Alison Weir

Alexander Cockburn June 06, 1941 – July 21, 2012 Master of Ceremonies - Jeffrey St. Clair Speakers

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The AP headline said: "UN envoy alarmed by attacks on Palestinian trees." Somehow the word "farmers" didn't make the cut, implying that the UN envoy was alarmed about what could seem a minimal concern and playing into Israeli claims that the UN is unduly picking on Israel. While the headline might sound like the UN envoy is quibbling over Palestinian trees while people (Israelis) are suffering, the true situation is lost entirely: that these trees are the livelihood for entire village communities whose subsistence is at stake.

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The following blog posting seems plausible. A number of articles in recent years have come out desribing projects by Israel and by Israeli partisans to assume false identities on the Internet. However, despite its plausibility, the piece below is unconfirmed and may be a hoax. I'm posting it here so that people can investigate it for themselves...

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"...And then a moment of clarity as the caffeine hits my brain: how can I separate the entitlement in the airport, the claiming of space in the airplane, from Jewish behavior in Jerusalem/Al Quds, in the West Bank, in Israeli society. These ultra-Orthodox Hassidim have come to symbolize for me the arrogant power of Zionism that is making Israel the militaristic, nationalistic country that has broken my heart and made my ashamed."- Alice Rothchild

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...Later in the story CNN mentions that some of the "others" were children but gives no additional details. According to reports from other sources, at least five of the injured were children, including one infant. There are a number of photographs of these children. Yet, CNN didn't publish any of them, and instead used a photo of a motorcycle. Below are some of the photos CNN missed...

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Updated on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 06:11AM by [Alison Weir

...In addition to reversing the party responsible for the initiation of violence, the Times' story also omits information about the 8 people who were "also injured." Were they old men? Women? Children? What is the nature of their injuries? Will any be permanent? The Times doesn't tell us. Yet, while reporter Isabel Kershner didn't bother to obtain or convey this information, she does tell us, "Several goats were killed in a petting zoo in an Israeli communal farm..." Other news media provide some of the missing information... an infant and four other children were among the injured. Three of the injured are in serious condition. IMEMC reports that the missiles were fired into a crowded area that included school students heading home from evening school...

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At the end of my recent article, The Democrats’ Jerusalem Arithmetic: When Israel is Concerned, Half = Two-Thirds, (the Republicans previously did the same thing) I wrote of my outrage at what's going on. If you have similar thoughts, please comment below and share this post with others.

We're tired of wars and killing, and of being sold a pack of goods by both parties using lies, deception, and manipulation.

We’re tired of power brokers running roughshod over what we want

We’re tired of “alternative” institutions such as MoveOn that enable the charade, and of candidate puppets of “change” who continue cruel policies while spouting high-minded words that they hope will hide their unconscionable actions.

We’re tired of scripted conventions, of bullying special interests, of lying politicians, of manipulative media, and of partisan politics that set us against one another, in which both sides push falsehoods about the other, and about themselves.

We’re tired of pretend democracy.

More and more of us are demanding real change, not computer generated simulations. Instead of responding by refusing to vote, and thus forfeiting this life-and-death game, many of us are going to cast votes that will displease those used to running things.

And if in this election we choose to” throw our votes away,” as party cheerleaders scornfully call it, on candidates who would end our serial, suicidal wars and stop the killing of children – thus saving the lives of our own as well – then I feel we will have a shot at a future election in which we aren’t once again expected to choose between a proven war criminal and a competitor who might, astonishingly enough, be even worse.

Instead of throwing our votes away, I believe we will have started the process of throwing the bums out – this time for real. And of keeping our republic, or our democracy, whichever you choose to call it.

Others may disagree. But by burying the story, AP and others withheld from readers the chance to decide for themselves...

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Once again, Israel is recruiting university presidents and chancellors. I wonder how these academics can justify not meeting with Palestinians, who have suffered diverse academic assaults from Israel – from ethnic/religious discrimination to their schools being shelled and students killed – while they're over there. Think of the astronomical wealth of the Israel Lobby, which can fund a multitude of such trips.

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It looks like the new "academic" discipline of "hate studies," is often a front to accuse people of "anti-Semitism." A researcher thoroughly documents its neglect of Zionism as a source of hate, and the Hate Studies Journal, of course, rejects his paper.

See “Hate Studies” Ignores Certain Types of Hate and tell others about what's going on. Be sure not to miss the additional articles at the end of the article that expose the Southern Poverty Law Center, an institution that many of us long respected...

...While I am pleased that the newspaper finally printed something, I feel it's unfortunate (and shows a bit of a double standard) that the editors would not publish the original letter I submitted, restricted the information I could include in my rebuttal, posted my letter at the bottom of three letters (they had published the defamatory letters at the top of the section), failed to promote my letter in the paper's Twitter account (which they had done with the one accusing me), and continue to feature the defamatory letters – weeks after they were published – at the top of their Letters to the Editor page...

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Some people have sent me letters they had sent to the Daily Cal in response to published letters to the editor that contained false information on Israel-Palestine and that attacked If Americans Knew and me personally. A few were written before the Daily Cal refused to publish my own letter in response to the personal attacks against me, and some were written afterward to object to the Daily Cal's deeply unethical conduct. These excellent letters contain important factual information and thoughtful analysis. It's a shame that the Daily Cal so far hasn't printed any of them, since they would help to inform the newspaper's readers on a critically important topic that is at the center of events affecting all Americans and millions of people in the Middlle East. They also discuss core principles of journalistic ethics, surely an important and relevant discussion.

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Updated on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 06:23AM by [Alison Weir

Updated on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 11:52AM by [Alison Weir

...Newspaper ethics codes – and normal concepts of fairness – affirm the right of a person accused of wrongdoing to respond. The American Society of Newspaper Editors Statement of Principles, for example, decrees: "Persons publicly accused should be given the earliest opportunity to respond."

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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)

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...[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...

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

Updated on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 05:56AM by [Alison Weir

Updated on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 at 07:06AM by [Alison Weir

Updated on Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 02:43PM 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...

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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...

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...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...

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...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...

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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"...

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