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The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
Four days after the attack on the Achille Lauro, on 11 October 1985, a bomb demolished the Santa Ana offices of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, killing Alex Odeh, the organization's regional executive director. Seven others were injured. According to a New York Times article the following day, "The Jewish Defense League, often at odds with the [ADC], denied responsibility for the bombing but praised the action."
The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
Daniel Jacob Quinn, The Electronic Intifada, 18 April 2003
The Achille Lauro is back in the news. Most of us know that a Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Abbas, is believed to have planned the 7 October 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. His group, the Palestinian Liberation Front, demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners.
During the hijacking, an American Jewish passenger in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown into the sea. While Abbas was not on board the ship, the hijacking, taking of hostages, and killing of Mr. Klinghoffer were heinous crimes for which those responsible -- whether in the planning or the implementation -- should be brought to justice. International law demands that attacks on civilians are prosecuted. Justice demands this is done impartially in all situations.
While extensive media coverage of the arrest of Abbas in Iraq by US forces has ensured that most of us know about the Achille Lauro, no one seems to recall Hammam-Plage.
On October 1, 1985, one week before the cruise ship was hijacked, Israel launched an air assault on Hammam-Plage, a residential suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. At the time Israel claimed to be seeking out Palestinian leaders given refuge by Tunisia and attacking military targets in the neighborhood.
According to an 2 October 1985 article published by the Guardian, Israel's attack "brutally signalled its determination to keep the Palestine Liberation Organisation out of the emerging Middle East peace process." The article noted that one of the buildings bombed by the Israelis was the private residence of PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
The Guardian cites claims by Israeli military leaders that "one of the targets of the raid was the headquarters of Force 17," an elite military unit. According to the verbatim record of the 4 October 1985 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, however, Tunisia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Beji Caid Essebsi reminded the Security Council that Israeli officials had, themselves, admitted that the Force 17 headquarters were not located in Tunisia.
Essebsi testified that it was a well-known fact that Tunisia had given refuge to "the legitimate representation of the Palestinian people." But, he emphasized, there was no Palestinian military base in Tunisia.
While the Hammam-Plage neighborhood did contain political offices of the PLO, Essebsi underlined to the UN that the neighborhood was "a clearly defined urban area, where many Tunisian families live and where a small number of Palestinian civilians had found refuge after their terrible ordeal during the Israeli aggression against Lebanon."
Essebsi testified that 68 civilians were killed and more than 100 were wounded during the Israeli attack.
The United Nations Security Council considered the raid to be a grievous act of aggression against the sovereign nation of Tunisia, noting "with concern that the Israeli attack has caused heavy loss of human life and extensive material damage." UN Security Council Resolution 573 frames the Israeli attack as a "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region" and vigorously condemned the "flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and norms of conduct."
Israel's representative to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu, was defiant in his stance that "we in Israel shall never accept" the Security Council resolution.
The hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer are both examples of unjustifiable acts. Yet supporters of Israel, who are currently working hard to emphasise the Achille Lauro incident as a tool to demonize Palestinians, have a less than glowing record where acts of terrorism committed by their own are concerned, never mind their standard practice of glossing over or justifying acts by the State of Israel that resulted in massive civilian casualties.
Four days after the attack on the Achille Lauro, on 11 October 1985, a bomb demolished the Santa Ana offices of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, killing Alex Odeh, the organization's regional executive director. Seven others were injured. According to a New York Times article the following day, "The Jewish Defense League, often at odds with the [ADC], denied responsibility for the bombing but praised the action." The night before his death, Mr. Odeh had appeared on a local news program to comment on the Achille Lauro hijacking. He reportedly denied the PLO's involvement in the murder of Leon Klinghoffer. Rather than condemn the killing of Mr. Odeh, the official website of the Jewish Defense League confirms that JDL National Chairman Irv Rubin publicly stated that Alex Odeh "got what he deserved."
The "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region" posed by Israel's aggression goes back further than its attack on Tunisia. In June 1979, the United Nations Security Council condemned Israel's "acts of violence against Lebanon that have led to the displacement of civilians, including Palestinians, and brought about destruction and loss of innocent lives." UN Security Council Resolution 450 called upon Israel "to cease forthwith its acts against the territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, in particular its incursions into Lebanon and the assistance it continues to lend to irresponsible armed groups."
In violation of this and other UN Security Council Resolutions regarding its acts against the sovereignty of Lebanon, Israel invaded Lebanon on 6 June 1982. [Israel Killed 20,000 people -- almost all civilian in a three month timespan.] Three months later, under the command of Ariel Sharon who was Israel's minister of defense, Israel transported a special force composed of extremist Lebanese Christian militiamen and members of the Israeli surrogate force, the South Lebanon Army, to Beirut's Palestinian refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila.
On 16 September 1982, Israeli soldiers allowed the militiamen into the camps. Israeli soldiers proceeded to encircle and seal off Sabra and Shatila lighting up the camps with flares. For the next two days, while Israeli soldiers stood by, the militiamen raped, maimed, and killed countless unarmed civilians, mostly children, women and the elderly.
Israel officially numbered the dead at 700 but, by 23 September 1982, the International Committee of the Red Cross had counted 2,750 victims killed. The ICRC figure does not include those buried in mass graves, those who were buried under the ruins of houses, or those who were taken alive and never returned. Estimates by Palestinian groups place the death toll as high as 3,500. The United Nations Human Rights Commission strongly condemned what it called "Israel's responsibility for the large-scale massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which constituted an act of genocide."
The Achille Lauro hijacking and other attacks by groups of Palestinian militants have certainly caused horrific deaths amongst civilians. But, as noted by the United Nations Security Council, what is more disturbing is the persistent pattern of state-sponsored aggression and acts of terror committed by Israel which have constituted a far greater "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region." The murder of Mr. Klinghoffer was heinous, but no more heinous than the killings of thousands of refugees in Sabra and Shatila, or the victims of those who died in the Israeli air attack on Tunisia the previous week.
This pattern of Israeli aggression has not subsided. Israel continues to flagrantly disregard United Nations resolutions regarding its occupation of Palestinian territories and its excessive use of force against a defenseless civilian population.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), since September 2000, over 2,250 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers in Gaza and the West Bank. 430 of these were children, according to Defence for Children International. Another 22,446 Palestinians have been injured, one quarter by live ammunition. In just one example, evoking the Klinghoffer killing, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that two teenage Palestinians, one of them in a wheelchair, were killed in Gaza on 12 January 2003 when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at the taxi in which they were riding.
Mohammed Abu Abbas has already been convicted in absentia in Italy for the attack on the Achille Lauro and should presumably serve his term there. Will Ariel Sharon ever face prosecution for the far greater number of attacks on innocent civilians carried out under his command? The Washington Post reports that Abbas had renounced violence and both the US and Israel dropped their warrants against any members of the PLO prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace accord.
Nevertheless, Mr. Klinghoffer's daughter told NBC's Today show that she wants Abbas brought here to the US to serve a life sentence. Sadly, few of those massacred under the command of Ariel Sharon at Qibya or Sabra and Shatila have family members who survived to be able to demand the same justice for their loved ones. And the mother of Rachel Corrie was never invited to speak on any of the major American networks about the killing of her daughter just last month by the driver of an Israeli military bulldozer. Selective memory does none of us justice.
Daniel Jacob Quinn
Washington, DC
Daniel Quinn is a licensed clinical social worker with a local public school system. Last summer, he lived and worked for 2 months in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, volunteering as a clinical consultant with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
Daniel Jacob Quinn, The Electronic Intifada, 18 April 2003
The Achille Lauro is back in the news. Most of us know that a Palestinian, Mohammed Abu Abbas, is believed to have planned the 7 October 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship. His group, the Palestinian Liberation Front, demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners.
During the hijacking, an American Jewish passenger in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown into the sea. While Abbas was not on board the ship, the hijacking, taking of hostages, and killing of Mr. Klinghoffer were heinous crimes for which those responsible -- whether in the planning or the implementation -- should be brought to justice. International law demands that attacks on civilians are prosecuted. Justice demands this is done impartially in all situations.
While extensive media coverage of the arrest of Abbas in Iraq by US forces has ensured that most of us know about the Achille Lauro, no one seems to recall Hammam-Plage.
On October 1, 1985, one week before the cruise ship was hijacked, Israel launched an air assault on Hammam-Plage, a residential suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. At the time Israel claimed to be seeking out Palestinian leaders given refuge by Tunisia and attacking military targets in the neighborhood.
According to an 2 October 1985 article published by the Guardian, Israel's attack "brutally signalled its determination to keep the Palestine Liberation Organisation out of the emerging Middle East peace process." The article noted that one of the buildings bombed by the Israelis was the private residence of PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
The Guardian cites claims by Israeli military leaders that "one of the targets of the raid was the headquarters of Force 17," an elite military unit. According to the verbatim record of the 4 October 1985 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, however, Tunisia's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Beji Caid Essebsi reminded the Security Council that Israeli officials had, themselves, admitted that the Force 17 headquarters were not located in Tunisia.
Essebsi testified that it was a well-known fact that Tunisia had given refuge to "the legitimate representation of the Palestinian people." But, he emphasized, there was no Palestinian military base in Tunisia.
While the Hammam-Plage neighborhood did contain political offices of the PLO, Essebsi underlined to the UN that the neighborhood was "a clearly defined urban area, where many Tunisian families live and where a small number of Palestinian civilians had found refuge after their terrible ordeal during the Israeli aggression against Lebanon."
Essebsi testified that 68 civilians were killed and more than 100 were wounded during the Israeli attack.
The United Nations Security Council considered the raid to be a grievous act of aggression against the sovereign nation of Tunisia, noting "with concern that the Israeli attack has caused heavy loss of human life and extensive material damage." UN Security Council Resolution 573 frames the Israeli attack as a "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region" and vigorously condemned the "flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and norms of conduct."
Israel's representative to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu, was defiant in his stance that "we in Israel shall never accept" the Security Council resolution.
The hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer are both examples of unjustifiable acts. Yet supporters of Israel, who are currently working hard to emphasise the Achille Lauro incident as a tool to demonize Palestinians, have a less than glowing record where acts of terrorism committed by their own are concerned, never mind their standard practice of glossing over or justifying acts by the State of Israel that resulted in massive civilian casualties.
Four days after the attack on the Achille Lauro, on 11 October 1985, a bomb demolished the Santa Ana offices of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, killing Alex Odeh, the organization's regional executive director. Seven others were injured. According to a New York Times article the following day, "The Jewish Defense League, often at odds with the [ADC], denied responsibility for the bombing but praised the action." The night before his death, Mr. Odeh had appeared on a local news program to comment on the Achille Lauro hijacking. He reportedly denied the PLO's involvement in the murder of Leon Klinghoffer. Rather than condemn the killing of Mr. Odeh, the official website of the Jewish Defense League confirms that JDL National Chairman Irv Rubin publicly stated that Alex Odeh "got what he deserved."
The "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region" posed by Israel's aggression goes back further than its attack on Tunisia. In June 1979, the United Nations Security Council condemned Israel's "acts of violence against Lebanon that have led to the displacement of civilians, including Palestinians, and brought about destruction and loss of innocent lives." UN Security Council Resolution 450 called upon Israel "to cease forthwith its acts against the territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, in particular its incursions into Lebanon and the assistance it continues to lend to irresponsible armed groups."
In violation of this and other UN Security Council Resolutions regarding its acts against the sovereignty of Lebanon, Israel invaded Lebanon on 6 June 1982. [Israel Killed 20,000 people -- almost all civilian in a three month timespan.] Three months later, under the command of Ariel Sharon who was Israel's minister of defense, Israel transported a special force composed of extremist Lebanese Christian militiamen and members of the Israeli surrogate force, the South Lebanon Army, to Beirut's Palestinian refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila.
On 16 September 1982, Israeli soldiers allowed the militiamen into the camps. Israeli soldiers proceeded to encircle and seal off Sabra and Shatila lighting up the camps with flares. For the next two days, while Israeli soldiers stood by, the militiamen raped, maimed, and killed countless unarmed civilians, mostly children, women and the elderly.
Israel officially numbered the dead at 700 but, by 23 September 1982, the International Committee of the Red Cross had counted 2,750 victims killed. The ICRC figure does not include those buried in mass graves, those who were buried under the ruins of houses, or those who were taken alive and never returned. Estimates by Palestinian groups place the death toll as high as 3,500. The United Nations Human Rights Commission strongly condemned what it called "Israel's responsibility for the large-scale massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which constituted an act of genocide."
The Achille Lauro hijacking and other attacks by groups of Palestinian militants have certainly caused horrific deaths amongst civilians. But, as noted by the United Nations Security Council, what is more disturbing is the persistent pattern of state-sponsored aggression and acts of terror committed by Israel which have constituted a far greater "threat to peace and security in the Mediterranean region." The murder of Mr. Klinghoffer was heinous, but no more heinous than the killings of thousands of refugees in Sabra and Shatila, or the victims of those who died in the Israeli air attack on Tunisia the previous week.
This pattern of Israeli aggression has not subsided. Israel continues to flagrantly disregard United Nations resolutions regarding its occupation of Palestinian territories and its excessive use of force against a defenseless civilian population.
According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), since September 2000, over 2,250 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and armed settlers in Gaza and the West Bank. 430 of these were children, according to Defence for Children International. Another 22,446 Palestinians have been injured, one quarter by live ammunition. In just one example, evoking the Klinghoffer killing, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that two teenage Palestinians, one of them in a wheelchair, were killed in Gaza on 12 January 2003 when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at the taxi in which they were riding.
Mohammed Abu Abbas has already been convicted in absentia in Italy for the attack on the Achille Lauro and should presumably serve his term there. Will Ariel Sharon ever face prosecution for the far greater number of attacks on innocent civilians carried out under his command? The Washington Post reports that Abbas had renounced violence and both the US and Israel dropped their warrants against any members of the PLO prior to the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace accord.
Nevertheless, Mr. Klinghoffer's daughter told NBC's Today show that she wants Abbas brought here to the US to serve a life sentence. Sadly, few of those massacred under the command of Ariel Sharon at Qibya or Sabra and Shatila have family members who survived to be able to demand the same justice for their loved ones. And the mother of Rachel Corrie was never invited to speak on any of the major American networks about the killing of her daughter just last month by the driver of an Israeli military bulldozer. Selective memory does none of us justice.
Daniel Jacob Quinn
Washington, DC
Daniel Quinn is a licensed clinical social worker with a local public school system. Last summer, he lived and worked for 2 months in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, volunteering as a clinical consultant with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
For more information:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article13...
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"ADL agent Roy Bullock was discovered to have a floor plan of murdered Los Angeles Arab American leader Alex Odeh and a key to his office."
-Jeff Blanfort
http://www.counterpunch.org/adlspying2.html
"Immediately after the 1985 assassination [of Arab-American Alex Odeh in Santa Ana, CA] the FBI identified three suspects, all of them believed to be affiliated with the JDL, who fled to Israel. Two of the suspects were Robert and Rochelle Manning, who took refuge in the settlement of Jewish religious militants at Kiryat Arba outside Hebron on the West Bank. After years of legal delays Israel consented to the extradition of Robert Manning to the U.S., where he is serving a life sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot in which a Manhattan Beach, CA secretary was killed by the explosion of a package bomb mailed to her employer. The Israelis claim Rochelle Manning died of a heart attack just before she, too, was to be extradited to California."
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0497/9704067.htm
-Jeff Blanfort
http://www.counterpunch.org/adlspying2.html
"Immediately after the 1985 assassination [of Arab-American Alex Odeh in Santa Ana, CA] the FBI identified three suspects, all of them believed to be affiliated with the JDL, who fled to Israel. Two of the suspects were Robert and Rochelle Manning, who took refuge in the settlement of Jewish religious militants at Kiryat Arba outside Hebron on the West Bank. After years of legal delays Israel consented to the extradition of Robert Manning to the U.S., where he is serving a life sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot in which a Manhattan Beach, CA secretary was killed by the explosion of a package bomb mailed to her employer. The Israelis claim Rochelle Manning died of a heart attack just before she, too, was to be extradited to California."
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0497/9704067.htm
Now how about the US pressuring Israel to surrender the Israeli murderers who killed Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall -- this is terrorism against US citizens no less revolting than what happened to Leon Klinghoffer 17 years ago; except these murders happened only days ago and it was Israelis committing the terrorism with our weapons.
Excellent article, however, selective memory means that there is iniital awareness of events that are selectively forgotten by choice. In the many historical cases of Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians--pre-Internet days, the American public heard only what Israeli censors allowed us to hear. Thank goodness for this truth-liberating medium, and thank goodness for voices of justice such as Mr. Quinn's, that bring light and balance to the endless Israeli spin and vulgar exploitation of events. I don't recall seeing any past contributions by Daniel on Electronic Intifada, and I hope we will be reading more of his work here in the future.
TERRORISM OR HATE CRIME?
U.S. authorities apply different labels to crimes committed by two extremists -- one Muslim, the other Jewish.
By Eric Boehlert -Salon.com
April 17, 2003 |
On Independence Day last summer, a depressed 41-year-old Muslim immigrant by the name of Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, whose views on the Arab-Israeli conflict had become increasingly extreme, approached the ticket counter of the Israeli-run El Al airline at Los Angeles International Airport. Loaded down with a recently purchased .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 9 mm handgun and a 6-inch knife, he opened fire. During a 30-second rampage, Hadayet emptied the 10-round revolver, killing two people and injuring scores more, before an El Al security guard shot him dead.
Six weeks later, in Tampa, Fla., a depressed Jewish podiatrist by the name of Dr. Robert Goldstein, 38, who wanted to send a message on behalf of "his people" following the attacks of Sept. 11, and to express his anger over the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, was arrested after police raided his home. There they discovered a DETAILED PLAN TO BLOW UP 50 local mosques and Islamic centers, "kill all 'rags‚'" and "liquidate" Muslims during the attacks if necessary. Police also uncovered a VAST ILLEGAL STASH OF WEAPONS, including 30 EXPLOSIVE DEVICES, light-armor ROCKETS, HAND GRENADES a 5-gallon GASOLINE BOMB, .50-caliber MACHINE GUNS, SILENCERS, and SNIPER RIFLES.
Ultimately, law enforcement authorities would label one man a terrorist, and the other a dangerous but deluded perpetrator of hate crimes. How do two crimes with similarities [??] that seem highly relevant in the midst of a war on terrorism come to be defined so differently? Some observers cite paranoia in the wake of Sept. 11 as the reason. Others don't. But even some law enforcement officials are stymied by the choices made by their colleagues in the two cases.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/17/terrorist_act/index_np.html
U.S. authorities apply different labels to crimes committed by two extremists -- one Muslim, the other Jewish.
By Eric Boehlert -Salon.com
April 17, 2003 |
On Independence Day last summer, a depressed 41-year-old Muslim immigrant by the name of Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, whose views on the Arab-Israeli conflict had become increasingly extreme, approached the ticket counter of the Israeli-run El Al airline at Los Angeles International Airport. Loaded down with a recently purchased .45-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, a 9 mm handgun and a 6-inch knife, he opened fire. During a 30-second rampage, Hadayet emptied the 10-round revolver, killing two people and injuring scores more, before an El Al security guard shot him dead.
Six weeks later, in Tampa, Fla., a depressed Jewish podiatrist by the name of Dr. Robert Goldstein, 38, who wanted to send a message on behalf of "his people" following the attacks of Sept. 11, and to express his anger over the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, was arrested after police raided his home. There they discovered a DETAILED PLAN TO BLOW UP 50 local mosques and Islamic centers, "kill all 'rags‚'" and "liquidate" Muslims during the attacks if necessary. Police also uncovered a VAST ILLEGAL STASH OF WEAPONS, including 30 EXPLOSIVE DEVICES, light-armor ROCKETS, HAND GRENADES a 5-gallon GASOLINE BOMB, .50-caliber MACHINE GUNS, SILENCERS, and SNIPER RIFLES.
Ultimately, law enforcement authorities would label one man a terrorist, and the other a dangerous but deluded perpetrator of hate crimes. How do two crimes with similarities [??] that seem highly relevant in the midst of a war on terrorism come to be defined so differently? Some observers cite paranoia in the wake of Sept. 11 as the reason. Others don't. But even some law enforcement officials are stymied by the choices made by their colleagues in the two cases.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/17/terrorist_act/index_np.html
For more information:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/...
Tying Mr Klinghoffers death to Rachael Corrie's is stupid and this reasoning is something we don't apply when the victims of hate crimes are muslims. For ex:
Iran bombed a Jewish center in Argentina and got away with it.
So that means if an Iranian-American is a victim of a hate crime we should mention that those who killed the 87 people in Argentina have never been brought to justice.
The 6 people killed in the US in post 9/11 rage... well Bin Laden hasn't been brought to justice and the muslim world has much complicity in that event.....
When a Jewish American was murdered on a bus via a suicide bombing in Israel "activists" didn't demand that those responsible be brought to justice. But when Rachael Corrie died while interjecting herself into the middle of a war zone they did.
But of course these things are not brought up....
Iran bombed a Jewish center in Argentina and got away with it.
So that means if an Iranian-American is a victim of a hate crime we should mention that those who killed the 87 people in Argentina have never been brought to justice.
The 6 people killed in the US in post 9/11 rage... well Bin Laden hasn't been brought to justice and the muslim world has much complicity in that event.....
When a Jewish American was murdered on a bus via a suicide bombing in Israel "activists" didn't demand that those responsible be brought to justice. But when Rachael Corrie died while interjecting herself into the middle of a war zone they did.
But of course these things are not brought up....
"A country cannot claim the protection of sovereignty when it knowingly offers a piece of its territory for terrorist activity against other nations, and that is precisely what happened here. Tunisia knew very well what was going on in this extraterritorial base, the planning that took place there, the missions that were launched from it, and the purposes of those missions: repeated armed attacks against my country and against innocent civilians around the world. Tunisia, then, actually provided a base for murderous activity against another State and, in fact, the nationals of many States who are the objects and victims of this terrorist organization. The protection of sovereignty cannot be claimed by any Government when it makes available such facilities, especially against the State that must protect itself." (UN Doc. S/PV.2615, at 86-7, Oct. 4, 1985)
Mr. Netanyahu's words are remarkably similar to words that might be spoken by a United States representative, should we ever be called before the Security Council to justify an attack against Afghanistan. ...
Mr. Netanyahu's words are remarkably similar to words that might be spoken by a United States representative, should we ever be called before the Security Council to justify an attack against Afghanistan. ...
"..... if he was a Muslim man in a wheelchair no one would be blaming anyone but the cretin who committed the henious act."
If it was a muslim man in a wheelchair and the act was committed by a cretin who happened to be a commander in an organization that now wants its own independent state? And if that organization's current leader (who happened to also be leader at the time of the heinous act) was calling for the cretin's immediate release? What would you think then?
If it was a muslim man in a wheelchair and the act was committed by a cretin who happened to be a commander in an organization that now wants its own independent state? And if that organization's current leader (who happened to also be leader at the time of the heinous act) was calling for the cretin's immediate release? What would you think then?
Israel, We Bless Thee
Opinion
By Mark Glenn
From EndWar.net
4-8-3
Today, while driving through town, I wound up behind a minivan that had a big sticker on the back. The sticker had an Israeli flag in the middle of it, and under it the quotation from the book of Genesis that reads "I will bless those who bless thee." I would like to take this time to list my own reasons for thanking and
blessing Israel, our lone ally in the Middle East, for everything she has done for us, since I am quite sure most Americans are unaware of just what kind of friend she has been to us.
For extorting from me and my fellow Americans $4,000,000,000 a year for the last 4 decades, we bless thee.
For taking our most sophisticated weapons technology and stealing it for yourself without paying the American patent holders, we bless thee.
For taking that high-tech military technology and selling it to our enemies, such as the Russians and Chinese, thus further endangering us, we bless
thee.
For using that weaponry in a sustained attack against a United States ship, the USS Liberty, in an attempt to sink her, thus preventing US servicemen from revealing to the rest of the world information concerning the war crimes they witnessed you commit against Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Desert during the Six Day War, we bless thee. For killing 35 and wounding 170 American sailors aboard the USS Liberty, we bless thee. For bribing the United States government into covering it up, preventing any justice from being done for the benefit of the families of the lost sailors - as well as the American People, we bless thee.
For sending your agents into Egypt and blowing up American buildings for the purpose of blaming the Arabs in an event known as the Lavon Affair, we bless
thee.
For sending your agents into Libya during the Reagan administration, and broadcasting radio messages in Arabic that were designed to sound like
"terrorist cell planning" so that the US would initiate military strikes against Khadafi, we bless thee.
For withholding information from us concerning the planned attacks against the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, attacks you knew about through your moles
in the Islamic world and about which you deliberately refused to warn us in order to further your interests against the Arabs, we bless thee.
For employing Jonathon Pollard, an American serviceman paid to spy for Israel in order to steal even more of our National Security secrets for your parasitic purposes, we bless thee.
For blackmailing President Clinton through one of your intelligence agents, Monica Lewinsky, in order to prevent a coherent peace program from being pushed forward between yourself and the Palestinian people that you have brutalized and murdered for the last 50 years, we bless thee.
For breaking every agreement you have made with your Arab neighbors, stealing their land, displacing, murdering, and treating them like the animals you see them as, we bless thee.
For using your agents within the first Bush administration to involve us in the first Gulf War, causing the deaths of American men and women, and
exposing our servicemen to whatever bioweapons were/are responsible that has led to Gulf War Syndrome, we bless thee.
For your role in the September 11 attacks in this country, and for blackmailing and bribing the US government into deporting back to Israel the 100 or more intelligence agents that were arrested after the attacks, we bless thee. For suppressing the information from the American people of your involvement in the September 11 attacks and sending us in the wrong direction in search of answers, we bless thee.
For using one of your agents in the US Army Weapons Lab, Lt Colonel Philip Zack to steal anthrax and distribute it into our mail system, terrorizing US citizens and killing several in order to blame the Arabs, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the US Government, namely, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Abrams, and the rest into initiating this war in the Middle East so that you could bring to heel all the enemies you have made during the last 50 years, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the media to lie to us on a minute by minute basis about the war, explaining to us how "just" this cause is, and what the real reasons behind it are, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the Christian Evangelical community, such as Falwell, Graham, Swaggert, and the rest who praise you as God's chosen people and further keep Americans in the dark about who you really are, what you have done, and what you are truly about, we bless thee. For bringing idiots like Limbaugh, Liddy, Hannity, Beck, and Savage to the
forefront as paid liars that will support you and further lead Americans astray, we bless thee.
For making America your attack dog, and for sending her sons and daughters to fight and die in all your future wars, we bless thee.
For using your influence in the media to hide the real statistics about the war, the dead and wounded on both sides, we bless thee.
For using us in such a way that not only further inflames the Arab world against us, but as well has succeeded in our alienating ourselves against those nations with whom we have been friendly for over a century, we bless thee.
And finally, for using your influence in our media and academia to flood our minds with pornography and lies, as well as inculcating in us a hatred for our history, religion, and culture, for dividing our nation between races and sexes, and for releasing into our society all of your plagues and filth that have left us a rotted out corpse of a once great nation, oh Israel, our
friend, we bless thee!
For further information regarding the above cited events, read either books written by ex- Israeli Intelligence agent Victor Ostrovsky entitled By Way of Deception and The Other Side of Deception. Another good source is Dangerous Liaisons -- The Inside Story of the US-Israeli Covert Relationship
by investigative reporters Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. For specific information regarding the attack on the USS Liberty during the 6 Day War,
read Attack on the USS Liberty by Adm. James Innis.
Opinion
By Mark Glenn
From EndWar.net
4-8-3
Today, while driving through town, I wound up behind a minivan that had a big sticker on the back. The sticker had an Israeli flag in the middle of it, and under it the quotation from the book of Genesis that reads "I will bless those who bless thee." I would like to take this time to list my own reasons for thanking and
blessing Israel, our lone ally in the Middle East, for everything she has done for us, since I am quite sure most Americans are unaware of just what kind of friend she has been to us.
For extorting from me and my fellow Americans $4,000,000,000 a year for the last 4 decades, we bless thee.
For taking our most sophisticated weapons technology and stealing it for yourself without paying the American patent holders, we bless thee.
For taking that high-tech military technology and selling it to our enemies, such as the Russians and Chinese, thus further endangering us, we bless
thee.
For using that weaponry in a sustained attack against a United States ship, the USS Liberty, in an attempt to sink her, thus preventing US servicemen from revealing to the rest of the world information concerning the war crimes they witnessed you commit against Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Desert during the Six Day War, we bless thee. For killing 35 and wounding 170 American sailors aboard the USS Liberty, we bless thee. For bribing the United States government into covering it up, preventing any justice from being done for the benefit of the families of the lost sailors - as well as the American People, we bless thee.
For sending your agents into Egypt and blowing up American buildings for the purpose of blaming the Arabs in an event known as the Lavon Affair, we bless
thee.
For sending your agents into Libya during the Reagan administration, and broadcasting radio messages in Arabic that were designed to sound like
"terrorist cell planning" so that the US would initiate military strikes against Khadafi, we bless thee.
For withholding information from us concerning the planned attacks against the US Marine barracks in Lebanon, attacks you knew about through your moles
in the Islamic world and about which you deliberately refused to warn us in order to further your interests against the Arabs, we bless thee.
For employing Jonathon Pollard, an American serviceman paid to spy for Israel in order to steal even more of our National Security secrets for your parasitic purposes, we bless thee.
For blackmailing President Clinton through one of your intelligence agents, Monica Lewinsky, in order to prevent a coherent peace program from being pushed forward between yourself and the Palestinian people that you have brutalized and murdered for the last 50 years, we bless thee.
For breaking every agreement you have made with your Arab neighbors, stealing their land, displacing, murdering, and treating them like the animals you see them as, we bless thee.
For using your agents within the first Bush administration to involve us in the first Gulf War, causing the deaths of American men and women, and
exposing our servicemen to whatever bioweapons were/are responsible that has led to Gulf War Syndrome, we bless thee.
For your role in the September 11 attacks in this country, and for blackmailing and bribing the US government into deporting back to Israel the 100 or more intelligence agents that were arrested after the attacks, we bless thee. For suppressing the information from the American people of your involvement in the September 11 attacks and sending us in the wrong direction in search of answers, we bless thee.
For using one of your agents in the US Army Weapons Lab, Lt Colonel Philip Zack to steal anthrax and distribute it into our mail system, terrorizing US citizens and killing several in order to blame the Arabs, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the US Government, namely, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Abrams, and the rest into initiating this war in the Middle East so that you could bring to heel all the enemies you have made during the last 50 years, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the media to lie to us on a minute by minute basis about the war, explaining to us how "just" this cause is, and what the real reasons behind it are, we bless thee.
For using your agents in the Christian Evangelical community, such as Falwell, Graham, Swaggert, and the rest who praise you as God's chosen people and further keep Americans in the dark about who you really are, what you have done, and what you are truly about, we bless thee. For bringing idiots like Limbaugh, Liddy, Hannity, Beck, and Savage to the
forefront as paid liars that will support you and further lead Americans astray, we bless thee.
For making America your attack dog, and for sending her sons and daughters to fight and die in all your future wars, we bless thee.
For using your influence in the media to hide the real statistics about the war, the dead and wounded on both sides, we bless thee.
For using us in such a way that not only further inflames the Arab world against us, but as well has succeeded in our alienating ourselves against those nations with whom we have been friendly for over a century, we bless thee.
And finally, for using your influence in our media and academia to flood our minds with pornography and lies, as well as inculcating in us a hatred for our history, religion, and culture, for dividing our nation between races and sexes, and for releasing into our society all of your plagues and filth that have left us a rotted out corpse of a once great nation, oh Israel, our
friend, we bless thee!
For further information regarding the above cited events, read either books written by ex- Israeli Intelligence agent Victor Ostrovsky entitled By Way of Deception and The Other Side of Deception. Another good source is Dangerous Liaisons -- The Inside Story of the US-Israeli Covert Relationship
by investigative reporters Andrew and Leslie Cockburn. For specific information regarding the attack on the USS Liberty during the 6 Day War,
read Attack on the USS Liberty by Adm. James Innis.
That Arafat and the PLO have engaged in terrorist acts is not in doubt; nor is it in doubt that they are minor actors in the arena of international terrorism.31
One of the acts of PLO terror that most outraged the Secretary of State and his admirers in Congress and the media was the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, doubtless a vile terrorist act. Their sensibilities were not aroused, however, by the Israeli bombing of Tunis a week earlier, killing twenty Tunisians and fifty-five Palestinians with smart bombs that tore people to shreds beyond recognition, among other horrors described by Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk on the scene. U.S. journals had little interest, the victims being Arabs and the killers U.S. clients. Secretary Shultz was definitely interested, however. The United States had cooperated in the massacre by refusing to warn its ally Tunisia that the bombers were on their way, and Shultz telephoned Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a noted terrorist himself from the early 1940s, to inform him that the U.S. administration "had considerable sympathy for the Israeli action," the press reported. Shultz drew back from this public approbation when the U.N. Security Council unanimously denounced the bombing as an "act of armed aggression" (the United States abstaining). Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was welcomed to Washington a few days later as a man of peace, while the press solemnly discussed his consultations with President Reagan on "the evil scourge of terrorism" and what can be done to counter it.32
The outrage over hijacking does not extend to Israeli hijackings that have been carried out in international waters for many years, including civilian ferries travelling from Cyprus to Lebanon, with large numbers of people kidnapped, over 100 kept in Israeli prisons without trial, and many killed, some by Israeli gunners while they tried to stay afloat after their ship was sunk, according to survivors interviewed in prison. The strong feelings of Congress and the media were also not aroused by the case of Na'il Amin Fatayir, deported from the West Bank in July 1987. After serving eighteen months in prison on the charge of membership in a banned organization, he was released and returned to his home in Nablus. Shortly after, the government ordered him deported. When he appealed to the courts, the prosecutor argued that the deportation was legitimate because he had entered the country illegally -- having been kidnapped by the Israeli navy while travelling from Lebanon to Cyprus on the ship Hamdallah in July 1985. The High Court accepted this elegant reasoning as valid.33
The visceral outrage over terrorism is restricted to worthy victims, meeting a criterion that is all too obvious.
The hijacking of the Achille Lauro was in retaliation for the bombing of Tunis, but the West properly dismissed this justification for a terrorist act. The bombing of Tunis, in turn, was in retaliation for a terrorist murder of three Israelis in Cyprus by a group which, as Israel conceded, had probable connections to Damascus but none to Tunis, which was selected as a target rather than Damascus because it was defenseless; the Reagan administration selected Libyan cities as a bombing target a few months later in part for the same reason. The bombing of Tunis, with its many civilian casualties, was described by Secretary Shultz as a "a legitimate response" to "terrorist attacks," to general approbation. The terrorist murders in Cyprus were, in turn, justified by their perpetrators as retaliation for the Israeli hijackings over the preceding decade. Had this plea even been heard, it would have been dismissed with scorn. The term "retaliation" too must be given an appropriate interpretation, as any casuist would understand.
One of the acts of PLO terror that most outraged the Secretary of State and his admirers in Congress and the media was the hijacking of the Achille Lauro and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, doubtless a vile terrorist act. Their sensibilities were not aroused, however, by the Israeli bombing of Tunis a week earlier, killing twenty Tunisians and fifty-five Palestinians with smart bombs that tore people to shreds beyond recognition, among other horrors described by Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk on the scene. U.S. journals had little interest, the victims being Arabs and the killers U.S. clients. Secretary Shultz was definitely interested, however. The United States had cooperated in the massacre by refusing to warn its ally Tunisia that the bombers were on their way, and Shultz telephoned Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a noted terrorist himself from the early 1940s, to inform him that the U.S. administration "had considerable sympathy for the Israeli action," the press reported. Shultz drew back from this public approbation when the U.N. Security Council unanimously denounced the bombing as an "act of armed aggression" (the United States abstaining). Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was welcomed to Washington a few days later as a man of peace, while the press solemnly discussed his consultations with President Reagan on "the evil scourge of terrorism" and what can be done to counter it.32
The outrage over hijacking does not extend to Israeli hijackings that have been carried out in international waters for many years, including civilian ferries travelling from Cyprus to Lebanon, with large numbers of people kidnapped, over 100 kept in Israeli prisons without trial, and many killed, some by Israeli gunners while they tried to stay afloat after their ship was sunk, according to survivors interviewed in prison. The strong feelings of Congress and the media were also not aroused by the case of Na'il Amin Fatayir, deported from the West Bank in July 1987. After serving eighteen months in prison on the charge of membership in a banned organization, he was released and returned to his home in Nablus. Shortly after, the government ordered him deported. When he appealed to the courts, the prosecutor argued that the deportation was legitimate because he had entered the country illegally -- having been kidnapped by the Israeli navy while travelling from Lebanon to Cyprus on the ship Hamdallah in July 1985. The High Court accepted this elegant reasoning as valid.33
The visceral outrage over terrorism is restricted to worthy victims, meeting a criterion that is all too obvious.
The hijacking of the Achille Lauro was in retaliation for the bombing of Tunis, but the West properly dismissed this justification for a terrorist act. The bombing of Tunis, in turn, was in retaliation for a terrorist murder of three Israelis in Cyprus by a group which, as Israel conceded, had probable connections to Damascus but none to Tunis, which was selected as a target rather than Damascus because it was defenseless; the Reagan administration selected Libyan cities as a bombing target a few months later in part for the same reason. The bombing of Tunis, with its many civilian casualties, was described by Secretary Shultz as a "a legitimate response" to "terrorist attacks," to general approbation. The terrorist murders in Cyprus were, in turn, justified by their perpetrators as retaliation for the Israeli hijackings over the preceding decade. Had this plea even been heard, it would have been dismissed with scorn. The term "retaliation" too must be given an appropriate interpretation, as any casuist would understand.
For more information:
http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/ni/ni-c05-s05....
"For using one of your agents in the US Army Weapons Lab, Lt Colonel Philip Zack to steal anthrax and distribute it into our mail system, terrorizing US citizens and killing several in order to blame the Arabs, we bless thee."
Moshe writes that Benjamin Netanyahu's defense of Israel's 1985 attack on Tunisia could be compared to a representative from the United States justifying its 2001 attack on Afghanistan. Indeed, Netanyahu's defiance of the United Nations is more comparable to that of Saddam Hussein.
What Moshe apparently fails to grasp is that the United States will not have to defend its attack on Afghanistan because the US had the full support of the United Nations, including neighboring Muslim nations. In July 2001, UNSCR 1363 declared the situation in Afghanistan to be a threat to the international peace and security of the region, evoking the same language the UN used to condemn Israel in 1985. In November 2001, the Security Council declared its support for international efforts to root out terrorist activity in Afghanistan "in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations."
Tunisia in 1985, unlike Afghanistan in 2001, was a peaceful nation on the road to democracy in good standing with the United Nations. Contrary to Netanyahu's spurious accusations, Tunisia's sheltering of the PLO was in no way an act of supporting terrorism. Indeed, in 1974, the PLO had been recognized at an Arab summit meeting in Morocco as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1975, the PLO had been awarded permanent representative status by the United Nations General Assembly. In May 1980, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 470 in which it invited the representative of the PLO to participate in a debate about the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. If the UN could recognize the PLO as a legitimate voice for the Palestinian people, how could Israel not? Unless, of course, as reported in the Guardian, it was brutally determined to keep the PLO away from peace talks.
Consider a partial record of Israel's disregard for United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR). When one considers that in 1980 alone, the Council issued SEVEN resolutions against Israel, Mr. Netanyahu's obstructive belligerence in 1985 is more easily understood.
March 1980: UNSCR 465 determined that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, have no legal validity. The UN called upon the government and people of Israel to cease on an urgent basis the establishment, construction and planning of such settlements.
April 1980: UNSCR 467 condemned Israel's military interventions in Lebanon.
May 1980: UNSCR 468 called upon Israel to rescind its illegal measures taken to expel three Palestinian leaders - the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron – and to facilitate their immediate return. In the same month, UNSCR 469 strongly deplored the failure of the government of Israel to implement resolution 468 and called upon Israel to rescind the measures against the expelled leaders.
June 1980: UNSCR 471 expressed deep concern that the Jewish settlers in the occupied Arab territories were allowed to carry arm and perpetrate crimes against the civilian Palestinian population. It also condemned Israeli attempts to assassinate the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh. This resolution also expressed "deep concern" at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous Security Council resolutions.
June 1980: UNSCR 476 once again called for an end to the prolonged occupation of Arab territories by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem. It declared as null and void all measures taken by Israel which altered the geographic, demographic and historical character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem
August 1980: UNSCR 478 censured in the strongest terms Israel's enactment of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and Israel's refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions. It affirmed that the enactment of the "basic law" constitutes a violation of international law.
**************
Where Moshe's comparison of Tunisia with Afghanistan completely falls apart is when we recall that Tunisia was not the only nation in 1985 to provide the PLO with office space. Following its recognition by the United Nations in 1975, the PLO had opened up offices in midtown Manhattan, USA.
Using Moshe's way of thinking, Netanyahu could have used the same speech to justify an attack on New York City as he did to justify Israel's bombing of Tunis.
What Moshe apparently fails to grasp is that the United States will not have to defend its attack on Afghanistan because the US had the full support of the United Nations, including neighboring Muslim nations. In July 2001, UNSCR 1363 declared the situation in Afghanistan to be a threat to the international peace and security of the region, evoking the same language the UN used to condemn Israel in 1985. In November 2001, the Security Council declared its support for international efforts to root out terrorist activity in Afghanistan "in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations."
Tunisia in 1985, unlike Afghanistan in 2001, was a peaceful nation on the road to democracy in good standing with the United Nations. Contrary to Netanyahu's spurious accusations, Tunisia's sheltering of the PLO was in no way an act of supporting terrorism. Indeed, in 1974, the PLO had been recognized at an Arab summit meeting in Morocco as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1975, the PLO had been awarded permanent representative status by the United Nations General Assembly. In May 1980, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 470 in which it invited the representative of the PLO to participate in a debate about the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. If the UN could recognize the PLO as a legitimate voice for the Palestinian people, how could Israel not? Unless, of course, as reported in the Guardian, it was brutally determined to keep the PLO away from peace talks.
Consider a partial record of Israel's disregard for United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR). When one considers that in 1980 alone, the Council issued SEVEN resolutions against Israel, Mr. Netanyahu's obstructive belligerence in 1985 is more easily understood.
March 1980: UNSCR 465 determined that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, have no legal validity. The UN called upon the government and people of Israel to cease on an urgent basis the establishment, construction and planning of such settlements.
April 1980: UNSCR 467 condemned Israel's military interventions in Lebanon.
May 1980: UNSCR 468 called upon Israel to rescind its illegal measures taken to expel three Palestinian leaders - the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron – and to facilitate their immediate return. In the same month, UNSCR 469 strongly deplored the failure of the government of Israel to implement resolution 468 and called upon Israel to rescind the measures against the expelled leaders.
June 1980: UNSCR 471 expressed deep concern that the Jewish settlers in the occupied Arab territories were allowed to carry arm and perpetrate crimes against the civilian Palestinian population. It also condemned Israeli attempts to assassinate the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh. This resolution also expressed "deep concern" at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous Security Council resolutions.
June 1980: UNSCR 476 once again called for an end to the prolonged occupation of Arab territories by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem. It declared as null and void all measures taken by Israel which altered the geographic, demographic and historical character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem
August 1980: UNSCR 478 censured in the strongest terms Israel's enactment of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and Israel's refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions. It affirmed that the enactment of the "basic law" constitutes a violation of international law.
**************
Where Moshe's comparison of Tunisia with Afghanistan completely falls apart is when we recall that Tunisia was not the only nation in 1985 to provide the PLO with office space. Following its recognition by the United Nations in 1975, the PLO had opened up offices in midtown Manhattan, USA.
Using Moshe's way of thinking, Netanyahu could have used the same speech to justify an attack on New York City as he did to justify Israel's bombing of Tunis.
Moshe writes that Benjamin Netanyahu's defense of Israel's 1985 attack on Tunisia could be compared to a representative from the United States justifying its 2001 attack on Afghanistan. Indeed, Netanyahu's defiance of the United Nations is more comparable to that of Saddam Hussein.
What Moshe apparently fails to grasp is that the United States will not have to defend its attack on Afghanistan because the US had the full support of the United Nations, including neighboring Muslim nations. In July 2001, the UNSCR 1363 declared the situation in Afghanistan as a threat to the international peace and security of the region, evoking the same language the UN used to condemn Israel in 1985. In November 2001, the Security Council declared its support for international efforts to root out terrorist activity in Afghanistan "in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations."
Tunisia in 1985, unlike Afghanistan in 2001, was a peaceful nation on the road to democracy in good standing with the United Nations. Contrary to Netanyahu's spurious accusations, Tunisia's sheltering of the PLO was in no way an act of supporting terrorism. Indeed, in 1974, the PLO had been recognized at an Arab summit meeting in Morocco as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1975, the PLO had been awarded permanent representative status by the United Nations General Assembly. In May 1980, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 470 in which it invited the representative of the PLO to participate in a debate about the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. If the UN could recognize the PLO as a legitimate voice for the Palestinian people, how could Israel not? Unless, of course, as reported in the Guardian, it was brutally determined to keep the PLO away from peace talks.
Consider a partial record of Israel's disregard for United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR). When one considers that in 1980 alone, the Council issued SEVEN resolutions against Israel, Mr. Netanyahu's obstructive belligerence in 1985 is more easily understood.
March 1980: UNSCR 465 determined that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, have no legal validity. The UN called upon the government and people of Israel to cease on an urgent basis the establishment, construction and planning of such settlements.
April 1980: UNSCR 467 condemned Israel's military interventions in Lebanon.
May 1980: UNSCR 468 called upon Israel to rescind its illegal measures taken to expel three Palestinian leaders - the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron – and to facilitate their immediate return. In the same month, UNSCR 469 strongly deplored the failure of the government of Israel to implement resolution 468 and called upon Israel to rescind the measures against the expelled leaders.
June 1980: UNSCR 471 expressed deep concern that the Jewish settlers in the occupied Arab territories were allowed to carry arm and perpetrate crimes against the civilian Palestinian population. It also condemned Israeli attempts to assassinate the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh. This resolution also expressed "deep concern" at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous Security Council resolutions.
June 1980: UNSCR 476 once again called for an end to the prolonged occupation of Arab territories by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem. It declared as null and void all measures taken by Israel which have altered the geographic, demographic and historical character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem
August 1980: UNSCR 478 censured in the strongest terms Israel's enactment of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and Israel's refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions. It affirmed that the enactment of the "basic law" constitutes a violation of international law.
Where Moshe's comparison of Tunisia with Afghanistan fails the most is when one recalls that Tunisia was not the only nation in 1985 to provide the PLO with office space. Following its recognition by the United Nations in 1975, the PLO opened up offices in midtown Manhattan.
Using Moshe's way of thinking, Netanyahu could have used the same speech to justify an attack on New York City as he did to justify Israel's bombing of Tunis.
What Moshe apparently fails to grasp is that the United States will not have to defend its attack on Afghanistan because the US had the full support of the United Nations, including neighboring Muslim nations. In July 2001, the UNSCR 1363 declared the situation in Afghanistan as a threat to the international peace and security of the region, evoking the same language the UN used to condemn Israel in 1985. In November 2001, the Security Council declared its support for international efforts to root out terrorist activity in Afghanistan "in keeping with the Charter of the United Nations."
Tunisia in 1985, unlike Afghanistan in 2001, was a peaceful nation on the road to democracy in good standing with the United Nations. Contrary to Netanyahu's spurious accusations, Tunisia's sheltering of the PLO was in no way an act of supporting terrorism. Indeed, in 1974, the PLO had been recognized at an Arab summit meeting in Morocco as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. In 1975, the PLO had been awarded permanent representative status by the United Nations General Assembly. In May 1980, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 470 in which it invited the representative of the PLO to participate in a debate about the Palestinian Territories occupied by Israel. If the UN could recognize the PLO as a legitimate voice for the Palestinian people, how could Israel not? Unless, of course, as reported in the Guardian, it was brutally determined to keep the PLO away from peace talks.
Consider a partial record of Israel's disregard for United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR). When one considers that in 1980 alone, the Council issued SEVEN resolutions against Israel, Mr. Netanyahu's obstructive belligerence in 1985 is more easily understood.
March 1980: UNSCR 465 determined that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, have no legal validity. The UN called upon the government and people of Israel to cease on an urgent basis the establishment, construction and planning of such settlements.
April 1980: UNSCR 467 condemned Israel's military interventions in Lebanon.
May 1980: UNSCR 468 called upon Israel to rescind its illegal measures taken to expel three Palestinian leaders - the Mayors of Hebron and Halhoul and the Sharia Judge of Hebron – and to facilitate their immediate return. In the same month, UNSCR 469 strongly deplored the failure of the government of Israel to implement resolution 468 and called upon Israel to rescind the measures against the expelled leaders.
June 1980: UNSCR 471 expressed deep concern that the Jewish settlers in the occupied Arab territories were allowed to carry arm and perpetrate crimes against the civilian Palestinian population. It also condemned Israeli attempts to assassinate the Mayors of Nablus, Ramallah and Al-Bireh. This resolution also expressed "deep concern" at Israel's failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and numerous Security Council resolutions.
June 1980: UNSCR 476 once again called for an end to the prolonged occupation of Arab territories by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem. It declared as null and void all measures taken by Israel which have altered the geographic, demographic and historical character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem
August 1980: UNSCR 478 censured in the strongest terms Israel's enactment of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and Israel's refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions. It affirmed that the enactment of the "basic law" constitutes a violation of international law.
Where Moshe's comparison of Tunisia with Afghanistan fails the most is when one recalls that Tunisia was not the only nation in 1985 to provide the PLO with office space. Following its recognition by the United Nations in 1975, the PLO opened up offices in midtown Manhattan.
Using Moshe's way of thinking, Netanyahu could have used the same speech to justify an attack on New York City as he did to justify Israel's bombing of Tunis.
--"Tying Mr Klinghoffers death to Rachael Corrie's is stupid and this reasoning is something we don't apply when the victims of hate crimes are muslims."
My point in bringing up Rachel Corrie was to point out the US government's and media's huge double standard in going into jubilation over the arrest of someone guilty of killing an American citizen 17 years ago while not even mentioning that the Israeli terrorists who murdered Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall should be arrested and held accountable -- and these crimes happened only days ago.
Another crime which happened 17 years ago involved the bombing of Alex Odeh by Jewish terrorists. They were allowed to escape to Israel and will also get away with murder.
In fact, the US media has made the Achille Lauro and Leon Klinghoffer world news. Who has ever heard of Arab-American Alex Odeh who was murdered in Santa Ana by Jewish terrorists from the JDL.
My point in bringing up Rachel Corrie was to point out the US government's and media's huge double standard in going into jubilation over the arrest of someone guilty of killing an American citizen 17 years ago while not even mentioning that the Israeli terrorists who murdered Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall should be arrested and held accountable -- and these crimes happened only days ago.
Another crime which happened 17 years ago involved the bombing of Alex Odeh by Jewish terrorists. They were allowed to escape to Israel and will also get away with murder.
In fact, the US media has made the Achille Lauro and Leon Klinghoffer world news. Who has ever heard of Arab-American Alex Odeh who was murdered in Santa Ana by Jewish terrorists from the JDL.
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