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i went to a great event last night at beit zatoun-- a fundraiser/talk by lia tarachansky, the middle east correspondent for the real news network.

the real news network is currently fundraising to send lia back to the middle east as well as raise enough funds to hire a palestinian journalist.

lia showed a few videos and discussed her position as a correspondent reporting on the israeli/palestine conflict as an israeli. lia's reports were amazing and she's a great speaker--the audience was really engaged and there was some really thoughtful discussion.

the report that i found most interesting was a report on the gaza flotilla attacks--lia was in israel when the attacks took place and she said that she didn't know why everyone was so surprised because the israeli media had been reporting about how the attacks would go down weeks before they took place.

that report is here:




so the whole point of her talk was to show how necessary actual news reporting is and to get donations, so go here and donate--you can specifiy which sector you want your donation to support-- if they raise enough money they can send lia back to do more reporting AND add another reporter to the mix!

donate!

also, if you haven't been to beit zatoun yet, you should go--it's great.

how gross is this?

despite having an environmental catastrophe on his hands, obama took some time today to make sure that he isn't on the wrong side of another catastrophe: israel and palestine.

obama met with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today for a photo op to dispel concerns that the united states and israel are on a break.

just like a marriage, allied nations have to work hard to make sure that their relationship doesn't crumble. so obama and netanyahu scheduled some 'them' time today.

in fact, obama said "“The bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable" and went on to warn the palestinians against inciting the israelis.

last straw for this one on obama. after the flotilla atrocity to get together with netanyahu to prove to the world that the united states isn't mad at israel? childish.

committed to peace, obama? well then maybe you should take the peace option on this one and NOT back israel.

"one bullet in the chest and four bullets fired into his head at close range"

i hope that the recent information released about 19 year old furkan dogan, a turkish/american citizen aboard a ship attacked by israeli forces, will shake some people out of their stupor of 'self defense' and 'right to blockade'.
nine people were murdered that night one of whom was dogan, shot five times at close range. four out of five, in the head.

stephen saperstein frug of attempts writes of the latest reports:
"If confirmed, it will certainly put the lie to any claim of self defense by the shooter. A bullet in the chest might well be self-defense (by an aggressor, of course -- the Israelis shouldn't have been on that ship in the first place, and they were the ones attacking -- but nevertheless understandable). A bullet in the head at close range... possibly, probably not but possibly, that's self-defense too. Three more? That's murder. And calls into question the entire rest of the scenario."

jim buie, an american blogger residing in the same town in turkey that dogan was from, writes of the man:

"This young man obviously was a respected member of the community. He was studying at a private high school in Kayseri, similar to the one I teach at, and hoped to become a doctor. He was a neighbor of a student of mine."

on mondoweiss they're asking "can the israeli government kill american citizens with impunity?" what will the american government do to ensure that there is a real investigation into the murder of one of its own citizens?

this is a really great article as well.

the amount of sneering indifference some people have shown towards the loss of life not only on the flotilla but in israeli occupied palestine is just sad. but, this horrific incident has finally and unequivocally proven why we need to stand with palestine.