Why Has Israeli Spy Shai Masot Not Been Expelled? 193


There is no starker proof of the golden chains in which Israel has entangled the British political class, than the incredible fact that “diplomat” Shai Masot has not been expelled for secretly conspiring to influence British politics by attacking Britain’s Deputy Foreign Minister, suggesting that he might be brought down by “a little scandal”. It is incredible by any normal standards of diplomatic behaviour that immediate action was not taken against Masot for actions which when revealed any professional diplomat would normally expect to result in being “PNG’d” – declared persona non grata.

Obama has just expelled 35 Russian diplomats for precisely the same offence, with the exception that in the Russian case there is absolutely zero hard evidence, whereas in the Masot case there is irrefutable evidence on which to act.

To compare the two cases is telling. Al Jazeera should be congratulated on their investigation, which shames the British corporate and state media who would never have carried out such actual journalism. By contrast, the British media has parroted without the slightest scrutiny the truly pathetic Obama camp claims of Russian interference, evidently without reading them. When I was sent the latest “intelligence report” on Russian hacking a couple of evenings ago, I quite genuinely for several minutes thought it was a spoof by the Daily Mash or similar, parodying the kind of ludicrous claims that kept being advanced with zero evidence. I do implore you to read it, as when you realise it is supposed to be serious it becomes still more hilarious.

The existence of a natural preference in Russia to see a US President who does not want to start World War III is quoted as itself evidence that Russia interfered, just as the fact that I could do with some more money is evidence I robbed a bank. The fact that Russia did not criticise the electoral process after the result is somehow evidence that Putin personally ordered electoral hacking. Oh, and the fact that Russia Today once hosted a programme critical of fracking is evidence of a Russian plot to destroy the US economy. Please do read it, I promise you will be laughing for weeks.

In passing, allow me to destroy quickly the “we have smoking gun evidence but it’s too secret to show you” argument. Given the Snowden revelations and the whistleblowing of the former NSA Technical Director Bill Binney, for the US government to claim to be hiding the fact that it can tack all electronic traffic in the USA is risible. This is like saying we can’t give you the evidence in case the Russians find out the sky is blue. If there were hacks, the NSA could identify the precise hack transmitting the precise information out of Washington. Everybody knows that. There were no hacks so there is no evidence. End of argument. They are internal leaks.

The two stories – Russian interference in US politics, Israeli interference in UK politics – also link because the New York Times claims that it was the British that first suggested to the Obama administration that Russian cyber activity was targeting Clinton. Director of Cyber Security and Information Assurance in the British Cabinet Office is Matthew Gould, the UK’s former openly and strongly pro-Zionist Ambassador to Israel and friend of the current Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev. While Private Secretary to David Miliband and William Hague, and then while Ambassador to Israel, Gould held eight secret meetings with Adam Werritty, on at least one occasion with Mossad present and on most occasions also with now minister Liam Fox. My Freedom of Information requests for minutes of these meetings brought the reply that they were not minuted, and my Freedom of Information request for the diary entries for these meetings brought me three pages each containing only the date, with everything else redacted.

I managed to get the information about the Gould/Werritty meetings as a result of relentless questioning, where I was kindly assisted by MPs including Jeremy Corbyn, Caroline Lucas and Paul Flynn. The woman with whom Shai Masot was conniving to undermine Alan Duncan, was Maria Strizzolo, who works for Tory Minister Robert Halfon. It was Halfon who repeatedly tried to obstruct Paul Flynn MP from asking questions of Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell that threatened to get to the heart of the real Adam Werritty scandal.

Both Robert Halfon and Adam Werrity received funding from precisely the same Israeli sources, and in particular from Mr Poju Zabludowicz. Halfon also formerly had a full time paid job as Political Director of the Conservative Friends of Israel. Halfon’s assistant is now caught conspiring with the Israeli Embassy to attack another Tory minister.

House of Commons Publc Admininstration Committee 24/11/2011

Q Paul Flynn: Okay. Matthew Gould has been the subject of a very serious complaint from two of my constituents, Pippa Bartolotti and Joyce Giblin. When they were briefly imprisoned in Israel, they met the ambassador, and they strongly believe—it is nothing to do with this case at all—that he was serving the interest of the Israeli Government, and not the interests of two British citizens. This has been the subject of correspondence.

In your report, you suggest that there were two meetings between the ambassador and Werritty and Liam Fox. Questions and letters have proved that, in fact, six such meetings took place. There are a number of issues around this. I do not normally fall for conspiracy theories, but the ambassador has proclaimed himself to be a Zionist and he has previously served in Iran, in the service. Werritty is a self-proclaimed—

Robert Halfon: Point of order, Chairman. What is the point of this?

Paul Flynn:> Let me get to it. Werritty is a self-proclaimed expert on Iran.

Chair:> I have to take a point of order.

Robert Halfon:> Mr Flynn is implying that the British ambassador to Israel is working for a foreign power, which is out of order.

Paul Flynn:> I quote the Daily Mail: “Mr Werritty is a self-proclaimed expert on Iran and has made several visits. He has also met senior Israeli officials, leading to accusations”—not from me, from the Daily Mail—“that he was close to the country’s secret service, Mossad.” There may be nothing in that, but that appeared in a national newspaper.

Chair:> I am going to rule on a point of order. Mr Flynn has made it clear that there may be nothing in these allegations, but it is important to have put it on the record. Be careful how you phrase questions.

Paul Flynn:> Indeed. The two worst decisions taken by Parliament in my 25 years were the invasion of Iraq—joining Bush’s war in Iraq—and the invasion of Helmand province. We know now that there were things going on in the background while that built up to these mistakes. The charge in this case is that Werritty was the servant of neo-con people in America, who take an aggressive view on Iran. They want to foment a war in Iran in the same way as in the early years, there was another—

Chair:> Order. I must ask you to move to a question that is relevant to the inquiry.

Q Paul Flynn:> Okay. The question is, are you satisfied that you missed out on the extra four meetings that took place, and does this not mean that those meetings should have been investigated because of the nature of Mr Werritty’s interests?

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> I think if you look at some of those meetings, some people are referring to meetings that took place before the election.

Q Paul Flynn:> Indeed, which is even more worrying.

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> I am afraid they were not the subject—what members of the Opposition do is not something that the Cabinet Secretary should look into. It is not relevant.

But these meetings were held—

Chair:> Mr Flynn, would you let him answer please?

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> I really do not think that was within my context, because they were not Ministers of the Government and what they were up to was not something I should get into at all.

Chair:> Final question, Mr Flynn.

Q Paul Flynn:> No, it is not a final question. I am not going to be silenced by you, Chairman; I have important things to raise. I have stayed silent throughout this meeting so far.

You state in the report—on the meeting held between Gould, Fox and Werritty, on 6 February, in Tel Aviv—that there was a general discussion of international affairs over a private dinner with senior Israelis. The UK ambassador was present. Are you following the line taken by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who says that he can eat with lobbyists or people applying to his Department because, on occasions, he eats privately, and on other occasions he eats ministerially? Are you accepting the idea? It is possibly a source of great national interest—the eating habits of their Secretary of State. It appears that he might well have a number of stomachs, it has been suggested, if he can divide his time this way. It does seem to be a way of getting round the ministerial code, if people can announce that what they are doing is private rather than ministerial.

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> The important point here was that, when the Secretary of State had that meeting, he had an official with him—namely, in this case, the ambassador. That is very important, and I should stress that I would expect our ambassador in Israel to have contact with Mossad. That will be part of his job. It is totally natural, and I do not think that you should infer anything from that about the individual’s biases. That is what ambassadors do. Our ambassador in Pakistan will have exactly the same set of wide contacts.

Q Paul Flynn:> I have good reason, as I said, from constituency matters, to be unhappy about the ambassador. Other criticisms have been made about the ambassador; he is unique in some ways in the role he is performing. There have been suggestions that he is too close to a foreign power.

Robert Halfon:> On a point of order, Chair, this is not about the ambassador to Israel. This is supposed to be about the Werritty affair.

Paul Flynn:> It is absolutely crucial to this report. If neo-cons such as yourself, Robert, are plotting a war in Iran, we should know about it.

Chair:> Order. I think the line of questioning is very involved. I have given you quite a lot of time, Mr Flynn. If you have further inquiries to make of this, they could be pursued in correspondence. May I ask you to ask one final question before we move on?

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> One thing I would stress: we are talking about the ambassador and I think he has a right of reply. Mr Chairman, I know there is an interesting question of words regarding Head of the Civil Service versus Head of the Home Civil Service, but this is the Diplomatic Service, not the Civil Service.

Q Chair:> So he is not in your jurisdiction at all.

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> No.

Q Paul Flynn:> But you are happy that your report is final; it does not need to go the manager it would have gone to originally, and that is the end of the affair. Is that your view?

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> As I said, some issues arose where I wanted to be sure that what the Secretary of State was doing had been discussed with the Foreign Secretary. I felt reassured by what the Foreign Secretary told me.

Q Chair:> I think what Mr Flynn is asking is that your report and the affair raise other issues, but you are saying that that does not fall within the remit of your report and that, indeed, the conduct of an ambassador does not fall within your remit at all.

Sir Gus O’Donnell:> That is absolutely correct.

Paul Flynn:> The charge laid by Lord Turnbull in his evidence with regard to Dr Fox and the ministerial code was his failure to observe collective responsibility, in that case about Sri Lanka. Isn’t the same charge there about our policies to Iran and Israel?

Chair:> We have dealt with that, Mr Flynn.

Paul Flynn:> We haven’t dealt with it as far as it applies—

Chair:> Mr Flynn, we are moving on.

Paul Flynn:> You may well move on, but I remain very unhappy about the fact that you will not allow me to finish the questioning I wanted to give on a matter of great importance.

It is shocking but true that Robert Halfon MP, who disrupted Flynn with repeated points of order, receives funding from precisely the same Israeli sources as Werritty, and in particular from Mr Poju Zabludowicz. He also formerly had a full time paid job as Political Director of the Conservative Friends of Israel. It is not surprising that Shai Masot evidently views Halfon as a useful tool for attacking senior pro-Palestinian members of his own party.

But despite the evasiveness of O’Donnell and the obstruction of paid zionist puppet Halfon, O’Donnell confirmed vital parts of my investigation. In particular he agreed that the Fox-Werritty-Gould “private dinner” in Tel Aviv was with Mossad, and that Gould met Werritty many times more than the twice that O’Donnell listed in his “investigation” into the Werritty affair. The truth of the Werritty scandal, hidden comprehensively by the mainstream media, was that Werritty was inside the UK Ministry of Defence working for Israel. That is why it was so serious that Defence Minister Liam Fox had to resign

Of the eight meetings of Fox-Gould-Werritty together which I discovered, seven were while Fox was Secretary of State for Defence. Only one was while Fox was in opposition. But O’Donnell let the cat much further out of the bag, with the astonishing admission to Paul Flynn’s above questioning that Gould, Fox and Werritty held “meetings that took place before the election.” He also referred to “some of those meetings” as being before the election. Both are plainly in the plural.

It is evident from the information gained by Paul Flynn that not only did Fox, Gould and Werritty have at least seven meetings while Fox was in power – with no minutes and never another British official present – they had several meetings while Fox was shadow Foreign Secretary. O’Donnell was right that what Fox and Werritty were up to in opposition was not his concern. But what Gould was doing with them – a senior official – most definitely was his concern. A senior British diplomat cannot just hold a series of meetings with the opposition shadow Defence Secretary and a paid Israeli lobbyist.

All of this underlined the pernicious influence that Israel has in the political class, which is founded on the Israeli lobby’s shameless use of cash for influence – as witnessed in the discussion between Shai Masot and Labour Firends of Israel and his flaunting of a million. Attitudes towards the plight of the Palestinians are an extreme example of the disconnect between public opinion and the views of the political class, and Al Jazeera should be congratulated heartily on giving us a peek into that.

No further evidence is required. There could be no more conclusive evidence of Israel’s undue and pernicious influence than the astonishing fact that Shai Masot has not yet been expelled.


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193 thoughts on “Why Has Israeli Spy Shai Masot Not Been Expelled?

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  • Habbabkuk

    Good to see you’ve moved rapidly onto a subject more congenial to the majority of your commenters.

    • Sharp Ears

      Not true. We have ALL been very concerned to read Craig’s articles on the crisis in the NHS, the Rogers’ resignation as evinced by four pages of comments and similarly about the lies on the ‘Russian hacking’. There were 8 pages of comments on the latter – some from your good self presumably as per usual.

      • Habbabkuk

        On a point of fact: the previous thread (on the NHS) has been up since yesterday evening and has attracted around 100 comments. The current thread started today mid-morning and has so far attracted around 80 comments.(and going strong).

        That would appear to indicate that the subject of this thread is more congenial to commenters than the previous one.

    • Macky

      That’s the problem for you & the other resident contrarians, if it were Russians then you would be demanding retribution & more; reality once again reveals your hypocrisy, and illustrates the difference between the real world & your “fake news” version of the world.

      • Anon1

        If it were Russians then you would be demanding they were let off the hook (whilst cyber-fellating Putin).

        Touché!

        • Macky

          @Anon1, hardly “touche”, the difference is I demand proof of wrong doing when Countries or leaders are vilified, but you & your fellow apologists for Israeli crimes go into comical denial mode iro the reality that is evident to anybody with a functioning pair of eyes, an unbiased mind, and an ounce of compassion.

          BTW, projection is always such a revealing thing, and in your case particulary ugly.

    • Loony

      Presumably you believe your agenda to be served by posting a holding comment until you are informed as to your preferred mode of response.

      When taking instruction perhaps you could ask how you are supposed to respond to the warning by Czech President Milos Zeman of a possible “super holocaust” carried out by Muslim terrorists. Subsequent to this warning there are proposals to effect a constitutional change that would permit Czech citizens to shoot down the terrorists while they are waiting for a police response.

      What with the Czech Republic being in the EU and all those shared values and the tragedy of the ignorance of the British population in voting to leave the EU. There is an urgent need for you to reassure the ignorant masses that what is good for Israel is good for them and for you to explain why allying with people that want to start a pan European civil war is in their best interests.

      • Habbabkuk

        Wrong, Loony – I’m quite capable of writing my own script all by myself. No need to await instructions.

        Turning now to your script – what is the relevance of the Czech President’s “warning” to this latest thread from Craig?

        • Loony

          I would have thought that a man who claims to know as many words as you would be well capable of understanding exactly how relevant the words of the Czech President are.

          Perhaps you should have read your instructions more thoroughly.

          • Habbabkuk

            Loony

            Please use reasoned argument rather than silly comments about me being under instruction. In this case : what is the relevance of your post to the theme of this thread?.

          • Babushka

            Loony.
            If ‘it’ is not “Proper” in the Establishment etiquette taught from age 6 to boys of Habba’s ilk, then ‘it’ can only be “silly”, these two standards being the only allowed modes of reasoning which takes them straight through their lives. Of course, Habba is solid Proper through and through, while everyone else is a squillion shades of “silly”.
            As you have said before-projection is the name of the game.

    • Shatnersrug

      Hab – is that the best you could do with first comment?

      Proverbs 17:28

      “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

      • Habbabkuk

        Well, let’s wait and see how many responses this latest thread attracts as compared to the previous one on the NHS, shall we?

        • Old Mark

          Habba- I’ve no doubt this thread will attract more comment, Craig’s input is considerably greater here with much useful background information on the links between some of the personnel in this imbroglio and the Fox/Werritty saga from 5 years ago. The NHS post is more of a vox pop, like a jokey third leader article, whreeas this (to use the MSM analogy again) is more a main leading article.

          If this one didn’t generate more of a response even the dogs in the street would be howling in surprise.

          • Habbabkuk

            Old Mark

            Yes, you certainly have a point. But, on the other hand, you could also note that the subject of the UK National Health service is of direct or indirect personal interest to many more commenters and readers of this blog than the question of the extent of Israeli influence on the UK govt. Moreover, as both direct users and for that matter funders of the NHS (presumably), readers and commenters might legitimately be thought to have both personal experience of the NHS and its shortcomings and ideas on what has gone wrong, why things have gone wrong and what could be done to remedy the situation. Essentially, therefore, you would expect a large volume of posts and certainly a larger volume than for subjects like the latest one, where people have little direct knowledge and even less direct experience.

            But be that as it may, I note with interest that my prediction is rapidly benig borne out…..

    • fwl

      It could hardly be avoided.

      Craig conflates this with Obama Russian expulsion, but ironically Obama UK and NZ were united at UN over Palestine. Trump on the other hand is said to favour the more traditional US line if supporting Israel and keeping criticism private.

      So what is going on? Why have Obama and Duncan departed from the known path? Why would Obama wish to so radically change as he departs office? Possibly the fact that the government in Israel has clearly moved far to the right, eye on his legacy, wish to cause Trump incoming issues, and at worst maybe something in ME either to come or reflection of a fall out over Syria?

      I don’t know.

      Has anyone read James Rickards’ The Road to Ruin? He suggests that in a financial crisis the government either prints or it freezes bank accounts, market funds and all financial institutions either (a) to broker some way out or worse (b) to confiscate. He argues that freezing is imminent. Maybe, certainly much historical precedent.

      Could Trump / Koch (they claim to be unconnected) stand for elite opposition to freezing. Could it be that Trump / Kick / Goldman Sachs stand for a third and more traditional approach. Tell IMF and Fed to back off, prevent (or limit) bank and market closure, allow bubbles to burst, and allow those with the funds to pick up the bargains. Anarcho billionaire libertarian totallitarian capitalism (if you like). Oligarchy US style.

      Again, I don’t know. Just whistling tunes wondering why nothing makes sense and trying to figure it out.

  • Macky

    ‘A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Israeli Ambassador has apologised and is clear these comments do not reflect the views of the embassy or government of Israel.

    “The UK has a strong relationship with Israel and we consider the matter closed.”

    What can possibly explain such a forgiving response ?; blackmail ? corruption ?

  • Sharp Ears

    V. good.

    btw Where is Werritty? 😉

    Fox has been sidelined by Treeza in some backwater of a mini Brexit ministry.

    • craig Post author

      Werritty was with Fox partying on the Commons terrace on the day Fox’s new ministerial appointment was announced. He won’t be far away.

    • Alcyone

      You weren’t supposed to answer that question, Craig.

      Anyhow, you have given one enough food for thought to skip breakfast (and ironing my shirt 😉 ) and go directly to planning lunch. I must say there’s a good bit there in the above mosaic to digest. Given that my day started with an episode of insomnia, I have watched a fair bit of “news” stuff this morning, but there is more stuff here worth delving into that will help redeem the waste of at-least a couple of hours. But before I go, a couple of questions:

      1 Leave aside the recent US expulsions, would an expulsion of a diplomat, in circumstances such as these, normally be near-automatic? Or are there other considerations and precedents?

      2 What would be in your view the impact on Israel’s security status if a two-state solution solution were to be implemented, given that Eden is burning and so is the Middle East. Take into account the general backwardness of Islam relative to the maturity of other World (organised) religions. Who will legislate change in Islam and encourage it to the 21st Century (take the very simple example of the treatment of women in most of the muslim world). Or, perhaps you consider Islam to be progressive enough as-is?

      3 Talking of Fox, when will you be on Fox News? Btw, I reiterate that your two-step manoeuvre with Assange re the source for the Wikileaks Podesta emails was essential and so far fairly effective, obviously at the more discerning levels.

      Thanks

  • giyane

    I am not a political man, but I have noticed that pretending to not to understand is a political, distraction strategy to keep people occupied with irrelevant controversies while another chapter of unpopular policy is unrolled.

    The presence of investigative journalism by known patsies of USUKIS global hegemony would therefore be part of the distraction strategy, and not something to be relied on. Obama’s claims about Russian espionage are strategic distraction from what is happening in Syria and this titbit of global Israeli bullying shock horror should be treated as the same.

    We wouldn’t take any notice of a witness who claims to know nothing, so why would we allow ourselves to be distracted by a false trail?

    What we are not supposed to focus on, in this slurry/flurry of state fake news is that USUKIS have moved their skullduggered plan to control the Middle East using very un-Islamic mercenaries forward, in the words of Boris Johnson to Assad controlling a third of Syria and USUKIS controlling the other two-thirds.

    We are being diverted from this propaganda, and the reality is very different on the ground.
    The reality of Syria is that USUKIS ought to be prosecuted for breaking international law in its conduct of a proxy war using Al Qaida and Daesh. Secondly, the people of Syria absolutely refuse to be shafted by international law, thirdly, if we, the rest of the free world allow Syria to be shafted by USUKIS and international law, we are giving in to much worse than manipulative Israel spies. We are giving in to the NWO.

    Neither we , nor the Syrians are going to submit quietly to the dirty tricks of individuals or the gross bullying by the Anglo-Saxon political faction of the world. We have to prosecute our own politicians for conducting a terrorist assault on a sovereign nation, and return Syria to the Syrians. ISUK have nothing to gain from ownership or control over Syria. Israel is the only possible beneficiary of the War on Islam, the CIA Arab Spring, and the proxy/poxy war on Syria and Iraq. They are there on the ground.

    • Macky

      @giyane, you are both right & wrong; right that it’s ultimately a distraction, and wrong to think that the tail wags the dog(s).

      The reality is that the elites that control in the West, particularly in the US & UK, have known since WW2 that they can only preserved their privilege status-quo, if Western economies don’t fall into the inevitable black-hole underlying Capitalism. The solution that they have found is permanent war, a never-ending war on the Third War, where the victims fund their oppressors by spending their wealth on buying their armaments, and no matter how well armed they become, they will still always be powerless to stop being destroyed, whenever they object to the plundering of their countries.

      Who would have expected all this to be so clearly laid-out in just a little book review !;

      http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-history-of-the-cia/5566699

      • giyane

        Macky. What you say is true, but as with a very excited dog the wag starts with the head and runs through the whole body to the tail. To look at him, Boris Johnson is like that. Completely out of control body language, meaning we have screwed Assad like we screwed Libya, Ukraine and Iraq. They are running out of sovereign nations to screw.

    • Herbie

      You’re probably correct as to distraction.

      I mean, that civil servant, Ms Strizzolo, seems rather dismissive and confident in her response.

      “Ms Strizzolo said last night her conversation with Masot was ‘tongue-in-cheek and gossipy’, adding: ‘Any suggestion that I… could exert the type of influence you are suggesting is risible.’”

      Is that the response one should expect from a civil servant caught in discussions of this nature, however playful.

      I don’t think so.

      No way!

      She’d make no comment at all, and worry about her future were she truly caught out in such an event.

      No.

      Much too confident a response from her, indicating a knowiness she wouldn’t have were she really caught out.

      She’s rather given the game away.

      Always happens when you say too much.

      And anyway, it’s Qatari owned Al Jazeera ffs.

  • Manda

    Just another day of utter self serving hypocrisy, disregard for laws, truth, integrity, diplomatic protocol and British people in the modern Neo colonial, Empire led by Anglo American elite class.

    We are ruled, we have no democracy.

      • Manda

        To greater or lesser extent yes but ‘we’ are not in government/power and being openly hypocritical on a range of subjects and actions actions that affect life and death of citizens, democracy, national security and safety of British citizens along with their faith in a so called publically accountable democratic process.

        Whataboutery is not a valid counter to my claim it is a diversion.

        • Alcyone

          Yes very good, what about going back to your slumber, then you’ll be refreshed to moan further. You are not alone, take comfort.

          • Alcyone

            Oh, and yes, it was only the “people in the modern Neo colonial, Empire led by Anglo American elite class” that elected Blair to power three times in a row. You and I didn’t have a vote. And Mossad and the Isarelis and the CiA and the FBI rigged the election, or didn’t you know.

        • fwl

          Recognition of hypocrisy should not be used as whataboutery type justification. Its just a fact. We do still have some freedoms though and we should identify defend and use them.

          • Alcyone

            May I add:

            “Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not choice. It is man’s pretence that because he has choice he is free. Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward. Freedom is without motive; freedom is not at the end of the evolution of man but lies in the first step of his existence. In observation one begins to discover the lack of freedom. Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity.

            Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge, which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. ”
            http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/about-krishnamurti/the-core-of-the-teachings.php

            fwl, your first sentence a little ambiguous to me. Can you please re-phrase? Thanks

          • fwl

            Seeing our own hypocrisy is positive and not the same thing as pointing out that of others. Best to look at our self first. Ok (although also debatable) to then note that of others. Third comes trying to justify hypocrisy on the basis that they are all up to it.

          • fwl

            On freedoms I was not talking of ultimate freedoms, but more prosaic ones eg speech, to stand for election, campaign, protest, set up business, trade, access courts, travel etc.

          • fwl

            And then there are the freedoms, which the Koch brothers wish to defend: private property, assets v taxation, freedom from environmental regulation, freedom from loss of control whether individually, corporate or sovereign. Their opponent is essentially the more easily identified elite of the UN, IMF and sometimes identified with Soros. We live in interesting times. Soros and co need a shock, but will a Trump presidency have the power and ability to resist.

          • Alcyone

            Thanks for clarifying Fwl

            1 “look at our self first.” is the point I was getting at. Self responsibility, knowing first ‘Who am I/Who we are?’. Starting inwardly and moving to the Outer and back again like waves going out and coming in, neverendingly, but

            2 True Freedom is at the beginning, not something to be arrived at through evolution through a whole life-time. There is NO such thing as psychological evolution. Even phsyiologically, we are still very much the hunter-gatherer and brutal, aggressive, acquisitive, competitive and so on and so on.

            3 I realise the freedoms you were referring to were daily pragmatic ones, but they are very limited in comparison. Where as freeing the mind, you and I individually through self-knowledge (not a doctrate in history) and self-study, is another thing. Eliminating all the heavy conditioning including the relevant aspects of our million-year-old human brain.

            4 We are NOT POWERLESS VICTIMS like all the whingers here would have us believe. We have been given a large brain which is extraordinarily capable. Not just of building the Taj Mahal, putting man on the moon or conceiving E=MC2. But capable of ending the paralysis of analysis (ok in technical subjects) and living intelligently in response to the what-is and with insight transforming what-is.

            Paradise could be here, it is not something out there. You only need to look at the Beauty of Nature, the Peacock, the Marvellous Earth. And then by-and-large the Ugliness of Man (and his actions and the struggle of daily life). Thanks for engaging.

            [This should be here, Mods please fix it. Thanks]

  • Silvio

    From the Daily Mail:
    “…..a spokesman for Boris Johnson said: ‘The Israeli ambassador has apologised and made it clear to us that these comments do not represent the views of the Israeli Embassy or government.’”

    Standard operating procedure from Israeli officialdom when their agents are caught out in wrongdoing against a “friendly” nation, claim that it was a “rogue” operation and in no way was it an operation sanctioned under official Israeli policy. In many cases the infiltrated media and political establishment in the targeted nation also go along with the pretense – like in the cold war era Jonathan Pollard spy case, for example:

    It should also be recognized that the focus on Pollard has obscured the duplicitous behavior by the Israeli government and its proxies in the U.S. I recall when I was in Turkey shortly after Pollard was arrested a delegation of the American Jewish Committee came through town and met with the Consul General and later the Ambassador, insisting that Pollard was some kind of nut and assuring all who would listen that Israel would never spy on the United States. That spin prevailed in much of the media and among the punditry, calling it a “rogue operation,” until Tel Aviv finally ‘fessed up in 1998. The fact is that the Pollard spy operation was approved at the highest levels of the Israeli government and to this day Tel Aviv has reneged on its agreement to return all of the material stolen to enable the Pentagon to do a complete damage assessment. And Israel continues to spy aggressively on the United States, ranking first among “friendly” countries in that category.

    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-truth-of-jonathan-pollard/

  • bevin

    Has the Labour Party said anything about this matter?
    Obviously both Regev and Masot have Corbyn as their primary target and are probably responsible for all manner of attempts to discredit him as well as acting as conduits for funding and planning for the PLP coup plotters.

    • Sharp Ears

      Prominent members of Labour Friends of Israel have been assiduous in undermining Jeremy Corbyn from the start of his leadership campaign and since.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Friends_of_Israel

      The list needs updating. Ben Bradshaw isn’t there, nor are Thornberry and many others. Some there are even deceased!

      Something else that needs updating is Regev’s Twitter. No mention of this scandal – or his apology, just yards and yards of his networking efforts for the plucky little state, the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’.

      https://twitter.com/ambmarkregev?

      • Habbabkuk

        As any student of UK politics knows, the Labour Party has a long and rich history of Labour Party MPs and members seeking to undermine the Party Leader (some successful, others not). In this context, one could cite the Leaders George Lansbury, Clement Atlee, Hugh Gaitskell and Harold Wilson.

        It seems to be in the Labour DNA.

        Of course, some would say ( I reserve my own position) that this is all part of the exercise of healthy democracy within a political party….

        • bevin

          Nothing of this sort has ever been seen in the history of the Labour Party.
          In the past the position of ‘leader’ of the Labour Party was unknown, the PLP had a chairman, elected like the Shadow Cabinet, the NEC had another chairman. And then there were the Unions with their block votes.
          What makes the current situation very different is that the PLP is no longer under the control of the NEC, the local parties, the affiliated organisations or the Unions. It was designed by Blair and Mandelson to become a self perpetuating oligarchy, beyond the control of the Party’s members. That is still the dream of Blair and his cronies.

    • Old Mark

      If Corbyn has grown a pair over the festive period he should certainly consider a PMQ about this; Duncan and May go back a long way having both been at Oxford together in the late 70s. Philip May and Alan Duncan were both office holders at the Oxford Union at the same time, and if as seems quite possible First Man Philip was going out with Theresa already back then (1977) it would mean Duncan and May’s acquaintanceship goes back 40 years.

      If this does nothing else one hopes that this episode makes Mother Theresa feel ashamed of her opportunist sniping at John Kerry a week ago after he delivered (shock! horror!) a speech critical of the Israeli occupation – half a century old this summer.

    • Habbabkuk

      “Obviously both Regev and Masot have Corbyn as their primary target and are probably responsible for all manner of attempts to discredit him as well as acting as conduits for funding and planning for the PLP coup plotters.”
      ______________________

      Thats an interesting point of view, Bevs.

      As it doesn’t come out of the Al Jazeera story, I wonder if you could set out your thinking in a little more detail?

      You see, what you say might not be “obvious” to the general reader.

  • Michael McNulty

    I think it was Voltaire who said, “To find out who rules over you just find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” If Israel does get to rule the world we’ll all become Palestinians.

    • michael norton

      At the moment Gazprom is fueling frozen Europe with an ever increasing amount ( and %) of Natural gas – Methane
      (Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom is a large Russian company founded in 1989, which carries on the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of natural gas.)
      I think we may be moving into a time when Methane is more important than oil.
      We will soon reach a point when half of all electricity in the world is produced by renewables.
      Top of these are Solar and wind.
      All the time wind turbine improvements are occurring.
      “Gearbox engineering company wins cash to accelerate offshore wind innovation”
      https://www.gov.uk/government/news/gearbox-engineering-company-wins-cash-to-accelerate-offshore-wind-innovation
      According to Elon Musk ( just built the biggest factory in the world in Nevada, essentially to make Lithium ion batteries, mainly for his electric vehicles) houses of the near future will not have to be connected to the grid, they will be self sufficient in electricity, using his solar tiles, solar windows and solar wall panels and using his batteries, to charge his electric cars at night.

      Anyway, very soon there will be the $10 / barrel Oil – even if more is actually consumed.
      But in Europe we will still need to heat our homes /buildings with Methane.
      There is a GIANT Methane field in the Eastern Mediterranean off the Coast of Cyprus / Syria / Lebanon / Israel.

      Russia has its Naval port in Tartus, Syria, just a stone’s throw from this GIANT Methane field.
      It is said that Russia is arming Syria to the teeth with missiles.
      This is going to get nasty
      https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/gigafactory

      • michael norton

        It is quite possible that this as yet untapped GIANT Methane field off the coast of Syria /Israel
        is a prime mover in the 7 year Syrian War.
        Guess which Eastern Mediterranean country thought it could benefit from destablizing all its near Neighbours?

          • michael norton

            https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R44591.pdf
            Congressional Research Service

            ince 2009, a series of large natural gas discoveries in the Levant Basin have altered the
            dynamics of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Israel’s discovery of the Tamar Field and
            subsequent discovery of the larger Leviathan Field created the potential for
            the country to become
            a regional player in the natural gas market. Since the initial Israeli discoveries, Cyprus and Egypt
            have also found new gas deposits in the Mediterranean. The Aphrodite Field was discovered by
            U.S. firm Noble Energy in Cypriot waters
            in late 2011 and the massive Zohr Field was found in
            Egyptian waters by Italian firm Eni in 2015.These discoveries create the potential for Cyprus to
            export gas and for Egypt to meet more of its domestic gas needs. Lebanon has not yet discovered
            recoverab
            le gas reserves, but geologic data indicates that there is the potential for Lebanon to
            possess significant gas resources. Israeli gas discoveries have been contested by Lebanon, which
            disputes an area of about 300 square miles along the countries’ unsettl
            ed maritime border. The
            Administration has sought to mediate the maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon.
            New gas reserves could change how energy is used in the regio

          • michael norton

            Energy Triangle
            The Energy Triangle refers to the joint natural gas extraction between Cyprus, Israel and Greece that began in 2015. Officials from all three countries agreed to the establishment of a gas pipeline from the Aphrodite gas field, Leviathan gas field, and Tamar gas field to a liquefied natural gas plant in the Vasilikos Power Station by 2019.
            According to Noble Energy,
            the total gross unrisked deep oil potential is enough to cover the supply of natural gas to Europe for 20 years.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Triangle

            So they have already identified Methane supply in the Eastern Mediterranean that is equivalent to a 20 year supply for all of Europe, now that is quite a prize, much bigger than The North Sea.

            Certainly enough reason to instigate The Syrian War, but it is also about pipelines, as we have already discussed.

          • Node

            The Energy Triangle refers to the joint natural gas extraction between Cyprus, Israel and Greece that began in 2015.

            Aaah, that’s what she’s up to.

            “Since April 2016, US neoconservatives have been trying to change the status of Cyprus. It is for them both (1) to reunite the island (2) to deprive it of its army (3) but also to deploy the Turkish army under cover of NATO. The inevitable Victoria Nuland, who should have become Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton had been elected president, is maneuvering. This plan is supposed to tie Turkey to NATO and prevent its rapprochement with Russia.”

            ….and (4) control the gas field

            http://www.voltairenet.org/article194876.html

    • John Goss

      There’s a word we’re not to use on this blog but I think most people will understand what you mean by: “If Israel does get to rule the world we’ll all become Palestinians.”

  • bevin

    Tony Greenstein has some interesting comments:
    http://azvsas.blogspot.ca/
    “…..The forthcoming Al Jazeera documentary, parts of which have already been revealed, are likely to be explosive. We already know that the Israeli Embassy’s political officer, Shai Masot, was discussing ‘taking down’ Deputy Foreign Secretary, Alan Duncan, who has long been a supporter of the Palestinians. There is, I understand, much more to come including the £1m made available for trips to Israel by Labour MPs. I have been saying for a year now, in speeches up and down the country, that it is inconceivable that both the Israeli and American embassies were not involved in the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign. In a speech I gave at the Boycott Israel Network conference on November 5th I said this, in answer to a question:

    “I mean, someone asked about Mark Regev and the Israeli embassy, I don’t think Mark Regev began it but certainly he’s involved in it. If you look at it from this perspective, when Corbyn was elected or seemed likely to be elected to the Labour leadership, I imagine panic set in, not just in the Israeli embassy but the US embassy. Britain is the closest ally of the United States in Europe, the special relationship; the idea that someone who is anti-Nato, anti-Trident and so on, with his record, I would be amazed if the CIA and the Intelligence Agencies weren’t doing something. I mean that’s what they’re paid to do all over the world; why not in Britain? It would be bonkers if they didn’t; they would be failing in their duties, so, yes, of course they have been behind this campaign……

  • Tal

    Tragically, more immediate events in Israel have pushed this diplomatic incident out of the headlines.

    As always, terrorist attacks by organisations whose sole purpose is to bully the world into accepting their spurious claims to nationhood should be roundly condemned.

    As a human, I’m yet again forced to ask myself: who benefits from such inhumanity…

    • Laguerre

      Ah, another local hasbarist. Israel’s crimes can be passed over in silence, and Israeli murders pardoned, but if there’s a reprisal, that’s the worst horror in the world.

      • Habbabkuk

        Laguerre

        I suppose you would object to being called a “Palestine hasbarist” on the basis of your quite frequent posts (correct me if I’m wrong).

        Why, then, do you feel free to call “Tal” an Israeli hasbarist on the basis of his four line post?

        • Laguerre

          “I suppose you would object to being called a “Palestine hasbarist” on the basis of your quite frequent posts ”

          The difference is that I’m not paid. Nor very frequent, as opposed to your very frequent posts. You are certainly not in employment, judging by the number of posts you make. A little extra from Tel Aviv might help out the pension, might it not?

          • Habbabkuk

            Well, Laguerre, I’m not paid either. So, with that non-existent “difference” disposed of, would you like to have another go at answering my assertion, which was:

            “I suppose you would object to being called a “Palestine hasbarist” on the basis of your quite frequent posts ” ?

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Peter Oborne covered the massive influence of Israel on UK politics and the media in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in 2009. Guess what happened? – They became even more entrenched and no UK TV station would dare make or broadcast a similar TV programme now. I’m amazed Al Jazeera did for that matter.

    “Dispatches: Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby 2009”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lby-BP5xVRI

    • Manda

      ” I’m amazed Al Jazeera did for that matter.”

      Al Jazeera has long been a critic of Israeli policy and actions in illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territories. Their offices were bombed twice by US, in Iraq and Afghanistan if I remember correctly so AJ hit nerves back then.. I don’t know anywhere near enough about Qatar policy to understand their overall ME reporting and I don’t follow them much these days.

      I cannot help linking the UK legal assisted drafting of and US abstention on UNSC resolution 2334 on Israeli settlements and the Al Jazeera ‘take down’ report making it into UK MSM, my gut links these events with the Trump/ Russia question, no clear idea why that might be.

      • Tony_0pmoc

        Manda,

        Qatar has been in an alliance with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, NATO (and Israel) over the last few years, against the Government of Syria. They have been one of the main funders of the Syrian rebels which include ISIS, Al Qaeda (CIA) etc. However according to Thierry Meyssan (Voltaire Network) (who has an excellent record of being correct), Qatar has recently effectively switched sides and has stopped funding the crazy headchoppers – and has formed an alliance with Russia – as part of some gas/oil energy deal (I think they bought a significant percentage of a very large Russian oil company forming a serious Qatar-Russia partnership). It may well be that Turkey has switched sides as well as a result of the failed US backed coup.

        Tony

      • Alcyone

        “I cannot help linking the UK legal assisted drafting of and US abstention on UNSC resolution 2334 on Israeli settlements and the Al Jazeera ‘take down’ report making it into UK MSM, my gut links these events with the Trump/ Russia question, no clear idea why that might be.

        Sound like an icloud of confusion. Analysis-paralysis, perhaps?

  • bevin

    Craig isn’t the only former diplomat regularly writing sensible commentary on world affairs.
    M.K. Bhadrakumar, the former Indian Ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan, sums up the CIA/FBI ‘evidence’ and concludes ‘don’t laugh…’
    The article concludes “If this standoff continues much further into 2017, the centenary year of the Bolshevik Revolution may also turn out to be the watershed year marking the end of the dominance of the United States in world politics. The point is, if the fig-leaf of America’s ‘exceptionalism’ gets torn asunder so savagely and irreparably, the Emperor looks naked.”
    http://www.atimes.com/russia-tried-influence-us-election/

    • Sharp Ears

      So does Craig Oliver, or rather Sir Craig Oliver, Cameron’s spin doctor. He was on Marr this morning and the BBC thought it necessary to add his comments on the story. To their report.

      ‘But Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former communications director, said the undercover video was a “classic piece of mischief-making” by the Mail on Sunday.

      He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that Mr Masot’s comments should be viewed as “extremely comic” rather than “extremely chilling”.

      “The Israeli government just wants to shut [the story] down,” he added. “It’s embarrassing”.’

      Version 2 on NewsSniffer.

      https://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/1301184/diff/1/2

      • Habbabkuk

        “He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that Mr Masot’s comments should be viewed as “extremely comic” rather than “extremely chilling”.

        ________________________

        Having read – and watched – carefully the Al Jazeera tape, I have a lot of sympathy with Craig Oliver’s judgement.

        And a little less sympathy for his further judgement that Ambassador Regev wished to shut down the affair because it was “embarrassing”. My own view would be that the Ambassador was closing down something which was essentially a storm in a tea cup but which could – and would – have been milked for all it was worth (and beyond) by those of an anti-Israel persuasion in the absence of said closing down. As evidenced, I’m afraid to say, by Craig’s openng post..

        While I’m at it, I would also say that Mr Halfon’s points of order in response to M Flynn were entirely justified. Please reread the transcipt offered in the opening post.

        • Why be ordinary

          The Ambassador was closing down something that should never have been started and of which he might previously been unaware?

        • Habbabkuk

          Why be ordinary

          Using the expression “something that should never have been started” lends too much importance to this; after all, we are talking about a lunch that someone at the Israeli Embassy had with an MP’s helper or assistant or whatever you wish to call her**, in the course of which he said a few things which are somewhat less earth-shaking, sinister and diabolical than some are trying to make out. So, given that this “something” is really not very much of anything, I doubt that Mr Regev planned the whole thing or was even “aware” of it.

          More generally, I rather doubt that political counsellors have to obtain their Ambassador’s permission every time they go out for lunch with someone, especially an MP’s assistant or even a mere MP him/herself. On the other hand, it would be part of their duties to file a report on the meeting if anything of interest was said (and in some cases even if nothing was 🙂 ) Nor should one forget that political counsellors are also expected to use their initiative from time to time – sometimes with unfortunate results.

          A storm in a tea cup.

          ____________________

          ** I note that no one has yet bothered to respond to my question about the alleged civil service status of Ms Maria Strizzolo.

          • Babushka

            A person calling himself a political officer for Israel was grooming a UK government employee with a view to digging up dirt for public exposure.

            Is that properly and publicly ok with you Habba?

          • Old Mark

            Habba-

            At the time of the dinner at which Mr Masot was so indiscreet Ms Strizzolo was simply one of Mr Halfon’s ‘researchers’ ;however after her boss obtained a junior ministerial post in Education, she appears (according to the Mail) to have added ‘Part time Civil Servant’ in that department to her CV (which I assume means she is being paid by the taxpayer as a SPAD in addition to remaining on Robert Halfon’s office expenses as his researcher).

            Halfon for one therefore presumably has a high opinion of her abilities.

          • Old Mark

            note that no one has yet bothered to respond to my question about the alleged civil service status of Ms Maria Strizzolo.

            In the last 24 hours, in the wake of the Mail story, she appears to have lost her ‘part time Civil Service’ position- just as her dinner companion seems to have got the push from his position at the Israeli embassy.

  • Tim Hoddy

    Wasn’t it Gould, rather than Regev, who had the eight secret meetings with Werrity?

  • bevin

    American readers could supply us with a ling list of US politicians, including Cynthia McKinnon, who have been ‘taken down’ by various cunning ploys directed by the Israeli government.
    As the ‘story’ of ‘Russian interference’ in the US Presidential elections diminishes into a storm of laughter around the world and consolidates Russia’s advances in prestige since Obama and Hillary set out to isolate the country, the question of Zionist interference in the affairs of sovereign states (if NATO satellites can be described thus) is thrown into relief.
    Most Israeli Ambassadors are chosen for their abilities to interfere in the domestic affairs of the countries to which they are sent. Regev is but one, very good, example of this.

    • Habbabkuk

      One Ambassador’s “interference” is another Ambassador’s “attempts to influence”, Bevs.

      I would suggest that the words chosen by any individual commenter depend on the general position of that commenter on the politics and actions of the country represented by the Ambassador in question.

      Thus, for some, a Russian Ambassador would never attempt to interfere, but merely attempt to influence, whereas an Israeli Ambassador would be doing the exact opposite.

    • Sharp Ears

      Cynthia McKinney Bevin. She was on a boat (with medical aid for Gaza when Cast Lead was enacted on Gaza 2008/9) with 15 others including Britons, which was rammed three times in the night by the Israeli navy. It was in international waters. They were left for dead. The boat did not sink as it was not made of GRP and the captain, also British, managed to get it to Lebanon.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTfq-QMEHw

      Cynthia’s account https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZeNdIGI8os

      I believe at a later date on another mission, she was imprisoned in Israel.

      She is an amazing woman, exceedingly brave and the president the Americans never had.

      • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

        With much greater integrity as a Green Party candidate(2008) than Jill Stein turned out to possess.

  • Habbabkuk

    Humble apologies, but just a an in-topic question.

    There seems to be a bit of confusion as to the status of Ms Maria Rizzolo. My question : was she an established civil servant at the time of the Al Jazeera “recording”? If not, did she become an established civil servant subsequently?

  • ConWin

    Russia hacking is not really about Russia but about delegitimizing and undermining a Trump presidency and of course forcing his hand with Russia. All to enhance Israeli Middle East dominance and to benefit the Industrial Military Complex who needs wars to justify their ever expanding budgets.

    • Macky

      ” All to enhance Israeli Middle East dominance and to benefit the Industrial Military Complex ”

      Essentially one & the same; it’s a variation of Divide & Rule, just writ on an international scale, as the presence of & support for a colonial settler state in the ME, with all the religious fault lines, is exactly meant to fuel conflict & booster arm sales.

  • Ben

    It’s outrageous when it happens to you…I mean foreign influence of an election. Such narcissism…

    • Macky

      @Ben. your attempted comparison falls down on two counts; no proof of Russian influence, no expulsion of Israeli diplomats.

      • Njegos

        No surprise there. Ben also fell for the “attack” on the Vermont Electricity Grid.

  • writerman

    Public life in the UK, how did it ever get this low? A ‘shitty little country’ like Israel, to quote a french diplomat, shows open and brazen contempt for the UK, and we accept the insults, contempt and sniggering laughter, with barely a murmur of protest, almost like our roles were in reverse and Israel was a large and powerful nation we had to shiver in front off. Is this because, in reality, Israel is part of a far bigger and more powerful state, the United States and to incure the wrath of Israel means incuring the wrath of the Americans too?

      • Laguerre

        The even shorter answer is yes. It’s astounding how Israel has been able to gain control of the debate in the US. Of course it’s nothing new. The same was done in Istanbul under the Ottomans. I don’t mind, as long as there is respect for the rights of others. But that is notably lacking. There’s no admission that others have rights. Herald Habb, saying I’m an anti-semite.

    • bevin

      The system is actually ridiculously transparent. By the latest count Obama and Congress have guaranteed Israel about $40 billion over the course of the next Presidential term. That is a gift, one of many that take the mystery out of Israel’s economic boom.
      It would be foolish of the Israeli government not to invest a small portion of that sum in the insurance policy of buying Congressmen. And they are not foolish. A couple of hundred million bucks on the Presidential election, well hedged bets, more or less guarantee that John Q Taxpayer will be making donations to the cause of terrorising Palestinians for as long as the government exists.

  • Node

    Psssst. Don’t mention how many Palestinian children the IDF shot last year (35). I tried but the mods deleted it.

    • Habbabkuk

      That statistic should certainly be noted – and even deplored.

      As should the statistics about the number of children killed, tortured and imprisoned by various Arab regimes, about the number of children worked to an early grave in Pakistani and Bangla Deshi textile factories, about the millions of child prostitutes tolerated by the Indian govt…or even, nearer home, the number of children murdered by their parent or killed on the roads every year.

      But I suppose that those things aren’t worthy of mention because the govts concerned……are doing it to their own people. 🙂

      To judge by the posts on some blogs, concern for the rights of children is far from indivisble.

        • Macky

          “+1 Habby for a very sensitive post!”

          LOL! He certainly gets a plus one in shameless whataboutery !

          • Alcyone

            Of course Little Big Macky, it was inevitably going to fly over your head. Let’s leave it there for now, shall we?

      • Node

        But I suppose that those things aren’t worthy of mention because the govts concerned……are doing it to their own people.

        Name any other government forces in the world that shot dead 35 children of any nationality last year.

          • Node

            You simply haven’t understood what I was getting at, have you. Never mind.

            Sorry, I really am a bit thick and I really do want to understand what you mean. Let’s start again. I’ll say my bit first, then you explain to me what it is I don’t understand. Then we can keep doing that till I get it.

            The Israeli army shot and killed 35 children last year, deliberately, nearly all of them in the head. They shot and seriously injured dozens more, also deliberately. None of the soldiers were prosecuted, several were promoted.

            Over to you.

      • Laguerre

        India has a Muslim govt, does it? Habb compares Israel, a colonial state with absolutely massive western investment, with poor countries who have to make their way on their own. Yeah right, a real good comparison.

  • K Crosby

    You’ve got it back-to-front, the tsinoiz lobby is actually a proxy, which serves the function of a Praetorian Guard to keep the legislature to heel. It’s newer in Britain than in Washington but the effect is the same, legislators (and the corp-0-rat press) kiss the jackboot and when criticised, say they daren’t “offend the tsinoiz lobby”. It’s a straightforward matter of blaming the contractor; May, the executive president hasn’t kicked the whelp out because he’s only obeying orderz.

  • John Goss

    I am reluctant to comment here due to certain words putting the comment into moderation. In the days of the brilliant Gould, Werritty research by Craig, and referred to above, that was not the case and people could comment more freely. Taking down UK ministers is the kind of thing certain Israelis would have no problem with if it furthered the cause. I commented at the time that Gould was only one of three J….sh ambassadors to Israel (Canadian and US ambassadors were also J….sh) in preparation for the planned genocide of Palestinians. It appears that these ambassadors were not representing their countries so much as Israel in its ambitions to colonise the Middle East under its control. The continued stealing of Palestinian land proves what the end-game is supposed to be if Israel can win it.

    This link mentions the Z word and says many things I have thought and said myself.

    http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/01/08/505363/Iran-Ayatollah-Seyyed-Ali-Khamenei-UK-US-partition-Zionism-Israel

    • Alcyone

      You can thank the Mary Doctrine where family (and friends’) trees were regularly drawn and inter-relations of a certain bigoted motivation were traced out with vendetta.

      Life is getting better!

    • Resident Dissident

      From the link which Goss endorses

      “He also stated that the “secret policy” of Britain and the United States is to smash up the independent states in the Middle East in order to promote global finance.”

      Where have we heard that tune before. Craig, do you really want to be involved in pushing such stuff. Every moderate Israeli who might oppose Netanyahu will immediately recognise the tune and side with Bibi if push comes to shove when they hear that particular tune. Some of us want peace in the Middle East rather than whipping the nutters up on each side into a conflagration.   

    • Habbabkuk

      Mr Goss

      Yet again : there is no genocide of Palestinans , whether “planned” (= the future), current, or historical.

      I note, by the way, that your link is – once again – to PressTV.

  • bevin

    Thank you, sharp ears (and eyes) for the correction. Now I think of it McKinnon is my neighbour’s name not the former Georgia Congresswoman’s.
    I find it surprising, given the ‘open and shut’ nature of this case, that our Hasbaric colleagues have not seized upon this opportunity to show their cricketing instincts by admitting that this case is indefensible, and agreeing (as defenders of the national interest) that those involved should be sanctioned in the traditional manner.
    Instead, disappointingly, we have had the usual ‘whatabout Putin’ special pleading and an attempt to tug on the heartstrings by telling us that some Israeli troops have been run over and killed in Jerusalem.
    Something very sad for the relatives of all involved and a reminder of the inevitable consequences of conquering and occupying other peoples’ homes.

    • Macky

      ” to show their cricketing instincts by admitting that this case is indefensible,”

      Hell will freeze over before that happens; these same ghouls were posting excuses & support for Israel even when the IDF were conducting mass killing sprees of mostly children & women in Gaza.

    • bevin

      This just in from the Angry Arab:
      “As you know, Palestinians have been the least receptive to ISIS and Al-Qa`idah terrorist ideology among the Arab and Muslim people. Today, when a Palestinian rammed into Israeli terrorist soldiers, Zionists media were quick to blame ISIS in order to exploit the attack for political and financial reasons (extract more aid from US). Now we know, that a Marxist-Leninist group, PFLP, claimed responsibility.”
      Asad might have added that in fact Israel has been supporting Al Nusra and ISIS in Syria throughout the regime change campaignins.

    • Habbabkuk

      “I like the frame when Regev loses his silly grin.”
      _______________________

      So do I – it represented a major victory for the Palestinans as well as the various foes of Israel.

      Having said that, if all the victories of the Palestinians and the various foes of Israel are equally impressive, I think the Israelis will be sleeping comfortably in their beds.

      • Herbie

        “if all the victories of the Palestinians and the various foes of Israel are equally impressive, I think the Israelis will be sleeping comfortably in their beds.”

        Please report to base for rebriefing.

        Israel, as you should very well know, is under the most horrendous and sustained attack by Palestinians and others.

        Israelis, have not, do not and shall not sleep comfortably in their beds until you’re told otherwise.

        Idiot!

        This Regev appointment ain’t going well.

        Everyone’s getting so sloppy.

    • Laguerre

      Pity he was caught. Not his fault that he was caught presenting Israeli policy. It’s not fair that he should be blamed for what he was told to do.

    • Old Mark

      Res Diss

      Or, to borrow from CJ in Reggie Perrin, Regev says ‘ I didn’t get where I am today without knowing when to push a troublesome hireling under the bus to save my reputation’

  • Alcyone

    Can we know why you keep childishly referring to the PM as ‘Treeza”? I assume there is ‘imaginable context’ to that? Or is it a thinly-veiled-coded ad hominem? I mean she’s no twassock now is she?

    Far from perfect, frankly I think she has risen to the occasion and operating with a very steady pair of hands, very resolutely and very respectfully to the historic result of the Referendum, at a very difficult time. She is roundly a credit to womanhood and women politicians in the country, wouldn’t you say?

    • RobG

      Teresa May is a complete psychopath, who, amongst other things, has supported numerous idiotic wars, and as Home secretary set-up a completely phony enquiry into VIP rape and murder of children, and also brought in the Investigatory Powers Act (snooper’s charter) which has now become law and makes Britain one of the most repressive countries on Earth.

      Makes you proud to be British, dunnit.

      Further, Corbyn wipes the floor with May at every PMQs (this never gets reported) and is a totally ineffectual leader with seemingly strange personality traits who is the laughing stock of most of the rest of the world.

      But please don’t get the impression that I dislike Teresa May…

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