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THE INSIDE HISTORY OF THE ISRAEL LOBBY Former top CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison give CounterPunchers the real scoop on the Israel lobby and precisely how powerful it is. Read how US presidents from Wilson, through FDR to Truman were manipulated by the Zionist lobby; how Israel bent LBJ, Reagan and Clinton to its purpose; how Bush's White House has been the West Wing of the Israeli government; how Washington's revolving doors send full-time Israel lobbyists from think-tanks to the National Security Council and the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans. For all who want a true measure of the Lobby's power, the Christisons' 8-page dossier, exclusive to CounterPunch newsletter subscribers, is a MUST read. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
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Today's Stories June 10 / 11,
2006 Robert Fisk June 9, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Paul Craig Roberts Gary Leupp Eric Ruder Evelyn Pringle Mickey Z. Michael J. Smith Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
June 8, 2006 Chris Floyd Michael Dickinson Ron Jacobs William S. Lind Joshua Frank Missy Comley Beattie Lloyd Williams Bill Christison Website of the Day
June 7, 2006 Dave Lindorff Sunsara Taylor John Walsh David MacMichael Mickey Z. Evelyn Pringle Myles Palmer Laura Ribeiro Website of the Day
June 6, 2006 Diane Christian Paul Craig Roberts Ralph Nader Norman Solomon Darmont / Genovali Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Subcomandante Marcos Patrick Cockburn Website of the Day
June 5, 2006 Bruce Jackson Chris Floyd Michael Neumann Heather Gray William Hughes David Swanson Alexander Cockburn Website of the Day
June 3 / 4, 2006 Robert Fisk James Petras Rosemary Radford Ruether Harry Clark Jeffrey St. Clair Ron Ridenour Ron Jacobs Fred Gardner Peter Montague John Walsh Greg Moses Sean Donahue Mike Whitney Dave Patten Ali Khan Robert Dotson,
MD Hammond Guthrie St. Clair / D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the
Day
June 2, 2006 Kathy Kelly Alan Maass Mickey Z. Dave Lindorff Chris Kutalik Sunsara Taylor Sam Husseini Mike Ferner Website of the
Day
June 1, 2006 Brian Cloughley David Peterson Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Mike Whitney Paul Rockwell Clifton Ross Kevin Zeese Website of the
Day
May 31, 2006 Dave Lindorff Joshua Frank Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz P. Sainath Ramzy Baroud Seth Sandronsky Mickey Z. Ralph Nader Jeffrey St. Clair Website of the Day
May 30, 2006 Lee Ballinger Jonathan Cook Gary Leupp John Ross Robert Jensen Michael Dickinson Michael Carmichael Tim Wise Harry Browne Website of the
Day
May 27 / 29,
2006 Paul Craig Roberts Kathleen Christison Kathy Kelly Christopher
Reed Lawrence R. Velvel Tom Barry Gary Leupp Col. Dan Smith Ron Jacobs Don Fitz Fred Gardner Peter Montague Raymond Garcia John Farley Seth Sandronsky Tia Steele Lenni Brenner Dr. Susan Block Scott Michael Perey Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Recipe of the
Weekend Website of the Weekend
May 26, 2006 Col. Douglas
MacGregor Brian J. Foley Michael Dickinson Missy Comley Beattie Pierre Tristam Joe Allen Kona Lowell Roger Burbach Website of the
Day
May 25, 2006 Les AuCoin Jeff Halper Dave Lindorff Ron Jacobs Bob Wing Elise Gould Robert Bryce Website of the Day
May 24, 2006 Michael Donnelly Patrick Cockburn Lucinda Marshall Dave Lindorff Shmuel Rosner Moshe Adler Heather Gray Pratyush Chandra Paul Craig Roberts Floyd Rudmin Website of the Day
May 23, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Sharon Smith Sunsara Taylor Joel Whitney Alice Cherbonnier Ron Jacobs Kristen Ess Patrick Cockburn Website of the
Day
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Weekend
Edition Israeli Court Finds US-Born, Mad-Dog Prof Guilty of Lbeling CounterPuncher Neve GordonJudge Nails "Holocaust-Denier" SmearBy IRA MOSKOWITZ Haifa University economist Steven Plaut was convicted last week of libeling a fellow academic [and CounterPuncher], Neve Gordon of Ben-Gurion University's Department of Politics and Government, and ordered to pay the plaintiff NIS 80,000(aprox. $18,600) in compensation plus NIS 15,000 (approx. $3,500) in legal fees. Plaut, who teaches in the Graduate School of Business Administration, has called Gordon a "fanatic anti-Semite" and a "Judenrat wannabe." Such statements overstep the bounds of free speech and constitute libel, Nazareth Magistrate's Court Judge Reem Naddaf ruled last week. Plaut, 55, is originally from Philadelphia. He received his doctorate from Princeton University before immigrating to Israel in 1981. Besides his academic work in economics, he publishes scathing, right-wing commentaries in several print and online publications. Gordon, 41, is a third-generation Israeli and left-wing activist who completed a Ph.D. at Notre Dame University and began teaching at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) in 1999. Judge Naddaf emphasized in her ruling that the court's role was not to adjudicate opposing political views but rather to decide whether Plaut's published remarks about Gordon were libelous. In her decision, the judge reviewed several of Plaut's articles and wrote that Plaut did cross the "red line" between legitimate criticism and unlawful defamation of character. Plaut plans to appeal the verdict and is thus reluctant to discuss the case. "Because it will go to appeal, I prefer not to go into detail about it," he explains. "I will just say that the judgment amounts to selective protection of freedom of speech in Israel, under which the most outrageous and even illegal behavior and statements made by anti-Israel extremists is always protected speech while denunciation of the public political activities and behavior of such people is deemed 'libel.'" Earlier in the proceedings, Plaut unsuccessfully appealed against convening the trial in Nazareth, where there is a greater likelihood of an Arab judge presiding. "Neither defendant nor claimant live in the Nazareth region," he notes. His attorney, Haim Misgav, argued that Gordon had "shopped" for a sympathetic forum for his case. But Gordon explains that he filed his lawsuit in Nazareth primarily because it was the most convenient venue for his attorney, Farid Ghanem, who does almost all of his court work in Nazareth. The notion that an Arab judge would be automatically biased speaks volumes about Plaut's illiberal worldview, Gordon suggests. 'Jews for Hitler' One of Plaut's articles, published in 2001 and still posted on the Internet (conservativetruth.org), is entitled "Haaretz promotes the 'Jews for Hitler.'" It was a response to Gordon's review in Haaretz of Norman Finkelstein's book, "The Holocaust Industry." The judge ruled that the article's title clearly implies that Gordon is a "Jew for Hitler" and that this constitutes libel. Judge Naddaf ruled similarly regarding Plaut's article "Judenrat for Peace," describing Gordon's visit to "his guru Yasser Arafat" in Ramallah in 2002. Plaut writes: "You might want to mention the antics of Comrade Neve to anyone you know who is considering making a donation to Ben-Gurion University." The third example cited in the ruling is a sarcastic "condolence" e-mail Gordon received following the IDF's targeted attack against Hamas bomb-maker Mohammed Def in September 2002. Gordon traced the message to the "Kahane Lives" Website, where an op-ed appears under Plaut's byline, entitled: "Urgent! Send Out a Condolence Note to an Israeli Leftist!" Gordon's e-mail address is listed among those of other left-wing academics. Plaut told the court he did not write this message but merely forwarded it to others "as a citation," clearly indicating that he was not the author. The judge ruled that no proof of Plaut's authorship had been established, but that he was guilty of libel nonetheless because he disseminated the message. This ruling particularly riles Plaut: "A sarcastic piece mocking the political views of some people, which I did not write, was grounds for ordering me to pay Gordon damages because I had passed it on to others! Really!' " No apology Gordon says his decision to sue Plaut came after his department head returned from meetings in the U.S. with supporters of BGU who had asked him: "Who is this Neve Gordon, the Holocaust denier, who teaches with you at the university?" According to Gordon, Plaut was orchestrating a campaign - including letters to donors and members of the university's appointments committee - aimed at blacklisting him and denying him tenure. The use of the Holocaust motif against him was a decisive factor in Gordon's decision to litigate. "Once someone is labeled as a Holocaust denier that person becomes illegitimate, and rightly so," he explains. "Israeli society tolerates a relatively wide range of political views and that is why Plaut had to resort to this Holocaust mechanism to try to shut me down," Gordon says. In his affidavit to the court, Gordon noted that he served in the Paratroopers' and was seriously wounded during a battle at Rosh Hanikra in 1986, leaving him with a 42 percent disability. "This is an important fact because it demonstrates the depth, seriousness and severity of the injury that the defendant has inflicted upon me through his publications," he says. While pleased by the "strong" ruling the judge delivered last week, Gordon has one major disappointment. "We requested a certain sum of money, and not less important, we requested an apology in all of the places where his articles appeared. And for some reason, the judge decided not to address this in her ruling." If there is an appeal, the district court might add this, he hopes. Ira Moskowitz writes for Ha'aretz.
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. |