European Parliament

Amy Goodman interviews Adam Shapiro, board member of the Free Gaza Movement, hours after the attack on the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Listen Here - Transcript below.

The failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the onset of the second Intifada has in stages swung the pendulum of Israeli politics to the right to the current government that includes Avigdor Lieberman, one of the most anti-democratic ministers Israel has ever had, who is moving Israel ever closer to the brink of total international isolation and the Shas Party whose main impact is to push construction in East Jerusalem and the settlements.

A computer analyst and writer who was born in Tunisia, David Chemla lived in Israel for 10 years, served in the Israel Defense Forces and today resides in Paris, where he serves as chair of Peace Now France. He spoke to Haaretz on his way to Brussels, where he was headed to present JCall's "European Jewish Call for Reason" petition to the European Parliament today.
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Thankfully, we have lived long enough. For 2,000 years - or at least 43 - we expected to hear this voice from the heights, but it tarried. No one can accuse the 3,000 Jewish intellectuals who signed a letter to be presented to the European Parliament Sunday calling on Israel to cease construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem of being Israel-haters. No one can depict French Jewish philosophers Bernard-Henri Levy or Alain Finkielkraut as self-hating Jews.
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A new leftist European Jewish group, JCall, has written a letter to be delivered Sunday to the European Parliament calling for a cessation of what it calls systematic support for Israeli government decisions.
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The European Parliament called for the immediate release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

In an unprecedented move, the European Parliament on Thursday passed by majority vote a call for the immediate release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
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Noam Shalit, father of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, met Wednesday in Strasburg, France with European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek.
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The European Parliament on Wednesday supported the implementation of the Goldstone report and said it was "concerned" about "pressure placed on NGOs involved in the document's preparation." Jewish leaders said they were "deeply disappointed" and puzzled by the motion.
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Members of the European Parliament have backtracked from their plan to pass a resolution demanding implementation of the Goldstone report, in response to pressure from European Jewish leaders, Haaretz has learned.
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