Gilad Atzmon's Blog, page 129

Atzmon on The Ugly Truth talking to Sammi Ibrahem

We spoke about Rachel Corrie, Israel and Jewish ideological spirit, solidarity & delusion and more

 

Is Amnesty International abandoning human rights?

By Bev Cotton

The internationally renowned journalist, Greg Palast offers the following advice in his 1999 book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" - "if you are a member of Amnesty International, quit".  Mr. Palast's brush with Amnesty was in a court case in which he was sued after quoting Amnesty research containing allegations against the multinational mining company, Barrick. Amnesty refused to verify their own research in court. As Palast says, "Amnesty wants journalists to report their material. I would say to any journalist that they would be completely, utterly and absolutely insane to ever cite Amnesty again."

Greg Palast on Barrick Gold Mines from Sadek Bazaraa on Vimeo.

Failure to prioritise human rights

Why do increasing numbers of people believe that Amnesty has abandoned the cause of human rights? As Francis Boyle, ex board member of Amnesty International USA -  and renowned expert in international law puts it:

"Amnesty International is primarily motivated not by human rights but by publicity. Second comes money... To be sure, if you are dealing with a human rights situation in a country that is at odds with the United States or Britain, it gets an awful lot of attention... But if it's dealing with violations of human rights by the United States, Britain, Israel, then it's like pulling teeth to get them to really do something on the situation".

The Crisis of Civilization (must watch!!!)

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I Killed Rachel Corrie...

The Other Site is a new German/English promising website. Dedicated to Palestine and truth. Check it out and show your support

I Killed Rachel Corrie

by Anonymous

Source: http://othersite.org/anonymous-i-killed-rachel-corrie/

 

 

I killed Rachel Corrie.

I never heard of her

but I paid my taxes,

so I killed Rachel Corrie.

 

I built the bulldozer

and trained the driver

and gave the orders

that took her life,

so I killed Rachel Corrie.

 

I went to watch my team play a big game

and to have a few drinks with them afterwards

instead of reading what Rachel wrote

and hearing what she said,

so I killed Rachel Corrie.

 

I go to church on Sunday

and attend Friday prayers

and keep Shabbat holy

but mustn’t upset my community

with painful questions,

so I killed Rachel Corrie.

 

Carlos Latuff sums up the verdict in the Rachel Corrie case

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Did America Say NO to Israel?

by Gilad Atzmon

In the last few hours we have learned that the US had made massive reductions to joint military exercise with Israel.  Originally slated to include 5,000 US troops, Washington will now only send 1,500 to participate in Austere Challenge 12 with Israel.  Apparently, the American administration is concerned with a possible Israeli strike on Iran.

Some Israelis seem unhappy with the American decision. The Times quoted a senior Israeli military official as speculating, "Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you.’” Well, America has good reason not to trust Israel. The only question here is why did it take America so long to move in the right direction?

Anthony Lawson: The Israeli Judge Lied!!!

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Gilad Atzmon: Rachel Corrie and the Kosher Legal Stamp

Judge Oded Gershon’s ruling earlier this week that the state of Israel is not to blame for the death of Rachel Corrie, came as no surprise. In fact it reaffirms everything we know about the Jewish state - its politics, legal system and spirit. Israel is surely a most peculiar state - it is impervious to ethical thinking and humanist thought. Accordingly, Judge Gershon gave this week a kosher stamp to a cold-blooded murder and by so doing, he proved, once again, that Israeli criminal actions are consistent with the most vile interpretations of Old Testament and Talmudic Goy-hating.

As one would predict, Judge Gershon, restricted himself to legalism and litigation as opposed to ethical thinking - he actually blamed Corrie for not ‘behaving reasonably’. Yet, one may wonder what is this ‘reason’ or more precisely, what does an Israeli mean when he or she refers to ‘reason’.

Rachel Corrie was bulldozed to death by an Israeli military D9 Caterpillar on 16 March 2003. She was part of ISM (International Solidarity Movement), a non-violent pro-Palestinian peace activist group. Being an American youngster, Corrie mistakenly believed that Israeli soldiers were humanly driven. Being a reasonable person she must have believed that an Israeli bulldozer driver would never drive over her body. She was wrong. Corrie clearly failed to grasp that Israeli ‘reasoning’ was lethally fuelled by psychosis and fantasies of destruction.  

The Kindness of Banks

By Barb Weir

Penin Diaz, an American friend of mine, sent me this distressing report that I felt I had to share.  Some of the details are uniquely American, but the experience is not  – Barb Weir

Our family is going through hard times, and we’re trying to cut expenses, so I asked my bank about mortgage loan modification.

“We’re here to help you, Mr. Diaz,” said the loan officer.  “How far behind are you in your mortgage payments?  You don’t qualify unless you’re pretty destitute.”

“We’re not behind yet,” I said, “but I lost my job.  In order to keep up the payments, we had to shut down the heating and air conditioning and eat peanut butter sandwiches.  My son is wearing my daughter’s hand-me-downs, which she got at the thrift store.  My wife sold all her jewelry, and is getting additional income from what she calls ‘the kindness of strangers.’”

“That’s terrible, Mr. Diaz, but I can’t help unless your payments are at least two months behind. Stop paying and come back in two months.”

So we did and I returned after two months.

“Good job,” said the loan officer.  “Fill out these forms, and mail them in, along with proof of how poor you now are, compared to when you took out the loan.”

Chocolate, America, John Cleese & a Kosher Armageddon

Chocolate, America and a Kosher Armageddon

 In this new Israeli advert for Chocolate Spread you can learn what it takes to drag America into a Kosher war.

I guess that in reality it takes slightly more than just chocolate spread, but, seemingly, not much more than that.

p.s. It looks as if John Cleese doesn't take BDS seriously