Who is worse: Netanyahu or Putin?

[pieter]

Hajo Meyer



Hajo Meyer (born in 1924) is a German-Dutch physicist and Jewish political activist.

Born in Bielefeld, in 1938 Meyer fled from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands alone, without his parents. He went into hiding in 1943, but was arrested after a year and spent ten months in Auschwitz. His parents, who were deported from Germany, did not survive.

After the war, Meyer returned to the Netherlands, and studied theoretical physics. He started working for Philips and eventually became director of the Philips Physics Laboratory (NatLab). After his retirement he took courses in England and worked as a builder of new violins and violas.





In recent years, Meyer has been politically active, including as director of A Different Jewish Voice. He also wrote the book Het einde van het Jodendom (The End of Judaism) in 2003, which accuses Israel of abusing the Holocaust to justify crimes against the Palestinians. He is a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. He participated in the 2011 "Never Again - For Anyone" tour. Meyer also claimed that Zionism predates fascism, that Zionists and fascists had a history of cooperation, and that Israel wants to create anti-Semitism in the world to encourage more Jews to migrate to Israel. He has spoken in favor of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

Hajo Meyer is a member of the Dutch GreenLeft (GroenLinks in Dutch).

[pieter]

A Different Jewish Voice


An Israeli and a Palestinian boy (souce: website A Different Jewish Voice)

Een Ander Joods Geluid (A Different Jewish Voice) (EAJG) is a Dutch-Jewish organisation founded in May 2001 to promote the public debate concerning Israel. It wants to break the perceived silence in the Dutch-Jewish community concerning the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by Israel, and strives to support peace activities in this same area.

The first time the Dutch public was confronted with the Een Ander Joods Geluid was in October 2000, when a group of Dutch Jews published several ads in national newspapers and the Nieuw Israëlitisch Weekblad (New Israelite Weekly, the biggest Jewish newspaper in the Netherlands). The organisation was founded in May 2001 by Anneke Mouthaan (a peace activist) and Harry de Winter (producer, television host), and co-operates with SIVMO (Steuncomité Israëlische Vredesgroepen en Mensenrechtenorganisaties) (Support Committee Israeli Peacegroups and Human Rights Organisations). The underlying thought of Een Ander Joods Geluid is that it should be possible for Jews to criticize the actions of Israel. The founding of the organisation received a lot of criticism from within the Jewish community. The organisation was accused of promoting Jewish self-hate; giving ammunition to opponents of Israel; and attacking Jewish unity.

A book was published in 2003, called Een ander Joods geluid - Kritische opvattingen over Israël (A different Jewish voice - Critical opinions on Israel), written by numerous prominent Jewish Dutch, including Hedy d'Ancona, Milo Anstadt, Dieuwertje Blok, Hajo Meyer and Harry de Winter.


Hedwig (Hedy) d'Ancona (born October 1, 1937 in The Hague), Dutch politician, geographer and sociologist.


Milo Anstadt (10 July 1920 – 16 July 2011), a Dutch jewish writer and journalist with Polish-Jewish roots, who spoke, wrote and read Polish, and stayed in contact with Poland and had Polish friends. He was raised 'Polish' (not Yidish like most Polish jews in pre war Poland) by a 'Polonist' Jewish mother. He wrote books about Poland and the complicated Polish jewish relationship and made documentries in Poland - and Central- and Eastern-Europe- during the cold war. He was close to Solidarność circles and loathed by the Polish communist authorities, who didn't trust him. He received a Polish passport from the first non-communist Polish ambassador in the Netherlands in 1991, for his effort to translate Polish documents, essays and works into Dutch. A lot of Poles visited him in Amsterdam during the years, during and after the cold war. He defended Polish interests against unjust jewish and non-jewish accusations.

Members of A Different Jewish Voice

Milo Anstadt

Milo Anstadt, wł. Samuel Marek Anstadt (ur. 10 lipca 1920 we Lwowie, zm. 16 lipca 2011 w Amsterdamie) – pisarz i publicysta polski żydowskiego pochodzenia.

Biografia

Urodził się i wczesne dzieciństwo spędził we Lwowie. Autobiografię dotyczącą tego okresu zatytułował Kind in Polen (Dziecko ze Lwowa), skąd rodzina wyprowadziła się w 1930 roku do Holandii. W Holandii ukończył szkołę podstawową, ale nie rozpoczął nauki w liceum. Pracę rozpoczął w wieku 14 lat, wstąpił też do klubu ANSKI, zrzeszającego zainteresowanych rozwojem kulturalnym Żydów ze wschodniej Europy. Uzyskał stopień magisterski z prawa na Universiteit van Amsterdam, specjalizował się w kryminologii.

W 1941 roku ożenił się z Lydią Bleiberg, z którą doczekał się w marcu 1942 roku córki, Irki. Od 9 lipca 1942 roku ukrywał się z żoną, a córka przebywała w Beverwijk. Po wojnie był do 1950 roku redaktorem magazynu Vrij Nederland ( a magazine I receive and read every week ), a następnie dziennikarzem w Radiu Holenderskim. W 1960 roku otrzymał Television Award Fundacji Kultury Księcia Bernharda. W tym też zaczął pisać książkę o Polsce, którą opublikowano w 1962 roku Polen, land, volk, cultuur. (Poland, country, people, culture) (P.S.- ofcourse I read the book. My parents have it in their home library. I also read a second book of his from 1989, called; "Poles and jews".


Milo Anstadt's book 'Poles and jews' which I read. Actually it is more about Poland than about jews, there was a lot of contemporary and historical info in that book related to the time it was written in, 1989, also because he wrote about meeting his Polish friends, and Polish intellectuals during the sixties, seventies and eighties. Showing their insights, their dispair about the Poland of that time and their typical Polish ironical humor. Next to that the book shows the 1 thousand years of Polish-Jewish coexistance, the cooperation, tensions, and the shared suffering of the Poles and Jews from the hands from various occupiers and attackers, from Ukrainian Cossack Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossacks and the Ukrainian peasantry who massacred a large number of Jewish and Polish-Lithuanian townsfolk, as well as szlachta during the years 1648–1649, to the Swedish, German (Prussian), Russian and Austrian invasions. I think his experiences during the 20th century in Poland, the Netherlands during the war, Czech republic -he was there in 1968-, and Hungary, made him sympathic to the Palestinian cause, and a two state solution. Being a man who was raised in a Pan-European, multi-lingual cultural environment; Polish, Ukrainian, German, Yiddish and Dutch.

In 1994 roku odznaczony Orderem Oranje-Nassau.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Anstadt


Milo Anstadt in his home


Dieuwertje Blok, television reporter and actrice


Hajo Meyer


Harry de Winter, TV producer/entrepreneur


Hanneke Groenteman, Dutch journalist and TV reporter

www.ejjp.org/

[pieter]

[pieter]

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) is a network of anti-Zionist Jews pledged to "Oppose Zionism and the State of Israel".

Advocacy and activity

The IJAN views Zionism as a racist movement, and Israel as an apartheid state. The charter of the organization states "[w]e are an international network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human emancipation, of which the liberation of the Palestinian people and land is an indispensable part. Our commitment is to the dismantling of Israeli apartheid, the return of Palestinian refugees, and the ending of the Israeli colonization of historic Palestine." It also calls for the unconditional freeing of all Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The group also opposes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, capitalism, and Islamophobia. Prominent members of IJAN include feminist activist Selma James and holocaust survivor Hajo Meyer. It comprises groups in the United States, Canada, India, Argentina, and several European countries.




Feminist activist Selma James and member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Irish academic David Landy describes IJAN as one of the few Jewish organizations not to "sideline" anti-Zionism, "believing Zionism to be the underlying problem that must be tackled in order to achieve Palestinian liberation and incidentally reclaim the Jewish commitment to liberation".

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has said that although the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network does not organise "a significant number of events", it has an important role "in creating policy and setting anti-Israel agendas".

History



Sara Kershnar and others founded the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network in 2008.

During the Gaza War (2008–2009) six members chained themselves to the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, while around 40 others protested in front, shutting it down for two hours. Members of IJAN have taken part in many protests in London and elsewhere.

In 2010 Ireland's national trade-union federation invited the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network to a conference in Dublin on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

IJAN member and Auschwitz survivor Hajo Meyer author of The End of Judaism: An Ethical Tradition Betrayed, was a key speaker in IJAN's 2010–2011 "Never Again – For Anyone" tour, with talks in the UK and Ireland.

In 2011 IJAN was one of a number of organizations that organized a 13-city speaking tour of the United States, which according to the Jerusalem Post "compares Israel's relations with the Palestinians to the Nazis' treatment of Jews during the Holocaust".

In November 2012, members of the IJAN participated in a protest against a meeting of the Jewish National Fund in Toronto.



Criticism



In addition to criticism by supporters of the State of Israel, IJAN has also been criticized by Gilad Atzmon, a harsh critic of Israel and of what he calls "Jewishness", for operating as a "Jews only" political cell, thereby not being "part of a solution but just another aspect of the problem", calling them "'anti' Zionist stooges". IJAN rejected Atzmon's accusations in a statement that described him as a "an antisemitic ideologue and promoter of holocaust denial".

Jonny Paul has characterised the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network in The Jerusalem Post as a "small radical fringe group".

[pieter]

[pieter]

[Jaga]

Pieter, thanks for posting Jon Stewart, he is the only Jew of big influence in the US, who actually said on air what he thought about it. We watch his shows pretyy often.

referring to your post:
+++How tragic, sickening, dirty, awful, nasty and brutal Gaza might be, also honest reporting is nearly impossible due to aggressive Pro-Israeli media, lobbies and parties on one side and the Pro-Palestinian left, Muslim migrants, Palestinian diaspora and Free Palestine activists on the other side. A problem for the Palestinians of Gaza right now is in my eyes that there is an invisible anti-Hamas coalition of Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian authorities of the West-Bank, Saoudi-Arabia (Pro-Egypt/Pro-general/president Sisi), +++

it is very in depth.

I also think that there is a vicious circle of violence which needs to be stopped. We need Obama or somebody to start using some negative consequences if nothing with Israel would change. Israel spends US money to reinforce its military and then the US helps GAza to recover. We sponsor the killer and its victims.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/israel-gaza-united-states-assistance-unrwa

[pieter]

Dov Yermiya



Dov Yermiya (born c. 1914) is a former Israeli Defence Forces lieutenant-colonel. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War he was the officer who directed the assault that ended in the conquest of Saffuriyah, and his memory of the event confirms the version of events given by the Palestinians who fled. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Yermiya was expelled from his unit for voicing public criticism of the brutality of the IDF's treatment of civilians. In his diary account of the artillery and aerial assault on the refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, he wrote that the quantity of bombs used to destroy the area reminded him of World War 2.


Yellow Fatah flags in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, in South-west Lebanon

The following year he became famous for his account of that period in his book My War Diary: Lebanon June 5 -- July 1, 1982. Published in defiance of censorship laws, it provoked, according to the publishers, 'widespread controversy when it was first published in Israel', but was ignored by western media. The book criticized Israeli wrongdoings during the war, and was first published in Hebrew with the title "Yoman Hamilchama Sheli". It was later translated to English and published by South End Press. The book has been given some attention by western intellectuals, such as the US writer Noam Chomsky. In 1983 he was the recipient of a Human Rights Award from the Association for Civil Rights for his work in relieving the suffering of Lebanese civilians during hostilities. The Israeli army relieved him from duty. According to Edward Alexander, in a chapter surveying what he calls 'Antisemitism, Israeli-style,', Yermiya is said to have made a profession of giving speeches around the world that draw on an analogy between Israel and Nazi Germany, and to have affirmed in an interview that he and his friends thought as early as 1945 that the Holocaust would "affect Jews in Israel. . . for the bad."

In July 2009, Yermiya wrote to friends expressing his despair at the situation in Israel and Palestine, and concluding:

"Therefore I, a 95 year old Sabra (native born Israeli Jew), who has plowed its fields, planted trees, built a house and fathered sons, grandsons and great-grandsons, and also shed his blood in the battle for the founding of the State of Israel, Declare herewith that I renounce my belief in the Zionism which has failed, that I shall not be loyal to the Jewish fascist state and its mad visions, that I shall not sing anymore its nationalist anthem, that I shall stand at attention only on the days of mourning for those fallen on both sides in the wars, and that I look with a broken heart at an Israel that is committing suicide and at the three generations of offspring that I have bred and raised in it."

—Dov Yermiya in July 2009




Dov Yermiya, a veteran of the 1948 war for Palestine speaks in this video about his role in the ethnic cleansing that took place that year. He is interviewed by Raneen Geries of Zochrot. (unfortunately without subtitles, only in Hebrew)

[pieter]

[Nictoshek]

Reporters are saying Gaza is looking more like the 2010 Haiti quake.

[Jaga]

Pieter, yes, lots of Jewish intelectuals, do not agree with what Israel is doing. Anyways, Israel still does what it wishes, in disregard to the law.

Here is an interesting perspective:

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Mr Prescott said: "I magine a country claiming the lives of nearly three times as many as were lost in the MH17 plane tragedy in less than three weeks.

"A nation which blasted a hospital, shelled and killed children from a gunboat as they played football on the beach and was responsible for 1,000 deaths, at least 165 of them children, in just two weeks.

"Surely it would be branded a pariah state, condemned by the United Nations, the US and the UK. The calls for regime change would be ­deafening.

"But these howls of protest are muted. The condemnation softened. For this is Israel.

"Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trots out the same excuses. Hamas 'militants' in Gaza fired their rockets first. Israel has a right to defend itself. It needs to protect its citizens.

"And he's right on all three counts - but as always with Israel this is not the full story. The military action supposedly targeting Hamas is so brutally disproportionate and so grossly indiscriminate that it makes it impossible not to view Israel's actions as war crimes."

[Jaga]

Most Americans are COMPLICIT in every single civilian death in the Gaza Strip.

We're talking a mere 134 sq miles of land (approx. 25 miles long, approx. 6 miles wide) w/ a pop. of close to 2 million people who have no where to run, no where to hide; and the 4th largest, most technologically "sophisticated" military in the world is MURDERING children on beaches, bombing old and wounded people in hospitals, bombing refugee centers in schools sponsored by the U.N....while many of its own citizens sip wine, sit in lawn chairs on their occupied lands, watch the fireworks, and celebrate the deaths of innocent people. Its barbarism, pure and simple. Like Romans watching Christians being eaten by lions, this killing of Palestinians is equivalent to shooting puppies in a bathtub.

Israel is proving it is NOT a civilized democracy. And Americans who support this GENOCIDE of innocent people are neither "Christian," nor civilized, nor humanitarian, nor very evolved from the bovine sensibilities they continue to demonstrate in their goose-step support of Israel.

[pieter]

It looks like it Nicetoe. Dramatic but wonderful image from an photographic perspective and composition. I also heard some Palestinians in Gaza, near the ruble of houses and buildings say; "This looks excactly like Syria".

[Jaga]

one more link:
www.apartheidadventures.com/tours/TOURS.html

[pieter]

Jul 26, 2014 15:54:49 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Most Americans are COMPLICIT in every single civilian death in the Gaza Strip.

We're talking a mere 134 sq miles of land (approx. 25 miles long, approx. 6 miles wide) w/ a pop. of close to 2 million people who have no where to run, no where to hide; and the 4th largest, most technologically "sophisticated" military in the world is MURDERING children on beaches, bombing old and wounded people in hospitals, bombing refugee centers in schools sponsored by the U.N....while many of its own citizens sip wine, sit in lawn chairs on their occupied lands, watch the fireworks, and celebrate the deaths of innocent people. Its barbarism, pure and simple. Like Romans watching Christians being eaten by lions, this killing of Palestinians is equivalent to shooting puppies in a bathtub.

Israel is proving it is NOT a civilized democracy. And Americans who support this GENOCIDE of innocent people are neither "Christian," nor civilized, nor humanitarian, nor very evolved from the bovine sensibilities they continue to demonstrate in their goose-step support of Israel.

Jaga,

The main problem is the fact that there are more Christian Zionists than Jewish zionists in the USA. The 50 million Evangelicals. I don't know how much Roman-Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterians, Greek-Orthodox, Russian-Orthdox and Lutheran American christians look at Israel and the Middle-east. Israel doesn't have the full support of a United American Judaism. In fact there are reports of American jews and Israeli jews drifting apart, due to cultural, political, religious and national differences. American jews are very American and there is a huge mixing between American jews and Protestant christian Americans (and others), like in Europe. The assimilation process of the American jews worries the Israeli's. American jews are often progressive, liberal and less orthodox religiously than Israeli's. Orthodox judaism is more dominant in Israel than in the USA where progressive judaism, reform judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism and Conservative Judaism play a larger role.

Israeli jews have become different the last 66 years since the foundation of the state of Israel. They are 'New Hebrew' speaking people, raised in the tough reality of the Israeli society with it's hebrew culture and education. They were often raised in patriotic (Zionist) kindergarten, primary schools, high schools, universities and the army. That army plays an important role in their lives, because after military service in their youth, they have to come back as adult reservists. The Israel Defense Forces is one of Israeli society's most prominent institutions, influencing the country's economy, culture and political scene. Men serve three years in the IDF, while women serve two. The IDF women who volunteer for several combat positions often serve for three years, due to the longer period of training.

After personnel complete their regular service, the IDF may call up men for:

- reserve service of up to one month annually, until the age of 43–45 (reservists may volunteer after this age)
- active duty immediately in times of crisis
In most cases, the reserve duty is carried out in the same unit for years, in many cases the same unit as the active service and by the same people. Many soldiers who have served together in active service continue to meet in reserve duty for years after their discharge, causing reserve duty to become a strong male bonding experience in Israeli society.

The Israel lobby inside the USA of both Jewish and Christian people, and probably non-religious people too, is very strong and very influential in Washington (the congress, the Capitol, the White House). Following the 1967 Six-Day War, the IDF has close military relations with the United States, including development cooperation, such as on the F-15I jet, THEL laser defense system, and the Arrow missile defense system. In 1983, the United States and Israel established a Joint Political Military Group, which convenes twice a year. Both the U.S. and Israel participate in joint military planning and combined exercises, and have collaborated on military research and weapons development. Additionally the U.S. military maintains two classified, pre-positioned War Reserve Stocks in Israel valued at $493 million. Israel has the official distinction of being an American Major non-NATO ally. As a result of this, the US and Israel share the vast majority of their security and military technology.

Since 1976, Israel had been the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. In 2009, Israel received $2.55 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants from the Department of Defense. All but 26% of this military aid is for the purchase of military hardware from American companies only.[86]

The United States has an anti-missile system base in the Negev region of Southern Israel, which is manned by 120 US Army personnel.

Germany–Israel relations

Germany offered to pay reparations in 1952, and diplomatic relations were officially established in 1965, although a deep mistrust of the German people remained widespread in Israel and Jewish diaspora communities worldwide for many years after. Israel and Germany now maintain a "special relationship" based on shared beliefs, Western values and a combination of historical perspectives. Among the most important factors in their relations is Nazi Germany's genocide of Jewish diaspora communities during the Holocaust.

German President Roman Herzog's first official visit outside Europe was to Israel in 1994. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was the first foreign leader received in Berlin after the German government's relocation from Bonn in 1999. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder visited Israel in October 2000. In 2005, the year of the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, German President Horst Köhler and Israel's former President Moshe Katsav exchanged state visits.

In January 2011, Merkel visited Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition Kadima leader Tzipi Livni. In February 2011, Netanyahu called Merkel to discuss Germany's vote in the United Nations Security Council in favor of the Palestinian proposal. Merkel reportedly told Netanyahu that he had disappointed her and done nothing to advance peace. To clear the air, Netanyahu was invited for a reconciliation visit to Berlin in mid-March 2011.

In September 2011, Merkel criticized Israel for construction in settlements in Jerusalem and said that the new housing permits raised doubts over Israel's readiness to negotiate with the Palestinians.

Germany was one of 14 countries that voted against Palestine's UNESCO membership in October 2011, within the context of the Palestine 194 initiative. When Israel announced that building settlements would continue in response to Palestinian attempts to declare statehood unilaterally, Germany threatened to stop deliveries to Israel of submarines capable of firing nuclear warheads.

Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway, in May 2011 pulled out of the high-speed railway to Jerusalem project because the line will pass in part through the West Bank. According to press reports, the German transport minister Peter Ramsauer told Deutsche Bahn's CEO that the projected rail line was "problematic from a political perspective" and violated international law. As a result, the company, which is owned by the German government, withdrew from the project. The company's decision was seen as a victory for left-wing Israeli and Palestinian activists who had waged a campaign within the context of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Trade

Germany is Israel's largest trading partner in Europe and Israel's second most important trading partner after the United States. Israeli imports from Germany amount to some USD 2.3 billion annually, while Israel is Germany's fourth largest trading partner in the North Africa/Middle East region.

Military cooperation

Germany and Israel have significant and long-standing military cooperation. From 1959 to 1967 the Federal Republic of Germany was a significant supplier of military equipment and arms to Israel. However, after 1965, when West Germany backed out of an agreement to sell tanks to Israel, the United States filled the order by selling 210 M48 Patton tanks. The Merkava 4, uses a German MTU MB 873 Ka-501 air-cooled diesel V12 engine produced under license. Germany has supplied Israel with Dolphin class submarines while Germany utilizes the Israeli-designed Spike Anti-Tank Missile. In 2008, it was revealed that Germany and Israel had been jointly developing a nuclear warning system, dubbed Operation Bluebird, in secret.

Israel–United States military relations


Former US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates visiting Israel

Military relations between Israel and the United States have been consistently close, reflecting shared security interests in the Middle East. A major purchaser and user of U.S. military equipment, Israel is also involved in the joint development of military technology and regularly engages in joint military exercises involving the United States and other forces. The relationship has deepened gradually over time, though, as Alan Dowty puts it, it was "not a simple linear process of growing cooperation, but rather a series of tendentious bargaining situations with different strategic and political components in each."


Former US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates

U.S. President Obama's former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates categorized the relationship between U.S. and Israel with the following: "I cannot recall a time during my public life when our two countries have had a closer defense relationship. The U.S. and Israel are cooperating closely in areas such as missile defense technology, the Joint Strike Fighter, and in training exercises such as Juniper Stallion...our bilateral relationship and this dialogue is so critical because Israel lives at the focal point of some of the biggest security challenges facing the free world: violent extremism, the proliferation of nuclear technologies, and the dilemmas posed by adversarial and failed states. And I think it important, especially at a time of such dramatic change in the region, to reaffirm once more America’s unshakable commitment to Israel’s security."

Cheers,
Pieter