Category Archives: Israel

Neck of the woods

“Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,

While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;

But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,

His soul is marching on.

John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,

And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;

Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,

His soul is marching on………….” John Brown’s Body (Pete Seeger)

“Three French investigating magistrates will travel to Ramallah in the West Bank to exhume the remains of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat so they can take tissue samples to determine what killed him. Mr Arafat died at the age of 75 in the Percy military hospital near Paris in November 2004 from an unexplained illness. There was no autopsy and the French doctors who treated him never announced the cause of his death. New evidence emerged from an investigation in July by the Al Jazeera TV network when the Institut de Radiophysique, in Lausanne, Switzerland, said it had discovered significant traces of the rare radioactive element polonium-210 on the late leader’s clothing and toothbrush provided by his wife…………”

I hear there was a joke (a bad joke) going around late in 1967, after the Israelis captured the West Bank. Someone speculated that maybe Easter would be cancelled that nest year because they had found………. Told you it was a bad joke.
Back to Arafat: now, if I were irreverent and rude I’d speculate: suppose they try to exhume Arafat and the body isn’t there? What would that mean? But since I am not irreverent or rude, I shall not pose that question.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, NATO, War on Iran

Israel’s ‘Man in Drag’ Orders the West to Attack Iran……

July 26, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Neck of the woods
“Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak called on Wednesday for major powers to speed up efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program, cautioning it would be tougher to confront it once Tehran managed to cross an atomic threshold. Israeli media interpreted Barak’s comments as pushing for a possible Israeli strike against Iran to stop a project the West sees as a drive to achieve nuclear weapons though Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying its program is intended solely for peaceful purposes……….”

A couple of years ago I read somewhere that a younger and lighter Ehud Barak was once disguised as a woman during a surprise attack on some PLO leaders in Beirut (he was part of a covert attack team in the 1970s). Ever since then, I have always thought of him as ‘the man in drag’. Nothing wrong with dressing as anything, of course, in certain situations.
I think with this new/old statement he was just adding to the built-up air of war-normalcy that the Israelis and the American right-wing are creating in our region. The goal: to make the war of aggression, if and when it comes, like a normal expected and unavoidable thing. Ehud Barak can never outdo Netanyahu who has been screaming “wolf” at the top of his voice for several years now. May they both continue whistling (or making other rude noises) in the wind, or as we call it “fi souq el-sofafeer: making a rude noise in the (noisy) copper-mongers market”. As we say back home.
Cheers
mhg
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Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Terrorism

Terrorism: Hallmarks of the Bulgaria Suicide Bomber with a “Shaved Head”………

July 22, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Neck of the woods

“Mileva said the bomber “had a white face, light eyes, and very thick
brown hair. The facial bones were shattered in the explosion.”On Friday, district prosecutor Kalina Tchapkanova cited witness reports that the suspect had dark eyes………”

“Bulgarian police along with the CIA, FBI and Interpol are struggling to identify a suicide bomber who killed six people, including five Israelis, as the United States said the attack bore the “hallmarks” of Hezbollah. Investigators have released CCTV footage of the person they believe carried out Wednesday’s attack at the airport of the Black Sea town of Burgas on a bus carrying Israeli holidaymakers, which also claimed the life of the Bulgarian driver.……… Burgas prosecutor Kalina Tchapkanova quoted witnesses as saying the man “spoke English with a slight accent” and appeared to be Arab. The car rental service owner’s wife Afrodita Petrova said she was sure he was of Arab origin and had shaved head ………….”

The mystery suicide bomber with a “shaved head”: who almost looked like a European Neo-Nazi.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the consummate opportunist, predictably and quickly accused Iran, then accused Hezbollah, then both Iran and Hezbollah. That was before anyone said anything about any suspect. Bulgarian press initially said he was a Swedish-Algerian al-Qaeda member who had served in Guantanamo, a Mr. Ghezali. The Swedes denied that was him, cryptically saying Ghezali is “not in Bulgaria”. It is possible that Hezbollah was behind it, or more likely al-Qaeda, or some European neo-Nazi group (with shaved heads).
One thing is certain: this was a suicide terror bombing targeting civilians. Hezbollah and Iran don’t use suicide bombings. It is not part of their operational style, the ‘suicide‘ part. That would be more like al-Qaeda Salafi jihadists who commit suicide terror attacks then wait for the promised rivers of wine and the renewable virgins on the other side. Netanyahu of course knows that, as do most Western intelligence services. Apparently most and not all, given that some US “official” told the New York Times that the operation was Iranian-Hezbollah, just as Netanyahu claimed. The American official said, apparently with a straight, that the operation bore the “hallmarks” of Hezbollah. Someone ought to have asked him: when was the last time Hezbollah used a suicide bomber? They may have done some bombings in the past, but not ‘suicide‘ bombings as far as I know. Unless they have changed their operational methods (or their ‘hallmark’ drastically.
Now about that shaved head, European neo-Nazi style………….
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear

Iran Seeking 50-60% Enriched Uranium? Netanyahu Loses Hair…….

July 21, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Neck of the woods
“Iran needs 50-60% enriched uranium to power commercial ships: MP TEHRAN, July 20 (MNA) — MP Abolqassem Jarareh has said that Iran needs highly enriched uranium in order to fuel the ships that it plans to equip with nuclear propulsion systems. “This fuel should certainly be (purified to a level) higher than 25 percent, something about 50 to 60 percent,” Jarareh, who is a member of the Majlis Industries and Mines Committee, said in an interview with the Persian service of the Fars News Agency published on Friday. The Majlis Industries and Mines Committee recently approved a plan which calls for Iranian oceangoing tankers and other commercial ships to be powered by nuclear fuel in order to eliminate their need to be refueled while on long voyages. The parliament must endorse the plan before it can be implemented………..”

This chap seems to be upping the ante, but only at first glance. There is some method to his ‘seeming’ madness. The West, as ordered by the Likud government in Israel, prefers no enrichment beyond 3% (concentration of uranium-235), while the Iranians are near 20%. Now this MP, out of the blue, has introduced 50-60% as another possible demand. That is much closer to weapons-grade uranium. But that is probably his own opinion, or possibly some bargaining chip as he sees it, or a political statement. But it underlies a more legitimate issue: nuclear-powered ships do need higher grade enriched uranium, a legitimate need, and that should present the West with yet another dilemma. A couple more of such proposals and Bibi Netanyahu will go completely bald, unless he gets to have his war that he wants the West to wage.
Cheers
mhg
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Africa, Israel, Racism

Not Exactly Kristallnacht for Africans in Tel Aviv, but……………

June 24, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Neck of the woods
“Amine Zigta is not a timid man. If he was, he would not have risked his life by escaping indefinite enforced army service in Eritrea, or making the hazardous journey through Sudan and the Sinai desert to Israel. Nor would he have kept open his corner bar in south Tel Aviv after 15 local hoodlums shouting “what do you care, you black son of a bitch?” broke off table legs in March after he refused to serve teenagers below the legal drinking age. “But now,” Mr Zigta, 36, says in fluent Hebrew, “I am afraid, all the time. At night I can’t sleep. I am in danger.” Given subsequent events, his fears are understandable. On 23 May, with a demonstration against African refugees planned for the evening, he locked up at around 4pm. Hours later, residents phoned to say demonstrators were breaking in. Mr Zigta went to two police stations for help and was still waiting at a third when he got another call to say a police patrol had finally turned up. When he arrived, he found the plate glass windows smashed by bricks, tables upturned and all his stock stolen by looters….……. The minister has suggested that “most” African migrants are criminals, and that many, including rapists, are HIV positive. Arguing that the refugees threaten the “Zionist dream”, he has claimed that most are Muslims. ………..”
Cheers
mhg
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Culture, Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, WTF

Forget Iran: World’s New Real Nuclear Menace, a Willie Nelson Song…….

June 22, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

Neck of the woods

“Broken her heart
And I know I done wrong
But I pray
That someday she’ll forgive me
And remember
When I’ve sang
My last hillbilly song………..” Willie (Hugh) Nelson

“For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the specter of nuclear armageddon looms over the world, as the Pentagon announced yesterday that a group of hillbillies in central Tennessee has constructed a fully operational 50-megaton nuclear device. With this potential for destruction in the hands of people who have throughout history acted out violently for no better reason than family tradition, scientists in Helsinki, Finland, have moved the doomsday clock back up to one minute before midnight. Pentagon officials were tipped off to the backwoods people’s potential to invoke mass destruction last week when an I.R.S. agent returned from the Smoky Mountains claiming that a group of hillbillies had threatened to “nuke him up real good.” The bomb’s existence and operational status were later confirmed by a team of scientists who, after finding the weapon in a hay thresher, were run out of hillbilly territory by a family armed with a shotgun and three dogs named “Duke.”……….”

Mr. Netanyahu was pissed. He said this is a phony report planted by anti-Semites in the IRS with the goal of distracting from the most serious nuclear threat the world has faced since Hiroshima and Nagasaki was barbecued for the sake of peace.
Cheers
mhg
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Iran, Israel, nuclear wepoans, US Foreign Policy, War on Iran

Netanyahu Raises Chutzpah to a New Level: Hiroshima Mon Amour…….

May 9, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“They all said it would end the war,
And we thanked Christ for the bomb,
And the priests and witches all agreed,
They should die to keep them free.
The fireball that shamed the sun,
Burning the shadows on the ground,
As the rain falls to dry the land,
Leaving the desert for the thirsty man.

Hiroshima Mon Amour………………” Alcatrazz

“Netanyahu: Iran must commit to halt all enrichment in upcoming nuclear talks. In unusual move, PM invites Barak, Lieberman and newcomer Mofaz to join meeting with EU foreign policy chief Ashton, in which he accused Iran of playing for time and said world powers must demand that Iran take tangible steps toward halting uranium enrichment……….. On Wednesday afternoon, the prime minister met with European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton, who arrived in Israel to brief Netanyahu on the preparations for the second round of nuclear talks with Iran………….”

It would be funny if it weren’t so outrageous. Here is the leader of a small Middle East country, one that has built many nuclear bombs and never joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and it is annexing occupied lands against international law. And he is “demanding” that Iran stop all uranium enrichment. He should be the last person, his government the last government that would talk about nuclear threats and enrichment and hiding and deception. Demanding: and European leaders actually listen to this charlatan and hustler! I can understand how they would worship him in the U.S. Congress: selling snake oil in some constituencies is an honorable old tradition that goes back to the Frontier days.
Now he is trying to set the agenda for the Baghdad meeting, perhaps hoping to provoke an Iranian withdrawal. That would apply more pressure on the White House in this year of Our Lord of Elections.
Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, Middle East Nuclear, United Nations International Organizations

Israel Sets the Conditions for any Western Deal with Iran………..

April 15, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“Israel is demanding that its allies set Iran’s complete surrender of its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent as one of the goals of the nuclear talks scheduled for mid-April. Citing 2012 as the “year to stop Iran,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that he has held discussions with American and European officials in recent weeks with the goal of convincing them to set clear goals for the planned talks with Iran. The talks are scheduled to begin on April 13 between Iran and representatives of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, known as P5+1. Disagreements still exist regarding the venue although Istanbul currently appears to be acceptable to all sides. Barak revealed what Israel’s goals are for the talks: 1) transfer of all uranium enriched to 20 percent – approximately 120 kg. – out of Iran to a third party country; 2) the transfer of the majority of the 5 tons of uranium enriched to 3.5% out of Iran, leaving just enough needed for energy purposes; 3) the closure of the Fordow enrichment facility, buried under a mountain near the city of Qom; 4) the transfer of fuel rods from a third party country to Iran for the purpose of activating the Tehran Research Reactor………….”

I am almost certain that if these Likud fools get their way, if the West follows their advice, the Iranians will end up with nuclear weapons sometime within the next few years. Even if, as they claim, they have no intention to do so now (they probably mean it for now). But I suspect the Iranian nuclear program has nothing to do with all this noise.
If the Iranian mullahs were Italians, of the more down to earth kind, they probably would respond: vaffanculo (in Google-ese Eyetalian), or the equivalent of it.
Cheers
mhg

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Israel, Middle East Women, Salafi

Powerful Salafis of Israel…………

April 12, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“A female audience member who was invited to participate in a circus performance in Modi’in on Sunday was removed from the stage after a religiously observant viewer complained. Rafi Vitis, an acrobat and host of “The Shambuki Show,” at the city’s Anabe Park, consented to the request of an ultra-Orthodox woman who found the participation of women offensive. He invited a male volunteer to replace the teenage girl, but was forced to suspend the show for a few minutes because other members of the hundreds-strong audience objected to the switch…………” Haaretz

Yep, they are getting more Middle Eastern, more Salafi by the day. Once all the Arab states are ruled by fundamentalists, they can apply for membership of the Arab League. They would rename the Salafi Islamic heritage Revival Society as Semitic Heritage Revival Society.
Cheers
mhg

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Iran, Israel, United Nations International Organizations, US Foreign Policy

Israeli Intelligence Feeding the IAEA……..

March 29, 2012 Mohammed Haider Ghuloum

“First, Iran was first accused of developing a nuclear weapon in 1982, when it was predicted to have a deliverable weapon by 1984. In 1984 Jane’s Defence Weekly announced that Iran would have a bomb by 1986. This pattern has been repeated many times since, until 2009 when the ‘bomb-in-two-years’ story flashed across everyone’s news screens again. The news narrative following the latest (8 Nov 2011) IAEA report reflected again this repeated accusation. However, the report itself in effect concurred with the USA’s 2007 and 2010 combined intel reports (NIEs), that the Iranians gave up their fledgling weaponisation programme in 2003. Second, the 8 November IAEA report referred to some additional concerns arising from new information about nuclear weapons development at the site where Iran develops its conventional longer range missiles – Parchin, a site visited by IAEA inspectors a number of times. This information (since ridiculed by US experts) was said to have originated from a laptop obtained by the IAEA via Israel – a laptop that was not available for independent verification………….…”

So, the IAEA under Yukiya Amano is apparently depending on Israel to provide its “reliable” information about Iran’s nuclear intentions. This seems either stupid or just willful, probably a combination of both. The fox guarding the hen-house. As I suggested in my earlier post, why not have the IAEA also rely on the Saudi grand mufti Al Al as a source of nuclear intelligence? If Mr. Amano is, as reported, eager to please the powerful West, then as a corollary he ought to be eager to please the Wahhabi moneybags.
Cheers
mhg

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Arabia Deserta: MENA Focus