Israeli inquiry says film of Muhammad al-Dura's death in Gaza was staged | World news. A film of a 12-year-old boy crying and cowering beside his father as a gun battle raged around them in Gaza has been challenged by an official Israeli report that suggests that the entire event may have been staged. The images, which became a symbol of the second intifada, contain no evidence that the child was injured or killed by Israeli fire, a committee of inquiry into television coverage of the death of Muhammad al-Dura concluded.
But the committee's conclusions were rejected by France 2, the French public television channel that broadcast the report, its reporter Charles Enderlin, and the boy's father, Jamal al-Dura. All said they were ready to co-operate with an independent international investigation into the incident, and Enderlin and Dura added they were willing to undergo polygraph tests. The 55-second sequence has since become fiercely contested. It said the IDF's initial admission that it hit the pair by accident was made in "the fog of war" before all evidence was gathered.
DisplayDocument. Robert-fisk-benjamin-netanyahus-warning-reveals-his-moments-of-memory-loss-8190461. Not since the last set of cartoons flourished in the UN Donkey House has the world been so gobsmacked. Then it was Colin Powell (I was in the Security Council chamber as a witness to this nonsense in 2003) who displayed his own cartoon of white-coated Iraqi chemists making weapons of mass destruction in a mobile laboratory. It was a railway train, for heaven's sake. And, unlike Bibi's bomb and fuse, it was actually meant to be a railway train.
Cartoons, you see, can be taken literally or metaphorically. Or just plain insult the intelligence of ordinary folk; like Bibi's – or cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed, for that matter. They all go "BANG" in the end. But whoops! Of course, the think-tank loonies waffled on the networks, grinning idiotically over the cartoon but nodding sagely at Netanyahu's warning – without bothering to recall those utterly false warnings in the past. But there you go. News: 330x186. Analysis: The NAM meeting's chill... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics. Leaders at NAM summit in Tehran. Photo: REUTERS When Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy blasted Syria’s government at the Non-Aligned Movement Conference in Tehran on Thursday, his comments prompted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem to storm out. But when Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei slammed Israel, labeling it a state of “bloodthirsty Zionist wolves” that controls the world media, nobody moved. The silence of the world in the face of these charges is chilling.
It must also be emboldening for the Iranians. Nobody walks out. Granted, nobody in Israel is expecting much of Bangladesh, Cuba or South Africa. Only UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he “strongly rejects” threats by one UN state to destroy another and the denial of historical facts, such as the Holocaust. It is obviously oversimplistic to say that the attendance of representatives from 120 countries at the NAM Conference was a vote of confidence in Iran or its polices. It was certainly not. Isolated? But today? Mutiny fear in Israeli army as religious Zionists gain influence | World news. In large study halls, ranks of young Jewish men are bent over religious books or debating in pairs the meaning of their texts.
Many wear the large knitted kippa associated with the settler movement; a few have guns by their side. This scene is typical in settlements all over the West Bank, where the hesder yeshiva movement has gained strength in recent decades. The programme, backed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), allows religious Jews to combine intensive theological study with a shortened period of military service over five years. For these young religious Zionists, serving in the army to defend the state of Israel and the Jewish presence in the occupied West Bank is a crucial element of a theology that has the redemption of the biblical land of the Jews at its centre. Gabriel Slater, 20, a hesder yeshiva student who will begin army service within weeks, said the programme had helped him to develop strongly held ideological and religious goals. Hardtalk - Are American Jews fed up with Israel? American presidents have long been criticised for being too in thrall to the Jewish lobby.
So what happens if American Jews fall out of love with Israel? That's what the Jewish American academic Norman Finkelstein claims is happening. He says they are now so unhappy with what Israel is doing that they want to distance themselves from the country. Could he be right and if he is, what does that mean for America's Middle East policy? You can watch the full interview on BBC World News on Tuesday 8 May at 03:30, 08:30, 15:30 and 20:30 GMT and on the BBC News Channel on Tuesday 8 May at 04:30 BST and Wednesday 9 May at 00:30 BST. US seeks extra $70m for Israel defence shield - Americas. The US plans to give Israel the extra $70m that it asked for this year for its short-range missile defence programme known as the "Iron Dome," Leon Panetta, the US defence secretary has said. Panetta on Thursday said his department would seek additional funding for the programme over the next three years "based on an annual assessment of Israeli security requirements".
He said Barack Obama, the US president, had directed him to fill Israel's request for the extra money for the system, which is designed to intercept short-range rockets and mortars. Panetta's statement came after a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak at the Pentagon on Thursday. The US has already provided $205m for the system and annually gives Israel roughly another $3.1bn in overall security assistance, the most for any foreign country. Obama's fiscal 2013 budget request calls for $30bn in funding for Israel over a 10-year peried, none of which was scheduled to fund Iron Dome. 'Highly appreciative' Hunger strikers expose an inhuman system | Observer editorial | Comment is free | The Observer. The disclosure that six of almost 1,600 Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike to protest against the Israeli policy of "administrative detention" are close to death has profound implications for Israel and for the stalled Middle East peace process.
The rule of law and fair and proper judicial processes, where those accused of a crime may be charged and are guaranteed an opportunity to speak in their own defence in open court, is a key human right that a properly functioning democracy should guarantee even in a troubled period of peacetime. Internment for prolonged periods without charge on the suspicion of secretive and unaccountable intelligence agencies, whose claims cannot be adequately tested – in Guantánamo Bay, the UK or in Israel – must always be opposed. Last December, it was estimated that more than 300 prisoners were held in this way. Yet far from being exceptional, it is commonplace. And for Israel, the new Palestinian tactic should serve as a warning. Mubarak was sole architect of Israel gas deal: Ex-oil minister's defence - Economy - Business. Mubarak was sole architect of Israel gas deal: Ex-oil minister's defence Sameh Fahmy's lawyers tell court that providing Israel with cut-price natural gas was the ousted president's initiative and their client was only responsible for its implementation Ahram Online, Monday 30 Apr 2012 Egypt's oil minister between 1999 and 2011, Sameh Fahmy (Photo: Reuters) The defence team of Egypt’s ex-oil minister Sameh Fahmy has told a Cairo court that Hosni Mubarak was the sole architect of the deal providing cut-price gas exports to Israel, reports the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.
Fahmy, who served as the ousted president's oil minister from 1999 to 2011, is standing trial alongside six other officials on charges of squandering public funds related to the sale of natural gas to Israel. Fahmy's lawyers told Cairo's criminal court on Sunday that the deal was Mubarak's initiative and there is no evidence proving their client's direct connection. Short link: What Did the Israeli Army Chief Actually Say About Iran? - Jeffrey Goldberg - International. A Washington Post headline this morning states: "Israeli Military Chief: Iran Will Not Build Nuclear Bomb.
" From the story beneath the headline: Israel's military chief said in an interview published Wednesday that he believes Iran will choose not to build a nuclear bomb, an assessment that contrasted with the gloomier statements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pointed to differences over the Iran issue at the top levels of Israeli leadership.The comments by Lt. Gen Benny Gantz, who said international sanctions have begun to show results, could relieve pressure on the Obama administration and undercut efforts by Israeli political leaders to urge the United States to get as tough as possible on Iran.
It is well-known that Israel's army leaders have been more cautious about the Iranian issue than their civilian bosses, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the defense minister. This is a much-more nuanced statement than The Post headline, and story, suggest. Tensions flare as Egypt cuts off gas deal with Israel - Middle East - World. The gas deal, signed in 2005, has emerged as a focus for public ire in Egypt. Once seen as a vehicle for corruption under Hosni Mubarak, the ousted Egyptian leader, it is now viewed as a hated symbol of the previous regime's close ties with the Jewish state. Israeli officials initially reacted angrily to the Egyptian decision, calling it a "dangerous precedent" that could endanger the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries. But yesterday, Israel back-pedalled on its criticism of Cairo, painting the dispute as purely commercial in nature.
"We don't see this cut-off of the gas as something that is born out of political developments," the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said. "It's actually a business dispute between the Israeli company and the Egyptian company. " Mohamed Shoeib, head of the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company, said the deal was cancelled because Israel had not paid for the gas for the past four months. Special relationship: Post-spring freeze. Israeli soldier clubs Danish protester with rifle | World news. DenmarkDenmark has demanded an explanation from the Israeli government for video footage showing a senior Israeli army officer striking a Danish activist in the face with an M16 rifle, an act which has been sharply criticised by the Israeli prime minister, president and chief of staff. In the video, Lt Col Shalom Eisner, deputy commander of the Jordan Valley territorial brigade, is clearly seen slamming his rifle into the face of Andreas Ias.
There was no obvious reason for the assault in the clip, which was broadcast on IsraelIsraeli television and posted on YouTube. The soldier was suspended by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) pending an investigation. The video emerged on the same day as Israel launched a security operation to prevent hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists entering the country en route to the West Bank, claiming they were provocateurs and were planning acts of violence. Israel 'faces isolation' as new border fence is erected - video | World news. Excerpt: Rare peek at nightly raids of West Bank village (Nabi Saleh) with English subs. US journalist fired after calling Israeli occupation 'brutal' A veteran American journalist has been fired after referring to Israel's occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land as "brutal. " Sunni Khalid, managing news editor at WYPR-FM in Baltimore, was dropped by the public radio station on Thursday after more than nine years on the job.
He had been on probation following criticism of comments he made on Facebook about Israel's continued illegal occupation of Palestine. "I, for one, have had enough of this pandering before the Israeli regime," he wrote. "The war-mongering toward Iran has, once again, distracted the world from Israel's brutal military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. " Khalid, who previously worked for National Public Radio, has also written for Time Magazine, The Washington Times, and USA Today. Israel maintains a siege of Gaza and a military occupation in the West Bank, with devastating consequences for the indigenous Palestinian population. Israel, Iran and America: Auschwitz complex. Israel must not bind itself to Netanyahu's vulgar rhetoric on Iran. Israel and Iran: straining at the leash | Editorial. Nearly a year has passed since Israel's former intelligence chief Meir Dagan said that a strike on Iran's nuclear installations would be a stupid idea, unlikely to achieve its objectives, but certain to set off a regional war.
In that time, virtually all of Israel's opinion formers have coalesced around the view that a war with Iran is inevitable. This was stoked not only by Iranian-sponsored actions such as the bombings against Israeli diplomatic targets in Bangkok, New Delhi and Tbilisi, but regular statements by the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, and prime minster, Binyamin Netanyahu.
The very suspicion of an Iranian bomb programme is framed by the latter as a threat to the state's existence, as if Israel does not possess up to 400 nuclear bombs of its own. There is nothing to say that, as nuclear powers, Iran and Israel would not be bound by the same rules of mutually assured destruction as India and Pakistan are. He will have to go much further. Peres: No Divide Between US, Israel on Iran. Obama: Not Hesitant on Force to Defend Interests. Charlie Rose - Excerpt from Shimon Peres. Nuclear proliferation: Bombing Iran. Will AIPAC and Bibi get their war? Washington, DC - These are strange times for those of us who follow the debate about a possible war with Iran. It is clear that the Israeli government and its neoconservative camp followers here in the United States are increasing pressure on President Obama to either attack Iran or let Israel do it (in which case we would be forced to join in). But the idea of another war in the Middle East is so outlandish that it seems inconceivable it could actually occur.
Still, the conventional wisdom holds that it can, because this is an election year and the assumption is that no-one will say no to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. War enthusiasm will rise to a fever pitch by March, when AIPAC holds its annual policy conference. From the convention centre, 10,000 delegates will be dispatched to Capitol Hill with two or three "asks" for members of Congress. The goal of the "asks" is ensuring that Congress follow the script. All hell breaks loose if a member of Congress should object. Anonymous Message To The State of Israel. Will Israel Attack Iran? False Flag - By Mark Perry.
Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.
The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah -- a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization. The officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah is ongoing. David Silverman/Getty Images. Robert Fisk: The 'invented people' stand little chance - Robert Fisk - Commentators. Outstanding Explanation: Why Israel can't withdraw to its pre '67 borders line - Please Share.