The Palestine thread

[seafoid]

you are nuts.

Genuine anti-Semitism is basically dead. Jews are treated the same as everyone else in the West.
American Jews are raised differently to Israeli Jews. They tend to be better educated and more concerned about moral issues as they don't grow up brainwashed.

I'll be here following GAA for the next few decades so we can watch the mess develop.

Nuts eh ? what's that you were saying about ad-homs ?

with respect to American jews being more concerned about moral issues , perhaps you could learn something from them  A sense of balance and fairness is a fundamental property of morality. Your complete lack of balance and fairness is symptomatic of your complete amorality.

Also, just referring back to the previous post, lets be clear about one thing with respect to "labelling" and ad-homs . You are the one who has set the tone of to the Israeli/Palestinian debate on this board for years by your constant labelling of anyone that disagrees with your extremist views on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as a "zionist". As you sow , so shall you reap......

Now, what exactly do you mean by "Genuine anti-Semitism is basically dead" ? That is an amazing statement to make.Its as crazy as saying genuine racism is dead. What is "genuine" anti-semitism as opposed to...... what ?....... "ungenuine" antisemitism ?

Blaming me for the existence of Israel is insane. The place is run for the benefit of 14 oligarchs. I'm not one of them.
Anyone who can't recognise the human rights of the Palestinians is a Zionist.
And human rights aren't extremist. The second world war was 70 years ago. Jews can live in peace with Palestinians.

Genuine anti-Semitism- discriminating against Jews solely because they are Jews - is dead. the ADL tries to prove anti-Semitism is alive but it's pointless. Jews are successful everywhere and they are not persecuted on the back of it.

[Mike Sheehy]

Blaming me for the existence of Israel is insane. The place is run for the benefit of 14 oligarchs. I'm not one of them.
Anyone who can't recognise the human rights of the Palestinians is a Zionist.
And human rights aren't extremist. The second world war was 70 years ago. Jews can live in peace with Palestinians.

Genuine anti-Semitism- discriminating against Jews solely because they are Jews - is dead. the ADL tries to prove anti-Semitism is alive but it's pointless. Jews are successful everywhere and they are not persecuted on the back of it.

No, your blame for the existence of Israel is entirely logical. You are nothing but the latest, cut'n'paste savvy incarnation of a long line of anti-semites stretching back to before the time of Christ.

Now, wrt to the human rights of Palestinians ,  who is not recognizing the human rights of Palestinians ?
Are you saying that anyone who disagrees with your extremist stance on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict does not "recognize the human rights of Palestinians"

and this

"Genuine anti-Semitism- discriminating against Jews solely because they are Jews - is dead."

Would you regard shooting someone dead solely because they are Jewish as "discrimination" ? Are you saying that this is not "genuine" anti-Semitism ?

and, again, what is this other, milder , more kindly form of anti-Semitism that you distinguish from "genuine" anti-Semitism ?

[give her dixie]

Meanwhile, back in Gaza in the past 15 minutes, an Israeli/US airstrike hit a motorbike in a crowded area killing 1 and seriously injuring 3 others........

[Mike Sheehy]

Meanwhile, back in Gaza in the past 15 minutes, an Israeli/US airstrike hit a motorbike in a crowded area killing 1 and seriously injuring 3 others........

Are you referring to this ?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-palestinian-militant-killed-in-israeli-gaza-air-strike-20140611,0,5451001.story

Why are you saying the US was involved in this air strike ?

[seafoid]

This is how it works in the States
Money - politicians- extremist pro Israel stance

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118102/did-eric-cantor-lose-gop-primary-because-hes-jewish
Back in 2002, Cantor was given a place on the House Republican leadership team as a mere freshman largely because, as a former GOP congressman once explained to me, the fact that Cantor is Jewish gave him "access to donors we didn't typically have access to." Cantor not only helped the GOP fundraising machine make inroads into the big-money (and typically Democratic) Jewish precincts in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York; he also helped GOP congressmen tap their local Jewish communities for money. Nearly every House Republican I've ever spoken to about Cantor's fundraising prowess has a story about the Virginia congressman parachuting into their districts and paying a visit to the local Friends of Israel or Jewish Federation on their behalves. "If you want to have him come and speak to the Jewish community in Charleston, he's willing to do that," West Virginia Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito once told me.

[give her dixie]

Stormont meeting launches DUP 'Friends of Israel' group

A group has been launched in Northern Ireland with the aim of advocating on behalf of Israel.

The organisation is the brainchild of the DUP, and is being led by its North Antrim MLA David McIlveen.

It is made up of a six-strong committee, and had its first meeting last night in Stormont Parliament Buildings, with Mr McIlveen saying he aimed to have around 100 members sign up initially.

Among those attending were the First Minister Peter Robinson and the deputy Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Eitan Na'eh.

It is intended to mirror similar groups in Westminster, which already operate under the auspices of the Tories, Labour or Lib Dems.

Asked what it will do, Mr McIlveen said: "I've tried to shrink it down as simply as I can to three As. The first one would be advocate, obviously, on behalf of Israel...

"The second one would be to argue. So, whenever we feel there is an unfair portrayal of Israel being presented whether that be in social media or mainstream media, that we do our part to try and argue against it.

"And then the third part is action. That's where we'll be trying to use our elected representatives, particularly at ministerial level, to try and ensure that there is as good a relationship with Israel at a business level as we possibly can."

The hi-tech nation is "probably one of the research-and-development capitals of the world now", he said, adding that once the group is up and running they would be looking into the idea of taking trips out to the country.

Although it is an initiative of his own party, Mr McIlveen said that anyone – ranging from representatives of other parties to members of the public – were welcome to join if they wish.

He has been a regular visitor to Israel privately himself, and said: "You do open your eyes to the fact it is at times a very different country to – at times – what it is perceived to be. I think we can use this group, I hope, to maybe just get the true message out, to get the facts out, about what actually is going on over there."

He said he is a firm supporter of a two-state solution to the conflict with its neighbouring Palestinian territories, saying those who recognise Israel's right to exist and want to live peacefully within Palestinian borders have "no quarrel from me".

Asked about the widespread Israeli settlements within the Palestinian West Bank, a major source of tension in the Middle East, he said he had met Israelis who feel they were essential, and others with military backgrounds who feel they are "far too expensive to keep".

"I think that's a matter for the Israeli people to decide," he concluded.


http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/stormont-meeting-launches-dup-friends-of-israel-group-1-6114099

[seafoid]

Stormont meeting launches DUP 'Friends of Israel' group

A group has been launched in Northern Ireland with the aim of advocating on behalf of Israel.

The organisation is the brainchild of the DUP, and is being led by its North Antrim MLA David McIlveen.

It is made up of a six-strong committee, and had its first meeting last night in Stormont Parliament Buildings, with Mr McIlveen saying he aimed to have around 100 members sign up initially.

Among those attending were the First Minister Peter Robinson and the deputy Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Eitan Na'eh.

It is intended to mirror similar groups in Westminster, which already operate under the auspices of the Tories, Labour or Lib Dems.

Asked what it will do, Mr McIlveen said: "I've tried to shrink it down as simply as I can to three As. The first one would be advocate, obviously, on behalf of Israel...

"The second one would be to argue. So, whenever we feel there is an unfair portrayal of Israel being presented whether that be in social media or mainstream media, that we do our part to try and argue against it.

"And then the third part is action. That's where we'll be trying to use our elected representatives, particularly at ministerial level, to try and ensure that there is as good a relationship with Israel at a business level as we possibly can."

The hi-tech nation is "probably one of the research-and-development capitals of the world now", he said, adding that once the group is up and running they would be looking into the idea of taking trips out to the country.

Although it is an initiative of his own party, Mr McIlveen said that anyone – ranging from representatives of other parties to members of the public – were welcome to join if they wish.

He has been a regular visitor to Israel privately himself, and said: "You do open your eyes to the fact it is at times a very different country to – at times – what it is perceived to be. I think we can use this group, I hope, to maybe just get the true message out, to get the facts out, about what actually is going on over there."

He said he is a firm supporter of a two-state solution to the conflict with its neighbouring Palestinian territories, saying those who recognise Israel's right to exist and want to live peacefully within Palestinian borders have "no quarrel from me".

Asked about the widespread Israeli settlements within the Palestinian West Bank, a major source of tension in the Middle East, he said he had met Israelis who feel they were essential, and others with military backgrounds who feel they are "far too expensive to keep".

"I think that's a matter for the Israeli people to decide," he concluded.


http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/stormont-meeting-launches-dup-friends-of-israel-group-1-6114099

the DUP and the Likud are quite similar really.
Both swept aside the less radical establishment party in their settler colonial gerrymandered statelet and
both have difficulties dealing with the natives.

[Rossfan]

So it's for the "people of Israel" to decide whether illegal settlements should remain in another peoples' country?
I suppose coming from a group who who ensured that only Protestant/Unionists could decide things ..........

[Mike Sheehy]

Just to show that GHD and Seafoid's type of intolerance can have some pretty real consequences. I'll bet some of these lads are avid followers of www.barnsereview.org just like GHD.....purely for research of course   

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/12/racism-northern-ireland-couple-tell-abuse-belfast

Rima and Michael Lynch thought they and their children would be safe from racial abuse when they moved to a Catholic working-class area close to central Belfast.

But the mixed-race couple's experience over six years puts a human face on the rise of race-hate crimes in the city, beyond Protestant/loyalist areas with a reputation for xenophobia.

Rima, a Christian-Israeli Arab, has been branded a Roma, Romanian, "Jew whore" and "dirty Arab" by a family who have subjected her family to a slew of racist abuse and intimidation.
The Guardian has learned there have been 13 arrests linked to race-hate attacks in Greater Belfast since the start of last month. But the Lynch family say the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in south Belfast has failed to act against local people who have terrorised them in the nationalist Lower Ormeau area.

PSNI statistics show a sharp increase in race crimes and racist incidents in the past two years. In 2012/2013 the PSNI recorded 470 racial hate crimes but that figure rose to 691 to the year ending March 2014. In the same period incidents of racial abuse and intimidation rose from 750 to 982.

When Michael Lynch, who met his wife in Israel, moved back to his native Belfast he decided it would be safer to live in the Catholic Lower Ormeau Road area than in a loyalist area. The Lynches say they and their three children were targeted by a local woman, her husband and children, who objected to the presence of immigrants in their midst.

"At first they said I was Roma and then later Romanian," Rima said. "When I finally spoke to this woman I told her I was an Arab-Israeli, born in Galilee. At first I was called a 'Jew whore' for being Israeli and later when I reminded neighbours that I was an Arab-Christian I was branded a 'dirty Arab'.

"At first it was low-level intimidation with our windows being rapped violently at night when we were watching television in the front room, or our plant pots turned over in the street, or local kids banging the door. Later they targeted my two sons on social networks, repeating the racist slurs and later the real bullying began against the boys," Rima said.

Her husband said the racist bullying of one son got so bad he had to take him out of a local Catholic secondary school. "I couldn't believe this was happening in a Catholic area where I wanted the family to settle. It was near to work, close to the city centre, not far from the university district and some good schools. But after all we have been put through we are seriously considering moving out to another part of Belfast," he said.

His wife said the children of the family behind most of the intimidation called her sons and daughter "monkeys" and told them to go back to Israel. "They bullied a single Polish mother and her children out of the same area and I know for a fact they are putting pressure on an African lady who lives in the same street. Yet the police up until very recently were not prepared to take action against these people," she said.

Rima stressed she had "many, many good friends" among the locally born population in the Lower Ormeau but believed neighbours were terrified of their tormentors. She added: "In a strange way I could cope with this better if it was happening in a loyalist, Protestant area. At least they are upfront and open about the way some of them in that community treat foreigners. In this area, among people of the same faith, it is more a case of being smiled at to your face and then stabbed in the back."

However, most recent attacks have undoubtedly taken place in loyalist working-class redoubts such as east Belfast and Newtonabbey on the northern outskirts of the city. Among those targeted in loyalist communities was Palestinian nurse Mohammed Samaana, who has worked in the NHS since 2000. He said even some of his patients had verbally abused him.

He said: "A female patient told me: 'You are not from here and I resent all foreigners who come to Ireland.' The worst experience of racism though was when I was attacked in the [loyalist] Sandy Row area and I felt my life was at risk."

Samaana said he was more concerned about being a Muslim in Northern Ireland after the comments of Pastor James McConnell, who called Islam "satanic". McConnell initially received the support of the first minister, Peter Robinson. Both Robinson and McConnell later apologised for their remarks, which included Robinson stating that he would not trust any Muslim that adhered to sharia law.

Samaana said: "In general I'd say Belfast was initially welcoming but it is gradually changing for the worse. It feels like the I way I was treated when I first came to Northampton, in England, where people had very negative attitude towards people like me and where I faced social exclusion and alienation, which made me leave. They say Muslims don't want to integrate. In my experience, and in the experience of others I know, many Muslims do want to integrate but we feel shunned most of the time."

Jonathan Tongue, author of The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power and a University of Liverpool lecturer, blamed "post-Troubles paranoia" for the rise in racism in Protestant areas. "These people are used to having a united identity and they are not used to outsiders in their midst. Catholics were driven from their areas decades ago so they are stunned by this recent wave of immigrants coming into their communities.

"In addition, the old enemy they fought isn't around any more now that the conflict is over, although sectarianism is far from dead. So they have found, due to globalisation, a new imagined enemy in their areas."

Tongue said that while many loyalist political leaders were opposed to the attacks, they sometimes happened spontaneously. "There is a bit of a Millwall mentality within working-class loyalist communities – the perception that 'no one likes us, we don't care'. They don't see how much damage these attacks are doing to their own image, their own communities even if, to be completely fair, loyalist leaders on the ground see this. Most importantly, there has been no economic or social 'peace dividend' for the loyalist working class and now they see immigrants coming in who are competitors."

In Catholic districts there have been some anti-immigrant problems around Dungannon, in County Tyrone, but such incidents have mainly occurred in loyalist communities.

Meanwhile, Anna Lo, the UK's only Chinese-born parliamentarian, who has been subjected to verbal and physical threats from racists in Belfast, said she had been "absolutely overwhelmed" by support she received after expressing fears over the rise of racism, but reiterated that she was quitting politics.

Lo, who represents the Alliance party in the Stormont assembly, said: "The people in general are wonderful here and I was inundated with cards, messages, flowers and gifts after I told the Guardian I was fed up with local politics. The good people have convinced me at least not to leave Northern Ireland and move to England where my sons live. But as for political life, I don't see a future for me beyond the next assembly elections in 2016. It's time for a new generation to try and challenge the racists and the bigots."

[stew]

Just to show that GHD and Seafoid's type of intolerance can have some pretty real consequences. I'll bet some of these lads are avid followers of www.barnsereview.org just like GHD.....purely for research of course   

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/12/racism-northern-ireland-couple-tell-abuse-belfast

Rima and Michael Lynch thought they and their children would be safe from racial abuse when they moved to a Catholic working-class area close to central Belfast.

But the mixed-race couple's experience over six years puts a human face on the rise of race-hate crimes in the city, beyond Protestant/loyalist areas with a reputation for xenophobia.

Rima, a Christian-Israeli Arab, has been branded a Roma, Romanian, "Jew whore" and "dirty Arab" by a family who have subjected her family to a slew of racist abuse and intimidation.
The Guardian has learned there have been 13 arrests linked to race-hate attacks in Greater Belfast since the start of last month. But the Lynch family say the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in south Belfast has failed to act against local people who have terrorised them in the nationalist Lower Ormeau area.

PSNI statistics show a sharp increase in race crimes and racist incidents in the past two years. In 2012/2013 the PSNI recorded 470 racial hate crimes but that figure rose to 691 to the year ending March 2014. In the same period incidents of racial abuse and intimidation rose from 750 to 982.

When Michael Lynch, who met his wife in Israel, moved back to his native Belfast he decided it would be safer to live in the Catholic Lower Ormeau Road area than in a loyalist area. The Lynches say they and their three children were targeted by a local woman, her husband and children, who objected to the presence of immigrants in their midst.

"At first they said I was Roma and then later Romanian," Rima said. "When I finally spoke to this woman I told her I was an Arab-Israeli, born in Galilee. At first I was called a 'Jew whore' for being Israeli and later when I reminded neighbours that I was an Arab-Christian I was branded a 'dirty Arab'.

"At first it was low-level intimidation with our windows being rapped violently at night when we were watching television in the front room, or our plant pots turned over in the street, or local kids banging the door. Later they targeted my two sons on social networks, repeating the racist slurs and later the real bullying began against the boys," Rima said.

Her husband said the racist bullying of one son got so bad he had to take him out of a local Catholic secondary school. "I couldn't believe this was happening in a Catholic area where I wanted the family to settle. It was near to work, close to the city centre, not far from the university district and some good schools. But after all we have been put through we are seriously considering moving out to another part of Belfast," he said.

His wife said the children of the family behind most of the intimidation called her sons and daughter "monkeys" and told them to go back to Israel. "They bullied a single Polish mother and her children out of the same area and I know for a fact they are putting pressure on an African lady who lives in the same street. Yet the police up until very recently were not prepared to take action against these people," she said.

Rima stressed she had "many, many good friends" among the locally born population in the Lower Ormeau but believed neighbours were terrified of their tormentors. She added: "In a strange way I could cope with this better if it was happening in a loyalist, Protestant area. At least they are upfront and open about the way some of them in that community treat foreigners. In this area, among people of the same faith, it is more a case of being smiled at to your face and then stabbed in the back."

However, most recent attacks have undoubtedly taken place in loyalist working-class redoubts such as east Belfast and Newtonabbey on the northern outskirts of the city. Among those targeted in loyalist communities was Palestinian nurse Mohammed Samaana, who has worked in the NHS since 2000. He said even some of his patients had verbally abused him.

He said: "A female patient told me: 'You are not from here and I resent all foreigners who come to Ireland.' The worst experience of racism though was when I was attacked in the [loyalist] Sandy Row area and I felt my life was at risk."

Samaana said he was more concerned about being a Muslim in Northern Ireland after the comments of Pastor James McConnell, who called Islam "satanic". McConnell initially received the support of the first minister, Peter Robinson. Both Robinson and McConnell later apologised for their remarks, which included Robinson stating that he would not trust any Muslim that adhered to sharia law.

Samaana said: "In general I'd say Belfast was initially welcoming but it is gradually changing for the worse. It feels like the I way I was treated when I first came to Northampton, in England, where people had very negative attitude towards people like me and where I faced social exclusion and alienation, which made me leave. They say Muslims don't want to integrate. In my experience, and in the experience of others I know, many Muslims do want to integrate but we feel shunned most of the time."

Jonathan Tongue, author of The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power and a University of Liverpool lecturer, blamed "post-Troubles paranoia" for the rise in racism in Protestant areas. "These people are used to having a united identity and they are not used to outsiders in their midst. Catholics were driven from their areas decades ago so they are stunned by this recent wave of immigrants coming into their communities.

"In addition, the old enemy they fought isn't around any more now that the conflict is over, although sectarianism is far from dead. So they have found, due to globalisation, a new imagined enemy in their areas."

Tongue said that while many loyalist political leaders were opposed to the attacks, they sometimes happened spontaneously. "There is a bit of a Millwall mentality within working-class loyalist communities – the perception that 'no one likes us, we don't care'. They don't see how much damage these attacks are doing to their own image, their own communities even if, to be completely fair, loyalist leaders on the ground see this. Most importantly, there has been no economic or social 'peace dividend' for the loyalist working class and now they see immigrants coming in who are competitors."

In Catholic districts there have been some anti-immigrant problems around Dungannon, in County Tyrone, but such incidents have mainly occurred in loyalist communities.

Meanwhile, Anna Lo, the UK's only Chinese-born parliamentarian, who has been subjected to verbal and physical threats from racists in Belfast, said she had been "absolutely overwhelmed" by support she received after expressing fears over the rise of racism, but reiterated that she was quitting politics.

Lo, who represents the Alliance party in the Stormont assembly, said: "The people in general are wonderful here and I was inundated with cards, messages, flowers and gifts after I told the Guardian I was fed up with local politics. The good people have convinced me at least not to leave Northern Ireland and move to England where my sons live. But as for political life, I don't see a future for me beyond the next assembly elections in 2016. It's time for a new generation to try and challenge the racists and the bigots."

Mick, you are a clampett of the lowest order!

[seafoid]

Just to show that GHD and Seafoid's type of intolerance can have some pretty real consequences. I'll bet some of these lads are avid followers of www.barnsereview.org just like GHD.....purely for research of course   

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/12/racism-northern-ireland-couple-tell-abuse-belfast

Rima and Michael Lynch thought they and their children would be safe from racial abuse when they moved to a Catholic working-class area close to central Belfast.

But the mixed-race couple's experience over six years puts a human face on the rise of race-hate crimes in the city, beyond Protestant/loyalist areas with a reputation for xenophobia.

Rima, a Christian-Israeli Arab, has been branded a Roma, Romanian, "Jew whore" and "dirty Arab" by a family who have subjected her family to a slew of racist abuse and intimidation.
The Guardian has learned there have been 13 arrests linked to race-hate attacks in Greater Belfast since the start of last month. But the Lynch family say the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in south Belfast has failed to act against local people who have terrorised them in the nationalist Lower Ormeau area.

PSNI statistics show a sharp increase in race crimes and racist incidents in the past two years. In 2012/2013 the PSNI recorded 470 racial hate crimes but that figure rose to 691 to the year ending March 2014. In the same period incidents of racial abuse and intimidation rose from 750 to 982.

When Michael Lynch, who met his wife in Israel, moved back to his native Belfast he decided it would be safer to live in the Catholic Lower Ormeau Road area than in a loyalist area. The Lynches say they and their three children were targeted by a local woman, her husband and children, who objected to the presence of immigrants in their midst.

"At first they said I was Roma and then later Romanian," Rima said. "When I finally spoke to this woman I told her I was an Arab-Israeli, born in Galilee. At first I was called a 'Jew whore' for being Israeli and later when I reminded neighbours that I was an Arab-Christian I was branded a 'dirty Arab'.

"At first it was low-level intimidation with our windows being rapped violently at night when we were watching television in the front room, or our plant pots turned over in the street, or local kids banging the door. Later they targeted my two sons on social networks, repeating the racist slurs and later the real bullying began against the boys," Rima said.

Her husband said the racist bullying of one son got so bad he had to take him out of a local Catholic secondary school. "I couldn't believe this was happening in a Catholic area where I wanted the family to settle. It was near to work, close to the city centre, not far from the university district and some good schools. But after all we have been put through we are seriously considering moving out to another part of Belfast," he said.

His wife said the children of the family behind most of the intimidation called her sons and daughter "monkeys" and told them to go back to Israel. "They bullied a single Polish mother and her children out of the same area and I know for a fact they are putting pressure on an African lady who lives in the same street. Yet the police up until very recently were not prepared to take action against these people," she said.

Rima stressed she had "many, many good friends" among the locally born population in the Lower Ormeau but believed neighbours were terrified of their tormentors. She added: "In a strange way I could cope with this better if it was happening in a loyalist, Protestant area. At least they are upfront and open about the way some of them in that community treat foreigners. In this area, among people of the same faith, it is more a case of being smiled at to your face and then stabbed in the back."

However, most recent attacks have undoubtedly taken place in loyalist working-class redoubts such as east Belfast and Newtonabbey on the northern outskirts of the city. Among those targeted in loyalist communities was Palestinian nurse Mohammed Samaana, who has worked in the NHS since 2000. He said even some of his patients had verbally abused him.

He said: "A female patient told me: 'You are not from here and I resent all foreigners who come to Ireland.' The worst experience of racism though was when I was attacked in the [loyalist] Sandy Row area and I felt my life was at risk."

Samaana said he was more concerned about being a Muslim in Northern Ireland after the comments of Pastor James McConnell, who called Islam "satanic". McConnell initially received the support of the first minister, Peter Robinson. Both Robinson and McConnell later apologised for their remarks, which included Robinson stating that he would not trust any Muslim that adhered to sharia law.

Samaana said: "In general I'd say Belfast was initially welcoming but it is gradually changing for the worse. It feels like the I way I was treated when I first came to Northampton, in England, where people had very negative attitude towards people like me and where I faced social exclusion and alienation, which made me leave. They say Muslims don't want to integrate. In my experience, and in the experience of others I know, many Muslims do want to integrate but we feel shunned most of the time."

Jonathan Tongue, author of The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power and a University of Liverpool lecturer, blamed "post-Troubles paranoia" for the rise in racism in Protestant areas. "These people are used to having a united identity and they are not used to outsiders in their midst. Catholics were driven from their areas decades ago so they are stunned by this recent wave of immigrants coming into their communities.

"In addition, the old enemy they fought isn't around any more now that the conflict is over, although sectarianism is far from dead. So they have found, due to globalisation, a new imagined enemy in their areas."

Tongue said that while many loyalist political leaders were opposed to the attacks, they sometimes happened spontaneously. "There is a bit of a Millwall mentality within working-class loyalist communities – the perception that 'no one likes us, we don't care'. They don't see how much damage these attacks are doing to their own image, their own communities even if, to be completely fair, loyalist leaders on the ground see this. Most importantly, there has been no economic or social 'peace dividend' for the loyalist working class and now they see immigrants coming in who are competitors."

In Catholic districts there have been some anti-immigrant problems around Dungannon, in County Tyrone, but such incidents have mainly occurred in loyalist communities.

Meanwhile, Anna Lo, the UK's only Chinese-born parliamentarian, who has been subjected to verbal and physical threats from racists in Belfast, said she had been "absolutely overwhelmed" by support she received after expressing fears over the rise of racism, but reiterated that she was quitting politics.

Lo, who represents the Alliance party in the Stormont assembly, said: "The people in general are wonderful here and I was inundated with cards, messages, flowers and gifts after I told the Guardian I was fed up with local politics. The good people have convinced me at least not to leave Northern Ireland and move to England where my sons live. But as for political life, I don't see a future for me beyond the next assembly elections in 2016. It's time for a new generation to try and challenge the racists and the bigots."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facepalm

The woman is Palestinian.

[give her dixie]

Sinead O'Connor announced today that she is to play in Israel in August.

The social media back lash has started, and she is in for a tough time over this decision.

Watch this space as she is sure to go off on one over this.......

[give her dixie]

United Methodist Church Divests from G4S


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 12, 2014

Largest Mainline Protestant Church in U.S. Divests from Company
Involved in Israeli Occupation



Amid concerns raised by church justice advocates, United Methodist Church Pensions
sells all stocks in G4S, a supplier of security services and equipment for Israeli prisons, settlements, checkpoints and Separation Wall.

Los Angeles - The General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (GBPHB) of The United Methodist Church, which manages an investment portfolio of over $20 billion, has instructed its investment manager to sell immediately all shares in G4S, due in part to concerns about the company's involvement in human rights violations in the Israeli prison system and the military occupation of Palestinian territories.



According to David Wildman, United Methodist Executive Secretary for Human Rights and Racial Justice at the General Board of Global Ministries, "This is the first time that a United Methodist general agency has included human rights violations related to Israel's illegal settlements and military occupation in a decision to divest from a company. We celebrate this strong human rights message both to G4S specifically and to other companies whose business operations support longstanding human rights abuses against Palestinians."



In addition, the church agency has placed a moratorium on any future purchases of G4S, the world's largest security company with operations in over 120 countries, until a new investment screen is implemented that addresses human rights violations such as those by the Israeli Defense Forces against Palestinians. 



A top executive of GBPHB contacted United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR) leaders this week about the sale of G4S stocks, informing them that this decision was due in large part to the serious concerns about G4S activities raised by United Methodists seeking a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 



UMKR, a church-wide advocacy movement focused on Israel-Palestine issues, has raised questions within the church for several years about companies in the denomination's investment portfolio, including G4S, that are involved in the Israeli occupation. "We greatly appreciate the news and we commend the General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits for taking this groundbreaking action to address the concerns of many United Methodists about human rights violations in Israel and the occupied territories," said Rev. John Wagner, UMKR Convener and a church pastor in Ohio.



G4S contracts with the Israeli Prison Service to provide management of security systems at prisons within Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. According to Amnesty International, B'Tselem an Israeli human rights organization, and Defence for Children International-Palestine, Palestinians held in these prisons, including hundreds of child detainees, are routinely subjected to abuse and torture. G4S also provides equipment and services for Israeli settlements and checkpoints in the West Bank and for the Separation Wall, constructed in violation of international law in Palestinian territory.

Last month, under mounting pressure from an international advocacy campaign, the Gates Foundation also made a decision to sell its holdings in G4S. 



UMKR welcomes the church's landmark divestment action as part of a larger and long-term process in which United Methodists seek to address human rights issues, including the 47-year-old Israeli occupation, more comprehensively in the denomination's investment decisions.


[Mike Sheehy]

Just to show that GHD and Seafoid's type of intolerance can have some pretty real consequences. I'll bet some of these lads are avid followers of www.barnsereview.org just like GHD.....purely for research of course   

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/12/racism-northern-ireland-couple-tell-abuse-belfast

Rima and Michael Lynch thought they and their children would be safe from racial abuse when they moved to a Catholic working-class area close to central Belfast.

But the mixed-race couple's experience over six years puts a human face on the rise of race-hate crimes in the city, beyond Protestant/loyalist areas with a reputation for xenophobia.

Rima, a Christian-Israeli Arab, has been branded a Roma, Romanian, "Jew whore" and "dirty Arab" by a family who have subjected her family to a slew of racist abuse and intimidation.
The Guardian has learned there have been 13 arrests linked to race-hate attacks in Greater Belfast since the start of last month. But the Lynch family say the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in south Belfast has failed to act against local people who have terrorised them in the nationalist Lower Ormeau area.

PSNI statistics show a sharp increase in race crimes and racist incidents in the past two years. In 2012/2013 the PSNI recorded 470 racial hate crimes but that figure rose to 691 to the year ending March 2014. In the same period incidents of racial abuse and intimidation rose from 750 to 982.

When Michael Lynch, who met his wife in Israel, moved back to his native Belfast he decided it would be safer to live in the Catholic Lower Ormeau Road area than in a loyalist area. The Lynches say they and their three children were targeted by a local woman, her husband and children, who objected to the presence of immigrants in their midst.

"At first they said I was Roma and then later Romanian," Rima said. "When I finally spoke to this woman I told her I was an Arab-Israeli, born in Galilee. At first I was called a 'Jew whore' for being Israeli and later when I reminded neighbours that I was an Arab-Christian I was branded a 'dirty Arab'.

"At first it was low-level intimidation with our windows being rapped violently at night when we were watching television in the front room, or our plant pots turned over in the street, or local kids banging the door. Later they targeted my two sons on social networks, repeating the racist slurs and later the real bullying began against the boys," Rima said.

Her husband said the racist bullying of one son got so bad he had to take him out of a local Catholic secondary school. "I couldn't believe this was happening in a Catholic area where I wanted the family to settle. It was near to work, close to the city centre, not far from the university district and some good schools. But after all we have been put through we are seriously considering moving out to another part of Belfast," he said.

His wife said the children of the family behind most of the intimidation called her sons and daughter "monkeys" and told them to go back to Israel. "They bullied a single Polish mother and her children out of the same area and I know for a fact they are putting pressure on an African lady who lives in the same street. Yet the police up until very recently were not prepared to take action against these people," she said.

Rima stressed she had "many, many good friends" among the locally born population in the Lower Ormeau but believed neighbours were terrified of their tormentors. She added: "In a strange way I could cope with this better if it was happening in a loyalist, Protestant area. At least they are upfront and open about the way some of them in that community treat foreigners. In this area, among people of the same faith, it is more a case of being smiled at to your face and then stabbed in the back."

However, most recent attacks have undoubtedly taken place in loyalist working-class redoubts such as east Belfast and Newtonabbey on the northern outskirts of the city. Among those targeted in loyalist communities was Palestinian nurse Mohammed Samaana, who has worked in the NHS since 2000. He said even some of his patients had verbally abused him.

He said: "A female patient told me: 'You are not from here and I resent all foreigners who come to Ireland.' The worst experience of racism though was when I was attacked in the [loyalist] Sandy Row area and I felt my life was at risk."

Samaana said he was more concerned about being a Muslim in Northern Ireland after the comments of Pastor James McConnell, who called Islam "satanic". McConnell initially received the support of the first minister, Peter Robinson. Both Robinson and McConnell later apologised for their remarks, which included Robinson stating that he would not trust any Muslim that adhered to sharia law.

Samaana said: "In general I'd say Belfast was initially welcoming but it is gradually changing for the worse. It feels like the I way I was treated when I first came to Northampton, in England, where people had very negative attitude towards people like me and where I faced social exclusion and alienation, which made me leave. They say Muslims don't want to integrate. In my experience, and in the experience of others I know, many Muslims do want to integrate but we feel shunned most of the time."

Jonathan Tongue, author of The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power and a University of Liverpool lecturer, blamed "post-Troubles paranoia" for the rise in racism in Protestant areas. "These people are used to having a united identity and they are not used to outsiders in their midst. Catholics were driven from their areas decades ago so they are stunned by this recent wave of immigrants coming into their communities.

"In addition, the old enemy they fought isn't around any more now that the conflict is over, although sectarianism is far from dead. So they have found, due to globalisation, a new imagined enemy in their areas."

Tongue said that while many loyalist political leaders were opposed to the attacks, they sometimes happened spontaneously. "There is a bit of a Millwall mentality within working-class loyalist communities – the perception that 'no one likes us, we don't care'. They don't see how much damage these attacks are doing to their own image, their own communities even if, to be completely fair, loyalist leaders on the ground see this. Most importantly, there has been no economic or social 'peace dividend' for the loyalist working class and now they see immigrants coming in who are competitors."

In Catholic districts there have been some anti-immigrant problems around Dungannon, in County Tyrone, but such incidents have mainly occurred in loyalist communities.

Meanwhile, Anna Lo, the UK's only Chinese-born parliamentarian, who has been subjected to verbal and physical threats from racists in Belfast, said she had been "absolutely overwhelmed" by support she received after expressing fears over the rise of racism, but reiterated that she was quitting politics.

Lo, who represents the Alliance party in the Stormont assembly, said: "The people in general are wonderful here and I was inundated with cards, messages, flowers and gifts after I told the Guardian I was fed up with local politics. The good people have convinced me at least not to leave Northern Ireland and move to England where my sons live. But as for political life, I don't see a future for me beyond the next assembly elections in 2016. It's time for a new generation to try and challenge the racists and the bigots."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facepalm

The woman is Palestinian.

Yes , and that is clearly stated in the article that I posted so you can double facepalm yourself.The point is she was perceived as jewish and abused because of it, thanks, in part, to the kind of hatemongering you two get up to.

[Mike Sheehy]

Also, point of order, not all Arab-Christians in Israel identify as Palestinian.

Once again you demonstrate your complete and utter ignorance of Israel/Palestine.