Alison Weir

I just sent the following message to the president of the White House Correspondents Association about their decision to refuse to allow Helen Thomas to purchase a table at their upcoming dinner. I hope others will contact them about this, also. (202-266-7453 phone; 202-266-7454 fax)

Dear Caren Bohan,

I hope you will reconsider your decision not to allow Helen Thomas to purchase a table at this year's White House Correspondents Association's Dinner. As you are aware, this will be the 50th anniversary of women journalists being allowed to attend this dinner – a breakthrough created by Helen Thomas.

Thomas wrote to your organization with a small, extremely appropriate request: "As the first woman president to preside over the WHCA, and one of a few women who were instrumental in successfully convincing President Kennedy to boycott the dinner, it is very important to me to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this monumental feat with my family and close friends this year."

I have read that Secretary of the WHCA Julie Mason explained your denial of a table to Ms. Thomas' because "it would be 'logistically impossible' to allow every past WHCA president to get their own table."

However, as you and she are no doubt aware, this is not a request based on Thomas' position as a past president of the WHCA; it is a request based on her unique, historical contribution.

In addition to breaking numerous barriers to women journalists, Thomas spent decades providing profoundly important reporting. It is for this reason that so many organizations honored her though the years with a multitude of awards, scholarships in her name, and honorary degrees -- many of which have now been taken away through the vengeful, mean-spirited campaign waged against her by such Israel apologists as Ari Fleischer and Abraham Foxman (please see The Manufactured Controversy Over Former Senior White House Correspondent Helen Thomas.)

I feel there is little doubt that if Thomas had not offended Israel partisans, your organization would be particularly celebrating her at the upcoming dinner, not denying her small request.

Given Ms. Thomas' age and health, this may be your organization's last chance to honor her in person. Please reconsider your timid, highly inappropriate refusal to allow her to purchase a table – a truly minimal request.

Sincerely,
--
Alison Weir
President, Council for the National Interest
Executive Director, If Americans Knew

...[Atzmon] stresses that it is intellectually dishonest to attempt to discuss Zionism and Israel without reference to “Jewishness.” Zionism was a specifically Jewish endeavor to create a Jewish state. What could be more obvious? If you leave out the “Jewish” part there isn’t much left, is there? The point is too obvious to belabor, but Abunimah attempts to do just that. Atzmon, in the grand tradition of intellectual inquiry, has committed himself to trying to understand the whole complex picture, which centers around the question of what “Jewish” and “Jewishness” mean. Abunimah cries foul and invokes the taboo that has been the mainstay of Zionist propaganda from day one. You can’t talk about “Jews.” You can’t talk about “Jewishness.” Otherwise you are “racist,” “antisemitic.” A circular, absurd argument...

Click to read more ...

Updated on Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 08:07AM by [Alison Weir

While people are suffering in Israeli prisons and being killed in Gaza, it is sad to see time and energy expended in a campaign against Israeli author and saxaphonist Gilad Atzmon. I respect and like people on both sides of this controversy and am troubled over this distracting and destructive (but, I hope, temporary) split. I, of course, come down on the side of open discussion, even when the subject matter is difficult or troubling – in fact, that's probably when it's most needed. I believe in such old fashioned but critical concepts as the free marketplace of ideas, and I oppose censorship and would-be "thought police" telling others what they may or may not do, even when those attempting to do this have created valuable work that I admire...

Click to read more ...

H.R.347, the `Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011' has just been passed. This makes it a federal offense, with imprisonment of at least up to one year, for any "unauthorized" person to enter or remain in a building -- or the grounds -- where the Secret Service is present or where there is an "an event designated as a special event of national significance." Since the Senate has already passed this, it is now a felony to have a demonstration near presidential candidates or a visiting head of state such as Benjamin Netanyahu. In fact, it is a felony to even be on the grounds where they are temporarily visiting, say at a campaign stop – even if you don't yet know that this has now become an off-limits area...

Click to read more ...

...after my event was already scheduled, the Baker Institute Student Forum then "worked with the Consulate General of Israel" to schedule an Israeli spokesperson to give a talk the day after mine. That event is being held in the institute itself and has webcasting capability...

Click to read more ...

...Khader Adnan, the father of two daughters and with a third child on the way, is a baker, a Masters student in Economics at Birzeit University, and a political activist. Khader, was arrested on December 17, 2011 by masked soldiers who raided his home in the middle of the night (the village of Arrabe near Jenin in the occupied West Bank). Between the 18th and the 29th of January 2012, he was subjected to almost daily cruel and inhumane interrogations. During interrogations, he was shackled to a crooked chair with his hands tied behind his back in a position that caused him back pain. He said that interrogators threatened him constantly and verbally abused him and his family...

Click to read more ...

Israel National News reports that a young Jewish teenager fell in love with an Arab, converted to Islam, and decided to marry him, running away from home to do so. The parents, horrified, called the police, and after weeks of searching, located her. While many parents would quite likely be concerned at a young daughter running off, there is another dimenstion to this story. It turns out that Israel has something called the "Lehava anti-assimilation organization"...

Click to read more ...

...The much weaker turnout for this suggests that some of these groups simply don’t want a national protest directed against AIPAC, despite all the “endorsements” ....The left is weak and confused about Palestine for lack of universalist convictions and analysis...

Click to read more ...

A flier to distribute at Occupy events can be downloaded here.

More people may want to read this intriguing article from 2011: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs October 1996, pg. 11, Special Report, by Neve Gordon Congress received him with great fanfare. President Clinton, who during the recent election campaign had backed his rival, Shimon Peres, appears to have had a change of heart. Yet who is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and why did the political elite in the U.S. accept him with such warmth? A few important facts about Netanyahu and his objectives—which the U.S. media have obstinately neglected to reporthelp to clarify the enigma.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 11:55AM by [Alison Weir

...As I was trying to describe the facts, another man came up and began haranguing me. He was almost shaking with fury. He yelled that Muslims tear the fingernails off Christians and similar things. I tried to answer him, but he shouted over everything I tried to say. I got my phone out and tried to video what he was yelling at me. I then tried to resume my conversation with Boykin and tell him about my first trip to Palestine, but the man continued shouting at me, drowning out my words, so I again tried to video what he was yelling at me. He suddenly violently hit my hand and phone, knocking the phone across the room...

Click to read more ...

I had not been planning to write about the controversy inside the Move Over AIPAC colition that occurred awhile ago, but I've discovered that an inaccurate statement was published by Mondoweiss about this. I'm surprised this statement was sent to Weiss, since most people had sought to keep this discussion only within the coalition itself. However, now that this has become public, it seems important to set the record straight: Awhile ago Move Over AIPAC organizers issued a press release, which they didn't send to the coalition but which was published by a number of Israeli and pro-Israel publications. It said: “Helen Thomas was invited to speak, as a journalist who is fearless about questioning power and unnecessary wars, but because some of her comments have sparked controversy, several members of the coalition and our grassroots community had concerns about her appearance.” As a member of two coalition organizations, I was extremely concerned about this. I felt it was important that Helen not be pushed out of our conference as she had been pushed out of numerous other speaking engagements by the ADL and Israel partisans, and I tried to contact the organizers about the situation by phone and email.

Click to read more ...

...To try to counter this Israeli-spin-passing-as-reporting, we've created an an easily printed out hand-out of my article about Itamar, which includes an extremely long list of Palestinian children 13 and under killed by Israeli forces. I hope people will distribute this as widely as possible. Bulk copies can be ordered from us at minimal or no cost. You can order these online or email us at orders@ifamericansknew.org It is critical that we all work to expose this cover-up and disseminate the facts...

Click to read more ...

Updated on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 06:55AM by [Alison Weir

Former undersecretary of State for political affairs Marc Grossman has just been named as the new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are serious problems with this: (1) A federal court approved a subpoena for Grossman to learn to what degree he had shared classified information with AIPAC with the understanding that this would be passed on to Israel. Such an action is both illegal and treasonous. (The trial was then quashed. More.) (2) An FBI whistleblower stated that the FBI had been investigating Grossman for many years, finding that he was doing special favors for Israel and Turkish interests, and that he was serving as a conduit to a group of congressmen who become, in a sense, the targets to be recruited as “agents of influence.” Below is an excerpt from an interview by Philip Giraldi with former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds:

Click to read more ...

I subscribe to Brasscheck TV and have just viewed the following clip of Chicago mainstream "reporters" trying to block a radio reporter from asking Rahm Emanuel hardball questions: It's an extremely revealing video and demonstrates the press corps's failure to discharge its important duties. No wonder that many joined the attack on Helen Thomas, who actually asked real questions. I have not heard of William J. Kelly before, the man trying to ask Mayoral candidate Emanuel about his alleged Chicago residency and his financial connections. Kelly is labeled a "conservative talk show host," and I have no idea what his various political views are. I certainly applaud his attempt to ask Emanuel important, legitimate questions. Emanuel, of course, is very close to Israel. His father was a pre-Israel terrorist and he himself held Israeli citizen for many years. In the first Gulf War rather than serve in the US military, Rahm went to Israel and volunteered for Israeli forces. Following is some background about Emanuel that more people should know. It would be good if Kelly would sometime try to ask him about this, but I don't know if Kelly would be willing to touch the "third rail," as Helen Thomas calls it. In fact, he probably doesn't even know this part of Emanuel's bio:

Click to read more ...

My article about Palestinian children and others shot in the head by Israeli forces came out yesterday in CounterPunch. The first email response was the usual Zionist diatribe, but since then I've received many positive, supportive messages. Below is an especially moving one: ...The reason I'm writing you is to relate that sometimes the Israeli bullets kill children many years later. I met this Palestinian kid, Deya Ali, when I was active in the Palestine movement. He was shot by a settler. He was brought here in 2003 and received treatment at Mountain Side Hospital among others. I spoke on his behalf at a well-attended event at Rutgers in which he was present. I had written a poem and was so nervous reading in front of the large crowd that my arm flapped around. One thing I remember vividly is that he wanted me to know that he was only walking when the settler shot him. He wanted me to believe him that he wasn't throwing rocks. I believe him, although even if he had been throwing a rock that would not have justified the devastating bullet the Israeli settler shot into his spine. It is a grave injustice that he was the victim of a gunshot wound which caused him extreme pain, debilitation and unbearable suffering for eight years before finally ending his life last year. You can imagine how sad I was last year when I read of Deya's death from complications http://www.arabisto.com/article/Blogs/Dr_Aref_Assaf/Deya_Ali_Dreams_derailed/55293 I went to this link and below is what I read: Deya Ali: Dreams derailed I mourn the loss of my friend, Deya, who passed away in Germany on February 18, 2010, after a series of complications stemming from his long and brave fight to recover from an Israeli bullet's shrapnel lodged in his fragile body. In January 2003, I travelled to Jordan to bring back to the US the then 15 years old youth to be treated in NJ hospitals. Acting as his Legal Guardian, I witnessed and shared in Deya's fight for life. I am recalling my memory of Deya over the last seven years, details of which are known only to very few. It is an inspiring story even though fate has so untimely ended his life dreams- and boy did he have dreams!

Click to read more ...

CounterPunch has just published my article about Helen Thomas, and we've also posted an annotated version with links, photos and videos on our news site as well.

It's interesting to see the misreporting on Thomas's words. For example, nowhere did she say the word "Jews."

Another point also tells more about her critics than about her.

When one actually views the video, it appears that Thomas is referring to Israeli settlers. (Truthfully, the correct word should be colonists, but I'll use the commonly employed euphemism).

Her words are: "Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied. And it’s their land…”

The reference to "occupied" would normally suggest the West Bank and Gaza, the Palestinian Occupied Territories.  However, her attackers almost universally seem to have taken her words as referring to all of Israel.

In other words, in a sort of Freudian slip, her attackers acknowledge that all of the land of Palestine is occupied.

Interesting.

On April 4th we posted a report on our news site about how the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) targets student leaders from around the country, bringing over 1,000 students to its annual national convention in Washington D.C.

In a chilling JTA video from this convention, longtime AIPAC operative Jonathon Kessler is seen describing the Israel lobby's' plan to take over the University of California Berkeley student government, which had passed by 16-4 a resolution detested by the pro-Israel lobby.

In front of a cheering throng, Kessler announced:

We’re going to make certain that pro-Israel students take over the student government and reverse the vote. That is how AIPAC operates in our nation’s capitol. This is how AIPAC must operate on our nation’s campuses.

Yes, that is exactly what the Israel lobby has often succeeded in doing in Congress and throughout the United States. It has taken over numerous campus organizations, university departments, and even churches. (See my recent article giving some of the specifics of this decades-long campaign).

For years writers such as Paul Findley, Edward Tivnan, George Ball, Donald Neff, John Mulhall, Steven Green, James Abourezek, Andrew Killgore, Richard Curtiss, Janet McMahon, Delinda Hanley, James Ennes, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have described this process, but their books have been largely suppressed and/or attacked and only a very small portion of the American public is aware of ths information.

Please view the following video and send it to others. It is time for all of us – of all religions, races, ethnicities and political backgrounds – to oppose this fanatic, destructive, manipulative, and massively powerful special interest pressure group.

As an immediate, critical action, please contact the UC Berkeley student Senate and urge its members to override the extremely inappropriate veto by its absentee president. (More information here.)

Following is a moving letter that one person has already sent:

Dear members of the ASUC Senate,
 
My name is Anne Weinstein Garcia. I am  a Jewish American woman and a college teacher in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But I will always call California “home”.  I was born in California, received my doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco and was fortunate enough to be fully funded by a prestigious scholarship for my complete tenure there. Preceding my doctoral work (and post-doctoral studies in Cambridge, England), I had received other academic degrees in Fresno and San Diego.
 
I mention all of these experiences as evidence of what would appear to be a strong educational background.  
 
But at the ripe old age of 50 (almost 6 years ago), I discovered that my education in at least one arena was sadly lacking—the “story” of Israel.  Now I had been told a story over all those years—from my family, my friends, my temple and my community. This story was corroborated by the popular culture that emphasized the frequent persecution of people of the Jewish faith during Biblical times; I saw the film “The Ten Commandments” when I was 4 or 5 and read Exodus when I was 13. My understanding of why the state of Israel was to be celebrated was also based  on the narratives of various plays and films I attended as a young adult—I know the words to “Fiddler on the Roof” by heart.  And much of these “historical” events did take place—in one fashion or another.
 
Unfortunately, however, none of these experiences provided me with the factual basis of why Israel was founded, and equally importantly, how it was founded—namely, on the backs of the Palestinian people. The injustice that has been done to them for over 60 years now is so reminiscent of the mistreatment of Jews throughout history that one is blinded by the parallels.
 
By now I have to believe that you, as educated members of the Berkeley campus (a campus from which both of my nieces recently graduated and one of them is currently completing her residency at UC Davis), know full well that the only thing that stands between human rights for the Palestinians and the abuse of power by Israel is the political will of  Americans to do the right thing. We must stop supporting Israel’s mistreatment of these people—stop the diplomatic support, stop the political support and, in your case, stop the financial support.
 
To this end, I strongly urge you to reaffirm Senate Bill 118A, despite the recent presidential veto. Divesting from the occupation is a critical nonviolent tool for putting pressure on Israel to abide by international law.  Stand tall against false criticism—you know and I know that there is nothing against Judaic principles when one protects the victim of an attack. And that is what has happened for 62 years—the Palestinians have been victims—the  “fall guys” for the entire world—not Hitler and his cronies who produced the Holocaust—but the people of Palestine who had NOTHING to do with it.
 
Jewish people around the world, whether they know it or not, will benefit from this important and appropriate action on the part of the Berkeley Student Senate.
 
Sincerely,
Anne Weinstein Garcia

(An excellent blog report on this can be seen on a site by Richard Brenneman.)

The battle with Michigan Radio, the powerful NPR affiliate in southern Michigan, the most listened to public radio service in Michigan, continues. After months of official stone-walling, public pressure finally forced Michigan Radio and University of Michigan officials (the U of M holds Michigan Radio's licenses) to participate in a conference call with me and four Ann Arbor residents. The entire situation with Michigan Radio has been bizarre. Normally, NPR stations plead for money. Yet, it has taken three public campaigns to get Michigan Radio, under the direction of Steve Schram, to even talk to us about giving them money. Months after Schram promised he would respond “soon” to our request to be an underwriter, during which neither he nor anyone else under his control would reply to my phone calls or emails, I was again in Ann Arbor on a lecture tour. This time I went to visit him in person, accompanied by approximately 20 concerned Ann Arbor residents, including at least one UM professor. There was no chanting or disruption; these individuals were simply there in support and to provide passersby with information on the situation. Also along was an independent filmmaker, who had learned about our planned visit and asked if he could film it. I, of course, said yes. The station also knew about this visit ahead of time, since I had announced it at two of my lectures, and the receptionist knew who I was even before I introduced myself. Of course, my voice should have been enormously familiar, since I had spoken to her a multitude of times as she transferred me to voicemail after voicemail. Mr. Schram would not deign to come out of his office to speak with us. He was, we were told, “in a meeting.” Another person told us he was “out of town.” When I asked which it was, the receptionist settled on “in a meeting.” I said I would wait. I also asked to speak with other individuals. Everyone I requested (eventually, every member of their staff) was, I was told, unavailable.

Click to read more ...

Updated on Monday, March 29, 2010 at 06:00AM by [Alison Weir

This has been going on for months, and they just can’t get their story straight.

Click to read more ...