Carter Enters Lion's Den of Controversy with Latest Book

[By Paul Findley -- Chicago Tribune -- Feb. 7, 2007]

At the age of 82, Jimmy Carter entered the lion's den. With the publication
of his latest book, "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid," he did what a patriot
would do -- rally Americans to vigorous debate of a critical issue that
affects our future. He deserves a hero's praise. Instead, he has been
attacked and defamed.

I had the honor to serve as the senior Republican on the Middle East
Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee throughout the
Carter administration. Carter frequently invited me to huddles in the White
House; discussions that would ultimately lead to a lasting peace between
Israel and Egypt. I know Carter well and consider him a friend.

I also experienced firsthand what Carter now faces. Toward the end of my
22-year tenure in Congress, I spoke in favor of Palestinian rights and was
critical of Israeli policies of Palestinian land confiscation and Jewish-
only settlements on Palestinian lands. These actions were counter to
American policy and values. They dimmed chances for peace.

As a result of my evenhanded position, the pro-Israel lobby poured money
into my opponent's campaign. I overcame their challenge in 1980, but lost
in 1982 by a narrow margin. Still, the message was heard loudly on Capitol
Hill: Criticize Israel and pay with your congressional seat.

In my 1985 book, "They Dare to Speak Out," I detailed the tactics used to
silence criticism of Israeli policies. One of the groups employing these
tactics is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. On its website,
AIPAC calls itself "America's pro-Israel lobby" and boasts a New York Times
description of it as "the most important organization affecting America's
relationship with Israel."

All citizens have the right to band together and push for policies they
believe in. But AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobby groups do not plead the
case for Israel on the stage of public opinion. Instead, they often resort
to smear campaigns and intimidation to clear the floor so that only their
side is heard.

Carter has dared to call a spade a spade. South African leaders, like
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and UN Envoy John Dugard, compare Israeli policies
to apartheid. The Israeli press uses the term, as do Israeli politicians.
Former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni said in a recent commentary,
"Indeed apartheid does exist here." Pro-Israel lobby groups have not
debated the credence of these claims. Instead, they lob accusations and
insults, even insinuating that Carter is anti-Semitic. They do not prove
him wrong with facts. They seek to discredit him with innuendo.

I do not believe these groups set out to discredit opponents and destroy
free speech. I believe they had the singular purpose of ensuring U.S.
government support for Israel. But after decades of Israeli actions running
counter to American policies and values, it becomes difficult to do one
without the other.

American policy has long held, for example, that Israeli settlements on
occupied Palestinian land are illegal. Yet Israel continues to build them.
American values demand that all people be treated equally, that rights be
doled out in equal measure regardless of one's race, religion or ethnicity.

Yet, as Carter points out in his book, Israel endows Jewish settlers living
on Palestinian land with full rights, while denying those rights to the
Palestinians living on their own land.

If these issues were debated openly, U.S. policymakers would have to hold
Israel accountable and demand that our financial and diplomatic support be
contingent upon Israel upholding American values and policy positions.

Yet there is silence. Critical discussion of Israeli policies is non-
existent in Congress. Rather than conducting vigorous committee hearings,
as happens with other issues, members of Congress compete to outdo one
another in statements of support for Israel. And American tax dollars keep
flowing uninterrupted to Israel.

Our unconditional support of Israel damages our credibility on the world
stage. It deprives us of potential allies in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

It allows Israel to remain intransigent and condemns Palestinian and
Israeli children to decades of more conflict.

Open discussion, where all perspectives are debated, leads to good policy.
Carter took a stand for what is right: for Americans, for Palestinians and
for Israelis. It is time for a sitting president and members of Congress to
do the same.

(Former Congressman Paul Findley represented Illinois for 22 years. He is
the author of numerous books, including "They Dare to Speak Out" and
"Silent No More." He was keynote speaker at the 2006 Canadian Islamic
Congress dinners in both Toronto and Waterloo.)

JEWISH WOMEN TARGETED BY TALIBAN-LIKE CLOTHING PATROLS

[By Yair Ettinger -- Ha'aretz -- January 11, 2007]

Monday afternoon, and the traffic on Rabbi Akiva Street comes to a halt.
Thousands of men, including several Torah sages and their entourages,
advance slowly down the main Bnei Brak traffic artery in a funeral
procession for the spiritual leader of the Tsanz Zmigrad Hasidic sect.
Passers-by watch the procession, but after it moves on, the street returns
to its usual fast pace.

The Avivit Weizman boutique is hopping. It seems like nothing can distract
shoppers from the end-of-season sale -- not the rabbis, who excluded this
"fashion house" on their new approved list and not the Bleach Underground,
which recently started operating in Bnei Brak and harms women who deviate
from the ultra-Orthodox dress code.

Apparently for the first time in the history of rabbinical supervision,
Bnei Brak rabbis distributed a list of 30 stores bearing their stamp of
approval as places where ultra-Orthodox women are allowed to shop. The list
was distributed to all teachers and students at Beit Yaakov, the ultra-
Orthodox school system for girls and was plastered on poster boards across
town.

The rabbis also took the opportunity to emphasize the prohibition against
women and girls wearing "immodest dress." No sanctions will be imposed on
the "unkosher" stores, but the message is clear: ultra- Orthodox woman
should not enter.

Ezra Weizman, who manages the Avivit Weizman boutique with his wife, said
representatives of the rabbis offered him supervision, but their demands
were too extreme. "Had it been realistic, we might have compromised, but
they excluded almost everything we sell. There was no room to negotiate,"
Weizman explained.

Miri, owner of another clothing store earned approval only after she
removed a substantial portion of her goods from the shelves. "Anything made
from jersey, spandex and denim is prohibited," she explains. The rabbis'
inspectors granted her their stamp of approval after making sure all the
skirts and dresses fell well below the knee.

However, a visit to some of the unapproved stores reveals that the rabbis'
instructions didn't make much of an impression on shoppers. Weizman said he
hasn't seen anything that hurt sales.

Modesty has always been a serious subject among the ultra-Orthodox, but the
latest holy war focuses not just on the immodesty of secular women, but on
the women themselves.

In an ever-growing ultra-Orthodox community (in part due to immigration
from Europe and North America), designer clothes are a common dream. The
affluent are not about to be left behind and in recent years boutique
clothing stores have sprung up. The sleeves may be the right length, but
the cuts and fabrics give the conservatives the jitters.

In Jerusalem, the response went further than just posters warning against
"the Parisian designer getting his nails into us," and erupted in acts of
violence. A clothing store near Shabbat Square was recently set on fire,
while Geula neighborhood patrols are armed with containers of bleach to
damage the clothing of women who break the dress code.

Bnei Brak also has a local Bleach Underground. The desire to be fashionable
exacted a price from D., a resident who chose to remain unidentified: "At
the end of a day around town I discovered three large bleach stains on my
new skirt," she reconstructed. "The next day I heard from friends that
women with syringes and baby bottles are spraying bleach on clothing they
don't like for some reason." According to D., her sin was that her "skirt
was pretty, not particularly short."

Several respected rabbis weighed in on the matter last week, writing:
"Recently a variety of foreign garb has spread among the women and girls;
this is immodest clothing. Knitted fabrics are not appropriate for
daughters of Israel." At that time, the list of dozens of approved stores
was published.

Miri reports an increase in sales. "Mothers thank me for the seal of
approval. In the past few years, our girls have tried to imitate secular
girls. They started wearing low-waisted skirts with short- waisted
sweaters. It was not modest or appropriate for our society."

"They want to turn Bnei Brak into Mea She'arim," complained one shopper in
line to pay at Avivit Weizman. "I don't understand why rabbis have to
intervene in everything."

D., the Bleach Underground victim who considers herself "modern ultra-
Orthodox," won't be deterred from fashionable clothing. "I don't think most
of the public will listen."

Cricket and Rain

"Two aliens were visiting Earth to research the local customs. They split up so that they could learn more in the time allowed. When they met to share their knowledge, the first alien told of a religious ceremony it had seen.

"I went to a large green field shaped like a meteorite crater. Around the edges, several thousand worshippers gathered. Then two priests walk to the centre of the field to a rectangular area and hammer six spears into the ground, three at each end. Then eleven more priests walk out, clad in white robes. Then two high priests wielding clubs walk to the centre and one of the other priests starts throwing a red orb at the ones with the clubs."

"Gee," replied the other alien, "what happens next?"

"Then it begins to rain."

Finally, Jews speak up against Zionists

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/category/independent_jewish_voices/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2005881,00.html

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_klug/2007/02/hold_jewish_voices.html

Briefcase 'that changed the world'

By Angela Hind
BBC Radio 4's The World in a Briefcase

In the summer of 1940, the war with Germany was at a critical stage.

France had recently surrendered and the Luftwaffe was engaged in a concerted bombing campaign against British cities.

The United Kingdom was being cut off from the Continent, and without allies to help her, she would soon be near the limit of her productive capacity - particularly in the all important field of electronics.

On the morning of 29 August, a small team of the country's top scientists and engineers, under the direction of Sir Henry Tizard and in conditions of absolute secrecy, was about to board a converted ocean liner.

With them they carried possibly the most precious cargo of the war - a black japanned metal deed box containing all of Britain's most valuable technological secrets.

They were on their way to America - to give them away.

This high-powered team included representatives from the Army, Navy and Air Force, along with specialists in the new technologies of war.

Earlier that morning, radar expert, Dr Edward "Taffy" Bowen - a vital member of this Tizard Mission and responsible for looking after the metal deed box that was to become known as "Tizard's briefcase" - almost lost it.

When he had arrived at London's Euston station, the Welshman had handed it to a porter while gathering up his remaining luggage, then watched helplessly as the man headed off to find the 0830 boat train to Liverpool without waiting for his customer.

As he struggled to keep the porter in sight above the wartime throngs, Eddie Bowen would not have drawn much attention from the busy Londoners. Only his face would have betrayed his concern.

Short distance

Just five days short of the war's first anniversary, Britain faced one of its most desperate hours.

The Battle of Britain was raging, and bombs were falling nightly on Liverpool. Nazi armies ringed the country from the Norwegian coast down to France; an invasion was expected within weeks.

As Bowen knew, the seemingly ordinary solicitor's deed box - for which he was personally responsible - held the power to change the course of the war.

Inside lay nothing less than all Britain's military secrets. There were blueprints and circuit diagrams for rockets, explosives, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks, and even the germs of ideas that would lead to the jet engine and the atomic bomb.

But the greatest treasure of all was the prototype of a piece of hardware called a cavity magnetron, which had been invented a few months earlier by two scientists in Birmingham.

John Randall and Harry Boot had invented the cavity magnetron almost by accident.

It was a valve that could spit out pulses of microwave radio energy on a wavelength of 10cm. This was unheard of. Nothing like it had been invented before.

The wavelength for the radar system we were using at the start of the war was one-and-a-half metres. The equipment needed was bulky and the signals indistinct.

The cavity magnetron was to be the key that would allow us to develop airborne radar.

Kitchen technology

"It was a massive, massive breakthrough," says Andy Manning from the Radar Museum in Horning.

"It is deemed by many, even now, to be the most important invention that came out of the Second World War".

Professor of military history at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, David Zimmerman, agrees: "The magnetron remains the essential radio tube for shortwave radio signals of all types.

"It not only changed the course of the war by allowing us to develop airborne radar systems, it remains the key piece of technology that lies at the heart of your microwave oven today. The cavity magnetron's invention changed the world."

Because Britain had no money to develop the magnetron on a massive scale, Churchill had agreed that Sir Henry Tizard should offer the magnetron to the Americans in exchange for their financial and industrial help. No strings attached.

It was an extraordinary gesture. By September, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had set up a secret laboratory; by November, the cavity magnetron was in mass production; and by early 1941, portable airborne radar had been developed and fitted to both American and British planes.

The course of the Second World War was about to be changed. It was, says writer Robert Buderi, possibly the most important development of the 20th Century.

In fact, it was so important a development that the official historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, James Phinney Baxter III, wrote: "When the members of the Tizard Mission brought the cavity magnetron to America in 1940, they carried the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores."

The World in a Briefcase, made by Pier Productions, is on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 5 February at 2000 GMT. You will also be able to hear the programme on the Listen Again. The original cavity magnetron is held at the Science Museum in London service on the Radio 4 website

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/6331897.stm

Published: 2007/02/05 13:45:07 GMT

© BBC MMVII

'Israel must be wiped off the map'

Iran's President Did Not Say 'Israel must be wiped off the map'

Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map". Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, . . .

The full quote translated directly to English: "The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time". Word by word translation: Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

SCROLL to bottom of page at http://www.twf.org/News/Y2005/1220-Ahmadinejad.html

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There is no war on terror'

The director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, put himself at odds with the home secretary and Downing Street last night by denying that Britain is caught up in a "war on terror" and calling for a "culture of legislative restraint" in passing laws to deal with terrorism.

SCROLL to bottom of page at http://www.twf.org/News/Y2005/0708-London.html

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Bosnia Statehood Under International Law

The Great Powers have always acted as if Bosnia did not have Statehood under International Law and Practice. Indeed, at the Owen-Stoltenberg Negotiations in Geneva, the Great Powers tried to destroy Bosnia's Statehood under International Law, rob Bosnia of it's Membership in the United Nations Organization, and submit 1.5 to 2 million more Bosnians to ethnic cleansing. That never happened ! But the Great Powers' agenda remains the same: to eliminate Bosnia's Statehood.

. . . by a vote of 13 to 2, the World Court effectively prohibited the Owen-Stoltenberg carve-up of Bosnia because it would result from acts of genocide, which were already prohibited by its 8 April 1993 Order. Nevertheless undeterred, thereafter Owen and Stoltenberg continued to plot their tripartite carve-up of Bosnia under the new rubric of the so-called "Contact Group Plan" with the full support of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, the United Nations, the European Union and its other member states.

SCROLL to bottom of page at http://www.twf.org/News/Y2006/0224-Bosnia.html