To us, they’re “refugees.” To many Israeli’s, including Netnayahu, they’re “infiltrators.” In Israel’s Knesset, refugees and asylum-seekers are derided as “cancer.” Demonstrators have attacked African migrants in Tel Aviv in a protest against refugees and asylum-seekers that indicates an increasingly volatile mood in Israel over what it terms as “infiltrators”.Miri Regev,
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Drive-by Planet: Palestinian hunger strike a victory for non-violent protest
The Israeli practice of holding Palestinian prisoners in so-called “administrative detention” is a violation of international law. Prisoners are brought before military judges who determine the length of detention. This can be as much as six months and can be repeated indefinitely. Administrative detention was a central issue driving
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: Christian crackpot radio and useless Bible prophecy
I’ve been doing a fair bit of driving lately, often between the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Québec City. Entertainment while behind the wheel is typically my car stereo as my vehicle is over 15 years old and doesn’t have a CD player. Anyone remember cassettes? I make good use of
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Finkelstein on HARDtalk: American Jews falling out of love with Israel?
Norman Finkelstein takes an unbelievable amount of flack for stating hard truths about Israel. In a recent interview on the BBC show “HARDtalk” host Sarah Montague kept raising objections to Finkelstein’s perfectly valid criticisms of Israel. Finkelstein’s criticisms have been echoed by a number of other influential Jewish American commentators.
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Israeli strike against Iran nuclear plants takes a giant leap forward
Having announced an early election to take place in September, Israel’s PM has suddenly announced a coalition government which cements his majority in the Knesset, and in my view substantially increases the probability of an Israeli strike against Iran within three months: For hours, Israel’s legislature, democracy’s abode, turned, unwittingly
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Two of Mass Palestinian Prisoner’s Hunger Strikers “On Verge of Death” (VIDEO)
Over 1600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are holding a mass hunger strike. Two of them have now gone 70 days without food. This video can be found at YouTube RELATED:Canada Crime Bill C10 hunger striker takes protest to Parliament … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Israeli Spy Chief Slams Netanyahu, Barak as "Messianic"
The recently retired chief of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency is warning his countrymen not to buy prime minister Netanyahu’s and defence minister Barak’s justifications for bombing Iran. Yuval Diskin says he has no faith in the ability of either man to lead Israel in a war against Iran. “I
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Israel Metastasizes in West Bank Again
Israel has supposedly legalized three more illegal settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. The Palestinian Authority strongly condemned the decision. “Every single settlement built on Palestinian land is illegal”, Chief Negotiator, Saeb Erekat, told the BBC. The Israeli government had told the Supreme Court that it would regulate the status
Continue readingbastard.logic: They’re (Still) Just Not That Into You
Sorry, Evangelicals: Only one in five Jewish Americans holds favorable views of those aligned with the Christian right, a category that includes most of Israel’s evangelical supporters. […] The survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and published April 3, asked Jewish respondents to rate the favorability of several religious
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 readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Can boycott, divestment and sanctions stop Israeli apartheid?
On July 9, 2005 , Palestinian civil society put out the call for an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to compel the Israeli state to follow international law. Specifically, the signatories called on Israel to: End its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967
Continue readingThe Skinny: Progressive Bloggers: abortion-‘bortion, what’s that contortion?
I do enjoy reading the differerent blog posts on the Progessive Bloggers aggregate. There are a diversity of opinions expressed by bloggers who post under the progressive label. Bloggers include Liberals, NDPers, non-aligned social democrat…
Continue readingThe Skinny: Progressive Bloggers: abortion-‘bortion, what’s that contortion?
I do enjoy reading the differerent blog posts on the Progessive Bloggers aggregate. There are a diversity of opinions expressed by bloggers who post under the progressive label. Bloggers include Liberals, NDPers, non-aligned social democrats, perhaps a socio-path or two, former Progressive Conservatives, current Greens, and the occasional Marxist-Leninist. I
Continue readingThe Skinny: Progressive Bloggers: abortion-‘bortion, what’s that contortion?
I do enjoy reading the differerent blog posts on the Progessive Bloggers aggregate. There are a diversity of opinions expressed by bloggers who post under the progressive label. Bloggers include Liberals, NDPers, non-aligned social democrats, perhaps a socio-path or two, former Progressive Conservatives, current Greens, and the occasional Marxist-Leninist. I
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video Report: Colonialism & Indigenous Rights in Canada & Palestine
As a part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 in Winnipeg, Paul Burrows and Cheryl-Anne Carr discussed the impact of colonialism on the indigenous peoples of Canada and Palestine. The similarities are disturbing and striking. The event was sponsored by: Students Against Israeli Apartheid Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid CanPalNet (Winnipeg)
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: Why I’m Voting for Nathan Cullen
Nathan Cullen has my vote. Let me begin by saying that we are at an historical moment in Canadian history. We are being besieged by an increasingly draconian corporatist, neo-conservative and neoliberal Conservative Party government which is far worse than Mulroney’s free trade corporatist “Progressive” Conservatives from a generation ago. This government is an
Continue readinggay persons of character: Video: It Kinda Scares Me
Here is a recently released scene from It Kinda Scares Me, a 2001 documentary about a gay drama coach and the troubled boys he teaches. From my favorite documentary filmmaker, Tomer Heymann (known more recently for his works I Shot My Love and The Que…
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