LETTER TO THE SENATOR SUPPORTING PROTESTORS
The following letter was sent to Senator Harkin via e-mail but I got a notice two days later saying that it had not been delivered. Here's hoping that the Senator might be able to read this slightly edited version now.
Story of the occupation and video at:
http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/harkinoccupation2.09.html
TO: Senator Tom Harkin, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Dear Senator
I support the action of the protestors who occupied your office lately in gentle and prayerful protest at your silence on the massacre of so many human beings in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces and the many other atrocities perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people over more than forty years of occupation with massive help from the US.
Why is the US media hiding the truth about Israel, Gaza and the West Bank from the American people?
From being a victim during the Holocaust years , the Israeli State has turned its own people there into aggressors who use unbelievable cruelty towards Palestinians.
Many in Israel now believe that they are a master race just as in Hitler's Germany Arians were made to believe that they were superior.
Only last year outside Dublin's GPO, when I noticed an altercation between a pro-Palestinian group and a lone young Israeli who had pulled the table cloth from under their leaflets, I heard him say as he walked away: "That's all you can do - abuse people, not engage in dialogue."
As he passed by me I said to him quietly "I will engage in dialogue with you"
He then told me that he had been in the IDF, had killed "Arabs", was proud of it and was going back to kill more. He said that God and Abraham had given all of Israel to his people. When I countered some of these points, he stood back and said;
"I am superior to you because I am a Jew and you are only a Gentile"
At least 1330 Palestinians were murdered from the sky and on the ground in the tiny cage of Gaza since Christmas Day. Uri Avnery, an Israeli patriot and former member of the Israeli Knesset believes that this time was chosen, partly because George W Bush was still in power, partly because Western politicians were on holidays and they would not interrupt their holidays for Gaza.
GAZA - I fear that you may not even know what has been happening there. I was struck by the words of one of your protestors who said that her money had paid for what had happened to the children who were murdered.
GAZA - the word will always remind you of the protest in your office but the word will in future years ring out as a damning condemnation of all who were in power in the USA at this time and did not lift a finger to prevent this massacre.
GAZA - PLEASE REMEMBER THAT PEOPLE ARE STILL SUFFERING THERE. The US fiddles while Gaza burns.
Also remember that it is a slander to pretend, as some of your supporters have been doing, that these pacifist protestors are supporters of the violence of Hamas.
It is important not to shirk the truth that, whether you or others like it or not, HAMAS is the elected Government of the Palestinian people, elected in democratic elections. For any solution to the problem of Palestine and Israel, HAMAS must be a player.
That does not mean that those of us who say this are supporters of terror. I am a pacifist and abhor terror. I am not a supporter of HAMAS but a supporter of human rights and an advocate against all violence and injustice.
But you support Israel, and I must ask do you also support, either purposely or through default, the continual State terror of that political and military establishment?
With best personal wishes
Justin Morahan
Dublin, Ireland
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Monday, 2 March 2009
Vanunu Rejects Nomination for Nobel Peace Prize Award
As the fifth anniversary of his "release" from an Israeli prison approaches, Mordechai Vanunu rejects a nomination for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and writes of his decision to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo.
Mordechai, the nuclear whistle blower, spent seventeen and a half years in Ashkelon prison and was released on 21 April 2004. However, he was immediately served with crippling conditions including a ban on speaking to foreigners and a ban on all travel outside the borders of Israel.
As about 100 international supporters were outside the gates of Ashkelon to greet him he was going to have to break the ban on speaking to foreigners on that very first day, which he did.
I was among the supporters and wrote an account of that memorable day and night on Indymedia Ireland. See https://www.indymedia.ie/article/64579.
The State of Israel has continued to harass him in the following five years and has consistently refused calls from many quarters to allow him to leave Israel as he wishes to do and be truly free. In this they are in direct and open conflict with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 13 and 19. But, as with the recent invasion of Gaza, Israel appears to be a law unto itself and cares not a jot for what the UN, the EU, the USA or any others within the International community demands of it. These bodies continue to cosset Israel without receiving anything from Israel in return.
Below is a copy of Mordechai's letter
Dear Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo,
I am Vanunu Mordechai, who has been nominated several times to Nobel Peace Prize, also this year’s 2009 award.
I am asking the committee to remove my name from the list for this year’s list of nominations.
My main reason for this is that I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Shimon Peres. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy.
Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel. Exactly like Dr. Khan did in Pakistan, Peres was the man behind the atomic weapon proliferation to South Africa and other states. He was also, for instance, behind the nuclear weapon test in South Africa in 1978.
Peres was the man who ordered the kidnapping of me in Italy Rome, Sept. 30, 1986, and for the secret trial and sentencing of me as a spy and traitor for 18 years in isolation in prison in Israel.
Until now he continues to oppose my freedom and release, in spite of my serving full sentence 18 years.
From all these reasons I don’t want be nominated and will not accept this nomination. I say
No to any nomination as long as I am not free, that is, as long as I am still forced to be in Israel.
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM IS WHAT I WANT .
Thank you
VMJC
--
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW
Email. vanunuvmjc@gmail.com
http:/www.vanunu.com
VANUNU MORDECHAI J C.
KIDNAPPED IN ROME SEP' 30 TH'-1986.
AFTER 18 YEARS IN ISRAEL PRISON.
Waiting In East Jerusalem.To Be Free,To Leave.
Mobile ( 9 7 2 ) 0 5 2 3 7 4 4 5 6 9.
Mordechai, the nuclear whistle blower, spent seventeen and a half years in Ashkelon prison and was released on 21 April 2004. However, he was immediately served with crippling conditions including a ban on speaking to foreigners and a ban on all travel outside the borders of Israel.
As about 100 international supporters were outside the gates of Ashkelon to greet him he was going to have to break the ban on speaking to foreigners on that very first day, which he did.
I was among the supporters and wrote an account of that memorable day and night on Indymedia Ireland. See https://www.indymedia.ie/article/64579.
The State of Israel has continued to harass him in the following five years and has consistently refused calls from many quarters to allow him to leave Israel as he wishes to do and be truly free. In this they are in direct and open conflict with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 13 and 19. But, as with the recent invasion of Gaza, Israel appears to be a law unto itself and cares not a jot for what the UN, the EU, the USA or any others within the International community demands of it. These bodies continue to cosset Israel without receiving anything from Israel in return.
Below is a copy of Mordechai's letter
Dear Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo,
I am Vanunu Mordechai, who has been nominated several times to Nobel Peace Prize, also this year’s 2009 award.
I am asking the committee to remove my name from the list for this year’s list of nominations.
My main reason for this is that I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Shimon Peres. He is the man who was behind all the Israeli atomic policy.
Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel. Exactly like Dr. Khan did in Pakistan, Peres was the man behind the atomic weapon proliferation to South Africa and other states. He was also, for instance, behind the nuclear weapon test in South Africa in 1978.
Peres was the man who ordered the kidnapping of me in Italy Rome, Sept. 30, 1986, and for the secret trial and sentencing of me as a spy and traitor for 18 years in isolation in prison in Israel.
Until now he continues to oppose my freedom and release, in spite of my serving full sentence 18 years.
From all these reasons I don’t want be nominated and will not accept this nomination. I say
No to any nomination as long as I am not free, that is, as long as I am still forced to be in Israel.
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM IS WHAT I WANT .
Thank you
VMJC
--
FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW
Email. vanunuvmjc@gmail.com
http:/www.vanunu.com
VANUNU MORDECHAI J C.
KIDNAPPED IN ROME SEP' 30 TH'-1986.
AFTER 18 YEARS IN ISRAEL PRISON.
Waiting In East Jerusalem.To Be Free,To Leave.
Mobile ( 9 7 2 ) 0 5 2 3 7 4 4 5 6 9.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Israeli Elections - Peas in a Pod
THEY MURDERED IN GAZA BECAUSE OF THIS ELECTION BUT LITTLE HAS CHANGED
Exit polls from Israel show that Ehud Barak and his Labour party may not have gained the votes he expected from the massacre he carried out in Gaza. His Labour Party may have lost up to seven seats.
Tzipi Livni's macho support for, and ultimate responsibility for, that massacre may have boosted her chances of retaining power as her party, Kadima, leads the predicted seat count with 29 seats and 80% of the votes counted. There is no change in her party's' situation.
Ultra hawk, Benjamin Netyanyahu's Likud Party may have gained sixteen, leaving him in second place with 28 seats
Avigdor Leiberman's Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Homeland) Party may have gained five seats bringing his total to 16 while Shas may lose one seat to still hold 11.
Gil (The Pensioners Party) appears to be losing heavily and may not retain any of its seven seats.
Other parties, including the Arab United Front remain more or less the same. The Greens have not made a breakthrough.
Despite Barak's losses, the eighteenth Knesset will not differ greatly from the seventeenth. The old Parliament had a coalition powered by Kadima (Livni) and Labour (Barak). No matter what array of parties forms the new Government of Israel, Kadima and Labour or Likud, Yisrael Beitienu and Shas?) it will still be composed largely of parties and people who perpetrated, supported, incited and excused the recent holocaust in Gaza.
They are like blood-soaked peas in a pod.
Will any party or individual break the cycle of arrogance and violence that characterizes the present Knesset in Israel?
"The reason they do it (Gaza massacre) now is because of the elections (within) two months and our so-called leaders want to guarantee themselves more votes" - Omer Goldman, member of the Israeli Shministim, daughter of former Mossad agent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QTHzhyvnMY)
The 17th Knesset
Kadima 29 Labor Party 19 Shas 12 Likud 12 Yisrael Beiteinu 11 Jewish Home and National Union 9 Gil 7 United Torah Judaism 6 Meretz 5 United Arab List–Ta'al 4 Hadash 3 Balad 3 The Greens 0
Latest results for 18th Knesset (80% counted) (source:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061917.html)
Kadima (Tzipi Livni) 29 (No change), Likud (Benjamin Netanyahu) 28 (+16), , Labour (Ehud Barak) 12 (-7) Yisrael Beiteinu (Avigdor Leiberman) 16 (+5) Shas (Eli Yishai) 11 (-1), United Torah Judaism (Yaakov Litzman) 4 (-2) Meretz (Haim Oron ("Jumes")) 4 (-1) Jewish Home (Rabbi Daniel Hershkovitz) 3, National Union (Ya'akov Katz) 4, (JH and NU, -2) Gil (Rafi Eitan) 0/1, (-6/7) Meretz (Chaim Oron) 4 (-1) United Arab List (Ibrahim Sarsur) T'al (Ahmad Tibi and Mahmud Asad.), Hadash (Mohammad Barakeh), 4 (+1), Balad (Jamal Zahalka) 2 (-1) Greens (Pe'er Visner) 0 (no change)
Exit polls from Israel show that Ehud Barak and his Labour party may not have gained the votes he expected from the massacre he carried out in Gaza. His Labour Party may have lost up to seven seats.
Tzipi Livni's macho support for, and ultimate responsibility for, that massacre may have boosted her chances of retaining power as her party, Kadima, leads the predicted seat count with 29 seats and 80% of the votes counted. There is no change in her party's' situation.
Ultra hawk, Benjamin Netyanyahu's Likud Party may have gained sixteen, leaving him in second place with 28 seats
Avigdor Leiberman's Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Homeland) Party may have gained five seats bringing his total to 16 while Shas may lose one seat to still hold 11.
Gil (The Pensioners Party) appears to be losing heavily and may not retain any of its seven seats.
Other parties, including the Arab United Front remain more or less the same. The Greens have not made a breakthrough.
Despite Barak's losses, the eighteenth Knesset will not differ greatly from the seventeenth. The old Parliament had a coalition powered by Kadima (Livni) and Labour (Barak). No matter what array of parties forms the new Government of Israel, Kadima and Labour or Likud, Yisrael Beitienu and Shas?) it will still be composed largely of parties and people who perpetrated, supported, incited and excused the recent holocaust in Gaza.
They are like blood-soaked peas in a pod.
Will any party or individual break the cycle of arrogance and violence that characterizes the present Knesset in Israel?
"The reason they do it (Gaza massacre) now is because of the elections (within) two months and our so-called leaders want to guarantee themselves more votes" - Omer Goldman, member of the Israeli Shministim, daughter of former Mossad agent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QTHzhyvnMY)
The 17th Knesset
Kadima 29 Labor Party 19 Shas 12 Likud 12 Yisrael Beiteinu 11 Jewish Home and National Union 9 Gil 7 United Torah Judaism 6 Meretz 5 United Arab List–Ta'al 4 Hadash 3 Balad 3 The Greens 0
Latest results for 18th Knesset (80% counted) (source:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061917.html)
Kadima (Tzipi Livni) 29 (No change), Likud (Benjamin Netanyahu) 28 (+16), , Labour (Ehud Barak) 12 (-7) Yisrael Beiteinu (Avigdor Leiberman) 16 (+5) Shas (Eli Yishai) 11 (-1), United Torah Judaism (Yaakov Litzman) 4 (-2) Meretz (Haim Oron ("Jumes")) 4 (-1) Jewish Home (Rabbi Daniel Hershkovitz) 3, National Union (Ya'akov Katz) 4, (JH and NU, -2) Gil (Rafi Eitan) 0/1, (-6/7) Meretz (Chaim Oron) 4 (-1) United Arab List (Ibrahim Sarsur) T'al (Ahmad Tibi and Mahmud Asad.), Hadash (Mohammad Barakeh), 4 (+1), Balad (Jamal Zahalka) 2 (-1) Greens (Pe'er Visner) 0 (no change)
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Hilary Clinton on Gaza
Just when we were all wondering about the Barack Obama New Deal on the world, his Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, gave us an important insight into her own take on the Israeli massacre in Gaza, (December 2008/January 2009)
Yesterday she addressed the question. She did not say that the State of Israel went in and murdered 1300 and injured 5000 near defenceless people in the Strip of Gaza which they had weakened by siege. She did not say that Israel had refused to accept the democratic elections in Palestine (2006) which removed Fatah from power and elected the rival Hamas political party in their place.
She did not say: "For shame on the administration of George W Bush who said he was spreading democracy around the world, yet when elections were held in Palestine, internationally monitored and declared to have been free and fair, he did not condemn Israel for refusing to recognize the democratic process. In fact, the USA also refused to recognize the election results. For shame on the USA. We will be different."
No, Hilary did not say that as any true democrat should have done.
Nor did she chide Israel for lying again about their pretext for the savage murders in Gaza of men women and children. She did not tell the world that the propaganda from Israel that Hamas had been the first to break the truce was a blatant lie. For the truce had been well and truly broken by the State of Israel on the night of 4 November 2008 when the IDF crossed the border and killed five Palestinians on Gaza soil. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
Instead, she said: "We support Israel's right to self-defence. The (Palestinian) rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas cannot go unanswered.”
Then she went on to give substance to a new lie, namely that the present truce was also broken first by Hamas. This lie has been presented in various media although there had been an Israeli attack on a fisherman's boat days before the death of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian man to whom she referred.
Ignoring this, and always mentioning a killing by Hamas first, Mrs Clinton "blamed Hamas for the death of an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border yesterday and the subsequent killing of a Palestinian man by Israeli forces", according to the Irish Times report.
Hilary Clinton is no Barack Obama but she could be the tail that wags the dog. Just as the State of Israel has been the tail wagging the USA dog for many decades.
It all adds up to little hope for a fair and just peace for Palestine and Israel.
Yesterday she addressed the question. She did not say that the State of Israel went in and murdered 1300 and injured 5000 near defenceless people in the Strip of Gaza which they had weakened by siege. She did not say that Israel had refused to accept the democratic elections in Palestine (2006) which removed Fatah from power and elected the rival Hamas political party in their place.
She did not say: "For shame on the administration of George W Bush who said he was spreading democracy around the world, yet when elections were held in Palestine, internationally monitored and declared to have been free and fair, he did not condemn Israel for refusing to recognize the democratic process. In fact, the USA also refused to recognize the election results. For shame on the USA. We will be different."
No, Hilary did not say that as any true democrat should have done.
Nor did she chide Israel for lying again about their pretext for the savage murders in Gaza of men women and children. She did not tell the world that the propaganda from Israel that Hamas had been the first to break the truce was a blatant lie. For the truce had been well and truly broken by the State of Israel on the night of 4 November 2008 when the IDF crossed the border and killed five Palestinians on Gaza soil. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/israelandthepalestinians
Instead, she said: "We support Israel's right to self-defence. The (Palestinian) rocket barrages which are getting closer and closer to populated areas cannot go unanswered.”
Then she went on to give substance to a new lie, namely that the present truce was also broken first by Hamas. This lie has been presented in various media although there had been an Israeli attack on a fisherman's boat days before the death of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian man to whom she referred.
Ignoring this, and always mentioning a killing by Hamas first, Mrs Clinton "blamed Hamas for the death of an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border yesterday and the subsequent killing of a Palestinian man by Israeli forces", according to the Irish Times report.
Hilary Clinton is no Barack Obama but she could be the tail that wags the dog. Just as the State of Israel has been the tail wagging the USA dog for many decades.
It all adds up to little hope for a fair and just peace for Palestine and Israel.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Letter to Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Zion Evrony
Letter written and e-mailed to Ambassador 2 January 2009
First published in Indymedia Ireland 3 January 2009
Dear Ambassador Dr. Zion Evrony,
Further to my telephone call to your office this morning I wish to reiterate some of the points which I made in the conversation with your secretary, and to elaborate on them a little further.
1. I am sick to the teeth of the lies you are telling on RTE and in the Irish media about what is happening in Gaza. Israel has killed over 400 people there on the pretext that a cease-fire had been broken unilaterally by Hamas. You know this is not true.
2. You said that Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties but that Hamas use their civilians as shields for Hamas soldiers. You know that this is not true. Gaza is smaller in area than our smallest County, Louth, and is over-populated with 1.4 million people, before your country reduced the population with murder from the sky.
3. Your Army invaded Gaza prior to an election and in the interregnum between the Presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. You kill over 400, injure over 1000 and promise more killings and injuries. And you blame Hamas for all of these killings and injuries. You know that it is not true that Hamas are to blame for your murders. You, the State of Israel and the IDF, are to blame for the people you kill and injure, no one else but you.
4. You said the upcoming elections had nothing to do with the massacre in Gaza. You know that this is not true. On the eve of the election you deliberately provoked a barrage of rockets from Hamas, even though you knew it would put Israeli lives in danger because you also knew that the Hamas response would give you a pretext to wreak havoc on Gaza and make it appear that it was Hamas' fault.
5. You and other Israeli propagandists keep repeating ad nauseam on RTE and in articles in the Irish Times the question: "What would you do, if you lived in Sderot or Ashkelon and your children had to run from constant rocket fire?" But you never ask the countering questions: "What would you do if you lived in Gaza, besieged by an Israel that denied the legitimacy of your democratically elected Parliament, and where Israel,a hostile power, has ultimate control over every aspect of your life? What would you do when this hostile power has the fourth or fifth most powerful army in the world, complete even with a nuclear arsenal, when it "agrees" to a truce (good public relations) that it breaks at will (no-one will notice the "small" incursions and killings of Palestinians)? What would you do if Israel invaded your little plot of land, murdering men, women and children, including many civilians, from the sky? Would you take your children and run to the sea (there is no other escape in Gaza) or would you think "This is a war against me and my children" and would you resist in whatever way you could?"
6. Do you think that all of the Irish people are stupid enough to believe your propaganda, no matter how often it is repeated?
7. Though not mentioned this morning, your Government has lied about the Israeli navy ramming the Dignity in international waters. The Dignity was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and had two Irish citizens on board. I protest against this action also and strongly condemn it
8. As a result of the war crimes which the IDF/Israel has committed in the Gaza Strip and in Palestine, I believe that our Government should call you in, advise you to leave and shut down the Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge.
I have already written to Minister Mícheál Martin making this precise request.
With best personal wishes
Justin Morahan
2 January 2009
First published in Indymedia Ireland 3 January 2009
Dear Ambassador Dr. Zion Evrony,
Further to my telephone call to your office this morning I wish to reiterate some of the points which I made in the conversation with your secretary, and to elaborate on them a little further.
1. I am sick to the teeth of the lies you are telling on RTE and in the Irish media about what is happening in Gaza. Israel has killed over 400 people there on the pretext that a cease-fire had been broken unilaterally by Hamas. You know this is not true.
2. You said that Israel is trying to avoid civilian casualties but that Hamas use their civilians as shields for Hamas soldiers. You know that this is not true. Gaza is smaller in area than our smallest County, Louth, and is over-populated with 1.4 million people, before your country reduced the population with murder from the sky.
3. Your Army invaded Gaza prior to an election and in the interregnum between the Presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. You kill over 400, injure over 1000 and promise more killings and injuries. And you blame Hamas for all of these killings and injuries. You know that it is not true that Hamas are to blame for your murders. You, the State of Israel and the IDF, are to blame for the people you kill and injure, no one else but you.
4. You said the upcoming elections had nothing to do with the massacre in Gaza. You know that this is not true. On the eve of the election you deliberately provoked a barrage of rockets from Hamas, even though you knew it would put Israeli lives in danger because you also knew that the Hamas response would give you a pretext to wreak havoc on Gaza and make it appear that it was Hamas' fault.
5. You and other Israeli propagandists keep repeating ad nauseam on RTE and in articles in the Irish Times the question: "What would you do, if you lived in Sderot or Ashkelon and your children had to run from constant rocket fire?" But you never ask the countering questions: "What would you do if you lived in Gaza, besieged by an Israel that denied the legitimacy of your democratically elected Parliament, and where Israel,a hostile power, has ultimate control over every aspect of your life? What would you do when this hostile power has the fourth or fifth most powerful army in the world, complete even with a nuclear arsenal, when it "agrees" to a truce (good public relations) that it breaks at will (no-one will notice the "small" incursions and killings of Palestinians)? What would you do if Israel invaded your little plot of land, murdering men, women and children, including many civilians, from the sky? Would you take your children and run to the sea (there is no other escape in Gaza) or would you think "This is a war against me and my children" and would you resist in whatever way you could?"
6. Do you think that all of the Irish people are stupid enough to believe your propaganda, no matter how often it is repeated?
7. Though not mentioned this morning, your Government has lied about the Israeli navy ramming the Dignity in international waters. The Dignity was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza and had two Irish citizens on board. I protest against this action also and strongly condemn it
8. As a result of the war crimes which the IDF/Israel has committed in the Gaza Strip and in Palestine, I believe that our Government should call you in, advise you to leave and shut down the Israeli Embassy in Ballsbridge.
I have already written to Minister Mícheál Martin making this precise request.
With best personal wishes
Justin Morahan
2 January 2009
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