Israel On Killing Spree In Gaza

[David Guyatt]

That is to say so long as the US protects its Middle Eastern "divide and conqueor" client, then Israel will continue to remain above international law.

The more I get to know about Kucinich the more I admire him.

[Myra Bronstein]

That is to say so long as the US protects its Middle Eastern "divide and conqueor" client, then Israel will continue to remain above international law.

The more I get to know about Kucinich the more I admire him.

Kucinich is the soul of US congress. He's just a perfect person, a perfect leader, a real man. He should be/would be president in a sane country.

I don't know where he gets the wherewithal to keep tilting at the windmill, but he does it year after year, and he never seems to get hard and jaded or burnt out. TPTB are so afraid of him they wouldn't even let him participate in most of the recent Democratic debates.

If you're interested in him, read about his childhood--poor and homeless along with his family--and stint as Mayor of Cleveland, where he was targeted for assassination for refusing to privatize the city-owned power system.

As far as I'm concerned he's my congressional Rep regardless of geography.

[Myra Bronstein]

http://antiwar.com/justin/justin122908.php

"December 29, 2008
The Politics of the Gaza Massacre
Forget Hamas - it's all about the home front
by Justin Raimondo

If you're looking for the cause of the most recent Israeli aggression against the Palestinians – over 300 killed so far, and many more wounded – forget Hamas. The real casus belli is politics, in Israel and America.

On the Israeli front, elections loom large. The current Israeli government is enormously unpopular, and – with polls showing a massive swing to the right – this latest "incursion" is its last attempt to shore up their sagging power base. The rightist surge in Israel has been building for a long time, with the settler movement gaining momentum and the Likud Party likely the chief beneficiary – in which case there will be no chance of a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question, no matter how evenhanded President Barack Obama turns out to be.

Speaking of Obama, the real focal point of the Israeli assault isn't Gaza – it's Washington, D.C. The whole point of this exercise in futility – which will not create a single iota of security for Israel, will not topple Hamas, and will not prove any more successful than the second Lebanese war – is to set the terms by which the Israelis will deal with the incoming U.S. president. Before he even gets a chance to appoint his Middle East team, his special envoys and advisers, the Israelis will have sabotaged the peace effort they can clearly see coming – and put the Americans on notice that whatever "change" is in the air will have to be to Israel's advantage. In short, the Gaza massacre is a preemptive strike against the prospect of American intervention on the Palestinians' behalf, or, at least, a more evenhanded policy framework...."

[Mark Stapleton]

Speaking of Obama, the real focal point of the Israeli assault isn't Gaza – it's Washington, D.C. The whole point of this exercise in futility – which will not create a single iota of security for Israel, will not topple Hamas, and will not prove any more successful than the second Lebanese war – is to set the terms by which the Israelis will deal with the incoming U.S. president. Before he even gets a chance to appoint his Middle East team, his special envoys and advisers, the Israelis will have sabotaged the peace effort they can clearly see coming – and put the Americans on notice that whatever "change" is in the air will have to be to Israel's advantage. In short, the Gaza massacre is a preemptive strike against the prospect of American intervention on the Palestinians' behalf, or, at least, a more evenhanded policy framework...."

I think Raimondo is right. It's about both Israeli and American politics.

As far as the US is concerned, I think a political intifada against Israel cannot be far away. The number of former US diplomats and politicians speaking out against Israel and the damage it is doing to America's reputation is growing all the time:


http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWjYHP91gA&NR=1


Of course the one's presently sitting in Congress are rigidly obedient to their Israeli masters.


It's political suicide to criticise those who own the MSM.

[Myra Bronstein]

In international waters.
(That is significant, right?)

Brave Cynthia McKinney, who had her house seat stolen from her in 2002 election fraud, was interviewed by CNN and she did a damn fine job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZeNdIGI8...385x254098

For those unfamiliar with the incident, the Dignity was attempting to deliver medical supplies to victims in Gaza.

On edit: More good footage here with a passenger explaining how the intentional ramming occurred (claimed to be an "accident" by Israel) and confirming it was in international waters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/dis...385x254167
More of McKinney at the end of the piece.

Clearly the boat was supposed to sink, and damn near did.

[Mark Stapleton]

Thanks for those vids, Myra.

Israel can't spin their way out of this incident. They've also put Obama in a very difficult situation. A farewell gift from the Bush regime, no doubt.

[Magda Hassan]

Gaza War Less a Threat to Israel Economy Than Lebanon (Update2)
[EMAIL="?Subject=Bloomberg%20news:%20%20Gaza%20War%20Less%20a%20Threat%20to%20Israel%20Economy%20Than%20Lebanon%20%28Update2%29%20&body=%20Gaza%20War%20Less%20a%20Threat%20to%20Israel%20Economy%20Than%20Lebanon%20%28Update2%29%20%0D%0A%0D%0A%20http%3A//www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3Demail_en%26refer=home%26sid%3Day_FnEgmUx7M"]
[/EMAIL][/url]


By David Rosenberg


Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Israel’s assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip may be less of a threat to its economy than the war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah two years ago -- and might even give it a boost.
Hamas lacks the arsenal of rockets that Hezbollah possessed during that conflict, when a 34-day barrage shut down much of northern Israel, said [url=http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Jonathan+Katz&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1]Jonathan Katz, a Jerusalem-based economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. The idling of factories then caused gross domestic product to shrink.
This time around, an increase in defense spending may help shore up the economy, which the Bank of Israel warns could be engulfed by the global recession. Governor Stanley Fischer lowered the benchmark interest rate for the fifth time yesterday to a record 1.75 percent and has foreshadowed further cuts.
“If government expenses grow more than planned, that gives a boost to the economy and eases some of the impact of the slowdown,” said Ori Greenfeld, chief economist at Clal Finance Investment Management Ltd., Israel’s largest non-bank financial institution.
At the start of the 2006 Lebanon war, Israel’s economy was growing at more than a 5 percent annual pace and Fischer raised rates to stem inflation. Following the conflict, gross domestic product contracted 0.3 percent in the third quarter of that year.
Desert Area
The area of Israel that was pounded by rockets during the Lebanon war is home to Haifa, the third-largest city and biggest port, and is a major tourism destination. The territory adjacent to Hamas-run Gaza is mainly desert. Most of the rockets have hit empty areas, with only a handful reaching the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
The government’s Israel Export Institute estimated the total value of exports from the area within rocket range from Gaza was $2.1 billion last year, or about 4 percent of the national total.
The military has approved the reopening of factories near Gaza as long as they have adequate protection against attacks, the Manufacturers Association trade group said in an e-mailed statement today. Ten percent of Ashkelon’s factory workers, or 600 people, failed to report to their jobs yesterday, it said.
“The concentration of missiles is smaller and limited to an area that isn’t a major economic center for Israel,” Katz said. “The economy is developed and broad enough to weather this.”
Casualty Toll
Four Israelis have been killed, compared with about 360 Palestinians since the air force began its campaign on Dec. 27. By comparison, about 170 Israelis were killed in the Lebanon conflict and 1,200 Lebanese.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s benchmark TA-25 Index rose as much as 1.2 percent today while the shekel strengthened as much as 2.5 percent against the dollar, its biggest gain in two weeks. It was trading at 3.7702 at 2:51 p.m. local time.
Even if fighting grows worse, the economy demonstrated its resilience in the wake of the Lebanon war, Benjamin Netanyahu, the opposition leader and former finance minister, said in an interview with Bloomberg News today.
“We built a very powerful economic engine in the years preceding the Lebanon war,” said Netanyahu, who is contending for the prime minister’s post in the elections. “We liberalized the economy, we dropped taxes, we opened the economy to competition.”
While the economy shrank after the fighting, it rebounded and growth for the year was 5.2 percent, about the same pace as the previous year and in the following 12 months.
The Finance Ministry has already drawn up measures to revive the economy, though their implementation has been delayed by political squabbling in advance of Feb. 10 elections. The Bank of Israel said yesterday that growth this quarter had come to a “standstill” and may have even contracted.
Government Spending
The government plans to increase spending on programs that aid small and medium-size businesses, while also pouring more money into bridges and roads that will triple the budget deficit to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product.
“Next year the deficit will be exceptionally large both because of lower tax revenue as the economy slows and because of higher expenses from the fighting,” said Avinoam Nahum, chief executive officer of Tel Aviv-based investment house Pele Global Holdings Ltd. He estimated that increased defense expenditure may boost the fiscal shortfall to 5 percent.
The risk to the economy will increase if the conflict widens or the militants begin firing large numbers of rockets that have longer ranges which may threaten key economic targets, such as the Intel Corp. plant in Kiryat Gat, the Israel Electric Corp. power plant in Ashkelon and the Ashdod port, Katz said.
The Bank of Israel, in a statement accompanying the rate cut, said it was concerned about the “geopolitical uncertainty” created by the fighting and said it had “the potential to impact negatively” on the economy.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Rosenberg in Jerusalem at drosenberg1@bloomberg.net;
Last Updated: December 30, 2008 08:33 EST

[David Healy]

A thought... the old testament, when GOD'S chosen people made their way to the promise land (out of Egypt) it was not unusual (at the hand of the Jews when they made it to that promise land) for entire cities to be massacred read: every man woman and child put to the sword. NO exceptions. This at GODS direction - he certainly can be a tough old guy!

If the Jew's lost a battle during those initial promise land days it was used as a learning experience to correct battlefield tactics, then re-attack that city AGAIN until conquered. Then onward to the NEXT city in the vicinity. By my reckoning this happened in over 30 places.... it seems wondering in the desert for for all those years focuses ones attention. And staunch reliance and dependence on THINGS and FORCES *unseen* seem to help, too.

As history shows, the tribes of Israel, some many generations later, were then scattered to the four winds (as described in that same old testament AND after the arrival of the "Messiah") with the promise of a national re-birthing AND a retaking of Jerusalem (and a few, from the near-recent historical standpoint, dark, dark DAYS presided over by Hitler and his boys) quite a few generations later.

The Jews have returned to that very place they once called home, under I might add, another long road through the 'desert' and, under the direction of their GOD (as HE promised they would).

Considering the Jews historical past (in the geographical area), and up to this point in time, some feel they've showed considerable restraint. Negotiations even! I suspect those (negotiations and restraint) are coming to a close.

No wringing of hands, prayers, politics, negotiations, wishing and a hoping are going to change the road the Jews are on, not even reduced support of the good old USA will effect their path.

Dennis Kucinich knows this. I suspect Dennis Kucinich has read the old testament (and the NEW). Not he, nor Obama (despite Obama's growing mythical status) will stem the inevitable conclusion to the human dilemma... the same human dilemma playing itself out in each individual and our collective mind and has since the beginning of man...

Ya want an answer to this mess, it wont be found in Israel, Gaza, Washington, Dennis Kucinichs' address book or any earthly place for that matter. Perhaps, just perhaps we got an answer or at least a clue to the answer a thousand or two years ago.

Agnostics and Atheists alike seem to be in the dark closet of the mind when it comes to this topic.

Just a thought...

[David Guyatt]

David, please further elucidate your possible Bibical answer to the stated enigma?

Sorry but I'm sometimes dumber than Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne...

[David Healy]

David, please further elucidate your possible Bibical answer to the stated enigma?

Sorry but I'm sometimes dumber than Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne...

sometimes, and I hate to use a quaint, in this case Arabic term, KISMET. Israelii KISMET, *fate*.

Perhaps being GOD'S chosen people is a very tough way to go, eh?

Time memorial we've seen the middle east and Jerusalem in particular the focus of our attention, the focus of the human dilemma. That being the why's and wherefore of WHY we are inhabiting the planet Earth and of course, WHO runs the show.

Perhaps the philosopher in each and every one of us should revisit the very elusive term LOVE, and in different light. Apparently it has meanings we're not quite willing to look at much let alone accept...

To answer directly your question, Dave: we're simply finite, collectively dependent on each other, and ALL dependent on a "GOOD" unseen force. Given instruction how to deal with that "GOOD" unseen force, how to conduct our lives (post old testament). There are 'other' unseen forces marshaling against *all* humankind. (the religious: we've solid direction)

I suspect, if one believes as advertised, an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient power calling a specific people, "HIS chosen people" (the Jews) that unseen GOOD force has a very specific plan dealing with 'other' *unseen* forces (possibly manifesting itself lately in Gaza, eh?)... perhaps being that HIS "chosen" people does not necessarily mean overtly specially loved people, the Jews have paid the price for their GODS affection sort of speak.

Our attention has been refocused, AGAIN on the everlasting human dilemma, that being finding a power greater than ourselves that will restore us to some level of human sanity.... no political faction will get us there.

KISMET -- this time for ALL mankind (I believe, by instinct, we know it, yet our egos {individually and collective} deny it). Hence our living problems.

As declared in that righteous old bible. Which I might add, is still the most popular book printed, sold or given away. Many here in this country believe the Jews are fighting the final battle for all mankind, thus their undying (sic) support... Given the state of current world events and failure to resolve middle-east questions, one would be hard pressed to say differently, with authority of course.

Anyone with another reasonable answer, for the mess in the middle east spreading worldwide, I'm all ears. Frankly, the MSM is staying away from this because of the "religious" implications and we're on a one-way street fraught with religious implications. In the final analysis who do you want to fight that battle? I'll take the JEWS and their GOD, after all, HE'S the DADDY of all gods...

We're out of human reasoning, some would say, FINALLY.... and possibly TIME!

Now THAT would be a Washington secret worthy of being kept, SECRET.

Just another old fart pondering...