Paul Schnee on Oliver Stone Putting the Holocaust "In Context"

This is the content of an email sent out by Paul Schnee, Executive Director for the Western Region for the Zionist Organization of America. It is posted with the permission of the author.

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I have read Ms. Berrin's article in The Jewish Journal about Oliver Stone and his intention to make a documentary putting Hitler "in context".  I suspect this effort will probably illustrate just how frequently the bong is passed around Mr. Stone's house as did his film "JFK" which was riddled with invention and dramatic license of the most misleading kind stretching the 'willing suspension of disbelief' to the breaking point.

I do so hope that we are not going to be treated to an examination of the part that the "appeasers" in Britain and Europe played in the march towards the outbreak of World War II as if this was not already well known. The motives, activities, sympathies, and personalities of the "Cliveden Set" and their camp followers are all public knowledge today and there is little that Mr. Stone can add, other than his fanciful interpretation, that would enhance our understanding of that time in history. If, on the other hand, he made a film about the "appeasers' of today, then he might find himself, along with many of the Hollywood gliteratti, in one of the leading roles.

When Hitler passed the Nuremberg Laws in 1935 he codified what had already become the institutionalized persecution of the Jews that resulted in the annihilation of some 6 million innocent souls. When he invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941 he betrayed his erstwhile ally with whom he had previously concluded a cynical "non-aggression pact" which eliminated, for that moment, the spectre of a war on two fronts while he concentrated on invading Poland with Russian help instead of Russian interference. It was during Operation Barbarossa ( the code name for the invasion of Russia) that the Nazi Einsatzgruppen, a paramilitary group of SS lovelies, went about the summary execution of Russian civilians some of whom were communists, some of whom were Jewish, and some of whom were Jewish communists. For Hitler it was a distinction without a difference but an urgent necessity to be accomplished with enthusiasm and a good deal of relish.

It is difficult to grasp the point Mr. Stone is making when he says that Hitler killed more Russians than Jews. Most of us learned this in high school and hardly need Mr. Stone to draw our attention to this gruesome fact. If, however, he is suggesting that our outrage at the institutionalized slaughter of 6 million Jews should be less than our outrage at the death of 25 or 30 million Russians who were killed by their former ally then he must believe that we suffer from the same kind of moral relativism with which he is afflicted. This is a prism which distorts everything that comes into view much like Mr. Stone's camera lens.

The tiresome and loathsome canard that the so-called Israel Lobby has an undue, unhealthy, and overwhelming influence on American foreign policy is one of the standard accusations of stealth anti-semites who seek to cloak their anti-semitism by portraying themselves as merely being against America's policies towards Israel. It's a sham, of course, but one that has managed to gain some traction with the publication of books like Walt and Mearsheimer's "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" which can now be purchased on Amazon.com at a discount of 34%. A discount of 75% would be a more accurate reflection of the book's true value.

The idea that the so-called media Jews, to whom Mr. Stone refers, control or enhance Israel's position in the world is the sort of flight of fancy to which we have become accustomed from Mr. Stone. Clearly he is not a subscriber to the New York Times. He must not watch the news programs on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, or MSNBC, where many of the senior executives are Jewish. Nor have the efforts of the exalted Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod done anything to to make Israel more secure or prosperous. We can leave aside, for the moment, that they haven't done that for America either!

Considering the position of Israel today as she is surrounded by genocidal enemies whose undiminished goal is her extinction, considering the plight of Jews who have been expelled from Arab countries, considering the rise of anti-semitism in Europe, considering that many of our universities and institutions are being subverted by the massive infusion of Arab petro-dollars, considering the historical opposition to Israel in our State Department, and considering the hostile attitude of the Obama administration towards Israel it does not seem as if all of Mr. Stone's vaunted claims of excessive Jewish influence amount to very much.

We cannot take Mr Stone "out" of context any more than we can put him "in" context since he lives so much of his life in an alternate universe where up is down and down is up and context is absent. The safest place for Mr. Stone is in a straight-jacket with his bong safely out of reach. In the meantime, I'm very much afraid that Mr. Stone is about to prove, yet again, that winning an Oscar is not sufficient proof that one has a firm grasp of reality.

Doubtless Mr. Stone's new project will be an entertaining tour de force where he can part company from the facts and demonstrate, once more, his faculty for realizing hallucinations.

It takes some chutzpah for Mr. Stone to imagine we have all been waiting for him to put Adolf Hitler "in context". Chutzpah, as Mr. Stone knows, is an old Yiddish word but then so, of course, is schmuck!.

Kindest regards,
as always,

Sincerely,

Paul Schnee
Executive Director,
Western Region,
Zionist Organization of America

Film director Oliver Stone told London's Sunday Times that the Holocaust remains a focus of the world's attention because of "Jewish domination of the media." "There's a major lobby in the United States," Stone said, according to the blog Normblog http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/toolbar.html?4t=extlink&4u=http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2010/07/stone-for-a-brain.html . "They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."

Stone added that he is planning a 10-part documentary on Adolf Hitler that would put the Nazi leader "in context." For good measure, he added that "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people." To read more, click here. http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/toolbar.html?4t=extlink&4u=http://normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2010/07/stone-for-a-brain.html.

Setting the Record Straight on the Mavi Mamara

These two letters were published in The Hour (Norwalk, Connecticut) on Monday, July 26, 2010.

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A few questions remain

To the Editor:

I have a few questions for Aletha and Lynn Carlton, who wrote a letter published July 16 in which they asserted the people on the so-called Free Gaza Flotilla "were not expecting a fight."

If they were not expecting a fight, which did they bring along dozens of armed and trained fighters from IHH?

If they were not expecting a fight, why did they come equipped with bulletproof vests and night vision goggles?

If they were not expecting a fight, why did they cut up the railings on the Mavi Mamara and use them to beat Israelis? In fact, why did they bring aboard tools to enable them to do that?

If they were not expecting a fight, why did they bring weapons?

If they were not expecting a fight, why did they start a fight, attacking the Israelis even before they boarded the ship?

All their actions are well-documented, including video.

The IHH, the primary organizer of the Free Gaza Flotilla, has already been banned by Germany from raising funds there because it promotes terrorism.

Overwhelming evidence has even forced our won State Department to consider officially designating the IHH as what it obviously is, a terrorist organization.

The IHH not only expected a fight, it planned for one and initiated one.

The losers, far more than Israel, are the people in Gaza who are being oppressed by their own government, controlled by Hamas. Particularly oppressed are the Christians in Gaza. Since losing any remaining protection once Israel completely left Gaza in 2005, they have been intimidated, beaten and tortured by fanatical Islamists, who are even oppressing the moderate Muslims in Gaza.

It is sadly ironic that those who are criticizing Israel are helping to perpetuate the enslavement of the moderates in Gaza, who need to be freed from their oppressive rulers.

Jay Jacovitz
Norwalk

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Facts out of fabrications

To the Editor:

Regarding the letter "Flotilla was not expecting a fight," written by Aletha and Lynn Carlton ( The Hour July 16) I'm always amazed at how some people seem to be able to write an anti-Israel letter creating "facts" out of fabrications. Here are the proven, factual, and verifiable facts: The IHH operatives involved in the violence on the so-called "Free Gaza Flotilla" boarded at a different port, without being subjected to inspection, separately from others. They brought bulletproof vests, night vision goggles and weapons, including firearms with which they shot Israelis who boarded. Some of the bullets removed from injured Israelis did not come from Israeli weapons and Mavi Mamara crew members testified they saw the IHH attackers throw weapons over board once the Israelis successfully warded off their vicious attack.

This flatly contradicts the Carltons' assertion that those on the flotilla "were not expecting a fight." They not only expected a fight; they started the fight. This is corroborated by audio and video tapes readily available on YouTube and elsewhere. They declared themselves "shaheeds" (martyrs) before even leaving Turkey.

I also find it hard to believe their charge that Dore Gold, a Connecticut native and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, "assured an American Jewish gathering … They would … make life so miserable for the Palestinians and Christians that they would leave "voluntarily." That charge sounds totally out of character and I've found no evidence to support such a claim.

It is true, on the other hand, that Arab Muslims, in the West Bank and Gaza, are harassing and persecuting their Christian "brethren" and driving them out. Even Bethlehem has turned from being a Christian to a pre dominantly Muslim town since it came under the control of the Palestinian Authority. In the Middle East, only in Israel, do Christians escape severe persecution.

Perhaps I shouldn't really be surprised that those who oppose Israel find it difficult to write against Israel without making up their own, distorted version of the facts. I suggest they do a little research to verify their false claims. After all, if one actually looks at the facts, it's difficult to avoid supporting Israel, the only liberal, Western-oriented democracy in the Middle East and our only reliable and loyal friend in that part of the world.

Murray Bruckel
Norwalk

Letter to the Editor - The Hour (Norwalk, Connecticut)

The following letter was sent to The Hour, based in Norwalk, Connecticut on July 14 and published Sunday, July 18, 2010.

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Unfair criticism difficult to gauge

To the Editor:

Methinks Fred Wicke doth protest too much.

In his July 10 letter, he writes: "I can't believe that there have been a dozen writers calling Mr. Kimmich anti-Semitic and other insulting remarks."

There's a good reason he can't believe it: it's not true.

Between the time of the Kimmich letter to which he refers and the publication of his own letter, there were only five writers responding to Kimmich's factually challenged anti-Israel screeds. Of those, only one even mentioned anti-Semitism. That reference didn't actually accuse Kimmich of anti-Semitism, but simply referred to anti-Zionist as being "the politically correct term for Anti-Semitic."

Israel-haters seem to love to launch false accusations of being accused of anti-Semitism. Such false accusations far outnumber actual accusations of anti-Semitism. The latter are extremely rare. Here's why:

Unlike the Israel-haters, supporters of Israel are generally very careful about avoiding false statements. One rarely finds factual errors in the writings of supporters of Israel. (This is in sharp contrast to the other side; Wicke's letter is typical.)

Academic studies have shown a high correlation between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. This confirms the common sense understanding that the vast majority of criticism of Israel is motivated by anti-Semitism.

However, without intimate knowledge of the individual involved, it's extremely difficult to know for sure whether a particular person's unfair criticisms are motivated by anti-Semitism.

Hence, although they are often fully justified, suspicions of anti-Semitism are rarely voiced.

Alan Stein
President, PRIMER-Connecticut Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting

Maybe a Time for Jews to Affirm Common Cause

This commentary by Neil Berro was published on the editorial page of the New Haven Register July 6, 2010.

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The beautiful sound of my daughter singing in Hebrew as she practices for her bat mitzvah wafted upstairs. I don't remember being that lyrical 41 years ago, or being that diligent in practicing.

I do remember loaning my cassette tape recorder to Morris Barocas for what seemed like a year as he practiced for his bar mitzvah. It must have worked. Morris went on to have a great celebration and become a prominent physician.

The bar or bat mitzvah is a coming of age for young Jews, and there is little about the experience that can be taken for granted.

As a baby boomer, I have been fortunate to grow up with more freedom and opportunity for Jews than perhaps anytime in America.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel celebrated his son's recent bar mitzvah by taking him to Israel. The prayer service was held at the Western Wall, part of the Temple Mount and considered the most sacred spot in Judaism.

Jews have lived or yearned for Jerusalem for thousands of years. "Next year in Jerusalem" was the rallying cry for Jews in concluding the Passover service of freedom whether they lived in grandeur or poverty, whether they lived in the Spain of Maimonides or were held captive in the squalor of a concentration camp.

Roger Cohen in a recent column in The New York Times noted that his daughter had just celebrated her bat mitzvah. I bet Cohen and Emanuel are as worried as I am for the future of their kids, as worried as many Jewish parents all over the world are becoming, as strange standards of morality are being applied, all seeming to have the same sickening conclusive judgment, one heard with the same fury and hostility of every pogrom, Inquisition or goose step that has marched through history.

The Turks attack Israel's morality, as does Iran President Mahmoud Amadinejad, Hamas, Hezbollah and those moralists at the United Nations.

It's flattering, no doubt, that enemies of Israel can count upon the shock value of their words because of the high expectations for Israel, and indeed all Jews.

Turks gave the world the first taste of genocide in the 20th century when they chased and slaughtered Armenian civilians by the hundreds of thousands. For good measure, Turks were generally regarded as the most brutal of captors during World War I, and seemed to take particular delight in abusing surrendered British troops. Kurds do not have anything kind to say about Turks either.

Iran would be comical were it not so deadly. Amadinejad brutalizes its people, yet shamelessly rebukes Americans and Israelis at every turn.

The Egyptians do not want an armed Hamas on their doorstep. Yet, Egypt moves to strip citizenship from any Egyptian daring to marry an Israeli Jew; shades of the Nazi Nuremberg laws.

Following the 2006 war, the United Nations passed strict resolutions, as did the Lebanese government, against the re-arming of Hezbollah. Hezbollah now has four times the advanced missiles and a charter calling for Israel's destruction.

So, why would Israel want Hamas becoming another Hezbollah? Hamas is as unrelenting in hatred of Jews as is Hezbollah.

The United Nations, which has never gone broke asking the world and especially the United States to pay for its every crackpot charge against Israel, winks at the missile buildup by the enemies of Israel.

These are disturbing times for Jews. We are not perfect and certainly Israel is not perfect. This may be a necessary time, however, for Jews to reaffirm their common cause.

For perfect, I would commend you to the melodious notes of a beautifully sung bat mitzvah service. It doesn't happen so often.

For the more ubiquitous sounds of hatred, I would merely commend you to the hypocrites attacking Israel.

Neil Berro of New Haven has worked for Jewish and Israeli causes since 1981. Readers may write to him in care of the Register, 40 Sargent Drive, New Haven 06511. His e-mail address is nberro@comcast.net.

Deliberately Misreading the Holocaust

This letter was published in the Waterbury Republican-American July 7, 2010 in response to a letter which maliciously tried to associate Israel with Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, the headline given the letter also distorted its message.

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Israel's Existence Makes Another Holocaust Unlikely

In regard to the June 30 letter "Another Lesson of History Is Forgotten," there are significant differences between the situations regarding Hitler's Nazi Germany and the Hamas' Gaza Strip.

In both cases, there were maniacal regimes bent on the genocide of the Jewish people, but at least today the Jewish people have their own country, Israel, to defend them. While the calculus will change if Hamas' patrons, the fanatical mullahs in charge of Iran, succeed in their quest for nuclear weapons, it is highly unlikely Hamas will manage to slaughter 6 million Jews.

One difference: The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto did little to help their Nazi oppressors, but Israel is sending massive amounts of humanitarian aid to the Arabs living in Gaza.

In one way, however, the situation today is worse than during the Holocaust. The world was indifferent when the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up to defend themselves. Today, the world is far from indifferent and immediately condemns Israel every time it tries to do anything to defend itself from Arab terrorism.

Alan Stein
Waterbury

Open Letter to NPR

June 28, 2010

Janice Portentoso

Broadcast Society Director

WSHU

Sacred Heart University

5151 Park Avenue

Fairfield, CT 06825


Dear Ms. Portentoso:

I just received the request to renew my monthly $30 contribution to WSHU. Why should I donate to an organization that never responds to my calls, when I request a callback, and whose logo of “fair and unbiased” reporting has yet to be demonstrated?

I am stopping support of the station due to WNPR’s severely biased reporting on Israel. The Flotilla incident was the latest and last straw. I need to donate the money to organizations to help combat the hatred and marginalization of Israel that the station, on a consistent basis, promotes.

There is clear evidence that anti-Semitism, not just anti-Zionism, is at the base of all of the events in dealing with Israel throughout the world. In its slanted reporting, the station is fueling the fire of hatred, directly and indirectly not just toward Israel, but toward all Jews.

Katalin R.Baltimore


Hate and Prejudice on ABC News

This letter appeared in my emailbox and I thought it important to help spread it around.

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Mr David Westin, President of ABC
Foreign Desk, Producers and Staff
ABC News Department

I am writing because I am very upset that you have allowed hate and prejudice to permeate your programming.

In a fair and impartial news broadcast, facts would be presented as accurately as possible. I am angry that ABC staff does not meet this standard, but has an agenda and presents false information as "hard news."

Concerning the "Flotilla" FOX ran the footage over and over. The Turkish ambush of the Israeli sailors was clear to see. The scenes of the Israelis being savagely beaten with iron pipes, stabbed, and one thrown overboard told a different story than the one ABC presented.

ABC's doctored footage merely showed an IDF sailor descending from a rope, and right before he was assaulted by the iron pipes, the pictures stopped. No information about Israeli warnings, offers to transport the cargo, or mention of the savage beatings the Turks inflicted was reported.

The next picture was meant to deliberately mislead. It showed armed men aiming guns. The clear intention of the producer was to imply that the sailors landed safely and pulled guns on the passengers. Deliberate distortions meant to deliberately mislead - otherwise called lies.

Another "set up" to spread disinformation and hatred of Israel was a scene in Gaza of a bomb destroyed building. An Arab child and mother walking in the rubble was a false picture of most of Gaza. Clearly the producer of the film wanted to leave the impression that the destroyed area was what all of Gaza looked like. That is another entirely false picture. In fact, visitors to Gaza are amazed how little damage there is - they had expected to see devastation, but Gaza looks very much as before Operation Cast Lead.

ABC news never reported the on-going rocket attacks fired from Gaza. Over 8,000 rockets were launched into Israel from Gaza. That is 8,000 times ABC could have reported on this assault, but 8,000 times ABC did not tell the story. ABC ran no pictures of the devastated Israeli houses, cars, property. There were no interviews in hospitals with wounded victims. There were no social workers or psychologists discussing the sheer terror of many Israelis - never knowing when a rocket of death may head their way. There were no stories of underground/ indoor playgrounds, of the new wing of the Hadassah hospital being constructed three stories down, with bomb shelters and operating rooms and safe areas to try to protect patients (and many are Arabs) from the Arab rocket/missile attacks.

When Israel was forced to respond to the on-going rocket fire from Gaza, it warned innocent Arabs to leave weapon storage areas. Over one million flyers were air-dropped. December 28, over 300,000 leaflets were dropped throughout the entire Gaza Strip. On 12/29, 80,000 leaflets, on Jan.3, 300,000, on Jan. 5 - 300,000 leaflets dropped in Gaza City, Khan Yunis and Rafah. On 12/27 20,000 telephone calls were made, on 12/29 10,000 calls were made.

Breaking into local radio transmissions (Radio Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Radio and Radio PFLP) this warning was given: "The IDF will hit and destroy any site or building containing ammunition or weapons. As of the publication of this announcement, the life of anyone in whose home ammunition and weapons are to be found is in danger, and he must leave the place for the sake of his safety and that of his family. "

Not one word of this did ABC report.

Pinpoint bombing of weapons storage sites did inflict damage. Now, six months later, 78% of the damaged sites have been repaired. To show a still damaged area, with the distinct intention of falsely asserting that all of Gaza looks like that area, is another outright hoax . That matches the false reports of a "humanitarian crisis " in Gaza. The enclosed sheet lists the staggering amount of food (ONE TON PER PERSON) and products that the Arabs in Gaza have available. Your photographers never show the abundance in stores and street markets. "The Financial Times" reports that "there is such a glut of goods in Gaza that prices for food, luxury items, clothing are plummeting."

The flotilla footage was deliberately cut and pasted. It was totally fraudulent. I wonder if your producers are on the oil-rich Arab payroll, or just hate Israelis and Jews and want to cause harm. In the age of the Internet, and FOX showing what ABC did not, by doctoring the footage, the sights and smells of prejudice at ABC abound.

If there are any decent and fair-minded people at ABC, I hope they will note these unreported facts, which can be substantiated and verified. Perhaps your decent and fair-minded people would insist on that type of reporting. Not like the supporters on your staff of Hamas and Hezb'Allah, who want the world to believe their lying and evil stories.

Sincerely,
Roberta E. Dzubow
Plymouth Meeting, PA

Give the Palestinian Arabs the Rights They Deserve

A Reuters article, which may be read at in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-49694220100627, reports on thousands of Palestinian Arabs demanding well-deserved rights.

They have a good point.

One of the protesters, Imtithal Abu Samra, complained that the Palestinian Arabs had no rights. He insisted "we just want to live with dignity." The protesters rightly complained they had been forced to live in refugee camps and denied citizenship for 62 years.

The protest was held in the capital of Lebanon, a country which, like all other countries in the Middle East except for Jordan and Israel, refuses to grant citizenship to Palestinian Arabs. Only one country, Israel, has never forced Palestinian Arabs to live in refugee camps.

Even the Palestinian Authority, both in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank"), run by Fatah, and in Gaza, run by Hamas since its bloody coup in 2007, continues to force its own people to stay in refugee camps even though the PA been in control for more than a decade and a half.

Their plight is a disgrace. It's long past time for the United Nations to actually do something to help the Palestinian Arabs rather than continue its complicity in using and abusing them to perpetuate the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The United Nations Security Council and General Assembly must adopt their legitimate cause. They must demand that the millions of descendants of refugees finally be granted citizenship in the countries of their birth. They must direct UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) to finally do for the few remaining actual Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants what has been done for virtually all other refugees in the world: move them out of squalid refugee camps and into permanent homes so they can live normal lives.

An Open Letter to the Author of a Rasheed Screed

Jamilah Rasheed is a regular contributor to "Faith Matters," a commentary feature of the New Haven Register.

Typically, her columns are not only visciously anti-Israel screeds, but filled with blatant factual errors and misrepresentations.

She wrote a typical one of her columns on June 26, 2010. It is currently viewable online by clicking here.

Ed Wood wrote the following open letter to Rasheed taking issue with it.

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AN OPEN LETTER TO MS. JAMILAH RASHEED concerning her June 26, 2010 "Faith Matters" submission to the New Haven Register

June 28, 2010

Dear Ms. Rasheed:

I've often taken issue openly with the views you've expressed from time to time in the New Haven Register. However, since I've likely reached the limitation on the number of submissions its opinion page will publish from "ordinary folks" such as myself, I have taken the opportunity to present these comments in this "open letter" forum which will hopefully bing it to your attention and to others who might be interested in these matters.

I believe your "Faith Matters" submission ignored the following:

1) Hamas has historically been adverse to the existence of Israel as a nation and has made no effort to conceal this fact both by its declarations and actions.

2) Even though Israel handed over the Gaza territory so that its inhabitants could enjoy autonomy, Israel has paradoxically received for this effort continuous rocket attacks into its territory ever since.

3) Israel, like any other nation, has the absolute right to insure its own safety. I believe it has acted with incredible restraint and that the blockade is in fact a very minimal response toward that end considering the hostility to which it has been subjected from the Gazans since 2005. The truth of the matter is that Israel has already provided means of conveying humanitarian aid to Gaza which also allows it to protect itself from contraband. Since this is so, the operation of running its blockade is not necessary unless the true motive of those doing so is that of provoking confrontations designed to unjustly vilify Israel in an effort to elicit sympathy from the international community - which appears to be exactly what has happened.

4) It is my assertion that the inability or perhaps the unwillingness of the Gazans to reign in those of their own members who are carrying out these provocative attacks is the prime reason for the isolation and hardship they may be experiencing.

5) A comment was made by you that the U.S. ought to be providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. This is already the case. I'll be honest with you, Ms. Rasheed. The U.S. government has been a lot more charitable that I would be personally. I have never been able to erase the image of the Palestinians dancing in the streets as our twin Trade Towers crumbled into the ground on 9-11 which to me expressed the depths of their continuing hatred toward America, Israel, and the freedom all democracies represent. I do not believe as such that they are deserving of a single dime from this country!

In my opinion if you wish there to be an accommodation and acceptance of the Islamic world by the rest of us, then it will have be the one that has to make some dramatic, genuine, and permanent changes in its attitudes and actions toward those both inside and outside its belief system.

Yours Truly,
Edward Wood

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Rasheed's screed also led PRIMER to alert its members with the following analysis.

While some of those on the flotilla may have been misguided humanitarians, the organizers certainly were not.

Greta Berlin, one of the organizers, admitted: "This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies."

The organizers also pointedly refused a plea that they ask Hamas to let human rights organizations, such as the International Red Cross, visit Gilad Shalit and allow him to receive packages. Friday, the day before Rasheed's screed was published, marked four years that Gilad Shalit has been held hostage by Hamas. As Ehud Barak recently said: "There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid. Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health - his name is Gilad Shalit, and this month four years will have passed since he was kidnapped."

Rasheed refers to the ship, the Mavi Marmara, allegedly having been searched in Turkey "to ensure weapons were not on board." She neglected to mention that forty trained mercenaries were on board, with weapons, night vision goggles and bulletproof vests.

She also falsely claims "soldiers dropped from the helicopter and began shooting." The soldiers were viciously attacked and beaten as they, armed primarily with paintball rifles, were rappelling down to the ship. Only after several were seriously injured, with one thrown down 30 feet from the deck, were the soldiers authorized to return fire.

There was an attempted massacre, of the Israelis, but there was no massacre of those on the flotilla. Those killed were far from innocent; they were all among the attackers.

We are onto your lies and distractions!

GS Don Morris, Ph.D.

June 21, 2010

How many times can you go to the well of lies?  Seems to be an endless parade and still the bucket brings up the mistruths, misrepresentations, misdirection’s and falsehoods-the people still drink from this well and the media’s presentations are over flowing with contempt for something once know as journalistic integrity. Israel has been gamed, blamed and shamed by individuals who have no credibility. However, the tide is changing and as the “new media” emerges so does the truth.

Allow me to focus upon one simple matter-the so-called humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Open a newspaper and read a report and/or an interview of one of our enemies and you’ ll hear and read how “Gazans are dying because mean-spirited Israel keeps medicines out of Gaza-with the blockade as the cause. Any one worth their investigative salt knows these medical statements do not deserve the electrons it takes to post. The data proves the opposite is the truth.

During the year of 2009, even while being on the receiving end of rockets on a regular basis, we did not deny one person from Gaza medical care in Israel unless the patient is a known perpetrator of terror. Fact is during this very year 10,544 patients AND their companions left Gaza for medical treatment in Israel-usually at Israel’s expense. In addition there were 382 emergency evacuations from Gaza for medical purposes.

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza-not on your life. The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid every year, every year, even when their people attack us. The monies go to treat Palestinians in Israel.

During the recent swine flu outbreak, you remember, the worldwide catastrophe that never materialized, three Israeli hospitals, nevertheless, were assigned to treat cases in the Gaza Strip and 44,500 immunizations were transferred to Gaza.

I suspect you do not know that Israel maintains a corridor for the transfer of medical patients out of Gaza. Every month nearly 200 medical staff members go through the crossings to provide health assistance.  Humanitarian crisis, not on your life!

According to Peter Lerner (COGAT, Central Command) says that Israel does not prevent any medication from going in into Gaza. If there is a shortage it is because of a lack of funding by the PA health ministry. There are no limits on the provision of medicines to the Gaza population by Israel. ¹

Remember these numbers from a previous post²:

24.84/1000
78.1/1000
17.71/1000
4.17/1000

That’s right, these represent the number of infant deaths in the following respective areas: Turkey, Sudan, Gaza, and Israel. Yes, at a rate of 4.5 times greater are the infant death in Sudan-where is the daily outrage in the West? The infant death rate is even 30% greater in Turkey than Gaza. How come there are no flotillas heading to Turkey?

How about these numbers: 73.68, 72.23 80.7, 72.4, 72.0, 58.6

They are the average life expectancy rates in the following respective countries: Gaza, Turkey, USA, Brazil, Lebanon, and Sudan. Yes, Gazans live longer than do their new friends and protectors the Turks. The Gazans out live their South American friends in Brazil and their “brothers and sisters” in Lebanon.

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza, not on your life! These are but a few of the FACTS worth possessing so when your local media, your local academic “expert” or media “talking head” or pundit starts speaking the shameful “Gazan talking points” you can say, “Now hold on just a moment to your out of integrity report…what does 24.84 mean to you?

Direct these same people to the Sudan-now, here there is a dreadful humanitarian crisis and the world continues to bury its collective heads in the sand-shameful!

End Notes

1. Goldstone report watch-communication June 21, 2010
2. GS Don Morris, Ph.D. Why is the West ignoring the facts?