EU Calls for SUSPENSION of Israeli-EU Agreements

SNP Member of the European Parliament Mr Alyn Smith has reiterated his call for the EU-Israel Association agreement to be suspended in order to pressure the Israeli government to abide by the international commitments made towards the welfare of the Palestinian people.

The call came after Smith met in Brussels with Scots involved in the "Peace Cycle" initiative, which has seen young volunteers cycle from Amman to Jerusalem and yesterday delivered a 15,000 petition to the European Parliament calling for the suspension of the Association Agreement. Smith's call comes also in the light of comments made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that Israel need not be bound by the Annapolis accords.

Smith said:

"Things are going from bad to worse in the Middle East, and the EU as a whole continues to send precisely the wrong signals to the increasingly intransigent Israeli government. At least Mr Lieberman does not pretend to have any regard for human rights, where a number of his predecessors have pretended to talk about peace while all the while undermining any chance of a viable Palestinian state at all.

"The EU has to recognise that the Israeli government is not a partner in peace, it is the primary opponent of it. Until we use our collective economic and political power to bring them to the negotiating table we will only continue to watch things go from bad to worse.

"When I visited Gaza, the West Bank and Israel I saw for myself the daily humiliations inflicted upon the Palestinian people, making the economy of Palestine a basket case, brutalising the population and in itself encouraging violence, which is then used to justify further aggression. I favour a two state solution but there has to be two viable states in the first place and the Israeli government is being permitted to undermine at every turn any chance the Palestinians have of establishing any viable economy.

"I commend the efforts of the Peace Cycle campaign, and certainly support their call for the EU to get real in our collective dealings with Israel.

"The phrase I heard from an Israeli peace activist in Haifa still rings in my ears; that "Israel must be saved from itself" is becoming more and more true with every day that passes. The EU must match the hand wringing and humanitarian aid with hard action to bring the Israeli government to account, and the only weapons we have at our disposal are economic ones." SOURCE

Israel Cries Wolf (Again)

GREAT article in the New York Times today:

“Iran is the center of terrorism, fundamentalism and subversion and is in my view more dangerous than Nazism, because Hitler did not possess a nuclear bomb, whereas the Iranians are trying to perfect a nuclear option.”

Benjamin Netanyahu 2009? Try again. These words were in fact uttered by another Israeli prime minister (and now Israeli president), Shimon Peres, in 1996. Four years earlier, in 1992, he’d predicted that Iran would have a nuclear bomb by 1999.

You can’t accuse the Israelis of not crying wolf. Ehud Barak, now defense minister, said in 1996 that Iran would be producing nuclear weapons by 2004.

Now here comes Netanyahu, in an interview with his faithful stenographer Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, spinning the latest iteration of Israel’s attempt to frame Iran as some Nazi-like incarnation of evil:

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”

I must say when I read those words about “the wide-eyed believer” my mind wandered to a recently departed “decider.” But I’m not going there.

The issue today is Iran and, more precisely, what President Barack Obama will make of Netanyahu’s prescription that, the economy aside, Obama’s great mission is “preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons” — an eventuality newly inscribed on Israeli calendars as “months” away.

I’ll return to the ever shifting nuclear doomsday in a moment, but first that Netanyahu interview.

This “messianic apocalyptic cult” in Tehran is, of course, the very same one with which Israel did business during the 1980’s, when its interest was in weakening Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. That business — including sales of weapons and technology — was an extension of Israeli policy toward Iran under the shah.

It’s also the same “messianic apocalyptic cult” that has survived 30 years, ushered the country from the penury of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, shrewdly extended its power and influence, cooperated with America on Afghanistan before being consigned to “the axis of evil,” and kept its country at peace in the 21st century while bloody mayhem engulfed neighbors to east and west and Israel fought two wars.

I don’t buy the view that, as Netanyahu told Goldberg, Iran is “a fanatic regime that might put its zealotry above its self-interest.” Every scrap of evidence suggests that, on the contrary, self-interest and survival drive the mullahs.

Yet Netanyahu insists (too much) that Iran is “a country that glorifies blood and death, including its own self-immolation.” Huh?

On that ocular theme again, Netanyahu says Iran’s “composite leadership” has “elements of wide-eyed fanaticism that do not exist right now in any other would-be nuclear power in the world.” No, they exist in an actual nuclear power, Pakistan. Israel’s nuclear warheads, whose function is presumably deterrence of precisely powers like Iran, go unmentioned, of course.

Netanyahu also makes the grotesque claim that the terrible loss of life in the Iran-Iraq war (started by Iraq) “didn’t sear a terrible wound into the Iranian consciousness.” It did just that, which is why Iran’s younger generation seeks reform but not upheaval; and why the country as a whole prizes stability over military adventure.

Arab states, Netanyahu suggests, “fervently hope” that America will, if necessary, use “military power” to stop Iran going nuclear. My recent conversations, including with senior Saudi officials, suggest that’s wrong and the longstanding Israeli attempt to convince Arab states that Iran, not Israel, is their true enemy will fail again.

What’s going on here? Israel, as it has for nearly two decades, is trying to lock in American support and avoid any disadvantageous change in the Middle Eastern balance of power, now overwhelmingly tilted in Jerusalem’s favor, by portraying Iran as a monstrous pariah state bent on imminent nuclear war.

A semblance of power balance is often the precondition for peace. Iran was left out of the Madrid and Oslo processes, with disastrous results. But that’s a discussion for another day.

What’s critical right now is that Obama view Netanyahu’s fear-mongering with an appropriate skepticism, rein him in, and pursue his regime-recognizing opening toward Tehran. The president should read Trita Parsi’s excellent “Treacherous Alliance” as preparation.

The core strategic shift of Obama’s presidency has been away from the with-us-or-against-us rhetoric of the war on terror toward a rapprochement with the Muslim world as the basis for isolating terrorists.

That’s unsustainable if America or Israel find themselves at war with Muslim Persians as well as Muslim Arabs, and if Netanyahu’s intense-eyed attempt to suck America into a perpetuation of war-on-terror thinking prevails.

The only way to stop Iran going nuclear, and encourage reform of a repressive regime, is to get to the negotiating table. There’s time. Those “months” are still a couple of years. What Iran has accumulated is low-enriched uranium. You need highly-enriched uranium for a bomb. That’s a leap.

Israeli hegemony is proving a kind of slavery. Passage to the Promised Land involves rethinking the Middle East, starting in Iran.

Israel NOT Invited to Peace Conference

A Palestinian negotiator on Tuesday said Israel can not be invited to an international peace conference planned to take place in the near future in Moscow.

"Some players like Israel can not be invited to Moscow conference because it denies all the political references and wants to continue building settlements," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, amember of the Palestinian negotiation team.

The PNA mainly blames the continuation of settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem for the stillness of the negotiations. The two territories would form most of the future statehood.

The prospect of the peace talks waned after a new rightist Israeli government took office with its firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman focuses on making peace with the moderate Arab countries rather than the Palestinians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is on a visit to Russia, was told that Moscow was looking at the possibility of combining the Middle East conference with U.S. President Barack Obama's visit in July. source

Israel To Stand Trial in Spain!!!!

Well, don't ya just love Spain??? They did not cave in to the Jewish lobby or Lawyers representing Israel. I wrote about this HERE Where a group of Lawyers representing Israel were attempting to get the Judge to drop the case, saying "Israel" would do it's own investigation (ROTFLMAO) However, evidently the Spanish Judge thinks humanity can best be served if someone other than Israel handles the investigation and charges. I agree! Should they be convicted, they will be trapped in Israel for life, never being able to leave the country for fear of being arrested!! Story below:

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY~Israel To Stand Trial in Spain

Spanish National Court Judge Fernando Andreu says he will redouble his probe of seven top Israeli military and government officials for suspected 'crimes against humanity.' He made the decision after determining that documents forwarded by the Israeli Embassy in Madrid show that Israel has decided not to prosecute anyone for the targeted assassination of Salah Shehadeh, the commander of the military wing of Hamas, in Gaza City in 2002. Spanish law allows the prosecution of foreigners for such crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity and torture committed anywhere in the world if the suspects will not be tried in their home country.

A seven-page court document says the initial evidence suggests that the attack in the densely-populated Gaza City, which killed 14 civilians, 'should be considered a crime against humanity.' Supporters of the lawsuit say Spain should pursue the suit because it has 'universal jurisdiction' in such cases.

Andreu will now probe former Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Air Force Commander Dan Halutz, former head of the National Security Council Giora Eiland, and four other senior officials. Andreu will also seek testimony from Palestinian witnesses. The court will ask Israel to formally notify those named in the complaint so that they can be called by the judge to testify. Should Andreu decide to issue an international arrest warrant for any of the seven Israelis, they could be detained upon arrival in any EU member state.

The lawsuit has sparked outrage in Israel, which is trying to fend off foreign censure over the civilian death toll during Operation Cast Lead in January 2009. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has rejected the complaint as 'delirious' and pointed out that Shehadeh was a terrorist mastermind responsible for the deaths of many dozens of innocent people. 'Whoever calls taking out a terrorist 'a crime against humanity' lives in an upside-down world,' he said. Barak vowed to do 'everything possible to get the investigation dismissed.'

Incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the Spanish probe outrageous. 'It's absurd: Israel is fighting against war criminals and they are charging us with crimes'' said Netanyahu. 'There is nothing more ridiculous and absurd than them accusing us, a democracy legitimately protecting itself against terrorists and war criminals, of these crimes; it is absurd and makes a mockery out of international law,' he said

Sorry, but Israel makes a mockery our of international law, 62 UN resolutions against it, does not recognise the Geneva Convention, murders children, uses weapons in illegal ways, the lest is endless! This time they will pay! When Israel does not get its way it then resorts to threats, they are thugs, see below:

Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad, pointing to what many see as rank hypocrisy by Spain, has called for Israel to put former Spanish officials on trial for their role in the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. His official petition, which was sent to Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, says: 'In those bombings, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of innocent civilians were killed because NATO pilots dropped their bombs from extremely high altitudes in order not to endanger themselves. They thus caused mass civilian casualties. It is fitting that the State of Israel try the Spanish political and military leaders for war crimes if Spain does not immediately revoke the charges against the Israeli Defense Minister and Chief of Staff.'

Sensing that the case has the potential to further cement Spain's image as one of the most anti-Israel countries in Europe, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos said his government would consider a proposal to amend the controversial war crimes law that now allows the court to investigate the Israelis. But he was immediately contradicted by Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, who stated defiantly that 'Spain is a country ruled by law and the justice system [here] enjoys absolute independence. This was made clear to Israel and we are sure they understand this.'

So far none of the lawsuits filed against Israel in Europe have ever reached the stage of a court trial where Israeli leaders have appeared before a foreign judge. But Spain's case against Israel could open a Pandora's Box as sundry political organizations try to use the Spanish legal system to charge Israelis and others who are fighting terror. Indeed, Israel is now bracing for a wave of lawsuits which accuse it of human rights violations during Operation Cast Lead.

Well, if the Crime fits, you cannot acquit!!! Israel is GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES!

At the moment, Israel's best option for avoiding a messy and precedent-setting trial may be to exert diplomatic pressure to persuade Spanish authorities that Spain has a vested interest in protecting its justice system from malicious abuse. Britain reached that conclusion in wake of the Almog affair in 2006. And Belgium rolled back its universal jurisdiction law in 2003 after former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld threatened to pull NATO headquarters out of Brussels.

Here's hoping the Spanish Government and Judge hold the line against what will surely be an onslaught of venom coming their way from all directions. After all, Israel is very used to being allowed to commit crimes and not be change. They have been getting away with murder for years, it's time to stop it now!