If Barak Obama’s association with 1960s radical William Ayers is a critical issue in this campaign, then Sen. John McCain’s role in protecting the actions of his father in the deaths of 34 American sailors is an issue, too.
While most Americans know all about the Ayers controversy, few know that McCain’s father, Navy Admiral John McCain Jr., was involved in the cover-up of the Israeli assault on the U.S.S. Liberty on June 8, 1967.
On that day, Israeli fighter jets, torpedo boats and helicopter assault ships killed 34 sailors and wounded 174 others during the Arab-Israeli war.
McCain and pro-Israel activists insist the attack was an “accident.” But eyewitnesses on the ship, American veterans in uniform who went into the Mediterranean Sea as champions of Israel, insist Israel wanted to sink the ship to force the United States to join the war against Egypt, then a Soviet client.
Mohammed Arabi, 84, a survivor of the Kafr Qassem massacre, stands by the graves of the 47 villagers killed by Israeli police in 1956. Jonathan Cook / The National
Kafr Qassem, Israel // In a conflict that has produced its share of suffering and tragedy, the name of Kafr Qassem lives on in infamy more than half a century after Israeli police gunned down 47 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in the village.
Yesterday, Kafr Qassem’s inhabitants, joined by a handful of Israeli Jewish sympathisers, commemorated the anniversary of the deaths 52 years ago by marching to the cemetery where the victims were laid to rest.
Palestinian Fishing Boats Attacked by Israeli gunboats
For Immediate Release 31 October 2008
At 10:00 am Cyprus time, three Israeli gunboats attacked Palestinian fishing boats in the territorial waters of Gaza. Eleven internationals have accompanied the fishermen on five of the boats. The internationals were from the Free Gaza Movement and had landed on the shores of Gaza on October 29 aboard the SS DIGNITY.
According to David Schermerhorn, one of the internationals on board, “Three naval vessels attacked us with machine gun fire and water cannons. All three boats have machine guns on board, one of them has a huge water cannon. The water from the cannon was so fierce, it blasted a lot of the equipment overboard as well as my GPS locator. At the time of the attack, we were about 9 miles offshore fishing. Several of us got on the radio to the Israeli navy and shouted, “We are human rights watchers. We are unarmed internationals, and we are recording everything you are doing. They completely ignored us and continued menacing all of the boats.”
As David was talking to us, one of the gunboats came back to within 45 meters, shearing the water and making it difficult for the small boat to steer its course.
For More Information, Please Contact:
Greta Berlin (Cyprus) +357 99 081 767 / iristulip@gmail.com
Osama Qashoo (Cyprus) +44 (0)78 3338 1660 / osamaqashoo@gmail.com
Angela Godfrey Goldstein (Jerusalem) +972 (0)54 736 6393 / angela@icahd.org
Yeah man, when I first heard this track i was really disappointed. Busta Rhymes is a genius to me musically, he is someone who pioneered a style and someone I grew up listening to since the age of 13. LONS was something huge in my life, and the Coming still is one of my favorite albums of all time. I remember first seeing Busta in videos and thinking “wow, now there is man that can express himself FREELY”. I have everything up the Big Bang on CD in my house, and I will probably buy B.O.M.B. ( I Download, but buy albums of artists that I respect. Im a product fiend-ain’t nothing like cd cases and cover art)
But man, you know, the time and effort put into the hook by Ron Browz was really really really really depressing. At a time when our brothers and sisters are dying worldwide, we are subject to so much racism and insanity, I would want or expect a brother of this stature to speak on our people in a way that is intellectual, understanding and of growth. We, as arabs, cannot be misrepresented or slept on anymore. It is our time to be seen as the rich culture that we are (pun intended- I’m taking rich like Babylon, Mesopotamia, ancient civilization, mathematics, the wheel, science, NUMBERS!!!) . I did this specifically as a response and NEVER a diss track. I would not even want to disrespect someone back. The only person that pissed me off here is the producer and some of the content in the verses. The hook is jibberish, it is not even arabic. If you listen closely to what the producer is saying, it is similar to what you use to hear in old Arnie movies where Arabs die every 2 seconds. The misrepresentative forces of Hollywood and in North America have aided in the modern day destruction of the Middle East, and the rise of certain states that are ‘in bed’ with the American military and government complex. I do not blame the author, I blame the teacher. The ignorance towards Arab culture permeates on many levels and this is just an example of it. I remember growing up listening to Redman and one “Pick it up” he says ‘That red dot on your forehead, its not cuz you Arabian’. Arabs don’t have red dots on our foreheads, that is an Indian thing. Hence where I reached the boiling point. After having studied and traced back our history and relearning my ancestry and the origins of who we are, this is something many intellectuals such as Edward Said, Jack Shaheen and many more would not stand for. and our generation shouldn’t either.
According to Atrios (via), when Senator Barack Obama appears on her show Thursday, MSNBC pundit Rachel Maddow will likely challenge him from the left.
Maddow will assist in marketing Obama’s muscular humanitarian interventionist credentials. She will not produce a challenge from the left but will encourage liberal bonding in nauseating bellicosity.
GAZA CITY, FREE PALESTINE (29 October 2008) – This morning I walked to the Indian Ocean and made salt in defiance of the British Occupation of India. This morning I marched in Selma, I stood down tanks in Tiananmen Square, and I helped tear down the Berlin Wall. This morning I became a Freedom Rider.
The Freedom Riders of the 21st Century are sailing small boats into the Gaza Strip in open defiance of the Israeli Occupation and blockade. This morning I arrived in Gaza aboard the SS Dignity, part of a Free Gaza Movement delegation of twenty seven doctors, lawyers, teachers, and human rights activists from across the world, including Mairead Maguire – the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
When I close my eyes, I still hear the crash of ocean waves, I still feel the warm sun on my face, and I still taste salt from the sea spray. When I close my eyes, I can still see the Israeli warship that tried to intimidate us when we reached the twenty-mile line outside Gaza, and I can still see a thousand cheering people crowding around our ship when we refused to be intimidated and finally reached port in Gaza City. Today, the proudest boast in the free world is truly, “Nam, Nehnu Nastatyeh!” – “Yes, We Can!”
For More Information, Please Contact:
Greta Berlin (Cyprus) +357 99 081 767 / iristulip@gmail.com
Osama Qashoo (Cyprus) +44 (0)78 3338 1660 / osamaqashoo@gmail.com
Angela Godfrey Goldstein (Jerusalem) +972 (0)54 736 6393 / angela@icahd.org
LARNACA- The Free Gaza Movement is delighted to announce that their third boat, the Dignity, carrying 27 crew and passengers, arrived in Gaza at 8:10 Gaza time, in spite of Israeli threats to stop them. In the pouring rain, the boat pulled into port amid cheers from the people of Gaza and tears from the passengers. David Schermerhorn, a crew member called an hour before the boat entered Gazan waters to say, “There is a rainbow stretching across the Mediterranean from where we are right now.”
Yesterday, the Israeli Navy said they would stop our vessel once it reached Israel’s territorial waters. Apparently to save face, they said they would harm our boat, arrest us and tow us IF we entered Israeli waters. The problem for Israel is that the Dignity had no intention of getting anywhere near those waters.
It rained today in Cyprus, a rain the Cypriots really need. Those of us who were getting ready to send another delegation to Gaza worried the weather would prevent us from leaving. But by 3:30 pm the rain began to stop, the sun came out, late-afternoon rays shining through the flags that draped our new boat, the DIGNITY. We had worked so hard over the past two months to keep the boat safe.
Several times over the past week, people had said that Israel was looking for the FREE GAZA, asking port authorities where it was and when we were going. So today was another triumph for the human spirit.
Twenty-seven passengers and crew were on board, grinning and waving at the media gathered below on the docks. All the hard work and all the frustration were worth it as they crowded around the upper deck of the new boat, posing for photos. JOE FALLISI, a passenger on board and an Italian tenor, sang as the boat pulled out. Once again, the Cypriot authorities escorted the boat out and on its way to Gaza.
Israel says they will stop us and not allow us into Gaza. How cruel to threaten to stop a boat full of non-violent people like MAIREAD MAGUIRE and DR. MUSTAFA BARTHOUTHI. Why would they want to send doctors away from injured children? What are they so afraid of that they would want to shoot instead of talk? Mairead Maguire said it perfectly today, “If we had continued to fight instead of talk, Northern Ireland still would have no peace.”
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press Writers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin’s signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.
“We’re building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets,” Palin said during the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate.
Despite Palin’s boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.
And contrary to the ballyhoo, there’s no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.
In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:
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