Palestinian deaths, the Sean Bell verdict, and Desentization-The Spitfire-side Chats

As one Kabob-er noted, sometimes our internal conversations on the listserv are more interesting than our actual posts. The following is a conversation between Kabob-ers regarding the "Wiping out a family is how Israel says 'no'" post written by Mohammad:

Excen-Tarik: I started to write (about the story) and I was too tired to be as angry as I wanted to be.

Emily: The really sad thing that I thought when I first saw this email is that it becomes difficult to muster enough energy to be sufficiently sad and angry over tragedies like this. It becomes just one more.

Makes it even more important to blog about it I suppose.

Excen-Tarik: It really does. I was gonna write within the context of the Israeli army spokeswoman Avital Lieberman's callous denial of having anything to do with it... something along the lines of "sorry, but you have to realize that they died because of the terrorists, not because the tank shell hit them..." you know? hella ironic and cynical as fuck...

Mohammad: I think you should still go through with that. The other Israeli explanation i heard was that they targeted two militants, and that their missile set off the explosives carried by the militants; and it was those explosives that killed the family. Then of course you realize the only other person killed near the home was a 17 year old schoolboy, so the Israeli army says 'he might have been a militant.'

Excen-Tarik: I know right? Thats what I was talking about: the fact that they said it was "bags" full of explosives that killed them. Does it really make a difference when a TANK SHELL is fired at them? I mean, c'mon... bags of explosives and according to al-jazeera international 4 tank shells were fired- one of which landed 10 meters from the house they were in. The "militants" were reportedly over 100 meters away from the house- and NO ONE has witnessed these "bags" or anything like that- only the shells being fired on 2 younger palestinians. AND there was shrapnel from the shells all over the fucking kitchen they were eating in. You can't fit a qassam in a "bag" man- you know? Fuck.... im so pissed about it. For real.

I'm sure we're all hurting right now- sorry about my emotional shit...

Mohammad: What pisses me off the most (and its sad to say this because i've become almost desensitized to the idea of Palestinian families being wiped out) is how Israel can get away with shit like this with the weakest explanations. I mean, their excuses don't hold any water at all, and yet people take their word as fact when the most basic armchair investigation disproves everything they say. Why is it more believable to so many that Palestinians are responsible for their own deaths, even in the midst of israeli attacks?

Excen-Tarik: seriously, habibi. well said. its such a fucking shame.

Maytha: It kinda parallels how an unarmed black man can be shot 50 times by three cops (including one who reloaded his gun) the night before his wedding, and the cops who weren't forced to face a jury (only a judge), could be acquitted on ALL counts-blemish-free! And there is NO outrage on TV, in newspapers, on the radio, and some have sheik even had the never to say, "well we have to have compassion for the cops, and realize the kinda of stress they might be facing that contributed to this." The world has become so desensitized to the brutal and senseless slaughter of black people as it has to Palestinian families murdered in cold blood (and used pathetic excuses to cover it up).

I think we need to start making these kind of connections, like that of Sean Bell, to take the consciousness about and active support for Palestine a reality outside our circles. Because, when we post stories like these, who really becomes shocked? It's people already aware of the immoral conduct of the Zionist state and its mis-writting of history who read the stories that we post on Palestine.

QuiQui: Hear hear.

Mohammad: I completely agree with Maytha. I think this is an aspect of Zionut assholism that has been neglected by activists for decades-facing their untruths head on and disproving them. They've managed to discredit us-its sad we've let them become the trusted source for anything to do with Palestine.
And connecting it to stuff like Sean Bell's murder is important-back in my younger days, in the 60's and 70's, I remember how popular the Palestinian cause was because it was linked to social justice and independence movements worldwide.

QuiQui: Maybe it's just because I'm from L.A., but I swear I thought NYC would riot after I heard about the aquittal. But nothing. There's not enough outrage. Neither civil disobedience nor uncivil disobedience. Isn't the always looming threat of outrage precisely what is supposed to keep democracy in check? Hmmm.

"We might fight with each other
but I promise you this
we will burn this shit down -- get us pissed"
-- Tupac Shakur, To Live & Die in LA

Mohammad: Can't remember where I read about that-that they managed to avoid the rioting because the 'police had made inroads into the community' or some
bullshit like that.

Fadi: I think they might just support police killing black men out there... I think NYC might just be whack, i had an mp3 of Bruce Springstein singing his song "American Skin (41 shots)" about Amidou Diallo in NYC and you can hear the crowd is booing him for some odd reason, and then I remember reading how the head of the NYC chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police called Springstein a "Faggot" because he wrote this song that has such contentious (sarcasm) lyrics as "is it a gun, is it a knife, is it a wallet, this is your life, it ain't no secret, you can get killed just for livin in ur american skin" or something like that. What's up New York!

QuiQui: I wouldn't be surprised if it's those effing community organizations that, under the guises of cultural centers, are de facto front groups for the government. They're kept operating through funding from the State and municipal governments and exist to monitor and collect data on the marginalized communities they pretend to serve. As history has shown, you always gotta have a ripe set of collaborators to help do the bidding of the oppressor.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

KGIA Update

The New York Times today has a long article on the struggle of Debbie Almontaser, an educator who played a crucial role in the establishment of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) that opened its doors last September. Almontaser was sidelined as the school's first Principal by the Mayor's office after a campaign by various right-wing activists and newspapers that openly target the assimilation of Muslim-Americans in American public life. According to Judge Jon O. Newman, “This was a situation where she was subject to sanction not for anything she said, not for anything she did, but because a newspaper reporter twisted what she said and the result of it was negative press for the city and the Board of Ed.”

Given the influence of racism welcomed by the Mayor's office and Department of Education before opening the school, it is no surprise that, 8 months later, the school's Arab-American and Muslim-American teachers and students (who make up 1/5th of the student body) are frequently victims of racism within the school's walls.

Here is a timeline of events leading up to the opening of the school. As was first reported by KABOBfest, the campaign to close the school (the Stop the Madrassa Coalition) was lead by various white supremacists and Islamophobes. Among them, Daniel Pipes (who supports the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII) deliberately misrepresented Almontaser by claiming that she "denies that Arab Muslims carried out the 9/11 atrocities." Specifically, Pipes quotes her as saying, "I don't recognize the people who committed the attacks as either Arabs or Muslims" while shamelessly leaving off the rest of her statement ("Those people who did it have stolen my identity as an Arab and have stolen my religion.") The campaign's leader, David Yerushalmi is an Israeli settler who believes that all Muslim-Americans should be imprisoned for at least 20 years, and Blacks and women should be denied the right to vote.

(Tarboush Tip: Emily)

Read More...

Collapse Post...

In Commemoration of Land Day

Sunday is Yom al Ard, or Land Day, in Palestine and Israel. The activities held on the 30th of March each year mark the anniversary of protests in 1976 against the theft of Palestinian-owned land inside of Israel by the state. Six people were killed in the Galilee, and hundreds injured.

To my knowledge, not even the anniversary of the Nakba is recognized as popularly throughout the West Bank, Gaza and Israel as Land Day. The Nakba happened in 1948. Land Day is used to address the ongoing arbitrary confiscations of Palestinian property since that time, whether in Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza.

For Land Day, demonstrations are organized in cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps throughout all of historic Palestine. They are especially pertinent in areas where new confiscations are taking place. This year, the focus is on Jaffa, where 500 families have been issued eviction notices before the neighborhood is razed to make way for Jewish development. (Notice the grounds for eviction: that the residents "invaded the properties." Many Jaffa residents are internally displaced persons who have been deprived once of their property, and were forced to take up residence in the homes of Palestinians who fled before them.)

Check out this interview with Father Shehadeh Shehadeh, an organizer of the original Land Day protest in 1976.



Unrelated to Land Day, I would also like to bring your attention to this article on the assassination of the four men in Bethlehem a few weeks ago. I am sorry that I did not take a picture of their martyr poster when I had the chance. It shows the four, who are from different political factions, all standing together with weapons raised. I find it ironic, considering the way that they died: unarmed, sitting in a car waiting for their food order. As if the poster, like so many others, is an attempt to bestow some meaning on their deaths, which are no more than cold-blooded murders for which no investigation will ever take place and no justice will ever be served.

They did not even have the chance to move. Their bullet-ridden bodies were still sitting upright when passersby pulled them from the car.

It was the moral equivalent of a team of Palestinians, disguised as Israelis, driving an Israeli car into Tel Aviv and gunning down four off-duty Israeli soldiers.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

The Beginning of Legal Apartheid?

The New York Times today has an article on a new road in the West Bank for Israeli only use connecting the settlements to Jerusalem, while weaving around and above Palestinian communities who have no access, and furthermore live at the whim of a gate opened for them in the morning by the Israeli army.

The NYT mentioned the words "the beginning of legal Apartheid."

This is what the beginning looks like eh?

So then what is the term for the Birzeit University students who slept in the hills except to come to class for fear the soldiers would discover their Gaza ids and deport them to another part of their homeland?

What is the term for the 18,000 people in Dheishe refugee camp who lived throughout the 80s surrounded by a wall, with one revolving door going in and one going out, while the settlers near them lived with free access to Israel?

What is the term for the military rule placed only on the indigenous communities inside of Israel for decades? What is the term for the forbidding of travel for Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (or Israeli Arabs) to Jordan or Egypt, until the 90s?

What is the term for the requirement that students at some Israeli universities must have previous military service in order to live in the dormitories?

What is the term for people who live under occupation for over 40 years, and pay taxes to the occupying authority, and yet do not have any rights under that same authority?

What is the term for the home demolitions in East Jerusalem, when a family loses their home because they added a level for their children, and failed to obtain a permit that would cost more than the value of the house? What is the term for the Israeli settlers who build and confiscate around them with impunity?

What is the term for people being issued different color ids and license plates so as to determine whether they can enter another part of their own homeland?

What is the term for one customs building for Palestinians at Allenby Border Crossing, and a separate one for Israelis and all other foreigners?

What is the term for the denial of permits required from the Israeli authorities for a Palestinian to travel to Jordan, while an Israeli can simply go to the border and get a visa?

What is the term for women who give birth at checkpoints while occupying soldiers watch? What is the term for the Palestinian citizens of Israel who marry a Palestinian from the West Bank, and give birth at a checkpoint while waiting to enter Israel? What is the term for that child, who now must take a Palestinian id because their Israeli parent failed to give birth in Israel? What is the term for the Israeli settlers who live throughout historic Palestine and have full rights as Israeli citizens?

What is the term for these movement restrictions?

We would have to invent a new word.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Easter Cancelled in Palestine: Jesus Fatally Shot Shortly After Resurrection

In keeping with tradition, Easter has yet again been cancelled in Palestine. Jesus of Nazareth somehow secured a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, provided he enter on a donkey.

Jesus applied in June of 2007 for a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 2008. The past two years of cancellations had made him determined to be prepared this year. Due to his inability to provide proof of his Jewish heritage, he was thus banned from entering Jerusalem for the past two years. And so it seemed as though this year would be different; Good Friday processions and the Sunday resurrection occurred as planned.

However, hours after the resurrection at dawn on Sunday, Jesus was fatally shot as he walked with his disciples toward a military checkpoint dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem.

Chaim Sugarman reports from the ground that a new military order authorizing IDF troops to use lethal force against unarmed protesters was announced last week.

The IDF is prevented from using lethal force against groups of protesters that include Israelis and internationals. Unfortunately, as Jesus had been down in Hell since Friday, he was unaware of the new requirement to have a non-indigenous escort when approaching the Apartheid Wall if you want to stay alive.

Sugarman further reported that at a post resurrection/shooting Easter brunch to which he was privy, the disciples mentioned a plan in the works to move the Easter celebration altogether out of Palestine. "There are hardly any Christians left in Palestine. The only Christians able to celebrate in Jerusalem are from the US and Europe now- why keep making them come here?"

The disciples were referring to the mass exodus of Christians from Palestine. According to Dr. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University, 37% of Christian Palestinians fled in 1948 with the original refugees, and 20% of the remaining population emigrated between 1967-1994. Now, due to the hardship imposed by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and especially the imposition of the Wall around Bethlehem, many more left between 2000 and 2004.

For more on Christians in Palestine.

For equally serious, more personal sidenotes from the past holy week:

• Unlike the children's processions on Palm Sunday in many Palestinian areas in northern Israel, Bethlehem on that day was quiet but for the funeral tent in Manger Square of the four who were assassinated days before.


• The Bethlehem terminal through the wall to Jerusalem (and certainly not only this one) should have international observers. When I entered Bethlehem with family members on Palm Sunday, a female soldier was shouting over a loudspeaker in Hebrew, interspersed with seconds of blaring Nancy Ajram music. When we left, a male soldier was shouting at us in Hebrew, and three young women dressed up for church were standing and waiting for passage to pray in Jerusalem while a soldier, who had taken their purses, sat at a glass-enclosed desk ignoring them for over an hour.


• Judging from our company in the terminal to Bethlehem, the main purpose is to allow Palestinian workers through within working hours, and to return to their lives under military occupation at night. This provides Israel with very cheap labor, while Israeli citizens never have to see their living conditions. The same goes for nearly the entirety of the Wall in the north of the West Bank- passage is closed to all except for laborers, and there are many.


• The Bethlehem terminal through the wall has the distinct feel of a place you would hold cattle, complete with metal grate corridors and walkways above.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Religion and Politics

It's not surprising that the intersection of religion and politics may occassionally beget controversy. Really, though, have we ever seen anything that nears the pandamonium surrounding Obama's family minister and spiritual advisor, Jeremiah Wright? I genuinely wonder if this is at least partially a product of White people wanting to feel indignant at the Black man. I mean, it's not like he's the first to use fiery rhetoric to convey ideas that can be considered offensive or inflammatory to some sector of society. Presidential spiritual advisors - past and present - openly preach anticipation for America's destruction (i.e., the rapture), the threat of Jews, the evil of homosexuality, and a desire to eradicate the Muslims. McCain's spiritual guide refers to Allah as a "demon spirit" and calls on Christians to wage a war against Muslims. A Bush advisor blames the Church for 9/11 and calls on Christians to pray for bin Laden. Hardly a whisper is ever heard about these pontifications. Undoubtedly there is a double standard being applied, and I think it may be beneficial to investigate the reasons.

On a sidenote, I was reading this Washington Post blog on faith, where the Author enters Jesse Jackson (an advisor to the Clintons during that Presidency) into the equation: "The Clintons did not repudiate Jackson... for accepting Arab money for two of his organizations." For those of you who (inexplicably) do not see what's wrong with this statement, imagine if she had said "Black money" or "Jewish money." Just another example of how anti-Arab racism has become a form of acceptable discourse in this country.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Dr Al-Arian: GUILTY (Despite Being Found Not Guilty by A Jury of Your Peers)

Dr Sami Al-Arian, who has been imprisoned by the United States Judicial System since 2003, held in prison long before his trial and long after a grand jury failed to find him guilty of even a single charge against him, is now in danger of suffering irreversible kidney failure.

Law Professor Peter Erlinder writes:

This is Dr. Al Arian’s third hunger-strike during his 5 years of imprisonment. The first was in 2005 and lasted 140 days on liquids only, before he was permitted the lawyers of his choice. In early 2006 he drank only water for 60 days, when the court refused to require the Bush-administration to honor their “no grand jury cooperation” promise, the first time. Now, he is refusing all food and liquids was transferred to the prison hospital on March 5. But he is not getting necessary medical treatment.

As of Monday, March 10, Dr. Al Arian has not received any intravenous liquids, and he is in danger of irreversible renal failure - yet another kind of torture, that could be ended with proper medical care. If Dr. Al Arian dies, AUSA Kromberg will have accomplished his stated “mission”, so the question is, will anybody else respond, before it is too late?

In 2005, I stood in front of a class made up of students from eight or nine different countries. We all had to present news articles, and my article covered the verdict of the jury in the trial of Dr Sami Al-Arian. He was not found guilty of a single charge brought against him by the government, I said. The government spent millions of dollars trying to make a case against Dr Al-Arian over a six month trial, I said. Dr Al-Arian's lawyers, when it came their turn to argue, stood and said simply that clearly, the government has failed to make a case against this man, whose only crime is saying what he believes. The jury found him not guilty on many of the charges, and hung on the rest, I said.

I fully expected him to be released. After all, a man found not guilty by a jury of his peers can't possibly stay in prison, right?

This was the same class in which a woman from Turkey asked me to speak as a citizen of the US to the human rights abuses of the US government, because this was of great concern to her as other governments worldwide look to the US for leadership. I was unclear as to whether she was talking about abuses within the States or outside.

She was talking about within. I wonder if the people who were in that class have any idea that the topic of my article is, in fact, still in prison, and threatened with kidney failure a few weeks before his scheduled release date.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Racism, History and Video Tape in South Africa

A video of white students at South Africa's University of Free State forcing black employees to eat food that contains urine raises questions about the current state of racial affairs in South Africa.

BBC featured part of the video on its website and had a picture of it with the caption:
The alleged victims vomited after being made to eat fouled food.

What wording, "alleged"! Why not write, "The alleged victims allegedly vomited after allegedly being made to eat allegedly fouled alleged food"?

As South African professor, Sean Jacobs wrote on the Guardian's blog, the BBC has been mighty gentle on this one:

If the BBC's tone is anything to go by, get ready for some apologetic reporting.

The BBC used scare quotes to describe the incident. As a friend reminded me, why, in reporting an appalling recent incidence of abuse of blacks by whites in South Africa, did the BBC opt to use quotes? The headline reads "Outcry in SA over 'racist' video". So which is it - is it racist? Or is it merely "racist"?

This incident brought about widespread outrage in South Africa. It was widely cast as a racist prank.

Some, especially those unfamiliar with the historical context of systematic racial degradation in South Africa (i.e. BBC?), may not see this as more than a harmless college prank.


I highly doubt it was meant to be harmless (as safiyyah points out in the comments section, the video showed a "prankster" saying "That is what we think of integration") as the BBC allows.

For the sake of argument, let us assume it was. In such a case, there is a bigger problem with the education system and the entire reconciliation process. No matter their intentions, they should know this act is loaded with meaning, as whites in South Africa interacting with blacks. Historical amnesia when it comes to oppression -- as exhibited by too many white South Africans -- is a luxury of the privileged.

If they did not understand the weight of their actions, then they are not learning about what is needed for true reconciliation -- a remembrance of the past. As Jacobs' piece explores, the "post" in post-Apartheid South Africa is a weak qualifier. The country still suffers from segregation and a vast income and quality of life disparity.

Does this mean that every time a white person does something wrong to a black person it is racist? No, but that white person carries a historical burden and needs to understand how his or her actions will be seen in light of that rich historical context.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Proof the Internet is Racist

So, someone sets up a blog about things white people like one month ago, and already it is getting more hits than our blog, which is basically about what Arabs like. It just lists anti-white stereotypes such as their supposed affinity for natural medicine (which the Arabs invented), recycling, and coed sports.

Here at KABOBfest, we have been profiling what Arabs like (hating Israel, women, and your freedom) and what we do not (Israel, women, and your freedom) for years, yet they get more hits. It's fucking racist, man!!!! Damn this internet(s)!

On a more serious note, I like the 'Stuff White People Like' website, but it it is very classist. So far, it has only represented middle class and up affinities. What about the millions of working class and poor whites who get off on monster truck racing and motor sports, country music, and those hillbilly comedians. Also, what about non-American whites, like European and Australian crackers? Or Israeli Ashkenazis like Ehud Olmert? He likes Apartheid. That should make the list.

Anyways, kudos to that website. Please link us: White people like KABOBfest. That is why they always follow us wearing suits and dark sunglasses, and in their Chevy Caprices.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Filipina Workers in Jordan Update

In a new Jordan Times article, Hani Hazaimeh reports again that

According to DHAA officials, the complaints included ill-treatment by employers and being overworked, said Faouri, who believes the workers’ reasons for wanting to leave their posts were homesickness and cultural differences between Jordan and the Philippines.

The Jordan Times still fails to mention the real allegations, which include serious abuses such as non-payment of wages, physical abuse and rape.

The article is unclear as to whether the hundreds of women who sought refuge at their embassy were forced to pay a fine for terminating their contracts:

On December 9, the Philippine embassy approached the ministry seeking its assistance to waive fines for around 100 domestic helpers for violating residency regulations in order to be sent home at the expense of the embassy, said Habashneh.

“The ministry did not accept the embassy’s proposal because it would harm the interests of local domestic helper recruitment agencies with which these workers are bound by a two-year contract,” he added.

The Jordan Times appears to be laying the blame for the situation squarely upon the Filipina workers themselves for not being well-adjusted enough:

The ministry pointed out the necessity to hold orientation and awareness programmes on Jordanian culture to the Filipino workers before they are brought into the Kingdom, Habashneh added.

What about orientations for the families bringing a foreign person to work in their homes? What about putting sexual assault response services into place for women who speak Tagalog and other languages? What about the police and the Labor Ministry taking some of these allegations seriously?

Come on, Hazaimeh, Jordan Times, you're better than this!!!!!

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Philippine Government Finally Stands Up!

I was surprised and pleased to read this in the Jordan Times on Wednesday. The Philippine government has apparently said it will not approve any more work contracts for its citizens in Jordan, where a large number of Filipina women work as domestic helpers.

Domestic workers in Jordan are mainly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, and are often treated like doodoo. By the time I was ready to leave Jordan a while ago, I was so incredibly tired of the classism inherent in the society and in the way people treat each other. (see this post from last spring for one individual instance.) Other instances that my friends experienced were much more insidious and happened in much greater numbers to Americans of Asian descent. Jordan is incredibly classist, but this classism is tied to racism in a place where Asian women in the country largely fall into the category of either domestic workers or sex workers.

What this means for the women who sign contracts to come and work in Jordan, through agencies that make money off of them while simultaneously failing to protect them, is that they come to a place where they are made very, very vulnerable.

Harassment I was made aware of involved Asian American women who were harassed on the street, grabbed in cabs, and accused of stealing while shopping in an upscale department store. White women, while they may be mistaken for a Russian brought in by the trade in women, largely did not face harassment on this level. Two friends had their wallets stolen while at the gym, one white and one Asian American. The police asked the white girl about the chain of events, but repeatedly asked the Asian American girl what she was doing there and whether she was Filipina, even though she produced a passport for them. Another time, a salesperson came to the door of an Asian American girl and asked for her 'madame.' When she said, 'I am the madame,' he just walked away. These are instances of harassment of American students, not Filipina domestic workers.

I'm certain we don't have any idea of the extent of harassment and abuses of Asian women domestic workers (and sex workers) in Jordan. A foreign teacher in Jordan used to overhear his students in a boy's high school bragging about the sexual acts they had done with their family's domestic worker. The Jordan Times article doesn't mention the worser abuses. It says

The decision [of the Philippine government] was taken in light of allegations of mistreatment of Filipina domestic helpers by their Jordanian employers, according to the embassy's legal adviser, Imad Sharqawi.

The article then goes on to report in a rather self-serving, disappointing fashion:

According to Faori, three Labour Ministry committees formed to look into the allegations found that most "were illogical."
The complaints included ill-treatment by employers and being overworked, said Faori who believes the workers' real reasons for wanting to leave their posts were homesickness and cultural differences between Jordan and the Philippines.

Homesickness and cultural differences are a far cry from the non-payment of wages, physical abuse, and rape reported by the BBC article on the same topic. I personally am more apt to think that serious abuses sent about 200 Filipina women to their embassy demanding to be sent home.

I also have little sympathy for the Jordanian families who

...stand to lose thousands of dollars as a result of the suspension.

In a country where unemployment is so high, why aren't the better-off families hiring domestic workers who are Jordanian? Lord knows many could use the money. My theory is that it's about power and control: girls and women from Amman would go home to their families, who would protect them against any abuses or offenses. Foreign Asian women and girls (many are actually girls) have no such entity protecting them. They live with the family, sometimes in the kitchen, and do not have any enforced time off. (There used to be a mandatory day off for domestic workers in Jordan, which was canceled after families complained that their domestics brought home or met with undesirable individuals.) The family therefore has almost complete control.

A PS: A woman doing PhD research interviewing the domestic workers in Jordan was told by a young Filipina woman that her government had offered her an injection containing two years worth of contraception before she left her country. She intelligently refused the injection.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Racism in Israel against Arabs on the up. Mohammad almost dies of shock.

A study released on Sunday has found that Israeli racism towards Arabs has increased tremendously. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to write about this when the story broke, but I was too busy recovering in hospital from the shock. Apparently, racism against Arabs in the Zionut entity is reaching unprecedented heights. Shit, just saying that makes my blood pressure drop to dangerous levels again.

According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the past year has seen a 26 percent rise in the number of racist incidents against Arabs and twice as many Jews reporting a feeling of hate toward Arabs, with half of Israeli Jews believing that their fellow citizens should not be allowed to have equal rights if they happen to be Arabs.

Imagine that. Widespread discrimination based on ethnicity in this bastion of Western freedom and liberalization. The light unto nations is blinding me.

There’s more: Among Jewish respondents, 55 percent support the idea that the state should encourage Arab emigration from Israel (well, we did try to violently kick them out 60 years ago) and 78 percent oppose the inclusion of Arab political parties in the government. Because, you know, political representation isn’t a fundamental right. It’s a privilege reserved only for Israeli Jews, so the Arabs need to be thankful for what they are given.

According to a Haifa University study, 74 percent of Jewish youths in Israel think that Arabs are "unclean." Now that is just not fair. Most of us are circumcised too! On the Haaretz article talkback (from where I’m illegally plagiarizing the facts and figures for this post) someone confirmed that Arabs are indeed dirty because if you visit an Arab town in the Zionut entity you will find trash everywhere. Of course, Arabs aren’t unclean-I shower semi-regularly for example- but trash in the streets is a result of the Israeli government refusing to provide services to Arab communities on par with those given to Israeli communities.

The ACRI says that bills introduced in the Knesset contribute to delegitimize the country's Arab citizens. These include bills that would link the right to vote and receive state allowances to military or national service, or bills that require ministers and MKs to swear allegiance to a Jewish state (thus confirming their status as outsiders) and those that set aside 13 percent of all state lands owned by the Jewish National Fund for Jews only.

You read that right. You can be an Israeli citizen, but if you are Arab, you can’t buy land or homes on 13% of land owned (stolen) by the state. That is a law.

I can hear the excuses already. ‘Palestinian terror has increased hate.’ That’s interesting. I thought the Apartheid Wall is necessary because it effectively ended attacks on Israelis two years ago. Yet racism against Arabs continues to grow. When the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel gets into government on a platform advocating the forced expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens, you know the society is deeply fucked up, and the problem lies within.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Quiz Time Again!

Four black girls are placed in a classroom by themselves at the end of the hall, given separate recess than the other children, and given a separate ride home to prevent socializing with students. Is this...

A) Alabama 1963

or

B) Israel 2007

New link to Haaretz tv segment

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Border Agitators: We Come To US Soil To Steal Your Jobs and Kill

According to ult-conservative Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, who is incidently running for US President; he is the one of the few politicians courageous enough to save our good, wholesome country from illegal aliens and Islamic Terrorists;

Hi I’m Tom Tancredo, and I approve this message because someone needs to say it.

There are consequences to open borders beyond the 20 million aliens who’ve come to take our jobs.

Islamic terrorists now freely roam US soil

Jihadists, who fraught with hate, here to do what as they have in London, Spain, and Russia.

The price we pay for spineless politicians who refuse to defend our borders against those who come to kill.

I don’t even know where to begin with how agitated this border agitator is with this ludicrous ad. Beyond the sensationalist script, exaggerated claims, and obvious grammar errors; since when did “Islamic Terrorists” fashion their clothing selection after the Unabomber.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

More From the Courageous and Brave Lebanese Army

Is it possible that last year, while the Lebanese Army general was serving tea to invading soldiers, he was actually extracting military tactics from the Israelis?

On the Lebanese Army's aspirations at Nahr el-Bared to equal the Israelis in the criminal treatment of Palestinians:

"Rampant looting took place in their absence, and vitriolic graffiti covers the walls inside many homes.

In her letter to the prime minister, Qiblawi said that, 'We found that the walls of the children's rooms were covered with anti-Palestinian slurs and imprecations so vile that I cannot reproduce them on paper.'

Abdul Rahman, whose aunt lived in the camp, said she returned home to find 'a lot of swearing graffiti against the Palestinians,' as well references to grudges based on events from 'years ago.'

'She had also found her copy of the Koran on a table which someone had shot at close range right in the middle. It's very sad,' he said."

Another source:

"Safa'a, a young children's animator from Bared was telling me about how rude and humilating the Lebanese military were with them on the checkpoint on the entrance of the camp. Did you ever heard of women being searched and having their sanitary pads removed. Well today I have heard about it, this has been carried out on a daily basis, with Bared inhabitants... Media are NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER.. If they succeed to enter, their article or other will be later on subject to control and censorship by the army.. All houses were set on fires... On the wall we saw obsene sentences insulting the Palestinian people as if they did not deserve to live, not only in Lebanon, but on this planet... The military would not leave a house or place without robbing it and then burn it."

(Tarboush Tip: Tamara)

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Congress Declares October 28th “Fayyad’s Day”

The United States congress has passed a new law establishing a new holiday, “Fayyad’s Day.” The holiday will celebrate and commemorate the discovery of the Americas on Fayyad’s famed journey west on this day, in the year of our lord 1998.

Shortly before midnight on October 27th, 1998, Fayyad left his hometown near Jenin, Palestine on a long journey west in the quest of a good education, and living in a beach-house with Salma Hayek. The following day he arrived upon a new land little known to the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Europe, but more importantly, he found that the inhabitants of this land knew little of other nations, and nothing of the ways of civilized world.

The inhabitants of the land possessed much green gold, and sought more of it in return for every service they provided; they even demanded ungodly amounts of it from Fayyad in return for his bus trip from the Airport of Fort O’Hare to Fort Madison. He found the savages to be hostile towards and unwelcoming of outsiders. Suspicious of his foreign tongue, several of them refused to help him with directions upon arrival. He also found them to worship savage gods that valued material wealth and embraced war and bloodshed.

Earlier that day, before arriving in the new land, Fayyad stopped for rest in a low-lying land covered with a blanket of pleasant smoke. He chose the name the “Netherlands” for the land with beautiful, welcoming women who tended to dairy cows. During his rest in the Netherlands, Fayyad set up camp in an area he called Al-Muster-Dam, Arabic for “In need of a Damn” as he recognized the danger the North Sea posed to what is today the thriving settlement of Amsterdam.

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Obama, Osama, Yo Mama

• It's not that Mitt Romney doesn't trust his speech writers. It's that, darn it, all you brown people look so much alike! [Think Progress]
  
• Israel to trade in gold-digging nafka for more cost-effective sharmootah even though, man this one's got a real set of teeth on her. [Jpost]
  
• Israel encourages launch of gas-gouling rockets by hindering electric powered, evironmentally friendly ones. [Yahoo]
  
• Scientists locate optimism area in brain; issue "remove it yourself" manual to news readers. [AP/Yahoo]
  
• This is kinda like that one time when I was too lazy to turn around and speak to my cubicle mate so I shot him an e-mail calling our Republican Jewish Canadian boss a Nazi. Except that when I accidentally sent the e-mail to our boss instead of sending it to the cube mate who I was too lazy to turn to speak to, at least the Nazi knew it was me. [IHT]
  
• I'll admit, this is so last century. And okay, it didn't work the last time I tried it. But if you just sat down and patiently listened, I'm positive you'd become the person we both really want you to be. [WaPo]
  
• You know how when two people who hate each other have sex one day and refuse to talk about it even though their behavior has been destructive to them and to those around them, and how it doesn't help any that their friends choose not to plan an intervention because really, it's super entertaining and secretly they just wish they could watch? Well, someone just found some pics. [WaPo]
  

[Tarboush tip: Nimr, Hanaan, Fayyad]

Read More...

Collapse Post...

Guest Post: Fellow Columbia Anthro Grad Student Weighs In On the Noose Incident

(By Al-Kami)

Let's protest! No, let's not and say we did.

Nooses are so last year. My only issue with the whole noose thing is that it's really uncreative.

Columbia is supposedly a place where everyone is entitled to free speech, right? Why someone would feel that they are not entitled to spew hate at a university where the President insists that he too can be prejudiced is beyond me. Just be yourself! Hate openly. Don't hang a noose and run. Rather than leave nooses out of dislike for a black professor, why not rally like everyone else at Columbia does and spew racist views about black faculty (or whomever) in front of Low library? It's your right! There might even be some good media coverage! And we all know that's really the point of our university protests.

Why we even give these people (or this person) so much attention is beyond me. "Idiot hangs noose outside of black professor's door and incites hundreds to rally and protest in the rain" - seems like a job well done. We are giving this fool way too much credit. I think the only way he/she/it/they would deserve this much attention is if they intelligently (wow, I laughed as I typed that) present their views in front of an audience. (Otherwise, we have no idea what you're really trying to convey chap! You bored? Lonely? Didn't get enough attention at home?) Cowards are at the bottom of the racist pool. Take off the hoods and show your face - the air is so much cleaner when it's not covered by a sheet. And then we
can hear your lovely voice.

I understand that some have conveyed concerns about feeling unsafe due to Columbia's secretive" handling of on-campus hate. Students believe that they should be in the know when there's bathroom graffiti, and nooses-a-hangin'. These are certainly valid concerns when dealing with haters who aren't also cowards. When Jessica wrote "Ann-Marie is a slut" on the bathroom walls, no one feared for their safety. They either laughed at Jessica, with Jessica, or assumed she was immature. An adult at a university promoting hate via bathroom scribble is hardly a person that anyone should fear. Nor is a person who isn't even creative enough to come up with a new and improved hate crime that hasn't been highly publicized on television for the past few months. These people are cowards looking for attention. What we are doing is validating their actions and giving them the attention they need. When those protests take place, the "hater" that did the hating is probably amongst those protesting. In fact, he/she/it/they are probably the ones that come up with the protest chant. Either that or they're sitting inside of a warm room with a cup of cocoa looking at all the "coloreds" yelling in the rain. And at whom? And for what?

It is my opinion that none of these cowardly actions deserve our missing very expensive class time. But, for those that feel something needs to be done, the protest thing will not suffice. We constantly protest in front of Low, and then go for pizza and forget about it. If students really want to do something, a news conference needs to be organized where individuals can express their feelings about the situation. If that route is unavailable, get a video camera and put something on youtube. Express yourselves to the masses - not to random kids on the way to Elementary French. In the message it should be expressed that everyone at Columbia has a right to free speech, and therefore it is unnecessary to hang anonymous nooses. Invite all noose hangers and graffiti writers to stand on the steps of Low and voice their concerns. Invite them out of cowardice and into humanity. Everyone has a right to speak, so secret hate crimes are really unnecessary. I'm sure everyone will find that none of these people will step up, proving their cowardice, and the point that they should be left alone to carry on their uncreative, eighth grade, petty hate as they feel necessary.

Read More...