Archive for January, 2009
Obama kills 22 people in Pakistan
Obama’s first military action as President was to sanction two missle strikes into Pakistan. These US attacks caused the deaths of 22 people, woman and children included.
“The Obama administration is to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan to 60,000 and when asked in a television interview if the US public should expect more American casualties, Biden said: ‘I hate to say it, but yes, I think there will be. There will be an uptick’.”
“Israel was born out of Jewish terrorism”
British Labour MP, Sir Gerald Kaufman (also Jewish and raised as a Zionist) speaks out against Israel’s continued crimes in Palestine. Kaufman likens Israel’s actions as no different to that of the Nazi’s during World War Two:
David and Goliath: Palestine and Israel
The following article was published in Online Opinion on November 18, 2008:
David and Goliath: Palestine and Israel
By Reuben Brand
An Israeli think tank has publicised its concerns regarding the growth of Hamas both politically and militarily over the past three years.
Hamas, since its humble beginnings as an offshoot of the The Muslim Brotherhood, has grown from the Islamic Resistance Movement created in 1987 to the democratically elected majority of the Palestinian Parliament in 2006. It now has control over the bulk of the Gaza Strip, much to the discontent of political rivals Abu Mazen and Fatah who are unwilling to acknowledge and accept Hamas’s authority.
The report, issued by the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre, in early 2008, proposes that in order to displace Hamas’s infrastructure it would incur an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) operation not so dissimilar to the one with Hezbollah in 2006, when the IDF crossed the border and entered Lebanon.
Israel believes that the IDF operation with Hezbollah in 2006 was a strategic role model for Hamas in its use of asymmetric warfare and tactical military response to any IDF incursions within Gaza.
According to the report Hezbollah’s main source of infrastructure is located in the mountainous and forested areas of South Lebanon, which gives Hezbollah a lot more breathing space and time to recoup, regroup and receive arms with relative ease.
Whereas “the Gaza Strip is flat and exposed… has continuous, densely populated areas which are advantageous for a defending force and difficult for regular army forces to operate in.”
The report goes on to specify Hamas’s military capabilities, upgrades and support from neighbouring countries. It voices concern for the State of Israel over Hamas’s continued build up of arms and specialised weapons, now capable of reaching far into land occupied by Israeli settlers.
There are an alleged 20,000 armed Hamas operatives stationed in and around Gaza who, according to the glossy 51 paged document, not only possess locally made Qassam short range rockets, but, also have “several dozens of long range 122mm rockets, dozens of anti tank missiles, a few dozens of various anti aircraft machineguns, tens of thousands of rifles and millions of bullets.”
Most of these weapons must be smuggled into Gaza through an intricate and dangerous labyrinth of tunnels and across numerous borders and checkpoints from neighbouring allies in Egypt, Iran, Syria and the support of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In a role reversal “David and Goliath” comparison, Israel and the IDF have an estimated 168,000 active armed personnel on the ground, and can mobilise many more thousands of reserve soldiers including paramilitary without hesitation or the slightest of effort.
According to a Congressional Research Service report, Israel has received a total of $81.3 billion in US aid over the past decade and remains to be one of the top beneficiaries of US military and economic assistance.
Israel has a commanding military arsenal as well as an intentionally undisclosed amount of nuclear weapons. The IDF also receive free weapons from the US as part of the Excess Defence Articles Program. An extensive inventory of these free US weapons was produced in 2002, a small snapshot of which is as follows: 64,744 M-16A1 rifles, 2,469 grenade launchers, 1500 M2 .05 calibre machine guns and numerous different types of ammunition.
Other documented US weapons in the IDF arsenal include: 385 fighter planes, 162 helicopters, and an unidentified amount of varied missiles.
The flagrant hypocrisy of this continued military and economic aid is articulated under section 4 of the US Arms Export Control Act, in which it categorically states that the use of US military equipment in the possession of ‘friendly countries’ is solely for “legitimate self defence… and internal security” and should not be used in any offensives or aggressions towards other Countries or States.
Israel is now, and continues to be, in clear violation of this act.
A US Department of State document reported Israel as having “used excessive force in contravention of their own rules of engagement.”
Hamas was predominantly set up as a resistance movement to fight for the rights of the Palestinian People in the face of an opposing Israeli force. The academic director of the International Institute for Counter Terrorism, Reuven Paz, said that “approximately 90 percent of the organization’s work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities.”
The director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought, Dr. Azzam Tamimi, writes in his critically acclaimed book Hamas: A history from within that the leaders of Hamas were recognised by the Palestinians for their “ascetism, altruism, dedication, and honesty.”
“No one joins Hamas to make money or has become rich by virtue of their position within it….Finally, donors were aware that only a small fraction of the money raised by Hamas would be used for military purposes,” said Dr Tamimi.
So Hamas continues to smuggle arms into Gaza from neighboring allies and Israel continues to openly receive them for free from the US. The problems in the region continue and increase in a vicious cycle of tit for tat and Israel continues to perpetrate crimes unchallenged by the rest of the world.
The truth must not be sanitised
My following article was published today on ABC Unleashed, Australia’s largest news, politics, opinion and analysis website:
The Truth must not be sanitised
With a war that has drawn distinct global lines between “the West and the rest”, journalists are now, more than ever, faced with the ethical dilemma of what to report and how to report it. Writes Reuben Brand
As I prepare to film a documentary and work as a freelance journalist in the Middle East and South Asia, the ethical questions of what to report and how to report it constantly arise.
Our myopic media moguls relentlessly force feed us with the age old “us and them” scenario, “good vs. evil,” the biblical battles of yester year - This archaic style of reportage has reached a crescendo that should not be topped and for myself and other like minded journalists the sanitisation of news and the constant rhetoric that accompanies it has reached a critical mass.
Since the US led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, 222 journalists and media assistants have been killed, 14 currently remain kidnapped and two are still missing. So why do it? Why put yourself in harms way? Simple - to tell the stories others won’t.
Of course these figures pale to insignificants when placed beside the number of innocent civilians brutally murdered by occupying forces. According to ORB, an independent UK based research company, the current death toll in Iraq alone is well over 1.2 million and counting. Not to mention Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan or anywhere else the US or friends thereof seem to be.
It’s easy to ignore a number when there are no names or faces attached. But a number or “collateral damage” is someone’s mother, father, sister, brother - this is not collateral damage, this is corporeal damage. Murder.
The Middle East and South Asia, I believe, needs to be fully documented. From the thousands of innocent families, displaced and desperate, to those taken into custody on no charge and imprisoned in concentration camps like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, where they are systematically tortured and humiliated.
The realities of war should not be sugar coated for western consumption by media corporations with partisan persuasions. War is ugly and vicious, but some coverage, like our friends at FOX News, reports it as sport, or entertainment on a game show. Perish the thought of ruining someone’s dinner by showing a bloodied body on the six o’clock news.
One major problem facing journalists who want to document the truth of these ongoing conflicts is safety. In most conflicts, a journalist who wants to get close to the front line without the threat of being an easy target must first become heavily embedded within the occupying military force.
Of course embedding gives journalists access to the tip of the spear, to areas otherwise impossible to reach, but it will no doubt entail censorship in what is reported on. The journalist will go where the military wants them to go and broadcast the stories that paint the invasion or occupation in a good light. As a result, you, the audience, only see what the military wants you to see. Nothing.
According to a report released by Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) the number of journalists killed in the past five years has risen dramatically by 244 per cent. Of the 86 journalists that were killed worldwide in 2007, nearly half of them died in Iraq.
“The Iraqi and US authorities - themselves guilty of serious violence against journalists - must take firm steps to end these attacks. Iraqi journalists are deliberately targeted by armed groups and are not simply the victims of stray bullets. - The government displayed alarming inertia and has not yet found a way to stop the violence, except for allowing journalists to carry arms to defend themselves,” states the report.
RSF also said that armed groups target journalists who sympathise with their rivals and those who are connected with foreign media outlets.
“No country has ever seen more journalists killed than Iraq - more than in the Vietnam War, the fighting in ex-Yugoslavia, the massacres in Algeria or the Rwanda genocide,” said RSF.
Similarly, journalists working in the occupied Palestinian territories face the constant threat of being shot by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) as well as rival political factions striving for power. One such incident caused the death of Fadel Shanaa, a 25 year old Palestinian cameraman, who, whilst filming an incursion by Israeli tanks near the Al-Barij refugee camp was shelled by the IDF.
According to RSF “The behaviour of Mr. Shanaa and his assistant, Wafa Abu Mizyed, should not have caused any confusion. Their car was clearly marked as a press vehicle. Their flak jackets also had the word ‘Press’ written on them.”
The Israeli soldiers responsible the Mr Shanaa’s death have not been prosecuted. Five journalists have been killed by the IDF in the past decade, including British independent film maker James Miller in 2003, whose family continues to campaign for justice. Again, the IDF decided not to prosecute the officer responsible for Mr Miller’s death.
B’Tselem, the Israeli information centre for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has initiated Shooting Back; a citizen journalist programme. Launched in 2007, Shooting Back is a video advocacy project, in which over 100 video cameras have been distributed to Palestinian families living in high conflict areas.
The aim of the project is to capture, on film, the violations of human rights that Palestinian’s endure on a daily basis by the IDF and settlers. In one case an elderly Palestinian couple, whilst herding their goats, were maliciously attacked by a group of Israeli settlers and badly beaten. Before fleeing for help the couple’s daughter in-law caught the attack on one of the cameras supplied by B’Tselem.
The footage of this attack and many others like it are now being exposed to the international community in an attempt to redress such incursions on basic human rights.
But of course there are those who wait, desperately trying to set up a scenario, get the scoop or take the shot that will springboard them to fame. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for his photograph of an emaciated Sudanese child crawling helplessly towards a United Nation’s food camp.
The camp was over one kilometre away; a carrion starved vulture sat stalking the child, waiting for it to die. Carter himself waited for around 20 minutes before taking the shot, ensuring the vulture was close enough to get maximum impact. The fate of the child remains unknown as Carter left the scene as soon as the photo was taken; he then sat beneath a nearby tree, smoked a cigarette and wept.
The ethical question arises as to why he didn’t help the dying child? It is the journalist’s dilemma, as Carter was well aware of and points out as he describes his own anguish whilst photographing a horrific execution early on in his career.
“I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures, [and] I felt that maybe my actions hadn’t been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn’t necessarily such a bad thing to do,” said Carter.
“His job as a journalist to show the plight of the Sudanese had been completed, exceeded, in fact. The bottom line was that Lifeline Sudan had not flown in Kevin and João to pick up or feed children - they were flown in to show the worst of the famine and generate publicity”, said Greg Marinovich, colleague and close friend of Carters.
Consequently three months later Kevin Carter committed suicide due to acute depression.
“I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain, of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners… I have gone to join Ken [colleague and friend of Carters] if I am that lucky”, said Carter in his suicide note.
So what ethical boundaries are journalists justifiably allowed to cross in order to pursue a story when the loss of civilian life reaches such morbid heights? In the case of the documenter and the documented, should a journalist put aside their notepad and camera in order to help someone in direct need? Or should they continue to document what they see? In this situation, does the end justify the means? - whereby the incident, once broadcast or printed, is used to help a far greater number of people by educating and showing a reality that would otherwise go unnoticed by the international community.
The questions of ethical judgement are all subjective and only answerable by the individual, but if the people of the world are kept blindfolded and evidence of continual human rights abuses and violations are not documented, then those responsible, the individuals, administrations and regimes held accountable, can never be bought to justice.
War criminals should be charged
Elna Sondergaard, the Director of the Human Rights Program and Associate Professor of Law at the American University in Cairo writes the following article about why Israel needs to be put on trial and charged for crimes against humanity:
“The brutal and indiscriminate Israeli attacks on the Palestinian population in Gaza during the last weeks have entailed numerous violations of basic norms of international law, such as the principles of proportionality and distinction (between civilians and combatants; and between civilian and military targets). Military acts such as intentionally targeting schools and other civilian facilities are considered violations of international humanitarian law in relation to which the state of Israel bears responsibility — but they also constitute serious crimes under international law (e.g., war crimes and eventually crimes against humanity) in relation to which individuals should stand trial.”
The rogue state stops
The carnage caused by Israel has finally come to a temporary end, but is this really a cease fire?
Locally made Qassam short range rockets, fired into Israel by Hamas, have killed roughly 20 people over the past two years. Israel’s state of the art military and extensive arsenal, courtesy of the US, have killed well over 1200 people and wounded over 5000 in just 22 days.
Does Israel really believe that one Israeli is worth 60 Palestinians? Do the math, its unconscienable.
The massacre continues
The UN said there were no Hamas fighters inside the targeted school:
$1 million to kill Mubarak
A one million dollar bounty for the person who assassinates the Egyptian President:
“An angry mob of Bassij paramilitary students gathered outside Egyptian Interest Section in Tehran calling for the assassination of President Hosni Mubarak, reported the semi-official news agency Fars on Saturday.
A government sanctioned association called “Guardians of Martyrs’ Blood” offered a million dollars bounty for killer of the Egyptian President.
“Foruz Rajaifar, director of the association announced in a ceremony held at the Egyptian Interest Section that its organization is willing to pay the prize to the assassin,” Fars added.
In the past week, hundreds of Bassij students marched in the streets of the Iranian capital vowing to burn down Egyptian and Jordanian diplomatic buildings for not going to war with Israel.”
Iran to launch legal action against Israel
“Iran’s Attorney General Ghorbanali Dorri Najaf Abadi said on Monday that Iran was going to launch a legal action against Israel over Gaza issue, Iran’s satellite Press TV website reported on Monday.
”Iran will host an international meeting to review the legal aspects of the Gaza war in preparation for the prosecution of war criminals,” Dorri Najaf Abadi said, adding that “the meeting would be held in March.”
The international event will study ways to bring those who committed war crimes during the 22-day Israeli war to justice, he said. Earlier in January, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded a trial of Israeli leaders.
Ahmadinejad, during his address on Jan. 16 to an emergency Arab summit on Gaza held in the Qatari capital Doha, urged the international court of justice to prosecute Israeli leaders for “war crimes” in Gaza.
”It is the most essential that Israel’s political and military leaders stand trial for the acts of genocide they have committed against Palestinians,” he was quoted as saying by Press TV.
Iran never hesitated to pronounce its all-out support for Hamas during the three-week unprecedented Israeli air and ground offensive on Gaza, which left over 1,400 Palestinians killed and some 5,500 others wounded.”