Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a 4th of July celebration at the home of American ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, on Wednesday and put the notion of “freedom” at the center of his speech. At the same time, he put the positive alongsdie the menace of enemies and threat: “Freedom is our common value which makes our bonds unbreakable and the worst dangerous regimes of the world pursuing dangerous weapons must be stopped for the sake of our common bond: freedom. Otherwise, they will triumph over free societies, and so over our so-called ‘unbreakable’ bonds."
So, if Iran was unmentioned (and, of course, its diplomats had been "disinvited" from US celebrations because of the election crisis), Tehran was there in spirit. Indeed, you might say that it --- and its alleged nuclear weapons programme --- is Netanyahu's glue for the US-Israeli "unbreakable" bonds.
In the year 1776, the world witnessed a new birth of freedom, the birth of the United States of America. The United States, the country that was referred to by its founders as the new Promised Land, the new Zion, became the bastion, defender and champion of freedom. The U.S. was a bastion of freedom in the 19th century as many millions of immigrants flocked to its inviting shores to search for a new life, to search for freedom. Etched on the base of the Statue of Liberty, the immortal words of Emma Lazarus, the American Jewish poet, who was incidentally a Zionist, said it all. They came “yearning to be free”.
The United States was a defender of freedom in the 20th century as it confronted and defeated history’s greatest tyrannies, and above all else, the Nazi tyranny. And over the last 233 years, the United States has been freedom’s greatest champion, all the while insisting that freedom is not something that only a privileged few countries can enjoy, but the birthright of every nation and every people. It’s not surprising therefore that our own birth of freedom would resonate so powerfully with the American people. After all, this was the reemergence of the Jews as a free and independent nation in our ancestral homeland, in the original Promised Land, the original Zion. This was why it took President Harry S. Truman only eleven minutes to recognize the newly born Jewish state, and this is why every American president since then, has expressed the deep friendship between our two countries, a friendship anchored not in transitory interests, but in eternal values and timeless ideals. And these common ideals of liberty and democracy, are the foundation of the deep and enduring bond between the United States and Israel, a bond that President Obama recently declared was unbreakable in his landmark speech in Cairo before the entire Muslim world.
In Israel evidence of this unbreakable bond is here for everyone to see. You can see it as you walk down the streets of Jerusalem, streets named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. You can see it if you visit the memorial to the slain U.S. President, John F. Kennedy in the outskirts of Jerusalem. You can see it in the agonized faces of Israelis who shared grief and sorrow with the American people in the terrible events of September 11th. You can see it in the smiling and admiring faces of Israelis every time the United States has an achievement or a success around the world and you can see it Mr. Ambassador, in the faces of all the people who came here to celebrate with you tonight.
So as the Prime Minister of one of the world’s most passionate democracies, let me say that we share a common heritage with the world’s greatest democracy. Throughout history, democracies have ultimately proven more powerful and more resilient than the dictatorships that threaten them. Eventually, the will of free people to defend their values and defend their societies proves unconquerable. Eventually, the will of un-free people to become free and live under democratic societies usually breaks through the concrete of tyranny. But the greatest danger facing our world today is that this historical consistency of the triumph and spread of democracy could change if the world’s worst regimes acquire the world’s more dangerous weapons. For the sake of peace, for the sake of our common security, for the sake of our common values, this must not be allowed to happen.
So Mr. Ambassador, as we celebrate your Independence Day with you, let us reaffirm our commitment to those powerful ideas that were promulgated two hundred and thirty three years ago, and later in Philadelphia, and that are so deeply shared by our two peoples. Let us reaffirm our commitment to roll back those who threaten our lives and our freedoms and let us reaffirm our commitment to advance the cause of peace in our region and throughout the world.
On behalf of the People of Israel, I send our best wishes to President Obama and to the American People. Happy Independence Day America and may God continue to bless America and our profound friendship. Chag Sameach. Thank you.
1825 GMT: BBC English has posted a video report on the Iranian Government's "public service" campaign on a telephone hotline for people to inform on family and friends participating in demonstrations.
1645 GMT: BBC Persian reports that Ayatollah Yusef Sane'i, a fervent critic of the Government, has condemned televised confessions, saying they have no value as the obvious product of torture. Sane'i emphasized that "endurance is the key to success".
1515 GMT: The demonstration for 9 July is on. Andrew Sullivan has posted a copy of a leaflet (left) for the rally.
1445 GMT: Etemade Melli, the pro-"reformist" newspaper, reports today on the censorship imposed on Thursday by prosecutors and Ministry of Culture officials. The paper claims that its account of how it was closed on Wednesday by authorities was removed. Political stories were replaced by a "social page" and an item on the National University entrance examination.
1435 GMT: Reports that Sara Sabbaghian, lawyers and women's rights activist, was freed from Evin Prison on Thursday. In contrast, the regime's pressure on those present at the death of Neda Agha Soltan continues; in addition to pursuit of the doctor who tried to help her, Arash Hejazi, an eyewitness to the killing claims his family is being harassed.
There are also claims that three people have been killed, more than 200 injured, and many detained in the eastern city of Mashaad.
1315 GMT: Was Ayatollah Jannati's "foreign enemies" claim, with the threat of espionage trials, too embarrassing for Iranian state media? Press TV's website makes no reference to the allegations against Britain, saying cryptically that Jannati "warn[ed] that powers in the West would derive great benefits if the internal dispute continued to drag on". Instead, Press TV headlines, "Cleric urges end to election dispute in Iran". The Islamic Republic News Agency takes the same path, "Ayatollah Jannati: Presidential Elections Were Accurate".
An alternative explanation is that, whereas foreign media jumped on the Jannati reference to a possible trial, the focus of his speech was indeed on providing reassurances about the election process and warning that it was now over. The broader interpretation is unchanged, however; the regime is not yet secure that it has overcome the challenge on the streets and behind the scenes.
1250 GMT: We're keeping our eyes open for a text of Ayatollah Jannati's address at Friday prayers but my initial sense is that it indicates some continuing regime concern about protests: they have risked a heightened invocation of the foreign threat, which may damage relations with Britain, Europe, and the US, to ensure public support for their maintenance of "order".
1245 GMT: More on the report below that Iranian staff of the British Embassy may be tried on espionage charges. The warning was issued by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the chairman of the Guardian Council, as he led Friday prayers in Tehran: "British foreign office had said last March that there may be riots during the elections in Iran and they said that they should warn their citizens to be careful. What do these predictions mean? And then some people in the U.K. embassy, who had a hand in the disturbances, were arrested and will surely be put on trial."
The context of the warning being issued in Friday prayers, rather than by a security or judiciary official, is significant --- it may even be good news for the detainees. This seems more of a political posture, reinforcing the regime's continued excuse of "foreign intervention" for its crackdown on internal dissent (see our prediction this morning in "What To Watch For Today", than a specific move towards formal prosecution.
1000 GMT: Watch Out. Both the BBC Persian service and Agence France Presse are reporting the statement of a Guardian Council member that local "staffers" of the British Embassy will be tried on espionage charges.
The plural should be noted, as earlier in the week Iranian authorities said all but one of the nine people detained had been released. And, if true, the report marks a significant escalation of tensions by Iran with Britain (though not directly with the US).
It's kind of changed from the first week, but it's definitely not over over. it's just going to be more drawn out, I think.
It's become a lot more localized in a way. People just do what they can on their own with their circle of people. Demonstrations are smaller but in different places now. I don't know how widely circulated the information going around is but there's a pretty large amount. You can feel it with strangers even like taxi drivers.
It's not that they're less pissed. If anything, they're more pissed. Because of the state and how blatantly they're lying.
0700 GMT: More on the claim that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani declined to lead Friday prayers in Tehran last week. The original story is on a pro-Khatami, pro-Mousavi website. It is supported, according to Josh Shahryar, by one of his reliable sources.
0610 GMT: Josh Shahryar's daily "Green Brief", which we highlighted yesterday, again offers an essential overview of developments. Almost all of the items match up with information in our updates and other reliable sources. However, this item (which we will try to confirm) is both new and significant:
It has been reported that Rafsanjani, who is one of the Imams that lead Friday Prayers in Tehran's largest mosque, has declined to lead prayers there again. Last week, his spot was first filled by Khamenei, but Khamenei pulled out at the last minute leaving Ahmad Khatami to lead the prayers. Rafsanjani is not planning to attend this Friday's Prayers either.
0555 GMT: The challenge in Iran is now close to a non-story for major international outlets. There is nothing on CNN International's website and no appearance in the headlines of the BBC or Al Jazeera English. The BBC website only has a limited article on the removal of the block on SMS messaging, while Al Jazeera is still running the news from Wednesday that Mir Hossein Mousavi may face criminal charges.
Press TV English, meanwhile, is featuring the story of Israel's detention of former US Senator (and Press TV presenter) Cynthia McKinney and other activists, who were trying to break the Israeli sea blockade to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. (Ironically but significantly, the incident has been a non-story for US media.)
(An audio interview with Huwaida Arraf of the Free Gaza Movement, one of two activists released, and with Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who is still in jail, follows the opening paragraphs of the story.)
On Tuesday, the news broke on Twitter: a freighter, Spirit of Humanity, carrying three tons of medical supplies, cement, olive trees, and children's toys for Gaza, had been intercepted and boarded by Israeli naval personnel. Twenty-one passengers, including former US Congressman Cynthia McKinney, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, and activists from Britain, Ireland, Bahrain, and Jamaica were detained. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said, "They will be released as soon as they are checked." However, McKinney, Maguire, and 17 others remain in custory because they refuse to sign a deportation order that says they were "trespassing" in Israeli territorial waters.
As of Friday morning, here is how many column inches The Washington Post has given to the story: 0
(The Post website has a short account on Tuesday from the Associated Press but that never made it into print.)
And here is the attention span of The New York Times: 3 sentences, tucked away at the bottom of a story today on the Amnesty International report on "war crimes" in the Gaza War of December-January.
(The three sentences are from a longer story on the Times website, but that is not in "Today's Paper". It can only be found through a search of the "World" section on the site.)
I appreciate that the story broke at a busy time --- on Tuesday, we had one eye on Iran, another on Iraq, and if we could have borrowed someone else's eye, we would have turned that on Afghanistan-Pakistan. Others were riveted by the coup drama in Honduras. Still, you would have thought that 72 hours later, the leading US newspapers would have caught up with the drama of a freighter seized at sea and 21 international activists tossed into Israeli holding cells.
In part, the explanation may be that McKinney, stigmatised as an "extremist", a "radical", and a dangerous-to-know person during and after her time in Congress, is poison for some newspaper editors (conversely, it's probably far from incidental that Fox News, which has long targeted McKinney as a figure of derision, has been in the media lead on the story). Part of the reason might be that the drama was muted by the lack of photos and footage.
I suspect, however, there is a wider, more significant reason. Paying attention to the story also means paying attention to the cause: the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And acknowledging the scale of the continuing economic deprivation and social destruction in that besieged territory, led by a Hamas Government that a lot of people do not want to recognise, is a step too far.
To be fair, from time to time, a Times or Post reporter will drop by the territory to file a story. It's far different, however, to link that coverage to the immediacy of political protest. So, as McKinney and others continue to refuse deportation, no doubt hoping that their jail stay will eventually be noticed, and as Israeli authorities just hope the incident will disappear, expect the Times and Post to ignore a story that is not fit to print.
Now Amnesty has released a fuller report on "war crimes", accompanied by a video (Part 1 is available; Part 2 is still being subtitled). Most of the criticism is of Israeli tactics and operations, although there is also condemnation of Hamas for firing rockets into southern Israel and placing military equipment in civilian areas.
The summary introduction of the full report follows the video:
INTRODUCTION
At 11.30am on 27 December 2008, without warning, Israeli forces began a devastating bombing campaign on the Gaza Strip codenamed Operation “Cast Lead”. Its stated aim was to end rocket attacks into Israel by armed groups affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian factions. By 18 January 2009, when unilateral ceasefires were announced by both Israel and Hamas, some 1,400 Palestinians had been killed, including some 300 children and hundreds of other unarmed civilians, and large areas of Gaza had been razed to the ground, leaving many thousands homeless and the already dire economy in ruins.
Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects. Such attacks violated fundamental provisions of international humanitarian law, notably the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the principle of distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons – airdelivered bombs and missiles, and tank shells. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers. Aerial bombardments launched from Israeli F-16 combat aircraft targeted and destroyed civilian homes without warning, killing and injuring scores of their inhabitants, often while they slept. Children playing on the roofs of their homes or in the street and other civilians going about their daily business, as well as medical staff attending the wounded were killed in broad daylight by Hellfire and other highly accurate missiles launched from helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, and by precision projectiles fired from tanks.
Disturbing questions remain unanswered as to why such high-precision weapons, whose operators can see even small details of their targets and which can accurately strike even fast moving vehicles,1 killed so many children and other civilians.
Scores of civilians were also killed and injured by less precise weapons, such as artillery shells and mortars, and flechette tank shells, which can be accurately aimed but which disperse thousands of deadly metal darts at great velocity over a large area.
White phosphorus, a highly incendiary substance, was repeatedly fired indiscriminately over densely populated residential areas, killing and wounding civilians and destroying civilian property. It was often launched from artillery shells in air-burst mode, which aggravated the already devastating consequences of the attacks. Each shell ejected over a hundred felt wedges impregnated with highly incendiary white phosphorus, which rained down over houses and streets, igniting on exposure to oxygen and setting fire to people and property. Once their incendiary content had been discharged, the artillery shells often crashed into buildings causing further deaths and injuries. Repeated denials of the use of white phosphorus by Israeli officials during the conflict delayed or prevented appropriate treatment for people suffering agonizing burns. Some who died might otherwise have been saved.
Artillery in general and white phosphorus shells in particular should never be used in populated areas. Yet in Gaza Israeli forces repeatedly fired them into densely populated residential areas, knowing that such imprecise weapons would kill and injure civilians. Such attacks were indiscriminate and as such unlawful under international law.
The scale and intensity of the attacks were unprecedented, even in the context of the increasingly lethal Israeli military campaigns in Gaza in previous years. More Palestinians were killed and more properties were destroyed in the 22-day military campaign than in any previous Israeli offensive.
Israeli forces could not conceivably have been unaware of the presence of civilians in locations which were repeatedly attacked, including with white phosphorus and other imprecise weapons, given that these areas were under close surveillance by Israeli drones. Even though Israeli officials knew from the first days of Operation “Cast Lead” that civilians were killed and wounded in significant numbers, Israeli forces continued to employ the same tactics for the entire duration of the 22-day offensive, resulting in growing numbers of civilian casualties. The pattern of attacks and the resulting high number of civilian fatalities and casualties showed elements of reckless conduct, disregard for civilian lives and property and a consistent failure to distinguish between military targets and civilians and civilian objects.
Thousands of civilian homes, businesses and public buildings were destroyed. In some areas entire neighbourhoods were flattened and livestock killed. Much of the destruction was wanton and deliberate, and was carried out in a manner and circumstances which indicated that it could not be justified on grounds of military necessity. Rather, it was often the result of reckless and indiscriminate attacks, which were seemingly tolerated or even directly sanctioned up the chain of command, and which at times appeared intended to collectively punish local residents for the actions of armed groups.
Throughout Operation “Cast Lead” Israeli forces frequently obstructed access to medical care and humanitarian aid for those wounded and trapped. They prevented ambulances and medical staff from attending to the wounded and transporting them to hospital and in several cases targeted ambulance and rescue crews and others who were trying to evacuate the wounded. As a result people who could have been saved died and others endured needless suffering and a worsening of their injuries. Children, women and elderly people were among those trapped and refused access to medical care and/or passage out of areas which had been taken over by Israeli forces. Medical and humanitarian vehicles and facilities were also destroyed or damaged as a result of both targeted and indiscriminate Israeli attacks.
In several cases Israeli soldiers also used civilians, including children, as “human shields”, endangering their lives by forcing them to remain in or near houses which they took over and used as military positions. Some were forced to carry out dangerous tasks such as inspecting properties or objects suspected of being booby-trapped. Soldiers also took position and launched attacks from and around inhabited houses, exposing local residents to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire.
Israel and Egypt kept Gaza’s borders sealed throughout Operation “Cast Lead” and its 1.5 million inhabitants could neither leave nor find a place in Gaza where their safety could be guaranteed. Unlike in southern Israel, where the Israeli authorities have built bomb shelters to protect local residents from rocket attacks by Palestinian armed groups, in Gaza there are no bomb shelters and none can be built because Israel has long forbidden the entry of construction material into Gaza.
Randomly placed telephone calls with recorded warning messages, radio broadcasts and leaflets dropped by the Israeli army all over Gaza telling people to leave their homes and neighbourhoods caused widespread panic but offered little protection. In some areas residents were trapped in their homes, hearing the Israeli army broadcasts warning people to leave but unable to do so because Israeli forces in the area were not allowing any movement and therefore anyone who went out risked coming under fire. Others who fled their home were killed or injured when UN schools and other places where they had sought shelter came under Israeli attack.
In southern Israel civilians also continued to come under attack from rockets fired daily by Palestinian armed groups throughout the 22-day conflict. The armed wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups launched several hundred rockets and mortars into southern Israel, killing three civilians and injuring dozens of others. Several civilian homes and other structures were damaged, some extensively. Six Israeli soldiers were also killed in Palestinian attacks.
Mortars and so-called Qassam rockets, which are locally made in Gaza, and longer range Grad-type rockets smuggled into Gaza via the tunnels from Egypt, are unguided projectiles which cannot be directed at specific targets. Attacks using such rockets are indiscriminate and hence unlawful under international law. Though in most cases these rockets explode in empty areas, without causing casualties, each rocket is potentially lethal and the intensified barrage of such rockets throughout the 22 days of Operation “Cast Lead” caused panic among the civilian population of southern Israel. Thousands of families fled to other parts of the country and those who remained in their homes in the south had to run for cover every time the alarm sounded, warning of an incoming rocket.
Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups also violated international humanitarian law in their conduct within Gaza. They launched rockets and located military equipment and positions near civilian homes, endangering the lives of the inhabitants by exposing them to the risk of Israeli attacks. They also used empty homes and properties as combat positions during armed confrontations with Israeli forces, exposing the inhabitants of nearby houses to the danger of attacks or of being caught in the crossfire. However, contrary to repeated allegations by Israeli officials of the use of “human shields”, Amnesty International found no evidence that Hamas or other Palestinian fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks. It found no evidence that Hamas or other armed groups forced residents to stay in or around buildings used by fighters, nor that fighters prevented residents from leaving buildings or areas which had been commandeered by militants.
Throughout Operation “Cast Lead”, and for several weeks prior to start of the Operation, the Israeli army refused to allow into Gaza independent observers, journalists, international human rights monitors and humanitarian workers – effectively cutting off Gaza from the outside world and hindering independent monitoring and reporting of the conduct of its forces there. Even after the ceasefire was declared on 18 January, the Israeli army continued to deny access to Gaza to many human rights and humanitarian workers and journalists. Some continued to be refused entry into Gaza four months later. To date, five months after the end of Operation “Cast Lead”, the Israeli authorities have failed to establish any independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of their forces and actively oppose any such investigations being established. They have refused to co-operate with and to grant access to the country to an international independent factfinding mission set up by the UN Human Rights Council and headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, undermining its ability to fulfil its mission. They have also rejected the findings of a UN Board of Inquiry, which investigated nine attacks on UN facilities and personnel during Operation “Cast Lead.
The Israeli authorities have rejected allegations of war crimes and other serious violations of international law committed by Israeli forces during Operation “Cast Lead” published by Amnesty International and numerous other human rights organizations and media – international, Israeli and Palestinian – claiming that Hamas prevents any independent investigations and forces people to make untrue allegations. However, such claims do not stand up to scrutiny. Amnesty International’s delegates who visited Gaza during and after Operation “Cast Lead”, as on many other occasions in recent years, were able to carry out their investigations unhindered and people often voiced criticisms of Hamas’ conduct, including rocket attacks. While in Gaza Amnesty International delegates also investigated crimes and human rights abuses committed by Hamas forces and militias against fellow Palestinians, including deliberate killings, torture, abductions and arbitrary detention. The findings were published on 10 February 2009 in a report entitled: Hamas’ deadly campaign in the shadow of the war in Gaza.
As of 18 June 2009 the Israeli authorities had not responded to Amnesty International’s repeated requests, first made in early February, for meetings to discuss its findings and concerns, nor to the requests for information concerning many of the cases mentioned in this report.
Saturday, July 4, 2009 at 6:13 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a 4th of July celebration at the home of American ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, on Wednesday and put the notion of “freedom” at the center of his speech. At the same time, he put the positive alongsdie the menace of enemies and threat: “Freedom is our common value which makes our bonds unbreakable and the worst dangerous regimes of the world pursuing dangerous weapons must be stopped for the sake of our common bond: freedom. Otherwise, they will triumph over free societies, and so over our so-called ‘unbreakable’ bonds."
1825 GMT: