"Gaza Island"

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Politics as usual. A politician would do anything for a suitcase of cash.

Maybe it's usual for Israel. Americans tend to have a somewhat different idea about that... as Blagojevich has just learned.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

:rofl: :rofl:

Busted !

:rofl: :rofl:

Did the prime minister's office distribute a fake anti-flotilla video?

This is exactly what some American bloggers have been claiming, after probing a video that was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday.

The video, nearly three minutes long, featured a young man who called himself Marc and claimed to be a gay and human rights activist. The man recounted a story in which he asked the organizers of the upcoming Gaza flotilla to join their mission, and claimed that his request was allegedly denied on the grounds that participation of the gay and lesbian group with which he was affiliated would not serve the flotilla’s “interests.”

YouTube video features man who claims he is a gay and human rights activist who was denied joining Gaza flotilla because his group does not serve interest of organizers.

By Barak Ravid

Did the Prime Minister’s office distribute a fake anti-flotilla video? This is exactly what some American bloggers have been claiming, after probing a video that was uploaded to YouTube on Sunday.

The video, nearly three minutes long, featured a young man who called himself Marc and claimed to be a gay and human rights activist. The man recounted a story in which he asked the organizers of the upcoming Gaza flotilla to join their mission, and claimed that his request was allegedly denied on the grounds that participation of the gay and lesbian group with which he was affiliated would not serve the flotilla’s “interests.”

“Marc” explained in the video that he understood why his request was denied only after he researched the people organizing the aid flotilla and found that they had strong ties to Hamas, “whose foreign minister has called homosexuals a minority of perverts, mentally and morally sick,” he said in the video.

“Didn’t they hear that Hamas shuts down the offices of human rights NGO’s? They are slowly taking away the rights and freedoms of women… these are the people the flotilla groups are hugging,” he added.

Following the YouTube video’s release, U.S. blogger Max Blumenthal found that the recording, which was distributed by Israeli government employee Neil Lazarus on his Facebook page, was a hoax, and that the man who appears in it was actually an Israeli entrepreneur and public relations expert named Omer Gershon.

The video was also tweeted later by Guy Seeman, who was apparently working as an intern in the prime minister’s office.

The premier’s office refused to comment about Seeman’s employment.

Seeman himself said that he did not know that the video was a hoax, and that he did not post the link to the video on behalf of the government, but on his own private Twitter account, and added that he decided on his own to distribute the link after he received it via email.

Haaretz sent the prime minister’s office a series of questions inquiring whether the office was involved in the production of the video in any way. The premier’s office in response did not deny that that the government was involved in the video’s production, and admitted that government bodies had distributed the link.

“Various bodies dealing with international media campaigns continuously monitor and distribute internet content when they recognize content that can serve Israel’s campaigns,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Omer Gershon was not available for comment on his Facebook account or on the phone.

Did the prime minister's office distribute a fake anti-flotilla video?

More at Max Blumenthal, as usual.

http://maxblumenthal.com/

[mawilson 2,133]

Maybe it's usual for Israel. Americans tend to have a somewhat different idea about that... as Blagojevich has just learned.

Politicians regularly appear at fundraisers with lobbyists.

As for Americans having higher standards for their politicians... LMAO Do you really want to go there?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Politicians regularly appear at fundraisers with lobbyists.

As for Americans having higher standards for their politicians... LMAO Do you really want to go there?

Not quite the same thing as "A politician would do anything for a suitcase of cash," is it ?

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

After threatening to attack them on international waters, kidnap them to Israel, then arrest, deport and bar for 10 years any international journalist on the Flotilla, Bibi was apparently pulled aside and gently reminded that the Western world doesn't take too kindly to this kind of attempt to shut down the free press:

"When the matter was brought to his attention, the prime minister directed that the regular policy against infiltrators and those who enter Israel illegally not be implemented," the terse statement said.

Netanyahu rescinds decision to sanction any foreign journalists on board Gaza flotilla

We all know what the Israeli government did last time - immediately jam the boats' contact with the outside world, then grab all the cameras, video, audio, cell phones, etc. from the passengers so that only Israel's version of events could be presented (except for one short piece of film that made it out - one that makes it quite obvious what Israel was so desperate to hide from the eyes of the world.)

The brief "official" clips that the Israeli government released of the previous Flotilla - both audio and video - were so amateurishly produced that even a 12-year-old could see they were obvious fabrications. They were mercilessly picked apart all over the internet, and subsequently just disappeared from discussion in the mainstream media (other than folks like Glenn Beck, WorldNutDaily etc.)

Of course Israel will again be providing its own officially-approved version of the events. This time, it's imbedding reporters with its own military forces to provide what it calls "transparent and credible" coverage.

I think Israel spent more time fretting about these flotillas of peace activists than it spent prepping for the last Lebanon War. And for as long as it takes, there will be more boats coming. And more. And more.....

Edited June 28, 2011 by wife_of_mahmoud

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Rockets and peace boats, the new peanut butter and chocolate combination.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Rockets and peace boats, the new peanut butter and chocolate combination.

Don't be ridiculous. None of the passengers on the boats have anything to do with any rockets.

So.... how did you like the latest production from Hasbariwood ?

Apparently the "actor" is very well-known in the Israeli gay scene and was identified immediately.

Everything about hasbara is so utterly pathetic....

[ready4ONE 5,400]

From Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar fulminates to Reuters against Western condemnation of the Islamic terrorist movement:

"You in the West do not live like human beings. You do not even live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?"

http://www.frumforum.com/hamas-leader-west-cannot-criticize-islam

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

From Gaza, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar fulminates to Reuters against Western condemnation of the Islamic terrorist movement:

"You in the West do not live like human beings. You do not even live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?"

http://www.frumforum.com/hamas-leader-west-cannot-criticize-islam

Um...what does this have to do with the Israeli government distributing hoax propaganda ?

And glass houses anyway. Many ultra-conservative religious groups (including Christian and Jewish, by the way) have similar intolerance for "the love that dare not speak its name"....

Maybe the Israeli government as well....

Israel refuses citizenship for gay man married to Jewish immigrant

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Gays again? It's raining red herrings!

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

France should have continued its occupation of Algeria until the Algerians accepted gay marriage !

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

2nd flotilla ship vandalized...

AN IRISH ship, the MV Saoirse , will not take part in the planned freedom flotilla which is preparing to sail to Gaza because it has been sabotaged, according to one of the ship’s intended passengers.

Speaking last night from the Turkish port of Göcek, Fintan Lane, the national co-ordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza organisation, said that the ship would not be able to sail as it had been “dangerously sabotaged”, according to the organising campaign.

He said that the damage to the ship was discovered on Monday night when the captain noticed that there was something wrong. Divers found that a piece was missing from one of the propeller shafts.

“This was the type of sabotage that endangered human life,” Mr Lane said last night. “They put divers under the boat who cut a piece out of the propeller shaft. That means that the damage would have happened gradually and what would have happened eventually is that the propeller would have come up through the bottom of the boat, caused a flood in the engine room and would have caused the boat to sink.”

Irish ship will not sail to Gaza after 'sabotage'

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

2nd flotilla ship vandalized...

Sad to say, there are a lot of folks that don't want to see the IDF embarrassed again, including the IDF themselves. The list of whodunits is about a mile long.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Some flotilla participants who are staying in neighborhoods near the ships have reported suspicious activity. For instance, some said they had been mugged on the street at several different locations and that their cell phones had been stolen. There have also been reports of the sudden appearance of "fishermen" near water polluted with gasoline and diesel fuel, fisherman who had neither bait nor buckets. Even without a background in intelligence, the delegates have concluded that the strange fisherman have more to do with the flotilla than with fish. The baitless anglers have already become the subject of jokes among flotilla participants.

Gaza flotilla sails on despite technical difficulties

[ready4ONE 5,400]

As I said at the start of this thread, what could go wrong?