What the rest of us have known all along

Do any of these conclusions or findings truly shock anyone?

Excerpts:

Israel has been accused of "shocking" and "completely immoral" behaviour by the UN's humanitarian chief because it dropped cluster bombs on Lebanon when a ceasefire with Hezbollah was in sight.
...
"What's shocking and I would say, to me, completely immoral, is that 90 per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Mr Egeland told the news conference.
...
Civilians returning to their homes in southern Lebanon are experiencing "massive problems," as a result of these unexploded munitions, Mr Egeland said.

"We're finding strikes that are in people's houses, in the middle of the street, around hospitals," said Chris Clark, program manager of the UN Mine Action Co-ordination Center in southern Lebanon. Approximately 250,000 Lebanese of the one million displaced cannot move back into their homes, many because of unexploded munitions.

"Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance," Mr Egeland declared.

UN and human rights organisations said yesterday that 13 people, including three children, had been killed between the August 14 cease-fire and Tuesday, and 46 people have been wounded. (Source: Times Online, Aug 31/06)

Salutations and greetings on the birth anniversary of Imam Ali Zainul Abedin (A.S.) - 5th Shaban

Beautiful sermons on the occasion of the birth anniversary of our 4th Imam - Imam Zainul Abedin (A.S.)

From respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi:

May 24, 2015 - 1436 (Husband/Wife family role, part 3)
August 7, 2008 - 1429
July 28, 2009 - 1430

From respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Zaki Baqri:

July 17, 2010 - 1431

• More on this spectacular personality here and here.

Greetings to all on the birth anniversary of Abbas A.S. - 4th Shaban

The Moon of the Hashemites - Abbas bin-Ali (A.S) (Photo credit: humbleslave)

Magnificent sermons on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Hazrat Abbas (A.S.) - the moon of the Bani Hashem

From respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi:

May 23, 2015 - 1436 (Husband/Wife family role, part 2)
June 14, 2013  - 1434
June 25, 2012 - 1433: balanced personality, restraining anger
July 6, 2011 - 1432:  discusses marriage/spouse selection
July 27, 2009 - 1430
Aug 6, 2008 - 1429
Aug 18, 2007 - 1428

From respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Zaki Baqri:

July 16, 2010 - 1431

• More on babul hawa’ij ("The door to fulfilling needs") Hazrat Abbas here and here
• Tohfa-e-Abbas

US probes Israel cluster bomb use

C'mon, does anyone believe the U.S. will chastise Israel in what's clearly a violation of International Law? Even if Israel broke its promise to the U.S. to go easy on civilians in its use of cluster bombs, U.S. election politics will make it impossible to condemn Israel, and it will instead find some way to creatively congratulate them.

Excepts:

...
US-made weapons have been found at many of 300 sites in south Lebanon hit by cluster bombs, according to the UN.
...
Washington has supplied Israel with cluster bombs since the 1970s, on the understanding that they would only be used against defined military targets.
...
The UN's Mine Action Coordination Centre says it has found 318 sites in south Lebanon where cluster bombs have been used.

"A lot of them are in civilian areas, on farmland and in people's homes, said spokeswoman Dalya Farran.

"We're finding a lot at the entrances to houses, on balconies and roofs," she said.

"Sometimes windows are broken and they get inside the houses."

"Most of them are from America," Ms Farran said.
...
According to the UN, eight Lebanese have been killed and at least 30 wounded by exploding ordnance left behind after the 14 August ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force.
...
Although cluster bombs themselves are not illegal under international law, many human rights groups believe their use in populated areas violates the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in the Geneva Conventions.
...
A congressional investigation after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 found Israel guilty of intentionally dropping cluster bombs in civilian areas.

A six year ban was imposed on further sales of the weapons to Israel.
...
But a senior White House official told the BBC that the current investigation is unlikely to lead to any serious repercussions. (Source: BBC, Aug 25/06)

Latest Editions of Al-Furqan

Latest editions of Respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi's Al-Furqan, entitled: Gender Apartheid or Respectable Interaction? and Respectable Interaction or Mixed Gathering?, are now available.

This edition and all past editions of Al-Furqan can be found here.

What arms?

Why tinker with perfection? Blogger Bill Appledorf lays it out eloquently best over here.

When is the MainStream Media (MSM) going to start to challenge some of Israel's blatantly ludricous claims?

Not only do they break International Law, they break their own laws as well

The bulk of the Israeli Cabinet is embroiled in scandals. High ranking members of the Israeli Leadership face charges ranging from sexual harrassment, to insider trading, to offering politcal favours, etc. How can we expect them to treat the Palestinans and Lebanese with justice when they can't do justice in representing their own people?

Excerpts:

...
This week also saw the resurfacing of four scandals involving Olmert, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, Kadima lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi and Justice Minister Haim Ramon.

Hanegbi, who chairs the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was charged on Monday with illegally securing positions for Likud Central Committee members and their family and friends while head of the Environment Ministry. It seems to be only a matter of time before he is forced to resign from the Knesset.

Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz officially charged Ramon with sexual harassment on Thursday. The indictment stems from an incident last month in which he allegedly forcibly kissed a government worker.

IDF commander Dan Halutz has admitted directing his bank to sell his NIS120,000 (US$27,000) stock portfolio hours after hearing of the abduction of two Israeli soldiers on 12 July that sparked the Lebanese conflict. He has refused to resign despite widespread calls for his ouster and increasing criticism of his leadership of the military campaign.

The state ombudsman is also reportedly preparing to summon Olmert and his wife for questioning over allegations that while he was mayor of Jerusalem, they received a discount on an apartment purchase equivalent to half a million US dollars. The deal was in return for helping the company that refurbished the unit to obtain municipal building permits. (Source: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=16544)

What if the shoe were on the other foot?

The U.N. Secretary General's comment's and "calling it like it is" are appreciated. However, is anyone holding their breath for the United Nation's Security Council (UNSC) to condemn Israel for blatantly breaking yet another U.N Resolution?

Excerpt:

...
"What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed," Mr. Siniora told reporters. "There is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel's hatred.

"I hope the international media transmits this picture to every person in the world so that it shows this criminal act, this crime against humanity that Israel has committed in this area and every region of Lebanon," the Western-backed prime minister added.

Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr, meanwhile, said Hezbollah was committed to the U.N.-imposed cease-fire.
...
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called the operation a violation of the UN truce, a spokesman said. (Source: Globe and Mail, Aug 19/2006)

Bush sounding more like Chancellor Palpatine every day

Apparently, the President of the U.S. has now declared himself above the law. So much for being a role model for Democracy and for showing respect for the Rule of Law.

Excerpts:

In the latest judicial rebuke of the Bush administration's tactics against terrorism, a federal judge in Detroit ruled Thursday that warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens violates the constitution and federal law. The decision is an embarrassment for President George Bush, but it also should be a source of shame for Congress. (Source: Toronto Star, Aug 19/06)

Israel out of control

Israel's respect for Palestinian's right to choose elected representatives seems to be non existent. They holed up the late Yasser Arafat in a compound until he died. Now they continue to detain elected representatives from its current government. Who are the real terrorists?

Excerpts:

Israeli forces have seized Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Nasser al-Shaer in a raid on his home in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (Source: BBC News, Aug 19/06)

Israel breaks ceasefire

I mean c'mon, they've ignored or broken enough U.N. resolutions in the past, so why not break the latest ceasefire resolution (UN Resolution 1701) and go against Israeli tradition?

Excerpts:

Israeli commandos launched a raid on eastern Lebanon on Saturday and battled Hezbollah fighters in the first large-scale violation of Monday's UN ceasefire. (Source: CBC Newsworld, Aug 19/06)

Dialogue not bombs and war

"The problem that President Bush has is in his mind he wants to solve everything with bombs. The time of the bomb is in the past. It's behind us. Today is the era of thoughts, dialogue and cultural exchanges." (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, 60 Minutes, Aug 13/06)

Speeches from the Aug 12/06 Rally in Toronto, Canada against Israeli agression in Lebanon/Palestine

Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 1
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 2
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 3
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 4
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 5
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 6
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 7
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 8
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 9
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 10
Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 - Part 11

The speeches were great, however, these two are my favourites:
Child Leading Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06

Unity and Solidarity at Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06

Aug 12/06 Rally in Toronto, Canada against Israeli crimes against humanity

Huge turnout! Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay, and Irwin Cotler are toast in the next election. Let the pictures tell the story themselves about today's rally in Toronto, Canada.

This says it all

Can't block the Light of Justice that shines in the hearts of these brave souls


When your being occupied its called Resistance NOT Terrorism

Another Holocaust? This time by whom? Oh the irony.

Freedom Fighter, Liberator, Occupation-buster, Syed Hasan Nasrallah

Save Lebanon and Save your Humanity

Harper's Complicity. At election time lets give Stephen Harper a "measured response"

The Innocents.

Talk about breeding Terrorism

Israel's shame.

The rest of the pictures can be found HERE.

ELECTRONICLEBANON.NET Public Service Announcement

Short Public Service Announcement about the crisis in Lebanon featuring Suheir Hammad and Danny Hoch. Presented by ElectronicLebanon.net

Latest Edition of Al-Furqan: The Shi'as of Lebanon: Part 2 of 2

Latest edition (August 17/06) of Respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi's Al-Furqan, entitled: The Shi'as of Lebanon: Part 2 of 2, is now available.

This edition and all past editions of Al-Furqan can be found here.

George Galloway on Israel's recent agression against Lebanon/Palestine

George Galloway on who the true terrorists are in this Lebanese/Israel conflict.

Aren't they supposed to be spreading Freedom and Democracy?

Some liberators.

U.S. soldiers drank whisky, hit golf balls before rape slaying of Iraqi teen

RYAN LENZ

Disturbing Excerpts:

BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. soldiers accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Iraqi girl drank alcohol and hit golf balls before the attack, and one of them grilled chicken wings afterward, an investigator told a U.S. military hearing Monday, citing a soldier's sworn statement.
...
According to Barker's sworn statement cited by Bierce, Green not only raped the girl but also shot her and her family members after telling his comrades repeatedly that he wanted to kill some Iraqis.
...
Bierce said Barker's statement made it clear that Green was very persistent about killing some Iraqis and kept bringing up the idea. At some point they decided to go to the house of the girl, whom they had seen passing by their checkpoint earlier.

Noam Chomsky interviewed by Kaveh Afrasiabi

Excerpts:

Noam Chomsky: The invasion itself is a serious breach of international law, and major war crimes are being committed as it proceeds. There is no legal justification.
...
The conclusion is underscored, dramatically, by the current upsurge of violence, which began after the capture of Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25. Every published Western "timeline" takes that as the opening event. Yet the day before, Israeli forces kidnapped two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother, and sent them to the Israeli prison system where they can join innumerable other Palestinians, many held without charges -- hence kidnapped. Kidnapping of civilians is a far worse crime than capture of soldiers.
...
When the World Court condemned Israel's "separation wall," even a US Justice, Judge Buergenthal, declared that any part of it built to defend Israeli settlements is "ipso facto in violation of international humanitarian law," because the settlements themselves are illegal.

Any low they will not stoop to?

Is their any low the courageous Israelis will not stoop to? Now they're trying to assassinate democratically elected leaders by poison.

Excerpts:

...
The envelope contained an orange tissue that emitted a strong smell, said Mr. Shaer's office manager, Abdel Basit Moatian, who opened the mail. He said it had a Tel Aviv postmark.

Israel has tried to poison Palestinian leaders in the past, and there were widespread allegations that Israel poisoned the late-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, an accusation that Israel vehemently denied.

Israeli officials declined to comment on the report.

A security guard who handled the envelope and another woman who was in the room at the time were taken to hospital and given oxygen, local hospital director Hosni Atari said. Mr. Atari said they were complaining of strong headaches and had briefly fainted.
...

Rally in Toronto against Israeli agression Aug 12/06 at 1p.m.

STOP ISRAEL'S BOMBING NOW!

Written by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War

Tuesday, 01 August 2006

Israel out of Lebanon and Palestine! No to NATO occupation! End Bush - Harper war drive! MASS RALLY & MARCH Saturday, August 12 1:00pm Israeli Consulate 180 Bloor Street West (west of Avenue Road, north side of Bloor) March to U.S. Consulate 360 University Avenue (east of University, south side of Armoury) Called by Canadian Arab Federation Palestine House Muslim Unity Group - Toronto Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation Canadian Peace Alliance Toronto Coalition to Stop the War Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Trade Unionists Against the War For more information, please e-mail info@caf.ca, visit www.caf.ca, or phone 416-493-8635 or 416-879-6766.

Lebanon Destroyed by Israel

A brief video about the suffering of Lebanese people at the hands of Israel

My name is Cindy and Bush killed my son.

Sheehan resumes protest near Bush's ranch

Aug. 6, 2006

Excerpts:

"Last summer we made a commitment to be here every time George Bush was supposed to be on vacation because he never met with me last summer. The troops are still in Iraq," said Sheehan, who recently returned from Jordan, where she and other U.S. anti-war activists joined Iraqi legislators in demanding a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. "We're going to be doing it until our goals are accomplished." (Source:ASSOCIATED PRESS, Toronto Star)

No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana

No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana

By Dahr Jamail
Inter Press Service
8-1-6

QANA (IPS)—Red Cross workers and residents of Qana, where Israeli bombing killed at least 60 civilians, have told IPS that no Hezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli air strike.

The Israeli military has said it bombed the building in which several people had taken shelter, more than half of them children, because the Army had faced rocket fire from Qana. The Israeli military has said that Hezbollah was therefore responsible for the deaths.

"There were no Hezbollah rockets fired from here," 32-year-old Ali Abdel told IPS. "Anyone in this village will tell you this, because it is the truth."

Abdel had taken shelter in a nearby house when the shelter was bombed at 1 am. When the bombings finally let up in the morning, he went back to the bombed shelter to search for relatives.

He found his 70-year-old father and 64-year-old mother both dead inside.

"They bombed it, and afterwards I heard the screams of women, children, and a few men -- they were crying for help. But then one minute after the first bomb, another bomb struck, and after this there was nothing but silence, and the sound of more bombs around the village."

Masen Hashen, a 30-year-old construction worker from Qana who lost several family members in the air strike on the shelter, said there were no Hezbollah rockets fired from his village. "Because if they had done that now, or in the past, all of us would have left. Because we know we would be bombed."

Qana had been a shelter because no rockets were being fired from there, survivors said. "When Hezbollah fires their rockets, everyone runs away because they know an Israeli bombardment will come soon," Abdel said. "That is why everyone stayed in the shelter and nearby homes, because we all thought we'd be all right since there were no Hezbollah fighters in Qana."

Lebanese Red Cross workers in the nearby coastal city of Tyre told IPS that there was no basis for Israeli claims that Hezbollah had launched rockets from Qana.

"We found no evidence of Hezbollah fighters in Qana," Kassem Shaulan, a 28-year-old medic and training manager for the Red Cross in Tyre told IPS at their headquarters. "When we rescue people or recover bodies from villages, we usually see rocket launchers or Hezbollah fighters if they are there, but in Qana I can say that the village was 100 percent clear of either of those."

Another Red Cross worker, 32-year-old Mohammad Zatar, told IPS that "we can tell when Hezbollah has been firing rockets from certain areas, because all of the people run away, on foot if they have to."

While IPS was interviewing people in Qana at the site of the shelter Monday, Israeli warplanes roared overhead. Vibrations from nearby bombing rattled many buildings. At least three villages in southern Lebanon were attacked in Israeli air strikes Monday.

Following the international outcry over the air strike, Israel declared a 48-hour cessation of air strikes in order to carry out a military probe into the Qana killings.

Despite the false Israeli statement that it was halting its air strikes, Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio that the stoppage "does not signify in any way the end to the war."

Israel has rejected mounting international pressure to end the 20-day-old war against Hezbollah. The United Nations has indefinitely postponed a meeting on a new peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon.

While defending the Israeli air strike on the civilians in Qana, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman told the UN Security Council that Qana was "a hub for Hezbollah", and said that Israel had urged villagers to leave.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said in reply to questions in New York Monday that the bombing was "totally, totally its (Hezbollah's) fault."

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail

All images, photos, photography and text are protected by United States and international copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link to the http://DahrJamailIraq.com website. Website by photographer Jeff Pflueger's Photography Media http://jeffpflueger.com . Any other use of images, photography, photos and text including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website, copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail. Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

Standing up for Canada

Standing up for Canada? The Harper government’s refusal to demand an end to the bombings of Lebanon

by David Orchard

July 25, 2006

For two weeks, tiny Lebanon has been pounded by bombs, shells and high tech missiles from land, sea and air. Its coast is blockaded, its airport smashed. Sixty plus bridges have been destroyed; roads, schools, ports, churches, mosques, grain depots, radio, television and telephone towers, ambulances, power stations, fuel depots, a hospital, milk factory, pharmaceutical plant and entire residential city blocks pulverized. Frantic relatives with bare hands try to free those buried alive.

Officially 384 Lebanese civilians are dead, one third of them children, thousands wounded, some 800,000 rendered homeless. The numbers are rising daily.

A million tourists, expats and “snowbirds,” including roughly 50,000 Canadians, were trapped in the country. Twenty fleeing civilians were burned alive by Israeli missiles after being ordered from their homes.

The Israeli government stated that the bombardment of its neighbour is a reaction to the capture of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas operating from Lebanon, and that its operations will continue indefinitely. Seventeen Israeli civilians have been killed by shells fired from Lebanon after Israel began bombing.

The Lebanese prime minister begs for international intervention and a cessation of hostilities saying his country has suffered “unimaginable losses” and is being “ripped to shreds.” Jan Egeland, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, called the bombing “horrific” and “a violation of humanitarian law.” The secretary general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, demands an immediate ceasefire: “The excessive use of force is to be condemned. Israel’s disproportionate use of force and collective punishment of the Lebanese people must stop.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, issued a warning concerning war crimes. “International law demands accountability. The scale of killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control.”

Canada is a charter member of the United Nations with a long, active history in international affairs, peacekeeping and mediation. The current Canadian government was recently elected promising to “stand up for Canada.”

With 50,000 Canadians in harm’s way what has been our government’s response? Canada’s new UN ambassador, John McNee, told the Security Council that Israel’s action in Lebanon “was an exercise in its right to self-defence.” The minister of foreign affairs, Peter MacKay, refused point blank to endorse the secretary general’s call for a ceasefire. Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated: “Israel’s response, under the circumstances, has been measured.” He announced that it was “too early” to call for a ceasefire. These words, in essence, signalled a green light from Canada for the bombing to continue.

Eight visiting Canadians, including four children, were killed by Israeli bombs. The Canadian government made no protest. Is this Mr. Harper’s idea of “standing up for Canada?”

Anyone can understand the difficulty of putting together a mass evacuation under bombardment; what cannot be understood, or forgiven, is the refusal of our government to demand an end to the hostilities creating the chaos and suffering.

The Harper government’s abject response to the murder of Canadians and its refusal to demand an end to the bombing constitutes an abandonment of its duty to protect Canadians and to defend the rule of law on behalf of all humanity.

If one ignores that 400,000 Palestinians driven from their land have existed for decades in refugee camps in Lebanon; that Israel routinely crosses borders, captures and assassinates Palestinians, including elected leaders; that it has over 9,000 in its jails, including some Lebanese; and if one accepts Mr. Harper’s thesis that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, then a comparison could be made with Britain responding to the capture of two of its soldiers by the IRA in Northern Ireland by reducing Dublin’s airport and the rest of Ireland’s infrastructure to rubble. Who could defend that as a “measured” response?

Gideon Levy, writing in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, said, “In Gaza, a soldier is abducted from the army of a state that frequently abducts civilians from their homes and locks them up for years without a trial -- but only we’re allowed to do that. And only we’re allowed to bomb civilian population centres.”

Our government in Ottawa has, whether for reasons of religion or ideology, sided uncritically with a foreign government, in this case Israel’s, at the expense of our own national interests as Canadians and law abiding members of the world community.

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Israeli tanks, bulldozers enter southern Gaza

Excerpts:

...On Thursday morning, about 50 tanks, accompanied by bulldozers, pushed into an area near the Gaza-Egypt border before dawn, taking up positions near the long-closed Gaza airport, residents and Palestinian security officials said. The forces advanced about eight kilometres, the farthest since the offensive started in late June, blocking a main highway and the eastern entrance to Rafah, a town on the Egyptian border....

I can think of only one reason why the Israeli's are making use of bulldozers in this latest offensive and its not to recover the captured Israeli soldier. Israel's use of bulldozers is for one reason alone: deepening its illegal occupation of Palestine.

...Later, forces fired a tank shell at residents gathering in the area after daybreak, killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding three people, one a 4-year-old girl, hospital and security officials said. Three more bodies were brought to the hospital early Thursday, but they were not believed to be militants, medics said...(Source:SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press, Globe and Mail, Aug 3/06)

Did I read this right, the Israeli's fired a tank shell at a 8 year-old boy and 4 year old girl??? Geez, aren't the Israeli's a brave and heroic bunch. Is anyone keeping count of the number of blatant war crimes Israel's has committed in this latest offensive alone? I've lost count.

War crimes and Lebanon

War crimes and Lebanon

Thursday August 3, 2006
The Guardian

Tariq Ali
Noam Chomsky
Eduardo Galeano
Howard Zinn
Ken Loach
John Berger
Arundhati Roy
London

The US-backed Israeli assault on Lebanon has left the country numb, smouldering and angry. The massacre in Qana and the loss of life is not simply "disproportionate". It is, according to existing international laws, a war crime.

The deliberate and systematic destruction of Lebanon's social infrastructure by the Israeli air force was also a war crime, designed to reduce that country to the status of an Israeli-US protectorate. The attempt has backfired. In Lebanon itself, 87% of the population now support Hizbullah's resistance, including 80% of Christian and Druze and 89% of Sunni Muslims, while 8% believe the US supports Lebanon. But these actions will not be tried by any court set up by the "international community" since the US and its allies that commit or are complicit in these appalling crimes will not permit it.

It has now become clear that the assault on Lebanon to wipe out Hizbullah had been prepared long before. Israel's crimes had been given a green light by the US and its loyal British ally, despite the opposition to Blair in his own country.

In short, the peace that Lebanon enjoyed has come to an end, and a paralysed country is forced to remember a past it had hoped to forget. The state terror inflicted on Lebanon is being repeated in the Gaza ghetto, while the "international community" stands by and watches in silence. Meanwhile, the rest of Palestine is annexed and dismantled with the direct participation of the US and the tacit approval of its allies.

We offer our solidarity and support to the victims of this brutality and to those who mount a resistance against it. For our part, we will use all the means at our disposal to expose the complicity of our governments in these crimes. There will be no peace in the Middle East while the occupations of Palestine and Iraq and the temporarily "paused" bombings of Lebanon continue.

Latest Edition of Al-Furqan: The Shi'as of Lebanon: Part 1 of 2

Latest edition (August 3/06) of Respected Alim, Hujjatul Islam Wal Muslimeen Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi's Al-Furqan, entitled: The Shi'as of Lebanon: Part 1 of 2, is now available.

This edition and all past editions of Al-Furqan can be found here.

Qana Massacre excuse

Israel responds flippantly to Qana Massacre II by saying there were terrorists in the area. In this case the Israel claim was terrorists were launching missles from near the compound that they bombed killing over 34 Lebanese civilian women and children.

Isn't that what they say to all their war crimes, that there were terrorists in the vicinity?

Excerpts:

"Israel has acknowledged targeting the building between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. yesterday morning, saying the attack was a response to Hezbollah fire from the area. That charge will likely never be proved or disproved. There was no destroyed truck at the site that might have been a mobile missile launcher; no mangled military equipment."(Mark McKinnon, Globe and Mail, 07/31/06)

Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.