Shayetet 13, the Israeli naval commando unit, contains an underwater sabotage division Two boats among the fleet of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla have been sabotaged. Passengers scheduled to sail on the second boat, the Saoirse, which hails from Ireland, discovered that the propelled had been cut and “dangerously  bent.” “If this boat would’ve gone to […]

The Irish Ship To Gaza released the following statement today: The Irish-owned ship, the MV Saoirse, that was meant to take part in Freedom Flotilla 2 has been sabotaged in a dangerous manner in the Turkish coastal town of Göcek, where it had been at berth for the past few weeks. Visual evidence of the […]

Several weeks ago, Mark Kirk, the Republican senator from Illinois who inherited Barack Obama’s seat with the help of wads of pro-Israel cash, called for the American government to supply special ops forces and “naval support” to Israel to help stop the flotilla. In a report titled “The Future of Israel’s Security and the U.S.-Israel […]

From Democracy Now:

Associated Press, Austin: Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged the U.S. attorney general to take action Wednesday against Americans who plan to take part in a pro-Palestinian protest by sailing to the Gaza Strip to challenge an Israeli naval blockade.

Rami Khouri in the Daily Star of Lebanon. Very smart: [Palestinians’ new nonviolent] political actions… send a single, integrated message that finds resonance around the world: Israel’s practices against Palestinians continue to reflect a combination of criminality and impunity that are totally unacceptable, and people of conscience everywhere are taking action to force Israel, if […]

What will those modern-day McCarthys in the Israeli Knesset think up next? By now we’ve all become accustomed to the creepy, liberty-limiting laws emerging every few months or so from the right-wing (though hardly always right-wing) precincts of the Israeli Knesset. I’m thinking, of course, of the Nakba law, the Loyalty Oath law, the law […]

Yesterday by a unanimous vote the Senate said that the Palestinians should not seek a state in the United Nations. This as the world moves to recognize just such a move. The following note was sent out by AIPAC yesterday.

A former Republican PR person named Lisa Baron who once worked for Ralph Reed has written a lascivious memoir that has the word “tart” on the cover along with a sexy photo and includes an anecdote about fellating Ari Fleischer. Michelle Goldberg has reviewed the book at Daily Beast (link above), and she does a […]

It pains me to write this. IRISHSHIPTOGAZA.ORG Terrible news has reached us in the early hours of Thursday – the Irish Ship To Gaza, MV Saoirse, has been SABOTAGED, presumably by agents of Israel. The damage is extensive, and indeed, if it had gone undetected apparently may have been lıfe-threatenıng if the ship had been […]

and other news from Today in Palestine:

AFP is reporting today from Amman that Arab activists have purchased a boat to join the  flotilla intending to break the blockade of Gaza.

Israelis woke up to a front page Jerusalem Post story claiming flotilla passengers planned violence against soldiers. The story has completely unraveled. On June 27, the Israeli army released a highly suspect claim that passengers on the flotilla planned to kill and maim Israeli soldiers. The claim looks like yet another anti-flotilla hoax emanating from […]

On Monday, former IDF prison guard Jeffrey Goldberg approvingly quoted an excerpt from a recent anti-Gaza Flotilla opinion piece by Irish columnist Kevin Myers. Myers’ snide commentary is full of historical revisionism, factual errors, total fabrications, racist anti-Arab and Palestinian stereotyping, and an adolescent overuse of silly scare-quotes: The last ‘aid flotilla’ to Gaza carried a large number of […]

From a US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation press release: The Jerusalem Film Festival foreign office has confirmed that legendary basketball star and actor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reversed plans to visit Israel due to concerns arising “after the Nakba Day violence.”  Abdul-Jabbar was slated to present his film, “On the Shoulders Of Giants,” at the […]

Yesterday we had a great international press conference. There were representatives from Greece, Sweden, France, Norway, Canada, Spain, Turkey and of course, the U.S. The room was packed with press and passengers; there was really a feeling that we are part of something historic. Our US speakers were Ann Wright and Alice Walker, as well […]

Lest you doubt the strength of the Israel lobby, here’s a long report at Politico by Ben Smith undermining Obama on Israel inside the Democratic Party– despite efforts by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ed Rendell to save the day. Obama is “losing the faith” of Jewish Democratic donors, Smith ventures, and then strings together the […]

Spilling the beans. Lots of them, reporting by Joel Greenberg:

Any month that goes by without a single Israeli feather ruffled is commonly referred to as a time of “relative calm” in the American media.  The list of crimes listed below is what that calm looks like from a Palestinian perspective.  And keep in mind this list does not include attacks by Israeli Occupation Forces […]

Maureen Clare Murphy, managing editor of Electronic Intifada has written an important article for Al Jazeera titled Criminalising Palestinian solidarity. Murphy herself has been issued a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury the government says is  ”an investigation into violations of the laws banning material support to foreign “terrorist organisations.” The following video […]