Is the poverty crisis in Israel “at least as dangerous as the nuclear threat from Iran”, as one Israeli organisation claimed? I don’t know, but it’s not far off, I don’t think. Israeli society cannot truly grow and be prosperous — economically, in attempting to get peace with its neighbours, etc. — if it leaves so many behind.
Related reading:Tags: 2011 Israeli social justice protests, Avoda, Bibi Netanyahu, Food, Food security, Iran, Israel, Latet, New Israel Fund, Poverty, Shelly Yachimovich Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/11/30/1-in-5-israelis-are-food-insecure-live-below-the-poverty-line/
In today’s Age: “AUSTRALIA’S Jewish community must stop slavishly following the Israeli government line, which is compromising the most essential values of democracy, influential Israeli journalist David Landau said yesterday.” With all the shtick in Israel right now, with curbs on freedom of expression and democracy, and the continued occupation, and with some in the community unwilling to face the music, this message is a timely and poignant one.
Related reading:Tags: Australia, Australian Jewry, Bibi Netanyahu, David Landau, Democracy, Ha'aretz, Iran, Israel, New Israel Fund, Occupation, Palestinians, The Age Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/11/24/australias-jews-urged-to-take-more-critical-line/
Is Israel about to attack Iranian nuclear sites? Bibi sure wants to. Everything points to Ehud Barak wanting to as well. “No leader has either the moral authority or the strategic possibility of endangering tens of thousands of citizens before doing everything possible to make Israel beloved of the West. That is how Yitzhak Rabin made strategic decisions…”
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/09/22/netanyahu-must-be-stopped-from-attacking-iran/
PBS’s “Tehran Bureau” posts an opinion piece from Tehran-based Afrooz Mahdavi, who believes there are strong signs to support this: According to the officer, who insisted on anonymity, forces loyal to Ahmadinejad have allegedly been secretly negotiating political and military cooperation with foreign states that are Iran’s nominal enemies. According to the Revolutionary Guard officer, one such state — a NATO member — was in the final stages of reaching [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/08/20/is-irans-ayatollah-khamenei-preparing-to-arrest-ahmadinejad/
From the Guardian: Tehran city council has named a street after an American activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003, a local newspaper has reported. The report in the Hamshahri, a daily affiliated with Tehran’s authorities, said the council has named the street Rachel Aliene Corrie. It said the sign would be placed in the city centre, but did not [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/08/19/iran-names-street-after-rachel-corrie/
Over in Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in quite a bitter power with the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khameni. The Guardian now reports, via an Iranian news agency, that Khameni has hit back: Close allies of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Several people said [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/05/06/in-iran-high-level-supporters-of-ahmadinejad-arrested-for-sorcery/
A very good article in Tablet magazine offering some insight into the ethical and moral questions, with specifically Jewish-related answers, from a new book called “How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III.” Israel has been called “a one-bomb state” in that a single megaton-sized bomb detonated in Tel Aviv could accomplish such destruction. Many prefer to live in denial of this possibility. The people of [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/02/23/the-jewish-morals-of-a-pre-emptive-israeli-nuclear-strike/
Everyone’s favourite Mideast leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at a rally in Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square: Massive crowds of Iranians, waving flags and chanting “Death to Mubarak!” and “Death to America!” descended on Tehran’s Azadi Square (Freedom Square) to listen to the hardliner who lashed out at the West and Israel in a speech marking the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution. “We will soon see a new Middle East materialising [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/02/12/ahmadinejads-looking-forward-to-a-new-middle-east-without-israel-as-usual/
An op-ed by Stephen Kinzer in The Age on the future of the Middle East, and the necessity to find new partners; these “should be countries whose societies share at least some version of the values Westerners prize … [and] they should be countries whose long-term strategic goals are parallel to Western goals”. Kinzer says that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan won’t do (agreed!), and instead, he suggests Turkey and Iran. [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/01/16/engaging-turkey-and-iran/
The Hariri assassination was a big turning point in Lebanese politics, and almost immediately led to inescapable pressure on the Syrians to withdraw from Lebanese territory. To be honest, I always thought it them… Sources familiar with the investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005 told Newsmax that the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon will accuse Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei of giving the order to murder the [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2011/01/16/iran-to-be-named-as-responsible-for-hariri-assisnation/
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