Archive for September, 2010

U.S. Designates Iran Regime Thugs

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 29, 2010
in Iran and human rights
. 1 Comment

Here are eight representatives of Iran’s brutal regime:

1. Mohammad Ali JAFARI [Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, born September 1, 1957]
2. Sadeq MAHSOULI [Minister of Welfare and Social Security, former Minister of the Interior and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for Law Enforcement, born 1959]
3. Qolam-Hossein MOHSENI-EJEI [Prosecutor-General of Iran, former Minister of Intelligence, born circa 1956]
4. Saeed MORTAZAVI [Head of Iranian Anti-Smuggling Task Force, former Prosecutor-General of Tehran, born 1967]
5. Heydar MOSLEHI [Minister of Intelligence, born 1956]
6. Mostafa Mohammad NAJJAR [Minister of the Interior and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces for Law Enforcement, born 1956]
7. Ahmad-Reza RADAN [Deputy Chief of the National Police, born 1963 or 1964]
8. Hossein TAEB [Deputy Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander for Intelligence, former Commander of the Basij Forces, born 1963]

What do they have in common - apart from being brutes, that is? Over to the White House:

Statement by the Press Secretary on the New Executive Order Designating Iranian Officials Responsible for or Complicit in Serious Human Rights Abuses

The United States is strongly committed to the promotion of human rights around the world, including in the Islamic Republic of Iran.  In accordance with U.S. law and the Administration’s commitment to human rights for the Iranian people, the President has signed an Executive Order authorizing the Departments of State and Treasury to impose sanctions on eight Iranian government officials tied to serious human rights abuses against the people of Iran.

These measures are being taken pursuant to the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, which imposes sanctions against senior officials in the Iranian government who, based on credible evidence, were involved in the commission of serious human rights abuses during or after Iran’s 2009 presidential election.  The individuals designated will be subject to financial sanctions and visa ineligibilities under U.S. law.  The list of names is not exhaustive and will continue to grow based on events in Iran, and as additional information and evidence becomes available.

As the President noted in his recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, human rights are a matter of moral and pragmatic necessity for the United States.  The United States will always stand with those in Iran who aspire to have their voices heard.  We will be a voice for those aspirations that are universal, and we continue to call upon the Iranian government to respect the rights of its people.

Here’s what’s significant: “The individuals designated will be subject to financial sanctions and visa ineligibilities under U.S. law.  The list of names is not exhaustive and will continue to grow based on events in Iran, and as additional information and evidence becomes available.”

This is a major and welcome development.

Boycott Becomes Buycott

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 29, 2010
in boycotts and the left
. 3 Comments

Here’s a tremendous story from The Brooklyn Paper, right here in New York City:

Local Jewish leaders and anti-Israel protesters faced off on Montague Street - again - on Tuesday, holding a raucous debate over whether West Bank-made lotions sold at Ricky’s cosmetics shop support Israel’s “illegal” occupation of the embattled region.

In the end, the boycott supporters ended up actually promoting the Ahava products, as Brooklyn Heights residents flocked to Ricky’s with their wallets open.

“I came in when I saw the flags - I think [the boycotters] are absurd,” said Ginger Berman, who bought a tub of Ahava bath salts. “There are so many other big issues to protest, why this?”

Why indeed.


Roger Waters: Comfortably Numbskull

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 28, 2010
in anti-Zionism, antisemitism and music
. 2 Comments

I’ll confess to always having liked Pink Floyd. For anyone who attended, as I did, an English public school, you pretty much have to. And so, amongst my record collection, which spans painfully hip genres like underground techno, dub reggae and first-wave punk, a few Floyd albums can be found discreetly nestling.

At the same time, there was a part of me that found singer Roger Waters appallingly self-indulgent. Next time you listen to “Comfortably Numb,” ignore the Gilmour guitar solo and check out the lyrics. Yech.

In recent years, Waters’s upper class leftism has become increasingly strident. Now, along with other artier-than-thou types like Oliver Stone, Waters has embraced antisemitism.

Here’s a video of a recent Waters gig in Toronto. Notice how, at about 1′30″ into the ballad “Goodbye Blue Sky,” you see bombers dropping Stars of David, rapidly followed by dollar signs, followed in turn by various corporate symbols (Shell, Mercedes and so forth,) all ending in a stream of religious symbols - crosses, crescents and stars.

I need not spell out what message that sends. I will say that it is shameful. Perhaps John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon - a man who gloriously told the Israel boycotters to “f**k off” before playing Tel Aviv - was right after all.

Johnny-Rotten-I-hate-Pink-Floyd

Hossein Derakhshan Incarcerated by Iranian Regime

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 28, 2010
in Iran and human rights
. 1 Comment

Further to Terry Glavin’s recent post about Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, here’s the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran with some depressing news:

After months of anticipation and almost two years after his arrest and imprisonment, blogger Hossein Derakhshan was sentenced to 19.5 years in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts today. News of the stiff sentence was first published by Mashreq website. A source close to the family of Hossein Derakhshan confirmed the news for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, adding that Derakhshan’s family are shocked by the news.  ”Neither the family nor the lawyer knew about the sentence, they read the news online.” The conservative website referred to Hossein Derakhshan as an “anti-revolutionary blogger.”

“According to the sentence issued today by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts with Judge Salavati presiding, Derakhshan who was arrested in October 2008, has been charged with ‘cooperation with hostile states, propagating against the regime, propagation in favor of anti-revolutionary groups, insulting sanctities, and implementation and management of obscene websites,’ and sentenced to 19.5 years in prison, five years’ ban from membership in political parties and activities in the media; and returning received funds in the amount of 30,750 Euro, US$2,900, and 200 British Pounds,” reported the Mashreq website.

The crackdown on dissent is clearly in full swing. Derakhshan’s sentence comes just a few days after the regime sentenced Shiva Nazar Ahari, one of Iran’s most courageous human right activists, to six years behind bars, just days after the regime extorted $500,000 from her family to bail her out of prison.

The Invention of the Irish People

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 27, 2010
in Ireland, Israel, Z word blog and anti-Zionism
. 15 Comments

1.

People who today regard themselves as Irish are either perpetuating a fraud or victims of it. That’s because the “Irish” are not a people and the idea that they have continuously inhabited the island of Ireland over a period going back two thousand or more years is a myth invented by the revivers of the ideology known as “Irish nationalism” in the nineteenth century.

Continue reading ‘The Invention of the Irish People’

The “Irene”, Occupied Cyprus, Gaza and Good Jews

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 26, 2010
in Cyprus, Gaza, Israel and Turkey
. 7 Comments

There are human rights problems in many parts of the world and not everybody can take an interest in all of them. So you couldn’t, for example, reasonably criticize the Free Burma Campaign for not being concerned about the rights of indigenous people in Chile, that’s not what it’s for. However, if a group goes out of its way to spit in the face of one group of victims of human rights abuses in order, in its own view, to help members of a separate group with different problems then you can reasonably question its motives.

Continue reading ‘The “Irene”, Occupied Cyprus, Gaza and Good Jews’

J Street Exposed

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 24, 2010
in George Soros, J-Street and USA
. 7 Comments

This scoop is now all over the place, but nonetheless we’ll record it here. Over to Eli Lake at the Washington Times:

The Jewish-American advocacy group J Street, which bills itself as the dovish alternative to the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby, has secretly received funding from billionaire George Soros despite previous denials that it accepted funds from the Hungarian-born financier and liberal political activist.

Tax forms obtained by The Washington Times reveal that Mr. Soros and his two children, Jonathan and Andrea Soros, contributed a total $245,000 to J Street from one Manhattan address in New York during the fiscal year from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

The contributions represent a third of the group’s revenue from U.S. sources during the period. Nearly half of J Street’s revenue during the timeframe — a total of $811,697 — however, came from a single donor in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, named Consolacion Esdicul.

Consolacion Esdicul? As Jeff Goldberg exclaimed, “Who?”

Soros has often attacked both Israel and Zionism and is an enthusiastic proponent of the fable that the “Israel Lobby” runs U.S. foreign policy. And J Street’s problem - and boy, is this a problem - is that they’ve denied receiving funds from Soros.

Read Eli’s piece for all the details.

AMIA Fugitives: Argentine Government Offers Iran Third Country Trial

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 24, 2010
in AMIA massacre, Argentina and Iran
. 2 Comments

In her speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has just offered the Iranian  government the possibility of trying the AMIA massacre suspects in a third country if it believes they could not get a fair hearing in Argentina. She said that this offer would end the excuses being offered for the Iranian regime for not extraditing the AMIA fugitives.

Continue reading ‘AMIA Fugitives: Argentine Government Offers Iran Third Country Trial’

Free Hossein Derakhshan And Let’s Get Serious About Iran

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 23, 2010
in Iran and blogging
. 3 Comments

Imprisoned for the past two years in Tehran, Hossein Derakshan, a Canadian citizen, is now said to be facing execution. The self-described “Iranian blogfather” was arrested in November, 2008 on charges of collaborating with enemy states, insulting the Khomeinist religion, and making propaganda against the regime and for “anti-revolutionary” groups. The CBC reports that the death penalty is now what the prosecutor in Derakhshan’s case has recommended.

Read the rest of Terry Glavin’s storming post here. Also see Ben’s Z Word post about Derakshan’s  disappearance nearly two years ago.

Ashkenazi, The IDF and Democratic Government

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 23, 2010
in IDF, Israel and Military Affairs
. 1 Comment

You’ll find a long article by Amos Harel here about Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the current Chief of Staff of the IDF. It’s an interesting story of big egos in high places and I was particularly struck by this paragraph:

Continue reading ‘Ashkenazi, The IDF and Democratic Government’

Press TV: Ahmadinejad’s Mouthpiece

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 21, 2010
in Iran, human rights and media
. 0 Comments
To protest is to recognize the futility of dialogue with Ahmadinejad, a man who, when it comes to lying, enviably blends classical totalitarianism with postmodern spin. As an interview subject, he should be left to the sort of useful idiot who thinks that a show on Ahmadinejad’s mouthpiece, Press TV is a mark of celebrity - serious journalists need not, and should not, follow there. They would be better off investigating why a regime media outlet like Press TV is widely, and preposterously, regarded as a legitimate broadcaster.

From my latest article on The Huffington Post.

Leave Pollard In Prison

Published
by
Eamonn McDonagh
on September 21, 2010
in Israel and USA
. 9 Comments

There are rumors going around that the Israeli government is trying to link some sort of extension of the settlement freeze to an early release for the convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. If they are true they suggest a profound and worrying arrogance on the part of the present Israeli administration in its dealings with their country’s most important ally.

Continue reading ‘Leave Pollard In Prison’

Darfur: Tweet This

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 21, 2010
in Darfur, USA and human rights
. 1 Comment

#SecClinton @StateDept: Sudan needs you for 60 seconds. Read this letter to President Obama. If you sign, he’ll listen.

Via Save Darfur. Please take five seconds and get the message to where it matters.

Tell Ahmadinejad: The World is Watching

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 20, 2010
in Iran and United Nations
. 1 Comment

British TUC Endorses Hamas Genocidaires

Published
by
Ben Cohen
on September 19, 2010
in Britain, anti-Zionism, antisemitism and labor unions
. 0 Comments
This blanket endorsement of the BDS campaign and the PSC is a major change in TUC policy, which used to be committed to a strategy of engagement and reconciliation. No longer.

The next paragraph is clearly the result of compromise, but read it carefully: “Congress instructs the General Council to bring to Congress a report on the impact of the boycott and investment withdrawal strategy, together with the outcome of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)/Histadrut discussions recently facilitated by the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) and TUC. Congress agrees to join unions around the world for maximum coordination internationally for active solidarity to end the siege of Gaza and for a free Palestine.”

…The key bit is the final sentence, which is blatantly anti-Israel. And the clue is the use of Hamas terminology – the call for a “free Palestine.”

Eric Lee of TULIP explains the latest outburst of useful idiocy in the British Trades Union Congress in The Jerusalem Post.