Politics A Dirty Business? George Osborne Tells Us To Love Bankers & William Hague Gets Big Oil Money

Over the last few days, I’ve written on the cosy relationship between the media, politicians, industry and how decisions get made in this country and who ultimately benefits from the system.

While chancellor George Osborne was telling us to love the bankers, William Hague was lobbying strongly for oil companies run by Tory donors.

Yesterday I wrote that “City Bankers Provide More Than Half of Conservative Party Funding” and to prove my point the CONservative machine rolled out their heavy hitters.

George Osborne told us all to put aside our feelings of disgust towards the banking sector, and instead love those cuddly, beneficent bankers for the services they provide for humanity.

William Hague’s case was even more interesting, when it was found he personally intervened in a dispute involving two oil companies headed by Conservative Party donors who were refusing to pay tax to one of the world’s poorest countries.

The chief executive of Tullow Oil, Aidan Heavey, donated £10,000 to the Conservatives shortly before the general election last year and was among businessmen who signed a letter attacking Labour Party policy.

Tony Buckingham, the chief executive of Heritage Oil, also donated £50,000 shortly before the general election.

In total, they have donated over £70,000 between them.

Between the two companies, a mind boggling £425 million remains unpaid in taxes.

Not bad for a £70K donation to the tories is it?

To make things more interesting, Mr Buckingham was previously a central figure in the shipping of weapons and men into war-torn African states, securing blood diamonds and gold along the way.

He was a partner in the South Africa-based mercenary firm Executive Outcomes and was a leading figure in Sandline International, which provided troops and arms to the government of Papua New Guinea to quell an uprising.

He was also a close business associate of the Simon Mann, the Old Etonian mercenary, who placed Sir Mark Thatcher (son of Maggie) right at the heart of a plot to overthrow the President of the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea in 2004.

As stated previously, it’s the old connections made as school boys in Eton that serves these individuals for the rest of their lives. Whether you become a media commentator, a politician, an oil man or a mercenary, it really doesn’t matter, whip out that old Eton tie, and doors will open for you.

Perhaps Eton needs to be razed to the ground – it’s clear that it’s a breeding ground for all kinds of extremists.

Who said politics was a dirty business?

David Cameron Tells Britains Jews: Stop Tolerating Extremists

David Cameron should be using his muscular liberalism to condemn the coming together of extremist groups like the English Defence League, foreign Rabbi’s and the Tea Party who have made Islam their number one target.

Come on Dave, show us your muscles and take some action.

The headlines this weekend were all variations of:

“David Cameron tells Muslim Britain: stop tolerating extremists”

Substitute the word Muslim for Jew or Black, you’d never stand it for it, so why is it OK to tar two million Muslims in this country with the extremist tag?

When the Conservative party chair, Sayeeda Warsi, came out and stated that prejudice against Muslims has “passed the dinner-table test” and become socially acceptable in the UK, perhaps she was referring to the racists and Islamophobes within her party.

David “I’m A Zionist” Cameron Runs Off To Germany & Attacks British Muslims

The Bullingdon buffoon David “I’m a zionist” Cameron scuttled off to Munich to attack British Muslims, giving the English Defence League the credence they crave, on the very day the racist EDL continue their assault on Muslims in Luton.

Perhaps the most telling statement he made was:

“This ignores that fact that many of those found guilty of terrorist offences in the UK have been graduates, and often middle class. They point to the grievances about Western foreign policy and say: stop riding roughshod over Muslim countries and the terrorism will end. But there are many people – Muslim and non-Muslim alike – who are angry about western foreign policy and don’t resort to acts of terrorism. They also point to the profusion of unelected leaders across the Middle East and say: stop propping them up and creating the conditions for extremism to flourish.

But this raises the question: if a lack of democracy is the problem, why are there extremists in free and open societies?

Yes, we must resolve sources of tension – not least in Palestine.

And yes, we should be on the side of openness and political reform in the Middle East.”

The Akh agrees with LondonMuslim that this is no attack on Multiculturalism or as others will seek to highlight about a new concept called “muscular liberalism” “what’s that then – Clegg and Cable on steroids?). The reality is this speech which was probably written by Israelite Michael Gove is actually a grotesque racist attack on normal decent Muslims going about their everyday business in Cameron’s collapsing society yet sadly being tarred with the same brush as a small but vociferous bunch of extremist fruitcakes.

The issue of immigration is embedded in the DNA of Tory closet racists the new test is when Tories talk of Muslims you can be sure that they are in serious political trouble while talk of dinner table Islamophobia by Sayeeda Warsi was a temporary diversion.

Lets be clear we need no lectures from Cameron and his fellow bunch of Eton boys. Muslims increasingly are tacking the extremists within our community unlike Cameron who remains silent when Tory Councillors abuse Muslims. Cameron while you revert to Maggies tone about the UK being “swamped” or Michael Howards “are you thinking what we are thinking”, the reality is Muslims today in Luton are victims and on the receiving end of a violent riot.

Not all Muslims are extremists, blah, blah, blah….but just throw enough mud at the religion to curry favour with reactionary populist sentiment on the subject to deflect from the right royal screwing you’re giving them through cutbacks in services and jobs and massively hiking their cost of living.

Also, why make a speech about the UK in Munich and not here?

Why make such a speech on the day the EDL are holding their biggest march?

‘This terrorism is indiscriminate and thrust upon us’ – Nothing to do with Western foreign policy over decades then, just them picking on us for no reason?

‘Our way of life is at stake’ – Our way of life is more at threat from this coalition government than by any extremists.

In The Spectator, Peter Oborne writes that the Neocons in The Conservative Party are winning the argument about how to deal with Muslims.

Where’s the divide?

The British debate about political Islam is catastrophically muddled 29 January 2011

The outcry over Sayeeda Warsi’s speech on Islamophobia last week cannot be understood without a clear grasp of the balance of power within the coalition government. There are two factions, and the strongest can loosely be described as neoconservative.

This faction remains an unconditional supporter of the United States of America, continues to defend the Iraq invasion, powerfully admires and in some cases worships Tony Blair, and automatically takes the side of Israel in the middle east.

Israel declares war on its people – The result of the “Citizenship” oath.

I reported on how Israel was forcing it’s Muslim, Christian and all non Jewish citizens to undertake an oath to the Jewish nation. I followed this up yesterday with the dire consequences this so called “law of citizenship” would have.

I want you all to see exactly what happens when the people refuse to abide by these fascist laws.

Israeli forces have razed the Bedouin village of Al Arakib in the north Negev five times since last July, sparking cries of ethnic cleansing and leaving more than 300 Bedouin homeless.

But determined residents, along with a handful of Jewish activists, continue to rebuild.

The government claims that Al Arakib was abandoned and, as such, belongs to the state. Israel calls the Bedouin squatters who “infiltrate” the area and settle it illegally. According to the state, these people must be removed to make way for a forest to be planted by the Jewish National Fund.

It calls the Bedouin “squatters” who “infiltrate” the area and settle it illegally.

Villagers, some of whom hold Ottoman-era deeds to the property, say that the Israeli army asked them to leave temporarily in 1951. Believing that they would be able to move back, they left.

But the Bedouin continued to cultivate the village land, harvesting pomegranates, olive and other produce. And more than a decade ago, they rooted themselves in Al Arakib once again, building houses and families.

Just days before the village was destroyed for the first time, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, spoke of his fears of the Negev becoming “a region without a Jewish majority”.

Oren Yiftachel, a geography and urban studies professor, says the plight of the residents of Al Arakib “serves as a reminder that citizenship in Israel is very unequal”.

This story is emblematic of the Palestinian struggle; it also touches on questions about Israel’s treatment of it’s non-Jewish citizens.

Israel’s “law of citizenship” will have dire consequences

The definition of Israel as “Jewish and democratic” already means that the ethnically cleansed Palestinian minority are confirmed as being second-class citizens under the apartheid regime in Tel Aviv. Following on from last weeks’ piece “I declare loyalty to the Jewish state, its leaders & commanders of the Jewish army” I decided to see what the real consequences of this loyalty oath would mean.

On Sunday 10 October, the Israeli cabinet voted in favour of an amendment to the country’s “Law of Citizenship”, supporting a proposal that would require non-Jews seeking to become citizens to swear allegiance to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state. This comes at a time when the Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, continues to insist that Palestinians must “recognise Israel as a Jewish state” in the context of the faltering negotiations.

One of the reasons for the Palestinian rejection of this demand is the situation of the Palestinian minority in Israel (around 20 per cent). By coincidence, just two days before the cabinet vote, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a press release on the plight of Dahmash, an “unrecognised” Palestinian village 20km from Tel Aviv, sandwiched between Lod and Ramle. Here in microcosm is what Israel “as a Jewish state” has always meant for its Palestinian minority.

Dahmash has been inhabited since at least 1951, and its residents are Israeli citizens. Yet Israeli authorities “refuse to rezone the land as residential” — despite doing so for land nearby — and “refuse to provide basic services such as paved roads, sewage, health facilities, kindergartens, and schools”. Moreover, “the authorities consider almost every one of the 70 houses ‘illegal’, and 13 are under threat of demolition”.

The people in Dahmash are thus faced with the same daily emergency as the tens of thousands of Palestinians living in “unrecognised villages” in Israel, as I saw for myself when I visited in July.

Ironically, some of Dahmash’s residents were given the land by the state “as compensation for lands from which they had been displaced” in 1948 “to which the Israeli government prohibited them from returning”. Since then, however, officials have refused to “zone Dahmash for residential construction”.

“Many towns and neighbourhoods in central Israel, including the new residential development bordering Dahmash, were also originally zoned for agricultural use, but authorities rezoned those lands to allow them to expand and created plans that permitted residential construction. Neither regional nor national authorities have provided such a plan for Dahmash. In the last few years both Ramle and Lod have constructed residential complexes restricted to military career personnel and religious Jews.”

The case of Dahmash highlights the important role played by both national and local planning mechanisms in maintaining Israel’s regime of control and segregation. In the words of HRW’s deputy Middle East director, “the 600 people of Dahmash are treated as if they don’t exist, while Jewish towns are developed nearby in a way that threatens Dahmash residents’ access to their homes and lands”.

Nor is Dahmash is an isolated case. In a recent Ha’aretz article on the Galilee, we read how “the goals of the hilltop Jewish communities” in the region — according to a member of the Jewish Agency hilltop planning team — are “to prevent Arabs from ‘taking over’ government lands, keep Arab villages from attaining territorial continuity and attract a ‘strong’ population to the Galilee”.

Twenty-nine Jewish communities, most of them cooperative, were built in Misgav from 1978-1988. The regional council also includes six existing Bedouin communities, whose conditions are light years removed from the Jewish ones. The Arab towns in the area do not belong to the council.

But it’s not just a problem of land zoning for existing communities: as HRW describes, since 1948 “more than 900 Jewish villages and cities have been established in Israel, while the only new Arab towns allowed in 60 years have been seven towns that the government planned and constructed for Bedouin residents of the Negev”. In a country that presents itself as the region’s only democracy, the only new Arab towns in 60 years are half a dozen townships built as part of a “relocation” drive.

Ramle’s mayor, Yoel Lavi, “who sits on the planning committee that rejected Dahmash’s [alternative zoning] plan, told Israeli television in 2004 that the Maccabi District was not meant for Arabs because allowing Palestinian-Israeli citizens to live there would ‘harm the ability to market the project since people won’t want to live there’.” In 2006, Lavi explained his own “solution” to the unrecognised village of Dahmash:

“take two D10 bulldozers, the kind the IDF uses in the Golan Heights, two border police units to secure the area, and go from one side to the other […] when you give the first shock with the crane everyone runs from their houses, don’t worry.”

That day has not come for Dahmash — but it is rather reminiscent of scenes in Al-Arakib in the Negev, where just last week the village was destroyed for the sixth time this year. While the current trends in the Knesset are certainly troubling, the example of Dahmash highlights what “Jewish and democratic” has long meant for Palestinians living as second-class citizens in their own land.

Source: Ben White, New Statesman

“I declare loyalty to the Jewish state, its leaders & commanders of the Jewish army”

“I swear by Hashem [the Jewish God] that I want to offer unconditional loyalty to the Jewish state of Israel, to its leaders and the commanders of its Jewish army. I am prepared as a loyal supporter of the Jewish state to risk my life for this oath at any time.”

The above is the oath of loyalty to the Jewish state that Israeli subjects read on camera.

“I swear by God this holy oath, that I want to offer unconditional obedience to the Fuhrer of the German Empire and people, Adolf Hitler, the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht, and be prepared as a brave soldier to risk my life for this oath at any time.”

The above is the oath of allegiance of the German Forces, called Reichswehr from 1919 to 1935, and then Wehrmacht until 1945 in Nazi Germany.

I am totally convinced that the Nazis could have learned a lot from these loyal “Jews”.

The Israeli Knesset is debating a bill proposed by David Rotem of the extreme right Yisrael Beiteinu party that would require all Israeli citizens to swear loyalty to Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state.” This bill is targeted at increasing pressure on the 20 percent of Israelis who are Palestinian citizens, while forcing the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority who reject the legitimacy of any state not based on Jewish biblical law to accept Zionism. If passed in its proposed form, citizens unwilling to take the loyalty oath would be at risk of losing citizenship.

Issues to do with loyalty are of the essence within Jewish political discourse.

Since loyalty is crucial within the Zionist discourse we may want to extend our study and challenge those who identify and operate politically as Jews to tell us about their loyalty. I would love, for instance, to know about Lord Levy, the number one fundraiser for the Labour party at the time this party dragged us into a criminal war : who is he loyal to, Israel or Britain?

What about Jewish Chronicle writers David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen: are they primarily loyal to this Kingdom or to the Jewish state?

I wonder because they both rallied for the Iraq war in the British national press. And what about David Miliband, who is also listed on an Israeli Propaganda site as an Israeli propaganda writer, who is he loyal to?

I guess that every member of the Labour’s, Conservative’s and Lib Dem’s Friend of Israel had better be challenged and the sooner the better.

The Israeli cabinet better decide whether they want their state to be Jewish or democratic, for the two, clearly contradict each other.

Analysing The House of Commons debate on Gaza & Britain’s Middle East Policy 14/15 June 2010

Last week, two debates were held in the House of Commons on Britain’s Policy on Gaza and the Middle East. The Akh provides you with analysis on what was said.

This debate is being paraded as a success by the Conservative Friends of Israel because they managed to flood the debate with their members and controlled the floor.

What’s most interesting is the amount of MP’s who act as Israel’s attack dogs, who stifle any real debate with the obvious red herring of Hamas being a terrorist group, to counter any sort of criticism put towards Israel.

The Akh has taken a lengthy look at the comments made, and aims to dissect it’s true meanings, the following are excerpts of the debate in the order they were made.

The full transcript of what was said on the 14 June debate is available to read here. Whilst the debate held on the 15 June can be read here.

“Let me spell out in simple terms, but in no particular order, the Government’s aims and objectives for the middle east. We will work to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The only long-term solution to the conflict is a secure Israel living alongside a sovereign and viable Palestinian state, with Jerusalem the future capital of both states, and with a fair settlement for refugees.”

Secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state – What a joke, tell you what Alistair, I’ll give you a map, and you show me where a “Viable” Palestinian state would exist. Al-Quds/Jerusalem cannot be called an Israeli capital, not now, not in the future. United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 proves this to be the case, although successive Israeli administrations since 1980 have given international law the middle finger salute.

Allow the six million plus Palestinian diaspora back to their homeland, and have a full and frank democratic election.

Hold on a second, Israel would never have that, an open election where there would be more Arab/Muslim voters then the imported russian zionists, we could never settle for that.

“Hamas might be as an expression of a movement, it also represents a repressive, authoritarian force which has had a grip on Gaza for too long and held Gilad Shalit unfairly as a hostage for too long.

Democratically elected, whilst Shalit was captured deep into Lebanese territory, remind us what Israeli tanks were doing there in the first place?

“the countries of the middle east will continue to be essential suppliers of the world’s energy needs. There is similarly mutual benefit in the flows of other trade and investments between Britain and the region. This Government will work closely to support and extend those links, facilitating trade missions and signing investment and promotion protection agreements.”

Britain’s role in the Middle=East has always been two fold – secure a cheap and plentiful energy supply and protect Israel, nothing has changed in the last 60 years.

“96 humanitarian aid workers were gunned down in different conflict zones. Why does the United Nations not demand inquiries in every other country where humanitarian aid workers are slaughtered?”

Red herring alert! Denis Macshane is Labour Friends of Israel
see how he tries to divert the pressure away from Israel – Israel isn’t the only bad guy in the world, this kind of thing happens everywhere, it’s normal – No Denis, it is not, no army sends it’s commando’s to invade a ship in the middle of international waters and then proceeds to machine gun unarmed civilians in the back of the head.

“I was asked several times in my ministerial capacity during interviews on al-Jazeera: how could I, as a Jew, undertake my role as British Minister for the middle east independently and objectively? Putting aside the appropriateness or otherwise of the question, my answer was and is straightforward. I am proud to be a friend and supporter of Israel.”

Nothing to do with your Jewishness Ivan, but your belief in humanity.

“The Labour party-in government and opposition-has long championed a two-state solution: a viable, contiguous Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.”

Labour had 13 years in charge, what did you do?

Nothing.

Note the wording again “Secure Israel”, “Viable Palestine”.

“Does my hon. Friend agree that a good step forward would be if Israel released the substantial number of Palestinian parliamentarians who are still held in prison, several years after the election? Otherwise, the message is that democracy does not work, and it is like saying to the Palestinians, “Your leaders get arrested and taken away, and therefore you have no representation.” The anger at that in Gaza and the west bank is very serious indeed.”

First bit of sense, in this whole debate, well done Jeremy!

“Does my hon. Friend agree that Hamas, with its view that eliminating the state of Israel is a religious imperative, is a real obstacle to peace?”

More moral midgetry by another key zionist attack dog and paid up member of Labour Friends of Israel, no less the vice chair herself, Louise Ellman.

What she fails to say is that Hamas accepted a 2002 Saudi peace proposal that accepts and recognises Israel’s right to exist in a secure and peaceful manner. It is primarily Israel, as well as its allies refusing to accept the democratically elected Hamas administration as a representative that they can sit and discuss terms with.

“If any other country had behaved as Israel is behaving towards the Palestinians in the occupied territories, international action would have been taken long ago. Yes, Iran’s regime is detestable and it is important to do all we can to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, but it does not have them at present and it has never invaded another country. Israel does possess nuclear weapons; it is said to have 200 warheads. It has refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty and it recently refused to attend President Obama’s conference on nuclear weapons divestment. Israel has invaded Lebanon three times. It facilitated the Sabra and Shatila massacres. It also conducted Operation Cast Lead, the Gaza blockade and the attack on the Gaza flotilla.

Let us also dispose of the distractions that impede action. It makes no difference whether the inquiry into the attack on the flotilla is conducted internally by Israel or internationally. Even an international inquiry would not change Israeli policy. The Goldstone inquiry into Operation Cast Lead had no influence at all, and Goldstone was vilified as a Jewish anti-Semite and a self-hating Jew. We have heard mention this afternoon of the dreadful situation involving Gilad Shalit, the young man who was taken into captivity four years ago this week. I feel great sorrow for his family, but he was a soldier on military duty. About 15 members of the Palestine National Council are being held without charge by the Israelis, and about 300 children are being held in prisons by the Israeli Government. It is a distraction to propose, as Tony Blair and Baroness Ashton have done, to change the terms of the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Neither of them has challenged the principle of the blockade, yet it is that principle that contravenes the Geneva convention.”

Wow!

“Israel ignores international opinion on the illegal wall that has turned towns such as Kalkilya and Bethlehem into prisons, and on the illegal checkpoints. It knows that, whatever it does, no action will follow. It has the most extremist Government it has ever had, under the most extremist Prime Minister it has ever had, and a Foreign Minister who is an avowed racist. Israel is allowed literally to get away with murder. Only punitive international action will make even the tiniest difference. That means an arms ban, and the kind of sanctions that were imposed by the senior President Bush on Yitzhak Shamir to force him to participate in international talks in Madrid.

This is a situation in which one country is holding 1.5 million people in an internal prison and 4 million other Palestinians in a form of detention, but let us be clear about this: no action will be taken against Israel. President Obama will take no action, partly because he has mid-term elections in five months’ time, and partly because the odious pressure group, AIPAC-the American Israel Public Affairs Committee-can destroy any United States politician who makes the slightest criticism of Israel. When a Republican Congressman suggested that a tiny sliver of the billions of dollars that the United States gives to Israel should be transferred to alleviate a certain amount of poverty in Africa, AIPAC labelled him an anti-Semite. That is what American politicians, including Obama, have to put up with. We could take action, however. The European Union could take action over trade agreements, for example. Let us be clear that we cannot appeal to the conscience and good will of a country that has not demonstrated that it has either quality.

The situation is now unsustainable. The more the Israelis repress, suppress and oppress the Palestinians, the more precarious the future of their state will be. I saw, as did other hon. Members when we went to Iraq this year, that the Israelis are breeding children who hate them because of their hunger and their lack of schooling, and because of the way in which they are being treated. The Israelis seem to believe that treating the people of Gaza like that is a way of weaning them away from Hamas, but it only makes them support Hamas even more. Nobody is excusing Hamas; it has done dreadful things, as I pointed out to its representatives when I was in Gaza earlier this year. The fact is, however, that the Israelis are creating a generation of children who will grow up hungry and hating them.

This Israel does not want a two-state solution, but the only alternative is a one-state solution, and the existential fact is that, before long, there will be more Palestinians than Israeli Jews. It took the Jews 2,000 years to get their homeland in what is now Israel. After 60 years in that homeland, they now risk throwing it all away.”

Now that’s impressive! A politician that actually says it how it is!

“My speech has also been informed by my visit to Gaza in March as part of a cross-party delegation led by my noble Friend, Lord David Steel. The hon. Members for Hammersmith (Mr Slaughter) and for Westminster North (Ms Buck) were also part of the delegation. For me, that visit to Gaza was one of those life-transforming experiences that crystallised the issues in my head and made me see them more clearly than I had done before.

In Gaza, 1.5 million people are being held under siege conditions. First, they are blockaded on land. We saw the wall and, more pertinently, we had to be careful not to get too close to it because of the snipers who patrol it. The people are also blockaded by air, as well as by sea, the tragic result of which we saw a couple of weekends ago. To set this in the context of my own constituency, that is the equivalent of the whole of greater Bristol, Bath and all of Wiltshire being blockaded off from the rest of the United Kingdom and denied access to the most basic goods. This is a humanitarian violation on a quite staggering scale”

Note Stephen Williams says he is informed by his visit to Gaza. Instead of doing collections for masajid extensions, use those funds to send more MP’s out to Gaza and the occupied territories of Palestine, let them see for themselves the situation with their own eyes and ears, instead of relying on press statements issued by Israel’s hasbara department.

“We have heard plenty of words, but they have been interspersed with violence. There have been conferences, accords, mutual recognitions, declarations of principles, assassinations, memorandums, elections, permanent status negotiations, unilateral withdrawals, intifadas, reports, ceasefires, peace initiatives, curfews, a so-called “security barrier” that separates families from their livelihoods and nomadic people from their land, rocket attacks, road maps, air strikes, incursions, prisoner exchanges-we have seen all that and more since 1991. We have heard many words, but we have seen many negative consequences and very little positive impact. UN resolutions have been ineffective and Israel has not been held accountable to international standards of conduct and law.”

Oh indeed Sandra, lip service has been all to common, it’s solid action not harsh words which are needed.

“I declare my interest: I am interested in Israel, I am the parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel and proud to be so. Everyone in this House should have an interest in Israel, because it is a country that embodies the values that we should stand for. It was created in the 1940s, partly as a reaction to the way in which the Jews were treated during the holocaust. Israel was created by the international community and it became a bastion of the rule of law, democracy, free speech, business enterprise and family values. If that is not what this country also stands for, I am disappointed.”

Need I say more?

Arbuthnot is Conservative Friends of Israel’s Parliamentary Chairman and Chairman of the Defence Select Committee.

“I would say to my hon. Friend Mrs Ellman and Mr Arbuthnot that, to get to the bottom of what happened on the Gaza flotilla, why can we not have an inquiry to international standards, run by the international community? What is the problem with that if we are to get to the truth?

There has been a lot of focus on Gaza today-rightly so; it is understandable in the circumstances-but let us not forget the west bank. Although there has been a partial easing of checkpoints and movement restrictions, it is still under occupation. Since the start of this year, there has been an escalation of attacks by settlers on Palestinians-up to 132. Land confiscations continue. Demolitions of homes continue. There has been a particularly pernicious systematic eviction of Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem from their homes-often virtually in sight of the United Kingdom consulate general.

If we are to bring such things to an end, we must do more than talk. It is time to say what action can begin to be effective. The European Union has an association agreement with Israel that carries not only rights but responsibilities. It carries the right to trade preferences and various other preferences, but it carries the responsibility of Israel abiding by standards of international humanitarian law. Israel is simply not abiding by those standards. The terms of the EU-Israel association agreement are not being carried out. Therefore, until Israel changes its attitude, that agreement needs to be suspended.”

Yes Richard I agree with you totally.

Sanctions are an excellent way of reprimanding Israel for its bellicose actions.

Boycotting, sanctions and divesting are what ended the apartheid regime in South Africa, and should be used against Israel, by a governmental level (don’t see it happening) and on an individual level.

“The first, fundamental duty of any Government is to safeguard their citizens and borders, and to look after their people at home and abroad. As we come up to the 70th anniversary of the battle of Britain, we may ask, who would have denied our nation the right and duty to safeguard ourselves against the Nazis? Who would condemn Britain’s historical roles, both in the middle east and blockading the African coast to enforce the abolition of slavery back in the 19th century?”

Bob is pretty delusional, talking about nazi’s, who is imposing collective punishment on whom?

“We must challenge the position taken on the flotilla and ask what its purpose was.”

Yes Bob, do go on

“Look at what happened on 31 May, particularly on the Mavi Marmara. Many of the individuals concerned appeared to wish to be martyrs to the great cause. They attacked Israeli soldiers-remember, Israeli soldiers were injured during the boarding, and the reality is that they were attacked with weapons.”

Bob, take that poster of Mark Regev off your wall.

Obviously myself and most of the world got it wrong, it was the israeli elite commando’s in their helicopters who were minding their own business and were stormed by gun toting maniacs who climbed up to the helicopter and proceeded to bash them with kitchen utensils…yes yes, that’s how it happened.

Be careful Bob, you are a newly appointed MP, The Akh helped to get rid of the zionist MP Dismore in Hendon, be careful what you say or I may just end up on your doorstep. After witnessing your performance first hand at the hustings, it wouldn’t take much to get the natives restless and get you kicked out on your rear.

“I wanted to take a little time to step back and tell the House why, ultimately, I count myself a friend of Israel, first and foremost, in the middle east. That is because I think of some fundamental truths. So let us be clear: for all its errors and excesses, which I and the whole House see, Israel is an oasis in a desert-an oasis of freedom, democracy and human rights in the middle east. We therefore have to ask ourselves, why does Israel do those things that shock, pain and worry us all? Why does it feel driven to inflict on the people of Gaza what we all recognise, whether in law or not, as seemingly like collective punishment? The answer is very simple: it is not just faced but encircled by an enemy that wishes to destroy it.”

Another ideologically driven zionist comes out of the woodwork.

“I was going to say something very different when I started listening to the debate, but after hearing Nick Boles talk about different countries’ rules, regulations and societies, I must say that that is no basis for invading, for killing or for destroying other people. One cannot say, “I’m a friend of Israel because it is a democracy.” We can be friends with Israel; I have no problem with the state of Israel. I welcome what my hon. Friend Mr Lewis said about the way to deal with the situation in the middle east. He said that the Palestinian people should receive land in proportion to their population. There should be an end to illegal settlements, and we should end the war, which has created so much misery for the Palestinian people.”

Well said Yasmin.

You may not like it, but this is the way that debates are framed and policy is formulated in Britain, a policy that effects millions around the world.

You have to ask yourself what you are doing to challenge the status quo.

Are any of these your elected representative?

Did your MP even bother to turn up at this debate?

Why aren’t your views being heard?

All Members of Parliament are public servants, and occasionally they need to be reminded of this fact, they are in their position to represent the points of view of their constituents.

The only way they can do this, is if you keep the pressure up on your local MP.

Give them the carrot and the stick approach.

Pressure politics, simple and plain!

British MP’s – Whoring For Israel

Has your MP been prostituting themselves for their pimp paymaster in Tel Aviv? Barely days after Israeli commando’s murdered nine peace activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, members of Conservative Friends of Israel were busy writing to the Telegraph newspaper, banging the drum for the “only democracy in the Middle East”.

We must not forget what Hamas, which controls Gaza, stands for: it is intent on violence, smuggles arms, colludes with other rogue states and thumbs its nose at the international community.

To achieve long-term security in the region, Hamas must accept the Quartet Principles – to renounce violence, accept the existence of Israel and abide by previous agreements.

Israel, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and the West have a shared interest in preventing Hamas from being strengthened, ensuring that a moderate national unity government is established in Gaza and the West Bank and supporting ordinary Palestinians to secure a two-state solution.

The international community must be very careful not to do anything that emboldens Hamas to pursue its course of aggression and rejection. To hand such a propaganda coup to Hamas would pave the way for future conflict. Hamas needs to know that the British government will not reward its terror tactics, and that getting it to abide by the Quartet Principles will form the core of our policy.

Signed by:
James Clappison MP (Con)
David Amess MP (Con)
James Arbuthnot MP (Con)
Bob Blackman MP (Con)
David Burrowes MP (Con)
Douglas Carswell MP (Con)
Mike Freer MP (Con)
Robert Halfon MP (Con)
Gareth Johnson MP (Con)
Stephen Metcalfe MP (Con)
Matthew Offord MP (Con)

It’s been one atrocity after another, so you’d think that Israel’s cheerleaders scattered about the upper echelons of the British establishment would have the decency to keep quiet and “consider their position”.

The British government has paid lip service to the real issue at hand and continues to reward Israel for its terror tactics. These MPs would paint a much truer picture if they substituted Israel for Hamas.

But who are these MP’s anyway?

Never heard of them?

Don’t be surprised.

With 650 MPs in the UK Parliament, it is easy to vanish into the woodwork. Some have been there for years and never been noticed. But the name Robert Halfon gives the game away. He is former political director of the Conservative Friends of Israel. James Arbuthnot is chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel and, worryingly, chairman of the Defence Select Committee. It would seem therefore that the rest of the group are similarly allied to the Israel admiration society.

What they propose is certainly no path to peace but a sure way of keeping strife on the boil, which is Israel’s true purpose, as we’ve seen these last 62 years.

They clearly don’t respect Palestinian democracy or humans rights but they love Israel’s racist ethnocracy. They still enthusiastically bat for Israel regardless of its long crime-sheet, even though doing so puts British interests and British citizens in danger.

A hundred years ago people siding with a foreign power at British expense could have found themselves swinging by the neck. Three hundred years ago they risked their heads on pikes for what used to be called treason.

Many of these Conservative MP’s belong to the Henry Jackson Society who in 2006 released their manifesto titled “The British Moment” which called for a new way of thinking about British foreign, security and defence policy, and argued that it is time for Britain, and indeed the rest of Europe, to reclaim the tradition of interventionism across the globe.

This is generally taken to mean the bully-boys can cook up daft excuse – like a country not having Western-style democratic government – to help themselves to the world’s goodies – like Iraqi and Iranian oil and Afghanistan’s mineral wealth.

The British Parliament now has so many Zionists and Friends of Israel that these admirers of the rogue state are still swinging from the chandeliers despite the non-stop killing sprees, mega-maiming and wholesale destruction.

Over in the Labour camp there’s a struggle going on for the party leadership. Interest is centred on the Miliband brothers, front-runner David (former foreign secretary) and Ed. The prospect eventually of a Jewish prime minister after the Zionists Brown and Blair is too depressing. Is the Labour Party really going to saddle us with that?

The Conservatives meanwhile are bulging with Israeli flag wavers. The prime minister David Cameron, has declared himself a Zionist. His foreign secretary and defence secretary are both leading Friends of Israel. Indeed, 80 per cent of Conservative MPs and MEPs are thought to belong to the pro-Israel lobby, according to a recent Channel 4 TV “Dispatches” programme.

After recent scandals the British people have been promised a major clean-up of politics. In the pipeline are constitutional changes that will give voters power to force an MP who engages in serious wrongdoing to face another election. All they’ll need is the backing of 10 per cent of constituents in a petition.

As well as the power to get rid of corrupt MPs, changes include a clampdown on lobbying in Parliament, a statutory register of lobbyists and a clean-up of party funding.

But could any of this bring an end to infiltration by agents of a foreign power?

The three main political parties in the UK each have a “Friends of Israel” lobby organization that ensures pro-Israel members are embedded at all key levels in Parliament and government. These adherents to another flag inhibit the government when it comes to taking a principled stand on issues such as Israel’s murderous and unlawful blockade of Gaza and continuing illegal occupation of the West Bank.

As the parties show no sign of cleansing themselves of these obnoxious groups, an obvious way of dealing with them would, in theory, be to engage the Committee on Standard in Public Life, a standing committee which says that “Seven Principles” should apply to everyone in the public service. These are:

Selflessness
Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other benefits for themselves, their family or their friends.

Integrity
Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity
In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

Accountability
Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness
Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

Honesty
Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

I produce them here in full because they are a beacon of good practice and a splendid basis on which to build solid and reliable government. These principles are now included in the Ministerial Code, a document setting out “rules” and standards for government ministers.

So why aren’t they enforced? Especially the one about Integrity?

In 2005 it was reported that the UK government was considering bringing prosecutions for treason against a number of British Islamic clerics who had publicly spoken positively about acts of terrorism against civilians in Britain, or attacks on British soldiers abroad. That does not seem a million miles away from speaking encouragingly about Israeli thugs carrying out acts of lethal violence against peaceful activists, including British nationals, in international waters.

The Standards Committee is essentially a parliamentary sleaze watchdog, but two years ago it turned down a request by a group of 20 top academics, surgeons and others to investigate the influence of Israel lobby organizations like Friends of Israel at the heart of British government.

The group maintained that “the man in the street is entitled to look at the Seven Principles of Public Life and say that the activities of lobbies like Friends of Israel are against the intentions, both in word and spirit, of those Principles“.

No-one will be surprised to learn that the sleaze watchdog had itself been infiltrated by Friends of Israel. The Jewish Chronicle reported a “smear” on Israel lobby MPs, one of whom suggested that if the committee failed to investigate it might be accused of being part of a Jewish conspiracy. But the then political director of Conservative Friends of Israel, none other than Mr Haflon, confidently predicted there would be no investigation, his cocksure attitude leading one to suppose that he and others of similar persuasion were a protected species within the Westminster village.

There wasn’t an investigation; and they are.

At the time Liam Fox, now defence secretary, was quoted on the Conservative Friends of Israel website as saying: “…We must remember that in the battle for the values that we stand for, for democracy against theocracy, for democratic liberal values against repression – Israel’s enemies are our enemies and this is a battle in which we all stand together or we will all fall divided.”

Dr David Halpin, a trauma surgeon who had led a team of seven UK doctors to Gaza, said: “Dr Fox presumably speaks for all Friends of Israel in the party that hopes to form the next government. He would have Parliament and the public believe that Israel’s enemy, Iran, must become Britain’s enemy. Such dangerous and irresponsible nonsense could lead this country to disaster.”

That is even truer today. The group observed that British people should not have to tolerate dual allegiance in their Parliament and government, since obviously it put national security at risk.

Today, the Jerusalem Post reports that a study by B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, shows that 95 per cent of Gaza’s factories are closed, 93 per cent of the water is polluted and Israel’s blockade has caused an economic collapse. B’Tselem’s executive director, Jessica Montell, sums up by saying that the ongoing occupation both violates Palestinian rights and poses clear dangers for Israel’s democracy. “For this reason we as Israelis must demand accountability for actions taken in our name in the occupied territories and work to change policies that infringe human rights.”

Words are simply not adequate to describe those who perpetrated this evil and those who encourage, support and cheer from the sidelines like the stooges hiding behind the respectable trappings of Westminster.

We’ll have to see whether our bright new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government really means to abolish sleaze, as it says, or is just a “big girl’s blouse” – a bunch of wimps – when action is needed.

Source: Stuart Littlewood is the author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk.

Zionist MP’s – Leave Now, The People Have Spoken

There was mixed success for The Akh, in the two election campaigns he was involved in.

Andrew Dismore, the game is up for you, the votes have been counted and the people have spoken, no longer will the people of Hendon accept a duplicitous individual like you to represent them as their MP, look at his twitter feed captured above. I hear the weather is nice in Cyprus this time of year, or seeing the sterling is getting weaker, perhaps consider moving to your paymaster’s location in Tel-Aviv and spend some of those shekels you earned over the years.

A word to Matthew Offord who has been elected in Hendon. Serve the interests of the local populace, and not a foreign entity. We put you in power, and we can and will support you as long as that support is reciprocated in kind.

Sal Brinton, it’s unfortunate that you came up short in Watford. In a true three way marginal, you had an excellent opportunity to get one over a pro war blair fembot (ward) and a zionist multi millionaire (harrington).

The reason you lost is simple the ingrates who make up the “Taxi Mafia” in Watford were pissed at the LibDem council who put up a new badge scheme on all taxi’s in the area. I had leaflets ripped up and thrown back in my face and was told, ever so eruditely to “fuck off” as “we always support labour no matter what”, and rather moronically that “the LibDems had started the Iraq invasion”.

The Muslim taxi driving mafia of Watford are to blame for letting a pro israeli zionist become their elected representative. Next time the bombs fall on Muslims in Palestine, you have no one to blame but yourselves.

Overall the campaign run by MPACUK was executed well, getting rid of two friends of israel, Dismore in Hendon and Rooney in Bradford East. I congratulate MPACUK and all the campaigners, bloggers and activists all over the UK who gave up their time and dedicated their energies to get rid of MP’s who support murder, ethnic cleansing and oppression as a natural way of life.

Getting back to the ramifications of the election result, the media will be trying to portray a hung parliament as the worst possible outcome. Life has taught me that each problem is an opportunity, and each opportunity leads to success.

Both Labour & the Tories are running to the LibDems to anoint them as the leaders, Nick Clegg needs to show some nerve and have the balls to dictate on his terms, they need you more than you need them.

If you divide the number of votes each party received by the number of seats they won, you get these figures:

The LibDems got 23% of the vote and got 57 seats.

Labour got 26% of the vote and got 258 seats.

Conservatives got 36% of the vote and got 306 seats.

That means:

Conservatives: 35,021
Labour: 33,338
Liberal Democrat: 119,397

That’s the number of votes each party needed to win a seat.

Surely that can’t be right?

ConservativeHome has posted a useful guide to areas where Tory-Lib Dem cooperation is easy, possible, improbable and difficult. It says there are real problems on electoral reform.

The Lib Dems are wholeheartedly committed to a federal UK, a written constitution, an elected upper house and, above all, proportional representation: a deal-breaker, it seems, for Clegg. Cameron supports an Upper House that’s at least part-elected, but it’s not a priority for him: indeed, to many in his party the proposal is a threat, as in their view is the rest of the LibDem package.

Proportional representation would probably split the Tories and possibly bar them from office for many years. It’s impossible to see how any Conservative leader could sign up to full proportional representation, even if he wanted to, and stay in post.

Clegg, before you jump into bed with Cameron or Brown, The Akh would urge you to stand firm on your principles and do not sell your soul for short term gain, the opportunity is now or never, you have to seize it.

Are YOU Voting FOR Israel?

As we in Britain head for the ballot box to elect the government that will run the country for the next five years, one key question has been conspicuous by its absence from the election campaign and the party leaders’ televised debates: to what extent are the two main parties, the Conservative Party and the incumbent Labour Party, answerable to their members and to the British people, rather than to a foreign power, the State of Israel?

The Redress website highlights the degree to which the Conservative and Labour parties are beholden to Israel, with the Conservatives significantly funded by Israel lobbyists and at least half, if not more, of their shadow cabinet being members of the party’s Israel lobby group, Conservative Friends of Israel.

I would also remind our readers of the Labour Party leaders’ self-confessed loyalty to Israel, and we look at how the Liberal Democratic Party, despite being the most British and least Israeli of the three parties, still lacks the courage to speak out against Israeli racism and crimes and to cleanse itself of Israel lobbyists.

“I will continue to do what I can both to defend Israel and to protect the security of Israel’s borders… I count myself not only a friend of Israel but someone who wants to support the future of Israel … we will do everything that we can to work with Israel.”

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a speech given to Labour Friends of Israel, 25 September 2007.

“The belief I have in Israel is indestructible – and you need to know that if I become prime minister, Israel has a friend who will never turn his back on Israel”

Conservative Party leader David Cameron, at the Conservative Friends of Israel’s annual business lunch, 2007.

The Foreign Office has been under Zionist influence for decades.

Our most important security bodies – the Intelligence and Security Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Defence Committee – are headed by Israel flag-wavers. They have embedded themselves in nearly ever nook and cranny of parliamentary life.

Right now these fifth columnist stooges are battling for our votes in a general election.

Before the election campaign the main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, were so wedded to the Zionist cause that both wished to change our laws to protect Israeli leaders from arrest on war crimes charges and provide them with a safe haven in Britain.

Now they keep very quiet about their pro-Israel antics, no doubt hoping the question won’t be brought under the public spotlight or need explaining.

Labour has been in power for 13 years and is now under Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown, a Zionist sympathizer and patron of the Jewish National Fund. The party’s 115-page manifesto barely mentions the fate of the Holy Land except to say: “We support the creation of a viable Palestinian state that can live alongside a secure Israel.” Note that it’s a secure Israel but only a viable Palestine. Israel must remain comfortably secure while continuing its ethnic cleansing and thieving.

The Conservative Party is favourite to win the election – or was until its leader, David “I’m-a-Zionist” Cameron, flunked a televised leaders’ debate. Cameron too is a dutiful patron of the JNF. His party’s 118-page manifesto says nothing about Britain’s responsibility towards the Palestinians apart from promising support for a two-state solution to the Middle East Peace Process. That’s all, full stop.

Peter Oborne’s Dispatches Documentary “Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby” claimed that a massive 80% of Conservative MPs and MEPs, are passionate admirers of racist Israel.

But they don’t shout it from the rooftops at election time, unless goaded into making their loyalties in public, like self confessed zionist Lee Scott MP Labour Ilford North, who can always count on the blind support of 18,000 Muslims.

No, they are furtive because they know deep down that it is a grubby, indefensible position and the public would react with revulsion if the party’s allegiance to a foreign military power that makes war of Christian communities was exposed in the mainstream media.

Sad to say, then, there is no sign of Labour or the Conservatives deviating from the path of betrayal.

Thankfully a third party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is emerging strongly. Its leader, Nick Clegg, is no rabid Zionist though readers will remember he recently sacked Baroness Jenny Tonge to appease the Israel lobby. However, the Liberal Democrats at least believe Britain and the EU must put pressure on Israel and Egypt to end the blockade of Gaza and talk of borders “which are secure and based on the situation before the 1967 conflict”.

This party looks less corruptible than the others and less likely to worship at the altar of Zionism. Not being considered serious contenders till now, Clegg and his team probably haven’t been groomed by the US administration’s spivs and pimps. So we can expect big efforts to discredit them in the days ahead.

In my simple way I see a glimmer of hope here.

When a proper history comes to be written, Americans will struggle to explain how the most powerful nation on earth was so easily conned and mugged for countless billions of tax dollars to finance the ambitions of a bunch of extremists bent on defiling the Holy Land and spreading their tentacles into every crevice of the Western world.

The British also will have some explaining to do.

View this document on Scribd

At the core of Israel’s network of stooges are the “Friends of Israel” groups in the three main political parties:

* Labour Friends of Israel.

* Conservative Friends of Israel.

* Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel.

Below is a list of officials of the “Friends of Israel” groups in the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. It is by no means exhaustive. Conservative Friends of Israel, for example, say that about 80 per cent of the party’s MPs and MEPs belong to the group.

Labour Friends of Israel

Chair
Andrew Gwynne MP

Vice Chairs
Andrew Dismore MP
Louise Ellman MP
Gary Titley MEP

Policy Council
Stephen Byers MP (Chair)
David Blunkett MP
Lord Foster of Bishop Auckland
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
Adam Ingram MP
Denis MacShane MP
Alun Michael MP
Don Touhig MP

Convenor
Anne Snelgrove MP

Parliamentary Executive
Fabian Hamilton MP
Sharon Hodgson MP
Joan Humble MP
Eric Joyce MP
Ashok Kumar MP
Stephen Ladyman MP
Andrew Miller MP
Dan Norris MP
Nick Palmer MP
Terry Rooney MP
Dari Taylor MP

Chair (House of Lords)
Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale

Peers
Lord Archer of Sandwell
Lord Clarke of Hampstead
Lord Clinton-Davis
Lord Davies of Coity
Lord Glenamara
Lord Haskel
Lord Janner of Braunstone
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
Lord Mitchell
Lord Turnberg
Professor Lord Winston
Lord Wedderburn of Charlton QC

Conservative Friends of Israel

Director
Stuart Polak

Political Director
Robert Halfon

Projects Director
Stephanie Leven,

Research Manager
Nathalie Tamam,

Secretary
Julie Tamir,

Membership Secretary
Charlotte Polak,

Parliamentary Group Chairman
James Arbuthnot MP

Vice Chairmen
Sir John Butterfill
James Clappison MP

Secretary
David Amess MP

Officers
Alistair Burt MP
Lee Scott MP
Theresa Villiers MP

Chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel Europe
Timothy Kirkhope MEP

Honorary Officers
President
Baroness Shephard of Northwold

Vice Chairmen
Jeremy Galbraith
Betty Geller
Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Stanley Cohen
Michael Heller

Vice Presidents
Sir Timothy Sainsbury
Lord Lane of Horsell
Sir Michael Latham
Lord Sanderson of Bowden
Lord Steinberg
Lord Thomas of Gwydir

Executive Board
Richard Harrington (Chairman)
Lance Anisfeld
Lorraine da Costa
Jonathan Gough
Andrew Heller (Hon. Treasurer)
Steven Kaye
Edward Lee
Howard Leigh
Stephen Massey
David Meller
Jonathan Metliss
Gary Mond
Stephan Shakespeare
Barry Welck
Hilda Worth

Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel

President
Sir Alan Beith MP

Chair
Cllr Monroe Palmer

Vice-Chair
Gavin Stollar

Secretary
Matthew Harris

Treasurer
Alexander Gilbert

On Thursday 6 May, you have the chance to let your voice be heard, do the right thing and vote for the people who are ethical in their outlook and do not hold murder and the benefit of the shekel next to their hearts.

It’s time to send out a message to our rulers, that we will not sit by idly and be administered by those who have nothing but contempt and a hidden hatred for us, the very people that blindly vote them in time and time again.

The benefits and harm are apparent for even the blind, do not be swayed by the anti voting brigade’s message to not vote.