UPDATE FROM THE ISRAELI ETNIC CLEANSING: Clashes erupt at West Bank protest

Israeli security forces have fired tear gas and munitions at a group of Palestinians staging a protest in the West Bank town of Bi’lin to mark the fifth anniversary of a separation wall built by Israel.

Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera’s correspondent, said Israeli forces reacted strongly after a number of demonstrators managed to cross a fence and threw empty gas cannisters at soldiers.

“The Israeli army fired tear gas and began throwing various munitions over the fence including skunk gas … which is very harmful,” she said.

Television footage showed one person receiving treatment after Israeli forces had fired munitions at the group.

‘Act of desperation’

Our correspondent said the situation was “incredibly dangerous”.

“In the past five years five Palestinian international activists have been killed because of the tear gas canisters hitting them, the rubber bullets and the live munitions.

“This is something that has been really criticised by rights groups who have said Israel’s use of thse kinds of munititions for crowd disperal is against international law and the impunity with which they use them should be held to account.”

In a statement the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), said it would “use means at its disposal” in the case of violence.

Israel says the wall is a “central factor in thwarting terrorists who operate to harm Israeli civilians”.

But many Palestinians have viewed the wall as a land grab – with the wall cutting through some towns, such as Bi’lin.

Earlier this month Israel began rerouting a section of its separation barrier near Bi’lin, following a two-and-a-half-year-old court ruling.

The move will return about 700,000 square metres of land to the Palestinian side of the wall.

But our correspondent said activists want Israel to take down the wall altogether.

“The International Court of Justice as well as United Nations has said the wall is illegal. And that is what the protests here are about.

“It’s almost an act of desperation by the people here to bring the point home to the international community that they must pressure Israel to get rid of this wall, which separates villages, cuts through Palestinian land and makes life so difficult in the occupied West Bank”.

Ref: Al Jazzera

Palestinians break Israel’s wall

Palestinian villagers protest land seizure – 04 Sep 09

HASBARA WARNING: Israel to use ‘ordinary’ people for PR/PROGAGANDA

Israel’s latest conscripts in the fight to improve the country’s image have been unveiled: ordinary Israeli citizens. Armed only with a government-issued hasbara pamphlet and a winning smile, they will be sent to wage war with their detractors, in an effort to present Israel as a benign, democratic utopia whose only achilles heel is poor public relations.

Into the breach has stepped a phalanx of Israeli spin doctors, who have devised a campaign in which they want all Israelis to participate when travelling overseas by “telling about the beautiful Israel you know”. To that end, three television commercials are currently being aired which mock the foreign media for its portrayal of the country. In one, a French newsreader is shown confusing Independence Day fireworks and flypasts with military action on Israel’s streets. “Fed up with how we’re portrayed abroad?” asks the advert. “You can change the picture.”

The ministry for public diplomacy goes to great lengths instructing Israelis how to conduct themselves when engaged in PR on behalf of the state: first listen, then speak; maintain eye contact; use relaxed body language and tone; don’t preach; ask questions; answer points raised; stick to two or three messages you want to convey; and maintain a sense of humour. If such rules are followed, the campaign literature suggests, there is a strong chance of winning over even the staunchest adversary.

Hasbara is seen as a vital weapon in Israel’s arsenal, both by government officials and ordinary Israelis. According to a poll, 85% of Israeli citizens want to help promote the country’s image abroad, and in itself there is nothing wrong with taking such a patriotic stance. However, as has been seen time and again with Israel’s attempts at hasbara, more often than not the campaigns are based more on witch-hunts and whitewashes than honest debate over the most thorny issues surrounding the state.

Despite the sarcastic adverts broadcast by the public diplomacy ministry, what causes such consternation abroad is not whether Israelis use camels as their primary form of transport, or whether the average Israeli home is connected to gas supplies. Rather, Israel’s flagrant and repeated violations of international law in its dealings with the Palestinians are key to most critics’ complaints – but, of course, this would prove a far harder nut for the spin doctors to crack.

Instead, those who stand up to Israeli aggression in Gaza and the West Bank are belittled by the likes of Shimon Peres, who recently quipped:

“There are millions of Indians who love us, a billion Chinese who love us, and millions of evangelicals, who love us. We have a problem with Sweden, but we’re working on it.”

Peres and the officials behind the latest PR drive are one side of the hasbara coin, trying to make light of Israel’s image problem and implying that winning over their opponents is only a matter of patient, good-natured explanation. The other, darker side of Israeli hasbara is the relentless pursuit of anyone deemed a danger to the state, whether domestic dissidents or external critics. The recent savaging of Naomi Chazan and the New Israel Fund, as well as the gunning down of the Goldstone report, showed the true face behind the hasbara mask, in which politicians and press alike utilised the most vicious tactics available to ostensibly “improve Israel’s image in the eyes of the world”.

Huge amounts of public and private money is spent in such a fashion, funding quasi-governmental thinktanks and watchdog organisations dedicated to the McCarthyite hounding of media companies, diplomats or human rights groups labelled inimical to Israel. The same organisations are adept at dangling carrots as well as waving sticks, courting incoming reporters and statesmen with anything from dinner parties to helicopter rides in order to show a “more positive public face of Israel … [to help] protect Israel, reduce antisemitism and increase pride in Israel”.

But the facts that emerge from Gaza and the West Bank make it more and more difficult for the hasbaraniks to paper over the cracks, regardless of how many smiles they flash or glasses of wine they hand out. Even Israel’s own leaders warn of a system of apartheid emerging if a settlement with the Palestinians is not hammered out soon, and for all that the spin doctors try to blow out the smoke, the underlying fire continues to burn.

It is no surprise that Israel’s leaders want to improve the country’s image without having to take concrete measures in the form of concessions to the Palestinians. Likewise, it is not unusual that the same politicians seek to blame others for “misunderstanding” the situation rather than admitting that their own policies are highly questionable and unethical. However, to rope ordinary Israelis in by repeatedly telling them that anti-Israel sentiment abroad is irrational and baseless is both a futile and dishonest path to tread.

Israel’s image problem will only disappear when the core crimes committed in the name of the state cease, and the Palestinians are dealt with equitably. The Israeli public should demand their government spend all its energy on such fundamental affairs of state rather than worry about how many foreigners know that Maccabi Tel Aviv won the Euroleague in 1977. Hasbara is no substitute for adherence to justice and basic human rights.

Ref: Guardian

Also read Israel to use ‘ordinary’ people for PR

After trying almost everything possible in its efforts to improve Israel’s image internationally, the government will embark on a new strategy Wednesday by training ordinary Israelis to represent the country abroad.

Ref: Jpost

ISRAHELL: List of pro-Israelis at service for Hasbara

Arab world and surrounding region
Culture

Avi Jorisch
Terrorism Expert
Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 202-452-0650
Email: avi@defenddemocracy.org

Biography: Avi Jorisch is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and he has written at length about Hizballah, al-Manar, and related subjects, with articles appearing in many prominent publications.  Mr. Jorisch was a Soref fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy from 2001 to 2003, specializing in Arab and Islamic politics. More recently, he served as an Arab media and terrorism consultant for the Department of Defense.

Naomi Babbin
Managing Director, Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace
Email: cmip@netvision.net.il

Biography: Naomi Babbin is the managing director for the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, a non-political, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization monitoring school textbooks used in the Middle East to determine if they are critical of Israel and to pressure the various governments to change the way Israel is portrayed.

Dr. Daphne Burdman
Psychiatrist, Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace,
Cell: 053-593-244
Home: 02-644-9370
Email: daphb@netvision.net.il

Biography: Dr Daphne Burdman is a psychiatrist who recently retired from the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. Her research is on martyrdom, indoctrination and the Palestinian education that teaches children to hate. She has written extensively on these topics.

Adina Shapiro
Director, Middle East Children’s Association,
Office: 703-761-3939

Biography: Adina Shapiro is a clinical social worker and therapist, and co-director of the Middle East Children’s Association (MECA), a joint Israeli Palestinian educational organization. She has served as Acting Director of the Institute for State Attorneys and Legal Advisors at the Israeli Ministry of Justice.  She trains Israeli and PA teachers, introducing programs of tolerance.  Her work has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

Itamar Marcus
Director, Palestinian Media Watch,
Office: 02-625-4140
Cell: 050-528-4907
Email: itamar@pmw.org.il

Biography: Itamar Marcus is one of the founders of Palestinian Media Watch, Marcus is the current director. Mr. Marcus was also the Director of Research for the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace from 1998 – 2000, writing studies on Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian school textbooks. Mr. Marcus was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Trilateral Committee to Monitor Incitement established under the Wye Accords.

Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch,
Office: 613-238-0933
Cell: 613-220-4570
Email: barbara@pmw.org.il

Biography: Barbara Crook is one of the founders of Palestinian Media Watch

Arab democracies; Terrorism; US Foreign Policy

Cliff May
President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 202-207-0719
Office direct: 202-207-0784
Email: cliff@defenddemocracy.org

Biography: Clifford D. May is the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a  policy institute focusing on terrorism created immediately following the 9/11 attacks on  the United States.  He previously worked as a foreign correspondent for the New York  Times.  He is a frequent guest on national and international television and radio news  programs, providing analysis and participating in debates on national security issues.

Arab-Israeli relations; human rights; Islamic fundamentalism; Arab nationalism; democratization; status of Christians and other Middle Eastern minorities

Dr. Walid Phares
Professor, Florida Atlantic University
Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 561-297-3215
Email: walid@defenddemocracy.org

Biography:  Born in Lebanon, Walid Phares is a professor of Middle East Studies and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.  He lectures to academic and community audiences worldwide on various subjects such as Islamic fundamentalism, Arab nationalism, democratization, human rights, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the status of Christians and other Middle Eastern minorities. He has served as a board member of several national and international think tanks and human rights associations and is a leading advisor to several ethnic associations.

Arab-Israeli relations; US Foreign policy; Disengagement

David Makovsky
Senior Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
Office: 202-452-0650
Email: davidm@washingtoninstitute.org

Biography: David Makovsky is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he focuses on Arab-Israel relations and US foreign policy to the Middle East. He is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Middle East peace process since 1989. Mr. Makovsky is the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, serving as diplomatic correspondent. In addition, he was the diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s leading daily Ha’aretz (1997-99) and had primary responsibility at both newspapers for covering the peace process. He also served as the US News special Jerusalem correspondent for twelve years.

Arab-Israeli relations; US Foreign policy; Terrorism

Frank Gaffney
President, Center for Security Policy,
Office: 202-835-9077
Email: gaffney@cenerforsecuritypolicy.org

Biography: Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., is the founder and President of the Center for Security Policy, a columnist for the Washington Times, an advisor for Americans for Victory over Terrorism, and a founding member of  Project for the New American Century

Arab-Israeli relations; US Foreign policy

Martin Indyk
Former Ambassador to Israel, Saban Center
Office: 202-797-6462
Email: sabancenter@brookings.edu

Biography: Amb. Martin Indyk Middle East expert and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin S. Indyk joined the Brookings Institution on September 1, 2001, as a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program. Ambassador Indyk served two tours in Israel, the first during the Rabin years (1995-97), and the second (2000-June 2001) during efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace and stem the violence of the intifada. During these periods, he helped to strengthen U.S-Israeli relations, reinforce the U.S. commitment to advance the peace process, and substantially increase the level of mutually beneficial trade and investment.

Arab-Israeli relations; US Foreign policy; Peace Process

Dennis Ross
Counselor, The Washington Institute
Office: 202-452-0650

Biography: Ambassador Dennis Ross is The Washington Institute’s counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow. For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations.  His book The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, August 2004) offers comprehensive analytical and personal insight into the Middle East peace process.

Arab-Israeli relations; US Foreign policy; Iran; nuclear weapons

Congressman Brad Sherman
US Congressman, Subcommitee for International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
Office: 202-225-5911
Web Site:www.house.gov/sherman/about/

Biography: Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) is the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee for International Terrorism and Nonproliferation and is on The Israel Project’s board of advisors. He supports American solidarity with Israel in its efforts against terrorism. He has repeatedly expressed his support for Israel on the floor of Congress and in his work.

Arab-Israeli relations; Israeli governance; Peace Process

Gidi Grinstein
Founder and President, The Re’ut Institute
Office: 011-972-3-624-7770
Cell: 011-972-52-220-0565
Email: gidi@reut-institute.org

Biography: Gidi Grinstein is Founder and President of the Re’ut Institute, a non-governmental think tank serving the State of Israel with analysis of long-term impacts on near-term decisions. He has extensive experience in policy-planning working with the Economic Cooperation Foundation. Under the Barak government, Mr. Grinstein served as Negotiation Secretary and Assistant Chief of Negotiations, Secretary of the Israeli delegation to Permanent Status Negotiations, and as a member of the official negotiations team on the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum. He was a 2001-2002 Wexner-Israel Fellow at Harvard University and holds a Law degree from Tel Aviv.

Archaeology

Professor Joshua Schwartz
Bar-Ilan Univ, Land of Israel Studies
Office direct: 03-531-8233
Home: 02-993-2625

Art

Professor Daniel  Sperber
Bar-Ilan Univ, Art Program
Office direct: 03-531-8645
Home: 02-561-7423

Chemical and biological weapons in Arab countries

Dr. Danny Shoham
Col., Begin-Sadat Center,
Office direct: 03-696-8953
Home: 03-695-2822
Email: shoham_d@netvision.net.il

Biography: Ph.d. Tel Aviv University

Counter-terrorism

Boaz Ganor
Executive Director, International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism
Office: 972-9-952-7277
Web: http://www.ict.org.il

Development of Israeli media; Media and Politics

Professor Sam Lehman-Wilzig
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8578
Home: 03-922-6288

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; civil-political relations

Dr. Zeev Rosenhek
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3185 or 011-972-2-648-1162

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; conflict resolution

Dr. Gaberiel Horenczyk
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-2031
Home: 011-972-2-570-1437

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; conflict resolution

Dr. Illan Yaniv
Psychologist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3026 or 011-972-2-588-1373
Home: 011-972-2-581-5646

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; disengagement and public opinion

Dr. Reuven Hazan
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-1117
Home: 011-972-2-533-3076

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; disengagement and resettlement

Dr. Shelley Fried
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-654-1576
Cell: 011-972-52-250-8782

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; implications for society of disengagement

Professor Amia Lieblich
Psychologist, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3031 or 011-972-2-588-3044 or 011-972-2-588-1870
Home: 011-972-2-563-3152

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; international relations; conflict resolution; the evacuation of Yamit

Professor Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3150 or 011-972-2-588-2340
Home: 011-972-2-533-4122

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; Israeli and American-Jewish politics

Professor Peter Medding
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3269 or 011-972-2-588-3059
Home: 011-972-2-563-5105

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; Israeli politics

Dr. Gideon Rahat
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3274
Home: 011-972-2-679-5744

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; Israeli politics

Professor Itzhak Galnoor
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3160 or 011-972-2-560-5256
Home: 011-972-2-641-2406
Cell: 011-972-52-263-3091

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; law and politics in Israel

Dr. Menachem Hofnung
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3164
Home: 011-972-2-581-8132

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; military- civilian relations

Professor (Emeritus) Moshe Lissak
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-563-6652

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; politics and the media

Professor Gadi Wolfsfeld
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3272
Home: 011-972-2-581-7680

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; U.S. role in the disengagement

Dr. Noam Kochavi
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3159
Home: 011-972-3-648-8786

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; U.S. role in the disengagement

Professor Michla Pomerance
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office: 011-972-2-588-3151
Home: 011-972-2-563-5995

Disengagement from Gaza and Samaria; right-wing politics

Dr. Morchechai Nissan
Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Office:011-972-2-588-2927
Home: 011-972-2-586-6350

Economy, industry, and financial sector

Professor Arye Hilman
Bar-Ilan Univ, Economics
Office direct: 03-531-8366
Home: 09-774-6424

Ethnicity, tradition and democracy– towards a new synthesis

Professor Avi Saguy
Bar-Ilan Univ, Philosophy
Office direct: 03-531-8421
Home: 03-619-7237

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; Politics of the peace process; Settlers, settlements; Religion and party politics; Palestinian statehood – options and risks; Labor and Likud foreign policies; Israeli strategic thinking

Dr. Yossi Katz
Bar-Ilan Univ, Geography
Home: 02-993-1005

Biography: Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University is chairman of the political science department

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; Politics of the peace process; Syria-Israel issues; Lebanon; Future of the Golan; Israeli Defense Forces- fighting doctrine, force structure, training, ongoing security operations

Major General Avraham Rotem
Bar-Ilan Univ,
Cell: 054-614-935
Home: 09-740-3329
Email: aromio@zahav.net.il

Biography: Ph.d. candidate at Bar-Ilan University

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; Politics of the peace process; Syria-Israel issues; Lebanon; Future of the Golan; Palestinian statehood – options and risks; Labor and Likud foreign policies; Mideast military balance; Arms sales; Arms control; Nuclear weapons in the Mideast; Mideast space race; Missiles and satellites; NPT and other international control regimes; US-Israel strategic cooperation; U.S. Mideast defense policy force deployment; Gulf security; Arms sales; Regional commitments

Professor Gerald Steinberg
Begin-Sadat Center,
Office direct: 03-531-8043
Cell: 054-890-445
Home: 02-563-4426
Email: gerald@vms.huji.ac.il

Biography: PH.D. Cornell University is an associate professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; politics of the peace process; Syria-Israel issues; Lebanon; future of the Golan; Palestinian statehood – options and risks; Public opinion on national security issues; low intensity conflict; armed conflict with the PA; Israeli operations in south Lebanon; Terrorism/counter-terrorism; nuclear weapons in the Mideast; US-Israel strategic cooperation; Eastern Mediterranean strategic affairs; Israeli strategic ties with Turkey; Egypt’s role in regional affairs

Professor Efraim Inbar
Director, Begin-Sadat Center,
Office direct: 03-535-9198
Home: 02-587-0169
Email: inbare@mail.biu.ac.il

Biography: Ph.D. University of Chicago is Director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; Politics of the peace process; Syria-Israel issues; Lebanon; Future of the Golan; The Palestinian Authority; Terrorism/Counter Terrorism; US-Israel strategic cooperation; U.S. Mideast defense policy force deployment. Gulf security, arms sales, regional commitments; Eastern Mediterranean strategic affairs; Israeli strategic ties with Turkey; Egypt’s role in regional affairs

Professor Barry Rubin
Director, Global Research for International Affairs center,
Office direct: 09-960-2736
Cell: 050-279-571
Home: 03-528-7298
Email: profbarryrubin@yahoo.com

Biography: Ph.d.  Georgetown University is Senior Resident Fellow at the BESA Center

Final status negotiations; Israeli decision-making; Politics of the peace process; The Palestinian Authority; Palestinian economy; PA aid politics; Mideast economic cooperation; Israel-Arab trade; Arab economies

Dr.  Hillel Frisch
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8872
Home: 02-535-3593
Email: hfrisch@mail.biu.ac.il

Biography: Ph.d. Hebrew University

Foreign Press Association
Glenys Sugarman, Executive Secretary
Office: 03-6916143

Higher education, universities

Professor Shlomo Eckstein
Bar-Ilan Univ, Past President of BIU
Office direct: 03-531-8919
Home: 08-946-2074

History of Zionism and the State

Professor Shmuel Sandler
Chairman, Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8158
Cell: 054-674-597
Home: 02-586-9206
Email: sandls@mail.biu.ac.il

Holocaust and the aftermath

Professor Dan Michman
Bar-Ilan Univ, Jewish History
Office direct: 03-531-7251
Home: 03-936-2256

Human rights; terrorism; tyranny

Claudia Rosett
Journalist in Residence, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 202-207-0190
Email: info@defenddemocracy.org

Bio:   Claudia Rosett writes on international affairs, drawing on 22 years experience as a journalist and editor, reporting from Asia, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and the Middle East. Currently based in New York, she writes a column, “The Real World,” on issues of tyranny and human rights, especially as these relate to the War on Terror, for The Wall Street Journal’s http://www.Opinionjournal.comand The Wall Street Journal Europe.   Recently she has reported from Lebanon, and written on issues involving the United Nations, foreign dissidents, and tyrants who in various ways threaten the democratic world.

IDF

Miri Eisin

Biography: Colonel (Ret.) Miri Eisin is recently retired from the IDF intelligence corps.  Eisin has  served in various branches of the intelligence division, as well as serving as assistant  to the Director of Military Intelligence (the present chief of staff). She was assigned  as a special spokesperson of the Israeli government during Operation Defensive Shield and  has recently been at the forefront of presenting Israel’s case to the media, on national  and international news stations worldwide.

Immigration and absorption

Dr. Dvora Hacohen
Bar-Ilan Univ, Land of Israel Studies
Office direct: 03-531-7690
Home: 02-563-6667

Intelligence services; Mossad and GSS; Media and the security establishment; Role of the media in political extremism

Dr. Shlomo Shpiro
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8108
Cell: 054-550-840
Home: 08-972-9036
Email: sshpiro@isdn.net.il

Biography: Ph.d. Birmingham University

Intifada background; IDF

Jacob Dallal
Cell: 50-835-9323
Email: jacobdallal@yahoo.com

Biography: Jacob Dallal serves as deputy head of the International Press Office of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, as spokesperson and liaison for the army with the press responsible for North American media.  Dallal holds the rank of captain. Dallal was born in Chicago and graduated from the University of Chicago.  He has appeared on television programs numerous times.

Iran

Ilan Berman
Vice President for Policy, American Foreign Policy Council and
Author, Tehran Rising:  Iran’s Challenge to the United States (2005)
Office direct: 202-543-1006

Larry Haas
Visiting Senior Fellow, Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Cell: 202-257-9592 (cell)
Web site: http://www.larryhaasonline.com

Jeremy Issacharoff
Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel
Office: 202-364-5578 (office)
Web site: http://www.israelemb.org

Cliff May
President and Executive Director, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office:202-207-0190
Office direct: 202-207-0184
E-mail: cliff@defenddemocracy.org
Web site: http://www.defenddemocracy.org

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Founder and President, The Israel Project
Office: 202-857-6644
Web site: http://www.theisraelproject.org

U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.
Member, Committee on International Relations; Ranking Member, Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights
Office: 202-225-5911
Web site: http://www.house.gov/sherman/about/

Ken Timmerman
President, Middle East Data Project, Inc.,
Author, “Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran” (2005)
Office: 301-946-2918
E-mail: timmerman.road@verizon.net;
Web site: http://www.KenTimmerman.com

In Israel:
Professor Ze’ev Maghen
The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan University
Office: 011-972-3-531-7812
Cell: 011-972-52-383-4069
Web site: http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/

Iran; proliferation; terrorism; international law and international organizations; Middle East security issues; U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation

Ilan Berman
Vice President for Policy, American Foreign Policy Council
Office direct: 202-543-1006
Fax: 202-543-1007
Email: berman@afpc.org

Biography: Ilan Berman is Vice President for Policy of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council.  An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for both the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense, and provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices.  Mr. Berman is Adjunct Professor for International Law and Global Security at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.  He serves as a member of the reconstituted Committee on the Present Danger, and as Editor of the Journal of International Security Affairs.  He is the author of “Tehran Rising: Iran’s Challenge to the United States” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).

Israel Defense Forces- dissent and disobedience within the army, anti-terrorist undercover units and special operations, manpower policies, civil-military relations

Professor Stuart A. Cohen
Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8958
Home: 03-921-9986
Email: cohenst@mail.biu.ac.il

Biography: Ph.D. Oxford University

Israeli Arab Affairs expert; Islamic Movement

Dr. Mordechai Kedar
Begin-Sadat Center,
Office direct: 03-531-8073
Cell: 054-477-8908
Home: 09-744-9162

Israeli history; Israeli-American relations

Mitch Bard
Executive Director, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise,
Office: 301-565-3918
Email: mgbard@aol.com
Web Site: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

Biography: Mitch Bard is the Executive Director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and a foreign policy analyst who lectures frequently on U.S. – Middle East policy. He also serves as the director of the Jewish Virtual Library.  He previously worked as the editor of The Near East Report and as a senior analyst in the polling division of the 1988 Bush campaign.

Israeli strategic thinking; Israel Defense Forces- dissent and disobedience within the army, anti-terrorist undercover units and special operations, manpower policies, civil-military relations; Israel Defense Forces- fighting doctrine, force structure, training, ongoing security operations

Dr. Avi  Kober
Major, Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-7936
Home: 09-740-6040
Email: avik@doubt.com

Biography: P.h.D Hebrew University

Israeli-American relations

Malcolm Hoenlein
Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations
Office: 212-318-6111
Email: info@conferenceofpresidents.org

Israeli-American relation; American Jewish Community

Biography: Michael Gelman serves as chairman of The Israel project and recently completed three terms as president of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and is the new President of its Endowment Fund. Gelman is chairman of the United Jewish Communities Human Services and Social Policy Pillar and the UJC Birthright Committee. Mr. Gelman also sits on the boards of several organizations including the Jewish Agency for Israel, for which he chairs the Aliyah and Klitah Budget Subcommittee.

Israeli-American relations; American Jewish Community

Shoshana S. Cardin
Home: 410-486-2333
Email: shoshanaca@aol.com

Biography: Shoshana Cardin, born in Tel-Aviv in 1926, is a graduate of both UCLA and John Hopkins University. She is the president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and has worked extensively in advancing the rights of women.

Jewish refugees from Arab countries

Professor Ada Aharoni
President, IFLAC,
Office: 972-4-8243230

Mordechai Ben-Porat
Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center,
Office: 03-533-9278
Email: babylon@babylonjewry.org.il

Shlomo Hillel
Office: 02-641-1416
Cell: 050-233-202

Asher Naim
Office: 972-2-679-2273
Email: anaim@mofet.macam98.ac.il

Military technologies & industries

Professor Zeev Bonen
Begin-Sadat Center,
Cell: 054-977-296
Home: 04-837-7787
Email: bonen@elronet.co.il

Biography: Ph.d. Cambridge University was the director-general and president of ‘Rafael’ and today serves as a research director for the Israeli Government’s Chief Scientist

Mother/Father of terror victim

Aviva Raziel
Cell: 050-809339
Home: 02-586-5681

Biography: Aviva Raziel was the mother of Michal Raziel, who was slain last August with her best friend and neighbor Malkie Roth, 15, and 13 others, including six children, when a suicide bomber attacked the Sbarro restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem.  At age fifty, she was a neonatal intensive care unit nurse at Hadassah Hospital for the past 25 years, had seen her share of life’s triumphs and tragedies.  Despite her husband’s two year battle with brain cancer in 1990, she raised four daughters – three of whom since married. But nothing prepared her for seeing “my lovely, beautiful, caring child,” Michal, 16, at Shaare Zedek Medical Center’s morgue

Frimet Roth
Cell: 055-746337

Biography: Frimet Roth was the mother of Malki Roth, 15 years old, originally from Melbourne, Australia, who, while dining with her best friend at the Sbarro in Jerusalem, was killed in a suicide bombing on August 9, 2001.  Her best friend was Michal Raziel, and she was also a victim of the Sbarro bombing.  Frimet Roth, is a freelance reporter who often writes for The Jerusalem Post.

Mother/Father of terror victim; Activist for Security Fence

Leah and Yossi  Zur
Cell: 054-424-8912
Home: 04-8248912

Biography: Lea and Yossi Zur and parents of Assaf Zur, who was a victim of a suicide bomb on a local bus in Haifa’s Carmeliya neighbourhood on March 5, 2003.  He was also a student of ORT Hannah Szenesh.  Assaf was only seventeen.

Arnold Roth
Home: 02-586-8937

Biography: Arnold Roth was the father of Malki Roth, 15 years old, originally from Melbourne, Australia, who, while dining with her best friend at the Sbarro in Jerusalem, was killed in a suicide bombing on August 9, 2001.  Her best friend was Michal Raziel, and she was also a victim of the Sbarro bombing.

Florence Bianu
Email: fbianu@gmail.com

Biography: Florence Biano was the mother of Mark Biano, who was 29 years old and one of 21 people killed in the suicide bombing carried out by a female terrorist from Jenin in the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on October 4, 2003.  Mark’s wife, Naomi (25), also was killed in the bombing.  Mark Biano was a reporter for a local Haifa cable TV news magazine, News of the Day and usually was the reporter who, ironically, covered terrorist attacks.

Seth and Sherri Mandel
Office: 02-6483758
Cell: 052-5225642

Motivation to serve in the IDF

Dr. Yaakov Katz
School of Education,
Office direct: 03-531-8557
Home: 02-993-1279

Music

Professor Edwin Serrousi
Bar-Ilan Univ, Musicology
Office direct: 03-531-8090
Home: 02-679-3885

Palestinian and Arab school textbooks

Naomi Babbin
Managing Director, Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace
Email: cmip@netvision.net.il

Biography: Naomi Babbin is the managing director for the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, a non-political, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization monitoring school textbooks used in the Middle East to determine if they are critical of Israel and to pressure the various governments to change the way Israel is portrayed.

Palestinian culture of hate

Nonie Darwish
Email: nonie@noniedarwish.com

Biography: Nonie Darwish speaks out against the divisive Wahabist ideology that is poisoning the Middle East and US. Raised in the Gaza Strip, Darwish grew up in conditions of intense hatred and anti-Semitic indoctrination. As an adult, she moved to America realized the full impact of indoctrinated hate she experienced and now speaks out against all around the world.

Palestinian economy; PA aid politics; Mideast economic cooperation; Israel-Arab trade; Arab economies

Dr. Gil Feiler
Begin-Sadat Center,
Office direct: 03-751-2780
Cell: 050-532-266
Home: 03-648-5297
Email: ipr@netvision.net.il

Biography: P.h.D Tel Aviv University is a consultant to the Israel-America Chamber of Commerce and on the board of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information

Palestinian Liberation Organization

Walid Shoebat
Office: 877-832-7200
Email: walid@shoebat.com

Biography: Walid Shoebat was a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and participated in acts of terror and violence against Israel. He was imprisoned for his actions. But after studying the Jewish Bible he came to realize that what he had been taught about Jews and Israel was wrong, and he then made it his mission to spread the truths that he had learned.

Palestinian media; Palestinian polling

Dr. Aaron Lerner
Director, Independent media Review and Analysis,
Office: 972-9-760-4719
Email: imra@netvisaion.net.il

Biography: Dr. Aaron Learner is Director of Independent Media Review and Analysis.  IMRA, Independent Media Review and Analysis, was founded in 1992, by Drs. Aaron and Joseph Lerner, as an ongoing analysis of developments in Arab-Israeli relations. Awarded credentials by the Government of Israel as a news organization, IMRA provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events.

Palestinian press; Arab-Israeli relations

Khaled Abu Toameh
Journalist, The Jerusalem Post, Arab Affairs
Cell: 050-331-600
Email: khaledat@zahav.net.il

Biography: Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab, is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report.  He previously served as a senior writer for the Jerusalem Report, and a correspondent for Al-Fajr. He has produced several documentaries on the Palestinians for the BBC and other networks, exposing the connection between Arafat and payments to the armed wing of Fatah and the financial corruption within the Palestinian Authority. He has been threatened by Palestinian leaders over his work.

Palestinian public opinion research

Khalil Shikaki
Director, Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research,
Office: 972-2-296-4933
Email: kshikaki@pcpsr.org

Biography: Khalil Shikaki is an Associate Professor of Political Science, and Director of the  Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (Ramallah).  Dr. Shikaki has conducted  more than 100 polls among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 1993.

Palestinian suicide bombers; Palestinian and Arab school textbooks

Dr. Daphne Burdman
Psychiatrist, Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace,
Cell: 053-593-244
Home: 02-644-9370
Email: daphb@netvision.net.il

Biography: Dr Daphne Burdman is a psychiatrist who recently retired from the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. Her research is on martyrdom, indoctrination and the Palestinian education that teaches children to hate. She has written extensively on these topics.

Palestinian textbooks; Syrian textbooks; Jordanian textbooks; Palestinian media

Itamar Marcus
Director, Palestinian Media Watch,
Office: 02-625-4140
Cell: 050-528-4907
Email: itamar@pmw.org.il

Biography: Itamar Marcus is one of the founders of Palestinian Media Watch, Marcus is the current director. Mr. Marcus was also the Director of Research for the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace from 1998 – 2000, writing studies on Palestinian, Jordanian, and Syrian school textbooks. Mr. Marcus was a member of the Israeli delegation to the Trilateral Committee to Monitor Incitement established under the Wye Accords.

Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch,
Office: 613-238-0933
Cell: 613-220-4570
Email: barbara@pmw.org.il

Biography: Barbara Crook is one of the founders of Palestinian Media Watch

Religion and state; the Israeli judicial system; constitutional issues and conflicts

Professor Yedidia Stern
Bar-Ilan Univ, Law
Office direct: 03-531-8414
Home: 02-673-1122

Religious society and religious groupings and attitudes towards the Zionist enterprise

Professor Menachem Friedman
Bar-Ilan Univ, Sociology
Office direct: 03-531-8624
Home: 08-934-9184

Scientific advancement

Professor Shlomo Grossman
Bar-Ilan Univ, Life Sciences
Office direct: 03-531-8050
Home: 03-612-5511

Settlement and development of Jerusalem

Professor Zeev Safrai
Bar-Ilan Univ, Land of Israel Studies
Office direct: 03-531-8536
Cell: 069-98-423

Survivors of Terror Attacks

Gila Weiss
Home: 972-5-599-0836

Biography: Gila Weiss is a Maryland native who moved to Israel and was the victim of a terrorist attack in 2002. She was 27 at the time of the attack and suffered a severe gash on her head and extensive damage to her eyes and face from flying shrapnel. The attack was a suicide attack carried out by a woman, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eliad Moreh
The David Project,
Home: 617-428-0012
Email: eliadmoreh@hotmail.com

Biography: Eliad Moreh survived the fatal terror attack at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on July 31, 2002. In the bombing’s aftermath, Eliad’s stunning picture and words were beamed across the world. Moreh, an Israeli of French-Iraqi origin, holds an M.A. from the Hebrew University in Modern Art. She has been interviewed in the New York Post, Fox News, and other international news venues. As a survivor of Islamist terror, Moreh strongly believes that observers in the West must condemn terrorism of any kind and take seriously radical Islam’s threat against the Western world and minority cultures.

Teaching peace in Israel

Yael Barkol
Office: 09-771-0633
Home: 06-754-8469
Email: gybarkol@zahav.net.il

Biography: Israeli school teacher who teaches peace in her classroom.

Zehava Kaufman
Office: 09-766-3770
Home: 06-434-9498
Email: ztmmn@013.net.il

Biography: Israeli school teacher who teaches peace in her classroom.

Barbara Uri
Home: 09-891-0788
Email: ojacob@inter.net.il

Biography: Israeli school teacher who teaches peace in her classroom.

Teaching kids peace; Palestinian and Arab school textbooks

Adina Shapiro
Director, Middle East Children’s Association,
Office: 703-761-3939

Biography: Adina Shapiro is a clinical social worker and therapist, and co-director of the Middle East Children’s Association (MECA), a joint Israeli Palestinian educational organization. She has served as Acting Director of the Institute for State Attorneys and Legal Advisors at the Israeli Ministry of Justice.  She trains Israeli and PA teachers, introducing programs of tolerance.  Her work has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

Terrorism; Middle East politics; Arab-Israeli Affairs

Aaron Mannes
Author, TerrorBlog and Profiles in Terror: The Guide to Middle East Terrorist Organizations
E-mail: author@profilesinterror.com

Biography: Aaron Mannes analyzes terrorist networks at the University of Maryland’s Semantic Web Agents Group.  He has consulted for a range of government agencies on various international security and homeland security issues.

Mannes has written numerous articles on Middle East affairs, terrorism, and other international security issues for popular and scholarly publications including Policy Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, National Review Online, The New York Post, Weekly Standard, and the Journal of International Security Affairs. He speaks throughout the United States, has been interviewed on radio and television worldwide, and is a Contributing Expert to the CounterTerrorism Blog (counterterrorismblog.org).

Terrorism; US foreign policy

Andrew C. McCarthy
Legal Commentator, Terrorism Expert
Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office:  202-207-0190
Email: info@defenddemocracy.org

Biography:  Andrew C. McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor and a contributor at National Review Online.  Following the September 11 attacks, Mr. McCarthy supervised the U.S. Attorney’s Anti-Terrorism Command Post in New York City, coordinating investigative and preventive efforts with numerous federal and state law enforcement and intelligence agencies.  He writes extensively on a variety of legal, social and political issues for National Review and Commentary, among other publications, as well as providing commentary for various television and radio broadcasts.

Terrorism; Arab culture, politics, and media

Avi Jorisch
Terrorism Expert
Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 202-452-0650
Email: avi@defenddemocracy.org

Biography: Avi Jorisch is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and he has written at length about Hizballah, al-Manar, and related subjects, with articles appearing in many prominent publications.  Mr. Jorisch was a Soref fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy from 2001 to 2003, specializing in Arab and Islamic politics. More recently, he served as an Arab media and terrorism consultant for the Department of Defense.

The interplay between democracy, religion, and society

Professor Ella Belfer
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8274
Home: 03-934-0071

Water problems and solutions; Eastern Mediterranean strategic affairs; Israeli strategic ties with Turkey; Egypt’s role in regional affairs

Dr. Amikam Nachmani
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8044
Home: 02-566-4391
Email: nachma@mail.biu.ac.il

Biography: P.h.D Oxford University

Dr. Jonathan  Rynhold
Bar-Ilan Univ, Political Science
Office direct: 03-531-8108
Home: 08-972-7220
Email: rynhold@mail.biu.ac.il

Biography: Ph.D. London School of Economics

Women’s rights in the Middle East; Middle East democracy

Eleana Gordon
Senior Vice President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Office: 202-207-0190
Email: info@defenddemocracy.org

Biography:    Eleana Gordon oversees FDD’s democracy programs and communications, with a focus on promoting pro-democracy, anti-terrorism activists from the Islamic world. Ms. Gordon helped establish the Women for a Free Iraq, a campaign by over a hundred Iraqi women to rally support for the liberation of Iraq.   She works closely with Iraqi women’s groups such as the Women’s Alliance for the Democratic Iraqand the Iraqi Women’s High Council to advocate for a democratic Iraqi government that secures individual freedom and women’s rights.  She previously worked with former Secretary Jack Kemp on foreign policy issues.

Ref: theisraelproject.org

ISRAELI EVERYDAY APARTHEID: West Bank village under threat

ANALYS: The Dubai Hit

THE TWO classic intelligence disasters occurred during World War II. In both, the intelligence agencies either provided their political bosses with faulty assessments, or the leaders ignored their accurate assessments. As far as the results are concerned, both amount to the same.

Comrade Stalin was totally surprised by the German invasion of the Soviet Union, even though the Germans needed months to assemble their huge invasion force. President Roosevelt was totally surprised by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, even though the bulk of the Japanese Navy took part in it. The failures were so fantastic, that spy aficionados had to resort to conspiracy theories to explain them. One such theory says that Stalin deliberately ignored the warnings because he intended to surprise Hitler with an attack of his own. Another theory asserts that Roosevelt practically “invited” the Japanese to attack because he was in need of a pretext to push the US into an unpopular war.

But since then, failures continued to follow each other. All Western spy agencies were totally surprised by the Khomeini revolution in Iran, the results of which are still hitting the headlines today. All of them were totally surprised by the collapse of the Soviet Union, one of the defining events of the 20th century.  They were totally surprised by the fall of the Berlin wall. And all of them provided wrong information about Saddam Hussein’s imaginary nuclear bomb, which served as a pretext for the American invasion of Iraq.

* * *

AH, OUR people say, that’s what’s happening among the Goyim. Not here. Our intelligence community is like no other. The Jewish brain has invented the Mossad, which knows everything and is capable of everything. (Mossad – “institute” – is short for the “Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations”.)

Really? At the outbreak of the 1948 war, all the chiefs of our intelligence community unanimously advised David Ben-Gurion that the armies of the Arab states would not intervene. (Fortunately, Ben-Gurion rejected their assessment.) In May 1967, our entire intelligence community was totally surprised by the concentration of the Egyptian army in Sinai, the step that led to the Six-Day war. (Our intelligence chiefs were convinced that the bulk of the Egyptian army was busy in Yemen, where a civil war was raging.) The Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, 1973, completely surprised our intelligence services, even though heaps of advance warnings were available.

The intelligence agencies were totally surprised by the first intifada, and then again by the second. They were totally surprised by the Khomeini revolution, even though (or because) they were deeply imbedded in the Shah’s regime. They were totally surprised by the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.

The list is long and inglorious. But in one field, so they say, our Mossad performs like no other: assassinations. (Sorry, “eliminations”.)

* * *

STEVEN SPIELBERG’S movie “Munich” describes the assassination (“elimination”) of PLO officials after the massacre of the athletes at the Olympic Games. As a masterpiece of kitsch it can be compared only to the movie “Exodus”, based on Leon Uris’ kitschy book.

After the massacre (the main responsibility for which falls on the incompetent and irresponsible Bavarian police), the Mossad, on the orders of Golda Meir, killed seven PLO officials, much to the joy of the revenge-thirsty Israeli public. Almost all the victims were PLO diplomats, the civilian representatives of the organization in European capitals, who had no direct connection with violent operations. Their activities were public, they worked in regular offices and lived with their families in residential buildings. They were static targets – like the ducks in a shooting gallery.

In one of the actions – which resembled the latest affair – a Moroccan waiter was assassinated by mistake in the Norwegian town of Lillehammer. The Mossad mistook him for Ali Hassan Salameh, a senior Fatah officer who served as contact with the CIA. The Mossad agents, including a glamorous blonde (there is always a glamorous blonde) were identified, arrested and sentenced to long prison terms (but released very soon). The real Salameh was “eliminated” later on.

In 1988, five years before the Oslo agreement, Abu Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir), the No. 2 in Fatah, was assassinated in Tunis before the eyes of his wife and children. Had he not been killed, he would probably be serving today as the President of the Palestinian Authority instead of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). He would have enjoyed the same kind of standing among his people as did Yasser Arafat – who was, most likely, killed by a poison that leaves no traces.

The fiasco that most resembles the latest action was the Mossad’s attempt on the life of Khalid Mishal, a senior Hamas leader, on orders of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Mossad agents ambushed him on a main street of Amman and sprayed a nerve toxin in his ear – that was about to kill him without leaving traces. They were caught on the spot. King Hussein, the Israeli government’s main ally in the Arab world, was livid and delivered a furious ultimatum: either Israel would immediately provide the antidote to the poison and save Mishal’s life, or the Mossad agents would be hanged. Netanyahu, as usual, caved in, Mishal was saved and the Israeli government, as a bonus, released Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the main Hamas leader, from prison. He was “eliminated” by a hellfire missile later on.

* * *

DURING THE last weeks, a deluge of words has been poured on the assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, another senior Hamas officer.

Israelis agreed from the first moment that this was a job of the Mossad. What capabilities! What talent! How did they know, long in advance, when the man would go to Dubai, what flight he would take, in what hotel he would stay! What precise planning!

The “military correspondents” and “Arab affairs correspondents” on screen were radiant. Their faces said: oh, oh, oh, if the material were not embargoed…If I could only tell you what I know…I can tell you only that the Mossad has proved again that its long arm can reach anywhere! Live in fear, oh enemies of Israel!

When the problems started to become apparent, and the photos of the assassins appeared on TV all over the world, the enthusiasm cooled, but only slightly. An old and proven Israeli method was brought into play: to take some marginal detail and discuss it passionately, ignoring the main issue. Concentrate on one particular tree and divert attention from the forest.

Really, why did the agents use the names of actual people who live in Israel and have dual nationality? Why, of all possible passports, did they use those of friendly countries? How could they be sure that the owners of these passports would not travel abroad at the critical time?

Moreover, were they not aware that Dubai was full of cameras that record every movement? Did they not foresee that the local police would produce films of the assassination in almost all its details?

But this did not arouse too much excitement in Israel. Everybody understood that the British and the Irish were obliged, pro forma, to protest, but that this was nothing but going through the motions. Behind the scenes, there are intimate connections between the Mossad and the other intelligence agencies. After some weeks, everything will be forgotten. That’s how it worked in Norway after Lillehammer, that’s how it worked in Jordan after the Mishal affair. They will protest, rebuke, and that’s that. So what is the problem?

* * *

THE PROBLEM is that the Mossad in Israel acts like an independent fiefdom that ignores the vital long-term political and strategic interests of Israel, enjoying the automatic backing of an irresponsible prime minister. It is, as the English expression goes, a “loose cannon” – the cannon of a ship of yore which has broken free of its mountings and is rolling around the deck, crushing to death any unfortunate sailor who happens to get in its way.

From the strategic point of view, the Dubai operation causes heavy damage to the government’s policy, which defines Iran’s putative nuclear bomb as an existential threat to Israel. The campaign against Iran helps it to divert the world’s attention from the ongoing occupation and settlement, and induces the US, Europe and other countries to dance to its tune.

Barack Obama is in the process of trying to set up a world-wide coalition for imposing “debilitating sanctions” on Iran. The Israeli government serves him – willingly – as a growling dog. He tells the Iranians: The Israelis are crazy. They may attack you at any moment. I am restraining them with great difficulty. But if you don’t do what I tell you, I shall let go of the leash and may Allah have mercy on your soul!

Dubai, a Gulf country facing Iran, is an important component of this coalition. It is an ally of Israel, much like Egypt and Jordan. And here comes the same Israeli government and embarrasses it, humiliates it, arousing among the Arab masses the suspicion that Dubai is collaborating with the Mossad.

In the past we have embarrassed Norway, then we infuriated Jordan, now we humiliate Dubai. Is that wise?  Ask Meir Dagan, who Netanyahu has just granted an almost unprecedented eighth year in office as chief of the Mossad.

* * *

PERHAPS THE impact of the operation on Israel standing in the world is even more significant.

Once upon a time it was possible to belittle this aspect. Let the Goyim say what they want. But since the Molten Lead operation, Israel has become more conscious of its far-reaching implications. The verdict of Judge Goldstone, the echoes of the antics of Avigdor Lieberman, the growing world-wide campaign for boycotting Israel – all these tend to suggest that Thomas Jefferson was not talking through his hat when he said that no nation can afford to ignore the opinion of mankind.

The Dubai affair is reinforcing the image of Israel as a bully state, a rogue nation that treats world public opinion with contempt, a country that conducts gang warfare, that sends mafia-like death squads abroad, a pariah nation to be avoided by right-minded people.

Was this worthwhile?

REF: Counterpunch

Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to CounterPunch’s book The Politics of Anti-Semitism.

EVERYDAY ISRAELI APARTHEID: A Palestinian arrest so ridiculous even the Israeli judges smiled

Something about 12-year-old Bassam caused two Israelis to smile. Two
Palestinians noticed, but did not remember their smiles as being disparaging or arrogant. On the contrary. The Palestinians regarded the smiles as a rare moment in which two Israelis – and not just any Israelis, but military judges – realized how ridiculous the situation was.

There were three other Israelis present, who held back their cries as they watched the boy enter, faltering – the chains around his legs clanging against each other, the prisons service coat he wore much too big for him. These three women, of their own accord, go regularly to the caravans that house the Ofer military tribunal and take notes. Were it not for these three women, who eventually shared his story, Bassam would have become yet another hidden detail of a non-event. A non-event of the sort that takes place countless times, all the time. Without those non-events, it is impossible to comprehend what life is like under hostile rule.

This particular non-event began with Bassam (not his real name), who lives in a village west of Ramallah, deciding to visit his aunt who lives in another village 14 kilometers away. It took place in the afternoon hours of Monday, December 21, 2009. Bassam’s home is some 10 kilometers north of Route 443 and his aunt’s home to the south. A narrow, winding path links the villages located along the way. Bassam took two taxis, then began walking the rest of the way. At the suggestion of another boy he met on the path, he took a shortcut through a valley and headed for the little tunnel that runs below the road which is closed off to Palestinians, but built on their land.

Several hundred meters from the elevated road, some Israel Defense Forces
soldiers popped out from in between the olive trees. According to the boy, they called him over, saying “Come, come.” “I was afraid and fled,” Bassam says. But the soldiers grabbed him. He noticed there were two jeeps nearby.

“They boxed me a little on my ears, covered my eyes and put plastic handcuffs on my wrists. Then they lifted me and threw me into a jeep,” he says. An Arabic speaker, he says, told him: “If they ask you, say that you threw stones.” “I was so afraid that I did not think about anything,” Bassam says two weeks later, at home.

With his eyes covered and hands cuffed, Bassam was taken from place to place. At the first stop, he was kept about two hours. They offered him water, but he said he did not want any. Then they drove to another place where a police interrogator asked him if he “had ever thrown stones on 443,” Bassam relates. “I said yes – because that’s what the soldier in the jeep told me – but I didn’t know what 443 was. He asked me whether I had ever thrown stones with a sling. I asked him what a sling was. He explained to me and I said no.”

At the third stop, Bassam was seen by a doctor who spoke some Arabic. “He
asked me if I had had any operations and I said no. Then they covered my eyes again, handcuffed me and we went off,” he says. By then it was already dark; they next arrived at the Ofer Prison. In the Prison Service records, Bassam is registered as prisoner number 1336183.

The inmates in the cell he was taken to immediately calmed him down, gave him something to eat, and explained that he would appear in court the next day. “I knew about Shabak [the Shin Bet security service] but I didn’t know what the court was,” he says.

‘But I am standing’

At around 3 P.M. on December 22, in the caravan which houses the court,
Iyad Misk, an attorney with DCI (Defence for Children International), spotted Bassam, whom he did not know, huddled among the other prisoners. When the judge, Major Shimon Leibo, entered, Misk thought Bassam didn’t realize he had to stand. “Get up, get up,” he said in a stage whisper from the attorney’s stand. Bassam stared at him in amazement. “But I am standing,” he said. Judge Leibo heard, looked and began to smile.

Misk immediately volunteered to represent the kid. The prosecutor, police
officer Asher Silver, said: “We ask that the suspect be released on condition of a NIS 1,500 deposit and that he be called to a hearing, as we intend to submit an indictment against him.”

Misk explained that the suspect did not have NIS 1,500 (approximately one and a half times a Palestinian worker’s monthly wage), and that his family members were not present and apparently did not even know where he was. In what sounded like a suppressed reprimand, the judge said that not enough had been done to inform the boy’s family about the arrest, and ordered that Bassam be released after NIS 500 was deposited. Misk  who believed the police should have immediately released the boy the previous day, when the soldiers brought him to the police interrogator – was prepared to pay out of his own pocket, but the offices where the payment was to be made were already shut.

Meanwhile, Bassam’s parents were beside themselves with worry. When he did not return home in the morning from his aunt’s home, they started searching for him throughout the surrounding areas  in the orchards, at the checkpoints, on the roads, at army posts. “I walked through the mountains looking for him and crying,” his father, who is a welder, recalls. In the evening, one of Misk’s friends found the father and informed him that Bassam would be spending a second night in detention. The following day, December 23, the father appeared at the military tribunal.

He held back his tears as he watched his son enter the caravan. The jacket reached his knees and his hands were buried inside the long sleeves. “Take a look at him,” the father told the judge, Major Sharon Rivlin-Ahai, in fluent Hebrew. “Is this what the great Israel Defense Forces are needed for – to arrest this boy?”

And then it was time for the second smile – hers this time. The father
remembers her saying, “Right.” But then she added: “That’s the law.” She
reduced the amount of the deposit to NIS 200, along with a guarantee that his son would appear in court if and when a charge sheet is brought against him. As long as there is no indictment, no one will know what the soldiers who took in Bassam are claiming. It is their word against the word of a Palestinian boy.

Ref: Haaretz

WORLD PRESS IMAGES FROM GAZA & WEST BANK

WORLD PRESS PHOTO CONTEST 2010

ALSO SEE THE PHOTO SERIE  “Gaza – landscape of destruction”

UPDATE FROM THE ISRAELI ETHNIC CLEANSING: Palestinians break Israel’s wall

Palestinians and foreign activists have torn down segments of Israel’s separation wall in a demonstration marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the town of Qalandiya in the occupied West Bank, a group of masked activists using a lorry pulled down a two-metre cement block before Israeli security forces confronted them with tear gas grenades.

In depth

Protesters were wearing shirts with the text “Jerusalem we are coming”, which was the slogan for the protest.

Abdullah Abu Rahma, leader of the People’s Campaign to Fight the Wall, said: “Today we commemorate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“This is the beginning of the activities, which we do, to express our hold on our land, and our refusal to this wall – the wall of torture, the wall of humiliation.”

Activists have vowed to hold a week of protests in the Palestinian territories and around the world, including a campaign calling for the release of all anti-wall activists currently imprisoned.

Last Friday, Palestinian youths almost toppled a segment of wall using a hydraulic car-jack in the West Bank village of Nilin.

Regular protests

Protests against the wall have become a regular event in Nilin and in the nearby village of Bilin, where Palestinian, international and Israeli activists are commonly confronted by tear gas and rubber bullets fired by Israeli troops.

Israel began building its barrier, consisting of fences and walls, in 2002, citing security reasons.

The wall is up to 8m high in places, twice the height of the former Berlin wall. Palestinian sources anticipate that it may be more than 750km-long when construction is finished, more than four times the length of the Berlin wall.

Palestinians say the route of the wall has been set in such a way that it grabs land that could have been included in a future Palestinian state.

The International Court of Justice, in a non-binding decision in 2004, said the Israeli-built barrier was illegal and should be taken down because it crossed into occupied territory.

A report by Stop the Wall, a Palestinian coalition of NGOs opposed to the wall, said that in 2007 alone, Israel demolished more than 160 houses and appropriated more than 3sq km of land in the Palestinian West Bank in its construction of the wall.

Ref: Al Jazeera

Palestinian villagers protest land seizure – 04 Sep 09

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WELCOME TO ISRAHELL: Fully supported by whiteness building the apartheid state

GOLDSTONEFACTS.org

Goldstone FactsAbout us

On September 15th 2009, the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission led by Justice Richard Goldstone released its report (executive summary can be found here) on the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The report concluded that there exists strong evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel and Hamas during the Gaza conflict. The report emphasized that Israel and Hamas committed actions amounting to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

Goldstonefacts.org is a project created by a group of individuals from around the globe who decided to dramatize portions of the Goldstone Report. We are all volunteers and amateurs. Our professional backgrounds are diverse as are our ethnic and national origins. In fact, most of us have never met each other.

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Did you know this about Gaza?

IDF admits war crime after months of heavy pro-israeli propaganda