The Truth About Political Prisoners and Apartheid

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children" - Bobby Sands, Irish Republican Army

Anti-colonial heroes Kadhr Adnan and Mahatma Gandhi. Artwork by the amazing Carlos Latuff, friend of Salem-News.com in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - When examining the politics of hunger, we find the most selfless people in the history of mankind. It is the most extreme type of peace activism. Urging entertainers not to support states that ethnically cleanse populations, is small in comparison.

Yesterday, we published, Alicia Keys Called to Cancel First Show in Israel. A comment on that story today from a person named Frank Neimen, read as follows:

"Anyone who has visited Israel knows there's not an Apartheid system there any any means. This is a total distortion of the concept. Leave the fans out of the conversation."

I replied:

I wish that were true, however Israel does have laws for Jews and laws for non-Jews. Israel even has Jewish only roads and it isn't a theory, it is daily reality for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fed through demeaning checkpoints. Naturally, as a visitor the Israeli government did not discuss things of this nature with you. I hope that clears things up. For what it is worth, Israel is not alone when it comes to this, Saudi Arabia and others have similar laws also and they're just as bad.

My problem centers around the fact that U.S. tax dollars are used to support the Israeli government when it stands in stark violation of international human rights laws. Those wishing to further educate themselves should become familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It so happens that the most ideal example of why Mr. Neimen is mistaken, was sent to our newsroom today by Laila Yaghi, it is a video titled: Palestinian Prisoners: Amazing Grace.

I assume this news consumer has never heard of the most blatant example of Israeli apartheid, it is called 'Administrative Detention'. This Israeli law is invoked when a Palestinian activist begins to make headway. Sort of like Jesus, when they rise to power and fame, Israel snatches them from their homes in the middle of the night. This single law has done much to turn the tides of popularity away from Israel's favor.

This video is dedicated to all Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for freedom and for dignity.
To Samer, Ayman, Tariq, Jaafar and Yusuf: Amazing Grace.

The primary reason for this is that Administrative detention tends to inspire hunger strikes and that silent suffering is loud... very loud, and few things are more disturbing because we are all children at one time and many of us are parents, and no decent human being can ignore this type of political activism. The video profiles famous hunger strikers like Mahatma Gandhi, Bobby Sands,Samer Issawi, Hana Al Shalabi and Khader Adnan. Sadly, the list is so long that we would lose focus if I tried to name everybody,

Israel is like any other country; it is divided between right wing religious fundamentalists and left wing peace activists. Within Israel are secular Jews, Muslims and Christians. None fare well in comparison to the more devoutly religious types.

Stating that Israel is an apartheid system like the one that used to exist in South Africa, is a little like saying the sun rises every day. Semantics are the best friend of the pro-Israeli government set. They twist words and use the term 'terrorist' like it is going out of style and even there, the word is getting a little old and people know it is overused. I am for all people and I don't ever care what their religion is.

One of the biggest doses of misinformation regularly fed to the public is that critics of Israeli law and politics are somehow hateful of Jewish people.

I am in no way antisemitic, in fact I probably publish more Jewish and Israeli writers than many news editors in Israel, however I am anti-semantic when it comes to the play on words.

You can write to Tim at this address: tim@salem-news.com.

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With almost 25 years of experience on the west coast and worldwide as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor, Tim King is Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. His background includes covering the war in Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007, and reporting from the Iraq war in 2008. Tim is a former U.S. Marine who follows stories of Marines and Marine Veterans; he's covered British Royal Marines and in Iraq, Tim embedded with the same unit he served with in the 1980's.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing from traditional mainstream news agencies like The Associated Press and Electronic Media Association; he also holds awards from the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs; and was presented with a 'Good Neighbor Award' for his reporting, by the The Red Cross.

Tim King reporting from the war in Iraq

Tim's years as a Human Rights reporter have taken on many dimensions; he has rallied for a long list of cultures and populations and continues to every day, with a strong and direct concentration on the 2009 Genocide of Tamil Hindus and Christians in Sri Lanka. As a result of his long list of reports exposing war crimes against Tamil people, Tim was invited to be the keynote speaker at the FeTNA (Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America) Conference in Baltimore, in July 2012. This is the largest annual gathering of North American Tamils; Tim addressed more than 3000 people and was presented with a traditional Sri Lanka ‘blessed garland’ and a shawl as per the tradition and custom of Tamil Nadu

In a personal capacity, Tim has written 2,026 articles as of March 2012 for Salem-News.com since the new format designed by Matt Lintz was launched in December, 2005. Serving readers with news from all over the globe, Tim's life is literally encircled by the endless news flow published by Salem-News.com, where more than 100 writers contribute stories from 23+ countries and regions.

Tim specializes in writing about political and military developments worldwide; and maintains that the label 'terrorist' is ill placed in many cases; specifically with the LTTE Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, where it was used as an excuse to slaughter people by the tens of thousands; and in Gaza, where a trapped population lives at the mercy of Israel's destructive military war crime grinder. At the center of all of this, Tim pays extremely close attention to the safety and welfare of journalists worldwide.