It couldn't be more horrible. Or more familiar. Bombs raining down again on a tiny enclave where more than half of its residents are children. Or more grotesque.The Hamas fanatics playing into the hands of the fanatical Netanyahu regime, by firin…
Continue readingTag: Gaza
CuriosityCat: Israel’s terms for a Gaza ceasefire?
Gaza stripSome reports have spelled out the terms Israel has tabled for a ceasefire in Gaza.Here is one summaryof those rumoured terms:According to reports in Cairo, these are the conditions for a ceasefire set forth by Israel: 1. A lull for a pe…
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Israeli attack on Gaza: al-Jabari killing and airstrikes not just about rockets
Top: BBC worker Jihad Masharawi holds the body of his 11-month old son
Ahmad after an Israeli strike on the family home in Gaza City.
Bottom: Canadian protesters in Ottawa.
When Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in 2008 it was short…
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: An Open Letter to Israeli and Palestinian Hawks
Dear Israeli hawks: What are you thinking? I realize that you consider every destructive, civilian killing, infrastructure shattering air raid you launch on the impoverished people of the Gaza Strip to be an act of self-defence against the terrorism of … Continue reading →
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Gaza: When the Horror Returns
When I watched the news tonight I felt like running down to the beach in my pyjamas, climbing the tallest sand dune, and screaming at the crescent moon.No…no…NOOOOO!!!!! Not that violence, not that horror, not Gaza. Again.Israel's aerial bombar…
Continue readingPolitics and Entertainment: Reporting on Israeli Assault on Gaza
Canadian Media reporting on the current conflict seems less than balanced – not that there really is such an animal – favouring an Israeli perspective on the matter and the damage being inflicted on Israeli civilians by Hamas’ or Gaza militants’ rocke…
Continue readingdrive-by planet: Gaza-bound ‘Estelle’ boarded by Israeli forces: ‘Ship to Gaza’ campaign
Top: Crew members of the Estelle A ship carrying thirty activists from Europe, Canada and Israel has been intercepted and boarded by Israeli marines. The Estelle, carrying a cargo of humanitarian supplies – including soccer balls and children’s books – was seeking to breach the Israeli blockade of Gaza. When
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Fair Weather Friends: Western Reaction(s) to the Middle East Protests
The ongoing protests in the parts of the Middle East and North Africa, ostensibly in the wake of a Z-list anti-Islam film produced in the US, have elicited the same tired, hackneyed response on the part significant portions of Western audiences and commentators. “Savages,” the refrain has been, “uncivilized barbarians!”
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Gaza To Secede?
Think Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh. Now think Palestinian Authority/West Bank and Hamas/Gaza splitting up. This little jaw dropper seems to be in the works with Hamas, a charter branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, looking to link up with big brother Egypt, itself now with Muslim Brotherhood leadership. In
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: No Matter What You Call It, It’s Still Ethnic Cleansing
The Gaza Strip, refuge for nearly 1.7-million Palestinians, will be uninhabitable by 2020. “Action needs to be taken now if Gaza is to be a liveable place in 2020 and it is already difficult now,” U.N. humanitarian coordinator Maxwell Gaylard told journalists when the report was released on Monday.Five years
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: On Israel and Apartheid
Message on a wall at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Last month, university students and activists around the world marked Israeli Apartheid Week, an annual series of lectures and protests designed to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians, and as usual, the condemnations were heavy and hyperbolic. Canadian
Continue readingwRanter.com: Why Thomas Mulcair gets it when it comes to Israel
Not surprisingly, Thomas Mulcair won the NDP leadership last month, replacing Saint Jack Layton as the man social democrats hope can rally left-of-centre voters to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. Here’s hoping he’s successful, but as I argued in an earlier post, it seems unlikely that he will be, because
Continue readingArt Threat: Emotionally devastating documentary explores Israeli bombing of Gaza – Friday Film Pick: Tears of Gaza
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Israel’s latest bombing campaign of Gaza, while the Israeli military stubbornly insists the child-killing attacks are necessary to stop “terrorism”. Such bloody assaults on Gaza are unfortunately common, and those that took place over 2008-2009 may have been the most devastating.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Politics, Re-Spun on The Rational on Co-op Radio, March 12 Lineup
Politics, Re-Spun is on The Rational on Coop Radio on Monday, March 12, 2012 from 6pm to 7pm with an intriguing lineup! Listen live online or at 102.7fm in the Vancouver area. Here’s the lineup: 1. Dylan Penner will talk with Stephen Elliott-Buckley about the Canadian Boat for Gaza: why,
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Pushing the Envelope on Palestinian Sovereignty
There has not been much movement of late on the Israeli-Palestinian front. This may partly be explained by the relative lack of violent activity by Palestinian groups. The conflict has dropped off the radar for most of the Israeli public, and the only constituency the government needs to worry about
Continue readingTarzan and Arab: twin Gaza filmmakers without a cinema
What do you do if you live in Gaza, have a passion for cinema, but all the theatres have been bombed out? Not only is making movies virtually impossible, the thrill we all take for granted of sitting in a real theatre with other real people is not even a
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Something John Baird should actually get grumpy about
Canadians face two months of incarceration in Israel without trial On Tuesday, Freedom Waves to Gaza activists detained in Israel — including Canadians David Heap and Ehab Lotayef — came before a judge and were told they could be held in prison for two months without charges or trial. To avoid this, the judge told them, they must sign a statement that they entered Israel "voluntarily" and "illegally" despite being violently kidnapped from international waters and taken to Israel against their will while trying to reach Gaza. While a handful of Freedom Waves to Gaza participants have been deported — including Canadian Karen DeVito — 18 activists and journalists have now been in Israeli prison for five days with no end in sight. There’s a post at Mondoweiss that provides a detailed account of the way the Israeli navy took over the two ships involved in the latest attempt to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza:…
Continue readingLeDaro: Canadian Boats Seized by Israel
Gaza situation is one of the worst injustices in the world. Why Harper and other western leaders are not speaking out. They were fast to intervene in case of Libya. What happened to democracy and justice in case of Palestinians and Gaza? Israel is one …
Continue readingGates slams Netanyahu: Israel ‘ungrateful’, not serious about peace
Gates and Netanyahu in happier timesIn a surprising column by Iraq war booster Jeffrey Goldberg, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates slams Israel, saying it is not serious about peace and is ‘ungrateful’ for the support provided by the USA.Goldber…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Turkey’s Snub & The Decline of Israel
Israeli blunder: Turkish ship Mavi Marmara as it’s being attacked by Israeli
commandos during attempt by flotilla to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.
It was just over 20 years ago that I first became politically active around the first war against Ir…