An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" - Mahatma Gandhi

Dear friends,

The events of these past years, months, weeks, days and hours seem to have brought the world on the verge of an Armageddon. Violence is everywhere and from violence nothing good can come out.

This blog wants to appeal to NON VIOLENCE as the only, real answer to the madness of our times and as the only way to reach peace and justice.

I re-publish today an article I wrote last year on Thursday, July 07, 2005 in the immediate aftermath of the London bombings.

In peace and solidarity,
Gabriele Zamparini

***

Thursday, July 07, 2005

London Blasts: Don't let them win
By Gabriele Zamparini

London, the city where I live, has been attacked. Ordinary people are paying the price, once again. Killing innocent people is an infamous act, never legitimate. Never justified. Never. But if we want to understand what’s going on without hysteria, we must look at the full picture. Again, not to apologize. But to understand. And hopefully to do something to build a better world.

I was living in New York when the September 11th attacks happened. I saw the people of New York meeting spontaneously in the streets and the squares of Downtown Manhattan. Staying together. Talking and singing for peace. Not revenge. I witnessed how the power used those events for its own agenda. I remember the manipulation of the events by the media, that corporate media that was beating the drums for war. And I feared the rise of a totalitarian regime.

There are still many questions on what exactly happened that day. But since, Afghanistan has been bombed and innocent people there, people like you and me, are still dying because of our Governments’ actions. Iraq has been invaded and occupied. No connections whatsoever linked Iraq to the September 11th attacks. And none of the alleged reasons given by our ruthless leaders were true. More than 100,000 Iraqi innocent civilians have been murdered, most of them women and children. Many young boys and girls from the United States, the United Kingdom, from Italy and many other countries lost their lives. Young boys and girls who didn't even start their lives were sent to kill other people, people who did nothing to them or to their own country. They were sent far away from home, through a brain washing process that involves complicity and unity by all sides of the establishment.

And then the massive human rights violation at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib…

All this and much more, we were told, was necessary to fight the “War on Terror”. But war IS terror.

All this and much more, we were told, was necessary to keep our cities safe. Then Madrid and now London.

All this and much more, we were told, was necessary to build democracy in Iraq. Yet, no Iraqi wants foreign occupation.

In this day of sorrow, our solidarity and our thoughts must go to the innocent victims of these cruel and infamous acts in London. But our love for these brothers and sisters must not be an empty and hypocritical gesture of circumstance or convenience.

This is a time for reason, honesty and open discussion. Those who target innocent civilians are infamous terrorists who deserve our contempt and must be held accountable. Always. Doesn’t matter if they terrorize innocent civilians with a bomb placed on a bus or with much more expensive and sophisticated weaponry paid for by our tax money. Let’s not let them win.

***

I have been asked to clarify my thought in relation to the Peoples' right to Resist Foreign aggressions.

My piece was about violence in general and violence against civilians in particular.

Peoples have the right - and international law recognizes this right - to defend themselves against foreign aggressions.

I have always supported the Peoples' right to RESIST illegal, violent, military, foreign aggressions, invasions and occupations.

On a broader issue, we need also to consider that in modern warfare, 90% of the victims of all conflicts are civilians.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the moral and legal responsibilities for this carnage has to be found in the Western governments and their supporters.

Gabriele Zamparini

United for Peace and Justice – A Shame Becoming Shameful

United for Peace and Justice – A Shame Becoming Shameful
By Gabriele Zamparini

United for Peace and Justice’s National Coordinator Leslie Cagan wrote an open letter to PUPPET Iraqi Prime Minister AL-MALIKI.

Dear Prime Minister Al-Maliki,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice, the largest coalition of peace and justice organizations in the U.S., which includes more than 1,400 national and local groups united in opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, it is our pleasure to welcome you in the United States.

UFPJ is now asking for money to “place an advertisement based on the following Open Letter to Prime Minister Al-Maliki in one of the largest newspapers in Iraq, Assabah Al-Jadid.” The shameless UFPJ continues “This is not only a great way to pressure the Prime Minister for a meeting, but it is also a way to reach out to the Iraqi people to let them know that we stand with them in their call to end the occupation of their country.”

The Iraqi People don’t need the hypocrisy of UFPJ and its selfish, self-complacent, racist and outrageous move will result in more wars, invasions and occupations.

Now that “the largest coalition of peace and justice” [sic] in the USA is openly and shamefully recognizing the Iraqi Puppet sectarian regime of Al-Maliki and betraying the Iraqi People’s JUST STRUGGLE for freedom and independence and the universal ideals and principles of peace, justice and self-determination, will the American people of good will and honestly committed to peace and justice object to this new low?

The deafening silence of too many American intellectuals and activists adds to the shame and must be recognized for what it is and resisted.

What a shame!

* * *

OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER AL-MALIKI

Dear Prime Minister Al-Maliki,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice, the largest coalition of peace and justice organizations in the U.S., which includes more than 1,400 national and local groups united in opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, it is our pleasure to welcome you in the United States.

We are writing to request a meeting with you during your visit in New York City on Thursday, July 27, 2006, in order to brief you about the U.S. peace movement's efforts to end the military occupation of Iraq and to discuss how to work together to bring about a troop withdrawal, promote reconciliation, and begin the process of reconstruction and development.

We have been heartened by the Iraqi reconciliation plan put forth by numerous Iraqi leaders to end both the occupation and sectarian tension within Iraq. We are dismayed, however, that due in part to U.S. pressure, the plan does not include a demand for a timetable for withdrawing the troops -- a point that is essential for any true reconciliation plan.

A poll earlier this year showed that 87% of Iraqis support a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. A solid majority of people in the United States agree: a June poll by CNN showed that 53% supported a timetable for withdrawal, and other major polls have found similar results.

We oppose the interference of the Bush administration in your country's domestic policies. We support your recent independent and courageous stand criticizing the aggressive Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and we hope you will continue to take independent stands that prioritize the desires of the Iraqi people over foreign interests.

There is a strong movement in the United States to end the continuing military occupation of your country, and we hope that you will have time to meet us during your visit to the United States. We would, of course, be prepared to meet at whatever time or location is best for you.


Sincerely,

Leslie Cagan
National Coordinator
United for Peace and Justice

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

REPLY FROM DAVID CLINE - PRESIDENT VETERANS FOR PEACE

I think your comments are misguided, David Cline

MY REPLY TO DAVID CLINE

Thanks David.

I know your personal history and I have great respect, admiration and esteem for you.

Maliki is not the prime minister of Iraq. He does not represent anyone in Iraq but the Bush junta and its warlords in the green zone who do whatever the Bush junta tells them to do.

In Iraq the situation is absolutely awful. Sectarian bands are mass murdering everybody. People are terrified and don’t leave their homes.

Legitimizing this Iraqi PUPPET government is outrageous for the Iraqi People and their right to decide their own lives. Self determination.

UFPJ has made a very racist, patronizing and racist move.

I write this with great respect for the people of UFPJ and their commitment.

Outside the US almost everyone agrees with me and I am getting dozens of emails from the States who agree with what I write. Even from Vietnam veterans and activists like you.

Please, think again. Nothing good can come from this new course UFPJ seems to have taken.

People, activists are very unhappy with UFPJ.

Peace and solidarity,
Gabriele

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

EMAIL TO CINDY SHEEHAN

Dear Cindy,

We met briefly in London the evening before the Peace Conference in that welcoming party.

I admire you very much and want to send you my warmest hugs, solidarity and gratitude for what you have been doing, writing and saying.

I have been very critical lately of UFPJ's new course, particularly the recognition of the Iraqi Puppet Government and the last Open Letter to PM Maliki.

I think that was a very bad political move from UFPJ and it offended many Iraqis and peace activists.

But my esteem, respect and admiration for you is as always very high and I keep learning from you and your example.

Thank you.

Warmest and best wishes in solidarity, peace and justice.
Gabriele Zamparini

Did you know?

Did you know?
By Gabriele Zamparini

“I, Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli citizen

Accuse you - Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, Amir Peretz, Minister of Defense, Dan Halutz Head of Staff Chief Commander of the Israeli Army, of committing this bestial barbaric slaughter in Lebanon.

I accuse you of committing Crimes against Humanity towards the Palestinian People. I accuse you of deserting our soldiers, when their lives could be saved by negotiations, and I accuse you of starting an unjustified war in my name.” - Tsilli Goldenberg, Masarik 11, Jerusalem 93106 Israel

Did you know that "Dana Olmert, the daughter of Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert... [was one of] the demonstrators [who] chanted slogans such as 'Tzahala residents, there's a murderer in your neighborhood,' and raised signs calling on the government to 'put a stop to the murder of civilians' and stating, 'Halutz is a killer, the intifada shall prevail.' Activists also shouted, 'neighbors, ask Halutz why he's killing children and how many'"?

Why not?

Did you know that “45% of those killed in Lebanon are children and of the 500,000 people who have fled to safety, some 200,000 are children”?

Why not?

Did you know that Israel bombed “the nation's biggest private network, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation”?

Why not?

Did you know that a “big milk factory in the Bekaa region called ‘Liban Lait’ was completely burned and destroyed by direct attacks from the Israeli Air Force.”? And that a “food storehouse called ‘TransMed’ in Choueifate, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, was totally destroyed”?

Why not?

Did you know that “Lebanon's president accused Israel on Monday of using phosphorous bombs in its 13-day offensive and urged the United Nations to demand an immediate ceasefire”?

Why not?

Did you know that “the bodies of 13 Lebanese fighters were taken from Maroun al-Ras and buried in Israel to use in future negotiations over the release of Israeli prisoners”?

Why not?

Did you know that “Israeli military has said it will destroy 10 buildings in predominantly Shia south Beirut for every rocket fired at the Israeli port of Haifa, army radio said Monday”?

Why not?

Did you know that “The delivery of at least 100 GBU 28 bunker busters bombs containing depleted uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the middle east.”?

Why not?

Did you know that what's going on is “subject to review by Israel's chief military censor, who has - in her own words – ‘extraordinary power’. She can silence a broadcaster, block information and put journalists in jail”?

Why not?

Did you know that “[a]ccording to the Lebanese police force, the two [Israeli] soldiers were captured in Lebanese territory”?

Why not?

Did you know how the “cross-border” myth originated?

Why not?

From the beginning of this new chapter of the old madness, many people have been following on the internet this shame. We are a peaceful army of world citizens, working for free and moved by solidarity, compassion and an inner drive for justice. Not anger!

But even among the elites of the anti-war movement and the so-called “left”, too many have never been listening to us. Let alone important journalists working for the “pro-Israeli” mainstream media who still believe that the “internet is a new thing, and it's also unreliable.”

More than sixty years ago George Orwell wrote in The Freedom of the Press, a Preface to his political novel, Animal Farm:

“But at least let us have no more nonsense about defending liberty against Fascism. If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. The common people still vaguely subscribe to that doctrine and act on it… it is the liberals who fear liberty and the intellectuals who want to do dirt on the intellect…”

This Preface was censored when the book came out in 1945 and it was only published in The Times Literary Supplement on 15 September 1972. Twenty seven years after Animal Farm was first published.

Not only Fox News

Not only Fox News
By Gabriele Zamparini

“One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.” - Mike Hastie, U.S. Army Medic - Vietnam 1970-71 - December 13, 2004

According to the latest Harris Poll published on July 21 “Despite being widely reported in the media [sic!] that the U.S. and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, surprisingly; more U.S. adults (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the U.S. invaded Iraq. This is an increase from 36 percent in February 2005.”

I wonder if Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies can explain this, since she wrote me this past April: “Since you're monitoring the U.S. press and anti-war movement so closely i assume you are familiar with the rising polls of anti-war sentiment and the near 2/3 of americans who say bring the troops home -- our challenge is how to empower that sentiment into political action at a moment when the supposed opposition party is frightened and supine [sic!], rendering congress largely unwilling to challenge the white house.”

I almost felt sorry for the “frightened and supine” Democratic Party. Almost.

The Institute for Policy Studies’ website reads that Phyllis Bennis works “closely with the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition”. Was she consulted when “the largest antiwar coalition in the United States” sent a letter to “Dear Ambassador Bolton”?

The American anti-war movement’s elites reached a new low with an article by Stephen Zunes, who serves as Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus, a “think tank without walls” as its website reads. Foreign Policy in Focus is a joint project of International Relations Center and Institute for Policy Studies.

Professor Zunes writes:

“The seizure of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militiamen, apparently taken in retaliation against Israeli attacks against civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, was clearly wrong.”

Rewriting history is so common nowadays that the new revisionists don’t even try to explain their words anymore: “clearly wrong”? What does it mean? There are reports stating “According to the Lebanese police force, the two soldiers were captured in Lebanese territory, in the area of Aïta Al-Chaab close to the border”. But journalists, writers, commentators and the anti-war movement’s elites simply repeat Israeli propaganda “Israeli television indicated that they had been captured in Israeli territory” .

Why? Where is that sane scepticism, the most important friend we all should have in these dark times?

Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus continues:

“Israel would have a right to engage in a targeted paramilitary action to free the hostages and, if necessary, kill their captors. However, large-scale attacks against civilian targets unrelated to the kidnapping is an act of collective punishment, a clear violation of international law.”

This is a very important word: “kidnapping”. Behind this word there is the real religion of the West: HYPOCRISY, a goddess that must be worshipped unconditionally. The punishment for those who refuse is the exclusion from any political discourse, civil death.

Zunes seems not to get his own words:

Israel holds thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners seized within the territory of those nations by Israeli forces. Most of these Arab prisoners have not engaged in terrorism [sic!] and many are non-combatants. How is Israel's seizure and detention of these people different from Hezbollah's seizure and detention of the two Israeli soldiers? Does Israel's refusal to release its hostages give Lebanon or Palestine, if they were capable of it, the right to engage in a massive bombardment of civilian targets in Israel?

Exactly. So what’s the reason for the use of the word “kidnapping”?

Writing on the same subject, a few days ago historian Willian Blum wrote:

As for the two Israeli soldiers captured and held in Lebanon for prisoner exchange, we must keep a little history in mind. In the late 1990s, before Israel was evicted from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah, it was a common practice for Israel to abduct entirely innocent Lebanese. As a 1998 Amnesty International paper declared: "By Israel's own admission, Lebanese detainees are being held as 'bargaining chips'; they are not detained for their own actions but in exchange for Israeli soldiers missing in action or killed in Lebanon. Most have now spent 10 years in secret and isolated detention."

Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus writes on July 23, 2006

“Close to 200 Lebanese civilians have died in these attacks so far, as well as over a dozen foreigners, including a Canadian family on vacation.”

On July 19 the partial count was: 265 civilians. How many civilians “have died” in the heavy bombing of Beirut and the rest of Lebanon of these past three days?

But behind the numbers, the choice of words is important. While the “Lebanese civilians have died in these attacks” the “Israeli civilian had been killed by Hezbollah” as Zunes writes in the same article.

Zunes does writes

“both Republicans and Democrats recognize that while arming those who kill innocent Israeli civilians is wrong, they support arming those who kill innocent Lebanese civilians. This is racism, pure and simple”.

Yes, it is.

But who’s the aggressor and who’s resisting the aggression? This is the REAL QUESTION that the elites in the “anti-war movement” and the “left” in the West are so shamefully avoiding or worse. Zunes’ grand finale:

“Israel's current offensive will only strengthen Hezbollah's appeal and undermine Lebanon's pro-Western government. This is not about Israel's legitimate right to self-defense. As with the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, it will create far more terrorists than it destroys.”

Once again, we got into mythology territory. The TERRORISM FAIRY TALES.

American dissident William Blum recently wrote:

These crimes against humanity -- and I haven't mentioned the terrible special weapons reportedly used by Israel -- are what the people of Palestine get for voting for the wrong party. It is ironic, given the Israeli attacks against civilians in both Gaza and Lebanon, that Hamas and Hezbollah are routinely dismissed in the West as terrorist organizations. The generally accepted definition of terrorism, used by the FBI and the United Nations amongst others, is: The use of violence against a civilian population in order to intimidate or coerce a government in furtherance of a political objective. Since 9-11 it has been a calculated US-Israeli tactic to label the fight against Israel's foes as an integral part of the war on terror. On July 19, a rally was held in Washington, featuring the governor of Maryland, several members of Israeli-occupied Congress, the Israeli ambassador, and evangelical leading-light John Hagee. The Washington Post reported that "Speaker after prominent speaker characteriz[ed] current Israeli fighting as a small branch of the larger U.S.-led global war against Islamic terrorism" and "Israel's attacks against the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah were blows against those who have killed civilians from Bali to Bombay to Moscow." Said the Israeli ambassador: "This is not just about [Israel]. It's about where our world is going to be and the fate and security of our world. Israel is on the forefront. We will amputate these little arms of Iran," referring to Hezbollah.

Most of the analyses coming from the elites of the Western anti-war movement and the so-called “left” don’t go behind the Sunday’s sermon I used to listen as a child. But my priest was an old sweet man who didn’t like to mix religion with politics.

Just a few days ago the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said

"In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence (…) The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations”.

Is it too much asking the elites in the Western anti-war movement and the so-called “left” to be at least as “radical” as the Pope?

“Please forward widely” - Open Letter to United for Peace and Justice

Dear Leslie Kielson,
UFPJ-NYC

Dear Judith Le Blanc,
UFPJ National Co-chairperson


Thank you for your message. Even though I don’t live in your country anymore I am glad to receive your e-mails; it’s a good way to keep in touch with “the largest antiwar coalition in the United States”.

I am not a US citizen but since the American Empire is keeping the world under its boots, I hope you will take the time to read what I have to say.

In your e-mail you remind your supporters of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s call for an immediate ceasefire. Immediately after you have the impudence to write: “Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki condemned the Israeli aggression and called on the world to take action”.

Among all the heads of States and Governments you could mention [the entire world but the Axis Washington – London – Tel Aviv] why did you choose the PUPPET Prime Minister of Occupied Iraq?

Your organization wrote a letter to “Dear Ambassador Bolton”, the US Ambassador to the UN. In this letter, you write: “we want to express our concern over the escalating crisis between Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine”. Which “crisis” are you talking about? There is NO “crisis”, as all the world but United for Peace and Justice has far too well understood.

Your letter to “Dear Ambassador Bolton” continues: “We are gravely concerned about the loss of life on all sides. We condemn all attacks on civilians, and call for the release of political prisoners and POWs held on all sides in this conflict.” A masterpiece of hypocrisy.

Israel has been attacking civilians in Palestine since even before the State of Israel came to existence. Its “political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation” as John Berger, Noam Chomsky, Harold Pinter and José Saramago recently wrote. To use a more common word, GENOCIDE.

Your letter continues: “Hezbollah's crossing of the Israeli border to capture two soldiers may have violated the 1949 Armistice between Israel and Lebanon.” Spreading Israeli propaganda must be the main goal of United for Peace and Justice. The two Israeli soldiers were captured in Lebanon and the “cross-border operation” is just another myth coming directly from Tel Aviv.

But who cares for the truth when printing propaganda is much easier and far more convenient?

Yes, I read in your letter the words “international Law” many times. So much nobility! But what does “international Law” exactly mean for United for Peace and Justice, an organization that sees the Democratic Party of Hilary Clinton as its own natural harbour? Your heroine recently said: “I fully support Israel's right to defend itself.”

Have you sent a copy of your letter to Lady Clinton and all the other pro-Israeli Democratic members of the Congress as well? Or didn’t you have enough envelopes?

Salim Lone, a former spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq wrote today on the Guardian:

“Kofi Annan finally made the headlines yesterday with his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East crisis. It was too little, too late. That the United Nations secretary general waited nine days before seriously speaking out has dealt a severe blow to the organisation's humanitarian image. That he twinned his criticism of Israel's "excessive use of force" with repeated condemnations of Hizbullah again showed how deeply in thrall to the US the world is. (…) Another victim of this new war is the UN, whose standing in the Arab and Muslim world is already deeply fractured. Annan apart, it was astonishing to see his Middle East envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, declare, as destruction rained down on the Lebanese and Gazans, that he agreed with Israel that conditions were not yet ripe for a ceasefire. Such a public disavowal of the organisation's primary humanitarian and protection mandates represents a new low in its moral standing. Thus far Britain has supported the US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan - the current crisis has made Britain an indispensable player in the making of the new order that the US and Israel seek. Such a frontline role has obvious advantages in a world with a single superpower - but Britain's dramatic shift from a moderate postcolonial role and its distance from mainstream Europe carry great perils.”

Quite different from the letter (and the spirit!) of “the largest antiwar coalition in the United States”.

Your letter to “Dear Ambassador Bolton” ends with a prophecy: “We look forward to hearing your response.”

You may read the “response” from your beloved New York Times’ pages: “The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.”

But as tradition wants, you left the best for the end: “Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to UFPJ today.”

One of the most ugly faces of this bloody Empire is mirrored in the so-called “anti-war movement”. Just to be clear, there is NO anti-war movement as such. The oppressed victims fight the real struggle for peace and justice wherever the Empire strikes. There is then an international, diverse galaxy of different, independent subjects, more or less organized, moved by solidarity, compassion and an inner drive for justice.

Even though too often it represents an obstacle for a more effective organizing, the diversity of opinions, ideas and tactics is the real wealth we all should seriously defend against the old danger of authoritarian ideologies and vertical structures.

However this shouldn’t prevent us to speak out when “peace and justice” become a business that has nothing to do with the oppressed victims’ struggle and all to do instead with the acquisition of privileges and power that neutralizes real dissent and block change.

“Please forward widely”, you wrote at the top of your email. That’s what I am doing.

Thank you for your time.

Take care,

Gabriele Zamparini

***

From: UFPJ Action Alerts
Reply-To: listmaster@unitedforpeace.org
Sent: 20 July 2006 22:59:42
To: Gabriele Zamparini
Subject: Emergency Letter to Bolton on Lebanon & Gaza -- UPDATE


** Please forward widely**

Dear all,

As talk of a full scale Israeli ground invasion of begins, it’s even more important that we take action to save lives now. At a meeting of the Security Council today, United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities and a far greater and more credible effort by Israel to protect civilians and infrastructure." He reported that over 300 Lebanese have been killed and more than 600 wounded -- mainly civilians, about one third of them children.

Yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki condemned the Israeli aggression and called on the world to take action. Today, a peace action was called in Beirut by women's groups and other non-governmental organizations, while the Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said his country has been "torn to shreds."

Our voices must be raised to end the Bush administration’s stonewalling at the U.N.!

We want to thank those who have responded by signing onto the letter and others who have sent in suggestions for how to strengthen it. Please review the updated version below. If you or your organization have not signed on, please do. If you signed on to the draft letter yesterday, please contact us to confirm your signature.

The deadline for having your organization’s name on the letter is Friday, July 21, at 12 Noon EDT. Please email organizing@unitedforpeace.org to have your organization listed. For more information, call the UFPJ national office at 212-868-5545.

Please join United for Peace and Justice and other peace and justice activists to deliver the letter on Friday, July 21, at 4 PM. We will meet at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. at 140 East 45th Street (between Third and Lexington Avenues).

We call for the Bush administration to:

*

Support a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire.
*

Urge negotiations now to resolve all disputes, including the release of prisoners on all sides, with the goal being a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.
*

Put an end to US blocking of UN action to resolve the crisis.

Take care,

Leslie Kielson
UFPJ-NYC

Judith Le Blanc
UFPJ National Co-chairperson

Dear Ambassador Bolton,

On behalf of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the largest antiwar coalition in the United States, we want to express our concern over the escalating crisis between Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine and urge you to support a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

We are gravely concerned about the loss of life on all sides. We condemn all attacks on civilians, and call for the release of political prisoners and POWs held on all sides in this conflict.

Hezbollah's crossing of the Israeli border to capture two soldiers may have violated the 1949 Armistice between Israel and Lebanon. But it is important to note that Hezbollah attacked soldiers, not civilians. In addition, as the New York Times recognized on July 19, Hezbollah did not fire rockets into Israeli cities until after the Israeli army began bombing civilian areas of Lebanon.

The Israeli government could have chosen to engage in serious negotiations for a prisoner exchange, as they have so many times before. As recently as 2004, in a German-orchestrated swap, Hezbollah exchanged a kidnapped Israeli civilian and the remains of several Israeli soldiers killed in combat in Lebanon, for over 400 Palestinian, Lebanese, and other Arab prisoners.

Instead, the Israeli government chose to escalate what would have remained one of many common border skirmishes into a war. They have been deliberately shelling civilian areas and civilian infrastructure in both Lebanon and Gaza. Israel's attacks were and are clearly disproportionate in their use of force. They constitute acts of collective punishment against the Lebanese and Palestinian populations -- extremely serious violations of international law.

While the world is crying out for global intervention to stop the bloodshed, we are outraged by the response of the Bush administration. Instead of using its influence on Israel to stop the devastating attacks on the Lebanese and Palestinian populations, Washington has supported and enabled such attacks through supplying war planes, missiles, jet fuel, financing, and political support. This, in violation of both international and domestic law -- specifically, the U.S. Arms Export Control Act. And instead of rallying the international community to stop further bloodshed, it has blocked UN efforts to call for an immediate ceasefire.

We urgently call on the Bush administration to work with international partners to broker an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and commence negotiations to peacefully resolve all aspects of the crisis, with the goal being a comprehensive just and lasting peace in the region based on the implementation of international law.

We look forward to hearing your response.

Help us continue to do this critical work: Make a donation to UFPJ today.

ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
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Don’t mention the G word. It’s not good for business!

Don’t mention the G word. It’s not good for business!
By Gabriele Zamparini

“Yet, the facts on the ground, when not obscured by one or another Zionist rationalization, show that the Zionists are the worst anti-Semites in the world today, oppressing a Semitic people as no nation has done since the Nazis. No, the Zionists are not yet quite as bad as the Nazis, not yet, but isn't the world witnessing a creeping ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians at this very moment?” - Bertell Ollman, Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People, 13 March 2005 (1)

The Independent (sic!) that a few days ago admitted to be “pro-Israeli”, buried a letter by John Berger, Noam Chomsky, Harold Pinter and José Saramago in its LETTERS SECTION:

(…) Each provocation and counter-provocation is contested and preached over. But the subsequent arguments, accusations and vows all serve as a distraction to divert world attention from a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation.

This has to be said loud and clear for the practice, only half declared and often covert, is advancing fast these days, and, in our opinion, it must be unceasingly and eternally recognised for what it is and resisted. (…) [emphasis added]

In the “pro-Israeli” newspaper, this letter comes after the far more important one “Home Information Packs will be an expensive waste of time” that gives the title to the Independent’s Letters Section “Letters: Home Information Packs”.

The fancy front-pages the newspaper prints every day are used to hide its dreadful editorial policy so to be able to keep selling its liberal readership to those corporations that finance its business through the ads one finds in its pages, the real content of the state-corporate media.

The great Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, the most prestigious name of the paper, is used as a fig leave to cover the shame. But the SHAME is too big and even the excellent Fisk can’t cover it anymore.

The Evacuation Show of these last hours is nothing less than a license to slaughter given to Israel, an immoral country that’s committing GENOCIDE. The Promised Land Myth feeds itself on innocent blood while the Axis Washington-London-Tel Aviv keeps Humanity under their boots.

“Practically every one of the Lebanese regions is being bombarded… Even the regions that were considered sheltered from aggression have become targets.” Caritas continues:

“The Israeli Army is making the situation even worse for Lebanese civilians by targeting warehouses and factories,” said Caritas. “In fact, food storage houses in particular have become the target of Israeli reprisals. A big milk factory in the Bekaa region called “Liban Lait” was completely burned and destroyed by direct attacks from the Israeli Air Force. A food storehouse called “TransMed” in Choueifate, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, was totally destroyed.”

More than 500,000 people have been displaced by Israel’s offensive, which began eight days ago. Schools, convents, and public buildings are inundated by people seeking refuge, while many other people are being taken in by friends or family, and even strangers, Caritas said. (2)

And that’s Lebanon. On the forgotten “front”, Caritas reports:

As Israel hammers Lebanon with bombardments, Caritas Jerusalem continues to call out on behalf of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, a separate but no less tragic front in the military assault Israel has launched as violence in the Middle East spins out of control.

“At night, we are in darkness. In the streets at night, all you can hear are children weeping, they are so scared,” said Father Manuel Musallam, Parish Priest of the Latin Convent in Gaza.

“We need food, yes of course we need food,” Father Manuel said, referring to the thousands of people going hungry and thirsty as food and water supplies are put in a stranglehold. “But more than that, we need freedom from fear,” he said. “We want peace and an end of the occupation.”

“Children are crying at night, some cannot find their mothers, their fathers, their brothers or sisters, and they are left in the dark,” continued Father Manuel. (3)

But the same “pro-Israeli” Independent that couldn’t find a better place for the Berger, Chomsky, Pinter and Saramago’s letter above to be printed, offers us an exquisite apologia of genocide. “Why is there such unity across the Israeli public, politicians and commentators, on this war, when there was no such agreement on, for example, the 1982 Lebanon war? The answer is simple: because the war in Lebanon in 1982 was not about our survival; this one is. Let me explain.” writes Uri Dromi, chief spokesman for the Israeli governments of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Remember the Nobel PEACE Prizes?

“No, the Zionists are not yet quite as bad as the Nazis, not yet”. But today is July 21, 2006…


NOTES

1) Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People, Bertell Ollman, 13 March 2005

2) Caritas Lebanon’s Overwhelming Task of Caring for Civilians, CARITAS, 20 July 2006

3) Humanitarian Situation in Gaza Continues to Deteriorate, CARITAS, 20 July 2006

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Jews United Against Zionism

July 18, 2006: Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews joined a Pro Palestinian Rally outside the Israeli Consulate, New York City against the Zionist attacks on Lebanon.

To know more visit NETUREI KARTA INTERNATIONAL - JEWS UNITED AGAINST ZIONISM

The Butcher of London

Today, Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed 58 civilians and a Hizbollah fighter on Wednesday, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated. [ link ] [UPDATE: 61 civilians] [Israel has killed so far 292 people. Of these, 265 were civilians]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had "serious questions" over Israel's conduct as civilians bore the brunt of the strikes on Lebanon. "The high number of civilian casualties and the extent of damage to essential public infrastructure raise serious questions regarding respect for the principle of proportionality in the conduct of hostilities," ICRC director of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl told journalists at the organisation's Geneva base. [ link ]

With the crisis in Lebanon and Israel entering its second week, UNICEF is seriously concerned for civilians caught in the conflict and is racing to get critical emergency supplies to tens of thousands of children affected by the hostilities. (…) Thousands of children are suffering from the ongoing violence, according to UNICEF Deputy Director of Emergency Programmes Afshan Khan. “This crisis definitely has the face of a child,” she said. “We’re hearing of difficulties in getting children to hospitals in time to save either life or limb. This is a crisis that has deeply, deeply scarred many children.” [ link ]

Civilian deaths include dozens of children, with many more injured. The psychological impact is serious, as people, including children have witnessed the death or injury of loved ones and destruction of their homes and communities. In Lebanon alone, more than 200 people have been killed [Israel has killed so far 292 people. Of these, 265 were civilians] and more than 550 injured. Hundreds of thousands of people are reportedly internally displaced, with more than 30,000 finding refuge in schools and public gardens in and outside Beirut. The movement of medical supplies and ambulances to the affected areas is seriously curtailed. Unobstructed access for humanitarian assistance is critical to stave off needless death and suffering. The protection of civilians during conflict is an obligation under international humanitarian law. Unhindered humanitarian access to health facilities for the injured, for those who need care for chronic conditions, and for pregnant women, is equally critical to the prevention of more civilian deaths in this crisis. [ link ]

On the same day, Wednesday, July 19, 2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair refused Wednesday to call on Israel to halt its onslaught on Lebanon, revealing a split with other European Union leaders. [ link ]

On the road to Damascus

On the road to Damascus
By Gabriele Zamparini

The current horde of barbarians that has brought hell to Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, [with Syria and Iran on the bombing waiting list] may have some few precedents in human history but the racist hypocrisy that goes with it certainly doesn’t.

Reuters reports: “About 100,000 Lebanese have fled their homes to escape the violence. Israel's campaign has killed 230 people, all but 26 of them civilians, and inflicted the heaviest damage on Lebanon since the 1982 Israeli invasion to expel Palestinian guerrillas.” [Wednesday, July 19 UPDATE: "Israeli air strikes on Lebanon killed 56 civilians and a Hizbollah fighter on Wednesday, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated."]

The Washington junta showed all its compassion through the man [sic!] who represents that gang to the UN

Asked to comment on the deaths in an Israeli air strike of eight Canadian citizens in southern Lebanon Sunday, he [US Ambassador John Bolton] said: "it is a matter of great concern to us... that these civilian deaths are occurring. It's a tragedy."

"I think it would be a mistake to ascribe moral equivalence to civilians who die as the direct result of malicious terrorist acts," he added, while defending as "self-defense" Israel's military action, which has had "the tragic and unfortunate consequence of civilian deaths".

There is no “tragedy” and there is no Middle East “crisis” but a carefully planned project going back months, years, decades and even centuries.

“That's what's happening all over - the devastation wrought in this country in just under a week is truly heartbreaking. Everyone just feels so incredibly sad. Israel isn't trying to support a 'sovereign democratic Lebanon' or whatever it is we're supposed to believe, it's bombing it back to the dark ages - which in Lebanon's case is 1990, after the last one ended.” an email coming from Beirut reads.

As a searchlight piercing the gloomy hypocrisy, journalist and activist Felicity Arbuthnot brings us a piece of reality in her moving “Letters from Baghdadis”:

A's letter ended with an illuminating insight into American tactics in Iraq: 'The Americans keep Iraq in a state of absolute chaos, they call it: 'positive instability.'

On the receiving end of our Free World’s benevolence the brainwashing propaganda doesn’t work and people can still think properly and put us to shame.

But that propaganda works perfectly well at home. In Italy for example, Piero Fassino, the man leading what’s left of the party founded by Antonio Gramsci, said that the very “existence” of Israel is “really in danger”. The leader of the largest party in Romano Prodi’s government’s coalition, continued:

“Every democratic country, and therefore also Italy, must make clear to the Islamic world and to its ruling elites that never the democratic world, and in the first place Europe, will accept to put in discussion or even to put in precariousness the State of Israel and its existence”.

But don’t blame just the hot temperatures of the Italian summer. The Jewish Lobby organized a vigil pro-Israel, present much of the Italian nomenklatura together with the Israeli Ambassador to Italy, the above mentioned Fassino, the Zionist Mayor of Rome Valter Veltroni and – life can be really ironic sometimes – the former neo-fascist [but still very right-wing] and former Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini [Enjoy some photos here: 1 2 3 4]

On the other Tiber’s bank, just a few days ago the Vatican “strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were ‘an attack’ on a sovereign and free nation. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into ‘a conflict with international repercussions.’”

"In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence (…) The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations”

Usually the Italian politicians violently compete to kiss the Pope’s hand. What happened this time?

On July 14 I wrote to the European Union’s Ombudsman:

Dear Sir,

With regard to the current massive crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Government of Israel, will the EU do anything at all besides the usual blah blah blah?

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Gabriele Zamparini
Italian and European Union Citizen
London

In the same e-mail I also forwarded to the European Ombudsman the e-mail I had sent to the Israeli Ambassador to the UK the day before

From the efficient and democratic Europe the reply arrived today:

Dear Madam, [my name can be very confusing, by the way]

Thank your for your recent e-mail.

The role of the European Ombudsman is to investigate complaints concerning maladministration by institutions and bodies of the European Community. Complaints which concern the merits of a political decision taken in the exercise of political authority do not raise issues of maladministration. The issue that you raise appears therefore to be outside the Ombudsman's mandate.

The European Ombudsman does however take all complaints seriously and tries, wherever possible, to offer alternative advice as to who to contact. In your case, I can only suggest that you address a petition to the European Parliament. This possibility is open to any citizen or resident of the European Union, individually or in association with others. Petitions can touch upon any subject which comes within the European Union's fields of activity and which affects the citizen directly. You can find further details (and submit a petition online) on the following webpage: [ link ]

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Yours sincerely,
Secretariat of the European Ombudsman

A petition to the EU Parliament? To sign it we can always use the blood of those slaughtered in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon [with Syria and Iran on the petition waiting list].

"This is our war, too"

"This is our war, too"
By Gabriele Zamparini

How many babies has Israel slaughtered today?

REUTERS reports:

"An Israeli newspaper said Israel's offensive had so far destroyed a quarter of Hezbollah's fighting capabilities. [But the REUTERS continues] It has also killed 176 people and wounded more than 500, Lebanon's health ministry said. All but 13 of them were civilians. The dead include seven Canadians killed in a strike on a southern village on Sunday." [UPDATE - REUTERS: Israel's campaign has killed 203 people, all but 13 of them civilians, and wounded more than 500. Twenty-four Israelis have been killed in the fighting, including 12 civilians hit in rocket attacks.]

This is just the beginning and it's just about Lebanon. The Palestinian Genocide by the Mass Murdering Israeli Beast is not even in the news anymore.

A few days ago, the Palestinian News Network reported:

"Director of Public Relations at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital, Dr. Juma Al Sakka, confirmed the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s report from earlier this week which stated that Israeli forces are using toxic weapons in the Gaza Strip. The doctor spoke on Thursday, giving the death count at 85 Palestinians in the Strip since the latest Israeli attack began. Among the dead are 34 children under the age of 13. And as of Thursday afternoon, 300 Palestinians are injured. Dr. Al Sakka told Voice of Palestine Radio that the Israeli army is using new types of non-conventional weapons against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the recent attacks. He said, “They are targeting the Palestinian body with unconventional weapons and with that comes a phenomena we have not seen before in any Israeli bombardment we have lived through for many years.” He continued, “The hospital is central and sees almost all cases of injuries and deaths as a result of Israeli against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. These Israeli bombings are entering the body and fragmenting, causing internal combustion leading to up to fourth degree internal burns, exposing the bone, and affecting the tissue and skin.” The doctor added, “These tissues die, they do not survive, which obliges us to perform arm or leg amputations, and there are fragments which penetrate the body and do not show up on X-rays. When entering the body they spark like a combustion firearm, but not chemically. They seem radioactive.” (...) He called on the international community to examine the latest weapons however the doctor reported that “no one has lifted a finger.” Dr. Al Sakka complained that he did not see any foreign medical institution interested in the use of new weapons and their affects on the human body. He said, “What we found were journalists who came to take pictures, but as for the medical community, nothing.”"

The banality of evil gets into our homes between a talk show and the weather forecast when “our” TV channels normalize the unthinkable of massive crimes against humanity perpetrated by the racist, nuclear theocracy with the support of the other two genocidal regimes of Washington and London.

The three-headed monster frames our brains, our consciences and our will through the propaganda coming from the state-corporate media.

“The governments of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are, to say the least, indifferent to the fate of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Palestine Liberation Organization (Fatah) isn’t a player. The prime mover behind the terrorist groups who have started this war is a non-Arab state, Iran, which wasn’t involved in any of Israel’s previous wars.” wrote in the Financial Times the American Neo-Con William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and Chairman of the Project for the New American Century [PNAC].

Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon… Blood seems to be never enough for these psychopaths. “This is our war, too” Mr. PNAC concludes. And for the country that since 1946 has slaughtered and plundered much of the world without the constitutional approval of its own Congress, Kristol’s words have the gravity of a declaration of war.

But make no mistake, as Puppet George would say. There is NO Middle East “crisis”. It’s Kristol clear that there is only one “war”, the Empire AGAINST Humanity. And too much hypocrisy in between.

Robert Fisk and the "independent" Independent

"This newspaper is pro-Israeli. We support the right of the state of Israel to exist, and sympathise with the Israeli people, who live in fear of terrorists who are intent on killing civilians indiscriminately. We share the frustration of the Israeli government: having withdrawn from Gaza and, longer ago, from southern Lebanon, terrorists are now using both territories to fire rockets into residential districts." The Independent - Leading article: The onus is on Mr Olmert, Published: 16 July 2006

There are no doubts whatsoever that the Independent "is pro-Israeli". Also there are no doubts that the Independent is pro-US and pro-UK.

On the same day, the "pro-Israeli" Independent published:

Robert Fisk: Hizbollah's response reveals months of planning

One wonders how many months [years and decades] of "planning" the Israel's "response reveals".

Independent Middle East correspondent's Robert Fisk is a great reporter, an excellent writer and a brave man. No doubts about that.

Still, he works for a "pro-Israeli" newspaper.

Media Lens reported this past January:

Robert Fisk, who is employed by the Independent, famously declared: "I don't work for Colin Powell, I work for a British newspaper called The Independent; if you read it, you'll find that we are." (Live From Iraq,' Democracy Now!, March 25, 2003)

(...)

Fisk commented in a recent interview with Canadian journalist Justin Podur:

“the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post version of events doesn't satisfy millions of people. So more and more people are trying to find a different and more accurate narrative of events in the Middle East. It is a tribute to their intelligence that instead of searching for blog-o-bots or whatever, they are looking to the European ‘mainstream’ newspapers like The Independent, the Guardian, The Financial Times.

“One of the reasons they read The Independent is that they can hear things they suspected to be the case, but published by a major paper. I'm not just running some internet site. This is a big operation with foreign correspondents. We are the British equivalent of what the Washington Post should be... So people in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, the United States, Canada and many other places, are finding that a British journalist can write things they can't read elsewhere but which must have considerable basis in truth because otherwise it wouldn't appear in a major British paper.

“I'm not some cranky left wing or right wing nut. We are a newspaper, that's the point. That gives us an authority — most people are used to growing up with newspapers. The internet is a new thing, and it's also unreliable.” (Justin Podur, ‘Fisk: War is the total failure of the human spirit,’ December 5, 2005)

Robert Fisk On The British Media - Part 1

Robert Fisk On The British Media - Part 2

Independent?

BBC: where human life doesn't count if you are on the "wrong" side

REUTERS Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:16pm ET: BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel killed at least 32 civilians on Saturday, including 15 children, in air strikes meant to punish Lebanon for letting Hizbollah guerrillas menace the Jewish state's northern border. (...) bringing the death toll in four days of Israeli attacks to 99. All but three of the dead have been civilians.

BUT ON THE SAME FACT TWO DIFFERENT STORIES:

REUTERS Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:16pm ET: An Israeli missile incinerated a van in south Lebanon, killing 20 people, among them 15 children, in the deadliest single attack of the four-day-old campaign launched by Israel after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers and killed eight. (same link above)

BBC Last Updated: Saturday, 15 July 2006, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK : An Israeli air raid has killed at least 13 Lebanese civilians who were fleeing southern border areas. Women and children were among those killed when the convoy was hit.

BBC Last Updated: 16:40 GMT 17:40 UK - from 13 to 17

See also:

- BBC censored the VATICAN

REUTERS: "In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence," he told Vatican Radio. (...) "The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations," he said.

The BBC NEWS website does NOT report on this story at all

Update: it seems that BBC News website reported on the Vatican position after all. In Israel hits Hezbollah leader's HQ, the 22th paragraph reads:

French President Jacques Chirac said the Israeli air strikes were "completely disproportionate" and the Vatican described them as an attack on a sovereign and free nation.

That's all!

- BBC RACISM

Actress and columnist Maureen Lipman on BBC 1's This Week programme of 13 July, said: "Human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually..."

Of the This Week team - Andrew Neil, Dianne Abbott and Michael Portillo - only Abbott responded, calling the comment "unfair", before Neil quickly moved the discussion along. Read Arab Media Watch Alert

BBC Quiz on Israel and killing civilians

Dear BBC’s Ladies and Gentlemen,

How many Israeli civilians have been killed in Israel AND how many Palestinian and Lebanese civilians have been killed in Gaza and in Lebanon by the Israeli Government since June 9th when Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing 8 Palestinian civilians and injuring 32?

Why doesn’t the BBC answer this simple question in its journalistic work?

Possible options:

1) all journalists at BBC can’t count (?)
2) all journalists at BBC are on holiday (?)
3) all journalists at BBC are afraid to be kidnapped-captured-arrested (you decide) by Israeli troops (?)
4) the BBC is afraid to be bombed by the Israeli air force pilots flying US fighter planes (?)
5) .................................................................. (?)

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

***

BBC WORLD AFFAIRS EDITOR JOHN SIMPSON'S REPLY

Dear Gabriele,

Since I am not, as you now know, a BBC spokesman, and certainly not a BBC manager of any kind, please take me off your rather long list of addressees when you send this kind of email around.

Thanks,

John

***

MY REPLY

Dear John Simpson,

Don’t you work for the BBC anymore? If not, I apologise...

But if you still work for the BBC... I thought that BBC’s journalists should keep in touch with we, the normal people who pay taxes for the public service BBC.

You don’t use your BBC email address – you wrote this, remember? – so how can we – the normal people who pay taxes for the public service BBC – stay in touch with “our” BBC World Affaire Editor?

Best wishes,
Gabriele
PS What do you mean exactly with “when you send this kind of email around”? Which “kind”?

Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East - an email to Israel's Ambassador to the UK

Dear Mr. AMBASSADOR ZVI HEIFETZ,

I can barely find the words to comment on the atrocities that your Government has been committing against innocent civilians in these past few days and hours. Your cruel, ruthless and criminal behavior is against any ethical, moral or religious principle and certainly it’s against that international Law your Government has never respected.

The despicable racism of your Government’s actions compete only with the hypocrisy used to justify them.

I wish the people of your country to finally find the courage to choose peace and justice against the abominable racism and violence of their own Government. I am sure they too deserve much better than living in a terrorist state.

Sincerely,
Gabriele Zamparini
London

Zidane and the Italian BASE World Cup

Zidane and the Italian BASE World Cup
A follow up to Zidane and the ‘war on terror’

According to Le Monde:

Michel Denisot lui a demandé si la réalité "recoupait" ce qu'avaient rapporté les tabloïds anglais qui, s'appuyant sur des spécialistes de la lecture labiale, ont accusé l'Italien d'avoir dit : "On sait tous que tu es le fils d'une pute terroriste." Zidane a juste répondu : "Ben oui".

In other words, Zidane confirmed what some British newspapers had published, namely:

The Times newspaper hired Jessica Rees, whose skill has seen her summoned as an expert witness at criminal trials, to study a tape of Sunday's match that saw Zidane get a red card for his seemingly spontaneous assault.

"After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed Materazzi called Zidane 'the son of a terrorist whore' before adding 'so just f*** off' for good measure," it said.

The Daily Mail, which wrongly described Marseille's native Zidane as "Algeria-born", said it had also engaged the services of a lip reader, whom it did not identify, who reached the exact same conclusion as Rees. [Lip reader's take on Materazzi insult]

Read Zidane and the ‘war on terror’ and make your voice heard: FIFA must strip Italy of the World Cup!

IPS, nothing different... maybe worse

Dear Editor,

In "50,000 Dead, But Who's Counting?" Juliana Lara Resende writes:

After famously telling reporters that they "don't do body counts", Pentagon officials now say that they have in fact been keeping a record of civilian casualties in Iraq for one year. And while that number remains classified, independent estimates suggest that at least 50,000 people have died in the country since the 2003 invasion.

Why do you write “independent” to refer to “statistics compiled by the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies, as reported recently in the Los Angeles Times, that total is 20,000 higher then the George W. Bush administration had previously estimated.” ?

How can the PUPPET Iraqi Government be considered INDEPENDENT by IPS ?

Also in your article you report IBC’s figures but NOTHING IS SAID OF THE LANCET STUDY’S FINDINGS. WHY?

If you care for the Iraqi People and for an item very rare to find in these dark times, the truth, please read:

Iraq between genocide and coincidences

Darkness and Light

An exchange between Les Roberts and John Sloboda on Iraq Body Count and the Lancet

Many other people have extensively written on this matter and you will find many links to studies and articles in my three articles above.

I urge you to consider a formal correction to what you reported in "50,000 Dead, But Who's Counting?"

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

***

Dear Gabriele,

Thanks so much for your comments on Juliana Lara Resende's recent article on civilian casualties in Iraq. To address your concerns, I would first say that the use of the word "independent" in the lead suggests data independent of what the U.S. government has put forth. I also made sure to use to qualifier "at least". If you have evidence that agencies like the Iraqi Health Ministry and Baghdad morgue are issuing doctored figures, I would be very interested in hearing about it. We have also written about the Lancet findings in the past (see the story below from last year), but that study is almost two years old now, so we focused on the most current data available. While we may never know precisely how many innocent people have died in this senseless war, IPS is committed to telling the stories of the Iraqi people living under the brutal occupation and insurgency -- and in fact, one of our writers, Alaa Hassan, just lost his life because of that commitment.

Anyway, I would welcome your feedback in the future.

Best,

Katherine Stapp
IPS Regional Editor for North America and the Caribbean

***

Dear Katherine,

Thank you very much for your email but I am really depressed by your reply.

The fact that the Lancet is 2 year old means absolutely nothing since as far as I know deaths do not come back!

Also, I find quite sad and patronizing (to say the least) that you use the name of an Iraqi who died to report the truth to prove the commitment of IPS. Since I focused on a particular article and since that article is factually wrong and deceptive, I would have expected a serious reply. Even more so since I took care to send you those articles and links in my previous email. The IBC numbers have been proved completely unreliable, as you could have read from those articles and links.

Please, AGAIN find below my previous email. If you find the time to read the articles and the links you find there, you will find out why your email does NOT answer my questions and also you will discover why that IPS article was completely wrong and – at this point – outrageous.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

Zidane and the ‘war on terror’

Zidane and the ‘war on terror’
By Gabriele Zamparini

“The France legend, playing in his final match before retirement, was dismissed in extra-time for chestbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi” the Guardian reported.

“Zinédine Zidane's despicable, unfathomable act of violence” (1) has been unanimously blamed as a “stupid reaction”, a “disgrace”. “How sad that he should save the most shameful episode for the final page of his story” wrote the BBC. (2)

Yes, but why? Why did the 34 year old experienced football player who has just been awarded the Golden Ball as the best player at the World Cup do it?

Guardian’s journalist Kevin McCarra wrote “there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him ‘a terrorist’” [emphasis added] (3)

Only Zidane and Materazzi know the truth and it would be interesting to know what they have to say about these “suggestions”.

If they are confirmed, Zidane’s gesture, far from being the “despicable, unfathomable act of violence” will be seen as the only link to reality of this World Cup.

If these “suggestions” are confirmed, that red card will tell a completely different story. Still a “stupid reaction” according to the FIFA’s rules maybe, Zidane’s act will be remembered as the most human reaction to racism and hypocrisy. He won’t be anymore the fake “hero” praised by the business-corrupted football circus but something way far more important: a man of moral integrity who didn’t sell himself and didn’t compromise for a golden cup, the money coming from it and a glossed image a world of strangers enjoyed.

If the ‘war on terror’ played a role in the 2006 World Cup, Zidane’s answer is not a disgrace but an act of courage that deserves to be acknowledged for what it is.

If Italian football player Materazzi really called Zidane ‘a terrorist’, FIFA should strip Italy of the World Cup and leave the 2006 tournament without a winner.

Whatever decision the FIFA will take, people could still make their voice heard by boycotting the Italian football team wherever and whenever will play.

Football – and not only in Italy – doesn’t live by itself on a far away planet. In times of ‘war on terror’ and ‘preemptive wars’, Zidane’s gesture has the power of a strong and just call to reality.

If Italian football player Materazzi really called Zidane ‘a terrorist’, Zidane’s gesture should be seen for what it really represents: a political statement directed to all of us.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
JULY 13 FOLLOW-UP: Zidane and the Italian BASE World Cup
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


*********
UPDATE
*********

The Guardian has just "updated" its article.

FROM:

"A red card rather than a greetings card ushered Zinédine Zidane into retirement 19 minutes into extra-time. The captain was sent off for reacting to a dispute with Marco Materazzi by turning and butting the scorer of Italy's goal in the chest. He had surely been provoked - there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him "a terrorist" - but Zidane will be right to curse his stupid reaction."

TO:

A red card rather than a greetings card ushered Zinédine Zidane into retirement 19 minutes into extra-time. The captain was sent off for reacting to a dispute with Marco Materazzi by turning and butting the scorer of Italy's goal in the chest. He had surely been provoked but Zidane will be right to curse his stupid reaction.

That sentence - there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him "a terrorist" - is no more in the article. And no explanation is given.


***********
UPDATE 2
***********

That sentence - there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him "a terrorist" - after being deleted by the Guardian, is now back in the Guardian's article!!!


***********
UPDATE 3
***********

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA, soccer's world governing body, investigate and take any appropriate action. (AP)


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MORE UPDATES AND BACKGROUND
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FIFA will open a disciplinary investigation into Zinedine Zidane's conduct in the World Cup final, when he was sent off for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi.

World soccer's governing body said Tuesday the incident had been spotted by the fourth official without using a monitor, who then alerted referee Horacio Elizondo through their communications system.

"FIFA will open a disciplinary investigation into Zidane's conduct to enable it to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident as exactly as possible," FIFA said in a statement.

Zidane and Materazzi exchanged words after Italy broke up a French attack in extra-time of Sunday's final in Berlin. Seconds later, Zidane lowered his head and rammed Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Zidane was sent off, reducing France to 10 men. Italy won the game in a penalty shootout.

Referring to Zidane being voted the player of the tournament by journalists, FIFA said the ballot boxes remained open at the main media center in Berlin until midnight on Sunday. The game was over by then.

"It is impossible to determine how many journalists cast their votes before the match and how many during it, as the ballot papers were not counted until after the deadline for voting had expired," FIFA said.

Materazzi admitted he insulted Zidane before the France captain head-butted him, but denied calling him a "terrorist."

"I did insult him, it's true," Materazzi said in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I categorically did not call him a terrorist. I'm not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is."

The 32-year-old Inter Milan player did not elaborate exactly on what he said to Zidane.

"It was one of those insults you're told tens of times and that always fly around the pitch," he said.

FIFA to investigate Zidane's head butt, AP, July 11, 2006

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Lip readers employed by British newspapers claim France captain Zinedine Zidane was sent off in the World Cup final in retaliation for racist, vulgar comments by Italian defender Marco Materazzi. (…)

The Times newspaper hired Jessica Rees, whose skill has seen her summoned as an expert witness at criminal trials, to study a tape of Sunday's match that saw Zidane get a red card for his seemingly spontaneous assault.

"After an exhaus