Letter to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon - Free Ahmad Sa'adat and All Political Palestinian Prisoners

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"Rafah, Gaza

A mass rally took place on June 18, 2009 in Rafah Governorate, in solidarity with Ahmad Sa'adat.

The participants carried Palestinian flags and posters of Sa'adat, and chanted for the lives of Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist jails.

Iyad Awadallah of the PFLP spoke at the rally. He praised the strength of the prisoners and their example of national unity, calling for national unity to confront the occupier and struggle for the rights of the Palestinian people. He closed by paying tribute to Sa'adat and all prisoners."

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FRIENDS OF AHMAD SA'ADAT

We are asking for your endorsement and that of your organization to the below letter, inspired by the hunger strike of imprisoned Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, calling upon United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to uphold his responsibilities and take action to protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian prisoners and demand the freedom of all 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners.

We welcome endorsements from all organizations, individuals, coalitions and institutions in support of the goals of this letter and the rights and freedom of Palestinian prisoners.

Dear Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon;

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, call upon you to immediately take action in defense of the lives, health and rights of the over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners held inside Israeli occupation jails. This number includes numerous elected members of Palestinian Legislative Council, among them Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Marwan al-Barghouthi, Fateh leader; Abdel-Aziz Dweik, Hamas leader and President of the Council, just freed after three years in prison, and dozens of other elected political leaders, in addition to thousands of other Palestinian activists, union members, community organizers, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.

Palestinian prisoners suffer in conditions that violate international standards and norms, and are imprisoned because they refuse to accept a brutal occupation of their land and their people. Ahmad Sa'adat recently waged a nine-day hunger strike in protest of the policy of isolation and solitary confinement that has recently been escalated against Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian prisoners have been denied family visits, at times for years, denied access to all books and magazines, and denied even communication with their fellow prisoners in the isolation units. Palestinian prisoners, including Sa'adat, are currently denied necessary health care and medical treatment.

Palestinian prisoners are placed into isolation because they are national leaders and because the Palestinian prisoner movement has been an inspiration to all Palestinians and all who struggle for freedom. Ahmad Sa'adat's hunger strike has sparked thousands of people around the world to appeal for his release, as a living example who symbolizes the steadfastness and strength of the Palestinian prisoners amid isolation and dire conditions, and it must compel all of those outside the prisons to act. Many Palestinian and international human rights and social justice organizations have called for the release of Sa'adat and to ensure the safety of his life and health, as well as for freedom and protection for all Palestinian prisoners.

The fate of these 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners is a fundamental issue of justice. Palestinians, in Palestine and in exile, are denied their rights - to return home,to self-determination, and to freedom, and those who seek to secure those rights are subject to imprisonment, whether within the open-air prisons of Gaza under siege or the walled-in West Bank, or the jails of the occupation. The silent, and at times, active, complicity of international agencies, particularly the United Nations, in the denial of Palestinian rights must not continue.

We call upon you to uphold your responsibilities and exert all pressure to end torture, cruel and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners, and to free every Palestinian political prisoner from Israel's occupation jails.

Sincerely,

Individual Name

Organization/Affiliation Name

Organizational Endorsement?

Individual Endorsement?

Email Address:

Location

Submit

Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat

Al-Awda NY
Al-Awda Omaha
American Iranian Friendship Committee
Arab American Union Members Council
Arab Muslim American Federation
Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
BAYAN USA
The Freedom Archives
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Hammerhard MediaWorks
International Action Center
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International Socialist Organization
Jericho Movement - NYC
National Lawyers Guild
New Jersey Solidarity - Activists for the Liberation of Palestine
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
NYC Labor Against the War
NY Committee For Human Rights in the PhilippinesPalestineFreeVoice
Palestine House
Palestinian Youth Network
PATOIS: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
Socialist Action
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) (Popular Conference)
War Times/Tiempo De Guerra
WESPAC Foundation

MP George Galloway, UK Parliament Member and coordinator of Viva Palestina USA medical aid caravan to Gaza
Prof. Bashir Abu Manneh, Columbia University
Musa al-Hindi, Omaha, NE
Susan Abulhawa, author, Pennsylvania
Yousef Abudayyeh, California
Abdelwahab Amri Secretary-General of the Federation of PDP, Gabes, Tunisia
Prof. Emeritus Naseer Aruri, University of Massachussetts at Dartmouth
Boniardi Ambrogio, Milano, Italy
Pawel Michal Bartolik, journalist, Poland
Abdul-Nasser J.G. Baston, London, UK
Dr.C.J. Burns-Cox MD FRCP, Gloucester UK
Professor Seif Da'Na, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
James C. Faris, Director Emeritus, University of Connecticut Program in Middle East Languages and Area Studies
Enrique Ferro, Brussels, Belgium
Sara Flounders, co-director, International Action Center
Prof. Emerita Sherna Berger Gluck, California State University Long Beach
Prof. Emerita Elaine Hagopian, Simmons College
Paul Hubbard, Providence, RI
Monadel Herzallah, San Francisco, CA
Sana Kassem, Athens, Greece
Charlotte Kates, attorney
Prof. Mujid S. Kazimi, Massachusetts Institiute of Technology
Basem Khader, Chappaqua, NY
Peter Klosterman, Ph.D. Oakland, CA
Zbigniew Marcin Kowalewski, researcher and editor, Poland
Michael Letwin, Co-Convener, New York City Labor Against the War; Former President, Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Dr. Renee Levant, Instructor, Master of Liberal Studies Program, Fort Hays State University
Professor Moshé Machover, London School of Economics
Patrick MacManus, Rebellion, Denmark
Dr. Bruce J. Malina, Dept of Theology, Creighton University
Ali Mili, Phillipsburg, NJ
Harald Molgaard, Twickenham, UK
Marlene Newesri, New York City, USA
Dr. Marcy Newman, Associate Professor of English, An Najah University, Nablus, Palestine
Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice.org, USA/Palestine
Ardeshir and Eleanor Ommani, Founders, AIFC
Daniel Perez Creus, Ingenio {Gran Canaria} Spain
Dr. Nagesh Rao, Assistant Professor of English, The College of New Jersey
Dick Reilly, Chicago, IL, US
Samia Saleh, northern Virginia, US
Dr. Ahdaf Soueif, author
Professor Mustapha Soueif, University of Cairo
Stan Squires, Canada
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, M.D., USA
Tony Whelan, London, UK
Katherine Wilson, CUNY, New York City




This letter will be delivered to Ban Ki-Moon's office on July 8, 2009. Please send your endorsement as quickly as possible in order to ensure it is included, preferably before July 5, 2009. This initiative is being supported by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat. Please send endorsements to info@freeahmadsaadat.org.

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Free Ahmad Sa'adat Campaign

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June 1, 2009

Ahmad Sa'adat speaks from isolation in Asqelan: The so-called "Two state solution" is a threat to the Palestinian people and the right to return

Ahmad Sa'adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a letter issued from isolation in Asqelan prison where he is held by the Israeli occupation, that the so-called "two state solution" is dangerous, threatens the right of return and the very existence of the Palestinian people in the occupied lands of Palestine '48.

The letter was sent on May 30, 2009 to the Preparatory Committee for the Palestinian National Day in Sweden. Sa'adat stated in the letter, which greeted the Palestinian and Arab communities and their consistent work to defend our rights, that the only termination of the historical and substantive conflict with the occupation is the end of Zionist rule in Palestine, the establishment of democracy and the achievement of the right of return. He noted that ending the Zionist project was the only real solution for the Palestinian people, while the so-called "two state solution" only opens the door for the acceptance of the "Jewish state," a racist concept based on the expulsion of our people.

Sa'adat also greeted the people of European countries who stood beside the Palestinian people in the face of the recent war on Gaza, and other international solidarity forces, particularly noting the leadership of Venezuelan Bolivarian president Hugo Chavez.

He stated, "I am honored to participate in these events marking the 61st anniversary of al-Nakba, in defense of our national and historical rights, particularly the right to return to our homeland. These are the rights affirmed by our national leaders and martyrs, including al-Hakim, Dr. George Habash, Abu Ali Mustafa and Sabir Mohieddin. They are not only the essence of the Palestinian cause but also the bridge for our nation and the democratization of all of historic Palestine."

The following is the text of the letter in full:

"I am honored to participate in these events marking the 61st anniversary of al-Nakba, in defense of our national and historical rights, particularly the right to return to our homeland. These are the rights affirmed by our national leaders and martyrs, including al-Hakim, Dr. George Habash, Abu Ali Mustafa and Sabir Mohieddin. They are not only the essence of the Palestinian cause but also the bridge to our nation and the democratization of all of historic Palestine.

I salute you and your valuable efforts, which have filled in the gaps left in the absence of the PLO and the marginalization of a powerful leadership for the Palestinian cause.

I also pay tribute to all Arab and Palestinian groups that work tirelessly to defend our rights and salute all the popular progressive and democratic international forces who stood by our people in their just struggle for their right to independence and return. I would also like to pay tribute to the attitude of some European countries who have taken an independent position in regard to our people, and our right to democracy, and stood beside our people in the face of the recent barbaric war on Gaza, in particular Sweden and Norway, and the Bolivarian nations of Latin America, led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The right of return has not snd will not be extinguished by prescription, and we have maintained our presence in the defense of this right. However, that does not eliminate the risks that beset the right to return, as since Camp David and the dismantlement of most of the Arab national project of confrontation of the Zionist enemy, what has remained is only a "pragmatic" Palestinian policy situated in the context of a "settlement." This course went through Madrid and Oslo, detached from our Palestinian national constants dismantling our project of national liberation.

This caused great damage to our national liberation project, as does the national and Arab impotence displayed by the Arab initiative, which weakened the right of return through the use of ambiguous language that appeared in the text. The stress that is required at the Palestinian and Arab national level is to end any confusion, and to distinguish clearly between the end of the occupation and the end of the conflict.

The end of the historic conflict and the objective can only be an end to the Zionist entity and the establishment of democracy throughout all of Palestine, through the implementation of the Palestinian right of return. The slogan of "two states for two peoples" that are being voiced only opens the door to the acceptance of Israel as a "Jewish state," which threatens not only our right to return, but also the existence of the masses of our people in the occupied part of Palestine 1948 on the ground where they were born and where they have remained firmly rooted and strong in the land.

I am aware that the Palestinian reality at this time of the division of our people does not provide a climate of substantial achievements in terms of correction of Palestinian politics and tactics for managing the conflict with the occupation. However, the common denominators that were agreed upon in Cairo in 2005, and the document of national reconciliation as the basis for Palestinian unity will lead to the rebuilding of the institutions of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the PLO, the political entity of the whole Palestinian people, and the objectives of the unity our our people and our national rights, including the right to return. On this basis, I call on the masses of our people in the diaspora to lift their voices in order to end the Palestinian division and to rebuild the Palestine Liberation Organization a democratic way as a national instrument for the national democratic struggle, qualified to lead our people in their struggle and to take leadership at the strategic level to meet the challenges and maintain our national objectives on the road to their achievement. I have no doubt that those national objectives will be achieved.

I trust you and your ability and energy and the energies of our people and the pan-Arab popular forces of various political colors. They are committed to the project to confront American imperialist hegemony and control of the region and the world as well as to support our allies and their people and the popular and progressive forces on an international level. I am confident that our people and the rest of the marginalized and oppressed peoples of the world, as well as the poor and marginalized countries in the world who are leading the forces of progress today, have their feet firmly placed on the road to defeat all of the projects and plans of imperialism and racism, and will establish the new international order based on justice, equality and brotherhood among peoples, peace and social progress and will renounce all forms of racial discrimination and national and class national oppression. Victory is certain!

Ahmad Sa'adat

General Secretary, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

From the isolation cell in Asqelan prison

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Update:

June 18: Ahmad Sa'adat's isolation extended in retaliation for his defense of prisoners' rights..

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Michael Jackson the King of Pop is Dead - Leaves the Legacy of A Boy Prince

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"Famous since childhood, Michael was never comfortable in the adult world..
Michael was the most outstanding,
Michael was one of the very best".

Michael We Will Love You Forever


Ignorance, Begrudge and Racism killed Michael

, World News

June 28: The best-selling author, spiritual advisor - and longtime friend of Michael Jackson - joins NBC's Lester Holt to discuss the circumstances surrounding the death of the "King of Pop."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31594647#31594647

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"Michael Jackson had been planning to start* a series of comeback concerts in London and had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months. Promoters of the shows said in March that he had passed a lengthy physical examination."

Michael Jackson declared dead

Commentary

By Michael Ventre
msnbc.com contributor
updated 8:16 p.m. ET June 25, 2009


Most kings are destined to be remembered as kings, not as the person they had been before ascending to power. Even though Michael Jackson earned recognition as the King of Pop, the legacy he leaves is that of a boy prince.

Michael Jackson was never comfortable in the adult world. Early on he recognized he would be the happiest in the land of Ferris wheels, cotton candy, docile animals and 24/7 playtime, and he clung to that life. He looked at film of the Jackson 5, circa 1968, noticed the front man was a kid, and wondered whatever happened to that boy’s childhood.

Michael Jackson passed away today. It’s always sad when parents outlast their children. It’s even sadder when the inner child and the adult can’t decide who will go first.

In 1966, when Michael Jackson was almost 8, the Jackson 5 was born. Soon after, these talented young men from Gary, Ind., found themselves playing in seedy nightclubs and dodgy strip joints. That isn’t so bad, in most cases. The musical artist who demands only a dignified path to stardom usually spends a lonely life in the garage or basement. Humble beginnings, or even humiliating ones, come with the territory.

But when you’re a kid, and your father is pushing you ever harder to work and achieve and succeed like Joseph Jackson pushed, the road becomes mean and the spirit turns cold. Michael’s boyhood was Dickensian, even though he grew up in a tight African-American family from an unforgiving industrial region of the Midwest that went on to become rich.

The world knew that Michael Jackson — the 8-year-old with the mini-Afro, the 1,000-watt smile and the footwork of a vaudevillian — as being perennially upbeat. But inside, he had to be wishing that he could skip the next gig and hang out with some kids his age. He had to be lamenting the fact that while the family was going places, he wanted to remain behind a little longer in childhood.

As he grew older, he became a greatly admired creative force. The “Off the Wall” album in 1979 sent his star into a new galaxy. “Thriller,” in 1982, became the biggest-selling album of all time. He had movie projects, he bought the Beatles’ catalog, he did “Captain EO” for Disney theme parks, he co-wrote “We Are the World.” He seemed to have his gloved hand in everything.

Fame made him tabloid fodder

But amid all the success, there was the residual dissatisfaction and longing. The more famous he became, the more he seemed to withdraw from the attention, usually in highly peculiar ways. Much of what was written about him was fiction. Yet because he had a chimpanzee, because he owned Neverland Ranch with all its childlike wonder, because he seemed to alter his physical appearance with each public appearance, he was constant fodder for the media, legitimate and otherwise.

He also made headlines with two marriages, first to Lisa Marie Presley and then to Deborah Rowe, with whom he had two children. The scrutiny intensified.


Like any showman, Jackson drew the spotlight to himself. He was quiet, soft-spoken and fragile, but he knew the business as well as anyone. The freak, the eccentric, the “Wacko Jacko,” might all have been unflattering descriptions, but a lot of the buzz was the result of his own orchestration. He knew that when Michael Jackson set one foot onto any stage, the klieg lights would illuminate it. And when he could work it to his advantage, he did just that.

The struggle between the naïve child and the savvy grown man turned Michael Jackson into a riddle of which the press and the public never grew tired.

The interest was never greater than during Jackson’s trial on sexual molestation charges near Santa Barbara, Calif., in 2003. He was eventually acquitted, but it revealed the most inappropriate aspects of Jackson’s desire to be among children. Whether you were a cynic who felt he was a pedophile who escaped justice, or whether you were a supporter who believed he was a misunderstood genius who only wanted to help people, he certainly seemed to invite trouble, whether through naivete or lasciviousness or a strange brew of both.

After that, there were various Michael Jackson reports. He was living in Bahrain. He was living in Nevada. He was preparing a major tour. He was pondering an extended engagement in Vegas. He lost Neverland Ranch. He made a deal to save it.

What usually was missing from any Michael Jackson report in the past 25 years or so was the music. There was a time when soul and rhythm and blues ruled, when Motown was a dominant force in the record business, when acts such as Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and the Temptations and the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye were as big in their world as the Beatles and Elvis Presley were in theirs.

They didn’t get that way through subterfuge, gimmicks or spin. They crafted radio-friendly songs that were vibrant and passionate and original, and they made an impact on the music business that is still felt today in newer generations of artists.

The Jacksons were right in the middle of all that. They produced hits such as “I’ll Be There,” “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “Never Can Say Goodbye” that burned up the charts and remain pop classics. Then Michael went solo and combined songwriting prowess with performance legerdemain to become one of the most astonishing acts ever. Songs such as “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Rock With You,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and “Thriller,” to name a few, have endured — and will endure.

Perhaps those songs will make future generations forget about the unusual and the unfortunate involving a modern-day prince with king-sized accomplishments and a child’s imagination.

© 2009 msnbc.com.

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http://www.michaeljackson.com/
http://www.youtube.com/michaeljackson
http://michaeljacksonlive.com/video.php
http://www.mjj.it/*
http://www.mahalo.com/michael-jackson-memorial

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WHY CAN’T NEWSPAPERS FIGURE OUT HOW TO INCORPORATE QUALITY LOCAL BLOGGERS ?

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John Wilpers

23 Jun 2009 12:32 PM PDT

In my last post, I looked at the failures of newspapers who are trying to do the right thing (incorporate high-quality local bloggers) but failing because they are either opening the doors to everyone (it’s fun but mostly nonsense), they are putting the bloggers in a blogger “ghetto” all by themselves (as if readers were interested in reading any blog), or they are turning their blogger aggregation operations over to an outside company — for example, in the case of the Des Moines paper, to Pluck (note: Chris Snider pointed out in his comments that the Register is doing good work elsewhere on their site; more on that soon).

It’s not like there aren’t great examples of successful blog aggregation staring newspapers right in the face.

The Huffington Post came into Chicago and stole great local bloggers who otherwise might have appeared in the Tribune and driven traffic to the paper's website instead of the interloping HuffPo.

By embarrassingly stark contrast to clueless newspapers, the Huffington Post came into Chicago and stole the very best local bloggers from under the Chicago Tribune’s nose. HuffPo gave those bloggers an enviably simple and attractive HuffPo URL on one of the most popular sites in the world (e.g., http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-jones, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack).

The Huffington Post/Chicago is loaded with top-notch local names (like Mr. Cusack’s) and dozens of less famous but equally high-quality bloggers. The Chicago Tribune has none (they did, however, finally launch their answer to HuffPo/Chicago: A completely separate site called ChicagoNow that proudly boasts all of 50 bloggers from the entire Chicago metro area; it’s colorful and fun, but still a blogger ghetto and mentioned on chicagotribune.com only in teeny weeny type at the very bottom of the page. Way to be proud, guys!).

The Chicago Tribune's answer to the Huffington Post's Chicago site. ChicagoNow offers a collection of what they consider the best blogs in the city, but it's still a blogger ghetto (albeit a nice one) where blogs are kept separate from the main Tribune website.

(Full disclosure: When Huffington announced her Chicago plans months before her launch, I had written to the Tribune suggesting they beat her to the punch and grab all the best bloggers in the city. They never replied.)

The Huffington Post has been selling advertising on its blogger pages for months. The Tribune, obviously, only just started. Aggregation and multiple-author blogs like the Huffington Post are making money by attracting millions of unique visitors to the best content in the verticals of the user’s choice (Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Daily Kos, YouTube, etc.) Those sites don’t (yet) have the local newspaper’s brand recognition or respect. The newspaper still is the best local information source in its market (for now).

Le Monde incorporates high-quality bloggers on their website in the appropriate section right next to staff content, but clearly labeled as a blog. No blogger ghetto

But newspapers must start doing the hard work of finding, vetting, and incorporating the hundreds of high-quality local text and video bloggers in their markets (e.g., 3,000 videos about Washington, D.C. were posted in one month alone on YouTube). If newspapers did that, they would have a wealth of new content that currently is going begging for a home, an audience, and advertising inventory. Newspapers would quickly increase their depth, reach, relevance, and revenue by weaving those high-quality local blogs throughout their websites and by publishing excerpts in the category appropriate pages of the newspaper.

Every imaginable topic is addressed by bloggers, and thus every newspaper could address every reader’s needs simply by aggregating and organizing that content. If, however, newspapers don’t do that, their competitors like the Huffington Post are very happy to step into the void to run the blogs and sell the ads.

Only a handful of newspapers “get it.” Le Monde, based in Paris, leads the field, publishing select, high-quality non-staff blogs throughout the newspaper’s website. Expert technology bloggers appear in Le Monde’s technology section. Top-quality arts bloggers appear in the arts section. Sports bloggers in sports. And so on.

BostonNOW incorporated high-quality local bloggers much like Le Monde, with nearly 4,000 local bloggers signing up to be hosted on BostonNow.com. The bloggers were highlighted on the home page and in the theme-appropriate sections of the website and the print product. The results were stunning. In less than a year, BostonNOW had at least twice as many monthly unique visitors as similar U.S. free dailies that had been publishing for 1-7 years.

BostonNOW was also selling interactive campaigns to clients who were creating their own blog presence on the site. For example, a local bank paid $90,000 to build its blog on BostonNOW to appeal to recent college grads looking for financial advice. Two condominium developers paid $10,000 each for their own blog sites. (BostonNOW was closed in 2008 when its Icelandic investors pulled the plug as a result of their country’s economic collapse.)

When I spoke at an international conference of journalists and bloggers in NYC, a renowned video blogger said, “Before John Wilpers and BostonNOW came to town, we thought of newspapers as THEIR newspapers; now we think of BostonNOW as OUR newspaper.” Web-centric bloggers who’d posted on BostonNOW and had excerpts of their posts appear in the paper began calling for tearsheets! These were young adults who had not previously picked up a paper!

Another example: BostonNOW published an excerpt from a top Boston-area blog without permission (an accident). The site editor was upset, but the blogger was conflicted. “My phone was ringing off the hook with friends telling me it was great that my blog was in the paper,” she said later. “I knew I should be angry, but I was so excited! I couldn’t wait to see the paper.” That blogger became a regular BostonNOW blogger and a motivated advocate of the paper promoting us and our website to her tech-savvy, print-averse friends some of whom became BostonNOW bloggers and passionate grassroots marketers for the paper.

If newspapers fail to embrace these new content creators, their future is threatened: “They (newspapers) are going to see the relentless emergence of new forms of media that might not even be built or positioned as competition, but which have the potential to siphon off their audience,” said Andrew Nachison, co-founder of media think tank iFOCOS, in a Knowledge@Wharton article. The message is clear: Learn to evolve or join the Dodo bird. Partner with bloggers and other emerging new media, or put another nail in the coffin of a once-thriving industry

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Ahmad Sa'adat: Protect the Palestinian Resistance

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By Hiyam Noir

Jerusalem - Muhammad Barakeh, a Knesset member, who visited the imprisoned PFLP leader Ahmad Sa’adat on Monday, said that after ending his hunger strike Sa’adat’s health conditions has improved. After that Israeli prison authorities placed Sa’adat in solitary confinement in the beginning of June, Sa’adat began a hunger strike

Ahmad Sa’adat said to Barakeh, that there is no rational motivation to place detainees in solitary confinement, as the political prisoners already are under forced isolation from the outside world by the virtue of being in prison. Both Ahmad Sa’adat and Muhammad Barakeh emphasized the essential to “protect the Palestinian resistance".

Sa’adat said he is at unease with the internal political Palestinian situation. When the PFLP leader was informed by Barakeh about upcoming meetings between Hamas and Fatah, Sa'adat said that, with reference to the Palestinians and the communication between parties in a political context, all Palestinian factions should be included in the formation of the next Palestinian government.

Ahmad Sa’adat also called attention to the necessity of the Palestinian radical left movement's reorganization. He said that the Palestinian people are confronted by racial discrimination. Regarding the racial profiling of the Palestinians and the aspect of Palestinian identity, Mohammad Barakeh said he could not enough emphasize the importance of unity.

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Sa'adat Receives Further Punishment From the Occupation as Solidarity Continues Around the World

Freedom for Ahmad Sa'adat
a fighter for the liberation of Palestine

Ahmad Sa'adat's steadfastness has inspired solidarity and action from thousands across Palestine, throughout the Arab world, and internationally. His nine-day hunger strike has drawn attention to the brutal, illegitimate practices of the Israeli prison authorities, and the urgent situation of the over 11,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Sa'adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was forcibly kidnapped in 2006 by the Israeli military from a Palestinian Authority prison where he had been held since 2002 under the PA(Palestine Authority), the British, and U.S. guard, and has become a symbol of resistance. Throughout his seven years of imprisonment, he has refused entirely to recognize the legitimacy of Israeli military courts used against Palestinian prisoners.

A new set of punishments have been issued against Sa'adat following his nine-day hunger strike against the occupation's denial of prisoners rights, won through long struggle, and the policy of solitary confinement.

As an example of some of the solidarity actions with Sa'adat around the world, please see:

June 18, 2009 - Statement in solidarity with Ahmad Sa'adat from Irish Republican Socialist Movement (http://freeahmadsaadat.org/june18irscna.html)

June 17, 2009 - Protests across Palestine and the Arab world in solidarity with Sa'adat (http://freeahmadsaadat.org/june1709.html)

June 17, 2009 - Solidarity statement from Internationalt Forum - Denmark (http://freeahmadsaadat.org/june17ifd.html)

June 16, 2009 - Solidarity statement from Palestinian Federation of Chile (http://freeahmadsaadat.org/june16pfc.html)

June 12, 2009 - Statement in solidarity from Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) (http://freeahmadsaadat.org/june12koe.html)

The Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights sent an attorney to visit with Sa'adat on June 15, 2009, who reported that the administration of Asqelan prison held a hearing following the hunger strike, which Sa'adat refused to attend, according to his principled position of rejecting all of the mock justice of the Israeli military courts.

The hearing resulted in a severe set of sanctions directed at Sa'adat, extending his denial of family visits, denial of visits to the prison cateen, and a 200 shekel fine, as well as a week extension of solitary confinement. These punishments come in addition to an earlier set of draconian sanctions directed at Sa'adat as a result of his leadership in the prisoners' movement.

On May 7, 2009, the occupation forces issued a series of punishments against Sa'adat, including denying him messages from his family for a month, prevention of family visits until September 5, 2009, the extension of his solitary confinement until June 28, 2009 and the removal of all electrical appliances, newspapers and magazines.

The Al-Mezan center condemned the policy of isolation and solitary confinement, noting that this practice violates international standards and is classified as a form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The center called for the international community to work to the utmost to gain immediate protection for the rights of Palestinian prisoners, won through long struggle, and for the release of all Palestinian prisoners from the jails of the occupation.

Khalida Jarrar, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP and chair of the Palestinian Legislative Council Prisoners' Committee spoke on Sunday, June 14, 2009, summing up Sa'adat's nine-day hunger strike and detailing the methods of isolation used by the occupier, noting that there are 30 prisoners held in solitary confinement and that these men are held in single cells 23 out of 24 hours in the day. She noted that Sa'adat has been held in isolation since his transfer by the occupation authorities from Hadarim to Asqelan prison several months ago, and that his family has been barred from visiting him.

Abla Sa'adat, Ahmad Sa'adat's wife, spoke about how she has not been able to visit her husband for three months and that her children have been barred from visiting him for the past three years. She demanded that human rights institutions act upon the issue of solitary confinement and isolation.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat stresses upon the urgent need for continuing solidarity with Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners, and the need to struggle for their freedom. Please send your statements of solidarity to info@freeahmadsaadat.org and continue to contact Israeli embassies in your country and express your outrage!

Take action in your country or city. Contact your local Israeli embassy:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Diplomatic+missions/Web+Sites+of+Israeli+Missions+Abroad.htm and express your outrage at this policy of isolation.

Also, contact the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as this body is responsible for monitoring and visiting Palestinian prisoners. Call upon the ICRC to end its silence about Palestinian prisoners and to take action to defend their rights. Contact the Jerusalem office of the ICRC at jerusalem.jer@icrc.org.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat
June 19, 2009

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UNISON Resolution on Palestine - June 2009

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NATIONAL DELEGATE CONFERENCE 2009

Draft COMPOSITE J

PALESTINE (Motions 72, 74, 77, 78, 79 and Amendments 72.1, 72.2, 72.3 and 72.4)

Conference reiterates its belief that only when a sovereign, independent, democratic, contiguous and viable Palestine state is created, living side by side with a secure Israel will there be chance for peace and stability in the Middle East. Conference strongly believes that justice for the Palestinian people is essential to any solution to the existing conflict.

Conference reiterates its belief that a just solution must be based on international law and Israel must:

1) Withdraw to its 1967 borders;

2) Allow the refugees the right of return;

3) Remove all settlements from the Palestinian occupied territories and occupied Syrian Al-Joulan;

4) Demolish the apartheid wall;

5) Respect the Palestinian people's right to national self determination and to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Conference wholeheartedly condemns the use of violence to resolve this long-running injustice. Violence, whether from Israel against the people of Gaza or Lebanon, or from rocket attacks against Israel or terrorist actions inside Israel, will only lead to further violence. The reality however is that even prior to the December 2008 Israeli invasion Gaza was subject to an eighteen month siege which can only be described as undeserved and unnecessary collective punishment.

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Assistance reported in December 2008 that as a consequence of the blockade people had no access to electricity for 16 hours a day; 80% of water did not meet WHO standards for drinking; unemployment had reached 50% and 79% of the population lived below the official poverty line. The UN report concluded that, "The consequences for the Palestinian population are profound, pervasive and difficult to reverse." Conference notes that this was done in the name of taking action against the democratically elected (in 2006) representatives of the people of Gaza.

Conference notes that Israel used overwhelming military force against the people of Gaza, indiscriminately targeting educational establishments such as the main Universities in Gaza and the three UN schools, especially the attack on the UNRWA AL - Fakhura that killed 40 civilians, hospitals and facilities used by international humanitarian organisations leading to the loss of lives and dreadful injuries for innocent civilians, especially children. Conference notes that the Israeli invasion has been called "the systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure" and "a massive violation of the human rights of the Palestinian People", (United Nations Human Rights Council).

We also condemn the British, US and European governments who supported Israel by calling simply for a ceasefire without recognising the rights of Palestinians or the need to negotiate with Hamas who won a majority of the vote in the last general elections. The response of our government has been to issue inadequate calls for restraint whilst equating the blame equally between the victims and oppressors.

The closure of borders of Gaza, the continuing building of illegal settlements and the wall, the dispossessions from their land of Palestinians over the last 61 years with massive refugee camps as a consequence, the multiple violations of UN resolutions by Israel are all crimes about which the British and other governments have been silent. Conference notes the sale of more than £18.8 million worth of British arms to Israel in 2008, up from £7.5 million in 2007.

Conference further notes that the UN Human Rights commission has stated publicly that the Israeli military may be guilty of war crimes in Gaza. Further conference totally deplores the use of Israeli weapons such as phosphorus tipped shells by the Israeli military, as reported on Channel 4 News.

Conference congratulates UNISON's national leadership for its forthright condemnation of the brutal oppression of Gaza by the army, navy and airforce of Israel. Conference also warmly applauds the donations made by our trade union to Medical Aid for Palestine.

Conference welcomes the appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee to relieve the humanitarian crisis and believes that such measures show the depth of the tragedy. Conference congratulates those broadcasters that showed the appeal and believes that as a public sector broadcaster the BBC's failure to do so must be condemned.

UNISON has long-standing and comprehensive policy on the Middle East and solidarity with the Palestinian people which it reaffirms. Conference believes that trade unions and other civil society organisations have a vital role in creating the conditions for mutual understanding and lasting peace between peoples. However,the Conference also believes that this can only be achieved on the basis of justice for, and solidarity with, the oppressed.

We recognise the importance of the work within our union to win support for the Palestinian people, to campaign for recognition of their rights and to bring pressure to bear on the British government to end complicity in denying the rights of the Palestinian people. Conference therefore welcomes the increasing involvement of the trade union movement around the world in solidarity with the Palestinians. UNISON should continue to press the case for an economic cultural and sporting boycott of Israel in line with the 2007 National Delegate Conference resolution if the occupation is not ended.

Conference is concerned that the conflict has led to a growing number of anti-semitic attacks on Jewish communities living outside of Israel. Conference totally condemns any attempt to use the conflict to promote anti-semitism, racism and xenophobia. Conference therefore instructs the National Executive Council to:

a) Oppose and condemn the use of continuing indiscriminate military and economic violence by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people and the rocket attacks and violence against innocent Israeli citizens whilst recognising the violence overwhelmingly emanates from the Israeli regime;

b) Call on the British government to support a ban on imports of all goods, especially agricultural products from the illegal settlements in the occupied territories and until such a ban is introduced, to support a boycott of these good;

c) Calls for Israel to end their blockade of Gaza and for all suspected war crimes to be fully investigated;

d) Continue to press the British government to: condemn unreservedly Israeli aggression; to be proactive in stopping attacks on Gaza and Palestine;) to end arms exports to Israel, including components via a third party; immediately end all economic, political, intelligence, and logistical aid to Israel; and to work within the EU to end the EU/Israeli Agreement that allows Israel favoured trading status;

e) To actively work within the terms of this motion within the TUC, Wales TUC, Scottish TUC, European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), Public Services International (PSI) and other trade union organisations to which UNISON is affiliated to promote the cause of, and solidarity with, the Palestinian people; and to continue to work with and show solidarity with the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions and to oppose any attack on free and independent trade unions in Palestine from which ever source;

f) Continue to support both financially and physically the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and demonstrations (including those vigils at the Israeli embassy) organised in support of the Palestinian people;

g) To work with and support civil society organisations in Israel, including the scores of young Israelis imprisoned for refusing to take part in the army of occupation, who oppose the continuing occupation and support the rights of Palestinians such as Workers' Hotline, workers' advice centres and Sawt el-Amel;

h) Request both sections of the Political Fund to use links with the international trade union movement to put pressure on the new US administration to use its influence for a long-term peace agreement that is fair for all the people who live in the region;

i) To actively oppose and condemn anti semitism, racism and xenophobia;

j) support recognition of the outcome of the last elections to the Palestinian Authority (2006) which were certified as free and fair by international observers;

k) send a letter of solidarity to the staff and students at Islamic University of Gaza and the Al-Azhar University – Gaza;

l) Conference also expresses its grave concern at the statement 13 January 2009 of the Histadrut (General Federation of Labour in Israel) supporting the military assault on Gaza, and in general at its lack of opposition to the occupation. We therefore agree to a review of our relationship with the Histadrut's PSI affiliates, Union of Clerical Administrative and Public Service Employees (UCAPSE) and the Government Employees' Union and to call on the TUC, STUC, Wales TUC and ICTU to review their relationship with the Histadrut;

m) To continue to defend and implement existing UNISON policy as updated by 2009 Conference.

72 National Executive Council

72.1 Scotland Region

72.2 Islington

72.3 Manchester Local Government

72.4 London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

74 South East Region

77 Hammersmith and Fulham, Manchester Metropolitan University

78 Dorset

79 Islington

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- UNISON is Britain's largest public sector trade union with more than 1.3 million members.

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PA Still Reticent Over Death of Detainee in Mukhabarat Custody

18/06/2009 - 11:09 PM

Video Aqsa TV Chanel

From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have been quite reticent over the death of Haitham Amr, a 28-year-old nurse, in PA custody in Hebron earlier this week.

Amr, a father of two children, was arrested on Thursday, 11 June at his home, at the village of Beit al-Rush el-Fouga, 20 km south-west of al-Khalil, by a combined force of the Preventive Security (PSF) and General Intelligence (GI) or (Mukhabarat)
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The village is classified as part of “Area-C,” which means that PA security personnel can’t enter it without prior coordination with the Israeli occupation army.

“On Thursday, some 30 armed men from the Palestinian Authority arrived at my home. They told me they wanted to take my son, Haitham, with them for a few hours.

“It never occurred to me, even in my wildest nightmares, that they would murder him in cold blood a few hours later,” said his father, Abdullah, himself a retired nurse.

Amr, the victim, was driven straight to the General Intelligence (GI) headquarters in downtown Hebron where he reportedly underwent an unusually harsh interrogation over his relation with Hamas.

According to a doctor who examined the body, Amr was subjected to extra
ordinarily harsh forms of torture, including severe beating using clubs and other objects, possibly plastic hoses.

Moreover, the victim seemed to have been forced to sit down on a broken glass bottle which badly mutilated his rectum, causing intensive bleeding.

This particular torture technique had been widely used by the PA security agencies against the opponents of the Oslo Accords in the Gaza Strip during the PA rule from 1995-2000.

Undergoing unrelenting torture for more than 48 hours, Amr eventually had massive internal hemorrhage Sunday, 15 June.

A few hours later, shortly after midnight he was pronounced dead at the government hospital in Hebron
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Initially, a PA security spokesman said Amr killed himself by jumping from the third floor of the Mukhabarat headquarters.

However, it was clear that this story had no credibility and was mainly intended to cover up the real story, namely that the man was actually tortured to death at the hands of the Mukhabrat interrogator.

Amr’s family initially demanded that an autopsy be performed on his body in the Israeli forensic institute known as Abu Kabir to rule out possible “foul play” by PA security elements, e.g. bribing or coercing doctors to falsify the autopsy report.

Eventually, however, Fatah leaders and PA officials convinced the victim’s father to perform the autopsy at al Quds University medical college in Abu Dis near Jerusalem, assuring him that no foul play would be allowed.

However, as of this time (Thursday afternoon, 18 June), no autopsy report has been released, which might suggest that the PA has some thing to hide from the public.

This also explains PA efforts to prevent the media from covering the story and especially filming the body, which bore clear scars of torture especially in its lower parts.

On Monday, 15 June, members of the Preventive Security Force (PSF) detained an Al-Jazeera TV crew after filming the body shortly before the burial rites at Amr’s home village.

The PSF men confiscated the crew’s cameras and recording equipments, and also detained correspondent Wael al Shoyoukhi for several hours. The equipments were returned to the crew hours later after the videotaped materials showing the scars of torture had been erased.

Shoyoukhi said the following:

“As we were returning to Ramallah, having filmed the body of the victim and interviewed his family, a roadblock manned by the PSF outside Hebron stopped us. They insisted that we hand over our equipments, telling us that we could reclaim them later at the PSF headquarters in Hebron .

“When we went to the PSF headquarters in Hebron , we were told that the materials we had videotaped were sensitive and that if allowed to be disseminated, they could stir up problems for the PA.

“An hour later, we were given our equipments but only after the videotaped materials were completely erased.”

Amr’s father, Abdullah, whom this reporter met on 15 June, said he was not holding the PA regime responsible for the murder of his son.

“I am not accusing the Palestinian Authority of killing my son. The one who killed my son is an Israeli agent. I will reach him even on the last day of my life.”

On Tuesday, hundreds of PA figures, including members of the General Intelligence, arrived at the village of Beit al Rush al Fuga to offer condolences for the death of Haitham Amr.

The large delegation included inter alia, the Governor of Hebron , Hussein Al Araj and former Preventive Security Chief Jibril Rajoub.

There have been certain rumors that the Fatah movement was seeking to strike a deal with the bereaved family whereby the family would cede its right to pursue the killer in return for an undisclosed amount of money.

However, the family vehemently denied these rumors, saying “the blood of our son was not for sale.”

The PA has been clearly embarrassed by the murder for several reasons. First, the victim’s father and many of his immediate relatives are veteran Fatah activists and many of them are actually members of the PA security agencies. Indeed, the head of the interrogation department at the General Intelligence in Hebron is a distant cousin of the victim.

Second, the PA, a fragile entity depending on international aid, is too insecure to openly admit the murder, apparently for fear of alienating international human rights organizations and also for fear that the victims’ family would pursue the killer.

This prospect would complicate the operations of the PA security apparatus, especially interrogators involved in torturing Hamas’s detainees. The rational is that interrogators would start feeling that the PA would protect them if the harsh interrogation tactics they employ led to the death of the person being interrogated, as was the case with Haitham Amr and several others victims.

Similarly, the PA can’t just fabricate a denial of any wrong doing since this would convince nobody, including the victim’s family, which is generally affiliated with Fatah.

Hence, it is highly likely that the PA security agencies will let the case die down.

It is not clear if the suspected killer has been detained or questioned over the death of Amr. PA security officials refuse to answer questions in this regard, citing the “sensitivity of the matter.”

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Prime Minister Salam Fayyadh repeatedly assured local and international human rights groups that torture was outlawed in PA jails and interrogation centers.

However, it is amply clear that torture, even harsh torture, is still widely practiced by some PA security agencies.

According to observers in Occupied Palestine, a key reason contributing to PA flaccidity and ostensible indifference concerning the ostensible rampancy of torture and other human rights violations in the West Bank is that western powers, upon which the PA depends for its financial survival, have shown little or no concern over this matter.

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Jewish Chabad's Genocidal Morality

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Religious Zionism promoting for the annihilation of Arabs and non-Jews is rife,
not only amongst Israelis, but also adopted by Israel's government, ( Reuters photo)

Analysis

The Fanatical US-based Organization Exposed

By Khalid Amayreh
Journalist — Occupied Palestine

"The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way. Destroy their holy sites; kill their men, women, children, and even cattle.

"These are not the words of a loony Jewish terrorist, marauding through the hills of the West Bank in search for an elderly Arab peasant or shepherd to kill.

In fact, these words were uttered last week by Manis Friedman, a prominent and highly-respected Chabad-lubavitch rabbi who is widely admired among many Orthodox Jews, especially in the United States.

Writing in response to a question posed by Moment Magazine for its "Ask the Rabbis" feature, the Minnesota-based rabbi argued that "if we followed this wisdom (killing innocent Arab men, women and children), there would be no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war."

He went on, "I do not believe in Western morality. Living by the Torah values will make us the light to the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention."

Friedman's views are not marginal or unrepresentative within the Chabad movement — a supremacist worldwide Jewish sect with huge financial and political influence in Israel and North America.

Moreover, Friedman himself is not a fringe rabbi within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. For many years, he was the English translator for the Lubavitcher Rebb (M. M. Schneurssohn), and at his urging, he founded Beis Chana; a network of campus and schools for Jewish women.

Defending his views, Friedman argued that he was only quoting from the Torah. He further argued that he was not actually urging Israel to kill en mass Palestinian men, women, and children, saying that he only believed that Israel should publicly say that it is willing to "do these things in order to scare Palestinians".

However, a Jewish neighbor by the name of Shmarya Rosenberg, was quoted as saying that "the comment in Moment is not an aberration from his experiences with Friedman and many other Chabad rabbis."

"What he is saying is the standard normal view of Chabadniks. They just do not say it in public," Rosenberg continued.

Nazi-like Movement

Chabad's genocidal racism is not really confined to a small group of religious fanatics.

If a Jewish sect or movement can be described as "Nazi or Nazi-like", it is the Chabad (or Habad) group, which openly advocates the annihilation of non-Jews in Palestine according to the Biblical model of the Book of Joshua.

Chabad is not a marginal movement within Orthodox Judaism. In both Israel and North America, it has been able to amass tremendous wealth and acquire considerable political influence.

The movement, with which thousands of Israeli soldiers and high-ranking officers are affiliated, views non-Jews as sub-humans or animals in human shape whose lives have no sanctity.

According to the group's manifesto, known as ha’Tanya, as quoted by the late Israeli author and philosopher Yisrael Shahak in his book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years, all non-Jews are totally satanic creatures in whom there is absolutely nothing good.

"Even a non-Jewish embryo is qualitatively different from a Jewish one."

According to Rabbi Shneur Zalman, the founder of Chabad, the very existence of a non-Jew is inessential whereas all creation was made solely for the sake of Jews.

In ha’Tanya, he claims that "all Jews are good by nature; all non-Jews are evil by nature. The Jews are creation's crowning glory, the non-Jews are the scum of the earth,"(as quoted in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 3, 1994, page 14)

Chabad's genocidal racism is not really confined to a small group of religious fanatics as public relations-savvy Zionist spokesmen would claim, especially when talking to the Western media.

In Israel, the murderous hatred toward Palestinians found expression in Israel's recent blitz in Gaza, which killed and maimed thousands of Palestinian civilians, and utterly destroyed thousands of homes, schools, mosques, and other civilian buildings.

According to the Israeli press, some military rabbis regularly encouraged and instigated combat soldiers to "show no mercy to Palestinians".

Avi Rontzki, the Israeli army Chief Rabbi distributed a booklet to soldiers called Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study of Table for the Soldiers and Commanders in a Time of War, prepared specifically for the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

In the booklet, Rontzki urged the troops to show no mercy to Palestinians, including civilians.

"When you show mercy to cruelty, you are being cruel to the pure and honest soldiers. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers," he said.

"There is a biblical ban on surrendering a single millimeter of it to gentiles, though all sorts of impure distortions and foolishness of autonomy, enclaves, and other national weakness. We will not abandon it to the hands of another nation, not a finger, not a nail of it," he continued.

Two years ago, Israel's former Chief Rabbi, Mordechai Elyahu, urged the Israeli army and government to employ the Nazi choice against the Palestinians.

He petitioned the Israeli government to carry out a series of carpet bombing of Palestinian population centers in Gaza, arguing that a ground invasion of the world's most crowded spot would endanger the safety of Israeli soldiers.

"If they do not stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand. And, if they do not stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still do not stop we must kill 100,000, even a million; whatever it takes to make them stop."

This was not the first time Elyahu, who is considered one of the most knowledgeable Talmudic sages in Israel, had issued a religious edict urging the Israeli army not to refrain from killing Palestinian children and civilians if that meant saving Jewish lives.

On several occasions, he had urged the army to indiscriminately bomb Palestinian population centers, and pay no attention to possible objections by international public opinion.

Elyahu was a student of Rabbi Abraham Kook who is widely considered the main mentor of modern religious Zionism as well as the settlement movement known as Gush Emunim (the Bloc of Faithful).

Yair Sheleg, a noted Israeli writer, quoted Kook as writing that "the difference between the Jewish soul and the souls of all non-Jews, no matter what their rank and level of understanding, is bigger and deeper than the difference between the human soul and the animal soul."

Again, these venomous teachings are often translated into ugly acts of murder of innocent Palestinians both by Israeli soldiers and fanatical Jewish settlers.

More than two years ago, a Jewish immigrant from France murdered in cold blood an Arab taxi driver from East Jerusalem after beguiling the unsuspecting victim to take him to Netanya.

The murderer, named Julian Soufir, had apparently been subjected to heavy doses of religious indoctrination at a synagogue near his home. He told police interrogators that "I just wanted to kill an Arab. There is no difference between killing an Arab and killing an animal. When I killed him, I felt I was slaughtering a sheep." Soufir has been transferred to a mental hospital and his lawyer is demanding that he be let free!!

Dishonest Approach

National Union leader Aryeh Eldad on several occasions urged the Israeli army not to "treat 'real human beings' (the settlers) as it did Arabs."

Indeed, apart from a minority of courageous Israeli writers and intellectuals, people such as Shahak and the vast majority of the Israeli intelligentsia — religious and secular alike — have carefully refrained from dealing seriously with this issue of Jewish racism toward non-Jews.

The classical reaction of Jewish leaders to virulent remarks by rabbis such as Manis Friedman usually takes the form of claiming that these views only represent a small minority, and in no way reflect or represent the teachings of Judaism.

Of course, this is true — in a certain sense. After all, God never taught Moses, May peace be upon him, that "to kill the best of gentiles…Kill them all," as Shimon Hatsodek taught, nor did the Almighty taught that Jews or even Israelites were biologically superior to other human beings.

But this does not mean that racist Jewish ideas, including Chabad's Nazi-like genocidal system of thinking, are not rife among hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel and abroad.

Today, the Israeli coalition government headed by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu includes religious parties such as ha'Bayt ha'Yahudi (the Jewish House), which openly calls for the expulsion, enslavement, or extermination of Palestinians.

Leaders of another party represented in the Israeli Knesset, ha'Ichud ha Leumi (the National Union) declare openly that non-Jews are not real human beings.

For example, National Union leader Aryeh Eldad on several occasions urged the Israeli army not to "treat 'real human beings' (the settlers) as it did Arabs."

Finally, one cannot leave this important subject without making an earnest call upon all honest and well-meaning Jews to openly and sincerely condemn the manifestly criminal discourse of Chabad.

Jews cannot really raise their voices aloud against anti-Semitism while keeping silent — or even finding excuses for — virulent racism coming from Jews themselves.

In the final analysis, racism does not become kosher when practiced by Jews.

Khalid Amayreh is a journalist living in Palestine. He obtained his MA in journalism from the University of Southern Illinois in 1983. Since the 1990s, Mr. Amayreh has been working and writing for several news outlets among which is Aljazeera.net, Al-Ahram Weekly, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), and the Middle East International. He can be reached through politics.indepth@iolteam.com.

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