[size=18pt]Venezuela expels Israel envoy over Gaza attacks[/size]
[img]http://www.postimees.ee/280106/gfx/244444393f4eadeed8.jpg[/img]
Tue Jan 6, 2009 4:40pm EST

CARACAS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Venezuela expelled the ambassador to Israel on Tuesday in protest over the offensive in Gaza only hours after leftist President Hugo Chavez called the attacks a Palestinian "holocaust."

The socialist Chavez, a harsh critic of Israel and the United States, in recent years has frequently withdrawn Venezuela's diplomatic envoys amid bilateral disputes and last year kicked out the U.S. ambassador over a conflict involving allied Bolivia.

The OPEC nation's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Israel's campaign constituted "flagrant violations of International Law" and the use of "state terrorism."

"For the reasons mentioned above, the government of Venezuela has decided to expel the Ambassador of Israel and part of the personnel of the Embassy of Israel," the statement said.

The Israeli embassy did not respond to phone calls requesting comment.

Chavez in 2006 threatened to break ties with Israel over its military campaign in Lebanon in a war of words that led both nations to withdraw their envoys.

On Monday he accused Washington of poisoning the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to destabilize the Middle East and justify U.S.-backed Israeli incursions into Arab countries.

Israel is under international pressure to reach a ceasefire with Hamas militants and halt an offensive that has killed nearly 600 Palestinians, including more than 40 in a U.N. school sheltering civilians.

"The Holocaust, that is what is happening right now in Gaza," Chavez said in televised comments earlier on Tuesday.

"The president of Israel at this moment should be taken to the International Criminal Court together with the President of the United States."

The United States, which Chavez describes as a decadent empire, firmly backs Israel -- its principal ally in the region.


(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Reuters

Venezuela,of all places (and Hugo Chavez of all people) is now your example
how art the mighty fallen
publish it not in the streets of ashkelon

I trust my man Hugo Boss! The guy no dey slack!

All nations of goodwill must isolate the evil Zionist Apartheid State of Israel! I hope other countries do the same! The cabal of death in Tel-Aviv must be sent a strong message that killing children is still considered a barbaric act by non-Zionists!

This carnage has exposed Israel to be a murderous state run by by people who make Alqaeda look like kindergarten kids.  

Hugo Boss!

*osisi*:

Venezuela,of all places is now your example
how art the mighty fallen
publish it not in the streets of ashkelon

Hugo Boss is better than George Bush in every ramification!

go ahead and show us pictures of suicide bombers rubbing stella pomade and nku cream after taking their bath in preparation for a blow up.
How low can you go

RichyBlacK:

Hugo Boss is better than George Bush in every ramification!

when did dubya come into this?
Richy are you drinking kai kai?

*osisi*:

go ahead and show us pictures of suicide bombers rubbing stella pomade after taking their bath in preparation for a blow up.
How low can you go

Sharrap! You dis woman that enjoys the sight of dead Palestinian babies! Go ask your god for forgiveness!

When someone was making fun of Igbos being massacred in the Biafran War with sordid pictures, you where one of those that didn't find it funny. I detested it and the thread was brought down! Now that "others" are being massacred, it's all good abi? Nonsense!

If mass killings of our people in the 1960s was evil, how can you condone mass killings of Palestinians? Is it because the people who masterminded the 1966 mass killings of our people were largely Muslims in Northern Nigeria? Yes, Nigeria failed to protect Igbos during the pogrom after the 1966 coup, and most of the perpetrators of the mass killings were Muslims of Hausa/Fulani extraction and other misguided Nigerians who based their murderous acts on the simple words "Igbo coup". Was it the Igbo children killed in Kano, Markudi, Bauchi and Kaduna that planned the so-called "Igbo coup"? How does that justify the mass murder of Muslims elsewhere? If our religion, Christianity, tells us it is evil to kill, why must we only cry when our own people die?

Guilt by association was the logic used to murder large number of Igbos, and here you are, an Igbo daughter, applying the same foolish logic when "others" are being killed? Because they happen to be Muslims?

Nothing good can excuse the large-scale killing of civilians, only evil can condone that!

RichyBlacK:

Sharrap! You this woman that enjoys the sight of dead Palestinian babies! Go ask your god for forgiveness!

When someone was making fun of Igbos being massacred in the Biafran War with sordid pictures, you where one of those that didn't find it funny. I detested it and the thread was brought down! Now that "others" are being massacred, it's all good abi? Nonsense!

If mass killings of our people in the 1960s was evil, how can you condone mass killings of Palestinians? Is it because the people who masterminded the 1966 mass killings of our people were largely Muslims in Northern Nigeria? Yes, Nigeria failed to protect Igbos during the pogrom after the 1966 coup, and most of the perpetrators of the mass killings were Muslims of Hausa/Fulani extraction and other misguided Nigerians who based their murderous acts on the simple words "Igbo coup". Was it the Igbo children killed in Kano, Markudi, Bauchi and Kaduna that planned the so-called "Igbo coup"? How does that justify the mass murder of Muslims elsewhere? If our religion, Christianity, tells us it is evil to kill, why must we only cry when our own people die?

Guilt by association was the logic used to murder large number of Igbos, and here you are, an Igbo daughter, applying the same foolish logic when "others" are being killed? Because they happen to be Muslims?

Nothing good can excuse the large-scale killing of civilians, only evil can condone that!

Objectivity is an expensive quality and in fact it is gold on NL. Thank the good lord for giving you this quality.

Shame on the child killers.

Shame on ~Egypt and Jordan for still accommodating the Israeli envoys. Hugo Chavez is my hero anyday anytime, he is brave fighter, brave defender of the oppressed and the poor.

The rest of the world leaders should follow his lead. . .
Nice work Hugo

Lagosboy:

Objectivity is an expensive quality and in fact it is gold on NL. Thank the good lord for giving you this quality.

Shame on the child killers.

Shame on ~Egypt and Jordan for still accommodating the Israeli envoys. Hugo Chavez is my hero anyday anytime, he is brave fighter, brave defender of the oppressed and the poor.

you're right . . . i just wonder if you are also deluded enough to assume you are objective too. Foolish hypocrite.

Chavez is now your "hero"?

davidylan:

you're right . . . i just wonder if you are also deluded enough to assume you are objective too. Foolish hypocrite.

Chavez is now your "hero"?

I'm sure they're also chanting Hitler under their breath
Muza and lagosboy have always been on the dafty side but Richy
O di egwu

*osisi*:

I'm sure they're also chanting Hitler under their breath
Muza and lagosboy have always been on the dafty side but Richy
O di egwu

i'm not shocked, you need to see how i open my mouth in disbelief watching grown men like Zbigniew Brzezinski bleat that the US and Israel are at fault for the "palestinian" crisis.

There are times i wish the arab states would defeat Israel (not possible anyway) so the West can now face the wrath of the hordes of allah. Perhaps all these hypocrites crying here wont be so compassionate about arab children.

@*osisi*
When did the politics section become the religious section? Now go back to your Jihad or is it crusade branch of Nairaland? Abi you miss road?

i have to hand it to chavez, he does his mind. . . i remember when at a UN general meeting he called dubya the devil it had me in stitches. . . that sed he is not my hero o!. . . lol

Chavez is the new Che.

I think Chavez should be applueded for being bold enough,American domination over the world has come to the end,they are not superpower anymore.I think we are ready for the third world war.Viva comrade Chavez Viva!Aluta continua.

This is what the ANC Said:
ANC condemns Israel strikes
28/12/2008 17:04 - (SA)

STATEMENT OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS ON ISRAEL'S ATTACKS ON GAZA

The ANC is unambiguous in condemning the horrendous attacks that are currently taking place in Gaza.

We believe that it is way beyond time that the Israeli government accepts the position outlined by the United Nations (UN); most notably in the UN Human Rights Commission Resolution of June 1996.

It is clear to the ANC that as long as Israel continues to occupy land rightfully belonging to the Palestinian people, there will not be a lasting solution to the problems and conflict in the Middle East region. The ANC has always firmly believed that the Palestinian people have a right to exist within a sovereign state with secure borders alongside a sovereign Israeli state.

The ANC calls for an immediate end to the ongoing Israeli bombing and ground attacks of civilians in Gaza, which has led to the death of hundreds of civilians and injury to thousands more. Collective punishment is not going to resolve the enmity between Palestine and Israel; what will move the peace process forward is addressing the root cause of the conflict.

Israel is in violation of international laws governing retaliatory engagements and is creating a deep humanitarian crisis.

We call on the leaders of the international community to do more than condemn the ongoing hostility against the people of Palestine and to demand that Israel withdraw from all occupied territories in Palestine and ends the siege."
www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71654?