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(202) 362-5266 13 July 2006 MER@MiddleEast.Org
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SOUTH AFRICANS
Call for Boycotting and Isolating Israel

Mid-East Realities - MER - www.MiddleEast.Org - 13 July 2006:
If there are any people in our world who intimately understand racism and apartheid it is the South Africans. And though some of their leaders have not done so well over the years when it comes to the plight of the Palestinians the people of South Africa are now calling out not just to their own government but to the world. The call to boycott and ostracize Israel, a la the tactic that was applied to the apartheid South Africa of old, is right on the money, albeit rather late in history when it comes to this long-running terrible tragedy still ominously threatening the peace of the entire globe. But rather than heeding the call to justice and law the Americans have once again today violated all of their own principles by vetoing once again a Security Council resolution trying to restrain the Israelis. Shame on the Americans. Cheers for South Africa.

S. African unions urge Israel boycott

The Jerusalem Post by Paula Margulies, 11 July: South Africa's largest trade union umbrella organization, which has nearly two million members in fields as varied as healthcare, agriculture, engineering, mining and the arts, has called on its government to end diplomatic ties with Israel.

Calling Israel an "apartheid state," the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) demanded the recall of South Africa's ambassador from Tel Aviv, a boycott of Israeli products, and general sanctions against the Jewish state, in protest over Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

A trade boycott could have serious implications for South Africa, since Israel is the top destination for the country's exports. Israel's exports to South Africa totaled $239.9 million in 2004.

South Africa's ambassador in Israel, Maj. Fumanekile (Fumie) Gqiba, is currently out of the country and was unreachable for comment. However, the embassy's charg d'affaires, Sarel Kruger, said his government had no plans to sever diplomatic ties with Israel.

"The status quo remains the same, and there is no action being taken at the moment to change it."

Whether or not COSATU's suggestions are taken seriously by government leaders, the organization's statements are being viewed with dismay by the local Jewish community.

David Saks, the acting national director of South Africa's Board of Deputies, the Jewish community's governing body, said that his organization "views COSATU's statement with extreme concern. We believe it displays extreme double standards, ignoring altogether or playing down the countless acts of provocation from the Palestinian side, while one-sidedly depicting Israel as a militarist bully. The statement is provocative and unfair."

In addition, Saks strenuously objected to COSATU's use of the term "apartheid" in describing Israel, saying that the label is a "gross distortion of the historical fact and baseless slander against the Jewish state."

Israel's ambassador to South Africa, Ilan Baruch, said, "All our past attempts to open up a dialogue with COSATU showed us that they have no genuine interest in a dialogue with the embassy or with Israeli trade unions."

COSATU's own membership has expressed surprise over the organization's statement. Dr. T.K. Letlape, the head of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), one of COSATU's affiliates, said he had not known about the organization's statement regarding Israel and that "no issues regarding Israel have been brought to our attention."

Letlape said that he and SAMA have "a healthy working relationship with our Israeli colleagues" and that "government decisions should be guided by even-handedness."

He added, however, that any personal opinions that he or his colleagues had would have to be subject to the decisions of COSATU, which he called a "democracy."

South African deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad was unavailable for comment as of press time, and calls to COSATU leadership were not returned.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885973405&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull







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July 2006


Magazine






QANA Massacres - 1996 and 2006
(July 30, 2006)
It was ten years ago; but until today it has been mostly forgotten -- the terrible Qana Massacre in southern Lebanon, and the atrocious cover-up by Israel, the U.S. and the U.N. that followed.

IRAN War Coming
(July 28, 2006)
The Zionist Neocons who dominate Washington affairs in coordination with The Israel Lobby are working feverishly to create the conditions for the expansion of the war to Syria and Iran. The huge AIPAC conference in March at the Washington Convention Center has one giant theme - GET IRAN!

Why Are Things So Bad In Washington? MER FlashBack
(July 28, 2006)
Why are things so bad in Washington? Why is the Israel Lobby so strong and those who are supposed to represent the Arab countries and peoples so pathetic weak and incompetent? Some of the answers can be found in this MER Flashback first published nearly two years ago in September 2004:

The US - Israel WAR of 2006
(July 28, 2006)
British PM Tony Blair's rush to Washington to see George Bush today may be an attempt to thwart the war's quick expansion to Syria and Iran -- which is what this is really all about for the Zionist Neocons and Israel. The Israelis claim otherwise, as they so often do, yet they are mobilizing tens of thousands more of their reserve army hoping and planning they will have the excuse, and the American green light, to push forward and truly remake the entire region for themselves and the neocons.

SAUDIS PUBLICLY WARN U.S. and ISRAEL
(July 25, 2006)
It was just two days ago on Sunday that the Saudis all but demanded an emergency meeting with the American President. They came to the White House in force -- the Foreign Minister, the Ambassador to the U.S. (formerly in charge of National Security in The Kingdom), and the old American Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan (now in charge of National Security in The Kingdom). They left unhappy. They are even more unhappy after Condolezza Rice's failed visit to Beirut and stealth visit to Ramallah as Palestinian protestors demanded a 'Day of Rage' against the Americans and boycotting of Rice. The following extraordinarily unusual statement and warning has just come from Riyadh in the name of the Saudi 'Royal Court', the highest authority in The Kingdom:

LEBANON Destroyed - July 2006 - Look Carefully If You Dare
(July 23, 2006)
Call it Lebanon's 9/11; call it Israel's (and America's) War on the Arabs and Muslims of 2006; call it the opening phases of a kind of new World War which may soon escalate to Syria and Iran (as the US and Israel appear to want) and maybe beyond (as they probably do not want). But whatever you call it, look carefully and closely at the pictures. Whatever you call it now remember the pictures for in the future those now so miserably bleeding and suffering will understandably try to do horrible things tomorrow to those who are responsible for doing these things today.

The Extraordinary Ways of the Jewish/Israeli Lobby - Tom Hayden Speaks His Mind
(July 23, 2006)
This quite personal exposee by Tom Hayden of American politics when dealing with all things Middle East, and of the extraordinary role of the Jewish-Israeli Lobby in American life, should be of considerable interest to all who are today trying to understand just why the U.S. does what it does, and does not do what it should.

Daniel Ellsberg - Past, Present, Future
(July 21, 2006)
Pentagon Papers Author Daniel Ellsberg Says: * Government May Have Carried Out 9/11 * Bush Regime Might Stage Terrorist Attack to Provide Pretext for * Coming Iran and Syria Invasion * And to Justify Internment Camps for Dissident Americans

Have You Heard of the 'Israeli/Jewish Lobby'? Lou Dobbs on America and the Middle East
(July 20, 2006)
Now of course Lou Dobbs of CNN has heard of 'The Jewish/Israeli Lobby'. He's probably even read The London Review of Books cover article by Professors Mearsheimer and Walt that has brought the subject out of the closet in recent months. But then Dobbs works for CNN; and even a flag-waving America-firster star like him has to be looking over his shoulder lest he go too far for those who hold the real power. So no mention of the Israel Lobby nor of American Jews in what Mr. Dobbs had to say yesterday on air (just imagine what he must really think and say when the cameras aren't rolling). But for every question mark Dobbs so rightly uses the power and influence and fear-factor of The Israeli/Jewish Lobby is a significant part of every answer.

AMERICA'S WAR ON ARABS, MUSLIMS, SYRIA & IRAN
(July 19, 2006)
The pretense is otherwise of course -- America the 'honest peace broker' -- but the realities are quite something else. Just as the Reagan Administration gave Israel the 'Green Light' for the Invasion of Lebanon in 1982, so the American's have given Israel the 'Green Light' for the destruction of the Palestinians and the Lebanese in 2006.

ISRAELIS ON THE RAMPAGE - 'The Army Is Hungry for War'
(July 18, 2006)
They are now doing to the Palestinians and the Lebanese what hasbeen planned, in tandem with the Americans, for some time.

The Slide To WORLD WAR III
(July 17, 2006)
Before the invasion of Iraq, no less a newman than Walter Cronkite was warning of World War III but prescribing a far different course. Even with Cronkite's unique stature however he was hardly heard. The corporate media wasn't even willing to report Cronkite's warning for he insisted that it was the policies of the United States and the Bush/Cheney Administration that were primarily responsible. He urged Americans to wake up and he urged when it mattered that the Iraq invasion/occupation not take place. MER almost alone reported the significance of Cronkite's speech back then -- October 2002.

ISRAEL and the US Rain Death and Destruction on Arabs and Muslims
(July 16, 2006)
"The Israelis were yesterday trumpeting the fact that the missile was made in Iran as proof of Iran's involvement in the Lebanon war. This was odd reasoning. Since almost all the missiles used to kill the civilians of Lebanon were made in Seattle, Duluth and Miami in the United States, their use already suggests to millions of Lebanese that America is behind the bombardment of their country." - Robert Fisk

The new exclusive MER Program - Get It Today!
(July 16, 2006)
Please tell your friends and family. Forward this to them today.

Predicted MEGA-CRISIS Now Exploding
(July 14, 2006)
It was on 1 and 2 June that MER published the articles below predicting the 'Mega-Crisis' that has now come to pass. Blame not Israel as much as the superpower US. Near-total U.S. isolation in the world resulted in another US veto in the Security Council yesterday on behalf of Israel. More U.S./Israeli aggression and denial could yet plundge the world into another more major world war as events now threaten to spiral out of control.

Boycott and Ostracize Israel - A Call From South Africa
(July 13, 2006)
If there are any people in our world who intimately understand racism and apartheid it is the South Africans. And the people of South Africa are now calling out not just to their own government but to the world. The call to boycott and ostracize Israel, a la the tactic that was applied to the apartheid South Africa of old, is right on the money. But rather than heeding the call to justice and law the Americans have once again today violated all of their own principles by vetoing once again a Security Council resolution trying to restrain the Israelis. Shame on the Americans. Cheers for South Africa.

THE DESPICABLE ARAB ELITE
(July 13, 2006)
While 'Rome Burns' They Party, Buy Prostitutes of all types, and Squander Their History as well as their National Wealth -- This amazingly twisted and corrupted world of Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz and his despicable class of super-rich super-spoiled Arabs is also the world from which the Osama Bin Ladens and Aimen Zawahiris have arisen. It is the world from which Hezbollah and Hamas and the suicide bombers have come forth. And it is the world in which this despicable class has left its civilization and heritage practically defenseless against the Neocon/Evangelical and U.S./Israeli/European onslaught now at the ramparts.

SECRET WAR - Black Ops Underway Against Iran and N Korea
(July 11, 2006)
The American media, cowered by the Washington politicians and on the take from the corporate money-men doesn't focus on these kinds of very important and insightful stories. But it was features in the UK in the Sunday Times last weekend:

Israeli Torture and U.S. Complicity - Then and Now - MER FlashBack
(July 11, 2006)
The U.S. and Israel are connected in oh so many ways...and torture techniques are among them. The unusually unspoken reality is that the U.S. and Israel have been torture interconnected in the Middle East for quite a long time. Those now infamous hoods -- because of the dramatic pictures from the US prison in Iraq -- have long been used by the Israelis in prisons where Palestinians are treated far worse but the world has looked the other way for decades now. Indeed Israeli 'training' of Americans to 'deal with the Arabs' may well be the secret so-far untold aspect of the torture and abuse scandals of recent years.

GET IRAN! Battle Stations Washington
(July 9, 2006)
The war to 'regime change' IRAN and/or to devastate IRAN is already underway. It has been fomented in Washington primarily by the Israeli/Jewish lobby working in tandem with the worst of the Evangelical Zealots. AIPAC's convention in March was in fact quite openly devoted to Get Iran!

Killing and Pillaging in Iraq and Palestine in pursuit of the New World Order
(July 8, 2006)
The Americans are busy covering up and excusing the realities of their miserable occupation of Iraq, in which the Israelis are so very much co-complicitous. And the Israelis are busy covering up and excusing the realities of their miserable occupation of the Palestinians, in which the Americans are so very much co-complicitous. Meanwhile here in Washington that grand coalition of crusading Christian evangelicals, of which the President himself is a part, and the Neocon Jewish gang that works ever-so-closely with the Israelis, of which many key Administration officials are a part, continues to dominate as never before. Now in the target sights are Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and all others who dare stand in the way of the neo-imperial U.S.-Israeli 'New World Order' for the greater Middle East region. This letter from occupied Iraq helps put things in perspective.


()


Israel Gone Crazy - or is it...Israelis Gone Wild
(July 4, 2006)
US Policies in Iraq, in Palestine, and throughout much of the world in fact, betray the professed message and the core principles of the 4th of July, American Independence Day.




© 2004 Mid-East Realities, All rights reserved