Category Archives: racism

Israel’s far right spreads from the fringes | Middle East | DW.DE | 14.07.2014

According to Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, these are dangerous statements that should be banned.

“There are certain circles that want to deny the fact that Palestinians are people just like us. No more, no less,” she said on Israeli radio. “Unfortunately, many think that we are a holy people, and that non-Jews can be defined as unclean and worthy of death.”

The rabbis base their views on ancient and traditional Jewish texts, said Elior, adding that this doesn’t, however, legitimize racism.

The Jewish people have a long history that stretches back more than 3,000 years, she added. The collective memory is shaped by texts, which resulted, in part, from Jews living as a persecuted minority among other peoples, said Elior.

There are written sources over 3,000 years old, and it’s clear “that over such a long period of time there are all sorts of beliefs that are no longer acceptable today,” she said. “Just as we no longer have slaves or maidservants, although there are religious laws that permit doing so, you cannot allow racist comments based on these Israeli sources.”

via Israel’s far right spreads from the fringes | Middle East | DW.DE | 14.07.2014.

Names of the Victims in Gaza – Continuously Updated | Hummus For Thought

Nour al-Najdi 2004-2014

Relatives and friends carry the body of Nour al-Najdi, 10-years-old, during her funeral in Rafah after being killed by an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip, on July 11, 2014. (Photo: AFP – Said Khatib – retrieved from Al Akhbar)

They will try their best to dehumanize the civilians slaughtered by the terrorist government of Israel, but the Internet allows us to, at least, know their names. Here are the names of the first 100 Gazans murdered by the Occupying force in the past 4 days. The list will be updated daily. I’m dedicating the blog’s Facebook page to reporting on Gaza. I apologize for the disproportionate attention given to Palestine, but international pressure is the only way to stop Israel’s government from continuing the ongoing massacre (despite Netanyahu pretending otherwise.) I’m still sharing Middle East-related links of course, not just on Palestine.

via Names of the Victims in Gaza – Continuously Updated | Hummus For Thought.

Killing of Palestinian Youth Puts an Israeli Focus on Extremism – NYTimes.com

Tamir Lion, an anthropologist who studies youth, said he was troubled by the changing attitudes among Israel’s young people. For many years, Mr. Lion interviewed soldiers about why they chose to enter combat units. “The answers,” he said on Israel Radio, “were always about the challenge, to show I could make it, the prestige involved.”

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That began to change in 2000, he said. “I started to get answers — not a lot, but some — like: ‘To kill Arabs.’ The first time I heard it, it was at the time of the large terror attacks, and since then it has not stopped.”

A generation has grown up in a period of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with suicide bombs and military incursions, rocket fire and airstrikes. Young people on both sides may think about the other more as an enemy than as a neighbor.

Mr. Lion, head of research at the Ethos Institute, said he was troubled. “Today I can say, and everyone who works with youth will say it, Jewish youth in Israel hate Arabs without connection to their parents or their own party affiliation and their own political opinions.”

via Killing of Palestinian Youth Puts an Israeli Focus on Extremism – NYTimes.com.

Bombs over Gaza – about Israeli politics – not security, revenge, peace, or… Liberman positions himself as Mr. Security – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

“The approach of ‘quiet will be met with quiet’ is very seriously mistaken, and I can say on my behalf and on behalf of the members of Yisrael Beitenu that we completely reject such an approach,” said Liberman in an obvious effort to paint Netanyahu as a weak leader who is afraid of a confrontation with Hamas. “It is unacceptable that after three of our children were kidnapped and murdered and after two consecutive weeks of rockets falling, Israel’s approach would be that quiet will be met with quiet. … We in Yisrael Beitenu oppose to the cease-fire. There are no arrangements to be made with Hamas.” His stern remarks were more reminiscent of an attack from the opposition than the comments of the country’s foreign minister during a military escalation. These remarks more or less coincided with comments made by Minister Yair Shamir during an interview with Al-Monitor.

via Liberman positions himself as Mr. Security – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

“Collective Punishment” for all Gazans for Belief Hamas will Suffer? Israeli official wants fuel, electricity to Gaza cut | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon urged Wednesday his government to immediately cut off fuel and power supplies to the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive.

“It is inconceivable that on the one hand we fight Hamas and on the other we provide fuel and electricity that are used to transport missiles that are fired at us,” Danon was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.

“We need to use all of the levers of pressure that we have at our disposal in order to bring Hamas to sue for a ceasefire,” he added.

Gaza’s only functioning power plant only supplies 65-megawatt – about one third of its total electricity needs, while the besieged enclave buys 120 megawatts of electricity from Israel and 28 megawatts from Egypt every day, according to Gaza’s energy authority.

via Israeli official wants fuel, electricity to Gaza cut | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Death toll grows as Israel and Hamas militants exchange fire | News | DW.DE | 09.07.2014

Power for leaders of Hamas and Israeli government tied to fighting each other to show how “strong” they are!?!

The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose above 25 early Wednesday morning, as Israeli warplanes struck “terror targets.” Local residents in the Palestinian territory awaited continued bombings and feared a possible ground invasion, after the Israeli government authorized the military to call up some 40,000 reservists for the aerial offensive.

The exact number of casualties varied across sources on Wednesday. Overnight, Israel reportedly struck the home of a Hamas commander in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, killing both him and several members of his family, according to the news agency AFP. An airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah claimed another life early Wednesday.

The worst attack on Tuesday occurred in the town of Khan Yunis, where six people, including children, were killed. Hamas responded by vowing that “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets for the resistance.”

via Death toll grows as Israel and Hamas militants exchange fire | News | DW.DE | 09.07.2014.

Religious groups want right to hate, fear, and discriminate against gay people and friends of gay people! Faith Groups Seek Exclusion From Bias Rule – NYTimes.com

Some religious folks (not) believe they have a right to hate who they want to hate! What’s next a claim of a right to discriminate according to race, religion, ethnicity, sex, national origin because of your corporate, family, or individually professed “religious” belief! Turn off the lights of democracy USA – we are done!

After a setback in the Supreme Court in the Hobby Lobby case, President Obama is facing mounting pressure from religious groups demanding to be excluded from his long-promised executive order that would bar discrimination against gay men and lesbians by companies that do government work.

The president has yet to sign the executive order, but last week a group of major faith organizations, including some of Mr. Obama’s allies, said he should consider adding an exemption for groups whose religious beliefs oppose homosexuality. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, the court ruled that family-run corporations with religious objections could be exempted from providing employees with insurance coverage for contraception.

via Faith Groups Seek Exclusion From Bias Rule – NYTimes.com.

Hamas: All Israelis are targets | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Horrible deaths but an Hamas all out attack is just what political leaders of Israel want just now – Hamas said Tuesday that “all

Israelis” would be targeted after a deadly strike on a house in the southern city of Khan Younis killed seven people, among them two teenagers.

“The Khan Yunis massacre… of children is a horrendous war crime, and all Israelis have now become legitimate targets for the resistance,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, without elaborating.

Medics said another 25 people were wounded in the strike.

via Hamas: All Israelis are targets | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.