Eyewitness accounts of the Israeli massacre of peace activists begin to come out.

I’ve been dying to hear eye-witness reports of what happened on the flotilla from someone other than Israeli Defense Forces. Little by little, the accounts are starting to come out. But, it looks like the IDF confiscated as many cameras as they could find and photographic evidence is not very forthcoming. However, here are a few of the accounts I’m finding so far, first from Norman Paech:

But a group of German witnesses who experienced the assault first hand before being detained and deported denied anyone on board was armed with more than a few wooden sticks.

“Personally I saw two and a half wooden batons that were used … There was really nothing else. We never saw any knives,” Norman Paech, a 72-year-old former member of parliament told reporters in Berlin.

“The Israeli government justifies the raid because they were attacked. This is absolutely not the case,” said Paech, wrapped in a blue blanket and visibly shaken by the bloody outcome to the mission

“This was not an act of self-defence.”

Paech, a former MP from the far-left Die Linke party, said he took photographic evidence but that his camera had been confiscated.

He denied Israel’s suggestion that passengers had been lying in ambush.

“We had not prepared in any way to fight. We didn’t even consider it,” he added. “No violence, no resistance — because we knew very well that we would have absolutely no chance against soldiers like this.

“This was an attack in international waters on a peaceful mission… This was a clear act of piracy,” he added.

And from 2 other German MP’s:

The former MP’s comments were backed up by two others on board the convoy, MPs Inge Hoeger, 59, and Annette Groth, 56.

“We felt like we were in a war, like we were being kidnapped,” Hoeger said. “Nobody had a weapon.”

From a Greek citizen aboard one of the ships:

A Greek activist on one of the smaller boats, the Eleftheri Mesogeio, said Israeli troops used rubber bullets, tear gas and electroshock weapons to subdue those aboard.

Commandos jumped onto the ship at around 0530 GMT, an hour after the clashes on the Mavi Marmara, he said.

“They fired rubber coated bullets, tear gas and then used electroshock weapons on some activists,” he told Skai television after Israel deported him and five compatriots to Athens.

And from a frenchman:

A Frenchman detained on another of the six ships told reporters his fellow passengers offered no resistance to arrest.

“The instructions were clear. Do not provoke, remain calm and go to meet them (the commandos) saying ‘We are pacifists and not terrorists’,” Youssef Benderbal said after arriving at a Paris airport.

“Masked commandos took possession of the ship. They were aiming for the captain’s cabin,” said Benderbal, a member of a French aid group for Palestinians.

From another Greek man:

The Greek passenger Grigoropoulos said he was kept incommunicado in “wretched detention conditions” at the Israeli port of Ashdod, denied access to a lawyer and made to sign papers he did not understand.

He also said “two Greek activists were beaten up” there by Israeli police.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gbT81EG8EVUYrrBd8vcdedgyvWpQ

Notice how their accounts sound so foreign from the official account of the Israeli Defense Forces. A common thing for anyone who has been keeping track of Israeli attacks on Palestinians where Palestinians tell of how they had the crap beaten out of them and the unharmed Israeli soldiers say they were only acting in self-defense or some other sort of hogwash.

Also, as Turkey’s Erdogan has stated, the US needs to come out with a harsher statement against Israel’s aggression against peace activists than Obama’s weakly expressed regret for loss of life.

We can only hope that a truly impartial investigation can take place of this massacre. Any investigation done by Israel of it’s own actions should be rejected as it is common sense in the real world that such investigations are not impartial… but for some reason, we have organizations such as the CIA investigating itself and think it is ok. Send someone from Norway or China in to investigate. Let’s hear the real story, though those of us familiar with Israel’s heavy-handed techniques already know what happened.

Human rights are trampled in Honduras but the US remains silent and complicit.

One honduran democracy advocate was shot and killed and 5 others were shot and wounded in Tegulcigalpa.  Thousands of others were terrorized outside the Brazillian embassy as they were attacked by riot police with tear gas and batons.  Many were treated for bruises and broken bones.  Peaceful democracy advocates are being beaten and terrorized as the usurping coup elite (secret combination) trample the rights of their citizens and the USA stands idly by only giving lip service to true democracy in the Honduras.

A man was shot dead in a clash between police and supporters of the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, as international pressure mounted on the de facto government to allow the leftist back in power.

It was the first reported death in political violence since Mr Zelaya, who was forced into exile by a coup on 28 June, slipped back into Honduras this week and sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy.

The man, a Zelaya supporter aged 65, was killed in the poor Flor del Campo district of the capital on Tuesday night, a source at the coroner’s office said. Five other pro-Zelaya protesters were shot and wounded in another part of the city, a doctor at the Escuela hospital said.

Hundreds of soldiers and riot police, some in ski masks and toting automatic weapons, have surrounded the Brazilian embassy where Mr Zelaya is sheltering with his family and a group of about 40 supporters.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/protester-shot-dead-in-honduras-clashes-1792298.html

The Washington Post reports:

The coup in small, impoverished Honduras has brought unified condemnation from a hemisphere determined to prevent a return to the military takeovers of the past. But Honduras’s neighbors — and its most important trading partner, the United States — have appeared impotent in the face of the crisis.

On Tuesday, Honduran soldiers used truncheons, water cannons and tear gas to disperse thousands of Zelaya supporters outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, according to news reports from the country. Zelaya, who was inside with about 70 friends and relatives, told reporters, “We are ready to risk everything, to sacrifice.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092200279_pf.html

Amnesty International reports on alarming attacks against a group of human rights defenders after the Brazillian embassy crowd was attacked:

Amnesty International reported today that police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights groups have risen sharply in Honduras since the June coup d’etat, including the firing of tear gas at the building of a prominent rights group on Monday with 100 men, women and children inside.Two days after President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales returned to Honduras following a June coup, Amnesty International warned that fundamental rights and the rule of law in the Central American nation are in grave jeopardy.

According to reports received by Amnesty International on Monday morning, about 15 police officers fired tear gas canisters at the building of the prominent human rights organization COFADEH. Around 100 people, including women and children, were inside the office at the time. Many had come to denounce police abuses during the break up of a demonstration earlier outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has taken refuge.

“The situation in Honduras can only be described as alarming,” said Susan Lee, Americas director at Amnesty International. “The attacks against human rights defenders, suspension of news outlets, beating of demonstrators by the police and ever increasing reports of mass arrests indicate that human rights and the rule of law in Honduras are at grave risk.”

“The only way forward is for the de facto authorities to stop the policy of repression and violence and instead respect the rights of freedom of expression and association,” said Lee. “We also urge the international community to urgently seek a solution, before Honduras sinks even deeper into a human rights crisis.”

Following the break up by police of a mass demonstration outside the Brazilian Embassy yesterday, numerous demonstrators were reported to have been beaten by police and some several hundred detained across the city. Reports also indicated similar scenes of human rights violations across the country.

Amnesty International received information that dozens of protestors were taken to unauthorized detention sites across the capital last night. Although most of those detained have been released, mass arbitrary arrests may make those detained vulnerable to human rights abuses such as ill-treatment, torture or enforced disappearance.

Amnesty International has documented the limits which have been imposed on freedom of expression since the coup d’état, including the closure of media outlets, the confiscation of equipment and physical abuse of journalists and camerapersons covering events. Radio Globo and TV channel 36 yesterday suffered power stoppages or constant interruptions to their transmissions which prevented them from broadcasting.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20090924002&lang=e

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the curfew has been lifted, but the Brazillian embassy is still under seige:

But fear and hunger intensified inside the embassy, still a temporary home to the ousted leader renowned for his white cowboy hat, dozens of his supporters and several Brazilian embassy staff.

“They’re rationing our food, they don’t let our families in. They’re sending degrading messages to our mobile phones,” Zelaya told AFP inside the embassy late Wednesday.

“We only sleep for short moments. They attack us with noises, threats.”

A Honduran priest inside the embassy told AFP that many had received mobile phone threats of an imminent invasion of the embassy on Wednesday night.

A loud explosion was also reported outside.

Zelaya has told several media outlets that he feared mercenaries would attack the embassy to assassinate him.

“I’m quite worried… the regime hasn’t accepted dialogue,” Zelaya told AFP, vowing to fight on.

Security forces on Thursday extended a cordon around the embassy.

The de facto leaders have insisted it will not be taken by force and denied they were responsible for power and water cuts.

Limited supplies — with a diet of small portions of rice and beans — have added to the pressure.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/back-to-business-but-president-still-besieged-in-honduras-20090924-g3hr.html

Notice that there was a pro-coup demonstration today in which thousands marched on the UN building.  Of course this was not spontaneous as the anti-coup demonstrations were.  Also, notice that none of them received broken bones or bullet wounds from the police.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/25/content_12108314.htm

Of course, if the government doing this were in Iran, this would be plastered all over the headlines of US news outlets, but in the US we hear precious little of the severe abuses propogated by the unoficial US favorites in Honduras.

El Baradei notices a double-standard in the middle east. Can anyone say… ISRAEL!!!

Mohammed El Baradei spoke out Monday against the nuclear weapons stockpile of Israel, saying that it causes problems with a “perceived double standard” in the region:

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday that Arab nations believe that Israel has undermined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and this is a major obstacle to nuclear disarmament.

“What compounds the problem is that the nuclear non-proliferation regime has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of Arab public opinion because of the perceived double-standards concerning Israel, the only state in the region outside the NPT and known to possess nuclear weapons,” he wrote in The Herald Tribune.

The IAEA head correctly sees this as an obstacle progress of the non-proliferation goals of his agency.  He also makes a good point here:

ElBaradei also blamed the US and Israel’s unilateral policies for encouraging other nations to develop nuclear arms.

“Above all, we need to halt the glaring breach of core principles of international law such as limitations on the unilateral use of force, proportionality in self-defense and the protection of civilians during hostilities in order to avoid a repeat of the civilian carnage in Iraq and, most recently, in Gaza.”

Whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons or not is disputed by Obama, who says they are, and his own National Intelligence Estimate on Iran in 2007, and the IAEA inspections regime, which say they aren’t.  Regardless, in today’s world, it would be almost a folly for Iran to not develope nuclear weapons.  They are threatened by two nuclear powers, the USA and Israel, who both constantly attack and act in an aggressive manner towards nations around Iran and in the middle-east, and threaten Iran with military action on a regular basis, even threatening first use of nuclear weapons on occasion. 

Iran, on the other hand, has attacked noone in it’s existence as a nation, and threatens military action only in response to an attack by Israel. 

The one time Iran’s defense minister did suggest attacking Iran preemptively, he was only following the US’s own doctrine of attacking anyone who had the capability and perceived intentions of attacking Iran preemptively.

On the other hand, nations that have developed nuclear weapons including North Korea and Pakistan, are dealt with in strictly diplomatic terms.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=85865&sectionid=351020202

Blair contradicts Obama. Iran has no nuclear weapons program according to US intelligence sources.

Well, isn’t this interesting.  Dennis Blair, Obamas own Director of National Intelligence seems to be contradicting his boss, the President.  As you recall, Obama, Panetta and Clinton are going around spouting off their mouths about how Iran is definitely in hot pursuit of a nuclear weapons program… in spite of the 2007 NIE which states that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 (of course I have seen no credible evidence to suggest that they ever had a nuclear weapons program in the first place, but that’s for another post).

The AFP writes:

US intelligence does not know whether Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons, but at a minimum Tehran is keeping that option open, the new US intelligence director said.

Retired admiral Dennis Blair said US intelligence assesses that Iran has not restarted nuclear weapons design and weaponization work that it halted in late 2003.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h9aJCtqyZAOM3qeuQvgkaY-6MvQg

Don’t you love it when someone on the team doesn’t get the memo about the official propaganda line that needs to be repeated in order to fix the intelligence to fit the policy?

Obama runs away from the question that the world would like to hear answered.

Can anyone possibly think that our foreign policy with regards to the middle-east will be any different under Obama than it has been under any other US president?  Look at this excellent question posed by Helen Thomas last night in Obama’s big press conference:

…And, also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?

And how did the President answer her?

With respect to nuclear weapons, you know, I don’t want to speculate. What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger.

Why can’t he just say what everyone who has inquired into the issue knows?  Why can’t he tell the American people that Israel is the only middle-eastern nation with nuclear weapons?  He has no qualms about calling Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.  In his same speech he said that Iran is seeking after nuclear weapons without providing proof of such an assertion.  Why can’t he say what everyone knows about Israel’s nukes?  Does anyone doubt that they exist?  Here, then are a few educational links for you:

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/

http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/israel/nuke.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7420573.stm

Then there’s this excellent Wiki page on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Israel

You would think that the American President would have the courage to say it like it is.  At least maybe we could explain why the US and Israel are the only two nations that voted against a nuclear weapons free middle east initiative back in 2007. 

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/UN_for_nuclear-weapons-free_zone_in_Middle_East_999.html

If we cannot even tell the world what they already know about the existence of Israel’s nuclear weapons program, how can we even begin to think to chastise Iran for their alleged nuclear weapons program?

Embedded with the Red Cross in Gaza, including the UN school bombing

This is some of the best footage I’ve seen yet out of Gaza, including the UN school bombing and it’s immediate aftermath.  This gives us just a glimpse into the incredible suffering Israel has inflicted on Gaza over the last 3 weeks.

Write your senator… see what good it did me?

I recently wrote my Senator regarding my distress at the Israeli massacre of Gazans and asked her to do something to get Israel to stop, wielding her power as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  She wrote me back today with this”

Dear Dr. Strong:

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding recent events in the Middle East.  I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, on December 27, 2008, Israel responded to ongoing rocket attacks against its citizens by launching an offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls the Gaza government.  The death and destruction is tragic on all sides.

It is time for a real and sustainable cease-fire and a post-conflict diplomatic solution that will allow the promise of peace in the Middle East to be realized, not just for hours or days but permanently. 

I believe that it is important for the United States and the international community to be actively engaged in promoting a lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me on this important issue.  Please be assured that as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will continue to monitor this situation closely and work to encourage a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Middle East.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

 

I don’t know why it is that the entire group of USA politicians have completely bought into this theory that Israel is responding to Hamas’s rockets and that it is Hamas’s rockets that are the entire problem here.  Nothing is said of the occupation, the cruel blockade, the frequent firing at defenseless Gazan fishermen, the Israeli theft of Palestinians water supplies, the kidnapped Palestinians who rot in Israel’s prisons as “administrative detainees” with no recourse by law etc. etc.  Surely all USA politicians who want to hang onto their jobs get their talking points from AIPAC.  It must be.  If not, why can’t Senator Boxer read the very same things I’m reading every day in plain sight?

Next, she says the death and destruction is tragic on all sides.  This really flabberghasts me.  She must here be taking cues from the New York Times which shows a lady cowering in her Sderot home while rocket alarms are going off, next to a picture of a frightened Gazan, framing the conflict as one where the sufferring is roughly equal on both sides.  The tragedy of Gaza infinitely larger than that of the Israeli people here.  There shouldn’t be much arguement among reasonable people right?

Also, Hamas is a militant islamist group that controls the Gazan government according to Boxer.  No mention here that they were elected to power in an election that would have put an Israeli election to shame.  No name calling on the other side, such as referring to Israel as “that militant terrorist Zionist group that controls Israel.”

The real and sustainable ceasefire that Boxer seeks will never come from this sort of murderous attack on Gaza.  The sustainable ceasefire will come when justice comes to the middle-east and no sooner.  Israel must give back the land it took in 1967 and cease it’s cruel oppression of the Palestinians and must give up its vision of eretz Israel and then we will see if tempers will cool.  Oh, and don’t forget the right of return for refugees as the UN decided was a necessary condition in allowing Israel to maintain its membership in the UN so many years ago.

I have no faith in my government in coming to any sort of helpful resolution of the middle-eastern conflict.  They are all AIPAC hacks and will never apply pressure to Israel to do what is right.   

Sorry I am so testy lately, but there is so much death and misery in one of the most miserable places on the earth right now and noone is able to stop it and the only power that can do something, the USA, is doing nothing.

 

The Israeli massacre continues.

I am utterly horrified by the horrific act of violence being played out currently by Israel’s government upon the people of Gaza.  Israel claims that they are doing this to bring about peace and quiet for the inhabitants of southern Israel.  There is no chance that this action is going to reach the desired result.  The Palestinian people will surely not be beaten into submission.

There are apparently now 350 people killed and 1500 injured as bombing is occurring in the middle of residential neighborhoods.  Keep in mind, this is occuring in a land which has been deprived of medical supplies, food and energy due mainly to the Israeli closure of border crossings.  The 9 hospitals of Gaza are overwhelmed and the injured are being treated in doctors homes among other places.  Little children are being killed and injured.

The world is, for the most part, either deploring or condemning Israel’s actions with variable degrees of harsh language for Hamas as well.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473664,00.html

The US, Germany, UK and Australia at least are laying the entire blame for the deaths of Gazans upon Hamas’s shoulders.  It is so disconnected from reality to hear Condi Rice say that Hamas is entirely to blame. 

Many news organizations can’t help but to report on the fact that oil prices are going up because of the violence in Palestine.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKTRE4BS5A720081229

If you are at all opposed to Israel’s murders you can do something good by signing the letter available at JustForeignPolicy:

http://capwiz.com/justforeignpolicy/issues/alert/?alertid=12361911

Condi Rice is keeping Obama apprised of the Gaza situation and Obama is keeping completely silent on the situation.  The Bush administration refuses to call for an immediate cessation of violence, somewhat reminiscent of the US policy toward Israel’s attack on Southern Lebanon 2 years ago.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/12/29/1726174.aspx

In the meantime, 7000 Iranian students have signed up to fight against Israel to protect Gaza.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/30/content_10577839.htm

In Iraq, the brutal Israeli actions are uniting Sunni and Shia in condemnation.  Surely Iraqi know something of what Gazans are experiencing since they received similar treatment from the US.

http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/iraqis-demand-a-response-to-attacks-in-gaza/

Horrible eye-witness accounts pour in from Gaza:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/inside-gaza-the-hospital-morgues-were-already-full-the-dead-were-piled-on-top-of-each-other-outside-1213839.html

And the US, of course, has used its’ veto power to stop any meaningful statements from coming out of the UN:

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=79727&sectionid=351020202

Hamas will accept Israel! Are you listening Obama?

Or are you too busy being Uncle Tom to AIPAC and the rest of the Jewish lobby?

The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said yesterday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel within the 1967 borders. He spoke at a meeting with 11 European parliamentarians who sailed from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip to protest Israel’s naval blockade of the territory. Haniyeh told his guests Israel rejected his initiative.

Clare Short, who served in the cabinet of former British prime minister Tony Blair, asked Haniyeh to repeat his offer. He said the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians’ national rights.

We must come to terms with the facts in Israel.  Israel is occupying land that it is not allowed under international law and is in violation of several major UN Security Council Resolutions which require Israel to withdraw immediately from the occupied territories.  As the elected leader of the free world, Obama has the responsibility to hold Israel to its obligations and not suck up to the extreme right of Zionist politicians and lobbyists.

Haniyeh also was asked about relations with Iran and about the presence of a desire to throw all of the Jews into the sea:

Ahmed asked Haniyeh about Hamas’ relations with Iran and requested his response to the claims of “our Zionist friends” that Hamas, like Iran, seeks to destroy the State of Israel and throw the Jews into the sea.

“Our ties with Iran are like those with other Muslim states. Does a besieged people that is waiting breathlessly for a ship to come from the sea want to throw the Jews into the ocean? Our conflict is not with the Jews, our problem is with the occupation,” Haniyeh said.

Perhaps Obama can stand up for justice and truth against the wishes of the Zionist regime.  He should remember that over 60% of Israelis polled desire negotiations with Hamas.  Do the right thing Obama.  Start by getting rid of your second generation Irgun Chief of Staff. 

Ahmadinejad causes a stir as everyone gangs up on him for their own purposes.

The stir that Ahmadinejad arouses when he comes to speak at the UN always disgusts me with its hypocrisy and the way that those in power who have a means to present their views to the gullible US public, twist reality beyond recognition.  It was no different this time as Ahmadinejad was used for everybody’s political purposes.  Tzipi Livni, in line for Israel’s prime minister post said this:

“Ahmadinejad’s speech at the UN demonstrates the absurd state of affairs of the organization whose founding motto was “Never Again”. But, that is not even the worst of it. Iran is now asking to be included as a member of the UN Security Council. This is like allowing a criminal to be his own judge and jury.

“This is an unprecedented absurdity – for a state that is threatening the security of its neighbors and calling for the destruction of another state to be a member of the body whose goal is to maintain international peace and security.

“Iran is the subject of Security Council sanctions because it pursues a nuclear weapons program and supplies weapons to terrorist organizations, thereby violating numerous Security Council resolutions. Responsible countries cannot support Iran’s membership in the body responsible for the implementation of those same sanctions.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2008/FM_Livni_reacts_to_Ahmadinejad_speech_at_UN_24_Sep_2008.htm

Of course, she paid little attention to several annoying little facts such as the IAEA’s continuing claims that it has been unable to verify diversion of Iran’s nuclear program to military use.  Or how about the annoying little fact that Iran is in fact threatening to harm any nation’s security while Israel is constantly placing the security of its surrounding nations in great alarm.  Iran has attacked no nation in its existence while Israel is constantly at war with its neighbors.

Oh, and another conveniently forgotten fact is the nuclear weapons program of Israel itself, which it does not allow the IAEA to inspect.  Livni is from a long tradition of hypocrites and murderers.

Then there was the rhetoric of Obama:

“I strongly condemn President Ahmadinejad’s outrageous remarks at the United Nations, and am disappointed that he had a platform to air his hateful and anti-Semitic views.” He added, “The threat from Iran’s nuclear program is grave.” Obama then called on his rival in the presidential race, Sen. John McCain, “to join me in supporting a bipartisan bill to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by allowing states and private companies to divest from companies doing business in Iran.” He slammed McCain, saying that the senator was playing partisan politics by declining to join Obama in this divestment campaign.

Way overstated Obama.  Did you all forget to watch Larry King live for his interview with Ahmadinejad today?  He stated over and over that he has no intent to use violence against Jews at all.  Not only that, but he has no power to control the Iranian military as that power lies with the Ayatollah.

As for Jews in Israel, Iran has not threatened to kill any of them, much less all of them. On “Larry King Live,” Ahmadinejad expressed the hope that the Israeli state will collapse just as the apartheid regime in South Africa did. In other words, he is advocating a variant of the one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While his version of that one state is unrealistic and unfair to Israeli Jews and does not have a prayer of being realized, it is not a genocide, and it is a barefaced lie to say that it entails the killing of anyone. As Larry King admitted, the South African minority government fell peacefully.

Ahmadinejad was forced again to explain that when he quoted Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that “this occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time,” he did not mean that “Israel must be wiped off the face of the map” (as the quotation was mistranslated). He told King Tuesday night that he meant that the Israeli state’s policies of committing crimes against the Palestinians and killing them and occupying them must vanish. He added, “Our solution is in fact a completely humane and democratic one. What we’re saying is that throughout the Palestinian territories [i.e., including Israel and the occupied territories], people should gather and determine the type of government they would like to have.” In other words, he says he means by the vanishing of the regime a single democratically elected state in Israel and Palestine.

Then of course there are the ravings of the lunatic Palin:

She alleged that the Iranian president “dreams of being an agent in a ‘Final Solution’ — the elimination of the Jewish people. He has called Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ that is ‘on its way to annihilation.’ She warned apocalyptically that Iran had tested missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and that “the Iranian nuclear program is nearing completion.”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/09/24/ahmadinejad/index.html

Who will save us from these out-of-control people who seek to lead us into another war which will murder many and has no justification in the least?  Will someone please elect Nader into office?