The “E1” area of the West Bank, comprising 12 square kilometers, lies between the Maale Adumim settlement and occupied East Jerusalem, curling around and separating the Palestinian towns of Anata and Abu Dis. While E1 is home to roughly 2,600 Bedouins, Israel has prevented any Palestinian development there so that Maale Adumim might expand and new settlements can go up. Though the settlement development project was temporarily postponed in 2008 due to disapproval from the United States, Israel has long planned on emptying the space of its Palestinian inhabitants in order to implement the plan. Many of these communities have been displaced several times since the 1970s to make way for Israel’s settlement enterprise. Two years ago, rumors began circulating among the Bedouins living in the EI area of Israel’s intentions to displace them once more. These rumors have been buttressed by waves of demolition orders in most of the Bedouin encampments. Twenty communities, in which 2,600 persons live, are facing displacement, stated Abu Suleiman, mukhtar (or leader) of Qeserat, a Bedouin community within E1.

Vandals attacked a monastery in Jerusalem and a prominent school with a mixed Jewish-Arab student body on Tuesday, and police said they suspected Jewish extremists were behind the violence. - "Death to Christians" and other Hebrew-language graffiti were scrawled on the Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, while "Death to Arabs" was sprayed across a wall outside the bilingual "Hand in Hand" school in another part of the city.

Author Norman F. Dacey made powerful enemies. He turned the cozy estate-planning industry upside-down after publishing How to Avoid Probate in 1965. The book sold 2 million copies as Dacey barnstormed [.pdf] the country advising Americans how to structure their estates to avoid the costs, delays, and publicity of probate by setting up trusts. Dacey engaged in fierce battles with various bar associations who tried to shut down publication of the book by claiming he was practicing law without a license. The tenacious Dacey returned fire, filing scores of libel and First Amendment lawsuits. Newly declassified U.S. State Department documents reveal a lesser-known but equally intense battle fought by Dacey. The chairman of the American Palestine Committee and close confidant of “Rabbi Outcast” Elmer Berger nearly succeeded in having American Israel Public Affairs (AIPAC) Director Morris Amitay prosecuted for trafficking classified national defense information in the mid-1970s.

Anti-Semitism must be condemned, exposed, and persecuted – but to keep warning that the next holocaust is around the corner is intellectually dishonest, morally problematic, and politically unwise. - The Holocaust is one of humanity’s most terrible historical episodes and the greatest horror that has befallen the Jewish people. It must be remembered and it must be studied. The Holocaust must, by no means, be used for political purposes. Never, and by no one.
It is time for Benjamin Netanyahu to stop misusing the Holocaust. I want to make it very clear: I do not compare Netanyahu’s use of the Holocaust to either the obscene abuse of Holocaust paraphernalia by Haredi demonstrators, nor to Glenn Beck’s smearing of George Soros. But in order to protect the memory of the holocaust, Netanyahu must stop using it as a trump card to score political points. Doing so cheapens the Holocaust; it clouds the mind, and it distorts historical and political judgment.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up 320 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem in the first month of 2012, a researcher specialized in prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday. - Riyadh Al-Ashqar said that 53 children were detained in this sweep the youngest being six-year-old Ali Al-Dirbasi in occupied Jerusalem. He added that the detainees also included four lawmakers, including parliament speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik, eight women, and an ex-prisoner who was liberated in the exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Ashqar said that the Israeli courts passed and renewed administrative detention verdicts against 50 Palestinians.

There was a moment in a report from Tunisia by the BBC’s Wyre Davies when I could not stop myself laughing. I was listening to it on the Corporation’s generally excellent World Service radio. (In my view this particular BBC service is generally excellent because unlike all other BBC news and current affairs outlets, radio and tv, it often reflects some of the truth about what is happening in and over Palestine that became Israel)....

The Israeli prison service (IPS) carried detained Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan to hospital after deterioration of his health condition, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement on Tuesday night. - It recalled that an IPS committee told the prisoner that in the event he continued to refuse liquids it would force feed him, after which Adnan opted to drink water and a potassium pill. Adnan is expected to appear in court on Wednesday to look into his lawyer’s demand for his release or to endorse an administrative detention ruling. Lawyer of the association said that the prison administration told her that Adnan decided to refrain from having liquids in protest against depriving him of meeting his lawyer. She added that the administration decided to force-feed the detainee if his condition worsened.

PIC: Israel to break Adnan’s hunger strike by force
Stephen Lendman: Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience

Electronic Intifada: Protesters attacked, injured during commemoration for Palestinian teen murdered by Israeli settlers

In an effort to appeal to right-wing sentiments ahead of an election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has reinstated subsidies for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and appointed a panel in an attempt to legalize illegal settlements. [...] These latest moves are helping to break down recent low-level peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials. ”They are adding obstacles at a time when everyone is intensifying efforts to try to resume peace talks,” said Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib. “I think with every additional settlement activity, the feasibility of having two states is diminished.”

On January 13th the Atlanta Jewish Times featured a column by its owner-publisher suggesting that Israel might someday need to “order a hit” on the president of the United States. - In the column, publisher Andrew Adler describes a scenario in which Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would need to “give the go-ahead for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel.” The purpose? So that the vice president could then take office and dictate U.S. policies that would help the Jewish state “obliterate its enemies.” On January 13th the Atlanta Jewish Times featured a column by its owner-publisher suggesting that Israel might someday need to “order a hit” on the president of the United States.

America’s frenzy over “diabolic” Iran has its roots not on the Potomac riverside, but rather on the banks of Tel Aviv’s Yarkon River: appeasing the US Jewish community has become an inevitable idiosyncrasy of the US presidential campaign. - When America beats the drums of war over Iran, it may not always be driven by the Islamic state's alleged nuclear intentions. Would-be US presidential candidates aren't shy when it comes to voicing their anti-Iran rhetoric in front of America's influential Jewish community. And America almost never misses an opportunity to praise its best ally. “Our iron-clad commitment, and I mean iron-clad, to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries, in history,” announced US President Barack Obama from a rostrum in Washington. And the American President did not forget to point a proverbial punch at Israel’s greatest adversary. “Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” Barack Obama insisted. However, for many American Jews and Israeli supporters, Obama’s war of words against Tehran doesn't go far enough.

The Palestine New and Info Agency, WAFA, reported that a Jewish settler illegally took over Palestinian land near the northern West Bank city of Jenin by enclosing the land in a fence and uprooting it, claiming that it belongs to him. - The land in question is located near Nazlat Zeid village, and is located behind the Israeli Annexation Wall. WAFA said that, last week, the settler, Known as Eli, fenced off a land that belongs to Abdul-Raouf Barry and some of his relatives, and claimed that he “rented the land from the Israeli government." The land is privately owned by the Barry family. Abdul-Raouf added that the family always planted the land, but was prevented from reaching it after Israel built the Annexation Wall, as the land became isolated behind it. It is worth mentioning that settlers of the Shikda and Hananit illegal settlements are conducting ongoing attacks against Palestinian orchards that belong to several residents of Nazlet Zeid village, Al-Arqa village, and Ya’bod town. Approximately 120 Dunams of lands became totally isolated behind the Wall in that area.

Stephen Lendman: Profile of a Rogue State

The Roots of Christian Zionism: How Scofield Sowed Seeds of Apostasy from WHTT on Vimeo.

Ever wonder why so many Christians support America’s many wars, especially in the Middle East? A new Christianity has emerged from the Twentieth Century called Christian Zionism or what could be called, "Angry Evangelicalism," or "Dispensationalism on Steroids." What motivates a nationally known, evangelical preacher like John Hagee to call for a preemptive strike against Iran when it is contrary to what Jesus taught and commanded his followers to do? This “Roots of Zionism” presentation may be the first of its kind with a factual explanation of how Christianity’s latest apostate epidemic was launched with the publishing of C. I. Scofield's reference Bible in 1909, and the influence of the notes in it. While purposefully reaching and helping many under Christian Zionist influence by featuring its identification and cure, this 2nd edition offers hope to all people, regardless of faith, who may also wish to leave it’s grasp. Film clips include action inside Gaza Strip and a moving interview with Shareen, a young Palestinian woman living in Gaza. Check out our website: whtt.org for the latest news on Christian Zionism and the "Angry" evangelicals. Or listen to our free podcasts at whtt.podbean.com.

For Republican candidates seeking Jewish vote in the 2012 US presidential election, it is an open season to launch scathing attacks on the Palestinians and to show the Zionist side of their faces. - These candidates have been competing with one another in a cannibalistic way for months to take the most hard line position against the occupied people of Palestine. In a TV talk show on Thursday, one of these candidates Mitt Romney, the most likely to represent his party in the election, said US president Barack Obama sacrificed Israel by his policies, while his party's mate Newt Gingrich reiterated his racist slurs against the Palestinians and labeled them as an invented people. Romney claimed that the presence of Hamas (a resistance movement founded in 1987 during the first intifada) and its supporters among the Palestinian leaders was the reason behind the absence of peace between the Palestinian and Israelis. During a debate aired by US TV channels, Romney also said the [occupied] Palestinians teach their school children how to kill Jews, while the Hamas-Fatah speeches deny the Jewish people their right to statehood and call for destroying Israel. He added that the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution, but the Palestinians reject this solution and want to eliminate the state of Israel.

The United States has been brought to the humble state of acting as an attack dog for the Zionist entity, an American political analyst tells Press TV.

The United States is no longer a super power that 'can make decisions that are in her own best interest,' but the country is like an 'unleashed dog' that is simply kowtowing to the Israelis, said Mark Glenn, of the Crescent and Cross solidarity movement in a Wednesday interview. The Idaho-based analyst referred to US President Barack Obama's Tuesday night State of the Union address as 'just one more proof in that direction [US obedience to Israel]'. Obama highlighted the US loyalty to Israel in his speech which was delivered to a joint session of Congress, saying "Our ironclad commitment -- and I mean ironclad -- to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history." The US president's speech is actually a speech "that was written by Israel's foreign policy planners and that means the United States is fighting Israel's wars for her, wherever they may be, if it's Iraq, if it's Afghanistan, if it is Libya, if it is Iran," Glenn said.

In a meeting on Monday between U.S. State Department and Israeli officials, the U.S. officials promised to extend loan guarantees to Israel for the next three years. The $3.8 billion in loan backing is in addition to the $3 billion a year in aid given to Israel by the U.S. government. - Israel is the only recipient of U.S. foreign aid and loans that is not considered a ‘developing’ nation, with an annual GDP of $235 billion ($29,800 per capita). In contrast, the next biggest recipient of U.S. aid, Egypt, receives less than half of the amount given to Israel and has a GDP of $6,200 per capita. Every other recipient of US aid has a GDP that is below that of Egypt. The U.S. Congress recently approved a guaranteed $30 billion in aid to Israel over the next 10 years. This aid, unlike assistance provided by the U.S. government to other countries, has no requirements, and is provided without stipulation as to how it should be used.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage (AFEH) has accused Jewish fanatics of destroying many headstones in the Islamic cemetery in Bisan. - AFEH said in a statement on Wednesday that it visits the deserted cemetery all yearlong and spray chemicals to combat weeds, adding that a delegation of the foundation visited the graveyard on Tuesday and discovered the destruction. It said that it maintains the graveyard within its annual maintenance program of sites of religious significance, adding that it rebuilt many graves over the past years that were the target of similar attacks.

Mahmoud Abbas the unelected Palestinian leader was in London last week holding discussions with David Cameron the Prime Minister at Downing Street. However, a planned meeting with British Jewish Leaders was cancelled by the Prime Minister of Israel Benyamin Netanyahu.

British Jews cancel meeting with Abbas in wake of pressure from Netanyahu

According to Haaretz British Leaders and the U.K. Israeli Embassy pushed for the meeting, however the order came from Tel Aviv saying not to go ahead. Such incidents can only add to the thorny issue of where the loyalties of The Leaders of British Jewry lie. More on this subject can be found here.

AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 1: The Orange and the Pea
AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 2 The Treasonous Dollar Drain

Aziz Dweik's six-month imprisonment is an attempt by Israel to thwart reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, says his office. - An Israeli military court has ordered the speaker of the Palestinian legislative body to be jailed for six months without trial after he was arrested at a checkpoint last week. Aziz Dweik, a member of Hamas and a senior elected politician, was imprisoned "without charge or legal justification", a statement from his office said. It claimed Israel was attempting to thwart moves towards reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Dweik was arrested at a checkpoint near Ramallah last Thursday. According to reports, he was handcuffed and blindfolded by Israeli soldiers, who said he was being detained for "involvement in terrorist activities". Dweik has been the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council since elections six years ago. However the PLC has not sat since the summer of 2007, when Hamas – which had won elections the previous year – took control of Gaza in a bloody battle with Fatah.

PIC: Israel imprisons Dweik for six months without trial
PIC: Hamas condemns Israel's systematic detention of lawmakers
Khalid Amayreh: Dweik's abduction is state terror, pure and simple

Alexander Cockburn writing about Sheldon Adelson's financing of Newt Gingrich:

"Some things don’t change in American politics, and rich people sitting in Las Vegas with pots of cash is one of them. Joel McCleary, a friend, remembers fund-raising in Las Vegas when he was working for the Jimmy Carter campaign in 1976. The crucial Pennsylvania primary was coming up and the Carter people (their chief fundraiser was Morris Dees) needed a big wad of cash for the final push against Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington, known as “the senator from Boeing,” also running for the Democratic nomination and favored by powerful labor chieftains in Pennsylvania.
Joel was told the go-to guy for untraceable campaign cash was Hank Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun. Greenspun was a notoriously tough egg, former gun-runner for the Haganah, the man who, in the midst of the Cold War witch hunts, outed Senator Joe McCarthy in the Sun as a homosexual. Joel was told to act manly. Greenspun duly received him in his office. “Why the hell should I get money for Jimmy Carter?” he asked.
“Because Jimmy Carter is going to be president,” Joel answered boldly, “and if you don’t support his campaign he’ll fuck you.”
Greenspun told Joel to come back in two hours. He returned to find Greenspan sitting at a table surrounded by other toughs. In the middle of the table was a paper bag. “So the Baptist fuck wants money,” Greenspun growled, as he pushed the bag over to Joel. “Remember, this comes from the state of Israel. Don’t you ever forget it"

Is Barack Obama running for reelection as President of the United States or Prime Minister of Israel? A new Obama campaign video makes it increasingly hard to tell, and even more ominously ratchets further the Israelization of US politics. - False hopes of change: US President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 amid expectations that he would be the president who would at last bring some balance – and less abject subservience – to the US relationship with Israel. I knew this consensus was wrong, as I had documented Obama’s early pandering to extreme Zionists from the moment he decided to seek the US Senate seat he won in 2004, and wrote about it in “How Barack Obama learned to love Israel.” Now as Obama faces a tough reelection – and accusations from Republicans that he is insufficiently subservient to a foreign state – Obama is doubling down with a shocking video in which leaders of a foreign state – many themselves responsible for war crimes – are drafted in to attest to the US president’s commitment to this foreign state and his willingless to do whatever it takes in its service. It’s all part of a “phony war over which US party loves Israel most.” America & Israel: An Unbreakable Bond: The 7-minute film titled America & Israel: An Unbreakable Bond alternates video and audio of Obama speaking before the Israel lobby, AIPAC, and other Zionist groups, and clips of Israeli leaders endorsing Obama’s leadership. It begins and ends with the US flag and the Israeli flag side by side – thus bringing the Israeli flag directly into the US election campaign. Although the clips of Israeli leaders, including President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy and Ambassador Michael Oren appear to have been taken from interviews, they are cut to look as if they were provided specifically for the purpose of endorsing the president. The film even includes a clip of Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister from the Yisrael Beitenu party whose extreme anti-Palestinian policies include advocating the transfer of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Obama wants us to know he is proud to have the support of Israeli ethnic cleansers. As such, Obama is legitimizing the role of foreign – although certainly only Israeli leaders – to participate directly in US campaigns. Can we imagine Obama issuing a video in which he is endorsed as pro-Mexican by the President of Mexico, or pro-Canadian by Canada’s prime minister? It’s inconceivable.

America Vanquished, Part 1: America as an Israeli Colony
America Vanquished, Part 2: America under Jewish Rule

The Death of American Democracy - Video
AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 1: The Orange and the Pea - Video
AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 2 The Treasonous Dollar Drain - Video

● SOME don't want you to look at the elephant in the room, just keep looking the other way; it is much safer, less controversial and much more "effective"
● SOME never bothered before and were vehemently opposed to joining PSC as a "matter of principle", suddenly they all became interested! They gather their hoards, from up and down the country and flooded the conference to "occupy" PSC by casting their most valuable "omniscient" vote
● SOME "know better" you see, they always know what is best for Palestinians, and for every one else. They know how to define words, how to create political systems, and what kind of governments should others in far away countries elect, and of course this has nothing to do with "authoritarianism", "Stalinism" nor with "cultural supremacy"Furthermore, while
● SOME frantically insist to keep PSC "occupied" with endless futile discussions on "anti-Semitism", "Holocaust denying" and "American Imperialism",
■ OTHERS, continue to create FACTS on the GROUND, for the advancement of their racist supremacist agenda...

The Zionist Britain Israel Communications & Research Centre (Bicom) has collaborated with the state-controlled British Office of Communications (Ofcom) to ban the alternative English-language channel Press TV in the UK, a political analyst says.

“With anti-Iran sabotage activities high on its agenda, Bicom has worked closely with Ofcom towards eliminating a critical voice: Press TV,” Ismail Salami, Iranian author and Middle East expert, wrote in an article published on Press TV on Sunday. Ofcom revoked Press TV's license and removed the channel from the Sky platform on January 20 for what it claimed to be the news network's breach of the Communications Act. The British media regulator also served Press TV's London office with an order to pay a 100,000-pound fine. “An office with intimate ties to the [British] Royal Family, Ofcom has issued the verdict under the sway of some influential parties in the government and the Bicom firm to boot,” Salami added. He went on to explain the activities and objectives of the Israeli-sponsored company, pointing out that as a “London-based” organization “tasked with inseminating the Zionist political ideology, Bicom also funds those who are in one way or another involved with anti-Iran activities.” “Apart from garnering support for the Zionist regime among Britons, the office also serves as a bridge between the Mossad and MI6,” with its current head, Lorna Fitzsimons, a member of the parliamentary lobby group Labor Friends of Israel (LFI), Salami elucidated.

The Iranian author also pointed to the October 2011 scandal over Adam Werritty -- an “influential member” of Bicom and “an unofficial chief of staff” to the former British Defense Minister Liam Fox -- and his efforts to subvert the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Werritty was financially backed by murky sources such as Bicom. And he was considered an influential member of the organization and a highly regarded agent for Mossad,” he noted.

Gilad Atzmon: Liam Fox Is Not a ‘Useful Idiot’
Gilad Atzmon: This Is How Israel Runs The British Press
Ismail Salami: Unfolding a plot: Mossad at work
Craig Murray: Matthew Gould and the Plot to Attack Iran
Jonathon Blakeley: Atlantic Bridge, Liam Fox, Adam Werritty & Israel

Stephen Lendman: UK Government Suppresses Truth
AWIP: Britain bans Iran-based TV channel

Every week, I watch videos of the weekly anti-occupation protests all over the West Bank, documented by excellent video journalists like TamimiPress, HaithamKatib, Davivreeb, YisraelPNM and many others. Every week there is new material to comment on. In every video you would see a brutal act by an Israeli soldier that requires accountability, but typically the act passes away at the end of the day without any of the soldiers being held accountable for their crimes. Often, we find human rights organizations compiling video footage and working to hold the criminal soldiers accountable; B’tselem is one of the leading human rights centers in this field. In the video above, by YisraelPNM, the video description notes that in minute 6:38 of the video, a masked soldier is seen holding a rifle capable of firing metal bullets coated with rubber or another kind of live ammunition. The point here is that the soldier, unlike any of his colleagues, is wearing a full face mask in order to hide his identity in case he were to be held accountable if he seriously injured or killed a Palestinian unarmed protestor.

Khalid Amayreh: "Jewish state" is euphemism for Jewish fascism
IMEMC: Trial Of Dr. Dweik Delayed Until Tuesday
PCHR: Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

The tale of the DC Five – the five Beltway bloggers at two prominent Democratic Washington thinktanks who have been smacked down (and one fired) for being insufficiently pro-Israel – is hardly a shock to those who know their history. But before we get into that, a few details on what is only the latest chapter in the story of how the War Party operates in this country. [...] The Isra-bots will “argue” that since Iran represents an “existential threat” to Israel’s very existence, anyone who opposes a war with Tehran is calling for a replay of the Holocaust. If you’re for peace, and see no vital US interest in going to war with Iran, well then you’re a “Holocaust-denier.” [...] The case of the DC Five is meant to sow fear among the policy analysts and thinktankers who inhabit the Washington Beltway: “do not cross the line,” they are telling them – and the closer we get to war with Iran, the faster the boundaries of the impermissible are growing. There is a method to this madness: it is a preemptive strike aimed at opponents of US intervention, and on the left as well as the right it is turning out to be quite effective.

AMSTERDAM, (PIC)-- Palestinians in Holland have declared their intention to seek a court order for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the Netherlands scheduled to start on Thursday. - The Palestinian home, a society formed by Palestinians living in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would seek the court order in view of the Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during the latest war on Gaza. It said that Netanyahu’s visit to Amsterdam, the headquarters of the International Criminal Court, posed as a blatant challenge to this court and to what it represents. The statement recalled that the Israeli war machine killed 1400 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and innocent civilians, in the course of three weeks of “genocide” against Gaza in 2008-2009 that also devastated the Strip’s infrastructure, places of worship, and hospitals. It pointed to the Goldstone report that condemned Israel for committing war crimes in that war, calling for reactivating the report and prosecuting the Israeli leaders for involvement in crimes against humanity. The society drew the attention to the new Israeli threats of waging a fresh and more brutal aggression Gaza within the few coming months, adding that the lack of concrete legal steps against Israel encouraged it to commit more crimes.

In its annual report regarding the humanitarian situation and human rights in the occupied territories, that was submitted to the Security Council on Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) reported that the Israeli siege on Gaza is an act of collective punishment that is directly impacting the daily lives of more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in the coastal region. The report, that was prepared upon an official Palestinian request, indicated that, comparing to 2010, is a %30 increase in the number of Palestinians who are impacted by the Israeli policies and occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also revealed that the Palestinians are having more hardships when it comes to obtaining basic services, including food supplies. The UN further stated that Israel is still enforcing the siege on the Gaza Strip, adding that this siege is an act of collective punishment as it impacts all aspects of life, in addition to Israel’s severe restrictions on fishermen and farmers, in addition to its restrictions on the freedom of movement of the people and the goods, an issue that created health and educational hardships. The report also discussed what was described as the “complex situation” in occupied Jerusalem due to home demolitions, and the fact the residents became more isolated from the West Bank due to the Annexation Wall.

PIC: Israeli occupation authority serves demolition notices to three brothers in Nablus

The simmering conflict between religious and secular Israelis threatened to overspill after Tanya Rosenblit stayed in her seat on a bus when Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men demanded that she move to the back. - Tanya Rosenblit is a 28 year old TV producer, the daughter of Russian immigrants who lives in the coastal town of Ashdod. Last month, she caught a bus to Jerusalem where she had a medical appointment. She made an effort to dress modestly, as her doctor was in an ultra-Orthodox area of the city. The ultra-Orthodox are a small group of extremely religious and theologically rigid Jews. They wear black, the men have long side curls, and every aspect of their lives is governed by the Old Testament. Rosenblit was the first passenger to board. She sat in the front of the bus so the driver could tell her when she reached her stop. Ultra-Orthodox men who boarded after her were uncomfortable when they saw her. Then one insisted he would not travel unless she moved to the back of the bus. "He started shouting, 'This is our bus they're not welcome here, if they want to come on, they have to respect us,'" said Tanya Rosenblit. "He said, 'Jewish men don't sit behind women!' And that was the statement that made me stay put."

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, demanded on Sunday the removal of the Israeli Occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, considering that the continuing of the Israeli Occupation blocks the establishing of an Independent Palestinian state, the Maan News Agency reported Sunday afternoon. - Ki-Moon statement came on Sunday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut as he delivered a speech before the International Conference on Reform and Transition to Democracy, according to the Hebrew “Richet Beit” broadcast website. He stated that the Israeli Occupation is an obstacle towards establishing a Palestinian state, calling for halting all Israeli settlement construction in the Occupied West Bank, considering that both “old & new” Israeli settlements are illegal. He also added that it is a real obstacle towards establishing a Palestinian state. The UN chief further said that the two-State Solution is long-awaited and the status quo would inevitably lead to another Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the course due. “It is our duty getting out of this current impasse and bringing in last peace,” he pointed out. The UN Chief is paying a visit to the Lebanese capital of Beirut, attending the UN International Conference on Reform and Transitions to Democracy. The 3-day meeting is discussing how to transition Arab countries to democracy or reform regarding the ongoing Arab Spring.

A Palestinian official says Palestinian prisoners are subjected to the most inhumane treatment and are tortured in Israeli prisons, which are even more gruesome than Nazi concentration camps. - In an interview with Iran's Fars News Agency on Sunday, Palestinian Minister for Captives Affairs Ataollah Abu Sabah said of the 44,000 Palestinian inmates currently languishing in Israeli prisons, seven are women and 23 are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Abu Sabah described the desert prison of Naqab (Negev), where the detainees are kept in tents, as the Israeli regime's worst prison. Last year, an Israeli TV station released video footage of Palestinian detainees being tortured by Israeli troops in the notorious Naqab prison in 2008, as a result of which one Palestinian died and several others sustained injuries. The Palestinian official further confirmed reports that the relatives of the inmates and sometimes even their lawyers are forced to strip and are interrogated.

Magazine report claims Israeli spies used fake US spy identities to work with Pakistani fighters targeting Iran. - Agents with Israel's spy agency, Mossad, have posed as CIA agents in operations to recruit members of the Pakistani group Jundallah, according to a report in US-based Foreign Policy magazine. Using US dollars and passports, the agents passed themselves off as members of the US Central Intelligence Agency in the operations, according to memos from 2007 and 2008, said the report which was published on Friday. It is "unclear" whether the recruitment programme is ongoing. [Bullshit! - It's obviously going on 24/7] "Israel has done this before. I know of a report very widely accepted in the US of Israeli Mossad agents in the United States, actually recruiting American Muslims," Mark Perry, who authored the report, told Al Jazeera.

Mark Perry: False Flag - A series of CIA memos describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as American spies to recruit members of the terrorist organization Jundallah to fight their covert war against Iran. Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.

According to sources in Iran, a nuclear scientist was killed in Tehran today by a bomb placed on his car by a motorcyclist. It is very clear to most of us who stands behind these continuous attacks on Iran’s scientists and military personnel. However, the discrepancy between Hebrew and English press reporting on the incident is pretty staggering and demands some deliberation.

While the Israeli English outlet Ynet reports on the incident in a pretty cold manner, it goes as far as reporting on “mysterious explosion in Iranian capital”, the Hebrew Ynet is happy to suggest that Israel is probably behind all those ‘mysterious attacks’.

The Hebrew publication ends its coverage of the story stating that yesterday Chief of Staff - Major General Benny Gantz, said that 2012 would be a “critical year for Iran”. he refered specifically to “continued pressure (on Iran) from the international community and the things that happen to them unnaturally". It doesn’t take a genius to gather that if General Ganz speaks about future “unnatural” events, he must be closely familiar with the details of such events!!!

While the English Ynet, operates as a Hasbara outlet, spreading Israeli propaganda for the Goyim and English speaking Jews, the Hebrew version, is there to boost the Israeli morale. And as it happens, Israeli love to see their ‘enemies’ being, terrorised, slaughtered and murdered.

The true ‘mysterious’ nature of the Jewish state and its relation with the world is indeed a disturbing one and a reason for serious concern.

PressTV: Santorum: Death of Iran experts wonderful
Frank Gardner/BBC: Iran and the undeclared campaign
Alex Lantier: Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated in Tehran
AWIP: Another nuclear scientist killed in Iran; Israel accused

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (05 – 11 January 2012) - Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF wounded 4 Palestinian civilians, including a woman, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 3 Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested 5 Palestinian civilians, including a woman. In the Gaza Strip, on 06 January 2012, a Palestinian woman was wounded by the Israeli gunfire while she was grazing animals in the central Gaza Strip. On the same day, IOPF fired 3 artillery shells at Palestinian areas in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported, but Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, were extremely terrified. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 68 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 20 Palestinian civilians, including two children and a university professor. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted one limited incursion into the north and leveled areas of Palestinian land which they had already razed. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The New Year has seen an increase in attacks against innocent Palestinian children living under the occupation. These attacks go unnoticed and unmentioned in the Western media, but they can be seen on this site…The following video is the picture that the zionists want you to believe is the truth about Israel (I call it zionism’s seven deadly sins), but the reality appears afterwards … NO ONE GIVES ISRAEL THE RIGHT TO KILL OR HARM CHILDREN, THE 8th DEADLY SIN.

Evil Wall Streeters Welcomed As Chief of Staff At This White House. - All three of President Barack Obama’s chiefs of staff earned millions of dollars after passing through the revolving doors that lie between the Democratic Party and Wall Street. Yet Obama is positioning himself as Wall Street’s foe in the 2012 election, aided by millions of dollars in political donations from Wall Street companies, including Goldman Sachs. Rahm Emanuel and Bill Daley, and now Jacob Lew, are all career Democrats who have taken lucrative trips through those revolving doors, eliciting jeers from Republicans who say Obama is running an administration of crony capitalists.

AWIP: Ex-Citigroup exec replaces ex-JPMorgan banker...

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson wrote a personal check to Newt Gingrich's super PAC for $5 million late last Friday afternoon, and could send more -- though there are no promises. That's the description offered by a person close to the billionaire couple who is familiar with their thinking and the couple's long-standing relationship with Gingrich. The money is being spent in part to fuel a massive advertising campaign in South Carolina attacking Mitt Romney, who had attacked Gingrich aggressively in Iowa. Sheldon Adelson, who has houses in Malibu and Las Vegas, made his fortune in the international gambling business. His personal money was sent without condition to the super PAC because Gingrich "is an old friend in a time of need," said the source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the topic.

Israel's government broke all its settlement-building records in 2011, diminishing prospects for establishing a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Israel's activist group Peace Now said on Tuesday. - The group's annual report on building in Palestinian East Jerusalem and the West Bank -- land the Palestinians want for a future state along with the Gaza Strip -- showed that despite international calls to halt construction, thousands of new homes were being built.

"In 2011 (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu broke his government's building records and turned it into a very fruitful year for the settlers and a very sad one for the citizens of Israel," Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer said. "At the current rate of building we will lose the chance for a two-state solution."

The six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal. - Back in 1983, approximately 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the United States. Today, ownership of the news media has been concentrated in the hands of just six incredibly powerful media corporations. These corporate behemoths control most of what we watch, hear and read every single day. They own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many of our favorite websites. Sadly, most Americans don't even stop to think about who is feeding them the endless hours of news and entertainment that they constantly ingest. Most Americans don't really seem to care about who owns the media. But they should. The truth is that each of us is deeply influenced by the messages that are constantly being pounded into our heads by the mainstream media. The average American watches 153 hoursof television a month. In fact, most Americans begin to feel physically uncomfortable if they go too long without watching or listening to something. Sadly, most Americans have become absolutely addicted to news and entertainment and the ownership of all that news and entertainment that we crave is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands each year.

The picture Israel paints of Gaza for the foreign media is quite different than the actual truth, it never speaks of what is actually happening there. The report that follows is just one example of what the siege is doing to the people, especially the children…The illegal Israeli siege on Gaza continues to take innocent lives daily. Adham Baroud was the latest casualty. A seven month old baby who died on December 26th in a slow and painful death from renal failure when he could be easily treated.

The illegal Israeli siege on Gaza continues to take innocent lives daily. Adham Baroud was the latest casualty. A seven month old baby who died on December 26th in a slow and painful death from renal failure when he could be easily treated. On December 1, Adham was referred to Israel for emergency treatment by his doctors in Gaza after his condition became terminal fallowing a catheter inserted four months earlier in a previous operation in Israel gets infected. Adham never made it.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is investigating after a Quebec mayor called Israel an apartheid regime and a country that doesn’t deserve to exist on his French-language talk show. - Stéphane Gendron, host of Face à Face on V Television Network and mayor of Huntingdon, a small town 75 kilometres southwest of Montreal, made the comments on his show last month. He also said he supports a boycott of a store in Montreal that sells Israeli-made shoes. A Network spokeswoman Diane Patenaude said the point of Gendron's show is to provide strong opinions: "This program is neither a news telecast or a news magazine and its hosts are not journalists." The network will meet with Gendron and the show in the next few days to discuss the situation, she said.

The Israeli government has launched a program to pay students to promote the Israeli agenda on Facebook and internet chatrooms. - Students participating in the program will receive a two thousand dollar stipend from the Jewish Agency, part of the Israeli government, to spend five hours a week online promoting talking points provided by the Israeli government. According to the National Union of Israeli Students, which is a partner in the program, it is aimed at quote “deepening and expanding hasbara activities of students”. Hasbara is the Hebrew word for propaganda. Critics say that the information provided to student participants in the program does not make any distinction between anti-Jewish statements and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government’s policies. Instead, program organizers say that all criticism of Israel constitutes ‘anti-Semitism’ and should be combated using cyber-warfare and propaganda. To that end, they will be sending hundreds of self-proclaimed ‘student missionaries’ to colleges around the world to promote the online propaganda program and to encourage students to support the Israeli government’s agenda. To be eligible for the program, students must have lived in Israel for three years and consider themselves active Zionists, as well as having served in the Israeli military.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (29 December 2011 – 04 January 2012)

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed a Palestinian resistance activist and wounded a civilian in the Gaza Strip. Another civilian was wounded in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on 30 December 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at two Palestinian resistance activists in Juhor al-Dik village, south of Gaza City. An activist was killed by shrapnel throughout the body. On 31 December 2012, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when Israeli soldiers positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired at him. During the reporting period, Israeli gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats in the Gaza Strip. Israeli naval troops also arrested 3 fishermen, but released two of them later. On 29 December 2012, Israeli warplanes bombarded a plot in the northern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, a Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 53 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 29 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

Twelve Jewish extremists involved in "price tag" arson attacks on Palestinians in recent weeks have escaped jail time, but will instead be barred from the West Bank for up to a year, Israel's military revealed in a statement on Tuesday. - Referring to the men as "activists," the statement said that one man has been banned for one year, while the others will not be able to enter the occupied Palestinian territory for varied periods between three and nine months. Israel's military said these men were suspected of involvement in violence targeting Palestinians and Israeli forces, and described the orders issued as a "preventative measure to remove the threat by the activists in the area." Israeli media reports said the settlers named in the orders lived at four Jewish enclaves built in the territory Israel captured in a 1967 war which Palestinians seek for a state.

PIC: Hundreds of Jewish settlers storm Salfit village
IMEMC: Israeli settlers suspected of torching Palestinian vehicles in Bethlehem area
AWIP: Jewish settlers have carried out over 100 attacks on Palestinians in 2011

The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines must combine resources to thwart any efforts by countries such as China and Iran to block America’s access to the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf and other strategic regions, according to a draft of a Pentagon review.

The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines must combine resources to thwart any efforts by countries such as China and Iran to block America’s access to the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf and other strategic regions, according to a draft of a Pentagon review.

New York Times: EU Agrees in principle to ban on Iranian oil

A French court will be looking into the case of Mohammad Ad-Dorra, 12, who was killed after being repeatedly shot, on September 30, 2000, while seeking shelter from Israeli military fire in his father’s lap; the father was also shot by several rounds.

Eleven years ago, French reporter, Sharl Anderlan, was present at the shooting, and, along with his Palestinian Cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, videotaped the incident. Anderlan was later accused of fabricating the video, despite the fact that the shooting took place in broad daylight in front of several persons, and reporters, who were also witnesses to the incident. Ad-Dorra was shot and killed just days after the second Palestinian Intifada started. The uprising began after former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, conducted a provocative visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, along with his armed body guards. Mohammad Jamal Ad-Dorra was born on November 22, 1988, and was shot dead on September 30, 2000. He and his father were walking in Salah Ed-Deen Street, in Gaza.

When the shooting started, they tried to take shelter behind a concrete barrel and the father started waving to the soldiers, trying to indicate that he was a civilian with a child, but the shooting did not stop. The father could not fully shelter the child, and both of them were shot by several rounds of live ammunition.

Two weeks after the shooting, France 2 cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, signed an affidavit stating that Israeli soldiers deliberately opened fire at the child and his father. He further stated that the soldiers were firing towards the child, “not once, but several times”. He also said that the soldiers were also firing at Palestinian policemen, and at a Palestinian police station 30 meters away.

GOP Presidential contender Rick Santorum, who appears likely to come from far behind to finish in the top 3 in Tuesday's Iowa Caucuses, is trying to out-do his former Congressional colleague Newt Gingrich when it comes to insulting Palestinians. - Gingrich called the Palestinians an "invented" people who didn't exist until sometime in the 20th century. Santorum criticized Gingrich’s widely-reported remarks as “provocative,” but his own more extreme views got little attention at the time because he was considered a hopeless back-of-the-pack candidate and not being taken very seriously. But now that he is rising rapidly in the polls, his comments deserve a second look. As far as Santorum is concerned, Palestinians don’t exist. “There are no Palestinians,” he told a questioner at a campaign event in Iowa. You can see the video here. "All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis. There are no Palestinians. This is Israeli land," the former Pennsylvania senator said.

AWIP: Gingrich calls Palestinians 'invented' people
Slate: The U.N. Should Accept Palestine as a Full Member State - Former Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti explains why Israel and the United States are on the wrong side of history.
National Post: Santorum: Putting the screws to Iran

Zakariyya Daoud, a former Palestinian political prisoner, who got seriously ill while in Israeli prisons, and was only released on August 22, 2011, died of cancer on Monday, he was diagnosed in prison Israeli prisons and was deprived of the needed and specialized medical attention.

Israel released Daoud, 43, after he spent nine years out of a 16-year sentence due to the ongoing decline in his health condition. He is a father of four children; Ahmad, 19, Wisal, 20, Malak, 14, and Dalal, 13, the Maan News Agency reported. He was kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel on February 10th, 2003, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported. The PPS said that Zakariyya had cancer that spread in his body due to the lack of specialized medical treatment in Israeli prisons.

PIC: Center: Death of Issa proves Israel’s criminal practices against prisoners

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Undercover Israeli security forces kidnapped a Palestinian child in Aisawiye, to the north east of occupied Jerusalem, on Tuesday evening, local sources said. - They said that the disguised soldiers broke into the village and chased a number of children who all managed to escape except the 6-year-old child Mohammed Ali Dirbas. The sources noted that back up units rushed to the scene and fired tear gas and stun grenades at nearby houses and groves, which caused breathing problems for tens of civilians.