Israel’s hard-line supporters in the US Congress have fired the latest volley in their sustained campaign against the rights of Palestinian refugees and against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that provides for their basic needs. They have introduced a resolution accusing the UN agency that looks after refugees, and are trying to rewrite the history of the 1948 expulsion of the Palestinian people from its homeland. EI’s Ali Abunimah looks at the latest moves by pro-Israel organizations and their allies in the US Congress. Read more about Hijacking the Palestinian narrative: Israel's friends in Congress
Researchers have found that nearly 60 percent of European citizens believe Israel poses the biggest threat to world peace. Iran is considered the second biggest threat, North Korea the third and the United States the fourth. The European Commission survey asked the public in all 15 member states to look at a list of countries and say which they considered potential threats to peace. Israel was selected by a majority in almost all the EU member states. EI’s Arjan El Fassed takes a closer look. Read more about EU poll: "Israel poses biggest threat to world peace"
The Board of Deputies was founded in 1760, and claims to be the national representative body of the British Jewish community. As such, it exists to defend the rights and interests of that community in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, under the direction of its chief executive, Neville Nagler, those aims have been suborned to an agenda whereby it has become a political pressure group for the Israeli government, whose policies are anathema to a large section of British Jewry. Michael Halpern wrote this letter in the Daily Telegraph. Read more about British Jews and Israel
“Dr. Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi is a woman, a professor of English, an international human rights activist, and a politician. A year ago she was chosen, unanimously, to receive the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize. The Premier, Bob Carr, will present Ashrawi with her award at State Parliament in 12 days. The first four recipients of the annual prize were honoured at functions in the Great Hall of Sydney University. However, for Ashrawi, the Great Hall is out of bounds.” Allan Ramsey of the Sydney Morning Herald asks why. Read more about Discrimination Down Under? Sydney gives Ashrawi the cold shoulder
A new report released on Capitol Hill today by former officials from the highest level of the American military and government reveals that Israel “committed acts of murder against American serviceman and an act of war against the United States” when it deliberately attacked the American Navy Ship USS Liberty in 1967, killing 34 and wounding 172 American crewmembers. Israel had alleged that the two-hour attack with napalm, missiles, and torpedoes was a mistake. After remaining silent for more than three decades, Captain Ward Boston, the Chief Attorney in the Navy’s original 1967 Court of Inquiry into the case, describes in a sworn affidavit how he and many others were ordered to never speak about the attack on the USS Liberty. Read more about Commission of Inquiry reveals US-Israeli cover-up of U.S.S. Liberty attack
During the 1973 October War, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger secretly gave Israeli authorities a green light to breach a cease-fire agreement arranged with the Soviet Union, according to new documents published by the National Security Archive today on the war’s 30th anniversary. Read more about Kissinger gave green light for Israeli offensive violating 1973 cease-fire
Alan Dershowitz either cannot or refuses to understand why there is a controversy surrounding The Case for Israel. Perhaps Norman Finkelstein can enlighten him. Quite simply, the book he claims to have written is a hoax: (1) substantial swatches are lifted from another notorious hoax on the Israel-Palestine conflict, (2) it is replete with egregious falsifications, and (3) the few scholarly sources actually cited are mangled beyond recognition. Read more about The glove does fit: A reply to Alan Dershowitz
Harvard’s university paper The Harvard Crimson reports about Norman Finkelstein’s charge of Alan M. Dershowitz’ commitment of plagiarism in his recent book The Case for Israel. Read more about Dershowitz Accused Of Plagiarism
On MSNBC’s Scarborough Country on Sept. 8 2003, renowned appellate lawyer, Harvard Law professor and author Alan Dershowitz says: “I will give $10,000 to the PLO…if you can find a historical fact in my book that you can prove to be false.” The book Dershowitz refers to is his latest work The Case For Israel. Professor Norman Finkelstein takes him on by charging that Dershowitz makes numerous factual errors in his book. Read more about Norman Finkelstein calls professor Alan Dershowitz's new book on Israel a "hoax"
In the rare event of articles critical of Israel breaking into the mainstream US media, a flood of denunciations from letter writers and Zionist lobby groups usually follows. Editors insist that their coverage is not affected by such tactics. But the truth is that these well-financed groups believe it is worth investing huge amounts of time, energy, and money in organising these campaigns. On 27 May 2003, a commentary piece by British journalist Jonathan Cook, entitled “A cage for Palestinians: A 1,000-kilometer fence preempts the road map”, was published in the International Herald Tribune. EI’s Nigel Parry looks at one instance of the lobby in action. Read more about CAMERA's half-baked attack on Cook
