Protest Bush's support of the bombing of Lebanon.

"Being anti-zionist, which I am to the bone, is not being anti-semitic."

Not always in any rate. But the two mostly do overlap.

"Anti-zionism on the indymedia site is a very good thing, since if you've watched the bourgeois press recently -- or looked at the way the Democrats and Republicans voted in Congress -- the government-controlled media in the US is 100% pro-zionist."

Give us a break... Being anti-Zionist on Indymedia means parroting the IMC anti-Zionist party line and is no big deal. Anti-Zionism is the rule in Indymedia. And every person of reasonable intelligence who commands a reasonable knowledge of the non-corporate media is aware that Indymedia is far from alone in its anti-Zionist tone and editorial position.

"Zionism is a reactionary, racist, criminal imperialist ideology, the idea that Europeans can carry out ethnic cleansing and gernocide against Arab people to establish a theocracy in the Middle East (northern Africa)."

If a "moderate" anti-Zionist can conflate the Middle East with northern Africa, it would seem Zionists have nothing to fear from anti-Zionism at all. And that's just the must laughable statement in the above passage. Slightly less hilarious assertions are the above misrepresentation of Zionism, ascribing to it a licence to commit genocide on Arabs and a drive to establish a theocracy. We can add that anti-Zionists have never presented a compelling case to prove Zionism has been an imperial project on any foreign power's behalf.

But history has proven that Palestinism pretty much fits the definition attached to Zionism: "a reactionary, racist, criminal imperialist [Muslim Arab] ideology, the idea that Muslim Arabs can carry out ethnic cleansing and gernocide against Jews to establish a[nother] [Muslim] theocracy in the Middle East."

JOIN US IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID TERRORISM
Take Action, sign up for http://www.cnionline.org political action alerts and tell Congress to stop using your tax dollars to support Israeli terrorism.
For further political action and information see http://www.endtheoccupation.org/ and http://www.cflweb.org/ and http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/ and http://www.voicesofpalestine.org/
Please copy, e-mail and distribute this as widely as possible.


BACKGROUND: Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian & Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in violation of the US Arms Export Control Act and the Geneva Conventions. * On July 12th, Israel killed 23 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with missiles fired from aircraft and shells fired from tanks. Israel killed 9 members of one family in a missile strike on a house near Gaza City.

* On July 12th, Israel launched a massive invasion of Lebanon. Israeli aircraft fired missiles targeting civilian infrastructure, including bridges, roads, a mosque, a community center, and the Beirut International Airport, and the Israeli navy is blockading Lebanon's ports. Israel has killed at least 50 Lebanese civilians and injured more than 100, including entire Lebanese families of 10 and 7 people killed in the villages of Dweir and Baflay.

* On June 27th, Israel launched a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircraft fired missiles targeting civilian infrastructure. In illegal acts of collective punishment, Israel demolished three key bridges, the Gaza Strip's only electricity generation plant, and part of a university, thereby endangering Palestinian human rights to food, water, health, electricity, education, and freedom of movement. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted that the purpose of these measures is to "apply pressure" to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

* On June 20th, Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed its intended target and killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15.
* On June 13th, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in an extrajudicial assassination of two Palestinians in Gaza City. A second barrage of missiles fired shortly afterward killed nine Palestinian bystanders.

* On June 9th, Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing 8 civilians and injuring 32. At the site of the killing, Human Rights Watch found evidence of a 155mm artillery shell consistent with those fired from an Israeli M-109 Self-Propelled Artillery. Israel's human rights violations in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon are being committed with US weapons financed by US tax dollars:

The Israeli air force fighter squadrons are composed of Lockheed Martin F-16I Fighting Falcons and Boeing F-15Is, which fire US-manufactured AMRAAM, Sidewinder, and Sparrow missiles. From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel at least $1.062 billion of spare parts, engines, and missiles for its F-15 and F-16 fighter planes.
From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to the Israeli navy more than $572 million worth of patrol boat, ship, and submarine components and spare parts, torpedoes, and sonar equipment.
From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel more than $348 million worth of tanks, components, and spare parts.
From 2000-2005, the United States licensed to Israel $69,163 worth of M-109 spare parts and 155mm artillery shells.
(Statistics for US weapons licensed to Israel are compiled from the State Department's annual report to Congress pursuant to Sec. 655 of the Foreign Assistance Act. For more information, click here:
http://pmddtc.state.gov/)

Israel's summer of killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip is a clear reminder that Israel remains the occupying power of the Gaza Strip despite last year's "unilateral disengagement". Living under military occupation, the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip are "protected persons" under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. Israel's targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon is a violation of the Geneva Conventions and constitutes war crimes.
In addition, by using US-supplied weapons to commit these atrocities, Israel is violating the terms of the US Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act. The Arms Export Control Act restricts the use of US weapons to legitimate self-defense and internal policing; US weapons cannot be used to attack civilians in offensive operations. The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits US aid of any kind to a country with a pattern of gross human rights violations.

TAKE ACTION: Hold Israel to account for its killing of civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

1. Contact the White House, State Department, and your Members of Congress to demand that Israel is held accountable for its violations of the US Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act and urge that military aid to Israel be cut off as required by law. Click here to send an email: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/uscampaign/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4460

2. Write a letter to the editor or op-ed for your local newspaper and call your local talk radio stations to protest Israel's atrocities in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and highlight US support for these actions. For contact information for your local media, click here: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/

3. Support the efforts of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation to build a national movement to challenge US support for Israel's human rights violations. Click here to donate to our summer fundraising drive: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1221