MAQzine

Barney Frank   JERUSALEM -- Israel on Wednesday began deporting the bulk of nearly 700 international activists detained during its deadly raid on an aid flotilla bound for Palestinians in the blockaded, Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The raid that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists has strained diplomatic ties, sending Israeli relations with Turkey , in particular, to a new low. At least four of the nine killed were Turkish and the ship Israel attacked was Turkish. Israel ordered families of its diplomats out of that country a day after Turkey branded the raid a "massacre." Israel also faces significant new levels of criticism within in the United States . In   an interview with the Boston Herald , Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said that that "'as a Jew,' Israeli treatment of Arabs around some of the West Bank settlements 'makes me ashamed that there would be Jews that would engage in that kind of victimization of a minority.'" (Read m...

A news item in the Express Tribune today: UNITED NATIONS :  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret after at least nine people died when troops stormed ships carrying aid for Gaza . Netanyahu claimed that the soldiers had been defending themselves after they were “ clubbed, beaten and stabbed ”. . . . . . . . . . Oh, what an excuse Mr. Netanyahu?  Though it is garbage-shit of nonsense for the free world to believe yet, if we accept this claim, how do you suggest the people on Freedom Flotilla should have reacted to the assault by your butchers, I mean soldiers?  They are trained to fight good, to assault good but also to kill innocent people, children and women like butchers too. Now, accepting your claim that the soldiers had been defending themselves, will a unified attack, on Israel, by the neighbouring Islamic countries be justified on the pretext of defending their citizens, their Palestinian brothers and sisters who are suffering ha...

Has Israel insulted the United States by approving construction on some 500 new dwellings in the West Bank, and indicating that construction will continue on about 2,500 others? This against President Obama's plan for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations based upon a complete construction freeze, including neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. - - - - - - - - Or is it a reasonable response to a naive American conception that the settlements are a major obstacle preventing agreement between Palestinians and Israel? - - - - - - - - Perhaps the Israeli response is appropriate, but presented in a way that is insulting. If Netanyahu was working with the Americans on the conception of a freeze, what he has done seems far from that. And was it nice to announce new construction a day before the long Labor Day weekend, when Americans would be away from their desks? - - - - - - - - Those inclined to judge Israel should begin by noting that the decision has the backing of the Labor Party. It...