www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=241245

(You may have to copy this into your window box).

www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=237836

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/2009119151639325464.html

Alison Weir will host the Council for the National Interest’s new call-in radio show, “CNI: Jerusalem Calling” on Thursday, October 29, noon to 1 pm eastern time (9am Pacific). Her featured guest will be Jeffrey Blankfort.

For more information on the program, see

http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/CNI:-Jerusalem-Calling.html

To call in with questions or comments: 877-474-3302

Jeffrey Blankfort

Longtime journalist, photographer, and radio host Jeffrey Blankfort is one of today’s most penetrating analysts on Israel-Palestine. Blankfort reported on the power of the Israel Lobby for decades before the Walt-Mearsheimer book, even challenging Noam Chomsky to a debate on the subject (Chomsky refused).

Blankfort was raised in a Jewish non-Zionist family. His father had originally raised money for Israel, but when he then visited the new nation to see it first-hand, he was horrified at what he discovered, raising his children in full awareness of the 1947-49 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the oppression that followed. Blankfort’s first trip to the Middle East was to Lebanon in 1970.

Over the years Blankfort, formerly the editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin and co-founder of the Labor Committee of the Middle East, tried to expose the facts about Israel, only to find numerous progressive leaders in Berkeley and beyond working to cover up the facts. As a result of his work on Palestine, Blankfort was marginalized for many years, until the internet made his work available to the larger population. If Americans Knew was one of the first organizations to disseminate his articles widely.

In February 2002, Blankfort won a lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was found to have had a vast spying operation directed against American citizens opposed to Israel’s policies in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza and to the apartheid policies of the government of South Africa and passing on information to both governments.

Today Blankfort produces radio programs on three California stations and is working on a book on the Middle East. His photographs of the Anti-Vietnam War and Black Panthers Movements have appeared in numerous books and magazines.

Some of his articles are:

A War for Israel

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/warforisrael.html

The Israel Lobby and the Left: Uneasy Questions

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-blankfort.html

The Chomsky/Blankfort Polemic


http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/nc-blankfort.html

The Debate that never Happened: Blankfort vs. Plitnick on the Israel Lobby

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/iraq-pal-israel.html#debate

Read more:

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=233566

read more:

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=235127

Alison Weir’s speaking tour of Alaska was truly a success, with thanks to the many of you who came out to hear her presentations.  She spoke in Fairbanks, for the World Affairs Council at UAF and for the Alaska Peace Center – in Homer at the Library and at the Homer Foundation – to classes at UAA and three high schools in Anchorage – for the World Affairs Council in Juneau – and at the Bartlett Political Forum, the Alaska World Affairs Council, and at the Loussac Library in Anchorage.  She also was interviewed on the Shannyn Moore Show, and reappeared on Eddie Burke.  At the Bartlett Club the attendance went beyond the fire code, and at the Alaska World Affairs Council it was standing room only even after the move to a larger room.  The podcast of her presentation at the AWAC is at:

http://kska.org/index.php?s=Weir

In all the venues, it was clear that Alaskans like many other Americans have a true hunger for the real information about Palestine, what has been and is taking place there, and our own role in it as U.S. taxpayers…and even more so since the most recent siege of Gaza.   A bit of opposition served only to heighten the interest, and many diverse people attended.  Someone who heard her speak in Juneau wrote:

Alison’s talk tonight was exceptional. It was a good turnout for a Juneau WAC event and it included some of her target audience, people who know little of the situation. Afterwards she joined several of us for dinner and talked some more.  I honestly enjoyed her style.  She was not at all combative, mixed in her own truth about learning late in life about the truth, and stayed with reporter-like research for the most part. And still, a quiet passion could be heard in her speech and seen in her eyes, even from nearer the back of the room. I can imagine many people really listening to her just because she makes it easy even for a tragic subject.

It was Alaskans for Palestine who sponsored and coordinated this statewide tour, working with other groups who wished to hold an event(s) with her, and our name has become much better known as a result of this visit and its success.  While we have been recovering a bit from all that effort and activity, the absolutely tireless Alison has been in Michigan giving a dozen presentations to groups in Central Michigan and Detroit… but says she has a special place now for Alaska.   Our thanks to everyone who helped in any way with her visit, and for your generosity.  We plan a follow-up meeting soon, and for those on our mailing list not able to come, a chance to respond by e-mail about what we can do next as a group.

Journalist and media analyst Alison Weir is the founder and executive director of If Americans Knew, ifamericansknew.org  a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing Americans with accurate information on topics of importance that are unreported, misreported or under-reported in the American media.  Her focus is the Israel-Palestine conflict, which has been the most misreported and under-reported of all over its many tragic years.   She has visited Gaza and the West Bank extensively, authored many articles and essays, and speaks widely nationally and internationally.  She will be coming to  Alaska Sept. 30 – October 10 in a speaking tour hosted by Alaskans for Palestine.

“ISRAEL-PALESTINE: BEYOND THE HEADLINES”

ANCHORAGE

·  Bartlett Political Forum

         Thursday October 8, 12 noon

         Denny’s Restaurant, 3950 DeBarr

         (coffee $1.75)

·  Alaska World Affairs Council

         Friday October 9, 12 noon

         Hilton Hotel

         ($6 coffee, $25 non-member lunch)

·  Alaskans for Palestine, with Alaskans for Peace & Justice

         Friday October 9, 7 pm

         Wilda Marston Theatre, Loussac Library

         (free, donations accepted)

 She will also be speaking at the World Affairs Council and the Alaska Peace Center in Fairbanks, in Homer, and at the World Affairs Council in Juneau.  See flyer below and contact us for more time and place info on the statewide events (click to enlarge, drag to desktop).  Everyone is welcome to share this information with anyone interested.

http://gazafreedommarch.org/article.php?list=type&type=416