Iranian aid ships are due to set sail to Gaza by the end of the week, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The Iranian Red Crescent decided to send the vessels, which will carry food, medications, and medical equipment, following a meeting with the foreign ministry,
Israel Rejects Call for International Probe into Attack on Gaza Flotilla
While international condemnation of Israel continues, inside Israel the mood is quite different. An Israeli parliamentary panel recommended today that the Knesset revoke the privileges of Israeli Arab lawmaker Hanin Zoabi for participating in last week’s Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Right-wing demonstrators targeted a peace protest in Tel Aviv Saturday and reportedly attacked veteran Israeli activist, the eighty-six-year-old Uri Avnery. For more on the fallout of the flotilla attack and the reactions inside Israel, I’m joined now from Jaffa by Max Blumenthal.
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/6/7/israel_rejects_call_for_international_probe

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/
israel-to-appoint-state-panel-to-investigate-gaza-flotilla-raid-1.294736

ECESG: Israel committed passport theft in the Freedom Fleet massacre
Both activists from Jordan and members of ECESG revealed that the Israeli military stole dozens of passports from both Jordanians and European supporters on board the Freedom Flotilla.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100607/wl_mideast_afp/israelconflictgazajordan

Israel hasbara fails again: Photos show Mavi Marmara passengers protecting, aiding Israeli soldiers
Captured, disarmed hijackers did not face "lynching" as Israel claimed.  The website of Turkish newspaper Hürriyet published a gallery of photos showing Israeli soldiers captured after their attack on the Mavi Marmara in international waters in the early hours of 31 May.
http://aliabunimah.posterous.com/blog-post-israel-hasbara-fails-again-pics-sho

Robert Fisk: The truth behind the Israeli propaganda
I have, of course, been outraged at armed men boarding ships in international waters, killing passengers on board who attempt to resist and then forcing their ship to the hijackers' home port. I am, of course, talking about the Somali pirates who are preying on Western ships in the Indian Ocean. How dare those terrorists dare to touch our unarmed vessels on the high seas? And how right we are to have our warships there to prevent such terrorist acts.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/
robert-fisk-the-truth-behind-the-israeli-propaganda-1991803.html

Greek witness: Israeli forces killed Turkish activist to stop media broadcast
An activist from Greece who was on board the Freedom Flotilla accused Israel's naval forces of killing a Turkish citizen for broadcasting images of the attacks on the Internet.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/

Flotilla Organizers: Israel Fakes Radio Conversation To Depict Flotilla Passengers As Anti-semites
The Israeli army published a Youtube video on Saturday that includes a radio conversation Israel says it happened between the Marmara passengers and the Israeli navy prior to the attack on the boat.
http://www.imemc.org/article/58870

Ya Mama
http://friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com/2010/06/ya-mama.html

Grit TV on the Flotilla
http://illuminarcy.blogspot.com/2010/06/grittv-flotilla.html

Other News

Suicide attempts in Israel up 19% over last decade, but resulting deaths much lower
Health Ministry numbers from 2008 show immigrants and Arabs attempt to kill themselves at higher rates than Israeli-born Jews. 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/
suicide-attempts-in-israel-19-over-last-decade-but-resulting-deaths-much-lower-1.294574

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3901573,00.html

Turkish flags sell well in Gaza
GAZA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Tarik Abu Dayya, a 30-year-old Palestinian, was very content after Turkish flags and pictures of Turkish prime minister were sold out in his souvenir shop, while still feel sorry that pictures of pro-Palestinian activists were not allowed to sell after Israel attacked a Gaza-bound flotilla and killed at least nine last week.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/07/c_13336219.htm

Goldstone removed from Hebrew U. board
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Richard Goldstone was removed from the board of governors of an Israeli university. Hebrew University confirmed to the Jerusalem Post on June 3 that Goldstone, the ex-South African judge who authored the United Nations-commissioned Goldstone report, was removed recently from the honorary position.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/06/2739471/goldstone-removed-from-hebrew-u-board

Censorship / Media Bias

Documentation Supporting Allegations that Yahoo and AP Manipulate User Content, Ahmed Amr
Forward Note: On June 3, 2010, Dissident Voice published an article I wrote alleging that Yahoo and AP regularly manipulate user content. I also raised the question of whether Yahoo and AP were coordinating their activities and whether the AP journalists who wrote the articles were aware of distortion and manipulation of user feedback. I have been challenged to provide proof by a few DV readers and by other posters on sites that republished the Dissident Voice article. It’s ironic and even extraordinary that the exposure of mass media manipulation is being challenged on progressive sites and we can only speculate about the motivation of the posters who are not only taking issue with my allegations but are challenging my mental health. So in the interest of proving that I have been cured and no longer reside in an insane asylum, I’m providing documentation to back up my allegations. Before publishing the incriminating material onDissident voice, I emailed it to AP and contacted Yahoo to get feedback to allow them a fair opportunity to explain their misconduct. I have yet to get a response. The following is part of the documentation I sent to AP. 
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/06/
documentation-supporting-allegations-that-yahoo-and-ap-manipulate-user-content/

Analysis/Opinion

Veteran peace activist: Israel trying to get Gaza people to overthrow Hamas
Benjamin Netanyahu is lying when he says the Gaza blockade exists in order to prevent the transfer of weapons to Gaza, Uri Avnery tells Haaretz.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/
veteran-peace-activist-israel-trying-to-get-gaza-people-to-overthrow-hamas-1.294593

Instead of another ignored report, Akiva Eldar 
It would be best to make the flotilla saga a turning point in Israel's policy governing the Gaza blockade and the continued occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/instead-of-another-ignored-report-1.294596

UN recognition of Israel is fatally flawed, Christopher King
Christopher King argues that beneath Israel’s litany of crimes against the Palestinians, and most recently its murder of humanitarian workers aboard the Gaza-bound international aid flotilla, lies the fact of its own illegality.
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/cking20100606

Finkelstein: Did Netanyahu OK nighttime commando raid to restore Israel’s Entebbe glory?, Philip Weiss
A day or so back the Jerusalem Post ran a propaganda piece called "Duped," saying that the Turkish passengers of the Mavi Marmara included a bunch of jihadists who were bent on a violent confrontation with Israel, and lo, they won. Norman Finkelstein sent along the article with one statement in it boldfaced.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/06/
did-netanyahu-ok-nighttime-commando-raid-to-restore-israels-entebbe-glory.html

Ilan Pappé: The deadly closing of the Israeli mind
The decline in Israel's reputation since the brutal attack on the Gaza flotilla is unlikely to influence the country's leaders.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/
ilan-papp-the-deadly-closing-of-the-israeli-mind-1992471.html

What the Gaza Flotilla Tells Us About the Future of the Mideast, Tony Karon
‘We’re the only ones who believe them,” a US official was quoted as complaining last week in response to Israel’s account of its attack on the Gaza aid flotilla.  The bloodshed on the high seas and the resulting diplomatic fallout is a reminder of just how far US influence has fallen in the region, and the grim prospects for the US president Barack Obama reversing that trend as long as the US continues to accord Israel special status.
http://tonykaron.com/2010/06/06/what-the-gaza-flotilla-tells-us-about-the-future-of-the-mideast/

Israel and the aid convoy: How to make enemies | Editorial 
Israel's defiant reaction to the raid on the Gaza aid convoy is almost as appalling as the attack itself.  When sovereign states make mistakes, they promise impartial inquiries, they express remorse to the families of the bereaved, they apologise. Not Binyamin Netanyahu's government. Almost as appalling as the commando raid itself, in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed on an aid convoy bound for Gaza, has been Israel's official reaction to it. The policy was to shoot first and discredit the victims later. On a video posted online by the Jerusalem Post, Mr Netanyahu said: "This wasn't a love boat. This was a hate boat. These weren't pacifists, they weren't peace activists, these were violent supporters of terrorism." The government press office emailed foreign journalists a satirical clip entitled "Flotilla Choir presents: We Con the World", before withdrawing it and saying the film's content did not reflect the official stance of Israel. To cap it all, the Israeli prime minister yesterday rejected calls for an international inquiry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/07/israel-gaza

Israel's Challenge to Turkey, By Jeremy Salt – Ankara
In the wake of the storming of the Mavi Marmara (Blue Marmara), the truth cannot be obscured by the propaganda pouring out of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, particularly out of the mouth of the repulsive Mark Regev. The ship was sailing in international waters when it was attacked. The blockade of Gaza has been described by the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, as illegal. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, has been calling for months for it to be lifted. Israel has no rights in Gaza or in the waters off Gaza, and no rights in international rights beyond those belonging to all shipping. What it described as a 'police action' was in fact not just an act of piracy but an act of war. The attack was ordered by the government of Israel. The Israeli assault force could see that the ship was draped with a large Turkish flag but proceeded with the attack anyway. There is a direct parallel with the land and sea attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, not far from where the Mavi Marmara was assaulted. The Liberty was flying an American flag as big as a bed sheet, but the Israelis still attacked it with missiles and torpedoes over many hours, failing to sink the boat as apparently intended but killing 34 sailors and seriously wounding many others.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16034

South Africa Must Cut All Ties with Israel, Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria
South Africa's response to the dastardly act of piracy and blatant savagery by the Israeli regime is reflective of a global mood that is increasingly becoming less tolerant of contemptuous disregard for international obligations flowing from a variety of conventions.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16031

'No Citizenship without Loyalty!',  Neve Gordon
In Israel, almost all of the protests against the navy’s assault on the relief flotilla took place in Palestinian space. Palestinian citizens in almost every major town and city, from Nazareth to Sachnin and from Arabe to Shfaram, demonstrated against the assault that left nine people dead and many more wounded. The one-day general strike called for by the Palestinian leadership within Israel was, for the most part, adhered to only by Arab citizens.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16032

How to cure a leper state
Shlomo Ben-Ami has long since abandoned the Labor Party, but though he says he isn't as naive as he once was, he believes Israel can regain its good standing in the international community, provided it atones for past sins. 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/how-to-cure-a-leper-state-1.294594

When Did Resistance Become a Dirty Word?, Robin Yassin-Kassab
What the Western political class and its media demand of the Arabs and Muslims is acceptance of the unacceptable status quo in Israel-Palestine. To resist the status quo is to be troublesome, destabilising and irrationally violent. Resistance arises from the inadequacies of a culture and religion given to antisemitism and hysteria. In order to develop, these backward folk must give resistance up.
http://pulsemedia.org/2010/06/06/when-did-resistance-become-a-dirty-word/
       
The Audacity of Israel,  Cindy Sheehan
June 05, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Since my son was killed in Iraq and I have come to prominence in the peace movement, the name I am called with the second highest frequency (behind “anti-American”) is “anti-Semitic.’  First of all, isn’t it interesting if one is anti-violence and pro-peace, that automatically makes one anti-American and anti-Semitic? That just tells us that violence and oppression are so inherently institutionalized in our cultures, that if one is against these things, that makes one against the entire culture, race or way of life.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25635.htm

Drink a beer to Palestine's health, Roger Cohen
Few people vacation on the West Bank, but if they did they might head for Taybeh, a hilltop village clustered around a church whose charm trumps the Israeli checkpoints that have to be negotiated to get there. The air is good, the stones smooth, the light brilliant - and the beer excellent.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=115640

Our Enemies, the Israelis, Justin Raimondo, June 07, 2010 
“Again I ask the question: What do the Israelis have on our politicians that makes them such whores? Dirty pictures? Threats of withholding campaign contributions? It’s really embarrassing as well as infuriating to see congress with its collective pants down around their legislative ankles just waiting for Israel to do it again.”
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/06/our-enemies-the-israelis/

Hasbara Derangement Syndrome
Watching yesterday’s (June 6 2010) Israeli Channel Ten TV evening news, I had the dubious pleasure of watching a Caroline Glick and her merry band of Hasbaristas celebrate. They were sitting around Glick’s kitchen table, clinking champagne glasses. At one point, the hostess banged on the table and announced “finally, some Hasbara!”  The occasion was one million YouTube views of the band’s clip, "We Con the World." ... As the newscast ended, my copy of Globes, a conservative evening business daily, was delivered. Columnist Yoav Karni, continued his series on the strategic threat Turkey is posing to Israeli national security. This installment was a desperate call for some effective public diplomacy to counter Erdogan’s ambition ... He cited Glick’s clip as an example of what not to do ... "There is a human limit to expressions of of lack of empathy to the suffering of the other, even when the other is a Palestinian child in Gaza (in the satire, the Gazan child needs 'a little cheese and rockets for breakfast'."
http://coteret.com/2010/06/07/hasbara-derangement-syndrome/

Ali Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mohammad Khatami, and Mehdi Karroubi, "Iran: Ruling Faction and Opposition Leaders Both Opposed to Israel"
Ali Khamenei, Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution: The Zionists made a miscalculation. They made a mistake. They made a big mistake. This mistake has been repeated in recent years, again and again. They made a mistake of attacking Lebanon. They made a mistake of attacking Gaza. And they made a mistake of attacking the aid ships. These mistakes, made one after another, indicate that the Zionist regime is nearing its definite end. It is taking steps toward its own overthrow. . . . Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Former Prime Minister of Iran (1981-1989) and Former Presidential Candidate: In its latest attack, once again the regime occupying Jerusalem [the state of Israel] has displayed its violent character by targeting the civilian caravan of vessels bearing humanitarian aid for the Muslim people of Gaza. . . . Mohammad Khatami, Former President of Iran (1997-2005): . . . I am shocked that the Security Council, which sanctions and threatens sovereign states that merely wish to exercise their own rights, quietly sits on its hands when it comes to such major crimes, any move to take a formal action being obstructed by great powers' opposition and vetoes.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2010/iran060610.html

Iraq

Sunday: 12 Iraqis Killed, 46 Wounded
Updated at 9:09 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2010 A spate of attacks focused on Baghdad and surrounding communities. Overall, at least 12 Iraqis were killed and 46 more were wounded in those and other attacks across the country. Meanwhile, a lack of water could fuel Iraq's next insurgency. Also, cross-border attacks between Turkish forces and the PKK continue in the north.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/06/06/sunday-12-iraqis-killed-42-wounded/

6 killed in Baghdad police station attack
A car bomb exploded outside a Baghdad police station Sunday in the deadliest of a pair of attacks that killed six people in the Iraqi capital, security and hospital officials said, a day after gunmen killed two candidates from the Sunni-backed coalition that won the most seats in Iraq's March parliamentary election.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=115621

Top US officer: al-Qaida in Iraq "devastated"
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md. — A string of setbacks for al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq has left the insurgent group "devastated" and struggling to cope with a double whammy of a leadership vacuum and a money squeeze, the top U.S. military officer said Sunday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdE_56XyHbB6NPQQ_Mt-KKGgg5EgD9G5VOT80

Anti-Al-Qaeda militias in Iraq stripped of gun permits
BAQUBA, Iraq: Anti-Qaeda militiamen in the central Iraqi province of Diyala have been stripped of the right to carry weapons, an official said on Sunday, sparking a wave of anger and warnings of unrest.  The latest move comes amid efforts to integrate the Sahwa (Awakening) fighters, who joined with US and Iraqi forces in 2006 and 2007 to turn the tide of Iraq’s bloody insurgency, with Iraq’s security forces and ministries as part of a deal reached in 2008.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=115620#axzz0q8N3nDqR

Iraq official calls for more prisons for juveniles
There is a shortage in number of prisons in the country, particularly for juveniles, a senior Iraqi prison official said.  Kadhem Raaof, director-general of juvenile prisons in Iraq, said his department cannot accommodate the increasing numbers of people below the age of 18 who are sentenced to prison terms.  He said in one juvenile prison in Baghdad there were 414 youngsters in a 200-bed prison.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2010-06-05\kurd.htm

Jordanian prisoner freed by Iraq arrives in Amman
AMMAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- One of the Jordanian prisoners in Iraq was been released by the Iraqi authorities on Sunday, the Jordanian government announced.  Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nabil Sharif said in a press statement Sunday that the Iraqi authorities handed the Jordanian prisoner named Amjad Adnan Hasan Al Shalabi to the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, and the prisoner arrived in Marka airport in Amman Sunday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/07/c_13336257.htm

Lebanon

Speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during the solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2010/06/speech-delivered-by-hezbollah-secretary_06.html

US lawmakers meet with top officials in Beirut
BEIRUT: A US delegation met with President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Environment Minister Mohammad Rahhal over the weekend to discuss local and regional issues. The delegation included congressmen Brian Baird and Lincoln Davis and it tackled bilateral relations during its meeting with Sleiman.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=115654

Abboud urges Arab tourists to visit south
BEIRUT: Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud urged all Arab tourists to visit South Lebanon, as he kicked off his tour in the region on Sunday by visiting the Zahrani tourist center. Abboud was greeted by Zahrani MP Ali Osseiran and by retired Brigadier Mohammad Srour, the head of Speaker Nabih Berri’s office in the southern town of Msaylih and an array of local figures. Abboud hoped the tourist season would be be prosperous in all Lebanese regions this year. He called on all Arabs to visit south Lebanon and discover its beauty. “This season will be special,” he said. 
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=115657

U.S. and Other World News

White House reporter Helen Thomas retires after flap (CNN)

Washington (CNN) – Longtime White House reporter Helen Thomas has retired effective immediately, Hearst Corporation said Monday. The media conglomerate had employed Thomas, age 89, as a syndicated columnist for its newspaper chain. Thomas, who was considered the dean of the White House press corps, had come under fire since late last week when a YouTube video surfaced showing her saying that Israel should “get the hell out of Palestine,” and that the Jewish people should go home to “Poland, Germany … and America and everywhere else.” 

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/07/
breaking-helen-thomas-has-retired-hearst-announces/?fbid=_Jl3kdpnoxz&hpt=T2