Haq's Musings

Riaz Haq writes this data-driven blog to provide information, express his opinions and make comments on many topics. Subjects include personal activities, education, South Asia, South Asian community, regional and international affairs and US politics to financial markets. For investors interested in South Asia, Riaz has another blog called South Asia Investor at http://www.southasiainvestor.com and a YouTube video channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkrIDyFbC9N9evXYb9cA_gQ

Showing posts with label Netanyahu. Show all posts

Thursday, December 21, 2023

Bibi to Biden: "You Carpet Bombed Germany. You Dropped the Atom Bomb. A Lot of Civilians Died"

At a recent Democratic fundraiser organized by the Israel lobby in the United States, President Joseph R. Biden shared some details of the conversations he has had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu about protecting civilians in Gaza. Justifying Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, Netanyahu told Biden: “You carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died”. Netanyahu is “a good friend, but I think he has to change, and… This (extremist coalition) government in Israel is making it very difficult for him to move,” Biden told the attendees at the campaign fundraiser in Washington hosted by former AIPAC board chair Lee Rosenberg. Last month, Biden used the word “indiscriminate” to describe Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, according to a report in the Times of Israel.

President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu

The Israel Lobby:

American Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC), also known as the Israel lobby, is considered the most powerful lobby in Washington D.C. The lobby has showered its friendly politicians with money from Jewish donors. It has also ensured the defeat of those politicians who dared to speak out against Israeli policies in the Middle East. As one former Democratic senator, Ernest Hollings, put it on leaving office, ‘you can’t have an Israeli policy other than what AIPAC gives you around here.’ Or as Ariel Sharon once told an American audience, ‘when people ask me how they can help Israel, I tell them: “Help AIPAC.”’

President Jimmy Carter who helped broker peace between Israel and Egypt knows the Israel lobby well. He told Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" many years ago: "I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks..... And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I’ve just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term ".

Biden-Netanyahu Conversations:

President Biden recalled how during one of their many conversations since October 7, Netanyahu sought to justify the deaths of civilians in Gaza by recalling how many died in the US response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, according to the Times of Israel.

“You carpet-bombed Germany. You dropped the atom bomb. A lot of civilians died,” Biden quoted Netanyahu as having said. “They not only want to have retribution — which they should — for what Hamas did, but against all Palestinians… They don’t want anything to (do) with the Palestinians,” Biden said, reiterating the US stance that Hamas does not represent all Palestinians and that not all of Gaza should suffer because of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

It should be noted that the reason Netanyahu sounds American is because he was raised and educated in the United States. He is essentially an American who was born in Tel Aviv, raised in Philadelphia, and then returned to Israel after finishing higher education at MIT and Harvard.

The US and Israel:

While acknowledging the US role in killing large number of civilians during WW II, Biden pointed out to Netanyahu that the conventions and laws agreed to by the international community after the war were designed to stop the kind of excesses Netanyahu mentioned, such as the carpet bombing of Germany and the dropping of the atomic bombs on civilian populations in Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why all these institutions were set up after World War II to see to it that it didn’t happen again,'” Biden said he told Netanyahu. Biden also advised Netanyahu not to repeat the mistakes the US made in response to the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001. “Don’t make the same mistakes we made [after] 9/11. There was no reason why we had to be in a war in Afghanistan [after] 9/11. There was no reason why we had to do some of the things we did,” Biden said.

While Biden's response makes sense, it is hard not to see the parallels between the United States and Israel. Both of them are settler colonial societies built on genocide of the native populations and their replacement by Europeans. This process was endorsed by top British politicians like Winston Churchill.

This process of Israel's creation was endorsed by top British politicians like Winston Churchill. “I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger,” former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the Peel Commission in 1937, “even though he may have lain there for a very long time.” He denied that “a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the Black people of Australia,” by their replacement with “a higher grade race.”

Friday, January 28, 2022

NY Times: Modi Bought Israeli Pegasus Spyware as Part of $2 Billion Deal

In a long investigative report titled "The Battle for the World’s Most Powerful Cyberweapon" published today, the New York Times has revealed that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi bought the Pegasus spyware as part of a 2017 $2 billion deal he signed with then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israeli NSO Pegasus Spyware

Here's the relevant excerpt of the New York Times report on Modi-Netanyahu deal:

"In July 2017, Narendra Modi, who won office on a platform of Hindu nationalism, became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. For decades, India had maintained a policy of what it called “commitment to the Palestinian cause,” and relations with Israel were frosty. The Modi visit, however, was notably cordial, complete with a carefully staged moment of him and Prime Minister Netanyahu walking together barefoot on a local beach. They had reason for the warm feelings. Their countries had agreed on the sale of a package of sophisticated weapons and intelligence gear worth roughly $2 billion — with Pegasus and a missile system as the centerpieces. Months later, Netanyahu made a rare state visit to India. And in June 2019, India voted in support of Israel at the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council to deny observer status to a Palestinian human rights organization, a first for the nation".

Mr. Modi has used the Israeli spyware to not only spy on his critics at home but also his perceived enemies abroad. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is among the most prominent targets of the Modi government's cyber attacks, according to a recently released Project Pegasus report. The Indian government has neither confirmed nor denied the report. The focus of the report is the use of the Israeli-made spyware by about a dozen governments to target politicians, journalists and activists. The users of the Pegasus software include governments of Bahrain, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Hungary, Azerbaijan, Togo and Rwanda.

Indian Prime Minister Modi with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval

Modi's National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval is the man behind India's acquisition of cyberweapons like the Israeli Pegasus spyware. Indian National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), which reports to National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, has seen a tenfold increase in budgetary allocation, according to a Hindu newspaper story published in 2017. Prior to becoming Modi's NSA, Doval openly advocated using the Taliban terrorists against Pakistan. Recently, Doval has talked about weaponizing "the civil society" . “The new frontiers of war, what you call the fourth-generation warfare, is the civil society,” he said in November 2021. Elaborating further, he said wars have ceased to become an effective instrument for achieving political or military objectives. They are too expensive or unaffordable and, at the same time, there is uncertainty about their outcome. “But it is the civil society (NGOs) that can be subverted, suborned, divided, manipulated to hurt the interests of a nation. You are there to see they stand fully protected,” he said.

This is not the first time that Pakistan has figured prominently as India's favorite target for cyber hacks. Last year, a report in The Sunday Guardian of India said: "Mobile phones of around 30 Pakistani government servants, who include serving army generals, officials attached with the ISI and senior bureaucrats, were hacked into by using Pegasus spying software during April and May 2019".

In addition to the use of spyware, the Indian government has been engaged in a massive, long-running disinformation campaign targeting Pakistan. EU Disinfo Lab, an NGO that specializes in disinformation campaigns, has found that India is carrying out a massive 15-year-long disinformation campaign to hurt Pakistan. The key objective of the Indian campaign as reported in "Indian Chronicles" is as follows: "The creation of fake media in Brussels, Geneva and across the world and/or the repackaging and dissemination via ANI and obscure local media networks – at least in 97 countries – to multiply the repetition of online negative content about countries in conflict with India, in particular Pakistan". After the disclosure of India's anti-Pakistan propaganda campaign, Washington-based US analyst Michael Kugelman tweeted: "The scale and duration of the EU/UN-centered Indian disinformation campaign exposed by @DisinfoEU is staggering. Imagine how the world would be reacting if this were, say, a Russian or Chinese operation".

Pegasus Spyware Explained. Source: The Guardian

Pegasus is spying software made by NSO Group, an Israeli company whose exports are regulated and controlled by the Israeli government. It uses several different messaging apps to plant itself in mobile phones. Last year, Apple issued a warning to its customers of a "zero-click" version of the Pegasus software. It does not require the phone user to click on any links or messages for the spyware to take control of the device. Once installed, it can read and export any information or extract any file from SMS messages, address books, call history, calendars, emails and internet browsing histories.

The Israeli spyware will likely inspire other software developers elsewhere to copy and improve it, contributing to a proliferation of such hacking and spying tools around the world. The governments and officials who use it to target others will eventually become targets themselves, unless the nations of the world agree to some norms of internationally accepted cyber behavior. It's high time to think about it.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

India's "Firehose of Falsehoods" Against Pakistan

PTM: Lowdown on Manzoor Pashteen

East Pakistan "Genocide" Headline

Ex Indian Spy On RAW's Successes Against Pakistan

Free Speech: Myth or Reality?

Social Media Tribalism

Social Media: Blessing or Curse For Pakistan?

Planted Stories in Media

Indian BJP Troll Farm

Kulbhushan Jadhav Caught in Balochistan

The Story of Pakistan's M8 Motorway

Pakistan-China-Russia vs India-Japan-US

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

PakAlumni Social Network

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Muslim Politician Holds Key to Netanyahu Retaining Top Office in Israel

Mansour Abbas, 46-year-old Palestinian leader of an Islamic party, has emerged as the man who can make or break Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ambition of retaining the top elected office in his country. On Thursday, Abbas quoted from the Holy Quran in a primetime speech on Israeli National Television and said he was "a proud Arab and Muslim".

Mansour Abbas, Israeli Knesset Member

The recent March 23 vote in Israel was the 4th in 2 years. With no single party or group of allied parties winning a clear majority, this election has also proved inconclusive like the last three. Abbas heads the Raam party that won just four seats in the latest elections for 120-seat Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Netanyahu's Likud party won 30 seats, making it the biggest party -- but a majority of 61 is required to form a government. Netanyahu has urged his former right-wing allies Naftali Bennett and Gideon Saar to "come back home" after the two ran their own lists in the last election. Saar has ruled out joining a Netanyahu government, while Bennett has not yet declared his loyalty, according to an AFP report.

Abbas spoke of crime, racism and poverty faced by Arab Israelis who make up 20% of the country's population of 9.3 million. He demanded equality and partnership with others in Israel. “Citizens of Israel, I stand in front of you in the atmosphere of the Passover and Easter holidays and on the eve of the month of Ramadan, and carry a prayer of hope, and an uncompromising aspiration for shared life on the basis of mutual respect and true equality", he said.

The Muslim Israeli leader did not list his demands for the coalition negotiations or any concrete positions – he is open to offers. He may have made the headlines because of his speech on Thursday, but now is when he will face the real test. While the Israeli public views the speech as a message of conciliation, in the Arab community the responses were divided, reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

If Abbas chooses to join a coalition with either the right or left bloc, this will be the first time an Arab party becomes a part of the Israeli government.

Here's a video on Israeli Apartheid targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel:

https://youtu.be/ZYhsKRngW88

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Pak Senate Elections; ICC World Cup; Rajapaksa on India's RAW; Netanyahu Speech

What is all the controversy surrounding senate elections in Pakistan, especially in KP and Baluchistan?

Why has the new Saudi Arabian King Salman invited Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and rolled out the red carpet for him?

What are Pakistan's chances at the ICC World Cup 2015?

Why has Sri Lanka's ex-President Rajapaksa accused India and RAW of fomenting terror in Pakistan and Sri Lanka?

What will be the impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to US Congress on President Obama's efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran?

ViewPoint from Overseas host Sabahat Ashraf (IFaqeer) discusses these questions with special guest Javed Ellahie, Ali H Cemendtaur and Riaz Haq(www.riazhaq.com).

Pak Senate Elections; ICC World Cup; Rajapaksa on India's RAW; Netanyahu Speech from WBT TV on Vimeo.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Has Modi Stepped Up Covert War Against Pakistan?

Pakistan Helped Sri Lanka Defeat LTTE Terror

Can Pakistan Learn From Sri Lanka to End Terror?

Can Pakistan Win ICC World Cup 2015?

Can Saudi Arabia Change Peacefully?

Power of US Israel Lobby