Antony Loewenstein

Benjamin Neuberger, a professor of political science at the Open University, seems confused by academic opposition to Israel and Zionism:

When I was on sabbatical at Oxford University in 2003-2005, I was astonished to see how many professors and students at the renowned university viewed Israel and Zionism. At Oxford there is a strong intellectual stream that identifies Zionism with racism, imperialism and colonialism. The control of the territories, the settlements and the view of Israel as a refuser of peace have contributed to this, but we would be mistaken if we were to think that the problem will be solved with the withdrawal from the territories and the establishment of two states for two peoples. 

Like so many so-called progressives, Neuberger expresses an inherent contradiction:

As an Israeli who is opposed to the occupation and the settlements and supports a solution of two states for two peoples, but also sees himself as a Zionist who wants the existence of a Jewish and democratic state that will also be a state of all its citizens, I felt frustrated that in these circles there is no readiness to see the complexity of the Jewish-Arab conflict.

A Zionist state cannot be democratic by definition. Any state that discriminates against another people, such as Israel, should be opposed on principle.

After a consistent campaign of hacking and cyber-attack, Arab Media Watch returns online.

Canada’s National Post newspaper finally admits to sprouting false, anti-Iranian propaganda:

A Canadian newspaper apologized on Wednesday for a story that said Iran planned to force Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish themselves from Muslims.

The conservative National Post ran the story on its front page last Friday along with a large photo from 1944 which showed a Hungarian couple wearing the yellow stars that the Nazis forced Jews to sew to their clothing.

The story, which included tough anti-Iran comments from prominent Jewish groups, was picked up widely by Web sites and by other media.

“It is now clear the story is not true,” National Post editor-in-chief Douglas Kelly wrote in a long editorial on page 2. “We apologize for the mistake and for the consternation it has caused not just National Post readers, but the broader public who read the story.”

The source of the lies, Iranian Zionist Amir Taheri, was justifying his position last week, but his credibility is now non-existent. This won’t stop the conservative media still using him as a reliable source.

The following (unintentially perverse) letter appears in this week’s Australian Jewish News:

TRAITORS

NOAM Chomsky, the feted and Jewish quasi-intellectual who is the poster boy of the anti-American and anti-Israel alliance, has visited Hezbollah headquarters in Lebanon.

In wartime these acts of collaboration would be tantamount to high treason. Even though I am against violence, these turncoats who have the temerity to call themselves Jews should be excommunicated.

DAVID CASHREIN

Crows Nest, NSW

As Australia sends troops into “chaotic” East Timor, what are the sources of Timorese grievances? It’s worth remembering that neo-liberal economic policies, set by the world’s supposed superpowers, are at least partly to blame for the country’s economic woes. “Rebel” soldiers are not the main problem. This 2004 article partly explains the predicament of the new nation:

Unlike nearly any other nation in the underdeveloped world, Timor-Leste has refused to borrow money from the international community. At this year’s donors meeting in May, the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, spelled out his Government’s position: “We are not ideologically opposed to borrowing money. But we are opposed to unsustainable borrowing”. These are wise words.

In general, indebtedness remains one of the biggest barriers to developing countries’ effort to build strong domestic economies and improve the living standards of their citizens. For every $1 owed in 1980, developing countries have since repaid $7.50 but still owe $4. This is a massive transfer of resources from the South to the North that renders international institutions’ talk about “poverty reduction” and achieving “Millennium Development Goals” meaningless. 

John Pilger, May 25:

Bolivia was second only to Chile as a laboratory of “neoliberalism”, the jargon for capitalism in its pure, Hobbesian form. The Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs designed the “shock therapy” that the IMF and World Bank administered in Bolivia, adding another dimension of poverty and suffering. With the privatisation of the mines, tin finally collapsed, and the miners and their families headed for La Paz, settling on the bitter plain at El Alto, a thousand feet above the capital, without water and power and with little food. Farmers forced off their land by IMF diktats followed them, and their mass migration was typical of that of millions driven out of secure work by the foreign managers of the “Washington consensus”, a fanaticism conceived at Bretton Woods in 1944 as a tool of empire. (Sachs sees himself as a liberal and is mentor to the gormless Bono, of Live Aid et cetera fame.)

Promoting Jesus can be a dangerous business:

Uzbek courts have ordered to close Kokand and Fergana offices of the Central Asian Free Exchange (CAFE), US non-governmental organization, a source at the Uzbek Justice Ministry said.

The Central Asian Free Exchange is based in Florida and bound to promote cultural exchanges. It opened offices in Uzbekistan in 1992. 

Central Asia has become a breeding ground for Christian missionaries. There are pros and cons to such behaviour but Uzbek law is clearly in need of modification.

Jews know a thing or two about ghettos.

It’s encouraging, therefore, to see certain American politicians using Israel as a model in its border issues with Mexico.

The Western world seems to believe they can insulate themselves from outside influence by building walls, barriers and sensors. After all, who wants to mingle with those non-white types?

UPDATE: Israel’s treatment of the Bedouin is as shameful as its behaviour towards the Palestinians.

Reinoud Leenders, Middle East Report, May 23:

When the last Syrian soldier left Lebanese territory in April 2005, jubilant crowds gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square to celebrate the coming of a new era. In Washington and Paris, the mood was also festive, as officials praised what they called Lebanon’s “Cedar Revolution” as the first in a projected series of popularly led regime changes, or at least changes of regime behaviour, all across the region. As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice proclaimed at the American University in Cairo in June, Lebanon’s “supporters of democracy [were] demanding independence from foreign masters [and] calling for change. It is not only the Lebanese people who desire freedom.”

A year has now passed, and the joyous atmosphere in Lebanon has turned unmistakably sour. Gone are the Lebanese flags draped over Beirut’s balconies. In place of these symbols of national unity, sectarian tensions are running high. Gone, too, is the widespread optimism over comprehensive political and economic reform. In its place is exasperation at perpetual political bickering and socio-economic stagnation.

UPDATE: Noam Chomsky explains the US position towards Lebanon.

The UN paints a nation in chaos:

Human rights in Iraq are being “severely undermined” by growing insecurity, violence and a “breakdown of law and order” caused by militias and criminal gangs, the U.N. mission here said Tuesday.

The human rights update, issued every two months by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq, cited soaring numbers of execution-style killings in Baghdad. Such slayings have increased during a surge of sectarian violence that followed the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on Feb. 22.

Baghdad’s main morgue – which handles only the remains of victims of violent or suspicious deaths, not including bombing victims – issued 1,155 death certificates in April, the U.N. agency reported.

No wonder John Howard thinks Australia should stay in Iraq. Western troops are clearly doing a smashing job in maintaining security.

From the Independent, London:

Last night in Sydney was windy, rainy and cold, but an anti-war event featuring Cindy Sheehan and Dr Salam Ismael made one forget the wintry conditions outside (media coverage of the visit is here, here, here and here.)

Around 500 people gathered to hear two impassioned speakers discuss the monumentally disastrous Iraq invasion and occupation and offer a way forward. The Iraq war has never been more unpopular and delusions have never been greater. Working towards, and advocating, “Coalition” defeat has been achieved. The next step is finding a prosperous Iraqi future without Western interference.

Dr Salam Ismael was equally impressive. His group, Doctors for Iraq Society, work around the country assisting average Iraqis receive medical care as well as documenting US war crimes. Dr Ismael gave a shocking presentation about the ever-worsening living conditions of Iraqis and the effects of the US-occupation on health and life-expectancy (more info on this here.) He said that life was better for many Iraqis before the invasion, though he certainly wasn’t a supporter of Saddam Hussein. He reminded the audience that Westerners are not being told the real picture of life under US occupation, the daily torture, bombings and kidnappings.

His group documented the use of napalm by the US in Fallujah in late 2004, but nobody believed them. Why? “Because we are Iraqi and coloured, and who would believe an Iraqi?” It wasn’t until an Italian film emerged in 2005 that the world started to take seriously allegations made by Dr Ismael nearly one year earlier. Ismael was one of the first independent observers to enter Fallujah after the US destruction.

Both Sheehan and Ismael demanded the complete withdrawal of “Coalition” troops from Iraq. They were both asked whether the security situation would worsen and Ismael responded: “how could it be any worse than now? Iraqis should sort out our own country.”

Time has already proved the immorality of the invasion, and the devastating effect on millions of Iraqis. The superpower has been unable to stabilise a relatively small country, and one has to wonder if they ever really intended to. Sheehan and Ismael gave us two very different perspectives on the war, and the urgent necessity to continue pressure on the US, British and Australian governments.