Henry Siegman, the author of this article in the Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, is a distinguished Jewish American.  He  has written some of the most thoughtful and cogent criticisms of Israel's occupation policies, prominent among these are Israel's Lies and The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam, both published in the London Review of Books.

If a people who so recently experienced such unspeakable inhumanities cannot understand the injustice and suffering its territorial ambitions are inflicting, what hope is there for the rest of us?

By Henry Siegman, Ha’aretz, 11 June 2010

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israel-s-greatest-loss-its-moral-imagination-1.295600

Henry Siegman, director of the U.S./Middle East Project, is a visiting research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is a former Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations and, before that, was national director of the American Jewish Congress from 1978 to 1994.

Following Israel’s bloody interdiction of the Gaza Flotilla, I called a life-long friend in Israel to inquire about the mood of the country. My friend, an intellectual and a kind and generous man, has nevertheless long sided with Israeli hardliners. Still, I was entirely unprepared for his response. He told me—in a voice trembling with emotion—that the world’s outpouring of condemnation of Israel is reminiscent of the dark period of the Hitler era.

He told me most everyone in Israel felt that way, with the exception of Meretz, a small Israeli pro-peace party. “But for all practical purposes,” he said, “they are Arabs.”

READ FULL ANALYSIS ONLINE

Phi Beta Iota:  Ha’aretz is our favorite Jewish publication, consistently both honest and intelligent, which one cannot say about any of the mainstream Israel or US (including CNN) media “sources.”  The USA has been infected by Israel, the neo-conservatives being the primary conduit for this fatal disease of moral and mental incapacitation, and the liberal Democrats in turn infected by their counterparts within the two-party tyranny that does not represent 70% of the eligible voters of America, 43% (and growing) of whom have declared their independence from the corrupt and despicable tragic farce called “democratic government” in America.  It is neither democratic, nor a government in the proper sense of the word.

Obama as Moral Dupe: Will Erdogan Blink?

By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY

Counterpunch

A recent article by Patrick Cockburn, one of the ablest reporters covering the Middle East, provides an excellent character portrait of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan. It is certainly consistent with what little I have been able to learn about this fascinating politician. Regardless of what you may think of Erdogan, and he has many detractors (I am not one), he is certainly establishing himself as an influential world leader who must be reckoned with in an emerging multi-polar world.

Cockburn's report is must reading, because Erdogan has maneuvered himself onto the moral high ground in a very serious crisis he did not create. Consider please the following:

By standing tall against Israel's murderous commando attack on the unarmed ship in international waters that was carrying aid to the besieged inhabitants of Gaza, and by promising to be on another ship trying to break the blockade, Erdogan has set an example that contrasts sharply with the latest generation of pusillanimous leaders in the United States. They have refused to condemn Israel's attack, even though a US citizen was among those murdered — thus continuing the pattern of unprincipled moral weakness that began when President Johnson refused to act decisively after the Israelis deliberately attacked the USS Liberty in international waters in June 1967, murdering over 30 American sailors.

Not surprisingly, Erdogan has become the newest bête noire of the neocons.

FULL STORY ONLINE

Afghanistan: An explosion in Arghandab District, Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan killed at least 39 people and injured 73 others, Afghan officials reported. The Taliban attacked a wedding party on Wednesday evening.

Comment: This attack is noteworthy for two reasons, in addition for its savagery. First is the Taliban still are fighting to control or to maintain their position in Arghandab District, after six years. The second point is there are no anti-Taliban demonstrations by the locals over the deaths of non-combatant civilians, as there would be if a NATO attack had killed the civilians. Such attacks violate Mullah Omar's code of conduct published last year, but there is no outrage or punishment mechanism, it seems, for rogue Taliban operations.

Another event reported today is that the Taliban executed a seven year old child in Helmand Province for cooperating with the Afghan government. Again, no demonstrations or outrage.

The US and NATO are paying lots for Afghan information operations specialists, who need to pay closer attention.