What's going on with Iran?

I was watching ABC News a few nights ago and at first I thought I had misheard the report.  Martha Raddatz was talking about Hizbollah operating in Latin America (video link).  I started searching around and here's what I've found so far:


The Christian Science Monitor has a good article about how the threat of Hizbollah in Latin America is probably over-hyped.  Some men funneling money to Hizbollah does not mean Hizbollah has terror cells operating there.

US intelligence seems to be split over whether or not Iran may be willing to attack on US soil.  Some cite the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US last year.  I'm a bit concerned by this quote from the Director of National Intelligence:

The plot "shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime."

First of all, there's a big difference between plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador in America and plotting to kill Americans in America.  Secondly, by directly saying Ali Khamenei's name, the DNI is laying the way for an attack against Iran.  Too many people are starting to understand that Ahmadinejad is NOT in charge of Iran.  The DNI used the political method of saying "probably" instead of outright accusing Khamenei.  But most Americans won't hear that word anyway.  All they'll hear is that Iran is using terrors cells to attack America.  And if Al-Qa'eda is hurting, then I guess we need somebody to be scared of.  I'm getting deja vu (again)!

Israel is putting all its offices worldwide on alert and warning Jewish organizations to be careful.

More on the possible Iran threat from DangerRoom.

Finally, here's an amusing look at the US-Iran situation, through the looking glass.

So why are we so terrified of Iran getting nukes?  Pakistan has nukes.  Even North Korea has nukes!  The main reason I think we don't want Iran to get nuclear weapons is because of Israel.  At some point the United States is going to have to take a step back and reassess what's going on.  If the US truly wants peace in the Middle East, then it needs to realize that supporting the Israelis above everyone else is not going to achieve that end. 

To clarify my position:  Israel has been around too long for it to go away.  The Middle East is going to have to accept the existence of Israel.  But Israel is going to have to accept the existence of displaced Palestinians.  And the US will too.

Palestinians Get UNESCO Membership

UNESCO, the UN cultural organization, voted to admit Palestine as a member, 107 to 14.  This was followed by the United States cutting US funding to UNESCO.  According to the BBC article:

A US law passed in the 1990s bars giving funding to any UN body that admits the Palestinians as full members before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is reached.

My question is: then why does the US fund Israel when there is no peace deal?

Internet service and some phone service was down in Gaza and the West Bank today, thanks to hackers.

BBC News has a guide to the Palestinian membership bid.

Palestinian Statehood

This week Palestinians will ask the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a state.  And everybody is freaking out.  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is asking Palestinian Authority President Abbas for talks, instead of the UN bid.  But Abbas is determined to go through with the bid.  Some Israeli settlers are already protesting against any Palestinian state.  Israeli President Peres is talking to the leaders of various countries, asking them to oppose the bid, and Netanyahu is on his way to New York.

I'm not sure where I stand on this issue.  On the one hand, declaring a new state could seriously undermine any peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.  Some Israelis are worried about an "ethnic cleansing" removing Jews from a new Palestine (I guess they've forgotten about the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians).

On the other hand, the peace process hasn't really worked so far anyway.  And maybe if there was a Palestinian state, it would be harder for Israel to continue illegally blockading parts of it.  I wonder if that is part of the problem.  Right now, Israel can claim to fight evil Palestinian terrorists who live nearby.  But if Palestine becomes a state, then Israel would be fighting another nation.  In some ways it would legitimize Palestinian attacks on Israel and delegitimize Israel "responses."  It will be interesting to see what happens this week.

Quick News Roundup February 12, 2011

ArabNews (Saudi Arabia) reports that the subcontractors to the US Embassy are abusing their employees.  They cite a report by the US Office of Inspector General, and provide a link to it.  Abuse of South Asian employees is fairly common in the Gulf.  I don't mean that as an excuse, just as a piece of information.

A senior rabbi in Israel is under arrest for supporting a book (Torat Hamelech) that says when it is okay to kill Gentiles.  He refused to be questioned by police, because it is a religious issue.  This whole thing originally came to a head in January of last year (see this article).  I'm not sure what to think of it.  It sounds as though some people want it to be thought of as a scholarly work, while others see it as inciting violence.  The article I linked to makes some good points about the authors of the study (also rabbis) and that they may be inciting violence.  I will say one thing though:  if a Catholic priest wrote a book saying that the Bible says sometimes it's okay to kill Jews, there would be a huge uproar and calls of anti-Semitism.  But almost no one would say it's a religious issue and the police should stay out of it.

There's more about that senior rabbi in this article, which compares the Muslim Brotherhood to the ultra-Orthodox religious right in Israel.  They believe that Judaism trumps democracy, and want to take Israel even further down that road.

This was written before Mubarak left, but it's a quick look at how events in Egypt are affecting the Gulf.  And this more recent article covers the current situation.  Even Palestine is affected and should have elections in September.

Quick News Roundup

There's so much happening in Egypt, and also in Yemen, that I've been remiss in my postings.  Here's a quick recap of some recent events.

Public protests have been banned in Algeria since sometime in the 1990s.  The president just announced that protests will now be allowed, except in the capital of Algiers.  The opposition party has planned a protest for next week, and that would be in Algiers.


A supposed UAE spy-ring has been uncovered in Oman, and some Omanis have been arrested.  The UAE says it is not spying on Oman.  The spy-ring may be interested in the Omani succession or in Oman-Iran relations.

There are protests going on in Palestine both for and against Mubarak.  In general, Fatah supports Mubarak (and vice versa) and Hamas is against him.

Syria's Day of Rage fizzled out.  The government has more control over things there.

On Sunday, trial starts in Iran for the 3 American hikers accused of being spies.

Russia Recognizes Palestine

President Medvedev said that Russia would continue to support a Palestinian state, the same as the Soviet Union did in 1988.  Israeli is downplaying the matter.  Medvedev met with the king of Jordan after trying to visit Israel.  Also, apparently Lebanon put a resolution condemning Israeli settlements before the UN Security Council.  And since the US is trying to support Hariri, they may have a hard time vetoing it.  Will Spain be the next country to recognize Palestine?

Land Convoy Reaches Gaza

A convoy called Asia 1 has reached Gaza.  The convoy started in India, and reached Gaza through Egypt.  There's another part of the convoy that should be arriving by ship.  We'll have to wait and see if the ship gets through the blockade.  The convoy was supposed to reach Gaza on the anniversary of Cast Lead, the Israeli offensive against Gaza, but was a few days late.

Palestinian State Recognized: Update II More on Gentiles Ban

More info about the ban on selling homes to Gentiles.  A top rabbi has condemned the religious ruling and two rabbis who signed their names to it have changed their minds because of him.  The top rabbi is non-Hasidic Orthodox which is really helping the situation.  The attorney general for Israel is looking into the original ruling, in case it violates the law.

Palestinian State Recognized: Update I More on Gentiles Ban

You may remember the letter signed by dozens of rabbis, saying that Jews shouldn't sell or rent property to Gentiles (read: Arabs).  I'm happy to report that some Israelis are protesting and calling the letter racist.  Amnesty International is also criticizing it.

Edit: added to title

Palestinian State Recognized

Last week Brazil recognized Palestine as a state, and this week Argentina did too.  Apparently Uruguay will do the same next month.  These countries are recognizing Palestine in the 1967 borders, which were then conquered by Israel, even though under international law it is illegal to gain territory that way.  As you can imagine, Israel is rather ticked off with all the recognitions and claims it is hurting the peace process.  I really don't see how.  If anything is hurting the peace process it is settler Israelis building homes and towns on land that is supposed to belong to the Palestinians.  Add to that the US deciding to stop pressuring Israel for an extended moratorium on West Bank construction.  But somehow it is never Israel's fault if the peace doesn't work.

Oh, and it gets even better.  Dozens of Israeli rabbis are supporting a religious ruling that would prevent Jews from selling or even renting homes to non-Jews (Gentiles).  Even Netanyahu has spoken out against it.  I'm all for freedom of religion, but not when it discriminates against people of other religions.

Where is Israel? Update I

Remember the boycotted performing arts center?  Some politicians want to cut the artists' funding, because of the boycott.  Now there is an online petition supporting the artists doing the boycott.

This goes straight to something we've been talking about on this blog:  freedom of speech.  Some performers are upset about a new arts center, that is built in a town on the other side of the Green Line, in the West Bank.  So these people are boycotting it.  Apparently the right-wing Israeli politicians don't believe you should be allowed to have an opinion that disagrees with them.  So these politicians are trying to get rid of any government funding for said boycotters.  So much for democracy in Israel.

Where is Israel?

The Israeli government just approved new construction plans for 1,300 apartments in East Jerusalem.  And, of course, this happens just as Netanyahu (the prime minister) is in the US to try and have peace talks with the Palestinians.  I've come to the conclusion that the Israeli government does not want peace.  If it did, it would not go through such blatant attempts at antagonizing the Palestinians.  There's this thing called "diplomacy" which involves some give and take on both sides.  From what I can tell, Israel subscribes to the "give it to us or else we'll just take it" group.  They are constantly asking the Palestinians for concessions, but don't want to make any of their own.  And the few times they do promise concessions, they do not follow through on them.  This entire process is a farce.

That said, at least some of the Israeli people want peace.  A new performing arts center opened in Ariel, in the West Bank.  And many Israeli artists are choosing to boycott it.  The West Bank was captured by Israel in 1967 and both Israel and Palestine lay claim to it.  Lieberman is threatening the artists with losing government funding if they insist on the boycott.

edit:  I just found a link to a great article from the New York Review of Books:  The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment.  It's from this past summer, but definitely worth reading.

Israeli Textbooks

A principal from a school in Israel has been called to the Education Ministry, for daring to use an unapproved history text book.  This horrible book dares to show the Palestinian version of the events surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.  In general, the approved books don't mention the Palestinians, or they just say that they voluntarily left "Israel."  These books don't mention the Palestinians forced out or killed by Israeli troops, or the ones who left because they were living in a war zone but thought they could return once the fighting stopped.

I went to an American school with American textbooks.  When I was a child, Native Americans were savages who were saved by the white Christians who took over their land and forced them onto reservations.  When that finally began to change, some people complained that it was all about "political correctness."  It wasn't.  It was about THE TRUTH.  Current textbooks do a much better job of explaining what happened.  Sometimes governments do really heinous things to people.  But it's much better to get it out in the open and to get over it, than to hide it and let it fester for decades.  Because then it becomes so much harder to explain.

A Primer on Palestine and Israel - Update I

First of all, yes, I decided to go ahead and allow advertising on my blog.  I figure it can't really hurt, and maybe I'll even make a few cents here and there.  Also, if you go to my previous post on Palestine and Israel, you can actually see the book I was talking about, and there's a link to it on Amazon.com.  

Obama and the Middle East

There's a great guest commentary on Juan Cole's site, by Professor Ussama Makdisi.  Here's an excerpt.

The same dynamic that was at work during the failed Camp David Summit of 2000 is again evident: an Israeli leadership openly unwilling to make peace on the basis of genuine reciprocity, let alone justice or equality is meeting a Palestinian leadership utterly dependent on an American ability to pressure Israel into significant concessions, under the aegis of an American administration with the same kind of pro-Israel mentality and frame of reference that oversaw the last failed round.

A Primer on Palestine and Israel

Dr. Charles Smith is considered one of the best scholars on the situation between Israel and Palestine.  Check out his excellent book on the subject.

Palestine and Israel

Alright, I will admit to being a bit melancholy when I wrote my last post about the peace process. I stand by my conclusions though. A friend of mine even said "Why is Obama doing this? It's an automatic fail."

I also received a link to a site I had not heard of before: newsy.com. Apparently they are some sort of multi-source video news site. Here's their take on the peace process:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Hamas and I.R.A.

A few weeks ago I made some comments about how the IRA bombings did not make everyone hate the Irish. I must be prescient. There was an op-ed in the NY Times and International Herald Tribune about that same scenario. Ali Abunimah explains how the US Middle East mediator is the former mediator for Ireland's woes, and how differently the situation has been treated by the US. The British wanted to shut out Sinn Fein, the political branch of the IRA, but the US wouldn't do that. However, in Palestine, the US has no trouble shutting out Hamas.

There will never be peace in Palestine/Israel until ALL sides agree upon it. That means everyone: the governments, the terrorists, the army, the extremists on both sides. If the Israeli religious far-right continues to insist upon "colonizing" Palestinian land with illegal settlements, even when their own government says not to, how can you expect the Palestinians to believe anything Israel says? When the US and Israel insist that the Palestinians must give up their arms before peace talks can truly take place, how can you expect them to intentionally leave themselves defenseless when Israel has a well-trained army that could strike at any time, and has in the past?

My opinion: There will never be peace in Palestine/Israel until one side is dead. And it looks like it will probably be the Palestinians who die. There will always be a group of Palestinians who want their land back and want Israel gone. There will always be Israelis who believe that biblically, the entire region belongs to the Jews. Neither of those groups will agree to a lasting peace, and if one is forced upon them, they will still continue to fight, physically, for what they believe. The United States does not understand the situation, and most Americans never will. There will never be peace.

Netanyahu's Real Views?

CrooksAndLiars had a video a few weeks ago from about 9 years ago - an interview with Netanyahu.



I haven't watched it yet, but if the partial transcript is correct, Netanyahu is not really worried about the peace talks leading to peace.

Women's News July 12, 2010

Lots of Women's News, much of it not good.

A woman in Iran was sentenced to stoning, for adultery. The judges have temporarily decided not to carry it out. If you're wondering how stoning works, a woman is buried, with just her head above ground, and then stones are thrown at her head until she is dead. Lovely, huh?

Apparently young girls are being married off in one of the border provinces of Turkey, sometimes for money. Often these young girls are too young to consent, and this is a way to get rid of young female children.

The French National Assembly will be voting this week on an anti-burka bill. Technically, it's a bill that forbids covering your face in public places, because a bill that prevents Muslim women from covering themselves would sound racist. This bill is mostly aimed at Muslims and it really ticks me off. I do not agree with a woman being forced to wear a face covering, but there are women who do it on their own. I have met many Muslim women in America who wear a hijab (scarf over their hair), as a sign of their religion. When I visited the Gulf, I saw women wearing the niqab, a mask that covers the face. I asked about that, because most women were not wearing it. I was told that some women wore it for traditional reasons and that some women wore it because it kept the sun off of their face. So as much as I may agree with not forcing a woman to wear something, what if it is her choice? Where does it end? Perhaps the National Assembly would like to ban women not cutting their hair, and only wearing skirts, like the Pentecostals in America.

Finally, good news!!! A group of Palestinian girls formed a car racing team called the Speed Sisters and entered the Speed Test race. They are looking for sponsors if you would like to help.