Harry Fear – Who Will Save Israel From Itself?

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I will never forget Harry Fear’s live webcasts from Gaza during “Operation Pillar of Cloud”. Came across this new talk just uploaded to YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Id87xHsB38

Harry Fear speaks about Israel’s November 2012 operation on Gaza at the 27 December Initiative in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The last segment of Harry’s talk was not recorded. It quoted late Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Eyad el-Sarraj, who once questioned, “who will save Israel from itself?”.

Video record by Mathias Kortegaard. The conference, curated by Ebbe Bertelsen and the 27 December Initiative, also included Dr. Mads Gilbert.

199 thoughts on “Harry Fear – Who Will Save Israel From Itself?”

  1. Jonathan Cook on the Kerry ‘Karve Up’.

    Weekend Edition January 10-12, 2014
    Israel Not Ready to Give Up ‘Villa in the Jungle’
    Incitement Against Palestine
    by JONATHAN COOK
    Nazareth.
    http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/10/incitement-against-palestine/

    A reminder of Kerry’s previous in Vietnam.

    July 26-28, 2013
    The Blood-Soaked Resumé of a Peace Broker
    What John Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
    by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
    With John Kerry currently in full Henry Kissinger regalia, parading around the Middle East, brow-beating the Palestinians and their allies in the region and Europe into signing onto a deeply flawed peace accord that primarily serves Israeli and American interests, it may prove a useful exercise to inspect the curriculum vitae of this putative peace-maker, especially during those formative years when the Secretary of State first carved out his name in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Though Kerry has a reputation as an anti-war activist, his brief tenure in Vietnam and Cambodia was notable both for acts of casual savagery and his striking lack of contrition for his own participation in atrocities that in a rational society might easily be classified as war crimes.–JSC

    Jeffrey St Clair is a co-editor at Counterpunch.

  4. Mary, thanks. It is as I thought. Uranium was converted to uranium hexafluoride to exploit a legal loophole. BNFL, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd performed at least some of the conversion; see the following section at Wikispooks:

    http://wikispooks.com/wiki/R%C3%B6ssing_Uranium_Mine#Evading_US_anti-apartheid_legislation

    “By the end of 1987, Harmon had obtained a ruling that: South African–origin uranium ore and uranium oxide that is substantially transformed into another form of uranium in a country other than South Africa is not to be treated as South African uranium ore or uranium oxide and is therefore not barred. This became known as the “UF6 loophole.” Pleased with this outcome, Minserve asked Sir Alistair Frame, RTZ’s well-connected chairman, to “have a word” with BNFL and the British Foreign Office to ensure that they continued to re-label converted material as UK-origin. “

    I strongly suspect that exploiting this loophole greatly increased the risk involved in transporting uranium:

    Uranium hexafluoride (UF6), referred to as “hex” in the nuclear industry, […] is highly toxic, reacts violently with water and is corrosive to most metals. […] UF6 presents environmental, health, and safety risks because of its chemical instability. When UF6 is exposed to moist air, it reacts with the water in the air to produce UO2F2 (uranyl fluoride) and HF (hydrogen fluoride) both of which are highly corrosive and toxic.

  5. I am surprised that anybody is allowed to return. You have to hand it to the Mail sometimes for their photo journalism. I just wish they did not have the salacious tripe on the RH column.

    ‘The ghost towns of Fukushima: Three years after Japan’s nuclear disaster, residents are allowed home only once a month… but cannot stay overnight

    Nearly three years on from the disaster in Fukushima, a 12-mile exclusion zone is still in place around the power plant meaning 80,000 people cannot go home. A few are allowed brief monthly visits, but the area is so dangerous they cannot stay overnight. Meanwhile workers inside the plant have achieved a state of ‘cold shutdown’, meaning fuel rods inside badly damaged reactor four can now be moved out of the storage tank and to a safer location. However it may be years before some people find out if they can move back.’

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537046/The-ghost-towns-Fukushima-Three-years-Japans-nuclear-disaster-residents-allowed-home-month-stay-overnight.html

  6. Mary, even TEPCO’s “cold shutdown” is a lie (by TEPCO). Cold shutdown requires that both temperature and fuel geometry be controlled in a known state. TEPCO don’t even know exactly where the fuel is never mind how it is arranged! All they know is that some thermometers a long way from where the fuel likely is would mean cold shutdown if the fuel was where it was supposed to be.

    Reactor 4 had a fuel pool fire (very, very bad) which was announced at the time on the IAEA website and then pulled shortly after. Luckily (that’s relative) it seems that only the “hot” fuel recently unloaded from the reactor and likely in the transfer not the main fuel pool caught fire. TEPCO it seems were able to refill the pool and thus rebuild a pristine looking fuel pool 4 level for the cameras from which they can now remove old fuel.

    Reactor 3 fuel pool is a complete mess with a huge broken crane fallen in the pool on top of the containers and is far too radioactive for anyone to get near. Recently TEPCO released a video of their first attempts with a robotic grab to get to the fuel pool 3. They managed to drop a heavy metal beam on top of the fuel so have decided to think again.

    From the few (public) scientific papers that have looked at the plutonium release from Fukushima we can be fairly certain that this release did not happen at the same time as the major release of caesium etc which covered the area surrounding the plant especially in a plume to the Northwest. Thus researchers looking for plutonium in say Fukushima city don’t find it as it didn’t go that way. However reactor plutonium from Fukushima has been found South of the plant and in the Pacific and even in the air over Europe. Winds were blowing that way at the time of the second meltdown of Reactor 3 (yes it seems it had at least two – there was a re-criticality) and the apparent fuel fire at reactor 4.

    I’m not sure temps got high enough to volatilize much plutonium during other reactor meltdowns (could be wrong – especially about the first explosion at Unit 3) at the site although solid plutonium in the form of bits of fuel rods were seemingly mechanically blown in the air by the explosions but mainly stayed close to the plant. Goodness knows how much really poured and is still pouring into the Pacific. TEPCO won’t let independent researchers near the water outlets.

    BTW, regulations for the operation of that type of reactor required hot fuel to be “checker-boarded” throughout the pool (ie spread out amongst old cooler fuel) during temporary unloading to reduce the likely-hood it would catch fire in a catastrophic event. TEPCO did not do this ( confirmed in a US NRC document released under FOI request).

    Needless to say, nobody is returning to the heavily contaminated areas any time in the foreseeable future.

  7. Squonk, thanks for the update on Fukushima. The ‘news’ media seems to have stopped mentioning the word ‘meltdown’ in connection with Fukushima, which makes me suspicious; meltdowns aren’t likely to just stop spontaneously or ‘burn themselves out’ in any reasonable time-frame, and if anyone had successfully stopped one deliberately I think there’d be a big fanfare across the media. It all looks like ‘nothing to see here, move along please’ to me.

    I’d appreciate some links to good recent sources for news on Fukushima.

  9. Fukushima information.

    http://enenews.com/
    http://fairewinds.org/ (Arnie Gunderson)
    http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/
    http://fukushima-diary.com/
    http://enformable.com/
    http://www.llrc.org/ (includes Chris Busby – he isn’t selling snake oil despite the attacks IMHO but is prone to exaggeration).

    One or two others I think I can’t immediately recall. No don’t take everything you read as necessarily true (especially some of the comments) on all of these sites but they are a very good starting point.

  10. One of the few published papers regarding Plutonium release

    Plutonium release from Fukushima Daiichi fosters the need for more detailed investigations

    http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/131018/srep02988/full/srep02988.html

    In summary, our study evidenced the release of plutonium from the damaged FDNPP via its isotopic fingerprint. Two vegetation samples exhibited 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratios of 0.381 ± 0.046 and 0.64 ± 0.37, respectively, both of which are higher than the global fallout background.

    …If confirmed, a release of plutonium-rich hot particles is of potential health concern upon inhalation or incorporation. Our findings demonstrate the need for more detailed investigations on plutonium distribution and speciation in order to assess potential radiological consequences for the public.

    Basically what they are saying without trying to “fear-monger” is that it looks like an airborne plume containing plutonium in the worst “hot-particle” form was released and TEPCO/Japanese government are covering it up. It seems most of the plume landed in the Pacific making it easier to cover up, but some of it definitely went over land and presumably into human lungs where it will remain.

  12. Hi Clark

    you didn’t miss the Ison type D.S (DAMP SQUIB ) Aurora event by being back down south…what a let down Though

    I was looking at some transport Regulations for radioactive materials…quite surprised by the scale of such movements…over the seas, and along our streets.

    I came across This info –

    About 20 million consignments of radioactive material (which may be either a single package or a number of packages sent from one location to another at the same time) take place around the world each year. Radioactive material is not unique to the nuclear fuel cycle and only about 5% of the consignments are fuel cycle related. Radioactive materials are used extensively in medicine, agriculture, research, manufacturing, non-destructive testing and minerals’ exploration.

    Transport of uranium oxide from mines and uranium hexafluoride
    Uranium oxide concentrate, sometimes called yellowcake, is transported from the mines to conversion plants in 200-litre drums packed into normal shipping containers. No radiation protection is required beyond having the steel drums clean and within the shipping container.
    To and from enrichment plants, the uranium is in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6), which again is barely radioactive but has significant chemical toxicity. It is in special containers, which also function for storage.

    Transport of used nuclear fuel
    When used fuel is unloaded from a nuclear power reactor, it contains: 96% uranium, 1% plutonium and 3% of fission products (from the nuclear reaction) and transuranics).
    Used fuel will emit high levels of both radiation and heat and so is stored in water pools adjacent to the reactor to allow the initial heat and radiation levels to decrease. Typically, used fuel is stored on site for at least five months before it can be transported, although it may be stored there long-term.
    From the reactor site, used fuel is transported by road, rail or sea to either an interim storage site or a reprocessing plant where it will be reprocessed.
    Used fuel assemblies are shipped in Type B casks which are shielded with steel, or a combination of steel and lead, and can weigh up to 110 tonnes when empty. A typical transport cask holds up to 6 tonnes of used fuel.

    It’s a bit Techy for my tired eyes Clark, but you, And AA too… might find some details worth picking over…. That 5% of the consignments are fuel cycle related is interesting, Cheers for Links….More on Transport of Radioactive materials @ –

    http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Transport/Transport-of-Radioactive-Materials/

  13. Squonk, thanks for the Fukushima links.

    BrianFujisan:

    “Radioactive materials are used extensively in medicine, agriculture, research, manufacturing, non-destructive testing and minerals’ exploration”

    This is why I do not subscribe to blanket condemnation of nuclear technology. Omitted from the list is americium, commonly used in smoke detectors. Nuclear technology is a part of technology, just as nuclear physics is part of physics. Countless lives have been saved and the treatment of countless injuries aided by the use of medical radiography in the form of X-rays. One of the worlds worst nuclear contamination incidents was caused by the theft and distribution of caesium from a decommissioned hospital.

    Even nuclear weapons have only been used twice as actual weapons, and there have been no world wars since then. I will continue to campaign for disarmament, but I have to take this argument seriously.

    I do not support the building of water-cooled, solid fuelled reactors; they offend my sense of mechanical safety, and by producing 99% waste versus 1% energy they create a huge radioactive disposal problem.

  14. BrianFujisan, that “only 5%” is probably by number of consignments rather than by weight. The other sectors probably ship many consignments of pretty small quantities, whereas light water reactors (PWRs and BWRs) produce relatively few consignments but each of many tonnes.

  15. On a brighter note, 10% of all the UK’s electricity in December was generated from wind-power. On Saturday 21st December, 17% of the UK’s electricity was wind-generated. And the beauty is we don’t need more storage right now because we’ve got all these gas fired stations we built before realising we didn’t have enough North Sea gas to run them all flat out in the winter anyway! When the wind blows, energy is effectively stored in gas storage because it would have been taken out and burned otherwise. More pumped hydro or similar will be needed in time though.

    http://www.renewableuk.com/en/news/press-releases.cfm/2014-01-02-record-breaking-month-for-wind-energy

  17. All gone quiet on the Cley helicopter crash, apart from the eulogies that is.

    Interesting that the deaths will not be dealt with by the British coronial system so the causes of the crash will never be made public.

    More squelching of the truth of the matter.

    ‘Norfolk Coroner Jacqueline Lake said she would not be carrying out an investigation into the deaths because the airmen had a “relevant association with a visiting force” under the Visiting Forces Act 1952 and Coroners and Justice Act 2009.’

    10 January 2014
    USAF helicopter crash: Pilot Christopher Stover ‘truly enjoyed’ flying
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-25678953

  18. Just to add of course I’m not against medical and other peaceful users of nuclear power if we do it right, And by doing it right I mean including having the top NUCLEAR BOMB DESIGNERS sign off on the reactor and waste disposal designs. They know lots of things the reactor designers don’t and quite a number are on record against current and proposed designs. Allegedly one bomb designer identified a catastrophic failure mode for Dounreay, which had been missed by the designers, shortly before it was shut down for good.

  19. Squonk, I already thanked you for the Fukushima links; it looks like there’s a lot of reading there, but you found those so fast that I suspect you’ve been following those sources. So I’m gonna be lazy and ask you for a synopsis. No obligation, of course, but it would be much appreciated.

  20. I certainly wouldn’t want to try living, say, on the surface of the moon without a decent nuclear reactor. If humans are ever to explore our solar system (directly rather than just with robots) nuclear power is a necessity.

  22. One of the main issues with nukes is the investment pools which seem to inspire denialism from national interests as well as ‘sustainability’ advocates originating from our putative protector, the UN.

    Public concern has to be tamped down to avoid ‘panic’. I don’t want to be protected from untoward information.

  23. The way nuclear power is done would be a joke if it wasn’t so dangerous and expensive. Even the primary designer of the PWR said it was too dangerous for civilian use. So they sacked him.

  24. Wonderful. Lakenheath is involved.

    Ten US Air Force officers investigated over drugs
    The illegal drug investigation has extended to multiple Air Force bases in the US and England (file photo)

    The US Air Force is now investigating 10 officers at six military bases for alleged illegal drug possession, service officials report.

    Nine lieutenants and a captain at bases in the US and Britain have been implicated in the investigation.
    …
    Two nuclear launch control officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are said to be involved in the probe.

    …
    The investigation has since grown to include officers at bases Malmstrom, Vandenberg in California, FE Warren in Wyoming and Schreiver in Colorado, as well as Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England, he added.

    Malmstrom Air Force base reportedly oversees 420 nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, while Schreiver Air Force Base is home to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
    /..
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25691072

  25. The film Nuclear Savage made for the Public Broadcasting Corporation in the US has not been shown to the public. A scandal.

    ‘Some use the term ‘savage’ to refer to people from primitive cultures, but nuclear experimentation pushed savagery to new levels. In the 1950s, the U.S. conducted 67 atomic and hydrogen bomb tests in the Marshall Islands, vaporizing islands and exposing entire populations to fallout. The islanders on Rongelap received near fatal doses of radiation from one test, and were then moved onto a highly contaminated island to serve as human guinea pigs for 30 years. Filmmaker Adam Jonas Horowitz spent 25 years collecting material – including original footage, archival clips, and unpublished secret documents – to create this unforgettable and ironic portrait of American cynicism, arrogance, and racism. Winner of festival awards in Paris, Chicago and Mexico City.’

    U.S. Human Radiation Experiments Covered up by Public Broadcasting
    by William Boardman / January 10th, 2014

    ‘The bomb will not start a chain reaction in the water, converting it all to gas and letting all the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy.’
    – Vice Admiral William P. Blandy, Bikini bomb test commander, July 25, 1946

    http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/01/u-s-human-radiation-experiments-covered-up-by-public-broadcasting/

    Weep for the people and their descendants.

  26. I could not sleep and got up early. It was Sharon on the World Service, Sharon on the TV channels, Sharon everywhere etc.

    http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2014-01-11/the-legacy-of-ariel-the-bulldozer-sharon/

    I did not know about the activities of Unit 101.

    Carlos Latuff cartoons http://dissidentvoice.org/2014/01/ariel-sharon-the-butcher-of-sabra-and-shatila-dies/

    His real name was Ariel Scheinermann. His parents were from Belarus.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon#Early_life

    His father gave him a dagger for his 5th birthday.

    They f…. you up, your Mum and Dad, as Philip Larkin said.

  27. Hague is attempting to rebuff this.

    Exclusive: Devastating dossier on ‘abuse’ by UK forces in Iraq goes to International Criminal Court

    Adam Ingram, Armed Forces minister, 2001-2007 (left); Geoff Hoon, Secretary of State for Defence,1999 -2005 (centre); and General Sir Peter Wall, Oversaw British military operations in Iraq, 2003-2005 Photo

    Senior UK military and political figures could end up in the dock as 400 victims denounce ‘systemic’ use of torture and cruelty

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-devastating-dossier-on-abuse-by-uk-forces-in-iraq-goes-to-international-criminal-court-9053735.html

    No mention of the arch war criminal B.Liar but there is in the comments.

  28. The BBC has once again exemplified its standing as the most manipulated public broadcaster in the world.
    The publically paid zionist broadcaster has today shown how easy it is to paint over massakers in Sabra and Shatilla as heroic soldiering, and make out that his ethnic cleansing and brutal murder of Palestinians in Quibia and other places was necessarry and not against international law.

    The BBC is a collaborator to these massakers by association, its unbalanced reporting on the terrorist who’s parents immigrated to israel from Russia. His life was ruoined by entering the Haganah age 14, nothing else ever excited Ariel apart from expelling Palestinians from Palestine.

    This day is a black day for international justice and its institutions and its marked by the hollow sound of another nail been driven into the BBC’s coffin by its homogenously white board and worldwiode executive.

    This man was not a member of Parliament nor should there be any debate on his demise. By tommorrow this whole sordid story should disappear from screens and radio, after all the BBC’s reporting of his week long dying has given this murderer more airtime and rememberance than Nelson Mandela.

    Can we expect a story comparing translators signing for the deaf? and how the hebrew translation was perfect whilst Tharnsanka Jantjie was a fake? Their news editors are really taking the Mickey and are obviously biased pro war criminals.

    Just imagine Blair would die in a car whilst driving through a tunnel or something, they would be gushing for weeks.
    BREAK IT UP!

    Now to the good news, Jack Frost has been last night and I’m going to be a grandad, again…..:)

  31. Well said Nevermind and congratulations. It is always wonderful to hear of a new life arriving. I just wish that there was less evil and mayhem in the world.

    Having been for a glorious walk in a forest in bright sunshine and blue sky, I came home in gloomy mist and fog.

    I see that Sharon’s death is still the lead topic on the MSM. I looked at Medialens and have just read this letter, addressed to ‘journalists’. Hope that if the cap fits, they take note.

    http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1389527413.html

  33. Straw really is attempting a rehabilitation. Will he succeed in pulling the wool over our eyes that he is not a war criminal but an aspiring peacemaker?

    West had malign influence on Iran for decades: Straw
    Former British Foreign Secretary and a present member of the UK Parliament Jack Straw

    Jan 10, 2014

    Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, currently a member of the UK Parliament, has said that the US and UK have often exerted “malign influence” on Iran’s affairs since the 1950s.

    Speaking upon his return from a three-day visit to Iran, Straw said it is understandable that Iranians remain distrustful of the West due to the British and American involvement in the 1953 coup which unseated Iran’s first democratic government.

    He also referred to London and Washington’s support for the Shah and their backing for Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988) as other reasons Iranians do not trust the West.

    Straw expressed optimism about Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the Sextet of powers and warned the West against pushing Iran “too far” in the course of the talks.

    The West’s negative stances can undermine President Hassan Rouhani’s efforts to establish proper relations with the world, he said.

    The veteran British diplomat praised President Rouhani’s commitment to creating change and noted, “It’s really important that we build up better understanding of the position of Iran.”

    Straw, who is also the British head of Iran-Britain Parliamentary Friendship Group, visited Iran at the head of a high-ranking delegation, including former Chancellor Lord Lamont, Conservative lawmaker Ben Wallace and Labor lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn as guests of Iran’s Majlis.

    The British delegates held meetings with high-ranking Iranian officials. The three-day official visit was the first by a delegation of British politicians since 2008.

    http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/01/10/344868/west-had-malign-influence-on-iran-straw/

  35. Clark,

    The only thing I can really add to what I’ve said above about Fukushima is that I would be wandering even further into total guesswork to figure out the true current state. If part of the rumoured secret Japanese atomic bomb project really was located underground at Fukushima then things are even murkier. I am fairly sure Japan has a secret nuclear bomb programme but how much of it is/was Fukushima related I have no idea.

    A very recent Russian scientific paper has shown that neutron capture and fission cross-sections of U238 and Pu239 vary with temperature but that this information has not previously been in published literature.

    http://enenews.com/study-fukushima-plutonium-effect-melting-mox-fuel-lead-neutron-flux-blow-surprisingly-absolutely-data-scientific-literature-refer

    It is shown that the capture and fission cross-sections of 238U and 239Pu increase with temperature within 1000 K – 3000 K range, in contrast to those of 235U, that under certain conditions may lead to the so-called blow-up modes, stimulating the anomalous neutron flux and nuclear fuel temperature growth. […]

    It is known that after the loss of coolant at three nuclear reactors during Fukushima nuclear accident its nuclear fuel melted. It means that the temperature in the active zone at some moments reached the melting point of uranium-oxide fuel [the third block partially used MOX-fuel enriched with plutonium], i.e. ~3000˚C. Surprisingly enough, scientific literature today contains absolutely no either experimental or even theoretically calculated data on behavior of the 238U and 239Pu capture and fission cross-sections depending on temperature at least in 1000˚C – 3000˚C range. At the same time there are serious reasons to believe that the cross section values of the mentioned elements increase with temperature.

    One wonders how many other things relevant to nuclear fission plant operation are unknown to their designers because the information is classified.

  36. Squonk, thanks. Yet another positive feedback process in nuclear reactor failure scenarios. Great. I note this section from the abstract:

    A special case of PF [Positive Feedback] is a non-linear PF, which leads to the system evolution in so-called blow-up mode, or in other words, in such a dynamic mode when one or several modeled values (e.g. temperature and neutron flux) grows to infinity at a finite time. In reality, a phase transition is observed instead of the infinite values in this case, and this can in its turn become a first stage or a precursor of the future technogenic disaster.

    Hmmm. Phase transitions take time, and criticality excursions can happen very fast:

    “The design power was 3 MW (thermal). Operating power was 200 kW electrical and 400 kW thermal for space heating. During the incident the core power level reached nearly 20 GW in just four milliseconds, precipitating the steam explosion”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl-1

    “One wonders how many other things relevant to nuclear fission plant operation are unknown to their designers because the information is classified.”

    Very good point. I wonder if a legal challenge to nuclear reactors could be formulated on this basis; how can safety ever be properly evaluated if the science is being interfered with?

  37. Posted about Ariel Sharon (Mary at 08h12 today)

    “His real name was Ariel Scheinermann. His parents were from Belarus.”
    ________________

    Yes, Israel was a country of immigration and yes, many immigrants took new, Israeli names (eg also Uri Avnery for that matter)).

    No problem with that, surely?

    Of course, some nasty people would probably wish that Sharon’s parents had remained in Belarus and got murdered by the Germans, presumably together with young Ariel?

  38. “Soon I was surrounded by a whole lot of children. Kids without homes, without parents, without futures. But they were the children of Sabra and the children of Shatila. One of them spotted my pocket camera, and wanted a picture taken. Then they all stood together, wanting their pictures taken. They wanted me to show their picture to the people of the world. Even if they were killed and the camps were demolished, the world would know that they were the children of Sabra and Shatila, and were not afraid. As I focused my camera, they all held up their hands and made victory signs, right in front of their destroyed homes, where many had been killed. Dear little friends, you taught me what courage and struggle are about.”

    Dr Swee Chair Ang, who was there during the Sabra & Chatilla massacres in 1982.

    ex
    Dr Swee Chai Ang: The children of Sabra and Shatila
    18 February 2011

    The following extract is taken from Dr Swee Chai Ang’s 1989 book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, which describes the experiences of a British surgeon, herself a refugee from Singapore, who went to help the wounded of Beirut in 1982 after the Israeli invasion and ended up founding Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), having witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 15-18 September 1982.

    This extract describes events and thoughts in the days straight after that massacre of over 3,000 unarmed and undefended women, children and old people by Israeli-backed militias.

    http://joti2gaza.org/2011/02/18/dr-swee-chai-ang-the-children-of-sabra-and-shatila/

  39. Mary,

    2006 interview “Dr Ang Swee Chai – Surgeon With A Mission” in the Singapore Medical Association Journal

    http://www.sma.org.sg/sma_news/3810/Feature.pdf

    The number one issue was my own mindset because I was brought up all along to fear Arabs and to hate terrorism, and I thought all Arabs were terrorists. Although I grew up in Singapore with Muslims, I never got to know them properly. When I found myself working in a refugee camp, for the first few days, I kept asking myself, “Are these people really Palestinians?” Because they are such wonderful people, they are so generous and such lovely people – they cannot be Arabs, not to mention Palestinians. It took a lot of adjusting for me.

    Used copies of From Beirut to Jerusalem can be ordered from Amazon for as little as £2.81 including P&P. There’s also an e-book Kindle edition at £3.21 – http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0586205241/ref=ox_ya_os_product

  40. Thank you so much habbabkuk for warning us of nasty people who might want to distort history to make up a sentence in aid of their masters. Pointing out that the mass murderers parents fled from the Bolsheviks was inevitable, well done for keeping up, as to your own speculative added bile, it was a decade out, at least, Sharons family were never interned, harrassed or killed by Nazi’s, nor did they flee from them.

    From an early age of 14, Ariel Sharon was brainwashed into the Zionist mindset and he swallowed it hook line and sinker, Not only did it limit his ambitions/ruin his young life, it also made him the Rommel of Zionism. Ariel Sharon was quiet a simple person who liked to carry out what he was ordered to do and he excelled in his murderous ambitions, learning his trade by killing and displacing Palestininas at a young age.

    Jauchz, Erd, und Himmel, juble hell,
    die Wunder Gotts mit Freud erzähl,
    die er heut hat begangen
    an seim trostlosen Häuflein klein,
    das saß in friedsamer Gemein/und betet mit Verlangen,

  41. I would never wish that on Sharon, unless it saved lives, that is. Recently, a comment by a conservative made off-handedly as though it were self-evident….
    “American lives are more valuable than that of foreigners’. I think the loss of one murderer is less egregious for his many victims.

  43. Sorry to cut in completely off-topic but there’s been a bit of a break-through in the Assange Swedish case. Rolf Hillegren, respected legal professional and previously prosecutor, writes in a leading Swedish Daily today: “Time for Sweden to close the case Assange”. He suggests that the Head Prosecutor (ex officio) should close the investigation and cancel the arrest order. The case is weak and would be closed if it had been properly handled, he writes. Such an action would also save Britain from its embarrasment of having “lost him”, according to Hillegren.

    http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/dags-for-sverige-att-avsluta-fallet-assange_8887418.svd

    The Swedish newspaper is opening a debate column for the Swedish public tomorrow, I think at 10am, so can I make a plea for all hands on deck please? Or at least to all of you who are on Twitter, or know someone on Twitter you can contact very quickly. It would be great if everyone can please retweet these four WL tweets that have all the good links to evidence in them. Point them at Swedish twitterers, if you can – perhaps highlighting some points from the article: it confirms JA didn’t flee Sweden; it states there’s no point in even questioning him; it says the women’s disputes with JA aren’t even normally dealt with by the courts. The easiest way to find Swedish people to tweet at is to search for them using the hashtag #svpol

    https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/422473789415251969

    https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/422474073004720128

    https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/422475826915864576

    https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/422480758725308416

  44. There were good shots of the be-kippahed heads of the UK war criminal B.Liar and the US war criminal’s No 2 Biden at the Sharon funeral.

    Ding dong. The butcher’s dead. Make sure the lid’s well screwed down boys.

  45. The fracking Fallon was on Sky News boasting of the involvement of major oil companies, starting with Total, in the forthcoming despoliation of our country.

    A bribe is being given to any councils falling for it to the tune of £1.75m and then a percentage of the revenues.

    Shame on the ConDems.

    Fallon up to now has been the mouthpiece for No 10 when one has been needed.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fallon#Parliamentary_Expenses_Scandal

    Note Tullett Prebon. Asked to participate in the Libor rate fixing inquiry. Tullett a Tory donor. Fallon has resigned.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9520858/Michael-Fallon-becomes-business-minister.html

  46. This is the latest list of Israeli atrocities committed against the Palestinian people. It coincides with the date of Sharon’s death on 10th January.

    9 January 2014

    Israeli air strike injures 3 people and damages homes
    Attack/incursion: Israeli Army bulldozes Khan Yunis crops
    Israeli soldiers abduct 2 youths aged 16 and 17
    Israeli Army uproots North Yatta olive trees
    Israeli soldiers beat up and injure 17-year-old youth
    Israeli soldiers seize and terrorise three 14-year-old boys and youth aged 17
    Night peace disruption in 1 village
    2 air strikes – 1 attack
    15 raids including home invasions
    1 beaten – 4 injured
    3 acts of agricultural/economic sabotage
    14 taken prisoner – 4 detained – 107 restrictions of movement

    Read newsletter
    Simon Schama – ideology versus truth and reason

    http://palestine.org.nz/phrc/index.php

  47. Thanks for that good news from Sweden Arbed, we can only hope that they all mean it and that the likes of the NSA tykes are kept out of the equation.

    Thanks to all for the as ever excellent links.

  48. Dearest Friends,

    Over here in UK and also in Singapore, there are all the eulogies on Sharon. I wrote this to Michael Young, editor of the Daily Star Beirut – not sure if it will get published. Please feel free to circulate. I assume it is going to get published, if not it should still be circulated for the record.

    Many thanks
    Swee

    Mr Michael Young
    The Editor
    Daily Star Beirut

    Dear Mr Young

    The passing of Ariel Sharon brought back the memories of the horrors of the Sabra Shatilla massacre of September,’82. I arrived in August that year as a volunteer surgeon to help the war victims of Lebanon. The people in Lebanon were wounded, made homeless and lost precious friends and families as the result of ten weeks of ruthless bombardment. That was the Operation Peace for Galilee launched by Sharon who was then the Defence Minister of Israel in June 1982. No one knew how many were killed as the result of that offensive – the London newspapers estimated a thirty thousand with many times more made homeless. When a ceasefire was agreed with the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Sharon broke that ceasefire and drove tanks under air-cover launching a land invasion into Lebanon’s capitol Beirut. Part of the tanks sealed Sabra Shatilla and prevented the helpless civilian victims from escaping, while sending in Israel’s allies into the camps to carry out the most brutal massacre of defenceless women, children and old people under Israel’s watch. The blame was quickly and deliberately shifted to the Lebanese as perpetrators of the massacres, so that today no one can mention that massacre without blaming the Lebanese Phalange, yet forgetting the Israeli organisers of that event.

    I worked in Gaza Hospital in Sabra Shatilla during the massacre trying to save the lives of a few dozen people, but outside the hospital hundreds were killed. My patients and I knew that Sharon and his officers were in control, and without them the massacre would not be possible. The residents of Sabra Shatilla could at least have escaped. Now more than 30 years later, we know that the killers were brought in by Israeli armoured cars and tanks, obeyed Israeli commands, their paths lit by Israeli military flares, and some of them also wore Israeli uniforms. The mutilated bodies of the victims were thrown into mass graves by Israeli bulldozers.

    This Sharon continued on to be Israeli Prime Minister, and built the Wall which imprisoned the Palestinians in the West Bank. Sharon’s Wall cut through their lands, separating people from their homes, children from their schools, farmers from their orchards, patients from hospitals, husbands from wives, and children from parents. He marched into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem 2000 with fully armed Israeli soldiers and tried to have the West believe that his intention was for peace.

    He was responsible for other massacres such as in Jenin, Qibya and Khan Yunis just to name a few. The older generation in Khan Yunis in Gaza remembers that he killed all the grown men in the massacre of 1956 and left only the women and children to bury the dead..

    I thought these facts should be publicised. Those who eulogise Sharon in his role of building Israel should also remember that he built his nation over the dead bodies of the Palestinian people, and the continued dispossession of those who are still alive.

    Dr Ang Swee Chai
    Author of From Beirut to Jerusalem
    Published by International Librarie, Beirut
    12 January 2014

  49. From a friend. She noticed Yolande Knell and Evan Davis shilling for Israel on Radio 4 Today this morning. Disgraceful bias was displayed yet again.

    Just after the 6am news bulletin on Today, Evan Davis spoke to Yolande Knell in Jerusalem about Sharon’s funeral arrangements.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03ph662/Today_13_01_2014/ @10:26

    “(Knell) As you can imagine, security is very tight for all of these events especially those at the family ranch, with it being so close to the border with the Gaza strip.

    “(Davis) Right. So you could imagine that someone in Gaza who wanted to make a splash would choose today to lob the odd rocket or something like that, which would obviously be the…. well, it would test Israel’s patience, let’s say.

    “(Knell) Well, I mean that could happen. We’ve got no indication that the Hamas government in Gaza is planning anything. But certainly it’s something that Israel will always be concerned about.”

    Ah, yes. Just like Palestinians are always concerned about a possible Israeli attack on a Palestinian funeral, which sometimes happens – e.g.:
    2011 May 14: Israeli forces fire tear gas at mourners on Saturday, May 14, during the funeral of a Palestinian teenager who was killed by Israeli soldiers. Israeli troops have attacked the funeral of a Palestinian teen in the West Bank.

    On Saturday, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas to disperse mourners attending the funeral ceremony in Ras al-Amud, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Associated Press reported. Milad Said Ayyash, 16, was shot in the stomach by Israeli forces in the Silwan neighborhood on Friday and died of his injuries overnight.

    http://www.siasat.com/english/news/israelis-attack-palestinian-funeral

  50. “Seeing Tony Blair speaking at Ariel Sharon’s Funeral – one war criminal eulogising another – was so horrifying it has jolted this blog back out of retirement. There may be no justice, but there can be truth”

    So says Craig, who has reappeared today. The above is the whole post.

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