Israel's (and America's) finest

Michael Balter 6/07/2009 11:10:00 AM Politics
A video by Max Blumenthal and Joseph Dana made in Jerusalem several days ago, on the eve of President Obama's visit to Cairo. Blumenthal explains the background to the clip. Some of the voices are clearly American. Jewish fascism (and racism, listen carefully) is alive and well.



American kids trapped in Gaza.The latest press release from the Israeli NGO Gisha:

Catch 22, Gaza Closure Style:

Two American Boys Can't Leave Gaza Because They Can't Renew Passports;

Can't Renew Passports Because They Can't Leave Gaza.

· The Israeli-imposed closure – and American bureaucratic requirements – have trapped the children and their parents in Gaza - indefinitely.

· Without passports for his children, their US-educated father cannot reach his studies at a university in Russia.

· The family's plight exemplifies draconian restrictions on travel for Gaza residents – including hundreds of students pursuing higher education.

Sunday, June 7, 2009 – Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement today petitioned the Beer-Sheva District Court on behalf of the Elkafarna family, demanding that Israel allow its two children, U.S. citizens, to reach the U.S. consulate in east Jerusalem in order to renew their passports. Because the U.S. does not provide consular services in Gaza, Elias and Qasem, aged 5 and 6, together with their parents, residents of Gaza, need permits from the military to cross through Israel, in order to appear personally at the consulate.

The children, who do not have Palestinian ID cards, need to renew their passports immediately in order to travel with their parents to Russia, where their father, Kamal, has been accepted for an advanced degree program in Project Management, not available in Gaza. The visas for Kamal and his wife will expire on June 16, but they can't leave without their children.

Israel has ignored requests to permit the family to leave Gaza via Erez Crossing, in order to reach the US consulate. The family can't even try to leave Gaza during one of the rare openings of Rafah Crossing, because one of the child's passports has already expired. The second child's passport will expire next month.

The children, American citizens, are caught in a Catch 22 that illustrates the draconian nature of the two-year long closure of Gaza. They cannot leave Gaza because they can't renew their passports, and they can't renew their passports because they can't leave Gaza. The parents, of course, must accompany their children to east Jerusalem and wish to continue from there to Russia via Jordan.

Kamal Elkafarna, a lecturer in systems engineering in the Palestine Technical College, holds a Master's Degree in systems engineering from George Washington University in D.C., thanks to a prestigious scholarship from USAID.

Kamal Elkafarna: “The field in which I wish to develop professionally will contribute to my community in Gaza. When a technology project is implemented in hospitals or schools, it is essential to have people with broad-based knowledge – managerial and technical – to supervise the project”.

According to Tamar Feldman of Gisha, who wrote the court petition: "The Elkafarna family's plight is just one example of how the closure of Gaza – led by Israel but with the tacit acceptance of the international community – is trapping 1.5 million people, including hundreds of students accepted for study abroad".
Michael Balter

Posted by Michael Balter

I have been a working journalist for more than 40 years, beginning in Los Angeles as an investigative reporter and then in Paris as a travel, food, and science writer. For more than 20 years I have covered anthropology and archaeology writer for Science, Audubon, Scientific American, SAPIENS, and other publications. I have also covered sexual misconduct for The Verge, Scientific American, and others; I write about mental health, especially schizophrenia; and I engage in occasional media criticism. I returned to the USA in October 2017 after 30 years in Paris, and now live in the New York City area, where I currently teach journalism at City College of New York (I previously taught journalism at Boston University and New York University.) For more about me and what I do, copies of my articles, information about my book, and other goodies, please visit MY WEB SITE

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1 Comments

Anne Gilbert said…
I just shook my head at that video. I previously thought such moronic sentiments were confined to the US, and not among Jews. I guess I was wrong on both counts. I heard this kind of thing in the weeks before the election of President Obama, but the people expressing such sentiments were quite obviously less-educated, less well-off non-Jewish white Americans. It really saddens me to see people who have grown up with access to all kinds of opportunities that I didn't even have, and who have presumably been at least exposed to the more humane aspects of the Jewish religious tradition(much of which I find quite attractive,BTW), displaying such bottomless ignorance and stupidity. I felt very disheartened by this video.
June 7, 2009 at 9:51 PM
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