Operation Cast Lead: It's Zionese for Burning People

We Hold These Truths

Charles E. Carlson

"Zionese" is the unofficial spoken language of the State of Israel. Most Israelis learn and use the Zionese language, but one need not be Jewish to speak it; today it is also the language that’s spoken in many Judeo-Christian and Messianic churches in America, often without church leaders realizing it.

 The first cab driver I rode with in Israel pointedly called the Philistines "animals" in the course of polite conversation...that’s Zionese. He was cautioning me to keep away from Palestinians while in Israel. "They will kill you in there," he told me, when he learned I was going into Gaza. More Zionese.

Zionese is not a language of letter, syllable, and punctuation. It is the delivery of a few so-called "truths" that must be learned and repeated forcefully without reservation. The trick is in the delivery. Zionese is the art of telling a story that most will reject, and repeating it as if most believe it.

The teller must not worry about being thought a liar by most, so long as there are listeners who will believe because they think others believe. Common Zionese statements are "our warfare is self-defense", "they hit us first (usually with “rockets"), "they are animals," and "Israelis are holocaust survivors." Zionese paints all Arabs as inferior. It is a language of racist superiority, and it is no stretch to call it verbal brutality.

'60 Minutes' Israel Story: Benjamin Netanyahu Reportedly Briefed On Envoy's Attempt To Kill CBS Story

Huffington Post
Rebecca Shapiro

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly briefed on Ambassador Michael Oren's attempts to kill a CBS "60 Minutes" story on Arab Christians in Israel.

During Sunday night's episode of "60 Minutes," reporter Bob Simon's story on Arab Christians included a heated confrontation between himself and Oren. Oren reportedly called Jeff Fager, the chairman of CBS News, before the broadcast and said he had information the "60 Minutes" story was "a hatchet job." He was concerned that the piece was critical of Israel and could harm the country's reputation among American Christians.

Simon confronted the Ambassador for calling Fager. Oren called Simon's report "outrageous" and "incomprehensible." He also said Simon's interview questions confirmed what he suspected as the story's critical slant. "Nothing's been confirmed by the interview, Mr. Ambassador, because you don't know what's going to be put on air," Simon responded.

The piece caused a great stir, being alternately praised and vilified across the Web.



According to sources, news of Simon's "60 Minutes" report reached the highest levels of Israel's government. Haaretz reported on Tuesday that Netanyahu and his political adviser Ron Dermer were "fully informed on the affair almost since its start." The report said "it was unclear whether Netanyahu or Dermer were the ones who instructed or suggested that Oren directly address the president of CBS in an attempt to prevent the broadcast."

According to Haaretz, the effort to thwart the broadcast was intense and coordinated, involving Oren penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and Netanyahu addressing Evangelical leaders in Jerusalem, all in an attempt to bolster the government's record when it came to the Christian community in Israel.

A source told Haaretz that Israel's unsuccessful attempts to kill the "60 Minutes" report backfired as Oren's call to Fager became a central part of the story. "We awakened the dead," the source said.

Officials in the Prime Minister's Office disagreed and insisted that their efforts delayed the broadcast and made the final version "softer."

'Irvine 11' plead not guilty to misdemeanor charges of disrupting an Israeli ambassador's campus speech

LA Times

Court action resumes in May in a case that pits prosecutors' allegations of conspiracy against students' claims to the right of free speech.

Mohamed Abdelgany, left, Khalid Akari, Shaheen Nassar
and Hakim Kebir, four of 11 students in the case,
are flanked by their attorneys at the arraignment hearing.
All pleaded not guilty

Orange County prosecutors didn't flinch Friday when a group of university student activists charged with disturbing an Israeli ambassador's speech last year at UC Irvine brought more than 60 supporters with them to court.

Instead, prosecutors filed a motion at the hearing to release grand jury transcripts from their investigation and handed out copies of court filings they said illustrated point by point how the students — "the Irvine 11" — conspired to disrupt Ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine on Feb. 8, 2010, then tried to cover it up.

"They're caught red-handed," Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner said outside court. "They very intentionally tried to shut down" Oren's speech.

Prosecutors have charged eight former or current UC Irvine and three UC Riverside students with misdemeanor conspiracy to commit a crime and misdemeanor disruption of a meeting. Seven of the 11 were in court and pleaded not guilty. Attorneys pleaded not guilty on behalf of the other four.

"This isn't about the war on Gaza, it's about democracy here," said defense attorney Jacqueline Goodman. "It was a principled protest by top students.… They're fighting for all of us."

"We need more students like this," added defense attorney Dan Stormer.

The defense claims the students acted independently. But a motion from prosecutors released Friday suggests the disruption was organized by UC Irvine's Muslim Student Union, which is on probation because of the incident.

According to an email distributed to the school's Muslim Student Union board with minutes from a meeting days before the protest, the students considered Oren's appearance to be "sending [the] message that this is an Israeli campus again" and they would conduct a "Chicago-style" protest to "disrupt the whole event" and "shut down with individual disruption."

The 11 students each rose individually and shouted at Oren before being escorted out by police. Prosecutors said Oren was able to speak for only three minutes in his first half hour because of protesters.

An email from one of the defendants to protesters two days before Oren's speech reminds them to shout only scripted comments, nothing ad-libbed.

"Remember that this is a planned calculated response and not a venting session," defendant Mohamed Abdelgany, 23, wrote, according to court documents.

Emails in the days after the speech urge protesters to disavow any involvement on the part of the Muslim Student Union.

Defense attorneys declined to comment on the emails until they review the motion.

The parties are due back at Santa Ana's Central Justice Center on May 13 to argue before Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson whether portions of the grand jury investigation should be unsealed. Defense attorneys have until May 6 to file their opposition to the proposal.

If convicted on all charges, each defendant would face up to six months in jail.