Posts by raycook

First they came for the Saturday people – the Egyptian Copts and why a one-state solution in the Middle East is not possible

raycook — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:07:17 +0000

We are all probably now painfully aware of the onslaught against the Christians of Iraq.

I have previously written about the harassment of the Christians of Bethlehem and the Middle East here.

Less is reported about the plight of the ancient Coptic Christian community in Egypt.

Ami Isseroff has published the contents of a letter by a Coptic Christian living in the US to President Obama. It makes painful reading. (see IsraelNews at http://www.zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2011/01/04/letter-from-a-coptic-christian-to-president-obama/).

The Copts are increasingly being harassed and murdered by Islamists. The clear intent is to drive them out.

If Israel / Palestine became a single state with a Muslim majority or even a large minority filled with the bile of Hamas, Hizbullah and Fatah, who do you think would be harassed first? And then they will come for the Sunday people.

This is the expressed aim of Hamas and Hizbullah and a cornerstone of PLO/Fatah: destroy Israel and drive out the Jews.

And then they will come for the Sunday people and the Druze and the Baha'is.

As in Egypt, so would it be in a future Palestine that has consumed Israel.

I reproduce the letter here in full. It is a warning of how things will go if the world doesn't wake up to this madness. It was written on Dec 24th. The very next day several Copts were murdered by a suicide bomber in Egypt as they celebrated Christmas.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Letter from a Coptic Christian

Mike, a Coptic Christian who has immigrated to the United States, has asked Restrain the Blade to publish this letter to President Barack Obama. Out of concern for his safety, only the author’s first name is made public.

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington D.C.

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to you as Coptic Christian who immigrated to the United States in the late 1970s.

I am an American citizen.

I have grave concerns about what is going in Egypt regarding the Copts.

To put it bluntly, I fear that something very bad is going to happen to this community in the very near future.

Coptic Christians have been the victims of systematic abuse and oppression in Egypt for a long time. On November 17, 2010, the U.S. Department of State recently issued a report on religious freedom in Egypt that details the abuses they suffer on a daily basis. January of this year, six Coptic Christians were murdered outside their church after celebrating Christmas.

Sadly, I fear another attack will happen again sometime in the near future.

The tendency of blaming the State of Israel for every problem in Egypt, and linking it to the Copts, is on the rise, especially in the past a few months. By associating the Copts with the Jewish state, extremists and government officials are inciting hostility toward a beleaguered, defenseless minority.

The anti-Israel polemic is fairly well known. One official accused recent shark and jellyfish for attacks on swimmers at Sharm el-Sheikh on the Mossad. The alleged goal was to kill the tourism season.

What is less well known is that Muslim Imams throughout the Middle East are demonizing Coptic Christians in Egypt. One oft-repeated claim is that Israel is using Coptic churches to store all kinds of weapons to attack Muslims. Such accusations lead to threats of violence.

For example, Sheik Wagdi Ghoneim recently said in a video message from the State of Qatar “I swear by God, you will not have time stay alive until America and the West arrive, this is for your own good, if you understand. Do you think the Muslims inside Egypt will say thank you and may Allah give you health? “No, by God.”

And on September 16, 2010 Mr., Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars announced on Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar): Copts Amass Weapons in Egyptian Churches and Are “Preparing for War against the Muslims”.

Copts are even being blamed for the violence perpetrated against them by Muslim extremists in Egypt. For example, after a mob of 5,000 Egyptians recently attacked a Christian service building, President’s Mubarak former assistant, Dr. Mustafa El- Feki from Ain Shams University stated that Israel and the Copts were at fault for the attack and the two deaths that resulted from it. Dr. El Feki stated that Israel was behind the subsequent protests: “”It is almost certain that the Mossad is involved in these events. The State is dealing with dangerous events that could not have succeeded without external intervention with Israel at its head.”

Here, it is important to note why the mob attacked the building in the first place. While the Egyptian government does not allow Christians to build churches, it does allow them to build “service buildings” where social services can be provided to the elderly and to young people in the Coptic Christian community. The mob attacked this service building after hearing rumors that the building itself was going to be used as a church and not merely to provide social services to its members.

Mr. President, in light of numerous acts of incitement and previous acts of violence, I fear that Coptic Christians in Egypt are going to have a very tough Christmas season. I implore you to use your good offices to insist that the Egyptian government protect the rights of its Christian citizens.

For reasons of my own safety, I can only sign my first name, but nevertheless, I offer wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I ask that you use your influence to make sure Christians in Egypt can celebrate their holidays in safety.

Michael
Dec. 24, 2010

First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2011/01/05/first-they-came-for...

Palestinian National Orchestra and BBC's historical illiteracy

raycook — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:47:16 +0000

I had to read a BBC News article twice recently; not something I would recommend.

The subject was 'Palestinian orchestra to hold debut concert in Ramallah'.

Great. I'm all for culture and it's good to see what must be essentially a Muslim orchestra playing western music.

The article shows us orchestra members including a woman in a hijab. So far so good.

Then the jaw-dropping bit:

The first Palestinian orchestra of professional classical musicians since 1948 is due to perform its debut concert in Ramallah in the West Bank.

BBC's emphasis.

Hang on a minute. When did the Palestinians ever have an orchestra before? The idea of a separate Palestinian state only took of with the creation of the PLO in 1964. Between 1948 and 1967 the West Bank and Gaza were occuped by Jordan and Egypt.

What's this '1948' business?

Then it dawned on me. 1948 was the year that the State of Israel was declared. It was the year the British Mandate for Palestine ended. Palestine ceased to exist as a political entity. It had never been a country. Ever.

The Palestinians the writer of the article refers to were the Jews of Mandate Palestine who formed the Palestine Orchestra in 1936. In Hebrew it wasn't even called that, it was the Symphony Orchestra of the Land of Israel. In 1948 it became the Israeli Philharmonic.

So let's see what the article is saying. It is saying that those who call themselves Palestinians today are somehow connected with the Palestinians of 1948 and before. It suggests that this orchestra is a reincarnation of that pre-1948 Jewish orchestra. Of course, it is not. It is a new thing. The old Palestine Orchestra still exists, it was just renamed.

Does the writer know this? Surely he/she must. Does the editor who let it published know all this? Surely he/she does.

It's as if Israel has been airbrushed out. It's as if in the minds of the BBC news editors this version of Palestine, the one that wishes to destroy Israel, is somehow a legitimate heir to the one which 'disappeared' in 1948. It's as if this new orchestra replaces that old one.

This whole article is a subtle example of the way Israel is delegitimised and how the putative 'Palestine' is legitimised.

It's a kind of coup de theatre. It's historical illiteracy.

But that's not all. There is a nice piece of editorialising thrown in for good measure.

The programme also consists of a piece by the modern Hungarian Jewish composer, Gyorgy Ligeti, both of whose parents were sent to Auschwitz.

And the point is? Surely, it's to show what a peace-loving lot the orchestra is and how they are so open-minded that they will play Jewish music. I'm sure that's true.

It also tries to tell us that the Palestinians who are represented by this orchestra have deliberately chosen Ligeti because his parents died at Auschwitz.

Yet this orchestra grew from the Edward Said Conservatory. Said was well known for his work with Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim in creating an orchestra of Israelis and Palestinians to promote the noble cause of peace through music.

What the article fails to tell us, of course, is that this wonderfully tolerant group of Palestinians are completely atypical of the usual anti-Semitic filth vented by the Palestinian media daily.

The article doesn't tell us about the Palestinian Youth orchestra that was closed down in 2009 because it dared play in front of Holocaust victims, thereby accepting that there are Holocaust victims and, therefore, a Holocaust.

I wrote about this here.

Here's a snippet:

Fatah-linked community leaders in the PA-controlled city of Jenin slammed the participation of 13 young local musicians aged 11 to 18 in a "Good Deeds Day," held at the Holocaust Survivor's Center in Holon.

The PA politicians made a point of using the issue of the young musicians' performance as a platform upon which to launch a diatribe against participation in any integrative activity with Jewish Israelis.

Any decent and knowledgeable journalist would know this and would have pointed it out.

The whole BBC article is typical of the way inaccurate and decontextualised reporting serves Israel's enemies, even if this is not the intent of the journalist.

It's simply shameful.

Update from muqata.blogspot.com..

IDF reporters uniform were 'ejected' from a concert in Haifa where this orchestra were performing.

Let me reiterate that: Israeli soldiers in an Israeli city were ejected because they were wearing uniform.

Can you imagine that happening in the UK? British soldiers thrown out of a BBC Prom because it might upset someone who doesn't like the UK's Afghanistan policy?

We find in this story that the organisers were the Mossawa Center for Arab Civil Rights who are supported by the New Israel Fund.

<40 Palestinian National Orchestra musicians arrived at the Kreiger Hall in Haifa before an Israeli audience, but when posed questions by the IDF Radio reporters, they refused the uniformed IDF soldiers, even though they were simply reporters for IDF radio.

... the director of the Mossawa Center for Arab Civil Rights in Israel, [that] tried to explain the incident in the name of the orchestra. "The musicians are used to IDF uniforms interrogating them at checkpoints, but it was strange for them at a cultural event. You [IDF Radio] arrived to interview them wearing the uniforms of the occupying army."

So much for the orchestra promoting peaceful co-existence.

It appears it's just another tool of Palestinian propaganda which has a Palestine orchestra performing in what the Palestinians regard as Palestine, namely Israel, so that their media can spout something like: 'Today the Palestine Orchestra performed in the Palestinian town of Haifa'.

Wake up Israel!

First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2011/01/04/palestinian-nationa...

BBC: English Defence League demos 'feed Islamic extremism'

raycook — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 08:20:37 +0000

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11787839

Only problem with this is that, however repugnant the EDL may be, does the BBC really think that protesting about something makes it worse?

Does protesting about anti-Semitism make more recruits for anti-Semitic groups?

If protesting extremism increases it, then why protest about anything?

The answer maybe 'how' those protests are made and the true motivation behind them.

But I have a sneaking suspicion that Islamist extremists don't rely on the EDL for their recruitment drives. It's actually quite the reverse.

The true face of the EDL

raycook — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:20:40 +0000

Is this what anyone should be associated with? Let alone Jews.

Watch it, then examine your conscience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bxzH9fxIko

British troops and UN double standards

raycook — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:51:42 +0000

The BBC reports (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11702111)

More than 220 Iraqi civilians were subjected to "systemic abuse", including torture, by British soldiers and interrogators in Iraq, the High Court was told on Friday

Now replace 'Iraqi' with 'Palestinian' and 'British' with 'Israeli'.

Just mull that over for a while and test your reactions.

If it had been Israelis and Palestinians the full weight of the UN would undoubtedly be behind a Goldstone-style investigation which would be convened within a couple of weeks with the findings of the committee already decided.

Meanwhile, almost two years after Cast Lead, Israel is still investigating its own operations.

The UN enquiry into Israel's interception of the aid ship (without any aid aboard), the Mavi Marmara, has come and gone with the inevitable foregone conclusions being reached by the usual stooges the UN seems to be able to dredge up when it needs to demonise Israel.

Israel's Turkel enquiry into the flotilla continues after several weeks of taking evidence.

The British are a little more reluctant, it appears:

Solicitors acting on behalf of the Iraqis submitted video evidence to support their claims.

They are appealing for a judical [sic] review of a refusal by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to order a wide-ranging public inquiry into allegations that abuse was widespread.

But:

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said a dedicated team had already been set up to investigate.

Aahh!

So the British army is going to investigate itself.

Now do that little 'what if' thing again and imagine Israel had said that an IDF investigation into the torture and abuse of 220 Palestinians was quite adequate. Image the furore.

Allegations of mistreatment include sexual abuse, food, water and sleep deprivation, prolonged solitary confinement, mock executions and being denied clothes.

...

Michael Fordham QC, appearing for the Iraqis, said: "There are credible allegations of serious, inhumane practices across a whole range of dates and facilities concerning British military detention in Iraq."

Referring to the prison which became notorious for allegations of torture and abuse against US soldiers, he asked: "Is this Britain's Abu Ghraib?"

Of course, the British judicial system should be robust enough to deal with this. No?

"The IHAT is the most effective way of investigating these unproven allegations rather than a costly public inquiry."

IHAT? That's the 'Iraq Historic Allegation Team'. Historic! These alleged abuses occurred between 2002 and 2008. That's 'historic'?

Anyway, I'm sure justice will be done. This is Britain and we British have a perfectly adequate way of dealing with such matters. And by the way, sorry, but we don't have enough money these days for due process. Let the army sort it out.

So why is the UN not setting up an enquiry? These were Muslims who were abused. Where's the UN Human Rights Council when you need it? Too busy trying to smear Israel, of course, because that seems to be their preoccupation.

A mere 220 Iraqis being allegedly abused is not a potential War Crime or a breach of any of the Geneva Conventions, or International Law or Customary Law. I presume this is the case as they appear to be blissfully unwilling to have anything to do with it. No Israelis involved, you see. Waste of time.

Two public inquiries have already been launched into similar claims.

The first inquiry into the death of 26-year-old hotel worker Baha Mousa in UK military custody in September 2003, began hearing evidence last July.

And last November, the MoD announced details of a second public hearing into allegations that 19-year-old Hamid Al-Sweady and up to 19 other Iraqis were unlawfully killed and others ill-treated at a British base in May 2004.

See what I mean? The British do investigate and prosecute when they have the money to do so and the public is shouting loud enough, but it was such a long time ago.

How many public enquiries into torture are necessary? We already proved we do it, albeit it's not state policy, so why drag the name of Britain and the British Army through the mud? Is this not Liam Fox's argument. And if we had a Labour government, I'm sure he'd support that government and wouldn't be calling for a public enquiry. Would he?

But enough of British politics.

Back to the UN. Can you honestly tell me that if this had been Israel the UN would not be foaming at the mouth?

Double standards anyone?

(First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/11/07/british-troops-and-...)

Lawfare and the UN Human Rights Council

raycook — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:43:15 +0000

Brilliant speech by Trevor S. Norwitz reported on UN Watch.

It completely demolishes the absurdity of the UNHRC, the Goldstone Report, the so-called Flotilla Inquiry and the abuse of laws designed to protect democracies from the very people that are now using those same laws to attack those democracies.

This is highlighted on the sane website here: "Cuba Organizing Rogue Speakers’ List of Hardliners in Bid to Ambush U.S. at Friday’s U.N. Review", where an alliance of the far Left dictators and Venezuela are attempting to dominate the UN Review in order to attack the US.

The US is not and should not be immune from criticism, but unlike most of the countries doing the hatchet job on the US's reputation, the US is a democracy with a strong record on self-examination and self-criticism and responding, sometimes tardily, to misdemeanours of its armed forces. It is, therefore, monstrous, that Iran and Cuba can point an accusing finger at the US when their record on human rights, especially Iran's, is abysmal.

It appears that the UN and its instruments are now an international union of nations inimical to democracy and peace who use the organs of the UN to spout lies and hypocrisy.

Is it not about time the UN took more robust action and limited its councils to true democracies rather than than allowing them to become propaganda weapons for serial human rights abusers?

The Norwitz speech is as strong a condemnation of the Flotilla Inquiry farce as I have seen.

Here's a flavour of the speech:

Almost anything created for a good purpose can be abused or even “weaponized”: think of an ice-pick, a candlestick, a box-cutter knife, an airplane, a shoe, a pair of underpants.

And not just physical objects. We have seen the abuse of almost every institution invented by man: democracy (think of Venezuela, Iran, the Weimar Republic); education (look at Gaza under Hamas or the PLO, Apartheid South Africa); religion (no examples needed).

It should be no surprise then that the law - one of humanity’s greatest achievements, designed for the creation of ordered societies, the establishment and maintenance of justice and the determination and protection of truth - is also susceptible to abuse.

Today what is really under attack is perhaps the most fundamental value in our Western culture: truth. And it is ironic in the extreme that it is the law, which was created and designed to be the servant and protector of truth, that is the enemy’s weapon of choice to undermine the truth.

I strongly recommend you read it all.

(first published at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/11/06/lawfare-and-the-un-...)

Why I'm an ashamed Jew

raycook — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:59:02 +0000

Yep, you read right.

I've had to admit it.

I can't live a lie any longer.

I'm deeply, deeply ashamed.

Ashamed of being Jewish? No way. I'm very proud to be Jewish and a member of the Jewish people.

Ashamed of Israel? Wrong again. I'm proud of Israel's achievements. I worry about its policies, sometimes; I'm concerned, sometimes about some of its actions and those of some of its citizens, but I could say the same for Britain and I'm still proud to be British.

So why am I ashamed?

I'll tell you. I'm ashamed of Jews who say they are ashamed to be Jews or Jewish.

I don't hear Palestinians coming out to declare they are ashamed to be Palestinian and denounce suicide bombs or missiles.

I don't hear Arabs writing they are ashamed to be Arabs because of Al Qaeda or Sudan or Yemen.

I don't hear Muslims forming groups of shame because of what Sunni does to Shia, or 9/11, or 7/7, or Madrid, or Mumbai.

I don't know of any Ashamed Catholic groups forming because of the paedophilia apparently rife in Catholic clergy.

In fact I know of no other group of people who so often announce their ashamedness to be who they are as Jews do.

And you know what? It makes me ashamed. I'm an ashamed Jew who is ashamed of ashamed Jews. If that's a paradox, so be it.

And I'm not ashamed to declare my shame.

Shame on me!

I don't see why Arabs or Muslims or Palestinians or Brits or Americans or Chinese or anyone else should be ashamed of what they are because of the actions of a few.

If I'm ashamed to be a Jew because I don't like what Israel does that is a form of self-hating, it's bigotry - by golly, its anti-Semitic. If I hate all of a group because of the actions of some, then I am a bigot. And if I am the target of my own bigotry then I'm a pretty sick bigot.

On the Andrew Marr program this morning on BBC 1, the eponymous Scottish interviewer had the (Jewish) actress Miriam Margolyes in the studio reporting on a recent visit to Israel and the West Bank.

We see her approaching a young Palestinian woman and asking through an interpreter whether she can see where she lives. The woman, carrying a young child, takes her to a canvas tent.

Miriam is shocked and says 'no-one should have to live like this'.

I absolutely agree with her. No-one in the West Bank should be living in a tent. So why are they? Miriam believes it's because of the terrible Israelis who make her an 'ashamed Jew'.

Neither she nor Marr question why this woman lives like this. No-one asks why after 62 years a young woman whose grandparents left or were driven out of what is now Israel should be a refugee and have refugee status uniquely different from all other refugee groups in history.

Neither Margolyes or Marr wanted to mention or even wanted to entertain the idea that refugee camps, so-called, exist for one reason and one reason only: to deliberately perpetuate the victimhood of Palestinians and to preserve the idea, which Margolyes and other ashamed Jews have swallowed whole , that it is Israel who is responsible for these conditions.

Margolyes appears unaware that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live comfortably on the West Bank in normal housing, She seems unaware that despite the billions of dollars poured into the Palestinian economy people are still allowed to live in tents and camps.

There is no need for it. Pakistanis are not living in tents three generations after their forbears fled India.

There are no refugee camps in Israel for the hundreds of thousands who were forced from their homes after 1948 from Egypt and Iraq and Syria and North Africa.

Marr asks 'Do you think being a Jew gives you a different authority, ability to talk about [the Palestinian question]?'

'The only authority I have is as a human being', Margolyes replies. So far, so good.

Then she says that it should not make a difference being Jewish or not Jewish to be able to comment on the situation but then says, somewhat in contradiction that she is 'embarrassed and ashamed' (that word again) because 'my "lot" is doing "it" to them'. She then says 'that's why I wanted to go there, to see for myself'. Fine. But it appears she had already made up her mind that 'her lot' where doing 'it' to 'them'.

Marr asks for her reaction and she then puts on a faux Arab accent and says that some said 'why do you come? You are a Jew. We hate you.' And then in her own voice 'And I totally understood why'.Yet, she doesn't understand why at all.

She doesn't understand that this hatred predates the Jewish state. She doesn't understand the daily diet of anti-Semitism that is fed to Palestinians in schools, newspapers and on TV.

Marr then asks a question which links the Holocaust to what he clearly believes is a given Israeli/Jewish paranoia.

He asks that, given Margolyes and her generation know what it's like growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, does she not realise that Israelis feel hemmed in and beleaguered by Iran, suicide bombs and missiles.

She admits her sympathy. She knows what anti-Semitism is. But 'treating people the way the Israelis are treating the Palestinians is not making things better'. In other words, the blame for the situation is all on the Israeli side.

An then, lo and behold, the old ignorant trope comes out. 'What people forget over there is that the Palestinians were not responsible for the Holocaust.'

Arghhh! I'm so ashamed. What the hell has the Holocaust got to do with the situation? Is she suggesting that Israel exists because of Holocaust guilt? Is she suggesting that the Palestinians are paying for the crimes of Europeans?

If so, she is ignorant of her own people's history.

'They were not the enemy at that time', she says. But THEY WERE! The Mufti of Jerusalem was a friend of Hitler and organised Muslim Nazi brigades in Yugoslavia. He assured Hitler that he would solve the Jewish Question in Palestine.

Hamas and the PLO are the ideological progeny of the Muslim Brotherhood and its anti-Semitic policies.

Margolyes and other ashamed Jews need to educate themselves. I am sick of being ashamed of them.

What is she saying now? Oh yes, the Israelis should understand and accept that they owe reparation to the Palestinians just like the Jews expect it from the Germans.

So she, perhaps unwittingly, makes a moral equivalence between the way Jews were treated in the Holocaust and the way Palestinians, who have been hell-bent on another Holocaust for 100 years and certainly 60, have been treated by the Israelis.

Who attacked Israel in 1967? Why was the PLO formed in 1964 before there was any 'Occupation'?

The Israelis are behaving ''so cruelly'. Yes, sometimes all those with power over others behave cruelly. Maybe she should understand why Israelis might do so to Palestinians who want to kill them, and blow up their children on buses and in their beds. Why can she only see one side to this conflict?

Even Marr has to remind her about suicide attacks and rockets.

And then we get the real answer to Margolyes ashamedness. She is not a two-state solutionist.

She wants 'those people to be back in their own villages, which is what they want.'

How ignorant is this. They just want to go back to their villages. But their villages are Haifa and Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Eilat and Beersheva. Margolyes is clearly advocating the end of the Jewish state as a deluded one-stater who believes the Palestinians, who she admits hate the Jews, just want to go back peacefully to their homes.

How often do we see people in the media like Miriam Margolyes, Jews and non-Jews, well-meaning, decent people who just do not understand. They live in their cosy left-wing bubbles dreaming of world peace where all will be luvvies.

Sorry Miriam. You are a very nice woman and a wonderful actress, but you are a deluded Jew. Go read some history. Go read the PLO charter and the Hamas charter.

Don't pose as a woman of peace when you clearly want a second Holocaust - because if you don't, then you need to wake up out of your deluded lefty dreams, you and all the ashamed Jews.

Until you do so, I will continue to be an ashamed of ashamed Jews Jew.

(first posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/10/31/why-im-an-ashamed-j... )

What lessons we should all learn from the Chilean miners

raycook — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:43:46 +0100

As the world watched in awe and wonder as each miner rose to the surface to be greeted by family, friends and politicians, every man experienced a second birth, a second beginning to life.

Who could not shed a tear as wife hugged father, father embraced son, son greeted mother for the first time in 69 days.

But what does it teach us about human nature? Yes, the will to live and the joy at witnessing the survival of complete strangers thousands of miles way tells us about our common humanity. But it also teaches us that each of the 33 men has a story, a life, a past and a future. Each man is a unique and indispensable human being.

Tomorrow 33 men could be killed by a car bomb or a suicide bomb in Kabul and no-one outside their family and friends will know their names or care. This is because we don't know their story, we don't see them as priceless individuals but as statistics.

So when we look to the Middle East conflict, let us be inspired to recognise that every life is special and every death of an innocent is a tragedy. Let us not dehumanise the 'other' so we no longer care about his or her story, past and future, hopes and aspirations.

The Chilean miners have taught us a valuable lesson about how precious life is.
We must all learn from their example to value life. This is why death cults are so evil because they negate what is human; that common spark which makes us shed a tear of joy when a stranger in a hard hat emerges from a capsule and kisses his young son.

Embrace life, not death.

First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/10/13/what-lessons-we-sho...

A flame still burns

raycook — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:40:37 +0100

The ‘ner tamid’, the eternal flame which burns in every synagogue signifying the eternal presence of G-d and, therefore, the eternal and abiding spirit of the Jewish people could have no more apt representative than Fiamma Nirenstein.

‘Fiamma’ means ‘flame’ in Italian and tomorrow, in Rome, she will head a demonstration entitled ‘For the Truth, for Israel’.

We don’t see many pro-Israel rallies in Europe these days. Nirenstein, a member of the Italian parliament, is an outspoken supporter of Israel and one of a growing number of European politicians who feel it is high time to stand up for Israel and against the worldwide onslaught to delegitimise and demonise it.
In an article on her website she sets out the basis for the demonstration as follows:

DEMONSTRATION

Thursday, October 7 at 18:00 at the Temple of Hadrian (Tempio di Adriano), Piazza di Pietra, Rome

WHY YOU MUST BE THERE

Because it is necessary to put an end to the barrage of lies that are thrown on
Israel every day;

Because Israel is the only country that is being attacked for whatever it does:
whether its athletes are participating in a tournament,
whether its films competing in an international film festival,
or whether it is defending its people from missile and terrorist attacks;

Because at this event, politicians, intellectuals, and young people who want the
truth about Israel will participate from all over Europe.

ENOUGH OF THE DOUBLE STANDARD!

80% OF THE UN RESOLUTIONS OF CONDEMNATION ARE AGAINST ISRAEL

Why doesn’t the UN care when Iran hangs homosexuals and stones women,
in Darfur a massacre is takes place in silence,
and in China justice is to be shot in the head?

Its scientific, cultural, social, economic, and sport achievements are constantly boycotted, even with violence. The double standard is the normal standard applied to Israel: the UN, dedicating to it 80% of its resolutions, condemn Israel at every step, while countries that systematically violate human rights and commit massacres, are never punished.

But a large part of the public opinion is tired of this lie: the de-legitimization of Israel undermines democracy, corrupts international institutions that should protect peace and fight against terrorism. It legitimates oppressive and violent cultures against women, homosexuals and freedom of thought. In fact, it justifies anti-democratic cultures. For this reason we want to say “enough” to all the lies about Israel and to claim that Europe loves Israel and wants it living in peace.

Well said, Fiamma. Keep the Flame of Truth burning lest we all be consumed by the flames of hell.
Please ‘Like’ the Facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Per-la-Verita-Per-Israele/159128100770549?...

First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/10/06/a-flame-still-burns...

Look who doesn't want two states for two peoples

raycook — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:39:39 +0100

The Israel bashers here and ubiquitously in the media and around the world keep telling us it is all Israel's fault, they don't want peace, the Palestinian Authority recognised Israel years ago, Israel this and Israel that.

But one of the PA's leading lights, prime minister (no less) Salam (means peace) Fayyad has stormed out of meeting with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon because Mr Peace Fayyad refused to sign up to a summary of the meeting which recognises the need for two staes for two peoples.

This was reported in yNet News here http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958403,00.html

"I wanted that at the very least it will note two states for two peoples. I demanded to know what they meant. One Palestinian state and one bi-national state, or another Palestinian state?," he told Ynet.

"I made it clear that we were out of the picture if the summary didn’t say two states for two peoples."

So what did Ayalon do wrong? Didn't he just want to confirm what everyone, apart from Hamas and Hizbullah and Ahmadinejad are supposed to want? Isn't that the basis for a settlement?

How are the Israel-haters going to spin this one?

In other words there is absolutely no shift in the Palestinians position since they decided they were a nation separate from Jordanians.

And then Mr Peace Fayyad has the 'chutzpah' to ask that Isreael:

"...further ease Palestinian movement in the West Bank, to which Ayalon replied: "We shall not gamble away Israel's security and future. Everything depends on the security situation and a political solution based on consent."

Too bloody right.

How can you negotiate with this? It's a total farce and we all know who will be blamed, don't we.

Israel will be blamed for not committing national suicide.

First published at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/09/21/look-who-doesnt-wan...

Viva Palestina's Hamas connections

raycook — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:49:57 +0100

For those of you interested in the connection between Hamas and Viva Palestina and Hamas's reach within the British Muslim community, here's a link that may be of interest:

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/ham...

As Hamas is a proscribed organisation, I wonder why more is not being done to expose Hamas's activities in the UK. Maybe they are imprortant advisors to the goverment on better understanding between communities and multi-culturalism.

BBC - well, it couldn't last long

raycook — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:51:20 +0100

Hurray for Panorama!!

Boo!! to Paul Wood, BBC News reporting on Eden Aberjil's disgusting Facebook images of her posing with Palestinian prisoners. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10997011)

Here's why:

A great many young Israeli soldiers have photograph albums quite similar to Eden Aberjil's 'The army: the best days of my life'.

The only difference is that they do not post them on Facebook.

That explains her remark that she still did not "understand what was wrong" and the comment of Dr Ishai Menuchin of the Committee Against Torture in Israel that "she is a bad apple, but all the box are bad apples".

The IDF likes to think of itself as the most ethical army in the world and so condemned the photographs in strident terms. (They are also no fools when it comes to public relations).

For most young conscripts, and young Israelis who have completed their military service, I suspect the reaction will not be outrage but a simple shrug of the shoulders.

Ouch!!

"No fools when it comes to public relations!? you gotta be kidding. But suppose they didn't condemn it? Can't win if you are an Israeli.

I'd like to see some of the UK soldiers picture albums. Why has what they keep in private such an issue?
Of course Dr Ishai Menuchim is a totally dispassionate observer. Where's the evidence for all these sweeping statements? Did they do a survey?

"I suspect", he says. I suspect that you are an extremely bad journalist, but at least I now have evidence to prove it.

Panorama – Death in the Med – credit where credit is due

raycook — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:03:33 +0100

When I saw that Panorama, one of the BBC’s longest running investigative programmes, was being fronted by Jane Corbin, I was not sure that Israel would get a fair hearing. The last time I saw Ms Corbin in action on this programme was to report on evictions and demolitions in Jerusalem which ultimately failed to deliver a lot of context.

This time Corbin managed to tell the Israeli side for a change and also interviewed key players on the IHH side. The IHH being a Turkish humanitarian organisation that behaved in anything but a humanitarian way and has links to Islamist groups, including Al Qaeda. There are calls for its being proscribed in the USA and Europe.

The programme did an excellent job of piecing together video into a timeline. This was interspersed with interviews of IDF soldiers who actually took part, received injuries and fired on their attackers.
Interviews with the IHH were predictably disingenuous, representing their actions as defensive and claiming the IDF fired first.

The accusation of firing first was, perhaps, the only disappointing feature in this documentary. Jane Corbin said there were conflicting accounts. In other words, she sat journalistically on the fence. She did say, however, the the IDF could not have fired a weapon and rappelled on to the deck at the same time. The IHH claimed that the IDF shot first so their attack with knives, iron bars, captured pistols and, according the the Israelis, another firearm not used in the IDF, was purely defensive.

This claim is demonstrably nonsense. Firstly, if you are standing on a deck waiting for soldiers to come down a rope and they are somehow managing to fire at you, and you are so defenceless, wouldn’t you get the hell out of the way? If you do not have firearms and someone is shooting at you, would you just wait to attack with iron bars and knives? It’s ludicrous.

The IDF admitted that once they had seen there was strong resistance they should have regrouped and considered more carefully their next move. Instead, they decided to land on the deck even though they had already seen that this would meet with violence. This was a blunder and the current enquiry in Israel will surely further reinforce that fact, already admitted by the military. Israeli intelligence as to the nature of the threat failed miserably. The Mavi Marmara was hijacked by about 40 IHH activists and their plans to attack the IDF, clearly shown from their own videos, were unknown to the majority of activists on the ship who were completely innocent of any intentions other than, perhaps, passive resistance; and this was what happened on all the other boats.

The conclusions any sensible person would draw are these: you may not agree with the boarding of the Mavi Marmara, but it was clearly demonstrated that the Israelis were using paintball guns before they landed on deck and that this was their ‘weapon’ of choice as a non-lethal crowd controller. Handguns were only used when the attack on them became lethal.

It is also clear there was considerable confusion and fear amongst the soldiers, some of whom were taken below and one reported that he believed he would be killed. One of the Turkish activists protected him and probably saved his life. In this respect, his actions are praiseworthy. Other activists seem to have tried to treat the injured Israelis.

There was still no explanation of how and when and where the 9 activists were killed. The fact that 50 were also injured demonstrated, to me, that the soldiers, in fear of their lives, with good reason (some had already been bludgeoned, thrown off deck rails, stabbed and even shot) did what any soldier would do, namely use enough force to stop the immediate threat and discourage further attack. One IDF soldier, when asked if he killed anyone, said he shot at his assailants’ legs and this was then reinforced with video of an injured activist with leg wounds.

I believe that the soldiers went for non-lethal shots, but as they feared being overwhelmed and being killed they used lethal force. Maj Gen (Ret) Giora Eiland, who carried out the IDF investigation, made the remark that, under the circumstances, casualties were low. He didn’t elaborate why, and such remarks don’t play well with international audiences. This was not a well-judged remark, but at least it was honest.

Jane Corbin herself concluded, having seen the remnants of the aid, that the whole flotilla was a political provocation, not a humanitarian one. The Mavi Marmara carried no aid whatsoever (a point not made in the film) and other items were of such little importance to Hamas that they either did not let them through as a form of protest, or they were out-of-date medicines. You can see details of the aid carried by the other boats and what the Israelis did with it on a previous post of mine here.

No doubt apologists from the Free Gaza Movement will simply say that the whole incident would not have happened had it not been for the blockade, the Israelis are liars etc. But I ask you, if the Beeb can’t find anything with which to beat Israel up then maybe the IDF did indeed enter a trap and protected themselves from lethal force with lethal force.

First posted at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/08/16/panorama-death-in-t...

Who Do You Think You Are? Echoes of Bathurst-Norman in Edwardian Ireland

raycook — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:37:03 +0100

The BBC genealogical series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ has always been a favourite of mine.

As someone interested in my own family history and the many twists and turns it can take and also being fascinated in the detective work that discovers surprising facts about celebrities’ roots, I am a devoted fan of this programme.

Yesterday the celebrity in question was Dublin-born actress, Dervla Kirwan.
Looking at her (which is a pleasant task) and listening to her, you would suspect a long line of Catholic Irish ancestry.

And this is what we got – almost.

Having discovered she is the great-niece of Michael Collins, Irish patriot, founder of the original IRA, Dervla’s search moved to her father’s side of the family and the casual revelation that she had a Jewish ancestor.

In fact, it was her paternal great-grandfather, one Henry Kahn, a Polish Jew who fled the Russian Empire in the late 19th century and set himself up as a tobacconist and a sometime illegal bookmaker.
He also happened to marry a Catholic in a Church of Ireland (Protestant) church, which was some going for the 1890′s.

In 1902, we discovered, he was arrested for breaking the shop window of one Esther Marks and destroying in the process some ‘china ornaments’ and ‘assorted bric-a-brac’.

It appears that Henry was a bit of a character and possibly a somewhat unsavoury one at that.

But what happened next was very instructive; he was tried by a jury in Dublin and found guilty and sentenced to one year’s hard labour, which, for a man in his mid forties, was a terrible sentence.

Our attention was drawn to a newspaper article of 1902 which reports the sentencing and which makes sure we all know that the man in the dock was a Jew.

The judge, or Recorder, was Sir Frederick Falkiner, who had this to say in his summing up after stating that Henry deserved a whipping for one of the worst offences he had seen, or words to that effect. He broke a window and some china, if you recall:

You are a specimen of your nation and your race that cause you to be hunted out of every country.

On reading this, Dervla’s jaw dropped and subsequent enquiry revealed that Falkiner was then 71 years old, had wrongfully instructed the jury as to the verdict and also denied Henry the right to speak before sentencing.

Apparently, this patent anti-Semitism was a little out-of-date even in 1902, and the Jewish Chronicle took up the case and eventually Falkiner was shamed in the House of Commons by the MP for Stepney.

Marvellous to relate, James Joyce echoed this case in Ulysses (which happens to be my favourite book) in Leopold Bloom’s dream which takes place in front of the very same judge.

Genealogy certainly has the power to link disparate elements of our culture.

But don't you see the echo of the Bathurst-Norman case where an elderly judge was brought out of retirement and dismissed the case against activists who trashed an arms factory in Brighton during Operation Cast Lead because it was supplying armaments to Israel.

In his summing up Bathurst-Norman directed the jury to acquit the accused on the grounds that although they were self-confessed criminals, they did what they did to prevent even more Israeli ‘war crimes’.

So over 100 years later English (Ireland was subject to English law at the time, let’s leave the Scots out of this, they have a different legal system) justice finds that Jews are a special case to be made an example of or to be subject to vilification in an English court of law. In 1902, a petty crime committed by a Jew receives a heavy sentence (albeit he was reprieved after 6 months), in 2010 those with an animus against Jews defending themselves from murderous anti-Semites (Hamas) get off scot-free because jew-baiting is now a sanctioned pastime once again in England.

All this and the debate, today, about what President Peres of Israel said or didn’t say, meant or didn’t mean, in an interview with Benny Morris where he may or may not have said that the English (read British) are anti-Semitic.

For a taste of the Peres controversy see No-win journalism>'No-win journalism' and its comments in Melanie Phillips’ blog in the Spectator.

It appears that British anti-Semitism runs deep in certain sections of the English Establishment; so deep, that even after 100 years or more it can still resurface like a recessive gene to produce horrible mutations like Bathurst-Norman.

This is not to say that I believe Britain to be anti-Semitic in the 21st century, but it is certainly there lurking and mutating into different forms like anti-Zionism or anti-Israelism which often, but by no means always, are mere fig-leaves for anti-Semitism.

And poor Henry Kahn? He ended up in a lunatic asylum where he died four years after his release from prison. Isn't it instructive how, in 1902, a judge could tell the court that Jews had been hunted out of every country they had ever been in.

Who do we think we are? Where do you think we should go? Well, in 1902, the Jews were buying land in Ottoman Palestine and laying the foundations for a Jewish homeland where they would be free of Falkiners and Bathurst-Normans and where they would not be ‘hunted out’ ever again.

They called themselves Zionists.

First published at http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/08/03/who-do-you-think-yo...

Israel will co-operate with UN flotilla enquiry

raycook — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:24:48 +0100

At last!! The Israeli government has seen sense and decided to show that it has nothing to fear from a UN enquiry which appears to be unbiased – for a change.

Israel Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, released the following today:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Monday), 2.8.10, informed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that Israel would participate in the panel that he is establishing in the wake of the 31.5.10 events regarding the flotilla.

The announcement to the UN Secy.-Gen. was delivered following consultations with the seven-member ministerial forum earlier this morning and in the wake of diplomatic contacts that have been held in recent weeks in order to ensure that this was indeed a panel with a balanced and fair written mandate.

The panel will receive reports on the Israeli investigation by the Independent Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31.5.10 chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said today, after speaking with the UN Secy.-Gen., that, “Israel has nothing to hide. The opposite is true. It is in the national interest of the State of Israel to ensure that the factual truth of the overall flotilla events comes to light throughout the world and this is exactly the principle that we are advancing.”

Having initially refused to co-operate, Israel set up its own internal enquiry which concentrated on exposing a group of Turkish activists with links to the IHH who led a flotilla intent on breaking the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza.

This ‘humanitarian’ organisation has been shown to have links with terrorist groups, even Al Qaeda. 8 of 9 activists killed had links with dubious IHH activities and most had left evidence that they were determined to reach Gaza or become martyrs. Such an attitude itself reveals a hatred for Israel that is so great that they were prepared to die, and kill, for it.

Despite much documentary evidence taken by the Israelis and by many people on board the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the flotilla, there has not yet been a clear and detailed account of how and under what circumstances the 9 men were killed. All we know from the Israeli account and video evidence is that the commandos who landed on the Mavi Marmara were met with lethal force and a mob of about 50 men attacked a much smaller number of commandos whose main ‘weapon’ was a paint gun.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a web page dedicated to the events of 21 May 2010 here.

The terms of the Israeli commission are detailed here.

The main objectives were as follows:

1) Consideration of the security circumstances for imposing a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip and the conformity of the naval blockade with the rules of international law;
2) Conformity of the actions taken by Israel to enforce the naval blockade on 31 May 2010 to the principles of international law;
3) Consideration of the actions taken by those who organized – and participated in – the flotilla, and their identities.
The Commission will also consider the question of whether the inquiry and investigation mechanisms vis-à-vis complaints and claims regarding violations of the laws of armed conflict, as followed by Israel in general and as implemented with regard to the event in question, conform with the State of Israel’s obligations under the rules of international law.

Following the international outcry against Israel and its virtual pariah status, it’s about time Israel engaged at an international level to show that, indeed, it has nothing to hide.

Whether the UN panel will give Israel its first fair hearing at the UN for some considerable time remains to be seen.

Perhaps the UN might also want to consider Turkey’s role in aiding and abetting an organisation, the IHH, which may well be proscribed in the United States and which members of the Italian parliament are seeking to have proscribed in Europe.

Yes, it’s about time that Israel fought more pugnaciously to restore its reputation in the UN and find a platform to expose the hypocrisy of its enemies and critics.

Israel has already admitted operational errors. That doesn’t excuse those who would commit murder because they oppose an ideology. The would-be murderers were those killed who were intent on killing Jews/Zionists/Israelis – it was all the same to them.

Let’s see what the UN comes up with this time.

First posted on www.raymondcook.net: Israel will co-operate with UN flotilla enquiry

Cameron: A turkey on Turkey, ga-ga on Gaza

raycook — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:51:44 +0100

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has completely lost it. He is campaigning for Turkey's entry into the European Union and thus for placing a growing Islamist country, that has strong ties with the enemies of the West, at the heart of Europe.

All this might have been acceptable in the past when Turkey was recognised as a secular Muslim country sitting between the West and the Islamic world, a democracy with a mixed Western and Eastern culture and an honest broker between the West and Islam.

But Cameron seems to have overlooked completely Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Islamist program.

See the full article here: http://www.raymondcook.net/blog/index.php/2010/07/27/cameron-a-turkey-on...

Remember all that fuss about Israelis forging passports....

raycook — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:44:12 +0100

... allegedly. Well now the Daily Mail reports (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1290611/Russian-spy-ri...):

One of the women accused of being a Russian spy in the U.S. travelled on a British passport, according to the FBI.

Tracey Lee Ann Foley, who was posing as a naturalised U.S. citizen born in Canada, is believed to have been given forged British documents by her Russian handlers.

Now hang on; when the British government was so convinced that Mossad had used forged British passports to assassinate a Hamas arms dealer in Dubai, they went absolutely ape-s**t and an Israeli diplomat was 'sent home.

So, despite there being a different government, and given that successive administrations tend to take the same view. Indeed, William Hague supported David Miliband's actions as Foreign Secretary in this statement to parliament:see this video: http://www.thejc.com/node/33740

Hague says, ".. we cannot permit the cloning of, interference with or misuse of British passports by another state."

So when does the Russian diplomat go home then, Mr Hague?
If they do take the same action as they did against Israel, fair enough; but if not, why?

Hague responds to Miliband statement on Israel

raycook — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:50:27 +0100

My Friend, Dr Mengele

raycook — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:49:55 +0100

Very few of us have the opportunity or good fortune in our lives to meet, let alone to know, someone who is a truly great human being. Certainly someone like me, of only modest talents, whose life and profession do not lead to encounters with politicians, media stars or the literary Illuminati, would put himself in the category of ‘ordinary person’.

Oh, I’ve met a few celebrities in my time, I even have one in the family, but there is only one person, one great man, with whom I have the honour and privilege of acquaintance.

His name is Mayer Hersh.

He is a Holocaust survivor.

The vagaries of chance, or fate, if you will, led us to meet some 15 years ago, or was it 20? He was a friend of my wife’s cousin and someone you ‘saw around’. I knew very little of his story. We struck up a conversation because I discovered he was Polish and I asked him to translate the writing on the back of some old family photographs.

Soon he told me he came from a town called Sieradz, in Western Poland, which happened to be the next town to Kalisz where three of my grandparents had been born.

Many years later, by careful research and amazing good fortune, I had managed to contact my father’s mother’s family in Israel. To my surprise I discovered that many of them had lived in Sieradz. When I told Mayer he declared us to be ‘landsleit’, an appellation that I carry with pride to this day.

As I related to Mayer what I knew of my new-found family in Israel, he asked me my family’s name. “Szer”, I said. “Szer the baker?”, he asked. My spine turned to ice. The thought that Mayer may have known, or passed in the street, members of my family was incredible. Although I found out later that this Szer was probably a great great uncle or a cousin, nevertheless I had found an unexpected connection which certainly reinforced our landsleit status.

Mayer told me how, as a child, he had an argument with his mother and, being somewhat stubborn, decided to ‘leave home’. This excursion did not last long and he skulked back to sleep on the stairwell. In the morning he was famished and went across to Szer the baker. Mr Szer took pity and gave him a bagel even though he had no money to pay. “Ok”, I said, “Cough up. On behalf of my family you owe me for that bagel!”.

Mayer Hersh was born in Sieradz, Poland, in 1926. When the Germans arrived in his town at the beginning of World War II, he and his brother Jakob were eventually parted from their parents and siblings and extended family. They never saw any of them again.

Mayer was 13 years old as he began his obscene odyssey through the horrors of the Holocaust where he witnessed murder, brutality, even cannibalism.

He experienced nine camps including Otoczna, Auschwitz, Stutthof, Gotha, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt where he was eventually liberated in 1945.

He was in Auschwitz for 18 months and, amazingly, met his brother there. Jakob also survived the war, eventually emigrating to the United States.

It was only after the war he discovered the terrible fate of his parents and sister Kayla.
Unable to return home he became one of “The Boys” of whom Martin Gilbert wrote, and found himself in Ambleside in Cumbria. He eventually settled in Manchester where he took up the profession of his father and became a tailor.

Mayer, as one would expect of someone of his profession, is a smartly dressed, dapper, compact man, softly-spoken with a distinct Polish accent and a command of the English language which is staggering.

Despite his life experiences, Mayer is humble and modest and he has devoted the past 30 years to Holocaust Education, telling his story at schools, giving interviews, receiving accolades. He tells his story simply, dispassionately, quietly but profoundly and with a determination to fulfil his purpose and mission: to consecrate memory.

Talking to Mayer is always a pleasure and a privilege. Recently, we sat next to each other at a family celebration. Mayer is in short sleeves, his tattooed number looking somehow less incongruous in these days of fashionable tattoos. Conversation with Mayer can take unexpected paths. This was one such occasion. He was telling me about how a friend of his was surprised that he had maintained a friendship with someone with whom he had had a dispute. “Why shouldn’t I be friends? Dr Mengele was my friend. He saved my life many times”, he said.

Mayer then told me how Mengele, that murderer of children, that antithesis and negation of the very word ‘Doctor’, would choose daily who was fit to work and who would go to the gas. “I don’t know why he never chose me. Dr Mengele was my friend because he kept me alive” .

The very idea that I was just one remove from these experiences was chilling and profoundly moving. Mayer is testament to the obscenity of the randomness of survival.

What is greatness? Is it measured by fame or wealth or academic achievement or sporting prowess only? Or is it also to be found in the quiet but steely determination of one man to survive, to claim and proclaim his right to life, to dignity and respect. This too, surely, is greatness.

Mayer Hersh is a great man.

I wrote that Mayer is also an eloquent man. At the end of an interview with a Guardian reporter in January 2005 he described his ‘fulfilment’. I’ll end with Mayer’s words. In this one, heartbreaking paragraph he manages to condense every word, every book, every history of the Holocaust. A thousand Ahmadinejads or Irvings cannot unsay these words, these thoughts, these truths. No more eloquent expression could possibly be written of what motivates Mayer and should inspire us all to continue his life’s work.

“In 1944 I was daydreaming – when I had a chance to daydream – that maybe I’ll get through and survive, knowing by that time that not many people will. I thought how wonderful it would be if I do survive, how people will put me on a pedestal. You know how the childish mind works. Well, I am on a pedestal, I am given certain honours, you come to interview me. To me, this is a fulfilment. But why is it a fulfilment? Because I’m talking about my family, whose lives were extinguished and whose voices were obliterated. The perpetrators also wanted the memory of these people to be obliterated, and that’s something I don’t want to happen. I want their memory to be preserved for eternity.”

See Memories of Auschwitz, Guardian January 27th 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/13/secondworldwar.poland7
From Auschwitz to Ambleside http://www.anotherspace.org.uk/a2a/interviews/hersh-m.htm
Photograph by David Levene

Is UNRWA getting the message at last?

raycook — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:53:05 +0100

Two articles today, the first in the Jerusalem Post and the second on the BBC website cast an interesting light on the way UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) and its chief in Gaza, John Ging, are beginning to speak out against Hamas and its affect on Gaza, rather than Israel's embargo and maritime blockade. Or are they?

During Operation Cast, Ging was scathing of Israel and its putative attacks on UN compounds and its general tactics. The term 'War Crimes' was bandied about and there was a decided lack of interest in the tactics being employed by Hamas.

But now Ging has criticised 'Palestinian infighting'. Why?

"It is such a tragedy that, on top of all the other crises that we have in the Gaza Strip, we now have a crisis of electricity," John Ging, director of UNRWA in Gaza, was quoted by AFP as saying.

"It's an unbearable situation here at the moment, and it needs to be solved very quickly. It's a Palestinian problem, made by Palestinians, and causing Palestinian suffering. So let's have a Palestinian solution," he added.

Strong words indeed. Or are they? 'Unbearable situation' if he believes the Palestinians inflict it on their own people, 'Humanitarian Crisis' if he believes it's the Israelis.

The single power plant in Gaza, which normally generates 25 percent of the electricity used in the Strip, was shut down over the weekend due to a payment dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

Do you know where the other 75% comes from? yeah, you guessed it - Israel.

A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article in the JC written by a Palestinian journalist who described the wretched conditions. He said no-one was starving but electricity was unreliable and so was water. He blames neither Hamas (he would be hanged, no doubt) or Israel (his voice may not be heard).

Most people would have concluded that this situation is 100% attributable to the Israeli maritime blockade and embargo (since eased, somewhat).

But if Hamas cares so much for its people's suffering, then how can it allow electricity to be cut in this way? And who is ultimately responsible responsible for the stoppage of fuel required to power the plant? The Palestinian Authority. And where is the world outrage? Where are the flotillas? Where are the emergency sessions in the UN?

The BBC reports that for the second time a children's camp, arranged and funded by UNRWA, has been burned down by 'extremist militants'. Hamas condemned the first attack but even the BBC has to admit that nothing happens in Gaza without the say-so of the Hamas.

And what does Mr Ging say?:

"This is another example of the growing levels of extremism in Gaza and further evidence, if that were needed, of the urgency to change the circumstances on the ground,"

What does he mean 'change the circumstances on the ground'?

Does he mean that Israel is to blame for this? Israel, because of the blockade and the embargo? Has he too fallen into the causal quagmire? Does he really think that Islamist extremism is caused by Israel's blockade and embargo rather than the blockade and embargo being a result of Islamist extremism?

Hamas, having gained possession of Gaza, having seen every last Israeli leave, decided to destroy millions of dollars of agricultural equipment left gratis by Israel and then begin a campaign of launching thousands of rockets into Israel.

And what about the 'Freedom Flotilla' aid which was held up for days by Hamas. Does the world expect a ruthless, genocidal, Islamist, terrorist group to care more about its people than Israel?

Or does Ging mean that Hamas and the extremists need to be defeated? Does he 'get it' or not?

You decide.