No surprises here: Craig Murray is yet again excellent and Gordon Brown is yet again a devious pro-Israel hawk.
Brown is appeasing domestic horror at the Israeli massacre in Gaza by calling for a ceasefire. Meanwhile British diplomats on the United Nations Security Council are under direct instructions to offer “tacit support” to United States’ efforts to block a ceasefire.
I have been told this directly by a former colleague in the UK Mission to the United Nations.
Well said Nick Clegg:
“Yet for too long the EU has been an economic giant which acts as a political pygmy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. EU Foreign Ministers have the chance this evening for once to take action and not just issue words.
“EU Foreign Ministers must immediately suspend the proposed new agreement with Israel. The deal cannot proceed until there is a transformation of the conditions on the ground in Gaza.
Celebrities and politicians have called for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza strip.
Annie Lennox, Alexei Sayle, for Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Bianca Jagger and George Galloway MP spoke at a press conference organised by the British Muslim Initiative.
Filed under: Israel, Israel Lobby, UK | Tags: 60, Anniversary, Bicom, Birthday
The UK Israel lobby group, Bicom throws it’s toys out the pram claiming US lobby groups are stepping on their turf.
Competition between two pro-Israel advocacy groups over their lobbying of the British media has been described as a “war of the Jews” by a senior Israeli government official.
Bicom – the British Israel Communications and Research Centre – is said to be angry that the Israeli government is working closely with the US-based Israeli Project over public relations initiatives aimed at British media.
“There is intense competition between the two groups when it comes to working with the British media, with Bicom telling us that the Israel Project doesn’t understand how to work with journalists from Britain,” a senior Israeli official said. “We don’t want to get into this. We work with both organisations.”
According to the official, the Israel Project – which feeds the media with information and polling results that cast Israel in a favourable light – works with the Israeli government on PR projects dealing with journalists from a range of countries. Bicom, which conducts briefings for British journalists and opinion-makers and takes them on regular trips to Israel, is interested in preserving its primary role in the UK.
Filed under: Beatles, Israel, Ron Prosor, UK | Tags: 60, 60th, Birthday, Israel, Paul McCartney
In 1965 Israel was scared the Beatles would corrupt the country, in 2008 it’s the country thats corrupted the Beatles. Well one of them anyway – Paul McCartney. Ron Prosor the PR tosser has had his wet propaganda dreams come true, what better brand to associate with and legitimise the criminal apartheid state of Israel, it’s at times like this I really miss John Lennon… Although Pauls spokesman has said ‘nothing is confirmed.’ So perhaps theirs still hope and Prosors been a bit premature again, probably trying to use media pressure to win the deal. If he does accept McCartney will be living up to his bands lyrics as a day tripper as John put it “Day trippers are people who go on a day trip, right? Usually on a ferryboat or something. But [the song] was kind of… you’re just a weekend hippie. Get it?” The following from the Independent, see the Telegraph for more:
Sir Paul McCartney has been asked to play a concert in Israel, 43 years after the Beatles were banned from performing in the country.
The star was approached about staging a Tel Aviv gig this September, a source close to the deal confirmed last night. The revelation was greeted with excitement in the Israeli press. Sir Paul’s spokesman said that “nothing is confirmed”, but negotiations were continuing.
McCartney, 66, and his fellow Beatles were banned from performing in Israel in 1965 when the country’s then education minister, David Zarzevski, thought that a show by the band would threaten the morals of the nation’s youth.
Filed under: Anniversary, Israel, london, manchester, Palestine, Salute to Israel Parade, UK | Tags: 60, Brithday
Press release from the groups involved in todays demo against the Salute to Israel parade.
Buses will travel round central London 29 June to explain the catastrophe experienced by Palestinians.
Salute Israel, a parade and rally in Trafalgar Square on 29 June, will celebrate 60 years since the establishment of the state of Israel. For millions of Palestinians, this is no cause for celebration. It is the Nakba – or catastrophe – which started in 1948, when 13,000 Palestinians were killed and over 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes. The Nakba continues today, as those refugees and their descendents are still denied by Israel their basic right to return to their homes, and Palestinians living under occupation continued to be killed in military attacks. Dr Hafez al-Karmi, President of Palestinian Forum of Britain, described the planned activities as “a reminder to the British public that the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people has gone unabated and has never ceased since 1948. The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, the Apartheid policies imposed on Palestinians and the starvation of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza today are sufficient proof that the plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine remains in action.”
Filed under: Boycott, Israel, Ron Prosor, UK | Tags: 60, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, email, Wales, Welsh Assembly
Welsh Assembly Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis-Thomas is to be commended for urging colleagues to boycott a visit by Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor. In a leaked email he is quoted as saying “I am unwilling to accept the invitation to meet the ambassador because of my objection to the failure of the state of Israel to meet its international obligations to the Palestinian people of the Holy Lands. I would invite other colleagues to do the same.” This call has generated a lot of press: I count at least 9 newspaper articles including the Daily Mail, BBC, Jerusalem Post, Jewish Chronicle, AFP, Wales Online, etc. All of them negative I might add.
The BBC counters Mr Elis-Thomas’s email with 6 spokesmen and you’ll notice they quoted no-one who was in favour of the boycott. One of the 6 was Rodney Berman, the leader of Cardiff council, who believes Wales’ Jewish community would be shocked at the “strident tone.” He then adds “If AMs have concerns, as I do myself, about policies followed by the Israeli government then surely it’s better to use this event to talk about those concerns rather than to put up barriers which can only promote further misunderstanding.”
Filed under: Edinburgh University, Israel, Ron Prosor, Scotland, UK | Tags: 60, Birthday, David Thomson, Embassy
My first article on Ron Prosor, published on the Electronic Intifada:
It would appear that the ambitions of the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom far outweigh his abilities as recently acquired documents from the University of Edinburgh reveal his embassy bungled a public lecture and then tried to lay the blame elsewhere.
Ron Prosor became the new Israeli Ambassador in November 2007, arriving with a fresh enthusiasm for the promotion of Israel. They’ll be “coming out of London to make the case for Israel,” the Israeli daily Haaretz reports he told embassy staff, adding that “I’m not afraid to appear anywhere and there is no platform — suitable, of course — that I will not utilize for PR work.”
Why would the Israeli embassy need to launch a public relations offensive? There are several probable reasons. Firstly it might be due to polls that consistently label Israel the “world’s worst brand.” Or that after Israel’s July 2006 war on Lebanon — during which more than one thousand Lebanese civilians were killed by Israeli forces — an Israeli public relations conference concluded that the propaganda battle had been lost and they had to improve their efforts because as The Guardian reports one attendee explained, “you need to shoot a picture before you shoot them.“
Filed under: BBC, Israel, UK, Zionist federation | Tags: 60, Bias, Gavin Gross, Wembley Arena
A biased BBC source is unhappy that other BBC sources are biased. Yes you heard it here first, the Jerusalem Post has run an opinion piece by the Director of Public Affairs for Britain’s Zionist Federation (ZF), Gavin Gross, saying that he is unhappy working with the BBC due to their use of biased sources. Bearing in mind that he is head of PR for the ZF which has a long successful history as part of the Israel Lobby in the UK, it’s quite funny to hear Gavin’s concern. Doesn’t he consider himself a biased source? Doesn’t he think his organisations attempts to shape news on the Israel-Palestine conflict inside the BBC as incorrect? I certainly consider him extremely biased, as a member of a lobby group and a PR goon, and hope he walks away from the BBC as he shouldn’t be anywhere near the place. It seems to me that as he approves of himself as a source he doesn’t really have a problem with bias, he just doesn’t like perspectives other than his own. Also we might ask why he doesn’t want to discuss what happened 60 years ago while he is celebrating a 60 year anniversary? The anniversary reminds myself and many others of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and it’s important to highlight this history, much more important than whatever superficial little party it spoils. Personally I wasn’t happy with the BBC either – it was mostly ‘Israel birthday’ articles with a small mention to the Nakba in them (can’t recall them saying ‘ethnic cleansing’) when it should have been articles about the ethnic cleansing perhaps mentioning the celebrations (and how divisive or disgusting they are, dancing on Palestinian graves).
Is it Time to Give Up on the BBC? At Britain’s Zionist Federation (ZF), the topic on which we get the most correspondence is the perceived anti-Israel bias of the BBC. While I tell people they can complain to the BBC if they have a problem with a particular news item, from the ZF’s point of view I have always argued that it is more useful to feed the BBC with interesting Israel story ideas and assist producers as programs are being made, rather than attacking them after a particular story airs. However, after my experiences in the lead-up to Israel’s 60th anniversary, I wonder whether this is simply a lost cause.
In May I was invited to appear on BBC Radio 4′s Sunday program, a religious news and current affairs show, to discuss the ZF’s upcoming “Israel 60″ concert at London’s Wembley Arena that attracted over 7,500 people. The producers also invited Ivor Dembina, a Jewish comedian performing at a Jewish Socialists’ Group (JSG) dissenting event at a small hall in north London. Dembina had just signed a letter in The Guardian newspaper titled “We’re not celebrating Israel’s anniversary” which claimed that Israel was a “state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land” and which “even now engages in ethnic cleansing.”
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.
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: 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)
Filed under: Israel's 60th Birthday, london, Palestine, Peaceful Protest, UK | Tags: Stop the War
From the Stop the War coalition:
Stop the War is calling on all its supporters to join the national demonstration for Palestine in London next Saturday, which will mark the 60th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba – the catastrophe – when Israeli forces used terror and brute force to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland.
Sixty years of colonial expansion and brutal occupation have followed — in violation of numerous United Nations resolutions — and today the Israelis have imposed a blockade on Gaza which starves one and a half million inhabitants of food and essential resources. Across Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinians are living in the most abject conditions, under which Israel has set up walls and checkpoints that separate farmers from their lands, students from their schools and universities, patients from their hospitals and families from each other.
Filed under: Israel's 60th Birthday, UK | Tags: anti-Zionists, Harold Pinter, Jewish, Mike Rosen, Steven Rose
UK Jewsih Anti-Zionists have published an excellent statement in the Guardian in opposition to the policies of the State of Israel (thanks Above and Beyond).
A day before Holocaust Remembrance Day and a week prior to Israel’s 60th Independence Day, a group of approximately 100 UK Jewish anti-Zionists have published a statement in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper declaring their opposition to the policies of the State of Israel.
The article, published in Wednesday’s Guardian under the title “We’re not celebrating Israel’s anniversary”, accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing, violating international law, and denying Palestinians “their human rights and national aspirations”.
The statement continues to call on the Israeli government to end the embargo on Gaza and grant the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Signatories include playwright Harold Pinter, and internationally known doctor Steven Rose, British Radio 4 broadcaster Mike Rosen, Daniel Machover, the judge who filed charges against IDF reservist Doron Almog, and Haim Bresheeth, the professor of communications at the University of East London who issued the call for an academic boycott of Israel.
Filed under: Israel's 60th Birthday, Mick Napier, Peaceful Protest, Scotland, UK | Tags: Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, SPSC
Scots upset with the 60th ‘birthday’ celebrations for Israel have arranged a counter meal as a form of protest. I have some small involvement with the groups here and this guy, writting in the letters page of the JC, is way off the mark. Good to see the protest is working though. I’ve added the SPSC reply below too.
On May 9, the day after Israel’s Scottish friends have celebrated the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence, the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, in partnership with an extremist, anti-Israel group, will “celebrate” the “nakba”, the catastrophe, at the same venue in Giffnock, in the heartland of the Scottish Jewish community. Who, in their right mind, would want to sit down to a slap-up meal in celebration of an ignominious defeat, more especially in partnership with those who accuse Jews of “stealing the organs of non-Jews”, talk of “Jewish supremacism” and belittle the recent murders of Jewish students in Jerusalem?
S Grossman, Newton Mearns, Glasgow
The reply
Mr Grossman’s letter is untrue in every detail, as your readers can easily confirm. Exposing the genocidal Jewish settlers who graduate from Mercaz HaRav to Hebron is not to accuse Jews in general of anything at all. A discussion of the ‘Jewish supremacism’ embedded in the State of Israel is as acceptable as that of the ‘White supremacism’ that once scarred South Africa and Alabama. Your readers may wish to defend or oppose entrenched political and economic privileges for Jews in Israel, but none, I think would deny it in private. Similarly, far from trying to ‘belittle’ the recent killings of Mercaz HaRav students, your correspondent accurately reported me: “Mr Napier told the JC that…he did not seek to justify the murders.”
I share in the outright ‘disgust at Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people’ expressed by the majority of members of the current Scottish Government on behalf of the Scottish people, including the good people of East Renfrewshire. As for accusations of ‘anti-Semitism’, we know that it is an axiom of political Zionism, independent of all observations, that anti-Semitism is endemic, timeless and ineradicable.
Living in a Britain which is currently waging a vicious war in Iraq, I accept that we have responsibility to oppose British involvement in that carnage. Jews of conscience similarly need to distance themselves from the atrocious crimes of the State of Israel. As for us, we will continue to campaign for universal human rights for all in Israel/Palestine, for a situation where Arabs and Jews can live together, after the Zionist jackboot has been removed from the neck of the long-suffering Palestinians.Best
Mick Napier
Chair, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
www.scottishpsc.org.uk
