This article, critical of Israel, still does not appear in a search of “Hedges” at Truthdig. So, for readers who come here, the story does not exist. Down the “Memory Hole.”
This reminds me of the Carl Cameron story at Fox News a few years ago, a three-part series about Israeli companies AMDOCS and INFOSYS(or something like that) installing and processing telecommunications surveillance systems in the US, as well as the curious story about the Israeli “students” who were witnessed videotaping the first plane hitting the World Trade Center towers.  These fellows were seen jumping up and down, high-fiving each other, etc.  When they were stopped by police, they said “We are Israeli! We were celebrating because now we are allies in the War On Terror.” Of course, they were celebrating before the second plane hit, while everyone else was still thinking it was simply a tragic accident. Curious, don’t you think?  After they and a number of other “exchange students” were rounded up for questioning, the owner of the company that they worked for fled to Israel.  The State of Israel, with our tax money, hired them one of the most expensive New York law firms. After being held about ten months, during which the State Department lawyers interfered with their interrogations, the State Department, under protest from both the CIA and the FBI, allowed these people to fly back to Israel.
The point is that the Cameron story, after complaints from various Jewish organizations, and being deluged with orchestrated phone and email campaigns, simply ceased to exist.  The Fox site said “this story does not exist.” There have been a number of copies posted on Youtube, but they are invariably removed within a few days. 
It is sad to see any site compromise its integrity by bowing to special interest groups but I suppose it is inevitable.  With enough money, and control of the organs of propaganda, the elites can create any “reality” they choose, and can defame and destroy anyone with the courage to dissent.
There are other sites that so far appeared to have resisted intimidation by the “First Church of the Holocaust” (that should bring out the screamers!). http://www.vdare.com , http://www.antiwar.com and http://www.ihr.org come to mind. No doubt there are others.  http://www.Davidduke.com is also a good read, for those of you who are mature enough to go to the source, read the man’s own words, and judge for yourself, rather than let the ADL compile your reading list.

Good night all…

Good point.

One thing to keep in mind is that this article and/or the subsequent discussion would not be tolerated in the Zionist-controlled major media. Since they haven’t yet figured out how to control the Internet, they have to settle for lies and name-calling.
That is probably the most important, although the least understood and visible front in the GWOT: suppressing the Internet. I am told there are efforts in Congress to “deregulate” the Internet, allowing the largest ISPs to gobble up the smaller ones and then charge varying fees on access to different websites.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where that will go. Access to Nizkor or the ADL could remain free, while something like ihr dot org or antiwar dot com could have a significant per minute charge.  I would like to see more discussion and publicity about the likelihood of this from people who are knowledgable about the Internet. It would be unfortunate if we were to wake up one morning and be told that, like internet poker, “our betters” have decided for us which activities are permissible and which are not.
Apropos the article above, I am currently reading a very detailed treatment of this problem.  The book title is:  “They Dare To Speak Out” by Paul Findley, former Congressman from Illinois. The book is a little dated (1985), but it is a shocker.  I suspect things have only gotten worse.

Re #89402 by Inherit The Wind on 7/25 at 9:57 am

When I said that Jews are the most powerful minority in the world, I meant ethnic minority. I believe you and I agree that there is an anti-democratic power elite that contols both the government and the media. It is not an ethnic minority. I do not think this power elite is primarily Jewish or Zionist. I do think that Zionists are an important part of it, however. There are lots of Jews in high places, economic, political and intellectual. That is a good thing. My point is not that they are running the country, but only that they have more than enough power to protect themselves and therefore do not require special protection. On the contrary, the problem is the abuse of the power they now have, rather than their lack of power. It is now the Palestinians whose lack of power must be addressed.

Re #89270 by jbart on 7/24 at 7:35 pm

I don’t think you understand what the debate is about. It concerns the distinction between Judaism and Zionism, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. It is extremely important to sort this out; without an understanding of this there is no way to resolve the whole Israel/Palestine issue.

However, I do agree with you that it is time for Jews, who constitute the most powerful minority in the world, to stop with the “victim” mentality. The victims have become the victimizers. Jews should be held to the same standards as everyone else. They do not deserve special protection. To do that means the end of American support, the end of Zionism, and the end of Israel as a “Jewish state”.  These things will occur naturally if the United States changes is present policy of enabling Zionism. Zionists are trying to get a grip on the American political process to prevent this from happening. Americans must fight this while at the same time opposing and not giving aid and comfort to anti-Semites, who do exist and whose numbers are growing by leaps and bounds precisely because of morally unsustainable Zionist policies.

Re #88819 by Ernest Canning on 7/23 at 7:30 am

Tony, I don’t think Mr. Stawson’s very narrow distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is sound or meaningful. 

I would consider Jewish American intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Norm Finkelstein as anti-Zionists but definitely “not” anti-Semetic.”
--------------------------------------------------
Ernest,

I think you know that my leading lights on this issue are Chomsky, Finkelstein and Pappe. Hardly are they anti-Semitic, nor do they qualify as such according to the criteria listed in the article. They understand the difference between Judaism and Zionism. They understand what real anti-Semitism is.
Finkelstein has devoted books of fine scholarship to exactly delineating this distinction, an extremely valuable intellectual service to the world.

At the same time, I also have gotten an education in anti-Semitism from an early age, and there is no denying its pervasiveness. Since the 1930’s it has indeed spread all over the Arab world. It has been all over the Chrsitian world for 2000 years. Those who have not been so educated and do not have a good grasp of history often not understand the distinction. When they confuse Judaism with Zionism, they do fall into anti-Semitism. You can see a lot of this on the web just as the article says, mostly web sites set up by young people who are politically ignorant, including a lot of young and foolish “radicals”. We who oppose Zionism on the right grounds and for the right reasons must be careful not to allow the Zionists to trick us into associating ourselves with people who really are promoting anti-Semitism, whether they know it or not.

Tony, I don’t think Mr. Stawson’s very narrow distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is sound or meaningful. 

I would consider Jewish American intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Norm Finkelstein as anti-Zionists but definitely “not” anti-Semetic.  There is no suggestion in either man’s extensive academic writings that reflects or even hints at “Jewish inferiority.” They are anti-Zionist in the same way they are anti-racist and anti-fascist, for there is, at the core of Zionism, a basic undercurrent of a racist, ethnic cleansing, fascist ideology.

I suspect that Finkelstein, in particular, would regard Stawson’s suggestion most anti-Zionism is “based on the premise the Jews are inferior” as one of the “misuses” of anti-Semitism he so carefully documents in “Beyond Chutspah.”

If one were to accept Stawson’s suggestion, it would mean that “most” anti-Zionism flows from racism, where, in fact, the reverse is true.  Most principled anti-Zionism flows from anti-racism, a point demonstrated in the title President Carter chose for his book, “Peace not Apartheid.”

Re #88701 by the 1Sgt on 7/22 at 1:07 pm

That is by in large a good history of anti-Semitism. I recommend anyone involved in this issue to read it. Does this article distinguish between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism? Near the end we find the following paragraph:

“Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism - Anti-Zionism is opposition to the existence of the state of Israel or the idea of reconstituting a Jewish homeland. It is not necessarily anti-Semitic, but it usually is so, especially when the complaints against Israel and “Zionists” include controlling the government of the United States, conspiring to take over the world, starting world wars etc. (see above for characteristics of anti-Semitic Web sites). Anti-Zionism is usually based on the premise that Jews are inferior or different from any other group of people, and therefore do not have the right to declare themselves a nation or people. See article by John L. Strawson for a discussion of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism).”

I am glad to see that it says that anti-Zionism is not necessarily anti-Semitic. That leaves room for you and me to exist, at least. It lists the tell-tale signs of anti-Semitism in those who take an anti-Zionist position:

(1) complaints about Israel or Zionists controlling the government of the United States. 

I always say that there has been since the Balfour declaration an alliance between U.S./British imperialism and Zionism. They are manipulating everbody, Jew and Gentile alike. I tend to believe that in every country there is a ruling class that has an agenda that is anti-democratic, and that those ruling classes often have more in common with each other than with the average person in the country they rule.

I believe this position absolves me from anti-Semitism according to criterion (1).

(2) The paragraph above goes on to say that “Anti-Zionism is usually based on the premise that Jews are inferior or different from any other group of people, and therefore do not have the right to declare themselves a nation or people.”

What I say is that “Jew” denotes a religious or ethnic cultural inheritance, and that in the United States, for example, discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity is forbidden by the Constitution. There can be no laws in the United States that discriminate against Jews. By the same Constitution, there can also be no laws discriminating in favor of Jews, or against non-Jews. We do have “affirmative action”, and I tend to question its constitutionality, to the horror of some of my liberal friends. But the idea of affirmative action for Jews in this country is surely a joke.

I say these Constitutional principles apply universally to any state that can be called a democracy. Israel is not such a state, and never will be such a state until its people repudiate Zionism.

http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Anti-Semitism.htm

Anti-Semitism - (also Antisemitism ) - Jew Hatred.

In general, any work that pretends to describe the characteristics or traits of a whole people might be racist even if unintentionally so. Racism or bigotry directed at Jews is anti-Semitism.

Any of the following are certain signs of anti-Semitic racism, which predate or are unrelated to Israel:

Protocols of the Elders of Zion - Any work that publicizes this forged documentas true is anti-Semitic. Often the claim is made that the Protocols were actually the resolution of the first Zionist congress in Basle, which was held in 1897, 8 years before the publication of the protocols.

Blood libel - Any publication that claims Jews use the blood of Christians to bake ritual cakes is anti-Semitic obviously. It may be hard to believe, but this medieval superstition is popular in the Arab world.

Holocaust revisionism - Any work that claims the Holocaust did not occur or was exaggerated by Jews or “Zionists” or uses the phrase “Holocaust Myth” is anti-Semitic.

Exclusivism - The notion that Jews are an “Exclusivist” or clannish people who shut out others predates Christianity and is a sure sign of anti-Semitism.

Jews are powerful and control the world - Jews constitute a tiny fraction (less than 2%) of the population of the United States, and a much smaller fraction of world population (12 million out of 6 billion—about .002 = 2 thousandths). The only country that has a Jewish head of state is Israel. Nonetheless, anti-Semites assert that Jews or “Zionists” control the world and assert their “pernicious influence” in mysterious ways.

Talmud - Works that insist that the Talmud contains laws that discriminate against non-Jews or teach Jews to cheat gentiles are anti-Semitic. Likewise works that insist that Jews hold the Talmud to be more holy than the Old Testament or that all Jews believe the Talmud are anti-Semitic. The claims are false.
=====================================================

Zionists are themselves racist and hold prejudicial views of Arabs, many times referring to them as animals and being less than human. Yet, they have no problem calling anyone who merely criticizes them, and their state of Israel FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS, as anti-semetic. This is calling people antisemitic for criticism, not racial bigotry or institutionalized segregation (Apartheid) as Zionists are by default proponents or enabler of.

In fact, my mere statement above is regarded as “antisemetic” by some.

Also note in the definitions above the word “work” is used to denote statements or publications.

Free speech is a crime or wrong if it refers to anything bad Israel is doing.

Re #88461 by Inherit The Wind on 7/21 at 4:33 am
Re #88215 by Irkutsk on 7/20 at 6:28 am

“Anti-semitism is an expression dating from the Zionist movement of the nineteenth century.  Before that, for thousands of years in communities into which Jews settled, a substantial minority or even a majority of the host community eventually came to resent the behaviour of the Jews, citing characteristics that were remarkably similar, in lands and at times disparate and unconnected.  This strongly suggests that there was substance to their criticisms. “
===================================================
ITW,

I have steadily disagreed with you on this thread about your insistence on identifying Zionism with Judaism, and anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. But in regard to the above comment I agree with you; it is now Irkutsk who is conflating the Zionism and Judaism, and it is you who are correctly calling him on it.

Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, is imperialist, colonialist and racist in essence, to the core. It is a pernicious nineteenth century Jewish heresy. Those who led this movement were not rabbis but secular, and they did not understand that the moral implications of Zionism. It is a moral monstrosity which no person of conscience, whether religious or secular can support, whether they be Jew or Gentile.

However, when Irkutsk advances his ideas about the pre-Zionist history of the Jewish people, and essentially says that Judaism itself has always been racist and that this has caused worldwide resentment for centuries, this actually IS anti-Semitic. Perhaps he does not know this, so let us try to straighten him out.

Irkutsk,

THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF ANTI-SEMITISM FOR THE LAST 2000 YEARS HAS BEEN CHRISTIANITY. ANTI-SEMITISM IS THE RESULT OF A SPLIT IN JUDAISM SYMBOLIZED IN THE MYTH OF THE LIFE, DEATH AND RESSURECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. FOR 2000 YEARS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS BEEN WHISPERING IN THE EARS OF LITTLE CHILDREN THAT “THE JEWS KILLED JESUS”. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HAS PERPETUATED THIS FOUL CANARD AGAINST THE JEWISH PEOPLE. THAT IS THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION, ALL THE POGROMS IN EUROPE, THE GENERAL USE OF JEWISH PEOPLE AS SCAPEGOATS, AND IT IS WHAT MADE HITLER POSSIBLE TOO.

When you say that pre-Zionist Jews were responsible for their own persecution, you are just repeating the lies of the Church, which perhaps have been whispered in your ear at some time too. They are pervasive.

July 20, 2007

The Threat of American Public Opinion
Israel’s Dirty Little Secret

By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO

“It’s easy enough to read in the American press about Hama’s commitment to destroying Israel, or about the endless threats Israelis suffer under the onslaught of Palestinian suicide attacks and Hezbollah’s aggression. American progressives, and anyone else who honestly looks at American media and political commentary, have long known that racist caracitures of Arabs and Muslims are the order of the day in the United States. Whether it’s racist stereotypes promulgated in films such as Disney’s Aladdin or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s True Lies, or vitriolic commentary and op-eds within elite newspapers and television, American media-political culture has long prided itself in demonizing Arabs and Muslims. Typically there is little effort to even make a distinguishment between the two. Popular images portray Arabs and Muslims as hell-bent on violence, religious fanatacism, and the destruction of the U.S. and its allies (Israel most specifically).

There is, of course, a lengthy record of academic studies committed to exposing such contempt and xenophobia in American culture. In his important work, Covering Islam: How the Media and Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, Edward Said chronicles the “highly exaggerated stereotyping and belligerent hostility” directed against Muslims within the American mainstream. In contrast, Said speaks of “Israel’s avowedly religious characteristics [as] rarely mentioned in the Western press: Only recently have there been overt references to Israeli religious fanaticism.” Following Said, other scholars have focused upon media misrepresentations of Arab and Muslim peoples. In Islamic Peril: Media and Global Violence, Karim Karim emphasizes how “Muslim terrorism” is often a focus of media commentary and analysis, while Israel is seen “as an island of Western values in a sea of Arab Muslim barbarism.”

Although the backlash against these forms of media and political racism has begun to gain steam amongst critics of the U.S. and Israel, this has not stopped the American press from promoting a fictional American love affair amongst the American public and Israel. After 9/11, the New York Times claimed erroneously that American sympathy with Israel had risen to new highs, when in reality it was slightly less supportive (see Eric Boehlert, “The Times Misrepresents the American Public’s Support for Israel, Salon.com). In a late 2006 story, the Boston Globe reported that there has been an increase in support for outsourcing job services to Israel in light of the country’s “vast pool of highly educated workers who are native English speakers and share a cultural affinity with the West” (Matthew Kalman, “US Firms Turn to Israel as Outsourcing Alternative,” November 24, 2006).

American pundits also fall back on the alleged ties of cultural affinity between Americans and Israelis. Neoconservative Daniel Pipes claims that the “special feeling” amongst Americans “for Israel translates directly into policy. While the US public dislikes foreign aid in general, polls show that ‘most Americans strongly support’ economic and military aid to Israel.” Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby celebrates “staunch American support” and “solidarity” for Israel, claiming that “only someone far outside the American mainstream would insist that ‘Israel’s past and present conduct offers no moral basis for privileging it over the Palestinians,’ or that US policy is engineered through a Zionist ‘stranglehold on Congress.’”

http://www.counterpunch.org/dimaggio07202007.html

Silenced Witnesses

In a seven-week period this spring, two overseas observers were killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and a third left brain dead. But has the truth yet been told?

by John Sweeney

“James Miller taught my children to surf. Together, the two of us went to Kosovo, Chechnya and Zimbabwe. He was funny, decent to the core, a genius behind the camera lens. Together, we celebrated winning a Royal Television Society gong by having one shandy too many. I fell into an argument with an irritating cove in a penguin suit. James stepped in, threatening to take said cove outside and sort him out. At which point, some PR floozie whispered in my ear: “Do you know who that is?” No. “It’s the head of ITV.” Don’t watch it much anyway. James and I had so much fun and, occasionally, we did the work.

I was in Baghdad when I heard the news. He had been shot in Rafah, at the fag-end of the Gaza Strip, and was dead.

I phoned his widow Sophy immediately, and wept buckets. When the BBC decided to investigate James’s killing, they asked me to report for the film. I couldn’t say no.

James was not the first international witness to fall silent in Rafah. He was the third. This spring, in less than seven weeks, and within a radius of less than three miles, the American human-shield activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer; the British photographer and peace activist Tom Hurndall was shot in the head and rendered brain-dead; and James Miller was shot dead.

To understand what happened to James, it made sense to investigate the killing of Rachel and the maiming of Tom, whose family are currently discussing with doctors whether or not his life-support machine should be switched off. One day we filmed Tom lying in his hospital bed at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney, south-west London. On the wall was a battery of photographs showing Tom with a whole life ahead of him. The bleep-bleep of the monitor was the only sound. That afternoon, we has traveled to a Devon village to film Sophy Miller, James’s widow, and their children, Alexander, three, and Lotte, not yet one.

Making our film, When Killing Is Easy, has been the most harrowing ordeal of my professional life. But it is vital that it isevidential - and that is really tough when the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) have refused to speak to us. From mid-August we faxed and telephoned the Israelis repeatedly, asking them to explain their actions. All we got was a series of old press releases.

Rachel Corrie was the first of the three victims. She was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). They are young idealists, mainly European and American, who offer themselves as human shields. You could call them naive, even foolish. There is no doubting their guts. They stand between the Israeli bulldozers and their targets, the Palestinians’ homes that the IDF wants to flatten.

The Israelis have their reasons. Rafah is a stronghold of Islamic extremism in Gaza. The Palestinians dig tunnels underneath the Israeli-controlled border to their relatives in Egypt. The tunnels, the Israelis say, are used to smuggle guns and bombs. It is fair to point out that few, if any, suicide bombers have come from Gaza, for the simple reason that the Israelis have made it virtually impossible for ordinary residents to leave the strip. Even so, to make the tunneling more difficult the IDF has created a Berlin Wall-style “death strip”. The ISM people come along and get in the way. The Israeli government calls them “irresponsible”, “illegal” and “terrorist sympathizers.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1030-05.htm

Comment #88115 by Ernest Canning on 7/19

Ernest...I am the least bit surprised by the information & details of Remi Kenazi’s story regarding Israel’s Nazi policies/methods that are in place and are practiced everyday against the Palestinians at Tel Aviv/Ben Gurion airport.

If you remember, that I did comment about this very topic in several of my previous comments. My wife, children and myself witnessed this horrific racism, Nazi/Facist methods and the most gruesome discrimination being practiced/enforced by Israelis against (Christian & Moslem) Palestinians at Tel Aviv airport and other places in Israel and the occupied territories. We could not believe what we saw with our own eyes...over and over. The sad part is that the majority of Americans don’t know anything about this topic. I have NO doubt that our State Department and our US Ambassador in Tel Aviv are aware of Israel’s methods. Do they dare speak out against such abuses...such un-democratic methods?

If there were unrestricted video broadcasts on such an Apartheid system(s), there is NO doubt that most of Israel/IDF’s facist methods against the Palestinians will be immensely curbed. 

These above methods are NOT practiced/enforced upon Jews.

Imagine if there were live video cameras that are manned/supervised by Human Rights groups at the Israeli/IDF checkpoints, Tel Aviv airport, and other places...where Americans & Westerners will a have a chance to see for themselves Israel’s Human Rights abuses and Nazi Apartheid methods.

CNN, FOX (FALSE) NEWS, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR and other mainstream AIPAC controlled news media will NOT dare broadcasts such racist/facist Israeli abuses.

Israel & AIPAC will NEVER allow such a forum. They have many gruesome ways of intimidating news personnel and peaceful groups. Shooting and murder is one method that really works for Israel & its fanatic IDF killers.

About anti-Semitism

whole article here:

http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/1190/

{People talk with liberty about Muslim extremists, and Christian fundamentalists; but they stop short of uttering the forbidden word “Jewish extremists”

We as people who desire justice, and long for peace; and we as human race can never achieve equality without applying the same criteria and standards for ALL ; and that should also include any other ideology, not only religious one, but also we must acknowledge that there are secular extremists, and atheists fundamentalists, Marxist extremists… etc.}

From Inherit The Wind on 7/19 at 4:24 am

“I continue to be disturbed by the constant thread of anti-semitism that flows through this site, the IMMEDIATE assumption that the UK government cannot pick a competent professional, even if he’s Jewish.”

I too am disturbed by the gratuitous and inappropriate use of the word anti-semitism

Anti-semitism is an expression dating from the Zionist movement of the nineteenth century.  Before that, for thousands of years in communities into which Jews settled, a substantial minority or even a majority of the host community eventually came to resent the behaviour of the Jews, citing characteristics that were remarkably similar, in lands and at times disparate and unconnected.  This strongly suggests that there was substance to their criticisms.

Imagine an extra-terrestrial team sent to Earth to report on us humans, one from a civilisation with the intelligence to have developed the technology to arrive, but without the ethical baggage that clouds our analysis when looking at ourselves.  Analysing us as we would a species of animal, would they not notice characteristics more common to members of certain groups than others, a view that is today described as racism – another linguistic newcomer, coined by Leon Trotsky, which implicitly uses moral blackmail to limit discussion.  And on learning our history would they not conclude that the Jews have selected themselves as different (the chosen people), and have used their talents to obtain a greater share of material wealth and influence than other groups on Earth; and that, intentionally or not, they have created a shield against criticism with the use of the term anti-semitism.

Robert, the Remi Kanazi story sort of punches a huge hole in Zionist claims that Israel is a democracy.  I don’t know how else to characterize it but a society with all the trappings of a fascist police state--that is for any who do not fit favored status.

July 19, 2007

A Palestinian Adventure in Israel’s Largest Airport

Is This Ben Gurion or Hell?

By REMI KANAZI

“Anyone who has traveled through Ben Gurion airport in Israel knows that it is a unique experience. For most Israeli Jews, the experience is comforting, a quick and accommodating entry into a nation created and developed for the Jewish people. For Palestinian-Americans and many activists working in occupied Palestine it is quite a different experience. Most of these travelers are held for hours and questioned repeatedly; some of who are stripped naked and in some cases (especially in the last two years) denied entry.
As I writefrom Ramallah, I recall my and my brother’s experience in Ben Gurion just one week ago. After a sleepless 15 hour trip from New York, we arrived at the airport and went directly to the check-in booth. After waiting in a short line, a friendly woman asked for our passports, yet immediately turned sour once she viewed them. We were asked to step aside and after about 15 minutes a woman from airport security told us to follow her into one of the detainment rooms. Given the countless stories of harassment I had heard and read about before my trip, I wasn’t so foolish to think that my journey through Ben Gurion would be a walk in the park. I had initially anticipated a four hour wait, interrogation, and a thorough pat down by Israel’s finest.

When we arrived at the first detainment room, several young female security agents asked us where we were going, about our ethnic background and family history, whether we had family in Israel or the occupied territories (and if we would be staying with them), and if “there was anything they should know.” We were then taken to another detainment room, where a few other detainees were being held. Over the next three hours, several female security officers came into the detainment room we were being held in to question us, while at other times we were called into other detainment rooms for questioning. One African detainee, an elderly black woman, was not allowed into the country with her husband despite a seemingly innocent decision to visit her family.

After about four hours, pure exhaustion set in. At this time, we were taken to a large room with metal detectors, an x-ray machine and a coffee machine that looked like it wasn’t in use. Still, in a token attempt at friendliness, the security agent offered us a cup of coffee. But the offer was rescinded once he noted the machine was out of service.

About every ten minutes another member of airport security entered the room. After about 30 minutes we were taken into a back room, patted down, and scanned with a hand held metal detector. After being held for an hour, Sami, who claimed to be a higher up in the IDF and airport security, entered the room. He had apparently been called in by regular airport security because of certain “red flags” we had raised.

Sami didn’t look particularly happy to see us. He started to go through our bags, which had been checked by every member of airport security that previously entered the room. He had a determined look on his face as he sifted through my brother’s book on corporate law and became more agitated when he didn’t find the holy grail of information.

After about 15 minutes Sami looked up at us and told us that “something was missing;” we were “leaving out part of the story,” and he was going to find out just exactly what that “part” was. He was looking for what he called the “truth.” So I repeated what we had told the previous soldiers: we were staying our first two nights in East Jerusalem, we would be traveling to the holy sites (to see where baby Jesus was born), Haifa and Yaffa (the cities our grandparents were dispossessed from in 1948), Nazareth and Bethlehem.”
-------------------------------------------------
Read on for the rest of the TRUTH:
http://www.counterpunch.org/kanazi07192007.html

Has the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sabotaged his old rival Tony Blair’s mandate as Middle East coordinator?  David Miliband the new Foreign Secretary is a Jew.  This fact was almost entirely overlooked in the British media, even by the BBC, probably from fear of being labelled anti-semitic.  Down on Damascus Avenue however it will be by far his most important attribute, outweighing his intelligence and youth, and will strengthen the view that the British can no longer be relied upon as impartial, that their once independent position has been abandoned.  It is inconceivable that this did not occur to Mr Brown and his advisors in their long and careful construction of the cabinet; so it seems fair to speculate that his appointment may have been a deliberate manoeuvre to weaken Mr Blair’s mission, one already tainted with Iraq and the Lebanon.  If so, it indicates a vindictive nature which bodes ill for the new British government, and worse for the Middle East.

Schoolmarm, you are absolutely correct.  In my haste, I mispelled plagiarism.  Mea Culpa!

Who is beating those war drums!

============================
From Haaretz:

By Sara Miller, Haaretz Correspondent

New envoy to U.K.: Jews must do more to put Iran on the agenda

{The Israeli ambassador-elect to Britain, Ron Prosor, said Tuesday that the Jews around the world and the global community should do more to focus attention on Iran and its nuclear aspirations.}
============================

Is it because Israel DON’T have nuclear weapons!!!

or is it because Iran have them, I wonder!

Absurd logic:

If Iran have them it’s a threat to neighboring countries (including Israel), but if Israel has them, it is for the security of the neighboring countries (and the world)!!!

Read whole article here:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/880388.html

#87491 by nahida on 7/17 at 11:59 am

Ya know what? When I responded to Ernest’s post to you, (Nahida) I hadn’t yet READ this latest from “wavelenght”. I presumed that she was still up to her old tricks, of the mostly juvenille stuff. (all of the psychobabble).

But, I was AMAZED to read that she had gone so far as to pen this letter to the truthdig editors. So, now wavelength has gone totally over the edge...beyond the tipping point, and so lets just hope and pray that wavelenght keeps this “promise” that in his or her own illusions, it’s actually a threat:

...."I urge you to take action against this member if you are concerned about the integrity of your service.  If you do not address the issue I will not contribute to your forums in the future.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Wavelength}
end quote......

So, there we have it. Wavelength has promised NOT to CONTRIBUTE TO THESE FORUMS IN THE FUTURE!!!

Mr. Scheer, Please do NOTHING. I think we’ve got this covered. It all worked out.

WHOA...I can’t believe she wrote this. (I think wavelength is a female, but I could be wrong)

#87573 by Ernest Canning on 7/17 at 6:45 pm
Ernest, Nahida, they did it to me too!!! As a matter-of-fact, a couple of weeks ago, we were being attacked as a “double enemy” (Nahida and me that is) and wavelength and his or her supporters, were calling us everything except the children of God. I finally explained that Nahida and I didn’t exactly KNOW each other, although we have much in common, as evident from her posts.
So, I agree with this posting, and particularly this:
…..” I think you hit the nail on the head.  “Wavelength” singled you out for persecution because you are a Muslim woman who is proud of your heritage and dare to speak the truth about the ugliness into which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has devolved.”””
It took me a while to figure this out, and I actually spent a lot of time responding to them, generally preferring to give everyone respect for their views, whatever they might be, as long as they appear to be rational, and capable of objective analyses of the things that matter to all of us. But, once they’ve sort of displayed their ignorance time and time, and show no appreciation for learning something that they didn’t previously know, than that’s when I figure I’m wasting my time.
I tried to warn you Nahida . They just went totally off the deep-end (they particularly like these debates about religion, and they are totally mesmerized by things from medieval times, like dungeons and dragons, and those early forms of torture that people inflicted on each other. And somehow, (maybe too much Disney and war documentaries at the same time) they now like to work up this whole new theme, to connect it to the Muslims of the world. So, they work up these “visions” of Ali Baba and his Seven Thieves’ (a Western fairy tale) so that they have every Arab male galloping across the Arabian Peninsula, with swords, whacking off the ears of anyone they come across. It just all got a little bizarre for me, especially when wavelength claimed to be a physician. Now quite frankly, that TERRIFIED me. And then, in a subsequent post, BFskinnerPunk “told” me that I’d better go back and re-read wavelengths’ posts. Now….WHY would I want to do THAT? Holy Schmoly, just what I need eh? Yet another neurotic.
(I swear to you Nahida, Americans have not always been like this ..and as you can see they really are the exception to the rule...and the internet brings them out, since they are basically cowards).

Anyway, please do as Ernest suggests here, because we do appreciate you.

“Keep posting Nahida.  Many of us have appreciated your insightful commentary.”

#86142 by Narad Naia Volia on 7/11 at 9:13 pm

Judaism is not Zionism. Judaism is a religion thousands of years old, and has become an important part of world culture over all those years. Zionism is a 19th century heresy. It is secular. Those who conceived and led the Zionist movement were not rabbis. They were more like the Bolsheviks, a cadre that for fifty years planned and carried out the takeover of Palestine.

These secular political leaders have misled the Jewish people into a morally impossible position. It is up to Jewish people to wake up, realize this and repudiate Zionism, much as it is up to the American people to repudiate imperialism by impeaching Bush and Cheney. It is also up to the United States to stop supporting Israel and to demand instead its compliance with international law. Americans should meet in person with their congresspeople to give this message to them.

Nahida, I find it interesting that this “wavelength” limited him or herself to a behind-the-scenes ad hominen attack against you rather than having the courage to post directly so that others could directly comment.  Then, again, “wavelength” may be one of the many racist/Zionists from this site, who hides behind another pseudonym--you know, the ones who regularly accuse anyone who would question the now more than forty year brutal occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel as being anti-Semitic--a charge that they level as Muslims, Christians, atheists (like myself) and Jews with a conscience--not only Jewish-American intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein, but any Israeli who favors an end to the occupation.  As Prof. Finkelstein reveals in “Beyond Chutzpah” the charge is even leveled against reputable human rights organizations whenever they challenge brutal Israeli practices. 

By the way, Truthdig follows a basic format that prevents plagerism but does not prevent posters from quoting or linking to other sources.  It appears that this “wavelength” was quite selective in how he launched his attack on you. 

I think you hit the nail on the head.  “Wavelength” singled you out for persecution because you are a Muslim woman who is proud of your heritage and dare to speak the truth about the ugliness into which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has devolved. 

Keep posting Nahida.  Many of us have appreciated your insightful commentary.

supporters of freedom of speech, watch out!!

If you present your views that don’t comply with the “desired” view of “some”, you risk being silenced or threatened to be silenced!

If I was a Muslim woman attacking my faith for being repressive to women, and accusing my religion of being a backward, oppressive, hateful, barbaric and violent religion; I will be given red carpet treatment in all major news outlets, my books will be published, and I will be celebrity figure in no time.

If I speak what I believe is the truth about my faith, and if I dare to say that I don’t feel oppressed by Islam, and if I condemn the injustice and the massacres against my people, my voice must be silenced!!

where is my freedom of speech?

Please read this post from “Religion, Politics and the End of the World” debate:
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070617_religion _politics_and_the_end_of_the_world/

It was written by “wavelength”:

Quote: {#87345 by wavelength on 7/17 at 3:31 am
(40 comments total)

Here is a copy of my feedback sent to Truthdig on July 16, 2007—

SUBJECT:  Inappropriate Posts

FEEDBACK:

Hello Truthdig,

I am writing to report that a Truthdig member with the screen-name “Nahida” is making inappropriate use of your “Religion, Politics, and the End of the World” forum.

Despite repeated efforts to draw her into debate, she insists on using the discussion board as a cut-and-paste exercise for materials she finds on other websites.  Rather than an exchange of dialogue, your members have been subjected to a barrage of links to various propaganda websites.  These links are tangential to the issues at hand and subtract from the natural flow of ideas in the forum.

“Nahida” is in clear violation of Article #12, Section A of the Truthdig Service User Agreement, which states “…you are the sole author of the Comments and the Comments are original with you and not copied in whole or in part from any other work…”

These violations are not isolated.  Nearly all of her posts can be labeled as spam—by any reasonable definition—and examining her user history will bear this out.

Why does Truthdig allow free advertising within their discussion forums at the expense of honest dialogue?  How can you justify committing disk space to someone who uses your website as a launch pad for spreading propaganda?

I urge you to take action against this member if you are concerned about the integrity of your service.  If you do not address the issue I will not contribute to your forums in the future.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Wavelength}
end quote

To the real Vinnie Faggio, I would suggest that you register a complaint with the editors at Truthdig.

Click here for: The Difference Between Jews And Zionists Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dSHl3C9kgY&feature =PlayList&p=E66E6FAAC4A1E742&index=6

Comment#87309 by the 1Sgt on 7/16 at 5:47 pm

1Sgt:

First, ignore ITW, since that pretty much seems to be the only thing that he/she has “inherited”....the WIND. Now, all he or she needs to do is convert that wind into renewable energy, and we might actually be able to gain some utility from it. Until then, I’d say ignore whatever it is that ITW happens to be blowing on any given day. I do.

Meantime, most of us (Americans at least) are pretty sick of being ruled (at least in part) by the current policy (all unwritten, since the US does NOT maintain any sort of legal treaties or agreements with Israel) the the U.S. has, regarding Israel in general. And, we’re tired of giving them billions of our dollars, when we have so many people right here, who need what those dollars can buy. Health care, education, housing, food, and all other BASICS, that so many of us currently try to survive...WITHOUT.

THAT’S the bottom line. And, when we get this fixed, I will have no reason to writea paper on this particular subject, because it’s not like there isn’t a whole bunch of other stuff that needs to be addressed.

(Part III- continued from previous message)

“Nevertheless, some seventy-eight years after that horrible day, there is still a community of Jews following in the authentic path, and refusing to bow to the Zionist idol. It is in large measure due to the selfless holy efforts of Yaakov Dehan, a martyr of his people who paved the way with self-sacrifice that there are still Jews who refuse to succumb to the Zionist regime of heretics despite the fact that the Zionists overpower the authentic Jews with their laws and power, It is in the merit of Yaakov Dahan that there are still Jews today through