Using stock footage of American religious fundamentalists and political interviews against original interview footage with experts on international relations, The Great Challenge: Israel documents the role of the Israeli lobbies and their relationship with the US Congress.
The film provides background on the relationship between major religions including Christianity, Protestantism and Judaism and their complicated intertwining histories before introducing viewers to theAmerican Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the leading Israel lobby advocating for pro-Israel policies to Congress and one of the strongest foreign lobbies in general. Interview subjects imply that AIPAC and other pro-Israel forces use their influence to persuade the United States of their intertwined interests in order to bankroll their conflicts with other Middle Eastern countries such as Palestine and Iran.
In one stock interview AIPAC is referred to as not only the most powerful foreign lobby, but the "most corrupting" for their financial influence on American politics, and another interviewee describes an incident dating back to Harry Truman's presidential campaign, in which he was bribed to recognize Israel as a state in order to win the election.
The film argues that many of these wars are "not America's wars" and an ex-CIA agent places blame on the leaders of the Jewish-American community for influencing and corrupting US Congress by dragging Americans into foreign wars that we should not be involved in. One interviewee refers to Israel as America's "bulldog in the Middle East", with pre-recorded audio of Senator Chuck Hagel illustrating the attitude from the pro-Israel lobby that American politicians are expected to fully support the interests of Israel at all times.
Despite the typical pro-Israel support from the States, conflict arises when President Obama declines to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who it is suggested hates Obama, preferring to interact with Republican politicians. Political activist Juliette Scarnani explains that while the Western world celebrates freedom of speech, there is no such thing when it comes to Israel, citing an incident in which she dared discuss Palestine's freedom and in turn had four Jewish radicals arrive at her home in riot gear.
In a pre-recorded interview with author Scott Ritter it is explained how Hezbollah and Lebanon are legitimate concerns for Israel, but should not be considered American problems as it was Israel that invaded Lebanon; and yet the expectation is for America to defend Israel regardless of Hezbollah not being a threat to the US itself.
The film continues to question whether Zionism is a propagator of racism with geopolitical author Mario Moncada likening the Zionist treatment of Palestinians to the very discriminations Jews faced from the Nazis, and leaves the audience questioning America's role as an ally of Israel.
The Zionist Story, an independent film by Ronen Berelovich, is the story of ethnic cleansing, colonialism and apartheid to produce a demographically Jewish State.
Ronen successfully combines archival footage with commentary from himself and others such as Ilan Pappe, Terry Boullata, Alan Hart and Jeff Halper.
From the author: I have recently finished an independent documentary, The Zionist Story, in which I aim to present not just the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but also the core reason for it: the Zionist ideology, its goals (past and present) and its firm grip not only on Israeli society, but also, increasingly, on the perception of Middle East issues in Western democracies.
These concepts have already been demonstrated in the excellent Occupation 101documentary made by Abdallah Omeish and Sufyan Omeish, but in my documentary I approach the subject from the perspective of an Israeli, ex-reserve soldier and someone who has spent his entire life in the shadow of Zionism.
I hope you can find a moment to watch The Zionist Story and, if you like it, please feel free to share it with others. (As both the documentary and the archived footage used are for educational purposes only, the film can be freely distributed).
I have made this documentary entirely by myself, with virtually no budget, although doing my best to achieve high professional standard, and I hope that this 'home-spun' production will be of interest to viewers.
The United States supports Israel in a variety of ways. We give them all sorts of military and economic support, roughly 3 billion dollars a year. Israel, despite the fact, it is a relatively rich country, receives more foreign aid than any other other country in the world. We veto resolutions in the United Nations all the time that are critical to Israel. Is one allowed to question that reality, or is the pro-Israel lobby so strong, financially and politically, that the relationship with Israel is taboo and therefore unmentionable? And what happens to those who dare expose the unmentionable?
In March 2006 the American political scientists John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Steve Walt (Harvard) published the controversial article 'The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy'. In it they state that it is not, or no longer, expedient for the US to support and protect present-day Israel. Together with the power shifts in Congress and the increasing doubts about the current Middle-East policy, this could become the fuse in the powder keg. Backlight talks to the people concerned in this 'new realism' debate.
The documentary sheds light on both parties involved in the discussion: those who wish to maintain the strong tie between the US and Israel (Neocon Richard Perle, televangelist John Hagee, and lobby organization AIPAC), and those who were critical of it and not infrequently became 'victims' of the lobby. Member of Congress Earl Hilliard from Alabama advocated a rapprochement with the Arab world and was promptly ousted by a political adversary who had the support of Aipac money. Historian Tony Judt, who tried to maintain that Israel was becoming a belligerent and intolerant ethno-state, driven by religion, found a lecture cancelled at the last minute. And Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth was personally attacked after he had criticised the violence Israel had used in the mini-war against Lebanon last summer.
Finally the question arises to what extend the pro-Israel lobby ultimately determines the military and political importance of Israel itself. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell's ex chief-of-staff) explains how the lobby's influence affects the decision-making structure in the White House. The lobby, Congress, the White House and Israel itself seem to have ended up in a suffocating embrace: will it ever change and how could it?Tony Judt and Richard Perle conclude by raising the crucial matters: what is the alternative? And what other friends can Israel count on?
For many years now the American foreign policy has been characterized by the strong tie between the United States and Israel. Does the United States in fact keep Israel on its feet? And how long will it continue to do so?
I am sometimes asked if I have any regrets about publishing our book. As of today, my only regret is that it isn’t being published now. After the humiliations that Obama has endured at the hands of the lobby and now the Hagel circus, we’d sell even more copies and we wouldn’t face nearly as much ill-informed criticism. — Stephen Walt, co-author of the book.
In March 2006 the American political scientists Prof. John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago) and Prof. Stephen Walt (Harvard) published the controversial article ‘The Israel Lobby and US foreign policy’. In it they state that it is not, or no longer, expedient for the US to support and protect present-day Israel. The documentary sheds light on both parties involved in the discussion: those who wish to maintain the strong tie between the US and Israel, and those who were critical of it and not infrequently became ‘victims’ of the lobby.
The question arises to what extend the pro-Israel lobby ultimately determines the military and political importance of Israel itself. Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (Colin Powell’s former chief-of-staff) explains how the lobby’s influence affects the decision-making structure in the White House.
With political scientist John Mearsheimer, neocon Richard Perle, lobby organization AIPAC, televangelist John Hagee, historian Tony Judt, Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth, colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Democrat Earl Hilliard, Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy and investigative journalist Michael Massing.
Research: William de Bruijn Director: Marije Meerman
Regarding the 7/7/2005 terrorist attacks in London, let us look at the facts, and what we were told, and compare them. Then, using Ockham's Razor and common-sense, let us see what conclusions are to be drawn, so we can all understand what most likely really did happen that day.
Kill Him Silently: Part 1
Al Jazeera World unveils the story behind Israeli secret service Mossad's bungled assassination attempt on Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and the role the failed covert operation played in the rise of the Palestinian movement's rise to power.
This two-part film features exclusive interviews with Meshaal himself as well as with Danny Yatom, the then head of the Mossad, who masterminded the attempt to kill the Hamas leader, and who later fled to Jordan with the antidote that saved Meshaal's life.
The second part of the film shows events following the failed assassination attempt, including behind-the-scenes discussions during the diplomatic struggle involving Jordan, Israel and the US.
This film is the sole work of Sami Moukaddem and he retains ownership of all content therein. This film is not to be reproduced by any other person or party for profit or political gain. Parties wishing to show this film in public please contact Sami Moukaddem at: me@samimoukaddem.com Website palestine-israel-problem.com/
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein is an award-winning documentary film about the life and career of Norman Finkelstein, released in 2009 and directed by David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier. It has been screened in Amsterdam IDFA, in Toronto Hot Docs and in more than 40 other national and international venues, it received a freshness rating over 90% on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. More atWikipedia.
Eight years after his death, it remains a mystery exactly what killed the longtime Palestinian leader. Tests conducted in Paris found no obvious traces of poison in Arafat’s system.
Rumors abound about what might have killed him – cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, even allegations that he was infected with HIV.
Tests have revealed that Arafat’s final personal belongings – his clothes, his toothbrush, even his iconic keffiyeh – contained abnormal levels of polonium, a rare, highly radioactive element.
Those personal effects, which were analysed at the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, were variously stained with Arafat’s blood, sweat, saliva and urine. The tests carried out on those samples suggested that there was a high level of polonium inside his body when he died.
The findings have led Suha Arafat, his widow, to ask the Palestinian Authority to exhume her late husband’s body from its grave in Ramallah.
Watch the full documentary now
Update:
YASSER ARAFAT’S BODY TO BE EXHUMED: WAS HE POISONED BY POLONIUM-210 & BY WHO?
Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territories - Scientists have exhumed the remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and gathered samples that will now be shipped overseas to test for radioactive polonium.
Workers began digging through Arafat’s concrete mausoleum around midnight on Tuesday at the muqataa , the Palestinian Authority headquarters, where Arafat is buried, in Ramallah, in the West Bank.
Arafat's widow speaks out after exhumation
Three teams of international investigators arrived before dawn and collected samples from his body and the surrounding soil.
A planned military funeral was cancelled, and Arafat’s remains were quietly returned to his tomb later on Tuesday morning. The whole process took about 10 hours.
A nine-month investigation, the results of which were broadcast earlier this year, found elevated levels of polonium on Arafat’s final personal effects, raising new questions about what killed the longtime Palestinian leader.
French legal experts have also begun to gather evidence on the case in preparation for a possible trial, including testimony from people in the West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.
At a press conference in Ramallah, Tawfiq al-Tirawi, the head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, said the exhumation went according to plan. "Only Palestinian hands touched the remains of [Arafat]," he said.
Abdullah Bashir, a Jordanian doctor who was one of Arafat's physicians, said Palestinian scientists collected around 20 samples for the international teams. "We have asked them to test for all poisons, not only for polonium," he said.
Complete coverage of Al Jazeera's special investigation
The teams are operating under a near-media blackout imposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which had promised a transparent and open investigation.
None of the investigators contacted over the past few days were willing to speak on the record. And late on Monday, the PA said it would not allow lawyers representing Arafat’s widow, Suha, to attend the exhumation, without offering any reason for its decision.
The French team includes three scientists - a toxicologist, a pathologist, and a generalist who works on legal medicine.
The Swiss team, from the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, conducted the forensic analysis in the initial investigation.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) also asked experts from Russia to conduct their own independent analysis.
“One of them is from an organisation dealing with judicial medical experts, and the others are specialists connected to radiation,” a source familiar with the Russian team said.
Few officials present
Only a handful of officials from the PA and Fatah were on hand for the exhumation.
Arafat’s family was not present, according to Palestinian officials.
Hanan Ashrawi, a legislator and member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's executive committee, served with Arafat for years. She said the investigation is necessary.
Al Jazeera Investigates - What Killed Arafat?
"At the human level it's very painful," Ashrawi told Al Jazeera. "Still, it's a requirement. We need to get closure. We need to find the truth. But to all the Palestinian people, it's very painful."
Al Jazeera’s investigation studied the items Arafat had with him when he died: his comb, his toothbrush, even his iconic kaffiyeh, all of which were variously stained with his blood, sweat, saliva and urine.
The items were provided by Arafat’s widow, Suha.
His belongings were analysed by the Institut de Radiophysique in Lausanne, Switzerland, which discovered high levels of polonium-210.
Further tests found that most of the polonium was “unsupported,” which means that it did not come from natural sources.
But, even if it is present on Arafat’s body, very little of the radioactive element will remain at this point. Polonium-210, the isotope found on Arafat’s personal effects, has a half-life of 138 days, meaning that half of the substance will decay every four-and-a-half months.
Scientists say that eight years is about the limit for recovering a useful sample, and a longer delay would have made it impossible to recover a workable sample.
It will take months for the scientists to finish analysing the samples they collect.
Decay to be studied
Researchers will have to wait through at least one half-life to study the decay in their samples: Natural polonium replenishes itself after decaying, while unsupported polonium does not.
Reporter's Notebook
After months of build-up, the exhumation was almost anticlimactic: Journalists were kept far from the site, and the work was carried out behind a blue tarp, which obscured our view. Even the planned military funeral was cancelled; Arafat's body was quietly reinterred out of sight of the cameras.
The samples collected by French, Swiss and Russian investigators will now be flown overseas for analysis.
It will be next spring before we see results, because the scientists will have to wait at least four months, the half-life of polonium-210. Legal experts will continue to gather evidence and testimony from the Palestinians, but they will not decide on whether to pursue a murder case until the forensic tests are complete.
- Gregg Carlstrom in Ramallah
Once they finish their work, the French courts will determine how to proceed. Arafat died in a French military hospital, giving the French legal system jurisdiction over the case.
Suha Arafat asked a French court to open a murder investigation earlier this year, and the court granted that request in August.
The group interviewed Arafat’s widow, Suha, earlier this month. Tirawi also said that the investigators have gathered testimony in the West Bank from “certain people, in certain positions,” but declined to offer any detail about their identities.
A team of French judges has already begun collecting Arafat’s medical records and other evidence.
The French team has refused to speak to the press, and a team of Palestinian and French security agents prevented reporters from approaching them in their hotel.
Even members of the Swiss team, which worked with Al Jazeera on the initial investigation earlier this year, were unwilling to comment on the exhumation, citing PA restrictions.
Palestinian security officers have tailed Al Jazeera reporters in cars and on foot, and at one point broke into the network’s hotel rooms.
“They publicly praise Al Jazeera for the investigative breakthrough that breathed life into what was otherwise a very cold case, while at the same time they chase us around Ramallah to keep us from doing our jobs,” said Al Jazeera’s Clayton Swisher, who produced the investigation .
This film is the sole work of Sami Moukaddem and he retains ownership of all content therein. This film is not to be reproduced by any other person or party for profit or political gain. Parties wishing to show this film in public please contact Sami Moukaddem at: me@samimoukaddem.com Website palestine-israel-problem.com/
On 8 June 1967, USS Liberty, an American ship in international waters, was attacked without warning by the air and naval forces of Israel, killing 34 US soldiers. Israel’s reason; A mistake. And through the aftermath and decades the US relationship with Israel has become tighter than ever. But a closer look at this relationship exposes the realities behind what appears to be a cozy, yet lop-sided relationship, in Israel’s favor. Why has the US allowed Israel to have penetrated so deeply in its political and internal life? Just some of the questions we’ll be asking in this edition of the Press TV News Analysis.
A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. political involvement.
Occupation 101 from Global Information Services on Vimeo.
Gaza: Israelis kill Rachel Corrie with a bulldozer. Tom Hurndall, James Miller and thousands of innocent Palestinian children, women and men are also killed.
A lecture by Dr. Edward W. Said:
"Imperial Continuity: Palestine, Iraq, and U.S. Policy."
University of Washington, The Walker-Ames Lecture Series -- 8 May 2003.
Edward Said, acclaimed for his literary and cultural criticism, is a sought-after commentator on Middle Eastern politics and America's foremost spokesman for the Palestinian cause. His influential book, "Orientalism," (1978), is an examination of Western perceptions of the Islamic world. His criticism extends to the United States, which he calls a dishonest broker in the peace process due to its long-standing support for apartheid Israel.
Using stock footage of American religious fundamentalists and political interviews against original interview footage with experts on international relations, The Great Challenge: Israel documents the role of the Israeli lobbies and their relationship with the US Congress.
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