Racism mars spring for many foreigners and Palestinians in Lebanon

By Franklin Lamb

Graphics by alex

Al-Manar

As many visitors to Lebanon can attest, some Lebanese have the rather charming habit of asking them, “Do you love Lebanon?”  One assumes they actually mean to inquire if the visitor likes Lebanon and is enjoying their visit.  No doubt most do, given this country’s kaleidoscope of attractive and hospitable features, that to name just a few include, idyllic spring weather, wonderful  topography, delicious food, a nearly unmatched collection of archeological remains from half a dozen civilizations, and not least, a friendly people who make visitors feel at home. 

But with the arrival of the vernal equinox and the rebirth of flora and fauna, accompanied by rising water temperatures of the Mediterranean an uglier facet of this gifted country surfaces.

Racism.

Lebanon’s wretched triad:
Domestic workers…Women …Palestinians

Discrimination and endemic racist practices are mainly directed against foreign female domestic workers from the Philippines, East Africa and Ethiopia who work as maids and nannies for Lebanese families, and against dark skinned men. At the same time, Palestinian refugees are even denied rights the others who are targeted receive, the most elementary civil rights to work and to own a home outside their cramped, fetid camps.

According to Human Rights Watch, some resorts do not even allow African and Asian domestic workers to wear bathing suits or sun themselves. 

In 2005, filmmaker Carol Mansour produced a documentary on the conditions that foreign workers encounter in Lebanon titled "Maid in Lebanon," an excerpt of which can be seen at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/baby...ian-maids.html.

Each spring and summer, reports surface in the media, of the many beaches and private swimming pools that are segregated and off limits to people of color and those judged to be of lesser socio-economic worth.  Among those sited regularly for blatant discrimination are several hotels whose swimming pools off limits to, as one sign at the Sporting Beach Club warned: “Maids are not allowed.”  Among the more egregious violators, according to Beirut’s Daily Star, are Villamar in Khalde, Beirut’s Coral Beach, Beirut’s Les Creneaux and Beirut’s Sporting Club but there are more than a dozen others.

 Human Rights Watch has claimed that more than 50% of Lebanon’s beach clubs do not allow migrant guest workers from Asia and Africa in their swimming pools, and some even physically block their entrance at the door.

North Saida

Race based discrimination is practiced not just at private beaches but also has been attempted at Beirut’s only free public beach, the nearly mile long Ramlet al Baida shore, located within walking distance of Hamra and three Palestinian refugee camps, Mar Elias, Shatila, and Burj al Barajeneh as well as the Hezbollah area of Dahiyeh. With its wide beach, excellent sand, generally sparse flotsam and jetsam from Saida’s hugh garbage mountain that Lebanon’s south to north current deposits during storms at all beaches to its north, and no entrance fee, Ramlet al Baida is popular with foreign workers and low income and refugee families from several countries in the region forced recently into Lebanon by western invasions of their country. 

For years, some residents from the more than 150 high-rise apartments buildings, across from Rafik Hariri Boulevard from RAB beach, many owned by wealthy foreigners from the Gulf, have been trying to get this beach closed down in order to privatize it for their exclusive personal use.   

Ramlet al Baida beach cleanup by Palestinian
Camp kids and children from Haret Hreik. 

Hezbollah and some progressive civic organizations have to date blocked the theft of this priceless public space and following a series of beach cleanups, some by Palestinian ‘camp kids’ and environmental groups, the Beirut municipality, to its credit, has started regular trash collections from RAB beach and to educate beachgoers to deposit their picnic waste in the recently placed trash bins.

But this has not stopped certain publicly paid lifeguards from trying to segregate this public beach and shunt certain targeted beach users including foreign domestic workers, Middle Eastern refugees from Iraq, Kurdistan, Africa and Palestine to the north end of RAB very close to where the black brook of untreated sewage from the apartment buildings across the road enters the Mediterranean.

An investigation conducted recently by the Washington DC-Beirut based Palestine Civil Rights Campaign is instructive. One particular lifeguard at RAM justified his attempts at segregation at this public facility by claiming authoritatively that “It’s better for them (those of color and refugee status).”  When asked in what ways “it is better for them” his ideas became vaguer but he did offer his clear view that “Palestinians should leave Lebanon and that they do not work and anyhow they often don’t know how to read or write—most are illiterate.”

Illiteracy rate in Tripoly 21%

The gentleman is from Tripoli and may have been unaware that Palestinians in Lebanon are barred by law from working in nearly every possible job, more than 70 professions at latest count. But he may know something about illiteracy up north where he hails from, including the recent United Nations Development Programs survey of Tripoli which reveals a 21% illiteracy rate for 15-29 year olds, by far the highest in Lebanon and one of the highest in the World, due to high drop-out rates, especially among boys in the area.    

Elementary civil rights for Palestinian refugees must be respected.

By contrast, Palestinians, even while barred generally from Lebanese public schools and with school dropout and illiteracy rates higher in Lebanon’s 12 camps than in any of the 58 UNWRA organized Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan or Syria, still somehow managed in 2011 to keep illiteracy among their countrymen at 4.7  for those aged 15 years and above, including 2.1% among males and 7.4% among females. These figures are contained in the recent report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ Special Statistical Bulletin on the 64^th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

Clearly Lebanon’s Parliament needs to do much more to help their disadvantaged communities such as north Lebanon with its high unemployment rates (men more than 52%, women at 97% according to the UNDP study) and to allow Palestinians the same right to work as other foreigners are allowed.

Racism driven attempts at segregation at Ramlet al Baida public beach as well as private beaches are reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid era, current accelerating trends in Israel toward segregating Palestinians generally from claimed “open to all” public facilities, and American hostility towards blacks that in many southern communities were enshrined in law as recently as the 1950’s with racist practices and profiling continuing today.

To their credit, a few Lebanese civil society organizations such as the activist groups Anti-Racism Movement and the Migrant Worker’s Task Force are fighting against these racist practices and some Lebanese government agencies are also.

Following a frank and at times heated meeting between a PCRC delegation and Lebanese officials at the Mar Elias offices of the Beirut Municipality at which the RAB beach situation was thoroughly  discussed including the possibility of a sit-in/swim in and open-ended demonstration, or issuing a call for Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command to conduct an onsite “investigation”, Beirut Municipality officials pledged an immediate investigation with serious remedial actions as warranted.  To  their credit they kept their word and no sooner had the PCRC expressed its gratitude,  than Nada Sardouk, director-general of the Tourism Ministry, sent a letter addressed to the owners of beach clubs and pools demanding  “quality in receiving customers, with no discrimination in terms of race, nationality or ... special needs.” Among the circular’s other stipulations are requirements for lifeguards and free drinking water. Sardouk pledges that citations and fines will be issued to all violators.

Lebanon, its people and government, is very capable of removing this blight of bathing facility discrimination from their seemingly simultaneously blessed and cursed country.  As Nadim Khoury, Lebanese investigator for Human Rights Watch noted recently,  Lebanon’s  Ministry of Tourism edict baring race based discrimination or attempts at segregation, “ is  encouraging in principle, the key will be whether it is enforced”.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon. He is reachable c\o fplamb@gmail.com

He is the author of The Price We Pay: A Quarter-Century of Israel’s Use of American Weapons Against Civilians in

He contribute to Uprooted Palestinians Blog
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Qatari Arms in Lutfulla II

Local Editor

Diplomatic sources close to Lebanese "March 8" forces informed " al-Joumhoria" newspaper that "Lutfulla II" ship was loaded with Qatari Army weapons.

The daily unveiled that "boxes loaded within the ship were labelled from the Gulf country's Army."
"Abd al-Aziz al-Attiya, the Qatari who was arrested with Shadi al-Mawlawi, is one of the prominent financiers of "al-Qaeda" in Syria and Lebanon," it revealed.

According to the sources, "al-Attiya is the brother of Abu Khalifa al-Attiya, the Head the Qatar Amiri Diwan [Qatar Presidential Palace]."

"The Emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa, interfered personally to release al-Attiya, as he requested from PM Mikati to find the appropriate outcome of the issue," "al-Joumhoria" uncovered.
The sources added that "Qatar is trying to make itself a regional influential power via its support to the radical Islamic movements to reach power."
"It is trying to become a political partner in building the so-called "new democracy," they concluded.

Weeks ago, the Lebanese army confiscated a ship loaded with arms heading to the Syrian rebels via Tripoli's Northern port.

Source: al-Jouhoria daily, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org

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Hafez Aladdeen is an Israeli Patriot

The Dictator-A Film Review by Gilad Atzmon

On the face of it, Baron Cohen’s The Dictator is a horrid film. It is vulgar, it isn’t funny and if it has five good jokes in it, they appear in the two minute official trailer. In short, save your time and money – unless of course, you are interested in Jewish identity politics and neurosis.

Similar to Cohen’s previous work, The Dictator is, once again, a glimpse into Cohen’s own tribal morbidity. After all, the person and the spirit behind this embarrassing comedy is a proud self-loving character who never misses an opportunity to express his intimate affinity to his people, their unique comic talent and their beloved Jewish state. But let’s face it, Cohen isn’t alone, after all, he has created The Dictator together with a Hollywood studio. So, it’s reasonable to say that what we see here is just one more Hollywood-orchestrated effort to vilify the Arab, the Muslim and the Orient.

I guess that Arab rulers, regimes and politics are an ideal subject for a satirical take, still, one may wonder what exactly does Sacha Baron Cohen know about the Arab World? As far as the film can tell, not much. Instead, Cohen projects his own Zionist and tribal symptoms onto the people of Arabia and their leaders.

In the film, Cohen plays General Hafez Aladeen, the Arab ruler of the oil-rich North African rogue state Wadiya. On the face of it, he is the satirical version of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, but in reality, Aladeen’s actions are no less than a vast amplification of the crimes committed by Israel and its war criminals such as Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni.

When Baron Cohen ridicules the Arab Dictators who obsessively seek WMD and nuclear weapons he should bear in mind that it is actually his beloved Jewish state that has, since the 1950s, been pushing the entire region into a nuclear race. It is his Israeli brothers and sisters who express every too often their lethal enthusiasm to destroy Iran and other regional entities. When Baron Cohen mocks the Arab rulers who murder their opponents and kill kids, women and elders, he once again projects Israeli symptoms because it is actually the Jewish state that so often engages in systematic mass murder and war crimes on a colossal scale.

Someone should remind Cohen that the pictures of white phosphorus pouring over UN shelters were taken in Gaza, not in Saddam’s Baghdad, Homs (Sirya) or imaginary Wadiya.  When Sacha Baron Cohen presents the Arab leader as a savage rapist he may want to remind himself that Moshe Katzav, who was, until recently, the President of the Jewish State is now locked behind bars after being sentenced for rape. It is therefore far from coincidence that when Cohen attempts to bond with his protagonist Dictator Aladeen, he actually speaks in his mother tongue, Hebrew.
Cohen speaks Hebrew because Aladeen is not an Arab dictator, he is actually an Israeli patriot like Cohen himself.

But let’s try to transcend ourselves beyond Baron Cohen’s projections and confess: as much as Cohen’s new film is lame, Cohen, himself is far from being a fool. In fact, he has managed to bring to light a few interesting and astute political insights. For example, towards the end of the film Dictator Aladeen produces a remarkable speech at the UN in favour of dictatorship. In front of the delegations, Aladeen draws a pretty profound list of unintended parallels between the USA and dictatorship. Delivering a sharp political criticism by means of comedy deserves respect.

Another provocative insight is delivered through the character of Zoey (Anna Farris), a devout feminist and a human right activist. Zoey runs a multi-ethnic eco-friendly grocery store in Brooklyn. She is the ultimate solidarity campaigner and this time she rallies against Aladeen and his regime.  While Zoey invades the street demonstrating against Aladeen’s brutality, Aladeen’s Chief of Staff Tamir (Ben Kingsley) plots against his ruler inside the UN building. He sells out his country’s assets to oil tycoons and world leaders. The cinematic meaning of it all is clear- the bond between the so-called Left and the imperial powers has been established.  Zoey, the lefty progressive seems to work towards the exact same goal as the leading corrupted capitalist expansionist forces. They all want to bring the Aladeen regime to an end. I guess that many of those who monitor solidarity activism and discourse would agree with Cohen’s readings. After all, it was feminists and women’s rights groups that, in the 1990s, prepared the ground for the War against Terror and the invasion of Afghanistan. The Left was also very reluctant to support the democratically elected Hamas. I guess that a Leftist, thrown into a room together with Dershowitz and Bin Laden, would probably attempt to bond first with Dershowitz.

But Zoey isn’t just a progressive solidarity and human right activists. As the plot progresses, Aladeen and Zoey fall for each other. Towards the end of the film ‘solidarity activist’ Zoey and Dictator Aladeen get married. This is when Dictator Aladeen and the rest of us find out that Zoey is actually a Jew. From a cinematic perspective, the Jew, the human right campaigner and the solidarity activist leader are all one. This amusing reading is unfortunately consistent with the reality of the solidarity movement.  Those who monitor Jewish Left activism detect a relentless effort among some Jewish campaigners to tribally hijack and even Zionize the discourse of solidarity, human rights and marginal politics. However, from a Judaic perspective, Zoey, the new wife of Dictator Aladeen is nothing short of an incarnation of Biblical Queen Esther. Like Esther, Zoey has managed to infiltrate into the corridors of a lucrative foreign power.

I guess that with AIPAC controlling American foreign policy and 80% of Tory MPs being CFI (Conservative Friends of Israel) members, a Jewish queen of a fictional Wadiya is almost exotic.



The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics
The book can be  ordered  on Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk




Previous reviews of Baron Cohen's films:
Some Things To Keep In Mind While Watching Borat by Gilad Atzmon

Symbolism and the Grotesque Bruno: a Glimpse Into Zionism? by Gilad Atzmon

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Israel’s hidden hand behind Pakistan’s disasters

by Shabana Sunday, May 20th, 2012

Suspicions are aroused when the founder of the discredited group Quilliam Foundation, Majid Nawaz who has strong pro Israeli supporters, heads off to Pakistan to “…to counter the spread of extremist ideology within Pakistan, predominantly amongst younger generations of Pakistanis, who now constitute 63% of the total population”.

Majid Nawaz

‘Khudi’ has been set up in Pakistan by one of the founders of the QF, Majid Nawaz whose continual scare mongering against the growth of Islamic extremism in Britain and the need for government surveillance against Muslims, not only gave support to fascist far right wing and pro Israel groups but also encouraged Islamophobia perpetuating a climate of hate with increasing attacks on women in hijabs, while The English Defense League marched through streets calling out ‘Death to Muslims’.

One of the patrons of the QF is Jemima Khan, who according to Mr. Nawaz is a close friend; the Foundation which received huge government funding was set up to counteract ‘extremism’ amongst the Muslims.

What can the definition of extremism be when you are funded by the government?

A secret counterterrorism strategy report in 2009, dubbed “ Contest 2” would identify Muslims as “extremist” if they hold views that clash with what the government defines as “shared British values,” reported Vikram Dodd in the Guardian.

According to Shahid Khan, the publisher of South Asia Tribune an Independent UK based English newspaper: “The fact that Khudi has been established in Pakistan by government paid stooges like Majid Nawaz to target the growing younger population of Pakistan, means the West is not only worried about the country being a nuclear state but also about controlling the youth, and Imran Khan may be part of that strategy, until a new cricketing hero rears his head, only he has the ability to mobilize the youth”.

At a time when Pakistan is on brink of disaster, with corruption rife, tragic deaths a daily occurrence, depicted by the western press as a ‘failed state’, all eyes are on Imran Khan who according to his fresh faced young supporters ‘will get rid of the corruption, tell the Americans to go home, and reign in the chaos.’

His party Tehreek e Insaf is doing well in the polls and according to Newsweek which wrote a very supportive article on Khan, he is the ‘Most Popular Leader in Pakistan’

When the Western media supports you with positive headlines, you know they have approved you and that in itself is a worrying fact.

Khan is riding on a wave of popularity with a strong backing from a favourable western media, many promoting him as the next Prime Minister; he is lucky to receive such attention from a media which attempts to ignore the human tragedy of ‘inconceivable magnitude taking place’ in Pakistan. Ismail Salami writes:

“Only in April 2012, more than 250 Shia Muslims were maimed and killed in broad daylight. Around 150 pairs of Shias’ eyes were cut out of their sockets; many of them died while their faces had been smashed with stones or sprayed with acid.”

Khan may be saying all the right things like pointing out that US drone attacks are killing innocents and as a result breeding extremism, however is he aware that Drone attacks are just part of a long term strategy which includes extremist groups funded by Israel and India to create sectarian divisions and civil war?

If America leaves will it stop Israel’s Mossad and India’s RAW from swamping the country with mercenary groups like Xe Water, and Tehrik-I-Taliban who have murdered or wounded thousands of Pakistanis and nearly destroyed the economy with an aim to create a civil war.

This was clearly revealed by the Raymond Davies incident who not only ruthlessly killed Pakistanis but was also found to be supplying information and funds to an Indian/Israeli terrorist cell working with the Taliban.

Recent revelations have shown how in America a Virginia military course taught its officers to prepare for a ‘total war against Islam’.

As Dr Kevin Barret author of ‘Questioning the War on terror’ explains: “Since the Zionist-instigated false-flag attacks of 9/11, the United States of America has been at war with the religion of Islam. The neocon cabal of Zionist Christians and Jews behind 9/11 have tried to disguise their war on Islam as a “war on terror.” But occasionally one of them blurts out the truth: “I always thought it was a mistake not to say what Iraq really was, that is, a war against an expanding Islam,” opined neocon think-tanker James Schall of Georgetown University.”

Pakistan is just one cog in the wheel of the establishment of the “New World Order” which George Bush senior, part of the Zionist neocon cabal first mentioned in his speech to congress in March 6 1991 where he basically outlined a long-term plan for America to dominate the world.

According to Imran Hossein a prominent Islamic scholar, Pakistan is not such a just cog in the wheel, rather it’s a very important target for the Zionist led neo con cabal, firstly because it is strategically very important, secondly it’s a nuclear state and “the only Muslim country with the nuclear capability to stand against Israel’s expansionist plans’.

It is a known fact that any Journalist, academic or world leader who states that Israel was behind 9/11, or questions who is really behind Al Qaeda, will be ostracized by the Zionist owned mainstream media never given air time or allowed to surface as a leader. Pakistan news channels also mostly parrot the western media’s narrative, raising the question who really owns the media there?

Benazir Bhutto along with many in the intelligence community knew that Bin Laden was not hiding out in Pakistan, but was killed off in 2001, she stated it clearly in a Frost interview on November 2 2007.
As a result many have asked the question who has been bombing and blowing up in the name of Al Qaeda?

The former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook shortly before his death told the House of Commons that “Al-Qaeda” is not really a terrorist group but a database of international mujahedeen and arms smugglers used by the CIA.

It is in Israel’s interest to discredit Muslims, all the Al Qaeda videos threatening jihad and bombings have been revealed to be fake and funded by Zionist groups; Adam Gadahn who had masqueraded as Al Qaeda leader in videos making death threats turned out to be a hard core Zionist Jew and was the grandson of Jewish ADL leader Carl Pearlman.

Dr Alan Sabrosky, a US Strategic analyst states: “I am also absolutely certain as a strategic analyst that 9/11 itself, from which all else flows, was a classic Mossad-orchestrated operation.

But Mossad did not do it alone. They needed local help within America (and perhaps elsewhere) and they had it, principally from some alumni of PNAC (the misnamed Project for a New American Century) and their affiliates within and outside of the US Government, who in the 9/11 attacks got the “catalytic event” they needed and craved to take the US to war on Israel’s behalf.”

The continual bloodbath in Pakistan will continue, even if the Americans vacate their forces from Pakistan as Jonathan Azaziah explains in his article ‘Hideous Sectarian Killings Reveal Deepening Zionist-Hindutvadi Plots Against Pakistan And Occupied Kashmir’, he writes: “How much more blood must be shed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan before it is understood that the country is being torn to shreds from the inside out in a foreign-sponsored 4th Generation Warfare (4GW) campaign
He continues: “The real secret war against Pakistan is that which is being conducted by Israel and the Hindutva entity of India. Since the late 1980s, Zionism and Hindutva have signed military agreements and performed covert operations to destroy Pakistan’s nuclear program.”

He argues that in 2001 Mossad and RAW unleashed the codenamed ‘Dragon Policy’ aimed to create an all out ‘sectarian’ chaos within Pakistan, they hired mercenaries, drug lords and mafia figures to unleash the de-stabilization process.

Pakistan has no hope with the established politicians like Nawaz Sharif to President Zardari, their main concern when in power is not to deal with Mossad and RAW activities in Pakistan, but to just acquire as much wealth as they can.

Therefore the main question asked is will Imran Khan be able to deal with the growing subversive aims of Zionists in Pakistan and at the same time remain a ‘darling of the west’?

Already many Pakistanis are suspicious of him and it does not help his image when he takes time out of his busy schedule to fly to London to the aid of Conservative MP Zack Goldsmith his ex brother in law, and campaign on his behalf visiting mosques urging Muslims to vote for him.

Is Mr. Khan aware that this is the same Conservative Party whose leader once declared ‘I am a Zionist’ and over 80% of its MP’s are staunch members of ‘Friends of Israel’?

Does he also realize that two major Zionist funded British think tanks, ‘Centre for Social Cohesion’ and the ‘Policy Exchange’ known for their anti Muslim and Islam stance were set up by Conservative MP’s, one of them being Michael Gove who is now the Secretary of State for Education and has described “Islamism” as an ideology that is similar to fascism’.

Another fact that has cast a shadow on Mr. Khan’s motives and does not help his credibility is the actions of his ex wife Jemima Khan, who has always been at the forefront to support her ex husband, and been a well wisher of Pakistan.

In one of Ms Khan’s tweets she writes “Can’t believe we’re divorced and I’m still Imran’s Achilles’ heel”. According to most Pakistanis she is not an Achilles heel because she is Jewish, rather she is one if she persists in aligning herself with groups whose agenda is to ‘modernise Islam’ or against Muslims.
The fact she is a patron of the discredited Quilliam Foundation has cast many shadows on her well wishing stance.

Another baffling activity Jemima Khan has been at the centre of is the vocal and financial support she provided for Wiki leaks founder Julian Assange.

Gordon Duff from the respected Veterans Today website first highlighted how Wiki leaks was an Israeli intelligence operation, he wrote: “It only took Zbigniew Brzezinski Washington’s “establishment” foreign policy expert, a “New York minute” to spot Wiki leaks as an intelligence operation.

Wiki leaks Julian Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens is connected to the Rothschild Family who control the worlds banking system and are behind the formation of Israel. The house where Assange was “imprisoned” is owned by Vaughan Smith, the owner of Frontline Trust, a news organization that seeks to influence TV journalists. Frontline is funded by George Soros’ organization, Open Society Institute; George Soros is intimately intertwined with the Rothschild’s and is a former business partner of Jemima’s father James Goldsmith.

Jemima says the reason she supported Assange was because she believes in freedom of information and because she has

“…. personal interest in the revelations about Pakistan…”

According to General Hamid Gul, former Director General of ISI the Wikileaks revelations regarding Pakistan only harmed the country:

“The report has not said a word about Israel, nor does it give any disadvantage to US in the implementation of policies in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and other Muslim countries, which have been particularly targeted.”

In the meantime Mr. Khan has just picked out Scottish millionaire Mr. Azeem Ibrahim to be his special adviser, Mr. Ibrahim’s specialty is that he “He has worked on taskforces set up by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, advised the Turkish Government and has worked with various American bodies including the Pentagon, the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security”

This is the same Department of Homeland Security where Zionists hold key positions and where its second secretary Michael Chertoff was the main person to block any investigation of hundreds of Mossad spies detained in connection with the attacks on 9/11, he also started a witch hunt against Muslims, incarcerating over a 1000 innocents without any evidence, in an effort to take the attention off the Israelis spy ring.

As the country nears election time and opposition parties use every dirty trick against each other, no matter who wins, one fact is clear Israel’s secret war within Pakistan will continue, to not only manipulate and control the youth but to destabilize and denuclearize the country.
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Boycott Israel – Save India!!

Posted on May 21, 2012 | 

 

India’s veteran diplomat, M.K. Bhadrakumar, claimed the other day that India cannot be US’ poodle.

“There are times when India needs to stand up and speak out that the US’ regional policies – toward the Middle East and Central Asia – seriously endanger India’s long-term interests. To meekly behave, instead, like a poodle, as the Indian government has done on the Iran sanctions, may not even be the best opportunistic course available“.

However, he was proven wrong by Mumbai police which raided Madanpura office of Jama’at-e-Islami on the behest and instructions of the Israeli consulate in Mumbai. The police not only confiscated the pro-Nakba Day posters but also the office staff were called over the police station for investigation into their anti-Israel activities.

The posters confiscated by the police were not put up on public space but strung on the balcony on the first floor of office of India’ oldest Muslim religious party founded in 1941 in Lahore by Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi – top Indo-Pak Islamic reformer, religious scholar and author of 108 books on religion, politics and social topics.

The said posters had the following messages in context of Nakba Day when European Jews established Israel by expelling and uprooting 800,000 (63% of total population of British mandate Palestine in 1948) native Muslims and Christians.

“Boycott Israel – Save India!!, Free Palestine & Right of Return of the Refugees, and May 15th – Nakba Protests!! “

Local human rights activists have protested against police action via a petition to Maharashtra state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. In the letter, the authors have warned the state and central governments that Mumbai police action shows that India’s security forces have become Israel agents.

The petition claims that such pro-Israel thinking among some law enforcement official stems from state policy of sending them to Israel for the so-called anti-terrorism training which make these security officials pawn in the hands RAW-Mossad terrorism in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“This flawed training of our police by certified Islamophobes, has resulted in an increased wave of anti-Muslim xenophobia amongst our police & intelligence services, as has been evident in the persecution of Muslim youth in the course of the last two decades,” says the petition.

“Meanwhile, a significant number of Mossad agents have been identified & expelled from India for indulging in espionage, drug peddling & weapons smuggling. Also the links of racist Israel with the extreme right-wing Manuwadi forces, namely the BJP-RSS-VHP-BD, all stand exposed. Yet the secular Congress-led UPA turns a blind eye to the Mossad operations in our city & across the country,” adds the petition.

“Israel poses a grave security threat to the very sovereignty & unity of our country. Today, the dubious & perfidious role of the Zionist-Israeli Lobby in America & the Western world stands exposed & Israel stands at the bottom of public opinion across the world. Yet the ruling political elite in our country, do not seem to understand the obvious. Also the corrupting role of Israeli weapons manufacturers has been exposed by none less that the Defense Ministry itself, whereby 4 Israeli companies have been banned for bribing politicians, military officials & bureaucrats. The links of the Mossad & the Abhinav Bharat & Sanatan Sanstha terror organizations is also being probed due to the charge-sheet filed by Shaheed ATS Chief Hemant Karkare,” claim authors of the petition ( Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Aslam Ghazi, Jyoti Badekar & Arif Kapadia).

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North Lebanon: Tension, Political and Media Instigation on the Rise

FLC: Less than 24 hours after the Qatari travel advisory to Lebanon ... Beirut

'As if a magic wand ...'

Clashes in Beirut after Lebanese sheikh killed by army

Published Sunday, May 20, 2012



Lebanese soldiers take position in Tripoli's Sunni neighborhood
of Bab al-Tabbaneh on 17 May 2012. (Photo: AFP – Joseph Eid)



Clashes broke out in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Sunday night, after a Lebanese sheikh was shot and killed by the country's army in the northern district of Akkar.

Six people were injured following clashes near the Arab University in the city, the National News Agency (NNA) said.

"The open fire resulted from clashes that broke out between 2 local factions, which later escalated into using bombs and machine guns," the report said.

Elsewhere a number of roads were blocked in the Verdun area after protesters set fire to tires.
However the area was quiet by midnight, an Al-Akhbar correspondent confirmed.

Earlier in the day major Lebanese politicians demanded an investigation into the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed.

Abdel-Wahed and his companion Muhammad Hussein Merheb were killed in the town of Halba, the NNA said.

Abdel-Wahed

Both Prime Minister Najib Mikati and leader of the opposition Future Movement Saad Hariri called for an investigation into the killings.

The NNA article claimed Abdel-Wahed had been heading to a sit-in protest organized by the Future Movement but had failed to stop at a military checkpoint.

"The armed convoy of Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed came across a Lebanese Army checkpoint, and refused to abide by the Army's instruction and stop, what forces (sic) soldiers to shoot in its direction," it said, though the claim was not immediately verifiable.

The army confirmed in a statement that the two men had been shot but gave no details.

"The leadership of the army expresses deep regret for the death of the two victims...it will immediately form an investigative committee comprised of senior officers and military police under the relevant court," the statement said.

Some troops had pulled out of Akkar to prevent tensions from escalating after sporadic fighting over the past week, prompted by sectarian tensions in neighboring Syria.

Khaled Daher

Khaled Daher, a member of parliament from the anti-Syrian Future Movement party, said that the incident was a targeted hit.

"If shots were fired at the tires, we would say there was a mistake. But we consider this a direct targeting from the army," he told Reuters.

"Frankly, we do not want to see the army here because it works at the service of the Syrian regime," he said.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati offered his condolences and said he would be in contact with the Ministers of Defense and Interior to uncover more about the situation.

He added that he had called Daher to discuss the situation and would look into setting up an investigation.

Future Movement leader Saad Hariri also called for an independent probe into the killings.
Following the shooting there were increased tensions in the area, with many shops not opening for business and streets closed off.

Residents also burned tires on the streets, the NNA said.

Any violence following the deaths could threaten a tentative truce in the north of the country.
The arrest of a prominent Islamist last week led to a week of skirmishes between Sunni and Alawi armed groups in the country's second city of Tripoli.

An army-imposed truce appeared to hold over the weekend, but the Akkar killings could undermine such a deal.

(Al-Akhbar, Reuters)

North Lebanon: Tension, Political and Media Instigation on the Rise

Local Editor

Tension in the northern Lebanese region of Akkar has been on the rise since Sunday morning hours, following the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed at an army checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat.

According to sources, several men obsequious to MP Khaled al-Daher and the Future Party have cut-off the Tripoli International Highway Sunday afternoon, in the area of Al-Tebaneh between Abu Ali and Al-Maloula Roundabouts.

Also, another group of men ventured into cutting-off the roads leading to "Abdel-Hamid Karami Square" in Tripoli.

In parallel, a number of Future party MPs and officials launched an unprecedented campaign against the Lebanese army on the backdrop of the incident. As well, several media streams fueled the incitement, launching stances against the Lebanese army, accusing it of "killing and murder".
In details, security officials reported that Abdul Wahed's convoy refused to abide by the Army's instruction and stop, what forced soldiers to shoot in its direction. Abdul Wahed was accompanied by another religious figure, Mohammed Hussein Merheb, who was also killed.

A Sunni Emirate in the North

A few hours to the incident, armed men of the Future party supporters poured to the streets, in obedience to calls made by MPs Khaled al-Daher and Moeen Merehbi. The two Future MPs had called on the people to expel the Lebanese army and replace it with the Internal Security Forces in the region.

For its part, the Lebanese Army directorate issued a statement in which it expressed regret to the painful incident in which the Sheikh and his companion were killed. It also stated the army has already launched investigations into the incident.

The Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, appeared in a press conference at night to declare that the Lebanese judiciary authorities are following up on the investigations into the incident, stressing that those proven responsible will be severely punished. He expressed his regret to what he described an incident "painful to all Lebanon". He also called on the [Future Party] and the Lebanese media to stop fueling the situation, and play a major role in easing the current tensions.

MP al-Daher had claimed "There are some who covertly support the Syrian army, and want to weaken us," adding "we will not accept this savage practice some Lebanese army intelligence members have conducted against us."

Source: al-Intiqad, translated and edited by moqawama.org


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