'Democratic Underground' Attacks Salem-News Writers Opposed to Racism

Alison Weir and Eileen Fleming attacked by "Democratic Underground"; very democratic standing up for a war crime government, yup...

Artwork by Carlos Latuff, friend of Salem-News.com located in Rio de Janeiro. To see more of his work, visit: Latuff Gallery

(SALEM) - Here we go again, this time it is the (cough) "democratic underground" (DU- just think 'depleted uramium') that decided to take a stand for apartheid by stabbing our brave writers, whose anti-racist positions seem to rub the folks at DU the wrong way, right in the back.

The fuss that lit this fuse was a one-year old video out of Israel that we posted, featuring a former Israeli soldier talking at length about the war crimes committed against the Palestinians back in 1948.

The former Israeli soldier, Amnon Neumann, was recorded 17 June 2010. He talks about how the Palestinians facing the militant Jews, "...didn't have a military capacity, they were very unorganized."

He talked about much-feared Givati Brigade soldiers, and how what makes war interesting, is what happens to the people who do not fight, "The most terrible events of war are at times worse than the war itself," Neumann discusses, "cases in which women are killed... children are killing..."

He said few people in the Arab villages fought back, they were poor and miserable and had no weapons, at least nothing modern.

The poor guy feels bad about what happened and wants to set the record straight. The DU writers state in regard to the video confession, "That ought to be enough for anyone".

Well it should shouldn't it? Only that isn't what they mean, not at all. DU writes, "...about a video from a year-old interview with someone. I don't doubt that he is truthfully stating his opinion..."

OK, good, at this point they believe Amnon Neumann, who they refer to in the video as "someone", is telling the truth. If this particular someone is telling the truth, then Israeli policy equated to 'atrocity city' and this is extremely important, as it marks the beginning of a murderous pattern Israel has been engaged in willingly and violently for every one of its 63 brief years.

DU writes, "The guy talking in the video is speaking in Hebrew. I can't speak to the accuracy of the English translation." (Letters italicized by this writer)

Oh good, they just pile on the professional treatment don't they? DU goes after our writers for something someone said, because they can't tell if the translation is real, but instead of mailing it to an Israeli friend or even an American friend who speaks Hebrew, DU apparently just assumes we are wrong, what kind of a Bullsh*t group is DU anyway? They like war crimes and government terrorism, Israel's two specialties, that is clear; but to do no research at all?

Here is the 'grand finale' from these folks who have absolutely no business stepping near a keyboard in this twisted age of broken international laws.

"If we want to open things up to posting shocking things said on video, there are loads of Arabic-language ones translated into English and posted on sites with at least as much legitimacy as 'salem-news' that I'm sure folks could dig up..." "...Do we really want to go there?"

Alison Weir

I have a feeling I know where they should go, and by the way, they singled out two of our most engaged writers in the area if Palestine and Israel: Alison Weir of ifamericansonlyknew.org, and Eileen Fleming of wearewideawake.org.

These women have dealt their share of what I like to sometimes call "truth blows" to apartheid Israel, where the road you drive on depends on what religion you are part of; where Palestinian kids can be arrested at half the age of Israeli kids, and where all Palestinians are governed under a separate set of laws than those which regulate Jewish people.

Eileen Fleming

Alison is the most well-known U.S. activist in exposing Israel, hence the name of her group, and she is also the President of two-decade old national group, Council for the National Interest.

Testimony of Amnon Neumann Former soldier Amnon Neumann Amnon Neumann: I was in the Second, Eighth, and Ninth Battalions of the Palmach from February 1948 until my discharge in October 1949. I was there for this whole period, except for a few months after I had been wounded and after my father had passed away. The most significant period for me in terms of the Nakba was April-May 1948, when the battles or clashes with the locals took place, until the Egyptian Army arrived. At first we escorted convoys traveling on the road from 'Iraq Suwaydan, from Rehovot, [through] 'Iraq Suwaydan, Kawkaba and Burayr, to Nir-'Am where our company headquarters were located. Then an armed group of Arabs situated itself in Burayr and didn’t let us through, so we took a different route, from near Ashdod where Isdud was located, through Majdal, Barbara, Bayt Jirja, to Yad Mordechai. From there we drove to Nir-'Am. Those were the two routes [we used] until the Egyptian army arrived. When the Egyptian army arrived, it was a completely different situation. The Egyptian army arrived when we had wiped out all Arab resistance, which wasn’t that strong. - 1948 Palmach soldier describing the occupation of the Negev villages, initiated and organized by Amir Hallel. The testimony was video recorded by Lia Tarachansky. Miri Barak prepared the transcription. Eitan Bronstein edited, summarized, and added footnotes. Translated to English by Asaf Kedar. Video editing by Zohar Kfir. - http://zochrot.org/en - Neumann testimony

Eileen has traveled to Israel and Palestine seven times, in the process interviewing and recording video segments with Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear Whistleblower who defected and told a London-based newspaper about Israel's illegal, undeclared nuclear weapons which place the entire world in jeopardy. For this Vanunu was kidnapped by Israeli agents and placed in solitary confinement for the better part of 18 years.

Israel maintains a system that leads to terrible cruelty with absolute vigilance, and adds endless whining about "security" as Israel's forces blow Arab people to smithereens, kids and all. Only an idiot would rally for that type of international behavior.

Within their thread, there is also advocacy. One comment reads:

"It fits perfectly with what I already know about what happened in the Palestine Mandate at that particular period in history. That the Palestinians were driven out by various means is already well documented. There is nothing in the testimony that is new to anyone who is familiar with the I/P conflict.

"Salem News may have pro-Palestinian bias, but the testimony stands on its own, and was originally from another source, silviacattori.net."

That is absolutely correct, we have pro-human bias so naturally that places us on the side of the oppressed, occupied Palestinians. We do work closely with Silvia Cattori in Rome, absolutely true.

Then another poster comes along with this beauty: "...but it is a valiant attempt at delegitimization".

So let's all remember "Democratic Underground" and what they represent, or fail to represent. I suggest dropping by and letting them know what you think of their disinterest in war crimes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1134&pid=2050.

Here is the video clip in question:

Special thanks to Silvia Cattori in Rome, and also to Omar Barghouti of Electronic Intifada.

http://www.silviacattori.net/article2602.html

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Tim King, summer 2008, covering the Iraq War

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King has more than twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim is a former U.S. Marine.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

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