Apparently Vimeo and other sources hosting the hour-long newly released Gaza Flotilla Attack footage, blogged below by Antiwar.com Managing News Editor Jason Ditz, have been hard pressed to manage all the bandwidth demanded by people who prefer truth to what Benyamin Netanyahu says. So they’ve set up some mirrors, torrent files, and other methods of getting the video out to the public.
Just click right here.
Tag: Gaza
Schumer: It Makes Sense To Strangle Gaza
Via ThinkProgress:
This past Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered a wide-ranging speech at an Orthodox Union event in Washington, D.C. The senator’s lecture touched on areas such as Iran’s nuclear program, the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and several domestic policy issues.
During one point of his speech, Schumer turned his attention to the situation in Gaza. He told the audience that the “Palestinian people still don’t believe in the Jewish state, in a two-state solution,†and also that “they don’t believe in the Torah, in David.†He went on to say “you have to force them to say Israel is here to stay.â€
New York’s senior senator explained that the current Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip — which is causing a humanitarian crisis there — is not only justified because it keeps weapons out of the Palestinian territory, but also because it shows the Palestinians living there that “when there’s some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement.†Summing up his feelings, Schumer emphasized the need to “to strangle them economically until they see that’s not the way to go makes sense.â€
Can We Hear the Recording Please?
In his zeal to defend Israel, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) Cliff May cites a colleague’s contentions that the activists taking part in the “Freedom Flotilla†were obviously Islamic radicals bent on massacring Jews. From his weekly round-up of the very best in Likudnik commentary:
FDD’s Ben Weinthal notes:
According to media reports, activists invoked on their way to Gaza the Islamic battle cry, “Jews, remember Khyabar [sic], the army of Mohammed is returning.†The reference is to a Muslim massacre and expulsion of Jews in seventh-century Arabia.
The reader is then encouraged to “Read more†with a link that goes to a May 30 Jerusalem Post article which quotes Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and the Foreign Ministry as the basis for this assertion:
Also Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon criticized the effort, saying anti-Semitic chants voiced by the activists on board earlier in the day showed the ‘real motivation’ for the campaign, which he termed an ‘armada of hate.’
According to a Foreign Ministry press release, participants on the flotilla were recorded shouting ‘Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad saya’ud,’ which means ‘Jews, remember Khyabar [sic], the army of Mohammed is returning.’ This cry relates to an event in the seventh century when Muslims massacred and expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
‘Israel condemns the anti-Semitic chants that were publicized this morning,’ Ayalon said. ‘This amply demonstrates that many are not against a particular policy of the Israeli government, but have very real and dangerous hatred for Jews and the Jewish State.’
So, from FDD, we get “media reports†that are based entirely on assertions by a government ministry without the slightest effort to confirm those assertions from any independent source. This, of course, begs many questions, such as of the source of the recording, how it was obtained by the Foreign Ministry, and how many of the flotilla’s participants allegedly took part in the chants, if indeed that’s what took place.
As a former reporter for the New York Times, May should be a bit more conscientious about what he and his colleagues assert as fact. Especially when Khaybar is spelled “Khyabar,†twice.
The Barefoot Strip
The Free Gaza Movement’s chartered boat “Dignity” arrived earlier today in the Gaza Strip, loaded down with humanitarian aid supplies for the blockaded populace, but there’s one thing they probably didn’t think to pack, and is going to be increasingly hard to come by for your average Gazan.
Shoes.
Yes, shoes. Israel has reportedly banned shoes and other clothing from being imported into the Gaza Strip, claiming that “they could be used in producing military uniforms.”
Now, humanity has been making shoes for itself for at least 10,000 years, and there’s no denying that some of those shoes have been put the military use in that time. Still, its something one can at the very least consider a “dual use technology.”
Of course, with some Gazans finding electric car technology as a solution to harshly curbed fuel imports, the production of shoes seems well within their technological capabilities. But expensive and scarce materials will make satisfying the demands of the strip’s million and a half residents for footwear extremely difficult if not impossible.