106) The following three letters are contributions from 'Press' readers in response to letters from Erin Eldridge, a devoted  Zionist apologist and regular contributor to the Press' letter pages, who so it appears enjoys a certain preference by the editors. She invariably gets the last word and her rants are allowed to remain unchallenged.
(additions in Italics are made by "Contraviews')

 The "Gunther Grass" controversy.
"Erin Eldridge (28/4) sees too much in Gunther Grass's juvenile past. The future (Pope) Benedict XVI, same age, was drafted into the Hitler Youth in 1941 at 14, and he was welcomed in Israel, the former was banned. What do you know at 14, in 1941 when adults followed Hitler blindly ? She misses one 'moral equivalence' between Iran and Israel. Both countries are under suspicion (!) of developing or having developed nuclear weapons in secret, against the International Atomic Energy's rulings. "This tiny nation surrounded by those who want to destroy it" as she calls it, dislodged hundreds of thousands of previous inhabitants at the point of a gun. These victims call this sad event The Nakba (The Catastrophe), which this 'tiny nation' does not allow to commemorate anymore. It also invaded more than it ever was invaded, increased its territory by illegal means, ruffled feathers all around. It also benefits from the strongest lobby in Washington, that is AIPEC, getting support of the. so far, most powerful nation on the planet. I know of better ways to make friends with neighbours!"
(Letter not published)

"I fail to see how Erin Eldridge (April 7) can find Martin Griffith' defence of Grasss' advocacy of peaceful solution to Israel and Iran's nuclear stand off (April 13) "ignorant and reprehensible". What I personally find reprehensible is blind support for any violent action Israel wishes to take. Israel has a much murkier past it wants to remain hidden than that of Grass: past Prime Ministers such as Begin and Shamir were willing participants in terrorists atrocities in their youth as leaders of Jewish terrorists groups, much more morally reprehensible than any activities Grass was caught up in by circumstances as a seventeen year old conscript during World War Two. Most Israelis Prime Ministers have been former members of terrorists/guerrilla groups responsible for the death of Arab civilians, British personnel and even a UN mediator in the struggle for their Jewish state, or former military leaders such as Sharon who have also been responsible for large-scale slaughter of Arab civilians."
(Letter rejected by the Press)

I share Erin Eldridge's abhorrence of the Nazi and SS in particular (April 28) as someone whose family suffered under German occupation in World War Two, and indeed whose uncle was hunted by the SS. Gunther Grass' SS Pantzer division even saw action in my father's country, the Netherlands, shortly before Grass joined it. So, far from me to offer any support for the Nazi projector anyone involved in it, including its attempt to annihilate the Jews. However there are some important factual inaccuracies in her (Erin Eldridge's) account: Grass never joined the Nazi Party or the Hitler Youth. He was drafted in to the "Lufwaffenhelfer" (anti-aircraft units composed of school children). Other famous and lauded individuals who served in these units include the current Pope, philosopher Jurgen Habermas and many prominent post-war democratic German politicians including Chanseler Helmut Kohl. These units were under the command of the airforce and received ideological supervision from the Hitler Youth, as did most German children. Grass was then conscripted into the RAD (Reich Labour Service) doing labouring work for the military. Towards the end of the war he was drafted into the 10th SS Pantzer Division and saw service only in Germany for a total of two month before he was wounded and captured by the Americans (who decided he had not been involved in war crimes) Neither were his family hard-core Nazis-one of Grass' uncles was executed by the Nazi regime.
The Historian Tom Segev said on this issue recently:" it's not factually correct to brand Grass an anti-Semitic or Nazi to try and undermine his arguments even if you disagree with them. Grass himself has noted he has only previously been banned from entering East Germany and Burma of all the countries he has criticized before, which places the current right-wing Israeli government in somewhat unwelcome company".
Letter not published by The Press

BDS Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions

105. A call for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) in response to Israeli human rights abuses, was first issued on 9th July 2005.  Pragmatically the BDS process has proved one of the most effective forms of civil, non-violent campaigns against the Israeli Zionist colonial apartheid regime over recent years. Both in breadth and in depth it has garnered support among major trade unions, academic associations, church groups and other grass root organizations in places such as South Africa, the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and even in the U.S. itself, which attests the efficiency and enormous potential of BDS in resisting Israeli injustices. For the first time in decades, many movements in Europe supporting peace with justice in Palestine have discovered a process that they can actively and effectively contribute to and which promises to bring about concrete results on the ground as has successfully proved to be the case in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Judging by the results so far, BDS campaigns are moving at a faster pace than in South Africa during the apartheid years. There are many Jewish people who support BDS on its three fundamental rights: 1) the Right of Return for the Palestinian refugees; 2) full equality of Palestinian citizens in Israel itself and 3) ending the occupation and colonial rule in the OPT. Genuine sustainable peace and security for all can never be achieved without justice, adherence to international law, universal human rights and most critically equality.
BDS is essentially a 'Rights'-based appraoch with clear objectives that forms a common denominator for all groups in solidarity with Palestine, i.e. ending the three main forms of Israeli injustices and advocating corresponding Palestinian rights as the basic requirements for this international campaign to be effective and in harmony with express needs and aspirations of Palestinian civil society.

There is also growing support amongst progressive European and American Jews for effective pressure and civil forms of struggle against Israel, regardless of what religion Israelis follow; be it Jewish, Christian or Muslim is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is to stop Israeli Zionism's illegal and morally reprehensible violent oppression of the Palestinian people who want to be free and enjoy equal rights.  How successful BDS even in the US has been becomes clear from recent attempts by a pro-Israeli activist group, threatening legal action against Olympia Food Co-op; the first grocery store in the US to ban all Israeli made items from their shelves. And so there are more success stories, such as the French transport company Veolia, contracted by Israel to build a light rail network connecting Jerusalem with Israel, which is in violation of international law forbidding building in occupied territory. The Dutch Bank VKN, which identifies itself as an 'ethical bank upholding international law and human rights' decided in 2006 to divest from Veolia Transport Co.. Swedish companies soon followed suit rescinding contracts with Veolia for eight years worth 3.4 billion euro from a building contract with the Stockholm County Metro. Also other companies were targeted by BDS such as some Alsrom projects in the UK.   Sweden's chain of grocery stores Coop removed all popular Sodastream products from its shelves, which is manufactured in illegal Israeli settlements.
The recent liquidation of Agrexo, the largest fresh produce exporter in Israel can also be seen as a major victory of the BDS campaign, making it increasingly undesirable for multinational companies to be entangled in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Delegates from Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and Germany joined French organizers at a full day workshop to bring about this success and strengthening the boycott.  Israeli shares on the N.Y. stock exchange are heading for its worst monthly record. The Palestinian Aauthority's quest for statehood this month may destabilize the Jewish state even more.
Finally, in light of the persistence and severity of the Israeli Zionist violations of fundamental Palestinian rights for more than sixty years and given the failure of the United Nations and governments of the world to implement Palestinian right, it is politically and morally correct to accord maximum support to these BDS campaigns.

The Untold Story in Libya: How the West Cooked Up the "People's Uprising" | World | AlterNet

104.) The Untold Story in Libya: How the West Cooked Up the "People's Uprising" World AlterNet

Get rid of Zionism - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

102) Get rid of Zionism - Haaretz Daily Newspaper Israel News

GOLDSTONE's U-TURN

101. For excerpts from the Goldstone report go to Post 79.

Goldstone's sudden U-turn from the findings of a four men U.N. fact-findings mission in response to the 2008 Israel/Gaza conflict,  as were published in what is known as "the Goldstone report'  has surprised many.
Goldstone is reported to have said that :(quote): 'If I had known what I know now the report would have been quite different' . His shift is apparently attributed to the findings of a follow up report by a United Nations Committee of independent experts chaired by Mary McGowen Davis, a former New York judge and what is 'recognized' therein about Israeli military investigations. McGowen Davis is in fact deeply critical of those investigations - their leniency, lack of transparency and flawed structure. Her report - stymied by lack of access to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank - contains no new information that might buttress a change of heart. On the core issue of intentionality, it declares (quote): 'There is no indication that Israel has opened investigations into actions of those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw Operation cast Lead(Israel's code name for their onslaught of Gaza). It (Israel) has not adequately answered the Goldstone report's allegations about the 'design and implementation of the Gaza operations' or its 'objectives and targets'. Victims on both side McGowen maintains, cannot expect genuine accountability and no justice. In short there is a mystery here. Goldstone has moved but the evidence has not. That raises the issue of whether Goldstone has buckled under pressure so unrelenting it almost got him barred from his grandson's bar Mitzvah in South Africa.Is this more a  matter of judicial cojones than coherence ? Goldstone has been relentlessly targeted and vilified by Israel and the Zionist lobbies over the last year or so as a self-hating Jew, hypocrite, traitor and despicable. He is declining media-interviews. Goldstone expresses 'confidence'  that that the Israeli officer responsible for the killing of 29 members of a Palestinian family will be properly punished. Yet McGowen Davis report is critical of this investigation and notes that no decision had been made as to whether or not the officer would stand trila. It also notes that more than a third of the 36 Gaza incidents identified in the Goldsone report are 'still unresolved or unclear'.  There have just been two convictions - and the one for the credit card theft brought a more severe sentence then the use of a Palestinian child as a human shield. Israel is now celebrating what it calls a vindication. It has now invited Goldstone to come to Israel and is demanding nullification of the report, even though Goldstone is only one of the four authors. But the facts remain: 1400 plus Palestinians dead, 13 Israelis killed, the wholesale devastation of houses, schools and hospitals in Gaza.
Commnent from The New York Times

MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD ?

100. Netanyahu was recently reported to have said that Israel's army is the most 'moral army' in the world. Lets have a look a its record:
During the 1967 war an Israeli reporter for Yediot Aharanot reported the following during Israel's Sinai campaign in Egypt:
It occurred at the El Arish airport, where Israel Tal's division - Yehoshua Bar-Dayan ur it - had set up its headquarters. Some 150 POW prisoners were held in an aircraft hanger surrounded with sandbags. They had huddled on the ground with their hands at the backs of their necks. Not far away was a desk where two men in IDF uniform were sitting. They wore steel helmets and their faces were hidden by dust goggles and khaki bandannas. Every so often the military police would pick out a prisoner from the holding
pen and lead him to the desk. Brunn could not hear the brief exchange, but he saw that when it was finished, the prisoner was led about a hundred yards behind the hanger and handed a shovel.
I watched the man dig a large pit for about fifteen minutes. Then the officer told him to throw away the shovel and one of them aimed an Uzi submachine gun and fired two short bursts at the man, three to four bullets each. The prisoner fell dead. Then more prisoners were brought out and shot. Brunn saw roughly ten such executions. An officer whose identity Brunn could not recall the explained to the horrified reservists that military intelligence had identified some Palestine terrorists among the POW in the holding pen, men who had killed Jews. They had disguised themselves as Egyptian soldiers and fled the Gaza strip."
These stories were also corroborated by historian  Arieh Yitzhaki, who quoted a soldier Kobi Rabinowitz writing to his girlfriend: "We turned the the Sinai Peninsula into a valley of death, into one big cemetery. Unarmed men, prisoners with their hand above their heads, cut down against orders. He finished his letter with the following words: Apparently it doesn't take years of Nazi education to turn people into animals".

ei: Goldstone's shameful U-turn

99. ei: Goldstone's shameful U-turn