The Bad News Blog is Back, January 27, 2010

Al Capone

This week we open the nasty blog with what I think is an appropriate picture, the mug shot of   Al Capone at Alcatraz prison. It is appropriate because this arch criminal, head of an empire of prostitution, gambling, bootlegging and drug dealing, who murdered countless people, went to prison for violation of Prohibition laws and income tax evasion.  It is analogous to investigating land grabs as a possible  impediment to appointing the new Chief of Staff of our glorious IDF, the most moral army in the world.   Gideon Levy has pointed out most aptly that the land theft, false statements and self-aggrandizement of Yoav Galant pale in comparison with his war crimes and brutality towards the civilian population of Gaza during Cast Lead over which he presided as Southern Command General.  The furor over the greed and arrogance seems silly when the man is not tried for his real crimes.   Alon Idan notes sarcastically, but correctly, that the greed, arrogance and general turpitude of Galant qualify him perfectly to be the Chief of Staff.  I say that if his appointment is blocked, we should settle for the justice that we can get.

ישעיהו מ"ב ו אֲנִי יְהוָה קְרָאתִיךָ בְצֶדֶק, וְאַחְזֵק בְּיָדֶךָ; וְאֶצָּרְךָ, וְאֶתֶּנְךָ לִבְרִית עָם--לְאוֹר גּוֹיִם.

 For the Hebrew-challenged amongst the readers:
 Isaiah 42:6
I, the Lord, Have Called you in Righteousness, and Will Hold your hand and Keep you. And I Will
establish you as a Covenant of the people, for a Light unto the nations.

THE WORLD Before we get on to the calamities in Israel let us take a look around the world.

UPRISING IN EGYPT

 The successful uprising in Tunisia, which, we have reason to hope. will lead to a democratic regime, is having echoes elsewhere in the Arab world. Tens of thousands are protesting the Mubarak regime in Egypt and, while the government is trying to put it down by force, the demonstrations are going forward and deserve support from all of us. Here is a. report from Amnesty USA.  The establishment of a democratic government in Egypt and other Arab countries can only be good for Israel and the cause of peace. The opposition is led by the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nobel peace laureate and Egyptian opposition politician Mohamed  El Baradei who has arrived in Cairo as anti-government protests continue to spread. For more details, I refer you to the BBC.  If  El Baradei becomes the leader of Egypt, the country will enter a new age. Let us hope for the best.

JUSTICE FOR WORKERS

Cambodian textile workers protesting

If you buy clothes from Gap, Zara and H&M, you should know that you are wearing the fruits of the labor of exploited sweatshop workers. Events at a factory in Cambodia came to a head and workers were fired for striking and demanding better working conditions. Please raise your voice to protest  this injustice which, alas, is only too typical of the way corporations from the developed world exploit and abuse the Third World.

IN THE USA the situation is not much better for workers at a food plant. The US AFL-CIO and the global union federation ICEM have joined the IUF in lodging a formal complaint against French-based sugar and starch maker Roquette Frères for violating the Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The workers have been locked out since September 28 in a contract dispute. Please join the protest against this abuse of working people.

REPRESSION OF WORKERS IN TURKEY While we are talking about workers' rights, the time has certainly come to reform the abusive and repressive labor laws of Turkey. This country, which considers itself a progressive democracy has shameful laws on the books. Please let the Turkish government know that this is
unacceptable to you.

RETRIBUTION FOR WIKILEAKS--ILL TREATMENT OF US SOLDIER We do not usually think of the United States as a country where human rights are trampled upon by the military establishment. A 23 year old soldier,Bradley Manning, accused of collaboration with Wikileaks, is being held in inhuman pre-trial detention conditions.  Amnesty International has protested to the American authorities. "The repressive conditions imposed on Manning breach the US's obligations to treat detainees with humanity and dignity," said Susan Lee. It seems that they are taking revenge on him for the embarrassment caused by the disclosures, although he has not yet been tried nor convicted of any offense

TUNA IS BAD NEWS for all of us who are concerned about mercury pollution in our food supply. The FDA says: “Nearly all fish and shellfish contain traces of methylmercury. However, larger fish that have lived longer have the highest levels of methylmercury because they’ve had more time to accumulate it.”
What can methylmercury do to us humans? For starters: brain damage, memory loss, personality change, tremors, spontaneous abortion, and damage to a developing fetus. Fatigue and memory loss caused by mercury poisoning from eating fish is so common that doctors even have a name for it: fish fog.  Read more.
Global warming which leads to  loss of sea ice also plays a role in the enhancement of the risk of mercury poisoning in the food chain. This is not a trivial matter and I think we should all reconsider our consumption of top-of-the-marine-food chain fish in which mercury accumulates.


NOW TO THE SITUATION IN ISRAEL The brouhaha concerning the appointment of a new Chief of Staff for the Army is discussed above. It is symptomatic of the general state of affairs.   The latest Al Jazeera leaks have shown that we could have had a peace deal long ago if only our government had had the cojones to face down the settlers.  Gideon Levy points out what a catastrophic error was made by our government. It is not the first. As far back as 1983, we could have given the West Bank back to King Hussein in framework of the London Agreement between Hussein and Peres, which was rejected by Shamir and his right wing government. That Zipi Livni would reject a most generous Palestinian offer because of Har Homa and Maaleh Adumim, two settlements near Jerusalem, is shocking, although it should not be in view of her track record as a right-winger. To be fair, we should recall that this is Israel and that she and Olmert might have well paid with their lives for accepting such a deal.   It is becoming apparent that peace is not a high priority for Israel, government and people, and that holding on to territory is more important.

In the light of these disclosures it is hard to know what to make of two  op-eds, one in the New York Times by Jeffrey Goldberg and Hussein Ibish on so called  Good News from the Middle East and the other by Bradley Burston, who should know better, in Haaretz online.  The articles are both upbeat with respect to the prospects of peace and ending the occupation. These writers, with all due respect, are, in my humble opinion, whistling in the dark. There is a grasping at straws in both articles. I participated in the big demonstration for democracy in Tel Aviv and indeed thousands turned out, but we in the liberal community in Israel are still highly marginalized and the signs of peace that Goldberg and Ibish  as well as Burston grasped at are ephemeral at best.  Yes, Niztan Hurwitz and even Meir Shitrit gave inspiring speeches, but there was no sign of Zipi Livni nor Shaul Mofaz, the real power brokers in Kadima  I would be delighted to be proven wrong and promise to eat my favorite Tilley hat in public if indeed all these beautiful prophecies were to come true.

I attended the granting of the  Yishayahu Leibowitz prize this week to  Shulamit Aloni  and   Sara Beninga the leader of the Sheikh Jarrakh struggle.

A banner from a demonstration against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions.

We saw film clips of Leibowitz predicting exactly what is happening today as a result of the continued Occupation, our steady descent into bestiality as he described it and what he called the nazification of our society. Again, inspiring speeches were made, but it was all preaching to the choir. Indeed many young people see the futility of our path and some even are broken by it, as was  Khalil Givati-Rapp , but too many others buy the brainwashing and a large part of the population just enjoys the good life in the bubble known as the State of Tel Aviv.

DUMB
I often wonder why we are so DUMB as to believe that the Palestinians will all pack up and move to Jordan at our behest and that we shall inherit the Greater Land of Israel from a benign God who knows only us. I came across an article by William Rivers Pitt in Truthout that helps to put it in perspective. The DUMB that we are dealing with here is the same DUMB that drives the Tea Party and the rest of the right wing around the world. I would like to share his article on  DUMB with you, not that there is much consolation in it.

Let us least make some noise. There will be a demonstration on Tuesday Feb. 1 in front of the JNF office in Jerusalem to protest the barbaric actions of that organization at El Arakeeb. For details write to manor12@zahav.net.il. Buses from Tel Aviv Central Railroad station at 1300.

Lest I send you off completely depressed, I wind up with  some good news about the progress towards recovery of  Gabrielle Giffords,  a new years greeting from the Elders and a few smiles from  Andy Borowitz on Michelle Bachman and Gene Weingarten whose  Below the Beltway blog deals with nothing more momentous than life at the laundromat.

The Bad News Blog is Back, January 12, 2010

Gabrille Giffords

MADNESS EVERYWHERE

It seems that the nutty world has gone even more over the edge since the last of these postings.  The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords,
the Congresswoman, in Tucson is an example of how the world is evolving and what violent political discourse can generate.   I agree totally with  William Rivers Pitt that the crazies who fire the shots are driven by the rhetoric of the fanatic right.  Indeed there are people who will say this was just one bad weed (e.g. Yigal Amir who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin) or a single deranged individual, in order to avoid accountability of the right, as claimed by  Charles Krauthammer .   As said by  Shulamit Aloni
about Amir, these weeds are raised  in a well fertilized flower bed by people who cannot abide certain things such as a black President or a peace agreement or whatever drives their madness.  For the Tucson case no one can claim a direct connection between Loughner and Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and the rest, but in the Rabin assassination, I have no doubt that rabbis from the West Bank settlements sent him and the government lacked the cojones to investigate them.  It was convenient to hang it all on a deranged loner.
 Robert Kennedy Jr. brings back his memory of the assassination of his Uncle Jack and the wild right wing incitement that gripped Dallas at that time.  He ends with "Gabrielle Giffords lies in a hospital room fighting for her life, and a precious nine-year-old girl is dead along with five others. Let's pray for them and for our country and hope this tragedy prompts another round of examination of conscience."
Christina Green, born on Sept. 11, 2001, a day of unmatched terrorism, died at the hands of a terrorist.
It is sad that her funeral required protection from anti-gay activists by emergency legislation.  These nuts from Topeka claim that all the bad things are a result of homosexuality and indeed will picket the funeral of Judge Roll and the hospital where Gabrielle Giffords is fighting for her life.  How beautiful is life in a world of hate, all in the name of God and Christ. 
 The Westboro Baptist Church is a travesty of religion.

SAVE THE BEES  Bees are dying off in the billions and our entire food supply is in danger.  I append a call to sign a petition to put a stop to the use of pesticides that are causing the catastrophe.  Please sign and pass it on.

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS TUTU
I also would like to ask you to sign a petition to protect Archbishop Desmond Tutu from the horrible personal attacks that have been made on him by Jewish organizations because of his criticism, most justified, of  human rights violations.  Archbishop Tutu deserves better of us.

ISRAEL TODAY--IN THE PITS
We are living through terrible times in Israel today.  The anti-democratic elements in the body politic have found a leader in our Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and legislative initiatives designed to stifle dissent and impose a fascist style political culture are being passed in the Knesset, one by one.  The latest is a law to set up a parliamentary committee to investigate left wing and human rights organizations.  Some of us are old enough to remember HUAC and the excesses of the McCarthy
era.  One might consider converting to an Eastern religion that preaches reincarnation since Joe McCarthy is alive and well in Israel,
Lieberman's party pushed through the law on investigating human rights organization in a debate in which they referred to people like myself as "germ" and "traitors."  To be fair, we must say that  several right wing MK's stood up against him and incurred his wrath.  People like Begin and Meridor, although conservative and nationalist in their views, understand that such legislation is dangerous for our society as a whole and for our democratic way of life, or what is left of it.  They incurred the wrath of Lieberman who attacked them as weak on patriotism and claimed that left wing groups are collaborators with terrorists.   For his part, Meridor defended his position and referred to the initiative as "dangerous."  Indeed it is.
People on the left were much more explicit.  In truth, two years ago Shulamit Aloni lamented the demise of democracy in Israel.  Yossi Gurvitz has published a blog statement on the question of the appointment of the new Chief of Staff.  The question of the legitimacy of Glantz as CoS is now before the Supreme Court and YG casts serious doubt on the courage and integrity of the court.  He has a point and I wish I could share his blog with all of you.  Those who read Hebrew are invited to open the blog link that appears alongside this blog.
Amnon Dankner, the writer and former editor of the mass circulation Maariv, has apparently also walked the Road to Damascus and has responded the latest round of fascist outbreaks in the country with a  very strong essay. in Hebrew in which he tells us that he is now ashamed to be an Israeli.  Where has he been  he all these years, on Robinson Crusoe's island?     Richard Silverstein has a partial translation into English on his blog .
Yossi Sarid the former Minister of Education and former Head of the Meretz party invokes the memory of the late and unlamented fascist rabbi, Meir Kahane in describing Lieberman.  There is much to be said for this simile.
TUCSON IN ISRAEL
We have experienced something similar to the right wing incitement that led to Tucson.  A film was posted on YouTube calling for the assassination of Shai Nitzan the deputy state attorney.  In this case, the man was found and is now in custody.   The same person also posted a call to   assassinate Ehud Barak the defense minister.  As in the United States, such motivation derives from the inflammatory rhetoric of the right wing.  We also see a repeat of the Sarah Palin blood libel complaint in the reaction of a right wing parliament member to the arrest in the Nitzan/Barak case.
DEATH IN BIL'IN

A protest against the separation fence in Bil’in in 2009. Jawaher Abu Rahmah can be seen in the second row in a black and white shirt.
Photo by: Hamadi Abu Rahmah

Jawaher Abu Ramah died young. She stood facing the demonstrators against the separation fence in her village, inhaled very large quantities of the gas that Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired that day, collapsed and died several hours later at a Ramallah hospital.
Since this event, the Army has been spinning one lie after the other in a vain attempt to avoid responsibility.  It is indeed surprising that they care, since they shot an old man in his bed this week and then shrugged it off as an identification error.  I wonder if a day of reckoning for these bloodthirsty killers will ever come.  Let me link you to Gideon Levy who can rant better than I can and who has more details.
GENOCIDE?
I must add another link from Richard Silverstein in the blog Tikkun Olam who points out that Orthodox rabbis in a so-called family publication  are calling for bringing "Amalek" to death camps.   This is an attack on rabbis who objected to the command not to rent or sell to Arabs.  We should all be proud of our rabbis.
מעניין אם את ריכוז העמלקים במחנות
השמדה הם ישאירו לאחרים או אולי יכריעו
שמחיית עמלק כבר לא רלוונטית. ימים יגידו.


Gene Weingarten has nothing new this week , but I can give you a Tom Toles cartoon on the situation in the US:

and a Borowitz comment on the same issue.
Have a nice week.  Next  week we will have a Pollyanna blog.

Happy New Year 2011

As Jews we get to celebrate the New Year twice, once in synagogue in the fall and again in winter with the rest of the world.  Both are significant.

On this last day of 2010, I think it appropriate to bring out a human rights blog and to look back at
this past year. It has not been a good one from the standpoint of human rights around the world and here
at home in Israel, yet I am the forever, maybe foolish, optimist and continue to hope for better things
in the future and to make my little efforts to try to bring them about. Last Friday we went to a
demonstration in Tel Aviv on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers. In common with many other presumably enlightened nations, Israel is doing its best to get rid of people who are fleeing for their lives from conflicts in Darfur in Sudan and Eritrea among other places.

Above I show a few scenes from the
demonstration. It gives a ray of hope to see so many young people turning out to struggle on behalf of
principles of liberal democracy in which we all fervently believe.

I say all, but in fact, as we look around the world and at our local scene, it is possible to wonder if
these values are as universal as we would like them to be. In Pakistan there are blasphemy laws under
which a Christian woman has been recently sentenced to death for presumably insulting Islam. An attempt to liberalize this law and to make convictions more difficult has given rise to nation wide protests and strikes, which is indeed chilling. All over the world, we see gross human rights violations and the struggle to protect human rights becomes more difficult.. I recommend going to the  Amnesty International web site to see a podcast that summarizes the state of human rights in the world.

Last time I showed a case of human rights violation that did not involve a government, the burning of a
so-called witch in Ghana. Africa again provides the current example, the vile belief  in "corrective"  rape of lesbian women that is supposed to "straighten them out.". It is common in South Africa. For details and a petition by Avaaz to the government of South Africa to make this a hate crime, go to this site.

A victim of "corrective rape"

Press freedom in Hungary has come under attack.

Despite unanimous opposition from leading media freedom organizations, the Hungarian parliament has adopted a controversial law overhauling the state-owned media and creating a Media Council with utterly disproportionate powers. The law was passed by an overwhelming majority of votes (256 to 87) on 21 December.

Appointed directly by the government, the Media Council’s five members will not only have a right of oversight but also the authority to impose heavy fines (of up to 700,000 euros for a TV station and 89,000 euros for an online publication) for content that is “not politically balanced” or “violates human dignity.”

It is ironic that this law is coming into effect just as Hungary assumes the  rotating presidency of the European  Union.  Indeed there is major opposition in the EU to this edict.  For details of the law and  the reactions to it 
click.  See also Reporters without Borders.
 

ISRAEL

A Special Place In Hell

Dante said there is a special place reserved in hell for those who do nothing in a time of moral crisis. Martin Luther King wrote (from jail) that he is less distressed about the evil of the bad than about the indifference of the good.    A few weeks ago I saw a sign of hope in the young people who turned out for the Human Rights Day march and again for the refugee rally (see above).   The fact that there are groups such as Combatants for Peace.  (see also their blog alongside) 

can be an indication that not everyone here is riding on the wave of racism and sliding down the slippery slope to a fascist type regime.

I advisedly do not say fascist since there is no need for a fascist takeover in Israel.  The people themselves are embracing racism and extreme nationalism with no need for a charismatic leader of the Hitler/Mussolini/Franco type.  It boils down to a rejection of the values of liberal democracy in favor of a Jewish sectarian jingoism.  Indeed there is a candidate for the fascist leadership, our wonderful foreign minister, Lieberman, but I personally doubt that he will ever be able to get the religious right to support  him because of his constituency of immigrants from the former Soviet Union whose claim to being Jewish in the religious sense is often dubious.

Of course  I could be wrong since, as pointed out by Bradley Burston,  
it may well be that Lieberman is the only choice left to a public that is not willing to pay the price of peace and is willing to follow his perverted path,  while the  left appears to be emasculated and divided.  The lovely Human Rights Day march was a joint effort of 130 human rights organizations--go figure. 

 Jeffrey Goldberg   

in a thought-provoking article in The Atlantic addresses the issue of the possible loss of democratic values in Israel.  It is of course connected to the Occupation, but it runs even deeper.  The late Prof. Yaakov Talmon spoke of the anti-liberal streak running through Zionist ideology and the lack of toleration for deviant views. 
An example of this is the recent decree by major rabbis that Jews must not sell or lease property to Arabs.  Once upon a time there were contracts like that in the US aimed against Jews, but that is all in the past.  Here we see Orthodox Judaism in all its ferocious ugliness.   Let us read a quote from their terrible document:
"The neighbors and acquaintances [of a Jew who sells or rents to an Arab] must distance themselves from the Jew, refrain from doing business with him, deny him the right to read from the Torah, and similarly [ostracize] him until he goes back on this harmful deed." 
As, again, Bradley Burston writes about them: 
"In their level-eyed bigotry, their ironclad insensitivity, their untouchable, corrupting, bureaucracy-based immunity, they have taught us finally to pay no attention to that man behind the curtain of Oral Law."

For a full discussion  of this issue click on the link.  To be fair I must quote the enlightened rabbis around the world
who have come out against this abomination.  I wonder how many of them are Orthodox.
UPDATE ON THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
The Israeli Army Strikes Again   this time killing Jawaher Abu Rahmah a 30 year old woman from Bil'in who died of tear gas asphyxiation.  Her brother Bassem was killed by the Army in April 2009 while demonstrating against the Separation Wall in Bil'in.

Activists fleeing tear gas at Bil'in 31.12.10

En route to a chamber music concert in Tel Aviv this evening we participated in a demonstration against the wanton killing of demonstrators by the army. 

We see another example of religious obscurantism in the refusal of the family of Avi Cohen the football star  , who was killed in an accident to allow his organs to be transplanted.  He carried a donor card, as many of us do, in the belief that his organs would be used to save lives.  Unfortunately these cards are not legally binding and while most rabbis have agreed to the brain death criterion, some of the ultra type demand heart stoppage after which the organs are useless.  It is sad that the family allowed themselves to be convinced by these rabbis.  We are indeed a Third World country, alas.

SEXUAL ABUSE AND THE PRESIDENT
Finally, we have our beloved ex-president Moshe Katzav who was convicted on two counts of rape and sexual assault of three female employees who worked for him at various times   by a District Court panel of three judges in Jerusalem on Thursday.  He denied the charges and rejected a plea bargain.
In addition, Katzav was found guilty of obstruction of justice. 
If you want more details of this sordid tale, here they are.

Of course, I cannot let you escape without a Gene Weingarten Below the Beltway.
It deals with driving by men and women and is interesting as well as amusing.  I might mention that my late wife Daphne had an absolute phobia about left turns, as did the mother of  Gene's conversation partner.

 Andy Borowitz updates us on the latest from Orly Taitz and the birther movement..