Elizabeth Warren Finally Speaks on Israel/Gaza, Sounds Like Netanyahu

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Featured photo - Elizabeth Warren Finally Speaks on Israel/Gaza, Sounds Like Netanyahu
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) at a hearing in the Senate on November 12, 2013 in Washington, DC. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The last time Elizabeth Warren was asked about her views on the Israeli attack on Gaza – on July 17 – she, as Rania Khalek put it, “literally ran away” without answering. But last week, the liberal Senator appeared for one of her regularly scheduled “office hours” with her Massachusetts constituents, this one in Hyannis, and, as a local paper reported, she had nowhere to run.
One voter who identified himself as a Warren supporter, John Bangert, stood up and objected to her recent vote, in the middle of the horrific attack on Gaza, to send yet another $225 million of American taxpayer money to Israel for its “Iron Dome” system. Banger told his Senator: “We are disagreeing with Israel using their guns against innocents. It’s true in Ferguson, Missouri, and it’s true in Israel . . .  The vote was wrong, I believe.” To crowd applause, Bangert told Warren that the money “could have been spent on infrastructure or helping immigrants fleeing Central America.”
But Warren steadfastly defended her “pro-Israel” vote, invoking the politician’s platitude: “We’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one.” According to the account in the Cape Cod Times by reporter C. Ryan Barber, flagged by Zaid Jilani, Warren was also asked about her Israel position by other voters who were at the gathering, and she went on to explain:
“I think the vote was right, and I’ll tell you why I think the vote was right. America has a very special relationship with Israel. Israel lives in a very dangerous part of the world, and a part of the world where there aren’t many liberal democracies and democracies that are controlled by the rule of law. And we very much need an ally in that part of the world.”
Warren said Hamas has attacked Israel “indiscriminately,” but with the Iron Dome defense system, the missiles have “not had the terrorist effect Hamas hoped for.” When pressed by another member of the crowd about civilian casualties from Israel’s attacks, Warren said she believes those casualties are the “last thing Israel wants.”
“But when Hamas puts its rocket launchers next to hospitals, next to schools, they’re using their civilian population to protect their military assets. And I believe Israel has a right, at that point, to defend itself,” Warren said, drawing applause.
Warren even rejected a different voter’s suggestion that the U.S. force Israel to at least cease building illegal settlements by withholding further aid: “Noreen Thompsen, of Eastham, proposed that Israel should be prevented from building any more settlements as a condition of future U.S. funding, but Warren said, ‘I think there’s a question of whether we should go that far.’”
In her defense, Warren has long been clear that this is what she would do. Her Senate campaign website still contains statements such as “it is a moral imperative to support and defend Israel” and ”as a United States Senator, I will work to ensure Israel’s security and success.”
During her time in the national spotlight, Warren has focused overwhelmingly on domestic issues, rarely venturing into foreign policy discussions. Many of those domestic views, particularly her strident-for-D.C. opposition to banks, have been admirable, elevating her to hero status for many progressives.
But when Warren has spoken on national security, she has invariably spouted warmed-over, banal Democratic hawk tripe of the kind that she just recited about Israel and Gaza. During her Senate campaign, for instance, she issued wildly militaristic – and in some cases clearly false – statements about Iran and its nuclear program that would have been comfortable on the pages of The Weekly Standard. 
Even as conservative Democratic Senate candidates from red states such as Nebraska’s Bob Kerrey were vehemently condemning the threat of war against Iran during their campaigns, Warren was claiming (contrary to the U.S. Government’s own assessment) that “Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons”, adding: “I support strong sanctions against Iran and believe that the United States must also continue to take a leadership role in pushing other countries to implement strong sanctions as well.” Those claims about Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons remained her position even after she was told that they squarely contradict the U.S. intelligence community’s clear assessment of Iran’s actions.
In related news, the British newspaper The Telegraph yesterday published the names of all 504 children who were killed in Gaza over the last 50 days by Israel. In the last week, Israel deliberately destroyed an entire large residential apartment building after giving its residents less than an hour to vacate, leaving more than 40 families homeless, and also destroyed a seven-story office building and two-story shopping center (the video of the apartment building destruction is online and ugly to watch).
Echoing Benjamin Nentayahu (and Hillary Clinton), Elizabeth Warren’s clear position is that Israel bears none of the blame for any of this. Or, to use her words, “when Hamas puts its rocket launchers next to hospitals, next to schools, they’re using their civilian population to protect their military assets. And I believe Israel has a right, at that point, to defend itself.” Such carnage is the ”last thing Israel wants.” The last thing. That, ladies and gentlemen, is your inspiring left-wing icon of the Democratic Party.
Email the author: glenn.greenwald@theintercept.com
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  1. Sounds like she’s been drinking the D.C. kool-aid. I really cannot find it in myself to trust her anymore, at this time. For me, she now bears watching, and her words, from now on, must be measured. She seems to be “trading up” now for electorial power. Too bad, It never bodes well to cavalierly trade integrity for expedient status.
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    • Sadly, I agree. Until this article, I was unaware of Warren’s Israel position. I am beyond sick of the U.S. being a subsidiary of Israel and the Big 6 Wall Street banks. And sick of the vague platitudes about our “interests” in the Mid East–can’t we at least just say the words “oil” and “finance’?
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      • Same here. No progressive can support a nazi regime, regardless of whether it’s German, Israeli, South African, or (now) Ukrainian, or in any country. Because no progressive can support a nazi Amerika.
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          • I agree fully with Mona, and would go even a bit farther. I had placed such hopes on Ms Warren, but it will be impossible to vote for her now. I think that Ms Warren does not understand that she is alienating the very heart of her core constituency for base political reasons. She either has moral principles or she doesn’t. One cannot, must not, prostitute oneself to win election.
            In fact I can’t see any difference between her position and that of Hillary Clinton’s. If Ms Warren sells herself to win election, then she can go “roll with the hogs” along with Hillary. I am disappointed, greatly, but I think she is completely welded to this neo-con vulgarity.
    • It is a shame that US liberals accept the Arab narrative even though, if one would bother to actually understand our history, one would see that it is complicated but that the aggressors are the Arabs and not the Israelis. We have offered peace on many occasions to b met with terrorism and rockets. I believe the Jewish people have the right to one country of their own. After all, the Arabs already have 22.
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      • Alison, the I/P situation is not so “complicated” that one can not understand that it is the Zionists who are the aggressors. Zionists have been stealing Palestinian land, razing and ethnically cleansing their cities and states, for many decades now. And the refugees are shunted by Israel into open air prisons, resulting in what has long been a de facto, 1-state, Israeli apartheid state.
        Israel is the oppressor; the Palestinians the oppressed.
        Reply
          • The “Add Comment” button doesn’t work for me at the moment. And when I posted a reply to someone further down the thread (I assume, since I’m not even sure anymore in what direction the thread goes…) I got unceremoniously dumped into the nether regions or, at least, not back to the comment I was replying to. Very disorienting. :-s
          • Also, too, it would be nice if someone from TI – paging John Cook! John Cook please pick up the courtesy telephone! – would explain the parameters involved in this new statement:
            Please be aware that many comments are held for moderation;
            I presume that most folks would like to avoid moderation if possible, but it is very difficult to do so if one doesn’t know what will get one moderated in the first place. Many of us who lived through the Graun Moderator Wars would prefer not to repeat that if possible. And even the Graun had their policy posted, even if they rarely used it for anything other than vague justifications for Bella Mackey’s personal vendettas. :-s
          • I presume that most folks would like to avoid moderation if possible, but it is very difficult to do so if one doesn’t know what will get one moderated in the first place.
            I’ve emailed Glenn and basically said: “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Holding comments in pre-mod is an awful idea (at least after 1st one per acct), and I hope they were simply trying to explain that the system sometimes does it for whatever reason.
          • @ -Mona-
            Thankyou for the email to Mr. Greenwald.
            Have not received any response yet from TI IT to acknowledge the reported problem.
            Have sent another message to johncook@the intercept.com.
            I’m done now.
          • “Add comment” not working for me, either. I suppose at some point, if no one can add comment, then there’s nothing to reply to.
          • “Leave a Reply Cancel reply
            Thanks for your comment. Please be aware that many comments are held for moderation; your comment might not appear immediately.”
            Are held for moderation. By whom? And what, pray, is moderation? Meantime, we return you to our live feed from the Greenwald farm at Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.
          • “I’ve emailed Glenn and basically said: “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
            Thank you. Hopefully a more definitive explanation is forthcoming.
          • Hopefully a more definitive explanation is forthcoming
            Glenn indicates the “system” is doing this, and that it is being worked on. It does not appear to be a policy that comments are all pre-moderated.
          • “Glenn indicates the “system” is doing this, and that it is being worked on. It does not appear to be a policy that comments are all pre-moderated.”
            The “system” is doing what it is told to do! Spam filter policies govern this type of message.
          • Does anyone besides me see the following comment to be last comment posted at the top of the comments on this article?
            Velia
            28 Aug 2014 at 9:21 am
            I have been informed by IT that other comments are being posted on top of this one, which are not visible to me.
          • @Wilhelmina – “Spam filter policies govern this type of message.”
            Unfortunately, internet security and protecting both what arrives at and is sent from your server isn’t quite that simple, and spam-filters are only part of the equation. Here is a good site to explore the many other reasons for this – search the net and there are plenty of others to help understand the complexity – which is particularly true for a website like The Intercept, which has been specifically targeted by the NSA because of what it reports on.
            http://securityskeptic.typepad.com/the-security-skeptic/
        • And even 60 Minutes and people like Anthony Bourdain have tried to humanize the Palestinians against all attempts to reduce them to sub-human status. At the heart of the problem it seems to me is a concept of supremacy from which Israel suffers, along with religious delusions. The US is also infected with this form of thinking, at the top levels. Such attitudes end in tears. “Pride goeth before a fall.”
          Reply
        • Mona, please explain how Palestinians manage to live as Israeli citizens and have elected representatives in the government. This fact shows there are alternatives to Hamas rocket and tunnel terrorism.
          Please cite examples were Israel has attacked Gaza without provocation to substantiate your claim that Israel is always the aggressor.
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          • They don’t live as Israeli citizens. They are second class citizens subject to arrest and imprisonment without charges if they so much express empathy for the victims of Israeli aggression, victims who may be members of their own families.
            The land of the Palestinians was brutally stolen from them by Zionist Jews fleeing European, and specifically Nazi, antisemitism. But the ways in which they established Israel in stolen land by terrorism and murder remains hidden from the propaganda Zionists of races and religions feed upon and disseminate to support their unsupportable claims.
            Here, a taste of truth for you, Ze Cuiabano -
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMOtFy09ZmI&feature=youtu.be
          • Please cite examples were Israel has attacked Gaza without provocation to substantiate your claim that Israel is always the aggressor.
            Israel initiated the aggression by land theft and ethnic cleansing, and continues it every minute of the day by imposing the siege and allowing settlements. I’ll let Moshe Dayan explain it for you, quoting what he said in a eulogy for an Israeli soldier killed by a Gazan in 1956:
            Let us not today fling accusation at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived.
            .
            We should demand his blood not from the Arabs of Gaza but from ourselves. . . . Let us make our reckoning today. We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house. . . . Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood.
        • Isn’t it complicated due to the fact that both parties refuse to admit there is no military solution for the conflict?
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      • Alison, please explain how and or why “the Jewish people have the right to one country of their own.”
        Consider what rights are; who and how they are realized. Consider what a country is; is this something that there can be a right to? Can rights be for a collective, an individual, or both?
        My opinion is that individuals have rights to property and freedom. Property starts with oneself and consists of that individuals life. Freedom consists of an individual doing as one pleases as long as ones actions do not harm others.
        Lines drawn in the sand by the force of empires seems contrary to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. I may be wrong but it seems to me that what complicates the Israel Gaza (and other Arab nations) situation is not the complexity but the history. The accuracy of documentation and memories is suspect even for the present let alone thousands of years.
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      • ‘If one would bother to understand our history…”, or “If only you would accept what we tell you without question”.
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      • I hope that the moderating on this site is not going to become ridiculously capricious. If so, it will simply degenerate into: “Yeah! I agree!”, “Yeah! What ____ said!”. Mindless pablum.
        Let US deal with the mindless trolls like Craig Summers, OK?
        Reply
          • I think you’re giving him too much credit Lyra. Summers has been commenting in Greenwald threads for a long time. His MO is basically older middle-aged, white, entitled authoritarian disgruntled that anyone would dare question what’s worked for him all his life.
            I’m interested in what you think constitutes “complementary assistance”.
            Might be a while before I can get back to this. Hubby’s loading up the kayaks for a late afternoon paddle on the reservoir.
          • @ Lyra1 – here is a fascinating article about one hasbara troll who kind of lost his mind. He’s a Jewish guy who created all these different antisemitic alter egos to blast away at Israel and Jewish people in general, and then created other alter egos… to have arguments with himself. It’s like he has online multiple personality syndrome. And then he got caught. Just amazing reading here.
            http://www.commondreams.org/hambaconeggs
        • Yeah, as one of the only Israeli-centric voices in these comment threads, Craig serves an important function. Otherwise everyone would just be preaching to the choir. Plus, unlike most hasbara trolls, he obviously has a few IQ points to rub together, which makes it better. Of course his real name isn’t Craig Summers. I mean, what would someone with such a goyisha name be doing regularly quoting from Algemeiner? If his real name is Craig Summers, then my real name is Dabney Leibowitz.
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          • @ Dabney & Pedinska:
            Your article Dabney, as well as the one linked in the article I posted, pointed out how easy it is for trolls to set-up “complementary assistance” for themselves in forums such as this.
            Thanks.
            He is also consistently contentious regarding almost any topic and does not ever produce any evidence for his “expert” opinions which he issues like decrees. Yet he argues at length with people that do produce evidence for their opinions by attempting to either degrade them or by invalidating their source publication reference….as though he alone has been granted the sole proprietary right to think for everyone else. This activity is designed to control the forum and he does not confine it to discussions regarding Zionism which makes me believe that he is a state player.
            Even legitimate people with legitimate comments should not use their real names in any forums. Although one can always be traced and tracked electronically by the National Intelligence Directorate and Internet Technology specialists, it is rather like proclaiming oneself to be the donkey in a game of “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” You will be targeted by every nutcase online.
            Sorry to address both of you in the same comment, but I can not see any new comment postings on any article since the site changed,and I am being reassured by an IT representative of Firstlook that I am able to post new comments which are visible to everyone else. I have tried to trouble shoot on my end with two different OS’s and 4 different browsers. Go figure that one huh? Frankly…I am disgusted with the TI comments section at this time and have decided that it is better to refrain from commenting here at all. This for my own sanity.
            Be careful people and take good care.
          • He is also consistently contentious regarding almost any topic and does not ever produce any evidence for his “expert” opinions which he issues like decrees.
            The above is why I rarely engage with him. His “success”, such as it is, revolves entirely around the number of people who continue to engage with him irrespective of his failure to ever produce proof of his assertions and the continuous monotony of his assertions.
            As for the comment section issues, I also do not see any new comments posting above. Only replies seem to be showing. I’ve tried to post several times and been unsuccessful, so whatever the issue is, it’s not just you Lyra.
          • Also, I have to refresh the page to see my replies, but that has been an off-and-on phenomenon all along.
      • That is utter nonsense Alison. The Zionists stole the land initially and continue to do so. Their militarism is overwhelming and it is on our shoulders. It their human rights violations and crimes against humanity are monumental. It is the Palestinians in occupied Gaza and on other Palestinian lands, who are defending themselves. Israel is a rouge and outlaw nation.
        Reply
          • avelna2001, I suspect far worse than Warren’s problem is a deficit in knowledge. I suspect she knows at least some of the truth, and that she has turned away from her own humanity to fulfill an objective that pays well and offers excellent social benefits, but does so at the very dear cost of her own humanity, her empathy, and that ineffable substance rumored to be not real, her critically essential soul.
          • Perhaps she’s more aware of the truth than she lets on, but I think also that she has very intentionally avoided educating herself on the subject. She doesn’t want to know the truth because it would be inconvenient.
          • You may very well be right about that – it’s just awfully hard for me to believe knowing how much information is out there, and how long it’s been available. I mean as recently as three to four years ago, Wikipedia’s page on Rahm Emanuel clearly delineated his family’s association with terrorism and the amoral founding of Israel. His uncle, Emanuel Auerbach, and his father who later adopted the name Emanuel as a surname (to obscure his terrorist ties?), were both members of Irgun, a violent terrorist group, who with the Stern Gang, was involved in the bombing of the King David Hotel, and the Deir Yassin massacre. The two groups were responsible for market bombings killing innocent Palestinians out vegetable shopping for their families; bombings in cinemas and assassinations such as that of the UN mediator, Folke Bernadotte, in Palestine in 1948.
            Revisionist Zionism supplied the basis of the justification of terrorism: “… every Jew had the right to enter Palestine; only active retaliation would deter the Arabs; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state”.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
            It would seem reasonable to assume that anyone who’s been alive and aware of political reality the last 50 years would have, minimally, an awareness that Israel began its existence through breaking man’s laws and the higher law as well. And she’s a smart enough person one would expect her to be curious about the sad state of the world, and the causes of its problems.
            You, avelna, appear always to be such a very nice person, gentle and kind, maybe you are too generous to Warren. And maybe I am at fault, not being generous enough.
      • What! This comes up as I post a reply to Alison – I see Mona’s on top of it. Thank you.
        “Thanks for your comment. Please be aware that many comments are held for moderation; your comment might not appear immediately.”
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      • When you push people out of their homeland, divest them of their property, occupy them with a militarized police force, randomly murder their children and other family members and repeatedly blow-up efforts to establish a two-state solution, the Israelis and their supporters should not be surprised or act indignant when the Palestinians resist their oppression.
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      • Add Comment Link to Comment Block is working now but entered comments do not post…..either at the beginning or end of comments.
        TESTED x 3 comments.
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        • Additional note: Comment counter is also not working.
          Refresh after making comment or reply comment returns another comment or reply option box with Name and E-mail pre-entered.
          Hang.
          Reply
      • Link to Add Comment box is working now but entered comments do not post to either the beginning or end of the comments section.
        Comment box is NOT WORKING. Tested x 3 tries.
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    • Warren, Clinton, Kerry etc. do not represent me or many other Americans (nor do the Republicans.) I agree with your perspective Velia. Some of my so-called progressive friends kept touting Warren as if she could save the country. I have found that you really have to research the US representatives to see what they are truly made of politically. Warrn likes to present herself as a individualistic, firebrand supporting justice. What a crock!
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    • “American interest” is a hateful phrase. It means anything that the US wants, it takes. Elizabeth Warren is a wonderful person domestically. She know nothing of foreign affairs. She is very smart but how smart is someone who kowtows to the Israelis and believes the propaganda? Before siding with Netanyahu and AIPAC, she must be asked this: What would you do if you lived in a prison with no way out without permission from an occupier and every couple of years your families are decimated…in this last case 577 children are dead. How would you feel if your fishing waters shrank from 20 miles, to 12 miles, to 3 miles and if your boat went over the line you would be killed? How would you like your pay for work to be held up for months at someone’s discretion when the money belongs to you? How would you like to be allowed the fewest calories possible just to stay alive. How would you like your family’s 500 year old olive orchard to be ripped out of the ground and your captors take the land for their housing? How would you like someone else determining whether or not you get medicine, water, electricity? How would you like to be questioned, sometime brutally, at checkpoints. In fact, how would you like to have to go through checkpoints at all just to get home or have them closed off altogether at some official’s whim? How would you like to always lose in court even when you are right? I could write forever but will just suggest you read Henry Siegman, a German-born American Jew. He is a non-resident research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Longon, a former Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former National Director of the American Jewish Congress. He wrote, “Israel Provoked this War” and was recently interviewed for two days on Democracy Now! Most enlightening.
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      • How come the GAZA defenders claiming that it is an “Open air prison” don’t question the fact that the “prisoners” manage to smuggle in thousands of rockets, produce more, but have to rely on UN and others for feeding the population? How come the HAMAS Sheikhs have grandiose villas on the Med shore while the population suffers from deficits of everyday stuff? How come when Israelis withdrew and left greenhouses and olive groves, all of it was annihilated “We don’t want anything from the Jews”? Has anyone of them been to GAZA or Israel? Perhaps, because BBC journalist Alan Johnston and avid supporter of Gazans and Israel-basher was kidnapped in GAZA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Johnston
        BTW, when release a few months later he rushed to Jerusalem knowing pretty well that the blood-thirsty Israelis will not even spank him!
        Oy-Vay!
        Reply
        • How come the GAZA defenders claiming that it is an “Open air prison” don’t question the fact that the “prisoners” manage to smuggle in thousands of rockets, produce more, but have to rely on UN and others for feeding the population?
          Because like prisoners virtually everywhere, some Gazans place a priority on smuggling and manufacturing weapons. It would be surprising if they did not.
          Reply
          • Mona,
            If you are ready to defend the Palestinians under occupation, you also have to be ready to defend them against Hamas that is actually oppressing them through its brutal rules. Maybe you already have and I did not notice. If it is the case, then disregard my point.
          • If you are ready to defend the Palestinians under occupation, you also have to be ready to defend them against Hamas that is actually oppressing them through its brutal rules. Maybe you already have and I did not notice. If it is the case, then disregard my point.
            Huh? Gazans are angry and outraged with Israel, not with Hamas. I read many Gazans and follow some on Twitter. I’ve seen no such sentiments toward Hamas.
            No, they are anguished and outraged at the dead, injured children and other innocents, as well as their homes being turned into rubble by *ISRAEL.* They are angry at their Warden –who keeps them imprisoned — Israel.
          • Human Rights Watch 2010
            In Gaza…severe violations of personal freedom, and repression of civil society groups that defend that freedom, appear to be sharply on the rise. The Hamas government …is consolidating its social control by upping its efforts to Islamize Gaza.
            “I have seen no such sentiments toward Hamas”.
            Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 2013
            “In the Gaza Strip common violations of the right to freedom of opinion and expression included: summoning, arresting and interrogating journalists and opinion writers as well as citizens for their political opinions; assaulting and disregarding journalists by members of the security services; closing media offices; confiscating journalists’s equipment during their work; and preventing journalists from covering events and from traveling”
            Maybe the reason you have not noticed that the Gazans are oppressed is because they would face arrest, torture, and even execution if they dare to challenge Hamas.
            Your concern for innocent civilians, specially children is very noble. However, please note these two points:
            1) There was no blockade of the Gaza Strip after Israel left in 2005. Why a blockade was imposed two years after the Israeli disengagement?
            2) Based on Hamas’ extreme Islamic ideology, which calls for the destruction of Israel, and which specifically states that there is ” no negotiated settlement” (Article 13 of their charter), is it possible that Hamas uses human shields whenever it has a military conflict with Israel? As you probably know, according to the extreme Islamic ideology a kid who dies is martyr, not an innocent civilian.
  3. She was my heroine for her internal Policy of helping the poor end the vulnerable. Now, she is quite the opposite in foreign relations.She deceives me a lot. She seems to want the jewish vote at all costs. Too bad.
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    • It’s not the Jewish vote,they make up less than 2% of the electorate.It’s the Jewish Zionist media that makes or breaks candidates that she is angling for.
      Reply
      • Is it really votes at this point in summer of 2014? Perhaps her interest is securing corporate and financial support, without which there is no candidacy. So much for representatives of actual ordinary people!
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      • I’d like to reply to this comment about the Jewish Zionist meeting but in a few hours I have my weekly meeting with some other Jews on how we should be running the world.
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        • I’m afraid it’s really as simple as you say, Sidney: bought and paid for. Patriotism is out, treason is in. “It’s a republic, madam, if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin is said to have replied to a questioning woman as he was leaving the constitutional convention. The answer is now in and it’s definitive. No doubt it good that the “indispensable” nation finds a little humility and plunges to earth. The urgent task is get the fingers of so many sociopaths off those nuclear buttons.
          Reply
    • It is called national socialism..She wants the “victors spoils” to go to the poor, welfare programs at “home”. She is not very intrested in where the “spoils” come from. I say she is a good redistributer of wealth,,,,(not her own wealth though ofc…)
      Reply
  4. More proof of, a Fascist Dictatorial Militarized Surveillance State, but the military forgets two important points, illegal orders are invalid orders and they do not supersede the Constitution.Hopefully if this goes to trial, it will be a Federal Jury trial
    Ferguson MO. is not a black or white issue its about, Facism or Liberty ! Its time to dismantle the Fascist Dictatorial Militarized Surveillance State ! Americans must realize if they can get away with military tactics against black folks they can get away with doing the same to you ! Wrong is wrong & it matters not what your skin color is .
    Time for some PAYBACK, wake up America, Democrats or Republicans. liberals or conservatives it’s two sides of the same evil coin it’s called Fascism. So the next time a Democrat or Republican asks for your vote, support or money just say no & vote for an independent candidate.
    Send a message they can’t ignore & will understand ! ! Both parties have been complicit in this criminal activity. Some will say they don’t want to waste their vote, but you are already wasting your vote on Democrats & Republicans because they are the ones who have already betrayed us & they have been doing it for decades. This should be a joint effort on the part of all Americans, Democrats,Republicans & Independent voters ! Organize now before its to late ! Your liberty is at stake and that of your children & grandchildren !
    REMEMBER: POLITICIANS, BUREAUCRATS AND DIAPERS SHOULD BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON.
    Some word of true Patriots are as follows, as opposed to the words of false flag patriotism of today.
    He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.
    Benjamin Franklin
    He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.
    Benjamin Franklin
    Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government those
    entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
    Thomas Jefferson
    In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
    James Madison
    The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of
    their rulers may be concealed from them.
    Patrick Henry
    “We the People are the rightful masters of BOTH Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution”
    Abraham Lincoln
    America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
    Abraham Lincoln
    We should not forget the Waring of Presentation Eisenhower .
    http://YouTube.be/8y06NSBBR
    The NSA is controled & operated by the DOD & the MIC (Military Industrial Complex) Private Corporations.
    “The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.”
    President John F. Kennedy
    Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
    April 27, 1961
    As is said in the law, falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus. (“False in one thing, false in all things” is an instruction given to jurors: if they find that a witness lied about an important matter, they are entitled to ignore everything else that witness said.)
    Also, as a reminder Hermann Goering said at the Nuremberg Trials .
    “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
    NSA General Keith Alexander told lawmakers “that even if approved, the measure would not necessarily end warrant-less collection depending on judicial interpretation.”
    Disclaimer: Be advised it is possible, that this communication is being monitored by the National Security Agency, GCHQ or other third party organizations. I neither condone nor support any such policy, by any Government authority or organization that does not comply, as stipulated by the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
    Reply
    • I fully agree that both major parties are now totally owned and controlled by the corporate elite and to vote for candidates from either party is truly “throwing away your vote.” It is time for a “Vote Other” campaign beginning with this year’s election to demonstrate widespread support for independent candidates so that voters begin to have real choices on upcoming ballots. Petitioning for the addition of 3 Independent members to the 3 Republican and 3 Democrat members on the Electoral Commission is also necessary to level the playing field for alternative candidates.
      Reply
  5. http://eclinik.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/israel-citizens-hold-key-us-govt-positions/
    ISRAELI CITIZENS HOLD KEY US GOV’T POSITIONS
    AUGUST 21, 2014
    Press TV has learned that a long list of senior US government officials and legislators hold dual US-Israeli citizenship, proving Tel Aviv’s powerful influence over Washington’s decision-making process.
    ………
    The prominent US-Israeli officials in the list include:
    Attorney General Michael Mukasey,
    Head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff,
    Chairman of Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Richard Perle,
    former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowits,
    Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith,
    National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams,
    White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten,
    Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman,
    Director of Policy Planning at the State Department Richard Haass,
    US Trade Representative (cabinet-level position) Robert Zoellick,
    Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Eliot Cohen,
    former UN Ambassador John Bolton,
    White House Political Director Ken Melman,
    White House Speechwriter David Frum,
    Deputy Secretary of Commerce Samuel Bodman, and
    Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board Henry Kissinger.
    Israel receives billions of dollars of American taxpayers’ money each year. Under an existing 10-year aid agreement between Washington and Tel Aviv signed in 2007, USD 30 billion of American money is flowing to Israel.
    The US’ annual military aid to Israel has been elevated from USD 2.4 billion to USD 3.1 billion through 2017 under the existing agreement.
    ………..
    Reply
    • I wonder how many Jewish American pols and family members have homes in Israel or the WB?Would be very very revealing eh?
      Reply
    • I have to say that I don’t think much of your source, Beverly, or the particular article you have drawn attention to. The article is dated August 21, 2014, then goes on to name the specific people you delineated above, all of whom are no longer currently in government positions as they were employed during the Bush administration.
      It has nothing to say about any current administration folks whatsoever, which seems a bit suspect as well.
      In addition, a cursory examination of John Bolton’s history, for instance, shows him to be Lutheran. A lot of the neocon supporters of Israel’s militaristic policies are Christians (Dick Cheney, a Methodist, and Lindsey Graham, who is Baptist, come immediately to mind). While some folks in government, like Rahm Emmanuel no doubt DO have dual citizenship, I’m pretty sure you have to do more than just liberally and sloppily kiss Israel’s ass and pander their whims using US tax dollars to obtain said citizenship. And I don’t think the existence of such citizenship is necessarily any more, or less, damning than the actions they take in the name, and against the wishes, of many of the citizens of the country they are sworn to serve.
      Reply
      • I have to say that I don’t think much of your source
        Yes, I avoid citing Press TV, except when they directly quote someone, and preferably with video.
        Reply
        • The article cited and quoted by Beverly Harlan asserts Press TV as its source, but doesn’t give any actual citation, so I wouldn’t hold Press TV responsible for its inaccuracies.
          Reply
      • Rahm Emmanuel–Now there’s a clever face in Politics
        Is he not a Israeli agent in the ear of Obama from day one
        Then he gets Chicago–nice
        Right in front of us, kids
        Reply
    • I am quite taken aback to discover that Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Bush and Dick Cheney, Obama and John Kerry are not listed here. Are they for some reason disqualified from holding such dual citizenship?
      Reply
  6. blockquote>Bangert told Warren that the money “could have been spent on infrastructure or helping immigrants fleeing Central America.”
    Also in related news, the Iron Dome that Warren is so pleased to send tax payer money to continue to fund does not work as claimed; not even close. Boondoggle.
    Ted Postol, a physicist at the university and an expert in missiles and missile defenses, has found evidence that only about 5 percent of Iron Dome engagements result in the targeted rocket being destroyed or even sufficiently damaged to disable its explosive warhead. In the other 95 percent of cases, the interceptor either misses entirely or just lightly damages the enemy munition, allowing the rocket’s intact warhead to continue arcing toward the ground.
    Reply
    • Not this tripe again. From TFA:
      Postol based his conclusion on a careful analysis of amateur videos and photos of Iron Dome interceptions over the past three years.
      That’s one. Two is that Postol defines success as a direct hit, period. That’s a very narrow definition because an interceptor not being launched at a missile that’s not about to hit populated areas, a missile being destroyed by interceptor explosion in proximity, deflection without complete destruction and so on are not counted as success by this analysis.
      Of course the alternative being that this is all a massive Israeli conspiracy theory. Plausible no doubt to a moron who desperately wishes for some dirt on Israel, no matter what kind.
      Reply
      • Of course the alternative being that this is all a massive Israeli conspiracy theory. Plausible no doubt to a moron who desperately wishes for some dirt on Israel, no matter what kind.–GC
        Yes, of course that would have to be the alternative. Only a moron could believe that Raytheon is corrupt and that the US government would spend tax dollars on a system that is not what it is cracked up to be.
        Postol’s name should lend some gravity to his claims: He was one of the central figures in debunking the high success rate of the Patriot missile system alleged by the U.S. military in the early 1990s, using a methodology very similar to the one he’s now employed to analyze Iron Dome. A House subcommittee that rebuked the military’s claims about the Patriot system relied heavily on Postol’s research.
        “Among people who really know what they’re talking about, I don’t think this is subject to dispute,” Postol told TPM by phone. “The only way that there would be controversy about this is if you had a political agenda.”
        Reply
        • His credentials are irrelevant if he’s A) discussing a very specific type of interception and B) arrived at his conclusions by watching “amateur videos and photos“.
          There are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticize Israel for, hell, I might even join in. If you decide to debase yourself by spouting lunacy however, I’m going to call you out on it.
          Reply
        • One additional point. Once again from TFA:
          He admitted that most of his data is from a previous round of fighting in 2012
          At the heart of the Iron Dome system is probably a piece of software that decides when to fire an interceptor and where. Software can be upgraded. My smartphone received two major upgrades and several minor ones since 2012. What makes you think Iron Dome remained unchanged?
          Reply
          • no physical limitations, it’s just software. just like a smart phone. lol. the sky, is literally, the limit!
            *jerk off*
      • “… a moron who desperately wishes for some dirt on Israel …”
        That’s funny… only a moron would be desperate for dirt on Israel since it’s so blatantly there in copious amounts. Israel wallows in great mudpiles of foetid dirt like a fat, contented pig.
        Reply
  7. AIPAC rules! Any USA politician with ambition, whatever their politics, left or right, has to tow the Zionist party line. Senator Warren’s choice is to do whatever AIPAC wants, or else she’ll soon become ex-Senator Warren.
    Reply
  8. Perfect example of both of how an ideology captures the mind, and how the status quo has its own momentum.
    I have known for over 50 years from sources like I. F. Stone’s weekly that Israel policy toward Palestinians was wrong and had to change. I must have bought the liberal Zionist rhetoric that things would work out eventually.
    Only in the past week have I realized that the agenda of Zionism for over 100 years has been what is brutally displayed in the Gaza genocide. And I have read Juan Cole every morning for more than a decade. If I didn’t get the big picture, one would expect that low information people would not have a clue.
    Alison Weir has been on this issue for decades and extensive information is available on the web site “If Americans Knew – what Americans need to know about I/P” about the monetary and foreign policy costs to the US in the support of Israel.
    http://ifamericansknew.org/
    and here is a speech by Alison that is an excellent overview
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-UwcVP_k2Y&feature=youtu.be
    I have been following Max Blumenthal on twitter and Ferguson and see parallels of the use of military in civil society. Some excellent recent interviews of Max and articles on the topic.
    American political leaders have ignored the hard problems of governing for decades.
    Why not have some backbone and end the support of war crimes in Israel and improve the world?
    Reply
    • Don Midwest USA – you nailed it – U.S. foreign policy has to change and it can’t with Israel & AIPAC interfering . Remove AIPAC from U.S. Politics and sanction Israel to stop building illegal settlements and to end the occupation and apartheid.
      Reply
      • Rick,
        Couldn’t have said it any better.
        Further, AIPAC and the pro-Israeli lobby use their control over Congress and the U.S. electronic and print media to demonize this simple, fundamental formula for a solution to the injustice in Gaza and the West Bank.
        Reply
  9. You don’t get to be a famous Senator or Governor or even Congressman if you fight strong Lobbygroups such as AIPAC. So, no surprise about her reaction.
    Reply
    • So, no surprise about her reaction.
      So to elaborate on your lack of surprise, are you saying that is okay with you that Warren and other sitting politicians promote dishonest propaganda and cast their senatorial or House votes based on that dishonest propaganda? Are you saying that no one should bother to point out the details of what a sitting senator has to say on policy about Israel? Are you saying that Glenn Greenwald is wasting his time writing a post such as the one he has written today? Are you saying that we readers are wasting our time bothering to read it, since it is, in your words, “no surprise?”
      Reply
      • It’s certainly not OK, but its hopeless to expect any different from someone who has a reasonable chance to become President of the US.
        I think its a waste of time to try to expose the candidates, thy are – more or less – pretty much the same. It would be worth a fight to try and change the system though.
        The Congress should be elected differently, (for a good example, look at Germany how they elect their Bundestag) the main power should rely in the Congress and not with the President.
        Maybe that should be the focus. Thats what Im missing in all these reports I read everywhere these days.
        Reply
        • I think its a waste of time to try to expose the candidates, thy are – more or less – pretty much the same. It would be worth a fight to try and change the system though.
          Warren isn’t a candidate, she is a sitting Senator. Also, one would think that “exposing the candidates” and exposing the policy proposals of politicians within the system would be part of changing the system. Why bother changing the system if it is not corrupt? How is anyone to know that it is corrupt and just how corrupted it is if the system and the players within the system are not, specifically and in detail, exposed?
          Reply
          • It is already accepted amongst the population that DC and everybody in it is totally corrupt. So whats the point in further explaining to people just how corrupt they are? Maybe it would be better to promote a change in the system and explain what kind of change that should be and why it would be better.
            But if you wanna expose, you could expose Lobbies. Exposing politicians seems a waste of time since you dont really have to convince everybody how corrupt they are. The people already know. We should focus on really promoting a change in the system. maybe that will lead to somewhere.
          • The people already know.
            Which I’m sure will explain why “the people” will be cheering wildly for Warren if and when she becomes a candidate?
            How is exposing the lobbies any different than exposing the politicians? You don’t think that “The people already know” that the lobbies are corrupt?
          • But if you wanna expose, you could expose Lobbies. Exposing politicians seems a waste of time since you dont really have to convince everybody how corrupt they are.
            So many of the lobbyists are former or future politicians (or vice-versa) so exposing the corruption of one is exposing the corruption of the other. Not a pointless exercise methinks.

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