US imperial war machine meets US visa policy with appalling outcome

I’m going to ask our library to order a copy of this DVD:

Iraqi Women Speak Out
ProductionYear: 2006
Runtime: 16:30
Producers: Brian Drolet

In March 2006, Code Pink invited eight Iraqi women to the U.S. to speak about their experiences under U.S. invasion and occupation. Two of the women had their entire families killed by U.S. troops. They were denied visas on the grounds they did not have sufficient family to guarantee they would return to Iraq.

See http://deepdishtv.org/ProgramDetail/Default.aspx?id=3262 for more details about the documentary.

–L.L. Wynn

Joharah Baker on a national climate that fosters racist expression

Below is an excerpt from commentary by Joharah Baker on the recent scandal over Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch’s calling a Palestinian-Israeli policeman a “real dirty Arab.”  The full article can be read at Miftah.

We ‘dirty Arabs’ have had enough

by Joharah Baker
MIFTAH
17 June 2009

What unwritten law is out there that allows Israelis to sling racist insults at Palestinians with impunity? After all my years in this country and the absurdities that come along with it, this is one absurdity I still find hard to digest.

Obviously, my outrage has been most recently rekindled by Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, who during a tour of the old central bus station in Tel Aviv called a Palestinian-Israeli policeman a “real dirty Arab.” Once the words were out, the minister was forced to apologize, saying his remarks did not reflect his worldview. A spokesman for the ministry also issued a statement saying that, “in a moment of jest, and using common slang, the minister said what he said, not intending to hurt anyone.”

If this were an isolated incident or if it were not an Israeli right-wing minister who said it, we might, just might, be inclined to believe this sorry excuse for an explanation. But in Israel’s history with the Palestinians, this can hardly be considered slip-of-the-tongue. Instead, such slurs are embedded in a historically-rooted relationship between Israeli Jews and their perceived Palestinian-Arab subordinates, a relationship that is so lopsided it allows room for those who wish to be verbally abusive against Palestinians to thrive….

Raffe Gold on Yisrael Beitanu laws

Raffe Gold has just alerted me to a blog posting he wrote about new legislation under consideration in Israel.  He says, “These bills are racist, violate basic freedoms and attempt to subjugate the democratic nature of the State of Israel. I am talking about two bills in particular: the loyalty oath and the Al-Nakba criminalization bill.”  Read his post at http://socialmusing.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/yisrael-beitanu-laws/

–L.L. Wynn

Israel, Racism and the Durban Conference

An article recently published in Le Monde presents evidence of a very disturbing increase in the racist demagoguery in Israeli politics and a trend of state-sanctioned racist violence against Israeli Arabs. It seems from the evidence provided in the article that Israel is  rapidly transforming from a racist state into a racist society. When the two converge, that is institutional racism and popular racism, there is far greater potential for mass race-based violence to break out, as studies of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid show.

It is little wonder Israel boycotted Durban II. But, the reason the Australian government gave was very unconvincing, citing concerns that Israel was singled out for special mention, giving no explanation for why this was a problem. While, I certainly agree that contemporary racism is not restricted to Israel (I wrote an earlier post about the increase of anti-African racism in Egypt) the institutionalized racism in Israel is qualitatively different than anywhere else in the world. It was for this reason and no other that Israel was “singled out” by those that framed the Durban conference. The claims that raising the issue of racism in Israel is anti-Semitic is a smokescreen as the organizers had widely stated that all forms of racism are equally deplorable, including Antisemitism.  I do not believe that anyone involved in the struggle against racism condones Antisemitism in any form, but this does not mean remaining vigilant against Antisemitism. But criticizing Israel for the state-policies that make the lives of non-Jewish Arab citizens of Israel different from Israeli-Jews is not anti-Semitic, just anti-racist. The fight against racism is universal but his does not mean that we cannot shine a brighter light of scrutiny on specific cases of racism, such as that occurring in Israel.

The article can be found at:http://mondediplo.com/2009/05/04israel

Noah Bassil

Event: After Israel’s attack on Gaza, how do we work for peace and justice?

When: Thursday May 7, 6pm to 8:30pm
Where: Holme and Sutherland Room, University of Sydney

Speakers include:

●Kerry Nettle – Former Senator, NSW Greens, on effectiveness in lobbying government;
● Angela Budai – Jewish Activist, on reaching out to the Jewish community;
● Professor John Docker – on Academic Boycott of Israel;
● Associate Professor Jake Lynch – Director, CPACS, chairperson and facilitator;
● Rihab Charida – Gaza Defence Committee, on BDS campaign;
● Paul McAleer, MUA – on working with the Trade Unions and the Labor Party (invited);
● Weller Zheng – CPACS, on lessons from social movement theory.

See the attached for more information.

Please RSVP by May 6 to Keryn Scott or Lyn Dickens, CPACS, 9351 7686 or arts.cpacs@usyd.edu.au

Posted by Gennaro Gervasio

Who said that Israel was an apartheid state in 1963?

Here’s an excerpt from the text of a speech given by Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa’s Minister of Intelligence, in February:

Who said nearly 50 years ago that Israel was an Apartheid State?
by Ronnie Kasrils

“…a colonial racist mentality which rationalised the genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Australasia, in Africa from Namibia to the Congo and elsewhere, most clearly has its parallels in Palestine.”

At the onset of international “Israel Apartheid Week” in solidarity with the embattled Palestinian people, I want to start by quoting a South African who emphatically stated as far back as 1963 that “Israel is an apartheid state.” Those were not the words of Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu or Joe Slovo, but were uttered by none other than the architect of apartheid itself, racist Prime Minister, Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd.

He was irked by the criticism of apartheid policy and Harold Macmillan’s “Winds of Change” speech , in contrast to the West’s unconditional support for Zionist Israel.

To be sure Verwoerd was correct. Both states preached and implemented a policy based on racial ethnicity; the sole claim of Jews in Israel and whites in South Africa to exclusive citizenship;  monopolised rights in law regarding the ownership of land, property, business; superior access to
education, health, social, sporting and cultural amenities, pensions and municipal services at the expense of the original indigenous population; the virtual monopoly membership of military and security forces, and privileged development along their own racial supremacist lines – even both countries marriage laws designed to safeguard racial “purity”.

The so-called “non-whites” in apartheid South Africa, indigenous Africans, others of mixed race or of Indian origin – like second or third class non-Jews in Israel – were consigned to a non-citizenship status of Kafkaesque existence, subject to bureaucratic whims and the laws prohibiting their free movement, access to work and trade, dictating where they could reside and so forth.

You can read the full text of the article based on this speech here: http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14924

Is this the world’s most ethical army?

In the last several days the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published testimony from IDF soldiers who served in the Gaza offensive. The words of the IDF combatants are not only disturbing but point to damning evidence of war crimes that the Israeli establishment has been trying to distance itself from. Further to this, it seems, upon reading some testimonials, that an ugly and deeply entrenched sentiment of racism towards Palestinians is the underlying logic that drives such heinous acts.

Amos Harel reports that a

squad leader . . . told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.

The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader’s soldiers complained that ‘we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist.’

The squad leader said: ‘You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won’t say anything. To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It’s what I’ll remember the most.’

These testimonials have already received a fair amount of international attention. You can read further commentary here:

Israeli soldiers admit shooting dead civilians during Gaza war

Israeli soldiers say army rabbis framed

Israeli military to probe Gaza campaign allegations

Did Israeli soldiers kill unarmed civilians?

War crimes in Gaza: Israel told to investigate

Israel’s dirty secrets in Gaza

Dr Jeff Halper to speak at Macquarie University, 20 March, 7pm

Macquarie University Centre for Middle East and North African Studies is proud to present a public lecture by distinguished Israeli academic
Professor Jeff Halper titled:

“Israel’s Demolition of Palestinian Homes: the essence of the conflict”

Friday 20 March 2009,
The Price Theatre, Macquarie University,
7-9 pm

Dr JEFF HALPER is an Israeli academic and peace activist who co-founded the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD, http://www.icahd.org/eng/) in 1997 to challenge and resist the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes at the risk of his own personal safety.

A tireless writer and speaker, Halper travels extensively to build international support for ICAHD. He was nominated along with Palestinian activist Ghassan Andoni, for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

Dr. Halper is the author of several books including Between Redemption and Revival: the Jewish Yishuv in Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century; Obstacles to Peace and most recently, An Israeli in Palestine.

Attendance is free and donations for ICAHD will be welcome.
For enquiries: call CMENAS at 02 98508854, or email mecentre@humn.mq.edu.au

Closed Zone by the animator of Waltz with Bashir

“Closed Zone” is a 90-second animated film by Yoni Goodman, Director of Animation for the Academy Award-nominated film “Waltz with Bashir”. Closed Zone shows the closure of the Gaza Strip and its effects on the ability of one and a half million human beings living there to pursue their aspirations and, more recently – even to run from harm’s way, during the devastating military operation in Gaza. Unfortunately, despite post-war calls to rehabilitate Gaza, the closure policy remains in effect.

Gisha, a Tel Aviv-based NGO, commissioned the film

“out of concern that the discourse on access policies in the Gaza Strip ‘erases’ from consideration the individuals affected by the closure. As a first step in protecting human rights in Gaza, we find ourselves needing to remind people of the humanity of Gaza residents – and the rights they have by virtue of their humanity, including the right to freedom of movement. The film is our attempt to help viewers see and empathize with the real victims of the closure policy – 1.5 million human beings, here represented by a single cartoon character and the bird he chases – who just want to live normal lives.”

Hamas still standing …..

One of Israel’s war aims was to clear Hamas leaders and ministers out of Gaza. But it seems that Israel failed to achieve its main objective as Hamas has emerged defiant from the war. As Mustafa Abu Sway explains in The Daily Star

beyond causing total destruction, killing more than 1,300 Palestinians and wounding more than 5,000 others, many maimed for life, Israel has failed to achieve any political goals. This is not the first time Israeli political leaders time their attacks to coincide with Israeli general elections. This is not the first time this scheme fails. Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni, the supposed political beneficiaries of these atrocities, are still trailing behind Benjamin Netanyahu just a couple of weeks before the elections. As for Ehud Olmert, he could not wipe out his failure in Lebanon with a “victory” in Gaza; he has instead ensured that he enters the hall of shame because of the war crimes for which he is responsible. The world should make sure that he enters the appropriate halls at The Hague.