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Schumer Endorses Hagel: Big Defeat For Israel Lobby

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Written by MJ Rosenberg MJ Rosenberg
Published: 16 January 2013 16 January 2013

The news that Sen. Chuck Schumer will support the Hagel nomination means that Hagel will almost certainly be confirmed as Secretary of Defense. It does not mean that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not opposing the appointment. It means that, at long last, it has been defeated.
It is obvious why AIPAC is so insistent that it is not trying to prevent former senator Chuck Hagel from becoming the Secretary of Defense. As investigative journalist Max Blumenthal put it in a piece published yesterday:

AIPAC has good reasons to keep its fingerprints off the public campaign to demonize Hagel. For one, AIPAC thrives on its ability to influence lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, requiring it to avoid alienating the key congressional Democrats who rubberstamp the anti-Palestinian resolutions and Iran sanctions legislation it routinely authors. If AIPAC waded into the Republican-led crusade against Hagel in a public way, it might enrage some of its most reliable Democratic allies in Congress, generating unnecessary acrimony that might complicate future lobbying initiatives.

The other reasons Blumenthal enumerates are AIPAC’s fears of contributing to the bad feelings between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stemming from Netanyahu’s open preference for Mitt Romney in the recent U.S. election.

And then there is AIPAC’s complicated legal status stemming from the fact that, unlike other lobbies for foreign governments, it is not registered as such with the Department of Justice. If it was, its activities would be severely circumscribed. Seeming to lay low, while orchestrating events from behind a screen, makes sense.

AIPAC does not have to issue directives from its headquarters in Washington to convey its desires.

In fact, it usually doesn’t. It never likes to leave fingerprints and still manages to get what it wants because policymakers, media people, etc., know what its preferences are without public pronouncements. This even applies to what AIPAC considers its most significant annual achievement: passage of the $3.5 billion Israel aid package and making sure that there are no strings or conditions attached.

Read more: Schumer Endorses Hagel: Big Defeat For Israel Lobby

Why the Self-Defense Doctrine Doesn't Legitimize Israel's Assault on Gaza

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Written by James Marc Leas James Marc Leas
Published: 15 January 2013 15 January 2013

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Counterpunch

How Obama and Netanyahu Disregarded Law and Facts

Why the Self-Defense Doctrine Doesn’t Legitimize Israel’s Assault on Gaza

by JAMES MARC LEAS

Supporting all aspects of the Israeli assault on Gaza in November, President Obama gave Israeli forces a green light, saying “We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu defended Israel’s targeting of civilian areas in Gaza saying “it’s our right to defend our people.”

Obama and Netenyahu disregarded law and facts:

* In 2004, the International Court of Justice rejected Israeli Government arguments and found that as an occupying power, Israel’s right to defend itself under a UN Charter provision does not apply against those living under its rule.

* The Court found that the right, and indeed the obligation, to protect citizens does not trump Israeli obligation to conform to international law when doing so.

* Israeli military assaults on Gaza, including “Operation Pillar of Defense,” caused a vast increase in rocket fire from Gaza, so the assaults endangered rather than defended Israeli citizens.

* Israeli political and military leaders have long known how to quickly halt or substantially dial down rocket fire that involves no bombs, no killing, and no destruction: ceasefire agreements. However, Israeli forces have repeatedly ended effective ceasefire agreements with aerial extrajudicial executions of Palestinians in Gaza that dialed up rocket fire.

Israeli Government argues self-defense

In its 2004 written advisory opinion regarding the wall that Israeli forces built across Palestinian occupied territory, the International Court of Justice

Read more: Why the Self-Defense Doctrine Doesn't Legitimize Israel's Assault on Gaza

Palestinians establish 'facts on the ground'

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Written by Harriet Sherwood Harriet Sherwood
Published: 12 January 2013 12 January 2013

 

Israeli PM orders eviction of Palestinian activists outside Jerusalem

Move follows creation of village comprising around 20 tents on piece of land earmarked for settlement development

Harriet Sherwood in Bab al-Shams

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 12 January 2013 13.52 EST

The Israeli state has swung into action against a group of Palestinian activists who set up a tent village on a rocky hillside east of Jerusalem, with the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, ordering the military to evict the protesters and impose a closed military zone in the area.

Netanyahu demanded the Israeli supreme court overturn an injunction preventing the removal of the protesters, and ordered the closure of access roads in the area pending a full-scale evacuation.

Around 200 Palestinian activists set up the village, named Bab al-Shams ('gate of the sun') and comprising around 20 tents, early on Friday morning on a highly sensitive swath of land known as E1 which Israel has earmarked for settlement development. The protesters' actions echoed the tactics of radical settlers when establishing wildcat outposts in the West Bank.

In a statement, the protesters said: "We, the sons and daughters of Palestine, declare the founding of the village Bab al-Shams, by order of the people, without permission from the occupation, or any other body, because this land is ours, as is the right to build on it."

The tents were erected on privately-owned Palestinian land, the protesters said, with the full permission of the landowners. The activists sought legal protection from the supreme court, which granted an injunction against eviction and gave the state of Israel up to six days to respond.

The protest was launched six weeks after Netanyahu announced plans to press ahead with the development of E1, triggering strong international condemnation. The area, which is around 12 sq km, lies between Jerusalem and the vast West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

The Palestinian Authority and most western diplomats say the development of E1 will damage the prospects of a viable Palestinian state by almost bisecting the West Bank and effectively cutting off the West Bank from east Jerusalem, which is intended to be the future capital of a Palestinian state.

Read more: Palestinians establish 'facts on the ground'

BDS Victory! Veolia Withdraws from California Water Contract Bidding Following Outcry Against its Abuses of Palestinian Rights

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Written by Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights
Published: 11 January 2013 11 January 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2013

Contact: Mikos Fabersunne, Davis Committee for Palestinian Rights

Veolia Withdraws from California Water Contract Bidding Following Outcry
Against its Abuses of Palestinian Rights

Posted: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=3432

Davis, California – The Davis Committee of Palestinian Rights (DCPR) is happy to report that Veolia Water North America has withdrawn as a prospective bidder on a $325 million dollar project that would provide treated water from the Sacramento River to residents of Woodland and Davis in Yolo County, California.  The announcement came at the December 20, 2012 meeting of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (Water Agency), a joint powers authority between the University of California - Davis and the cities of Woodland and Davis. Veolia’s withdrawal followed efforts by citizens of Yolo County to prevent Veolia’s bidding due to the company’s involvement in the violation of Palestinian human rights.

Read more: BDS Victory! Veolia Withdraws from California Water Contract Bidding Following Outcry Against its...

Petition: Hold Israel Accountable for Killing Palestinians with U.S. Weapons

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Written by US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Published: 09 January 2013 09 January 2013

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=12069

From November 14-21, Israel killed at least 182 Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip, including 47 children, according to the World Health Organization. In addition, 6 Israelis were killed by Palestinian rockets.

Israel's attacks against the Gaza Strip were committed with U.S. weapons given to Israel as military aid by the U.S. taxpayer. These weapons were misused by Israel in violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act to commit grave human rights abuses of Palestinians.

For example, Israel used a U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jet to kill 4-year-old Mahmoud Sadallah, who died of shrapnel wounds from missiles fired from this aircraft.

Mohammed Omer wrote in The Nation that Mahmoud “was playing on the stoop of his home, well away from the main street” when he was killed.

“With emergency services strained, in a panic the young boy’s mother scooped him up and ran through the smoke-enshrouded streets, dodging dust and flames, screaming hysterically for help as blood poured out of Mahmoud’s head.”

Now the Obama administration is proposing to deliver 6,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kitsand more than 10,000 bombs--weapons valued at $647 million--to replenish Israel's arsenal for its F-16 fighter jets.

Our taxes should not be funding Israel’s human rights abuses of Palestinians in violation of U.S. law. Sign this petition to the State Department to investigate Israel’s violations of the Arms Export Control Act, hold it accountable for killing Palestinians like Mahmoud in our name, and prevent the delivery of more weapons to Israel.


Dear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,

Last month, Israel killed at least 182 Palestinians, including 47 children, in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip with U.S. weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers in violation of U.S. law.

Rather than replenishing Israel's arsenal of Joint Direct Attack Munitions and bombs for its U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, the State Department instead must investigate Israel's violations of the Arms Export Control Act and hold Israel accountable for killing Palestinians in our name by ending U.S. military aid to Israel.

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