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What’s The Real Purpose Of Israel’s Annexation Plan
“Years ago, the vast majority of Jewish Israelis made an ugly deal with themselves not to call a spade a spade – that it’s okay to keep on killing and dispossessing Palestinians, to seize their land and build settlements.”
Hagai Al-Ad op-ed at Haaretz
Israel has paid no price and will pay no price for this. The only country in the world that could effectively stop this won’t. Sure, the Europeans will protest but they are irrelevant. The Arabs will threaten but what does Jordan matter when all the wealthy Arab countries tacitly go along with it. The Russians and/or the Chinese – they will continue to try and do business with Israel no matter. Right-wing American Jews and Christian Zionists will cheer it. Mainstream liberal American Jews will continue to prattle-on about the two state solution while their mouthpieces in the democratic party will feign concern but offer no real counter argument or opposition.
“All this, aside from the main thing: We won’t pay for this. Meaning that all of Israel’s actions in the territories won’t have an international cost in terms of its foreign relations or economy. It was due to such international and economic costs that South Africa’s apartheid regime collapsed. But Israel learned the lesson and acted more cleverly: It didn’t put signs saying “Whites Only” on benches, and it focused on policy-level achievements. In this way Israel became the most successful model of a 21st-century ethno-state without becoming a diplomatic leper.“
Ousted State Dept. IG Was Investigating Pompeo Authorization For Arms to Saudi
Prepare For The Israeli Media Campaign In U.S. To Support Annexation
The new Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and U.S. Gilad Erdan is ready to defend annexation of parts of the West Bank to the world.
“We promised it to our voters,” Erdan said of annexation. “I believe in it with all my heart that we have a biblical and legal right to Judea and Samaria. It cannot be that the citizens of Israel who live there have to live under a military government just because the Palestinians have refused to reach a compromise with us for decades.
“That’s how I view the ‘Deal of the Century.’ As a politician, I say we have to aim to fulfill it.”
If Israel proceeds with annexation, Erdan expressed confidence that he can represent and defend the policy well.
This will include both defending the policy to governments and within U.S. civil society:
The soon-to-be ambassador said his attitude is that the job is “not just in the hallways of the UN and of governments.”
“It should also include civil society organizations, and I will continue the work I did to bring in networks of legal experts, digital-media experts and Jewish organizations,” he said. “This is the infrastructure of the Jewish world that helps and supports Israel. I see myself as a bridge between them and the government of Israel.”
Ariel Gold at Mondoweiss has more on Gilad Erdan
I began paying closer attention to Erdan in 2017 the Israeli Knesset passed a law, initiated by Erdan, enabling the country bar entry on the grounds of support for the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement. Erdan announced at this time his intentions to create a database of such people like me.
In December 2018, Knesset approved $72 million for Erdan’s anti-BDS, anti-free speech project. In January 2018, Erdan released a blacklist of 20 organizations, including CODEPINK, now officially banned from entering Israel. Expanding his mission to suppress dissent and freedom of speech, in June 2019, he took credit for the unconstitutional anti-BDS laws being enacted in U.S. states. “Our efforts are producing results. 27 US states now have counter-BDS legislation,” he gloated. “We must encourage investigations of terror-linked BDS groups and promote legislation that counters all forms of antisemitism including of course the antisemitic delegitimization of Israel,” he continued, calling for even further Israeli interference into U.S. policy.
A good time to go back and watch The Lobby:
Matt Taibbi: Democrats Have Abandoned Civil Liberties
I know. It’s hard to believe the guys who hired the Delta Force to burn the Branch Davidians to death, banned AR-15s, voted for the PATRIOT Act, colluded with Bush on spying and torture and war, let Obama get away with deliberately murdering American citizens and launching wars without any sort of authorization at all would finally give up the pretense that they care about civil liberties just because of partisanship against Trump, but here we are.
(And hard disagree about Obama using FISA against Israeli agents in the U.S.. If it has a legitimate use, that’s it.)
Dave Smith Interviews Me About #Obamagate
Florida Officer Fired For Hiding During Parkland Shooting Gets Job Back, With Back-pay!
A sheriff’s sergeant fired for hiding behind his car during the Parkland school massacre has gotten his job back — along with at least $125,000 in back pay, according to reports.
Sgt. Brian Miller was one of four deputies terminated for “neglect of duty” after the 2018 slaughter at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 students and faculty members dead and another 17 injured.
Miller had been the first supervisor on scene — but put on his bulletproof vest and hid behind his car, not even going on his radio for 10 minutes, rather than taking command, a state commission investigation found.
“Miller failed to coordinate or direct deputies’ actions and did not direct or coordinate an immediate response into the school,” a report from the commission said at the time, calling his actions “ineffective.”
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office fired him last June — but an arbitrator has ruled that his due process rights were violated, the South Florida Sun Sentinel revealed late Wednesday.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down Wisconsin’s Stay-At-Home Order
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort.
The state’s highest court sided with Republican lawmakers Wednesday in a decision that curbed the power of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration to act unilaterally during public health emergencies.
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