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Irish Artist, Who Drew Iconic Che Guevara Poster, Portrays Ahed Tamimi as a Superhero Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick painted an image of Palestinian imprisoned teen Ahed Tamimi in which he portrayed her as a superhero.
Tamimi is seen holding the Palestinian flag in the painting entitled "There is a Real Wonder Woman," in a reference to "The Wonder Women," an heroic female comic character.
Fitzpatrick, who is famous for drawing the iconic 1968 poster of Che Guevara, said he was amazed by Tamimi's bravery when he first learned of her two years ago.
Ahed Tamimi was detained for confronting Israeli soldiers who had forced their way into her family's yard soon after soldiers shot and critically injured her 15-year-old cousin who was hit in the face. Her trial is still ongoing. Many entertainers, activists and authors showed solidarity with Tamimi, whose story garnered global attention. Recently, actors Danny Glover, Rosario Dawson, Grey's Anatomy star Jesse Williams and others, have all signed a letter in support of Tamimi. (Wafa, PC) |
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| EDITORIAL
The Boomerang Effect: How Netanyahu Made Israel an American Issue, and Lost By Ramzy Baroud Despite massive sums of money spent to channel public opinion in the United States in favor of Israel, unmistakable trends in opinion polls are attesting to the changing dynamics of Israel's support among ordinary Americans. Not only is Israel losing its support and overall appeal among large sections of American society, but among young American Jews, as well - a particularity worrying phenomena for the Israeli government. The trend promises to be a lasting one, since it has been in the making for years, starting some time after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It was on that date that the affinity between Israel and the US purportedly grew to unprecedented levels, since both countries claimed to be fighting "Islamic terror." In reality, the attacks, the ensuing media discourse and subsequent wars have all coagulated the support of Christian Evangelists behind Israel, as they saw the widening conflict in the Middle East as part of a long-awaited prophecy. It was precisely then that the support of Israel by American Liberals, especially those identifying with the Democratic Party, began to weaken. With time, supporting or not supporting Israel became a partisan issue, which is, itself, unprecedented. While the Israeli government under Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, exploited every opportunity to maximize support for Israel in order to achieve objectives deemed important by the Israeli rightwing, ultra-right and religious parties, Netanyahu's conceited and confrontational style has alienated many Americans, especially Democrats. Worse, Netanyahu's policies of entrenching the Occupation, blocking any peace efforts and expanding illegal Jewish settlements, also began to shift the kind of support that Israel has historically taken for granted, that of American Jews. Read more. |
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Modi's 'De-hyphenated' Policy on Palestine at Odds with India's Freedom Struggle against British Colonialism By Iqbal Jassat Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's brief stopover in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of the West Bank has been hailed by parts of India's media as "historic". It is premised on what they tout as "the first ever Prime Ministerial visit to Palestine from India". Strangely the media interest seems to be generated by a debate about whether Jawaharlal Nehru's visit to the Gaza Strip during 1960 qualified him to be the first. At the time Nehru as Prime Minister had met with his country's troops deployed by the United Nations as a buffer following the 1956 Suez Canal war between Egypt and Anglo-French colonizers. Whether Modi or Nehru was the first is besides the point. While some media houses in India may have reason to indulge in these irrelevant technical issues, the real story seems to have evaded them.
One is the surreal parallel in both visits which has to do with military control. In the case of Nehru's trip it was related to the battle over the control of Egypt's natural resource, the all important Suez Canal. As for Modi, his visit to Ramallah required special clearance from the Occupying Forces to permit a Jordanian helicopter to fly him in to the West Bank which is occupied by Israel. The other points to "fence sitting" which is euphemistically described as "neutrality". Both administrations i.e. Nehru and Modi are guilty of this. Nowhere has this been more pronounced than in Palestine. Nehru's UN plane was nearly blown out of Gaza's skies when Israel's menacing fighter jets flew dangerously close. Though he said that the threat posed by Israel was "unwarranted", it appeared to have ended there. Important to note that at the time - 1960 - India's recognition of Israel as a state was a decade old. And its recognition of Palestine came only in 1988 - almost three decades later.
Fast forward another 30 years, we find Narendra Modi's bizarre trip marred by Israeli checkpoints and military control, which he and his security detail would be aware of. Under these conditions of siege usual protocol took a backseat for he had to rely on a helicopter from a third country to fly him across. Equally bizarre but not unexpected has been his muted acceptance of the apartheid conditions imposed on Palestinians by the settler colonial regime. Again in keeping with India's inglorious record of betrayal of Palestine's just cause - though it may surprise some people that an anti-colonial power such as India which struggled long and hard to rid itself of the British Empire would embrace imperialism two years after its independence - Modi's subservience to Israel confirmed it. This is the substance of the debate which India's media seems to have evaded: the hasty recognition of Israel while the fragrance emitted from the blood of Palestinian martyrs subjected to massacres and brutal ethnic cleansing swirled around the world. Read more. |
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