Day: June 2, 2010

Gaza Freedom Flotilla: NOT Everyone Is Released

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2 June, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Cyprus, June 3, 2010) Yesterday, the The UN Security Council called for impartial, credible investigation of the Israeli attack on our boats. In addition, the council requested the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel.

But four Palestinian/Israelis,

Free Gaza Movement board director, Lubna Masarwa,

Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Movement_in_Israel

Mohammed Zeidan, Director of International Advocacy Programme for the Arab Association for Human Rights
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Arab_Association_for_Human_Rights

and Hamed abu Dabis are facing multiple serious criminal offences for their participation in a peaceful voyage to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

After a full day in court represented by excellent attorneys from Adalah, they were remanded until June 8, evidence of how seriously the situation is for these four human rights workers.

This illegal incarceration is just another example of Israel’s draconian policies. First, they boarded our ships, traveling in international waters and loaded with supplies to Gaza. They murdered at least nine of our passengers, wounded dozens more, then hijacked our boats and forced them into the port of Ashdod. They threw over 600 passengers into detention. None of these passengers had any intention of going to Israel but were dragged into the country under force and then deported.

Now they have thrown four well-known human rights, religious and political leaders into prison for expressing support for their beleagured brothers and sisters in Gaza.

Please contact: Audrey Bomse, Lawyer 00 357 96 48 98 05 Greta Berlin, 00 357 99 18 72 75

GazaFriends: Did Israel Deliberately Kill Civilians Aboard Freedom Flotilla?

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2 June, 2010 — WitnessGaza.com

GazaFriends: Did Israel Deliberately Kill Civilians Aboard Freedom Flotilla?

PRESS BRIEFING

DID ISRAEL DELIBERATELY MURDER CIVILIANS ABOARD FREEDOM FLOTILLA? Israeli Ambassador to the United States admits that ships were “too large to stop with nonviolent means.”

On May 31st, 2010, elite Israeli military commandos stormed six humanitarian aid ships taking part in the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ to Gaza, killing between 9-20 civilian passengers and injuring dozens more. As the facts of the attack come out it is clear that these killings cannot in any way be justified.

PRIOR TO THE ISRAELI ATTACK – The Freedom Flotilla The Freedom Flotilla was an effort by a coalition of human rights and humanitarian organizations to nonviolently break through Israel’s illegal blockade, and deliver much needed humanitarian and developmental aid to the Palestinians of Gaza. Almost 700 passengers from 40 different countries joined the flotilla, including: human rights workers, humanitarian aid workers, Members of Parliament, doctors, nurses, teachers, community leaders, and international journalists.

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Black Agenda Report: 2 June, 2010

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Black Agenda Report the journal of African American political thought and action

Yes, Obama is “Engaged” – in a Colossal Crime
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Corporate media pretend to measure degrees of presidential “engagement” with the Gulf crisis – an “oceanic version of Chernobyl.” Such conversations are totally disengaged from the overarching reality that screams from the depths of the sea: “Huge corporations are empowered to seek profits with absolutely no regard for the consequences to Earth or Man.”

Black America, Corporate Media and the Siege of Gaza
by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon
This weekend, heavily armed Israeli military forces intercepted a flotilla bearing relief supplies for Gaza in international waters. The intention of the crew and passengers, who hail from more than a dozen countries and include a number of Israeli Jews, was to run the more than three year old blockade of food, trade goods, medical supplies and construction materials to the 1.5 million people of Gaza, the world’s largest open air prison, to force US corporate media to cover the slow motion starvation imposed upon Gaza by the US and its client state of Israel, and ultimately to end the siege.

Freedom Rider: BP Rules
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
BP and the mere humans that run it remain “in charge” of the scene of their crime, despite President Obama’s protestations to the contrary. “The Coast Guard only allows as much media access as BP will allow” – proof that the Obama regime treats the multinational corporation’s interests as paramount even to its own. BP has nothing to fear “because they know who is boss.”

Obama and the Charter School Sugar Daddies
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
As hedge funds spin their financial webs to spur charter school expansion and President Obama bullies states to lift caps on charters, “right-wing foundations are attempting to swallow whole the entire school district of Washington, DC.” For a $65 million donation, the Wal-Mart family and other fat cats demand DC schools drop union rules – and threaten to take back the money if the voters change administrations.

Obama’s Scheme to Kill Public Housing and Give the Land to Banks
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
For the Obama administration, every bit of public space and property is “on the table” – subject to privatization. Transfer of public wealth to private hands seems a White House obsession. Next on the auction block: the nation’s public housing stock. “This is gentrification and urban displacement on a gargantuan scale.”

The “Predatory Buccaneer” and the Overpopulation Lie
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR columnist Jared A. Ball, Ph.D.
The logic of the world-stealers leads inexorably to genocide. Thus, the vast miseries that are the inevitable result of imperial mega-theft must be blamed on the victims who insist on continuing to breathe. There is no overpopulation, and “Mother Nature is not the problem. Predators and imperialists are.”

Eshu’s Blues: Make Them Drink It
by michael hureaux perez
The Earth bleeds from a deep wound in the Gulf of Mexico, and humanity suffers the agonies of a thousand cuts – many if not most of them inflicted by the United States and the corporations it serves. What is a progressive to do? “We must begin by conducting a militant defense of the public sector of the economy through whatever grassroots community and labor organizations at our disposal – once again, with the notable exception of the ‘democratic’ party.”

AFRICOM and the ICC: Enforcing international justice in Africa?
by Samar Al-Bulushi and Adam Branch
The United States, which has never joined the International Criminal Court for fear that it might be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, is gearing up to use the ICC as a pretext to act as world gendarme. “The ICC risks becoming the latest pawn of US military strategy on the continent…in particular in conjunction with AFRICOM”

Texas School Board Disappears Race History
by Linn Washington, Jr.
The South is rising again – at least according to the narratives of books vetted by the Texas Board of Education. Right-wing icons and shibboleths are in, the struggle against racism is out. “It is unlikely that students will receive Education Board sanctioned instruction about the May 1916 lynching on the Waco, TX City Hall lawn that was attended by 15,000 spectators.”

Peace activists persist in reaching Gaza as anger over Israeli attack continues – RT Top Stories

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2 June, 2010 — RT Top Stories

Organizers of the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza are sending two more ships to confront the blockade within a few days.

Currently one ship is underway and another, with three dozen people onboard, is preparing to leave, the AP reports, quoting Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement.

‘This initiative is not going to stop,’ Berlin said. The two vessels are expected to arrive in the disputed region by the end of this week.

Onboard the ship that is enroute to Gaza there’s a high-profile international delegation, including a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Michel Chossudovsky, the head of the Center for Research on Globalization, an independent Canadian think tank, is in touch with the ship and says there is a good chance there will be no violence this time.

‘This ship there, in my understanding, is there to break the blockade. Whether they succeed depends very much on how the Israelis are going to react, but they are under considerable international pressure and I do not think that we are going to see a repeat of a commando raid in international waters. What is possible is that the ship will be stopped,’ said Chossudovsky.

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Multi-ethnic rally marches through Manhattan in support of Gaza

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2 June, 2010 — RT Top Stories

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of American cities voicing their outrage at Israeli flotilla raid and the response from the US and the UN.

A mass rally marched through the streets of Big Apple in support for Gaza.

Initially, the world’s condemnation was reserved for Israel. But soon after, hundreds of New Yorkers clogged the streets, taking equal aim at the United Nations.

‘The Security Council did not go far enough. The Security Council has to step up and act. Israel has simply thumbed their nose at the Security Council at UN resolutions. At UN statements. At UN activities. Israel’s acting as a rogue nation. The United States needs to step up,’ a protester told RT.

Instead, the United States stands alone – the only Security Council member not to have condemned Israel’s deadly raid on the humanitarian flotilla heading for Gaza.

The diplomatic split is being blamed by critics on a weak international position: a statement condemning those acts that result in death, but falling short of naming Israel.

The US wants Israel to conduct a transparent investigation but ‘that’s impossible,’ says rapper and activist Immortal Technique, who is among those galvanizing support for Palestinians.

‘The only way a transparent investigation, or an unbiased investigation, will happen is if it’s an independent investigation. Unfortunately the UN Security Council, without the United States, has no teeth. Is incapable of enforcing anything,’ he said.

‘When you show people that we’re willing to organize, and you actually start doing more things like this, it leads people to remember there’s still support in the street,’ he added.

Across from the Israeli consulate, protestors voice their fury over America’s soft, cautious rhetoric towards Israel.

‘I’d like to see them first right now condemn the murder. And admit and say it’s murder of innocent people on that humanitarian ship,’ a woman taking part in the protest told RT.

The US has expressed regret over the deaths and injuries, stressing that the facts surrounding Sunday’s incident need to be clarified. Yet the massive multi-ethnic crowd marched across Manhattan, demanding fewer words and more action.

‘There are people out here who care. And eventually it’s going to get to a point where most of the people, if not everybody, cares,’ an activist said in a note of optimism about the role of the protesters.

NGOs gathered in Kampala Call for End to Impunity Crisis Following Israeli Attack on Aid Convoy

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2 June, 2010 — Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Gaza

We, the undersigned organisations gathered in Kampala at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference, are shocked by Israel’s killing and injury of civilians carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza. We wish to express our sorrow regarding the loss of life and call on the international community to immediately take all appropriate measures in response to this unacceptable violence.

On 31 May 2010 Israeli forces opened fire against an international aid convoy seeking to bring humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip; more than 700 unarmed activists from over 40 countries were on board the 8-ship flotilla. The attack occurred in international waters and resulted in the killing of at least 9 persons and the injury of a further 60.

The entire population of the Gaza Strip is subjected to an illegal closure imposed by Israel as a form of collective punishment, resulting in a scandalous, wholly preventable humanitarian crisis. As noted by the United Nations, Israel currently allows only one-quarter of the necessary supplies into Gaza. The aid convoy was carrying 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian goods, including medicines, basic education and reconstruction materials.
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Caught between a ‘liberal’ and a hard man: How the BBC spends your licence money By William Bowles

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2 June, 2010

“Israeli commandos had paintball guns” – Israeli Ambassador to Russia, Anna Azari

“This happened in waters outside of Israeli territory, but we have the right to defend ourselves.” — Israeli military spokeswoman, Avital Leibovich

In Yiddish it’s called Chutzpah, to have the nerve to say something outrageous, the perfect description—if what was said wasn’t so odious—by Israeli propagandists. I’m talking here about an Israeli spokeman on RT.com the other night, attempting to justify the murderous assault on the Gaza aid activists. Attack becomes “defence”, international waters become Israeli, or not as the case may be.

Actually Chutzpah doesn’t even begin to describe the venomous and hysterical rantings of the Israeli spokesman. Eventually it just got too much for me to watch.

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More Gaza Freedom Flotilla News 1-2 June, 2010

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1-2 June, 2010

Everyone Is NOT Released + Israel Continues To Detain Hundreds From Humanitarian Flotilla
2 Jun 2010
Freegaza 2 June, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Cyprus, June 3, 2010) Yesterday, the The UN Security Council called for impartial, credible investigation of the  Israeli attack on our boats. In addition, the council requested the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel. The media is reporting that all…

IDF Boarding Gaza Aid Flotilla + Norman Finkelstein & Huwaida Arraf: Israel’s Attack + Richard Falk: “Shameful Thing” in Gaza
1 Jun 2010
Hovhanness83 — June 01, 2010 31.05.2010 IDF Boarding Gaza Aid Flotilla 31.05.2010
GRITtv GRITtv: Norman Finkelstein & Huwaida Arraf: Israel’s Attack On Monday, Israeli commandoes boarded ships in the “Freedom Flotilla” attempting to bring humanitarian aid to residents of still-blockaded Gaza. The aggressive response by Israel turned deadly, with at least …

Adam Shapiro: Expose Israel’s policy to the world + Eyewitness and victim recounts Israeli flotilla attack + Captain recounts Israeli attack
1 Jun 2010
RTAmerica June 01, 2010 — The purpose of the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla was to break the Israeli blockade that has been imposed on Gaza, a form of collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians who are trying to survive at this point. Adam Shapiro in New York is a board member of the…

Global Condemnation of Israeli Armed Attack on Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla
1 Jun 2010
Democracy Now! June 1, 2010 Global Condemnation of Israeli Armed Attack on Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla: At Least 10 Dead, Hundreds Remain in Detention It was early Monday morning as Israeli soldiers stormed the Gaza-bound international aid convoy called the Freedom Flotilla in international waters about forty miles off the coast of Gaza. The six

Neve Gordon: Pirates in the Mediterranean By Neve Gordon Ph.D.
1 Jun 2010
“Why didn’t they greet us with muffins and orange juice?” was my friend’s facetious question after listening all morning to the Israeli media’s coverage of the assault on the relief flotilla heading for Gaza, the navy assault that left nine citizens dead and many more wounded. Like a group of pirates in the Mediterranean, the Israeli navy attacked humanitarian aid ships in international waters, and yet Israeli officials and commentators were totally surprised when the passengers did not receive them with open arms. Going through the talkbacks on news sites, it seems that most Jews in Israel were also taken aback.

Has Israel Declared War on the International Community? By Pablo Ouziel
1 Jun 2010
Yesterday, with amazement, many of us around the world witnessed through a live-feed on the Internet how heavily armed sea pirates ? dressed in full military combat gear ? descended from Israeli military helicopters unto the decks of the Mavi Marmara ? a Turkish flagged humanitarian aid ship carrying hundreds of nonviolent peace advocates from around the globe.

Terror on Aid Ship: “Plan Was to Kill Activists and Deter Future Convoys” By Jonathan Cook

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2 June, 2010 — Global Research

Nazareth —An Arab member of the Israeli parliament who was on board the international flotilla that was attacked on Monday as it tried to take humanitarian aid to Gaza accused Israel yesterday of intending to kill peace activists as a way to deter future convoys.

Haneen Zoubi said Israeli naval vessels had surrounded the flotilla’s flagship, the Mavi Marmara, and fired on it a few minutes before commandos abseiled from a helicopter directly above them.

Terrified passengers had been forced off the deck when water was sprayed at them. She said she was not aware of any provocation or resistance by the passengers, who were all unarmed.

She added that within minutes of the raid beginning, three bodies had been brought to the main room on the upper deck in which she and most other passengers were confined. Two had gunshot wounds to the head, in what she suggested had been executions.

Two other passengers slowly bled to death in the room after Israeli soldiers ignored messages in Hebrew she had held up at the window calling for medical help to save them. She said she saw seven other passengers seriously wounded.

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Gaza Freedom Flotilla News 1-2 June, 2010

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Everyone Is NOT Released + Israel Continues To Detain Hundreds From Humanitarian Flotilla
2 Jun 2010
Freegaza 2 June, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Cyprus, June 3, 2010) Yesterday, the The UN Security Council called for impartial, credible investigation of the  Israeli attack on our boats. In addition, the council requested the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel. The media is reporting that all…

IDF Boarding Gaza Aid Flotilla + Norman Finkelstein & Huwaida Arraf: Israel’s Attack + Richard Falk: “Shameful Thing” in Gaza
1 Jun 2010
Hovhanness83 — June 01, 2010 31.05.2010 IDF Boarding Gaza Aid Flotilla 31.05.2010
GRITtv GRITtv: Norman Finkelstein & Huwaida Arraf: Israel’s Attack On Monday, Israeli commandoes boarded ships in the “Freedom Flotilla” attempting to bring humanitarian aid to residents of still-blockaded Gaza. The aggressive response by Israel turned deadly, with at least …

Adam Shapiro: Expose Israel’s policy to the world + Eyewitness and victim recounts Israeli flotilla attack + Captain recounts Israeli attack
1 Jun 2010
RTAmerica June 01, 2010 — The purpose of the Free Gaza Freedom Flotilla was to break the Israeli blockade that has been imposed on Gaza, a form of collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians who are trying to survive at this point. Adam Shapiro in New York is a board member of the…

Global Condemnation of Israeli Armed Attack on Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla
1 Jun 2010
Democracy Now! June 1, 2010 Global Condemnation of Israeli Armed Attack on Gaza-Bound Freedom Flotilla: At Least 10 Dead, Hundreds Remain in Detention It was early Monday morning as Israeli soldiers stormed the Gaza-bound international aid convoy called the Freedom Flotilla in international waters about forty miles off the coast of Gaza. The six

Neve Gordon: Pirates in the Mediterranean By Neve Gordon Ph.D.
1 Jun 2010
“Why didn’t they greet us with muffins and orange juice?” was my friend’s facetious question after listening all morning to the Israeli media’s coverage of the assault on the relief flotilla heading for Gaza, the navy assault that left nine citizens dead and many more wounded. Like a group of pirates in the Mediterranean, the Israeli navy attacked humanitarian aid ships in international waters, and yet Israeli officials and commentators were totally surprised when the passengers did not receive them with open arms. Going through the talkbacks on news sites, it seems that most Jews in Israel were also taken aback.

Has Israel Declared War on the International Community? By Pablo Ouziel
1 Jun 2010
Yesterday, with amazement, many of us around the world witnessed through a live-feed on the Internet how heavily armed sea pirates ? dressed in full military combat gear ? descended from Israeli military helicopters unto the decks of the Mavi Marmara ? a Turkish flagged humanitarian aid ship carrying hundreds of nonviolent peace advocates from around the globe.

PRC Action Alert: Direct Bias showed on BBC on Flotilla crime

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2 June, 2010 — Palestinian Return Centre

The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) expressed its deep apprehension and anger over the BBC coverage regarding freedom Flotilla.

The Freedom Flotilla which is a mere humanitarian mission has been covered by a wide range of western media outlets in the last few days. The BBC started to speak about the Boats of the flotilla only in the last 2 days.

In most of its coverage BBC depended on Israeli sources whilst the Palestinian side has been ignored. PRC suggests that such coverage harm the image of BBC and could classify it as an alternative for some Israeli media outlets.

PRC and part of its day-to-day monitoring for BBC observed the following:

On one of its today’s article BBC gave a space for the Israeli side while it has ignored the Palestinian side. The official account of Israel though, Danny Ayalon, Israeli deputy foreign minister was presented, which stated that organizers’ intent was violent. The article mentioned that ‘Guns and knives’ were used by the civilian passengers.

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The Massacre and the Cover-Up By Dan Freeman-Maloy

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2 June, 2010 — The B u l l e t Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 363

Only days after Amnesty International issued a report condemning Western powers for their record of blocking international diplomatic action against Israel, the results of this criminal facilitation were once again on dramatic display. By violently seizing the Free Gaza flotilla in the early hours of May 31, Israel has provided a brazen reminder of what kind of policies are being underwritten by its international allies.

The precise details of the seizure and ensuing massacre remain vague. And for good reason: Israel, whose officials have for weeks been discussing diplomatic options for confronting the flotilla (whose approximately 700 participants are accompanied by some 10,000 tons of cargo), launched a media disinformation blitz parallel to the military operation. In a pattern reminiscent of the Gaza assault of 2008-9, communications from the flotilla were persistently disrupted, its satellite telephones entirely cut off just prior to the pre-dawn assault. Within Israel, the military censor moved almost immediately to prohibit reporting about details of casualties.[1] Having established a near monopoly on access to information, the Israeli government dispatched its spokespeople to tell their story.

Deploying helicopters, warships and smaller naval vessels against six civilian boats carrying aid supplies, Israel merely sought, so the story goes, to defend itself (in the words of foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman) against “infringement of its sovereignty. Every country has the right to inspect all ships that enter – or intend to enter – its territory.”[2] The boats were to be seized and rerouted to the Israeli port of Ashdod, their “humanitarian” contents (i.e., not the construction goods and other supplies banned by Israeli fiat) transported into Gaza, their passengers sent home or detained pending deportation.

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Amidst Furor Over Gaza, Israel Shoots Out the Eye of Protester

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2 June, 2010 — International Solidarity Movement

ism-shot.jpgUS citizen Emily Henochowicz was shot directly in the face with a tear gas canister as she non-violently demonstrated against the Flotilla massacre
31 May 2010: An 21-year old American solidarity activist was shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a demonstration in Qalandiya, today. Emily Henochowicz is currently in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem undergoing surgery to remove her left eye, following the demonstration that was held in protest to Israel’s murder of at least 10 civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters this morning.

Henochowicz was hit in the face with a tear gas projectile fired directly at her by an Israeli soldier during the demonstration at Qalandiya checkpoint today. Israeli occupation forces fired volleys of tear gas at unarmed Palestinian and international protesters, causing mass panic amongst the demonstrators and those queuing at the largest checkpoint separating the West Bank and Israel.

“They clearly saw us,” said Sören Johanssen, a Swedish ISM volunteer standing with Henochowicz. “They clearly saw that we were internationals and it really looked as though they were trying to hit us. They fired many canisters at us in rapid succession. One landed on either side of Emily, then the third one hit her in the face.”

Henochowicz is an art student at the prestigious Cooper Union, located in East Village, Manhattan.

ism-shot2.jpgThe demonstration was one of many that took place across the West Bank today in outrage over the Israeli military’s attack on the Gaza freedom flotilla and blatant violation of international law. Demonstrations also took place in inside Israel, Gaza and Jerusalem, with clashes occuring in East Jerusalem and Palestinian shopkeepers in the occupied Old City closing their businesses for the day in protest.

Tear gas canisters are commonly used against demonstrators in the occupied West Bank. In May 2009, the Israeli State Attorney’s Office ordered Israeli Police to review its guidelines for dispersing demonstrators, following the death of a demonstrator, Bassem Abu Rahmah from Bil’in village, caused by a high velocity tear-gas projectile. Tear-gas canisters are meant to be used as a means of crowd dispersal, to be shot indirectly at demonstrators and from a distance. However, Israeli forces frequently shoot canisters directly at protesters and are not bound by a particular distance from which they can shoot.