We Are Many: a unique documentary about the Iraq war worldwide protests

Yesterday I went to watch the only screening in Montreal of the documentary about the worldwide protests against the Iraq war on February 15, 2003. The documentary is directed by Amir Amirani.  The main producers are Wael Kabbani & Omid Djalili.

I still don't understand why the producers chose to screen their documentary at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival, because one of the producers, Omid Djalili, is a comedian? It hurts the documentary more than anything else.

I have to admit I was looking forward and waiting to see this movie and think it is a necessary movie.

The documentary lasts one hour and 50 minutes.  It starts with 911 and ends in 2013 with the vote in the UK not to authorize war on Syria. It is well documented and edited.  It describes well the run up to the Iraq war and the social forces that brought us the protests on this unique day of Februray, 15, 2003.

The director and producer had access to the main protagonists in the anti-war movement and to many prominent experts and politicians who voiced their opposition to the war, some before, others, after the war. It has footage of parliamentary sessions about the Iraq war in the UK.

For someone who went to the protests, recalling this moment through the doucmentary can be quite emotional as the documentary succeeds in recreating the context.

The documentary is flawless as long as it stays within the main subject, but it does not stay within the limits of its main subject, and this is an error in my opinion because it misses on some aspects of the Iraq war and the anti-war movement that were not adressed.

The documentary does not adress the failure of the anti-war movement to act on the Libya invasion in particular and the failure of their movement in general.  It does not even mention Libya.

The documentary does not address Israel’s and the Neocons’ role in the push for the war on Iraq.  It even manages to show an Israeli flag in an anti-war protest at the end when Israel’s anti Iraq war protests were marginal.  Israel and its role in this war are totally absent from the movie.

The documentary rightly attributes the vote in UK not to go to war on Syria in 2013 as being a consequence of the changing public mood after the Iraq war. Although this is partial since it is Libya and its Islamist winter that were on the minds during this vote.

The documentary branches to the Arab Spring and the protests in Egypt and tries to establish a link between the Iraq war protests and the 2011 protests in Egypt.  This attempt is unconvincing and part of many attempts to own the Arab Spring. 

Highlights:

Footage of the protests on February 15, 2003.  Although they were insufficient in my opinion.

The resignation of Robin Cook in the house of parliament before the Iraq war vote.

John Le Carre saying about the Iraq war : This is a crime of a century

Bush jocking about Iraq’s WMD at the 2004 Correspondants' dinner association with the press hilarious is a sordid reminder of the complicity of the press in the Iraq war crime.

I recommend this documentary and hope it will gain a larger audience. 

Further Israeli-Saudi Links in Lebanon

The Lebanese have arrested a pro-Saudi shia cleric for spying for Israel. It seems that they have been monitoring him for some time before his arrest.

Here is a collection of the deeds of this cleric:

Lebanese Shiite Scholar Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini Criticizes Hizbullah for Threats against Israel

Mohamad Ali El Husseini/Lebanese Shi'ite Scholar Muhammad Ali Al-Husseini Slams Syria, Iran, Hizbullah

And his own page at Islamic counterterrorism.org

The Israeli-Saudi alliance and the counterrevolution in the middle east

Israeli officials want a public commitment from Washington to protect the Saudi regime should it come under threat.

Arab countries' current revolts are Israel's worst fears

We don't know where the current revolts in the Arab world will lead but some conclusions can already be drawn:

1. There is no going back to dictatorships, even though the road ahead will be difficult and long;
2. Current Arab rulers are wary of the public sentiment against Israel, so they will be inclined, not only to stop cosying up to Israel and the West but also to be belligerent against Israel, hoping to gain some favor from their people;
3. Even the US seems wary right now (despite its unflinching support for Israeli settlements).  My guess is the US will be carefully watching events in the Arab world as they unfold and try to curry the favors of the new rulers who will emerge from the revolts, and as they will be changing more quickly than before and unstable regimes will be in place, the US will be less certain of its influence in the Arab world and will be less willing to go along Israel's adventurous politics like waging wars in the name of regime change in the Middle East.   However, this does not mean that the US will change its attitude toward the illegal Israeli settlements.  This matter may even get worse in the near future as israel tries to grab as much land as possible... The US is also trying to influence what is happening now in the Arab world but my bet is that this influence will not find an auspicious reception given the amount of mistrust between the Arab public and the US;
4. This will reinforce on one side Israel's feeling of insecurity and isolation, and Israel's stubbornness on settlements on the other side stemming from a false sense that facts on the ground and US veto are all what it takes to continue building settlements and de facto blocking peace.  This sentiment of false insecurity on the foreign policy side and false security on the internal policy side will push Israel to become more belligerent, therefore realizing Nasrallah's bet on the demise of the Jewish state in the next few years, either by war or by peace (about this read the analysis of Nicholas Noe on his blog);
5. As always, the EU will be the follower of the US in changing the direction of its policy in the middle east. We have seen how the EU's leaders were out of touch in reacting to the current Arab revolts. This is why Israeli FM Lieberman was discussing current events in the Arab world at the EU parliament today, where he incurred a citizen arrest made by journalist David Cronin.

Currently, Israel cannot impose any direct influence on US foreign policy in the Arab world and it is trying to do so through the EU. But, as the US is watching and the EU becoming a minor player in the ME, this can only give Israel time and nothing else...
Israel has reason to worry and we have reasons to celebrate...Arab public opinion will be dictating and imposing its agenda on Israel and the West from now on...

Israeli Minister: ''I am not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process''

Zionists really love Arab dictators.

The EU Will Toughen Up Against Israel

It is always former heads of states that adopt a tough stance against israel once they leave office. However, this is a group of former heads of EU states asking the union to adopt a consequentialist approach with Israel refusing any future upgrade in Israel-EU relations unless there is a total freeze in settlements.

• Put forward a plan to resolve the conflict, including a clear time frame, together with the US, UN, Russia, and Arab League.
• Reiterate its position that it will not recognise any changes to the June 1967 boundaries [of Israel], that a Palestinian state should be "territory equivalent to 100% of the territory occupied in 1967", and that its capital should be East Jerusalem.
• Refuse to upgrade ties with Israel unless settlements are frozen. "The EU has always maintained that settlements are illegal, but has not attached any consequences for continued and systematic settlement expansion."
• Bring an end to the import of settlement products "which are, in contradiction with EU labelling recommendations, marketed as originating in Israel".
• Send a high-level delegation, including Lady Ashton, to East Jerusalem "as a matter of urgency to draw attention to the erosion of the Palestinian presence there, and report back to the EU with an agenda of proposals to arrest and reverse the deterioration of the situation on the ground". The situation in East Jerusalem, it says, is the "most critical flashpoint and greatest threat" to a peace deal.

''There are some who spent $500 million in Lebanon to distort the image of Hezbollah*''

Hassan Nasrallah provided today substantial circumstantial evidence about a possible role for Israel in the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. The evidence is made of confessions by Israeli spies captured by Lebanese authorities, video footage sent by Israeli drones to Israeli operations centers, which Hezbollah intercepted, personal info gathered from Syrian authorities, and associations with other sources.

Nasrallah's argument is that if the Special UN Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) ignores this circumstantial evidence then its credibility can be put into question as a fundamentally biased and politicized tribunal.

Since the beginning, Nasrallah said (around when Israel was first defeated by Hezbollah and left Lebanon in 2000), Israel tried to isolate Hezbollah with:
1) A story they planted through their spies that Hezbollah was trying to assassinate Hariri (naming a spy who fled to Israel since);
2) The sudden withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon under accusations Syria was behind Hariri's assassination;
3) The 2006 war when Israel hoped that inflicting huge civilian casualties in a short time on Lebanon will turn the tide against popular support for Hezbollah;
4) And now the special tribunal who is apparently going to accuse members of Hezbollah for assassinating Hariri.

Israel has the motive to create civil unrest and strife in Lebanon and to distort the image of Hezbollah. Will the special tribunal, who conducted his work in a very unprofessional way and who never turned its attention to Israel's role in the Hariri assassination, investigate ?

Nasrallah's early take on the info that members of Hezbollah were going to be indicted by the STL for the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

UPDATE, August 10th:
Rami Khoury on Nasrallah and the doctrine of reasonable doubt.

Israeli newspapers and Hezbollah enemies need nothing less than complete irrefutable proof from Nasrallah's evidence but isn't the tribunal's job to examine circumstantial evidence and find the proof?


An interesting analysis by Elias Muhanna in Foreign Policy.

Related: Israeli spies in Lebanon...

Karam's arrest has come as a shock to Lebanon, already reeling from a number of high-profile detentions of military and telecom employees, and has raised debate over how deeply Israel has managed to infiltrate and compromise Lebanon's security.

Three employees at state-owned telecom firms have been charged with spying, prompting Hezbollah to suggest Israel could have used telecom agents to manipulate phone records to implicate the group in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

*So said Hassan Nasrallah today in presenting his evidence for Israel's role in the assassination of Rafik Hariri, as reported by Al-Manar. $500million is the estimated cost incurred for the tribunal until now.

More to come...

Aid flotilla set to sail for Gaza

A flotilla of eight boats carrying thousands of tonnes of construction materials, medical equipment and other aid is preparing to sail to Gaza in the next few days, setting the scene for a confrontation with Israel which has vowed to prevent the ships breaking the blockade on the Palestinian territory.

Three cargo ships and five passenger vessels plan to meet up in international waters between Cyprus and Gaza Strip before heading towards Gaza City. The Israeli military is expected to stop the flotilla and divert it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

One of the organisers of the flotilla, which includes three vessels from Turkey, is IHH, a humanitarian aid group supported by Ankara. Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since the Israelis launched a three-week war on Gaza in 2008-09. An attempt to block the flotilla is likely to increase tensions between the two countries. The Turkish prime minister, Racep Tayyip Erdogan, has called on Israel to avoid this be allowing the boats through.

Hamas learning propaganda war from Zionists

Personally, I did not like this video about Gilad shalit made by Hamas. But I have to admit that we have here a classical example of propaganda war.  Hamas wasn't good at this but they seem to be learning...

Obvious biases: Western media special standards for the Israeli Palestinian conflict

Replace in this story the Chechens by Palestinians and the Russian army by the IDF.

It is impossible to read such a story line in the western media and such justification from Human rights groups when it comes to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

An Israeli soldier's advice: 'Talk to Hamas'

Hamas is currently Israel's enemy, but peace is made with enemies, not with friends. Hamas is also a powerful, pragmatic and well organised movement, possibly a future partner with whom Israel can "cut a deal". A reluctance to recognise Hamas as the party in charge in Gaza is a strategy that failed and needs to be replaced. A nation that is truly looking for peace cannot afford to ignore its partners.

Lib Dem Jenny Tonge sacked over call for inquiry into organ trafficking by IDF in Haiti

Nick Clegg has sacked his health spokeswoman in the House of Lords after she called for an inquiry into allegations that Israeli soldiers were involved in organ trafficking in Haiti.

Israel, like Iran, attacks peaceful protesters

For years, the village of Bil'in has been the scene for weekly peaceful protests against the Israeli apartheid wall depriving Palestinian from their livelihood. And for years the Israeli army has been attacking protesters, killing some of them and intimidating the rest. Now the NYT reports an even more tougher approach from the Israeli army, but nobody is protesting human righs abuse like they do against the Iranian regime...

Haiti's suffering is a result of calculated impoverishment

Last week's earthquake was a natural disaster, but the carnage is a result of a punitive relationship with the outside world. Writes Seumas Milne in The Guardian

Gaza residents send aid to Haiti

Israel's showy compassion in Haiti is meant to hide its ugly face in Gaza

Israel to build NIS 1.5b fence along Egypt border

It should be understood as 'Israel to seal off Gaza', after having done the same with the west bank. Look at how Haaretz and its correspondant at no time explain that this scheme is intended to seal off Gaza, keeping close to the official Israeli government's story line.

It is time to organize a world wide boycott of Israel, its institutions and products.

An Update (monday jan. 11th):

From The Guardian: When complete, the new sections of fence will mean Israel will be almost entirely fenced in.  Or more accurately, the Jewish majority in Israel will be fenced in, according to Netanyahu's statement:
''We need a fence, as I said 10 years ago, with all of our neighbours," said Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister. "With the Palestinians we need two states for two people, a fence that will surround a solid Jewish majority, we will be here and they will be there."

The Guardian article has also a map of the new fence sections:

ISRAEL ADMITS HARVESTING PALESTINIAN ORGANS

Few months ago, the story provoked Israel's outrage calling the journalist who published it 'anti-Semite' and asking Sweden, the journalist's country to apologize and retract the story with the full blown outrage reaching diplomatic relations.

Now it turns out that part of the story is at least true, by Israel's admission. Shame on the people whose parents are survivors of Nazi Germany and Nazi Medicine, they did not learn a thing from Nuremberg...

Israel and Human Rights

The endless discriminations written as law contradict Israel's self selling image as the only democracy in the middle east. Democracy meaning respect for Human Rights...This is being judged on Israel's treatment of its own citizens. And we are not talking yet about the disregard Israel has for international law...

Israel 'personally attacking human rights group' after Gaza war criticism

"We are going to dedicate time and manpower to combating these groups; we are not going to be sitting ducks in a pond for the human rights groups to shoot at us with impunity," he said.
Elie Wiesel, concentration camp survivor, Nobel laureate, and humanist only when it comes to the rights of zionists, is up to his neck in these attacks. Which means that Israel and its zionist defenders are exploiting the Shoah and the Nobel, and every living and non living entity and memory on this earth in order to justify the brutality and illegality of he Israeli occupation...

Another wall fall to celebrate: Palestinians and Israeli activists bring down a piece of the Apartheid wall

Des Palestiniens ouvrent une brèche dans le mur de séparation
LEMONDE.FR | 06.11.09

©

It is only a matter of time before an Israeli official is arrested abroad on charges of war crimes

Prosecutions of Israeli political and military figures remain likely despite the failure to obtain an arrest warrant for Ehud Barak, the defence minister, when he visited the UK earlier this month, he said. In the Barak case a magistrate accepted advice from the Foreign Office that the minister enjoyed state immunity and rejected an application made on behalf of several residents of the Gaza Strip.

"This needs to be tested at the right time and in the right place," Machover said. "One day one of these people will make a mistake and go to the wrong country and face a criminal process — and then it'll be a matter for the courts of that country to give them a fair trial: that's what the Palestinian victims want."