Israeli State to help fund treatment of pets hurt by rockets.
of course, that only means if your dog lives on the side of the land called Israel. If you are a dog from Gaza, you will not get money for treatment against rockets. You know, dear readers, that I love dogs. I have told you many times about Musti and Tassu, the mother and daughter dog duo that I walk each Sunday. I love those dogs. They yelp and howl for joy when they smell me coming down their street on Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m., waking up all the folks who just want to sleep in on Sunday morning. And, after I tie them up when we are finished our walk, Musti (Blackie) and Tassu (Paws) moan and howl most beseechingly. I can hear their yowls all the way up the street as I head back home. But really, dear readers, Israeli dogs are treated better than Palestinians in Gaza!!! And in their love of animals, did the Israelis ever think of all the animals their bombs and other ugly munitions slaughtered in Gaza? The cows? the horses? the donkeys? the sheep? the birds? the butterflies? and I am sure, THE DOGS. Seriously, this outrageousness of treating dogs better than PALESTINIAN HUMAN LIFE, and treating dogs AS LONG AS THEY ARE ISRAELI is a corrupt statement of the lack of clear vision and inhumanity in that racist state. I think I will contact the minister at the end of this article and ask if the dogs of Gaza are included in the health plan?
by Erez Erlichman
"With cats and dogs facing rocket threat just like their human companions, Agriculture Ministry decides to help pay for medical care of pets injured by rocket fire
Last week a Qassam rocket hit a house in Sderot and killed the family's dog, which was at the building's yard during the attack. The dog was rushed to the veterinarian for treatment, but died due to severe shrapnel injuries and massive loss of blood.
Dog Therapy
Following this incident and in light of the fact that like their human owners, pets in Israel's south are also under the constant rocket threat, the Agriculture Ministry has decided it would help pay for the medical care of dogs and cats injured by rocket fire from Gaza.
"One of the main problems arising from the treatment of wounded animals is that the tax authorities do not consider pets as property, and therefore owners are not compensated for medical treatment of the animal," said Dganit Ben-Dov, DVM, the Veterinary Services official in charge of enforcing the Animal Protection Law.
"This is the aspect we wish to rectify, since treatment to a wounded animal could cost thousands of shekels," she added.
According to Ben-Dov, the ministry will also consider funding the treatment of street cats and dogs without owners.
For further details, please contact Dganit Ben-Dov at the Agriculture Ministry by email: dganit.b@moag.gov.il or by fax: 03-9681661 "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have added an addendum to this post. Here is the email that I just sent out:
Dear Ms. Dganit Ben-Dov,
I just read the article by Erez Erlichman called "Israeli State to help fund treatment of pets hurt by rockets" that is found online on Ynet news, URL below.
As a pet lover, especially a dog lover, I was wondering if the Israeli Agriculture Ministry's financial help for dogs hit by rockets also applies to the dogs hit by Israeli bombs in Gaza? Does it also cover cows, horses, donkeys, and sheep?
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3651173,00.html
thank you for considering my question,
Taina Maki Chahal
Monday, January 19, 2009
and the sanctions remain
If you think that the photo from my last post is an exception, it's not. I was watching Arabic Al-Jazeera this morning after I got back from teaching (btw, Arabic Al-Jay is substantially different than English Al-Jay), and the landscape of Gaza looks like a bombed out moonscape. Children were sitting among the ruins and rubble--can you imagine the carcinogenic materials they are enveloped in?--and people were walking about, slowly surveying the terrible devastation, looking themselves devastated.
I guess so.
The destruction is mind-boggling. Saudi Arabia reports to give $1 Billion for reconstruction. I believe I heard that Canada will give 4 million. So, that is how the world expresses its belief in the lives of the Palestinians of Gaza? Killing them--no problem. Nothing done about that--I mean, what I should say is actually supporting and encouraging Israel on that and then turning a blind eye. Yet money for rebuilding. How humane of us! How generous of us! Of the dead of Gaza--who cares. Of the maimed of Gaza--who cares.
We have blood on our hands. Look at them. We have blood on our hands.
Painting: Iraqi female artist, the late Layla Al-Attar, killed by Enemy bombs in Baghdad. from Arabwomanblues blog.
Last night I kept thinking of that homeless old man. Where did he sleep last night? What of all the displaced people who lost everything, I mean, not just lost everything but had their ENTIRE WAY OF LIVING DESTROYED? The students who have neither a bed to sleep in, a roof over their heads, any books left to read, or even a school to attend.
What of them?
Government building remains. Maan photo. Hatem Omar
If citizens of Gaza need to request their elected government's services, that is, Hamas, who provides social services, health, welfare, etc, well, here is the help they can give. Thanks to Israel and its backers--which includes Canada--here is your current infrastructure.
Sanctions are still on, don't forget. Canada was the 1st nation in the world to call for sanctions against the people of Gaza, which they have suffered since 2006. Now their land is destroyed, refugees and their descendants slaughtered and maimed and left destitute once again and THE SANCTIONS REMAIN.
The world is trying to starve the Palestinians of Gaza to death. If the bombs didn't kill them, don't expect the heart of the world to open up and dismantle the sanctions.
What a cruel, cruel world....
unless, of course, the blood on your hands bothers you and you decide to do something about this.
I guess so.
The destruction is mind-boggling. Saudi Arabia reports to give $1 Billion for reconstruction. I believe I heard that Canada will give 4 million. So, that is how the world expresses its belief in the lives of the Palestinians of Gaza? Killing them--no problem. Nothing done about that--I mean, what I should say is actually supporting and encouraging Israel on that and then turning a blind eye. Yet money for rebuilding. How humane of us! How generous of us! Of the dead of Gaza--who cares. Of the maimed of Gaza--who cares.
We have blood on our hands. Look at them. We have blood on our hands.
Painting: Iraqi female artist, the late Layla Al-Attar, killed by Enemy bombs in Baghdad. from Arabwomanblues blog.
Last night I kept thinking of that homeless old man. Where did he sleep last night? What of all the displaced people who lost everything, I mean, not just lost everything but had their ENTIRE WAY OF LIVING DESTROYED? The students who have neither a bed to sleep in, a roof over their heads, any books left to read, or even a school to attend.
What of them?
Government building remains. Maan photo. Hatem Omar
If citizens of Gaza need to request their elected government's services, that is, Hamas, who provides social services, health, welfare, etc, well, here is the help they can give. Thanks to Israel and its backers--which includes Canada--here is your current infrastructure.
Sanctions are still on, don't forget. Canada was the 1st nation in the world to call for sanctions against the people of Gaza, which they have suffered since 2006. Now their land is destroyed, refugees and their descendants slaughtered and maimed and left destitute once again and THE SANCTIONS REMAIN.
The world is trying to starve the Palestinians of Gaza to death. If the bombs didn't kill them, don't expect the heart of the world to open up and dismantle the sanctions.
What a cruel, cruel world....
unless, of course, the blood on your hands bothers you and you decide to do something about this.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
I don't even know where my home is
Gaza aftermath. Palestine Chronicle photo.
How many times must a person be bombed, terrorized, chased out of their lands and homes? This elderly Palestinian man is a survivor of the Nakba and of the Gaza massacre. Can not this elder find peace in his later years? Can not the leaders of the world's nations find it in their hearts to help him and his beleaguered people? Must he be homeless, stateless and bombed for eternity? Must catastrophe be his?
"It's a massacre not only against our people, but also against our homes."
In Tal Al-Hawa another resident glanced around the depressing landscape.
"Everywhere I look there is rubble. There is still smoke rising from some places. The roads and buildings have huge gaping holes," said Jumma Nasser, 62.
In the southern city of Khan Yunis, Mohammed Al-Najar sought desperately to find [his] home -- in vain -- in the rubble.
"At least 20 residential houses are completely destroyed in our neighborhood," he said.
"I came to see my home. I searched for it. There is no home. I don't even know where my home is."
Mats Svenssen writes:
"But one did not learn anything [from the war crimes of WW II]. The mistakes are repeated with a creepy sense of precision. The Nakba came shortly after the peace agreement of the Second World War was signed. The ink had dried but all the crimes of the war seemed to be forgotten. Every Palestinian family was affected and many have since then lived in refugee camps. It is these refugees or their children who are being bombed today."
Elna Sondergaard asks
"The crucial question is however: To which courts of justice can Palestinian victims bring their claims? There are Palestinian courts in Gaza but they have no jurisdiction over criminal cases involving Israelis. As stateless people, Palestinians have no state which could sign the Rome Statute with a view to seeking the adjudication of the ICC, or which would be entitled to bring a case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague as Bosnia and Herzegovina did concerning the massacre at Srebrenica. Without a state, Palestinians are also denied the legal protection offered by classic interstate diplomacy."
Regev: spokesman of distortion
Here is the name of another war criminal to hold accountable for the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza, Mark Regev, the ultimate lying propaganda mouthpiece of the state of Israel, aka, the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"Mark Regev says Hamas ordinance is to blame for the death of children and women in the Gaza Strip. At least 500 women and children have been killed in the Israeli assaults.
....
Regev's response prompted a shocked Gavin Estler, the News Night presenter, to ask him, "You are not serious that Hamas is killing Palestinian children, are you?"
The Israeli spokesman responded, "I am a 100 percent very serious and this has been documented and I am sure more information will be coming out. And we have no doubt that Hamas ordinance was responsible for many of the deaths."
He added that the Israeli military is convinced that "a large number of civilian casualties were caused by Hamas."
Regev said if a "sustained period of quite" follows the military campaign in Gaza, Tel Aviv would consider the operation as "a job well done."
"Mark Regev says Hamas ordinance is to blame for the death of children and women in the Gaza Strip. At least 500 women and children have been killed in the Israeli assaults.
....
Regev's response prompted a shocked Gavin Estler, the News Night presenter, to ask him, "You are not serious that Hamas is killing Palestinian children, are you?"
The Israeli spokesman responded, "I am a 100 percent very serious and this has been documented and I am sure more information will be coming out. And we have no doubt that Hamas ordinance was responsible for many of the deaths."
He added that the Israeli military is convinced that "a large number of civilian casualties were caused by Hamas."
Regev said if a "sustained period of quite" follows the military campaign in Gaza, Tel Aviv would consider the operation as "a job well done."
No one pays except the dead and the maimed
Yesterday, with my husband and some members of the Arab and the Muslim groups here in town, I went to NDP MP Bruce Hyer's office for its grand opening. I carried a sign reading "Canada's Shame: Gaza", which I draped with a Palestinian keffiyah. I will write about that next post.
Last night my mind, like many of yours I am sure, was spinning with the horrors committed on the Palestinian people of Gaza through this terrible Israeli massacre, and I was thinking about how a ceasefire, while absolutely necessary to prevent more deaths and injuries, is but only what it says: cease fire.
It does not mean anything more than a breather for now.
Which means all the fire is just waiting. Which means the fire is not seen as the problem. Which means nations keep making fire, and I don't just mean the rhetoric of fiery language but the technologies of fire that maim and kill.
Ceasefire has to mean more than just stopping this terrible massacre of civilians, which is the latest one in a long line of many, and many more to come unless we rise up collectively and say NO! Not in our names!
It is the military mindset, the militarization of nations, the normalization of war and the military, and the military industry and its growth through neoliberal economies and ideology, the impunity of nations like the US and Israel that are not held accountable for the illegal crimes that they commit through their militaries and their military technologies that have to be exposed, protested, resisted and CHANGED.
Normalizing war and the military is wrong-headed. These so-called legal munitions are used illegally by US and Israel. This has been shown time and time again. UN Resolutions have been made. BUT THERE IS NEVER ANY ACCOUNTABILITY.
Nothing happens. No one is charged. No one goes to court or to prison, except for some lowly soldiers who all the blame gets pinned on. Nations are exonerated. National representatives are exonerated.
No accountability. No one pays except the dead and the maimed.
Now Gaza, numerous times Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan ongoing, and what next? Which civilians next to suffer cluster bombs, phosphorus bombs, bunker busters, drones, Apaches helicopters and other terrible death technologies?
Apache helicopter
And btw, how can the US get away with calling these killing machines "Apache" after AMERICAN INDIANS who they slaughtered mercilessly in colonizing Turtle Island and creating the U. S. of A? What arrogance and racism allows that?
So, today I found Julie, one of my readers, has been thinking about these munitions, too, and questioning them. Please read the comments in the last few posts where I have linked to some articles worth reading about the making, shipping, and normalization of bombs and other military technologies, which Canada is deeply involved in.
Anna Nieminen (1995) writes that Canadian Uranium Perpetuates the Weapons Business:
"In 1965, Canada banned all exports of uranium for military purposes. Since then, however, Canadian uranium has been involved in what Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility has called 'Canada's quiet nuclear export.'"
Exposing and resisting Canada's increasing militaristic role is our ongoing work as Canadians so that we can do what we can to prevent the next massacre of civilians. Today, I am writing another letter to Jack Layton, the PM and other Canadian govt represenatives to take them to task on Canada's role in creating death not peace.
Last night my mind, like many of yours I am sure, was spinning with the horrors committed on the Palestinian people of Gaza through this terrible Israeli massacre, and I was thinking about how a ceasefire, while absolutely necessary to prevent more deaths and injuries, is but only what it says: cease fire.
It does not mean anything more than a breather for now.
Which means all the fire is just waiting. Which means the fire is not seen as the problem. Which means nations keep making fire, and I don't just mean the rhetoric of fiery language but the technologies of fire that maim and kill.
Ceasefire has to mean more than just stopping this terrible massacre of civilians, which is the latest one in a long line of many, and many more to come unless we rise up collectively and say NO! Not in our names!
It is the military mindset, the militarization of nations, the normalization of war and the military, and the military industry and its growth through neoliberal economies and ideology, the impunity of nations like the US and Israel that are not held accountable for the illegal crimes that they commit through their militaries and their military technologies that have to be exposed, protested, resisted and CHANGED.
Normalizing war and the military is wrong-headed. These so-called legal munitions are used illegally by US and Israel. This has been shown time and time again. UN Resolutions have been made. BUT THERE IS NEVER ANY ACCOUNTABILITY.
Nothing happens. No one is charged. No one goes to court or to prison, except for some lowly soldiers who all the blame gets pinned on. Nations are exonerated. National representatives are exonerated.
No accountability. No one pays except the dead and the maimed.
Now Gaza, numerous times Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan ongoing, and what next? Which civilians next to suffer cluster bombs, phosphorus bombs, bunker busters, drones, Apaches helicopters and other terrible death technologies?
Apache helicopter
And btw, how can the US get away with calling these killing machines "Apache" after AMERICAN INDIANS who they slaughtered mercilessly in colonizing Turtle Island and creating the U. S. of A? What arrogance and racism allows that?
So, today I found Julie, one of my readers, has been thinking about these munitions, too, and questioning them. Please read the comments in the last few posts where I have linked to some articles worth reading about the making, shipping, and normalization of bombs and other military technologies, which Canada is deeply involved in.
Anna Nieminen (1995) writes that Canadian Uranium Perpetuates the Weapons Business:
"In 1965, Canada banned all exports of uranium for military purposes. Since then, however, Canadian uranium has been involved in what Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility has called 'Canada's quiet nuclear export.'"
Exposing and resisting Canada's increasing militaristic role is our ongoing work as Canadians so that we can do what we can to prevent the next massacre of civilians. Today, I am writing another letter to Jack Layton, the PM and other Canadian govt represenatives to take them to task on Canada's role in creating death not peace.
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