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Now it's a trio: North Korea, China and Israel

What is one to make of this revelation of the country forever being touted as the only democracy in the Middle East? Obviously not such a democracy after all.....as Israel joins China and North Korea in censoring what one can, and cannot, read on the internet.

"Internet sites of political organizations, both left-wing and right-wing, have been barred from viewing at Ben-Gurion Airport, Haaretz has learned.

They are blocked by an information filtering company that classifies them as "dangerous."

In another dimension to Israel's conduct - and now revealed through those WikiLeaked documents, comes news of Israel's singularly inhumane conduct in relation to Gaza. Confirmation that Israel would allow only enough food into Gaza so as to prevent starvation.

Mondoweiss [compulsory reading for anyone interested in what is actually going on in Israel, Palestine, Gaza or in the USA [think Israel Lobby etc. etc] reports:

"The Wikileaks cable first reported by Aftenposten and mentioned by Amy Goodman this morning on Democracy Now (and picked up by Robert Mackey at the Times and Andrew Sullivan too). The assault on the banking system was documented in November 2008, a few weeks before Cast Lead. And all justified by starving a "terrorist regime" of funds-- including the gov't salaries of any Hamas members. Consistent with the destruction of government buildings that Goldstone later scored as a likely war crime.

Israeli officials have confirmed to Embassy officials on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis...

As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed to econoffs on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge (see reftel &D8)....

The GOIs monetary policy towards Gaza is consistent with its declaration that Gaza is a "hostile entity." Some observers have told Emboffs that political pressure arising from the issue of captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, may have influenced high-level Israeli officials to tighten their stance on monetary policy (see ref &A8)."

Meanwhile, in yet another dimension to Israel's egregious conduct, it emerges from just released WikiLeaked documents:

"A key Israeli cargo crossing for goods entering the Gaza Strip was rife with corruption, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks on Thursday

The June 14, 2006, cable, published Thursday by Norway's Aftenposten daily, says companies told U.S. diplomats they were forced to pay hefty bribes to get goods into Gaza. It was unclear whether the practice still continues."

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