Press release from www.m26.org:

Contact: Eric Monse (646) 479-9168

Court Orders Records of Protesters' Prior Dismissed Cases to be Resealed
New York State Court of Appeals reverses lower Court Decision

In a unanimous reversal of a lower court's decision, the State Court of Appeals decided today that it was unlawful for District Attorney Robert Morgenthau to unseal defendants‚ prior dismissed cases to use the information in seeking harsher sentencing for the convicted defendants.

Based on the unsealed cases, District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is requesting 10 days jail time for four non-violent protesters who were convicted in a demonstration against U.S. and Israeli war crimes that took place in March of 2003. Other protesters present at the demonstration who were convicted of the same offenses but did not have prior dismissed allegations have been sentenced to community service.

Finally the State of Israel is admitting that its "separation barrier," most of which is illegally built on occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank, is not placed where it is solely due to "security" considerations. The form of admission came in a petition to the Israeli High Court brought on behalf of villages in the Qalqilya district, in which the state complained it would be "very expensive to move" the fence from its current location. Not a word from the Zionist lobby and hasbara (propaganda) forces which have worked overtime to project an image of the fence as a "temporary" security measure which can be removed when the Palestinians turn into "Finns:"

Gershon Baskin is co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information (ICPRI), a joint Israeli -Palestinian think tank which was involved with the Oslo process. In the June 28 Jerusalem Post, he writes:

"Meeting with people in the halls of Congress to exchange views, the first questions I was asked were: What does AIPAC have to say about that? Have you spoken to AIPAC? There is little doubt that AIPAC has successfully instilled a strong sense on the Hill that anything that concerns the US-Israel relationship must be checked with them first.

From Ha'aretz June 30:

Book: Rabin backed transfer of Arabs in '56
By Amir Oren

Assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin proposed transferring the Palestinians from the West Bank while serving as a major general in the Israel Defense Forces in 1956, according to a book published by the State Archive last week.

The transfer suggestion was raised at an IDF staff meeting attended by then-prime minister and defense minister David Ben-Gurion. Rabin proposed initiating a war against Jordan and using it to deport Palestinians from the West Bank.

From the JTA June 30:

French extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen met with a Russian ultranationalist during a visit to Moscow.

Sergei Baburin is deputy speaker of the Rodina Party, some of whose legislators backed a letter earlier this year calling for Jewish groups to be outlawed in Russia. Le Pen was in Russia promoting his idea to close off the European Union to people from the Third World.

See our last post for more on the Rodina Party.

Move over, Yoni, there's a new kid in town. Sgt. Avi Beiber made headlines June 28 when he became the first Israeli soldier to refuse to act against Jewish settlers living illegally in the Occupied Palestinian Territories -- like himself. Beiber, who was born in the US, lives with his parents in the illegal settlement of Tekoa in the occupied West Bank. He was sent along with his unit to destroy 11 beach bungalows built by Egyptians when the Gaza Strip was in Egyptian hands before 1967. The IDF feared that settler youth might try to occupy the houses. According to Bieber and journalists at the scene, when he realized what he was being asked to do, he went through a crisis of conscience and started shouting "Jews don't expel Jews." His rifle was taken from him and he was arrested, and slapped with 56 days in the brig for refusing an order. 12 other soldiers also refused, Yediot Aharonoth reported, although the IDF denies this. Bieber explained he "didn't come to the country to expel Jews from their homes," and that he was a "conscientious objector." When fistfights and shoving matches developed after anti-disengagement protesters swarmed to the site, Bieber refused to get involved, leaving his fellow soldiers to take the blows from the settlers. Footage of Bieber's moment of refusal was shown on TV channels 2,4, and 7 in New York City, and Bieber's father received congratulatory calls for his son's actions from Brooklyn.

A stir is being caused by a probe by the Russian state prosecuter over Shulan Arukh, a sixteenth-century commentary on Halakha (Jewish law), written in Safed, in what is now northern Israel. The prosecuter is checking if some comments in Shulan Arukh constituted incitement against non-Jews. Jewish groups have asked for clarification and Israel has protested. (Ha'aretz, June 27)

Israeli pot activists try to stone the Gush:

Settlers Urged to Smoke Pot During Gaza Evacuation
Gush Katif, Gaza Strip (CNSNews.com — June 27) - Activists of all stripes are flocking to the Gaza Strip, some to lobby for pet causes, while others dig in to resist the Israeli government's disengagement plan.