Roundup: War in the Middle East

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July 27, 2006

Israel’s Scorched Earth Policy: Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that to protect his nation’s soldiers, villages in southern Lebanon will be destroyed from the air before troops go in. Civilians in southern Lebanon had been given plenty of time to get out, said Ramon. And so, “All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah.”

Shoot Them All: Israeli soldiers at the front lay down the line: “Over here, everybody is the army,” one soldier said. “Everybody is Hezbollah. There’s no kids, women, nothing.” Another soldier put it plainly: “We’re going to shoot anything we see.”

Zbigniew Brzezinksi on the war: The former national security advisor said, “I hate to say this but I will say it. I think what the Israelis are doing today, for example, in Lebanon is in effect, in effect — maybe not in intent — the killing of hostages. The killing of hostages.”

McKinney in Big Trouble: Pro-Israel political groups in the US are rushing financial aid to former DeKalb County, Georgia, Commissioner Hank Johnson — an African American candidate in the Democratic primary runoff race for Congress. He is pitted against incumbent Cynthia McKinney, who is fighting to stay in office. McKinney is backed by out of state pro-Arab and Muslim groups, according to the Forward, the independent New York paper which follows Jewish affairs.

“After learning of McKinney’s unexpected runoff, several of the country’s largest pro-Israel political action committees are rushing to make contributions, with an eye toward arming Johnson with sufficient cash to purchase valuable television and radio advertising,” according to the Forward.

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

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In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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