Friday, December 09, 2011
Elder of Ziyon
Friday, December 09, 2011Elder of Ziyon
max blumenthalGreenberg's statement to me did not come out of the blue: A book she co-authored with Joshua Dratel, "The Road to Abu Ghraib," contains a lengthy section on Israeli court rulings authorizing torture and torture techniques refined by the Shin Bet. In a subsequent article, Greenberg and Dratel proposed questions for Donald Rumsfeld about torture. Here is one: "Did your discussions of torture involve consulting experts in Israel..?"
According to the Israeli Supreme Court, however, there is a necessary balancing process between a government’s duty to ensure that human rights are protected and its duty to fight terrorism. The results of that balance, the Israeli Supreme Court stated, are the rules for a “reasonable interrogation” – defined as an interrogation which is (1) “necessarily one free of torture, free of cruel, inhuman treatment of the subject and free of any degrading handling whatsoever”; and (2) “likely to cause discomfort.”
Turning to the specific interrogation methods before it, the Court concluded that shaking, the “frog crouch,” the “shabach” position, cuffing causing pain, hooding, the consecutive playing of powerfully loud music and the intentional deprivation of sleep for a prolonged period of time are all prohibited interrogation techniques.
“All these methods do not fall withiin the sphere of a “fair” interrogation. They are not reasonable. They impinge upon the suspect’s dignity, his bodily integrity and his basic rights in an excessive manner (or beyond what is necessary). They are not to be deemed as included within the general power to conduct investigations.”
The Israeli Supreme Court explained that the restrictions applicable to police investigations are equally applicable to GSS investigations and that there are no grounds to permit GSS interrogators to engage in conduct which would be prohibited in regular police interrogation.
Based on a careful reading of the hundreds of pages of "torture memos" that poured out of the White House, the thousands of pages of military reports, investigations, and original documents that have emerged from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as the flood of recent FBI e-mails and prisoner complaints that have emerged from Guantanamo prison in Cuba, we might -- as a lawyer and an historian who have been working in this area for the last two years -- suggest the following series of questions for Congress:
1. Does Torture Work? Given the detailed attention shown in the White House memos to describing three levels of interrogation (from questioning to physical abuse) to be applied in the war on terror, is there an underlying assumption that torture in fact really works? That it is more effective than ordinary means of questioning prisoners? And, if so, what does it work to produce? Have you considered whether it is a means of venting frustration or a means of obtaining reliable information? Is there clinical, verifiable evidence that torture produces better information more quickly and more accurately than other methods of interrogation? Did your discussions of torture involve consulting experts in Israel, the United Kingdom, Egypt, and elsewhere? If so, what did those sources have to say in recommending torture? Or was the administration convinced of the efficacy of torture before it began drawing up its legal documents?
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of ZiyonThe Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against the Palestinians' diplomatic mission to the UK for displaying a map which included the whole of Israel as part of Palestine.The website used to be called the "Palestine Embassy UK" website - even though there is no such embassy. Now the website is called "Palestine Mission UK" - and while they don't refer to this map issue, they have a headline accusing Israel's tourism board of showing a map of all the territories as Israel. (They don't reproduce it, though.)
The map, decked in red, green and black, the colours of the Palestinian flag, appeared on a tourist section of the mission's website called "Discover Palestine".
Barrister Jonathan Turner, head of the Zionist Federation's legal group and one of six complainants to the ASA, said that the authority "should be congratulated on its careful and impartial scrutiny.
"Too often we are on the defensive against attacks on Israel and Israeli organisations. As this ruling shows, those who attack us should pay more attention to failings in their own camp."
The mission - referred to in the ASA report as the Palestinian Embassy UK - argued that the map referred to "historic Palestine" in 1948 and that it had changed the colour coding to demarcate Israel from the Palestinian territories.
But the ASA noted the use of the Palestinian national colours and the lack of any reference to the state of Israel. "We considered that the average consumer would infer from the map and the linked information that the total area represented by the map was the Occupied Palestinian Territories," it concluded.
It also upheld complaints against the website for implying that Haifa, Jaffa and all of Jerusalem were part of the Palestinian territories.
Entries on Hebron and Bethlehem also breached the advertising watchdog's code because they failed to provide information on travelling restrictions to the two destinations that should have been given to potential tourists.
Mr Turner said: "We will examine the revised website as well as other advertising and if necessary make further complaints."
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of ZiyonA U.S. federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the convictions of five leaders of an Islamic charity on charges of funneling money and supplies to Hamas, which the United States designates as a “terrorist” group.
The organizers of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation argued they were denied a fair trial in 2008 when the government used secret Israeli witnesses to testify against them. The organizers also raised a host of constitutional challenges to the evidence presented against them at trial.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those challenges, concluding that “while no trial is perfect,” Holy Land and its leaders were fairly convicted. The court pointed to “voluminous evidence” that the foundation, which was started in the late 1980s, had long-running financial ties to Hamas.
Once the largest Muslim charity in the United States, Holy Land was closed by the administration of former President George W. Bush soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Holy Land argued that the millions of dollars it raised went to charities in the West Bank and Gaza known as zakat committees. Although those committees performed legitimate charitable functions, they were also Hamas social institutions, the court found.
Federal law makes it a crime to provide material aid and support to a designated terrorist organization like Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and does not recognize Israel’s existence.
“By supporting such entities, the defendants facilitated Hamas’ activity by furthering its popularity among Palestinians and by providing a funding resource. This, in turn, allowed Hamas to concentrate its efforts on violent activity,” Judge Carolyn King wrote on behalf of the unanimous three-judge panel.
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of ZiyonThere was a stir at a conference of Mediterranean writers in Marseilles yesterday when Israeli author Moshe Sakal was booted from a panel discussion at the request of Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.The article makes an obvious point that is ignored by the so-called liberal Left: that even educated, cultured Palestinian Arabs like Najwan Darwish are bigoted and narrow-minded. You won't find any angry tweets about this from people who rail all day about supposed Israeli "apartheid."
The director of the conference, French-Jewish author Pierre Assouline, said Sakal's participation in the panel, which was on the Arab Spring, "was not crucial."
Speaking by phone from Marseilles, Assouline told Haaretz that in the previous two years the conference had been held, Palestinian writers had refused to come because there were Israeli participants.
This year, Darwish said he had no problem with Israeli participants, so long as he would not have to sit with any of them at the same roundtable discussion.
Assouline said that when he explained to the audience before the discussion about the Palestinian's refusal to sit with Sakal, "half of the crowd got very angry, and the other half was thrilled."
Sakal, who entered the hall after the discussion had begun so he could listen to it, was somewhat surprised when his entrance caused a stir.
"I entered the hall just as [Moroccan poet] Tahar Ben Jelloun was speaking forcefully against this type of boycott," Sakal said. "He said that there are many Israeli authors who are supportive [of the Palestinian cause] and one should speak to them even if one doesn't approve of current Israeli politics."
"There were hundreds of people there and there were a lot of hecklers," Sakal said. "People were very upset."
Darwish, said Sakal, accused him of expelling him from his home, and said "the Jewish-Arabs [Jews from Arab lands] particularly hate the Palestinians."
Sakal, who is of Syrian and Egyptian origin, said he told the crowd "I understand them but I also understand my situation, and the one thing that distressed me was that he didn't try to find out who I am or what my views are."
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of ZiyonHowever, who was the other person killed?Israel Air Force aircrafts were able to target a vehicle transporting Assam Subahi Ismail Batash, a senior Gaza-based terror operative.
According to the IDF and the Shin Bet, Batash was the mastermind behind several terror attacks carried out by militants who infiltrated into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula.
Palestinian security officials said Thursday that a car transporting three people exploded near a public garden in Gaza City, killing at least two people and injuring six. IDF officials confirmed that the IAF had targeted a vehicle carrying Batash. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the two men being pulled out of the white vehicle.
Batash, IDF officials claimed, was a senior figure in the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and was behind the imminent terror threat in the south.
Officials said Batash was also involved in several attacks in which terrorists from Gaza were smuggled into Sinai and then infiltrated back into Israel through the border. In January 2007 he organized a suicide bombing in Eilat that killed three Israelis.
Batash was also involved in several botched attacks, in which he tried to smuggle terrorists and arms into Israel.
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Thanks to Palestine’s tense political history, the visual arts in Palestine have long failed to gain the foothold they deserve. From 1967 until the signing to the Oslo Accords in 1993, when Palestinian cities were under military occupation, there were restrictions on arts and culture. For example, it was forbidden to paint images combining the four colors of the Palestinian flag, black, green, white, and red. "Painting a watermelon was not allowed," explains Khaled Hourani, one of Palestine’s leading artists and former Director of Fine Arts for the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
Even after 1993 and the end of military occupation, the visual arts stalled in the territories.
ibnezra says:Yes, an article that praises Palestinian Arabs, that humanizes them and is more sympathetic to them than anything you are likely to see in the mainstream media, is "basically a piece of [anti-Arab] propaganda." No redeeming qualities at all. Completely flawed.
1967-1993, "when Palestinian cities were under military occupation" http://t.co/yxZtNIHZ
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra The thrust of the article was arts, not politics, and from that perspective it was rather good and humanizing http://t.co/UX8v51zQ
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious the article claimed that there was no military occupation of Palestinian cities. That is a joke.
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra The nature of Israel's presence in the WB changed dramatically after 1993 and the article is about arts!
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I am sure that you are not saying that Palestinians cities in the West Bank are not under military occupation
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra That's not what I said
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious then you should not have any problems with my argument that the @theatlantic should be ashamed with itself
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra Gevalt. I think it was overall a good piece, esp if you focus on the arts.
ibnezra says:
The article is basically saying there is an art culture in Ramallah and no military occupation. Why are they complaining about? @jewlicious
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra and i am not arguing with you to score points either...
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I understand. @noamsheizaf is going to write a post soon which will be necessary reading on the matter.
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra i for one am just glad there's a thriving arts scene in Ramallah, c'est tout...
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious there is not a thriving arts scene in my opinion. There is something but it is not thriving.
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra ok more thriving then? more thriving than 7 years ago?
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious Not necessarily
jewlicious says:
@ibnezra So you're saying the entire article is completely flawed? Come on, be fair...
ibnezra says:
@jewlicious I am saying that the article is dangerously flawed and basically a piece of propaganda
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of Ziyon
Thursday, December 08, 2011Elder of ZiyonThe president responded:Dear President Koester,We are faculty members at the University of California, who have been investigating and documenting anti-Jewish bigotry on California public university campuses for the last several years.In case you have not seen them, we wanted to bring to your attention two webpages of CSU Northridge Professor of Mathematics David Klein, which are hosted on the CSUN server:
- Professor Klein’s “Home Page,” linked to the “Tenure-Track Faculty” webpage of the CSUN Department of Mathematics, contains a section entitled “CSU and Political Issues,” that includes a link to another CSUN-hosted webpage entitled “Boycott Israel.”
- Professor Klein’s “Boycott Israel” page contains a litany of false and inflammatory statements and photographs intended to incite hatred and promote political activism against the Jewish state.
There are several reasons why Professor Klein’s webpages should be immediately removed from the CSUN server:1) These webpages are in clear violation of the CSU policy prohibiting the misuse of the CSU name for inappropriate purposes, including for the promotion of political organizations and activities such as “boycott.” As you have seen on Professor Klein’s Home Page, he specifically links the University to several political action organizations and activities, including the boycott of Israel, in a section he telling calls “CSU and Political Issues.”2) Many of Professor Klein’s statements on his “Boycott Israel” webpage meet the U.S. Department of State’s Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, including the statement that “Israel is the most racist country in the world.” In addition, the pictures of mutilated dead babies that appear on this page, with the clear implication that the babies have been brutally murdered by Israeli soldiers, are perfect examples of the classic anti-Semitic “blood libel“, the false accusation that Jews kill non-Jewish children for evil purposes, an accusation that has been used throughout Jewish history for the purpose of inciting hatred and violence against Jews. Campaigns to boycott the Jewish state are also anti-Semitic according to the U.S. State Department, and in some cases are a violation of U.S. law.3) The promotion of virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements and imagery on the departmental website of a CSUN faculty member cannot help but contribute to a hostile environment for Jewish students on your campus.4) CSUN is a public university, whose facilities and resources, including the CSUN website, are supported by the tax dollars of California citizens, many of whom would find Professor Klein’s webpages an egregious violation of public trust.We do not believe that this is an issue of Professor Klein’s freedom of speech. Indeed, CSUN’s policy on internet use explicitly states that the University has the right to remove “any defamatory, offensive, infringing, or illegal materials” from its website. If you choose not to remove Professor Klein’s anti-Semitic material from the CSUN website, we will presume that it is because the University finds nothing “defamatory, offensive, infringing, or illegal” about these webpages, and is unconcerned with the effects they may have on CSUN students, parents, community members, and taxpayers.We know that you will soon be retiring as CSUN President, but we trust that you will have the opportunity to look into this matter and take appropriate action.We look forward to hearing from you soon.
...The University takes such concerns very seriously. Thus, as soon as we became aware of these concerns and the web pages, I requested a full administrative review. In particular, the review considered whether the web content is in violation of California State University (CSU) or Cal State Northridge web use policies. While the review raised many difficult issues, it found no such violations. This conclusion was affirmed by CSU legal counsel.
While we recognize this finding will not satisfy everyone, the conclusions are based on the important tenets of academic freedom and free speech, which are central to the values and traditions of academia and, indeed, a democratic society. We encourage our professors—as well as students and all members of the campus community—to express their points of view, even when many others may disagree with them or even find them offensive.
This determination does not mean that the University supports or endorses Professor Klein’s views. In fact, Professor Klein is clearly speaking for himself and does not represent Cal State Northridge as a whole. The University, as a forum for the free expression of ideas and points of view, takes no position on the individual expressions of ideas by faculty, staff, or students. But the University does uphold and preserve the principles of academic freedom—and Professor Klein’s right to express his views. Our review affirmed that this right extends to the use of an individual’s web pages, as part of the University website, as a vehicle for expression.
...
I share with those who have expressed concerns a personal discomfort with some of the material on Professor Klein’s web pages, especially because the University is celebrated for its diversity and its spirit of inclusion. As core values, the University also upholds academic freedom, eschews censorship, and defends rights to express points of view. For all these reasons we must tolerate the presence of these web pages.
On the other hand, using resources paid for by California taxpayers to push a boycott if Israel is an extraordinary misuse of funds. CSU's academic website is not Facebook. And the fact is that Dr. Klein's page is linked from the Math Department webpage - where from what I can tell all the other faculty use the pages in a professional manner - and it makes CSU's math department look bad. (Interestingly, the Math Department has a policy that "laboratory facilities, equipment and supplies are only to be used by College faculty, staff and students in the pursuit of instructional and research endeavors." This does not apply to webpages but I have a feeling that the other math faculty are not happy with Klein's use of the math section of CSU's website for blatantly political ends.)
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PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
