Mongolian Eyes?

The papers, from the probe into Jean Charles de Menezes’ death, and leaked to ITV, suggest he was restrained before being shot eight times [ ... ] The documents, including witness statements, also suggest Mr de Menezes did not hurdle the barrier at Stockwell tube station, as first reports previously suggested, and was not wearing a padded jacket that could have concealed a bomb.

Another paper indicates what criterion London police used to get their positive identification of Mr De Menezes.

One of the clinching factors in the mistaken identification appears to have been the fact that some of the officers agreed Mr de Menezes had the ’same Mongolian eyes’ as one of the terror suspects.

– via The Dawn of Man

Racial profiling (ignorant, incorrect racial profiling at that), shoot-to-kill orders, and a self-important love of brutality! The world keeps getting better and better!

Sometimes a Dream is Just a Dream

If you can view these pictures without shedding so much as a tear, you’re simply inhumane. For it or against it, you must feel it. And if you are for it, then just know and feel this pain and never forget what it has been caused for. You must remain eternally vigilant in making sure that this does not go down in history as a grand mistake. If this is a step towards justice, make sure that justice is truly attained. Do not let this end up a mere appeasment of killers.

– from Jewschool

A dream is a dream. It has nothing to do with reality and exists in isolation, away from the consequences it may have. This is the problem of Israeli settlements adn with the occupation of Gaza and Trans-Jordan (West Bank). The dream of a “Greater Israel” ignores the human crisis it causes.

I am one of a steadily decreasing number of Jews who still believe, perhaps naively, that there is yet a chance for peace with the complete withdrawal to the 1967 border, including the painful ceding of East Jerusalem. Nevertheless, I was raised since I was old enough to be brainwashed with the dream of a Greater Israel and I find the Hitnatkut (Disengagement) very difficult to witness. In the words of one Israeli,

My feeling is that just as a parent will sometimes say ‘no’ to their child’s heartfelt request, here too we’ve been told ‘No’ by God, after all our crying and pleading.

I know that the sacrifice of a dream for a greater good cannot be a bad thing. Part of me knows this is the right thing. Another part of me only wants to believe this sacrifce is the right thing.

And when I see the reaction of Palestinian militants. my blood runs cold.