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Gallery Gaza air strikes: More Than 155 Palestinians Killed In Israeli Air Attacks On Gaza

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27 December: Amid thousands of images of civilian casualties of the Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the solemn stare of one child appears to have stood out more than any other. Newspapers and broadcasters across the world selected the image of a young girl looking into a camera lens outside the Shifa hospital hours after an Israeli air strike

Photograph: Abid Katib/Getty Images

Palestine

 

Gallery Children victims of Gaza: Children casualities of Gaza

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29 December: A Palestinian boy watches the funeral of three children in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medics said five young sisters, died in an Israeli air strike in Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza and three other young children were killed when a bomb struck a house

Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

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The Invasion of Gaza: “Operation Cast Lead”, Part of a Broader Israeli Military-Intelligence Agenda

by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, January 4, 2009

The aerial bombings and the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli ground forces must be analysed in a historical context. Operation “Cast Lead” is a carefully planned undertaking, which is part of a broader military-intelligence agenda first formulated by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001:

“Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.”(Barak Ravid, Operation “Cast Lead”: Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

It was Israel which broke the truce on the day of the US presidential elections, November 4:

“Israel used this distraction to break the ceasefire between itself and Hamas by bombing the Gaza strip.  Israel claimed this violation of the ceasefire was to prevent Hamas from digging tunnels into Israeli territory.

The very next day, Israel launched a terrorizing siege of Gaza, cutting off food, fuel, medical supplies and other necessities in an attempt to “subdue” the Palestinians while at the same time engaging in armed incursions.

In response, Hamas and others in Gaza again resorted to firing crude, homemade, and mainly inaccurate rockets into Israel.  During the past seven years, these rockets have been responsible for the deaths of 17 Israelis.  Over the same time span, Israeli Blitzkrieg assaults have killed thousands of Palestinians, drawing worldwide protest but falling on deaf ears at the UN.” (Shamus Cooke, The Massacre in Palestine and the Threat of a Wider War, Global Research, December 2008)

Planned Humanitarian Disaster

On December 8, US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte was in Tel Aviv for discussions with his Israeli counterparts including the director of Mossad, Meir Dagan.  “Operation Cast Lead” was initiated two days day after Christmas. It was coupled with a carefully designed international Public Relations campaign under the auspices of Israel’s Foreign Ministry. Hamas’ military targets are not the main objective. Operation “Cast Lead” is intended, quite deliberately, to trigger civilian casualities.  What we are dealing with is a “planned humanitarian disaster” in Gaza in a densly populated urban area. (See map below)

The longer term objective of this plan, as formulated by Israeli policy makers, is the expulsion of Palestinians from Palestinian lands:

“Terrorize the civilian population, assuring maximal destruction of property and cultural resources… The daily life of the Palestinians must be rendered unbearable: They should be locked up in cities and towns, prevented from exercising normal economic life, cut off from workplaces, schools and hospitals, This will encourage emigration and weaken the resistance to future expulsions” Ur Shlonsky, quoted by Ghali Hassan, Gaza: The World’s Largest Prison, Global Research, 2005)

“Operation Justified Vengeance” A turning point has been reached. Operation “Cast Lead” is part of the broader military-intelligence operation initiated at the outset of the Ariel Sharon government in 2001. It was under Sharon’s “Operation Justified Vengeance” that  F-16 fighter planes were initially used to bomb Palestinian cities.  “Operation Justified Vengeance” was presented in July 2001 to the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon by IDF chief of staff Shaul Mofaz, under the title “The Destruction of the Palestinian Authority and Disarmament of All Armed Forces”.

“A contingency plan, codenamed Operation Justified Vengeance, was drawn up last June [2001] to reoccupy all of the West Bank and possibly the Gaza Strip at a likely cost of “hundreds” of Israeli casualties.” (Washington Times, 19 March 2002).

According to Jane’s ‘Foreign Report’ (July 12, 2001) the Israeli army under Sharon had updated its plans for an “all-out assault to smash the Palestinian authority, force out leader Yasser Arafat and kill or detain its army”.   “Bloodshed Justification” The “Bloodshed Justification” was an essential component of the military-intelligence agenda. The killing of Palestinian civilians was justified on “humanitarian grounds.” Israeli military operations were carefully timed to coincide with the suicide attacks:

The assault would be launched, at the government’s discretion, after a big suicide bomb attack in Israel, causing widespread deaths and injuries, citing the bloodshed as justification. (Tanya Reinhart, Evil Unleashed, Israel’s move to destroy the Palestinian Authority is a calculated plan, long in the making, Global Research, December 2001, emphasis added)

The Dagan Plan  “Operation Justified Vengeance” was also referred to as the “Dagan Plan”, named after General (ret.) Meir Dagan, who currently heads Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency.  Reserve General Meir Dagan was Sharon’s national security adviser during the 2000 election campaign. The plan was apparently drawn up prior to Sharon’s election as Prime Minister in February 2001. “According to Alex Fishman writing in Yediot Aharonot, the Dagan Plan consisted in destroying the Palestinian authority and putting Yasser Arafat ‘out of the game’.” (Ellis Shulman, “Operation Justified Vengeance”: a Secret Plan to Destroy the Palestinian Authority, March 2001):

“As reported in the Foreign Report [Jane] and disclosed locally by Maariv, Israel’s invasion plan — reportedly dubbed Justified Vengeance — would be launched immediately following the next high-casualty suicide bombing, would last about a month and is expected to result in the death of hundreds of Israelis and thousands of Palestinians. (Ibid, emphasis added)

The “Dagan Plan” envisaged the so-called “cantonization” of the Palestinian territories whereby the West Bank and Gaza would be totally cut off from one other, with separate “governments” in each of the territories. Under this scenario, already envisaged in 2001, Israel would:

“negotiate separately with Palestinian forces that are dominant in each territory-Palestinian forces responsible for security, intelligence, and even for the Tanzim (Fatah).” The plan thus closely resembles the idea of “cantonization” of Palestinian territories, put forth by a number of ministers.” Sylvain Cypel, The infamous ‘Dagan Plan’ Sharon’s plan for getting rid of Arafat, Le Monde, December 17, 2001)


From Left to Right: Dagan, Sharon, Halevy

The Dagan Plan has established continuity in the military-intelligence agenda. In the wake of the 2000 elections, Meir Dagan was assigned a key role. “He became Sharon’s “go-between” in security issues with President’s Bush’s special envoys Zinni and Mitchell.”  He was subsequently appointed Director of the Mossad by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in August 2002. In the post-Sharon period, he remained head of Mossad. He was reconfirmed in his position as Director of Israeli Intelligence by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in June 2008.  Meir Dagan, in coordination with his US counterparts, has been in charge of various military-intelligence operations. It is worth noting that Meir Dagan as a young Colonel had worked closely with defense minister Ariel Sharon in the raids on Palestinian settlements in Beirut in 1982. The 2009 ground invasion of Gaza, in many regards, bear a canny resemblance to the 1982 military operation led by Sharon and Dagan.

Continuity: From Sharon  to Olmert

Olmert and Sharon

It is important to focus on a number of key events which have led up to the killings in Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead”:  1. The assassination in November 2004 of Yaser Arafat. This assassination had been on the drawing board since 1996 under “Operation Fields of Thorns”. According to an October 2000 document “prepared by the security services, at the request of then Prime Minister Ehud Barak, stated that ‘Arafat, the person, is a severe threat to the security of the state [of Israel] and the damage which will result from his disappearance is less than the damage caused by his existence'”. (Tanya Reinhart, Evil Unleashed, Israel’s move to destroy the Palestinian Authority is a calculated plan, long in the making, Global Research, December 2001. Details of the document were published in Ma’ariv, July 6, 2001.).  Arafat’s assassination was ordered in 2003 by the Israeli cabinet. It was approved by the US which vetoed a United Nations Security Resolution condemning the 2003 Israeli Cabinet decision. Reacting to increased Palestinian attacks, in August 2003, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared “all out war” on the militants whom he vowed “marked for death.”

“In mid September, Israel’s government passed a law to get rid of Arafat. Israel’s cabinet for political security affairs declared it “a decision to remove Arafat as an obstacle to peace.” Mofaz threatened; “we will choose the right way and the right time to kill Arafat.” Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat told CNN he thought Arafat was the next target. CNN asked Sharon spokesman Ra’anan Gissan if the vote meant expulsion of Arafat. Gissan clarified; “It doesn’t mean that. The Cabinet has today resolved to remove this obstacle. The time, the method, the ways by which this will take place will be decided separately, and the security services will monitor the situation and make the recommendation about proper action.” (See Trish Shuh, Road Map for a Decease Plan,  www.mehrnews.com
November 9 2005

The assassination of Arafat was part of the 2001 Dagan Plan. In all likelihood, it was carried out by Israeli Intelligence. It was intended to destroy the Palestinian Authority, foment divisions within Fatah as well as between Fatah and Hamas. Mahmoud Abbas is a Palestinian quisling. He was installed as leader of Fatah, with the approval of Israel and the US, which finance the Palestinian Authority’s paramilitary and security forces.

2. The removal, under the orders of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005, of all Jewish settlements in Gaza. A Jewish population of over 7,000 was relocated.

“It is my intention [Sharon] to carry out an evacuation – sorry, a relocation – of settlements that cause us problems and of places that we will not hold onto anyway in a final settlement, like the Gaza settlements…. I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza,” Sharon said.” (CBC, March 2004)

The issue of the settlements in Gaza was presented as part of Washington’s “road map to peace”. Celebrated by the Palestinians as a “victory”, this measure was not directed against the Jewish settlers. Quite the opposite: It was part of  the overall covert operation, which consisted  in transforming Gaza into a concentration camp. As long as Jewish settlers were living inside Gaza, the objective of sustaining a large barricaded prison territory could not be achieved. The Implementation of “Operation Cast Lead” required “no Jews in Gaza”.    3. The building of the infamous Apartheid Wall was decided upon at the beginning of the Sharon government. (See Map below).  

4. The next phase was the Hamas election victory in January 2006. Without Arafat, the Israeli military-intelligence architects knew that Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas would loose the elections. This was part of the scenario, which had been envisaged and analyzed well in advance.

With Hamas in charge of the Palestinian authority, using the pretext that Hamas is a terrorist organization, Israel would carry out the process of “cantonization” as formulated under the Dagan plan. Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas would remain formally in charge of the West Bank. The duly elected Hamas government would be confined to the Gaza strip. Ground Attack On January 3, Israeli tanks and infantry entered Gaza in an all out ground offensive:

“The ground operation was preceded by several hours of heavy artillery fire after dark, igniting targets in flames that burst into the night sky. Machine gun fire rattled as bright tracer rounds flashed through the darkness and the crash of hundreds of shells sent up streaks of fire. (AP, January 3, 2009)

Israeli sources have pointed to a lengthy drawn out military operation. It “won’t be easy and it won’t be short,” said Defense Minister Ehud Barak in a TV address.  Israel is not seeking to oblige Hamas “to cooperate”. What we are dealing with is the implementation of the “Dagan Plan” as initially formulated in 2001, which called for:

“an invasion of Palestinian-controlled territory by some 30,000 Israeli soldiers, with the clearly defined mission of destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian leadership and collecting weaponry currently possessed by the various Palestinian forces, and expelling or killing its military leadership. (Ellis Shulman, op cit, emphasis added)

The broader question is whether Israel in consultation with Washington is intent upon triggering a wider war.

Mass expulsion could occur at some later stage of the ground invasion, were the Israelis to open up Gaza’s borders to allow for an exodus of population. Expulsion was referred to by Ariel Sharon as the “a 1948 style solution”. For Sharon “it is only necessary to find another state for the Palestinians. -‘Jordan is Palestine’ – was the phrase that Sharon coined.” (Tanya Reinhart, op cit)

More oddities in the U.S. “debate” over Israel/Gaza

(updated below – Update II – Update III)

This Rasmussen Reports poll — the first to survey American public opinion specifically regarding the Israeli attack on Gaza — strongly bolsters the severe disconnect I documented the other day between (a) American public opinion on U.S. policy towards Israel and (b) the consensus views expressed by America’s political leadership. Not only does Rasmussen find that Americans generally “are closely divided over whether the Jewish state should be taking military action against militants in the Gaza Strip” (44-41%, with 15% undecided), but Democratic voters overwhelmingly oppose the Israeli offensive — by a 24-point margin (31-55%). By stark constrast, Republicans, as one would expect (in light of their history of supporting virtually any proposed attack on Arabs and Muslims), overwhelmingly support the Israeli bombing campaign (62-27%).

It’s not at all surprising, then, that Republican leaders — from Dick Cheney and John Bolton to virtually all appendages of the right-wing noise machine, from talk radio and Fox News to right-wing blogs and neoconservative journals — are unquestioning supporters of the Israeli attack. After all, they’re expressing the core ideology of the overwhelming majority of their voters and audience.

Much more notable is the fact that Democratic Party leaders — including Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi — are just as lockstep in their blind, uncritical support for the Israeli attack, in their absolute refusal to utter a word of criticism of, or even reservations about, Israeli actions. While some Democratic politicians who are marginalized by the party’s leadership are willing to express the views which Democratic voters overwhelmingly embrace, the suffocating, fully bipartisan orthodoxy which typically predominates in America when it comes to Israel — thou shalt not speak ill of Israel, thou shalt support all actions it takes — is in full force with this latest conflict.

Is there any other significant issue in American political life, besides Israel, where (a) citizens split almost evenly in their views, yet (b) the leaders of both parties adopt identical lockstep positions which leave half of the citizenry with no real voice? More notably still, is there any other position, besides Israel, where (a) a party’s voters overwhelmingly embrace one position (Israel should not have attacked Gaza) but (b) that party’s leadership unanimously embraces the exact opposite position (Israel was absolutely right to attack Gaza and the U.S. must support Israel unequivocally)? Does that happen with any other issue?

Equally noteworthy is that the factional breakdown regarding Israel-Gaza mirrors quite closely the factional alliances that arose with regard to the Iraq War. Just as was true with Iraq, one finds vigorous pro-war sentiment among the Dick Cheney/National Review/neoconservative/hard-core-GOP crowd, joined (as was true for Iraq) by some American liberals who typically oppose that faction yet eagerly join with them when it comes to Israel. Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world — Europe, South America, Asia, the Middle East, the U.N. leadership — opposes and condemns the attack, all to no avail. The parties with the superior military might (the U.S. and Israel) dismiss world opinion as essentially irrelevant. Even the pro-war rhetorical tactics are the same (just as those who opposed the Iraq War were demonized as being “pro-Saddam,” those who oppose the Israeli attack on Gaza are now “pro-Hamas”).

Substantively, there are certainly meaningful differences between the U.S. attack on Iraq and the Israeli attack on Gaza (most notably the fact that Hamas really does shoot rockets into Israel and has killed Israeli civilians and Israel really is blockading and occupying Palestinian land, whereas Iraq did not attack and could not attack the U.S. as the U.S. was sanctioning them and controlling their airspace). But the underlying logic of both wars are far more similar than different: military attacks, invasions and occupations will end rather than exacerbate terrorism; the Muslim world only understands brute force; the root causes of the disputes are irrelevant; diplomacy and the U.N. are largely worthless. It’s therefore entirely unsurprising that the sides split along the same general lines. What’s actually somewhat remarkable is that there is even more lockstep consensus among America’s political leadership supporting the Israeli attack on Gaza than there was supporting the U.S.’s own attack on Iraq (at least a few Democratic Congressional leaders opposed the war on Iraq, unlike for Israel’s bombing of Gaza, where they virtually all unequivocally support it).

* * * * *

Ultimately, what is most notable about the “debate” in the U.S. over Israel-Gaza is that virtually all of it occurs from the perspective of Israeli interests but almost none of it is conducted from the perspective of American interests. There is endless debate over whether Israel’s security is enhanced or undermined by the attack on Gaza and whether the 40-year-old Israeli occupation, expanding West Bank settlements and recent devastating blockade or Hamas militancy and attacks on Israeli civilians bear more of the blame. American opinion-making elites march forward to opine on the historical rights and wrongs of the endless Israeli-Palestinian territorial conflict with such fervor and fixation that it’s often easy to forget that the U.S. is not actually a direct party to this dispute.

Though the ins-and-outs of Israeli grievances and strategic considerations are endlessly examined, there is virtually no debate over whether the U.S. should continue to play such an active, one-sided role in this dispute. It’s the American taxpayer, with their incredibly consequential yet never-debated multi-billion-dollar aid packages to Israel, who are vital in funding this costly Israeli assault on Gaza. Just as was true for Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, it’s American bombs that — with the whole world watching — are blowing up children and mosques, along with Hamas militants, in Gaza. And it’s the American veto power that, time and again, blocks any U.N. action to stop these wars.

For those reasons, the pervasive opposition and anger around the world from the Israeli assault on Gaza is not only directed to Israel but — quite rationally and understandably — to America as well. Virtually the entire world, other than large segments of the American public, see Israeli actions as American actions. The attack on Gaza thus harms not only Israel’s reputation and credibility, but America’s reputation and credibility as well.

And for what? Even for those Americans who, for whatever their reasons, want endlessly to fixate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, who care deeply and passionately about whether the Israelis or the Palestinians control this or that West Bank hill or village and want to spend the rest of their days arguing about who did what to whom in 1948 and 1967, what possible interests do Americans generally have in any of that, sufficient to involve ourselves so directly and vigorously on one side, and thereby subject ourselves to the significant costs — financial, reputational, diplomatic and security — from doing so?

It’s one thing to argue that Israel is being both wise and just by bombing the densely populated Gaza Strip. It’s another thing entirely to argue that the U.S. should use all of its resources to support Israel as it does so. Those are two entirely separate questions. Arguments insisting that the Gaza attack is good and right for Israel don’t mean that they are good and right for the U.S. Yet unstinting, unquestioning American support for whatever Israel does is just tacitly assumed in most of these discussions. The core assumption is that if it can be established that this is the right thing for Israel to do, then it must be the right thing for the U.S. to support it. The notion that the two countries may have separate interests — that this may be good for Israel to do but not for the U.S. to support — is the one issue that, above all else, may never be examined.

The “change” that many anticipate (or, more accurately, hope) that Obama will bring about is often invoked as a substance-free mantra, a feel-good political slogan. But to the extent it means anything specific, at the very least it has to entail that there will be a substantial shift in how America is perceived in the world, the role that we in fact play, the civil-liberties-erosions and militarized culture that inevitably arise from endlessly involving ourselves in numerous, hate-fueled military conflicts around the world. Our blind support for Israel, our eagerness to make all of its disputes our own disputes, our refusal to acknowledge any divergence of interests between us and that other country, our active impeding rather than facilitating of diplomatic resolutions between it and its neighbors are major impediments to any meaningful progress in those areas.

UPDATE: One related point: I have little appreciation for those who believe, one way or the other, that they can reliably predict what Obama is going to do — either on this issue or others. That requires a clairvoyance which I believe people lack.

Some argue that Obama has filled key positions with politicians who have a history of virtually absolute support for Israeli actions — Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel — because Obama intends to continue, more or less, the Bush policy of blind support for Israel. Others argue the opposite: that those appointments are necessary to vest the Obama administration with the credibility to take a more active role in pushing the Israelis to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians, and that in particular, Clinton would not have left her Senate seat unless she believed she could finish Bill Clinton’s work and obtain for herself the legacy-building accomplishment of forging an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians (this morning’s NYT hints at that scenario).

I personally find the latter theory marginally more persuasive, but there is simply no way to know until Obama is inaugurated. Whatever else is true, the more domestic political pressure is exerted demanding that the U.S. play a more even-handed and constructive role in facilitating a diplomatic resolution, the more likely it is that this will happen.

UPDATE II: Donna Edwards, the newly elected, netroots-supported Democratic Congresswoman from Maryland, who removed the standard establishment Democratic incumbent Al Wynn from office this year, has the following to say about Israel/Gaza:

I am deeply disturbed by this week’s escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, as I have been by the ongoing rocket fire into southern Israel. To support Israel and to ease the humanitarian crisis facing the people of Gaza, the United States must work actively for an immediate ceasefire that ends the violence, stops the rockets, and removes the blockade of Gaza.

That’s much further than most national Democrats have been willing to go. And it illustrates that primary challenges can — slowly but meaningfully — change the face of the Democratic Party.

UPDATE III: An abridged version of this post was published in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, here.

Letter of support to the people of Palestine from Jewish Rabbis

The letter has been signed off by Rabbi Moshe Dov Beck, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, Rabbi Meir Hirsh and Rabbi Ahron Cohen.
Rabbi Yisroel Dovi Weiss
Rabbi Yisroel Dovi WeissImage source: Frummer Than Thou

Below are excerpts of the letter addressed to Dr. Mamoud Al-Zahar:

“We speak to you as the voice and the messengers of true Jewry — the Jewish people, true to the Almighty’s Torah, from around the world. Although we are limited in the means of expressing our deepest and true feelings, by the barriers of words, nevertheless, the Jewish people humbly offer to you and all of Gaza and the entire Palestine, a few words, to attempt to convey our deepest sorrow and heartfelt sympathy that we all feel for you, in this present tragic and traumatic time.

Great pain and sorrow has engulfed us by the tragic news of what has befallen you and your family, by the senseless murder of your dear son, Hussam and prior to this calamity, your other precious possession, your other son, Khaled.

We have not the words to console you, but our prayers are to the great Almighty, to console and comfort you and yours, upon this great tragedy. Amen…..

…True Jews around the world, of course including in the entire Palestine, never have and with the help of the Almighty, never will accept the ideology of Zionism and never will recognize the realization of its heretical plan, the state of “Israel”.

Our sole bond is with the Almighty and His Torah. Our sage’s state that we are required to emulate the Almighty, “just as the Almighty is compassionate, so are we to be compassionate.”

We always have and always will, with the help of the Almighty, remain unaffiliated and estranged from this aberration and the will of Satan, “Zionism and the state of Israel”….

…In the Torah it states, that transgressing against the Almighty, will not be successful. This state of “Israel”, according to the Almighty’s Torah, must and will eventually end.

Let us all pray and beseech Him, to bring about the total, peaceful and speedy dismantlement of this illegitimate state soon in our days. With the Almighty’s benevolence, may He make this happen, without any further pain or suffering. Amen….

…We implore you to convey the message to the people in Gaza and Palestine, that there are untold thousands of Jews worldwide and in Palestine who stand with you and who entirely oppose Zionism and the state of “Israel” and bear no responsibility for the actions of the Zionists. Educate your people that when you meet Jewish people, do not consider them your enemy. We all serve the one God.

Once again, we constantly pray — worry and hope for you all.

May we merit to see soon in our days, the total, speedy and peaceful dismantlement of the state of “Israel”. (Source: Neturei Karta)
Posted by Kashmiri Nomad at 18:53:00
Labels: Israel , Jews , Terrorism
Anonymous says:
Yesterday, 5:49:17 AM
“The truth of the matter is that until the 19th century, religious Jews, even those who wanted the establishment of a Jewish State, were opposed to such a State being established in the Holy Land.

Then the secular Jew Hertzl came along and convinced non-religious Jews and later even many religious Jews that Zionism–the establishment of a Jewish State in the Holy Land–was the way forward.

After World War II, Western nations, hoping to assuage their guilt over their inaction or even complicity in the Shoa, made it possible for Hertzl’s secular, “political Zionism” to be imposed on the people of the Holy Land.

Sixty years later, this blasphemy before the Face of Hashem continues to poison the Holy Land. The modern State of Israel is NOT Zion, is not the land to which Moses led the Hebrew Children. The secular government of modern Israel is usurper. It has no validity in the sight of the Almighty. The throne of King David is vacant and will remain so until the Messiah comes.

The radical settler movement claims to base their policies on the Torah are bogus. They twist and pervert true Judaism. Some of their Rabbis justify the massacre of innocents in Gaza by trying to invoke collective guilt.

The only times in the past when it was Hashem’s will that entire collectivities were to be destroyed, the Almighty himself acted directly or he sent a Prophet to reveal his commandment.

The savagery now being wrought by the Israeli Defense Forces is NOT a act of Hashem; it is a blasphemy and a violation of the Torah.

Our Father Abraham held himself to a very high standard. He feared that he might have killed innocent people during the wars he waged (described in Genesis 14). According to midrash Tanhuma:

“Abraham excoriated himself mercilessly saying, ‘Perhaps among those whom I have killed there were some righteous men…’ (Tanhuma 3:14 on Gen. 15:1 )

The concept of individual responsibility for wrongdoing is encapsulated in the prohibition towards the end of the Torah:

“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16)

This moral and religious norm appears elsewhere, in the Tanakh. For example, the prophet Ezekiel warns that:

“The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the rigor the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself alone.” (Ezekial 18:20)

Gaza attacks: UN calls for halt to fighting as death toll passes 270 in fresh Israeli air strikes

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate end to all violence in Gaza after fresh Israeli air strikes against Palestinian targets have brought the death toll to more than 270 people.

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate end to all violence in Gaza after fresh Israeli air strikes against Palestinian targets have brought the death toll to more than 270 people.

Palestinian officials said that 271 Palestinians had been killed in 24 hours of Israeli attacks Photo: Reuters

The air strikes are in response to rocket and mortar attacks fire by Palestinian militants against Israel.

After four hours of talks discussions, the council released a statement saying: “The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza and called for an immediate halt to all violence.

“The members called on the parties to stop immediately all military activities.”

The statement also called on all parties to address “the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza.”

It urged them to take necessary measures, including the opening of border crossings, to ensure Gaza’s people were supplied with food, fuel and medical treatment.

Palestinian officials said that 271 Palestinians had been killed in 24 hours of Israeli attacks in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Since the operation began, one Israeli had been killed by Palestinian rocket fire.

The Security Council meeting was convened at the request of Libya, the only Arab country on the council.

At least 200 Palestinians were killed earlier on Saturday after Israel launched the heaviest air strikes ever seen in the Gaza Strip, hitting scores of targets linked to the militant Islamist movement, Hamas.

The human toll ranks among the highest for a single day in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This day of bloodshed ended any hope of immediate progress in the peace process.

While Israel had been warning for days of action against Gaza’s militants, the scale and intensity of the attack, code-named Operation Cast Lead, was unexpected.

For the first time, Israel has attacked not just militants ordering or taking part in operations but members of the security forces and any buildings connected with them.

Every known police station, arms store and headquarters building in Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since June 2007, was attacked, regardless of whether they were occupied. A passing out ceremony for new police officers was struck, killing around 40 cadets.

Nightmarish scenes were played out through as mangled bodies arrived at hospitals to be collected by grief-stricken relatives. Israeli sources said that 50 targets were struck by 60 jet fighters in the first raid, beginning at around 11.40am. A second wave then attacked militants attempting to retaliate by launching rockets at Israel.

After nightfall, still more air attacks were reported in the south of the Gaza, this time against a metal foundry. But militants fired at least 40 rockets at Israel, including one that hit a house in the town of Netivot, killing one man.

Witnesses said men were killed in the east of Gaza City while they were preparing to fire rockets towards Israel.

Two other Palestinians were wounded in the attack, while another man wounded in an earlier Israeli air strike died of his injuries, according to a medical source.

Locals said that Israeli helicopters also fired missiles late Saturday on four metals factories in the city. Israel says such factories are used to build or store rockets for firing on the Jewish state.

A new Israeli army toll late Saturday said that more than 70 rockets or mortar shells were fired against Israel in response to Saturday’s massive air strikes, killing one and injuring four people.

A Hamas spokesman warned that the militant group would “unleash hell” in response to the strikes.

Meanwhile, Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, warned that air attacks would continue until the threat of militants firing rockets into Israel had been dealt with once and for all. “The operation will go on and be intensified as long as necessary,” said Mr Barak. “The battle will be long and difficult, but the time has come to act and to fight.”

Other Israeli officials made clear the operation was not over and gave warning of continuous attacks.

Nine Israeli civilians have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza since it withdrew all settlers and soldiers from the territory in September 2005.

Over the same period, at least 1,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in Gaza, according to figures compiled by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group.

Israel’s decision to act came after a six-month truce with Hamas, which ran out on Dec 19.

With a general election due in February, Israel’s leadership did not want to give any appearance of appeasing Hamas. When the rocket fire against Israeli towns resumed, they went for the military option.

A ground invasion was ruled out because of fears of Israeli casualties. The national security cabinet ordered an unprecedented air assault.

Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Fatah leader and president of the Palestinian national authority, who is based not in Gaza but in the West Bank, condemned the assault as “criminal” and called for the international community to intervene.

Gordon Brown expressed “deep concern”, calling on Hamas to stop rocket attacks and Israel to “meet its humanitarian obligations” and “do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties”.

The Prime Minister added: “There is a pre-eminent need for renewal of a comprehensive settlement for the Israel-Palestine dispute in 2009.” Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, called for an immediate ceasefire and urged “everybody to exert maximum restraint”.

Egypt condemned the Israeli raids and opened its border with Gaza to allow casualties to be treated inside its hospitals.

A White House spokesman appeared to place greater blame on Hamas. “Hamas’s continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop,” said Gordon Johndroe. But he added that Israel should “avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said he was “deeply alarmed” by Israel’s air attack and appealed “for an immediate halt to all violence”.

Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, pointed to the constant rocket attacks launched by Palestinian militants in Gaza at civilian targets.

“Israeli citizens have been under the threat of daily attack from Gaza for years. Only this week – hundreds of missiles and mortars shells were fired at Israeli civilian communities including the firing of 80 missiles on a single day,” she said.

“Until now, we have shown restraint. But today there is no other option than a military operation. We need to protect our citizens from attack through a military response against the terror infrastructure in Gaza. This is the translation of our basic right to self defence.”

Miss Livni asked for the support of Israel’s allies for an operation she defended as necessary to safeguard civilians against the threat of rocket attacks carried out by Hamas operatives.

“Israel expects the support and understanding of the international community, as it confronts terror, and advances the interest of all those who wish the forces of peace and coexistence to determine the agenda of this region,” she said.

When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it evacuated all its settlers and dismantled their homes. The government believes this was an essential gesture of goodwill and a demonstration of its commitment to the two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.

Israel has accused Hamas of squandering its opportunity by allowing rocket attacks to take place from Gaza, especially after its capture of the territory last year.

Thousands of Israelis have fled areas near to Gaza.

Jewish Power: The “0.002%” World Problem

Jewish Power: The “0.002%” World Problem

by Mohamed Khodr

“We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world – no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men.”

– Woodrow Wilson [U.S. President during World War I]


“The Jewish treatment of the Arabs in 1947 was as morally indefensible as the slaughter by the Nazis of 6 million Jews.”

– Arnold Toynbee, historian, speaking to a Jewish audience in Canada

“How do I respond when I see that in some Islamic countries there is vitriolic hatred for America? I’m amazed. I just can’t believe it because I KNOW HOW GOOD WE ARE.”

– United States President George Bush

“The tragedy is not the brutality of evil but the silence of good people.”

– Martin Luther King Jr.

In his famous book, 1984, George Orwell wrote that three slogans dominate society: “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.”—— welcome to “Western Civilization”.

Israel’s founding–the last colonial power on earth–is a testament to the historical transformation of the passive persecuted Jew to the most powerful political nation on earth. A nation that silences and intimidates the world and all criticism through the stick of American power, its own military and intelligence might, Jewish money, media manipulation, movies, and above all its own myths and lies. No nation has successfully withstood international laws and condemnation and told the world to go to hell. Factually and admittedly by the Zionists themselves—there would be no Israel without Jewish “proxy power” in colonial Europe and in today’s cowardly pandering of the U.S. Government, not the naive, uninformed, and good hearted American people goaded and led by a culture of “mass media lies” into paying and dying for Israel.

In secular Israel and the west, you can curse God, Jesus, all Prophets, your parents, religious leaders, politicians; but you not dare even mildly criticize anything “Jewish” or “Israel” lest you be branded for life as an “Anti-Semite”, or even still “murdered” in “self-defense”. Most of the world is ignorant of the Rabbinic teaching in the Babylonian Talmud deliberately mis-translated into English or purposefully unavailable. Yet scholars such as Dr. Israel Shahak, an Israeli, in his book “Jewish History, Jewish Religion” offers the following quotes from the Babylonian Talmud: (Also See: http://www.hoffman-info.com/talmudtruth.html)

“Every Jew has the obligation to see that Christian churches are burned down and wiped out. The faithful must be insulted and the clergy killed. (Schulchan Aruch, Jore dea, 146, 14)

“If a heathen (gentile) hits a Jew, the gentile must be killed”. (Sanhedrin 58b)

“A Jewish man is obligated to say the following prayer every day: Thank you God for not making me a gentile, a woman or a slave.” (Menahoth 43b-44a)

“Jews may use lies (“subterfuges”) to circumvent a Gentile.” (Baba Kamma 113a)

“Non-Jewish Children are Sub-Human”. (Yebamoth 98a)

Thus on cue, like “Pavlovian Dogs” conditioned by money, campaign financing, and intimidation, western governments and western “independent” media barked loudly against the comments by the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed made at the Tenth Session of the Organization of Islamic Conference. Although he severely criticized violence and suicide bombing, and called for peaceful intellectual, political, and economic means to prevent western hegemony upon Muslim nations; it was only the following statement that received international attention:

“..today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them….Jews “invented” communism…..” O.I.C. 10/16/03

(The leaders of the Russian Bolshevik Revolution were mostly Jews. Communist Russia exterminated over 100 Million Christians and Muslims See Winston Churchill’s Article on this topic:
http://www.fpp.co.uk/bookchapters/WSC/WSCwrote1920.html)

As expected and demanded by the “Jewish Power” in America, the State Department’s reaction to this statement was: ”We view them with the contempt and derision they deserve.”

Many western politicians, academics, journalists, religious leaders, and lay people have said much the same thing: Bush is fighting Israel’s enemies, especially since Bush’s declaration of war on the “Axis of Evil” that is continually expanding, and his lies and faith based invasion of Iraq. A simple internet search will find thousands of articles and remarks stating that America is, as always, paying and dying for Israel.

YET, on the same day, the U.S. Government (Donald Rumsfeld) was DEFENDING the truest, most racist, blasphemous, and “Anti-Semitic” remarks by a high ranking American Genera as “freedom of speech”: Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the newly promoted Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for intelligence. To Quote this man who attacked Allah (swt), the one God of all Creation, and Islam:
“President George W Bush was chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan. The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.”

Speaking of Allah (swt): “I knew my God was bigger than his (the God of the Muslim Somali Warlord). I knew that my God was a real god and his was an idol.” He spoke of seeing a strange dark mark in the skies of the Muslim city of Mogadishu, Somalia, saying: “the principalities of darkness. . . a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy”. “”Our religion came from Judaism and therefore [Islamic] radicals will hate us forever…..”Our enemy is a spiritual enemy because we are a nation of believers. . . His name is Satan.” (Telegraph News: by David Rannie, October 17, 2003)

This dual hypocrisy and double standard was formulated by the Zionists to establish Israel and is carried on in America and Europe by “Jewish Power”. The message to the Muslim world, in fact, to the entire world is:

YOU CAN CURSE GOD: Israel’s Yahweh, the Christian God/Jesus, the Muslim’s Allah (swt)—BUT DO NOT EVEN THINK OF CURSING ISRAEL FOR ITS BRUTAL DAILY MURDER OF Palestinian civilians, its 55 year of Palestinian occupation, house demolitions, “extra-judicial” assassinations, racist wall, uprooting of olive trees and burning farms, it’s Jews only laws and roads, its “go to hell’ message to the United Nations, it’s total control of Congress that rubber stamps billions of dollars, ignores Israel’s spying and murder of American citizens (Rachel Corrie), and the every ready “Resolutions” against Israel’s Arab enemies, even criticizing American Presidents ready to DIE for Israel while evading fighting for their own nation.

On July 30,2002: (thestar.com)
President Clinton, speaking at a Toronto Jewish Fund Raiser:
“Clinton drew applause for his own commitment to Israel when he stated that should the Iraqis ever cross over the Israeli border for aggression, “I would personally get in a ditch, grab a rifle, and fight and die.”

‘The phrase “Jewish Power” comes most recently from the title of a book by J. J. Goldberg (1996: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, Inc.), although it’s been used for centuries.

The front jacket of the book “Jewish Power” states:

“..a frank look at Jewish power and influence in America today…a rare insider’s portrait of the people, the institutions, the money, and the ideas that make up Jewish political influence in the U.S., from the Anti-Defamation League to the United Jewish Appeal, to the New York Times, to the…Jewish caucus in the House of Representatives…He details the absolutely vital role Jews play in Democratic party politics and fund raising. He describes the inner workings of the feared pro-Israel lobby….and its surprising role in shaping American foreign policy. He tackles……Jewish media influence.”

Another recent book called a–Handbook on U.S. Jewish Power–is “Jews in American Politics” by L. Sandy Maisel and Ira N. Forman. (Rowman & Littlefield).

Other excellent book documenting “Jewish Power” and its absolute hold on US Foreign Policy are:

“They Dare To Speak Out” by former Republican Representative Paul Findley and “The Passionate Attachment” by former Under Secretary of State George Ball, “One Nation Under Israel” by Andrew Hurley, and “Fifty Years of Israel”, by Donald Neff.

I would highly recommend you visit the site for the best magazine on the Arab-Israeli conflict, actually the only such magazine run by former U.S. Diplomats, called the “Washington Report on Middle East Affairs” (www.wrmea.com) for much literature, articles, and books on this subject.

IS Dr. Mahathir the only courageous leader to have spoken the “truth” regarding Israel’s choke hold on our government and its Foreign Policy in the Middle East? NO!!!!!

“I am aware how almost impossible it is in this country to carry out a foreign policy [in the Middle East] not approved by the Jews. Former Secretary of State George] Marshall and former Defense Secretary James Forrestral learned that…. terrific control the Jews have over the news media and the barrage the Jews have built up on congressmen …. I am very much concerned over the fact that the Jewish influence here is completely dominating the scene and making it almost impossible to get congress to do anything they don’t approve of. The Israeli embassy is practically dictating to the congress through influential Jewish people in the country”

– Secretary. of State John Foster Dulles in Feb. 1957 quoted on p.99 of “Fallen Pillars” by Donald Neff

“I know I was elected by the votes of American Jews. I owe them my victory. Tell me, is there something I ought to do?”

– U.S. President John F. Kennedy speaking privately to Ben-Gurion (p.90 A & L Cockburn 1991).

“The little Knesset”

– Secretary of State James Baker describing Pro-Israel Congressmen, quoted in the Web Page of the Zionist Organization of America, which, in turn, quotes the Los Angeles Times (March 7, 1992)

“I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance”

– U.S. President Harry Truman writing in his memoirs about the Zionist pressure to support the illegal partition of Palestine by force in 1947.

“I’ve never seen a president –I don’t care who he is– stand up to them [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind. They always get what they want. The Israelis know what’s going on all the time. I got to the point where I wasn’t writing anything down. If the American people understood what grip those people have on our government, they would rise up in arms. Our citizens don’t have any idea what goes on.”

– Admiral Thomas Moorer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (See Washington Report 12/1999, p.124 quoting from
Andrew Hurley’s book, “One Nation Under Israel”)

“The Israeli Prime Minister has a lot more influence over the foreign policy of the United States in the Middle East than he has in his own country.”

– Former Congressman Paul Findley, in his book “They Dare to Speak Out”, p. 92.

“The Israelis control the policy in the congress and the senate …somewhere around 80 percent of the senate of the United States is completely in support of Israel — of anything Israel wants.”

– Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator William Fullbright, 10/07/1973 on CBS’ “Face the Nation”

“We have exhausted our requests. President Clinton has answered all our needs. There has been no American president in history like President Clinton, in his support of Israel and the Jewish people.”

– Shimon Peres (From Washington Report, July 1996, pg. 17)

“President Clinton behaves like an obedient child of Israel and does not know how to say `No.'”

– Nahum Barnea, Israeli writer (From Washington Report, July 1996, pg. 17)

“The Capitol Hill is an Israeli occupied territory”. — Patrick Buchanan (St. Louis Dispatch, 10/20/1990).

To believe Israel’s propaganda is to believe by necessity that the entire world, the United Nations, all international conventions, treaties, organizations, and laws are purposefully “Anti-Semitic”. To criticize Israel, a nation, is to criticize Judaism itself and Jews as a group. Jews and Israel demand to be loved, respected, even feared, regardless of their ruthless history in “ethnically cleansing” Palestine. But in all fairness one must never generalize about “Jews” for some of the most courageous, ardent, vocal voices against Zionism and Israel’s brutality are Jews themselves—in fact, much more so than the entire cowardly 57 Muslim governments who are just as oppressive to their own peoples as Israel is to Palestinians.

Just what is a “SEMITE”?

The word “Semite” arose from the name Shem, son of Noah (PBUH), the patriarch of people who spoke the “Semitic” languages. Semitism refers to languages such as Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Assyrian, Babylonian etc. and not religion or ethnicity. Given the fact that the overwhelming majority of Jews today came from Europe’s Ashkenazi Jews who themselves arose from the “KHAZARS” of the Caucuses and not the original Israelites, the Jews of today are neither true descendents of the Israelites nor do the majority speak Hebrew, hence “Anti-Semitism” applies to the Arabs and not to the Jews.

New York Times: “One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail.”- Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 28, 1994

“We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves.”
Chairman Heilbrun of Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, mayor of Tel Aviv, Oct. 1983

Dr. Mahathir spoke of “Jews ruling by proxy”, referring to the enormous influence of Jews upon America’s foreign policy. Only a fool, naive, uninformed, bribed politician, or a journalist of the American mass media would ever deny this FACT of American politics. Many in Israel itself would agree with this statement, including Sharon himself.

“Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.” – Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio.

HAARETZ: “People & Politics/U.S. Bosses, West Bank Factions, EU Mediators” by Akiva Eldar, Oct. 14, 2003 “On the other hand, the president’s (Bush) political advisors are afraid that if their boss doesn’t find a way to remain on the fence, and tries to twist Sharon’s arm, the prime minister won’t hesitate to show the American voter who’s the real boss in Washington. ”

Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “Nations see Jews as Key to Winning Favor with U.S”; By Michael J. Jordan – September 13, 2000

Even a sizable portion of Americans believe JEWS have too much power.

San Francisco Chronicle: “Survey: 34% of Americans say Jews have too much influence..” January 27, 2003

“A nationwide survey showed that nearly a third of all U.S. citizens fear a Jewish president may have divided loyalties when dealing with Israel, the report said.

The survey, conducted by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco, also found that nearly one in four Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that Jewish control of the media distorts the news. Only 16 percent of older Americans held the same view.

The poll also found that that 34 percent of Americans agree that “Jews have too much influence on Wall Street,” and 37 percent believe that the Jews were responsible for killing Jesus Christ.
(Original article is at http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/01/1566578.php)

Let’s review a small part of the American and Israeli media that speak to such influence upon the United States and on the Bush Administration: If there is one thing the illegal and fraudulent war on Iraq proves, it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that this war was “Made in Israel” through its Proxy “Jewish” Neo-Conservatives. Already these unpatriotic American Jews who’ve never fought in any American war are stomping their feet to go after Syria, Iran, Palestinians, and any “enemy” of Israel. Their war is in actuality a war of “terrorism” upon Islam and Muslim nations who stand in the way of “Greater Israel.”

Jerusalem Post: “Bush Will Support Israel Unconditionally”, By Janine Zacharia, August 2, 2000 (during Bush’s Presidential Campaign)

“As president, George W. Bush would support Israel even if it decides not to take risks for peace, former president Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State (George Schultz) told a Jewish audience gathered here for the Republican National Convention”.

(Only Jews have the shameless audacity to demand the Appointment of Jews to Bush’s Cabinet)

Washington Post: “No Jews in This Cabinet”, By Richard Cohen, Tuesday, January 16, 2001;

Jerusalem Post: “Out of the Mix”, By Matthew E. Berger; January 18, 2001
“Does it matter that US President-elect George W. Bush appointed no Jews to his cabinet?”

Washington Times: “Pro-Israeli Lobbyists Leery of Bush Team”, By Ben Barber; January 22, 2001

“Pro-Israeli lobbying groups in Washington are quietly fretting that the new Bush administration, with strong links to the Middle East oil industry, will be less supportive of Israel than the outgoing Clinton team. Morton Klein, head of the conservative Zionist Organization of America, put it in even stronger terms. “We do have concern that some of the names being mentioned for top posts of [President] Bush’s Mideast team are names from the past which reflect the same old tired thinking that appeasing [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat and the Arabs will bring peace.”

(Bush, as expected, immediately responded to the Jewish Lobby by appointing 2 Top Jews, Grossman and Hass, in addition to others like Wolfowitz, Perle, Libby, Feith, Abrams, Wurmser)

Jerusalem Post: “Bush Appoints MidEast Advisers”; By Janine Zacharia; February 7 2001

“The White House has announced two key State Department appointments that deal with Middle East affairs.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said yesterday that President George W. Bush would appoint Marc Grossman, a former ambassador to Turkey and career diplomat as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, to the No. 3 position at the State Department, and Richard Haass as Director of Policy Planning.”

(First, you get Jews Appointed to Top Policy Positions, THEN, you go after formulating Policies in Israel’s Interest: After Afghanistan’s invasion, Iraq)

Jerusalem Post: “Next Stop, Baghdad?”; October 14, 2001 (same headline repeated a month later)Jerusalem Post: “Next Stop, Baghdad?”, November 15, 2001

Washington Post: “…And Now to Iraq” by Richard Cohen; November 30, 2001(Israel’s demand reaches U.S.)

HARRETZ: “Has Oslo Run its Course?”; January 17, 2001

“A Washington think tank offers a strategy to President-elect George Bush…The Washington Institute for Near East Policy says the administration should “assess whether Israelis and Palestinians… would prefer a peace built on as much separation/disengagement as is practical.”.The group advise President Bush himself to “reserve his intensive involvement” in the Middle East peace process “for decisive moments,”

(The Institute mentioned above was created in 1985 by the Pro-Israel Lobby, A.I.P.A.C., led by Martin Indyk. Bush followed their advice and disengaged from the MidEast for a long time while Sharon was shedding Palestinian blood)

New York Times: “A MidEast Policy for Mr. Bush” by Thomas L. Friedman; January 19, 2001

“A lot of people have been wondering how George W. Bush will handle the Arab-Israeli peace process. That’s easy. He now has a great opportunity to do nothing.”

(Bush desperately wanted to avoid antagonizing the Jewish Lobby like his father which led to his father’s re-election defeat as much as the poor economy did). He succeeded.

Jerusalem Post: “Their Kind of Guy” By Janine Zacharia; January 24, 2002

“When George W. Bush took office one year ago, the American-Jewish community was apprehensive about its relationship with the White House. Janine Zacharia explains why 12 months later, Jewish support for the president has risen dramatically.”

(Thus Bush, aware of “Jewish Power” that can make or break campaigns and careers decided to ADOPT Sharon’s Agenda in the Middle East, especially with the Palestinians)

Washington Post: “Bush Gives Israel Wide Latitude in Offensive”; By Alan Sipress; April 2, 2002

Jerusalem Post: “Powell: Israel Can Decide When to Proceed”; June 28, 2001
“Only Israel may decide when the region is quiet enough to proceed with implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said this morning.”

Jerusalem Post: “Powell: Israel’s Use of U.S. Arms Not Illegal”; By Janine Zacharia September 9, 2001 “Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a letter sent last month to Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), said Israel’s use of American-made weapons in targeted killings of Palestinian militants does not constitute a violation of American law.”

As for the American Congress, their passion is to OUT-JEW each other for Money and Media Popularity:

Jerusalem Post: “Legislators Call for Anti-Palestinian Authority Measures” (A.P: March 15, 2002)

“More than 230 members of Congress wrote to US President George W. Bush yesterday, asking him to classify Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s security force and two other groups linked to the PA as terrorist organizations.”

HAARETZ: “Background/Shock and Assad – Israel’s Wish List”: By Bradley Burston, April 15, 2003

“As President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took on Syria in an oratorical shock and awe campaign this week, Israel gave signs of what it would like to see Washington do to bring Damascus to heel, and what the Jewish state could gain from the effort…Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz also set out a long list of demands he said the administration would be asked to press on Syria. Mofaz told the Ma’ariv daily: “We have a long list of issues that we are thinking of demanding of the Syrians, and it is proper that this be done by the Americans.”

HAARETZ: “Background/ The Iraq Crisis as the War of the Jews”; by Bradley Burston; October 20, 2003

“As the tide of opposition has grown, so has an undercurrent of argument that Jewish influence in America and Israel is a crucial factor pushing Washington into battle…. “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,” Congressman Jim Moran (R: Virginia)
(of course was slammed as “anti-semite”)… Moran’s remarks came amid a flood of commentary from analysts of both the American left and right suggesting that Bush administration was taking advice – if not outright orders – from the Sharon government and the Israeli defense establishment on handling Saddam Hussein.”

HAARETZ: “White Man’s Burden”; By Ari Shavit, July 31, 2003

“The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history.”

The Observer: David Hirst; September 21, 2003

“With the assault on Iraq, the US was not merely adopting Israel’s long-established methods – of initiative, offence and pre-emption – it was also adopting Israel’s adversaries as its own.”

Orlando Sentinel: “Repetition doesn’t make a lie the truth–this is how I know” by Charley Reese, 5/23/1999

“Arthur Hays Sulzberger, when he was publisher of the New York Times, said publicly, “I dislike the coercive methods of Zionists who in this country have not hesitated to use economic means to silence persons who have different views. I object to the attempts at character assassination of those who do not agree with them.”

I speak more to the point. The Zionists in America are the biggest enemy of freedom of speech and freedom of the press there is. And don’t confuse Zionism with Judaism. Zionism is a secular political movement that would do anything to support the state of Israel. Judaism is a religion. Not all Jews are Zionists.”

Washington Post: “Bush Moves U.S. Closer to Sharon On Mideast Policy”; by Robert G. Kaiser, Feb. 9, 2003

“For the first time, a U.S. administration and a Likud government in Israel are pursuing nearly identical policies…The Likudniks are really in charge now,” said a senior (U.S.) government official, using a Yiddish term for supporters of Sharon’s political party…Members of the group do not hide their friendships and connections, or their loyalty to strong positions in support of Israel and Likud…..Friends of Israel in Congress also lined up with Sharon. In November 2001, 89 out of 100 senators signed a letter to Bush asking the administration not to try to restrain Israel from using “all [its] strength and might… Said a senior official of the first Bush administration who is critical of this one: “Sharon played the president like a violin”…. In recent months Israel has sharply escalated settlement activity in the West Bank. In an interview with The Washington Post, Sharon recently dismissed the quartet as “nothing — don’t take it seriously.”

CounterPunch: “Our Vichy Congress”; by George Sunderland; May 10, 2002 (a pen name)

A Congressional Staffer Details Israel’s Stranglehold on Capitol Hill: “We are All Members of Likud Now.”

“For expressions of sheer groveling subservience to a foreign power, the pronouncements of Laval and Petain pale in comparison to the rhetorical devotion with which certain Congressmen have bathed the Israel of Ariel Sharon….Israel’s strategy of using its influence on the American political system to turn the U.S. national security apparatus into its own personal attack dog–or Golem–has alienated the United States from much of the Third World, has worsened U.S. ties to Europe amid rancorous insinuations of anti-Semitism, and makes the United States a hated bully. And by cutting off all diplomatic lines of retreat–as Sharon did when he publicly made President Bush, the leader of the Free World, look like an impotent fool–Israel paradoxically forces the United States to draw closer to Israel because there is no thinkable alternative for American politicians than continuing to invest political capital in Israel….We have now reached the point where there may be no turning back as nuclear Armageddon beckons from the Middle East. Writing recently in The Washington Post, Chris Patten, the European commissioner for external relations, says “a senior Democratic senator [alas, Patten does not name him] told a visiting European the other day: ‘All of us here are members of Likud now.’
The American Conservative: “Whose War?”; by Patrick Buchanan, March 24, 2003.

“Here was a cabal of intellectuals telling the Commander-in-Chief, nine days after an attack on America, that if he did not follow their war plans, he would be charged with surrendering to terror. … What these neoconservatives seek is to conscript American blood to make the world safe for Israel. They want the peace of the sword imposed on Islam and American soldiers to die if necessary to impose it.”

New Left Review: “Scurrying Towards Bethlehem”, by historian Perry Anderson, July-August 2001

“Entrenched in business, government, and media, American Zionism has since the sixties acquired a firm grip on the levers of public opinion and official policy toward Israel…. The colonists have in this sense at length acquired something like the metropolitan state-or state within a state-they initially lacked.”

www.antiwar.com: “How Neoconservatives Conquered Washington – and Launched a War”, by Michael Lind, April 10, 2003 (Mr. Lind is the Whitehead Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. (Reprinted from British Magazine: ‘New Statesman”; April 7, 2003)

“America’s allies and enemies alike are baffled. What is going on in the United States? Who is making foreign policy? And what are they trying to achieve? …..Most neoconservative defense intellectuals have their roots on the left, not the right. They are products of the influential Jewish-American sector of the Trotskyist movement of the 1930s and 1940s.

Their admiration for the Israeli Likud party’s tactics, including preventive warfare such as Israel’s 1981 raid on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, is mixed with odd bursts of ideological enthusiasm for “democracy.” They call their revolutionary ideology “Wilsonianism” (after President Woodrow Wilson), but it is really Trotsky’s theory of the permanent revolution mingled with the far-right Likud strain of Zionism. Genuine American Wilsonians believe in self-determination for people such as the Palestinians.

The neocon defense intellectuals, as well as being in or around the actual Pentagon, are at the center of a metaphorical “pentagon” of the Israel lobby and the religious right, plus conservative think tanks, foundations and media empires.”

FORWARD: “Lewin: Born of Necessity”; By Ami Eden; June 7, 2002 (FORWARD is a Jewish paper) (no condemnation by Bush, Rice, Powell, Cheney, or Rumsfeld on these “hateful, anti-Semtic remarks: ONLY when remarks are directed against the “Chosen People’, the Jews, does the west feel compelled and enraged to condemnation)

“A prominent Washington attorney and Jewish communal leader is calling for the execution of family members of suicide bombers.Nathan Lewin, an oft-mentioned candidate for a federal judgeship”

New York Times: “Annan’s Careless Language”; by George Fletcher, March 21, 2002 (NO one in the U.S. Government condemned this OUTRIGHT LIE by Mr. Fletcher nor did the New York Times, a Jewish owned paper, allow any rebuttal to this shameful lie)

“A redefinition of the Middle East conflict occurred last week when Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations called Israel’s occupation of lands acquired in the 1967 Six Day War “illegal.” A new and provocative label of “illegality” is now out of the chute and running loose, ready to wreak damage.”

The Observer: “Who Will Dare Damn Israel”; by Richard Ingrams, September 16, 2001

Messrs Blair and Bush, with help from on high, are ignoring the truths of the Middle East

“Noticeable was the reluctance throughout the media to contemplate the Israeli factor…Such has been the pressure from the Israeli lobby in this country (U.S.) that many, even normally outspoken journalists, are reluctant even to refer to such matters.”

If anyone does dare, their career, and perhaps life, is in jeopardy:

Jerusalem Post: “French envoy to UK: Israel threatens world peace”, By Douglas Davis, December 2, 2001

“The diplomatic career of French Ambassador to Britain Daniel Bernard was said to be in jeopardy yesterday, after he was quoted as having referred to Israel as “that shitty little country” which threatens world peace.”

Dr. Mahathir, the majority of the world agrees with your assessment on “Jewish Power” but are too intimidated to speak, hence, proving the very point that Jews do have enormous power on America, Europe, and Australia through wealth and control of ownership of the “Media: the most powerful opium upon the masses”

“Jewish Power”, the power of 0.002% of the world population and 1.7% of the American population but whose vast political and economic influence born of Holocaust guilt, money, and media manipulation have turned the most powerful nation on earth, the United States, into their own personal “Terminator” of nations and peoples until the entire world is now cowardly in its silence at Israel’s daily atrocities against the Palestinian population herded into refugee camps whose areas are constantly shrinking. While African Americans and Hispanics constitute about 25% of America’s population they have NOT one single Senator in the Congress, while Jewish Americans, 1.7% of the population have 11 Senators. Such is the power of money and greed. Jews have hijacked America’s foreign policy into an ISRAEL FIRST, AMERICA SECOND policy; damn the poor young American soldiers dying daily in Iraq.

I hope you reminded President Bush and Condoleeza Rice during your meeting with them at the A.P.E.C. summit when they criticized your remarks that they should be ashamed of their own silence when God himself is criticized by their own General Boykin yet they were SILENT. Obviously Muslim blood is cheap compared to hurt Jewish feelings.

The Muslim world is disunited, weak, cowardly, spending hundreds of billions of dollars on military hardware to fight each other and squandering enormous wealth on behalf of corrupt dictators, while keeping their national wealth in western banks. Many of them are directly and indirectly dealing and trading with Israel. Their “Regime Change” should come from within not from Israel, its American Lobby, or the Christian Evangelists who hate Jews, Muslims, and other Christians.

Muslims only need ONE weapon: the Holy Qur’an, yet most can’t even read it. Until we adopt the wisdom, intellect, work ethic, peace, and beauty of our faith and reject ALL who seek violence, terrorism, and military adventurism upon weaker nations—from Bush, Blair, Sharon, Bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein, the world will have no peace and the Children of Abraham will continue to die. Judaism is an exclusivist religion that is using violence to exclude Christians and Muslims from the Holy Land. The world must draw a LINE IN THE SAND and tell Israel: THIS AGGRESSION WILL NOT STAND.

Allah Akbar to all who follow the Straight Path.

Following September 11, Robin Theurkauf, a lecturer in international law at Yale University, wrote: “Terrorist impulses ferment in poverty, oppression and ignorance. The elimination of these conditions and the active promotion of a universal respect for human rights must become a priority:

She lost her husband, Tom, in the World Trade Center.

The Leader of the Jewish “Cabals”, Richard Perle, pushing America to PAY AND DIE FOR ISRAEL says:

‘No stages…This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq, then we take a look around and see how things stand. This is entirely the wrong way to go about it … If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don’t try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war … our children will sing great songs about us years from now.” Richard Perle

Source:

by courtesy & © 2003 Mohamed Khodr

‘s Terror Rampage

by Elias Akleh

“Driven by a crazy warmongering prejudiced god, who elevates one group of people over the rest of his creation, and who orders his chosen people to perpetrate a bloody genocidal cleansing of his promised land in order to build him a mundane house to live in, Israeli politicians are ready to do anything in order to accomplish their deluded dream of a pure Jewish Greater Israel, from Nile to Euphrates, without any Christian or Muslim Goyims.”


If anybody is still having any doubt that Israel (government and citizens) is a terrorist state par excellence then the latest events during the last two months alone in occupied Palestine should convince him of this fact. For the last two year the Israeli government has been tightening its deadly siege against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army had violated the latest seize-fire agreement with its military raids into and bombardment of the Strip. The latest closure of Gaza, the tightest ever, is starving its 1.5 million Palestinians, depriving them of drinking water, and necessary fuel to keep their daily operations going. The Israeli government is conducting a meditative mass murder operation against Gaza residents while the whole world is silently and complicity watching and the American media is distorting the facts. (Watch the facts in Gaza).

Similar to their government, and adopting its ethnic cleansing policies, Israeli citizens, especially the extreme fundamentalist religious Jews, have been, since the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, attacking the Palestinian indigenous landowners, forcefully and collectively occupying Palestinian homes and evicting the owners out, murdering whole family members, burning their fields, poisoning their water wells, shooting their farm animals, totally razing whole Palestinian towns, and building their own colonies on top of their ruins. Encouraged by the American unconditional support and by the UN silence, armed and financed by the fundamentalist extreme religious Shas and Yisrael Beitenu Parliamentary Parties, and brainwashed by extremist Yishuv Rabbis, the Israeli settlers (terrorists) had escalated their terror attacks against Palestinians throughout whole Palestine; in the 1948 occupied Palestine and in the West Bank.

Last October extremist religious Jewish residents of the Palestinian city of Akka (Acre), who were forcefully implanted in the old town in the middle of Palestinian residents and in the suburbs around the city, had perpetrated a wave of attack against their Palestinian neighbors, fired at them with automatic weapons, and set fire to some Palestinian homes. All this was happening under the sight and protection of Israeli police and soldiers, who arrested any Palestinian trying to protect his home. Watch their terror in Akka here.

The most dangerous Israeli terrorists are those religious extremist colonizers (settlers) in and around the West Bank Palestinian city of AL-Khalil (Hebron). Some well-armed 500 – 600 extremists and Yeshiva (religious school) students had forcefully occupied a couple of buildings in the heart of Hebron city where about 200,000 Palestinians live. These terrorists are protected by thousands of heavily armed Israeli soldiers 24 hours a day. To guarantee their freedom of movement large parts of the town are made off-limit to Palestinians. Many other religiously fanatic Israeli terrorist had confiscated large areas of farm land around the city and built their own colony called Kiryat Arba.

The majority of the Israeli colonizers in the Occupied West Bank are followers of the teachings of the religiously extremist Rabbi Abraham Kook, considered the first Rabbi of Israel. He teaches that the Jews should hasten the coming of their awaited for Messiah through acts violence and bloodshed, permissible and encouraged by the Torah, to cleanse the “Promised Land” from all Goyims (non-Jews, Palestinians), destroy their homes of worship (AL-Aqsa Muslim Mosque), and to build the third temple for the Messiah to live in.

These teachings are allegedly based on the Talmud and are taught at the Mirkaz Harav; a Judaic religious college in Jerusalem. According to these teachings the Palestinians have three choices: life long total obedient slavery to Israel, complete transfer out of the country, “lest they remain a thorn in your side”, or the Old Testament-style total annihilation. Similar versions of these fanatic teachings are taught to Israeli youth in their elementary and high schools. Throughout the history of Israel, since the birth of Zionism, Israelis had adopted and followed these teachings.

Israeli colonizers in and around Hebron follow these teachings religiously. They sanctify their Sabbaths through violent attacks against Palestinian residents. Every Friday night and Saturday, these terrorist colonizers, accompanied with their children, fully armed and under the protection of the Israeli soldiers, descend on Palestinian neighborhoods, smash their cars, break their windows and throw Molotov bombs in their houses, break into shops and set them ablaze, shoot at every Palestinian they may encounter, vandalize homes, schools and institutions, steal properties, draw racial and hatred graffiti on walls and doors of homes, churches, and mosques,, vandalize Palestinian cemeteries and draw star of David on graves, and provoke Palestinians with hate slogans such as “Death to Arabs”, and “Mohammad is a pig”.

When Jewish cemeteries and temples are vandalized with graffiti, Jew around the world and the Western World cry anti-Semitism, yet when Israeli Jews draw hate graffiti on Palestinian mosques, churches, and cemeteries no body cry anti-Palestinian, anti-Christian, or anti-Muslim.

Such silence and complicity had encouraged the Israeli terrorist to keep attacking Palestinians. In 1994 the Israeli terrorist Baruch Goldstein, encouraged by such silence, did not hesitate to sneak behind Muslim worshippers in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and empty his machine gun in the back of Muslim prayers while kneeling in prayer. Last week hundreds of fanatic Yishuv (religious school) students were called on to occupy a Palestinian home in Hebron to stop the police from evicting some armed Israeli settlers, who forcefully occupied the home claiming its purchase. The Israeli High Court found the deeds a forgery and ordered the house evacuated. In response hundreds of Israeli terrorists descended onto several Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, smashing cars and beating Palestinians. In Hebron, itself, Jewish terrorists attacked Palestinian residents, set their homes on fire, and injured many of them. Few days ago some of these armed settlers attacked Palestinian homes and shot some of them point blank. The shooter was released for only one night and was released next morning. To see the shooting incident and many other settlers’ terrorist attacks click here.

Another similar confrontation between Palestinians and extremist settlers seems to be imminent in the Palestinian city of Umm al-Fahm, home to about 45,000 Palestinians. The Jewish National Front, a far-right group closely associated with the Hebron settlers, has acquired a Supreme Court permission to march through the city. The group’s leader Baruch Marzel stated “We will march through Umm al-Fahm with flags to send everyone a message that the Land of Israel belongs to us”. Many of the marchers will carry their guns issued to them as settlers. Such provocation, scheduled for this Monday December 15th, will spark violent confrontation.

Driven by a crazy warmongering prejudiced god, who elevates one group of people over the rest of his creation, and who orders his chosen people to perpetrate a bloody genocidal cleansing of his promised land in order to build him a mundane house to live in, Israeli politicians are ready to do anything in order to accomplish their deluded dream of a pure Jewish Greater Israel, from Nile to Euphrates, without any Christian or Muslim Goyims.

The behavior of these many Jewish fanatic groups are considered by any official laws and standards of any country in the world as terrorism. For the last sixty years the Palestinians have been faced with organized Jewish terror supported by major political and religious parties in the Israeli parliament. This is a state sponsored terror. It is a government policy that every Israeli leader supports and calls for. Their real intentions and policies become so transparent and apparent during election time, when all of them call for the expulsion of Palestinians. Just listen to what the Israeli Foreign Minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party, Tzipi Livni, addressing a high school students in Tel Aviv and promising that she would “encourage” those they call Israeli Arabs to move out of Israel to the state of Palestine once it is established.

Israel is a terrorist state. Many people recognize it as such. This is apparent in the international solidarity the Palestinians are receiving from all over the world. The international political bodies have yet to acknowledge this fact, and if they don’t one wonder what kind of ethics and morality that drives their sense of justice and freedom they claim they are fighting for.

Source:

by courtesy & © 2008 Elias Akleh

‘s grim reaper

Israel always manages to commit its worst deeds when no one else is looking.

By Paul J. Balles

While Americans concentrate on the cost of rescuing the U.S. financial system, and Europeans worry about how the worldwide financial crisis will affect them, Israel blithely, with U.S. government and European community approval, deprives Gaza’s entire civilian population of food, medicine and clean drinking water.

When pushed to explain their behaviour, they claim self-defence. Defence against whom? More than 50 per cent of the population in Gaza is comprised of children under the age of 15. Few people outside of Gaza even notice this slow genocide.

Israel always manages to commit its worst deeds when no one else is looking. If they happen to be caught, they blame it on the Palestinians – on a few resistance fighters lobbing rockets into Israel in retaliation for a broken cease-fire. To the Israeli, the actions of a few violent Palestinians are justifiable cause for genocide of the entire Palestinian population in Gaza.

Joe Mowrey writes:

As conditions in the Gaza Strip approach a catastrophic level of deprivation, the world media, and in particular the U.S. media, remain largely silent. The United Nations, whose truckloads of food and medical supplies continue to be denied entry into Gaza by Israel, appears to be one of the few international voices of dissent concerning the collective punishment of 1.5 million human beings.

As soon as someone takes notice of what Mowrey is talking about, the Israelis open the gates to allow a smattering of fuel or food into Gaza. Ironically, Khaled Meshaal has noted even Arab and Islamic regimes have remained silent about the tragedy resulting from the “criminal blockade” of Gaza.

Andrea Becker, head of advocacy for Medical Aid for Palestinians, has written about how the blockade has affected the hospitals and medical facilities. These are hardly resistance fighters:

…a child on life support doesn’t have the oxygen of a mechanical ventilator. A nurse on a neo-natal ward rushes between patients, battling the random schedule of power cuts. A hospital worker tries to keep a few kidney dialysis machines from breaking down, by farming spare parts from those that already have. The surgeon operates without a bulb in the surgery lamp, across from the anaesthetist who can no longer prevent patient pain.

The hospital administrator updates lists of essential drugs and medical supplies that have run out, which vaccines from medical fridges are now unusable because they can’t be kept cold, and which procedures must be cancelled altogether. The ambulance driver decides whether to respond to an emergency call, based on dwindling petrol in the tank.

Joe Mowrey reflects on the most bitter irony of all:

Has the sense of exclusivity and entitlement created by the Zionist experiment in Israel become so great that people there no longer see themselves in the mirror of their own history? The irony of Jews … denying food to hundreds of thousands of children in order, allegedly, to insure their own security, is breathtaking. Who could ever have imagined such a thing?

The Jewish Studies Global Directory of Holocaust Museums lists 61 memorial sites, including four in Israel and 24 in the United States. Reminders to the world? But not to Israelis? Not to Jews in America? Is it conceivable that Jews who remember the Holocaust only recognize genocide when they are the victims?

Rabbi Meir Hirsh, Neturei Karta Palestine, provides an answer:

How long will Jewish and non-Jewish leaders who claim the mantle of civilization and morality remain silent in the face of the ongoing state terrorism practised by the Zionist state against the Palestinian People, most visibly today in Gaza, where the Zionists believe they can starve the Palestinians into submission in violation of all tenets of international law, all religious values in general, including the values of the Jewish faith?

— Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. For more information, see pballes.com. This article appeared in Redress Information & Analysis.

Source: Middle East Online