NETANYAHU SEEMS INTENT ON STARTING ANOTHER FOOLISH WAR

Israeli prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, seems intent on starting another conflagration in the Middle East.  He ordered a targeted assassination of Hamas leader, Ahmad Jabari, last night.  Now he is calling up 30,000 Israeli reservists.  Can anyone be in doubt that he intends that Israel invade Gaza?

I say, stop this foolishness!  Nothing  permanent as to peace can be attained through Israeli guns and bombs.

END ISRAEL'S COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT OF PALESTINIANS

The militaristic government of Israel and many of its supporters here in their U.S. try to argue that Israel has every right to impose a blockade of food, petroleum, medicine and building materials on the Palestinians in Gaza. Their argument is that Israel's blockade is an effort to deny Hamas, a terrorist organization, materials that could in any way be used for attacks on Israeli towns and cities.

But if that were true, Israel could deny everything shipped to Gaza - medicines, construction materials, food, fuel, every thing. Because Israel could argue that anything allowed into Gaza helps Hamas.

Recall that the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza freely and democratically elected representatives of Hamas in January 2006. By blocking necessities of life to the ordinary Palestinian, Israel is trying to punish those who voted for Hamas as well as Hamas itself.

This is clearly a good example of odious "collective punishment."

No nation, including Israel, is allowed under international law to punish civilians as a way to punish the political government.

True, the U.S. and Britain did just this during WWII when Allied airplanes carpet-bombed Berlin, Dresden and Dusseldorf. Talk about "war crimes." Each German city suffered more than 50,000 souls incinerated in one night. We are talking women, children, men, all non-combatants.

Israel has no legal or moral right to continue the blockade. I congratulate the peace activists in recent days who tried to bring Palestinians some relief in their miserable existence caused by the Israeli government's foolish quest to punish citizens who voted for Hamas.

ISRAEL DOES NOT DENY ITS AGENTS KILLED HAMAS LEADER, JUST THAT THERE IS "NO PROOF"

Many observers suspect that the Hamas leader who was killed in Dubai was assassinated by Israeli agents clandestinely using passports of British citizens living in Israel. But Israel's Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, claims that there is no proof that Israeli agents were involved. Note the non-denial, just that there is no proof.

Here is the story as reported by Jonathan Marcus for the BBC:

"The operation was clinical. The hit-team successfully escaped Dubai. But they left telltale traces. The false foreign passports used by the alleged team of secret agents have been identified and six of them are British. That is diplomatic problem number one.

"Problem number two is identity theft. The passports used the names of real people, British citizens, with dual nationality, who happen to live in Israel, who had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on.

"Nobody yet of course has any proof-positive as to who carried out the operation. There may be no "smoking gun". Nonetheless what you might call the "smouldering passports" suggest that Israel has some questions to answer.

"If Israel was indeed behind this assassination then some, even in Israel, may well suggest that they have scored a costly own goal."

WHY WON'T OBAMA ACCEPT JUDGE GOLDSTONE'S REPORT ON WAR CRIMES COMMITTED BY HAMAS AND ISRAEL'S IDF?

I don't understand why Pres. Obama gives access to Israel's prime minister Bibi Netanyahu to come to the White House for talks, yet Obama refuses to talk with leaders of Hamas.

Both Hamas and Israel's IDF have been cited by Judge Goldstone as committing atrocities and war crimes. Hamas, by allowing Palestinians to fire rockets aimed at Israeli villages and towns. The IDF because of all of its anti-civilian actions during the three-week war this past January. Specifically, the Goldstone Report found that the IDF randomly shot at and killed civilians, including women and children. Bombed U.N. food distribution centers and schools. Used white phosphorous bombs and shells against a civilian population. Refused to allow civilians to flee the conflict. Destroyed homes and apartments that had no military purpose.

So why should Obama allow someone like Netanyahu who defends the actions of the IDF as necessary and proportionate? Come on, Obama, stand up to the bully Netanyahu and say publicly that Judge Goldstone's report should be accepted.

WHY SOME ISRAELIS WANT TO BOMB IRAN

What is the mindset of the Israeli leaders currently warning that the Israeli government may order an attack on Iran?

Greg Jaffe writes in today's website of The Washington Post:

"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday stressed engagement and economic sanctions to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, prompting his Israeli counterpart to insist that "no options" should be ruled out if diplomacy fails.

"Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in a short news conference with Gates, who was visiting here, twice raised the possibility that military action might be needed to stop Iran's nuclear program.

""We clearly believe that no options should be removed from the table," Barak said. "This is our policy. We mean it. We recommend others to take the same position, but we do not dictate to anyone.""

Israel seems intent on bombing Iranian nuclear sites and thus starting a war with Iran. Why not attack Saudi Arabia or Iraq? The majority of Arabs in those countries have nothing but hatred for Israel's policies.

Is it because of Iranian president Ahmadinejad and his foolish comments about the non-existence of the Holocaust? But how can Israel start a war that would kill tens of thousands of people over mere words?

It must be because Iran supports financially Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. The connection between the Iranian government and Hezbollah is easy to explain: Hezbollah's members are Shiites as are a majority of Iranians. Iran's donations to Hezbollah are prompted by sharing a common view of Islam. As far as Hamas, every time Israel attacks Hamas as it did egregiously in the three-week bombardment this past January, Israel prompts its detractors including Iran to pony up more contributions for the suffering Palestinians.

The Israeli government has termed Iran the major support for "terrorists organizations," meaning Iran contributes to Hamas and Hezbollah. But suppose those groups are not "terrorists," but merely insurgents fighting Israel's harsh policies and its refusal to stop building settlements on Palestinian land captured in the 1967 War. What then? Israel would then have to confront its miserable and counterproductive strategy towards repressing Palestinian rights.

BRITISH MPs WANT DIALOG WITH HAMAS

The foreign affairs committee of the British parliament has concluded that failure to talk with Hamas is achieving nothing in the pursuit of a stable peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

An article from the Press Association in today's The Guardian writes that the committee concludes that Hamas must be included in future talks and negotiations.

"The government refuses to talk to Hamas until it accepts the principles of the international Quartet - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - of non-violence and acceptance of the existence of the state of Israel.

""There continues to be few signs that the current policy of non-engagement is achieving the Quartet's stated objectives," the committee said.

""We further conclude that the credible peace process for which the Quartet hopes, as part of its strategy for undercutting Hamas, is likely to be difficult to achieve without greater co-operation from Hamas itself. We are concerned that the Quartet is continuing to fail to provide Hamas with greater incentives to change its position.""

The Bush policy of refusing to talk with Hamas leaders because Hamas was a "terrorist organization" makes no sense. The Palestinians in Gaza in 2006 democratically elected Hamas to represent them. Notwithstanding Bush's stated goal of bringing democracy to the nations of the world, he and Condoleeza Rice and Dick Cheney refused to open a dialog with Hamas until it "recognized" Israel, in retrospect a silly and foolish conditioning of peace negotiations on mere words, an excellent example of form over substance.

The conclusion of the MP's foreign affairs committee is long overdue and represents realism over stubbornness. Now we need Barack Obama to come out and announce the same opinion.

SENDING FUNDS TO AID PALESTINIANS GETS 65 YEARS IN PRISON

The sentence today handed out to two founders of a Moslem charity that sent money to Hamas for humanitarian purposes was excessive and cruel. The federal court in Texas sentenced the two founders to 65 years in prison, in effect, a life sentence, because there is no such thing as parole for good behavior with federal sentences.

The BBC reports:

"Two founder members of what was once the biggest Muslim charity in the US have each been jailed for 65 years.

"Shukri Abu Baker, 50, and Ghassan Elashi, 55, were convicted of channelling funds to the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

"Three other members of the Holy Land Foundation were jailed for between 15 and 20 years by a Dallas court.

"The charity was found guilty last year of sending $12m (£7.4m) to fund social programmes controlled by Hamas."

WASHPO: ISRAEL MAY HAVE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES BUT HAMAS IS WORSE

When in the cross hairs of very negative public opinion and condemnation for war crimes, as Israel now finds itself, have your shills try to place blame on the other guy. This is what Richard Cohen tries to do in his pro-Israeli piece in today's The Washington Post. "Israel may have killed Palestinians in its unjustified three-week bombardment of Gaza, but Hamas is worse." What the world needs is a full United Nations investigation of Israel's actions, not the whitewash conducted by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) of its own conduct, as if all the charges about killing defenseless civilians, men women, children, were mere "hearsay."

AMNESTY INTL. CONDEMNS BOTH ISRAEL & HAMAS FOR WAR CRIMES

The BBC reports that Amnesty International has condemned both the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas for targeting civilians, in flagrant violations of the humanitarian laws of war.

Writes the BBC:

"The human rights group said it had evidence both Israel and Hamas had used weapons sourced from overseas to carry out attacks on civilians.

"It called for the UN Security Council to impose the embargo on all parties.

"Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the conclusions of the report, in which Amnesty accuses each of war crimes."

Amnesty specifically cites Israel's use of shells containing white phosphorous which causes severe and deep burns once it attaches to human flesh. And Amnesty condemns Hamas for allowing rockets to be fired indiscriminately at Israeli towns and villages, thereby causing civilian deaths and casualties.

Reports the BBC:

"Donatella Rovera, the head of an Amnesty fact-finding mission to southern Israel and Gaza, said: "Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes.

""Their attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure.

""At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups fired hundreds of rockets that had been smuggled in or made of components from abroad at civilian areas in Israel.

""Though far less lethal than the weaponry used by Israel, such rocket firing also constitutes a war crime and caused several civilian deaths.""

Many politicians in Israel as well as AIPAC here in the U.S. are always blaming Iran for supporting Hamas as well as Hezbollah. But almost all of the weapons used by Israel and the IDF come from the United States. And when they are used with such devastating effect against people, especially children, in Gaza, the Palestinians must believe that America and Americans hate them and stand with Israel in trying to eradicate them from the homeland.

The BBC reports:

"The [Amnesty] report said fragments and components of artillery, tank shells, fins from mortar rounds and aircraft-launched missiles and bombs were found in school playgrounds, hospitals and homes in Gaza.

"Israel's weaponry predominantly came from the US, the report said.

"About 1,300 Gazans and 13 Israelis died in 22 days of fighting last month."

SEN. JOHN KERRY VISITS GAZA, SEES DESTRUCTION UP CLOSE, RECEIVES LETTER FOR OBAMA FROM HAMAS

I want to commend Sen. John Kerry and his two Democratic congressmen for visiting Gaza today for the purpose of seeing for themselves the destruction caused to Palestinian infrastructure by the Israeli attack and bombardment.

The BBC reports:

"A former presidential candidate, Mr Kerry was visiting Gaza with US congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison in the first such visit to the Hamas-run Strip since 2007. . . .

"UN relief agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by the UN and passed on.

"She did not say if Senator John Kerry had accepted it, and there were no details about the letter's contents."

Cong. Baird said the almost complete destruction defied imagination. The Israelis seemed to have taken special interest in targeting Palestinian businesses and farms. But they also destroyed schools, hospitals, mosques and police stations.

Hamas apparently delivered a letter to Barack Obama. This is a good first step. The outdated bizarre notion that the U.S. should not speak or negotiate with Hamas because it is a "terrorist organization" is left over from George W. Bush. Obama should repudiate it and immediately begin to sit down at the table with Palestinian representatives from both Hamas and Fatah. There can be no peace until and unless Obama is willing to do this.

ISRAEL USES "DISPORPORTIONATE" MILITARY FORCE AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA

Israeli leaders can't be serious in thinking that "disproportionate" military force is going to make the Palestinians in Gaza stop their unfortunate rocket attacks aimed at Israeli towns and villages.

If anything, the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF) response is sure to increase Palestinians' hatred for all things Israeli and make them even more determined to keep up their rocket firings.

What Israel needs to do is to open all borders, allow unconditional free flow of food, medicine, building materials and trade. Israel also needs to quit referring to the Palestinians and their democratically elected government Hamas as "terrorists."

After thousands of years of recorded wars and killing the other side, has any country or entity or people ever really "triumphed?" The answer surely comes back in the negative. Wars and killings accomplish nothing but exacerbate the desire and need for retaliation and revenge.

OBAMA MUST STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN GAZA

Barack Obama needs to send a signal that the United States government wants to come to the assistance of the Palestinians in Gaza who have been reduced to abject sub existence by the Israeli bombardment of homes, apartment buildings, mosques, schools and aid stations.

First, Obama should demand that Israel open all border crossings to allow food, medicine, fuel and building materials. Obama should demand the same thing from Egypt which has locked down the Rafah crossing.

Second. Obama should begin talks with Hamas and its leaders. Israel says it will not allow aid to Hamas, but this means that Israel will allow no aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza who three years ago (January 2006) voted in a democratic election to have Hamas represent them. Obama should revoke the U.S. designation of Hamas as a "terrorist organization," and should request that the EU do the same. Right now, Fatah is holding talks with Hamas in Egypt. If Hamas were truly a terrorist organization, Abu Mazen and Fatah would be consorting and negotiating with terrorists!

Third. Obama should limit the type and amount of arms that U.S. companies may sell to Israel. We see the dire effects of allowing Israel to have white phosphorous shells, F-14s and other lethal weapons designed to kill people. Israel has used American weapons to kill over 1400 Palestinians, some 400 of whom were but children under the age of 16.

These are only the first steps Obama should take. Israel with American weapons of war is a threat to the Middle East. Obama must stop the progression of solving Israel's political problems with bullets, missiles and tanks.

RESULTS OF ISRAEL'S RAMPAGE IN GAZA - OVER 4,000 HOMES DESTROYED

The BBC reports on the extensive destruction to homes and property in Gaza. More than 4,000 homes are destroyed, tens of thousands of people are without shelter and their belongings.

According to the BBC:

"Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been left destitute by Israel's three-week offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, the UN estimates.

"The United Nations says that some 50,800 people are now homeless and 400,000 are without running water.

"Correspondents in Gaza City say entire neighbourhoods have been flattened and bodies are still being recovered."

What then was Israel's purpose in inflicting so much damage and loss on ordinary Palestinians? To teach them a lesson? That they should not have elected Hamas as their government?

And what will Israel gain out of this "collective punishment"? More terrorist suicide bombers? More hatred on the part of the Palestinians? Certainly Israelis recognize that military action and its attendant killing of innocent men, women and children can never bring peace or stability.

So why did Israel do this stupid and ill-thought-out invasion and why did Israeli soldiers engage in this rampant destruction of homes, schools, mosques and police stations?

Here is a BBC reporter's eyewitness observations:

"The BBC's Christian Fraser travelled to Jabaliya on the northern edge of Gaza City, where the Israeli tanks first crossed over the border. He says entire neighbourhoods have disappeared.

"He met 67-year-old Fatma Umanim, sitting beside the remains her collapsed house, her neighbours building a makeshift shelter for her next to the rubble."

UNLAWFUL TO DROP BOMBS IN CIVILIAN AREAS

I join Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General of the United Nations and other world leaders (save the U.S. government under Bush and Cheney) in calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Hamas should control those Palestinians who in a paroxysm of revenge and hate fire missiles and rockets into Israel, threatening innocent women, children and civilians.

Israel should also immediately stop bombing Gazan homes, schools and the ordinary people who live and exist there.

To shoot artillery into densely populated areas like Gaza and to drop highly explosive bombs there is to commit horrible war crimes because the likely victims will be children, since children compose almost 50% of the population. Furthermore, even if a child is not killed or maimed by these Israeli attacks, his/her psyche will be forever scarred and traumatized.

But this seems to be the objective of the Israelis. Just like in the war in Lebanon several years ago, the leaders of Israel chose to inflict harsh suffering on civilians out of some misguided strategy that Israel needed to teach them a "lesson." Once again in Gaza, we see this foolish and criminal objective, showing utter disregard for protecting civilians.

The world must insist that Israel stop this insanity now.

HILLARY CLINTON SHOULD NOT BE CONFIRMED

There were at least two points Hillary Clinton made today in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that troubled me greatly.

One, she said she would never negotiate with Hamas until Hamas recognized Israel's right to exist, ceased violence, and complied with the U.N. mandates. This means she will never negotiate with Hamas, because Hamas will never cease violence when Israel is shelling, bombing and shooting Palestinians in Gaza. Furthermore, what difference does it make if Hamas denies Israel's right to exist? Is Hamas that important that Israel would go to war because Hamas denies its existence. Words must be seen as mere words. People say what they want. But that is no obstacle to negotiate with them.

Two, Hillary Clinton said all options are on the table as to dealing with Iran. I voted for Barack Obama because I thought he was against settling world differences with tanks and war planes. It is a mistake to threaten Iran or any other country with the "all options on the table." How would Americans like it if Russia said it would consider military means to settle a dispute with the U.S.? Take "all options" off the table, and let's consider the other nations of the world to be friends rather than enemies or adversaries.

Hillary Clinton is too warlike and too bellicose to be Barack Obama's Secretary of State. I vote no.

ISRAELIS -- IT'S ALL THE FAULT OF HAMAS USING PALESTINIANS AS "SHIELDS" IN GAZA

The government of Israel is always trying to blame Hamas for deaths and injuries caused to Palestinian civilians, many of them children. In fact, even Israeli citizens adopt this line and spin.

Griff Witte writes in today's The Washington Post:

"Unlike in 2006, when Israelis grew bitterly split over the war in Lebanon, the invasion of Gaza has produced a rare consensus here. In newspapers and on television, commentators approvingly note that the Israeli military has sown devastation in Gaza without a high toll in Israeli lives. If Palestinians are dying, they say, it is Hamas's fault."

Doctors are reporting horrific injuries to civilians, including burns and lung damage, not to mention many who need amputation of legs and arms.

It is pure spin to claim that the Hamas fighters are using Palestinian civilians as shields. Israel and its army knew full well that any shelling of homes or buildings in Gaza was sure to cause huge numbers of civilian deaths. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas, and there are numerous multi-story apartment buildings.

Israel and Israelis cannot escape liability and condemnation for war crimes by claiming that they don't "intend" to call or target civilians. The very act of bombing Gaza structures has a necessary and proximate connection to the deaths of the Palestinians who just happen to live there.

ISRAELI ATTACK KILLS CIVILIANS IN GAZA

After seeing fotos of the carnage in Gaza to ordinary Palestinian civilians (credit to the BBC), and after reading about the lack of fuel, electricity, food and medicine because of the Israeli blockade, I don't see how the U.S. government, specifically Bush, Cheney and Rice can maintain the charade that it is Hamas that is causing this.

The BBC uses eyewitness accounts to tell the story. Here is just one of them:

"I spent two hours today looking for somewhere selling bread. After that I gave up, because even if I'd spent ten hours I still couldn't find any, even the biggest bakeries were empty.

"Most of the time I stay at home looking after my mother, grandmother, wife and child, younger brothers and sister. I only leave for important things like bread.

"My family is very scared actually. They listen to the local radio and say "Oh, our turn is coming soon, the Israelis are coming."

"Israel is destroying every building that they think may belong to Hamas or any Islamic movement, even if it includes some normal civilians.

"But I think they are escalating things in vain - with no benefit."

I call upon Israel to stop the war planes and the missiles and immediately end its attack against men, women and children in Gaza.

Furthermore, I want Israel to open up all of its borders to allow necessities of life to flow in.

Israel has not solved its problem with the Palestinians by denying them food, medicine and electric power. If it can't kill all the Palestinians by its blockade, it is now trying to do so with tanks and bombs.

Israel claims it is just defending itself from Hamas rockets. But its response has entirely been disproportionate - constant terrorizing of the Gazan civilian population.

And it has refused to negotiate with Hamas, a democratically elected government, by sitting down and resolving the grievances. Israel has denied the just claims of the Palestinians that it has been starving them to death. Instead Israel relies on the instruments of war.

I also condemn those in Gaza who are shooting rockets into Israeli villages and towns. But I blame Israel for its refusal to negotiate, its reliance on bombs and its disproportionate response taken out against ordinary Palestinians on account of the actions of a few.

ISRAEL'S BARBARIC BOMBING WILL GENERATE NEW GENERATIONS OF PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS

Israel's unjust and unlawful bombing and shelling continues for a fifth day. Yes, Israel has American-made war planes, bombs and missiles with which to destroy the fabric of Palestinian life and society in Gaza. But what is the result afterwards?

Do Israelis really believe that in killing the leadership of Hamas as well as hundreds of ordinary Palestinian civilians, it can make Israel safer in the future? Or that the bombing and the killing will make Palestinians suck it up and start to believe that Israel is really their friend?

If you were a Palestinian kid in Gaza and you observed the terrible destruction and suffered the roar of war planes flying over at night, and your sisters and brothers were killed by some Israel missile, would you just accept it and blame Hamas?

Of course, not. You and tens of thousands of your friends and neighbors would demand vengeance and retribution. You would vow to do anything you could to punish Israel and Israelis.

This barbaric attack of Israel will cause Palestinian attacks for the next 50 years, maybe for the next 200. It will put Israel even in more danger. It will expose ordinary Israelis to suicide bombers and Palestinian blood revenge.

And I thought Israelis were smarter than to allow this to happen.

INJUSTICE IN TX FEDERAL COURT CONVICTS FIVE OF AIDING HAMAS

It is a travesty that a federal jury in Texas has convicted the largest Islamic charity of aiding a terrorist organization. Paul Weber writes for the AP on The Washington Post web site that a jury in Texas has convicted five charity leaders of each one of 108 counts. The five convicted men could be sentenced to prison for the rest of their lives.

Federal juries can be notorious for their tendency to convict, especially if the accused have Latino or even worse Islamic/Arabic names.

Reports Weber:

"Ghassan Elashi, Holy Land's former chairman, and Shukri Abu-Baker, the chief executive, were convicted of a combined 69 counts, including supporting a specially designated terrorist, money laundering and tax fraud.

"Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh were convicted of three counts of conspiracy, and Mohammed El-Mezain was convicted of one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist organization. Holy Land itself was convicted of all 32 counts.

""I feel heartbroken that a group of my fellow Americans fell for the prosecution's fear-mongering theory," Elashi's daughter, Noor, said outside the courthouse late Monday. "This is truly a low point for the United States of America, but this is not over.""

This is the second go-around for these five. Their first trial ended in a hung jury. This time, they were not convicted of engaging in any terrorist plot but in providing funds for Hamas, the civic, social and militant organization that rules Gaza in Palestine. Imagine being convicted in a federal court because you collected and transmitted monies for the aid of Gazans who live day-to-day in abject misery and poverty.

The verdict is akin to finding that Colombianos sending money home are guilty of supporting "illegal" political organizations insofar as some of the money happens to find its way to members of the FARC.

This unfortunate verdict penalizes those who in good will support charities that care for people whom Israel and the U.S. don't like.

ISRAEL CONTINUES BLOCKADE OF FOOD, MEDICINE, FUEL TO GAZA

Israel continues with its blockade of food, medicine and fuel to the Palestinians in Gaza. Can we have any better example of the shameful and despised practice of collective punishment? Some Hamas members shoot missiles into Israeli towns along the border, so Israel decides to punish the entire Gaza population by denying essentials of life. Israel is thereby saying that it is willing tokill the entire million people in Gaza for the actions of a handful.