Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Search This Blog
Showing posts with label Richard Edmondson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Edmondson. Show all posts
Nikki Haley was disrupted while attempting to give a speech at the University of Houston this past Tuesday. “Nikki Haley, you can’t hide. You signed off on genocide,” the protesters chanted.
Below is a video that was apparently uploaded by the university’s student media outlet, The Daily Cougar. It includes an interview with one of the protestors and ends with Nikki Haley herself mumbling some idiotic platitudes about how Americans need to be more united–united, presumably, while our government officials support a genocidal, apartheid state.
Lest there be any doubt as to why the protestors are accusing Haley of signing off on genocide, here is a presentation given a few days ago by Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Haley is not “the world’s school marm,” says Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi:
Nikki Haley is a disgrace, an embarrassment to America. She is prime exhibit number one that our government has been totally taken over by a lobby for a foreign country. America is a colony of Israel.
Roger Waters, speaking at a concert in Spain, branded the White Helmets–universally portrayed by Western media as glorious heroes–as a bunch of frauds.
“We live in a world where propaganda seems to be more important than what’s really going on.”
–Roger Waters
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Another Security Council meeting today…and as before, the last speaker, once again, was Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari. Syria is not a Security Council member, but under the guidelines in place, whenever a country becomes the subject of a Security Council debate, its representative is recognized to speak. In his remarks, Jaafari quoted the famous line from George Orwell about truth-telling during times of universal deceit–and Jaafari’s speech was rather admirable, containing quite a few revolutionary acts in its own right.
Another development on Friday was an announcement from the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to the MoD, it has evidence that the alleged chemical attack in Douma was staged. This evidence includes soil samples from the site of the alleged attack (in which no traces of chemical poisoning were found) as well as statements from medical personnel at the Douma hospital that of all people treated in the hospital on the day of the alleged attack, none showed symptoms of exposure to any type of nerve agent or poison gas. According to MoD spokesperson Igor Konashenkov:
“The Russian Defense Ministry has plenty of evidence that on April 7, a planned provocation was carried out in Douma with the aim of misleading the world community. The provocation’s real purpose today is clear to everyone — to prod the United States to launch missile strikes against Syria…
“We managed to find direct participants in the shooting of this video and interview them. Today we are presenting a live interview of these people. Duma residents in detail told us how the filming was conducted, in what episodes they took part themselves and what they did…
“During the provision of first aid, unknown people ran into the hospital, some of them with video cameras, who started screaming, panicking and pouring everyone with water from hoses, shouting that everyone was poisoned with toxic agents. Patients… and their relatives in panic began to pour water on each other…”
One of those interviewed by the MoD is a man who works in the hospital’s emergency room. Footage from that interview is in the video below:
Despite the overwhelming evidence the attack was staged, Nikki Haley is still sticking to her script. Here are her remarks from the Security Council meeting today:
How ironic that the only anti-war voice in the mainstream media can now be found on Fox News. A strange world we’re living in indeed. By the way, you’ll notice that Sen. Roger Wicker never gets around to answering the question on why it’s in the US national security interest to overthrow the Syrian government.
His chief concern seems to be Israel. “Well, uh, if-if you care about Israel, you-you’re-ah-you have to be interested at least in what’s going on in Syria,” he says. All in all I’d say a rather crystalline confession of where the senator’s priorities lie.
Additionally, some thoughts on Trump’s tweets: it has seemed to me for a while now that the president’s tweets are so inconsistent and contradictory that either Trump is suffering from some form of multiple personality disorder or, possibly, that someone else besides him has access to his Twitter account. Two recent tweets, both posted on April 11, offer a case in point:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
In the first tweet, Trump is basically taunting Russia, threatening an attack–at least upon Syria, if not Russian forces per se. But in the second we see a man who seems genuinely concerned about the possibility of war and wants to extend a cordial hand of friendship, even to the point of wanting to “help” the Russians with their economy. It’s almost as if we’re looking at two different personalities here.
It seems entirely possible that the @realDonaldTrump account is no under Trump’s exclusive control, or…alternately…that Trump could be suffering from some form of multiple personality disorder, or what is scientifically referred to as dissociative identity disorder.
If the former is the case, then it would underscore what a lot of us have suspected for a long time–that Trump is little more than a puppet of the Deep State. However, given all the attacks/threats upon Trump from the media and his political enemies (including possibly threats upon his life) the possibility that Trump has suffered from some form of cognitive breakdown cannot be discounted either. Trump has been in office for more than a year now. He has been constantly defamed, vilified, and denigrated. Pressure of this sort can have extremely negative psychological effects upon even the most mentally healthy individuals.
Maria Zakharova, someone who has always struck me as having a rather level head on her shoulders, has made an interesting comment on Facebook:
“Smart missiles should be fired at terrorists and not at the legitimate government which has been fighting terrorists,” she said.
Her Facebook post seems to have been a direct response to a recent tweet by Donald Trump in which he taunts Russia, warning it to “get ready” because US missiles will be coming into Syria–missiles, he says, which are “nice and new and smart.”
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
But even more importantly, Zakharova, who serves as official spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, raises a good point: that a US missile strike on Syria would likely disrupt the work of OPCW inspectors who have been invited by Russia and Syria to come to Douma, site of the alleged chemical weapons attack over the weekend, for purpose of conducting an investigation.
“Have the OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) inspectors been warned smart missiles will eliminate all alleged chemical weapons-related evidence on the ground?” she writes.
“Or is the real purpose to promptly eliminate the traces of a provocation using smart missile strikes to create a situation where international inspectors will have no evidence to look for?”
Al-Manar is reporting today that some Israeli media outlets are calling for Assad to be assassinated…while at the same time the Jerusalem Post quotes “senior officials in the defense establishment” as threatening to cause the Syrian president to “disappear from the map and the world” should Iran dare to retaliate for an airstrike against a Syrian military base Monday, an airstrike in which Iranians were reportedly killed.
Meanwhile the Russians continue to advocate “restraint.” At the same time, Russian war ships have begun naval exercises off the Syrian coast, this while the EU’s air traffic control agency has issued warnings to commercial airliners about possible collisions with cruise missiles flying over the Mediterranean Sea.
Some advice to my readers: it might be a wise idea, if you’ve not already done so, to begin stocking up on food.
The website South Front is doing an excellent job keeping track of explosive developments in Syria. Below are links to articles they have posted today as Western hysteria continues to mount over the latest alleged chemical attack. One of the most irritatingly provocative, though totally unsurprising, developments in the fluid situation is that at least two Israeli officials have now issued public calls for the US to attack Syria:
The above-linked story also notes a tweet put out today from the Russian Embassy in the US warning that “military intervention in Syria under false and fabricated pretexts” would be “absolutely unacceptable and may trigger the gravest consequences.” Worth noting as well is a similar warning that was issued back in late March. “We’ve warned and warned the US that these plans must be unconditionally refused,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov at that time. “Any such unlawful use of force, similar to what happened almost a year ago at the Shairat air base, would be an act of aggression against a sovereign state, as defined by the relevant article of the UN Charter.”
Also, South Front’s latest video under its series of “Syrian War Report” videos is worth watching. The video, which mentions Douma, the site of the latest alleged chemical attack, was uploaded on Friday, April 6:
There’s not a whole lot about the Syrian situation that could be described as “funny”, I suppose, although a second video–not produced by South Front but posted in their website–does hit a humorous note. The video deals with how the US media often seem to report stories in a manner so identical it seems almost creepy. One would get the feeling they’re all reading from the same script. Actually, it appears that they are:
A Syrian girl helps harvest the famous Damascene rose in a photo taken in May of last year. The girl is from the government-controlled area of al-Marah, just north of Damascus
It happened just as Orthodox Christians in Syria were preparing to celebrate Easter this morning. Suddenly the Western media erupted in a new round of caterwauling.
Another chemical weapons attack in Syria! Photos of dead children, some foaming at the mouth. Trump, almost as if tipped off in advance, immediately got busy tweeting. Assad is an “animal”, he told his Twitter followers. Russia and Iran are “responsible” for actions of said animal–likewise Putin, whom he even mentioned by name.
He also threatened there will be a “big price” to pay.
Once again, the media are getting all their information from Syrian “activists” and White Helmeted “rescuers,” as if they have no reason to doubt anything such sources might tell them. The Russian Foreign Ministry seems a little behind the curve in terms of issuing a response, probably because they’re closed for the Easter holiday, and Patriarch Kirill has been leading an Easter service at Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow.
An official with the US Department of Homeland Security says he “wouldn’t take anything off the table” at this point, while war hawk Lindsay Graham in the Senate praised Trump’s tweets on the matter, calling it a “defining moment” for the president.
“He (Trump) has challenged Assad in the past not to use chemical weapons,” Graham is quoted. “If it becomes a tweet without meaning then he’s hurt himself in North Korea, if he doesn’t follow through and live up to that tweet, he’s going to look weak in the eyes of and Russia and Iran.”
Graham added that Trump now needs to “show a resolve that Obama never did to get this right.”
The alleged chemical attack is said to have occurred in the city of Douma, which lies within the Ghouta district, where Western-backed terrorist proxies have been all but defeated. It comes just three days after a seemingly absurd statement by Nikki Haley in which the US ambassador to the United Nations threatened to “slap” the Russians “when we need to.”
So let’s see…another chemical attack (probably staged) that the Syrian government had no reason for carrying out. More calls for war. More accusations of Assad “killing his own people.” And more escalating rhetoric against Russia. Yes…it does seem like another case of déjà vu all over again.
It should be apparent by now that the Syrian war can never be brought to an end by simply fighting the proxies. But yet how many times have we heard the words, “ISIS is almost defeated” spoken by confident prognosticators that the terrorists and their supporters are close to throwing in the towel. It never happens, though. Why? The answer is there simply is no end to the number of people who can be recruited as terrorist mercenaries; no end or abatement to Wahhabi religious indoctrination; and as long as major powers with vast amounts of money to spend continue to exploit this seemingly never-ending resource, the war will go on.
The only way to bring the Syrian war to an end is if one of the major powers itself is defeated–either militarily or economically, or possibly both–or undergoes a regime change and voluntarily pulls out. This is the reality of the situation. It’s a reality the neocons of America clearly have grasped. I’m not sure the Russians have quite figured it out yet.
I do not make a habit of visiting the Daily Beast. I simply don’t care much for their editorial policies. But an article published today on an alleged video of a police interrogation of Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi is worth taking a look at.
Before I get into the details of the report, let me just comment, as an aside, that for a while now it has seemed to me that we are witnessing a growing rift among Jews over the policies of the state of Israel. The rift is primarily between Jews who live in the West and Israeli Jews who by and large support the policies of apartheid.
For instance you might want to go here to read an article, published a bit over a week ago at the ultra-Zionist Aurtz Sheva/Israel National News website–an article which assails Ronald Lauder over a mildly-worded comment in which the president of the World Jewish Congress criticized “Israel’s capitulation to religious extremists” while at the same time referencing a “growing disaffection of the Jewish diaspora.”
Israel’s policies and all the boycotts they are generating, in addition to making it increasingly hard to cast Jews as victims, are bound to be causing headaches for Jews who oversee vast business empires in the West–empires which depend upon public goodwill for continued profitability. And this is probably a major source of the “growing disaffection” Lauder refers to.
Now comes the Daily Beast article.
Written by a Jewish writer, Jesse Rosenfeld, the article offers a rather realistic view of the occupation, describing Ahed Tamimi’s village of Nabi Saleh as a place where “unpleasant daily encounters with Israeli settlers and soldiers are a fact of life.” Rosenfeld also makes reference to “vitriolic condemnations” heaped upon the Tamimi family by “hardline Israeli politicians” and by “national activists,” and he additionally cites figures showing that the conviction rate of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli military courts is “near one hundred percent.”
It’s almost sounds as if the Daily Beast is championing the cause of Ahed Tamimi!
But let’s get into the nuts and bolts of the article, which you can read in full here. Rosenfeld apparently was given access to a video of an interrogation of Ahed that took place on December 26. The video, he says, is nearly two hours long, and in it the two Israeli interrogators show no regard for her rights as a minor.
“Handcuffed and sitting at a desk in a police office, Ahed watches and withstands the security officials’ escalation from theatrical displays of good cop-bad cop and creepy attempts at flirting to terrifying threats against her family,” he writes, noting additionally that Ahed remains silent throughout it all.
From the viewpoint of what appears to be a camera on top of a computer, in the corner of a police office, Ahed is led into the room and seated at a desk. She is offered water and a sandwich but refuses.
With a nonchalant expression her face, she says nothing while asked a series of routine questions. Even when asked to state her name, she asserts her right to remain silent. As the interrogation gets underway, the main interrogator—an Israeli Jew of Middle Eastern origin who is overheard saying he is from military intelligence, appears to be in his late 20s to early 30s, and sports a buzz cut, grayish shirt, blue jeans, and a gun on his waist—tries to engage Ahed in conversation.
The interrogator tries flirting with her, telling her she has “eyes like an angel,” but when this fails to produce a cooperative prisoner, the second interrogator takes over and begins threatening her family.
Throughout most of the interrogation Ahed maintains a relatively blank and at times tired and bored expression. However, it is when the interrogator starts threatening to arrest her family and friends that Ahed’s expression melts into a look of horror followed by melancholy.
Psychologically trying to wear her down, the interrogator tells Ahed, “I don’t want to bring those children here,” and then adds: “I pray that you take the easy way. You don’t want me to speak with those children, right?”
Rosenfeld notes that Ahed was not physically tortured during the interrogation–but the psychological torture was probably immense. Yet through it all she refuses to cooperate or answer their questions. It would suggest that such characterizations of Ahed as “the lioness of Palestine” are not altogether unjustified.
As for the Daily Beast, I suspect the international attention Ahed’s case has garnered, along with the girl’s growing status as a symbol of Palestinian resistance, had a lot to do with their decision to publish an article such as this. Yet at the same time, Israel’s practice of shooting Palestinian children in the head with rubber bullets while proclaiming itself the Jewish state has got to be perceived as a liability by Jews trying to maintain a veneer of professionalism and respectability in America. Will this translate into increasing numbers of Jews abandoning AIPAC and joining the BDS movement? I guess that remains to be seen.
[ Ed. note – Israel’s supporters and its legions of hasbara apparatchiks are quite fond of telling us how wonderfully Christians are treated in the Jewish state. But an article published today in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz gives us a slightly different perspective. Palestinian Christians in Gaza are required to obtain permits to travel to Jerusalem for Easter observances, and according to the Haaretz report, Israeli authorities are refusing to issue permits to Christians aged 55 and under.
One other thing you’ll note about the article below: it makes mention of an Israeli government agency known as “COGAT.” COGAT stands for “Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.” It is a part of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and generally speaking is responsible for implementing government policies in the occupied territories. Back in February it was none other than a COGAT official who made the ludicrous assertion that Muhammed Tamimi, the young cousin of Ahed Tamimi who was shot in the head with a rubber bullet, had actually injured himself by falling off his bicycle.
Immediately below the Haaretz report, you’ll also find a Press TV program from Easter of two years ago. One of the guests on the program discusses travel restrictions on Palestinian Christians from visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem–so in other words, while the age restrictions discussed in the Haaretz article below may be new, the travel restrictions in general are not. And also, in the same video, you’ll hear about hate crimes against Christians, including vandalism of churches and spitting upon Christians.
One final thing I’ll mention–I have not reported it so far because I’ve been busy on other things lately, but the case of Ahed Tamimi was finally adjudicated by the Israeli military court. The girl was sentenced to eight months in jail following a plea bargain deal reached with prosecutors. She will also pay a fine of nearly $1,500. The arrangement was announced on Wednesday of last week.
Ironically, in the same week, an Israeli military parole board ruled that Israeli soldier Elor Azarya should be released after serving only nine months for shooting a wounded Palestinian in the head and killing him back in March of 2016. But wait, there’s more. Also last week (a rather stunning week for irony, even perhaps by Israeli standards), yet another Israeli, David Muial, is reported to have been sentenced to community service for participating in a lynching of an Eritrean assylum seeker that occurred back in October of 2015.
So let’s see. Azarya, when he is released in May, will end up having served just nine months for carrying out what in reality was a cold-blooded murder of a Palestinian…while Ahed, for the horrible crime of slapping a soldier at the front entrance to her home, will remain behind bars for eight months–a mere 30 days less than Ararya got for an act of murder. And Muial’s appallingly brutal sentence of community service I guess speaks for itself.
So…imposing draconian discipline upon “chosen people” for petty crimes like murder and lynching–what in the heck is that all about? It looks like Jews really do have it tough in Israel after all!
Of course, we do know of one Jew who paid the ultimate price–for the “crime” of preaching peace, love and compassion. ]
Only Christians over the age of 55 will be allowed to enter Israel from the Gaza Strip to pray at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre during Easter, according to a document issued by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. Five hundred permits have been issued for the holiday, as compared to 700 for Christmas, but sources in Gaza say that the age restriction means that only about 10 percent of the quota will be filled.
According to Christian clergy in Gaza, who say the limitations are unjustified, only about 120 Christians meet the age criteria and many will not be able to travel without relatives who are under the age limit. George Anton, a Christian community activist from Gaza, said that no permits for Easter have been issued so far.
Easter, also known as the “great feast,” is the most important holiday on the Christian liturgical calendar in the Middle East, as opposed the West, where Christmas takes precedence. Catholics and Protestants will celebrate Easter on Sunday, while the Orthodox churches will mark the holiday two weeks later.
Anton told Haaretz that there are about 1,200 Christians living in Gaza (as opposed to 1,313 documented by a Vatican delegation in 2014). Similar age restrictions were imposed in the past, he said. For the Easter holiday in 2015, following the war in the Gaza Strip the previous year, entry to Israel was barred for people age 16 to 35. However, after church leaders in Israel and abroad intervened, the restriction was lifted and 850 permits were issued.
According to COGAT, restrictions are eased during Muslim and Christian holidays as part of the policy to encourage religious activities of all faiths. But in Gaza, news of the relaxed restrictions are usually made public late, and responses to permit applications are often given too late or are turned down with no reason given.
In a video posted on COGAT’s Facebook about three weeks ago, the day the quota was made public, an Israeli army officer named Alaa Halabi asked Gaza residents who had received permits for Christmas and had not yet returned to do so immediately. Halabi warned that their failure to return would “impact the ability” of COGAT “to take steps ahead of Easter.”
Sources in Gaza believed that a few dozen people did not return after leaving the Strip for Christmas.
The COGAT document did not reveal the reason for the age restrictions but the office confirmed the age restriction and did not deny that it was a punitive measure. “The State of Israel is a sovereign state that has the right to decide who enters it,” the response stated. “Foreigners have no inherent right to enter Israel, including Palestinian residents of Gaza.” It was decided to issue permits only to those over 55 “In light of the recurring phenomenon of Palestinians who took advantage of the permit to remain in Israel illegally” and “as part of the actions to limit illegal presence in Israel,” COGAT said.
Lawmaker Aida Touma-Sliman of the Joint List asked Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan to change the entry conditions so that all Christians would “be able to exercise their basic right to freedom of religion.” Touma-Sliman said she has not yet received an answer. “Israel boasts to the whole world that it is a safe place for all religions. But in fact it continues to harm the Palestinian Christian population,” the lawmaker said. She added that the age restriction “constitutes more proof that Israel has never left Gaza and continues to control everything that happens there.”
Following requests for action from Gaza, the nonprofit organizationGisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement demanded in a letter to COGAT that the age restriction be lifted and that the number of permits for the holiday be increased. “There is no justification for arbitrary impairment of freedom of movement and religion,” Gisha wrote, “certainly not a dialogue of threats. This is another example of collective punishment of the residents, and generally the punitive and arbitrary nature of Israel’s permit regime with regard to Gazans.”
Departing US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster believes the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. is holy ground. He said so in a recent speech there.
“We are gathered together this afternoon on holy ground,” he proclaimed.
Yesterday it was reported that McMaster has been ousted from his position in the Trump administration. While there were subtle nuances in views on such things as Russia and the JCPOA agreement with Iran, the “personal chemistry” between Trump and McMaster probably had at least as much, if not more, to do with the latter’s departure than anything else. And the general’s speech at the Holocaust Museum, I would contend–a speech given on the 7th anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Syria–offers us some interesting insights into why the anti-Russia hysteria emanating from Washington has ramped up to such dangerous levels.
You can go here to access a Politico report on the speech, and here to see a video of it uploaded by the US State Department. As you will observe, McMaster devoted much of the talk to fulminating against Russia. The program also abounded with the usual rhetoric against Syria and Iran.
“Unfortunately today in Syria we are confronted with some of the worst atrocities known to man,” McMaster declared, and he went on to adjure that “the Russian government has bombed civilian areas and provided political cover for Assad’s crimes.”
Some of the worst atrocities known to man? McMaster ludicrously seems to be suggesting that President Assad, whose ouster has been openly called for by both US and Israeli officials, may be “worse than Hitler,” as it were. It is a sign that desperation to remove him is reaching new levels.
Significantly, the talk was given on March 15, which as I say was the 7th anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Syria–and at several points during the program McMaster made reference to a “Syria exhibit” there at the museum.
“The Syria exhibit here at the Holocaust Museum details these horrifying crimes through photographs, film, first person accounts, and other documentary evidence. It is estimated that nearly 500,000 people have perished since the war began,” he said.
Throughout, the following image was projected onto a large screen upon the stage from which the general gave his talk:
Question: Why would the Holocaust Museum, an entity presumably devoted to remembering an event in history, insert itself into the contemporary politics of regime change in the Middle East? Does it not suggest that the agenda of overthrowing the Assad government may be quintessentially a “Jewish agenda”?
In that regard, another point to consider is this: Russia is the chief reason why, after seven long years, the efforts to overthrow Assad have gone up in smoke. Imagine. All the money, resources, time and effort spent recruiting, arming, and training terrorist proxies, and nothing to show for it other than heaps of dead bodies and whole areas reduced to rubble. Despite all that, Assad remains leader of Syria.
Imagine the pent up fury this has triggered in certain circles in Washington…and probably elsewhere. Do you really doubt that pitting the US in a war against Russia is an option that has not been considered? So should we consider the bringing about of such a war a part of the aforementioned “Jewish agenda”?
Many political analysts would say what’s being played out now, vis-à-vis the escalating tensions between the US and Russia, is a “neocon agenda.” Or, alternately, that the “Deep State” or the “Military Industrial Complex” are behind it all. But McMaster’s speech at the Holocaust Museum on the anniversary of the start of the war strikes me as an oddity, a red flag almost. If you were Sherlock Holmes trying to solve the puzzle of a murder mystery it’s certainly a piece of evidence you wouldn’t overlook.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (as it is officially called) is located adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, some ten blocks from the White House. According to Wikipedia, it has approximately 400 employees and is run by a governing board called the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, a body whose membership includes 55 individuals appointed by the president of the United States. The Council also includes five members of the US Senate and five members of the House of Representatives. Congressional members include Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ted Deutch, and Marco Rubio of Florida; Lee Zeldin of New York; Brad Schneider of Illinois; Orrin Hatch of Utah; and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
The current chairman is Howard M. Lorber, chairman and CEO of Vector Group Ltd., a holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is chairman also of Nathan’s Famous, a fast food chain. While in college, Lorber was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, an experience which, according to Wikipedia, “had a large impact on his Jewish identity, and as such he endowed a position within the organization called the Lorber Director of Jewish Programming.” Alpha Epsilon Pi, by the way, is a fraternity that is “based upon Jewish principles.” Supposedly it is open to all who espouse its “purpose and values,” however, some have questioned whether this is indeed the case since the fraternity is said to have “expelled non-Jewish members from some of its chapters.”
Lorber reportedly has known Trump for more than 30 years.
The day McMaster gave his speech at the museum was also the day the US, UK, France, and Germany issued a joint statement on the Salisbury nerve agent poisoning, a statement in which the NATO members judged it “highly likely” that Russia was behind the attack. In fact, McMaster even made mention of the statement in his speech that same day.
“This morning the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom condemned the abhorrent nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal that took place in Salisbury, United Kingdom on March 4,” he said. “The statement made clear that we believe that Russia was responsible for this attack, and we call on the Russian government to answer all questions related to this incident and to provide full information to the OPCW.”
Other commenters, from George Galloway to Paul Craig Roberts, have covered extensively why it would have been absurd for Russia to carry out such an attack, so I’m not going to waste space on it here. What I’d like to do instead is posit the theory of an historical continuum.
What we are seeing now, with all the venomous rancor being directed against Russia, is not solely the result of Russia’s entry into the Syrian war in 2015; it in fact has relatively little to do with that; it also has little or nothing to do with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, nor does it trace its roots back to the outset of the Syrian war in 2011.
It did not begin with Assad’s becoming president of Syria in the year 2000, nor with Putin’s assuming the leadership of Russia in 1999.
What we are seeing is not a “new cold war,” a throwback to the 1950s and 60s; nor did it even commence with the Holocaust in the 1940s and 30s. No. What we are seeing now began much earlier. Much earlier. It is a continuum that stretches back for 2000 years–all the way back to the crucifixion of Christ.
A dictionary definition of “continuum” is: “a continuous extent, succession, or whole, no part of which can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division”…and…“a continuous series or whole, no part of which is perceptibly different from the adjacent parts.”
In other words, a continuum, particularly an historical continuum, could be thought of as a play of many acts. In this case, the play started in the time of Christ–and it has yet to reach its conclusion. I say this because anger at Christ and Christianity seems to be embedded in the collective Jewish psyche. Jews for centuries have blamed Christians for their problems. Certainly a lot has changed since the Second Vatican Council and the onset of the era of “interfaith dialog” (an era which has coincided with the rise of Christian Zionism), and the ill-will between Christians and Jews today is nowhere near what it used to be. Now, rather than Christians, it is the Muslim world which Jews, or Israeli Jews at any rate, find themselves at war against, yet the old resentments are still there– bubbling underneath though surfacing from time to time in such forms as negative portrayals of Christians in Hollywood films and TV shows.
Alleged “Christian anti-Semitism” is something that many Jews harbor seething resentments over. And this is why I say a continuum is in effect…and why such a continuum should be taken into consideration when forming an analysis of current events.
The key events in this continuum are:
→ The crucifixion of Christ in 30 A.D.;
→ Destruction of the Jewish temple exactly 40 years later;
→ Third Jewish revolt crushed by the Romans in 136 A.D.;
→ Rome renames Judea “Syria Palestina”; some Jews remain; others disperse to other regions;
→ The compilation, starting in early 3rd century, of the Talmud (in which Jesus is reviled);
→ The compilation, in the 7th century, of the Quran (in which Jesus is revered);
→ Conversion to Judaism by the Khazars in the 8th century;
→ Khazar Kingdom defeated by joint Russian-Byzantine force in the 10th century; Khazarian Jews disperse to Eastern Europe;
→ 11th-20th centuries: Jews expelled from roughly 100 countries or regions;
→ 1933-45: Hitler comes to power; Jews placed in camps; World War II is fought
→ 1948: Israel established; more than 700,000 Palestinians dispersed from their villages and homes;
→ 1951: AIPAC is founded and Jewish power begins to grow in America
Russia is the most powerful Christian nation on earth. Yes, its power and influence are viewed as threatening to US global hegemony, but the irrational threats and accusations being made against it, the heightening of tensions to almost unprecedented levels, can be fully understood only within the context of the above continuum.
Likewise the threats against Assad and Syria.
Bashar Assad is a secular leader who has protected Christians. If terrorism is truly the concern of US officials, why single out Assad as the enemy? Why not Saudi Arabia instead? Assad is actually fighting the very terrorists Washington professes such concern over. Assad has ensured that Christians in Syria, at least in areas controlled by the government, remain free to practice their religion. Their churches and monasteries are protected. In fact, Assad arguably has done more to unify Christians and Muslims than any other national leader, certainly in the Middle East–and this may be the real reason he is hated so much. Here is a video which I posted on December 30, 2015. It shows Assad and his wife, Asma, visiting a Church in Damascus during Christmas that year:
The church is the Notre Dame de Damas Church, an ancient cathedral located just two kilometers from the militant-held area of East Ghouta. The people you see in this video are probably some of those who have suffered most from terrorist shells fired from East Ghouta. The more the Syrian Army has closed in on these terrorists, establishing humanitarian corridors for trapped civilians, the louder have become the howls of protest from the mainstream media and US officials. And yes, a case in point–McMaster’s speech on the 15th.
“The war has now raged for seven years. The Assad regime has killed indiscriminately, tortured, starved, raped, and used chemical weapons on his own people. It has attacked hospitals and schools, and countless Syrians have been arrested, abducted, or simply disappeared,” he claimed.
This wasn’t the only reference to the Syrian “regime” reputedly killing its “own people.” In fact throughout his talk, McMaster repeatedly referred to “Assad’s use of chemical weapons,” as if it were a proven, undisputed fact. And almost laughably–despite America’s documented support for terrorists in Syria, including the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement, which in 2016 filmed themselves beheading a 12-year-old Palestinian boy–he touted the US as a “civilized nation.”
“All civilized nations must hold Iran and Russia accountable for their role in enabling atrocities and perpetuating human suffering in Syria,” he insisted…and he issued a demand:
If Iran and Russia do not stop enabling the regime’s atrocities and adhere to Security Council resolutions, all nations must respond more forcefully than simply issuing strong statements. It is time to impose serious political and economic consequences on Moscow and Tehran.
I suppose we should breathe a sigh of relief that McMaster didn’t call for an all-out military invasion of Russia–and that so far no other US official has issued such a call either. But that being said, it’s hard to imagine what further “political and economic consequences” could be imposed that would not lead to war.
Is it just a coincidence that Vladimir Putin, president of the most powerful Christian nation on earth, and Bashar Assad, a head-of-state who has worked toward Muslim-Christian unity, would be held up by US leaders and mainstream media as objects of vilification and demonization? Did that simply happen by chance? Or is there a continuum in effect? A continuum that has resulted in a Jewish agenda that is now leading us toward global confrontation?
The lies tirelessly generated by mainstream media on Syria are discussed in an article published a couple of days ago by independent journalist Eva Bartlett.
“As per their norm, corporate media’s reports on Eastern Ghouta rely on the usual suspect sources,” Bartlett says.
One of the “usual suspect sources” heavily relied upon for a good while now has been the infamous White Helmets. This proved to be the case in McMaster’s speech as well–in fact, from his podium the general recognized and applauded two members of the so-called humanitarian organization present at the time–present in the halls of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. “Let’s give them a round of applause,” he urged. The audience obliged.
Bartlett also discusses an article by Sharmine Narwani that was published a few days prior to her own, an article in which Narwani discusses her experience of visiting, and seeing with her own eyes, a chemical weapons laboratory discovered by the Syrian Arab Army in a recently-liberated portion of East Ghouta. Narwani’s article, which includes photos taken inside the lab, can be viewed here.
But yet McMaster and other US officials go on asserting that it is Assad, rather than terrorist saboteurs, resorting gawkishly to chemical attacks–and they state their opinion on this matter almost uniformly, as if singing in a chorus.
McMaster, in his position as National Security Advisor, participated regularly in meetings of the National Security Council. He presumably had access to CIA intelligence on the situation in Syria. If the CIA is even remotely competent then would it not know, or at least have a fairly good idea, who is manufacturing and using chemical weapons in Syria? If the answer to that question is no, then it inevitably begs a second question, somewhat more trenchant and sardonic than the first: do CIA agents, tasked with gathering, processing and analyzing national security information, derive their intelligence assessments from reading the mainstream media?
Of course the other alternative is that the US national interest has now been replaced by some other agenda.
Bartlett’s article, well worth reading in its entirety, is headlined, ‘They know that we know they are liars, they keep lying’: West’s war propaganda on Ghouta crescendos.”
In it, she also cites a group of Trappist nuns in Syria–and even provides a couple of quotes from one of them. Here is what she writes:
“We, the people who actually live in Syria, we are really exhausted, nauseated by this global indignation that issues blanket condemnations of those who defend their lives and their land.
“The attacks on civilians in Damascus, began from the Ghouta area into the government-controlled part, and not vice versa… Why this blindness on the part of the West?”
You can well understand why the nuns would feel nauseated. So thorough has been the distortion of reality that soldiers of the Syrian Army, the very young men who have given their lives to protect the nuns and other innocent Syrians, have been portrayed as the evildoers. Bartlett herself then goes on to comment:
It is a painful rhetorical question that many of us have asked over the years, well-aware of the answer: because it doesn’t serve the regime-change agenda, one so diligently put forth by the corporate media.
As the war propaganda continues, I quote the nuns, who said: “Deliver us Lord from the war… and deliver us from bad journalism.”
I’ll close here with a quote from Jesus–it is the 9th beatitude, from the 5th chapter of Matthew, a quote which Russians and Syrians generally, and most especially Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad in particular, would do well to keep in mind:
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I’ll also offer a quote from John, from his first epistle, a passage in which this beloved disciple of Jesus discusses the crucial importance of love. What he is outlining here is the most fundamental of all Christian concepts:
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
It is vital that we continue to live in love rather than succumb to the hatred of other nations and peoples–hatreds that are being deliberately fomented. It is also important that we understand the continuum, to recognize that it is still in effect, and that most likely there are further acts in the play that are yet to come. These do not have to include World War III, however. It is not mandated that the play end tragically. For the choice of how it ends is our own–and the possibility of choosing love, rather than fear and hate, lies with all of us.
Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
