How stupid can the thought police get?

The short answer? Very, very, very stupid.
And dangerous.

I'm relating of course to the "Naqbe" law, which, if passed, will forbid Israeli citizens to undertake public activities in commemoration of the Palestinian catastrophe, the Naqbe.

Democracy includes the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. According to the proposed law, indicating "Naqbe Day" will be a criminal offence. Israel has never really been a true democracy according to accepted international standards, but the current government are showing their true and very ugly face.

The law proposal is supported by the minister of justice, Yacov Ne'eman as well as by the minister of education, Gideon Sa'ar. When similar racist law proposals were suggested a few years ago, they would be judged as racist and non-democratic by the knesset's legal councellor and find their way to their proper place, the nearest garbage can.

I don't think we can ever create a true peace with the Palestinians, if we do not recognize their catastrophe, when the majority of them became refugees and lost almost all they had. By making the very mentioning of the Naqbe an offence, we are creating yet more distance from a true peace agreement. And it is not the politicians who will be paying the price.
All of us will do so. Everybody's blood is red.

Samih Jabareen still under arrest, demo on saturday

Samih Jabareen's arrest was prolonged yesterday.
Samih, a theatre student living in Jaffa, but originally from Um El Fahm, was arrested on February 10th during a demo in Um El Fahm, against the arrival of right wing extremists who, intent on provoking for the sake of winning another few votes for their cause came to Um Al Fahm.

Samih is outspoken, witty and sharp, charismait, if you like, able to inspire others.
I do not always agree with his views, but i very much respect his freedom to epxress what he believes in.
His arrest should worry us all.

A demo will be held outside the "Jalameh" prisn this saturday (February the 21st) at 12.00

The only democ.... oops

Israel likes to call itself "the only true democracy in the Middle East" and in comparison to some of our neighbours Israeli media indeed are relatively free and elections relatively democratic. But everything is relative.
Today Norman Finkelstein was refused entry to Israel (in order to travel onwards to the occupied territories) and deported.
So much for our democracy. I don't necessarily agree with everything Norman Finkelstein has to say. And perhaps i would use different wordings.
But a true democracy should not be scared of criticism. A true democracy should welcome political discourse.

But then i guess Israel isn't really a true democracy.

Trying to tell the truth about the "liberation" of Jaffa

Some 20 - 30 demonstrators and at least 40-50 police men, including special forces (Yasam) and border police.
In spite of the law, none of those last two groups wore name tags on their uniforms.

At the etzel museum a small audience listens to a sound & light heroism performance,
We are kept at "a safe" distance, but using old pots and sticks as well as small flutes we raise a lot of noise.
Banners tell the story of the naqbe in Jaffa, of the acts of terror carried out by Etzel against civilians. Sixty years ago, the naqbe.

Reuven Abergil tells the story of how that happened, while the Brits and the Hagana conveniently looked in the other direction. They controlled the road blocks on the way to Jaffa and the Etzel people dressed to look like local Arabs, passed through with their weapons and explosives.
Bombs hidden inside a watermelon cart and a truck exploded in Jaffa's market. Children and women were murdered. The aim was to create terror and make the population want to flee away.

The police tried to force us to another location, close to the Turkish railway station, where no one passes by and no one can see nor hear us. So much for democracy. So much for our right to express our views and be heard.
We disagree to move to that far away spot. In reaction they bring iron fences and "cage us in".
More police arrive on the scene.

The atmosphere becomes uneasy, then violent.

Four (?) people are arrested, some are lightly wounded, one journalist's press card appears to have been taken away by a police man who refuses to identify himself. Some of the police become very violent.

The police move us even further away in a concentrated and violent effort. It appears the noise we make bothers some of the "etzel heroes".
Their public doesn't really want to know the true story.
But the true story can be well learned from the etzel themselves. Prior to "pc" language in the fifties and sixties, they published books about their "heroism" against Jaffa's civilian population as well as the acts of looting Jaffa's homes and stores.

The police actively assist in telling the Etzel narrative.
They do all to keep us quiet.

But we won't, we won't be quiet.


And by the way, i found a camera in the area of the demo. I think it belonged to participants, please contact me.

Wikileaks censored?

Wikileaks was (or is?) a site publishing, well, leaks.
Documents put online by people who thought it important to share materials that NEEDED to be leaked, to safeguard democracy, to show what is really going on.
Information about major bank frauds in Kenya, about what's going on in Guantanamo, about Iraq...

No longer so. Wikileaks appears to be down
By court order , so Alternet informs us. Democracy right?

But, the creators foresaw censorship, so the leaking continues elsewhere