Israel Lobby Watch

Pentagon/Israel Spying Case Expands: Fomenting a War on Iran



Here is my take on the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal in the Pentagon. It is an echo of the one-two punch secretly planned by the pro-Likud faction in the Department of Defense. First, Iraq would be taken out by the United States, and then Iran. David Wurmser, a key member of the group, also wanted Syria included. These pro-Likud intellectuals concluded that 9/11 would give them carte blanche to use the Pentagon as Israel’s Gurkha regiment, fighting elective wars on behalf of Tel Aviv (not wars that really needed to be fought, but wars that the Likud coalition thought it would be nice to see fought so as to increase Israel’s ability to annex land and act aggressively, especially if someone else’s boys did the dying). Juan Cole comments. 

Non Alignment Movement to impose sanctions on Israel



The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) called on its member states to bar all products and goods emanating from Israeli settlements at the end of the fourteenth Ministerial Conference of the Non-Alignment Movement (Mid-Term Review) in Durban, South Africa. The call for measures was issued by the Committee on Palestine of the Non-Alignment Movement. The NAM declaration called for its members to “decline entry to Israeli settlers and to impose sanctions against companies and entities involved in the construction of the wall.” “With regard to member states, the ministers called upon them to undertake measures, including by means of legislation, collectively, regionally and individually, to prevent any products of the illegal Israeli settlements from entering their markets,” said the declaration. 

New Housing Units Sanctioned by Israel Show How Dead the Road Map Is



August 19th, 2004 — Both the New York Times and the Washington Post carried stories yesterday about the announcement in Tel Aviv that Israel’s Housing and Construction Ministry would build up to 1,000 new housing units in settlements in the West Bank. According to these sources as well as Ha’aretz, the Israeli daily, 604 units will be built in Betar Elite and 141 in Maaleh Adumim, which lie in the area of East Jerusalem, and 204 housing units will be built in Ariel and 42 in Karnei Shomron, lying in the West Bank itself. So why does the U.S. administration still pretend that the Road Map still exists? 

Israel's race to end Palestinian resistance before the US election



While the world’s attention is almost completely absorbed by events in Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s onslaught on the Palestinians continues with extreme brutality. He hopes to put an end to the Intifada before a new American administration is in place, writes EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah, but while the Palestinian resistance may be exhausted for now, Israel is nowhere near victory and is, strategically, in its worst position against the Palestinians ever. Israel has missed a historic opportunity for peace on highly favorable terms, and the time is coming where it will be lucky to settle for much less than it has now. 

EU: No evidence Israeli allegations money given to PA funded terrorism



To date, there is no evidence that funds from the non-targeted EU Direct Budget Assistance to the Palestinian Authority have been used to finance illegal activities, including terrorism. This is the provisional assessment which the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) gave today, August 10, 2004, in reaction to a number of media reports on the matter. OLAF emphasizes however that the investigations are still ongoing, therefore final conclusions can not yet be drawn. This analysis is in line with the declarations already made by OLAF during a meeting of a special Working Group of the European Parliament on March 10, 2004. 

Americans Want a New Policy Towards Israel



A new Zogby International poll commissioned by CNI found that half of all likely American voters agree that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry “should adopt an entirely new policy, different from the present administration, towards Israel.” The poll, conducted during the Democratic Convention, showed that 51% of likely voters somewhat or strongly agreed that a policy change was necessary. Only 34% strongly or somewhat disagreed. The number who supported Kerry adopting a new policy towards Israel was even higher among Democrats: 70% of Democrats, Kerry’s voter base, supported such a change. 

Ultra-right establish fake MachsomWatch website



A settler group, Women in Green, has taken to spying on MachsomWatch at checkpoints, taking cookies and Cokes to “our boys in green” or, in the Gaza settlements, doing the soldiers’ laundry. Meanwhile, on various occasions, settlers (including Daniela Weiss, lady mayor of Kedumim settlement near Nablus) have physically attacked MachsomWatch groups. Now, anonymous right-wingers have set up a tastelessly fake version of MachsomWatch’s website. The fake “dot com” site is used as a platform for ultra-right wing propaganda of a typically odious nature. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein reports. 

Colin Powell And My Grandmother



Where Israel is concerned, U.S. foreign policy never ceases to amaze. When Palestinian in-fighting took place in Gaza last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell had the following to say about the United States’ position: “Just have to watch it unfold.” If U.S. interests in the Middle East continue to be hijacked and jeopardized by a rapacious Israeli state, then maybe not only the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are occupied territories. Maybe we need a peacekeeping force immediately sent to Capital Hill. In the meantime, Palestinians’ eyes will be fixed on Washington and we will “just have to watch it unfold.” Palestinian American businessman Sam Bahour comments from occupied Al-Bireh/Ramallah. 

UN Assembly to meet Friday in emergency session on Israeli wall ruling



The UN General Assembly will reconvene on Friday its long-running emergency special session on the question of Palestine to examine the advisory opinion issued last week by the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences of Israel’s construction of a separation barrier. The resumption of the tenth emergency special session comes at the request of the a majority of UN Member States, the Arab Group and the Non-Aligned Movement, according to Michele Montas, spokesperson for the Assembly’s President. The emergency special session dates back to 1997 when Israel began construction of a new settlement and after the Security Council met twice on that issue but failed to adopt resolutions. 

Israel as the powerful party should take the first clear step towards peace



One of the biggest challenges amongst activists concerned with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a growing divide in the perspectives of peace advocates on one side and human rights advocates on the other. In attempting to explain or justify the use of violence, one can easily forget that that one party has a heavily fortified military with nuclear weapons capability; the other a population so oppressed and desperate, that some are willing to sacrifice their lives in order to claim casualties on the other side. Jeff Handmaker and Adri Nieuwhof critically examine whether these perspectives are reconcilable through promoting participation of Palestinian refugees. 

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