Connecting the Zionist Dots

Purim celeberation is set in the third year of Ahasuerus, and the ruler is a king of Persia usually identified with Xerxes I. It is the story of a palace, a conspiracy, an attempted Judeocide and a brave and beautiful Jewish queen (Esther) who manages to save the Jewish people at the very last minute.

They had better bond to the rulers of the world.With Esther,Mordechai and Purim in mind, AIPAC Levy, ADL, dAVID Miliband, Saban and the notion of Jewish power all appear to bean embodiment of a deep Biblical,tribl and cultural ideology.

Gilad Atzmon

A few weeks ago the Jewish Chronicle published a list of Jewish MPs in the UK parliament. It named 24 in total, encompassing 12 Conservatives, 10 Labour, and two Liberal Democrats. Author and peace activist Stuart Littlewood elaborated on these figures and presented the following analysis:

“The Jewish population in the UK is 280,000 or 0.46 per cent. There are 650 seats in the House of Commons so, as a proportion, Jewish entitlement is only three seats. The conclusion is pretty obvious. With 24 seats, Jews are eight times over-represented. Which means, of course, that other groups must be under-represented, including Muslims…If Muslims, for instance, were over-represented to the same extent as the Jews (i.e. eight times) they’d have 200 seats. All hell would break loose.”

A question must be raised here. Why are Jews overwhelmingly over-represented in the British parliament, in British and American political pressure groups, in political fundraising and in the media?

Haim Saban, the Israeli-American, multibillionaire media mogul offers the answer. The New Yorker reported this week that at a conference last fall, Saban described his pro-Israeli formula, outlining “three ways to be influential in American politics…make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets.”

As I have mentioned many times before, there is no such a thing as Jewish conspiracy. It is all done in the open. In front of TV cameras from all over the world, listed Israeli Propaganda Author as well as British Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave the Israelis a green light to operation Cast Lead, suggesting in Sderot that “Israel should, above all, seek to protect its own citizens.”

Miliband, in practice, made us all complicit in a colossal war crime committed by Israel. Staunch Zionist Lord Levy funded the Labour party when this party launched a criminal war that intended to erase the last pocket of Arabic resistance to Zionism. He also wasn’t at all shy about it. In the media, shameless Jewish Chronicle writers David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen enthusiastically advocated the same criminal war in the name of ‘moral interventionism’. Nick Cohen also founded the Euston Manifesto ‘think tank’ to support dubious Neocon ideologies on this side of the pond.

Levy, Cohen, Aaronovitch, Miliband are all in line with Saban’s formula: influence, donations, think tanks, media. Yet they don’t necessarily know Saban, and may never even have heard about the Zionist media mogul. It isn’t necessary. The fact is, Saban didn’t invent anything himself. His formula is deeply brewed in the Judaic religious tradition, Jewish culture and ideology.

United Against Purim

The Book of Esther is a biblical story that is the basis for the celebration of Purim, the most joyous Jewish festival. The book tells the story of an attempted Judeocide, but it also tells a story in which Jews manage to change their fate by means of political influence. In the story, the Jews do manage to rescue themselves and even to mete revenge, all through an infiltration into the corridors of power.

It is set in the third year of Ahasuerus, and the ruler is a king of Persia usually identified with Xerxes I. It is the story of a palace, a conspiracy, an attempted Judeocide and a brave and beautiful Jewish queen (Esther) who manages to save the Jewish people at the very last minute.

In the story, King Ahasuerus is married to Vashti, whom he repudiates after she rejects his offer to ‘visit’ him during a feast. Esther was selected from the candidates to be Ahasuerus’s new wife. As the story progresses, Ahasuerus’s Prime Minister Haman plots to have the king kill all the Jews without knowing that Esther is actually Jewish. Esther, together with her cousin Mordechai saves the day for their people. Esther warns Ahasuerus of Haman’s murderous anti-Jewish plot. Haman and his sons are hanged on the fifty cubit gallows he had originally built for cousin Mordechai. As it happens, Mordechai takes Haman’s place, becoming the Prime Minister. Ahasuerus’s edict decreeing the murder of the Jews cannot be rescinded, so he issues another edict allowing the Jews to take up arms and kill their enemies, which they obviously do.

The moral of the Biblical story is rather clear. If Jews want to survive, they had better make their way into the corridors of power. They had better bond to the rulers of the world. With Esther, Mordechai and Purim in mind, AIPAC, Levy, ADL, David Milliband, Saban and the notion of ‘Jewish power’ all appear to be an embodiment of a deep Biblical, tribal and cultural ideology.

However, here is the interesting twist. Although the story is presented as an historic tale, the historical accuracy of the Book of Esther is largely disputed by most modern Bible scholars and historians. The lack of any clear corroboration of between any of the details of the story with what is known of Persian History from classical sources is what has led scholars to come to the conclusion that the story is mostly, or even totally fictional.

In other words, though the Jewish moral is clear, the attempted genocide is fictional. Seemingly, the Book of Esther sets its (Jewish) followers into a collective Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It transforms a fictional fantasy of ‘destruction’ into a vivid ‘ideology of survival’. And indeed, some read the story as an allegory of quintessentially assimilated Jews who discover that they are targets of anti-Semitism, but are also in a position to save themselves and their fellow Jews.

The Book of Esther exists to form a coherent exilic tribal identity. It is there to plant an existential stress. It introduces the Holocaust mentality. Furthermore, it fixes the conditions which turn the Holocaust into reality. In hermeneutic terms, the text shapes the reality. In practice, it is the fearful mind the sets itself into a tragic trap of self-fulfilling prophecy. The Shoa ideology matures into a real event.

Interestingly enough, the Book of Esther (in the Hebrew version) is one of only two books of the Bible that do not directly mention God (the other is Song of Songs). As in the case of Zionist secular ideology and the Holocaust religion, in the Book of Esther it is the Jews who believe in themselves, in their own power, in their uniqueness, in their sophistication, in their ability to influence, in their ability to take over kingdoms, and in their ability to save themselves. The Book of Esther is all about empowerment. It conveys the essence and metaphysics of Jewish power, as described by Haim Saban and performed by AIPAC.

Zionism and Democracy

Zionists seem to love democracy. The Jewish state outrageously claims to be ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’. Israel’s supporters around the world also advocate conflicts in the name of ‘democracy’. Why do they love democracy so much? I guess that the answer is devastatingly simple. Democracy is the ideal political platform for the Zionist influence merchant.

Democracy in its current state, especially within the English-Speaking world, is a political system that specializes in positioning inadequate, unqualified and dubious characters in leading positions. Two democratically elected leaders launched the illegal war in Iraq. Two democratically elected leaders marched the west into a financial disaster.

Running a state is not an easy task. It surely takes some talent and training. In the past, our elected political leaders were experienced politicians who had achieved something in their lives, whether in academia, industry, military or the financial world. In the past, our candidates for premiership had curriculum vitae to share with us. Apparently this is not the case anymore. Time after time we are left with a ‘democratic choice’ to give our vote to one or another laughable young failure. Time after time we see rising political ‘stars’, people have really achieved nothing in their lives, and who are unqualified to run even a corner shop, let alone a state.

You may want to ask yourself what qualification Blair or Bush possessed before they took the wheel in their hands. What experience does David Cameron have at his disposal in order to rescue Britain from total disaster on every possible front (financial, Iraq, Afghanistan, education, NHS and so on)? What kind of experience does David Miliband bring with him in the bid for the Labour premiership? The answer is none. Our lives, our future and the future of our children are in the hands of ludicrous, clueless characters. This may explain why Britain ended up with a hung Parliament. Not a single leader in this country could convince the public that he had the talent, the integrity or even just a seed of true leadership.

But here is the news. As much as our elected leaders are totally clueless, the Sabans, the Lord Levys and the Wolfowitzes know exactly what to do. The Jewish religion, culture and ideology provides its followers with a narrative that saves us of the democratic limbo. The Sabans of this world are far from being amateurs or clueless; they know exactly what to do. They have been doing it for three thousand years. They are the followers of Mordechai and Esther. The Sabans of the world know how to translate the moral of Purim into British and American practice.

Stuart Littlewood seems to wonder why Jews are over-represented. With Purim in mind, we may be able to suggest an answer. We are dealing here with an exilic cultural setting that preaches for lobbing, influence and control. Shaping politics, media and thoughts is the true meaning of the Book of Esther. Saban was either just genuine or foolish enough to admit it in public. However, the absence of a Book of Esther within the heart of Muslim or Hindu culture may explain why other marginal migrant groups in Britain are adequately and proportionally represented in British politics and media. Moreover, it is unlikely that this will change soon. As opposed to most minorities and marginal identities in the West, Judaism is an exilic national religion and the Jewish identity is a product of tribal indoctrination. This may explain why emancipated Jews who live in Britain for generations as seculars still operate within Jewish political and social settings, and under Jewish political banners.

It is not a secret that a few Jews out there are very gifted. It is also rather obvious that some Jews are amongst the leading contributors to the humanist and universal discourse. However, this is not something we can say about Haim Saban, who openly desires to influence American foreign policy by means of donations, think tanks and media control. Similarly, David Milliband, who struggled to amend British universal Jurisdiction to make it easy for Israeli war criminal visit his kingdom, should not be regarded as a great humanist either. Nick Cohen, who founded the Euston Manifesto, a think tank that promotes Zionist interests within British intellectual culture, cannot be regarded as an ethical icon. Amazingly enough, they all did it in the open.

If we care about peace and about our future generations, we must be brave enough to connect the dots. The Mordechais and Esthers within our media, intellectual and political life must be confronted. We must unite against Purim. If the Labour party still carries any ethical responsibility, it should put David Milliband in his place. If our parties want us to believe in their agendas, they had better learn to say “NO” to Zionist money and Jewish proxy donators. If our media outlets want us to believe in their ‘impartiality’, they had better identify the enemy within. How many Iraqis will need to die before the penny drops? How many peace activists should die in high seas before we all say ‘NO more’? How many British workers will need to lose their jobs, homes and hopes before we can allow ourselves to say “NO” to Zionist wars and their advocates in our midst?

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9/11 is an unsolved crime: U.S. journalist

American journalist and author Christopher Bollyn says 9/11 was an Israeli false-flag operation meant to kick-start the Zionist-designed “war on terror”.

He made the remarks earlier this week during an email interview with freelance journalist Kourosh Ziabari.

Mr. Bollyn added that Iran is probably the main target since foreign oil corporations and big capital have designs on Iran.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: Could you explain why you think Mossad and CIA were involved in 9/11 terrorist attacks?

A: The earliest evidence of Israeli involvement in 9-11 was actually revealed in the news on the very day of the terror attacks and shortly thereafter, but never followed up in the mainstream media.

First, there was the van of 5 Israelis who were arrested in New Jersey on 9-11. This group, which included two Mossad agents known to U.S. law enforcement, had been observed videotaping the destruction of the Twin Towers with themselves celebrating in front of the camera, flicking their lighters and laughing with the burning towers in the background across the river. These Israelis worked for a fake moving company, Urban Moving Systems of Weehawken, New Jersey, which actually turned out to be a Mossad front operation. Dominic Suter, the head of the phony company, was allowed to escape to Israel shortly after 9-11 although he was a terror suspect being investigated by the FBI. The five Israelis, some of whom refused or failed lie detector tests, were caught in possession of multiple passports, box cutters, and a large amount of cash stuffed in their socks. Their van tested positive for explosives when checked by New Jersey police, at least until the FBI took over the investigation. When the five Mossadniks were returned to Israel in November 2001, three of them appeared on a popular television show and openly admitted that their mission had been to document the terror attacks. Who had given them this mission was not discussed.

Secondly, there were some 4,000 Israelis who were expected to have been at the World Trade Center, as per the Israeli foreign ministry and the Jerusalem Post, who did not show up for work on 9-11. There were text messages sent on Odigo, an Israeli-owned instant messaging system, warning of the terror attacks several hours before the first plane hit the towers. These warnings were evidently sent in Hebrew and warned of terror attacks at the World Trade Center. Alex Diamandis, Odigo’s vice president, said, “The messages said something big was going to happen in a certain amount of time, and it did – almost to the minute.” The Odigo story was reported in the Washington Post, but not a single New York newspaper picked it up. The Post reported that the FBI had sent a team to Israel to investigate the content and origin of these messages, but the story was dropped and never investigated any further in the U.S. media. How odd.

Both of these stories were reported, but only briefly and then dropped into the memory hole. I began my 9-11 research by investigating these stories. With such clear evidence of Israeli prior knowledge of the attacks, I pursued my investigation to see if Israelis or Zionists were involved in other key aspects of the crime or the cover-up, and I found that they were. Indeed, orthodox Jews and Zionists cropped up at every critical point of the operation, which I discuss in detail in my book, Solving 9-11 — The Deception that Changed the World.

The key U.S. official behind the 9-11 cover-up was Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, an Israeli citizen and son of a Mossad agent. Chertoff was the head of the criminal division of the Department of Justice at the time and the top boss of the FBI. From this position Chertoff managed the FBI’s “non-investigation” of 9-11, and supervised the confiscation and destruction of the critical evidence from the crime scenes, such as videotapes, aircraft debris, and more than 99 percent of the steel from the World Trade Center. The destruction of this crucial evidence is a crime in and of itself.

Q: You say Israel is the architect of 9/11 terrorist attacks, but some people call you a conspiracy theorist.

A: A conspiracy is a secret plan by a group of people to do something harmful or illegal. There is certainly no question that the terror attacks of 9-11 were planned and carried out by a group of people acting in secret. A conspiracy theorist in this context would be a person who believes that a conspiracy is behind the terrorism attacks that started the so-called “War on Terror.” Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have both stated that an Islamic conspiracy, headed by Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, is behind 9-11. Based on this specious and unproven assertion the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and began a war of occupation which the Obama administration has adopted as its own and continues to fight to this day. President Obama says the U.S. is fighting the war in Afghanistan because of 9-11.

I, on the other hand, consider 9-11 to be an unsolved crime and have pursued my investigation based on the available evidence. Since the evidence indicates that Israeli intelligence had prior knowledge of the attacks and because prior knowledge of something like 9-11 is indicative of involvement in the crime, I have worked on the hypothesis that… Israel was involved in 9-11 and have pursued my investigation along that line. That does not make me a conspiracy theorist.

One of the main reasons I rejected the government claim that Al-Qaeda was behind 9-11 is because all the evidence indicates that the Twin Towers and WTC 7 were demolished with explosives. The plane crashes did not bring down the Twin Towers and Larry Silverstein’s 47-story building, which collapsed a block away without even being hit.

When I learned in the summer of 2002 that molten iron had been found at the base of all three towers, I knew I had evidence that the Bush administration’s explanation of what had happened to the World Trade Center was false. This important discovery revealed that the public had been lied to by the government about what really happened on 9-11.

The publication of the peer-reviewed paper about the discovery of large amounts of active super-thermite in the dust of the demolished World Trade Center by Dr. Steven E. Jones and others in March 2009 provides scientific proof that an extremely energetic form of thermite, made with nanotechnology, was responsible for the pulverization of the 220 concrete floors of the Twin Towers, and everything on them. This is what created the immense clouds of hot dust that everyone saw on 9-11. Survivors have said that the dust was burning hot. This is because it contained tiny droplets of molten iron, which were described and shown in the U.S. Geological Survey study of the dust. The hot spots that burned beneath the rubble for three months were hotter than the boiling point of iron and created nanosize particles that were found in large quantities in the smoke rising from the pile. These were all clear indications that thermite had been used to demolish the towers.

Logically, the discovery of chips of super-thermite in the dust marked the end of the official version as an acceptable explanation for what happened to the Twin Towers. Neither Osama Bin Laden nor Al-Qaeda had anything to do with the creation or application of the super-thermite that pulverized the World Trade Center. These facts are becoming clear to a growing number of people. The game is over for the 9-11 cover-up crowd.

Q: You introduced U.S. official Michael Chertoff the man behind the 9-11 cover-up, does the U.S. administration really unaware of Israeli involvement?

A: In March 2010, Dr. Alan Sabrosky, the former Director of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Army War College, said in a radio interview: “It is one hundred percent certain that 9-11 was a Mossad operation, period.” Dr. Sabrosky also stated that high-level U.S. military officers know that Israel did it.

Dr. Sabrosky is, to my knowledge, the first person from the U.S. military establishment to have publicly supported the hypothesis that Israeli intelligence was behind 9-11. I have not heard of any U.S. statesman refer to my research although I am sure there are many politicians who are aware of it.

Q: The Bush administration launched “war on terror” after 9/11 incidents and attacked Afghanistan, and then Iraq in 2003? Do you think another false-flag operation is in the making to attack another Muslim country?

A: My hypothesis is that 9-11 was an Israeli-designed “false-flag” operation that was meant to be blamed on Al-Qaeda in order to kick-start the Zionist-designed “War on Terror.” Actually, Iran is probably the main target, at least in the minds of the Zionist war planners. This is because the CIA and the Mossad got kicked out of Iran when (Mohammad Reza) Shah Pahlavi was overthrown in 1979. The foreign oil corporations, big capital, and their intelligence agencies want to get Iran back under their control.

I always thought that the name “Central Command” or CENTCOM was a strange name for the military command that oversees U.S. operations in the Middle East — central to whom? Iran now finds itself surrounded by U.S. military interventions on three sides and CENTCOM is based in Qatar, right in the middle.

Furthermore, Iran has long been the target of a concerted effort led by the Zionists and the controlled press to impose sanctions in an effort to weaken the largest independent nation in the Middle East. This is why they use the issue of Iran’s nuclear development, most unfairly, as a club to attack the Iranian government. The Zionist Axis of New York, London, and Tel Aviv refuses to accept that Iran is not under their control.

Q: You’ve published pictures on your website depicting: “Israel does not represent world Jewry”. Do you think Israel is going to survive all this?

A: No. I don’t see how a small, artificial state run by terrorists and despised by its neighbors and most of the world can possibly survive in the long term. It simply is not sustainable. This is, after all, why 9-11 was carried out — to bring the U.S. military into the Middle East to protect the Zionist hegemony in the region. Public opinion, however, has turned strongly against Israel as a result of a long string of Zionist crimes and atrocities. A state that is so despised simply cannot survive for long.

Q: The U.S. officials regularly reaffirm their commitment to the security of Israel and disallow international community to hold Israelis accountable for the various crimes they commit. Is it possible for the international bodies to try Israeli officials despite U.S. opposition?

A: This is the real problem. Zionist influence and control over the U.S. government prevents the international community from reining in the behavior of the nuclear-tipped outlaw… Israel. The U.S. veto in the UN Security Council has effectively protected Israel from sanctions for decades. But the failure to enforce international law and apply corrective measures on… Israel has resulted in the creation of a monster-state that is now out of control. Had the system of international law worked as it should Israel would have been forced to adjust its behavior and find a way to live in peace with the Palestinians and its neighbors.

Q: What’s your take on Israel’s last month attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla? And do you think the international reaction have been the same had Iran carried out such attack on a flotilla of international aid ships?

A: Of course not. If Iran had committed such a massacre on the high seas it would have been punished severely and immediately by the United Nations and international community. Furthermore, if any other state besides Israel were to impose a blockade on 1.5 million civilians causing extreme hardship and suffering, it would be condemned by every nation in the world. To understand the mild response of the Obama administration to the blockade and the massacre of the nine Turkish peace activists we should recall that Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff of the Obama White House, was in Israel the week before the attack and met with Benjamin Netanyahu only four days before the Israeli assault on the Freedom Flotilla. It should be noted that Emanuel, an Israeli citizen and the son of an Irgun terrorist, runs the Obama administration.

When it comes to the European response, we now have a weak centralized European Union that discourages unilateral actions taken by the member states. Furthermore, European foreign ministers remember very well what happened to Anna Lindh of Sweden who had called for a European boycott of Israel. She was murdered in broad daylight in Stockholm.

Q: In your one recent article, you reviewed the bankruptcy of three Icelandic banks and related it to the Israel’s plundering of Iceland’s economy. Would you please elaborate on this?

A: The bankrupting of Iceland’s three biggest banks in the fall of 2008 was caused by a foreign-run operation which involved people connected to the Mossad and the most extreme right-wing politicians from the Likud, including Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert. The First Lady of Iceland also happens to be an Israeli. The operation basically gained control of the privatized and deregulated banks and puffed them up as it sucked money out of them in the form of billions of dollars in unsecured loans. The privatized banks were simply loaded up with debt and pushed off a cliff. The Icelandic banks were lending huge amounts of money to dodgy Jewish financial tycoons left and right – without any collateral of real value. The largest Icelandic bank to fail, Kaupthing, for example, lent more than $2.5 billion to the Tchenguiz operation, which is run by Victor Tchenguiz in Israel. Robert Tchenguiz, who received billions from Kaupthing, was also one of the largest stockholders in the bank.

The plundering of the banks of Iceland is very similar to the Bernard Madoff scam, the bank failures, and the huge bail-out that occurred at the same time in the United States. Madoff was the chairman of the Sy Syms business school at Yeshiva University. His partner, the late Sy Syms, was also a long-standing director of the privatized Israel Discount Bank of New York, which has a branch in Switzerland that operates under Swiss bank secrecy laws. Kaupthing also had a bank in Luxembourg that had a Swiss branch in Geneva. When Kaupthing collapsed, their Luxembourg subsidiary with the Swiss branch were taken over by David Rowland, an offshore financier who works closely with Israeli intelligence. When the Icelandic banks collapsed under a mountain of debt, the national government and international lenders were called in to absorb the losses while the bank robbers escaped with the money they stashed in secret bank accounts in Switzerland.

Q: U.S. often criticizes Iran over human rights and other things, while it befriends with Saudi Arabia and Egypt? What’s the actual reason behind this criticism?

A: This is the typical double standard seen in U.S. foreign policy. Any behavior is acceptable from a regime that is willing to play ball with big capital, big oil, and Israel. On the other hand, any regime that refuses to go along will find itself ostracized and penalized. The Hamas government of Palestine is a good example. Hamas won the democratic election fair and square, but because it refuses to be accept Israeli demands and conditions it has been ostracized. Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas is treated as the president of Palestine by the United States although he has not been elected and simply extends his term like a tyrant.

Iran is treated in the same way. It is ostracized because it pursues its own national interests and challenges the Anglo-American and Zionist hegemony in the Middle East. This is why the U.S. uses its influence to sanction Iran for its nuclear development program, which is legal and monitored, while completely ignoring Israel’s secret nuclear arsenal. We should remember that BP, the oil company that has mucked up the Gulf of Mexico, originally started as the Anglo-Iranian Oil company, with the rights to virtually all the oil of Iran. A BP tanker was the first ship to load up with Iraqi oil after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. These are the people who wage war to steal the assets of sovereign nations.

Q: What’s your take on Israel’s ever-increasing international isolation?

A: Israel is an artificial state that is protected and supported by the United States. This support is due to Zionist influence and corruption of the American political system. Were this to change and were Israel to lose the support of the U.S. government it would be unable to survive. The current government in Israel is composed of the most extreme elements of Israeli society, which is increasingly becoming more orthodox and Russian. Zionist moderates have been pushed aside by the most aggressive and unscrupulous extremists. Those who could have made peace have been killed and replaced by terrorists who know only war.

The people of the United States are fed up with these costly and disastrous wars in the Middle East. A growing number are becoming aware that we have been conned into these wars. The growing divide between the people who know they have been lied to and the government who covers up the truth about 9-11 is simply not sustainable. The United States is sitting on a political fault line that may slide at any time. When the truth of 9-11 reaches a critical mass there will be a political earthquake that will sweep the criminals from power. This is why the discovery of super-thermite in the dust of the World Trade Center is so important, because it marked the end of the government version of 9-11 as an acceptable explanation.

When the deception and lies about 9-11 are exposed and the Zionist and Israeli culprits revealed, Israel will be left without a friend in the world. The racist and militant Zionist regime of Israel is bound to pass from the stage of history just like the communist dictatorships of the Soviet Union and the apartheid regime of South Africa. Such deeply unpopular regimes often fall without a shot being fired. They simply collapse because they are rotten to the core and unable to stand any longer.

(Tehran Times)

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A ‘shift of axis’ by Turkey?

By Rahimullah Yusufzai
A wide, sometimes bitter, public debate has been going in Turkey about the country’s foreign policy since the death of nine unarmed people in the May 31 attack by Israeli army commandoes on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla in international waters. The questions being asked are whether Ankara is turning its back on the West and drawing closer to the East. This is described as a “shift of axis” and there is even talk of Turkey joining a Eurasian Union along with Russia, China and other regional countries, or finding its moorings as leader of an Islamic bloc in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The debate is raging in the media and at public forums. The issue is intensely being discussed not only in Ankara and Istanbul, but also in far-off places such as Erzurum in north-eastern Anatolia that one was able to visit this week, in connection with the second Turkey World Trade Bridge meeting organised by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON). In fact, the TUSKON initiative too is part of a resurgent Turkey’s efforts to put on display it’s industrial and other products and clinch mutually beneficial trade and investment deals with business and investors groups all over the world.

More than 2,200 businesspersons from 135 countries had registered to attend TUSKON’s summit and interact with a large number of their Turkish counterparts in Istanbul and in several provincial capitals. It was not only a grand exhibition of Turkey’s progress in all walks of life, but also an opportunity to explain the Turkish values of trustworthiness and hospitality.

The ruling A K Parti (Justice and Development Party) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its supporters in the media and civil society have been deriding as “black propaganda” all this talk about Turkey abandoning the West and turning its face to the East. Accusations have been made against strong lobbies in the West of starting a campaign against Turkey after the May 31 incident and punishing the A K Parti government for condemning Israel for the raid on the aid ship Mavi Marmara and demanding an international investigation into the Israeli aggression against civilian peace volunteers trying to defy the blockade of Gaza.

In the context of Turkish politics, those sympathising with AK Parti and many independent media commentators believe the pro-Israel and pro-West lobbies have recruited anti-AK Parti and anti-Erdogan forces and neo-nationalist groups to run this propaganda campaign based on lies and slander. Their argument is that, despite repeated rebuffs, Turkey under the leadership of AK Parti is still committed to becoming a member of the European Union, and to this end, far-reaching reforms have been carried out on a scale never seen before.

This “black propaganda” campaign appears multi-pronged. As AK Parti has Islamic roots, it is accused of having a hidden agenda of reshaping Turkey’s traditional pro-West foreign policy into one based on Islamism. It is charged with pursuing a neo-Ottamanist foreign agenda and following a neo-caliphate policy. AK Parti critics believe Erodagan and his colleagues are gradually abandoning the principles of secularism defined by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and attempting to Islamise Turkish society. The Ergenekon case–in which members of a clandestine terrorist organisation including serving and retired military officials, businessmen and media professionals have been accused of conspiring to overthrow the AK Parti government–has contributed to the tension between the Islamic-rooted ruling party and the secular opposition and made the “black propaganda” debate even more bitter.

Dozens of Ergenekon members are currently in jail pending trial, and their fate will have a profound impact on the course of Turkish politics. The government is keen to punish those who plotted to undermine AK Parti and pave the way for a military takeover by assassinating prominent figures, mostly non-Muslims, to create chaos and bring the ruling party under internal and external pressure.

The judgement by the Constitutional Court examining a series of AK Parti-sponsored constitutional amendments passed by parliament could also impact the direction of Turkish politics. The judiciary is monopolised by the secular elite that have often been accused of conniving with the powerful military in the past to keep in check the democratic forces, particularly the Islamic-oriented parties. However, the situation has changed and most Turks want parliament to be supreme, instead of remaining under the tutelage of the judiciary and the military.

AK Parti’s impressive electoral performance in the last two general elections and its formidable democratic strength have enabled it to carry out the far-reaching reforms needed to make Turkey a member of the EU, and, as its confidence grew, to pursue constitutional amendments in parliament to strengthen democracy and reduce the authority of non-democratic forces.

Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are the architect of Turkey’s forceful new role in world affairs. The latter, who took up his job a year ago, has been trying to build and consolidate Turkey’s growing reputation as an increasingly important regional and global player.

Though the present crisis in Turkey’s relations with Israel gave an impetus to its efforts to pursue an independent course in its foreign policy, unencumbered by US demands, this secular and moderate Islamic country has long presented itself as a bridge between the East and the West. Its membership of Nato and its close ties with the US placed it in a unique position to bridge the widening gulf between the West and the Islamic world. However, this hasn’t happened, primarily due to the unilateral US policy of using force to settle disputes and its unconditional support for Israel despite that country’s blatant violation of international laws and occupation of Palestinian territories.

Membership of Nato, friendship with the US and old ties to Israel should have enabled Turkey to succeed in its mission of becoming an EU member. These factors didn’t help, and Turkey’s dream of EU membership appears unlikely in the near future. In fact, recent events could have reduced Turkey’s chances of attaining EU membership.

One has to praise Ankara’s perseverance in not giving up effort to join the EU. Vocal groups in Turkey have voiced suspicions about the EU, but the economic benefits the country could obtain through EU membership have far outweighed other considerations and prompted all state institutions to pursue this goal. Rather, the AK Parti government is being advised by well-wishers to pursue Turkey’s EU bid with stronger emphasis to counter the “black propaganda” against it.

Apart from Turkey’s feud with Israel and the obvious US uneasiness over Ankara’s strong criticism of Tel Aviv’s atrocities against the Palestinians, another issue that has raised alarm in the West concerns Turkey’s friendly relations with Iran. Turkey has been pragmatic in its approach to Iran, a neighbour and a major supplier of its energy needs. It has opposed economic sanctions against Iran and, together with Brazil, unsuccessfully proposed a peaceful solution of the dispute concerning Tehran’s nuclear programme. This has certainly increased mistrust in the relations between Turkey and the West.

Erdogan’s references to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “my brother,” his defence of Hamas and his forceful pleading of the case of Gaza’s 1.5 million blockaded Palestinians cannot endear him to Western powers, even though the pursuit of such causes have made him a hero in the Arab and Islamic world. However, the fact remains that Erdogan and Turkey aren’t about to jump ship and say goodbye to the West.

Some of the actions of Erdogan and AK Parti are also geared to gaining advantage in Turkish politics by responding to popular public demands. Henceforth, Turkey will definitely pursue a more independent foreign policy that could be annoying for the US and the West. But it will neither give up its bid for EU membership nor undertake the so-called “shift of axis.”

The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar. Email: rahimyusufzai@yahoo.com

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For a different Israel

Charles Ferndale

On May 31, an armed Israeli naval force boarded a Turkish vessel in the Mediterranean carrying civilians from over 30 countries. They were carrying aid to the stricken people of Gaza, who the very basic necessities of life and who are effectively imprisoned in that territory by the Israeli blockade. During the struggle that ensued, eight Turks and one American were killed by Israeli gunfire. One estimate puts the number of injured passengers at 26.

The Israeli spin machine has since gone into overdrive trying to persuade the world that Israel was the real victim in the incident. Only this time no one is buying their story.

There are good reasons for the world’s scepticism.

What the multinational aid workers were doing was perfectly legal. Israel, on the other hand, was already in breach of international law and the Geneva Conventions in trying to starve a population into submission.

The aid ship was in international waters, 77 miles off the coast of Israel, so the boarding was illegal under international law. For any naval force to board another vessel in international waters, the country must first get permission from the government of the country where the vessel to be boarded is registered and whose flag the ship is flying. In this case Turkey.

Under international law, all vessels in international waters are a territory of the country whose flag they fly. Thus, Israel effectively invaded an unarmed section of Turkish territory with armed military force. This was an unprovoked act of war, since Israel broke international law on several counts: technically invading Turkish territory, seizing a vessel in international waters, kidnapping all its occupants, forcing the to a destination not of the choosing of its owners, holding it without the owners’ permission, and expropriating some of its cargo.

Since the United Nations had been established to prevent and punish such unwarranted and illegal aggression actions, it is now its duty to punish Israel.

One appropriate punishment might be the permanent presence of an international naval force off the coast of Gaza, whose function would be to escort aid ships to the people of the territory.

The Israeli action is not only an act of war but, arguably, also of piracy. There is a multinational force in the Gulf of Aden–for the prevention of piracy from Somalia. Unlike the Israeli raiders, however, the Somali pirates have killed no one. In addition, they usually operate within their own country’s territorial waters: there the international forces do not have the right to kill the pirates, yet often do.

Another form of punishment would be for the world community to force Israel, by whatever means necessary, to lift its illegal blockade of Gaza.

Let us assume that there is at least some truth in Israel’s claim that, on boarding the Turkish vessel, its commandoes met with some resistance. Let us even accept the Israeli claim that the commandoes were fired upon by some passengers on the Turkish vessel even before the raiders boarded it. In the unlikely event that these things actually happened, the passengers aboard the Turkish vessel would have been well within their rights in doing what they are accused of having done, to defend themselves against attack by a rogue force.

The very foundation of the State of Israel, which would never have survived without American support since its creation in 1948, was predicated on the necessity of terrorism and deception. Israel’s ultimate justification was that Yahweh had promised the land to the Prophet Moses and his followers. This story has now been shown to be entirely without foundation. Among those who exploded the convenient myth created to justify the conquest and occupation of Palestine is Israeli writer Shlomo Sand, professor of history at Tel Aviv University and author of The Invention of the Jewish People. (Another useful book on the subject is The Evolution of Religion by American writer Robert Wright.)

Many Jews of the world think that Israel was, and is, essential for their future safety. Their anxieties are firmly based in their tragic history, especially that since the mid-1930s in Europe. But what most of them seem not to recognise is that Israel could never have been a safe haven for them–it was doomed from the start. From the Balfour Declaration of 1917 onwards, it was clear that the only way a homeland for the Jews could be established in Palestine would be by violent expropriation of about 75 per cent of the land from its inhabitants.

Since the founding principles of the State of Israel are the very reasons why it cannot work, there are many Jews, inside and outside of Israel, who now recognise the urgent necessity for that state to change its very nature.

There is a minimal condition for Israel’s transformation from an unjust state to a semi-just state, but perhaps one that is peaceful. The condition is an American government with the courage to force the Zionists to give back to Palestine’s rightful owners just a little of the land that Israel took by force, and continues to hold and expand by force. That will at least enable the Palestinians to live with some degree of dignity, rather than as a permanently persecuted and constantly brutalised people.

By supporting the worst Israelis, the Americans and the Europeans are betraying the best Israelis: Jews with conscience who seek this radical change in Israel, but are ignored by the majority of the population and by Israel’s foreign backers.

It was only when Irish Americans ceased to finance the IRA that peace was given a chance in Northern Ireland. Likewise, the only way to defeat Jewish extremists in Israel is to cease financing them.

That support should be switched to those “other” Israeli Jews, such as the enlightened and brave members of the Peace Now movement. For fear of being branded “anti-Semitic”–a convenient label designed to silence the truth about Israel–people in the world are afraid of supporting these true moral heroes who fighting for the interests of the Palestinians, against their own apparent interests.

Did the Israeli settlers think the dispossessed would then simply disappear? Ever since 1948, Israeli Zionists are intent upon trying to make the displaced Palestinians disappear (this is known as genocide), but without success. The only result is that Israel has become a despised nation worldwide. Zionist Israel has been a disaster for the Jews of the world, as well as for the Palestinians and for the rest of us. Something must be done to put a stop to this seemingly endless tragedy in Palestine. The changes should come from within Israel and from without, starting with a change in US foreign policy.

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The writer has degrees from the Royal College of Art, Oxford University, and the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. Email: charlesferndale@yahoo.co.uk

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