Bullies unite

Gideon Levy, Haaretz, May 28: Was the prime minister’s address on Capitol Hill interrupted by applause 38 times, as Maariv and Haaretz reported, or 41, as Yedioth Ahronoth said? Was it the “speech of his life” or his “victory lap?” Does it matter? Those who read the flood of praise heaped by a uniform chorus…

“Terrorists” everywhere

The Australian releases startling new information: Indonesian terrorists planned to attack Western targets by spreading hydrogen cyanide, a deadly gas used during the Holocaust, through the air-conditioning systems of large buildings. Details of the method of the proposed attack, designed to maximise the number of victims, were revealed in a 26-page training manual produced by…

Racism by any other name

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…

Shame about the facts

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…

No comment required

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. Hezbollah, which is sponsored by Iran, is a radical Muslim Shiite terrorist organisation that to this day –…

The problem behind the problem

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…

Freedom reigns

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,…

Finding the Lord

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. It was proven in court that organization employees were engaged in proselytism, which is prohibited by the Uzbek law on…

Boxed-in

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…

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