Most people in the U.S. now realize that Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) board member James Woolsey’s pre-war talk about the Iraqi government’s alleged hidden “nuclear weapons equipment” and “biological weapons laboratories” was inaccurate. Yet the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs role as a pro-war pressure group with an annual budget of $2.5 million, is rarely mentioned by the U.S. media. Since 1982, at least twelve trips to Israel have been sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs for retired Pentagon admirals and generals who are connected to the American security establishment. Read more about The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (and War)
A delegation of concerned organizations and citizens met with State Department officials on February 17 to request an explanation of why there has been an official silence on the part of the U.S. Government over the mistreatment of Americans in Israel. During the meeting, they requested that the Department negotiate the release of American prisoners at the same time as Palestinians were being released by the Sharon government, as a significant gesture by Israel of its friendship with the American people. Read more about Organizations Confront State Department over Silence Accorded Israeli Mistreatment of U.S. Citizens
Most U.S. anti-war activists do not support the Israeli establishment’s Likud party because Likud’s leaders have violated many United Nations resolutions which require the Israeli government to withdraw from all post-1967 occupied territory, dismantle all Israeli settlements in post-1967 occupied territories, and allow all Palestinian refugees to return to pre-1967 Israel/Palestine. Yet a pro-Israel, apparently tax-exempt organization in the United States, the American Friends of Likud, is “part of a global federation of center-right Zionist movements known as Likud Olami—the World Union of Liberal and National Zionists” and “maintains close links to Israel’s Likud party,” according to its website. Read more about Likud's Republican Party Connection
Recently, a law was passed saying that settlers who will be evacuated following a future retreat from the Gaza Strip will be given compensation. The balance was tipped to the side of the government from outside the coalition by MK Mohammad Barake. Barake, a MK from “Hadash” party (the former communist party) is, as his name might indicate, an Israeli Arab. Limor Livnat, the Israeli minister of education, who had also voted in favor of the law, was one of the most noticeable politicians in a group of right wing Knesset members and others who had each expressed outrage that an Arab (who had, like any other Member of the Knesset, been elected democratically) was the one to determine the future of Israel in such an important question. Read more about Limor Livnat and the Palestinian "problem"
Most U.S. anti-war activists are opposed to the Bush Administration’s policy of using U.S. tax money to provide military weapons to various governments in the Middle East, including the Israeli government. But the Republican Jewish Coalition [RJC], which describes itself as “the sole voice of Jewish Republicans to Republican decisionmakers and the Jewish community” on its website [www.rjchq.org], promotes continued U.S. aid to the Sharon regime and favors an expansion of strategic cooperation between the U.S. government and the Israeli government. Read more about The Republican Jewish Coalition and the pro-Israel Lobby
The Council for the National Interest and other concerned organizations will participate Thursday in a meeting at the Department of State regarding Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian American prisoners. Also on the agenda is the ongoing silence of the State Department in regard to Israeli detention and deportation of nonviolent American citizens seized in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces. The delegation Thursday will call for the release of some of the American prisoners being held by Israel. Read more about State Department to be Questioned on Silence regarding American Detainees in Israel
In a letter to President Bush, Eugene Bird, President of the Council for the National Interest, agreed with Jewish organizations, including Americans for Peace Now, in protesting the latest request for aid, a reported $180 million to help construct new “state of the art” checkpoints along the security wall separating Israelis and Palestinians. Read more about CNI Protests New Aid for Israeli Occupation
The modernization of checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian Territories is now being ironically cast as a “humanitarian” project to be undertaken by the either the Israelis or the Palestinians as a way of improving the Palestinian quality of life and ease of communication. Needless to say, the American taxpayer is being asked to underwrite the cost. Read more about More on US Aid for Checkpoint Crossings
Amid international efforts to flourish the peace industry, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is due next week to visit Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Under the past Dutch presidency of the European Union (EU), the Dutch government has put a lot of efforts to enhance the EU involvement in the Middle East diplomatic process. However, the costs of these efforts have been enormous. Instead of providing incentives to ensure Israel respects international humanitarian law, under the leadership of the Netherlands, Israel received rewards without withdrawing one single soldier from Gaza. Read more about In bed with Israel: EU's close relationship with Israel supports abuse
On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, 355 people cast a majority vote in favour of a motion that “Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews” at a debate that took place on Tuesday 25 January at the Royal Geographical Society in London. The debate was organized by intelligence2 (the London Forum for Live Debate) sponsored by the Evening Standard - a local London newspaper. It was chaired by Richard Lindley, a veteran television reporter for ITN and the BBC. Read more about "Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews"
