News Highlights:

• Israeli forces kill a 64-year-old Palestinian in Jenin and target journalists in Gaza.
• Aug. 28th – Israel assassinates a Palestinian activist in Ramallah using undercover troops.
• Israeli government document indicates Israel is planning to legalize “unauthorized outposts” in the West Bank.
• UN World Food Program warns Gaza is facing a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis.
• Cluster bombs left by Israel in south Lebanon continue to kill and maim children.
• Italy will send 2500 troops as part of the UN force in south Lebanon.

Feature:

A live interview with Barrie Zwicker, an author, investigative journalist and long-time media critic visiting Vancouver. Barrie is on a cross-Canada tour to talk about his new book, which questions the prevailing theories about 9/11 and the accompanying media cover-up. Barrie detailed his analysis that 9/11 was not the work of al Qaeda, and also spoke at length about how the U.S. military and arms industry had benefited since that time. There was also discussion about media coverage of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and how the North American media had failed to deliver accurate coverage.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an Aug. 29th, 2006 Reuters report about how the Israeli siege on Gaza is destroying the medical system there, including in the hospitals.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Aug. 21st – Israeli human rights group Btselem releases report saying abuse of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, especially at checkpoints, has increased.
• Palestinian parliamentary speaker brought into Israeli court in shackles; Abd Al-Aziz Dweik says he does not recognize the court’s authority and that it is a political trial.
• Aug. 18th – Israeli soldiers kill two Palestinians, one of them a local shepherd in Gaza; Israeli forces have been attempting to bar local farmers from entering their pastures.
• Aug. 20th – Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz says Israel must prevent the arrival of the Lebanese army to the border, until a multinational force is there; he deflects Israeli public criticism of the government’s handling of the July invasion and says they must “prepare for the next round”.
• Two Canadian MPs on a fact-finding mission to Lebanon call for dropping Hezbollah from Canada’s “terror list”; one of the two, Liberal MP Borys Wrznesnewskyj, was immediately attacked by leadership hopefuls in his own party.

Feature:

A live interview with Ali Mallah, vice-president of the Canadian Arab Federation and vice-president of CUPE Toronto, about the increasing anti-Arab hysteria in Canada. Ali detailed how the Bnai Brith had publicly attacked him and others, simply because they had criticized the Canadian law that “bans” Hezbollah. There was discussion on how this law had been originally passed by a previous Liberal government, with direct influence from pro-Israeli lobby groups that used documentation later proved false by CBC, and how this influence on behalf of a foreign government is continuing to this day.

(See: Open Letter to Solicitor General of Canada Re: Banning of Palestinian Groups and Open Letter to the Canadian Prime Minister Regarding the Banning of Moslem Organizations).

Ali concluded by calling on people of conscience to answer these measures at the ballot box and with other grassroots political means.

Focus on Zionism;

Highlights of an Aug. 22nd, 2006 Haaretz article about the effects on the Palestinian population of the Israeli destruction of the Gaza power station two months ago, especially in the sweltering summer heat.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians head home to south Lebanon; however, at least one already killed and 12 injured by unexploded cluster bombs left behind by the Israeli military.
• Israeli PM, Ehud Olmert, facing domestic criticism over his handling of the invasion of Lebanon:
• More than 150 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died and 1100 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed.
• Israeli Arab legal association, Adalah, sends letter to Israeli AG saying Israel’s actions in Lebanon are effectively war crimes.
• Israeli air strike destroys home in Khan Younis, Gaza and kills two Palestinians; since June 25th, 2006 Israel has killed 200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including 44 kids and 10 women, and destroyed electricity and transportation infrastructure.

Feature:

A special Eyewitness Palestine, one year after the Israeli redeployment from Gaza, showing the daily grind for the Palestinian population in the occupied territories. The first report was individual accounts from Gazans, about how their lives had continued to worsen in the last year, with one lawyer and activist saying “Gaza…is like a giant prison”. The second report was from the International Womens Peace Service about the difficulties in Wadi Qana, near Salfit in the West Bank, where Palestinian land is either being confiscated for the apartheid wall or environmentally destroyed by sewage from Israeli settlements.

Focus on Zionism:

An article from the Aug. 14th, 2006 Israeli newspaper Haaretz, quoting an Israeli general telling his troops that those without food could steal it from Lebanese stores.

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Lebanon calls for changes in the draft UN resolution, including the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory.
• More than 1000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 99 Israelis, including 63 soldiers have died so far in the conflict.
• Lebanon will send 15,000 troops to the south when Israel begins to withdraw.
• Human Rights Watch says Israel’s military appears to have deliberately bombed civilians in Lebanon and some of its air strikes constitute war crimes.
• 5000 people march in Tel Aviv to protest Israel’s operation in Lebanon; tens of thousands march in London, criticizing Tony Blair for following George Bush and refusing to call for an immediate ceasefire.
• Aug 7th – Israeli attacks in Gaza leave two Palestinians dead, including a 13-year-old boy; Israeli troops arrest two Palestinian MPs, including the speaker of the parliament.

Feature:

An interview with two Lebanese Canadian women just returned from south Lebanon. The two, Ibtisam Ghaddar and her daughter Miriam, spoke movingly of the horrors they had seen in the village in which they had been staying. Ibtisam talked about the Israeli air strike that same day which hit near a funeral procession and killed at least 14 civilians. Mourners had been burying another 15 relatives killed the day before. Miriam explained that despite all this, the defiant spirit of the Lebanese people was very high and that the Israeli invasion had unified people.

Focus on Zionism:

An Aug. 5th, 2006 press release from the Israeli Cmte. for a Middle East Free from Atomic, Biological and Chemical Weapons in which they call on the Israeli government to not use the depleted uranium bunker-buster bombs they recently got from the U.S

Here is an audio file of this show:

News Highlights:

• Lebanon calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire at the U.N. Security Council, as well as an investigation into Israel’s bombing of civilians at Qana.
• Lebanon’s health minister says at least 750 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed by Israel’s military offensive; 50 Israelis, including 18 civilians, are dead.
• U.N. Security Council deplores the Israeli attack on Qana, but stops short of calling for ceasefire due to U.S. pressure.
• EU foreign ministers water down demands for an immediate ceasefire, after pressure from Britain and Germany; meanwhile, the EU continues to reject adding Hezbollah to its “terrorist list”.
• U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice returns from MidEast trip, claiming she believes a ceasefire can be attained “this week”; Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora cancelled talks with Rice after the Qana killings.
• Israeli aircraft bomb Gaza, killing a 14-year-old boy; a 13-year-old Palestinian girl dies of wounds from another Israeli strike last week.

Feature:

A live interview with Khalid Mouammar from Toronto, the new president of the Canadian Arab Federation. Khalid spoke about the ongoing national protests against Israel’s military aggression on Lebanon and Palestine, and also detailed people’s outrage at the position of Canadian PM Stephen Harper. He updated listeners on the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which had just finished, and criticized the current government for not representing the best interests of the Canadian people. He also noted, that as a Palestinian Christian, Israeli missiles do not distinguish between people on the ground and explained how all sectors in Lebanon and Palestine are against Israeli occupation of Arab lands.

Focus on Zionism:

Highlights of an article by Christian Henderson, carried in the July 30th, 2006 Aljazeera.net about the desperate by defiant mood on the street in Lebanon. He explained how most Lebanese, a current poll said 87% from all sects, are now supporting the resistance’s fight against Israel’s invasion.

Here is an audio file of this show: