Filed under: Israel, Israel's 60th Anniversary, Israel's 60th Birthday, Israel@60
Nonstop … humiliation and ethnic cleansing. Green … like land-coveting illegal settlers and uprooted Palestinian olive trees. Free … to act with impunity, ignoring human rights and international law as long as US zio-neocons keep US taxpayer money coming and keep blocking international condemnation for our atrocious acts.
Below: hasbara advertisement in the New York Times.
Filed under: Israel's 60th Birthday, New York | Tags: Ben Stiller, Big Apple, Robin Williams, Time Square, Tom Cruise
Hollywood’s finest morons line up to celebrate the rape, massacre and transfer that constituted the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and birth of Israel 60 years ago.
YNET: The 60th anniversary celebrations also reached the Big Apple on Friday, as the four giant screens in Times Square broadcasted blessings from Hollywood’s best for Israel’s 60th. Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Brooke Shields, Kirk and Michael Douglas, and Donald Trump were among the celebrities waving banners wishing Israel a happy Independence Day.
The square’s top screen wished Israel a happy holiday, and the three other screens showed the 30-second celebrity clips, which could be seen for blocks. The project was organized by the Israeli Consulate in New York with help from Steven Spielberg’s sister, Nancy Katz, and is expected to be broadcast for one month. Consul-General Asaf Shariv said that the celebrity cooperation helps the consulate to tell Israel’s story better.
Another project currently headed by the consulate includes the famous Fifth Avenue, which was chosen as the site on which to display pictures of successful Israelis who have made aliyah. Among the faces displayed are Derrick Sharp, a Florida born basketball star who arrived in Israel in 1993, and is currently captain of Maccabi Tel Aviv, and Sasha Grishkov, a Soviet Union born singer. Other participants in the project include Cabra Kasai, a singer who came to Israel from Ethiopia, Mirit Greenberg, Israeli beauty queen of 1997, and Israeli Arab Diplomat Rania Jubran.
Filed under: Canada, Israel, Israel's 60th Birthday, Nakba | Tags: Yoram Elron
The Israeli consul general to Canada is upset about the Nakba. Not about it actually happening, theres nothing wrong with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, but why the hell do Canadians have to keep talking about it? Israel’s birthday is a time for celebration – they need the skeletons firmly in the closet! Ethnic cleansing is not an image he wants associated with ‘brand Israel’ ™: they’ve spent a lot of time and money on birthday PR, they doesn’t want it disrupted. Shame on you liberal media!
MONTREAL — Israel’s 60th anniversary year provides renewed opportunity for Jews the world over – including in Quebec – to reaffirm their strong attachment to the Jewish state.
Yet despite such ongoing commitment from Jews, Israel continues to face wary and unfriendly attitudes in the media and on campuses, said Israel’s consul general to Montreal and eastern Canada.
Yoram Elron, LEFT, – who succeeded Marc Attali last August – said in an interview that he was “very moved and extremely excited” by the recent 60th anniversary rally organized by a coalition of Jewish organizations that drew thousands to the heart of downtown Montreal for a mass and massive expression of love and solidarity.
Gordon Brown seems to have been a little sheepish about celebrating the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Deciding only at the last minute to attend the party. I think he needs a party to take his mind of flushing as his premiership disappears down the pan – not sure why he chose this one though…
Britain’s prime minister made a surprise visit to the Israel’s Independence Day reception at the Israeli embassy in London.
Gordon Brown was the first British prime minister to attend the reception since Tony Blair in 1998, when Israel celebrated its 50th anniversary. Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor told JTA he didn’t know until the last minute whether Brown would attend the 60th birthday event.
Stolen from the lovely Ann of Peoples Geography - sorry!
Palestinians mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba with, among other things, large symbolic keys and black balloons over Al Quds-Jerusalem.
This video clip comes from our good friends over at the great Italian Guerrilla Radio site (4.36)
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation also has this striking poster and terrific advertisement (click on thumbnail for larger image).
The Campaign will be placing more than 1,000 of these posters on the streets of Manhattan, educating New Yorkers about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Filed under: Conference, George Bush, Israel's 60th Birthday, World Leaders | Tags: Hezbollah
While this week’s trip by President George W. Bush to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt was never conceived as a triumphant “victory lap” around the region, the swift rout of U.S.-backed forces by Lebanon’s Hezbollah Friday has provided yet another vivid illustration of the rapid decline in Washington’s influence in the Middle East during his tenure.
The events in Lebanon will no doubt cast a long shadow over Bush’s tour, which begins Tuesday. After all, it was only three years ago that he hailed the “Cedar Revolution” there as vindication of the kind of democratic transformation of the region that he insisted the invasion of Iraq was designed to launch.
Witness Statement from speaker at demonstration
The following from the UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign for more see Peoples Geography.
London protest calls for Free Palestine
Thousands marched through London, sixty years after the Palestinian Nakba, to demand an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to Israeli occupation, and for the right of return of refugees.
The demonstration, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative and the Palestinian Forum in Britain, was supported by trade unions UNISON, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Unite the Union, Communication Workers Union, GMB, TSSA, RMT, Fire Brigades Union, and the National Union of Miners, who joined organisations such as the Association of Palestinian Community UK, Amos Trust, Friends of Al Aqsa UK, Palestinian Return Centre, War on Want, Jewish Socialist Group, Pax Christi, Stop the War Coalition, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Britain Palestine Twinning Network, ICAHDUK, Friends of Lebanon, Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and Midlands Palestinian Community Association.
Filed under: Israel, Israel's 60th Birthday, Italy, Peaceful Protest, Turin Book Fair | Tags: Manifestazione Torino Palestina
more videos | photos | English Report
Over 4000 people demonstrated against the Turin book-fair’s “celebration” of Israeli writers. The fair has come under a great deal of pressure from progressive authors around the world who have publically boycotted the book-fair, while others have come under pressure from their readers to cancel their participation. SPSC mailing list
Filed under: 1948, Documentary, History, Israel, Israel's 60th Birthday, Nakba, Palestine, Video | Tags: Promised Land
The following is an excellent find by Idrees of The Fanonite.
A decent documentary from the best television news channel out there — Al Jazeera International. However, it is mostly an Israeli perspective featuring Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim, Uri Avnery, Shulamit Aloni et al.
(thanks Shahbaz)
A special series examining the origins, violent creation, and modern-day reality of the state of Israel through the stories of individual Israelis.
Episode two, Conflict, looks at how the still small Jewish population succeeded in defeating a far larger Palestinian population and asks if a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing was employed.
Filed under: Apartheid, Art, Carlos Latuff, Cartoon, Illustration, Image, Israel's 60th Birthday | Tags: South Africa
Filed under: Israel's 60th Birthday, Nakba, Palestine, USA | Tags: Fedwa Wazwaz, Minnesota
Fedwa Wazwaz in the Minnesota Star Tribute:
Minnesotans gathered Wednesday at the Metrodome to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary. For some, this was a joyful event. But at what price did this statehood come?
Those who celebrated should read the letter signed by British Jews in the Guardian on April 30, “We’re not celebrating Israel’s anniversary.” The letter says, “Surely it is now time to acknowledge the narrative of the other, the price paid by another people for European anti-Semitism and Hitler’s genocidal policies. As Edward Said emphasized, what the Holocaust is to the Jews, the Naqba [Catastrophe] is to the Palestinians.”
The price of Israel’s creation can be read in the book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Pappe writes: ” … on 10 March 1948 … veteran Zionist leaders together with young military Jewish officers, put the final touches to a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.” This led to 750,000 Palestinians being driven from their towns and villages in 1947-48. Many fled in the wake of atrocities such as the massacre of the villagers in Deir Yassin by Jewish forces on April 9, 1948. Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed, and vast tracts of land, houses, shops, olive and orange groves were confiscated.
Filed under: Ethnic Cleansing, Israel's 60th Birthday, Palestine, Terrorism, War Crimes | Tags: History, Khalid Amayreh
“We committed Nazi acts.” Aharon Zisling, Israel’s first Agriculture Minister
“There is no doubt that many sexual atrocities were committed by the attacking Jews. Many young (Arab) girls were raped and later slaughtered. Old women were also molested.” General Richard Catling, British Army Assistant Inspector after interrogating several female survivors (The Palestinian Catastrophe, Michael Palumbo, 1987)
The following article is by Khalid Amayreh from The Voice of Palestine. (thanks Ann)
As the evil state of Israel is celebrating sixty years of ethnic cleansing and atrocities against the native Palestinians, many people around the world, especially young generations, will not be fully aware of the manner in which Israel came into existence. Similarly, the younger Zionist generations who don’t stop calling their Palestinian victims “terrorists” should have a clearer idea about Israel’s manifestly criminal past which Zionist school textbooks shamelessly glamorize and glorify
Prior to “Jewish” statehood, three main Jewish terror organizations operated in Palestine, primarily against Palestinian civilians and British mandate targets. The three were: The Haganah, the Zvei Leumi or Irgun and the Stern Gang. The Haganah (Defence) had a field army of up to 160,000 well-trained and well-armed men and a unit called the Palmach, with more than 6,000 terrorists. The Irgun included as many as 5,000 terrorists, while the Stern Gang included 200-300 dangerous terrorists.
The following are merely some examples of Zionist terrorism prior to the creation of the Zionist state in 1948: The list doesn’t include the bigger massacres such as Dir Yasin, Dawaymeh, Tantura and others.
1937-1939
During this period, Zionist terrorists carried out a series of terror attacks against Palestinian buses resulting in the death of 24 persons and the wounding of 25 others.
Filed under: Gordon Brown, Israel, Israel's 60th Birthday, UK | Tags: New Labour
Brown praises the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the following from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. We might ask: is he aware of how many Palestinian victims have been persecuted?
GORDON Brown… pledged at a service on Wednesday night to mark the Jewish state’s 60th birthday that Britain would continue to be “a true and constant friend of Israel in good times and in bad”. And he announced that he would soon by paying Israel a visit.
“We will never reduce our efforts to secure for Israel a future free from terror, a future where – alongside a viable Palestinian state – children and the children of all your neighbours can believe in a brighter future.”
With his father – a church minister – being a frequent visitor to Israel, he said he learned of the fight for a Jewish homeland, the Balfour declaration and the promises made – some of which have been honoured and some which have been broken. “I learned of the ancient dream of the Jewish nation becoming reality in the modern state of Israel,” Mr Brown went on.…He announced that against the backdrop of the current political process – which presented all with the real opportunity to move forward – he would be visiting Israel in July at the invitation of Ehud Olmert…he was well aware of just how many victims and persecution were part of Israel’s history. (sic)
Today is Israel’s New Year / 60th ‘birthday’ and next week on the 14th is its Independence day. With that in mind Linda Mamoun writes that “the frenzy around Israel Independence Day is an attempt to freeze history in 1948 when public support of Israel was unequivocal.” She is to be commended for this excellent article looking at celebrations in the US, I especially enjoyed her humour. For example, she’s introduceda new term for the broad range of superficial activites you can participate in to support Israel: calling them the great Israel Hobby. However I disagree that a Two State option is viable. Only a One State solution allows any kind of justice and reconciliation.
Marketing Ethnic Cleansing
Two weeks before Israel’s 60th anniversary the House and Senate voted unanimously to pass resolutions honoring “the founding of the modern State of Israel.” Before the House vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in on the deliberations saying, “I urge our colleagues to speak with one voice, and support this resolution recognizing the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel. In doing so, we not only commend Israel, we also bring luster to this House by associating ourselves with that great state of Israel.” To further commemorate Israeli independence, Pelosi reserved time through the month of June for a weekly series of floor speeches. Israel Independence Day has been celebrated within Jewish communities in the United States since Israel was founded. Traditionally the celebrations were organized by synagogues or Hebrew schools. Children would sing Ha’Tikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and read scriptures on the Promised Land. But these days the anniversaries are geared toward the broader public, making headlines in places where there are large Jewish communities, but also in areas where one would be hard-pressed to find a single person identifying as Jewish. Not only are the anniversaries endorsed by celebrities and political committees (this year’s “National Committee” includes former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the three presidential frontrunners, and all living secretaries of state), but the organizers offer a dizzying array of festivities, requiring careful planning by those hoping to partake in all the revelry. Israel Independence Day falls on May 8 this year, but in the US the festivities run from early April through the beginning of June. With all the events going on around the country, have you planned how you will celebrate Israeli independence?
Mark Your Calendar
If you really had your act together, you could have booked a trip to the Holy Land with Pastor John Hagee and his Christians United For Israel (CUFI) tour. During ten days in early April, the Celebrate Jerusalem Tour featured a Night to Honor Jerusalem, a Middle East Intelligence Briefing, a luncheon at the Jerusalem Convention Center, a Jerusalem Unity Rally Walk, and a “special CUFI salute” to Israel’s 60th anniversary. Best of all, you would have gotten to hear Hagee’s rallying speech, in which he announced his pledge of $6 million for Israeli causes (mostly settlement-related) and declared that ”Turning part or all of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to the Taliban.”
Filed under: Independence, Israel's 60th Birthday, Italy | Tags: Silvio Berlusconi
Berlusconi is cosying up to Israel, from the Italy mag.
Premier-elect Silvio Berlusconi has sent a special message to Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of its declaration of independence, remarking that ”Israel’s birthday is the birthday of all of us”.
In a statement published Tuesday by the Tel Aviv daily Yediot Ahronot, Berlusconi observed that memory was ”a fundamental element of the identity of the Israeli people, who were ale to defend democracy and freedom under difficult conditions”.
Israel begins two days of celebrations celebrating its 60th anniversary on Wednesday.
In his 2001-2006 government, Berlusconi followed Washington’s lead in favoring Israel in its Mideast policy.
During this spring’s election campaign, Berlusconi said the first country he would visit if elected would be Israel, something he did not do in his previous five years in office.
