{"id":1590,"date":"2008-12-28T23:00:30","date_gmt":"2008-12-28T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1590"},"modified":"2009-01-02T22:41:15","modified_gmt":"2009-01-02T12:41:15","slug":"kill-for-peace-operation-cast-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1590","title":{"rendered":"Kill for peace : &#8220;Operation Cast Lead&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<h2>Emergency rally for Gaza : Stop the Massacre! End the Siege Now!<\/h2>\n<p>2pm, Sunday, 4th January<br \/>\nVictorian State Library<br \/>\nCnr La Trobe and Swanston St<br \/>\nMelbourne<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<em>previously<\/em>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>5pm, Tuesday, 30th December<br \/>\nVictorian State Library<br \/>\nCnr La Trobe and Swanston St<br \/>\nMelbourne<\/p>\n<p><object width=\"425\" height=\"344\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/nhF1BjrFrIE&#038;color1=0xb1b1b1&#038;color2=0xcfcfcf&#038;hl=en&#038;feature=player_embedded&#038;fs=1\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"><\/param><\/object><\/ul>\n<p>Hmmm. Looks like the Israeli authorities are taking the opportunity presented by George II&#8217;s last few weeks in office to conduct <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/hasen\/spages\/1050448.html\">&#8220;Operation Cast Lead&#8221;<\/a>, <em>aka<\/em> &#8220;Operation Commit Another <a href=\"http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/v2\/article10057.shtml\">War Crime<\/a> By Damaging <em>Hamas<\/em> Infrastructure &#038; Murdering Several Hundred People in Gaza Ahead of An Israeli General Election&#8221;. Naturally, George II has responded with a nod and a wink, and Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard of the Australian Working Families Party Government has tactfully <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/world\/israel-we-will-not-stop-20081228-768b.html\">stated<\/a> that Hamas had engaged in &#8220;an act of aggression against Israel&#8221;. &#8220;They (Hamas) should cease any further action. We are saying to the Israelis that all care should be taken to avoid injuring civilians,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>As for US President-elect Obama&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/opinion\/commentators\/fisk\/robert-fiskrsquos-world-how-can-anyone-believe-there-is-progress-in-the-middle-east-1212434.html\">Robert Fisk\u2019s World: How can anyone believe there is &#8216;progress&#8217; in the Middle East?<\/a><br \/>\n<em>The Independent<\/em><br \/>\nDecember 27, 2008<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>A test of Obama\u2019s gumption will come scarcely three months after his inauguration<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If reporting is, as I suspect, a record of mankind&#8217;s folly, then the end of 2008 is proving my point.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s kick off with the man who is not going to change the Middle East, Barack Obama, who last week, with infinite predictability, became <em>Time<\/em>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/specials\/2008\/personoftheyear\/article\/0,31682,1861543_1865068,00.html\">&#8220;person of the year&#8221;<\/a>. But buried in a long and immensely tedious interview inside the magazine, Obama devotes just one sentence to the Arab-Israeli conflict: &#8220;And seeing if we can build on some of the progress, at least in conversation, that&#8217;s been made around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What is this man talking about? &#8220;Building on progress?&#8221; What progress? On the verge of another civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, with Benjamin Netanyahu a contender for Israeli prime minister, with Israel&#8217;s monstrous wall and its Jewish colonies still taking more Arab land, and Palestinians still firing rockets at Sderot, and Obama thinks there&#8217;s &#8220;progress&#8221; to build on?<\/p>\n<p>I suspect this nonsensical language comes from the mental mists of his future Secretary of State&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I was amazed to learn of the training system adopted by the Met lads who put Jean Charles de Menezes to death on the Tube. According to former police commander Brian Paddick, the Met&#8217;s secret rules for &#8220;dealing&#8221; with suicide bombers were drawn up &#8220;with the help of Israeli experts&#8221;. What? Who were these so-called &#8220;experts&#8221; advising British policemen how to shoot civilians on the streets of London? The same men who assassinate wanted Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and brazenly kill Palestinian civilians at the same time? The same people who outrageously talk about &#8220;targeted killings&#8221; when they murder their opponents? Were these the thugs who were advising Lady Cressida Dick and her boys?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Funnily enough, Lord Blair cancelled a recent (December 2008) trip to Gaza following advice from Israeli authorities that his life might be in danger. Fisk:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Not that our brave peace envoy, Lord Blair, would have much to say about it. He&#8217;s the man, remember, whose only proposed trip to Gaza was called off when yet more &#8220;Israeli experts&#8221; advised him that his life might be in danger. Anyway, he&#8217;d still rather be president of Europe, something Sarko wants to award him. That, I suppose, is why Blair wrote such a fawning article in the same issue of <em>Time<\/em> which made Obama &#8220;person&#8221; of the year. &#8220;There are times when Nicolas Sarkozy resembles a force of nature,&#8221; Blair grovels. It&#8217;s all first names, of course. &#8220;Nicolas has the hallmark of any true leader&#8221;; &#8220;Nicolas has adopted&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;Nicolas recognises&#8221;; &#8220;Nicolas reaching out&#8230;&#8221;. In all, 15 &#8220;Nicolases&#8221;. Is that the price of the Euro presidency? Or will Blair now tell us he&#8217;s going to be involved in those &#8220;conversations&#8221; with Obama to &#8220;build on some of the progress&#8221; in the Middle East? <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/th07.deviantart.com\/fs39\/300W\/f\/2008\/359\/4\/3\/Gaza_Ghetto_by_Latuff2.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Antony Loewenstein has news &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/antonyloewenstein.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/28\/there-are-real-people-under-israeli-bombs\/\">There are real people under Israeli bombs<\/a> &#8212; some <a href=\"http:\/\/antonyloewenstein.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/28\/the-holocaust-victims-learn-nothing\/\">analysis<\/a>, and a huge number of useful links on his blog. Ellen Cantarow&#8217;s essay on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/cantarow12262008.html\">&#8216;Gaza Is Buckling: Richard Falk, Israel and the New York Times&#8217;<\/a> (<em>Counterpunch<\/em>, December 26-28, 2008) is also worth reading (Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, was recently <a href=\"http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/v2\/article10051.shtml\">denied entry<\/a> to Israel; in 2007, Falk wrote <a href=\"http:\/\/www.transnational.org\/Area_MiddleEast\/2007\/Falk_PalestineGenocide.html\">&#8216;Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust&#8217;<\/a>), as is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v31\/n01\/roy_01_.html\">&#8216;If Gaza falls . . .&#8217;<\/a> by Sara Roy (<em>London Review of Books<\/em>, January 1, 2009).<\/p>\n<p><em>See also<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/electronicintifada.net\">Electronic Intifada<\/a> (EI), found at electronicIntifada.net, publishes news, commentary, analysis, and reference materials about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from a Palestinian perspective. EI is the leading Palestinian portal for information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its depiction in the media&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.palsolidarity.org\/\">International Solidarity Movement<\/a> : a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.refusersolidarity.net\/\">Refuser Solidarity Network<\/a> (RSN) was formed in April of 2002 to provide support for the growing Refuser Movement in Israel. The initial impetus for the establishment of the RSN was the publication in January 2002 of the Combatants Letter by a group of 52 reserve officers, which later became Ometz Le&#8217;sarev or Courage to Refuse&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yeshgvul.org\/index_e.asp\">Yesh Gvul<\/a> (\u201cThere is a limit!\u201d) is an Israeli peace group campaigning against the occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature. The brutal role of the Israeli army in subjugating the Palestinian population places numerous servicemen in a grave moral and political dilemma, as they are required to enforce policies they deem illegal, immoral and ultimately harmful to Israeli interests. The army hierarchy demands compliance, but many soldiers, whether conscripts or reservists, find that they cannot in good conscience obey the orders of their superiors&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emergency rally for Gaza : Stop the Massacre! End the Siege Now! 2pm, Sunday, 4th January Victorian State Library Cnr La Trobe and Swanston St Melbourne &#8230;previously&#8230; 5pm, Tuesday, 30th December Victorian State Library Cnr La Trobe and Swanston St &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/?p=1590\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state","category-war-on-terror"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6AyE-pE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10228,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1590\/revisions\/10228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slackbastard.anarchobase.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}