TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore has said Ireland may push for the EU to ban goods from Israeli settlements if Israel does not quickly change its settlements policy in Palestinian territories.You can sign a petition against the EU banning Israeli goods from over an arbitrary 1949 armistice line here.
Mr Gilmore has also said the Government may seek to have certain extremist settlers banned from the EU if they do not stop their violence in settlement areas.
Mr Gilmore said he spoke for the Government on these points. Asked if he thought Ireland’s presidency of the EU next year would provide a platform to advance the Government’s case, he said: “I do, yes.” ‘
From Ian:
A must read article from Dore Gold
Why the Six-Day War still matters
“These details still matter forty-five years later. When the rights of the parties that claimed Jerusalem were debated after the Six-Day War, it became necessary to look into the circumstances of how each came to possess the city. Jordan's capture of Jerusalem in 1948 resulted from what had been described at the time by the U.N. secretary-general, Trygve Lie, as the first case of "armed aggression" since the Second World War. This stood in contrast to how Israel entered the eastern portions Jerusalem in 1967, that came about through what was plainly a war of self-defense. This distinction became glaringly apparent when the Soviet Union failed in its repeated efforts to have Israel branded as "the aggressor" in the Six-Day War first in the Security Council, in June 1967, and then a month later in the General Assembly.”
“The great American legal scholar, Stephen Schwebel, who would become the President of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, was cognizant of this comparison for he wrote in 1970: "when the prior holder of territory had seized that territory unlawfully, the state which subsequently takes that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense has, against the prior holder, better title." Israel had historical rights to Jerusalem that had been embedded in the British Mandate, but that was not part of the international discourse after 1967. Basing himself on the events of the Six-Day War, Schwebel concluded that Israel's claim to "the whole of Jerusalem" was stronger than that of Jordan's. His analysis was echoed at the time by his contemporaries like the British expert on international law, Elihu Lauterpacht and the Australian, Julius Stone.”
Recipe for War: Unilateral Withdrawal from West Bank by Khaled Abu Toameh
“The case of Jenin, a city in the West Bank, is a good example of the weakness of the Palestinian Authority security forces, especially with regard to imposing law and order: Palestinian Authority officials have admitted that Jenin has been controlled over the past two years by Fatah militiamen and thugs who worked closely with many top Palestinian security officers, imposing a reign of terror and intimidation on the city's residents.”
Syrian Rebels are using Hamas/ISM tactics aka get friendly Westerners killed for publicity.
UK journalist Syria rebels led me into death trap
In nod to Israel, Olympic committee says athletes thinking of discriminating should stay at home
Refusing to compete against an athlete because of nationality or religion would be a ‘serious breach’ of the Olympic code of ethics.
Richard Beinart and Peter Goldstone – Part II
Avram Grant accompanies England players visiting Auschwitz ahead of Euro 2012
State Dept Looks Other Way on Christian Slaughter in Middle East
“The bottom line: the State Department’s Human Rights report fails to report Human Rights violations that are religious in nature, and that’s either because reporting the deaths of Christians would shine a bad on the Islamists who are now in charge or because it would shine a bad light on the State Department that helped put them in charge (or both).”
Gallup Obama’s 10 points off his 2008 pace with Jewish voters
Zawahiri's better half "I advise you to raise your children in the cult of jihad and martyrdom and to instil in them a love for religion and death"