Here’s a new short film which I wrote and produced, pinpointing a very simple reason why the Middle East peace process has failed to yield results.
Author Archive for Ben Cohen
This article by Dan Yurman is reposted with permission from the ANS Nuclear Café, where it was originally published on October 20, 2010.
In July 2010 a software worm, which is malevolent computer code, appeared on the radar screen of cyber security firms when it was found to be targeting computers in Iran and several other countries running industrial control systems.
Continue reading ‘As The Worm Turns ~ Malevolent Software Hits Iran’
Our friends over at NIJ report the following:
Many Norwegian media channels are today reporting on how one hundred more or less prominent Norwegians have signed a call for boycott of Israel. Communist football coach Egil Drillo Olsen, who works with the national football team, seems to be the designated leader of the pack this time. This will give prominent Israel-basher Dr. Mads Gilbert more time to manipulate the situation up at the hospital of Tromsø, where he is spearheading the resistance against providing the Norwegian army with doctors for the Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan.
In Aftenposten today, communist football coach Egil Drillo Olsen claims: This (boycott of Israel) is in line with what 90 percent of the world’s population believes. There cannot be many other opinions then that the occupation is deeply objectionable and illegal.
“Everyone” believes that a boycott is the right strategy? And there “cannot be” many other opinions? This kind of talk sounds familiar.
The boycotters will doubtless the fact the coach of a national soccer team has joined their ranks, but let’s also remember that Norway is hardly a soccer power. Whether it’s the World Cup or the European Championship, they tend not to even qualify. It’s not like Vicente del Bosque has donned a keffiyeh.
At the same time, I have to ask where UEFA, the governing body of European football, is in all this. Israel, which plays soccer at the club and national levels in Europe because of the Arab boycott, is a member of UEFA. Is Olsen saying that he would refuse to field his side in the event that they were drawn against Israel? Sounds to me that’s exactly what he’s saying.
UEFA needs to take disciplinary action. Readers who wish to politely encourage them to do so should contact them here.
This article is also published on The Propagandist. A shorter version can be read on The Huffington Post.
Watching the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians fizzle out over the last week, I was reminded of Conor Cruise O’Brien’s observation that “conflicts don’t have solutions - they have outcomes.” For nearly two decades, the contours of a final compromise on territory that would enable the State of Israel to live alongside a new State of Palestine have been known, yet an actual agreement has remained elusive.
Yoram Hazony, the Israeli scholar whose brilliant essay on Europe and Israel I critiqued here, has a piece in The Forward replying to a particularly silly take by J.J. Goldberg on the same piece. Inter alia, he writes:
This is a cross post from Potkin’s blog
I am standing before you in this court so that the Almighty will be a witness before you and I. A witness to what is happening today to our beloved Iran and to its brave sons and daughters. So that upon the judgement day when we are held accountable, those of us who stand proud and those of us who hold our heads down will remember that such is destiny. The final reward and punishment is only by God.
If justice was the benchmark, instead of me standing trial today, it should have been those who have disgraced Iran and Islam who should have been standing trial. The very people who want to plunder Iran’s wealth and use Islam to cover up their foray and despotism.
I was arrested on 15th February when the intelligence ministry agents broke into my house. They smashed up our furniture and rummaged through our belongings just to maximise their intimidation. This was all because of a song I had written that according to the gentlemen had ‘endangered the national security’. After that, I spent 44 days in solitary confinement where I was put under a series of emotional, mental and physical tortures. Allow me to describe just a small part of what I was put through:
- Hurling insults and profanities to belittle me, even ridiculing the way I looked
- Intimidating me by threatening to arrest my wife, even though she has had no political activities or played a role in anything I have done
- Insulting my war veteran brother and threatening to arrest him as well if I did not co-operate
- Intelligence agent threatening me with death (He said to me I can easily kill you outside here with a single bullet and no one can question me)
- Prison officials threatening me with execution
- Keeping me in a 2 metre by 1.5 metre cell without any hygiene facilities that led to infected boils all over my body
- Deliberate negligence in giving me my medication related to my heart problem
- Putting me in a cell next to an inmate with AIDS and making me walk with bare feet on his blood after he had committed suicide by slashing his wrists
- Giving me insinuating offensive information about my wife
- Stripping me naked in front of an agent who was holding a camera in his hand, who kept laughing and asking me ‘are you scared?’ every time I protested at his immoral behaviour
- Severe physical beating when I asked to see the prison doctor, beatings so bad that the marks were visible all over me for a long time
- Chaining my hands and feet for long periods of time
And these were just a small glimpse of what I went through during my detention.
After the Ashura uprising which resulted in so many of my compatriots being killed, I felt it was my duty to condemn this inhumanity and use my musical talents in doing so. I wrote and composed a song, which became known as ‘Ali, Rise up’. The content of this song is to do with the exploitation of God, the Koran and the Imams by a bunch of impostors to achieve their demonic goals. In this song, I asked the Imams for help in uprooting lies and hypocrisy. Is it not strange that in these days to ask the Imams for help in battling against evil is considered a crime in our country?
Imam Hussein was martyred for good to triumph against evil, so should we not expect the same from his followers? Or are we just supposed to ceremoniously beat our heads and beat up our chests and pretend we despise tyrants and despots?
I do not recognise this man as our president! Am I then not a Muslim? On the day of Ashura, I chanted ‘God is Great’ and I am proud of calling His name. Surely whoever jails me for chanting ‘God is Great’ is a non-believer and an infidel himself.
Those who make out they are Muslims these days, themselves disregard the most basic teachings. They easily lie to nation of seventy million and make false promises, and feign that they want to glorify Iran and Islam. Iran and Islam are both much grander than having the need for such claimants.
The constitution has to be made clear. It gives me the right to criticise. It gives me the right to take part in gatherings without carrying weapons, it gives me the right to free speech and free thought. And because of this constitution that our fathers voted for, I am free not to be indifferent to the destiny of my country. Interestingly instead of being commended, I have to stand trial today for this.
Sadly in the report made by the intelligence ministry, it is stated that I have written an insulting song against Mu‘āwiya and posted it on my blog. Has the intelligence ministry now become defenders of Mu‘āwiya and Yazid? In another section of the report it says, I made up this song against the Supreme Leader, which is the most comical part of the report. The song is clearly against those who desecrated the sanctities of Ashura, but it seems the intelligence ministry is insistent that someone else is responsible for all this. Such is the illusion of power by those who seek the temporary reigns of power.
These policies of mass oppression and intimidation are dictated by which eternal power that justifies silence. Which divine laws allow such invasions of privacy into people’s homes and into the privacy of people’s private beliefs? and not tolerate the slightest of criticisms? These self interest seeking persons who claim to be kinder child minders than our own mothers, not only think they own this land but consider any non-conformity a crime and trample on the basic rights of our citizens. I recommend, in a brotherly way, some reality check and some insight than just having your eyes fixated on the seats of power; for rectifying your mistakes in the future will be much harder.
Respected judge, I am worried today about your judgement, for my interrogators said you are their puppet and will do whatever they tell you to do. I hope God will reveal you the truth, so that God forbid, you will not be held accountable for what others have asked you do for them in another world.
In the end, I reject all charges against me and ask you to find me not guilty.
This is the song written by Arya, which has been deemed to ‘endanger the national security of the country’:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
#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.
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.
