Sigh: Fifty-two percent of Jewish Israelis identify with the statement by MK Miri Regev last month that African migrants are “a cancer in the body” of the nation, and over a third condone anti-migrant violence, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) Peace Index for May 2012. Broken down by political and religious affiliation,… the monthly…
#LeftTurn receives friendly embrace
Here’s a great review of #LeftTurn by Simon Butler in Green Left Weekly: Left Turn: Political Essays for the New Left Edited by Antony Loewenstein & Jeff Sparrow Melbourne University Press, 2012 RRP $32.99 In the past few years, the world economy has fallen into its deepest crisis for eight decades with no end in…
Colluding with Israeli apartheid should affect your global image
The Independent reports: The government will be challenged in parliament next week over the services provided in Israeli settlements within occupied Palestinian territory by the company chosen to run security for London 2012. G4S, designated as “official provider of security and cash services for the Olympics,” also operates in Jewish settlements in the West Bank…
Terrorism won’t eat your babies quite yet
This: Today, the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) released its… 2011 Report on Terrorism. The report offers the U.S. government’s best statistical analysis of terrorism trends through its Worldwide Incidents Tracking System (WITS), which compiles and vets open-source information about terrorism—defined by… U.S. law… as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine…
Assange interviews cypherpunks
This week’s The World Tomorrow (previous episodes here) talks to three cypherpunks, individuals who challenge the ever-growing power of corporations to control the internet. Fascinating:
Blood on British hands; sending Tamils back to be tortured
These serious allegations are horrific. A government’s duty of care is paramount and yet in this case it seems that the desire for Britain (and indeed, Australia, who says very little about war crimes in Sri Lanka) to have a good relationship with Colombo is central. Also note the use of a private, chartered plane,…
Beinart likes democracy but Jews clearly deserve it more
Discussion over Peter Beinart’s recent book on Israel/Palestine continues and this long feature in New York Magazine is symtomatic of … the problem. His main goal is “saving Israel” and although he clearly cares about Palestinian human rights, comments such as these suggest not as much as Jewish ones: If you understand me in the larger…
Israeli truth-telling from a man who has seen reality up close and personal
The son of a famous Israeli General, Miko Peled, visited Australia last year and powerfully expressed the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace together in the Middle East. His new book, which I’m currently reading, is The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine. His op-ed in the Los Angeles…
#LeftTurn talk on Byron Bay radio
I was interviewed earlier this week by Sarah Ndiaye for Bay FM in Byron Bay all about my new book with Jeff Sparrow, Left Turn: