- 21 juli 2010
Israel to restrict white phosphorus use in future wars
Rights groups collected evidence that white phosphorus was used in civilian areas
The Israeli military will restrict its use of artillery shells containing white phosphorus, it has told the UN.
The controversial weapons cause deadly burns and rights groups say they are banned from use in civilian areas.
The Israel Defense Forces used weapons containing white phosphorus during a 22-day assault on Gaza which began in December 2008.
In its report to the UN, the IDF said steps would be taken in future to avoid civilian casualties.
"The IDF chief of general staff ordered the establishment of a clear doctrine and orders on the issue of various munitions that contain white phosphorus," the report said.
"These instructions are currently being implemented."
Burning
During the Israeli offensive on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military used white phosphorus rounds in densely populated areas, the UN and Human Rights Watch said.
Part of a UN compound burned down after it was hit by chunks of the burning chemical which ignites on contact with air.
The weapon has been used on battlefields to create cover for advancing troops and to flush infantry out of their positions, but human rights groups say international law bans its use in civilian areas.
Burning phosphorus sticks to skin and will continue to burn flesh until the supply of oxygen is cut off.
Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died in the conflict, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.
War crimes
The Israeli military say that the attack was launched to prevent rockets being fired into southern Israel from Gaza.
The UN has sharply criticised both sides in the conflict.
A report by the former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Richard Goldstone, accused both the IDF and Hamas of war crimes.
The Goldstone report has been condemned by the Israeli government as biased.
Hamas has also denied its fighters committed war crimes.
Israel's latest report to the UN, posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also says it has launched 150 investigations into the conduct of its soldiers during the offensive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10711086 28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 21 juli 2010
Mohammed Hatem Kafarna 21
Palestinian militant killed after IDF fires at figures near Gaza border
Top Islamic Jihad militant killed as Israeli tanks fire at militants after receiving reports they intended to attack a nearby IDF unit.
Israel Defense Forces troop fired at suspected militants that had approached Gaza's northern border with Israel, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday, with one suspected militant reportedly killed in the incident.
According to initial reports, Israeli tanks targeted a suspected militant squad after receiving reports that a squad near the northern Strip town of Beit Hanoun had intended to fire an anti-tank missile toward another IDF unit.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers opened fire on suspects approaching a border fence but had no further comment. Palestinian medical workers claimed 7 people were wounded, including a 10-year-old girl. No other details were immediately released.
The militant killed in the incident was reportedly a central Islamic Jihad militant.
Since Israel's Gaza offensive 18 months ago, cross-border violence has largely abated. But there are occasional rocket and mortar salvoes by Palestinians, usually claimed by militant groups unaligned with the dominant Islamist Hamas movement.
Last week, hospital officials said that an IDF shelling killed a Palestinian woman and wounded two of her relatives in the central Gaza Strip.
Asked about the incident in the village of Johar a-Deek, which is near Gaza's border with Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Office confirmed that soldiers had opened fire on two suspicious figures who were seen approaching the border fence.
http://fwd4.me/08yC 28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2010
Israeli soldiers lined up, shot and killed 2, four little children injured
(3:19) Israeli soldiers lined up, shot and killed 3 little Palestinian girls
Two dead and four children injured in Israeli nail bomb attack in Beit Hanoun, Gaza
Sammah El-Massry, 9, critically injured in hospital
“She came in through and it wasn’t clear she was injured. Suddenly a lot of blood came from her nose and she vomited. All of the family saw this – her little brothers were very scared. She had just been playing in the front of the house.”
This is a mother describing to us her daughter, 9 year old Sammah as she came in to her home at 4pm after the Israeli army reportedly shelled and fired 4 bombs into and around a residential area in Beit Hanoun, Northern Gaza.
(3:19) Two dead and four children injured in israeli nail bomb attack in Gaza Concentration Camp
She is now in a semi-critical condition in hospital, suffering extensive blood loss and very low haemoglobin. She was hit by shrapnel and ‘flechettes’ from a nail bomb that landed 100m away, causing internal bleeding to the chest, severe head trauma and nails embedded in her body. She is one of 4 children injured in the attack yesterday, July 21st.
Two young men were killed:
Mohammad Al-Kafarneh, 23, from severe shrapnel injuries in his back and chest and
Kasim Al-Shinbary, 19, caused by injuries from nails embedded in his skull and shrapnel wounds to the back.
It was unclear earlier whether they were resistance fighters or if they were civilians – the Israeli Occupation Force called them ‘militants’ – just as they called the four children, aged 4 to 11, who were left hospitalised by their injuries ‘militants’. Their parents could be found weeping over their loved ones in Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City last night.
We first visited Haitham Thaer Qasem a four year old boy and a first and only child. He was sleeping on the hospital bed, occasionally gasping for breath through the strapping around his nose. He had suffered deep nasal trauma, and flechette darts from the nail bomb were still embedded in his tiny body, where they had pierced his back, right elbow and right leg. He was 200m from the impact of the bomb.
In his hospital ward his mother was standing to one side crying quietly and another relative at Haitham’s bedside explained what had happened.
“We had asked Haitham to get shopping for her from the market…then we heard the bombings and somebody came to our home and told our family that he was in the hospital and was injured in the bombing. We came quickly to the hospital.”
Four-year-old Haitham Thaer Qasem, injured by an Israeli nail bomb
In a nearby ward we then visited 9 year old Sammah who was in a worse state. The doctor told us she was in a ‘semi-critical’ condition with severe chest, head and abdominal pain. Her blood-loss was a major concern, arriving at the hospital with 7.5 haemoglobin levels, 4-6 below the normal levels, the problem exacerbated by the fact that she, like three of her brothers, already suffered from a blood condition known as Thalassemia for which the drug Exjade is in extremely short supply due to the Israeli blockade. She was clearly in pain and confused, trying to remove the nasal tubes. Her mother showed us the bandages on her chest.
“She was in a very bad condition when she arrived – it’s difficult for children and very traumatic to insert a chest tube. Very painful. Blood was mainly coming from the chest. We will have to perform surgery and we will further explore her abdominal pain”, the doctor tells us.
This is not the first time the family was attacked, Sammah’s 4-year-old brother Ryad Eid El-Massry was injured during Operation Cast Lead, the 3 week Israeli assault over the New Year of 2009 period, during which over 400 Palestinian children were killed.
“Our house was hit during the war, a neighbour sheltering inside was killed and our son suffered severe head injuries. He wasn’t able to access the care he needed and because of this his sight is now permanently damaged.”
As we left Sammah, she had begun to cry, moaning in serious discomfort and confusion. There were two more injured children in the hospital following the attack: Azzam Mohammed El-Massry (aged 11) has a severely fractured left elbow and Ebrahim Wasseem El-Massry (aged 4) has light injuries to his abdomen.
It’s not just the siege. Criminal Israeli violence continues unabated, resulting in Palestinians in Gaza – children like Sammah, Haitham, Azzam and Ebrahim – and their families experiencing horrific pain and suffering. Last week it was the Abu Said family, attacked in their home on the border East of Gaza city; they lost Nema, a 33-year-old mother of five as she went outside to look frantically for her youngest son. Three more family members were also injured, again by the thousands of ‘flechette’ darts unleashed by the nail bomb assault. Many of these darts will remain permanently embedded in their bodies.
Palestinians remain incredulous to the idea of justice. They will remain so as long as they’re allowed to be dismissed as footnotes by those supporting, or blindly ignoring, what has happened to them and is being done to them. But those who meet them like we did yesterday will never forget what they go through. And people of conscience around the world are beginning to open their eyes instead of turning their backs and acting against these ongoing atrocities.
http://palsolidarity.org/2010/07/13159/ 28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2010
Kasim Al-Shinbary, 19
28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 22 juli 2010
Bilal Ibrahim Abu Libda 27
In the early morning, IOF killed Bilal Ibrahim Abu Libda, 27, from Qalqilya, near "Burkan" settlement, west of Salfit. Israeli military sources claimed that "a military unit observed two Palestinians, one of whom was armed, when they attempted to cross the settlement's fence.
When the two Palestinians did not obey orders to stop, the soldiers fired at them, killing the unarmed one, and wounding the armed one, who was able to escape."
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 04:00, Abu Libda, his cousin, Mohammed 'Izziddin Abu Libda, 27, and Ameen Anwar 'Enaya, 27, attempted to enter the industrial zone of "Burkan" settlement, west of Salfit, without work permits.
Israeli troops guarding the settlement noticed them and opened fire at them.
As a result, Bilal Abu Libda was killed when he was struck by two bullets, while the other two persons fled.
The victim was married two months ago and was killed while looking for a job.
IOF refused to deliver his body to his family before identifying him, as he did not possess an identity card. They transferred the body to a forensic medical institute and requested the Palestinian liaison department to send one of his relatives to identify him.
The other two persons who accompanied Abu Libad testified before the Palestinian Preventive Security Service. They were then summoned by the Palestinian police and were detained for 24 hours for interrogation. When they were released, they refused to provide a PCHR field worker with any information.
IOF delivered the victim's body to the Palestinian side at 12:00 on Friday, 23 July 2010. According to Palestinian medical sources, the victim was hit by an explosive bullet to the head and a bullet to the chest. They estimated the range of shooting at the victim at 30 meters.
They attributed his death to the explosive bullet that struck his head.
Troops Kill A Palestinian Man In Southern West Bank
Salfit PNN a Palestinian man was shot and killed, on Thursday morning, by Israeli troops near the southern West Bank city of Salfit.
The Israeli army radio announced that a military patrol opened fire at a group of men trying to jump the fence of an Israeli settlement near Salfit. Troops killed a man and arrested another while the rest managed to flee the scene, the radio added.
The military says soldiers opened fire because the men were armed, no weapons were found at the scene, sources reported.
The name of the killed man remains unknown as soldiers took the body and refused to release his identity.
Today's killing brings the number of Palestinians killed by army fire since Wednesday to three. On late Wednesday afternoon Israeli tanks shelled northern Gaza borders killing two men and injuring six others.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8552&Itemid=65
Palestinian shot dead in West Bank by Israeli soldiers
The man was shot in Barkan (left), close to the Palestinian village of Khirbet Bani Hassan (top left)
A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli troops after entering a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
The man was killed on Thursday morning in Barkan, west of the city of Nablus.
An Israeli army spokesman said soldiers identified two Palestinian intruders, one of whom they suspected to be armed.
After warning the men, the troops opened fire, killing one man while the other fled, said the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
'Joint investigation'
The spokesman said: "A night watch that was set by the IDF because of numerous attempts made to infiltrate the [Barkan] community in the past few weeks identified last night's attempt.
"The force identified the infiltrators, one of them suspected to be armed and opened fire. One of the infiltrators died as a result, and the other escaped."
The spokesman added that Palestinian officials had agreed to carry out a "joint investigation" into the incident.
Meanwhile, the human rights group Amnesty International has called on Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes and other buildings in the West Bank.
It says the Israeli army has destroyed 74 Palestinian-owned buildings in the Jordan Valley area this week, displacing more than a hundred people, half of whom are children.
Israeli officials said the buildings were in a closed military zone. But Palestinians say Israel has no right to close off parts of the West Bank in this way.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10725444
IDF kills Palestinian infiltrating West Bank settlement Barkan
IDF opens fire at group of Palestinians breaking into settlement, apparently for criminal and not terror-related purposes, IDF spokesperson's office confirms.
Israel Defense Forces soldiers fired at a group of Palestinians attempting to infiltrate the West Bank settlement of Barkan late Wednesday, killing one of them. The casualty was apparently armed, the DF spokesperson's office said.
Another Palestinian was arrested and taken into IDF custody for questioning. Soldiers are currently scanning the area for further suspects, and both the army and Palestinian officials are investigating the circumstances of the incident.
The Palestinians apparently penetrated the settlement for criminal and not terror-related purposes, the IDF said.
Due to recurring attempts by Palestinians to infiltrate the fenced-off settlement, the soldiers had been patrolling the area for several weeks, the IDF spokesperson's office said.
Earlier Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces troops fired at suspected militants that had approached Gaza's northern border with Israel. Two suspected militants reportedly killed in the incident.
According to Palestinian sources, one militant was killed on the spot, while the second succumbed to his wounds several hours after the incident.
Six militants remained hospitalized, the sources reported.
According to initial reports, Israeli tanks targeted a suspected militant squad after receiving reports that a squad near the northern Strip town of Beit Hanoun had intended to fire an anti-tank missile toward another IDF unit.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers opened fire on suspects approaching a border fence but had no further comment. Palestinian medical workers claimed 7 people were wounded, including a 10-year-old girl. No other details were immediately released.
http://fwd4.me/08yN 28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 27 juli 2010
No Words to Console Gaza Child
Darts fired by Israeli tanks shells are removed from the walls of the Abu Said family home in Gaza.
The Abu Said family are Bedouin whose isolated farm is located near Gaza's boundary with Israel in the vicinity of Johr al-Dik. For the last forty years, the family never had any major problems with their belligerent Israeli neighbors. Abu Said, the family patriarch, explained that after the first and second Palestinian intifadas and following the start of the siege on Gaza, the threat of being shot by Israeli soldiers forced him to stop cultivating plots of land closest to the border.
Twenty years ago, the family could still plough their property near the border, while in recent times they've had to retreat 400 meters, with considerable losses to their harvest. Beautiful orchards brimming with fruit once prospered; now even the trees roots are gone.
In spite of the farm's unfortunate location, none of the family members were killed or injured during Israel's 2008-09 winter invasion. However, this year, Israel's brutal policies and actions affected the family directly.
Around 8:45pm on 13 July, 2010, a few of the women of the family were enjoying the cool of the evening in the courtyard in front of their house. They heard a muffled shooting sound, followed soon after by another, and then by a loud buzzing noise, as if a swarm of insects was approaching at full speed. The facade of their home was reduced to Swiss cheese and the flesh of the women was attacked.
Without provocation, an Israeli tank fired two artillery shells at the family's home. Amira Jaber Abu Said, 30, was hit and wounded in the shoulder by a piece of shrapnel and by steel darts, called flechettes. Her sister-in-law, 26-year-old Sanaa Ahmed Abu Said, was wounded in the foot. Panicking, they took shelter inside their home and called an ambulance.
Meanwhile, from the direction of the nearby military turret, an Israeli armor-plated vehicle was stationed underneath and a machine gun was still shooting toward the family and continued to do so for a solid ten minutes.
After being delayed for 15 minutes by Israeli troops, ambulances reached the family farm. However, the paramedics were forced to flee as soon as they arrived under threat of Israeli fire.
Ali Abu Said, a family member, said in an interview "After Amira and Saana were wounded, we continued to call for the Re Crescent ambulance. After 15 minutes the paramedics arrived in our area, but they told us they couldn't get to our house because the Israeli soldiers wouldn't given them permission. They threatened to shoot them if they had gotten near. They've had to go back to where they'd come from, in Deir al-Balah."
After an hour of apparent calm, Nema Abu Said, a 33-year-old mother of five, realized that her youngest child, Nader, was still asleep outside the family home. Nema rushed out to find Nader when another dull shot was heard and she was hit by a round of flechettes, and was killed on the spot. Her brother-in-law, Jaber Abu Said, 65, was wounded by flechettes in his right thigh.
One of Nema's children stands outside the family's home
The family continued to call in vain for ambulances. The Israeli military allowed a Red Crescent ambulance to enter the area two hours later and retrieve the dead woman and three injured family members.
Israel's winter invasion, dubbed "Operation Cast Lead," resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were civilians, including more than 300 children. On 27 January, 2009, Amnesty International compiled a list of prohibited weapons that the Israeli forces used against the population of Gaza.
Flechettes are small metallic daggers with barbed points, four centimeters long with four small fins in the back. According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, flechettes are loaded into shells fired by tanks. When the shells explode in mid-air, 30 meters from the ground, they propel a swarm of 5,000 to 8,000 flechettes, covering a cone-shaped radius, 300 meters wide and 100 meters long.
Although flechette shells are considered an illegal weapon, Israel continues to use them. In 2002, the Israeli high court rejected a petition presented by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights to end use of the flechettes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Flechettes were also used by Israel during is July 2006 invasion of Lebanon.
On 5 January 2009, in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, numerous flechette shells were fired onto a main street, killing two civilians. Wafa Nabil Abu Jarad, a 21-year-old mother expecting twins, and 16-year-old Islam Jaber Abd al-Dayem were both killed by the darts.
Similarly, on 16 April 2008, Fadel Shana, a cameraman for Reuters news agency and two children nearby were also killed by flechettes. Shana was filming in Johr al-Dik, a few hundred meters from the Abu Said family's farm, when he was hit by a tank shell.
In spite of the attack and Nema's death, the Abu Said family will remain on the farm. They will do this out of a sense of pride, a desire to live and die on their own property, and because they have nowhere else to go.
Jaber, a member of the Abu Said family and a survivor of the attack, explained: "No form of resistance activity has ever taken place anywhere near our farm, ever. No threat whatsoever to Israel and its soldiers exists. I really don't understand why they've done this to us."
Meanwhile, young Nader asks relatives and visitors about his mother. None of his relatives have yet found the right words to explain to this innocent child what happened to his mother. Do those words actually exist?
All images by Vittorio Arrigoni.
Vittorio Arrigoni has worked as a human rights activist for more than a decade. He lived in Gaza until September 2009. As an activist with the International Solidarity Movement and freelance journalist with the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto he has provided eyewitness accounts for the world to read and is author of the book Gaza: Stay Human.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1496 28 apr 2012, 22:52 , Respect -
Maria 30 juli 2010
Norman Finkelstein: This Time We Went Too Far
(28:21) Norman Finkelstein: This Time We Went Too Far Part 1
(29:05) Norman Finkelstein: This Time We Went Too Far Part 2
Norman Finkelstein speaks about the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. He begins with the election that brought Hamas to power and moves on to the blockade. He discusses the air and ground assault of Gaza as well as the illegal use of white phosphorus. This speech was given at Al-Awda's 2010 Convention.
28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria 31 juli 2010
'Isa Abdul Hadi al-Batran, 40Batran leader joined his wife and sons
Hamas fighter killed in Israel air strikes on Gaza
Extra-Judicial Execution of 'Isa Abdul Hadi al-Batran
Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed a Hamas fighter and wounded several other people.
Missiles struck central Gaza and Gaza City late on Friday; tunnels on the strip's southern border were also hit.
The strikes came after a rocket fired from the coastal enclave by militants earlier on Friday hit the Israeli city of Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast.
That attack caused no casualties but damaged a building and cars in the city, 12km (7 miles) north of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said he took the rocket attack on Ashkelon - which has a population of 125,000 - "very seriously".
The city's mayor said the attack was the most serious since Israel ended an offensive against the Gaza Strip in January 2009.
Reduced violence
Hamas - the Islamist group which controls the territory - named the dead militant as Issa Batran, 42 - a commander of the group's military wing in central Gaza and a rocket maker.
The military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said eight other Hamas supporters and three civilians were also injured in air strikes on a Hamas military training camp in Gaza City, smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border and a target outside a central Gaza refugee camp.
The group said it would avenge the killing.
Israel's military confirmed the air strikes and said they came in response to the Ashkelon attack.
Rocket fire from Gaza has reduced in the past year after Hamas reined in attacks, but sporadic fire from other militant groups continues.
Correspondents say such attacks are almost always ineffective, with rockets mostly landing in open fields.
One Thai farmer in Israel has been killed in the past year.
Dozens of Palestinians, some of them civilians, have been killed in attacks from Israel over the same period.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10824909
Israel Launches Air Strike in Central Gaza
(1:11) Israel Air Strike in Central Gaza City.m4v 2 x viewed
At around 11:30 tonight, I had just returned to my apartment in Gaza City from an evening of writing at a hotel down the road.
I put my bag down on the sofa and was walking towards my room. At that moment, 5 thundering crashes roared in quick succession. The noise was so loud, it sounded as though the attack was next door. The whole building shook fairly violently, and then, a moment later, there was silence.
Instinctively, my first move was to reach for my Blackberry and Tweet the news. My second move was to head to my balcony, where I heard at least two gunshots. I couldn’t see anything, though, so I suggested to a friend of mine who is also staying in the apartment that we get out of the building. It seemed like a reasonable precaution.
As soon as we hit the street, we saw police cars, ambulances, and civilians on foot streaming towards the apparent bombsite. We hustled along with them until, 3-4 blocks from the apartment, we ran into a police checkpoint that ordinarily guards a military training center. This was at the end of Gaza City’s coastal road, along which all the fancy hotels are located.
Tonight, Hamas guards with machine guns were frantically holding the crowd at bay, screaming at people to move backward from the checkpoint.
Immediately, I tried to verify what seemed obvious: that Israeli planes had struck a target some meters behind the police checkpoint.
On the other side of the checkpoint was a substantial mound of earth. Behind that, I saw smoke billowing upward.
The attack was likely a response to a rocket that was fired from Gaza and landed in a residential area in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. There has been a general, if unspoken, understanding between Hamas and Israel since the war here last January to keep the rocket and air attacks to a minimum.
Despite that understanding, small rockets have occasionally hit small Israeli towns immediately around Gaza. And Israel, in turn, has retaliated with small-scale fire, usually directed towards the smuggling tunnels in Rafah. What was different about today, though, was that the rocket from Gaza reached the more distant and major city of Ashkelon. In turn, Israel hit the middle of Gaza City, which it hasn’t done in a year and a half.
A few minutes after I arrived at the scene of the attack, the crowd began surging towards the earth mound, trying to circumvent the gate and see the destruction. Moments later, a group of Hamas soldiers began screaming at the people to stop. One soldier fired off a round from his machine gun, and the crowd dispersed, frantically.
Ambulances tore in and out of the scene. Two fire trucks arrived too. The windows of a nearby building were shattered.
Suddenly, the Hamas soldiers began running through the crowd, shouting that the Israeli planes were coming back. The crowd scattered again, amidst cries of worry. The planes didn’t come back, so I figured that this was probably just part of Hamas’ crowd control effort.
After a while, with little new to see at the bombsite, we headed over to Shifa Hospital to check on the wounded.
By this point, my driver Hamouda had joined us. I can’t say enough good about Hamouda. At 22, he’s a smart, loyal, and caring guy. It’s clear he comes from a good family, and he’s got the upbringing and common sense to handle journalists deftly. He’s the kind of person you want working with you on a tough night.
Hamouda drove us to Shifa Hospital, where I witnessed a scene even more chaotic than the one I had just left.
At the entrance to the hospital, a handful of Hamas guards struggled and skirmished with civilians who were trying to get through the door. There was lots of yelling, and one soldier took the liberty to wield a baton, which, at one point, ended up planted in my stomach.
Ambulances pulled up to the door, and medics yelled at the press to move back as the cameras swarmed around the wounded. Sometimes the wounded limped in. Family members showed up and negotiated their way through the police cordon. At one point, a family carried a boy to the door of the hospital and dropped him as they approached the entrance.
Hamouda persuaded the police to give me a free pass at the door, so I began going in and out, checking on arriving patients and tracking down doctors, who gave me estimates of between 8 and 20 injured.
What surprised me most about the later part of the evening is how quickly the crowd dissipated. After about an hour and a half, Hamas shut down the scene of the bombsite, ordering all onlookers to leave. Meanwhile, the patients at the hospital were all behind closed doors, and the crowd began to disappear there too.
That’s all for now. I’ll post a video of some raw footage I shot in a bit.
On the evening of July 30, 2010, Israel launched an air assault against a Hamas military training facility in central Gaza City. Here is some raw footage of the aftermath. (raw video)
http://fwd4.me/0j00
Palestinians: IDF bombs Gaza targets; 1 killed
Palestinian witnesses say Air Force jets bombed targets in Gaza City, Rafah in retaliation for Grad fire towards Ashkelon; 12 people reportedly injured in Ansar compound, formerly Yasser Arafat's HQ
Air Force jets bombed targets in the Gaza Strip Friday night, Palestinian witnesses reported. They added that the airstrikes had caused injuries and one death.
On Friday morning gunmen in the Strip fired a Grad rocket that exploded in Ashkelon, followed by two mortar shells that landed in Eshkol Regional Council.
Al-Jazeera reported that among the targets bombed were Tel al-Hawa neighborhood and the Ansar compound, both in Gaza City, as well as targets in Rafah and Deir al-Balah.
Twelve people were reportedly injured, some seriously, in the Ansar security compound, which previously served as the headquarters of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
The IDF confirmed that Israel Air Force jets struck three targets in Gaza, include a terror hub in the northern Strip, a weapons factory in the central Strip and a smuggling tunnel in the south. All jets returned safely to their bases.
The IDF said Friday's attack came in response to the Grad rocket fired at Ashkelon earlier in the day, and stressed that the military would continue to operate against any element threatening the citizens of Israel and its soldiers.
"The IDF holds the Hamas terror organization solely responsible for the occurrences in the Strip and for maintaining calm there," the IDF statement said.
The Palestinians said Friday night's assault was the largest IDF strike since Operation Cast Lead.
According to the sources, the man killed in the strike was a 22-year-old Hamas operative, who was hit while in a caravan near a refugee camp in the central strip. It was unclear what Hamas was using the caravan for.
After a few months of relative calm, a Grad rocket exploded in a populated area of Ashkelon Friday morning, causing eight people to suffer shock but no physical injuries. Later two mortar shells exploded in Eshkol Regional Council, causing no injuries.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3927443,00.html
Qassam strikes building in Negev; no one injured
Israel Air Force jets attacked Gaza Friday night in response to rockets fired on Ashkelon earlier in the day; Hamas vows revenge over militant's death in strike.
A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza strip Saturday landed on a public structure in Shar'ar Hanegev regional council, just hours after Israel Air force jets struck Gaza in response to rockets fired from the coastal enclave.
According the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson's office, the Qassam damaged the structures rooftop and destroyed most of the second floor of the building, which serves during the day as a daycare for people with disabilities.
No injuries were reported in the attack.
IDF patrol units are scanning the area for the rocket's remains.
IAF struck three targets in Gaza Friday night, which Palestinian sources described as the heaviest since Operation Cast Lead, Israel's two-week assault on the Gaza Strip a year and a half ago. The attack came after a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory exploded in the city of Ashkelon earlier in the day.
A Hamas operative, a 40-year-old member of Hamas' military wing, was killed in an explosion near the Nuseirat refugee camp south of Gaza City in the center of the Hamas-controlled strip. Another 13 Palestinians were hurt.
Hamas has vowed revenge for his death.
http://fwd4.me/0Ar9
Hamas: Airstrikes response to Arab League decision
Gaza – Ma'an – The renewal of Israeli air strikes on Gaza were a response to the Arab League’s decision to resume direct peace talks, a Hamas official said Saturday.
Ismail Radwan said negotiations can only lead to further "judaization" of Jerusalem, and Israeli crimes against Palestinian people, citing Saturday's air strikes on Gaza as an example.
An Al-Qassam Brigades fighter was killed and ten Gaza residents were injured on Saturday morning in Israeli air strikes across the Strip.
Radwan said the meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up in Cairo on Thursday, which approved direct talks with Israel subject to conditions, over-extended the Arab League’s authority, explaining that the decision to resume negotiations must be taken by Palestinians.
President Mahmoud Abbas has been under pressure from the US and Israel to resume face-to-face talks with Israel, which were broken off in 2008 when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Gaza.
The meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cario approved direct talks, but supported Abbas’ demand for pre-conditions.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Friday that the recent projectile launch into Ashkelon was a bid to prevent talks between Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials.
"Though it is still unclear who was responsible for the Grad fire, it is clear that Hamas has no interest right now in escalating tension. Hamas wants to maintain the status quo in Gaza as it is. It is not frozen, and continues to arm itself, but is still deterred by the IDF and doesn't want conflict," one senior official told Israeli news site Ynet.
The Israeli army said the airstrikes on Gaza Saturday morning were in response to the projectile launch a day before.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=303929...Read more 28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria 31 juli 2010
Mossad assassins paid by US firms
US investigators say American companies paid money to the suspects behind the Israeli-masterminded assassination of a senior Hamas official.
American cyberspace companies have been named among the firms that transferred money to the alleged hitmen behind the targeted killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh -- the co-founder of the Hamas resistance movement's armed wing, known as the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades - on January 20 The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
CCTV camera footage, caught in a Dubai hotel, where the operation took place, has led the emirate's police to put the names of more than two dozen suspects on the international wanted list.
The Dubai police have identified 13 US-issued debit-card accounts used by the suspects into which money was deposited.
Police say evidence confirms the involvement of the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, in the operation.
Earlier in the year, The Sunday Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "gave his authorization" for the assassination.
The discovery that the death squad used British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports caused a political predicament for Tel Aviv which ended in the expulsion of its diplomats by Dublin and Canberra.
Poland recently denied Israel's request to extradite an Israeli man, named Uri Brodsky, who has been accused of providing the assassins with the only German passport used in the murder.
http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=136922§ionid=351020202
(1:47) Mabhouh assassination link to US firms. 28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria 3 aug 2010
Israel-Lebanon border clash kills five
(0:22) israeli Forces Attack Lebanese Army Positions. 2 x viewed (6:12) Lebanon - israel Clash Kills Four 1 x viewed At least three Lebanese soldiers and one senior Israeli army officer have been killed after the two sides exchanged fire along their border.
Several other Lebanese and Israeli soldiers were also injured in the fighting on Tuesday, according to Lebanese media.
The violence broke out after Israeli troops entered Lebanon's territory, officials in Beirut said. Israel has reportedly used phosphorus bombs in the attack.
Israeli soldiers launched several rockets near the southern Lebanese village of Adissyeh.
An unnamed source reported that Israeli warplanes fired two rockets on the hills of Adissyeh.
A Lebanese journalist from al-Akhbar newspaper was also killed in the fighting, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Israel's Foreign Ministry claimed in a statement it held the Lebanese government responsible for the "serious incident," warning of possible consequences if the violence continued.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman emphasized that any violation ot the Lebanese territory by the Tel Aviv regime is a breach of the UN Resolution 1701, which ended Israel's war on Lebanon in 2006.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri also condemned the violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
"The United Nations and the international community bear their responsibilities and pressure Israel to stop its aggression," a statement from Hariri's office said.
Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri also issued a statement, calling on the government to urgently file a complaint to the UN Security Council over the violation.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137290§ionid=351020203
Three Lebanese soldier killed
Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Agence France Presse reported three Lebanese soldier killed and at least four in an ongoing exchange of fire with Israeli troops along the Israel-Lebanon border that began shortly after noon on Tuesday.
News outlets said Israeli helicopters arrived on the scene before 2p.m., with Al-Jadid TV reporting shots fired by the helicopters toward the Lebanese town of Adeisseh, with reports of intermittent artillery fire, and at least two homes set ablaze.
An Israeli military spokesman denied reports that rockets were launched from southern Lebanon toward Israel, but confirmed Israeli fire toward a Lebanese military position. He said reports that Israeli forces had entered Lebanon were false, adding that troops were between the blue line and the security fence.
Israeli news reports said a tank in the upper Galilee opened fire toward a Lebanese army position in southern Lebanon, responding to Lebanese fire.
3 dead, 4 injured
Lebanese officials identified the two injured in early i Tuesday's clash as Hasan Nazzal, a civilian, and Lebanese soldier Ibrahim Abboud, Narnarnet reported.
By 2 o'clock Reuters reported two soldiers dead, and forty-five minutes later AFP said three soldiers were killed.
Lebanese-based Al-Manar TV said a high-ranking Israeli army officer was killed in the shelling and Israeli soldiers were trying to pull him out, which Israeli sources denied.
Lebanon condemns
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty from his vacation in Sardinia, Italy, governmental news agencies reported.
The official made a call to the country's President Michel Suleiman, army commander General Jean Qahwaj and UNIFIL officials, asking that the team follow up on the clashes.
Hariri told UNIFIL that he expected the UN to pressure Israel to implement UN Resolution 1701, which called for the demilitarization of the area within the blue line, where UN Interim Forces In Lebanon are stationed.
UNIFIL called on both Israel and Lebanon to exercise "maximum restraint," Lebanese media reported.
PFLP-GC reported acting in area
Online news agency Naharnet in Lebanon said the country's Voice of Free Lebanon reported "strange activity" in the central Bekaa Valley town of Qoussaya, near the Galilee.
The report said "strange, young bearded men have been seen in PFLP-GC bases in Qoussaya," and quoted locals saying "These elements have started deploying three weeks ago," wearing combat uniforms.
The PFLP-GC is a Palestinian faction, which broke off from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and formed the General Command unit.
Residents of the Galilee told the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz that several loud explosions were heard in the area in the afternoon.
The clashes follow one day after rockets landed in both Israel and Jordan, reportedly fired from the northern Egyptian Sinai. Egyptian security officials denied the claims.
The fire killed one Jordanian taxi driver in the port city of Aqaba.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=304806 28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria 4 aug 2010
Sharif Abdel Hadi Abbey, 22
Medics: Airstrike kills 1 in south Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian operative in the southern Gaza Strip early Wednesday, medical officials said.
Sharif Abdel Hadi Abbey, 22,
died and two others were lightly to moderately injured by the strike on Khuza'a, east of Khan Younis, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army had no immediate comment.
The apparent army operation comes days after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hamas military leader, following a recent upsurge in projectile fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and hours after 42 Palestinian civilians were reported injured in an explosion at the home of a Hamas-affiliated commander.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305040
Shareef 'Abdul Hadi Isma'il Bdair
Sharif 'Abd al-Hadi Isma'il Bdir 28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria Gaza's children suffer from psychological disorders, the consequence of enduring Israel's attacks and siege
(8:07) UNRWA's John Ging & Children's Psychiatric Hospital in Gaza
"... interviews John Ging, Director of Operations, Gaza, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to discuss how the situation in Gaza has intensified following Operation Cast Lead." & "... visits Gaza Community Mental Health Project to visit young Palestinian children who have lost family members to the violence.
Nearly 1,400 Palestinian people were killed during Operation Cast Lead. We visited a psychiatric hospital in Gaza that cared for young children who had been orphaned by the violence. To hear them talk about their experiences losing loved ones was intensely powerful.
Some of the children we met witnessed their whole family being killed. When you hear children talk about pulling out dismembered members of their family out of the rubble its tough, emotional stuff."
(3:39) 0016 - Gaza: Children at a Psychiatric Clinic
Ross Kemp talks to children at a psychiatric clinic in Gaza, Palestine. Watch it and see how much devastation the Israeli occupation brings to children and their health.
28 apr 2012, 22:53 , Respect -
Maria 10 aug 2010
Family to receive remains after 34 years
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A small victory was declared by the Palestinian National Campaign for the Release of Martyrs Bodies on Tuesday, following confirmation that Israel would hand over remains held for 34 years.
Israeli officials notified Haytham Al-Khatib, a lawyer with the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, that Mashour Talab Aruri, killed on 18 May 1976, would be taken home for burial. The transfer was set to take place at 11a.m. Tuesday at the Rantis checkpoint west of Ramallah.
Surviving family members will receive the remains, and transport them north, to their village - Arura - in the Ramallah region.
Aruri was killed as he led an operation by the DFLP against Israeli forces in the Jordan Valley. The operation, Lina Nabulsi, was named after a woman with the party who was also killed in action.
Since the death of Aruri, his family members have petitioned the High Court of Justice in Israel, with the help of government lawyers and the campaign center.
Family members accused Israel of needlessly holding the remains of Aruri, saying the refusal to hand over his body was a dishonor and a disgrace.
The campaign center said it exerted "huge legal efforts" to secure the release of Aruri's remains, and added that there are hundreds of other bodies of Palestinians who were killed in action that are still held in Israel.
The center said refusing to hand over bodies of those killed by Israeli forces, or who die in their custody, violates Article 17 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which obliges contracting states to respect war victims and to ensure they are honorably interred by family members and loved ones according to their religious rites and national traditions.
Aruri's funeral, his brother Shahir explained, would be announced on Tuesday, by a special committee composed of family members, PNCRMB, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and other factions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=306849 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 12 aug 2010
Poland extradites alleged Mossad spy to Germany over Dubai hit
Polish police said the suspect known as Uri Brodsky was handed over to face charges over forged passport used in killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
Polish authorities on Thursday extradited a suspected Mossad agent to Germany, where he faces charges over a passport that was used in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai earlier this year.
The suspect known as Uri Brodsky was handed over to German police at Warsaw's international airport, police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said.
An Associated Press photographer saw a man at the airport wearing a hooded jacket pulled over his face to hide his identity as he was escorted by masked anti-terror police.
Brodsky appeared that way during several appearances at courts in Warsaw.
German prosecutors accuse him of illegally helping to procure a passport used in connection with the Jan. 19 slaying of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a hotel in Dubai.
Prosecutors in Cologne, who are handling the case against Brodsky, were not immediately available for comment.
But a German official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue said Brodsky was to arrive with a police helicopter at Cologne-Bonn airport in the afternoon.
Brodsky is expected to appear Friday morning before a judge, who will read out the warrant against him and decide at a closed-doors appearance whether Brodsky must remain in custody pending the filing of formal charges and a possible trial.
Brodsky was arrested June 4 at Warsaw airport on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany, which accused him of espionage and helping to falsely obtain a German passport.
However, Brodsky won't face spying charges in Germany. The Polish court that granted the extradition request said he could only be sent to face prosecution for his alleged involvement in faking an identity.
Israel's suspected forgery of European passports allegedly used by members of a hit squad who took part in the killing of the Hamas leader in Dubai in January annoyed several European countries, including Britain, which expelled an Israeli diplomat over the matter in March.
Police in the United Arab Emirates said the elaborate hit squad linked to the Jan. 19 slaying of Mabhouh - one of the founders of Hamas' military wing - involved some 25 suspects, most of them carrying fake passports from European nations and Australia.
Among the faked passports, according to Dubai police, was one issued in 2009 by authorities in Cologne with Brodsky's alleged involvement. The passport was issued to a man named Michael Bodenheimer, who allegedly was part of the hit squad.
http://fwd4.me/0iRP
14 aug 2010
Germany frees suspect in killing of Hamas leader
Al Qassam website - A German court yesterday released Israeli agent suspected of links to the January killing of a Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.
Polish authorities, who had arrested the suspected agent known as Uri Brodsky in June at Warsaw airport on suspicion of obtaining a German passport under false pretences, extradited him to Germany on Thursday.
He appeared yesterday before a magistrate in the western city of Cologne, who released him on bail, Rainer Wolf, spokesman for the city prosecutor’s office, told AFP. But Brodsky may now return to Israel as his maximum penalty would be a fine covered by the bail payment.
http://www.qassam.ps/news-3278-Germany_frees_suspect_in_killing_of_Hamas_leader.html
UAE concerned over German release of suspected Mossad agent
Uri Brodsky extradited from Poland in relation with Hamas leader Mabhouh's assassination in Dubai in January; released due to lack of evidence.
The United Arab Emirates voiced concern on Saturday over Germany's release of a suspected Israeli spy on bail in a case over a falsified passport linked to the killing of a Hamas leader in Dubai.
On Friday, German authorities released Uri Brodsky, pending a decision on whether he was involved in the falsification of the German passport linked to the killing.
Abdurahim al-Awadhi, a top UAE Foreign Ministry official, "expressed concern that Brodsky has been released on bail and granted the freedom to return to Israel while the case against him continues", the state news agency WAM said.
"The UAE seeks assurances that Brodsky is in no way connected with the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai," Awadhi said in a statement cited by the agency.
A spokesman for state prosecutors in Cologne said on Friday that Brodsky would not have to stand trial in Germany. The court had a range of options it could pursue against Brodsky and that the most likely option was a fine, he said.
Brodsky was extradited from Poland on Thursday on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining a German passport believed to have been used by a member of the hit squad that Dubai says killed Mabhouh in a hotel room in January.
The hit squad used fraudulent British, French, Irish and Australian as well as German passports, according to Dubai.
Mabhouh, born in the Gaza Strip, had lived in Syria since 1989 and Israeli and Palestinian sources have said he played a role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to militants in Gaza.
http://fwd4.me/0iNW
Item of concern to launch Israeli agent
Polish police escort to the court Brodsky
She Arab Emirates on Saturday concerned about the release of court in Germany yesterday for the Israeli Yuri Brodsky, one of the leading suspects in the assassination of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) Mahmoud hoarse at a hotel in the Emirate of Dubai in early January last year.
The Foreign Ministry has sought clarification from the German Government on this release, and said Emirates News Agency (WAM) The Abu Dhabi "closely monitor" the judicial proceedings in Germany against Brodsky.
The Abdul Rahim Al Awadi, Assistant Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs, said in a statement, expressed concern about the release of Brodsky granted bail and free to return to Israel, while still the case against him continues.
The agency quoted Al-Awadi said: "Emirates is seeking a guarantee that that Brodsky has nothing to do assassination of Mahmoud hoarse."
Al-Awadi said "as long as this may be linked to serious crime committed in Dubai, the UAE is expected to cooperate fully and strongly from the German authorities, and will pursue the issue through diplomatic channels."
Exclude the charge of espionage
UAE police have already distributed pictures of suspects murder hoarse
The court in Germany has ordered the Israeli client on bail, while the Attorney General and spokesman of the Public Prosecutor in Cologne (West Germany) The accused Israel "can travel to any destination wish, while the judicial proceedings against him in Germany will continue."
The Polish police have arrested Brodsky Airport and Warsaw on the fourth of June last after Germany issued a European arrest warrant against him on charges of obtaining a passport fraudulently Germany.
And the elimination of the Polish Brodsky charged with forgery in official documents, but ruled out a charge of espionage leveled at him by the German courts, before being handed over to Germany to stand trial on charges of fraud only.
The Dubai Police has accused the Israeli intelligence (Mossad) assassination hoarse, said that the team assassination use British passports and of Ireland, France and Australia, Germany fake, which led to the outbreak of crisis diplomacy between Israel and those countries drove on the track each from Britain, Australia, Israeli diplomats.
Dubai Police and published the names of 26 people (12 British and six Oerlndein and four Frenchmen and three Australians, Germans) have forged passports, said that employees assumed the identities of their rightful owners.
Osama Hamdan, described the decision as a German political coverage on the crime (Island)
Hamas criticizes
For its part, criticized the movement ( Hamas ) of the German court decision to release Brodsky, calling it a "political cover" to the crime, and said it would continue to "test" Eurojust.
He said Osama Hamdan, the representative in Lebanon, in an interview on the island, that the release of Brodsky may mean going to Israel, described the release as a "political coverage on the crime."
But he vowed that Hamas continues to "test" Justice of the European support of the legal institutions and human rights European, and talked about the "models of mission" had previously occurred such as the one issued by a British judge by about eight months to arrest and Foreign Minister of the former Israeli Minister Tzipi Livni, aborting a political decision, as described.
He also said that the Qassam Brigades - the armed wing of Hamas - will hunt down those who were killed hoarse or gave the orders to implementation.
http://fwd4.me/0iNV 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 15 aug 2010
'Ariel Sharon was Kahane killer's target'
Exposé reveals counter-terrorism blunders and FBI memos.
The man who killed Meir Kahane in 1990 claims he did not carry out the shooting alone, as previously thought, but was part of a three-man terrorist cell with links to al-Qaida. Its original target was future prime minister Ariel Sharon, according to a newly-leaked US government document.
During his investigation for an article into alleged counter- terrorism blunders published in Playboy magazine on Friday, freelance journalist Peter Lance uncovered official FBI memos which bring new information to light about the murder of the Israeli politician in New York.
According to the documents, Kahane’s killer, El-Sayyid Nosair, told detectives in 2005 that he had planned to assassinate Sharon, who was then Israel’s minister of housing and construction.
“Nosair further stated that Ariel Sharon was his original target and that he went to a hotel prior to Sharon’s coming to visit, but decided against it,” the document read.
He added that on the night he shot Kahane dead, he was accompanied by two co-conspirators to the Marriot Hotel in Manhattan where Kahane was speaking – one of whom was also carrying a gun.
The men, Bilal al-Kaisi of Jordan and Mohammed Salameh, a Palestinian illegal alien later involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, have never been charged for their part in the slaying.
“Nosair further stated that on the night of Kahane’s murder he was in the auto[mobile] with Alkaisi and Salameh three blocks from the hotel where Kahane was speaking that evening,” the FBI report read.
“Nosair possessed two guns and gave one of the guns to Alkaisi. He further stated that on the night of the murder, Kahane had just finished speaking to the crowd and Nosair said to Alkaisi that ‘this is the moment,’ (meaning they were going to kill him). Alkaisi told Nosair to ‘be patient, let’s take our time.’ Nosair further stated the opportunity to shoot Kahane presented itself, and he shot Kahane. At the time of the shooting Nosair did not know Alkaisi’s location.”
Salameh is currently behind bars in the US for carrying out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which left six dead and 1,042 wounded. Al- Kaisi’s whereabouts, however, are unknown.
“In my opinion, [the FBI is] embarrassed because they let this al-Qaida terrorist go in 1994,” Lance told The Jerusalem Post on Friday. “He did a few months and now he’s out in the wind, as they say.”
Kahane was the leader of Kach, a right-wing political party banned by Israel because it incited racism against Arabs.
Nosair was tried in court for the killing of Kahane alone. The Egyptian- born US citizen was initially acquitted of the murder, but convicted of assault and possession of a firearm in a highly controversial decision by the jury. The ruling was overturned in a retrial after new information came to light regarding his membership in al-Qaida. He later confessed to carrying out the killing, and is serving a life sentence.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=184761
Accused 'Mossad spy' back to Israel
(1:56) Germany releases Mossad agent.
An alleged agent of the Israeli spy agency Mossad has returned to Tel Aviv despite allegations of his involvement in the assassination of a Hamas commander.
Uri Brodsky arrived in Israel on Saturday night after Germany released him on bail Friday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Brodsky was accused of helping produce a counterfeit German passport that was used by one of the members of a hit squad involved in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room on January 19.
The Israeli was arrested in Poland in June and was later extradited to Germany to stand trial.
However, a magistrate in the western city of Cologne released him on bail and granted him permission to return to Israel while proceedings against him continue.
Brodsky, who is expected to face charges of forgery, faces a maximum prison sentence of three years.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates criticized Germany for releasing the alleged Mossad agent.
Dubai police have implicated Israeli agents in the killing of al-Mabhouh, saying that British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports were used by suspects involved in the assassination.
Releasing the Mossad agent a political collusion
BEIRUT - Osama Hamdan, the head of international relations in Hamas, has charged that the release of the Mossad agent Uri Brodsky, a suspect in the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, constituted a political cover for the crime.
Hamdan told Al-Jazeera TV network on Friday that the German court's decision was political par excellence, adding that the German court had thus recorded a precedent of releasing a suspect wanted in an international terror crime and premeditated murder.
He said that releasing Brodsky would allow him to travel to Israel where the issue would be a clear political collusion to cover up for the murder of Mabhouh.
Hamdan affirmed that his movement would not give up the case and would continue to follow it up legally, noting that European human rights groups had expressed readiness to support Hamas and the deceased's family in this issue.
http://fwd4.me/0iNd