China anger at Google switch

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/03/201032355749465978.html


Google's decision to shut down its internet search site for mainland China and stop censoring search results is "totally wrong" and represents a politicisation of business issues, China has said.

In an immediate and sharply critical response to Google's announcement, China said the California-based internet giant had "violated the written promise" it made when it entered the Chinese market.

"We firmly oppose politicising commercial issues, and express our dissatisfaction and anger at Google Inc's unreasonable accusations and practices," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed official from China's State Council Information Office as saying.

The backlash followed an announcement from Google on Monday that it was shutting down its China-based site, Google.cn, and redirecting search requests to Google's Hong Kong-based portal, Google.com.hk.

The Hong Kong site is not subject to the same censorship rules as in mainland China.

"Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong," David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, said on the company's blog.

The switch throws the burden on China to use its own internet filters to prevent Chinese users from seeing images and sites it deems politically or socially undesirable.

On Tuesday Al Jazeera's own testing of the Google.com.hk site accessed from Beijing showed that while search terms such as "Tiananmen Square massacre" and "Tibet freedom" did yield results, the links themselves were not accessible.

In January Google stunned many in the online world when it said it would stop filtering searches and threatened to pull out of China altogether after uncovering what it said were sophisticated cyber attacks against its systems and email accounts used by Chinese activists.

No compromise

Google entered the Chinese market five years ago and had previously said it would follow Chinese law requiring service providers to censor access to sites banned by the government.

Following January's announcement the firm said it was engaging in talks with the Chinese government on the issue.

In recent weeks though China has repeatedly stuck to its position that any firm operating in China must follow Chinese laws, apparently leaving little room for compromise.

The State Council official quoted by Xinhua following Google's announcement said the government had twice talked to the firm to try to resolve the standoff but suggested that China's censorship laws were not up for negotiation.

"We made patient and meticulous explanations on the questions Google raised… telling it we would still welcome its operation and development in China if it was willing to abide by Chinese laws, while it would be its own affair if it was determined to withdraw its service,'' the official said.

"Foreign companies must abide by Chinese laws and regulations when they operate in China."

Blocked

It was not clear whether Google cleared its move with the Chinese government or gave officials any prior notice of the changes.

China could retaliate against the firm by blocking access to its search services entirely, much as it has completely blocked access to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Google has said it intends to keep its office in Beijing and continue to its sales, research and development operations in the world's largest online market.

On Tuesday in the wake of the announcement the company said it was "business as usual" in its China offices, although lay-offs and redeployments of staff remained a possibility.

"We haven't worked out all the details so we can't ever rule out letting people go but we very much want to avoid that," Jessica Powell, a Google spokeswoman, told the Associated Press.

China threatens US over currency rate dispute

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121383§ionid=351020404


Beijing has threatened to retaliate if the United States declares China a currency manipulator and imposes trade sanctions.

The US Treasury is to rule whether China is unfairly holding down its exchange rate to gain a competitive edge in global markets.

Political pressure is growing in Washington to declare China a currency manipulator. Some US senators have threatened to slap duties on Chinese products if Beijing fails to allow the yuan's value to rise.

Washington says China holds the yuan low so that Chinese goods can enjoy an artificial competitive edge.

Three years ago, Beijing had let the yuan climb 21 percent against the US dollar.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have both urged China to let the yuan resume its ascent.

The currency debate has caused tension between the US and China. Relations between Beijing and Washington have been deteriorating over a number of issues, including the Pentagon's arms sales to Taiwan.

China, US lock horns over yuan value

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121190§ionid=3510213


The Chinese government has once again warned the United States against politicizing the debate on the value of the Chinese currency, the yuan.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry says that a pending US bill concerning the yuan is complicating the situation.

The bill has bipartisan support in the US House of Representatives. US lawmakers say China is holding the value of the yuan low to give Chinese goods an artificial competitive edge in the exports markets, while Beijing says the yuan has helped the global economic recovery.

Should the proposal be approved, it will impose tough new penalties on China if Beijing fails to revalue its currency.

The currency debate has caused tension between the US and China, whose relations have been deteriorating over a number of issues.

Recently, China reduced its military cooperation with Washington after the United States sold USD 6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan.

Last week, Beijing accused Washington of hypocrisy in dealing with the issue, spelling out a list of US human rights abuses.

The official US government reports on human rights are widely believed to be unreliable and highly politicized aimed at punishing nations that do not share US political and strategic views, while ignoring abuses committed by US client states.

US rights group sues Obama over drone attacks

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121118§ionid=3510203



The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against US President Barack Obama, demanding legal basis for America's deadly drone attacks overseas.

The lawsuit requests essential information on the fatalities of drone strikes and other information essential for judging the legality of using armed drones to carry out targeted killings, the United Press International (UPI) reported.

"The public has a right to know whether the targeted killings being carried out in its name are consistent with international law and with the country's interests and values," UPI quoted Jonathan Manes, a legal fellow with the ACLU National Security Project as saying.

"The Obama administration should disclose basic information about the program, including its legal basis and limits, and the civilian casualty toll thus far," he added.

ACLU is specifically seeking legal information that justify the 'targeted killings' of people by the US's remote-controlled aerial weapons program and unmanned Predator drones.

US drone attacks have so far claimed many civilian lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Georgia opposition irate over fake 'terror' newscast

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120883§ionid=351020606


Opposition politicians in Georgia have criticized the government over approving a hoax television broadcast of a simulated Russian invasion that sparked widespread panic.

The broadcast, aired by Imedi channel on Saturday, displayed mock footage of a “terror attack” by Russian forces, claiming that President Mikheil Saakashvili had been killed.

With less than two years since the countries engaged in a brief war over the rebel region of South Ossetia, panic was quick to spread, leaving people injured and leading to a shut down of mobile phone networks as frightened Georgians rushed to phone each other.

The country's main opposition group on Monday slammed the government, suggesting the move was a measure to stay in power through "information terror," taking a jibe at the fake news report.

The country is set to hold local election on May 30.

Meanwhile, the embattled head of Imedi channel brushed off calls for resignation and sought to defend the false newscast, maintaining that it was not aiming to “shock” or horrify citizens.

"The goal was not to scare society; the goal was to talk about those security threats which our country faces," he was quoted as saying in a late Sunday interview with Georgian Public Television.

The simulated broadcast Saturday sparked wide anxiety in Georgia, which is still traumatized by the August 2008 war, in which Russian troops advanced deep into the country.

Turkey recalls envoy to Sweden over genocide vote

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120642§ionid=351020204


Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Stockholm after the Swedish parliament branded the killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I as "genocide."

"We strongly condemn this resolution, which is made for political calculations. It does not correspond to the close friendship of our two nations. We are recalling our ambassador for consultations," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement released on Thursday. He also cancelled a Stockholm visit scheduled for next week.

Turkish ambassador to Sweden, Zergun Koruturk, told Swedish television program Aktuellt that the vote would have "drastic effects" on Ankara-Stockholm relations.

"I am very disappointed. Unfortunately, parliamentarians were thinking that they were rather historians than parliamentarians. It's very, very unfortunate," Koruturk said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the vote was a "mistake" but that it did not change the position of his government, which supports Turkey's bid for membership of the European Union.

He noted that the vote could complicate efforts between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations after a century of hostility. Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols last October to normalize relations. Parliaments of the two countries have not passed them yet.

Sweden's parliament narrowly approved the resolution Thursday that described the 1915 killing of Armenians in Turkey as genocide. The resolution was passed by an extremely narrow margin, with 131 parliamentarians voting in favor and 130 against in the 349-seat assembly. Another 88 lawmakers were absent during the vote.

The Swedish vote comes less than a week after the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives also approved a similar resolution. The non-binding resolution was approved by a vote of 23 to 22.

Turkey fiercely rejects Armenian claims that more than a million of its people were deliberately killed as some sort of a social-cleansing campaign.

Ankara points to historical evidence, ignored by Armenian lobbyists and their Western supporters, that puts the figure of Armenian victims at 300,000 and also makes clear that nearly as many Ottoman Turks were killed as well in the civil unrest that led to the downfall of the Ottoman Empire.

US observers have also pointed to the close association of the influential Armenian lobby in the US with the powerful Israeli lobby in pushing through the symbolic resolution as a general publicity campaign against the Muslim state of Turkey, which has become one of the leading critics of violent Israeli policies against the Palestinians.

Iran rejects GCC claim over 3 Persian Gulf islands

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120562§ionid=351020101


Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has rejected a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) statement over its three Persian Gulf islands.

"The baseless claims made by the GCC in Riyadh over the Iranian islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa is a clear interference in Iran's internal affairs," Mehmanparast said on Wednesday.

"The three islands remain an indisputable part of the Iranian territory," he went on to say.

"We have repeatedly said that the slight misunderstanding between Iran and the UAE over Abu Musa is resolvable and the interference of other parties will never help solve the problem," he further explained.

Tehran possesses historical, legal and geographical documents verifying its sovereign right to the islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

The three Persian Gulf islands were historically owned by Iran but the exercise of colonialism by Britain led to the islands temporarily falling under British control in the 1800s.

The islands were then returned to Iran on November 30th 1971 through a legal process before the state of the United Arab Emirates was created and the Al Nahyan family assumed leadership.

According to international regulations, no state can defy any agreements which had come into being before its creation unless such agreements had been officially declared as null and void by the newly-created state.

Turkey charges more officers over coup plot

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119460§ionid=351020204


A Turkish court has charged eight more officers for tying to topple the Ankara government in 2003, bringing the number of coup suspects under investigation to 20.

The eight suspects, including two serving admirals, three retired admirals and a retired one-star general, were grilled several hours overnight and were remanded in custody in military and civilian prisons in Istanbul.

On Wednesday, the Istanbul court handling the probe ordered that 12 suspects questioned by prosecutors earlier should be kept in jail pending trial, but also decided to release around 10 other suspects.

Turkey's anti-terrorism police on Monday arrested about 50 serving and retired military figures, including the former chiefs of the navy and air force, Ozden Ornek and Ibrahim Firtina, in what the country's army described "a serious situation."

The army said top commanders held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation, prompting a warning from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against any moves to influence the judiciary.

Turkey's military which traditionally carries a great political weight has unseated four governments in the country.

The 2003 coup plot in question was codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer" and was allegedly planned and discussed in 2003 within the Istanbul-based First Army, soon after the AKP came to power in 2002.

The plot allegedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece in a bid to force the targeting of a Turkish jet, and thus discrediting the government and leading to its collapse.

Israel pressured over Mabhouh death

Meir Dagan, head of Mossad


Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/201021875613810292.html


Israel is coming under increasing pressure over the assassination of a senior Hamas commander at a luxury Dubai hotel last month.

The Israeli ambassador in London was questioned by UK government officials on Thursday over the use of six "fake" British passports used by the hit team that allegedly killed Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Authorities in Ireland have also summoned the Israeli ambassador in Dublin after three Irish passports were also found to have been used in the operation.

Seven of the names used in the passports are thought to be stolen identities of people currently living in Israel.

'No forgery'

The website of the Abu Dhabi government-owned daily The National on Thursday quoted Dahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of the Dubai police force, as saying that the investigation into the killing "reveal[s] that Mossad [Israel's security service] is involved in the murder".

Tamim said it "is 99 per cent, if not 100 per cent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder".

The police chief also told Al-Bayan, another Dubai publication, that the European passports used in the operation were not fakes and that Dubai immigration officers were "trained" by European security experts to spot such documents.

"This training qualifies immigration officers to spot fake passports," he said.


"They applied these procedures at Dubai airport when the alleged [killers] entered the country.


"No forgery was found in those passports."


'Policy of ambiguity'

Dubai police on Tuesday released closed-circuit television footage of 17 individuals believed to have been involved in the killing of al-Mabhouh's at the Al-Bustan hotel.

Eleven of the suspects were named based on immigration records, although all are believed to have entered the emirate on forged passports- including a French and a German passport, in addition to those from the UK and Ireland.

Britain's foreign ministry said the country's Serious Organised Crime Agency would lead an investigation into the matter in close co-operation with the Emirati authorities.

It said the UK would also provide support to its nationals "who have been affected by this fraudulent activity".

Israeli silence on the killing was broken on Wednesday by Avigdor Lieberman, the country's foreign minister, who said that "there is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad, and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief".

However, he also said that Israel maintains a "policy of ambiguity" on intelligence matters.

Palestinian anger

In the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory run by Hamas, anger spilled onto the streets on Wednesday with thousands of people gathering at a rally vowing to avengethe death of al-Mabhouh.

Al-Mabhouh was a senior commander and one of the founders of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas'armed wing.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' leader and himself a victim of an attempted Israeli assassination, pointed the finger of blame squarely at Mossad.

"The time for promises and talk of revenge is done. Now is the time for action," he said, addressing the Gaza rally via video from Damascus, where he is based.

'Professional hit'

Strategic Forecasting, or Statfor, a US-based non-governmental intelligence company, released its analysis of the Dubai tapes on Thursday, saying the suspected assassins operated in a way that was "calculated, well-choreographed and, most of all, indicative of a professional operation".

"The tactics and logistics involved in this operation were well beyond the capabilities of known terrorist organisations and all but a few national intelligence services," the report(subscription only) said.

Stratfor said the tapes, however, did not offer clues as to which specific agency carried out the attack.

Despite this, the AP news agency reports that some Israeli security officials are convinced Mossad was behind the operation- both because of the possible motives for the killing and the use of Israeli citizens' identities.

Israeli media has seen mixed reactions, with some praising al-Mabhouh's death, and others criticising a sloppy operation.

A front-page commentary in the daily newspaper Haaretz called for Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, to be removed from office.

But a source close to Dagan told the Reuters news agency that the intelligence chief has no intention to resignbefore the end of his term later this year.

For Dagan to resign on the heels of a political row over al-Mabhouh's death would be to admit having had a role in it, the source said.


Meanwhile, the diplomatic spat looks set to intensify, with calls in Britain for Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador, to be expelled if he fails to provide adequate answers.

Israel rejects UN demands over Gaza war report

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118443§ionid=351020202


Israel has rejected United Nations demands of an independent probe into its last year war on the Gaza Strip which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Palestinians.

A senior official in the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday that the report Israel gave UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the investigations it is conducting into Operation Cast Lead earlier this month is sufficient.

“Israel feels the report it gave was a serious, comprehensive, credible and complete answer to the UN secretary-general,” the official said.

“We believe that we conduct credible investigations and that we have procedures in place to investigate these types of matters that are as good as exist in any country in the world,” he added.

Israel's rejection comes as Ban Ki-moon has repeatedly urged Tel Aviv to allow an independent inquiry into the Gaza war.

The United Nations blasted Israel last week for what it called Israel's un-reliable report.

The UN report led by former South African judge Richard Goldstone concluded last September that Israel carried out "deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian objects" in January-December war on Gaza.

The 575-page UN-ordered report asserts seven incidents in which Palestinian civilians were shot while leaving their homes, trying to run for safety or waving white flags.

In November 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that accuses Israel of war crimes and criminal acts against humanity during the weeks-long onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

US rejects EU diplomacy over Iran N program

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118082§ionid=351020104


Leading US senators Joseph Lieberman and John Kerry inveigh against a top EU official for supporting further diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, the two US officials criticized the European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashto who threw her lot with more dialogue over Iran's nuclear program.

The two went on to claim that Iran has been 'explicitly dishonest' over its uranium enrichment and thus does not deserve further dialogue, or diplomacy for that matter.

"Iran comes to the international conference like this and talks in a way that is simply dishonest," said Lieberman, who chairs the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs and is known for his pro-Israeli stance on international issues.

Rather than dealing with Iran through diplomatic negotiations, Lieberman asserted that the US should try to deal with the Tehran government through other means.

"Dialogues have being going on for last six years, (and) there are always dialogues," he said. "But the Iranians do not take the chance. I think it simply has to get a tougher economic sanction if any kind of diplomacy is over, and military will never be necessary."

His remarks were instantly backed by John Kerry, the former US presidential candidate who now heads the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

"We are united in the congress, senate house, the administration and with our allies here in Europe," said Kerry.

This comes as Iran is trying to find a middle ground with the West in swapping its low-enriched uranium with more refined nuclear material for the Tehran research reactor.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hop on Saturday that an agreement on the nuclear fuel proposal will soon be reached with the Western side, but with the changes that Tehran seeks.

His remarks were largely ignored by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who has instead insisted on the imposition of fresh sanctions on the country.

Washington accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and has for years levied sanctions and threatened the country with war scenarios to force the Tehran government into halting its nuclear activities.

Iran which has been under various US sanctions after the Islamic Revolution toppled a US-backed monarch in 1979 rejects the accusations as politically motivated.

Iran's nuclear program was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. After the 1979 Revolution, Western companies working on Iran's program refused to fulfill their obligations even though they had been paid in full.

Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, unlike some of its regional neighbors, has opened its enrichment plants to UN inspection.

Syria summons foreign envoys over Israeli war rhetoric

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117879§ionid=351020206


Damascus summoned foreign envoys to Syria on Thursday to discuss Israel's recent military threats against the Arab country.

The meeting was hosted by the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous, a Press TV correspondent reported.

"Israel is trying to drag Syria and the rest of the Middle East into other wars. The recent remarks by extremist Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are part of an attempt by Tel Aviv to extract itself from big crises it is currently facing…Damascus is, however, fully prepared for any surprise from Israel," Arnous said during the meeting.

Earlier on Thursday, Israel's firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had warned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would lose the war and his power, should there be another military conflict between the two sides.

"When there is another war, you will not just lose it, but you and your family will lose power," he had said at a conference on Thursday.

The latest spat between the two neighbors emerged after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned on Monday that if there is no peace agreement with Syria, "we might find ourselves in a forceful conflict that could lead to an all-out war."

Syria responded furiously, with Assad saying, "it seemed Israel is working towards a war", and Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem responding, "do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities."

After test failure, US warns Iran over defensive missiles

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117644§ionid=351020104


Amid failure of the US long-range ballistic missile test over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon warns Iran continue to pursue long-range ballistic missiles.

The Pentagon released a report that described the intermediate and shorter-range missiles of Iran and North Korea as " threats" to US forces, allies and partners.

On Sunday, the US military fired a ballistic missile at a US Army site at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Island and minutes later launched a ground-based interceptor missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in an attempt to shoot down the ballistic missile.

However, the sea-based X-band radar "did not perform as expected" in the test, the MDA said in a statement.

The US Air Force says both missiles performed well during the launch and the flight phases but the system's sea-based radar fell short of expectations.

Iran has repeatedly announced that its missiles are defensive and aimed at increasing the country's deterrence capability with regard to mounting war threats mainly by the US and Israel over its nuclear program.

The test comes as the US has reportedly begun beefing up its military presence and war paraphernalia thousands of miles away from the American soil near the Iranian coast in addition to imposing new sanctions on the Tehran government.

Unnamed US military officials said that Washington has taken silent steps to increase the capability of land-based Patriot missiles on the territory of some Arab states in the Persian Gulf region.

After a recent wave of developments in the Middle East that strongly imply preparations for a possible new military conflict in the region, Israel has allegedly increased the scope of its undercover operations in the region, particularly against Lebanon, Iran, Syria and the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas.

For years Israeli politicians have masterminded a wave of undercover operations and terror plots in numerous countries, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Switzerland, and the US.

In their most recent remarks Israeli officials have threatened Lebanon and Iran with 'inevitable confrontation' and 'heavy measures.'

Much of Israel's espionage operations have lately been focused on the Tehran government, largely because of Iran's uranium enrichment activities, which Tel Aviv has been seeking to portray as a serious threat.

Tel Aviv, which is reported to have an arsenal of 200 nuclear warheads itself, accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons and routinely threatens to reduce the country's enrichment sites to rubble.

This is while Iran, unlike Israel, is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has opened its enrichment facilities to UN inspection.

Iran warns Clinton over sanction remarks

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117526§ionid=351020101


In reaction to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remarks on Iran's nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned Sunday about the consequences of "tension-seeking" American policies.

“We believe the world public opinion should be concerned about tension-seeking US policies and their consequences on regional and international peace and stability,” Mottaki told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Mottaki was reacting to the recent remarks made by his American counterpart, Hilary Clinton, on Tehran's nuclear program. He said Tehran does not take her comments “seriously.”

“Clinton's efforts to take the US back to the time of the unsuccessful policies of [former President George W.] Bush will bear no fruit for the American people and the new administration,” he said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has been faced with the hostile approaches of certain US officials during the past three decades but has always tried to maintain peace and stability in the region,” he said.

In unusually blatant remarks aimed at China, Secretary Clinton on Friday assailed the country for not joining the US-led front in imposing fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work.

Clinton said she understood China's unwillingness to impose new penalties on Iran, one of the country's biggest oil suppliers in the world, but warned against “longer-term implications” if Iran did not stop its nuclear program.

"We understand that right now it seems counterproductive to you to sanction a country from which you get so much of the natural resources your growing economy needs. But think about the longer-term implications."

Mottaki, meanwhile, said sanctions and threats cannot prevent Iran, which has always committed itself to regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), from seeking its inevitable right to peaceful nuclear technology.

Auschwitz survivor sees Nazi acts in Israel

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117179§ionid=351020202


A Nazi death camp survivor slams Israel over its occupation of Palestine, drawing an analogy between the Israeli army's indignations and the conduct of Nazi forces during World War II.

"The Israelis tried to dehumanize the Palestinians, just like the Nazis tried to dehumanize me," said Dr Hajo Meyer, 86, who survived 10 months in Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp in Poland.

"Nobody should dehumanize any other and those who try to dehumanize another are not human," he said at the beginning of his lecture in Scotland.

The octogenarian Holocaust survivor, who embarked on a 10-day tour of the UK and Ireland, called Israel "the world champion in pretending to be civilized and cultured."

The comments by Meyer have provoked a fresh outcry of "anti-Semitism" by hardline Jewish lobby groups.

However, Meyer, the Dutch-based author of three books on Judaism, the Holocaust and Zionism, dismissed "anti-Semite" labels hurled against him.

“Formerly an anti-Semite was somebody who hated Jews because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an anti-Semite is somebody who is hated by Jews,” he stated.

A spokesman for the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, of which Dr. Meyer is a member of, backed the remarks.

“Hajo knows that Israel has a long history of abusing the tragic history of the Holocaust in order to suppress legitimate criticism of its own crimes," said the spokesman.