In this edition of our monthly digest MEMO identifies five issues which received extensive media coverage in Britain throughout February; the verbal exchanges and threats between Israeli and Syrian officials; Mossad's murder of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in Dubai and the resultant passport scandal; Israel's continued efforts to lobby for a change of British laws on universal jurisdiction (ostensibly to protect its officials); attempts by Israeli lobbyists to bar pro-Palestinian academics from speaking on British campuses; and the financial/sex scandal that engulfed the upper strata of the Palestinian Authority following disclosures by a former anti-corruption chief.

In addition, we take a look at how the New York Times has been covering events in Palestine-Israel, and focus on what the Israeli media reported - or chose not to report - to enlighten their readers, including the first known mainstream media reference to MEMO in the Zionist state.


The 60 Year Face-off Continues; Renewed Tensions between Syria and Israel 
 
Tensions between long time adversaries Syria and Israel came to a head this month following an outburst of incendiary remarks and threats by the ultra-nationalist Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. This development has led to speculation of the region being plunged into another war. 
 
Commenting on the remarks Syria's foreign minister, Walid Moallem, stated that should war break out at this particular point in time, even if it were waged just against Syria or Southern Lebanon, it would become widespread.
 
Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in an apparent attempt to diffuse the situation asked all ministers to refrain from commenting on the Syrian issue. His office also released a statement reiterating Israel's interest in pursuing peace and carrying out diplomatic negotiations with Syria without preconditions. It also stated that Israel will continue to act decisively against any threats.
 
The recent spat has brought a number of key regional issues to the fore. Israel's political leadership and defence establishment are deeply divided over the methods of securing peace with Syria. While senior members in the military believe it can be achieved through a deal to include the return of Syria's Golan Heights and thereby remove it from its current alliance with Iran and Hezbollah, others, such as Avigdor Lieberman, are of the opinion that force should be used to break the alliance. Although the Prime Minister would like a peace deal, he does not want to return the Golan Heights. The alternative to a peace deal appears to be a very risky war for Israel on three fronts; Lebanon, Syria and Iran. Syria is prepared to go to the negotiating table with Israel providing it accedes to its demand but is equally prepared to go to war.

The turn of the Year marked the one year anniversary of war crimes committed against the Palestinians in Gaza. This month the Palestinians remembered another nation ravaged by devastation and human loss - Haiti. The extensive global media coverage was commendable and justified - the severity of the earthquake was enormous, however for many, it only highlighted the selectiveness of the mainstream media when remembering the coverage of Gaza's Israeli-inflicted crisis last year. Mainstream British media has been extremely lacking this month with minute coverage of the EU delegation of over 60 parliamentarians, together with the BBC's biased Newsnight report on the Gaza incursion. MEMO further highlights the tensions in Jerusalem, stalemate in negotiations and Turkey-Israel's worn out relationship.

Israel's 'rescue mission' to Haiti

Much controversy has surrounded Israel's high profiled rescue mission to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there earlier this month. An exceptionally well equipped and staffed field hospital was speedily dispatched to the region along with a military relief team including evacuation and recovery experts as well as a technical division. However, many contend that the motivations behind this rescue effort were wholly cynical - an unprecedented public relations campaign and propaganda tool aimed at diverting international attention away from its culpability in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza among other things.

Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism
By M. Shahid Alam

Hardback: 288 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (November 10, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0230614841
ISBN-13: 978-0230614840
RRP: £55.00

Review by Kathleen Christison

Zionism Laid Bare
The essential point of M. Shahid Alam’s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece. From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity. Seek humanity, for that is the goal.” Alam, professor of economics at Northeastern University in Boston and a CounterPunch contributor, follows this with an explicit statement of his aims in the first paragraph of the preface. Asking and answering the obvious question, “Why is an economist writing a book on the geopolitics of Zionism?” he says that he “could have written a book about the economics of Zionism, the Israeli economy, or the economy of the West Bank and Gaza, but how would any of that have helped me to understand the cold logic and the deep passions that have driven Zionism?”

UK Solidarity Event: Gaza one year on
A year after the brutal Israeli invasion of Gaza an impressive array of speakers gathered in London this week to draw attention to the fact that the end of the invasion did not see an end to the suffering of the Palestinians. “Gaza One Year On – End the Siege of Gaza and Bring Israeli War Criminals to Justice” was organised by an equally impressive list of organisations and individuals representing a cross-section of society: the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Stop the War Coalition, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and British Muslim Initiative were joined by Members of Parliament, Trade Unionists, academics and other experts on the Palestine issue.

The speeches were short yet impassioned. One year after Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip leaving a string of atrocities in its wake, the destruction remains, with the immoral siege preventing any building materials from being imported. The Israeli-led siege is as unjust and brutal as ever and it was this outrage that was the main focus of the night.