31 thoughts on “Chuck Schumer to Address Pro-Settler Rally – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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      1. “in return for his sorry ass.”

        Surely his case should be considered on its own merits? Personally I think Pollard (like Vanunu) committed a crime, but has probably been excessively punished for it. He should be released (in the case of Vanunu, all restrictions should be lifted). Do you really think life imprisonment is fair in his case? Why should what happens vis-a-vis the peace process have anything to do with it? What do you think about Vanunu’s case?

        1. Do you really think life imprisonment is fair in his case?

          Hell yes. THis guy was a cross between Benedict Arnold, Kim Philby and Klaus Fuchs. He represented the single most damaging debacle in the history of U.S. intelligence. He gave away the U.S. plan for a nuclear attack against Russia among other crown jewels.

          What did Vanunu do? He revealed Israel had a nuclear program. Big deal. Did he betray Israeli secrets? Did he sell out to Israel’s enemies? No. He was a whistle blower.

          1. Well, the problem is the full extent of the information he gave Israel hasn’t been officially revealed. The median tariff for the crime he was convicted of – “one count of passing non-injurious classified information to an ally” – is two to four years. Life seems a bit excessive here (as does the years in solitary confinement, although I’m opposed to solitary confinement in all cases), especially as he was never charged, indicted, or convicted of treason. Still, I think he’s eligible for parole in 2015.

            The other side of all this is that it seems he was doing it for the money, that he shopped the stuff to two or three other countries beforehand (South Africa, Pakistan), and that he didn’t cooperate fully during the trial.

            I still can’t find anything about this nuclear attack on the Soviet Union stuff.

          2. Oh, I don’t know…a lot of what he stole is known in its general outlines. You can get a better feel for it here.

            A source I trust implicitly told me about the claim that he conveyed the plan for a nuclear attack on the Soviets to Israel. The closest online info related to this is in the Stephen Green article I linked to above:

            …Much of the operation’s take had nothing to do with the Middle East at all – it contained details of US and Soviet intelligence, communications and military capabilities. This included, according to the government’s Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing, “details about US ship positions, aircraft stations, tactics, and training operations.” Much of this material could have been of interest to only one country – the Soviet Union.

            This concern was heightened when, during the Pollard investigation, a Soviet defector in US hands revealed that in addition to the two Soviet spies serving prison terms in Israel (Shabtai Kalmanovitch and Marcus Klingberg), there was a third who had not been caught. He was well placed in the Defense Ministry, and still “active.” Quite possibly, secrets Pollard sent to Israel were passed on to Moscow, whether or not that had been intended.

      2. That has nothing to do with it. If he is guilty as charged, he should not get out no matter what Israel does.
        Besides, Israel does not need one more rightwing Sharansky/Lieberman type demagogue.

        1. He has been found guility; that’s not the question. The issue is whether life was an appropriate sentence. For the crimes he committed the average tariff is usually much less.

  1. Manhigut Yehudit ROB MUCHNICK — one of the scheduled speakers, from Moshe Feiglin’s Likud faction. Gee, that’s some distinguished company, chuck. american friends of ateret cohanim, too .and it’s all going to be broadcast on arutz sheva, the settlers’ radio station. mazel tov, chuck.

  2. It isn’t just Schumer, it’s also Rep. Anthony Weiner, who might run for mayor, as well as a few state officials.

    The things you mention aren’t the half of it. Did you notice the dedication to the 3,000 “victims of Oslo”?

  3. The other day I left a comment with admittedly intemperate language, so it was understandably deleted. Sometimes the realities just get to me.

    So, not to suggest the intemperate, but what does “wingnut” mean or imply? Why not charcterize these “wingnuts” by words that say exactly what “on the record” specific actions and results they pursue vis’a’vis Arabs and Palestinians? Are the exact words too harsh, too vivid, too “intemperate”, too inhumane?

    The posts here are heroic, as also in Mondoeweiss and others. But why euphimisms instead of real old Merriam-Webster words?

  4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingnut_(politics)

    “Wingnut” (sometimes “wing-nut”) is used in United States politics as a political epithet referring to a person who holds extreme political views. According to Merriam-Webster, it is analogous with the word “radical.”[1] In American politics, the term is more often aimed at members of the political right than those of the political left.

  5. Could you give me some sources about the bit about Pollard giving secrets about an American plan to attack the USSR and then that Israel gave these plans to the USSR? I have never heard about that

    1. The account was conveyed to me by someone with good sources. I believe it may appear in Stephen Green’s book about Israeli spying in the U.S. But I’ve just contacted the person to ask him or her where the story originates. I’m highly confident of the accuracy of the information based on my source.

      1. There is also a book on Pollard by Ronald Olive, a counter-intelligence officer who investigated Pollard. I believe the book is available on Amazon.

  6. Richard,

    Thanks for the great catch and for bringing the event poster as is. It speaks volumes.

    As to Schumer himself, this is just a natural result of a political map in which Yvet Lieberman is a “right-of-center hardliner”, making Bibi-Olmert-Livni-Barak a “reasonable center”, J-Street are “Leftists” and groups like JVP “beyond the pale”, not to be mentioned even by people who see themselves as left-of-center.

    So why not pander to the “hardliners”, esp. that so many of them are your constituents?

    But maybe your catch will bring some reason to this distortion.

  7. In New York it is well known that this yearly concert which follows the Israel Independence Day parade is the province of the Right-wing settler Ateret Cohanim. Shumer can not claim to be a simple Israel supporter- for that he can speak at the parade- but to chose to speak for the settlers is a conscious and dangerous decision. Senator Chuck Shumer is no naif- he knowingly is lying down with mangy wolves. Shelley Silver and Dov Hikind have long been close to RW othodoxy. Anthony Weiner sees his district’s constituency as rooted in the Brooklyn religious- hope that does not help citywide when rhe runs for Mayor..

  8. RE: “CHUCK SCHUMER TO ADDRESS PRO-SETTLER RALLY”

    MY COMMENT: Is this the same Chuck Schumer who said during the Gaza slaughter that Israel’s sending text messages to their prospective victims showed that they had “The Most Moral Army on Earth™”?

  9. One consequence of denying that Israel has engaged in a form of colonialism is that the right wing over there will learn nothing of post Second World War developments in colonial territories. Even when colonial powers offered concessions these were generally “too little too late”. These right wing folk are not prepared to make any concessions at all and apparently believe, amazingly, idiotically, that Israel will get away with this in the long run.

  10. In addition to being a pro-AIPAC fanatic Chuck Schumer also is one of the key people responsible for the financial crisis — having faithfully served Wall Street’s corrupt agenda for many years.

    Unfortunately key players in the Israel lobby and those responsible for the financial crisis are in many cases the same people and institutions (Chuck Schumer, Goldman Sachs Larry Summers, Bob Rubin, etc)

    Something to think about!

  11. Chuck Schumer. What can you say? For me he is practically the embodiment of what’s wrong with the Democratic party. Democrats like Schumer, Weiner, Max Baucus, even Reid and see-no-evil hear-no-evil Pelosi, along with numerous others, have seriously tarnished and compromised the Democrats for years to come. If we had a more functioning democratic system, those corrupt boobs could easily be tossed out on their behinds in a vigorous primary and replaced with honest good-old FDR liberals. Perhaps this can in fact happen. When people like Barbara Lee and Jeff Merkley are at the forefront of the party instead of those nincompoops, we’ll be in much better shape as a nation. Such an eventuality (however far-fetched) would help give President Obama something substantive to work with as well.

  12. bar_kochba asked Richard:

    “Could you give me some sources about the bit about Pollard giving secrets about an American plan to attack the USSR and then that Israel gave these plans to the USSR? I have never heard about that”

    Bar-Kochba, there are apparently quite a few things you have never heard about.

    Look at Seymour M.Hersh, The Samson Option, 1991 pp.298 ff. Hersh refers to the account of Ari Ben-Menashe, an intelligenge adviser of Shamir. Ben-Menashe claimed that Shamir “viscerally disliked the United States” which, according to another of Hersh’s sources, he regarded as “very soft, bourgeois, materialistic and effete”. According to this Israeli source Shamir had “always been fascinated with authority and strong regimes”.

    According to Menashe Shamir “authorized the exchange of inteliigence with the Soviets on U.S.weapons systems”. Hersh’s second Israeli source claimed that “Pollard material was sanitized and dictated to a secretary before being turned over to the Soviets. Some material was directly provided to Yevgeni M.Primakov, the Soviet foreign ministry specialist on the Middle East who met publicly and privately with Shamir while he was prime minister. … (Shamir) worked diligently to develop new ties with the Soviet Union, which he envisioned as a means of balancing, or offsetting Israel’s traditional reliance on the U.S.”

  13. one of the speakers is from the Jerusalem Reclamation Project. here’s a mention of them today in Arutz Sheva, note who will be speaking at their event:

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131395
    Jerusalem Reclamation Project
    Another pro-Israel event is scheduled for Tuesday night of this week in New York City, Frager said. The Jerusalem Reclamation Project dinner will take place on May 19, and will raise awareness – and hopefully funding – for projects that restore Jewish life to historic Jerusalem. Conservative commentator Glenn Beck will be the dinner’s keynote speaker.

    The Jerusalem Reclamation Project aims to purchase Arab-owned properties in Jerusalem, primarily in historically Jewish areas of the city such as the Old City and the Mei Shiloach (Silwan) neighborhoods, from which Jews were expelled during or shortly prior to the Jordanian occupation of 1948 to 1967.

    The properties are then purchased by Jewish families, who take up residence in the often dangerous primarily-Arab areas, slowly restoring Jewish life to the neighborhoods and restoring unity to the city as a whole.

    1. Jordanian occupation? are you moron, who will we ever survie 100 or 200 years from now based on lies… who can you justify taking some one els’s land…hmmm I suppose power allows you that .,..and now the cris about Iran…Israel is the 2nd super power in the world. It can even stand up to the USA. stop playing victim. I need to see peace for my grandchildren and great grandchildren…I do not want them to be cased by old bibilical hatred. Give Peace a chance. The strong can.,..the weak paletinians have nothing to offer.

  14. I am disturbed that people find excuses to what Pollard has done and the likes of him. He simply spied on my coiuntry for my people which in turn provided that info to the soviets in exchange for Favors” Immigration, UN votes etc” This is a capital; crimes where if it were an Arab who committed this, there would be cries for hanging him, a case we do not see with this degenerate and his AIPAC handlers. Please do not Compare Pollard to Vannua. Two different cases and scenarios, Vannua exposed the lies of the zionists where other nations were dissimiated for a fraction of what israel has done” Iraq”
    If were were to live respected and loved, we should adhere to the same moral values that connect us together as humans,spying for israel is not a justification unless some Rabi deems that Kosher as they has deemed what we have done to our Arab cousins.

    1. What a moron you are. Radio Islam posted, in its entirety, an article Stephen Green wrote in the Christian Science Monitor which is no longer available at their site. Maybe you have a problem with the Monitor? Is it anti-Semitic too? If you’d prefer, I’ll upload the article to my own site & host it here. Would that make you happy?

    1. You can assume whatever the hell you like. I don’t answer troll provocations like yrs. And I hereby declare that any statement you make on this subject concerning my views will be wrong.

      I won’t address this question again & if you ask it you will lose yr comment privileges.

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