Anti-Semitism in Ukraine and the US State Department

Posted on April 20, 2014 by petrel41

This video from the eastern Ukraine says about itself:

19 April 2014

Ukraine: In multinational Donetsk, all are equal – Pushilin

Leaders of the Donetsk interim government gave a press conference in the Regional administration building in Donetsk, Saturday.

Denis Pushilin, the Deputy ‘People’s’ Governor of Donetsk and member of the interim government, recently said that it’s up to residents to decide where and how they want a referendum to take place.

Pushilin also responded to questions relating to a forged leaflet which showed up on social media networks, calling for Jewish people in Donetsk above the age of 16 to register their names and pay $50 (€60) in cash. Pushilin said that the republic of Donetsk is multinational and that all people are equal.

By Alex Lantier:

US imperialism and the anti-Semitic leaflet in Donetsk

19 April 2014

US outrage at a vile anti-Semitic leaflet circulating in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, demanding that all Jews register with local pro-Russian authorities, is a hypocritical fraud. US officials have seized on the leaflet, whose authorship is totally unclear and which stinks of a provocation to smear protesters hostile to the US-backed Ukrainian regime in Kiev, to denounce protesters and posture as opponents of anti-Semitism.

At talks between US, European, Ukrainian and Russian officials in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “In the year 2014, after all the miles traveled in the journey of history, this is not just intolerable, it’s grotesque … beyond unacceptable.”

What hypocrisy! In the February putsch that toppled Ukraine’s government, Washington and its European allies worked directly with fascists, including the Right Sector militia and the Svoboda party. These forces—which hail the World War II-era Ukrainian fascists led by Stepan Bandera, who collaborated with the Nazis as they carried out the mass murder of Jews in Ukraine—now occupy top positions in the unelected, pro-Western puppet regime in Kiev.

Kerry was cynically seizing upon the leaflet to improve the US position in talks with Russia, by distracting from popular anger with the Kiev puppet regime’s ties to fascism and providing ammunition for hysterical attacks on Moscow.

US officials ignored the multiple signs that the document is a crude forgery. The leaflet—bearing the name of the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic, which is occupying local government buildings in Donetsk, and signed by its leader, Denis Pushilin—was reported on Wednesday in Israeli media.

It begins, “Dear Ukrainian citizens of Jewish nationality, due to the fact that the leaders of the Jewish community support the Bandera junta and oppose the pro-Slavic People’s Republic of Donetsk, [we have] decided that all citizens of Jewish descent, over 16 years of age and residing within the republic’s territory are required to report to the Commissioner for Nationalities in the Donetsk Regional Administration building and register.”

It demands that Jewish citizens provide extensive documentation as to their property holdings and religion and pay a $50 fee to officials in Room 514 of the local government building occupied by the pro-Russian protesters. Otherwise, the leaflet said, they would face deportation.

The initial Israeli media reports made clear the highly dubious character of the leaflet. They cited Pushilin’s denials that his group had issued it, as well as broader doubts as to its authenticity. Alex Tenzer, a director of the National Association of Immigrants from the Former USSR in Israel, said: “It’s hard to tell whether the leaflet is valid or simply a provocation.”

Olga Reznikova, who sent YNet a copy of the document from Donetsk, said: “I do not intend to register. I am 32, I have lived in Donetsk my entire life, and have never had to deal with anti-Semitism until I laid eyes on this piece of paper. Though I take it very seriously, I am uncertain of its authenticity.”

Reporters for the New York Times who visited Room 514 of the Donetsk local government building on Thursday found it empty. They spoke to protesters who said the leaflet was a trick of the Kiev regime to discredit them. “We are laughing; this is propaganda,” one said.

As Western officials and media prepared for the Geneva talks, however, they baldly attributed the leaflet to pro-Russian groups. Ignoring continuing reports from Donetsk challenging the authenticity of the leaflet, they speculated that it could harm the pro-Russian forces and “change the narrative” about Ukraine—that is, undermine the credibility of anti-Kiev protesters.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph wrote: “A shocking story coming out of Ukraine: pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country are accused of asking Jewish citizens to register their identity or face deportation … It could change the narrative of the conflict yet again: the Russian separatism becomes a call not for self-determination, but outright bigotry informed by a desire for racial purity and Orthodox chauvinism.”

Kerry’s denunciations of the Donetsk protesters over the leaflet were echoed by other US diplomats. “Everything we’re hearing suggests this is the real deal, and that it is coming from someone on the ground there among these radical groups,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt told CNN, “either to stir fear or to create provocation justifying further violence.”

Reporting from Donetsk, however, CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh called the leaflet “by all accounts an isolated incident.” Referring to protesters and the Jewish community in Donetsk, he added, “All sides are really trying to calm this down. Bizarrely, really, it’s the US State Department focusing specifically on this allegation.”

This comment from CNN, which can hardly be accused of having a critical attitude towards US foreign policy, gives a far better idea than Kerry’s hypocritical statements about the political origins of the anti-Semitic leaflet. The US State Department, Kiev, and their collaborators in Europe know more about it, one may safely assume, than Moscow or the protesters in Donetsk.

The Washington Post reported Friday that Poland and the United States would announce next week the deployment of US ground troops to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO military forces in Central and Eastern Europe, in response to the crisis in Ukraine: here.

Leading German journalists, who have been agitating for weeks for a war against Russia, intensified their propaganda after Tuesday’s announcement that NATO was stepping up its intervention in Eastern Europe. Even after the experiences of the First and Second World Wars, some clearly can’t wait for a re-run of the Eastern Front: here.

Canada is deploying six F-16 fighter jets to Eastern Europe in support of the war threats against Russia made by the US, Germany and NATO, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday: here.

Russia: Fatal gun battle near Ukrainian city of Slovyansk shows Kiev is failing to rein in extremists: here.

Pro-Russians in Donetsk deny calling for Jews to register

African refugees in Israel fight for their rights

Posted on January 9, 2014 by petrel41

This video from Israel says about itself:

28 Dec 2013

Occupy Tel Aviv, December 28 – NOW – thousands of Africans and Israeli supporters march in Tel Aviv. Major avenues closed, no violence at all.

By Jean Shaoul:

Mass protests by migrants and asylum seekers in Israel

9 January 2014

Tens of thousands of African asylum seekers marched to Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square Sunday to protest measures restricting their freedom of movement, ability to work and long delays in processing refugee applications.

About 300 asylum seekers held a protest outside the Interior Ministry in Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat in the south of the country.

They are demanding official refugee status and an end to the government’s policy of holding them for long periods in the new detention centre at Holot in the Negev.

As well as mounting public protests, asylum seekers began a three-day strike from their work in restaurants, hotels and other workplaces throughout the country.

On Monday, they, along with Israeli supporters, demonstrated outside the embassies and diplomatic offices of the European Union, France, Canada, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Italy, the African Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. By far the biggest rally of thousands of migrants took place in front of the American embassy in downtown Tel Aviv. They chanted, “We are all refugees” and “Yes to freedom, no to prison!”

The protestors demanded that foreign governments put pressure on Israel to recognise them as refugees, stop arresting them and free those incarcerated. They issued a statement calling on the world “to help us in the face of Israel’s harsh policies against us,” adding, “We will call on the international community to support our struggle against Israel’s violations of basic human rights.”

Last month, 250 migrants left Holot to hold a sit-in in Jerusalem in protest against new rules keeping them in the detention centre for up to a year, leading to the arrest of hundreds of migrants.

Under Israeli law, migrants are forbidden from working until they are registered as asylum seekers. This is all but impossible. Indeed, according to the UN Refugee Agency, while the average national recognition rate of asylum seekers is 39 percent, in Israel, the rate is less than 1 percent. Most of Israel’s asylum seekers are Eritreans and Sudanese, who have an average international recognition rate of 84 percent and 64 percent respectively.

There are about 60,000 African asylum seekers, mostly fleeing civil strife and repression from Eritrea and Sudan, who have crossed Israel’s border with Egypt since 2006. They typically live alongside poor Israelis in Tel Aviv’s impoverished southern suburbs. Many live in crates, shacks and other improvised homes, without access to basic rights and treated by the police as criminals.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the vast majority were “not refugees” but “economic migrants” who had crossed illegally into Israel before the border fence with Egypt was reinforced. The “full weight of the law” would be used to ensure that they did not remain, he said. “No demonstration or strike will help.”

Netanyahu added that 2,600 “infiltrators” had been expelled in 2013, six times more than in 2012, and that this number would in increase in 2014.

Former Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the Shas Party, who was responsible for the decision to build Holot, said that the scale of the migrants’ protest in Tel Aviv underlined the necessity of strictly enforcing the laws mandating their repatriation, because Tel Aviv had become “an African city.”

New amendments to Israel’s anti-infiltration law passed last month allow the authorities to detain people without a valid visa for up to a year without a judicial hearing. Only those considered war refugees would be allowed to stay.

To this end, Israel established Holot detention centre, the world’s largest, in the Negev desert near Israel’s border with Egypt, to replace the Saharonim prison where migrants were previously held. Three weeks ago, the government transferred 483 African migrants from prisons elsewhere to Holot. Last week, it began instructing other migrants from Eritrea and Sudan to report to Holot within 30 days or face imprisonment.

The Holot detention centre is run by the prison service and designated as an open prison. Detainees are not allowed to work and must report for roll call three times a day. People languish there without work or education, and in violation of the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees, to which Israel is a signatory. The convention states that the country a refugee arrives in is responsible for his or her welfare, health and rights. These rights include freedom of movement, access to documents and the right to work.

One Eritrean asked Ha’aretz, “Why are the authorities calling Holot an ‘open prison,’ if it is in the desert, far from any city and run by the prison services…Refugees are calling us from the prisons, crying that they have no freedom. In recent weeks, many refugees have been chased through the streets by Israeli authorities. We’re afraid to leave our homes.”

Many workers face racist discrimination and are brutally exploited by employers. The Ministry of Labour turns a blind eye and the trade unions do nothing. The government initially turned to low paid foreign labour following the 1988 Palestinian intifada, when it restricted the number of labour permits for Palestinians living in the occupied territories. It now has one of the highest proportions of migrant labour in the world, with about 300,000, or 10 percent of the workforce.

According to the Hotline for Migrant Workers, Israel has put pressure on hundreds of jailed migrants to accept payouts and leave. More than a dozen agreed to leave. A study by the End Child Detention Coalition found that 83 percent of detained migrant children and parents exhibit post-traumatic symptoms.

Israel has apparently struck a deal last August with a ‘third country’ where those African migrants whom Israel sees as “illegal infiltrators” would be sent. The country is believed to be Uganda, though the Ugandan government denies any deal. As Uganda has repatriated other refugees to their home country, Israel’s asylum seekers could end up being deported back to the countries from which they fled.

Israel has refused to introduce asylum legislation, because it would mean absorbing tens of thousands of non-Jewish refugees—threatening “the Jewish character of the state” on which Zionist policy is based. According to human rights groups, Israel has recognised less than 200 people as refugees since its establishment in 1948.

To do so would also lead to renewed demands for the right to return of Palestinians and their descendants who fled or were forced from their homes in the wars of 1948 and 1967. All regulations regarding migrant workers and refugees are at the discretion of the minister of the interior.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) representative in Israel issued a rare press release, Israel’s new laws and policies do not live up to the Spirit of the 1951 Refugee Convention, criticising Israel and calling on the government to consider alternatives to its current policy of “warehousing” of migrants. The representative, Walpurga Englbrecht, said, “I am particularly disquieted about the purpose of the so-called ‘open’ residence facility in Holot which, in its current form and despite its designation as ‘open,’ would appear to operate as a detention centre from where there is no release…This means in effect indefinite detention.”

Three MKs initiate meeting with representatives of African community, but Knesset speaker denies their entry; Israeli author David Grossman joins the protest and says: ‘I feel embarrassed and ashamed that we have reached this situation’: here.

This video is about a solidarity demonstration in The Hague, the Netherlands, with the refugees in Israel.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Monday 21st April 2014

NUT Conference: Delegates hear of harsh treatment handed out to black visitors

Two black teachers told yesterday how they were harassed by Israeli security officers who singled them out because of their skin colour.

Bodrul Amin of Luton and Seema McArdle from Brighton were in Tel Aviv as part of an official NUT delegation to Palestine when they were separated from colleagues and held for more than two hours by soldiers.

At least 23 Eritreans still detained in Israel, in violation of state policy. One month after being notified of the situation, only one out of the 24 asylum seekers being held in Holot has been released; he had a lawyer: here.

Poverty in Israel

Posted on January 8, 2014 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

Israel Protests: Over 250,000 join biggest anti-governement rally in Tel Aviv

7 Aug 2011

On Saturday night, more than a quarter-of-a-million people took to the streets in Israel in the latest show of discontent with the government. That’s after three weeks of protests over the soaring cost of living with activists demanding the Prime Minister steps down. Benyamin Netanyahu has responded with a promise of great changes in Israel’s economy. A special panel has been set up to deal with the crisis, which has even led to calls for a revolution similar to that in Egypt, with one Tel Aviv street labelled as ‘Israeli Tahrir‘.

By Barry Mason:

One in five Israelis lives in poverty

8 January 2014

With just over 8 million people, Israel has over 1.7 million, more than 20 percent of the population, living below the poverty line, according to the latest report issued by the National Insurance Institute (NII) and the Central Bureau of Statistics. Issued in December, the figures relate to 2012 and will have worsened since then.

The poverty line is defined as an income half the median disposable income weighted by household size. For an individual this translates into a monthly income of less than NIS 2,820 ($809) and for a couple less than NIS 4,513 ($1,287) a month.

While there was a very small reduction in the overall numbers living in poverty, including families and children, from the previous year, the number of older people living in poverty jumped by 3 percent, to 22.7 percent.

Nearly all the older people surveyed said their pensions were insufficient to provide a decent life, with many citing financial cutbacks making their situation worse.

A recent report by the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel stated that most of the 192,000 survivors are struggling to make ends meet. Two-thirds feel the level of government assistance is unsatisfactory and more than 90 percent say the government should invest more resources in their welfare.

The figures also revealed the growing numbers who are working and in poverty. Five percent of families with two or more adults working were below the poverty line–an increase of nearly half a percent from the previous year, for an overall increase of 2 percent since 1999.

The report noted the persistence of poverty among poor families with children, with around two-thirds of such families being in long-term poverty and with an average gap between household income and the poverty line of more than a third.

Commenting on the statistics, Gidi Kroch, CEO of Israel’s largest food bank offering support to the poor and hungry, said, “The statistics have not changed in years… It’s indicative of the lack of planning and lack of changes being implemented to alter the poverty crisis in Israel.”

The annual survey issued by the Israel National Council for the Child, “Children in Israel,” showed that one-third (33.7 percent) of the more than two and half million children in Israel live in poverty. Child poverty has increased four-fold over the last 30 years, being only 8.1 percent in 1980.

The rates of child poverty are highly skewed towards Israel’s Arab population, with nearly 68 percent of Arab children classed as living in poverty as opposed to nearly 23 percent amongst Jewish children. The NII report echoed the findings of a concentration of poverty within the Arab population, with nearly 54 percent identified as living in poverty, making up more than a third of poor families within Israel. The Arab population comprises only a fifth of the total Israeli population. The percentage of Jewish families classified as living in poverty is around 14 percent.

The report noted an increase in reported violent incidents against children. There were 9,399 investigations of abuse or violence against children in 2012, compared to 7,909 the previous year.

A report released in mid-December by the aid group Latet highlighted the increasing number of children not having any food to eat on some days. Half the children of families receiving social welfare had gone a full day without food, with 9 percent stealing food and 12 percent resorting to going through rubbish bins or scavenging to get food.

The Israel National Council for the Child report showed the geographical variations of the impact of poverty. For Jerusalem the figure is nearly 60 percent, while in Tel Aviv the figure is nearly 24 percent, and in the central region it is about 16 percent. The NII report shows a similar geographical variation.

Israel is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) grouping of developed countries. It ranks 26th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Report, with a per capita GDP of $31,000, and is 17th in the UN Development Index. Yet it has the third highest poverty rate among this group, with Mexico and Chile having the highest. Its GINI index of 39.2, a measure of inequality, makes it one of the most unequal countries, with a level of inequality similar to the United States.

The recently published Wealth-X report classes Israel as the fourth richest country in the Middle East, with 360 of its richest citizens having a total wealth of $70 billion. For comparison the Israeli state’s GDP is around $270 billion. Twenty Israeli families dominate the economy and between them control around half the stock market and a quarter of the top companies.

The Netanyahu government sworn into office in March this past year has pushed through austerity measures, raising taxes and slashing benefits. This led to big demonstrations in Tel Aviv. The city has a relatively privileged layer working in the high tech industries,who earn around $62,000 a year. But 75 percent of workers earn less than one-third of the amount earned by this higher-income layer, yet still pay European-level prices.

Sections within the Israeli population fare worse than others. Among these are the Mizrahim, Israeli Jews originating from North Africa and the Middle East. They earn 40 percent less than their European counterparts. Other impoverished groups include the ultra-orthodox Haredim, many of whom do not work, as they study full time in religious seminaries.

Around 300,000 migrant workers represent the bottom of the economic pile. They include Filipinos working in the care sector, Chinese migrants working in construction and African and Latin American workers employed in menial labour.

There has been a rise in recent months of Israelis emigrating to Germany and the United States, with many saying they are leaving on economic grounds.

African refugees in Israel demonstrate for their rights

Posted on January 6, 2014 by petrel41

This video from Israel says about itself:

More Than 30,000 African Refugee protest in central Tel Aviv

5 Jan 2014

The third time a large demonstration for Eritrean and Sudanese refugees in March for Freedom in Israel.

From the BBC:

5 January 2014 Last updated at 15:13 GMT

African migrants in Israel protest in Tel Aviv

Thousands of African migrants have marched in the city of Tel Aviv to protest against their treatment by the Israeli government.

The protesters, mostly Eritreans and Sudanese, are angry about a law that allows illegal immigrants to be detained for a year without trial.

They demanded the right to work legally and for their asylum bids to be processed.

An Israeli police spokeswoman said the march was peaceful.

“We are all refugees” and “Yes to freedom, no to prison!” they chanted.

‘Clear cry’

The BBC’s Richard Galpin in Tel Aviv says the protest was prompted by the new law on detention, which had dashed hopes that a recent crackdown would be halted.

The migrants, some of whom have been in Israel for years and have taken low-paid jobs, say they are all refugees who have fled persecution and conflict back home in Eritrea and Sudan.

They say their only choice will be either to spend time in prison in Israel or agree to return home.

The dangers in their home countries mean they cannot be forcibly returned.

The migrants said they would hold further demonstrations outside UN offices and foreign embassies in Tel Aviv on Monday.

An Israeli official said the authorities would continue to deal with people who, as she put it, had infiltrated Israel, adding that more than 2,600 had agreed to leave voluntarily last year.

Ultra-Orthodox MP Eli Yishai said the migrants had been encouraged by “anti-Zionist human rights organisations”.

He told the Maariv daily the protest was “a sharp and clear cry for the state of Israel and judicial and law enforcement authorities to apply all the means at their disposal to return the infiltrators to their countries”.

Israeli wildlife threatened by government plan

Posted on January 1, 2014 by petrel41

This video is called Israeli Wildlife.

From daily Haaretz in Israel:

Israeli scientists: Eilat rail route will cause ‘irreversible’ damage to nature

Scientists ask prime minister to reconsider route, which they say would destroy sections of nature reserves.

By Zafrir Rinat

Jan. 1, 2014 4:16 PM

Dozens of scientists from various Israeli academic institutions who are actively involved in environmental protection turned this week to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the request that he seriously reconsider the projected construction of a rail line that would connect Tel Aviv with Israel’s southernmost port, Eilat, on the shores of the Red Sea. The scientists are deeply concerned over what they believe would be the devastating consequences of this project on Israel’s flora, fauna and landscapes.

The government is expected next Sunday to discuss the project once more, this time in the wake of an appeal submitted by Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz against the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee’s decision to approve the planned rail route. According to the Environmental Protection Ministry, the proposed railroad would inflict massive damage on nature reserves in the northeastern Negev region.

In their letter to the prime minister, the scientists point out that the proposed route would traverse the northern Negev and Arava regions, the very core of Israel’s open spaces that has so far not been tampered with. The scientists say that this is almost the last region in Israel that offers the country’s citizens the opportunity to hike in, and enjoy, natural landscapes and open spaces. It is also a region, they note, with a high concentration of a variety of plants and animals that Israel is obligated to protect under various international conventions to which it is a signatory.

The proposed railroad is intended to transport both cargo and passengers, and to turn Israel into a bridge for the conveyance of goods between southeast Asia and Europe via the seaports of Eilat and Ashdod. The scientists point out that there is a need to study the overall economic benefits of the project in view of the huge investments that would have to be made.

In their letter, the scientists write: “The economic benefits must be weighed against the destructive and irreversible damage that would be caused to Israel’s natural landscape and heritage, to the Negev and Arava regions and to Israel’s citizens, who today are able to enjoy, and hike in, the country’s primordial desert areas which, should the proposed rail route become a reality, would be detrimentally affected and in part dramatically altered.”

On Tuesday Peretz participated in a professional conference organized by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. At the conference he made it clear that his ministry was not opposed to the project in principle; however, he emphasized, the ministry believes that there is a need for planning an alternative route that would enable the construction of a longer tunnel in the area located east of Dimona that would prevent damage to the most important core of Israel’s nature reserves through which the rail route would pass. This is also the route that has been proposed by the INPA.

According to Netivei Yisrael, the company responsible for planning the rail line, the route supported by the ministry would cause a significant increase in the project’s expected cost. …

Peretz, who rejects this explanation, stated in the course of the INPA conference: “This is a project that would fill Israel’s primordial landscape with mountains of dust, bridges and high-voltage overhead power lines.”

The National Parks and Nature Reserves Council, which operates under the ministry’s auspices, is scheduled to discuss a proposal for the allocation of sections of the country’s nature reserves in order to facilitate the construction of the proposed railroad. The council’s approval is required for any project involving the allocation of sections of Israel’s nature reserves.

Flights of fancy: Bird migration in Israel’s Hula Valley (haaretz.com)

Edward Snowden ‘Person of the Year’ of Israeli publication

Posted on December 29, 2013 by petrel41

This video from the USA is called I Agree With Glenn Greenwald! Edward Snowden Should Be Time Magazine‘s Man Of The Year.

After the Guardian in Britain named Edward Snowden its ‘Person of the Year‘; after Slate in the USA did likewise; after The Daily Beast in the USA did likewise; and after TIME magazine in the USA put Snowden at #2, being too coward to put him on #1 …

From Tikkun Daily Blog:

Top Israeli Online Magazine Names Edward Snowden “Person of the Year”

by: David Harris-Gershon on December 28th, 2013

One of Israel’s best online publications – +972 Magazine – has for the first time chosen someone unconnected to Israeli/Palestinian issues as its “Person of the Year.”

That person is Edward Snowden.

The unusual move by this progressive, politically searing outlet in Israel is testament to just how strongly Snowden’s leaks have reverberated across political spectra. And as +972 Magazine revealed, it is also testament to just how critical Snowden’s leaks are when considering the very nature of the Internet itself, and what it may become.

I found this selection from its editors to be quite compelling:

As journalists, we are experiencing firsthand how the Internet has altered our profession, putting some of us out of work while creating new opportunities for others, ones that we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. A project like 972 Magazine could not have existed without the platforms provided by WordPress and Google, Facebook and Twitter.

But as much as we are aware of the significance of these massive changes, the small amount of attention we pay to the battle over the Internet is astonishing. Until we are faced with a specific problem – a website crashing, a webpage removed, a Facebook account hacked – we tend to take it all for granted.

Rather, we used to tend to take things for granted. That is, until a soft-spoken, geeky-looking computer specialist showed us how fragile the new freedoms provided by technology are and the degree to which the virtual universe is exposed to manipulation and abuse. He showed us how underdeveloped our thinking is on privacy and political participation in this virtual space. He showed us just how exposed we are in the face of power in this virtual world – more than we could have ever imagined, let alone agreed to, in our more physical existence.

This is the context in which Edward Snowden’s act needs to be understood. One had to have been especially naïve to think that the U.S. government was not spying on the German chancellor or the Israeli prime minister, as Snowden’s documents revealed. The more tech-savvy among us knew well that digital communications are traceable, though few ever imagined the scope of the NSA’s surveillance programs. But the story is not just your email, or the records of your phone calls stored on NSA servers and maybe shared with your own government. The issue at hand is the Internet, and what it will become: a force of freedom or the perfect machine for surveillance and control.

A force for freedom or the perfect machine for surveillance and control. These are the stakes, brilliantly articulated. Kudos to +972 Magazine for recognizing Snowden’s impact as a global one, and a critical one.

For all of the world’s citizens.

Edward Snowden, 2013 Person of the Year (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Edward Snowden is tech person of year (rinf.com)
Edward Snowden’s Christmas message (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Time Criticized For Choosing Pope Francis Over Edward Snowden As Person Of The Year (huffingtonpost.com)
Edward Snowden named the “Person of the Year” 2013 (voiceofrussia.com)
Edward Snowden, 2013 Person Of The Year (ecominoes.com)
Why Edward Snowden is The Switch’s Person of the Year (washingtonpost.com)
NSA ‘hacking unit’ infiltrates computers around the world – report (theguardian.com)

African refugees protest in Israel

Posted on December 22, 2013 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

14 Oct 2012

Sudanese refugees protest in front of the government’s offices in center Tel Aviv, against the plan to imprison refugees, October 14, 2012.

Israel is building a new facility that could house thousands of additional asylum seekers in the Negev Desert.

From daily Haaretz in Israel:

African migrants take to the streets to demand Israel consider asylum requests

Human rights groups assert open detention center no different from jail. ‘I didn’t come for $3,500,” says one refugee about government exit grant.

By Ilan Lior | Dec. 22, 2013 | 12:20 PM

An estimated 1,000 Sudanese and Eritrean migrants, along with Israeli human rights activists, marched through the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to urge the government to consider the asylum requests of migrants from Africa and release the approximately 3,000 held in Israeli custody.

“I looked into the eyes of the people here with me – everyone has had enough,” said Najmaldin, a Sudanese migrant who took part in the rally and did not want to give his last name. “People want their asylum requests looked into. If someone’s a refugee he should stay here; if someone’s not a refugee he should go back to Africa.”

“We demand a solution from the Israeli government for the people who are currently in prison and for us,” he said. “The people who are in Saharonim and in south Tel Aviv – it’s the same story, the same problems.”

Human rights groups say an estimated 3,000 of the 50,000 asylum seekers in Israel are locked up in the Saharonim detention center in the Negev. The government moved 480 of them to Holot, a nearby open detention facility, after the Knesset approved a legal amendment earlier this month authorizing the open center, where migrants are locked in only at night.

Though they are technically free to leave the premises during the day, they have to be present for roll call three times a day, a restriction meant to prevent them from finding jobs outside the facility. Last week hundreds of migrants marched out of the open center in protest, but were ultimately taken back into custody.

On Saturday, demonstrators marched from Levinsky Park in south Tel Aviv, where many migrants live, to Independence Hall on swanky Rothschild Boulevard. In an unplanned continuation of the protest, the demonstrators kept marching through Tel Aviv and blocked off some of the city’s roads, waving signs reading “Liberty” and “Not another jail.”

Human rights groups have said there is no real difference between the open detention center and a jail. Several of the groups have filed a High Court petition against the law that authorizes the Holot center, as well as allowing the state to hold migrants for up to a year without trial, down from three years.

Police detained two migrants for questioning Saturday on suspicion of attacking a police officer and disturbing the peace, and used pepper spray in an effort to disperse the rally.

Million, an Eritrean migrant who took part in the rally, said race was a major factor in the Israeli government’s treatment of the asylum seekers.

“The Israelis are white, the Africans are black,” he said. “The blood is the same blood. But the government of Israel, a democratic state, is not acting in a democratic manner and is putting the blacks in jail.”

Nazer said Israeli efforts to sway migrants like him to go back to Sudan or to neighboring Eritrea, by offering grants to those who leave the country, would not succeed. The cabinet recently agreed to more than double the amount offered, bringing the grant to $3,500.

“I didn’t come here for $3,500,” said Nazer. “I came here because I’m a refugee. The State of Israel wants to send us back to Sudan and Eritrea. How can we go back? There’s a war there.”

Sometimes it’s kind of scary how Israel treats asylum seekers. From jailing them with no trial to brutal arrests and now, referring to them as numbers. It’s as if they don’t think they’re human beings, with names: here.

Many refugees in Israel are from South Sudan; where there is horrible violence now.

Washington issues warning as South Sudan slides toward civil war: here.

Thousands of Africans, Israelis march in Tel Aviv to demand freedom for asylum seekers: here.

A penal colony for Africans in the heart of Israel: here.

Support Israeli actresses refusing to perform at West Bank settlement: here.

African migrants flee new Holot detention center (timesofisrael.com)
A night with the African migrant marchers (haaretz.com)
African migrants abandon Israeli detention centre (worldbulletin.net)
African migrants abandon Israeli detention centre in protest march (dailystar.com.lb)
African asylum-seekers march from the Negev to Jerusalem to protest detention (mondoweiss.net)
African migrants abandon Israeli detention centre in protest march (trust.org)
353 detained African migrants go on hunger strike (timesofisrael.com)
Israeli to open migrant ‘detention centre’ (telegraph.co.uk)

NSA economic and political espionage

Posted on December 21, 2013 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

17 Sep 2013

Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss economic espionage and, perhaps, sabotage by the NSA against the corporations and innovators of competitor nations. In the second half, Max interviews author, journalist and filmmaker, Greg Palast of GregPalast.com, about the Larry Summers secret ‘End Game’ memo and the decriminalization of what were once financial crimes.

From the New York Times in the USA:

N.S.A. Spied on Allies, Aid Groups and Businesses

By JAMES GLANZ and ANDREW W. LEHREN

Published: December 20, 2013

Secret documents reveal more than 1,000 targets of American and British surveillance in recent years, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.

While the names of some political and diplomatic leaders have previously emerged as targets, the newly disclosed intelligence documents provide a much fuller portrait of the spies’ sweeping interests in more than 60 countries.

Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, working closely with the National Security Agency, monitored the communications of senior European Union officials, foreign leaders including African heads of state and sometimes their family members, directors of United Nations and other relief programs, and officials overseeing oil and finance ministries, according to the documents. In addition to Israel, some targets involved close allies like France and Germany, where tensions have already erupted over recent revelations about spying by the N.S.A.

Details of the surveillance are described in documents from the N.S.A. and Britain’s eavesdropping agency, known as GCHQ, dating from 2008 to 2011. The target lists appear in a set of GCHQ reports that sometimes identify which agency requested the surveillance, but more often do not. The documents were leaked by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden and shared by The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

The reports are spare, technical bulletins produced as the spies, typically working out of British intelligence sites, systematically tapped one international communications link after another, focusing especially on satellite transmissions. The value of each link is gauged, in part, by the number of surveillance targets found to be using it for emails, text messages or phone calls. More than 1,000 targets, which also include people suspected of being terrorists or militants, are in the reports.

It is unclear what the eavesdroppers gleaned. The documents include a few fragmentary transcripts of conversations and messages, but otherwise contain only hints that further information was available elsewhere, possibly in a larger database.

Some condemned the surveillance on Friday as unjustified and improper. “This is not the type of behavior that we expect from strategic partners,” Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said on the latest revelations of American and British spying in Europe.

Some of the surveillance relates to issues that are being scrutinized by President Obama and a panel he appointed in Washington that on Wednesday recommended tighter limits on the N.S.A., particularly on spying of foreign leaders, especially allies.

The reports show that spies monitored the email traffic of several Israeli officials, including one target identified as “Israeli prime minister,” followed by an email address. The prime minister at the time, in January 2009, was Ehud Olmert. The next month, spies intercepted the email traffic of the Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, according to another report. Two Israeli embassies also appear on the target lists.

…

Mr. Barak, who declined to comment, has said publicly that he used to take it for granted that he was under surveillance.

Despite the close ties between the United States and Israel, the record of mutual spying is long: Israeli spies, including Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was sentenced in 1987 to life in prison for passing intelligence information to Israel, have often operated in the United States, and the United States has often turned the abilities of the N.S.A. against Israel.

Mr. Olmert’s office email was intercepted while he was dealing with fallout from Israel’s military response to rocket attacks from Gaza, but also at a particularly tense time in relations with the United States. The two countries were simultaneously at odds on Israeli preparations to attack Iran’s nuclear program and cooperating on a wave of cyberattacks on Iran’s major nuclear enrichment facility.

A year before the interception of Mr. Olmert’s office email, the documents listed another target, the Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an internationally recognized center for research in atomic and nuclear physics.

Also appearing on the surveillance lists is Joaquín Almunia, vice president of the European Commission, which, among other powers, has oversight of antitrust issues in Europe. The commission has broad authority over local and foreign companies, and it has punished a number of American companies, including Microsoft and Intel, with heavy fines for hampering fair competition. The reports say that spies intercepted Mr. Almunia’s communications in 2008 and 2009.

Mr. Almunia, a Spaniard, assumed direct authority over the commission’s antitrust office in 2010. He has been involved in a three-year standoff with Google over how the company runs its search engine. Competitors of the online giant had complained that it was prioritizing its own search results and using content like travel reviews and ratings from other websites without permission. While pushing for a settlement with Google, Mr. Almunia has warned that the company could face large fines if it does not cooperate.

The surveillance reports do not specify whether the interceptions of Mr. Almunia’s communications were requested by the N.S.A. or British spies. Nor do the reports make clear whether he was a longstanding surveillance target or swept up as part of a fleeting operation. Contacted by The Times, Mr. Almunia said he was “strongly upset” about the spying.

Ms. Hansen, the spokeswoman for the European Commission, said that it was already engaged in talks with the United States that were “needed to restore trust and confidence in the trans-Atlantic relationship.” She added that “the commission will raise these new allegations with U.S. and U.K. authorities.”

In a statement, the N.S.A. denied that it had ever carried out espionage to benefit American businesses.

“We do not use our foreign intelligence capabilities to steal the trade secrets of foreign companies on behalf of — or give intelligence we collect to — U.S. companies to enhance their international competitiveness or increase their bottom line,” said Vanee Vines, an N.S.A. spokeswoman.

But she added that some economic spying was justified by national security needs. “The intelligence community’s efforts to understand economic systems and policies, and monitor anomalous economic activities, are critical to providing policy makers with the information they need to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of our national security,” Ms. Vines said.

Spies have a freer hand with economic targets in Britain, where the law permits intelligence gathering in the service of the “economic well-being” of the country. A GCHQ spokesman said that its policy was not to comment on intelligence matters, but that the agency “takes its obligations under the law very seriously.”

At the request of GCHQ, The Times agreed to withhold some details from the documents because of security concerns.

The surveillance reports show American and British spies’ deep appetite for information. The French companies Total, the oil and gas giant, and Thales, an electronics, logistics and transportation outfit, appear as targets, as do a French ambassador, an “Estonian Skype security team” and the German Embassy in Rwanda.

Germany is especially sensitive about American spying since reports emerged that the agency listened to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone calls. Negotiations for a proposed agreement between Germany and the United States on spying rules have recently stalled for several reasons, including the United States’ guarantee only that it would never spy on the chancellor — a promise it has refused to extend to other German officials.

Multiple United Nations Missions in Geneva are listed as targets, including Unicef and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. So is Médecins du Monde, a medical relief organization that goes into war-ravaged areas. Leigh Daynes, an executive director of the organization in Britain, responded to news about the surveillance by saying: “There is absolutely no reason for our operations to be secretly monitored.”

More obvious intelligence targets are also listed, though in smaller numbers, including people identified as “Israeli grey arms dealer,” “Taleban ministry of refugee affairs” and “various entities in Beijing.” Some of those included are described as possible members of Al Qaeda, and as suspected extremists or jihadists.

While few if any American citizens appear to be named in the documents, they make clear that some of the intercepted communications either began or ended in the United States and that N.S.A. facilities carried out interceptions around the world in collaboration with their British partners. Some of the interceptions appear to have been made at the Sugar Grove, W.Va., listening post run by the N.S.A. and code-named Timberline, and some are explicitly tied to N.S.A. target lists in the reports.

Many of the reports, written by British teams specializing in Sigint, shorthand for “signals intelligence,” are called “Bude Sigint Development Reports,” referring to a British spy campus on the Cornwall coast. The reports often reveal which countries were the endpoints for the intercepted communications, and information on which satellite was carrying the traffic.

Strengthening the likelihood that full transcripts were taken during the intercepts is the case of Mohamed Ibn Chambas, an official of the Economic Community of West African States, known as Ecowas, a regional initiative of 15 countries that promotes economic and industrial activity. Whether intentionally or through some oversight, when Mr. Chambas’s communications were intercepted in August 2009, dozens of his complete text messages were copied into one of the reports.

Referred to in the transcripts as “Dr. Chambers,” he seems to have been monitored during an especially humdrum day or two of travel. “Am glad yr day was satisfying,” Mr. Chambas texted one acquaintance. “I spent my whole day travelling … Had to go from Abidjan to Accra to catch a flt to Monrovia … The usual saga of intra afr.”

Later he recommended a book, “A Colonial History of Northern Ghana,” to the same person. “Interesting and informative,” Mr. Chambas texted. The high point of his day was receiving an award in Liberia, but soon he was busy working out logistics for future appointments.

“Where is the conference pl? Didnt get the invt,” he texted another contact. He discussed further details before adding, perhaps wistfully, given his grinding travel schedule: “Have a restful Sunday.”

The Birds of Israel (dedicated to Dear Kitty. Some blog)

Posted on November 19, 2013 by petrel41

petrel41:

Thanks, naturebase! More about birds in Israel, Palestine, etc. is here. And here.

Originally posted on NatureBase:

View original

Dear Kitty. Some blog

On animals, peace and war, science, social justice, women's issues, arts, and much more

Tag Archives: Israel

Anti-Semitism in Ukraine and the US State Department

Edward Snowden ‘Person of the Year’ of Israeli publication

African refugees protest in Israel

The Birds of Israel (dedicated to Dear Kitty. Some blog)

Follow “Dear Kitty. Some blog”

April 2014
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Mar
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Related articles

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Follow “Dear Kitty. Some blog”