No attack on Iran says Bush mouthpiece

NYT

The Jerusalem Post based its article on a report on Israel Army Radio, which cited a senior official in Israel. The official was quoted as saying that only the hesitancy of Mr. Bush’s secretaries of state and defense, Condoleezza Rice and Mr. Gates, stood in the way of an attack.

“An article in today’s Jerusalem Post about the President’s position on Iran that quotes unnamed sources — quoting unnamed sources — is not worth the paper it’s written on,” the White House press secretary, Dana M. Perino, said in a statement.

Watch this space.

Dr Norman Finkelstein deported from Israel in a move reminiscent of paranoid dictatorships of the past

Update:

Israel News

In thinking of this case, I am reminded of a very similar one here in the U.S. in which the Department of Homeland Security revoked a visa for Tariq Ramadan, the European Muslim scholar who intended to teach a course at Notre Dame. DHS made a similarly vague statement that Ramadan was denied entry on security grounds. His U.S. government interrogators similarly noted that he had donated money to groups affiliated with Hamas (before that group was listed as a terror organization). Daniel Pipes had argued publicly that Ramadan supported Islamic terror and the former had forwarded his claims to DHS. It is likely that Pipes' false claims about Ramadan's sympathy for terrorism played a similar role in his exclusion from the U.S.

Jerusalem Post

Officials said that the decision to deport Finkelstein was connected to his anti-Zionist opinions and fierce public criticism of Israel around the world.

Haaretz

The Shin Bet said Finkelstein "is not permitted to enter Israel because of suspicions involving hostile elements in Lebanon," and because he "did not give a full accounting to interrogators with regard to these suspicions."

Note from Jez:
Why, you might ask, should we care about one US academic (who happens to be Jewish)? After all, there are people suffering on the ground, people being stopped at checkpoints, road blocks, on a daily basis. Well, in my opinion, we should care for the very reason he was probably arrested and deported: his high profile and to deny him his freedom of speech.
I urge you to act, in the name of free speech and democracy. Whether or not you agree with the sources quoted in the mail below is another matter.
Furthermore, even if it is indeed Shabbath, it is important to act immediately or ASAP.

ACT NOW: Flood the Israeli Ministry of Interior with faxes, emails, calls. DEMAND THAT DR. FINKELSTEIN BE PERMITTED TO ENTER ISRAEL IN ORDER TO REACH THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY!

Minister of Interior Mr. Meir SHEETRIT

Israeli Ministry of the Interior

2 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion

P.O. Box 6158, 91061 Jerusalem

Tel. +972-2-670-1411 / +972-2-629-4722

Fax: +972-2-670-1628

or

Mr. Meir SHEETRIT's numbers at the Knesset

Telephone 1: +972-2-640-8410

Telephone 2: +972-2- 640-8409

Fax: +972-2- 640-8920

Email: mshitrit@knesset.gov.il

It is now Friday night and the Ministry will be closed through Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath. Thus, if you are in the US please call your congressman and senator NOW and advise them a Jewish American U.S. citizen is being denied access to Israel!!

Also, CALL the STATE DEPT's Hotline for American Travelers: 202-647-5225 and let them know this is happening and is in violation of international law.

If you are an Israeli, please start working the phones...this denial of entry is all being done in your name!!

The only 'democracy' in the Middle East strikes again,

Sam

-----------------------

Democracy Now

Israel Arrests Outspoken Academic Norman Finkelstein

And the American academic Norman Finkelstein has been arrested and ordered deported from Israel. Finkelstein arrived in Tel Aviv earlier today on his way to the Occupied Territories. He was immediately detained and told he is banned from Israel for ten years. He's expected to be deported tomorrow. Finkelstein is known one of the most prominent academic critics of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/5/23/headlines

--------------------------------------------------

US political author Norman Finkelstein denied entry to Israel

05.23.2008 | Monsters & Critics

Jerusalem - The US political author and critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to the Jewish state on Friday, his lawyer said.

Finkelstein landed at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv in the early morning and was told by a representative of the ministry of interior that he would not be allowed into the country on 'security' grounds, attorney Michael Sfard told dpa.

'This usually means a 10-year ban on entry,' Sfard added.

Finkelstein, who is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors, has written critical books on Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories and on what he called 'exploitation' of the Jewish tragedy during World War II.

Finkelstein has received with the fierce disapproval of some authors and academics, while others have praised his controversial works.

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1700

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Some good news amidst fighting

Haaretz

The last time the cannabis farmers of Lebanon had such a bumper crop
was during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when the security situation in the
country brought anti-drug law enforcement to a halt. With fighting flaring up
again in Lebanon, the farmers can expect another marijuana windfall, especially
if the army is deployed in force throughout the country's cities to quell the
recent bloodshed.

Two different cases of news manipulation

Dowethics.com (hoax)
Dow.com (the real deal)

Democracy Now!
(December 2004)

Yes Men Hoax on BBC Reminds World of Dow Chemical’s Refusal to Take Responsibility for Bhopal Disaster

AMY GOODMAN: And the feelings of giving false hope to people in Bhopal who perhaps read these reports in the Indian newspapers?

ANDY BICHLBAUM: Right, that is the most difficult thing about this. And, in fact, we didn’t expect it to run as long as it would. We really thought that the BBC would catch on pretty much immediately or Dow would react even more likely immediately. They didn’t react for at least an hour, so there was a much longer time when people thought it was real.

AMY GOODMAN: That would mean that Dow would have had to jump in and say, no, we are not sorry.

ANDY BICHLBAUM: Right, and they did eventually, but they took at least an hour to do that, and we thought that they would immediately contact the BBC, even perhaps as it was running. I kept hearing voices in the background and thinking I was about to get cut off during the interview. But two hours later it was still a story. So that was sad. Also, but at the same time we are talking about two hours of false hopes versus 20 years of unrealized ones. And suffering for those who are still alive and weren’t killed. And all hopes are false until they are realized. So, you know, any protest sort of brings false hopes, any protest against something as maniacal as Dow. Like Dow is not likely to do anything about this, and so anytime you hope that it is, it’s false in a way.

Democracy Now!
(May 2008)

NYT Scrutinized for Report on Hezbollah Training Iraqis in Iran

The New York Times is coming under criticism for publishing an article based solely on unnamed sources suggesting that the Lebanese group Hezbollah is training Iraqi militants inside Iran. The article by Michael Gordon was published on Monday, one day after Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said Iraq has no hard evidence of Iranian support of insurgents in Iraq. John Stauber of PR Watch said Gordon’s article is “reminiscent of the horrendous errors of judgment and bad journalism committed by Michael Gordon, Judith Miller and others at the New York Times who turned the paper into a conduit for phony stories that sold the war in Iraq.” Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner said he feels the article in Monday’s Times is “part of a strategic communications plan.”

John Bolton: Striking Iran Is “Really the Most Prudent Thing to Do”

Hours after the Times article was published, former UN Ambassador John Bolton appeared on Fox News and called for US strikes against Iran. He was interviewed by Jaime Colby of Fox News.

John Bolton: “I think this is a case where the use of military force against a training camp to show the Iranians we’re simply not going to tolerate this is really the most prudent thing to do. And then the ball would be in Iran’s court to draw the appropriate lesson to stop harming our troops.”

Jaime Colby: “Ambassador John Bolton, a good message to end on. Thank you very much.”

Iran Suspends US Talks to Protest US Offensive