24 oct 2015
House of Representatives blocks State Department request for funds, citing ongoing incitement on social media and in schools.
The US House of Representatives took the rare step of blocking financial aid to the Palestinian Authority recently in light of the current string of violent attacks and incitement against Israel.
The vote froze some $370 million in yearly aid funds requested by the US State Department. Yearly payments normally stand at $450 million, but were set to be cut to the now frozen amount of $370 million in 2015 as a fine for Palestinian Authority behavior against Israel last year.
Head of the House Committee on Appropriations, Republican Kay Granger from Texas, and senior Democratic Representative Nita Lowey from New York, sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warning that a continuation of incitement on the Palestinian side would lead to a cessation of American financial aid.
Their letter insisted that Abbas cease what they called inflammatory speech and that he meet one on one with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US Representatives cited that the yearly aid package established under the Oslo Accords was only given to the Palestinian Authority on the condition that its leaders "fight against terror and incitement to violence."
Granger and Lowey also warned that the House wouldn't be able to defend financial aid to the PA if Abbas decided to abandon direct negotiations with Israel and steps to achieve "security, prosperity and peace" for both Israelis and Palestinians.
They also stated in the letter that attacks against Israelis raise doubts that Palestinians are interested in living side by side with Israel in peace.
Head of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Republican Ed Royce from California, also contributed to the conversation saying that new ways would have to be found to stymie Palestinian incitement which he said continues to reach the public through social media, radio, television, and classrooms.
The US House of Representatives took the rare step of blocking financial aid to the Palestinian Authority recently in light of the current string of violent attacks and incitement against Israel.
The vote froze some $370 million in yearly aid funds requested by the US State Department. Yearly payments normally stand at $450 million, but were set to be cut to the now frozen amount of $370 million in 2015 as a fine for Palestinian Authority behavior against Israel last year.
Head of the House Committee on Appropriations, Republican Kay Granger from Texas, and senior Democratic Representative Nita Lowey from New York, sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warning that a continuation of incitement on the Palestinian side would lead to a cessation of American financial aid.
Their letter insisted that Abbas cease what they called inflammatory speech and that he meet one on one with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US Representatives cited that the yearly aid package established under the Oslo Accords was only given to the Palestinian Authority on the condition that its leaders "fight against terror and incitement to violence."
Granger and Lowey also warned that the House wouldn't be able to defend financial aid to the PA if Abbas decided to abandon direct negotiations with Israel and steps to achieve "security, prosperity and peace" for both Israelis and Palestinians.
They also stated in the letter that attacks against Israelis raise doubts that Palestinians are interested in living side by side with Israel in peace.
Head of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Republican Ed Royce from California, also contributed to the conversation saying that new ways would have to be found to stymie Palestinian incitement which he said continues to reach the public through social media, radio, television, and classrooms.
22 oct 2015
The annual military aid provided by America to Israel is expected to increase by nearly $1 billion by the end of this decade, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
According to the newspaper, the total amount of aid given to Israel by America since 1962 has reached approximately $100 billion; $3.1 billion during the past year.
The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that during the renewal of the military aid agreements for the upcoming years, there will be an increase in the military aid budget, which will reach more than $4 billion a year starting from 2019.
The sources added that the talks regarding the increase in America’s annual military aid started recently, after a nuclear deal was sign between the P5+1 countries and Iran. The talks are ongoing.
According to the newspaper, the total amount of aid given to Israel by America since 1962 has reached approximately $100 billion; $3.1 billion during the past year.
The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that during the renewal of the military aid agreements for the upcoming years, there will be an increase in the military aid budget, which will reach more than $4 billion a year starting from 2019.
The sources added that the talks regarding the increase in America’s annual military aid started recently, after a nuclear deal was sign between the P5+1 countries and Iran. The talks are ongoing.
29 sept 2015
Obama ignores Palestinian cause in his UN speech
US President Barack Obama declared during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York his country's readiness to cooperate with Russia and Iran to solve Syria crisis. However, he ignored to address the Palestinian cause.
The Palestinian Authority slammed Obama for neglecting the Palestinian issue in his speech at the UN on Monday.
Obama called for “a managed transition away from al-Assad,” whom he called a “dictator.”
"Nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria. When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs — it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all".
He expressed surprise over those who “support tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children, because the alternative is surely worse.”
Likewise, when a terrorist group beheads captives, slaughters the innocent and enslaves women, that’s not a single nation’s national security problem — that is an assault on all humanity, he said in reference to ISIS.
The United States, according to him, has worked with many nations in this Assembly to prevent a third world war — by forging alliances with old adversaries; by supporting the steady emergence of strong democracies accountable to their people instead of any foreign power; and by building an international system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation, an order that recognizes the dignity and equal worth of all people.
However, US president failed to mention the Palestinian cause in his speech at the UN General Assembly.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat expressed disappointment in US president Barack Obama for neglecting the Palestinian cause in his UN speech.
“Does President Obama believe he can defeat ISIS and terrorism, or achieve security and stability in the Middle East, by ignoring the continued Israeli occupation, settlement expansion, and the continued attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque?” he said.
22 sept 2015
CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years
A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel’s survival beyond the next 20 years.
The CIA report predicts “an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947-1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region.”
The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of 2 million Israelis – who would move to the U.S. in the next 15 years.
“There are over 500,000 Israelis with American passports and more than 300,000 living in the area of just California,” international lawyer Franklin Lamb said in an interview with Press TV on Friday, adding that those who do not have an American or Western passport have already applied for them.
“So I think the handwriting at least among the public in Israel is on the wall … [which] suggests history will reject the colonial enterprise sooner or later,” Lamb stressed.
He said the CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an “Israeli land” would happen “way sooner” than later.
The study further predicts the return of over 1.5 million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births compared to a rise in the Palestinian population.
Lamb said, given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza Strip in particular, the American public – which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv’s measures in the last 25 years – may not “take it any more.”
Some members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee have been informed of the report.
Editor’s note: Although Press TV first published this story on March 13, 2009, it was re-circulated Sept. 20 by the World View News Service. On Sept. 21, Jeff Gates wrote “Will Israel fall in five years?” (see below) and submitted it for publication to Intifada-Palestine.com. Franklin Lamb, Ph.D., the source for the Press TV story above, told the Bay View on Sept. 21 that he continues to stand by the story.
He said he was referring to the CIA report when he wrote in “AIPAC Sends in the Clowns” (Counterpunch, Aug. 19, 2009): “(House Majority Leader Steny) Hoyer refused comment on Kadema leader Tzipi Livni’s ‘leak’ of part of last year’s CIA study that Hoyer helped AIPAC bury on Capitol Hill. Appearing to quote from the now withdrawn ‘study,’ Livni declared in a former Palestinian village, now renamed Tirat Hacarmel: “‘I see the despair of many Israelis.
Hundreds of thousands see what is happening and arrange for a foreign passport, send their children to study abroad and even buy a house overseas.’” (Livni’s quote appears in Israel’s YNet News Aug. 12, 2009.) Lamb, who writes from Beirut, Lebanon, where he is director of Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace and acting chair of the Sabra-Shatila Memorial Scholarship Program Laptop Initiative, Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, says AIPAC, Hoyer and the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee all have copies of the CIA report. Lamb can be reached at fplamb@sabrashatila.org.
Will Israel fall in five years?by Jeff Gates
“The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.” – Albert Einstein, signatory, Letters to the Editor, New York Times, Dec. 4, 1948
Online reports of a study by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency cast doubt over the survival of Israel beyond the next two decades. Regardless of the validity of the report, with what is now known about the costs in blood and treasure that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has imposed on the U.S., its key ally, Israel could fall within five years.
For more than six decades, American support for Israel has relied on the ability of pro-Israelis to dominate U.S. media, enabling Tel Aviv to put a positive spin on even its most extreme behavior, including its recent massacre in Gaza. With access to online news coverage, that Zionist bias is becoming apparent and the real facts transparent.
Though Americans seldom show a strong interest in foreign affairs, that too is changing. While few of them grasp the subtleties of one-state versus two-state proposals, many have seen online the impact of a murderous Israeli assault on Palestinian civilians that was timed between Christmas and the inauguration of Barack Obama.
The leaders of the 9-11 Commission acknowledged that its members would not allow testimony on the impetus for that attack. Yet the report confirmed that the key motivation was the U.S.-Israeli relationship. With access to online news, more Americans are asking why they are forced to support a colonial Apartheid government.
With the election of yet another extremist Israeli government led by yet another right-wing Likud Party stalwart, it’s clear that Tel Aviv intends to preclude peace by continuing to build more settlements. With that stance, Israel not only pushed Barack Obama into a corner, it also forced U.S. national security to make a key strategic decision: Is Israel a credible partner for peace? By any criteria, the answer must be a resounding “No.”
That inescapable conclusion leaves Americans with few options. After all, the U.S. is largely responsible for the legitimacy granted this extremist enclave in May 1948 when Harry Truman, a Christian-Zionist president, extended nation-state recognition. He did so over the strenuous objections of Secretary of State George Marshall, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the fledgling CIA and the bulk of the U.S. diplomatic corps.
By December 1948, a distinguished contingent of Jewish scientists and intellectuals warned in The New York Times that those leading the effort to establish a Jewish state bear “the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party.” Albert Einstein joined concerned Jews who cautioned Americans “not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.”
Only in the past few weeks has the momentum emerged to subject Israel to the same external pressures that were brought to bear against Apartheid South Africa. After more than six decades of consistent behavior – and clear evidence of no intent to change – activists coalesced around the need to boycott Israeli exports, divest from Israeli firms and impose sanctions against Israel akin to those it seeks against others.
The focal point for peace in the Middle East should not be those nations that do not have nuclear weapons but the one nation that does. Absent external pressure, Israeli behavior will not change. Absent pressure – and likely force – applied by the U.S. as the nation that has long enabled this behavior, Colonial Zionism will continue to pose a threat to peace. Occupying powers are not known to voluntarily relinquish lands they occupy. Likewise for their readiness to surrender nuclear arms.
An end to Jewish fascism?The key issue need no longer be a subject of endless debate. There must be a one-state solution consistent with democratic principles of full equality. Informed Americans are no longer willing to support a theocratic state in which full citizenship is limited to those deemed “Jewish” (whatever that means). If local birth rates suggest an eventual end to the “Jewish state,” then so be it. Why wait two decades when this nightmare can be drawn to a close in less than five years?
Forget about a return to pre-1967 borders; instead return to pre-1948 borders. Designate Jerusalem an international city under U.N. protection and dispatch multi-national forces to maintain peace. Palestinians should have a right of return, including the ability to recover properties from which they fled under an assault by Jewish terrorists. If Colonial Zionists (aka settlers) want compensation for “their” property, let them seek restitution from the Diaspora that encouraged their unlawful occupation.
Those who consider themselves “Jewish” can remain as part of an inclusive democracy. Or they can depart. Americans must consider how many of these extremists it wants to welcome to a nation already straining under an immigration burden. A reported 500,000 Israelis hold U.S. passports. With more than 300,000 dual citizens residing in California alone, that state may require a referendum on just how many Zionists it wishes to receive. Likewise for Russia from which many “Jews” fled, including some 300,000 Russian émigrés who support the Likud Party but have yet to be certified as Jewish.
Zionists originally saw Argentina and Uganda as desirable venues to establish their enterprise. They may wish to apply there for resettlement. The question of why Palestinians (or Californians) should bear the cost of a problem created by Europeans six decades ago is one that Tel Aviv has yet to answer except by citing ancient claims that it insists should take precedence over two millennia of Palestinian residence.
By withdrawing Israel’s status as a legitimate “state,” those Jews long appalled by the behavior of this extremist enclave can no longer be portrayed as guilty by association. That long overdue shift in status is certain to benefit the broader Jewish community. By shutting down Israel’s nuclear arms program and destroying its nuclear arsenal, the world can be spared the key impetus now driving a nuclear arms race in the region.
Unless pro-Israelis can create another crisis by inducing an invasion of Iran (or a race war), Americans will soon realize that only one “state” had the means, motivation, opportunity and stable nation-state intelligence required to fix the intelligence that led the U.S. to invade Iraq consistent with the expansionist goals of Colonial Zionism.
Intelligence now working its way to transparency will soon confirm that, but for Zionists within the U.S. government, 9-11 could have been prevented and war in Iraq avoided. To date, this extremism has been enabled by a series of weak U.S. presidents. For the U.S. to restore its credibility requires that it not only lead the effort to shut down the Zionist enterprise but that it also share responsibility for its behavior to date.
Jeff Gates is author of “Guilt by Association,” “Democracy at Risk” and “The Ownership Solution.” Former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, he has served as a policy consultant to 35 governments worldwide. See www.criminalstate.com.
19 sept 2015
Obama ignores Palestinian cause in his UN speech
US President Barack Obama declared during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York his country's readiness to cooperate with Russia and Iran to solve Syria crisis. However, he ignored to address the Palestinian cause.
The Palestinian Authority slammed Obama for neglecting the Palestinian issue in his speech at the UN on Monday.
Obama called for “a managed transition away from al-Assad,” whom he called a “dictator.”
"Nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria. When a dictator slaughters tens of thousands of his own people, that is not just a matter of one nation’s internal affairs — it breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all".
He expressed surprise over those who “support tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children, because the alternative is surely worse.”
Likewise, when a terrorist group beheads captives, slaughters the innocent and enslaves women, that’s not a single nation’s national security problem — that is an assault on all humanity, he said in reference to ISIS.
The United States, according to him, has worked with many nations in this Assembly to prevent a third world war — by forging alliances with old adversaries; by supporting the steady emergence of strong democracies accountable to their people instead of any foreign power; and by building an international system that imposes a cost on those who choose conflict over cooperation, an order that recognizes the dignity and equal worth of all people.
However, US president failed to mention the Palestinian cause in his speech at the UN General Assembly.
PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat expressed disappointment in US president Barack Obama for neglecting the Palestinian cause in his UN speech.
“Does President Obama believe he can defeat ISIS and terrorism, or achieve security and stability in the Middle East, by ignoring the continued Israeli occupation, settlement expansion, and the continued attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque?” he said.
22 sept 2015
CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years
A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel’s survival beyond the next 20 years.
The CIA report predicts “an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947-1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region.”
The study, which has been made available only to a certain number of individuals, further forecasts the return of all Palestinian refugees to the occupied territories, and the exodus of 2 million Israelis – who would move to the U.S. in the next 15 years.
“There are over 500,000 Israelis with American passports and more than 300,000 living in the area of just California,” international lawyer Franklin Lamb said in an interview with Press TV on Friday, adding that those who do not have an American or Western passport have already applied for them.
“So I think the handwriting at least among the public in Israel is on the wall … [which] suggests history will reject the colonial enterprise sooner or later,” Lamb stressed.
He said the CIA, in its report, alludes to the unexpectedly quick fall of the apartheid government in South Africa and recalls the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, suggesting the end to the dream of an “Israeli land” would happen “way sooner” than later.
The study further predicts the return of over 1.5 million Israelis to Russia and other parts of Europe, and denotes a decline in Israeli births compared to a rise in the Palestinian population.
Lamb said, given the Israeli conduct toward the Palestinians and the Gaza Strip in particular, the American public – which has been voicing its protest against Tel Aviv’s measures in the last 25 years – may not “take it any more.”
Some members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee have been informed of the report.
Editor’s note: Although Press TV first published this story on March 13, 2009, it was re-circulated Sept. 20 by the World View News Service. On Sept. 21, Jeff Gates wrote “Will Israel fall in five years?” (see below) and submitted it for publication to Intifada-Palestine.com. Franklin Lamb, Ph.D., the source for the Press TV story above, told the Bay View on Sept. 21 that he continues to stand by the story.
He said he was referring to the CIA report when he wrote in “AIPAC Sends in the Clowns” (Counterpunch, Aug. 19, 2009): “(House Majority Leader Steny) Hoyer refused comment on Kadema leader Tzipi Livni’s ‘leak’ of part of last year’s CIA study that Hoyer helped AIPAC bury on Capitol Hill. Appearing to quote from the now withdrawn ‘study,’ Livni declared in a former Palestinian village, now renamed Tirat Hacarmel: “‘I see the despair of many Israelis.
Hundreds of thousands see what is happening and arrange for a foreign passport, send their children to study abroad and even buy a house overseas.’” (Livni’s quote appears in Israel’s YNet News Aug. 12, 2009.) Lamb, who writes from Beirut, Lebanon, where he is director of Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace and acting chair of the Sabra-Shatila Memorial Scholarship Program Laptop Initiative, Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp, says AIPAC, Hoyer and the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee all have copies of the CIA report. Lamb can be reached at fplamb@sabrashatila.org.
Will Israel fall in five years?by Jeff Gates
“The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.” – Albert Einstein, signatory, Letters to the Editor, New York Times, Dec. 4, 1948
Online reports of a study by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency cast doubt over the survival of Israel beyond the next two decades. Regardless of the validity of the report, with what is now known about the costs in blood and treasure that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has imposed on the U.S., its key ally, Israel could fall within five years.
For more than six decades, American support for Israel has relied on the ability of pro-Israelis to dominate U.S. media, enabling Tel Aviv to put a positive spin on even its most extreme behavior, including its recent massacre in Gaza. With access to online news coverage, that Zionist bias is becoming apparent and the real facts transparent.
Though Americans seldom show a strong interest in foreign affairs, that too is changing. While few of them grasp the subtleties of one-state versus two-state proposals, many have seen online the impact of a murderous Israeli assault on Palestinian civilians that was timed between Christmas and the inauguration of Barack Obama.
The leaders of the 9-11 Commission acknowledged that its members would not allow testimony on the impetus for that attack. Yet the report confirmed that the key motivation was the U.S.-Israeli relationship. With access to online news, more Americans are asking why they are forced to support a colonial Apartheid government.
With the election of yet another extremist Israeli government led by yet another right-wing Likud Party stalwart, it’s clear that Tel Aviv intends to preclude peace by continuing to build more settlements. With that stance, Israel not only pushed Barack Obama into a corner, it also forced U.S. national security to make a key strategic decision: Is Israel a credible partner for peace? By any criteria, the answer must be a resounding “No.”
That inescapable conclusion leaves Americans with few options. After all, the U.S. is largely responsible for the legitimacy granted this extremist enclave in May 1948 when Harry Truman, a Christian-Zionist president, extended nation-state recognition. He did so over the strenuous objections of Secretary of State George Marshall, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the fledgling CIA and the bulk of the U.S. diplomatic corps.
By December 1948, a distinguished contingent of Jewish scientists and intellectuals warned in The New York Times that those leading the effort to establish a Jewish state bear “the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party.” Albert Einstein joined concerned Jews who cautioned Americans “not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.”
Only in the past few weeks has the momentum emerged to subject Israel to the same external pressures that were brought to bear against Apartheid South Africa. After more than six decades of consistent behavior – and clear evidence of no intent to change – activists coalesced around the need to boycott Israeli exports, divest from Israeli firms and impose sanctions against Israel akin to those it seeks against others.
The focal point for peace in the Middle East should not be those nations that do not have nuclear weapons but the one nation that does. Absent external pressure, Israeli behavior will not change. Absent pressure – and likely force – applied by the U.S. as the nation that has long enabled this behavior, Colonial Zionism will continue to pose a threat to peace. Occupying powers are not known to voluntarily relinquish lands they occupy. Likewise for their readiness to surrender nuclear arms.
An end to Jewish fascism?The key issue need no longer be a subject of endless debate. There must be a one-state solution consistent with democratic principles of full equality. Informed Americans are no longer willing to support a theocratic state in which full citizenship is limited to those deemed “Jewish” (whatever that means). If local birth rates suggest an eventual end to the “Jewish state,” then so be it. Why wait two decades when this nightmare can be drawn to a close in less than five years?
Forget about a return to pre-1967 borders; instead return to pre-1948 borders. Designate Jerusalem an international city under U.N. protection and dispatch multi-national forces to maintain peace. Palestinians should have a right of return, including the ability to recover properties from which they fled under an assault by Jewish terrorists. If Colonial Zionists (aka settlers) want compensation for “their” property, let them seek restitution from the Diaspora that encouraged their unlawful occupation.
Those who consider themselves “Jewish” can remain as part of an inclusive democracy. Or they can depart. Americans must consider how many of these extremists it wants to welcome to a nation already straining under an immigration burden. A reported 500,000 Israelis hold U.S. passports. With more than 300,000 dual citizens residing in California alone, that state may require a referendum on just how many Zionists it wishes to receive. Likewise for Russia from which many “Jews” fled, including some 300,000 Russian émigrés who support the Likud Party but have yet to be certified as Jewish.
Zionists originally saw Argentina and Uganda as desirable venues to establish their enterprise. They may wish to apply there for resettlement. The question of why Palestinians (or Californians) should bear the cost of a problem created by Europeans six decades ago is one that Tel Aviv has yet to answer except by citing ancient claims that it insists should take precedence over two millennia of Palestinian residence.
By withdrawing Israel’s status as a legitimate “state,” those Jews long appalled by the behavior of this extremist enclave can no longer be portrayed as guilty by association. That long overdue shift in status is certain to benefit the broader Jewish community. By shutting down Israel’s nuclear arms program and destroying its nuclear arsenal, the world can be spared the key impetus now driving a nuclear arms race in the region.
Unless pro-Israelis can create another crisis by inducing an invasion of Iran (or a race war), Americans will soon realize that only one “state” had the means, motivation, opportunity and stable nation-state intelligence required to fix the intelligence that led the U.S. to invade Iraq consistent with the expansionist goals of Colonial Zionism.
Intelligence now working its way to transparency will soon confirm that, but for Zionists within the U.S. government, 9-11 could have been prevented and war in Iraq avoided. To date, this extremism has been enabled by a series of weak U.S. presidents. For the U.S. to restore its credibility requires that it not only lead the effort to shut down the Zionist enterprise but that it also share responsibility for its behavior to date.
Jeff Gates is author of “Guilt by Association,” “Democracy at Risk” and “The Ownership Solution.” Former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, he has served as a policy consultant to 35 governments worldwide. See www.criminalstate.com.
19 sept 2015
After months of chilly relations between Israel and U.S. over Iran nuclear deal, the U.S. Administration provided last week $ 268 million for “Israeli missile defense”, and $351 million for the Iron Dome system.
According to Yediot Aharanot Newspaper, the United States has committed three years ago to provide more than $176 million in security aid to Israel.
Earlier last year, U.S. Senate approved a spending bill that would provide Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system with $176 million dollars.
The U.S. allocation for Israel also includes $ 268 million to develop “Israeli missile defense”.
The declared funds are not a part of the U.S. annual military aid to Israel which has amounted to $3.1 billion.
According to Yediot Aharanot Newspaper, the United States has committed three years ago to provide more than $176 million in security aid to Israel.
Earlier last year, U.S. Senate approved a spending bill that would provide Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system with $176 million dollars.
The U.S. allocation for Israel also includes $ 268 million to develop “Israeli missile defense”.
The declared funds are not a part of the U.S. annual military aid to Israel which has amounted to $3.1 billion.
17 sept 2015
The UN Security Council failed once again to issue a press statement condemning Israeli recent violations against al-Aqsa Mosque and occupied Jerusalem.
Russia's United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had said Tuesday that the UNSC was planning to issue a press release condemning the ongoing events in occupied Jerusalem and calling for restoring calm.
24 hours later, no UNSC press statement was issued due to US objections, according to UN diplomatic sources.
Jordan, which maintains a nominal role in managing al-Aqsa since its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, has warned that Israel’s actions, if not stopped, will affect ties between the two countries.
Jordan submitted on the behalf of Arab countries a draft resolution condemning Israel's aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque and its violations of related conventions.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov also warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday that recent events had “the potential to ignite violence well beyond the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.”
But he too stressed that “all sides have a responsibility to refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric” – failing to call for the occupying power to be held accountable.
Nearly 60 Palestinians were injured while many others were detained over the past four days after a group of settlers led by Israeli agriculture minister stormed al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem in total provocation to Muslims’ feelings.
Russia's United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had said Tuesday that the UNSC was planning to issue a press release condemning the ongoing events in occupied Jerusalem and calling for restoring calm.
24 hours later, no UNSC press statement was issued due to US objections, according to UN diplomatic sources.
Jordan, which maintains a nominal role in managing al-Aqsa since its 1994 peace treaty with Israel, has warned that Israel’s actions, if not stopped, will affect ties between the two countries.
Jordan submitted on the behalf of Arab countries a draft resolution condemning Israel's aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque and its violations of related conventions.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov also warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday that recent events had “the potential to ignite violence well beyond the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.”
But he too stressed that “all sides have a responsibility to refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric” – failing to call for the occupying power to be held accountable.
Nearly 60 Palestinians were injured while many others were detained over the past four days after a group of settlers led by Israeli agriculture minister stormed al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem in total provocation to Muslims’ feelings.
11 sept 2015
Ongoing attempts to dampen the spirits of the Palestinian people shall never see the day, political bureau member of Hamas Ezzet Resheq said Friday.
The senior Hamas leader said in statements posted on his Facebook page that the U.S. treasury’s decision to impose sanctions on prominent Palestinian activists only serves Israeli schemes to quell pro-Palestine activism and discloses the U.S. complicity in Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people.
Earlier, a couple of days ago, the U.S. administration announced its decision to blacklist three senior Hamas leaders as terrorists, in a move that sparked wide criticism both by Arab and American activists.
The senior Hamas leader said in statements posted on his Facebook page that the U.S. treasury’s decision to impose sanctions on prominent Palestinian activists only serves Israeli schemes to quell pro-Palestine activism and discloses the U.S. complicity in Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people.
Earlier, a couple of days ago, the U.S. administration announced its decision to blacklist three senior Hamas leaders as terrorists, in a move that sparked wide criticism both by Arab and American activists.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned four Hamas officials and financiers and a Saudi Arabia-based company for allegedly providing financial support for the Palestinian resistance, Reuters reported.
Among those named by the Treasury Department were Salih al-Aruri, a Hamas political bureau member who it said was responsible for Hamas money transfers, and Mahir Salah, a Hamas financier based in Saudi Arabia and dual British and Jordanian citizen who the Treasury said leads the Hamas Finance Committee in Saudi Arabia, according to the sources.
Among those mentioned in the list were Abu Ubaydah Khayri Hafiz al-Agha, a Saudi Arabian citizen, and Mohammed Reda Awad, an Egyptian national.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned Asyaf International Holding Group for Trading and Investment, a Saudi Arabia-based company that it said is managed by al-Agha and used to finance Hamas.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. administration announced its decision to blacklist three senior Hamas leaders as terrorists, in a move that sparked wide criticism both by Arab and American activists.
Among those named by the Treasury Department were Salih al-Aruri, a Hamas political bureau member who it said was responsible for Hamas money transfers, and Mahir Salah, a Hamas financier based in Saudi Arabia and dual British and Jordanian citizen who the Treasury said leads the Hamas Finance Committee in Saudi Arabia, according to the sources.
Among those mentioned in the list were Abu Ubaydah Khayri Hafiz al-Agha, a Saudi Arabian citizen, and Mohammed Reda Awad, an Egyptian national.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned Asyaf International Holding Group for Trading and Investment, a Saudi Arabia-based company that it said is managed by al-Agha and used to finance Hamas.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. administration announced its decision to blacklist three senior Hamas leaders as terrorists, in a move that sparked wide criticism both by Arab and American activists.
9 sept 2015
Hamas has slammed a decision by the U.S. Department of State designating Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, and Muhammed Deif, along with the Lebanese ex-prisoner Samir al-Quntar, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of State, the consequences of these designations include a prohibition against U.S. persons engaging in transactions with Yahya Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, and Muhammed Deif, and the freezing of all property and interests of Sinwar, Mushtaha, and Deif that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of U.S. persons.
Muhammed Deif is the top commander of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. During the 2014 Israeli offensive on blockaded Gaza, Deif was the mastermind of Hamas’s defensive strategy.
Sinwar and Mushtaha were released from occupation jails in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner swap deal.
Samir al-Quntar is a Lebanese ex-prisoner released in a swap deal struck on July 18, 2008 between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hamas dubbed the designation unethical and against international law.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the decision boosts Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people, branding it “trivial.”
Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil told the Palestinian Information Center that such a biased U.S. position has never been unexpected from an administration that has always shown bias to the occupation and strived to cover up its crimes.
“The real terrorist is the one who restocked the Israeli occupation with deadly weapons that have killed thousands of innocent women and children and reduced thousands of Gaza’s populated homes into rubble,” he said.
“Before trying to blacklist our elites as terrorists, the U.S. has to look at its ugly face in the mirror,” al-Bardawil added.The U.S. is the one who produced terrorism, murder, and destruction everywhere across the globe.”
For his part, blacklisted Mushtaha told the Khaleej Online news site: “Resistance to the occupation is Palestinians’ inalienable right.”
“None of us, Palestinians, sees resistance to the Israeli occupation as terrorism. It is an internationally guaranteed law.”
He further vowed that the U.S. decision shall never dash the hopes of the Palestinian resistance and people in their national liberation struggle.
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of State, the consequences of these designations include a prohibition against U.S. persons engaging in transactions with Yahya Sinwar, Rawhi Mushtaha, and Muhammed Deif, and the freezing of all property and interests of Sinwar, Mushtaha, and Deif that are in the United States, or come within the United States or the possession or control of U.S. persons.
Muhammed Deif is the top commander of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. During the 2014 Israeli offensive on blockaded Gaza, Deif was the mastermind of Hamas’s defensive strategy.
Sinwar and Mushtaha were released from occupation jails in 2011 as part of the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner swap deal.
Samir al-Quntar is a Lebanese ex-prisoner released in a swap deal struck on July 18, 2008 between Hezbollah and Israel.
Hamas dubbed the designation unethical and against international law.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the decision boosts Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people, branding it “trivial.”
Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader Salah al-Bardawil told the Palestinian Information Center that such a biased U.S. position has never been unexpected from an administration that has always shown bias to the occupation and strived to cover up its crimes.
“The real terrorist is the one who restocked the Israeli occupation with deadly weapons that have killed thousands of innocent women and children and reduced thousands of Gaza’s populated homes into rubble,” he said.
“Before trying to blacklist our elites as terrorists, the U.S. has to look at its ugly face in the mirror,” al-Bardawil added.The U.S. is the one who produced terrorism, murder, and destruction everywhere across the globe.”
For his part, blacklisted Mushtaha told the Khaleej Online news site: “Resistance to the occupation is Palestinians’ inalienable right.”
“None of us, Palestinians, sees resistance to the Israeli occupation as terrorism. It is an internationally guaranteed law.”
He further vowed that the U.S. decision shall never dash the hopes of the Palestinian resistance and people in their national liberation struggle.
The US State Department announced, on Tuesday, that three Hamas leaders, along with a Hezbollah spokesperson, have been added to the specially designated global terrorist list, subjecting them to US sanctions.
According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, senior commander Muhammed Dief and two freed leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ruhi Mushtaha, are on the list.
The move will freeze any assets they may have in US jurisdictions and prohibit Americans from doing any business with them.
Three of the four had been previously arrested by Israeli authorities for attacks on Israelis, but were later released in prisoner exchanges, including the 2011 swap that led to the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Hamas denounced the decision as "immoral and against international law" on its Twitter account, accusing Washington of "backing Israeli terrorism".
Separately, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that blacklisting senior figures would not stop the group from succeeding in their national duty of protecting their people and liberating Palestine.
Hamas was democratically elected in 2006, with the nomination of Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister over the Gaza Strip.
The West Bank is controlled mainly by Fateh leadership.
According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, senior commander Muhammed Dief and two freed leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ruhi Mushtaha, are on the list.
The move will freeze any assets they may have in US jurisdictions and prohibit Americans from doing any business with them.
Three of the four had been previously arrested by Israeli authorities for attacks on Israelis, but were later released in prisoner exchanges, including the 2011 swap that led to the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Hamas denounced the decision as "immoral and against international law" on its Twitter account, accusing Washington of "backing Israeli terrorism".
Separately, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that blacklisting senior figures would not stop the group from succeeding in their national duty of protecting their people and liberating Palestine.
Hamas was democratically elected in 2006, with the nomination of Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister over the Gaza Strip.
The West Bank is controlled mainly by Fateh leadership.
