GOLDSTONE REPORTS

Goldstone Commission Recommendations

Goldstone Commisssion Executive Summary

Goldstone Commission Final Report to the United Nations

ZIONIST HOMOPHOBIA

ZIONIST HOMOPHOBIA 27 October 2009

It’s like a red rag to a bull! Every time someone attacks Zionism or Israel here in Australia and that person happens to be gay, lesbian, transgender or some other sexuality which the zionist population finds difficulty accepting, they are invited to try going to Iran or similar country.

According to Ian Katz of Caulfield, 7,000 gay people have been killed in Iran by the fundamentalist regime since 1979 when the infamous Ayatollah seized power. The source of this figure is not provided. It is stated as a fact.

Statistics from countries such as Iran where censorship is even tighter than in countries such as Australia are difficult to obtain and even more difficult to verify. Those organizations around the world such as Human Rights Watch and the gay and lesbian equivalents working with gay and lesbian refugees from Iran and other countries have estimated that about 4,000 gays and lesbians have been murdered by the Iranian regime since 1979.

In 2009 in Tel Aviv, an office belonging to a gay and lesbian organization was bombed and two people were killed – not by Palestinians but by homophobic Israelis who were murderers.

In the United States of America, a country where officially it is not illegal to be gay or lesbian, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issues an annual survey of hate crimes in that country, and gay and lesbian hate crimes figures since 1979 indicate that there are, on average, an annual number of hate crimes committed against homosexuals of about 1,000 to 1,500. Many of these hate crimes are murders.

So far we have only mentioned Iran and the United States of America. The UK, Europe, Australia, Canada, all produce figures showing gay and lesbian murders taking place on a regular basis.

As a gay Jewish man I choose not to live in Iran or Israel or South Africa where I was born. South Africa’s new constitution is one of the most progressive of modern times in its inclusion of rights for gays, lesbians, transgenders, which include the right to marry people of the same sex. This benighted religious-right-dominated country Australia has emphatically forbidden such equal rights for all its citizens yet, despite all the faults it has, it is a country where many of my ancestors were born and lived and where I have citizenship and continue to live in comparative peace..

I have been discriminated against because I am Jewish in the countries in which I have worked - South Africa, the UK and Australia, and I have been discriminated against in Australia because I am gay. I am a minority in a minority.

Now most Zionists are Jewish, and being Jewish they know about the Holocaust, discrimination and anti-semitism. They are minorities amongst many other minorities.

Gays, lesbians and transgender people are also minorities amongst many other minorities, but unlike Zionists, homosexuals are assaulted and murdered on a regular basis.

As a conclusion, one would think that Zionists would know about oppression and vilification and abuse, and therefore not be party to it themselves, but it seems that they are incapable of comprehending any picture in the greater universe of which they form but a miniscule part and should therefore not themselves abuse others who don’t conform to their narrow conservatism. They ought to know better but they don’t!

The two items below are by Ian Katz of Caulfield not Cana and Michael Burd of Toorak not Tel Aviv:

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Iran has hanged more than 7000 homosexuals since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The plight of women and ethnic minorities such as the Kurds, Baha’i, and Copts in the Arab and Islamic world continues to be of grave concern. The list goes on.

History is against the Iranian dissidents who dare to dream of a free and democratic country. Like the people suffering under the junta in Burma, and Israelis in Sderot pounded by rockets, there was hope that the current administration in Washington, the UN, and the so-called freedom fighters of the international political Left would be there to support them. Unfortunately, they were mistaken.

IAN KATZ
Caulfield, Vic

---------------------------------

Hi Mannie,

I notice you are still ranting and raving about those pesky zionists, I wonder how long you and your partner { comrade ?] would last in your beloved palestinian terror-tories, Iran or Pakistan .
I'm pleased that my writings annoy you at least I know you are taking notice, I'm flattered ...

Have a Nice day or should I say Salam alakum ?
Michael

CC My Mailing list.........

MICHAEL BURD'S STATISTICS DISASTER

Michael Burd, that well-known zionist from Toorak not Tel Aviv, has some astonishing results from his statistical analysis of the Jewish Population Survey as the following extract from his 4 September 2009 letter to the Israel Zionist Times aka Australian Jewish News (AJN) illustrates:

Debunking myths
ONE of the revelations of the Jewish Population Survey was that 80 per cent of Jews support Israel. As editorialised in The AJN, this debunks the “absurd notion pushed by the likes of Antony Loewenstein and Jews Against the Occupation that there is a large silent group of Australian Jews who don’t support Israel”.

A little analysis of our own will explain, with some of the results of the Monash University survey:


September 2009 – Monash University
The Australian Jewish Community Survey 2008-2009
Methodological Considerations and Key Findings
The Gen08 Jewish population survey was conducted in Australia and New Zealand from September 2008 to April 2009. It was completed by more than 6,200 respondents.

A Jewish web site gives the following 2006 population figures: In Australia there are approximately 103,000 Jews who represent 0.5 per cent of the population. In New Zealand there are approximately 7,000 Jews who represent 0.15 per cent of the population.

Out of 120,000 Jews in Australia and New Zealand, about 6,000 responded to the Monash survey. This figure represents 5 per cent of the Jewish population. Of this number Burd tells us that 80 per cent of Jews support Israel. 80 per cent of 5 per cent leaves a total of 4 per cent of Jews in Australia and New Zealand who have expressed support for Israel. Whatever happened to the other 96 per cent?

This is rather a far cry from 80 per cent of the Jewish population of both countries as Burd would have us believe.

So it rather looks as if Burd of Toorak not Tel Aviv has shot himself in the foot yet again, and yet he gets his nonsensical letters published as the voice of the Jews in The Age and the AJN.

Burd should be laughed off the media for his unbelievable stupidity and prejudices.
When people like him discover that Israel is a theocracy not dissimilar to their friends the Iranians they will suddenly not enjoy what they see or hear. Israel has not only been invaded by the fundamentalist religious fanatics from the USA but is now being run by them, and there will not be peace in the region until the whole ghastly situation is reversed.

And as we all know, this will not happen until the USA stops feeding Israel with everything it requires for military domination of the region.

To unquote Neville Chamberlain: "NO PEACE IN OUR TIME!"

ZIONISTS IN AUSTRALIA CASTIGATE GOLDSTONE AND HIS REPORT

Zionists living in Australia and critical of Goldstone and other issues pertaining to their beloved “homeland!!!” have written letters from 2 October 2009 to the Israeli Zionist Times aka Australian Jewish News and come from many countries around the globe.

One of those countries is South Africa from which Richard Goldstone himself comes.

The South African apartheid state consisted of many minority groups, many of whom were repressed, suppressed, tortured, expelled from the country, murdered - the sorrowful list continues.

At the end of the apartheid years in 1994, South Africa had a population of between 35 and 40 million. Of these 5 million were white and amongst the white group was the Jewish group. Many Jews who were against the apartheid regime and who were politically involved were either imprisoned or in many cases fled or were exiled.
Some like Ruth First were murdered by the regime. Obviously many Jews were unable to leave the country or, in some cases unwilling to, because they supported apartheid.
Some were zionists, some were not. There were approximately 120,000 Jews in South Africa in 1948, and some 40 years later that number had dwindled to about 70,000. Latest figures for Jews in South Africa put that number at about 100,000, similar to the number of Jews in Australia at the current time.

Many South African Jews who were able to, came to Australia. Some were zionists, some were not.

Letters to the local zionist rags indicate that many of the critics of the Goldstone report are from South Africa.

It is difficult to understand why these people came to Australia when there was always the possibility of their going to Israel which has a law allowing Jews to settle there - the Law of Return or some such law. Had they gone to Israel, they would have been able to support their dream homeland and fight for its right to do what it did/does in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank and help to make it safe for other like-minded zionists from the USA, Australia and other countries around the world.

What these zionists do, in fact, is live in Australia, safely away from Hamas rocket attacks on Sderoth and other places, and then say that the Goldstone report is biased, one-sided, Hamas-supporting and other ridiculous nonsenses.

Some of these zionists are those whose letters have appeared in the local rags, but there are obviously many more who live in Australia, but still call Israel home.

When I was a small boy in South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s there were many white South Africans whose parents, grandparents or other relatives came to settle in South Africa, but after a few generations there, still called England "home".

Plus ca change - the more things change the more they remain the same!!

Letter-writers attacking Goldstone in the AJN:

As at 2 October 2009
MELISSA McCURDIE, St Ives, NSW
PETER ALTER, Pymble, NSW
BRIAN KAMENTZKY, Caulfield, Vic
ERROL PRICE, Vaucluse, NSW
TOM LEVI Rose Bay, NSW
URI BUTNARU North Bondi, NSW
JOHN BEAR Maroubra, NSW
JOSH BARTAK St Kilda East, Vic

As at 9 October 2009
DR DAVID WEINTROB Caulfield, Vic
MORRY SZTAINBOK Bentleigh, Vic
ALAN FREEDMAN St Kilda East, Vic
DR MARK SCHWARTZ Illawong, NSW
MICHAEL BURD Toorak, Vic
HENRY HERZOG St Kilda East, Vic

as at 16 October 2009
DR BILL ANDERSON Surrey Hills, Vic
URI BUTNARU North Bondi, NSW
WOLFE RAKUSIN Caulfield North, Vic

HOWARD, RUDD, ANY DIFFERENCE?

There has been the ghastly spectacle during the week ended 17 October 2009 of Rudd looking and sounding exactly as Howard did at the time of "babies overboard" and "Tampa" and "SIEV X".

The rhetoric coming out of the Alternative Liberal Party (ALP) sounds like a re-run of the Howard years, and there we were, thinking it was all over on 24 November 2007.

And how wrong can we be?

Don't forget the episode about gay marriage in 2004 when Howard declared - in this secular state of Australia - that marriage is between a man and a woman only, and for all their lives. The ALP supported it then, and Howard - sorry, Rudd - made the same declaration again during the same-sex legislation issue in 2008 and 2009.

There is not much joy in Australian politics these days - just think of global warming and the water debate. Water is the most important issue for sustenance of life on planet Earth, and one of the places where it is in shortest supply is Australia. Are there plans everywhere in the country to recycle water? No, of course not. Politicians here like to give big business the opportunities to make more money, and how better than with desalination plants and pipe-lines which will run empty for much of the time. Power stations running on recycled water? Don't hold your breath!

So next time you go to a ballot box to vote for federal, state or local government politicians, just remember that they are self-serving opportunists out to make their own fortunes while the going is good, and for them it is good - they have just managed to get substantial increases, whereas people on the lower end of the economic ladder are getting substantial decreases, thanks to rising costs on supermarket shelves, changes to same-sex legislation for registered couples who have lost pension incomes and those with disabilities whose partners work and they collectively lose benefits, thanks to Centrelink's stringent observation of the new legislation.

AJN WATCH FALLS INTO ITS OWN SEWER

I don't really think it is worth wasting time watching AJN Watch which is nothing more than a sewer of its own creation. Bloggers who wish to remain anonymous do so by their own choice, but by so doing and hiding their identity they show they are afraid to expose themselves to the filth they are guilty of perpetrating.

The good thing about one's own blog is that one can decide whose posts will be put up on it, and I personally refuse to post anonymous contributions unless they identify themselves and ask to remain anonymous for public posting.

All the above is a preamble to the latest filth to spew out of the rear portions of AJN Watch.

Not only are they rabid zionists living in Australia and not in Israel, but they are also rabidly homophobic, attacking Aleph and Michael Barnett in such a scurrilous and underhand manner that they show they are not worthy of any serious consideration or toleration from those of us in the gay, lesbian, transgender and HIV/AIDS communities.

The reason for this post is to once more expose the filth which goes under the name of AJN Watch without any identification. As I said at the beginning, such people haven't got the courage of their convictions and hide behind a mask of anonymity so that they will not be able to be identified and discuss their filth in rational and reasonable manner as befits debate about issues on which there are many differences of opinion.

Their hatred of homosexuals and those connected to them should be reported to such organisations as the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and similar organisations and they should be forced to remove their disgusting public attacks on members of the community. If it was anti-semitism that was the issue you would hear their outcry from here to breakfast time and back again!!!!!!!!

leftwrites blog

There is a blog called "lefwrites" which, as the name implies, is for those of us whose political views are somewhat to the left of Genghis Khan to contribute our thoughts on issues which we feel need to be addressed in media other than the lying, deceiving, hypocritical mainstream media, and to allow comments by people who want to discuss the issues raised in the blog.

For some reason which has not yet been explained by the person who runs the blog, the site was "off air" in a manner of speaking, for quite a few weeks, as a consequence of which, once it was back "on air", it has not been noticed by the previous contributors and as a consequence no one is writing articles for "leftwrites".

We need blogs to write about issues such as Obama's Nobel peace prize - a joke if ever there was one!! - and the Palestine-Israel disasters which are ongoing and without any change visible in the near future, water and energy resources in Australia, global warming and the failure of governments around the world to act - the capitalists might lose too much money - heaven forfend - they didn't cause enough loss with the international melt-down caused by things such as the sub-prime mortgage in the USA, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Chechnian butcher and dictator sending two horses to run in the Melbourne Cup!

So far, it seems as if only 3 of us have discovered that "leftwrites" is with us, and you can't have too many debates with people who think the same as you do. It has limits and we need some fresh input.

So if I put things on my own blog which are possible subjects for controversy, and then put the same ones on "leftwrites", somewhere along the way we may pick up the missing contributors and bring them back to writing and posting again.

Here's hoping!!

peace activists entered the South Hebron Hills area

Despite "closed zone" declaration a hundred peace activists entered the South Hebron Hills area, transferring 25 tons of water to villagers denied water supply by the State of Israel

http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=13136




This morning the IDF declared the area of the Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills to be "a closed military zone" in order to prevent the entry of a Water Convoy organized by Israeli peace movements - but nevertheless, the activists managed to break through the military cordon and pass the convoy as planned. The Water Convoy included about a hundred activists who arrived in buses from Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem as well as in private cars and large water tankers carrying about 25 tons of water.



About 10.30am the convoy was blocked by military forces which spread spikes on he road near the Israeli settlement of Carmel and the officer in charge forbade them to enter the "closed military zone."



The organizers explained that they were involved in a vital humanitarian activity, bringing water to where there is severe lack of it, but the army persisted in denying access. Thereupon, the organizers instructed activists to leave the buses and proceed on foot, bypassing the military roadblock.



In a long line the activists walked along the southward road, under the desert sun, followed by military jeeps. TV crews of international networks walked alongside and documented the protest march. After they walked about three kilometers there came to the activists inhabitants of the Palestinian villages, driving tractors with platforms on which the Israelis climbed, traveling on unpaved tracks deep into the desert area.



Meanwhile the water tankers succeeded to arrive via desert bypass roads, accompanied by a bulldozer which removed obstacles on difficult spots, thus allowing the tankers to pass.



About 12.30, the activists, the Palestinian inhabitants and the tankers all reached the pre-arranged rendez-vous point. They proceeded on the water distribution, traveling among the small hamlets in the area, stopping at each and giving inhabitants their share. What impressed the urban activists above all was how in one village, Jinaba, the cattle trough was filled directly from the tanker, and the thirsty sheep started drinking immediately.



Suddenly there arrived the military jeeps with the soldiers trying to arrest the Palestinian bulldozer driver, claiming that he had "opened blocked routes" and thereby "harmed security." Dozens of Israelis surrounded the bulldozer, some of them climbing on it, with their bodies blocking the soldiers from approaching the driver - himself an inhabitant of one of the nearby villages. "Shame on you! Shame!" activists shoutled at the soldiers. "Shame on you for denying the inhabitants here water, for blocking the roads and filling up their wells! One day all of you will be ashamed to tell your sons and grandsons where you have been, and what you have done!"



The convoy organizers made clear to the commander of the military force that by no means will they leave the territory as long as the army continues the threat of arresting the bulldozer driver and confiscating his vehicle. After a two hours stand-off the commander gave in and let the bulldozer depart. Several of the activists accompanied the bulldozer until it came back safely to its origin.



For several months the peace organizations are acting to protest the Policy of Thirst. The State of Israel is taking about 80% of the water from the West Bank aquifers for the needs of its citizens and of the settlers, leaving only about a fifth to the Palestinian inhabitants whose land it is. In so doing the State of Israel is perpetrating a severe violation of international law, according to which an occupying state is not allowed to use the natural resources of the occupied territory.



The inhabitants of the South Hebron Hill are in a worse situation than the rest of the West Bankers. They are not at all connected to water pipes, the army is deliberately filling up their wells, and their only way to obtain water by tankers arriving from far. Water, therefore, is for them very expensive, 50 to 60 Shekels (US$16-19) per cubic meter, as compared to some 4 shekel for an Israeli who gets it delivered to his tap. And, these Palestinians already live below the poverty line. Moreover, the army is making difficulties and deliberately blocking roads in order to prevent arrival of the tankers.



In fact, we have here a deliberate effort to make life so difficult so that they will leave the South Hebron Hills, making it possible to annex the area to Israel "free of Arabs" - as is the declared desire of the particularly aggressive and extremist settlers who have established themselves throughout this area. In 1999 the army carried out a mass deportation of these Palestinian inhabitants, but the Supreme Court ruled that this was illegal and ordered the government to allow them back to their modest homes (some living in caves).



Now the authorities try to achieve the same result by the indirect way of making their life into hell, in the hope that they will leave "voluntarily" the land where they lived for generations and where they find their scant livelihood as shepherds.



The Thirst Policy of the government against the Palestinians in general and these South-Hebroners in particular is highly despicable, racist and inhuman.



We have no illusion that with our own resources we can provide all the water which Palestinians need. Our limited action is meant in the first place to express protest and fury and make people aware, in Israel and everywhere.





Israeli representatives:

Yaakov - 09-7670801 / 050-5733276

Shai - 052-3727602

Yehuda - 050-4402350

Adam - 054-2340749



Representatives of the South Hebron Hills area:

Othman - 054-7426591

Hader - 059-8014491





Partner organizations in the protest convoy: Anarchists Against the Wall, Humans without Borders, Banki, Bat Shalom, Gush Shalom, ICAHD, Public Committee against Torture in Israel, AIC, Tarabut – Hithabrut, Hadash, Yesh Gvul, Combatants for Peace, Machsomwatch, Maki, Meretz, Sadaqa-Reut, New Profile, Coalition of Women for Peace, Physicians for Human Rights, Taayush – Arab Jewish Partnership;



Palestinian organizations supporting the water campaign:

House of Water &Environment, Life Source, Medical Relief Society, Palestinian Environmental NGOs Net work (PENGON), Palestinian Farmers Union, Palestinian Hydrology Group, Palestinian Institute for Water Issues Training, Palestinian Peasants Union, Union of Agricultural Work Committees;



International organizations supporting the water campaign:

International Solidarity Movement, International Women's Peace Services, Michigan Peacemakers Team, CCIPPT-France Civil for Palestine.


Israeli forces target Palestinian cameramen at Bil’in demonstration
International Solidarity Movement (ISM)

25.13.img_6875-312x400.jpg
Israeli forces storm Bil'in and arrest 3 demonstrators


September 25, 2009 - ISM

For Immediate Release

25 September 2009: Israeli forces target Palestinian cameramen at Bil’in demonstration.

Around 1pm, Israeli forces arrested 2 Israeli solidarity activists and a Palestinian cameraman, Haitham al-Khatib (33 years old) during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Bil’in.

Witnesses say that Israeli soldiers ran in and arrested the 3 demonstrators. Haitham al-Khatib was filming the demonstration near the Wall when he was taken.

Haitham has been filming the ongoing Israeli arrest campaign in Bil’in. One of his videos was recently used by several news sources, including the Israeli news, YNet (see: http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3778117,00.html), to showcase the violence and intimidation used by the army against Bil’in residents. Thousands of viewers worldwide have been following the night raids in Bil’in through Haitham’s videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/haithmkatib.

Haitham was previously detained by Israeli forces on 24 July 2009 when he arrived at Ofer prison to wait for the release of another Bil’in resident. He was held for several hours and interrogated.

Coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Abdedallah abu Rahme, stated, "Soldiers coming to arrest Palestinians from Bil’in in the night is only part of intimidation campaign, the Israeli authorities are also targeting our supporters and journalists. They want us to stop our non-violent demonstrations, but as long as our land is being stolen, we cannot stop."

Background:

The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal. The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law).

Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention.

Through Israel’s interrogation and intimidation tactics, some of arrested youth have falsely 'confessed’ that the Bil’in Popular Committee urges the demonstrators to throw stones. With such 'confessions’, Israeli forces then proceed to raid the village at night invade homes and arrest leaders of the non-violent struggle in the community.

Two of the three popular committee members who traveled to Montreal to represent the villages case , Mohammad Khatib and Mohammad Abu Rahme were arrested and have since been released on bail. (see B’Tselem report: http://www.btselem.org/english/separation_barrier/20090818_night_arrests_in_bilin.asp).

Another leading Bil’in non-violent activist, Adeeb Abu Rahme, remains in detention since his arrest during a non-violent demonstration on 10 July 2009 (see report & video: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/07/7652. Adib has been charged with "incitement to damage the security of the area."

On 29 August 2009, two additional Bil’in houses were simultaneously raided by at least 40 soldiers, arresting Ashraf Al-Khatib (age 29) and Hamru Bornat (age 24). A local cameraman, Haitham Al-Khatib, brother of the arrested Hamru, was repeatedly forcibly moved and hit, and threatened with arrest unless he stopped filming. Soldiers declared his home a "closed military zone" but could not produce any military order.

The Palestinian village of Bil’in has become an international symbol of the Palestinian popular struggle. For almost 5 years, its residents have been continuously struggling against the de facto annexation of more than 50% of their farmlands, confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

In a celebrated decision, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on the 4 September 2007 that the current route of the wall in Bil’in was illegal and needs to be dismantled; the ruling however has not been implemented. The struggle of the village to liberate its lands and stop the illegal settlements has been internationally recognized and has earned the popular committee in Bil’in the Carl von Ossietzky Meda award.
:: Article nr. 58286 sent on 25-sep-2009 18:26 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=58286