Independent: Front Page

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Palestinian baby burned to death, three wounded after settlers set fire to home http://t.co/jWPhJZNnUc pic.twitter.com/yRIJVCjNRt

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 31, 2015

Mohammad Abu Khadir: 1997-2014

Mohammad Abu Khadir, 17, was found dead today after being abducted near his home in annexed East Jerusalem. 

Many suspect it was a revenge killing following the funeral yesterday of three Israeli teenagers - Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach - abducted and killed in the West Bank, though nothing as yet has been confirmed.

I have a strange feeling about this.

Steve Bell, The Guardian.

• Some Deaths Really Matter: The Disproportionate Coverage Of Israeli And Palestinian Killings Media Lens.

Gay Travel: Come To Tel Aviv - Cuz IDF Hotties!

'Everyone there seemed really nice actually... I think the three year mandatory army service for citizens does wonders on all their bodies.'

After destroying the morality of America with her hilarious and catchy songs, the ever-delicious Willam has set her sights on The Holy Land of Israel, where she made a few appearances in Tel Aviv and marched in the Tel Aviv Pride parade.

Fortunately, she took a moment out of her busy jet-set schedule and graced us with some highlights of why she thinks Tel Aviv, the center of LGBT life in the Middle East, is such a spectacular place...

• Everyone there seemed really nice actually. They like to talk and are 100 percent cool with LGBT folks. Totally Westernized in that sense.

• The men are beyond compare. I think the three year mandatory army service for citizens does wonders on all their bodies.

Queerty - these are but edited racist Orientalist state power fetishising highlights.

One of three puff pieces on Tel Aviv they ran last week. 

Gay media trips to 'the Holy Land of Israel' are paid for by the Israeli government, incidentally.

Israel: A map for the gay tourist.

Chomsky: On Israel's War On Gaza

The incursion and bombardment of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel, it is not about achieving peace.

The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians.

Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army… and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder.

When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing. You can't defend yourself when you're militarily occupying someone else's land. That's not defense. Call it what you like, it's not defense.

Noam Chomsky.
   
• Who is doing the killing in Gaza? - Joint statement signed by Chomsky.
 Video interview with Amy Goodman about Chomsky's recent visit to the Gaza Strip.
“You’re cross-dressers! You’re the Gay Pride March, that’s what you are!” - Israeli war supporters attack Tel Aviv peace demo.
For more on Israel/Palestine and the current attack on Gaza see Znet.

But remember, if Israel launches a genocidal invasion of Gaza soon, they must be forgiven anything and everything because Tel Aviv has a really nice gay beach.

Eurovision: Boom Bang-a-Bang

Like several other people I could name, even though until recently I couldn't even spell Azerbaijan, I now consider myself to be something of an expert on it.
And I can state quite authoritatively that it is not a very nice place.
Azerbaijan is a grubby little oil and gas-rich mafia state run by this crappy and corrupt dynastic regime, the Aliyevs.
Though they don't seem as big on state murder and mass political imprisonment as some of their neighbours, elections are rigged and freedom of speech is a somewhat nebulous concept [See Human Rights Watch Report].
Homosexuality is legal but remains a secret.
Tonight's Panorama, Eurovision's Dirty Secret, looked at how Azerbaijan's rulers are wetting themselves with excitement over Eurovision, as they want to milk it for propaganda value to try to normalise how they're seen on the world stage.
And why not? It's worked so well for the "European" state of Israel.
That a large residential area in the capital, Baku, was forcibly bulldozed to make room for the Eurovision stadium seems like a perfect metaphor for this whole sorry charade.
Rather hilariously, the first lady heads their Eurovision committee, and the half-time entertainment at the final will be provided by her doubtlessly talented son-in-law.
On Panorama you see the bizarre spectacle of a BBC reporter trying to get Engelbert Humperdinck to condemn the regime, claiming that his appearance is a tacit endorsement.
But the 'Dinck don't do politics, which means he's a lickspittle running dog of President Aliyev. 
If so, what does that make the BBC?
Azerbaijan is a bit of a pariah state, though the US has been extremely grateful for all their help during their wars against Iraq and Afghanistan.
They do have one really good new best friend though - Israel, who are hoping Azerbaijan will be just as accommodating if/when they bomb Iran.
It might prove instructive to watch how they both vote on Saturday.

PS There's been much chatter in the gay meeja about an apparent spat between Iran and Azerbaijan over a non-existent "gay parade" in Baku during Eurovision. Though there doesn't seem to be any official statement from the Iranian authorities on this - does anyone think it would be high on their list of priorities right now?
Please bear in mind that if you're reading anything about Iran it's likely to be a fiction. And please spare us your Orientalist fantasies.

Update May 23: 'Downing Street refuses to discuss UK plans for Iran-Israel conflict: PM's spokesman will not say what preparations are being made after claims that ministers discussed legality of intervention' BBC News.

Update2: Mark Lawson on the BBC's chutzpah/hypocrisy.

Eurovision: A Heated Debate

Charles Shaar Murray: I've been thinking about what it is about this oom-pah stuff, or its modern, glitzy equivalent, that I don't like, and I figure it's because most of the music I like is derived from an African-American tradition – soul, blues, rock, reggae. But the Americans ain't in it, the Latin Americans ain't in it, the Caribbeans ain't in it.

Cheryl Baker: In Eurovision? That's because it's Europe! Although there is Israel.

Charles Shaar Murray: I have a problem with that. It's like they're saying, OK, we may be geographically in the Middle East, but culturally we're down with you white folks. Here's my Eurovision nightmare: this is what all popular music would have been like if the Nazis had won.

Cheryl and Charles talk Eurovision in The Guardian.
Mr Murray clearly has no grasp of the charm of the bad.
Here's someone who does - a great, funny live blog from Eurovision World Of Chig.
Fagburn will be rooting for Jedward.

Julie Burchill: Change The Record, Love

Julie Burchill's weekly column really has become a stuck record.
Today we get her two centimes on racist scumbag John Galliano;
"If John Galliano had confined himself to insulting the Jews, he could probably have got away with it after a period of contrition. Mel Gibson, after all, had his defenders when he said that Jews start all the wars in the world, such as the writer Andrew O'Hagan. But then Gibson had to throw the N-word into the mix, as Galliano did with Asians; their gooses were cooked when they contravened the PCP rules on who it's ok to hate these days."
This is errant nonsense. Galliano's goose was cooked when that video emerged of his anti-semitic tirade. And he was already good and stuffed.
As she's got another few hundred words to file she then moves briskly onto gay marriage (a week or so late, natch);
"So the Archbishop of Canterbury has drawn a line in the sand, and sworn that Adam and Steve will never become husband and husband in one of "his" buildings. Still sucking up to Islam, are we, Ro-Wi?"
To which the only possible response is... Eh?
Both these choices of subject today are of course mere springboards to enable Ms Burchill to bellyflop into two of her favourite subjects; Israel is wonderful, Islam is evil.
Two subjects that she returns to in The Independent week after week after week ad nauseum.
Pass the sickbag, Julie.