Gaza update: death toll rises, family blown up by Israeli missile, hacking spree grows, Hamas holds to aggressive stance
19 November, 2012 – Madison Ruppert -Activist Post

The horrific events in Gaza have continued unabated since I wrote my last news roundup on the subject. No matter your position on the conflict, the situation is hardly acceptable.

An entire family in Gaza was killed by an Israeli missile, reportedly due to technical error, resulting in the deaths of Ibrahim, 2, Yusef, 4, Jamal, 6, and Sara, 7, all children of Mohamed El Dallo, a man whom the Telegraph called a “rumored Hamas member.”

Nine members of the family, all women and children, along with two neighbors, were killed by the missile fired from an Israeli F-16. Dallo, the reported Hamas member, was not even home at the time of the strike.

This airstrike has been the single most deadly incident in the entire conflict thus far. The timing was especially unfortunate as, “It was launched as optimistic reports from anonymous Israeli military officials circulated in the local media suggesting that the crisis talks taking place in Cairo may soon produce a ceasefire,” according to the Telegraph.

Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra reported that an additional airstrike “leveled two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two adults and injuring 42 people, including children,” according to CBS. However, 12 to 15 members of the same family were still being searched for under the rubble at the time of publishing. …source

New Bahrain trade federation splits union movement
Bill Law – BBC News – 17 Novemebr, 2012

As unrest continues in Bahrain, the Gulf kingdom’s trade union movement appears to be splitting in two.

A breakaway federation says it has attracted thousands of members since launching in July. The organisation – which uses the curious acronym, BLUFF – says its rival is “too political and no longer focuses on labour issues”.

BLUFF stands for the Bahrain Labour Union Free Federation. Its vice-president, Basim Kuwaitan, told the BBC that unions from 12 companies had joined his organisation and estimated the number of members as “between 13,000 and 15,000”.

Mr Kuwaitan says the reason for the creation of a new federation was simple. The existing General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), he claims, was “not labour related anymore”.
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“The GFBTU called a strike in March last year that was related to political issues. It was against the law. Labour unions should steer clear of politics,” he adds.

But critics like Cathy Feingold have described BLUFF as an “absolutely blatant attempt to split the union movement”. Ms Feingold is the director of the international department for the AFL-CIO, the powerful American trade union federation.

Unions representing workers at many major corporations in Bahrain, several of them with ties to the ruling family, the Al Khalifa, have gone over to BLUFF.

And there are allegations that in at least one case it happened without a formal vote. A member of one union told the BBC: “There was no vote, the executive just announced that we were part of BLUFF.”

Mr Kuwaitan denies that charge. “We followed the proper procedures as laid down by the labour code,” he says.

Karim Radhi of the rival GFBTU says his organisation represents 80 unions and 25,000 members. He questions the independence of BLUFF.

“We should investigate just how free and independent the new federation is,” he says.

Thousands sacked

Bahrain has been wracked by more than 18 months of civil strife. At least 60 people, including several police officers, have been killed. The opposition puts the death toll at 80, a figure the authorities dispute.
Bahraini workers demanding reinstatement in February 2012 More than 4,000 people were dismissed from their jobs during last year’s unrest

Last year, more than 4,000 people were dismissed from their jobs. Almost all were Shia Muslims, who form the majority in a country ruled by a Sunni royal family.

In the wake of widespread international condemnation of how the government handled the protests, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appointed an independent tribunal, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), to investigate abuses.
…more

The History of Israeli Spying: The Mother of all Scandals

What Really Happened
18 November, 2012 – sott.net

Once again, Israel has been caught with spies at the highest levels of the US Government.

At the heart of the investigation are two people who work at The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington. The FBI investigation, headed up by Dave Szady, has involved wiretaps, undercover surveillance and photography that CBS News was told document the passing of classified information from the mole, to the men at AIPAC, and on to the Israelis.

CBS sources say that last year the suspected spy, described as a trusted analyst at the Pentagon, turned over a presidential directive on U.S. policy toward Iran while it was, “in the draft phase when U.S. policy-makers were still debating the policy.” This put the Israelis, according to one source, “inside the decision-making loop” so they could “try to influence the outcome.” [CBS News]

Once again Israel denies wrongdoing, or faced with incontrovertible evidence (in this case one of the spies has reportedly cooperated with the FBI) dismisses the spying with the claim that such spying is harmless, because Israel and the United States are such good friends.

Well, let us take a closer look at that idea of “harmless espionage” by recalling Israel’s most famous failed spy, Jonathan Pollard.

Jonathan Pollard is an American of Jewish descent, born in Galveston Texas, who established a career as an intelligence analyst for the US Navy. There have been many theories offered as to why Pollard decided to betray his country of birth to the Jewish state, but that Pollard did betray his country of birth to Israel is beyond all doubt. Pollard’s defense was that he did not spy so much against the United States, only that he spied for Israel, sending them documents that in his opinion the US should have shared with Israel anyway.

That it was never Pollards job to decide what documents Israel should have was apparently irrelevant. Pollard arrogated that authority to himself. From his position of trust within the US Navy, Pollard delivered over 1000 classified documents to Israel for which he was well paid. Included in those documents were the names of over 150 US agents in the Mideast, who were eventually “turned” into agents for Israel.

But by far the most egregious damage done by Pollard was to steal classified documents relating to the US Nuclear Deterrent relative to the USSR and send them to Israel. According to sources in the US State Department, Israel then turned around and traded those stolen nuclear secrets to the USSR in exchange for increased emigration quotas from the USSR to Israel. Other information that found its way from the US to Israel to the USSR resulted in the loss of American agents operating inside the USSR. Casper Weinberger, in his affidavit opposing a reduced sentence for Pollard, described the damage done to the United States thus, “[It is] difficult to conceive of a greater harm to national security than that caused by… Pollard’s treasonous behavior.”

This should end the suggestion that Israel’s spies are harmless. They are not. The United States’ nuclear deterrent cost an estimated five trillion taxpayer dollars during the 50s and 60s to build and maintain, and less than $100,000 for Pollard to undermine. Israel waited 13 years to admit Pollard had been spying for them, and now lobbies for his release, having granted him Israeli citizenship.

Pollard is hardly the only Israeli spy operating in the United States. He just had the misfortune to get caught. Here are just a few examples of the Israeli spy operations that have been detected.

1947. Information collected by the ADL in its spy operations on US citizens is used by the House Select Committee on Unamerican Activities. Subcommittee Chair Clare Hoffman dismisses the ADL’s reports on suspected communists as “hearsay.”

1950 John Davitt, former chief of the Justice Department’s internal security section notes that the Israeli intelligence service is the second most active in the United States after the Soviets. …more

Leveraging Operation Pillar of Defense Into an Attack on Iran
By Russ Wellen – 19 November, 2012 – FPIF

The Netanyahu administration stands poised to use Iran’s real or imagined influence over Hamas, as well as Iron Dome’s effectiveness, as justification for attacking Iran.

“At first glance,” writes Haaretz columnist Amir Oren, “Operation Pillar of Defense seems to be aimed at the Palestinian arena, but in reality it is geared toward Iranian hostility against Israel.” In fact

… the dark cloud in the Gaza skies might serve as an alternative, or preface to, an Iran operation. … Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have not given up the dream of carrying out a major operation in Iran. …

Hamas often uses Iranian missiles, but, writes Oren

So as not to leave a shred of doubt, [an] IDF Spokesman emphasized that “the Gaza Strip has become Iran’s frontline base.”

In fact, Hamas is considered closer these days to Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar than Iran. Regardless

… the intelligence assessment of casualties likely to be sustained on the home front during an operation in Iran, based on the assumption that the Arrow antimissile system is used (although it has yet to demonstrate actual interception capabilities ) [and will] duplicate the performance of the Iron Dome system. … constitute calculations in favor of an Iranian operation. … Should Operation Pillar of Defense [succeed,] the political leadership, buoyed by strong performances from the intelligence and other branches, [may] try to extrapolate from this operation and transpose it to other places.

In other words, if the Netanyahu administration succeeds in sending the message that Hamas’s will is Iran’s command, and that Israel’s missile defense will afford it protection from Iran’s retaliation, it may feel it then has license to attack Iran. …source

Why a new war on Gaza?
by Thierry Meyssan – Voltaire Network – Damascus (Syria) – 19 November, 2012

On the 14th November 2012, Israeli armed forces launched the operation “Pillar of Defense” against the administrative and military installations of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. On the first day of the attack, they assassinated Ahmed Jaabari, the number 2 of the armed branch of the Palestinian organisation. They also destroyed the underground launch-pads of their surface-to-surface Fajr 5 missiles.

“Pillar of Defense” quickly expanded, as Israeli aviation multiplied its bombing raids. The Israeli military command proceeded with the call-up of 30,000 reserve troops, and rapidly increased that number to 75,000 men, at the risk of destabilizing the economy. In this way, Israel has given itself the capacity to invade the Gaza Strip with ground troops.

This situation calls for several explanations.

Why now?

Tel-Aviv is taking the initiative in the midst of the partial power vacuum reigning in Washington. We are awaiting the nomination of new Secretaries for State and Defense. The new nominations may be ambassador Susan Rice and Senator John Kerry. However, a bitter struggle is currently being played out in the Press in an attempt to disqualify Ms. Rice. In any event, the position of the exiting Secretaries of State and Defense are weakened, and their successors have not yet been named.

In identical fashion, Tel Aviv had taken a similar initiative with the operation “Cast Lead” during the period of transition between Presidents Bush Jr.and Obama. Certain commentators are also evoking the proximity of the Israeli legislative elections, and suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman are attempting to polish their image as hard-line hawks.

This is improbable, since in fact, they are launching this attack without being sure of the result in advance. In 2008-2009, the failure of “Cast Lead” was fatal for Ehud Olmert’s government.
What’s the aim?

Traditionally, Israeli armed forces adapt their war objectives to the occasions as they arise.

At the least, the aim is to weaken the Palestinian Resistance by destroying infrastructures and administrations in the Gaza Strip, just as they do at more or less regular intervals. However, the weakening of Hamas will automatically profit Fatah in the West Bank – and Fatah will not miss the opportunity to push a little harder in its demand for the recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations.

At most, “Pillar of Cloud” might open the way for an old Zionist plan – the proclamation of Jordan as a Palestinian state, the transfer of the population of Gaza (perhaps also that of the West Bank) into Jordan, and the annexion of the territories thus evacuated. In this case, the military operation must not target all Hamas leaders indiscriminately, but only those who oppose the former poitical head of the organisation, Khaled Mechaal, since he is slated to become the first President of a Palestinian State in Jordan. …more

Too Many Irons in the Fire for Obama
Souraya Helou – 17 November, 2012 – moqawama.org

The entire world sighed in relief after the re-election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States of America. Nonetheless, there is almost nothing to be as rapturous about. The re-elected President has shown indeed, during his first mandate, that he opted for negotiations and refused the war; however, this did not prevent him from the excessive use of drones, these unmanned air vehicles remote-controlled by a military base in the US, to fire missiles on Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other places in the world where the US believes having enemies. If for the Americans, dispatching these drones is not considered a war since there are no American soldiers on a foreign territory, for the beleaguered countries this is nevertheless all-out violence. Moreover, Obama actually withdrew his soldiers from Iraq, but even he took the initiative to retreat from Afghanistan, he is not necessarily ready for making peace in the region.

In fact, a small sentence in his victory speech passed almost unnoticed, albeit having a salient significance. Obama promised the Americans to endeavor to thaw the US dependence pertaining to traditional energy. This clearly means that he shall burn both ends of the candle to get to extract shale gas, which shall supposedly fill the US energy needs ten years from now.

This shall augur ill days for the emirates of the Gulf and the Wahhabi Kingdom, which built their influence and fortune on fuel purchases by the world’s powers. By seeking to grant the US a self-sufficiency of energy, Obama also seeks to grant his country more freedom on the political level, in administrating the affairs of the world. This ambitious project is not to be accomplished any time soon, but if Obama keeps his promise, he has then launched a process that shall change the attitude and the role of the US in the world.

Furthermore, if it is clear that the US President has been somewhat standoffish regarding the Syrian dossier, he might be as well wary of the spiraling danger of emergent hardliners, within the scope of Al-Qaeda, on the Americans. But this doesn’t mean that he would be more conciliating with the axis of the resistance, which is still a privileged target for the US and the West overall.

In fact, the wave of satisfaction following Barack Obama’s re-election is rather sparked by the fear of having in power a new war fancier president like George W. Bush than by the keenness on having Obama again at the White House. Obama has indeed too many irons in the fire, on top of which the economic crisis, the lasting Republicans’ stronghold at the Congress, and the attitude of “Israel” unswervingly seeking to launch an attack on Iran. This shows to those who still have illusions, that the Palestinian Cause remains the very last concern for the West, and, unfortunately, is no more the priority of the Arabs. …source