{RAIN} Articles
Below is a feed from the Research and Information Network (RAIN), a blog which exposes events from the Political & Religious worlds and asks probing questions about the functioning of the societies we live in.
British Jewish group sparks new outrage with condemnation of Gaza blockade
By Saul Sadka - Haaretz Fri., February 01, 2008
LONDON - A controversial coalition of prominent Jewish activists and academics has reignited controversy in the British Jewish community after taking out an paid advertisement in The Times this week calling for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza strip and accusing the state of breaching international law.
“Independent Jewish Voices” was formed a year ago and counts Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and actor Stephen Fry among its prominent signatories. Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm is also a signatory though neither he nor Fry and Pinter - the groups most recognisable names - signed Wednesday’s statement. Advertisement
The group was formed to provide an alternative to the Board of Deputies of British Jews - a cross communal Jewish organisation dating back to 1760 - who the IJV felt were inauthentically presenting themselves as the exclusive voice of Judaism in Britain. IJV members say that the Board of Deputies refuses to allow criticism of Israel and this presents a unrepresentative picture of Jewish opinion in the U.K.
The statement which appeared on the inside pages of the paper was signed by 250 of the groups members. Entitled “End the siege of Gaza!”, the statement condemned Israel’s actions in blockading Gaza as a violation of international law, and also called for a halt to Palestinian rocket attacks.
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Saudi Arabia: South African whistle-blower in hospital sleaze goes missing
By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan - Arab News 31-01-2008
RIYADH, A South African nurse, who has been missing from Riyadh since November, has called her family from an undisclosed location in the Kingdom where she is supposedly being held. Dannelene Noach, 54, who had been working at a hospital in Riyadh for around seven years, went missing last year after blowing the whistle on alleged irregularities at the hospital where she worked. “We have requested for a meeting with Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman through the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the case of the missing nurse…Our Ambassador John Davis will meet with the governor,” said Duke Kent-Brown, deputy chief of the South African Embassy. He added that the South African Embassy has no knowledge of the nurse’s whereabouts. “We are using the diplomatic channel to solve the problem and once the missing nurse is traced, we will seek consular access,” he added.
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Action Alert: Al-Arian Collapses on 23rd Day of Hunger Strike
my occupied territory February 15, 2007 Dr. Sami Al-Arian, the political prisoner who is being unlawfully detained by the US government, has collapsed in prison in Virginia and was subsequently transferred to a medical facility in North Carolina. Just this week, I wrote about the hunger strike that Al-Arian began about 23 days ago in protest of his continued detention despite a plea agreement with prosecutors. Read my last post to find out more about the broadcast interview with Al-Arian and the details of his case.
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Palestinian ministers face blanket US ban
Blow to unity cabinet in run up to three-way talks· Fatah and independents to be treated ’same as Hamas’ Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem - The Guardian Friday February 16, 2007 American officials have told the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that they will boycott all ministers in a new coalition cabinet unless the government meets international conditions, including recognition of Israel, Palestinian officials said yesterday. The warning indicates the extent of Washington’s unease at the agreement reached in Mecca last week between the rival Palestinian groups, Hamas and Fatah. It comes just before a meeting in Jerusalem on Monday between the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and Mr Abbas.
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Information Warfare, Psy-ops and the Power of Myth
By Mike Whitney “ICH 02/15/07 ” The bombing of the Golden Dome Mosque in Samarra is the cornerstone of Bush’s psychological operations (psy-ops) in Iraq. That’s why it is critical to have an independent investigation and discover who is really responsible. The bombing has been used as a “Pearl Harbor-type” event which has deflected responsibility for the 650,000 Iraqi casualties and more than 3 million refugees. These are the victims of American occupation not civil war. The bombing was concocted by men who believe that they can control the public through perception management. In practical terms, this means that they create events which can be used to support their far-right doctrine. In this case, the destruction of the mosque has been used to confuse the public about the real origins of the rising sectarian tensions and hostilities. The fighting between Sunni and Shiite is the predictable upshot of random bombings and violence which bears the signature of covert operations carried out by intelligence organizations. Most of the pandemonium in Iraq is the result of counterinsurgency operations (black-ops) on a massive scale not civil war.
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This scapegoating is rolling back the gains of anti-racism
Martin Jacques Anti-terror stunts and a barrage of propaganda are demonising Muslims and making Islamophobia the acceptable face of racism - The Guardian Thursday February 15, 2007 Predictably enough, the action of the police in last year’s Forest Gate raid has been excused with the mildest of rebukes. Out of more than 150 complaints, only a tiny number were upheld. The whole operation, you will recall, was a figment of the security services’ imagination. A fortnight ago, there was another spectacular anti-terrorist operation, this time in Birmingham, concerning an alleged plot to kidnap a Muslim member of the armed forces. The pattern of these operations is now well established. The police swoop on an area, make dozens of arrests, accompanied by lurid media reports about the would-be plotters’ intentions. There have now been charges, although an innocent party who was arrested and then released has given a disturbing account of his experience in custody. The most alarming example was last summer, when it was alleged there was a plot hatched in Pakistan to blow up as many as 10 aircraft, which resulted in a huge security clampdown at Heathrow and new hand-luggage rules. But, despite a number of charges, a degree of skepticism would be wise, given the experience of cases such as the ricin plot that never was.
