli/Christian Zionist operation is a replay of the depopulation of the Palestinians in the British mandate of Palestine after World War II.

    In June 2003, a delegation of Israelis visited Mosul and said that it was Israel’s intentions, with the assistance of Barzani, to establish Israeli control of the shrine of Jonah in Mosul and the shrine of Nahum in the Mosul plains. The Israelis said Israeli and Iranian Jewish pilgrims would travel via Turkey to the area of Mosul and take over lands where Iraqi Christians lived.

    Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

    Copyright © 2008 WayneMadenReport.com

    Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).

    Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal

    Source:  Online Journal, Jan 30, 2009