The attack on Arun Gandhi once again proves the fact that the Zionists are getting more and more stupid by the day। It also proves for one and all, that the power of the Jewish Zionist lobby in the key certain of American power, including the academia। The very fact that they cannot tolerate criticism and moreover quell any sort of debate or discussion at the very root, only go to prove as to how morally bankrupt the Zionist Nazis are। In any case they have grown so stupid that they dont realise that by attacking Arun Gandhi, they have taken on the family of the Mahatma and the Indian people. The ruling Congress and the US-Israeli stooges in India have time and again betrayed the man who won us our freedom but the Indian people will standup for the Mahatma and his values. We are in the process of battling against the Zionist influence in India as well and this issue will undoubtedly be helpful. Thank you - stupid dumb Zionists.-FerozeMithiborwalaMumbai - India

Arun Gandhi held briefly

EXPLAINING STAND: Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi (second from left) with his son Tushar Gandhi snapped while trying to stage a protest in Mumbai on Tuesday।

MUMBAI: Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi, whose alleged anti-Zionist remarks have created a controversy, was not allowed to stage a protest at the statue of his grandfather near the State Secretariat on Tuesday.
He and 20 others were arrested for violating prohibitory orders even before they could reach the statue to take part in a protest on the Zionist attack on Mr. Gandhi.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Gandhi, 74, who recently resigned from the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, said that “I was prohibited from touching the feet of my grandfather.” Police arrested the protesters and released them later.
Mr. Gandhi, who founded the Institute at the Rochester University, U.S., has been working for years to promote peace and better understanding between faiths and is a visiting professor at various universities abroad. Mr. Gandhi said the fact that he had to resign from the Institute had a lot of implications for freedom of thought and speech. It also indicates the power people have because of money and this had made a mockery of democratic principles, he pointed out.
In his short piece titled “Jewish Identity Can’t Depend on Violence,” which appeared on a blog, Mr. Gandhi said he had tried to focus on violence in the larger context. He had not mentioned the Holocaust in derogatory terms and he had not denied it happened.
He said there were two ways to deal with an event such as the Holocaust. One was not allowing this to happen ever again and the Israelis reaffirmed this with every generation. This also necessitated a homeland of their own.
Mr. Gandhi said the more positive way would have been to reaffirm that this should not happen to anyone and this would help broaden the perspective. Then one could find ways to stop violence. One of the reasons for violence is the growing hate and prejudice in the world, he said.
“We want to create world peace. But peace is not merely the absence of war. There is so much internal strife and that prejudice feeds into the national aspect. We have to change ourselves if we want to change the world,” he said. “I tried to present things in that perspective in my article but it generated a lot of anger instead,” he added.
Mr. Gandhi later apologised for his words. He hopes that Parliament would take note of this episode and take some action. He said that he would continue to write and speak on this issue.

AWAMI BHARAT

PRESS RELEASE

SATYAGRAHA TO PROTEST THE ZIONIST ATTACK ON SHRI ARUN GANDHI !!

VENUE: MAHATMA GANDHIJI'S STATUE, OPP. MANTRALAYA, MUMBAI
DATE: 26th FEBRUARY, 2008 (TUESDAY), TIME: 3.00pm


"I do believe that the Jews have been cruelly wronged by the world. But in my opinion the Jews have erred grievously in seeking to impose themseleves on Palestine with the aid of USA and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism".
- Mahatma Gandhiji, 14th July, 1946.

"It has become a problem which seems almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: "Do not be silly so as to resort to terrorism". The Jews should meet the Arabs, make friends with them and not depend on British or American aid, save what descends from Jehovah". - Mahatma Gandhi to Doon Campbell of Reuters, a few months before his assassination.

We demand that the Indian Government support Shri Arun Gandhi against his persecution by the Zionist lobby in America!

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware that Shri Arun Gandhi was attacked by the Jewish Zionist lobby in America and was forced to resign from the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence at the Rochester University which he himself had founded. His only "sin" was that he decided to denounce and condemn Israel for its brutal and violent colonial occupation of Palestine. Shri Arun Gandhi has been involved with the Palestine - Israeli conflict and his only plea is for a just and peaceful resolution to this tragedy that today lies at the fulcrum of geo-politics and is the central political issue of our times.
The problem goes goes even beyond the persecution of Arun Gandhi. A section of the Zionists are also demanding that he repudiate Mahatma Gandhiji's support to the Palestinian people itself. So the attack goes right to the core of India's sovereign and independent foreign policy which has historically evolved from our anti-imperialist struggle against the British Empire. Our support for all anti-colonial struggles of Third World Nations was and is part of our national ethos & consensus.

And thus the utter silence of the Congress led UPA government is all the more strikingThus our support to the Palestinian cause is two fold. Firstly, Palestine continues to be occupied by a European Settler Colonial power - Israel, backed by America, which is the global Imperial hegemon, albeit on the decline. Secondly, Israel is an apartheid state and the ruling state ideology of Israel, Zionism is based on ethnic and racial superiority. Thus our opposition to Israel, stem from the same values that were evident in our support to the independence struggle against Apartheid South Africa.
The increasing complicity of the Indian State and the axis of the political, corporate and media elite in reducing India to a junior partner of the US-Israeli-NATO alliance constitute a betrayal of our National Independence Movement itself.
This attack on Shri Arun Gandhi once again proves the power of the Jewish Zionist lobby and the influence that they wield in the power centres of America. Any voice of dissent or criticism against the Israeli state and its culture of violence and wars is immediately quelled. For a country that is bent upon imposing freedon and democracy with the barrel of the gun, it is ironic itself that within America, the media is stifled by the Zionists.

The fact is that the Jewish Zionists are more than aware, that they have lost the moral and ethical case and are thus unwilling to participate or allow any debate or discussion that critique the brutal and criminal Israeli Occupation of Palestine. The role of the Zionist lobby within America in safeguarding the interests of Israel even at the cost of undermining the strategic interests of USA, itself is being increasingly challenged. Infact the Occupation and the Nazi policies of the Israel are detrimental to the long term interests of both Israel and the Jewish people themselves.
For us in India, it is a matter of grave concern as the Indian state has clearly aligned itself with the US-Israeli Neoconservative Zionist Imperial project for global domination.
We appeal to all concerned organizations to attend and endorse their solidarity with Shri Arun Gandhi for his spirited and principled resistance.

In Solidarity


M R Khan, Tushar Gandhi, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Yusuf Muchala, Meena Menon, Ram Puniyani, T.K. Somaiyya, Dutta Iswalkar, Gajanand Khatu, Jatin Desai, Lalit Babur, Ismail Batliwala, Daniel Mazgaonkar, Jayant Dewan, Irfan Engineer, Sayeed Khan, Varsha V V, Amol S B, Aslam Ghazi, Sanjay MG, Mukta Srivastava, Anand Ohade, Shakeel Ahmad, Varsha Berry, Sarfaraz Arzu, Meraj Siddiqui, Arif Kapadia, Afaq Azad, Pervin Jehangir, Avinash Kamble, Jyoti Badekar, Asif Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asad Bin Saif, Munawwar Khan, Harshavardhan Vartak, Ghazala Azad, Mulniwasi Mala, Jagdish Nagarkar, Kazim Malik, Rehan Ansari, Riyaz Khan, Irfan Mulla, and Noorjehan.

Awami Bharat supported by:
Vidyarthi Bharti, Phule-Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Peace Mumbai, EKTA, Yusuf Meherally Yuva Biradari, Sadhbhavna Sangh, Yuva Sarkar, Nirbhay Bano Andolan, Sangarsh Vahini, Hindu Vikasini, MY INDIA, Muslim Intellectual Forum, Indian Social Movement, NEEDS.

Exposing the politics of terrorism

Terrorism's 'Tenkasi' Moment

By Subhash Gatade

Tenkasi, called as Kashi of the South - supposedly for its Kashi Vishvnath temple, part of Tirunelveli district (Tamil Nadu) witnessed a pipe bomb attack on RSS office on 24 th January at 9 p.m.
Interestingly nobody was injured in the attack as no one was in the office at that time. As can be expected it led to tension in the area with Sangh Parivar organisations coming out on streets demanding action against 'fundamentalist' groups for spreading their tentacles.
It may be noted that the city had witnessed another explosion at Tenkasi New Bus Stand just before this attack where one person suffered minor injuries.
Fearing reprisals the police tightened its security.Forensic experts and personnel of Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) personnel rushed in and collected samples from the site. Initial investigation revealed that a low intensity explosive was used.
Senior police officials also rushed to the place and camped in Tenkasi to defuse the tense situation. Looking at the fact that Tenkasi had witnessed communal violence in which six persons were killed in August last year, they did not want to take any chances.
Commenting on the attack, there were editorials in TN papers about the growing nexus of "Islamic Terrorists' in the state and the need to put it down with firmness. The police was even exhorted to be extra vigilant against such enemies of people and was also asked to nab the real purprits
All that is passe now.
And as a commentator commented the 'cat is finally out of the bag'.
II
(TIRUNELVELI: The special police team, led by Deputy Inspector General of Police, Tirunelveli Range, P Kannappan has arrested three persons in connection with the Tenkasi RSS office bomb blast case.
The investigations revealed that the blasts were planned to provoke a backlash between two groups of different and dominant communities in Tenkasi.Speaking to reporters at Tenkasi on Monday, Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Sanjeev Kumar said on January 24, there was a bomb blast at the RSS office and an auto, parked inside the new bus stand at Tenkasi, was destroyed.
Following this, special teams were formed to nab the accused. Investigations revealed that S Ravi Pandian (42), a cable TV operator, S Kumar (28), an auto driver, both from Tenkasi, and V Narayana Dharma (26) of Sencottai had planted 14 pipe bombs in the office of Ravi Pandian.
...Moreover, the bomb blast inside the new bus stand was planned to divert the police investigation, said Sanjeev Kumar. ..(3 arrested in Tenkasi bomb blast case, Tuesday February 5 2008 08:12 IST , Express News Service ( Newindian express))
It is for everyone to see that S Ravi Pandian (42), a cable TV operator, S Kumar (28), an auto driver, both from Tenkasi, and V Narayana Sharma (26) of Sencottai today represent the less reported phenomenon of Hindutva terrorism..For all practical purposes till 23 rd January they remained activists of Hindu Munnani - an affiliated organisation of RSS - engaged in what they seem to be a 'patriotic' work.
Today they are the new face of 'terrorism' unleashed by the Hindutva brigade.
But not only these three 'musketeers', one should add names of four more who were apprehended on 5 th February, identified as A. Balamurugan(20), S. Velmurugan (18), A Murugan (24), all hailing from Tenkasi and Maasaanam (20) of Shencottai. They have been arrested for assisting S. Pandian in making bombs and detonating them at the RSS office and town's new bus stand. According to 'The Hindu' ( 6 Feb 2008) the police even recovered bombs and detonators from them.
Looking at the hierarchial nature of the Sangh Parivar outfits, these blasts would not have been triggered without the knowledge of its top brass in Tamilnadu.
Thanks to the painstaking efforts engaged in by the Mr Kannappan, DIG Tirunelveli range, who did not fell prey to the usual stigmatisation and terrorisation of the religious minorities, and after thorough investigations into the incident (24 th January 2008) which involved bomb blasts at RSS office in Tenkasi and another one at the bus stand apprehended the culprits.
It is now learnt that the Sangh Parivar organisations which fared miserably during the last elections were keen that Tenkasi does a 'Coimbtore' and they are able to get few sympathy votes. It may be told that this is the 10 th anniversary of the Coimbtore blasts which had seen deaths of innocents.
A report filed by M.H. Jawahirullah( www.twocircles.net) : According to Sanjeev Kumar, IG, South Zone, the bomb blast inside the new bus stand was planned to divert the police investigation. DIG of Police Kannappan said the trio tested the capacity of the bombs at Papanasam before executing the plan. Since the bombs contained substances like ammonium nitrate, electric detonators, batteries and timer devices, the explosion was possible within 30 to 40 seconds, said Kannappan.The Investigation is still going on. The Police said 14 pipe bombs were assembled and the operations began from July last year.
There are reports that the Tirunelveli Police have indicated that the explosives used in Tenkasi are similar those used in the Makkah Masjid blast at Hyderabad. It is incumbent that in the light of the revelations in the Tenkasi blasts , the CBI should reinvestigate the Makkah Masjid Blasts and other Blasts which took place in different parts of the country.
III
Lest anyone think that Tenkasi is an exception in the otherwise 'smooth' record of Hindutva brigade, one needs to know how a very similar attempt was made by their counterparts in Vidarbha, Maharashtra to provoke communal tension.
Of course instead of throwing pipe bombs at their own office, this time they delivered detonators in 'gift packets' to hapless traders belonging to Muslim community. The developments in Vardha, Maharashtra bear witness to this point.
October 15, 2007. Syed Yusuf Syed Mahmood, owner of ‘New Diamond Sale’ situated in Sarafa Line, Kale Chowk, Wardha would love to obliterate this date from his memory forever.
It was day after Eid and the time was 2 P.M.-2.30 P.M. As part of his usual routine he had gone out for lunch. And his friend Shaikh Hussain Shaikh Lukman was sitting at the counter. A young boy brownish in colour, wearing a full sleeve check shirt, reached the shop and made enquiries about Yusuf. On learning that Yusuf was not there he handed over a box with a Videocon cover to the sales girl which had a gift sticker pasted on it “ To Yusuf from Raj”.
After his return to the shop at about 4 p.m. his friend handed over the ‘gift’ packet to him. One could say that it was sheer coincidence that he grew suspicious after opening the packet which contained a box of Videocon CD player inside and promptly called the police. A close examination of the packet revealed that it contained detonators. A Panchnama was duly conducted. Yusuf and his friends heaved a sigh of relief that a tragedy was averted because of their presence of mind.Little they could realise that their happiness would be shortlived.No sooner the Panchnama was over they got a message from Shaikh Hussain, who runs a similar gift shop at Warud, Amravati, that Warud Police Inspector Mr Rajesh came to visit his shop and asked him to wind it up.
The very next day a similar incident was repeated at a shop ‘Sun Opticals’ (Socialist Chowk) owned by Idris Khan and Jaggu Anand. At around 3.40 p.m.when Idris Khan was at police station regarding the previous day’s incident he got a call from his shop reporting the presence of a similar gift box lying at his shop. The matter was immediately reported to the police. Police did not lose any time in rushing to the spot. A bomb disposal squad was called from Nagpur. Here also the ‘gift’ box had a simlar sticker pasted on it ‘From Raj’. Further examination revealed that the incident appeared to be a hoax as no incriminating material was found inside the box.
While it was clear from day one that all the three businessmen from minority community were law-abiding citizens, who had taken extra care to take the police into confidence, the local media saw to it that the whole incident was blown out of proportion. None from the media community deemed it even necessary to visit the actual spots but had no qualms in writing exaggerated and sensational versions of the whole affair. A newspaper went to the extent of declaring that 15 parcel bombs had been received at the shop of Idris Khan and police suspect the hand of SIMI.
On their part the Hindutva organisations went all out to pressurise the administration to deal firmly with the threat of ‘Islamic Terrorism’.
As of now it transpires that the police have apprehended few Hindu youths belonging to a local fanatic Hindutva organisation in connection with the delivery of ‘gift’ packets laden with detonators. It is a different matter that neither there is any official word from the police over these arrests nor the media wants to convey to its readers the real story. The media, which had written spicey-juicy stories about the emergence of SIMI in the area and - ‘with its nerve centre in Akola’ which had reportedly ‘started functioing underground after gaining support of ISI of late’ ( Times of India, 17 th October, Nagpur) has prefered to keep quiet over these arrests.
It was noteworthy that civil liberty activists from Nagpur and Wardha decided to look into the matter and let facts speak for themselves. Apart from the ‘delivery of parcel bomb incident’ at Wardha the team also investigated house collapse at Vidhul (District Yavatmal) due to suspected bomb blast at the house of a hindu doctor and ‘police engineered riot at Achalpur’ ( District Amravati). It concluded that ‘..[m]edia has played a ‘particularly irresponsible role’ by attempting to ‘sensationalise the incidents and communalise the situation’ by reporting in a biased manner by quoting police sources only. The police on its part has not issued any ‘denials to these biased reports’ and helped on their part to ‘communalise the situation’ and has not tried to ‘diffuse the charged atmosphere. . ( For details of investigation , see ‘Report on the Communal Flare Up in Vidarbha’ , The Milli Gazette, 16-30 Nov 2007)
IV
Definitely neither the pipe bomb attack in Tenkasi nor the bomb scare incident at Wardha are the only incidents of its kind. One can cite incidents after incidents where the involvement of RSS, Shiv Sena or one of their affiliated organisations can be clearly demonstrated in acts which are considered ‘terrorists actions’ in todays parlance. It is a different matter that ‘Islamic Terrorists’ or ‘Maoists’ seem to be the usual whipping boys for the media or the intelligence people.
Leave editorial comment, how many journos even reported Digvijay Singh’s communique wherein he talked of recovery of bombs and other explosive material from the houses of RSS sympathisers from Shyampur, Sihore and the consequent spurt in communal violence in and around Narsinghpur (M.P.). According to the report ‘Sangh Sends Swords and Knifes’ Bhaskar, Hindi Daily ( 19 July 2007) :
General Secretary of Congress Party Mr Digvijay Singh has attacked Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and RSS about recovery of arms in Shyampur District Sihore. While releasing a letter to the press which he has written to the Chief Minister Mr Singh categorically stated that members of RSS themselves are engaged in sending swords and knifes to instigate communal violence. The two miscreants from Shyampur who were found to be in possession of arms and were duly apprehended belong to RSS only. The letter specifically mentions that since the accused belong to RSS the chief minister would not take any action in this matter. You are under pressure from RSS also. Mentioning his earlier letter Mr Singh said that Mangilal and Phool Singh were arrested for delivering 24 swords and four knifes at Satyanarayan Bhati’s house on 16 th March. These two persons belong to RSS. Within a few days of the recovery of the arms, minorities in Narsinhgarh and Talen (Rajgarh) came under attack and five people from both the sides lost lives.
The Congress leader mentioned a letter written by Sihore S.P. which says that despite attempts by the police the two accused have refused to divulge the information about the source of these arms.
Or, how many mediapersonnel went to enquire into the manner in which Hindutva goons led by Bajrang Dal activists attacked a church and killed a pastor, as reported in a section of the media.
New Delhi : Hindutva goons murdered a pastor and burnt a church at Mandwa village under Kodenar police station of Jagdalpur district in Chhatisgarh in the night of 20 November. The village has 60 Christian families who are members of a Pentecoastal church. According to information reaching the All India Christian Council in Delhi, in the night of 20 November, Bajrang Dal activists came in a jeep and surrounded the Church with the help of some villagers. Pastor Sudroo, Ramlal, Sonadhar Kashyap and Jugal Kashyap were tied with ropes and severely beaten and the pastor was reported murdered by the fanatics( Pastor Killed, Church Set On Fire by Hindutva goons, The Milli Gazette, 1-15 December 2007)
Or, for that matter how many even know that Nanded in Maharashtra witnessed deaths of four Hindutva activists in separate incidents ( April 2006 and February 2007) while ‘making bombs’ or ‘storing explosive materials’. And the narco tests of the accused in these cases revealed the modus operandi adopted by them in earlier incidents when Muslims were attacked at the time of prayers in Parbhani, Jalna and other places.
And to top it all, the expose by Tehelka in the Gujarat genocide of 2002 found that the ‘VHP and the Bajrang Dal had transformed themselves into terror outfits that manufactured and distributed bombs, rocket launchers and firearms in large quantities after the Godhra incident. This weaponry was then handed over to murderous mobs across Gujarat’ to be used against hapless Muslim population.
Haresh Bhatt, who was a leader of the Bajrang Dal and became a MLA from Godhra, admitted before the camera that ‘bombs were made at a firecracker factory he owned’ He describes ‘how they assembled country-made explosives, including rocket launchers. These were then distributed to murderous mobs in Ahmedabad’ The sting operation also revealed ‘ In 2002, despite curfew in Ahmedabad, swords wee brought in from Punjab and country made pistols from UP, Bihar and MP’. Dhawal Patel of the VHP used dynamite in his quarries in Sabarkantha and RDX based powder to make bombs.
Babu Bajrangi, an accused in the Naroda Patiya massacre, then a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is reported to have said on camera how they killed innocent Muslims in one such ‘operation’
‘They were clinging to each other in the pit. Then we threw oil and burning tyres and killed them.’
V
To conclude, the point one would like to emphasise that whether it is possible to link Tenkasi with Vardha or Nanded with Ahmedabad or for that matter Sihore or in our own atomised world view or not ?
Perhaps it is high time to revisit the phenomenon of terrorism in post-independent India and have a dispassionate look at stigmatisation of particular communities.
It would be possible to ask ourselves then what could be said to be the first act of terrorism in independent India ?
Everybody would agree that killing of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse constitutes the first terrorist act in independent India. Godse, a Maharashtrian Brahmin, was associated with Hindu Mahasabha at the time of Mahatma’s assasination and had his initial forays in the world of politics with the RSS. The world at large knows how the Hindu fanatics had planned the murder of the Mahatma and how the likes of Savarkar and Golwalkar were held responsible for creating the ambience of hate which culminated in the gruesome act.
If somebody poses before you another simple query relating to similar episodes in the sixty plus year trajectory of independent India - then what would be your response. Perhaps you would like to add the death of Indira Gandhi - killed by her Sikh bodyguards , killing of Rajeev Gandhi - who fell to a suicide attack by a Tamil Hindu woman, or for that matter demolition of the 500 year old Babri mosque by the marauders of the RSS-VHP-BJP-Shiv Sena. If one follows the debate further you would like to underline the 1984 riots ( actually genocide of Sikhs mainly perpetrated by Hindu lumpen elements instigated by the then ruling Congress Party), emergence of Khalistani terrorists movement or the five year old Gujarat genocide executed with military precision by the RSS and its affiliated organisations.
Compare all these major episodes in the history of Independent india - which encompassed many a terrorist acts within them - with the mental image which conjures up in your mind when one listens to any terrorist act in any part of the country. Does it have any resembelance with the image of a member of the majority community or one of those minority communities ? You would agree that the mental image has features specific to one of the religious minorities in our country.
Question naturally arises why is it that despite their participation in many a gruesome incidents, the role played by them in instigating riots ( as noted by many a commissions of enquiry) or there admission before camera about the planning which went in making a genocide happen (courtesy Tehelka sting operation) the Hindu fanatic who doubles up as a terrorist has not become a part of our social common sense. (To reemphasise one needs to underline that one is not being soft towards the likes of Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad, their activities are definitely condemnable but how is that every terrorist act in any part of the country is attributed to them and equally dangerours other outfits belonging to the majority community are allowed to go scotfree.)
Perhaps there is no simple answer to this query. One will have to dwelve deep into our past, take a dispassionate look at the anti-colonial struggle and also the tragic phase of partition riots. Simultaneously we will have to discern the threads of our present, understand for ourselves the role of different actors as well as the role of ideologies to reach any tentative understanding. It is for everyone to see that in a multireligious, multilingual country like ours the complexities of the situation are itself immense. We find ourselves in a situation where while ‘communalism’ of the majority community could be construed as ‘nationalism’, every assertion by the minority community on genuine demands tends to be seen with a ‘communal’ colour. And it follows from this that ‘terrorism’ unleashed by the majoritarians is easily disguised under the bursting of ‘pent up anger’ against the minorities.

subhash.gatade@gmail.com

20 February, 2008Countercurrents.org

DHARNA TO PROTEST THE ZIONIST ATTACK ON SHRI ARUN GANDHI !! ON FEBRUARY 26, 2008

AWAMI BHARAT

DHARNA TO PROTEST THE ZIONIST ATTACK ON SHRI ARUN GANDHI !!

VENUE: MAHATMA GANDHIJI'S STATUE, OPP. MANTRALAYA, MUMBAI

DATE: 26th FEBRUARY, 2008 (TUESDAY)TIME: 3.00pm

"I do believe that the Jews have been cruelly wronged by the world. But in my opinion the Jews have erred grievously in seeking to impose themseleves on Palestine with the aid of USA and Britain and now with the aid of naked terrorism".- Mahatma Gandhiji, 14th July, 1946."It has become a problem which seems almost insoluble. If I were a Jew, I would tell them: "Do not be silly so as to resort to terrorism". The Jews should meet the Arabs, make friends with them and not depend on British or American aid, save what descends from Jehovah". - Mahatma Gandhi to Doon Campbell of Reuters, a few months before his assassination.Dear Friends,As you may be aware that Shri Arun Gandhi was attacked by the Jewish Zionist lobby in America and was forced to resign from the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence at the Rochester University which he himself had founded. His only "sin" was that he decided to denounce and condemn Israel for its brutal and violent colonial occupation of Palestine.Shri Arun Gandhi has been involved with the Palestine - Israeli conflict and his only plea is for a just and peaceful resolution to this tragedy that today lies at the fulcrum of geo-politics and is the central political issue of our times.The problem goes goes even beyond the persecution of Arun Gandhi. A section of the Zionists are also demanding that he repudiate Mahatma Gandhiji's support to the Palestinian people itself. So the attack goes right to the core of India's sovereign and independent foreign policy which has historically evolved from our anti-imperialist struggle against the British Empire. Our support for all anti-colonial struggles of Third World Nations was and is part of our national ethos & consensus.Thus our support to the Palestinian cause is two fold. Firstly, Palestine continues to be Occupied by a European Settler Colonial power - Israel, backed by America, which is the global Imperial hegemon, albeit on the decline. Secondly, Israel is an apartheid state and the ruling state ideology of Israel, Zionism is based on ethnic and racial superiority. Thus our opposition to Israel, stem from the same values that were evident in our support to the independence struggle against Apartheid South Africa.
The increasing complicity of the Indian State and the axis of the political, corporate and media elite in reducing India to a junior partner of the US-Israeli-NATO alliance constitute a betrayal of our National Independence Movement itself.This attack on Shri Arun Gandhi once again proves the power of the Jewish Zionist lobby and the influence that they wield in the power centres of America. Any voice of dissent or criticism against the Israeli state and its culture of violence and wars is immediately quelled. For a country that is bent upon imposing freedon and democracy with the barrel of the gun, it is ironic itself that within America, the media is stifled by the Zionists.The fact is that the Jewish Zionists are more than aware, that they have lost the moral and ethical case and are thus unwilling to participate or allow any debate or discussion that critique the brutal and criminal Israeli Occupation of Palestine. The role of the Zionist lobby within America in safeguarding the interests of Israel even at the cost of undermining the strategic interests of USA, itself is being increasingly challenged. Infact the Occupation and the Nazi policies of the Israel are detrimental to the long term interests of both Israel and the Jewish people themselves.For us in India, it is a matter of grave concern as the Indian state has clearly aligned itself with the US-Israeli Neoconservative Zionist Imperial project for global domination.We appeal to all concerned organizations to attend and endorse their solidarity with Shri Arun Gandhi for his spirited and principled resistance.

In Solidarity

M R Khan, Tushar Gandhi, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishore Jagtap, Yusuf Muchala, Meena Menon, Ram Puniyani, T.K. Somaiyya, Dutta Iswalkar, Gajanand Khatu, Jatin Desai, Lalit Baur, Ismail Batliwala, Daniel Mazgaonkar, Jayant Dewan, Irfan Engineer, Sayeed Khan, Varsha V V, Amol S B, Aslam Ghazi, Sanjay MG, Mukta Srivastava, Anand Ohade, Shakeel Ahmad, Varsha Berry, Sarfaraz Arzu, Meraj Siddiqui, Arif Kapadia, Afaq Azad, Pervin Jehangir, Avinash Kamble, Jyoti Badekar, Asif Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asad Bin Saif, Munawwar Khan, Harshavardhan Vartak, Ghazala Azad, Mulniwasi Mala, Jagdish Nagarkar, Kazim Malik, Rehan Ansari, Riyaz Khan and Noorjehan,Irfan,Aslam.

Vidyarthi Bharti, Phule-Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Peace Mumbai, EKTA, Yusuf Meherally Yuva Biradari, Sadhbhavna Sangh, Yuva Sarkar, Nirbhay Bano Andolan, Sangarsh Vahini, Hindu Vikasini, MY INDIA, Muslim Intellectual Forum, Indian Social Movement, NEEDS.

DECONSTRUCTING THE MYTH OF 9/11 and the GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR

DECONSTRUCTING THE MYTH OF 9/11 and the GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR
by Feroze Mithiborwala

Project for the New American Century(Sept 2000) states that theprocess of transforming the US into"tomorrow's dominant force" islikely to be a long one in the absence of "some catastrophic andcatalyzing event like a New Pearl Harbour".
George Bush writes in his diary on 9/11-"The New Pearl Harbour of the21st century took place today".
Tony Blair "to be truthful about it, there was no way we could have gotthe public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign in Afghanistanbut for what happened on Sept. 11". (Times July 17th 2002)
Benjamin Netanyahu( former Prime minister of Israel) asked tonightwhat the attack meant for relations between US and Israel, he replied" it's very good then he edited himself : " well not very good but itwill generate immediate sympathy". ( New York Times Sept 12 2001)
The BBC's George Arney reported (Sept. 18 2001) that US officials hadtold former Pakistan Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik in mid-July of plansfor Military action against the Taliban Regime which could occur inOctober.
Retired US General Anthony Zinni and former chief of the US Centralcommand: "Neocons in the Defense Department long ago urged an invasionof Iraq as a step towards US control of the Middle East. Everyone inWashington knows "Oil and Israel" are the real reasons for the war".
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Undoubtedly the September. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have been adefining moment in modern history. It has forever changed thedirection of global politics. 9/11 was not a bolt out of the blue butoccurred in a political and socio economic global context that needsto be analyzed if we are to deconstruct the myth of 9/11 and theGlobal Wat on Terror (GWT). "9/11" is the showpiece of the GWTdeclared by the George Bush Junta and their doctrine of "preventivewars" which is pushing the world into a state of "perpetual warfare".Thus in order to combat the deception and hypocricy of the GWT we haveto expose the true reasons as well as the perpetrators who planned andexecuted the 9/11 terror attack.
POLITICAL CONTEXT of 9/11
In the early 1990's in the aftermath of the collapse of the SovietUnion there was a crisis for the US military-industrial-energycomplex. There were no enemies !!. Thus military spending wasshlashed, questions were raised about foreign deployments and the roleof NATO was very difficult to define. The then chief of armed forcesGeneral Colin Powel stated " think hard about it, I'm running out ofvillians", Condoleeza Rice wrote " the US has found it exceedinglydifficult to define it's national interests in the absence of theSoviet power".
At the same time American foreign policy was being radically redefinedby Neocon cabal of Rumsfield, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and RichardPerle. In the PNAC (2000) in a report titled "Rebuilding Americas'sDefenses; Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century" , Itspells out "American Grand Strategy" for "as far into the future aspossible".
This report clearly states that "while the unresolved conflict withIraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantialAmerican force presence in the gulf, transcends the issue of theregime change of Saddam Hussein". Clearly, the US plan to invade Iraqhad nothing to do with Saddam Hussein or weapons of mass destruction.The invasion of Iraq was planned well in advance and Saddam Husseinwas only an excuse.
Another document, "The National Security Strategy of the USA"(released on Sept.17, 2002 hereafter NSSUSA ). It is an officialstatement and should be restudied carefully since it is the officialforeign policy statement. Following are some of the key excerpts. TheUS enjoys a position of unparalleled military strength and greateconomic and political influence. "Today the world's great powers findourselves on the same side " i.e. the US lacks any rival... "this isthe time of opportunity for America to extend the benefits of freedomacross the globe. We will definitely work to bring the hope ofdemocracy, development of free markets and free trade to every cornerof the world."
The NSSUSA goes on to add that : "The US is faced by a new enemy,shadowy networks of individuals ........organised to penetrate opensocieties .......To defeat this threat we must make use of every toolin our arsenal....... the war against terrorists of global reach is aglobal enterprise of uncertain duration.......it is in the abovecontext that we must view Condoleeza Rice's statement in the aftermathof 9/11 while addressing the National Security council she said : "How do you capitalize on these opportunities to fundamentally changethe US doctrine and the shape of the world in the wake of Sept. 11".(New Yorker 1/1/02)
In other words, terrorism is not the target, but instead thegovernment offers opportunities for the US to pursue its strategicagenda over an infinite time frame and across geographical boundaries.
Out of this foreign policy which clearly defines strategies and goalsfor the US global hegemony has also arisen the theory of a NewImperialism for the 21st century encompassing every aspect and sphereof politics, economics, society, religion and culture.
Unbelievable to most people, especially in the third world who havegained their independence and sovereignity by struggling againstcolonialism and racism - imperialism is once again emerging as a vitaland respectable school of thought in certain key quartersUS-UK-Israeli intellectuals.
The threat of justification is that advanced states face a threat from"pre-modern states" such as Afghanistan. The pre-modern world is aworld of failed states. They can provide a base for non-state actorswho may present a danger to the post-modern world. Thus sometheoreticians of the empire advocate a "defensive imperialism".
Interestingly, even the failure of such states to follow "economicpolicies" as laid out by the advanced world justify colonialism. Whatis needed, they say is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to aworld of human rights and cosmopolitan values. Zbigniew Brzerzinski, akey advisor to Carter and architect of the fall of the USSR, describesthe main task of the US in the preservation of it's empire as being"to prevent collusion and maintain dependence among the vassals, tokeep tributaries pliant and protected and to keep the barbarians fromcoming together".
There is a concerted attempt by the US in the wake of it's wars andoccupation of Afghanistan and Iraq to prod the UN to reinstate the"Mandate System" so as to give a legal and respectable basis toColonialism. Here the occupied countries would be put under thesupervision of the occupying Imperial power.
ECONOMIC CONTEXT of 9/11
Undoubtedly one of the central underlying objectives of the US wars iscontrol of the Oil resources as well as the Pipeline routes. For theUS to maintain the Dollar hegemony, especially against the Euro, itwas imperative for the US to control the oil reserves to preserve it'sstatus as the sole superpower. The European nations as well as Japanare totally dependent on oil imports to power their economies. Thusthe US stranglehold over the oil reserves is a key component of it'sstrategic long term objectives. Prior to the invasions of Afghanistanand Iraq the major oil producing nations namely Iran, Iraq, Russia andVenezuela were contemplating a shift to the Euro.
Also it is important to understand as to how the US inspite of havinga massive national debt manages to maintain itself as a superpower.Any other nation running an annual deficit of $500 billion annuallywould have gone bankrupt, but not the US. The answer to this riddlelies here. Being the world's leading capitalist economy and militarysuperpower, it's currency has and is being used for payments betweencountries and therefore for their foreign exchange reserves. When theUS needs to pay it's debts, it merely issues a treasury bond ( i.e.borrows from the capital market) to which investors from around theworld rush to subscribe. Foreign investors buy not only bonds issuedby the government, but also American corporate bonds, shares and realestate. These inflows soaking up the world's savings ensures that theUS is able to import more than her exports, year after year withoutsuffering the treatment meted out by the World Bank and IMF tocountries like Argentina and Brazil. The endless supply of golden eggsdepends on the US maintaining it's status as the supreme imperialistpower and the dollar remaining as the prime currency for internationalpayments. However, that is precisely what is now threatened
AFGHANISTAN--THE GATEWAY TO RICHES
Post 9/11, Afghanistan was the first country to be targeted in termsof implementing the new foreign policy objectives of the Empire. Iraqwas to soon follow with threats to Iran, North Korea, Syria......
The Guardian (Sept. 26, 2001) reported that in July 2001, pre-9/11, ina four day meeting in Berlin which was held under the arbitration ofFrancesc Vendrell, personal representative of UN General Secretary wasattended by senior Americans, Russians, Iranians and Pakistanis, "theAmericans indicated to us that in case Pakistan also dosen't help usto influence the Taliban, then the US would be left with no option butto take overt action against Afghanistan" said Niaz Naik a formerforeign minister of Pakistan. Further on French TV Naik said "at onemoment during the negotiations the US representatives told the Taliban- either you accept our offer of gold or we bury you under a carpet ofbombs".
But why is a dry, dismal and sandy Afghanistan worth conquering?Zbigniew Brzerzinski tells us exactly why in a Council on ForeignRelation Study called the Great Chess Board: American Primacy and it'sGeo-Strategic Objectives (1997). Do keep in mind that Afghanistan isstrategically located between South Asia, Central Asia and the MiddleEast. Thus the hawkish Brzerzinski gives us a history lesson, "eversince the continents started interacting politically, some 500 yearsago, Eurasia has been the centre of world power". Eurasia is all theterritory east of Germany and accounts for 75% of the world'spopulation, 60% of the world's GNP and 75% of the world's known energyresources.. This means Russia, Middle East, China and parts of India.He acknowledges that Russia and China bordering oil rich central Asiaare the two main powers threatening US hegemony in the region. Hefurther goes on to say that the power that controls Caspian oil andgas will control the global economy. Nafees Ahmad in his book "The Waron Freedom" sums up "Brzerzinski clearly envisaged that theestablishment, consolidation and expansion of US military hegemonyover Eurasia through Central Asia would require the " unprecedented,open-ended militarization of foreign policy, coupled with anunprecedented manufacture of domestic support and consensus on thismilitarization campaign"
But the problem is the American people and Brzerzinski understandsthis small problem and is thinking ahead in 1997. He states "moreover,as America becomes an increasingly multicultural society, it may findit more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues,except in the circumstance of a truly massive and widely perceiveddirect external threat".
Time and again leading US and Israeli leaders have publicly statedthat they will be unable to get the sanction of their people for warunless "some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new PearlHarbour takes place" .
Consider the following: Rumsfeld's influential Defense Science Board2002 Summer Study on Special Operations and Joint Forces in Support ofConquering Terrorism. The report states that the global war on terrorrequires new strategies, postures and organizations. Among otherthings this body would launch secret operations aimed at "simulatingreactions among terrorists and states possessing weapons of massdestruction-that is for instance, prodding terrorist cells into action" and exposing them to quick response attacks by US forces. (WilliamArkin LA Times 27/10/02)
Ehud Barak former prime minister of Israel similarly states "at themoment there is no consensus for an operation against the Syrians,except when the terrorists are concerned" Barak recommended that "thenecessary infrastructure be prepared for a swift action, 1967 styleagainst Syria - an operation - that will develop through a rapid chainof events, a terrorist attack, a strike on terrorists and a quickescalation surprising the Syrians ( Haaretz Jan 1999)
There are various documented precedents for state abetted terroristoperations and infact terrorism as an instrument of state craft.Consider Operation Northwoods. In 1962 US Military leaders designed aplan to conduct terrorist acts against Americans and blame Cuba , inorder to create popular sentiment for an invasion of that country. (Carol A. Valentine )
9/11 - The Myth
"I will never apologize for USA - I don't' care what the facts are "George Bush
On 9/11 the day when the USA was attacked, President andconstitutionally Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces was in anursery school.Observing his actions or rather his non-actions havegiven rise to all sorts of suspicions. Normally a Commander in such acrisis on being informed would go straight to the Militaryheadquarters and direct operations. This is what Bush actually did ordid not do according to Stan Goff, a retired US Army veteran who hastaught military science and doctrine at West Point.
Goff writes - "The so called evidence is a farce": " I have no ideawhy people are not asking some very specific questions about theactions of Bush and company on the day of the attacks. Four planes gothijacked and deviated from their flight plan, all the while on the FAAradar".
Goff like other astonished military experts cannot fathom why thegovernment's automatic "standard order" of procedure in the event of ahijacking was not followed. Once a plane has deviated from it's flightplan, fighter planes are immediately sent to find out why. That ismandatory law and does not require presidential approval, it onlyneeds to be given if there is a decision to shoot down the plane.
Goff further explains: The planes are all hijacked between 7.45 am and8.10 am eastern daylight time. Who is notified? This is anunprecedented event but the President is not notified , who is on hisway to a Florida elementary school to hear children read.
By 8.15 am it should be very apparent that something is terriblywrong. The President is chatting with the teachers.
By 8.45 am when American Airline Flight 11 crashes into the WTC, Bushis settling in with the children for his photo ops at BookerElementary. Four planes have been hijacked simultaneously, an eventnever before seen in history and one has just dived into the world'sbest known twin towers and still no one notifies the nominalCommander-in-chief.
No one has apparently scrambled any Air force interceptors either!!.
At 9.03 am United Flight 175 crashes into the remaining WTC building
At 9.05 am Andrew Card the presidential Chief-of-Staff, whispers toBush (note: a full 1 hour 20 minutes after the first hijacking) who"briefly turns sombre"
Does he cancel his school visit? No ! He resumes listening to secondgraders and continues the banality even as AA flight 77 conducts anunscheduled point turn over Ohio and heads in the direction ofWashington DC.
An excruciating 25 minutes later at 9.30 am he finally decides to makea public statement .i.e. a whole 1 hour 45 minutes after the firsthijacking. And Bush tells the American people what we have all beenwitness to on our TV screens across the world. Somehow it seems fromamongst all of us, President Bush was the last to know. At that verymoment a hijacked plane is heading to Washington DC, but has the AirForce been scrambled to defend anything yet? No!!
At 9.30 am when Bush finally makes his announcement AA flight 77 isstill 10 minutes from it's target The Pentagon. At 9.35 am, this planeconducts another turn, 360 degrees over the pentagon, all the whilebeing tracked by radar and the Pentagon is still not evacuated andthere are still no interceptors from the Air force in the sky overAlexandria and DC.
There is still another darker side to this story. The nonchalance ofGeneral Richard B. Meyers acting Joint Chief-of-Staff is as puzzlingas the Presidents.
A sergeant writing later in the American force press service describedMeyers at the Capitol chatting with Senator Max Cleland "while in anouter office, he said, he saw a TV report that a plane had hit theWTC. They thought it was a small plane or something like that Meyerssaid. So the two men went ahead with the official call". The reportgoes on "the second WTC tower was hit by another Jet. Nobody informedus of that Meyers said. Then right at that time, somebody said thePentagon had been hit. Finally somebody thrust the phone in Meyershand and as if by magic the Commanding General of NORAD our air spacecommand - was on the line just as the hijackers mission had beensuccessfully completed except for the failed one in Pennsylvania. Inlater testimony to the Senate Armed Committee, Meyers says that hethinks that as of his cell phone talk with NORAD the decision at thatpoint was to start launching aircraft.
General Meyers should have been court-martialled.He claims to havebeen uninformed until the third strike, but the Pentagon has beenoverseeing the hijacked planes from the strike at the first tower. Butnot until the third strike at the Pentagon itself, was a decision madeto scramble the fighter air craft.
According to law, the fighters should have been up within 10 minutesor by 8.15am. if they had, all three hijacked planes may have beenintercepted and shot down. One wonders who and what kept the Air Forcefrom following it's normal procedures instead of waiting for 1 hourand 20 minutes. Obviously, somebody had ordered the Air Force to makeno move to intercept those hijackings until they had completed theirmacabre mission!! It is quite clear that the delay in response couldnot have infected the entire air force along the east coast. Mandatorystandard operating procedures had been told to cease and desist!
Now let us some of the other facts that have appeared in books andarticles in America and Europe which have raised certain pertinentquestions, uncovered facts and drawn conclusions based on them.The respected theologian Ray Griffin in his book, "The New PearlHarbour: disturbing questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11"raises some of the following key questions .
* Why did the Bush administration say it didn't anticipate theSeptember 11 attacks when the CIA and the FBI specifically andrepeatedly warned it that Al Qaeda was planning to hijack planes andfly them into US targets including the WTC and the Pentagon?.
* Why is there no physical evidence of a Jet having crashed into thePentagon? Independent onlookers say that they saw a missile flyinginto the building.
* Why did Bush delay his response by 30 minutes even after he wasinformed of the attacks and he still continued reading a children'sbook? Why was he not whisked away by his security agents who aretrained to believe he is a logical target of terrorists ?.
In his path breaking book "Appalling Fraud" the French writer TheirryMeyssan accuses the US military of masterminding the 9/11 attacks.
Reproduced below are few of the interesting points:
Bin Laden's involvement : " This myth does not stand analysis since hewas a former CIA agent who was paid a visit by the head of CIA as latea July 2001 in a Dubai hospital".
The US military, to further their interest and hegemony all over theworld was responsible for the attacks.
The fact that the Presidential codes were decoded by the attackersproves that atleast one of the masterminds of the attack was a USmilitary official.
It is a possibility that the hijacked planes of Sept. 11 were actuallyremote controlled. For 2 hours before the attack, waves from a homingdevice were recorded transmitting from and interfering withtransmissions from the Twin Towers and such a device could be used todirect planes.
The role of Vice-president Dick Cheney has also come in for closescrutiny by documentary film maker Michael C. Rupert. In his filmabout 9/11, "Crossing the Rubicon" he makes the following statement."I will name vice President Cheney as the prime suspect in the massmurders of 9/11 and will establish that not only was he a planner ofthe attacks but also on that day he was running a completely separatecommand, control and communication system which superseded any ordersbeing issued by the FAA, The Pentagon or the White House SituationRoom".
Michael Meacher MP, Govt. of UK has made the following observations:
15 of the 9/11 hijackers obtained their visas in Saudi Arabia. Since1987 the CIA had been illicitly issuing visas to unqualifiedapplicants from the Middle East and bringing them to the US fortraining in terrorism for the Afghan war in collaboration with BinLaden. (BBC Nov. 6, 2001). It is also reported that this CIA operationcontinued after the Afghan war for other purposes. Five of thehijackers received training at secure US military installations in the1990's. (Newsweek Sept. 15, 2001)
Even when Zacharias Moussaoui was arrested in august 2001 and evenwhen it was learned that he had ties to radical Islamists and awarrant issued for the purpose, the FBI did not arrest him. (NewsweekMay 20, 2002).
Between Sept. 2000 and June 2001 the US Military launched fighteraircraft on 67 occasions to chase suspicious aircraft . ( AP - August13, 2002).
A former US Federal crimes prosecutor, John Loftus stated "theinformation provided by the European Intelligence Services prior to9/11 was so extensive that it is no longer possible for the CIA or FBIto assert a defence or incompetence".
AL QAEDA & 9/11
The Sudanese Security Services led by Major General Erwa, minister fordefence had offered to extradite Bin Laden in March 1996. US officialssaid "just ask him to leave, just don't let him go to Somalia". Erwareplied "we will let him go to Afghanistan " and the US officials said"Let him". (Washington Post - October 3, 2001).
In a recently published book "Bin Laden the Forbidden Truth" byBrisard and Dasquie reveals that th Deputy Director of the FBI JohnO'Neill resigned in July 2001 in protest due to official obstructionof terrorism. While with the FBI, O'Neill led an investigation of BinLaden and had forecast the possibility of an organized attack byterrorists operating from within the country. O'Neill had complainedthat "the main obstacles to investigate Islamic terrorism were US Oilinterests and the role played by Saudi Arabia". The US ambassador toYemen forbade O'Neill and his FBI team from entering Yemen toinvestigate Bin Laden. O'Neill was hired as Chief of Security at theWTC and died on September 11, the first day of his new job. Hereportedly died while saving others. ( Irish times November 19, 2001)
In my estimation al-Qaeda is a hoax and a cruel fraud beingperpetrated on the people. Bin Laden's acts of terror and videocassettes appear when Bush most needs them. There is a clear patternhere . Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are nothing but fronts of the CIA andMOSSAD, a phantom created to pursue their never ending war on terror.Israel and 9/11
The role of Israel
Ari Shavit - Liberal Jew : "The war in Iraq was concieved by 25neoconservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, who are pushingPresident Bush to change the course of history." (Haaretz NewsService- Israel, April 5, 2003)Thomas Friedman - Liberal Jew : (Quoting Dr. Henry Markow - Inventorof Board Game Scruples -10/2/2003)"If the US gets bogged down withheavy casualities on both sides, Americans are going to blame Big Oiland Zionism for getting them into this mess. Everybody knows that : 1)The only country that fears Iraq's WMD's is Israel. 2) American Jewishneocons on the Defence Policy Board (Wolfowitz-Perle) planned this warand made it Bush administration policy. 3) The purpose of this war isto change the balance of power in the Middle East so Israel can settlethe Palestinian issue on its own terms and 4) The US Congress tremblesin fear of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)".(New York Times, April 4, 2003).
Now consider the following facts:The cancelled visit of PM Ariel Sharon: Sharon was scheduled toaddress a pro-Israeli rally in New York on September 11, but his tripwas cancelled by Shabak an Israeli secret service agency. Similarly onthe day of the recent 7/7 London Bombings, Benjamin Netanyahu, FinanceMinister of Israel, was warned by the MOSSAD just prior to the blasts.
David Stern Report (expert on Israeli intelligence): This reportdated September 13, 2001 says that a US military intelligence memopoints to the Israeli MOSSAD, having links to the attacks on the WTCand Pentagon which "described information that pointed to the threatof a covert Israeli operation on US soil to turn mass public opinionagainst Palestinians via an apparent attack on US soil". Neither Bush,Cheney or Rumsfeld have denied the existence of this memo.Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) thinks that Israel iscapable of targeting US forces and make it look like aPalestinian/Arab act. ( Washington Post September 10, 2001)Two Odigo emplyoyees received a message warning them 2 hours prior tothe 9/11 attack. Odigo is an Israeli owned instant messaging servicewith headquarters in New York and offices in Herzilya. (HaaretzSeptember 22, 2003)
In the wake of 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI has stumbled upon thelargest espionage ring ever discovered inside the US. The justicedepartment is now holding nearly 100 Israeli citizens with direct tiesto foreign military, criminal and intelligence services. The spy ringincludes employees of two Israeli companies that currently performalmost all the official wiretaps for US local, state and federal lawenforcement. (Charles R. Smith - NewsMax.com - December 20, 2002)
Five jubilant Israeli's were caught filming the WTC attacks. Maria aNew Jersey housemaker reported These young men to the FBI. She said'they were like happy, you know......They did not look shocked to me. Ithought it was very strange.' These men were taking videos ofthemselves with the WTC in the background.Israel has much to gain from the 9/11 terrorist attacks It willfurther use the bogey of terror to surpress the Palestinian strugglefor an Independent and Sovereign nation and use it as a pretext forthe total ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from the West Bank andEast Jerusalem. The Israeli lobbies within the US have since long,been strongly advocating the war on Iraq. This would result in Israelemerging as the sole regional power. This would further help inisolating, demonising and alienating Islam and Muslims.
In my analysis, the US and Israeli political and military leadershipconspired at the highest levels and planned, financed, executed andfacilitated the 9/11 terror attacks against their own people so thatthey could then, in the the smokescreen of the bogus GWT, unleashtheir war machine, thus paving the way to realising their ambition ofa Global Amerian Empire.
It is manifestly clear that the nations and peoples' of the world arefacing a ruthless enemy that will go to any extent to achieve theirobjective of Global domination. US imperialism along with its allieswith their agenda of the Global War on Terror, have emerged as thesingle most potent threat and their recourse to lies, hypocrisy anddeceit knows no bounds. At the present juncture there exists a Globalruling junta referred to as the neoconservatives which is an allianceof the Military-Industrial-Energy complex and is also simultaneouslyan alliance of Conservative Evangelical Christians as well as ZionistJews. The alliance extends, permeates and integrates segments ofsimilar persuasion in every nation and society. As we approach thefourth anniversary of 9/11, we can observe that the American peopleare beginning to see through the deception. Bush's domestic ratingsare at an all time low and still falling. The Iraqi resistance isfighting valiantly against the occupier and is turning this battleinto another Vietnam. In these complex and confusing times it is forthe intellectuals of the people to speak out and write with courage soas to expose the falsehood being manufactured by the Empire andthereby bring the truth to the people.

FEROZE H. MITHIBORWALA

AWAMI BHARAT

MEETING TO PROTEST THE ZIONISTATTACK ON SHRI ARUN GANDHI !!

VENUE: MARATHI PATRAKAR SANGH, AZAD MAIDAN, CST.

DATE: 13th FEBRUARY, 2008 (WEDNESDAY)

TIME: 5.30 - 8.00pm

The speakers would include Tushar Gandhi, M. R. Khan,Pratima Joshi and Feroze Mithiborwala.

Dear Friends,

As you may be aware that Shri Arun Gandhi was attacked by the Zionist lobby in America and was forced to resign from the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence at the Rochester University which he himself had founded. His only "sin" was that he decided to denounce and condemn Israel for its brutal and violent colonial occupation over Palestine.Shri Arun Gandhi has been involved with the Palestine - Israel conflict and his only plea is for justice and a peaceful resolution to this tragedy that today lies at the centre of geo-politics.This attack on Shri Arun Gandhi once again proves the power of the Zionist lobby and the influence that they wield in the power centres of America. Any voice of dissent or criticism against the Israeli state and its culture of violence and wars is immediately quelled. The fact is that the Zionists are more than aware, that they have lost the moral and ethical case and are thus unwilling to participate or allow any debate or discussion that critique the brutal and criminal Israeli Occupation and the role of the Zionist lobby within America in safeguarding the interests of Israel even at the cost of undermining the strategic interests of USA itself. Infact the Occupation and the Nazi policies of the Israel are detrimental to the long term interests of both Israel and the Jewish people themselves.For us in India, it is a matter of grave concern as the Indian state has clearly aligned itself with the US-Israeli Neoconservative Zionist Imperial project for global domination.We appeal to all concerned organizations to attend and actively participate in the proceedings.

In Solidarity

Kishore Jagtap, Sayeed Khan, Jatin Desai, Varsha V V, Amol S B, Aslam Bhazi, Varsha Berry, Arif Kapadia, Afaq Azad, Avinash Kamble, Jyoti Badekar, Asif Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Munawwar Khan, Harshavardhan Vartak, Ghazala Azad, Mulniwasi Mala, Jagdish Nagarkar, Kazim Malik, Rehan Ansari, Riyaz Khan, Irfan Mulla, Aslam

INDIA'S ZIONISM ALIENATES IRAN

India shoots out of Iran's orbit-By Praful Bidwai

NEW DELHI - India's traditionally friendly relations with Iran have come under unprecedented strain because of the launching of an Israeli spy satellite by an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) rocket.
This comes in addition to recent tensions caused by India's refusal to attend talks to complete a commercial deal on a proposed Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline.
The satellite, launched a fortnight ago, is equipped with a synthetic aperture radar, which captures images of small as well as large objects day and night while penetrating cloud cover. It is widely believed to be designed to enable Israel to track activities
in its neighborhood, in particular, activities pertaining to Iran's nuclear program.
On Tuesday, Seyed Mahdi Nabizadeh, Iran's ambassador in New Delhi, publicly regretted India's assistance in lifting off the TECSAR satellite in a hush-hush manner from a launching pad in southern Andhra Pradesh state on January 21.
The Indian government justified the launch on technical and commercial grounds. But Nabizadeh said, "We hope the issue could be considered from the political point of view also. Our relationship with India is very strong and good. Many are trying to destroy [that] relationship. We hope that wise and independent countries such as India would not give their space technology to other countries to launch instruments for spying against friendly countries like Iran."
Nabizadeh added, "The United States continues to be hostile [to Iran], and even today is trying to create problems between Iran and its friendly countries. We expect friendly countries to realize this ..."
Although Iran has not conveyed its view to New Delhi at the official level, the ambassador said, "Informally, yes, we have had a discussion."
"The fact that the Iranian ambassador chose to go public on this issue shows that Tehran takes it seriously and is deeply uncomfortable with India's close collaboration with Israel in the military and space fields," Qamar Agha, an expert based at the Center for West Asian Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in the capital, told Inter Press Service.

The Indian authorities could not have been unaware of Iran's sensitivity on the spy satellite issue. The Israeli media have reported, quoting military sources in Jerusalem, that the TECSAR satellite, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries, is meant to keep a watch on Iran's nuclear activities.
The development of the satellite and its preparation for being lifted into a space orbit were shrouded in secrecy. Its launch, originally scheduled for September last year, was postponed, apparently for political reasons.
Describing the TECSAR launch as "spectacular", ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said on January 21 that it was a "red letter day" for Antrix Corporation, ISRO's marketing and commercial arm. He added that the lift-off had been a difficult mission: "We had to almost go along the equatorial path, and then do a difficult maneuver to achieve [it]."
Reacting to reports that TECSAR was a "spy" satellite, Nair feigned ignorance of the content of its payload. But he said there is no such category as "spy satellites" because all imaging satellites have a multitude of purposes. India too is developing a radar imaging satellite, likely to be launched next year.
"The Indian government is clearly divided between its formal position that Iran's current nuclear activities are legitimate and its keenness to develop a close partnership with Israel," says Achin Vanaik, professor of international relations and global politics at Delhi University.
"New Delhi is schizophrenic," said Vanaik. "It maintains that Iran has the right to develop peaceful nuclear technology subject to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. But India also wants an alliance with the US and Israel which both oppose any nuclear activity on Iran's part, including uranium enrichment for power generation. India has recently allowed its new strategic relationship with the US and Israel to prevail over its traditional friendship with Iran."

India twice voted against Iran at the IAEA - in contravention of New Delhi's own position that Iran is not in breach of any of its obligations under the IAEA or the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.Stephen Rademaker, a former US assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation and a senior arms control negotiator, said a year ago in Delhi that India's votes were secured through "coercion", presumably by Washington.
The US strongly opposes the Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline project, and has publicly warned India that it could face sanctions if it goes ahead with the deal, which is considered highly attractive for its energy economics.
Besides the much-touted "strategic partnership" with the US, India has developed a close political and military relationship with Israel, with which it established full diplomatic relations only in 1992. This has entailed a huge shift away from India's traditional support for the cause of Palestinian nationhood.
"Shamefully," says Vanaik, "India has not uttered a word against Israel's recent blockade and collective punishment of the people of Gaza. At this rate, India will fail to play an independent role in the most important and volatile region of the world."
Over the past few years, India has become Israel's biggest client in the global arms market. Between 2000 and 2006, India bought military hardware and software worth US$7 billion from Israel. This included a $1 billion deal for the Falcon early warning system and smaller contracts for unmanned surveillance aircraft.
In 2006, India signed a $480 million contract with Israel to develop a "next generation" Barak missile for its navy. This was followed last year by a $2.5 billion deal to develop anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems based on the Green Pine radar. This is the biggest military contract in the history of Israel.
India-Israel collaboration is not limited to arms deals. It extends to military and space research and development across a broad range, including surveillance satellite technology and electronic warfare, and upgrading of Soviet-era equipment including fighter jets, field guns and helicopters.

The two states are also widely believed to share military intelligence, especially pertaining to Pakistan and Islamic militants. Israel's Mossad secret service is thought to have trained India's external intelligence agencies and a special protection group that guards important people.
The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is likely to be a major casualty of India's increasingly close relations with the US and Israel. India has turned down several invitations since July last year to participate in talks to clinch the pipeline deal, which has run into a dispute over periodic price revision.
"New Delhi is making a big mistake," holds Agha. "The price revision issue can be easily sorted out by give-and-take. If the deal is further delayed, India could lose the pipeline and natural gas, probably to China. The Turkmenistan to Afghanistan to Pakistan to India pipeline for which Washington is rooting is no substitute for it."
Yet, India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora announced this week that he will not attend the trilateral talks in Islamabad, planned for February 12 or 13, to discuss the price issue. "India's collaboration with the US and Israel is likely to extract a much higher political and economic price than imagined earlier," warns Agha.

Genocide In Gaza, Ethnic CleansingIn The West Bank

By Ilan Pappe

Not long ago, I claimed that Israel is employing genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip. I hesitated before using this very charged term and yet decided to adopt it. The responses I received indicated unease in using such a term. I rethought the term for a while, but concluded with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip.

On Dec. 28, 2006, the Israeli human rights organization Betzelem published its annual report on Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories. In 2006, Israeli forces killed 660 citizens, triple the number of the previous year (around 200). Most of the dead are from the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces demolished almost 300 houses and have slain entire families. Since 2000, almost 4,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, half of them children, and more than 20,000 wounded.

The point is not just about escalating intentional killings but the strategy.

Annexation

Israeli policy makers are facing two very different realities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the former, they are finishing construction of their eastern border. Their internal ideological debate is over, and their master plan for annexing half of the West Bank is gaining speed.

The last phase was delayed due to the promises made by Israel, under the Road Map, not to build new settlements. Israel found two ways of circumventing this. First, it defined a third of the West Bank as Greater Jerusalem, which allowed it to build towns and community centers within this new annexed area. Second, it expanded old settlements to such proportions that there was no need to build new ones.

Creeping Transfer

The settlements, army bases, roads and the wall will allow Israel to annex almost half of the West Bank by 2010. Within these territories, Israeli authorities will continue to implement creeping transfer policies against the considerable number of Palestinians who remain.

There is no rush. As far as the Israeli are concerned they have the upper hand there; the daily abusive and dehumanizing combination of army and bureaucracy effectively adds to the dispossession process.

All governing parties from Labor to Kadima accept Ariel Sharon’s strategic thinking that this policy is far better than the one offered by the blunt “transferists” or ethnic cleansers, such as Avigdor Liberman. In the Gaza Strip there is no clear Israeli strategy, but there is a daily experiment with one. The Israelis see the Strip as a distinct geo-political entity from the West Bank. Hamas controls Gaza, while Mahmoud Abbas seems to run the fragmented West Bank with Israeli and American blessing.

There is no land in the Strip that Israel covets and there is no hinterland, like Jordan, to which the Palestinians can be expelled.

Ethnic cleansing is ineffective here. The earlier strategy in the Strip was ghettoizing the Palestinians there, but this is not working. The Jews know it best from their history. In the past, the next stage against such communities was even more barbaric. It is difficult to tell what does the future hold for the Gaza community: ghettoized, quarantined, unwanted and demonized.

Throwing Away the Key

Creating the prison and throwing the key to the sea, as South African law professor John Dugard has put it, was an option the Palestinians in the Strip reacted against with force in September 2005. Determined to show that they were still part of the West Bank and Palestine, they launched the first significant number of missiles into the Western Negev. The shelling was a response to an Israeli campaign of massive arrests of Hamas and Jihad people in the Tul Karim area.

Israel responded with operation “First Rain.” Supersonic flights were flown over Gaza to terrorize the entire population, succeeded by heavy bombardment of vast areas from the sea, sky and land. The logic, the Israeli army explained, was to weaken the community’s support for the rocket launchers. As was expected, by the Israelis as well, the operation only increased the support for the rocket launchers.

The real purpose was experimental. The Israeli generals wished to know how such operations would be received at home, in the region and in the world. And it seems the answer was “very well;” no one took interest in the scores of dead and hundreds of wounded Palestinians.

Following operations were modeled on First Rain. The difference was more firepower, more casualties and more collateral damage and, as expected, more Qassam missiles in response. Accompanying measures ensured full imprisonment of Gazans through boycott and blockade, with which the European Union is shamefully collaborating.

The capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006 was irrelevant in the general scheme, but it provided an opportunity for the Israelis to escalate even more. After all, there was no strategy that followed the decision of Sharon to remove 8,000 settlers from Gaza whose presence complicated “punitive” missions. Since then, the “punitive” actions continue and have become a strategy.

First Rain was replaced by “Summer Rains.” In a country where there is no rain in the summer, one can expect only showers of F-16 bombs and artillery shells hitting the people of the Strip.

Summer Rains brought a novel component: the land invasion into parts of the Gaza Strip. This enabled the army to kill citizens and present it as an inevitable result of heavy fighting within densely populated areas and not of Israeli policies.

Summer Rains, Autumn Clouds

When the summer was over came the even more efficient “Autumn Clouds:” beginning on Nov. 1, 2006, the Israelis killed 70 civilians in less than 48 hours. By the end of that month, almost 200 were killed, half of them children and women.

Some of the activity was parallelled the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, making it easier to complete the operations without much external attention, let alone criticism. From First Rain to Autumn Clouds there is escalation in every parameter. The first is erasing the distinction between “civilian” and “non-civilian” targets: the population is the main target for the army’s operation. Second is the escalation in the means: employment of every possible killing machine the Israeli army possesses. Third is escalation in the number of casualties: with each future operation, a much larger number of people are likely to be killed and wounded. Finally, and most importantly, the operations have become a strategy — the way Israel intends to solve the problem of the Gaza Strip.

A creeping transfer in the West Bank and a measured genocidal policy in the Gaza strip are the two strategies Israel employs today. From an electoral point of view the policy in Gaza is problematic, as it does not reap any tangible results; the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas is yielding to Israeli pressure and there is no significant force that arrests the Israeli strategy of annexation and dispossession.

Gaza Fights BackBut the Strip continues to fire back. This would enable the Israeli army to initiate larger genocidal operations in the future, but there is also the great danger that, as in 1948, the army would demand a more drastic and systematic “punitive” action against the besieged people of the Gaza Strip. Ironically, the Israeli killing machine has rested lately. Its generals are content that the internal killing in the Strip does the job for them.

They watch satisfied the emerging civil war in the Strip that Israel foments and encourages. The responsibility of ending the fighting lies of course with the Palestinian groups themselves, but U.S. and Israeli interference, the continued imprisonment, the starvation and strangulation of the Strip all make such an internal peace process very difficult.

Cutting Israel’s Oxygen

What unfolds in Gaza is a battleground between America’s and Israel’s local proxies most unintentional but who dance to Israel’s tune nonetheless — and those who oppose their plans. The opposition that took over Gaza did it in a way that one finds very hard to condone or cheer.

Once fighting there subsides, the Israeli Summer Rains will fall down again on the people in the Strip, wreaking havoc and death. There is no other way of stopping Israel than that of boycott, divestments and sanctions. The only soft point of this killing machine is its oxygen lines to “western” civilization and public opinion. It is still possible to puncture them and make it at least more difficult for the Israelis to implement their future strategy of eliminating the Palestinian people either by cleansing them in the West Bank or genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and author of numerous books, including The Modern Middle East and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.

Interview with Arun Gandhi

‘I Was Willing To Sacrifice Myself’

Flayed for his views on the Jewish identity, Arun Gandhi, the Mahatma’s grandson, tells LISON JOSEPH that many understand his argument for non-violence

Is there more to the controversy than what the public already knows through the media?

There is no escaping the fact that the language I used and the generalisations I made in an article that I wrote hurriedly and did not revise were the main cause of the controversy. In addition, of course there are a strong group of radical, right-wing Jewish people who don’t entertain any criticism of Israel at all. They are like the RSS in India. In all societies, it is the small group of radicals that make the loudest noise and appear to be speaking for the whole community or the nation.

Did you expect something like this to happen?

No, I did not expect such strong reaction. I knew that there would be some opposition but did not expect it to take the form it did. However, there are many Jews who have understood the core message and, in spite of the language and generalisations, have been able to appreciate the argument for non-violence.

Do you think this would have happened if you were in a country other than the US?

I think the Jewish lobby is strongest in the US and therefore the reaction was stronger here than it would have been anywhere else.

What kind of reactions have you been getting recently?

There have been angry e-mails and breaking of relationships. But there have also been many Jewish friends who have called me or visited me and expressed their support and discussed their concerns in a friendly and courteous manner. I apologised and explained and we hugged and parted as friends.

Do you think the University of Rochester did not give due credence to your career and lifetime devoted to nonviolence and justice? Was there pressure to step down?

I was told that the university was under tremendous pressure. There was a possibility that some funding would be cut off. I thought that the institution is greater than the individual and so I was willing to sacrifice myself so that the university and the institute did not suffer.

Do you think this will affect your stature?

I hope it will not affect my stature adversely. From the supportive e-mails and calls I have been receiving, I can say with confidence that the activist community still respect me as before.
How has this affected your thinking on violence and the issue of Israeli policies that proliferate violence?I am still convinced that violence by anyone is reprehensible. It is no longer a civilised way of dealing with conflict. This is as true for Israel and Palestine as it is for every other nation on the earth.

What are your thoughts on Gandhiji’s name being dragged into the controversy by people reacting to your statement?

While I regret my grandfather’s name being dragged into this, I understand that it is those who are ignorant of what Gandhiji stood for, who do this.

How do you envisage justice through non-violence, in an age of modern weapons and State repression?

Mankind has found that the easiest way to control people is through fear. We do it to our children when we threaten them with punishment — it is control through fear. The governments find it easy to control through fear because controlling through love and understanding requires greater commitment and compassionand no one has the time for it. When the human race subscribes to a culture of violence then we open the door to human rights violations and everything else. In a culture of dog eats dog where is the respect for anyone, human or otherwise?


From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 5, Dated Feb 09, 2008

A Pre election Attack on Iran Remains a Possibility

A Pre-election Attack on Iran Remains a PossibilityPresident Bush still believes the Iranians are developing nuclear weapons – and so do the Israelis. So for journalists to assume that neither the U.S. nor Israel will attack Iran before the November election could constitute another failure of imagination. Cato’s Leon Hadar suggests questions the press should ask the presidential candidates about what they think the American response should be to various scenarios in the region – including a Gulf-of-Tonkin-like alleged provocation.

By Leon Hadar

-- -- Since the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran was issued at the end of the last year, much of the reporting and analysis in the MSM has been promoting the conventional wisdom in Washington: That a U.S. attack on Iran is now “out.”
The Bush Administration had been warning that it might use its military power to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. But with U.S. intelligence agencies making it clear that Iran wasn’t developing nuclear weapons, the administration had suddenly lost its casus belli. Without one, the conventional wisdom suggested, President Bush would not be able to mobilize American and international support for an attack on Iran, which in any case would have been a very costly operation.
And yet, even as this conventional wisdom was taking hold, the following events also took place:
1. Reports from Israel during Bush’s recent to the Middle East suggested that the president made it clear he didn’t consider the NIE a reliable source of guidance as far as his policy towards Iran was concerned. It was not difficult to conclude based on reports quoting “sources” that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney seemed to be marginalizing the significance of the NIE – recalling a similar kind of disdain they exhibited towards the conclusion of the Iraq Study Group. In fact, based on Bush’s behavior then – increasing the number of U.S. troops contrary to the recommendation for establishing a timeline for a withdrawal – members of the press should be considering the possibility that he is just as likely to act against Iran as he was before.
2. The incident in the strategic Strait of Hormuz during which Iranian speedboats buzzed three US navy ships and the Pentagon said that US forces were “literally” on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats. That incident should have led journalists to put the scenario in which the United States strikes Iranian nuclear sites on the backburner – and instead consider the possibility that a military confrontation between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf could take place as a result of (a) a provocation by the Iranians (b) a provocation by the Americans or (c) a misunderstanding.
3. Israeli officials also dismissed the NIE conclusions. Moreover, the Israelis expressed concern that Washington seemed to be losing its will to confront Iran and warned that they might have no choice but to launch an Osirak-like unilateral strike against Iran’s nuclear installation. Neither officials in the Bush Administration nor Republican or Democratic lawmakers in Congress have challenged Israel’s right to take such a unilateral action, especially against a regime whose leaders have disputed the legitimacy of the Jewish state and even made Holocaust-denying statements. The media should consider the possibility that the Israelis could take action – and that since they believe that a Democratic administration would not be quite as supportive of the Israeli position as the Bush administration, they could decide to take action against the Iranians before or after Bush leaves office.
So here are some of the questions American journalists could be asking the likely Democratic and Republican presidential nominees:
Q. The recent incident in the Strait of Hormuz highlighted the danger that provocations by either side or just misunderstanding could ignite a Tonkin-Gulf-like military confrontation between the U.S. and Iran that could degenerate into an all-out war. Do you believe that President Bush has the legal power to retaliate militarily against an alleged Iranian provocation without Congressional authorization?
Q. Are you concerned about a so-called “surprise” in a form of a Tonkin-Gulf-in-the-Persian-Gulf that could affect the outcome of the election? Have you or your aides raised this issue with officials in the administration or discussed it with your colleagues in Congress?
Q. Under what circumstances can President Bush count on your support if he decides to strike Iran before the election in November? Under what circumstances would he not have your support?
Q. The Israelis have also warned that they could take a unilateral action and strike against Iran’s nuclear sites if the U.S. and the international community fail to prevent the Iranians from pursuing their nuclear military program. Should the president demand that Israel get U.S. permission before deciding to strike Iran’s nuclear sites? What should the consequences be if Israel attacks without U.S. permission?
Q. Would you agree to supply Israel with bunker busting bombs to help it destroy the Iranian installations?
Q. Can the Israeli government count on your support if it decides to strike Iran before the election in November?
Leon T. Hadar is a research fellow at the Cato Institute, specializing in foreign policy, international trade, the Middle East, and South and East Asia. E-mail: LeonHadar@aol.com

Zionism and Hindutva's nexus in India and the US

Zionism and Hindutva's nexus in India and the US


Israel has long been a supporter of the worst fascists and criminals in the world. From openly supporting the Botha apartheid regime in South Africa and Zaire's Mobutu, arming and training Salvadoran death squads, Lebanese Phalangists, and UNITA in southern Africa, to the recent military support for Colombia's right wing paramilitaries, Israel's despicable track record confirms its function in the American empire. As Hindutva strengthens its hold on India, Israel's role in South Asia is beginning to become clearer. Just last week in the midst of irresponsible warmongering by the decrepit leaders of India and Pakistan, Israel sent a delegation to India to express "support against terrorism." Such open interference in support of the Hindutvadi agenda makes Israel a dangerous enemy of the Indian people. However this trend has a history and several disturbing aspects reveal deeper connections between the purveyors of Hindutvadi ideology and their Zionist friends.
Israel has been suspected of involvement in the incitement of virulent anti-Muslim activities in India, as has been pointed out by Faisal Kutty, a writer from Kerala state who noted that a meeting took place, shrouded in secrecy, between BJP high officials and Israeli officials preceding a completely uncharacteristic violent communal anti-Muslim riot in the normally peaceful and harmonious state of Kerala in 1992. Incidentally, when the top leaders of the BJP came to the US a few years before coming to power, secret meetings were held with leaders of Zionist organizations such as AIPAC. Why did the Hindutvadis insist on secret meetings with the Zionists in America? What were they trying to keep secret?
Kerala's Muslims are the oldest Muslim community in India, tracing their roots to the early Arab Muslim traders who plied the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea trade routes. They make up 20 percent of the population in Kerala while Hindus are 60 percent and Christians 20 percent. Kerala has the highest rate of literacy in the country, in no small part due to the work of the ruling Communist Party over the last several decades to build a literate and thriving, secular state. In comparison, the other South Indian states under the heel of chauvinistic ethnocentric parties have no comparable achievements. Faisal Kutty also notes that the first serious communal clash between Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus and Muslims occurred shortly after the opening of an Israeli interest section in the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. The section was later closed by the Sri Lankan government.
These suspicions are not isolated as similar reports about Israeli agents wandering in Kashmir as well as the BJP government's fascination with "security cooperation," and overt statements made by Hindutva ideologues about "Hindu-Yahudi" unity attest to wider involvement. On June 30, 2000 an Indian Express article offered a revealing glimpse into the Bajrang Dal, since implicated in the Gujarat genocide. The article, entitled "Desi Mossad is getting ready at Bajrang Dal's Ayodhya camp" described a training camp at which 150 male cadres, between 15 and 21 years of age, recited the following pledge in unison: "I, as a member of Bajrang Dal, swear in the name of Lord Hanuman to always remain prepared to protect my country, religion and culture."
On several occasions, the cadres and their leaders mention Israel and the Mossad as their inspiration: "Asked what he did at the camp, an activist whispers, ``I am from the secret service of Bajrang Dal. Israel's Mossad is my inspiration. I can't tell you more.''' When pressed: "Dal leaders in their defence, cite example of Israel where all citizens have to undergo a mandatory training in physical fitness and arms handling. But, isn't Israel's geographical situation peculiar? 'India's even worse. Israel has threat only from outsiders while India faces threat from even those inhabiting it,' Sharma replies."
It seems strange that the trainees would mention Israel repeatedly and also venture to describe what they perceived as Israel's example, unless this formed some part of their ideological training. Secondly, given the horrendous acts of violence committed by this organization, at times using sophisticated explosives in a highly organized manner, and also committing horrible acts of savagery against women and children, their admiration for Israel should set off alarm bells. Given Israel's long history of supporting, arming, and training unsavory "pupils" throughout the world, are the monkey brigades another feather in this cap of infamy?

Israeli "counter-terrorism" assistance is also being mobilized, most evidently in (though not restricted to) Jammu and Kashmir, where the government of India sees a political issue as a "security" issue, in the age-old imperialistic tradition of ignoring the human, civil and political rights of the Kashmiri people while making every effort to suppress the voice of Kashmiris.
The Times of India, citing "high level government sources," reported on September 22, 2000 that "a high-level team of Israeli counter-terrorism experts is now touring Jammu and Kashmir and several other states in India at the invitation of Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani to make an assessment of New Delhi's security needs," [italics mine]. According to the article, "the Israeli team, headed by Eli Katzir of the Counter-Terrorism Combat Unit of the Prime Minister's Office, includes a senior Israel Police commander and Israeli military intelligence officials. The team will prepare a 'feasibility study' of Indian security needs and assess the areas in which Israel can offer assistance to New Delhi in tackling the activities of insurgent and terrorist groups."
Using the pretext of fighting "terrorism," the Hindutvadi government of India now uses Israeli expertise in quashing popular discontent, whether it is in Kashmir or elsewhere; if this same government and its extra-governmental paramilitary allies are implicated in the Gujarat genocide, then it is not unlikely that their support for, assistance from, and admiration of Israel plays some role.
Hindutva and Zionism in the US
One Hindutvadi closely tied to Zionism is Aravind Ghosh, a "Research Associate" with the U.S. based Zionist organization the Freeman Center. This organization has a magazine called The Maccabean in which Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are "frequent contributors." Ghosh is described as a 'Hindu Historian & Publisher.' In the center's own words, "It is his expertise on Moslem behavior and atrocities in the Indian sub-continent that makes him a valuable contributor to the Freeman Center." Ghosh writes favorably of Israel and calls on India to learn from Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. He calls on "Jawans to carry the saffron to Lahore," as a way of reasserting "Hindu" ownership which he claims was usurped by "Islamic fascists," who according to this foul-mouthed charlatan, "see Bharat as the soft spot to propagate their irrational creed and foment violence. India tries to placate them. Israel expels them, This is what Bharat should do. If they hate Hindu Rashtra so much they are free to leave for dar'ul Islam."
Meanwhile even mainstream campuses help continue to equate Hinduism with India. The Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University held an India 2002 Week in which four out of five items on the agenda had to do with Brahmanic Hindu religious traditions and concerns, one seminar suspiciously titled "Hinduism, non-violence and terrorism." That this seminar was conducted while the Gujarat genocide was taking place did not appear to have bothered the organizers despite phone calls and complaints.
Hinduunity.org, a hateful website which espouses violence against Muslims and secular activists who speak up against Hindutva fascism was recently shut down for their offensive material. They were rescued by Zionist organizations tied to the Kahane group, extremists who openly profess racist views against Arabs. Their website features links to the Kahane group which reciprocates by listing Hinduunity as a "friendly site." Both sites contain vitriolic materials against Muslims and the Kahane group is linked to acts of terrorism in the US and in Israel. Today Hinduunity.org and kahane.org share the same server, located in Israel.
Inventing ancient Israel and ancient Hindu India, projects in futility.
Both Hindutva and Zionism thrive on grossly falsified histories--racist narratives with strong similarities. In "The Invention of Ancient Israel and the silencing of Palestinian History," Keith Whitelam describes how the discourse of biblical studies relates to the political project of Israel. Whitelam notes that most universities in the US, Europe and Israel offer "numerous courses on the history and archaeology of ancient Israel conducted in the context of the study of the Hebrew Bible from Jewish and Christian perspectives. At the same time there are few courses on the subject of 'ancient Israel' in departments of history or ancient history. While the western theological concern with ancient Israel has to do with interpreting the bible, the biblical narrative has been established as the only way to approach the issue of ancient Israel or the land of ancient Palestine for that matter. Thus for example archaeological sites are interpreted using names from the Bible; once this is done, the claim is made that the Biblical narrative is true because it is corroborated by material evidence. In this process, Palestinian history and its own body of narratives are silenced and a discourse that is uniquely western in location and orientation, straddles the boundaries of myth and ideology in legitimizing the Zionist claim on Palestine.
A similar process has gripped the Indian subcontinent as well, particularly in the last decade when the Sangh Parivar has attempted to poison history textbooks with a fallacious and utterly decrepit substitute for history. Again the myth of ancient glory is cast in exclusivist terms, but with an explicit agenda: to vilify and demonize India's Muslims. Claiming and colonizing the past is very much part of the Hindutva agenda, so much so that they even stoop to outrageous assertions such as the claim that the Indus Valley civilization is really an indigenous Vedic civilization. While this claim has been thoroughly debunked by the historical and archaeological record, it is significant in that it belies a deep concern with the racialist/culturalist idea of claiming roots. Nobody in India can easily claim such "roots" to the subcontinent without at some point referring to migration, as is evident in the recent study of India's peoples conducted by the Anthropological Survey of India. Even many Gujarati Hindus among whom are a large number of Hindutvadis, are themselves descended from the Gurjaras, a central Asian people who came to India as invaders on the heels of the Huns. Many Rajputs are descended from Huns who invaded and pillaged the ruins of the Gupta empire in the fourth century, eventually turning to Shaivism under Mihirakula, whose name is synonymous with ruthless mass murder of Buddhists in Tibetan records. Going even further, the Vedic peoples were themselves tribes from Khwarizm who migrated and invaded their way into the subcontinent three and a half millennia ago. How then may we deal with the descendents of all these ancient invaders? The Helmand river in Afghanistan is the most likely source of the "Sarasvati" myth, known as "Harkavati" in ancient Persian texts. This makes the ancient Vedic people as foreign to the land their descendents claim today as any other population that migrated to the subcontinent. It also throws open the humorous possibility that Mullah Omar and Pujari Advani are perhaps descended from the same ancestor. Indigenism is not only a stupid substitute for history, because it cannot account for anything that falls outside the simplistic categories and the circular logical fallacies it thrives on, but also serves to harbor fascistic idiocy in the guise of building cultural or religious self-confidence.

Ancient Israel and ancient Hindu India are only possible when everything else is excised: for ancient Israel, Palestinian history is not permissible because the Bible chooses Israelites as the chosen people. All material evidence that cannot be quickly interpreted as proof of the Bible's veracity is not relevant. For Hindutva's ancient Hindu past, everything great must either be Hindu or not; everything meager, bad, undesirable is foreign; therefore all that is labeled foreign is evil, negative, undesirable. The quest for Ram's temple continues in the same vein as the fantasy of King Solomon's temple, both fantasies necessitating the destruction of mosques, in the latter case the third holiest shrine in Islam. Why are Hindutva and Zionism so hellbent on temple building when their primary goal is using the secular state to carry out genocidal social engineering? Both assert that the symbolism of temple building is supposed to represent a resurgence, a return to an ancient lost glory, one that in reality never existed. Recently, a newsreader on T.V. Asia, a pro-Hindutva news channel in the United States spoke of Rama having been born in Ayodhya 900,000 years ago as if he were stating a fact. Mythology is being used as an ideological bludgeon in the fascist program in either case. Even if these alleged temples existed in the distant past, which in the Hindutvadi calendar could extend beyond 8 billion years ago, their symbolic or divine relevance cannot and must not be allowed to override the human, cultural and political rights of existing human beings.

The temple movements in both cases are carefully used devices of provocation: Advani used the temple movement to bolster the BJP in the so-called Rath Yatra and again in 1992 led the mobs' demolition of the Babri Masjid; Sharon sparked the Al Aqsa Intifada by deliberately provoking a confrontation by storming the Haram Al Sharif with armed soldiers in September 2000. Some of his close supporters favor destruction of the Al Aqsa mosque as a symbolic reassertion of Zionist identity. These movements are not merely efforts to appease religious sentiments in either case, but to bolster a physical assault with an assault on the religious sentiments of Muslims, in Palestine, India, and the world. It is also significant that the stepping up of the VHP's Ram temple campaign provided the context for the Hindutvadi-engineered carnage in Gujarat. The increased temple fervor came on the heels of a series of resounding defeats for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab Assembly polls.

The Hindutva-Zionist nexus is an ongoing project of collaboration between fascist movements broadly following an agenda that serves the interests of US imperialism. It is an axis of evil in that it derives from and promotes genocidal racism while carefully serving the economic interests of imperialist capital. It enables and facilitates the US imperialists to pursue their geopolitical agenda of cornering the vast oil reserves of West and Central Asia. It also draws strength from, and strengthens the Bush administration's "war without end," as it is founded on a virulent hatred of Muslims, most notably because Muslims make up the majority populations in the areas where the oilfields lie. Taken together, the Bush axis of evil in reality is a nefarious alliance between US capitalism, Zionist Israel, and Hindutva, whose ideological camaraderie derives from the fascistic worldview of the Huntingtonian "clash of civilizations." In the light of this axis of evil, Israel's siding with Hindutva constitutes a threat to India and demands a response from the left and progressive forces in India. The struggle for a free Palestine is inevitably tied to the struggle for a free India, neither of which can be achieved without a powerful internationalist left that struggles against the fascistic agents of imperialism. Billion-dollar arms deals have no bearings on the will of a people to be free, as can be seen in the incredibly brave struggle of the Palestinian people. Ultimately Zionism and Hindutva, like their imperialist sponsors, will end up on the dung heap of history. The left must ensure that they reach there sooner rather than later.