- 13 aug 2010
Flotilla Violence Expected - Israel Lies, Civilians Die
By ANTHONY DiMAGGIO
Recent revelations from the Israeli government reveal that the Gaza flotilla raid was an act of premeditated violence, planned weeks prior to the raid, in that it was understood in advance that it would provoke a violent counter-response. This finding, recently reported by Al Jazeera stands in marked contrast to claims from Israeli leaders at the time of the raid that the violence directed at activists was purely reactionary and in self-defense against violent attacks from the flotilla activists themselves.
Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, now admits that the violence related to the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists in May 2010 - was expected by Israeli leaders weeks ahead of the actual raid. He granted this admission during an Israeli commission set up to determine the legitimacy of the flotilla raid and Israel's now four year long blockade against Hamas and the people of Gaza. Barak's admission is consistent with on the ground reporting that there was an offensive mindset among Israeli commandos at the time the raid took place. Eyewitness accounts found that Israeli commandos had fired upon those in the raid prior to even boarding the boats (the original claim from Israeli leaders was that they only attacked the flotilla activists after boarding and facing serious threats to their safety and lives).
Barak attempted to legitimize the raid by claiming that Israeli leaders understood the organizations [supporting the flotilla] were preparing for armed conflict to embarrass Israel. Israel's commitment to violence, however, in order to dismantle and destroy a non-violent humanitarian campaign, ensured that Israel would be deeply embarrassed, in light of an embargo widely recognized as illegal under the Geneva Conventions. The raid itself is also a blatant violation of provisions of the San Remo Agreement, in addition to the U.N. Charter, and the Law of the Sea Treaty.
Israeli leaders have consistently maintained that they were within their rights to attack a humanitarian flotilla comprised of foreign nationals. Gabi Ashkenazi, the Israeli military Chief of Staff, for example, argues that the attacks on Turkish civilians were proportionate and correct and that Israeli leaders shot those who they needed to shoot in the raid; the commandos exhibited calm, bravery, and morality. These apologetics for what amounts to an illegal attack on a foreign nation (Turkey) and its citizens have been repeated for months by Israeli leaders.
In a coordinated misinformation campaign, Israeli officials fed the fiction that the violence on the part of its commandos was not premeditated, but was rather part of a spontaneous campaign to protect Israeli lives that only emerged when it was clear that the flotilla activists who were supposedly the real belligerents posed a threat to their lives. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced immediately following the raid that this was a clear case of self defense they [Israeli commandos] were attacked with clubs, with knives, perhaps with live gunfire, and they had to defend themselves they were going to be killed. Israel will not allow its soldiers to be lynched and neither would any other respecting country. Netanyahu referred to the incident as regrettable, but blamed flotilla activists, saying the deaths were the result of an intentional provocation of forces which support Iran and its terrorist enclave, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. Worth noting here is that Netanyahu uses the word provocation to condemn the actions of Flotilla activists, although he now admits that he knew the entire operation would provoke a violent response from the beginning.
The Israeli Supreme Court publicly supported Netanyahu's propagandistic statements. The court's President, Dorit Beinish, rejected legal suits on the flotilla raid, harshly attacking those petitioning the case. She announced that the Israeli soldiers [were] forced to respond [by killing the activists] in order to protect their lives. This statement was relevant on one level, at least in the sense that the commandos were no doubt attempting to preserve their lives against civilians they were in the process of killing. That Israel was protecting the lives of belligerents engaged in criminal aggression, however, was hardly the framework in which Beinish was seeking to establish.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs a name fitting of Orwell's 1984 made an equally Orwellian announcement following the raid that the organizers of the Gaza flotilla announced in advance (May 30) their intention of using violence against Israeli forces if the latter tried to prevent the ships from reaching Gaza. This narrative essentially turns on its head the reality that it was Israel that pushed for violent confrontation against what was (prior to the illegal attack) a peaceful, humanitarian flotilla.
The recent admission of aggressive intent on the part of Barak is disturbing, although not surprising, for those who have long argued that Israel's attacks on the Occupied Territories are illegal acts of collective punishment that essentially terrorize an entire nation of people. Sadly, this understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is censored in western media that are content in uncritically repeating the propaganda of Israeli leaders (I chronicled this tendency of the U.S. press in two previous pieces: 1. Rogue State Politics, Counterpunch, 4 June 2010; and 2. A Tale of Two Raids, Z Magazine, 15 June 2010.
Recent reporting on the flotilla inquiry has again promoted a pro-Israeli narrative. The New York Times headline on August 11th read: Barak Says Friction was Expected in Flotilla Raid. The use of the term friction implied that the incident was far less severe than it really was when it came to the critical international reaction. The Times story repeated Israeli claims that the commandos were expecting only passive resistance An Israeli military investigation concluded last month that the anticipated level of violence used against the Israeli forces had been underestimated. Similarly, the Washington Post headline from August 10th read: Netanyahu: Action Against Gaza Aid Ship was Ordered as Last Resort. The story created the impression of a defensive Israel, reluctantly killing foreign civilians and violating international law (although Israel's violation of international law was recognized nowhere in either the Times or Post stories). The Post also reported that statements by the flotilla organizers indicated that they wanted to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip by creating a provocation and instigating media-covered friction at sea with the Israel Defense Forces that would create international pressure to remove the naval blockade, Netanyahyu said. Both of these accounts, it should be pointed out, laid blame at the hands of non-violent activists seeking to violate an illegal blockade and an illegal occupation. That the raid could be portrayed as a provocation on the part of humanitarian activists, through no fault of Israeli officials, is a sign of the extreme propaganda that dominates the American media and political debate on the Middle East.
That Israel routinely provokes confrontations with its neighbors and other nearby countries so that it can engage in aggressive military attacks (designed to further its military dominance of the region) is painfully understood throughout the Middle East and much of the rest of the world, although Americans are shielded from this reality by the journalistic and political establishment in Washington. Barak's admission that Israel expected violence from the get-go have been predictably ignored or downplayed in the U.S. media and by U.S. officials. This is to be expected among those who see Israel as occasionally making mistakes in its generally necessary application of force in the name of self defense. Israel's commitment to regional peace and stability, rather than to militarism and domination, are considered beyond reprieve.
What's completely erased from this narrative, however, is the fact that Israeli leaders themselves admit it's a fraud. They cynically attack their enemies for planned provocation and violence at the time of the flotilla raid, then quietly admit months later that provocation and violence were, in reality, endemic in their own actions and planning. Why Americans should take further Israeli calls for defense and protecting Israeli lives seriously in light of such manipulation and propaganda is a question we should all be asking.
Anthony DiMaggio is the editor of media-ocracy (www.media-ocracy.com), a daily online magazine devoted to the study of media, public opinion, and current events. He has taught U.S. and Global Politics at Illinois State University and North Central College, and is the author of When Media Goes to War (2010) and Mass Media, Mass Propaganda (2008). He can be reached at: [email protected]
http://www.jnoubiyeh.com/2010/08/flotilla-violence-expected-israel-lies.html
What the Gaza flotilla probe reveals
What the Gaza flotilla probe reveals about Netanyahu, Barak, and Ashkenazi.
Details of testimonies offered to Turkel panel were similar, but the differences in approach revealed an embroiled, divisive leadership that evades responsibility.
The Turkel Committee investigation of the Gaza flotilla operation gave Israelis a rare opportunity to see the leaders of their country and its armed forces live before the cameras and microphones this week.
The prime minister, the defense minister and the chief of staff came to the hall in Jerusalem where the panel is holding its public sessions, answered questions and spoke for hours. The transcripts, which were published in real time - as opposed to those of the Winograd Committee, which investigated the Second Lebanon War - present the decision-makers as they are.
What did we learn? That Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak are very like their characters on the TV satire show "A Wonderful Country." The prime minister is superficial, interested mainly in image and uptight about what's said about him. That's why he was quick to "clarify the testimony" after he saw critical headlines online.
The defense minister likes to mention his time in the elite Sayeret Matkal commando unit ("I spent most of my years in operational activity" ), is contemptuous of civilian life and wants to show people that he understands both general strategy and details.
The chief of staff feels comfortable in the role of company commander with a knife between his teeth, and speaks in a gravelly army slang that lends him credibility (with expressions like, "from my point of view," "risk management," "the genetic code of the IDF" ).
One of the senior figures complained that the order of the testimonies would affect the public's reaction: Indeed, Netanyahu and Barak came across as evading responsibility and blaming their subordinates, whereas Ashkenazi came off as a man's man. If the order had been reversed - the chief of staff first, followed by the defense minister and the prime minister - perhaps they all would have looked responsible and serious.
The disparities between the accounts are not great. All three justified the maritime blockade of Gaza as a security necessity, intended to prevent arms smuggling. They said that the decision-making before the interception of the Turkish flotilla was reasonable and that the hitches were operational in nature, and they made an effort to defend the concept of army investigations and also to afford the soldiers and commanders immunity from criminal responsibility.
The stories they told were also identical: When they learned this spring about a large flotilla being organized in Turkey to break the Gaza blockade, Israel tried to delay it by diplomatic means and by secret intelligence activity, and succeeded in reducing it from a dozen ships to six. The decision-makers decided to use force to stop the ships that set out before dawn on May 31. The intelligence was faulty, the method of operation was not appropriate to the circumstances, and the soldiers found themselves in an inferior position, fighting on the deck of the Mavi Marmara against an unruly, violent, armed mob. Nine Turkish passengers were killed and Israel was roundly criticized internationally, but this will not drive it to change its policy toward what is called "Hamastan" in the Gaza Strip, beyond symbolically relaxing the restrictions on which goods may enter Gaza via the land border crossings.
Different approaches
The details in all three testimonies were similar, but the differences of style and approach revealed an embroiled leadership that evades responsibility. Ashkenazi, who enjoyed an intelligence advantage over his superiors, read their testimonies before testifying himself. His willingness to admit "I made a mistake" gave him a tremendous advantage over Barak and Netanyahu, who acknowledged only the mistakes of others. Ashkenazi turned out to be far more media-savvy than the prime minister and the defense minister, even though they're both far more experienced in public life.
Netanyahu and Barak put forward a similar worldview: Israel is an island, the front line in defending Western democracy in its confrontation against "Muslim radical terrorism," an open, liberal country with a free press and an independent judiciary surrounded by "nothing but terror and tyranny."
To survive in this environment you have to be strong, but that's not enough. It's equally important to enjoy international legitimacy. The prime minister appealed to "the decent and honest people around the world"; the defense minister asked for the support of "honest people in the free world."
It's comforting to know there are saints like this in the world. But Israel's problem is that the world doesn't buy its story: Israel insists there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, that the Gazans are doing fine and their markets are thriving, but the international community doesn't believe it. Netanyahu distinguishes between "substantiality" - i.e., reality as it is - and the "political and media substantiality" in which the confrontation with the Palestinians takes place, in the view of Western leaders and media consumers.
The situation assessment is identical, but Netanyahu and Barak draw different conclusions from it. The prime minister is concerned mainly about the political-media angle, and this is what motivates his decisions. From his point of view, Israel's Gaza policy has three goals. The first is to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit, "a matter that touches the hearts of all of us." Next is an immediate response to the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, and third is the prevention of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
For Barak, the top goal is "to isolate and weaken Hamas vis-a-vis the Palestinian Authority." That does not interest Netanyahu. Barak's next goal is to reduce and prevent rocket fire from Gaza. Shalit comes last. That explains why Netanyahu is more popular than Barak: The prime minister thinks first of all about what preoccupies his voters.
The inversed order of priorities leads to different solutions. Netanyahu is engaged in the micro-tactics of "national hasbara" (diplomatic PR ). He doesn't remember the operational details discussed by the ministerial forum of seven on May 26, when the operation to intercept the flotilla was authorized. For him, the discussion was about "coordinated deployment in terms of media, publicity and diplomacy." He recalled his instructions "to reduce the hasbara damage through various means," such as by embedding foreign correspondents on the navy vessels.
The defense minister is far less interested in such activity. He recalled a serious discussion in the forum of seven, "in which the alternatives were raised explicitly and graphically." But he, too, recalled that the discussion was superficial: "A concise intelligence survey and a short operational description by the chief of staff."
According to Barak, the solution to Israel's political distress lies in working toward peace agreements with the Palestinians, Syria and "Inshallah, with Lebanon, too" - and not in improving the angles from which soldiers are filmed. That's Barak for you: He likes the big strategic moves and stumbles over the small stuff.
Barak's favorites in the forum of seven are Dan Meridor and Benny Begin, and not by chance: They were the first to defend him in the media (along with former Labor MK Ori Orr ) against allegations that he had abandoned the wounded in the second training disaster at Tze'elim base. Now Barak lauds Meridor and Begin for expressing reservations and asking the right questions about the risks involved in stopping the flotilla. It's a puzzling story: What's the point of such questions if no one turns them into operative answers and lessons?
The testimonies before the Turkel panel show that people don't change, that they remember only what interests them, and that it's hard for them to escape their background and experience. There is no "new Bibi" and no "different Barak." Only the third witness, Ashkenazi, prepared well and demonstrated an impressive command of operational and media detail, along with receptiveness to technological developments: He was the only one who inserted a video into his monologue, showing familiarity with the Internet, YouTube and the blogosphere.
Against the backdrop of his prolonged media silence as chief of staff, his testimony was the most fascinating of all. But Ashkenazi, too, clung to the same mindset as his superiors. In Israel 2010, that's how it is.
http://www.haaretz.com/magazine/week-s-end/what-the-gaza-flotilla-probe-reveals-about-netanyahu-barak-and-ashkenazi-1.307855
Ya'alon: Barak like snakes in Kirya base
Vice premier launches unprecedented attack on defense minister on backdrop of heated race for position of IDF chief. Addressing Barak's testimony to committee probing flotilla raid, Ya'alon says, 'He didn't let anyone get involved and now he's shifting responsibility on everyone'
Minister for Strategic Affairs and Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon launched an unprecedented attack on Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week, on the backdrop of the high tensions in the Israel Defense Forces top brass following the heated race for the position of IDF chief of staff and Barak's attempt to shift the responsibility for the deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla on the army.
Speaking at a closed forum in a private home in the central city of Ness Ziona, Ya'alon said that "the events of the past week emphasize what I have been saying about the snakes in the Kirya base (the IDF and defense minister's headquarters)."
The remarks, revealed by Ynet on Thursday night, are bound to create a real rift within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's seven-minister forum.
"The defense minister didn't let anyone get involved, and now he is shifting responsibility on everyone," Ya'alon said, echoing Netanyahu's testimony to the Turkel Committee, which is probing the May 31 flotilla raid.
According to the vice premier, like Netanyahu said, the ministers had only discussed the media aspects of the operation to stop the flotilla. "The seven-minister forum did not discuss the alternative. We discussed PR aspects."
During the flotilla raid, Netanyahu was on an official visit to Canada, and Yaalon filled in for him. "During the incident I held the title of acting prime minister, but wasn't the prime minister in practice," he said.
Several days after the flotilla raid, Ya'alon admitted that the takeover of the Turkish-owned Marmara ship was a failure, saying that "in a place where citations should have been given, someone failed to prepare a standard operating procedure."
Speaking during a meeting with council heads from the Likud party, Ya'alon had said that "the decision was right, but there is room for improvement and I am not going to elaborate."
Despite the criticism, the vice premier had praised the commandos who took over the Gaza-bound flotilla. "The fighting on the deck was heroic and took place under impossible conditions," he said, while adding that "there were some malfunctions during the planning and operational stages."
Exchanging accusations
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi testified before the Turkel Committee this week. Netanyahu shifted the responsibility on Barak, who shifted it on the army. The chief of staff had no choice but to take responsibility.
Barak told the committee that he takes responsibility for the flotilla affair, but shifted it on the IDF. According to the defense minister, the decision to stop the Marmara ship was right, but the performance lacked.
He contradicted Netanyahu's testimony, clarifying that the ministers discussed both the military aspect and the media aspect of the operation. "All the alternatives were raised," he said.
"Obviously, the political echelon cannot assign tasks that cannot be carried out. In the case in question the military echelon did not say it cannot be carried out. They said, 'It will be difficult, but will do it.' They did not say how it should be done, and rightfully so.
"They said there would be distressing images, but they did not say it couldn't be done and they even said the opposite." According to Barak, "If the decision was right, then the gap between what we wanted and what happened is the execution."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935602,00.html
Flotilla cover-up exposed by forensic exam of ships
The photo shows a smashed computer screen on the Mavi Marmara, which was attacked by Israeli naval commandos on May 31.
ANKARA. State inspectors have found around 250 bullet marks on the Mavi Marmara, which was attacked by Israeli commandos on May 31 while en route to Gaza carrying humanitarian aid.
The Israeli attack resulted in the killing of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American.
Media reports claimed that initial forensic inspections revealed that bullet marks were painted over while the ships were held in Israel.
The Mavi Marmara was a part of an international flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and bring aid to the Palestinian people and together with two other Turkish ships was released by Israel last week. Following the attack, the Israeli army seized the ships and took them to the port of Ashdod in Israel. After they were returned on Saturday the ships docked at the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun. A team of inspectors headed by Iskenderun Chief Public Prosecutor Mustafa Ercan began inspecting the ships on Monday in a search for unexploded devices that may have been left on board. According to reports, the ships were also inspected by experts from the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK). After the inspections, the ships were returned to their owner, the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH).
The inspection focused mostly on the Mavi Marmara, where the killings took place. The evidence and a report to be filed by inspectors are expected to be sent to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in two to three weeks. The inspectors collected around 180 pieces of evidence from the ships including bloody clothes. They removed paint from the bullet marks and numbered them. The inspection team was composed of 12 experts, including four engineers and two divers who examined the underside of the ship.
According to reports, a safe on the Mavi Marmara in the pilothouse had been opened after it was broken. The radar equipment and many other items on the instrument panel had also been destroyed. On the ship blood-stained life jackets were found and have been collected by inspectors as evidence.
After the inspections, three containers on one of the other ships were found to have been opened. Some of the passengers personal belongings have been recovered, except for laptops, cameras and mobile telephones.
Israeli soldiers have been convicted in Israel for looting several times in the past, such as during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002 in which Israel reoccupied almost all of the West Bank. The vice president of the IHH, Huseyin Oruç, had said that all the missing items will be added to their petition against Israel to the international and Turkish commissions which are investigating the deadly attack.
http://fwd4.me/05w7 6 jul 2011, 23:43 , Respect -
Maria 14 aug 2010
Committee probing flotilla raid should keep in mind that operation was successful
Jacob Turkel
Troops got the job done
Op-ed: Committee probing flotilla raid should keep in mind that operation was successful.
Your honor, Judge Turkel:
We bear no grudge against you over the great honor and respect you currently enjoy, while leading the commission of inquiry into the flotilla raid and questioning our leaders.
The media naturally proceed to eagerly cover whatever takes place in this probe. The journalists look for contradictions in the testimonies and raise difficult questions. However, if we may, a quick reminder is in order.
The committee members who are currently engaged in a thorough investigation of the IDF operation should keep one thing in mind: The operation succeeded, Goddamnit. It was an absolute success.
The soldiers who took part in the raid completed the mission presented to them by their commanders. The army was able to implement the orders issued by the political leadership. The flotilla was stopped, our sovereignty was safeguarded, and our troops returned to their bases safely.
It is fine to investigate, Mr. Turkel, and it's ok that we have had about 30 other commissions of inquiry looking into this thing; after all, the world wants to see us torturing ourselves for killing terrorists.
But make no mistake about it, committee members: The Israeli people are fully satisfied with our Navy commandoes and their commanders.
It is possible that there are some people out there in the world who expected to see the terrorists on the ship left unhurt, while Israeli soldiers get killed, yet that's their business.
So keep investigating, Mr. Turkel, but remember: You are looking into the failures that led to success.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3936058,00.html
Probe into flotilla raid reveals how pathetic our political leaders have become
Wanted: Leadership
On Wednesday, the defense minister gave us a brief leadership lesson. He told the Turkel Committee that the political leadership determines the what, while the military leadership decided on the how. But now we're asking: What about the who?
Is there someone, for heaven's sake, in our political establishment who would once and for all assume responsibility without saying one thing for the protocol and another thing for public opinion? Someone who would not declare that he is responsible yet a moment later shift the responsibility elsewhere?
When will we see someone who says: It's me. It wasn't the army, it wasn't the forum of top seven government ministers, and it wasn't the government. I'm responsible for the mistake, for the failure, for the defeat, for the needless killing, for the screw-up. Someone who would say: I was wrong, I will learn the lessons, I will implement the conclusions, and I will fix the flaws.
However, everyone around here assumes overall responsibility, yet then rushes to shift the burden to someone else. In that respect, there is no difference between what Barak did Wednesday and what Netanyahu did Tuesday, with one exception: Barak assumed overall responsibility before the committee, for the protocol, while Netanyahu assumed overall responsibility outside the room, in the hallways.
Yet in the final analysis, none of them truly assumed responsibility. Each one of them said: I'm responsible but Barak, or the army, are at fault.
It would be enough to look at the Rashomon-style performance we've seen in the past two days before the committee in order to look away in shame: After the prime minister admitted Tuesday that top government ministers only discussed the media and PR effect of the operation, Barak arrived Wednesday and spoke of a lengthy, in-depth discussion where ministers without portfolio yet with much brains asked questions.
God help us all
So we have a question too: Excuse me, were these two figures, Netanyahu and Barak, present at the same session? Are they members of the same ministerial forum? And really, do they in fact live in the same country? What's going on here?
These people granted the committee a pathetic mandate to draft a report that is not supposed to threaten anyone, yet here they are enlisting the services of top-notch lawyers, withdrawing into their offices, performing endless simulations, and ultimately performing a saber dance.
Now, the questions no longer focus on the decision-making process, but rather, on who told the truth to the committee and who manipulated the truth in a convenient manner.
What was revealed to us in the probe's testimonies is a PM who cannot be responsible because he was abroad, a defense minister who claims to be Mr. Security but whose job as he explained Wednesday is to determine the what and not the how, and a group of seven ministers, including two former army chiefs, said to possess incredible skill but sitting there like Muppets and engaging in a discussion about PR.
By the way, if this was indeed the case and the ministers only dealt with the PR angle, how could it be that the operation's greatest failure was on the public relations front?
What will ultimately determine where the truth lies among the various versions are the minutes of that miserable discussion held by the top seven ministers. Only then would we be able to see the weight given there to the intelligence briefing, the attention given to the army chief's words regarding risks versus chances, and which subject participants focused on.
Yet as to what will be revealed in the process, God help us all, because there's simply nobody else that could help us out there.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3934631,00.html
16 aug 2010
Turks return to Marmara, seek evidence (VIDEO)
(2:08) Returning to the Mavi Marmara
Al-Jazeera presents images from ship raided by IDF, reports that investigators analyzing direction of shooting and who opened fire. Commando chief tells BBC unaccustomed to media exposure
Investigators on behalf of the Turkish Police and representatives of the country's public prosecutor recently boarded the Mavi Marmara in order to search for evidence indicative of the development of events on the deck at the end of May.
Turkey seeks to use the investigation's findings against Israel.
Al-Jazeera reported that the investigators are analyzing the bullet holes on the ship deck as well as on the bloodied clothes and life vests. They will attempt to decode from what direction the bullets were shot and who opened fire. According to the report, a Turkish investigation team has collected evidence for 48-hours around the clock in order to use it against Israel.
On Monday, the BBC's investigative TV show, Panorama, will air an extensive segment on the Marmara. One of the commanders of the Israel Navy commandos said in an interview with the program, "Exposure and headlines in the press are bizarre to us."
In another interview on Panorama, the wife of one of the nine people killed during the raid said that her husband wanted to be "a Palestinian martyr."
A little over a week ago, the Marmara arrived back on Turkish shores after sitting in Ashdod and Haifa ports for two months. The Foreign Ministry sent a note to Turkey expressing Israel's expectation to prevent additional ships from violating the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.
"The note emphasized that Israel transfers equipment and goods to Gaza on a regular basis via land crossings in a manner accepted by the international community and firmly based on recognized agreements," the Defense Ministry reported.
In addition to the commissions of inquiry established by Israel and the UN, Turkey also appointed a team to probe the flotilla raid. The Turkish commission "will investigate the attack and the treatment of the activists," reported a statement issued by the foreign ministry in Ankara, noting that the commission's findings will be presented to the probe set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
The Turkish commission will be comprised of clerks from the foreign, justice, interior, and transportation ministries as well as figures from the Turkish shipping administration. It is unclear when the Turkish commission will submit its findings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3937616,00.html
Naval Commando 13 are training to tackle more flotillas heading to Gaza
Inside Israel's commando unit which raided Gaza flotilla
Giora Eiland said the activists "came to kill or be killed"
Israel's elite commando unit which raided a Turkish aid flotilla sailing to Gaza in May has given Panorama exclusive access to its top secret operatives.
Some of the Israeli special forces took off their balaclavas to talk to me and show me the wounds they received the night nine people were killed and 50 were wounded on board the Turkish ship the MV Mavi Marmara.
"I saw a knife in my abdomen and pulled it out," Captain R said.
"The beating was continuous - and the cries of Allah Akbar."
Israeli footage shows Captain R, a member of Naval Commando 13 being beaten with bars by activists, stabbed and then thrown to the deck below.
Who started the violence that ended in death on the boat, has been fiercely contested.
The Mavi Marmara was one of six ships crewed by activists from a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups in international waters about 80 miles (130km) from the Israeli coast on 31 May.
I was given exclusive access to Naval Commando 13 as they trained on a boat similar in size and layout to the Mavi Marmara.
I went to sea with them in one of their small inflatable boats, known as "morenos", as they trained in preparation for future aid flotillas.
The Gaza flotilla was organised by The Free Gaza Movement, and a Turkish group called the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH).
There has been widespread international condemnation of the violence. Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel and cancelled joint military exercises. It wants an apology and an international investigation.
Israel recently announced it would co-operate with a UN investigation in to the deaths, but is currently holding its own inquiry in which it has defended its commandos' actions.
The commandos insist their lives were in danger and they were under attack when they opened fire.
Turkish officials said autopsies carried out on the nine dead activists showed a total of 30 bullets had been found in their bodies, with one shot four times in the head.
Lieutenant A was one of the commandos in the boats that pulled up alongside the Mavi Marmara at 0430 after the flotilla ignored five Israeli navy warnings to turn back.
They said they were driven off by men with hoses and bars they had cut from the ship's railing earlier that night.
"They held metal rods and they were banging on the railings," Lieutenant A said, "they threw stones at us, metal and junk they had on the ship and several soldiers got hurt from that."
Sergeant Y was one of the commandos who abseiled from a helicopter on to the deck of the ship.
He said: "The activists tied the rope to the ship's antenna.
"It's very, very dangerous, we need to put our legs on the ground or else we just drop 15 or 20 metres." The commandos cut the first rope and abseiled out the other side of the helicopter.
I also spoke to Turkish activists in Istanbul.
After he was injured, Captain R and two other wounded commandos were taken below by Murat Akinan, a volunteer for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH), to where the wounded and dead were.
"Understandably, some people were saying - we should do to them what they did to us," Murat Akinan told me.
"But I calmed them down saying according to our religious beliefs we should treat them and take them back."
Feared for life
Captain R said he feared for his life: "I realised there were two opposing forces, one that wanted to kill us and the other more moderate trying to pull away those trying to escalate the situation and finish us off."
The captain was then taken upstairs - afraid he had been taken hostage.
"My guard was hit by an Israeli stun gun and ran inside," said Captain R. "I saw I was alone and jumped off the ship and our boat picked me up."
Israeli commandos have boarded several ships looking for arms destined for Gaza, which is governed by the Palestinian group Hamas.
Hamas denies Israel's right to exist and militants have fired thousands of rockets against civilian targets in Israel in recent years.
Israel has implemented strict controls over what goes in and out of Gaza by sea and land.
It says the naval blockade is needed to stop weapons entering Gaza. But the Palestinians say it causes suffering and has cut off economic life, and the blockade has been widely criticised as a form of collective punishment.
But the IHH is not just known for its humanitarian work. Western authorities and Israel have accused it of links to terrorists, a charge the IHH strongly denies.
The IHH has defended its use of bars, chains and knives against the commandos.
"It went beyond passive resistance because the Israelis had been firing from the start," Bulent Yildirim, the head of the IHH said.
"Our people were defending themselves while being fired at."
The Israelis said it was not possible to abseil from a helicopter while shooting and that they only switched from non-lethal weapons to live fire when they were shot at by the activists.
"We have very clear evidence that in at least four cases the other side did use live fire," said retired major general Giora Eiland, who carried out the investigation into events on board the ship.
"In some they used Israeli weapons stolen from our soldiers - in at least one case they used their weapon because we found bullets and shells not used by Israeli forces."
He said that the Israeli commandos' use of live ammunition was justified but admitted they "made mistakes" in intelligence and planning.
"These people came to kill and be killed," he said.
"And under the circumstances in a very complex area like a ship, the results - the deaths - are surprisingly low."
Giora Eiland said the IHH succeeded in its mission to draw the world's attention to the Gaza blockade.
"Unfortunately they managed to achieve exactly what they wanted, a provocation, to be able to show the Israelis caused the nine deaths," said Giora Eiland, "so Israel is seen as using excessive force and is guilty for everything."
Naval Commando 13 is continuing its training for more flotillas - expected this autumn.
The battle of the Mediterranean is not over yet.
Panorama: Death on the Med, BBC One, Monday 16 August at 2030 BST and then available in the UK on BBC iplayer.
(pict & video's) http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8909000/8909361.stm
IHH lauds new Hamas terror group
Turkish group made congratulatory video in honor of Al-Ahrar.
In another sign of the ties between the Turkish organization IHH and Hamas, a representative of the group that organized the aid flotilla blocked by the Israel Navy on May 31 made a congratulatory video address at a recent ceremony marking the establishment of a new terrorist group in the Gaza Strip.
The ceremony was held in mid-July in Gaza and marked the establishment of a military wing by the Palestinian movement Al-Ahrar The Free which broke off from Fatah following Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The new military wing's name is Al-Ansar Battalions.
IHH, according to Israel, is a radical Islamic organization which supports Hamas activity.
It was behind the flotilla to the Gaza Strip in late May that was stopped by the navy. During the boarding of the Mavi Marmara passenger ship, navy commandos were attacked by a group of mercenaries armed with knives, metal bars and bats, and killed nine Turkish nationals in the ensuing clashes.
Al-Ahrar is closely aligned with Hamas and espouses armed struggle as the way to end the so-called Israeli occupation of the West Bank. The ceremony last month a military ceremony which was attended by several dozen armed operatives carrying Kalashnikov rifles was also attended by top Hamas administration officials in the Gaza Strip, including Interior Minister Fathi Hamad and Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Ahmed Bahar.
A recent report released by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (MALAM) claimed that during the ceremony Turkish flags were raised while Israeli and US flags were burned. The MALAM said it was likely that Hamas would use the Al- Ahrar network as subcontractors for terrorist activity against Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=184874
Italian lawmakers: Put IHH on EU terrorist list
http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=182846
Turkel Committee: Coordinator of activities in territories to testify in raid probe
Major-General Eitan Dangot, the coordinator of the government's activities in the territories, has been summoned to testify before the Turkel Committee probing the deadly Navy raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
Dangot will be asked to address Israel's civil-economic policy in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the Strip. (Attila Somfalvi)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3937381,00.html 6 jul 2011, 23:46 , Respect -
Maria 20 aug 2010
Death in the Med: Panorama's response: We simply allowed viewers to make up their own minds
Panorama has received a large response to Death in the Med.
Among the responses were complaints from viewers who felt this programme showed bias in favour of Israel. Some viewers were unhappy about some of the video and audio footage we showed and disputed its sources. Viewers also felt that certain points regarding the flotilla raid were not documented, notably the location of the flotilla at the time of the raid. Complainants also alleged that the programme showed bias against the group in charge of the Mavi Marmara, the IHH and against the Palestinian situation in Gaza and as a whole.
Panorama's Response:
We understand the strength of feeling regarding the Israel Defence Force's operation against the Mavi Marmara on 31 May 2010. We recognise the complexity of the subject and note its ramifications within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole.
This programme intended to explore the considerable confusion about what actually happened on the Mavi Marmara on the day in question.
Israel has been accused of breaking international law by seizing a Turkish ship. Israel says they were terrorists. Turkey insists they were innocent victims. With several inquiries underway Jane Corbin uncovered new evidence from both sides in a bid to uncover what really happened.
Jane Corbin is a world renowned journalist with 20 years experience reporting for 'Panorama' on the on-going conflict in the Middle East. She is respected for her dedicated, impartial and balanced work from both sides of the conflict and approached this subject with the same level of fairness which she is known for.
We appreciate some viewers were unhappy about the nature of the video and audio footage we showed. We can assure you that a great level of detail was involved in selecting the footage we showed. During the programme we made it clear that a variety of different sources were shown, some from the Israeli Defence Force, some from the IHH and "culturesofresitance.org" and others from individuals who were on board the Mavi Marmara on the night in question. The majority of the footage used in the programme is openly available on the internet.
All featured footage was meticulously double and cross checked to verify its accuracy, any footage of uncertain events during the raid were clearly labelled as such.
Viewers were shown a wide range of opinions and whenever a question of authenticity of footage arose, we made this clear.
We also spoke extensively to the groups and individuals involved in the incident including three Israeli commandos involved in the raid; the head of the IHH - Bulent Yildirim; the Free Gaza Coordinator on board the Mavi Marmara - Lubna Masarwa; three Turkish activists and activist Ken O'Keefe, all who were on board the Mavi Marmara on the night in question. We also spoke to Hamas official Dr Ahmed Yousef in Gaza. They were all given sufficient time and a platform to make their points.
The programme made it clear that the flotilla was still in international waters, 90 miles from Gaza. The programme also made it clear that a number of inquiries are ongoing.
Overall we dismiss claims that this programme showed bias in favour of Israel. The programme's aim was to try to uncover what really happened on the Mavi Marmara. Panorama went to great lengths to give opposing sides the opportunity to air their views and we felt the programme accordingly carried out its analysis in a fair, impartial and balanced manner. We simply allowed viewers to make up their own minds in their own time based on what they saw and heard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8924000/8924473.stm
28 aug 2010
Turkey gives full support to UN panel despite Israeli threats
Despite Turkish confidence, the mandate of the four-member UN panel that convened Tuesday for the first time is still vague, although it is certain that it is not a criminal investigation. Some observers say all issues were left vague to prevent further problems in Turkish-Israeli ties, adding that the panel was formed following concessions from both sides. Israel agreed to join a UN panel, while Turkey's concession was that it is not a real inquiry,' says one observer
Turkey is giving full support to the U.N. probe into the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla despite Israel's threats that it could consider withdrawing if its soldiers are called to testify.
Whatever the U.N. panel requests of us we'll provide. We demanded this commission. We have been supporting the work of the secretary-general from the very beginning, a senior Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Wednesday.
Although Turkey has been confident, the mandate of the four-member United Nations panel remains vague. Regardless, the probe is not a criminal investigation, meaning it is unknown whether the findings will satisfy the Turkish government, which is pressing for an apology and compensation from Tel Aviv.
The probe's first hearing was Tuesday, during which the parameters of the panel were discussed, according to officials.
The U.N. panel is tasked with reviewing reports of national investigations; requesting clarification and additional information; examining and identifying the facts, circumstances and context of the incident; and recommending ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future, the U.N. said. The panel will submit an initial progress report by the middle of September and a final report by February.
Israeli government officials, however, are threatening a pullout, saying their agreement to take part in the U.N. panel was tied to the panel relying on reports from Israel's own inquiry, not direct testimony from soldiers.
Israel is insistent on the principle that its soldiers will not be interrogated, Amit Zarouk, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Ankara, told the Daily News.
Although U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denied Monday a behind-the-scenes agreement with Israel that the panel would not summon the country's soldiers to testify, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky did not rule out the possibility that the panel could seek to talk to or obtain information directly from Israeli soldiers, as well as officials from either side.
The committee, however, appears set to approach the relevant governments in the event it wishes to obtain clarification or data from any of the actors in the event, according to Israeli reports, which cited official sources.
While there is no written agreement between Israel and the U.N., there appears to be an important verbal understanding that the panel will not impose themselves on the governments and will instead give authority to them.
In the present situation, all the issues were left vague in order to overcome obstacles in the Turkish-Israeli relationship, which descended into crisis in the wake of the flotilla incident, according to diplomatic observers.
If it were a criminal investigation, it would be hard for the U.N. to handle it because problems in Turkish-Israeli ties would get even more complicated if one of the states were held responsible, said one observer. Both Turkey and Israel made concessions here. Israel agreed to join a U.N. panel, while Turkey's concession is that it is not a real inquiry.
Yet it is unclear how the U.N. and Ban will handle the inquiry.
We'll see what emerges out of this mess. But even if Israel is hurt because of the attack on the Mavi Marmara, this would not necessarily suggest that a result desired by Turkey will emerge, columnist Semih 'diz wrote in daily Milliyet on Wednesday. If there had been a U.N. secretary-general who could stand up and be a more distinctive personality this might have been possible, but there is not.
Turkish commission continues working
Both Turkey and Israel have established national commissions to investigate the May 31 incident that left nine activists dead, including eight Turks and one U.S. citizen of Turkish descent.
Israel has established two commissions to investigate the flotilla incident, including a military committee that already released its report and a civilian committee, which also includes two international supervisors. The latter continued listening to testimony from Israeli government and military officials on Wednesday.
Turkey established a commission which convened twice in June and included officials from the Justice and Foreign ministries, as well as the Maritime Undersecretariat. Turkish officials told the Daily News the commission was working both at a high level and technical levels.
http://bit.ly/bZ5vaV 6 jul 2011, 23:51 , Respect -
Maria 30 aug 2010
UN team begins Gaza flotilla probe in Jordan
A UN inquiry team started hearings on Monday with Jordanian activists about the fatal May 31 Israeli raid on a Turkish ship that was part of a flotilla trying to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The team arrived in Amman Sunday night after eight days of hearings in Turkey. The panel is due to report back to the UN Human Rights Council during its next session, between September 13 and October 11.
"The panel, which is due to stay in Jordan until Friday, met several people over the past hours," Badi Rafayaa, a prominent trade unionist, told German Press Agency dpa.
Rafayaa was one of 33 Jordanian activists aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla when Israeli forces raided the Mavi Marmara ship, killing nine Turkish citizens.
Rafayaa said he was scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon.
Rafayaa said that the UN panel will also meet in Amman with two Arab activists from Israel %u2013 MK Hanin Zuabi (Balad) and Mohammad Zeidan, director general of the Arab Association of Human Rights - who were aboard the Turkish vessel when the Israeli attack occurred.
The fact-finding mission is chaired by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Israel has refused cooperation with the team, claiming it lacked neutrality.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/un-team-begins-gaza-flotilla-probe-in-jordan-1.311086
UN panel in Jordan probing flotilla raid
The UN investigators have arrived in Jordan to probe Israel's deadly attack against an international Gaza-bound aid convoy that killed nine Turkish activists.
The investigators interviewed four Jordanian activists who were on board the Mavi Marmara ship that came under attack by Israeli commandos.
The assault in the international waters on May 31 left at least nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists dead and many others injured.
Alaa Borqan, who is in charge of public relations at the Jordan's trade unions, said that the UN panel would also meet with the majority of the 33 Jordanians who were on board the ship.
The experts would be in Jordan until September 4, following an eight-day mission to Turkey, according to the statement released by the UN human-rights office.
The UN committee is expected to prepare a report for the UN Human Rights Council at its next session, due to take place from September 13 to October 11.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/140608.html
31 aug 2010
IDF general: 'No justification for Gaza aid flotilla'
Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot
IDF Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot tells Turkel Committee that Gazans have the goods needed to maintain basic lifestyle; says flotilla was intended to strengthen Hamas, not Gaza residents.
"There was no justification for the flotilla, because there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza," Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot told the Turkel Committee on Tuesday.
Dangot, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, told the committee that Gazans have all the goods necessary to maintain a basic lifestyle.
"There isn't hunger in Gaza, now or in the past," he said.
Dangot said that during Operation Cast Lead, Israel's three-week offensive against Hamas in December 2008, the IDF detected the potential for a flour shortage and acted in coordination with international organizations to prevent a shortage.
According to Dangot, even during periods when, at the request of international organizations, Israel increased the number of trucks allowed to enter Gaza, there was no significant increase in food entering the coastal enclave which is controlled by Hamas.
Dangot said that the aid flotilla which was intercepted by the IDF in May was unnecessary because "those who wanted to help the population of Gaza were invited to deliver supplies via land, as it was always possible to do."
According to Dangot, the Mavi Marmara, the ship on which nine Turkish activists were killed during clashes with Israeli naval commandos, did not bring any humanitarian equipment. Also, he said, the equipment brought by the other ships of the flotilla "was organized amateurishly and any port in the world would not have been ready to unload it."
Dangot told the committee that ten days before the flotilla, he met with the Turkish ambassador in Israel and suggested to him that the aid be delivered to Ashdod, where it could be speedily transferred to Gaza. Dangot said that under this proposal, Israel would have allowed the entry to Gaza of cement and other building materials, which had been limited to that point.
Dangot said that the flotilla was "intended to strengthen the Hamas terror entity and not to aid the citizens of Gaza."
Dangot remarked that, in the months before the flotilla, Israel detected an economic crisis within Hamas in Gaza. The crisis was mainly to due Hamas' difficulties in bringing money into Gaza, due to Egypt's efforts to halt smuggling activities.
Among other things, Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing and took actions against the smuggling tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza border. Egypt even confiscated cash that senior Hamas leaders tried to bring into Gaza.
According to Dangot, illegally smuggled cash constituted 90 percent of Hamas' income.
http://fwd4.me/0upc 6 jul 2011, 23:58 , Respect -
Maria 3 sept 2010
Shariv's parting shots
There is a widening gap between Israel and American Jewry, and it's not the Israelis fault, says outgoing NY Consul Asaf Shariv.
In my opinion, the story that caused us the most damage in the past few years was that Israel didn't allow iPads to be brought in, departing Consul-General in New York Asaf Shariv tells me on a hot, rainy Thursday in August. That did more damage than either the flotilla or the war.
We're sitting in his office on Second Avenue.
It's only a few days before Shariv is set to go home, ending his term as consul-general. In a suit and tie, he sits in an armchair next to a rocket shell. Most visitors, he tells me, think it's an ashtray. It's going to stay in the office for his as-yet unnamed successor, like the portraits of Yitzhak Rabin and Binyamin Netanyahu, and the tattered American flag recovered from Staten Island's dumps among the horrible detritus of September 11.
Surrounded by all this history, Shariv sits back and explains his stance.
The flotilla operation and all the great PR we produce from our daily effort to keep Israel safe hurts us mainly with the people who are not our biggest fans, and I feel are a little more secure in going and attacking us in other words, it causes people to be more explicit in their criticism of Israel.
Stories like Israel keeping the iPad out, in contrast, make Israel look like Iran, or like Saudi Arabia with the BlackBerry, or North Korea and Facebook. As long as we're pushing the idea that we're a start-up nation, and all these stories of innovation, you get one story like that and it just kills us.
Our hour-long conversation is sprinkled with tidbits like this one, gleaned from his time here. Over the course of the conversation, Shariv seems happy if not happy to be leaving New York, then at least pleased to be going back to Israel with his family. At 38, the youngest person to ever hold the post, he has a degree of insouciance that doesn't fit in with the somewhat foreboding nature of the geopolitical climate: There's a last-day-of-school feeling to our conversation. Perhaps, one might think, the diplomat is being more cavalier than diplomatic. Because, really? Between Operation Cast Lead and the flotilla, a diplomat based here would say that the story that did the greatest damage to Israeli-American relations was the iPad? Yes, Shariv reasserts, underscoring the point.
We're trying to reach normal average Americans who in the best-case scenario lean toward Israel, but don't know a lot about it, he says.
It causes problems with that audience those young American Jews who don't remember the Holocaust or the Six Day War. You know, the ones who get their news from [political satirist] Jon Stewart or blogs. They're not so politically savvy. And it makes it that Israel is not something you want to connect or relate to. And that's a big problem.
It's that youth quotient, the 35-and-unders, that concerns Shariv: The gap is just growing wider and wider.
Despite his emphasis on the iPad, he is quick to note that the flotilla gave critics of Israeli policy a very good reason to complain about our PR again. It took the State of Israel way too many hours to get the story out, and then to reach all the people we wanted to reach.
Israel never goes to war, in my opinion, without provocation, and usually we convince the world,Shariv says. Cast Lead, the Second Lebanon War, even Defensive Shield, everyone understood. But after seven to 10 days, after that, people forget why we started the war.
The flotilla, he says, was different: The first day was the worst, but every day after that became much better. There was more information, more footage, showing that it was completely different from the other operations.
The first day, [New York] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg came out and supported Israel, and that was amazing. But others took some time before they heard the story.
ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES in the tri-state area, though, Shariv says, we don't have a problem.
He notes that this is not the most popular answer, but states that Israel's PR among college students is no worse than it was at the end of the 1970s.
When you're at an American college, 99.9 percent of the kids there don't care about Israel, Shariv says. I have a guess that most American college students never even heard of the flotilla. They're busy! They're on Facebook! They're more interested in [singer] Justin Bieber, sports, parties and maybe schoolwork they're not into politics in the first place, and certainly not into Israeli politics.
During his years as consul-general, Shariv visited almost 60 universities and colleges. We got some rough questions, we gave interviews to campus newspapers, but we never saw violence or anything more problematic than that.
Shariv notes that in the past few years, people have been more explicit in their criticism of Israel. We got grace of a few years because of 9/11, not because of us per se, but rather because no one was very enthusiastic about supporting the Muslim community. As much as I hate it I don't think it should be a zerosum game but there is a feeling of Jews versus Muslims, even here.
The Birthright program, Shariv says, is perfect.
People are coming for 10 days, they hear great stories about how much fun it is, how great Israeli soldiers are, how beautiful Israeli women are.
Yes, he says, Birthright does good work in covering gaps in identification with Israel. But Shariv also says that he'' s seen a lot of people who returned to Israel after Birthright, only to be disappointed.
The Israel they've been taught about is not the same country as the reality. People tell me all the time the people are too rude, too vocal, it's impossible to drive. There's all kinds of conflict that doesn't belong to the conflict. But most importantly, Shariv says, American Jews are very liberal, and they think Israel is not as liberal as they'd expect it to be.
Shariv says in his tenure as consul-general, he has seen a growing gap between Israel and American Jewry,and attributes it to the liberalism of American Jews. When they look on the Zionist movement, they see that Israel has become more and more conservative, and the original Zionism that they thought would be liberal is now conservative.
At the same time, Shariv is quick to point out that American Jews who demonstrate against Israeli combat operations don't demonstrate against the US and its policies. They have expectations of us, as the Jewish state no one has expectations of Iran, for example, he says.
It's good that they have expectations of us, the idea that this is not the Jewish way, this is not how it's supposed to be. And that causes a lot of problems.
In terms of Israeli political corruption alienating the American Jewish community, Shariv says corrupt politicians learned from the best, referencing the political turmoil during his tenure stateside.
For many people, settlements are the biggest issue, Shariv says, but that comes more from people who are not actively informed about Israel. He says he was pleasantly surprised, if somewhat intimidated, by the informed element of the Jewish community.
Jews would ask me why this guy was appointed to be this commander, an ambassador going to Romania... day-to-day issues in Israel! Shariv laughs. They all read the Web sites. They're involved. Everyone has friends and family in Israel. It surprised me, how many of them have strong feelings for Israel and how involved they are. Sometimes they%u2019re more concerned with things the Israelis take for granted.
WHAT OF THE CONVERSION debate triggered by the Rotem bill earlier this summer? Yes, Shariv says, it was a big story, but he notes that members of the Reform and Conservative movements had fought against the bill from the beginning, and that their support of Israel is significant. He estimates that 85% of the members of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations are Reform and Conservative.
I don't think this bill will be implemented, he notes.
Of more concern to Shariv is the increased politicization of the Israel discussion among Jews. He notes that according to polls, Republican support for Israel is stronger than that of Democrats, but he doesn't put too much stock in the findings. Rather, Shariv cites new forces in the US who are more connected to the Democratic Party, specifically Latino voters.
Israel should put more emphasis on reaching out to these groups, and not only our supporters, Shariv says. There are expanding communities that will emerge as powerful groups in 15 years. I don't think they have a special connection to Israel right now.
I don't think we have a problem with Hispanics, don't get me wrong, but it's not the same connection to Israel that other groups have. We should try to do more mutual projects with them. I don't think we have a problem now, but if I look at where things are going, I'd be worried. We should pay attention to the situation to make sure we're not helping it by only playing with one side of the aisle.
When Shariv entered the world of diplomacy in 2002, working for former prime minister Ariel Sharon as senior adviser to his chief of staff, the political world was a different place, even among Jewish organizations.
While Shariv doesn't think any of the Jewish organizations are less influential now, he commented on the birth of the left-leaning J Street as indicative of the change in the political climate.
Characterizing J Street as being mainly for American Jews who are more liberal than AIPAC's membership, he says they are players in Washington, definitely but I'm not sure they're players around the country. It's not an organization that we feel in our work. I'm not saying bad things about them, but as an organization mobilizing people well, they're not yet there in the tri-state area.
J Street's power, Shariv says, is most indicated by the rift its creation exemplified, if not caused: The fights between J Street and AIPAC show that Israel is becoming more and more a partisan issue in the United States. That's the biggest risk we have right now.
He is quick to point out that similar problems existed in the US Jewish community in the mid-1970s, but that this situation is different.
J Street really tries to show that it is the lobby of the Democratic Party, and I don't think it's true, Shariv says. I definitely don't think it's true. There's a difference between Republican voters, the way the Republicans support Israel and the way the Democrats support Israel, and Jewish organizations have something to do with it. But they're playing that card, and I don't think that's a good thing not good for Israel, and not good for the Jewish community. And I don't even think it's good for AIPAC or J Street.
And what of those who would counter that the real problem isn't political infighting, but rather the depiction of Israel in the American media? I'll give you the very unpopular answer I think they were fair, Shariv says. My friends in the Jewish community won't like that answer, but I don't think the American media are less fair than the Israeli media, or less supportive of Israel than the Israeli media.
I've met the heads of the Daily News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox, CNN they're not against Israel. It's ridiculous to say they're against Israel. I think we have more supporters here than in Europe I don't think we have anti-Semites in the American media, not even on CNN.
The New York Times has more Jews working for it than any media organization, including Haaretz. I'm joking, but there's not a newspaper or a TV channel biased against Israel as a decision that came from a publisher. National Public Radio, he notes, is not Al Jazeera.
Shariv admits that he doesn't think a government should control the media, but Call I need is for somebody to be fair. Bias, he says, is much more blatant on blogs and Web sites that are part of the new citizen media movement, and there is little recourse.
Citing a terrible story on Israel in the Village Voice two years ago, Shariv recounts, I called the editor, they agreed to have a meeting with us and we gave him our side.
That's all I want.
WHAT DOES SHARIV want now? Along with his office materials, he's taking back the two main things he learned during his time in the US, he says. He is concerned that there is no culture of philanthropy in Israel like that of the US.
I'm not talking only about money talking about volunteers, he says. It's not as developed as it is here, and it would make Israel a better country. We can't always look at the rich uncle of the United States, and not look at the very real growing wealthy community in Israel. After 62 years, I think we should have more Israelis supporting more in the Israeli community.
Shariv returned to Israel with Nefesh B'Nefesh, a group he credits with doing a great job at making it easier and less terrifying to go to Israel. He speculates about future programs that would make a difference in the American perception of Israel. If we could have Birthright for Christians, that would have a huge impact, he says.
His second lesson from his American experience, he says, is one he never expected: He rediscovered Judaism.
In Israel, you sometimes take Judaism for granted, and you think that Judaism is just the Orthodox, that to be Jewish is to be haredi from Mea She'arim, he says. That's a big problem for us as a country. There's a lot of ignorance inside Israel among the most brilliant young people regarding Judaism.
In the last two years, Shariv says, he went to synagogue more than I ever did in my entire life in Israel. Here, there are millions of people who have never visited Israel, and they're proud Jews. They're Jewish because it's a beautiful thing.
Upon his return to Israel, Shariv says, he'll attempt to replicate his Jewish experience in the US. don't think I can have any influence on the Orthodox parties, he said, referring to the widening gap between secular and religious Israelis as a big danger.
But my secular friends will have to make kiddush with me on Friday night, he says.
You wouldn't hear me say it two years ago, but being Jewish is great.
http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Article.aspx?id=186800 6 jul 2011, 23:59 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2010
Irish activist threatened by Israelis
Fiachra O Luain, the Irish Gaza campaigner is seen here onboard Rachel Corrie, the Gaza-bound aid ship.
Israeli Prime Minister's men seriously threatened an Irish man detained after Israel army attack on Freedom Flotilla heading for the besieged Gaza Strip last year.
The Donegal man told the UN he received a serious threatfrom an official close to Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister.
Fiachra O Luain from Carndonagh was second mate on the Challenger 1 and watched in horror as the Israeli troops descended on the Mavi Marmara and opened fire.
Israeli commandos shot dead nine people onboard a Turkish-flagged ship heading for Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to its impoverished people.
The 28-year-old, who went to secondary school in Derry, said he had yet to decide whether he would return on the next aid convoy in October.
This week O Luain submitted his statement of evidence to the United Nations Secretary General's Panel of Inquiry.
In his statement, he revealed how before the attack he alerted Senator John Kerry's office in the US and the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs to a serious threat he received in an email from an official close to Binyamin Netanyahu - the same official with whom he had celebrated the Passover.
Their relationship deteriorated when the official learned O Luain was on the flotilla.
In the evidence forwarded to the UN O Luain said the official wrote, Details have been sent to the Foreign Ministry... May you and your boat sink to the depths of the sea, may you know the punishment meted out to the enemies of God's Chosen People'. Knowing how close this man was to the Israeli Prime Minister, I realized how serious this threat was.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/141157.html
5 sept 2010
Turkey-Israel relations: Where do we stand?
Results of upcoming referendum for revolutionary constitutional changes proposed by Erdogan's AKP gov't will determine country's path toward the Jewish state.
Lately, it seems Turkey is showing a more conciliatory stance vis-àvis Israel. A senior Turkish official told Yediot Aharonot recently that the two countries must now avoid escalation, quiet down the verbal incitement and once the crisis ends the Israeli prime minister would be welcome in Ankara.
To salvage the relations Turkey is only asking Israel to issue some sort of an apology and compensate the victims families.
Actually, the contradictory statements by Turkish leaders, some escalating the situation, others calming tensions, are the result of two conflicting constraints: the attempt by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to use the May 31 flotilla crisis to strengthen the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party before the critical September 12 referendum and the growing pressure by the US to keep Turkey as an important ally.
The attempts to mend fences with Israel began at the end of June, when Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer secretly met Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels, apparently due to pressure from the Obama administration.
President Barack Obama reportedly warned Erdogan that actions Turkey has taken in its relations with Israel and its vote against sanctions on Iran have caused worry in Congress concerning its standing as an ally. He allegedly called on Ankara to cool its rhetoric about the flotilla raid.
Also, for the first time in the USTurkey relationship, the House Foreign Affairs Committee conducted a special hearing on whether Turkey's axis is indeed shifting, and Republican congressmen blocked the appointment of Francis Ricciardone as ambassador to Turkey, because he is seen as too soft to deal with the Turkish government.
As a consequence, Turkish policymakers are planning to intensify contacts with Congress, after a series of talks in Washington between a high-level Turkish delegation and senior administration officials.
The formation of an international commission under the auspices of the UN secretary-general to look into the events surrounding the flotilla incident was considered a victory for Turkish diplomacy and its results crucial for relations with Israel.
But the US approach to the international commission focused on reconciling Israel and Turkey and proposing recommendations as to how to avoid such incidents in the future, a statement that angered Ankara.
ISRAEL DECIDED on an independent public commission with international observers to examine the maritime incident. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in his testimony before the commission declared that the tension with Turkey was Ankara's choice and left the door open for recovery.His surprising decision to cooperate with the UN commission also reflected an interest in maintaining good ties with Turkey.
Turkey for its part decided on a national commission under the coordination of the Prime Minister's Office, with the participation of bureaucrats from the Foreign, Justice, Transportation and Interior ministries for investigating the treatment to which persons in the convoy had been exposed.
No word about its responsibilities in the incident.
Moreover, Turkish prosecutors launched an investigation against top Israeli leaders, which could result in pressing charges of murder and assault on Turkish citizens on the high seas and piracy.
Other negative Turkish moves included a meeting in mid-July between Davutoglu and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to discuss efforts to heal the rift between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas claimed the talks also covered Turkish efforts to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza.
Israel's envoy to Turkey has not been invited lately to the annual Iftar dinner hosted by AKP for representatives of the diplomatic corps, an unprecedented hostile diplomatic act.
The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that Turkish intelligence personnel and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have recently signed an agreement to assist Hizbullah by transferring weapons from Iran to Syria and Lebanon through Turkey.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry denied the report.
The Turks were already infuriated by Defense Minister Ehud Barak's claim that the new head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, was a friend of Iran and that military information provided to Turkey might be handed over to the Iranians.
The Turkish opposition accused Erdogan of seeking a confrontation with Israel to advance his internal nationalist credentials before the September referendum and planning to advance the scheduled elections of July 2011.
According to the Turkish daily Hürriyet, the Hamas-friendly AKP government cannot afford to give any impression to the public that it accepted anything short of an international inquiry that will ultimately find Israel guilty and unless a settlement is reached which enables both sides to save face matters will continue to get worse.
On September 12, Turkish voters will go to the polls to approve or reject revolutionary constitutional changes proposed by the AKP government, which are intended to consolidate its influence, particularly in the judiciary.
If the AKP wins the referendum and thus continues to tighten its grip on the media, military andjudiciary, it will persevere on the path of Islamization and the shunning of Israel.
A sign in this direction is Turkey's reaction to the latest terrorist attacks in Israel intended to derail the peace negotiations in Washington.
Turkey welcomed the resumption of direct talks between Israel and Palestine and stated that it was important to avoid unilateral acts which would negatively affect the process, but said nothing about the Hamas responsibility for the "heroic" murder of four innocent civilians last week.
The writer is senior research scholar at the International Institute for Counterterrorism and the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=187194
Gaza Flotilla. Eiland: Gov't unfamiliar with IDF's capabilities
Preoccupied with intelligence.' Maj-Gen (ret.) Eiland
Chief flotilla investigator claims political echelon fails to hold enough operational hearings, preoccupied with intelligence. 'PM, ministers love intelligence, because it involves sexy sources,' he says
Maj-Gen (ret.) Giora Eiland, who headed the investigation into the Gaza-bound flotilla raid, alleged Sunday that the different Israeli governments are not familiar with the IDF's capabilities, adding the number of operational hearings held prior to military operations was too low.
Referring to the decision making process at wartime, Eiland noted that the political echelons were "over-occupied with intelligence.
"The prime ministers and cabinet ministers love to listen to intelligence overviews, because it's interesting and involves sexy sources; but they neglect information pertaining to IDF capabilities," he said.
According to Eiland, who was speaking at a conference hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies, since the withdrawal from Lebanon and until 2006 there was no discussion to determine an operational policy vis-à-vis Lebanon.
"In order to decide on ways of action you need to be familiar with IDF's skills as thoroughly as you are with those of the enemy," he said, adding that the same mistake has been repeating itself since the Yom Kippur War.
"Before the Yom Kippur War there were warning signs of an upcoming war, but the ministers were confident that the Air Force can handle the enemy. If they would have bothered learning what the Air Force can and cannot do, the situation might have been different," Eiland noted
In reference to the flotilla raid, Eiland said, "The deliberations took place five days before the operation. The timing leaves the military only two options stop the flotilla, or don't stop it. If the hearing would have been held three months prior to the flotilla, there would have been more possibilities at hand."
Eiland also criticized the Mossad for completely staying out of the affair.
"The military was dealing with the matter seriously, while the Mossad stayed completely out of it. If it had fully engaged its intelligence and operational skills three months prior to the flotilla, the whole handling of the affair would have been different," he claimed.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949881,00.html
7 sept 2010
Israel reminded it may lose Turkey
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
Turkey renews threat of severing its relations with Israel, should Tel Aviv fail to redeem itself over its bloody attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
On May 31, Israeli commandos stormed Freedom Flotilla, a Turkish-backed relief mission, while it was on its way to the impoverished enclave, which has been deprived of food, fuel and other necessities due to more than three years of an all-out Tel Aviv-imposed siege. The assault in international waters killed nine Turkish human rights activists.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday that "Israelis have three options: They will either apologize or acknowledge an international-impartial inquiry and its conclusion. Otherwise, our diplomatic ties will be cut off," Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.
The United Nations has launched a probe into the incident. A report by the Israeli website Ynetnews, however, has pointed to Tel Aviv's intentions to prevent the international team from questioning Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have, meanwhile, insisted that Tel Aviv will not be apologetic about the attack.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/141517.html
Turkel Committee requests additional information from IDF
The Turkel Committee that is investigating the Navy raid on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Marmara has requested additional information from the IDF.
A committee official said they have requested the IDF to hand over raw materials used by Maj-Gen (ret.) Giora Eiland, who headed the expert committee that investigated the flotilla raid, as well as additional answers to questions that were not examined during Eiland's investigation."
http://bit.ly/b7K0Ar 7 jul 2011, 00:00 , Respect -
Maria 14 sept 2010
Mossad chief apologizes to Turkel committee for delay
Mossad chief Meir Dagan has finished testifying before the Turkel committee, investigating the IDF flotilla raid in May. His testimony took two hours and was conducted behind closed doors.
The committee announced later that Dagan had apologized for the delay in handing over files necessary for the investigation, and said he had "the utmost respect" for its members.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953949,00.html
15 sept 2010
Foreign Ministry official: Malaysia considering petitioning Hague over Gaza blockade
Israel is aware of the reports and preparing itself for possible row at the International Court of Justice.
Israel's Foreign Ministry director-general, Yossi Gal, told the Turkel Committee that Malaysia is considering petitioning the International Court of Justice in the Hague over the blockade of Gaza, as reported by Army radio.
Gal made the comment during his testimony to the committee, which is investigating the flotilla incident in late-May where the IDF boarded the Gaza-bound ship, the Mavi Marmara.
According to the director-general, Israel is aware of Malaysia's plans and is "aware of the reports and is preparing itself accordingly."
http://bit.ly/9qplUC
Official: Flotilla could have had happy ending
Gal testifying. 'Naval blockade is right way'
Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal testifies before Turkel Commission, says Ministry handled deadly raid in 'best possible way'
The Turkish flotilla could have ended differently but Israel is not to blame for its outcome, Foreign Ministry Director-General Yossi Gal said Wednesday.
Testifying before the Turkel Commission probing the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla, Gal said: "Had the organizers accepted our pleas, the incident would have ended in a positive manner."
The official also expressed his regret over the operation's tragic results. According to Gal, the Foreign Ministry tried to prevent the flotilla from departing via diplomatic means, but when "the violent clash occurred we dealt with the situation in the best possible way."
Gal said that the Ministry's efforts extended to Israel's missions in Ankara, Washington and other world capitals. He noted that once officials learned there were plans for violence onboard, further talks were held with Turkey.
Gal also addressed criticism included in a Foreign Ministry report regarding the exclusion of the Ministry's Policy Planning Bureau from the diplomatic efforts, and said he did not endorse the claims.
"The premise was that any entanglement in the operation would be serious," he said. "The Ministry raised the need to address the flotilla not just as a military operation but as a media one as well before the IDF."
Gal said that the delay in releasing footage to the media stemmed from a need to wait for a clearer picture of affairs and to take operational aspects into consideration.
"Our representatives in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit tried to speed up the arrival of the materials," he said.
Restoring relations with Ankara
The director-general further noted that the flotilla incident bears serious consequences for the relationship between Ankara and Jerusalem, adding that the Ministry is now focused on restoring relations to their proper course.
"It is in Israel's interest to restore relations with Turkey to their proper course. I visited Ankara prior to the flotilla and finalized a road map with my colleagues to improve relations with the Turks, but it didn't pan out," he said.
Gal said Israel is facing a serious de-legitimization campaign led by groups trying to create "humanitarian provocations" in order to compromise the Jewish state's moral image.
"Even today we are unfortunately busy trying to stop future flotillas," he said.
Asked whether the Foreign Ministry has considered alternatives to fighting back the de-legitimization, Gal replied that Israel's willingness to accept all humanitarian equipment and transfer it to Gaza is an obvious alternative, while maintaining the Gaza siege.
"I think that the naval blockade is the right way to go," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3954699,00.html
At Ben-Gurion University, student protests can lead to disciplinary action
Student who organized demonstration for maintenance workers' rights at the campus was brought in for disciplinary hearing, and on Wednesday, several students who protested against Israel's Gaza flotilla raid will be summoned.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev this week started subjecting students involved in campus protests to disciplinary action, in contravention of its own regulations.
On Tuesday, a student who organized a demonstration for maintenance workers' rights at the Be'er Sheva campus was brought in for a disciplinary hearing, and on Wednesday, several students who protested against Israel's Gaza flotilla raid will be summoned as well. In all, seven students will be disciplined, with penalties as severe as suspension from classes.
Students and faculty criticized the measures, with several law professors volunteering to represent the summoned students. Dr. Dani Filc, head of the Politics and Government Department at BGU, said students shouldn't be turned into "lawbreakers," adding, "We should be glad to have students like these." Filc will represent the students called in on Wednesday.
Sources at the student unions at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said they couldn't remember any instances of students at their institutions being disciplined for similar matters.
"A student who intends to demonstrate is treated as a lawbreaker even before he actually demonstrates ... The result is real damage to freedom of expression," a source said.
Tuesday saw the disciplinary hearing of Tal Baharav, a student in the Education and Politics and Government departments who led the maintenance workers' fight. That campaign began six months ago, with a rally for which Baharav had received university authorization. But after he took the campaign further by writing a letter of protest to university president Rivka Carmi, he was accused of "violating the terms set for holding the demonstration." Still, Baharav received a relatively light sentence: a warning against engaging in similar activity in the future.
Baharav said after his hearing on Tuesday, "This summons carried a clear message, that students who want to be socially active on campus are under threat, as are their studies."
Boaz Toporovsky, head of the National Union of Israeli Students, has also thrown his weight behind Baharav. Earlier this week he wrote to Carmi describing the Ben-Gurion student as "an activist dedicated to the rights of contract workers. I ask you to reconsider Baharav's behavior in light of all the work he has done for social justice and equality."
A statement from the university read: "Regulations for social and political activity at the university hold that anyone violating them will be called in for a disciplinary hearing, or will be charged in court, depending on the circumstances."
The university added that the students summoned for disciplining "are charged with violating regulations, irrespective of political orientation."
http://bit.ly/avsKOC
16 sept 2010
UN flotilla inquiry submits first report to Ban
NEW YORK (Ma'an) -- The inquiry panel established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate the lethal Israeli attack on an aid ship bound for Gaza delivered its first report to the official, and said investigations were proceeding smoothly.
"[P]roceedings have been conducted in a positive and collegial manner," a statement from Ban said following his meeting with the panel, noting that the investigation was in full swing and would be able to "respond to the high international concern that has been expressed concerning the incident," his spokesman told the UN news on Wednesday.
The panel told Ban that it had obtained the internal reports from Israel and Turkey on the 31 May incident, which saw Israeli commandos kill 8 Turkish nationals and one dual US-Turkish citizen.
An Israeli military investigation into the incident found that its soldiers had operated properly, with professionalism, bravery and resourcefulness. The report also noted, however, that alternative courses of action could have existed had the process of preparation begun enough time in advance."
A civilian inquiry was later appointed under Israeli justice Ya'acov Tirkel, and charged with determining whether the raid abided with international law and used proportionate force. The inquiry was told it would not be permitted to question soldiers or examine the government's approval of the raid.
The 4-person UN investigation team, mandated on 2 June, days after the attack on the flotilla shocked the international community, but appointed only after Israel's military investigation failed to find fault with personnel, began its work in July.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=315336 7 jul 2011, 00:20 , Respect -
Maria 17 sept 2010
Report: Israeli, Turkish presidents to meet
Zaman newspaper says Gul to sit down with Peres during UN General Assembly session in New York next week in first meeting between such senior officials from both countries since Gaza flotilla affair.
Sign of improvement in Israel -Turkey relations? Turkish President Abdullah Gul will meet with President Shimon Peres next week during the United General Assembly session in New York, Turkish newspaper Zaman reported Friday.
This would be the first meeting between such senior Turkish and Israeli officials since May's deadly Navy raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
An official source, who asked to remain anonymous, told the paper President Gul had noted that "foreign ministers are allowed to meet with elements from enemy states even in the battlefield." He was addressing Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's meeting with Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in Brussels after the flotilla incident in a bid to ease the tensions between the two countries.
Gul to demand apology
According to the report, during the meeting Gul is expected to stress Turkey's conditions for improving the relations and to clarify that there would be no normalization between the two countries without an Israeli apology for what Ankara has defined as "an attack" on the flotilla.
Gul is also expected to demand that Israel compensate the families of the nine Turkish civilians killed during the violent incident onboard the Marmara ship. He is likely to recommend that Jerusalem submit its apology through to the international commission of inquiry into the flotilla incident appointed by UN Secr Gen Ban Ki-moon. Representatives of the 192 member states are expected to attend the UN General Assembly meeting next week for discussions on various issues, including ways to fight world poverty. Gul is slated to head the Turkish delegation, although his doctors have warned that the trip may endanger his health.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3955663,00.html
20 sept 2010
Turkel committee may summon left-wing activists
Committee probing flotilla raid asks groups such as B'tselem to hand over info on situation in Gaza.
A committee investigating the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla has appealed to a number of left-wing and humanitarian organizations asking them to report on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, according to a committee statement issued Monday.
The Turkel committee's coordinator, Attorney Hosea Gottlieb, sent letters to a number of organizations as part of its mandate to inspect the circumstances that brought about the naval blockade on the Strip.
The letters were sent to B'tselem, Physicians for Human Rights, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the Center for the Defense of the Individual.
The letters said the Turkel committee was considering summoning organization members to testify before it.
"We would be grateful if you would send us a short review of the information you have on the humanitarian situation in Gaza as soon as possible, so that the committee can consider the possibility of summoning you to testify," the letters say.
A week ago the committee asked the Turkish embassy in Israel for permission to summon Mehmet Tubal, the captain of the flotilla ship Mavi Marmara, to testify.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3957829,00.html
Turkel C'tee requests additional information from Eiland
The Turkel Committee decided that it needs further information from Maj.-Gen. (ret) Giora Eiland regarding the internal IDF probe of the raid of the Mavi Marmara that a committee chaired by Eiland carried out.
Eiland testified before the Turkel Committee last month. The committee sent him a letter on Sunday asking that his team of investigators meet with them in order to be briefed on those issues which the committee wishes to further pursue.
The meeting between Turkel Committee representatives and Eiland's team of investigators was scheduled to take place on Monday.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=188668 7 jul 2011, 00:22 , Respect -
Maria 22 sept 2010
Turkey : beware of Israeli snake
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem
It is crystal clear that Israel, the arrogant, fanatical and belligerent Jewish state is trying hard to undermine Turkey. Israel feels that its hegemony in the Middle East is being challenged by Turkish efforts to reassert the country's national interests by enhancing relations with Islamic neighbors and also by courageously opposing Israeli ethnic cleansing and other manifestly criminal policies against the Palestinians.
In recent days and weeks, Israel has been quite furious about the recent referendum in Turkey which granted the government additional powers to assert real democracy and prevent the recurrence of military coups.
The Turkish republic had witnessed three military coups against democratically-elected governments the last of which took place nearly 30 years ago, when the military introduced draconian constitutional amendments making the anti-Islam military establishment effectively above the people's will.
In the mid 1990s, the Turkish military forced the popular Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign amid suspicions that the conservative premier was trying to re-Islamize Turkey .
The Israeli media has been quite vociferous about "losing Turkey" as if that country of 75 million people were supposed to be a banana republic subservient to Israel. Moreover, Israeli commentators, affiliated with fanatical Zionist circles, have urged the Israeli government to envisage ways and means to "overcome" the "growing Turkish threat"!!!
Israel, a predator state based on religio-ethnic racism, wouldn't settle for having normal, dignified relations with Turkey, e.g. relations based on parity and mutual respect. Israel always seeks dominance. Needless to say, the rationale for this psychotic way of thinking originates in the so-called "chosen people's complex."
Thus, Israel strongly believes that any state wishing to have friendly relations with the Jewish state must succumb to Jewish supremacy and support Israel's criminal policies toward helpless Palestinians struggling despite all odds to preserve their national existence in the face of the unrelenting Zionist onslaught.
Fortunately, Turkey under the premiership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is refusing to give in to Zionist hegemony and insolence which manifested itself first in the Nazi-like blitz against the Gaza Strip nearly two years ago and second in the murderous attack on an unarmed Turkish passenger ship sailing in international waters on 31 May.
Indeed, instead of apologizing to Turkey for the murderous piracy in which 9 Turkish citizens were murdered by Israeli soldiers, the Israeli propaganda machine resorted to sheer lies in a desperate effort to evade the truth.
But the people of Turkey and their government are neither gullible nor ignorant, and wouldn't buy more lies from Israel.
President Abdullah Gul was correct when he remarked that the provocative deadly assault on Mavi Marmara could have been a casus belli for war had it taken place in the past. Moreover, his refusal to meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres in New York earlier this week was a courageous step that is highly consistent with Turkish pride and national dignity.
In the final analysis, how could the President of Turkey shake hands with the President of a state on whose hands the spilt innocent blood of Turkish citizens has yet to dry.
Besides, this certified war criminal, Peres, deserves no courtesy. He not only failed to apologize for the innocent Turks , murdered so arrogantly and so nonchalantly by Israel, as any normal state facing a similar situation would, but also had the audacity to tell the Turks to lick their wounds and return to "business as usual" with Israel!
We, who live in this part of the world, know Peres too well. He is the hero of the Qana massacre in 1996, when he, as Prime Minister following the assassination of Isaac Rabin at the hands of a Jewish extremist, ordered the Israeli army to bomb Lebanese refugees who had sought refuge at the UN peace keepers' headquarter at the village of Qana in southern Lebanon. The bombing transformed the premises into a huge slaughterhouse as more than a hundred men, women and children were massacred and many others maimed and mutilated.
Despite the passage of more than 14 years since the heinous crime took place, the irredeemable liar has not had the moral courage to say "I am sorry." This is the very man who doesn't stop lecturing the world about the virtues of peace and vices of extremism. His limitless hypocrisy and sanctimony may pass undetected by many in Europe and North America. However, a growing number of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, including Turks, are not willing to betray their senses and give the evil criminal liar and the state he represents the benefit of the doubt, that is if there is ever a doubt about his and Israel 's evil character.
Now, with Turkey refusing to be tricked and bamboozled by Israeli bulling tactics, the Zionist regime will most likely embark on acts of subversion against Turkey aimed at undermining the popular government of Prime Minister Erdogan.
There is absolutely no doubt that the occurrence of another military coup in Turkey tops Israel's New Hebrew Year's wish list.
This is something that the Turkish government must never take lightly. Israel believes that it can count on the tentacles of the Masonic Octopus to incite against the military establishment against the AKB government.
Hence, thwarting Israeli efforts to transform Turkey into a satellite state orbiting Israel must be a top priority for the Turkish government.
In short, beware of the Zionist snake.
http://bit.ly/dxGYdm
UN experts: Flotilla raid broke international law
UN Gaza aid probe finds 'clear evidence' against Israel
A UN probe said Wednesday there was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" against Israel for "wilful killing" and torture committed when its troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
In a scathing report, it also threw out Israel's argument that activists on the aid ship were violent thereby justifying the decision by Israeli soldiers to open fire, adding that some were the victim of actions "consistent with...summary execution."
The inquiry ordered by the UN Human Rights Council said Israel's military used "unnecessary violence" in the incident and committed acts that "constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."
There was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" of crimes against international humanitarian law including "wilful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health," it said.
Israel's foreign ministry spokesman could not be reached on Wednesday night, the start of the Sukkot Jewish holiday.
But from the outset, Israeli officials have rejected the inquiry mandated by the Human Rights Council as biased but is backing another, separate probe set up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the incident which left nine Turkish activists dead.
Israel has insisted that it acted in line with international law, arguing that it had the right to retaliate against ships attempting to breach its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip.
However, the probe said Israel's enforcement of a blockade was itself unlawful, since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid.
"For this reason alone, the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law. This is so regardless of the grounds on which it is sought to justify the legality of the blockade," said the report of the inquiry, which is due to be presented to the rights council on Monday.
Rejecting Israel's justification of its soldiers' decision to open fire, it said it found that even those who did not attempt to stop Israeli soldiers from boarding the aid ships "received injuries, including fatal injuries."
"It is apparent that no effort was made to minimise injuries at certain states of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner," said the inquiry.
"The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution," it added.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence," said the probe.
The fact-finding mission, chaired by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, had travelled to Turkey, Jordan and Britain to interview witnesses and officials for the probe.
Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, as Malaysian human rights expert, are the other members of the panel.
http://yhoo.it/9G9cMf
UN experts: Flotilla raid broke international law
UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission says Israel's military response to Gaza aid sail was 'disproportionate', 'betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality'
A group of UN-appointed experts says Israeli forces violated international law "including international humanitarian and human rights law" during and after their raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission says Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was "unlawful" because a humanitarian crisis there at the time.
The three-member panel says Israel's military response to the flotilla was "disproportionate" and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality."
Eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were killed in the raid.
Israel says the soldiers acted in self-defense. The country's mission to the UN in Geneva couldn't immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958723,00.html
Israel's Gaza flotilla probe nears end
From left: Horev, Turkel and Rosenne
Investigation committee chairman Jacob Turkel says the commission's work is nearing completion, thus it is undecided whether to replace member Shabtai Rosenne, who passed away on Tuesday.
The state-appointed inquiry into the lethal storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May is almost complete, chief investigator Jacob Turkel said on Wednesday after one of his fellow panel members died.
Set up in hope of stemming international fury at Israeli marines' killing of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists aboard one of the ships, the Turkel Commission is also providing material for a separate inquest at the United Nations.
One of the five Israeli investigators, 93-year-old former ambassador Shabtai Rosenne, died of heart failure overnight but a spokesman said the commission's work would stay on schedule.
Interviewed on Army Radio, the panel chairman, retired Supreme Court justice Jacob Turkel, said he was undecided on whether to replace Rosenne.
Asked if the inquest was nearing completion, he said: "Yes, certainly. We have by now gathered most of the testimony ... If there will be more witnesses testifying, they will be witnesses of lesser importance, and not a large number of them remain."
Among those asked to appear before the commission is Mahmut Tural, captain of the converted cruise ship Mavi Marmara, where the activists were killed after the Israelis boarded it. Turkel said a response from Tural had yet to be received.
The Turkel Commission includes two foreign observers but has been criticized by the Turkish government for its limited scope.
The Turks have demanded an apology and compensation from Israel, which has refused, saying its navy acted in self-defense.
http://bit.ly/btOBVE
Turkel C'tee's Prof. Shabtai Rosen, 93, dies in J'lem home
Prof. Shabtai Rosen, 93, died of heart failure on Tuesday night at his home in Jerusalem. Rosen was serving as a member of the Turkel Committee, commissioned with investigating the events surrounding the May 31 Israeli raid of a Gaza -bound flotilla of ships in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed by IDF naval commandos.
Rosen was an accomplished professor of international law at Bar Ilan University and recipient of the Israel Prize for jurisprudence.
Rosen was scheduled to be laid to rest on Wednesday in Jerusalem.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=188882
Turkey welcomes UN flotilla report's findings
Turkey: We expect formal apology, compensation from Israel
Turkish president addressed UN general assembly and praised UN report on Gaza flotilla raid, which says Israeli forces violated international law.
Turkey is still waiting for an apology from Israel over the Gaza flotilla raid, Turkish president Abdullah Gul told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
The UN Human Rights Commission released a report on the incident on Wednesday. The report, compiled by three United Nations appointed human rights experts, said that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine activists, earlier this year.
Gul said that he still expects Israel to pay monetary compensation to the families of those killed in the raid, which he said was a scathing infraction of international law.
"In the light of international law, Turkey's expectation is a formal apology and compensation for the aggrieved families of the victims and the injured people," Gul said.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded to the report late Wednesday by saying the Human Rights Council had a biased, politicized and extremist approach. They have since said that will "study" the report.
Gul lauded United States President Barack Obama's efforts to encourage the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct peace talks.
However, he cautioned: "It would be very difficult to make progress towards permanent peace unless we put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza."
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu praised Gaza flotilla report, telling Anatolia news agency that it report was fair, impartial and used strong evidence.
"We expected the council to release a strong report based on strong evidence, and in this sense the report met our expectations," said Davutoglu. "We hope that Israel will learn to use language of international law and act in line with it."
The Human Rights Council's report was compiled by former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam.
The Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, was re-established in 2006 by then UN Security General, Kofi Annan, following accusations that its predecessor, the UN Commission on Human Rights, openly and systematically discriminated against Israel.
But the new body has also passed several resolutions condemning Israel over the past few years, especially for its actions in the Palestinian territories, and is often of accused of unfair bias against Israel.
http://bit.ly/aNP7bg
Turkish president demands apology for flotilla at UN
Gul calls 'Marmara' raid an "unacceptable act in international law,"; calls on Israel to put an end to the "humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.
NEW YORK Addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations on Thursday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul referenced the May 31 Gaza flotilla incident and demanded both a formal apology from Israel as well as compensation for the victims.
Calling the deaths on the Mavi Marmara an unacceptable act in international law, Gul said Turkey is owed a formal apology and compensation for the aggrieved families of the victims and the injured people by Israel.
Gul referenced the flotilla incident in part of his remarks focusing on the political component of the General Assembly's agenda, noting that there is no shortage of regional issues to be discussed.
Peace in the Middle East holds the key to a peaceful and stable future in the world, Gul said, addressing the body in English. Unfortunately, the absence of peace there has had serious and adverse consequences for the rest of the world.
It would be difficult to make progress toward permanent peace, Gul said, unless we put an end to the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.
Gul attached significance to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's Panel of Inquiry into the May 31 flotilla incident, as well as the fact finding mission of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.
Gul said he is pleased with the Human Rights Council report, which he said offered a solid legal framework for establishing the facts about the incident. Many NGOs, including UN Watch and NGO Monitor, have deemed the work of the Human Rights Council panel irreparably biased against Israel.
Referencing Iran very briefly, Gul said there is no alternative to diplomacy in ensuring Iran's conformity to International Atomic Energy Agency norms.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=189039
Turkey welcomes UN flotilla report's findings
Ankara's foreign minister says UN Human Rights Council report probing tragic events of Gaza-bound aid sail 'extremely fair, based on solid evidence'.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday praised the impartiality of the UN Human Rights Council's investigation into the raid of the Gaza-bound Maramra in late May, saying that the findings met Turkey's expectations.
In a harsh 56-page report, compiled by former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam, the UNHCR concluded that Israel exceeded its authority and violated International Law by raiding the flotilla.
The report further stated that Israel's military reaction of the sail was "disproportionate and brutal," and that the soldiers boarding the Marmara "demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence."
The panel concluded that Israel's version of the events was inconsistent and was to be rejected, adding that the findings supported "prosecution against Israel for willful killing and torture."
* To read the full report click here http://bit.ly/d1pRBg
The Council's report, Davutoglu told Anatolia news agency, "Is extremely fair and based on solid evidence. We appreciate that. (The report) meets our expectations. I hope the Israeli side will now (...) act within international law, he said.
Israel has rejected the report, calling it "biased and partisan." Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey once close strategic allies have been strained by the events. Ankara has called on Jerusalem to apologize, pay compensation and terminate the blockade of Gaza as a precondition for normalizing relations.
"Our goal is not to cause a political crisis, but to ensure that everyone respects international law and believes that no country is above the law. We will never allow that to happen in the Eastern Mediterranean" said Davutoglu.
Wednesday saw Knesset Member Hanin Zaobi (Balad), who was on the Turkish ship during the raid, say she too "welcomes the professionalism and decency of the UN committee in its efforts to reveal the truth."
The MK called on the Israeli government to "face these conclusions,' adding that "all the typical slander attempts will not make Israel innocent."
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Wednesday that the report underscored the fact that "Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories violates human rights not only against Palestinian people but against innocent people who came to show their sympathy."
"Now it's required to be a mechanism in order to translate this report into action and to bring the occupation commanders to trial for the crimes they committed," Barhoum said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958812,00.html 7 jul 2011, 00:30 , Respect -
Maria Gaza flotilla attack: UN report condemns Israeli 'brutality'
UN Human Rights Council accuses Israel of a 'disproportionate' response to Gaza blockade-breakers, nine of whom died.
A UN-appointed panel said today that Israeli forces violated international law, "including international humanitarian and human rights law", during and after their lethal attack on a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza in May.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission judged Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory to be "unlawful" because there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza at the time.
The panel's report, published today, described Israel's military response to the flotilla as "disproportionate" and said it "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
Eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were killed in the raid, which prompted international criticism of both the attack and Israel's policy of blockading the Gaza Strip. Israel has since eased its embargo, although still refuses to allow full imports and exports and the free movement of people.
Israel says the soldiers acted in self-defence. But the mission criticised the Israeli government for failing to co-operate with its inquiry. "Regrettably to date, no information has been given to the mission by or on behalf of the government of Israel," it said.
The panel was led by Karl Hudson-Phillips, a retired judge of the international criminal court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago.
The report said: "The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."
The panel concluded that there was "clear evidence" of wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment and wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health %u2013 all crimes under the Geneva Convention.
The panel expressed the hope that there would be "swift action" by the Israeli government to help victims achieve effective remedies. "The mission sincerely hopes that no impediment will be put in the way of those who suffered loss as a result of the unlawful actions of the Israeli military to be compensated adequately and promptly," it said. It described the blockade of Gaza as "totally intolerable and unacceptable in the 21st century".
The Israeli government has fiercely resisted demands for an independent international inquiry into the flotilla attacks, establishing three internal investigations to avert pressure from the UN, Europe and Turkey.
http://bit.ly/fSDMPq
MK Zoabi on UN report: Put criminals on trial
Knesset Member Hanin Zaobi (Balad) welcomed a report issued by a UN Human Rights Council mission, which ruled that Israeli forces violated international law and showed "incredible violence" when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.
"We must not settle for a condemnation, but work to put the criminals, those who gave the orders and those who executed them on trial."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958744,00.html
UN experts: Flotilla raid 'incredibly violent'
Human Rights Council mission says Israel's military response to Gaza aid sail was 'disproportionate and brutal', violated international law. Panel finds 'clear evidence to support prosecution' against Israel for 'willful killing' and torture.
A report by three UN-appointed human rights experts Wednesday said that Israeli forces violated international law and showed "incredible violence" when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
According to the UN probe, there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions" against Israel for "willful killing" and torture committed when its troops stormed the aid flotilla in May.
"There is clear evidence to support prosecutions of the following crimes within the terms of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health," said the inquiry.
The Fourth Geneva Convention is an international treaty governing the protection of civilians in times of war.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence," said the probe.
Israel: Report biased, politicized
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded late Wednesday by saying the Human Rights Council had a "biased, politicized and extremist approach."
Israel has maintained that its soldiers acted in self-defense when they shot and killed eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara on May 31.
"The Human Rights Council blamed Israel prior to the investigation and it is no surprise that they condemn after," said Andy David, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, referring to the 47-member body's resolution in early June condemning the raid.
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel, preferring instead to work with a separate UN group under New Zealand's former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident but has yet to publish its findings.
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," the Foreign Ministry statement said. "That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following Operation Cast Lead, launched to protect the inhabitants of southern Israel from rockets and terror attacks carried out by Hamas from Gaza."
Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman for the Islamic militant group Hamas that controls Gaza, said the report emphasized that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories violates human rights "not only against Palestinian people but against innocent people who came to show their sympathy."
"Now it's required to be a mechanism in order to translate this report into action and to bring the occupation commanders to trial for the crimes they committed," Barhoum said.
The Human Rights Council's report was compiled by former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam. It is scheduled to be presented to the council on Monday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958723,00.html
UN Gaza aid probe finds 'clear evidence' against Israel
Israel launches PR war on UN report
Israeli officials embark on all-out effort in bid to undermine credibility of damning flotilla raid report.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered the establishment of a "command post" in New York in an effort to counter a damning United Nations report on Israel's flotilla raid which left nine people dead.
The report, drafted by the UN Human Rights Council, charged that IDF soldiers executed Turkish activists on board a Gaza-bound vessel by firing at them from close range.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who is currently in New York, set up the command post along with Ambassador to the UN Meron Reuben and Consul General Ido Aharoni in order to coordinate Israel's diplomatic and PR activity in response to the report.
As of Thursday morning, Israeli officials are attempting to initiate a coordinated response by all Jewish organizations to condemn the UN report. All Israeli emissaries in North America had been briefed on their next moves vis-à-vis the media and foreign diplomats.
Ayalon: Report a despicable lie
Meanwhile, senior Israeli officials have been granting interviews to US media outlets throughout the day.
Elsewhere, Israel's delegation at the UN is formulating the Jewish state's diplomatic response, to be submitted to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as well as to major states whose heads are currently in New York for the annual UN General Assembly
Israel's embassy in Washington had been instructed to convey the Jewish state's messages to the US Administration, Congress, and to local Jewish organizations, in a bid to undermine the report's credibility.
In his US media appearances Thursday, Deputy Minister Ayalon said the UN report was a despicable lie from start to finish only aimed at harming Israel. He said the report would end up undermining its own authors as well as the Human Rights Council, arguing that the UN body is making itself irrelevant and requires dramatic reform.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3958890,00.html
Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided."
(1:34) UN Report On Israel Flotilla Killings - BBC News 22 Sept 2010
UN report: http://bit.ly/d1pRBg
In a scathing report, it also threw out Israel's argument that the aid activists were violent, thereby justifying the decision by Israeli soldiers to open fire.
The incident left nine Turkish nationals dead and drew global condemnation.
Saying some were victims of actions "consistent with... summary execution," the inquiry ordered by the UN Human Rights Council said Israel's military used "unnecessary violence."
These "constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law," it said, adding there was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" of crimes including "willful killing; torture or inhuman treatment; and willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health."
Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided."
"As expected of a democratic country, Israel has been -- and still is -- investigating the events of the Gaza flotilla," said a statement released by the Israeli foreign ministry late Wednesday night.
It added that its own committee of inquiry, which includes two international observers, was still at work and that Israel had also agreed to take part in an inquiry set up by the UN Secretary General.
"The report... is as biased and as one sided as the body that has produced it," the statement said.
"Israel... is of the opinion that the flotilla incident is amply and sufficiently investigated as it is. All additional dealing with this issue is superfluous and unproductive."
Israel has insisted that it acted in line with international law, arguing that it had the right to retaliate against ships attempting to breach its blockade of the impoverished Gaza Strip.
However, the probe said Israel's enforcement of a blockade was itself unlawful, since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid.
"For this reason alone, the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law. This is so regardless of the grounds on which it is sought to justify the legality of the blockade," said the report, which will be presented to the rights council on Monday.
It said even those activists who did not try to stop Israeli soldiers from boarding the aid ships "received injuries, including fatal injuries."
"It is apparent that no effort was made to minimise injuries at certain states of the operation and that the use of live fire was done in an extensive and arbitrary manner," said the inquiry.
"The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution," it added.
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence," said the probe.
The fact-finding mission, chaired by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, had travelled to Turkey, Jordan and Britain to interview witnesses and officials for the probe.
Desmond de Silva, former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, as Malaysian human rights expert, are the other members of the panel.
http://yhoo.it/a7x07r
23 sept 2010
Barhoum: UN report enough evidence on IOA crimes against humanity
GAZA, (PIC)-- Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, has affirmed that the UN human rights council's report on the Israeli aggression on the Freedom Flotilla and Gaza siege is another proof incriminating the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) of state terrorism, violation of human rights, and committing crimes against humanity.
Barhoum in a statement on Thursday said that the report puts the world community before a new test; either to apply international justice and put on trial IOA leaders as war criminals or continue to adopt a double-standard policy when it comes to the IOA.
He stressed that the report necessitated swift, practical measures to put IOA leaders and government on trial at the international criminal court for their crimes, and to adopt strict measures against the IOA to deter its "aggression and terrorism".
http://bit.ly/bPgdZo
FINALLY ..... WE MIGHT SEE JUSTICE ON FLOTILLA PIRACY
UN report unedited just out, Israel guilty of breaking international law on flotilla and blockade is illegal due to humanitarian crisis in gaza.
BUT.... don't hold your breath, Israel has ignored EVERY UN Resolution condemning their crimes.... why would this one be treated differently?
international fact-finding mission to investigate
violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting from the Israeli attacks on the flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian assistance
The entire report can be seen HERE in PDF form...http://bit.ly/d1pRBg
Bottom line is......
277. A distinction is made between activities taken to alleviate crises and action to address the causes creating the crisis. The latter action is characterized as political action and therefore inappropriate for groups that wish to be classified as humanitarian. This point is made because of the evidence that while some of the passengers were solely interested in delivering supplies to the people in Gaza, for others the main purpose was raising awareness of the blockade with a view to its removal, as the only way to solve the crisis.
An examination should be made to clearly define humanitarianism as distinct from humanitarian action so that there can be an agreed form of intervention and jurisdiction when humanitarian crises occur.
278. The Mission sincerely hopes that no impediment will be put in the way of those who suffered loss as a result of the unlawful actions of the Israeli military to be compensated adequately and promptly. It is hoped that there will be swift action by the Government of Israel. This will go a long way to reversing the regrettable reputation which that country has for impunity and intransigence in international affairs. It will also assist those who genuinely sympathise with their situation to support them without being stigmatised.
PM slams 'distorted' flotilla report Whole world saw footage,
Prime Minister's Office issues harsh response to UN committee report, claims was drafted by 'body obsessed with persecuting Israel'
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Thursday the UN Human Rights Commission's report
on Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish vessel in May.
The Prime Minister's Office issued a statement Thursday evening, blasting the "tendentious, distorted report" and charging it was draft by an organization "most of whose decisions are based on an obsessive persecution of Israel."
"The whole world saw the video footage of the Navy commandoes who descended to the Marmara deck, and into a violent and premeditated ambush of terror-supporting bullies who tried to kill them with clubs and knives," the statement read. "This not prevent the committee from ignoring the facts and drawing false, predetermined conclusions."
Israel expressed similar sentiments over the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, claining that the probe team was appointed by the UN committee in Geneva, known for its hostile position toward Israel.
The latest report, which was published Wednesday and will be presented to the Human Rights Committee on Monday, cited evidence that Turkish activists were executed during the Gaza flotilla. According to the report, Israel blatantly violated international law during the raid on the Turkish ship.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the establishment of a "command post" in New York, in an effort to coordinate Israeli diplomatic and public relations response to the daming report.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3959025,00.html
MK Zoabi lauds UN panel report accusing IDF of criminality
Balad politician demands soldiers' indictment after UN experts conclude Gaza naval blockade unlawful due to humanitarian crisis; Foreign Ministry slams rights council's "biased, politicized, extremist approach."
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) lauded the findings of a panel of UN human rights experts on Wednesday, which found that Israel had violated international law in enforcing a blockade on Gaza and in the conduct of IDF soldiers during the boarding of the Mavi Marmara.
Zoabi was keen to praise the "professionalism and fairness in [the Human Rights Council's fact finding mission's] efforts to reveal the truth."
She also called on Israel to move forward with the findings of the panel and to indict the Israeli citizens responsible for the Mavi Marmara boarding operation.
"We must not settle for declarations of condemnation but we must work to put the criminals to justice, those who ordered and those who carried out the orders," Zoabi said.
She added, "All attempts of character assassination will not make Israel appear innocent."
Zoabi was one of the flotilla participants aboard the Mavi Marmara when it was boarded by IDF naval commandos.
Earlier on Wednesday, three UN-appointed human rights experts announced there findings that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla killing nine activists earlier this year.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that the naval blockade of Gaza was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including willful killing and torture, and claims there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions."
"A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation," the experts found.
Examining the circumstances of the raid, the panel concluded that a humanitarian crisis existed in Gaza on the day of the incident in Gaza and "for this reason alone the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law."
"The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel toward the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality," the report said.
Foreign Ministry blasts report as biased
The Foreign Ministry responded late Wednesday by saying the Human Rights Council had a "biased, politicized and extremist approach."
"The Human Rights Council blamed Israel prior to the investigation and it is no surprise that they condemn after," said Andy David, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, referring to the 47-member body's resolution in early June condemning the raid.
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel, preferring instead to work with a separate UN group under New Zealand's former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer and Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe that is also examining the incident but has yet to publish its findings.
"Israel is a democratic and law abiding country that carefully observes international law and, when need be, knows how to investigate itself," the Foreign Ministry statement said. "That is how Israel has always acted, and that is the way in which investigations were conducted following Operation Cast Lead, launched to protect the inhabitants of southern Israel from rockets and terror attacks carried out by Hamas from Gaza."
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman said the report emphasized that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories violates human rights "not only against Palestinian people but against innocent people who came to show their sympathy."
"Now it's required to be a mechanism in order to translate this report into action and to bring the occupation commanders to trial for the crimes they committed," Barhoum said.
The Human Rights Council's report was compiled by former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam. It is scheduled to be presented to the council on Monday.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=188971 7 jul 2011, 00:42 , Respect -
Maria 24 sept 2010
Resheq wants UNHRC recommendations against Israeli be implemented
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Ezzat Al-Resheq, member of Hamas's political bureau, has welcomed the report by UNHRC committee that investigated the attack on the Freedom Flotilla last May accusing Israel of committing war crimes.
In press statement he issued, Resheq urged the international community and its concerned agencies to carryout the recommendation of the UNHRC in hunting and prosecuting the perpetrators of the Flotilla massacre.
"The Israeli carnage on board the Mavi Marmara ship was one episode in the decades-long series of Zionist terrorism against the Palestinian people, and against every free person in this world who defends Palestinians or calls for the restoration of their national rights," Resheq said, citing as an example Rachel Currie, the American activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to stop it from destroying a Palestinian home in the Rafah refugee camp in 2003.
He also said that the consistent failure of the international community to hold the Zionist entity accountable for its crimes had given the wrong message to the Israeli occupation and encouraged it to commit even more crimes without fearing prosecution.
http://bit.ly/dzM9ML
Hamas urges UN to prosecute Israel
A spokesman for the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, says the UN should prosecute Israeli leaders for the attack against a Gaza-bound convoy.
Fawzi Barhoum made the comment on Thursday after the UN Human Rights Commission, investigating Tel Aviv's assault against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, said that Israel violated the international laws.
"Now it's required to be a mechanism in order to translate this report into action and to bring the occupation commanders to trial for the crimes they committed," Barhoum said.
He said the UN report emphasized that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories violates human rights "not only against Palestinian people but against innocent people who came to show their sympathy."
On May 31, Israeli commandos stormed the aid convoy in international waters, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring dozens others.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was trying to deliver thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies to the 1.5 million impoverished people of Gaza, who have been under Israel's siege since 2007.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/143754.html
RTV Interviews Ken O'Keefe About Gaza Flotilla Report
'Is that the behavior of a terrorist?'
Kenneth O'Keefe vehemently denies the IDF allegations against him and demands even one shred of evidence.
About a week after the raid on the flotilla, the IDF Spokesman's Unit issued a statement to the media entitled "Specific Flotilla Passangers [sic] Linked to Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Other Terror Organizations." O'Keefe's name appears in second place on the list. He is described as follows: "Ken O'Keefe (Born 1969 ), an American and British citizen, is a radical anti-Israel activist and operative of the Hamas Terror organization. He attempted to enter the Gaza Strip in order to form and train a commando unit for the Palestinian terror organization." (Source: http://idfspokesperson.com/2010/06/06/intel-specific-flotilla-passangers-linked- to-al-qaeda-hamas-and-other-terror-organizations-6-june-2010/ )
As usual, the information, which drew headlines in Israel and was quoted abroad, was not sourced.
O'Keefe vehemently denies this accusation and is demanding that the IDF spokesman supply even one shred of evidence for the allegations against him. Since his discharge from the Marines 20 years ago, he has not engaged in any military activity, he says. He does not believe in armed resistance ("except in the case of self-defence, as enshrined in international law" ) and the organization he founded, Aloha Palestine, is committed to verifiable inspections that ensure no weapons are being transported and has endorsements from well-known international figures.
"I went to Gaza to hold meetings with the people I hoped to develop trade with, among them growers of carnations who grow millions of flowers a year but cannot export them. I wanted to hear what materials were needed there and what could be done to enable some of the factories to reopen. All of that is documented. My laptop, which is still in the hands of the IDF, contains all my correspondence with the people I arranged to meet with. Everything can be easily verified.
"My activity is completely open. I spoke about it on television, I was interrogated in Israel on my previous visit there and I hid nothing. When we were in jail, I demanded to be tried on all the charges against me, and together with another Irish citizen I refused to leave Israel, but to no avail. In Ashdod I was asked only a few basic questions by an intelligence man. In jail a different intelligence man collared me for a conversation in the presence of dozens of our people, who can testify that I asked again to see a judge and face trial. Is that the behavior of a terrorist?"
http://bit.ly/aOeJO5
Flotilla survivor wants UK action
Alex Phillips
After the release of a UN report about the Israeli attack on a Turkish-flagged Gaza-bound aid ship, one of the survivors says she hopes the UK will finally take action.
"They have listened to more than 100 witnesses who were on the flotilla, looked at their evidence and described the action of the Israeli military in the way that they have -- with the extreme violence that was used against unarmed civilians on board," flotilla survivor Alex Phillips told Press TV on Thursday.
"Now we as witnesses to that violence knew that that was the case but now it has been formalized in this report, and we would now hope and expect that our representatives in the British government will recognize the crimes described and take action on our behalf," she added.
The remarks come after the UN Human Rights Council released a report on Wednesday, condemning Israel's deadly attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31.
Turkey has praised the UN probe into the attack, which killed nine Turkish nationals, and called it "absolutely unbiased."
According to Phillips, the weight of the public opinion and the support of the British government are now needed to communicate clearly to Israel that there will be serious consequences for this type of illegal and unacceptable conduct.
Phillips says the evidence which has been gathered in the UN probe could now be used in prosecutions and the international criminal court.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/143814.html
RTV Interviews Ken O'Keefe About Gaza Flotilla Report
Survivor of bloody massacre on passenger ship Mavi Marmara, reacts to UN findings of Israeli violations of international law.
(NEW YORK / CORVALLIS) - A United Nations Human Rights Council investigation concluded that the Israeli military broke international laws during a raid on a Turkish ship that was part of an aid flotilla trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza.
Ken O'Keefe of AlohaPalestine.com, says that the Israeli commandos stole footage that shows executions carried out on the flotilla.
He is currently on a speaking tour of the Northwest, along with fellow Salem-News.com writer Eileen Fleming of WeAreWideAwake.org, that will last several more days.
So far Ken has appeared at two locations in Eugene, Oregon; Harris Hall at OSU, and Tsunami Books. He had a full house at the Corvallis Odd Fellows Hall Wednesday evening.
This interview recorded Thursday for RTV was conducted while Ken was still in Corvallis, Oregon.
(4:28) UN -- Resolved Gaza flotilla report
http://bit.ly/c1YWaS
Israel accuses UN panel of obsession
Israeli soldiers attacked a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea in May.
Israeli premier accuses a UN panel in charge of probing Tel Aviv's deadly attack against a Gaza-bound convoy of being obsessed with targeting Israel.
The allegation was made on Thursday after the UN Human Rights Commission reported that the Israeli attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31 was a "willful killing."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement, calling the report "another tendentious, distorted report, on behalf of a body that obsessively persecutes Israel."
The UN report also said that Israel used "unnecessary violence" during the attack, which killed at least nine Turkish activists and injured dozens more.
According to the probe, the Israeli assault in international waters "constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also reiterated late Wednesday that the Human Rights Council had a biased, politicized and extremist approach.
In late May, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was trying to deliver thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies to the 1.5 million impoverished people of Gaza, who have been under Israel siege since 2007.
About the siege, the UN Human Rights Council's mission concluded that Israel's naval blockade was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there.
The report was compiled by former UN war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, Trinidadian judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips and Malaysian women's rights advocate Mary Shanthi Dairiam. It is scheduled to be debated in the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/143752.html
'I am not a Zionist, I am a Palestinian and a citizen'
Balad MK Haneen Zoabi slams Israeli gov't's characterization of UN flotilla report as "not objective", calls 'Mavi Marmara' passengers peace activists and blames IDF for boarding ship.
MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) stridently attacked the Israeli government's characterization of UN human rights reports as "not objective" in a contentious interview with Yair Lapid on his Channel 2 news program Ulpan Shishi Friday night.
Zoabi claimed during the interview that IDF's boarding of the Mavi Marmara in international waters was illegal and contrary to international law. She also maintained that there was no plan for activists to attack the IDF soldiers and that she, along with the activists around her, had been surprised that the IDF actually sent commandos to board the ship.
She also defended her participation in the Free Gaza flotilla and expressed surprise at what she termed the "racist" reaction many Israeli politicians and the public had towards her participation.
"I am honest to my identity and to my citizenship. I am not a Zionist," said Zoabi. "I am a an Arab, a Palestinian and a citizen."
When asked by Yair Lapid, whether she considered her fellow passengers on the Mavi Marmara peace activists, Zoabi responded, "Definitely."
Zoabi demands state prosecute IDF soldiers
On Wednesday, three UN-appointed human rights experts announced their findings, stating that Israeli forces violated international law when they raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and killed nine activists earlier this year.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that the naval blockade of Gaza was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
After the report was released on Wednesday evening, Zoabi lauded the findings of the panel and was keen to praise the "professionalism and fairness in [the Human Rights Council's fact finding mission's] efforts to reveal the truth." She also called on Israel to move forward with the findings of the panel and to indict the Israeli citizens responsible for the Mavi Marmara boarding operation.
"We must not settle for declarations of condemnation but we must work to put the criminals to justice, those who ordered and those who carried out the orders," Zoabi said.
She added, "All attempts of character assassination will not make Israel appear innocent."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=189143
'Great flotilla' group mounts anti-Israeli campaign
Organizers of next Gaza aid sail mount display featuring Israeli premier clutching bloody knife, skeleton of Israeli soldier with Palestinian children coming out of its mouth in efforts to rally support for journey. Foreign Ministry: Campaign heinous.
While Israel is studying the UN Human Rights Council report probing the events of May's Gaza-bound aid sail, the organizers are preparing for their next sail, by by launching an anti-Israel street and media campaign. .
The future flotilla is expected to reach the area in early October, carrying hundreds of anti-Israeli activist from Europe. Organizers launched the media campaign in London, last week.
The 4,000-mile journey, which is currently still land-bound, will arrive in Syria next week. Participants will then set sail to Egypt's al-Arish port and from there to Rafah crossing.
For now, the participants' campaign have taken them to Torino, Italy, where they staged a support rally dubbed "Viva Palestine from Italy to Gaza" and have embarked on a mission to raise funds and supporters, using displays depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding a bloody butcher knife and a second display feature the skeleton head of an Israeli soldier, with Palestinian children coming out of its mouth.
The Netanyahu display
Displays including skulls embedded with the Star of David and Palestinian flags are expected to be shown throughout the journey.
Organizers claim the flotilla will include 12 vessels carrying 5,000 activists, but Israel says only a few hundreds are expected to actually arrive.
Foreign Ministry Communications Director Yossi Levy said Friday that "the media ruckus the sail activists are trying to rile up is the opening shot in a heinous campaign which in unjustifiable and means only to damage Israel's international image and standing.
"Just as the Marmara terror ship was not carrying so much as one ounce of humanitarian aid for Gazans... this sail and others like it aim to breach a hypothetical blockade and ease 'mass hunger' which is nothing more than the figment of an anti-Israeli campaign."
Gaza, he concluded, "Longs not for the end of an Israeli occupation, but for the end of Hamas occupation, which has plunged it into great darkness."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3959486,00.html 7 jul 2011, 00:42 , Respect -
Maria 25 sept 2010
Turkey wants Flotilla probe 'complete'
Turkey's President Abdullah Gul speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, September 24, 2010.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has called on the UN Human Rights Council to complete its probe into an Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists.
Gul also urged Israel to take necessary steps regarding the deadly attack.
"Turkey cannot act as if nothing happened last May when Israeli troops stormed the aid flotilla. We expect Israel to take necessary measures. We also expect the [UN] Human Rights Council to complete its probe into the incident," Gul said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Friday.
The Turkish president's comments came two days after an inquiry ordered by the UN rights council stated that there was clear evidence to support prosecutions against Israel for "willful killing" and torture committed when its troops attacked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea early on May 31.
The aid flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, was carrying humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and construction materials to Gaza which has been under tight Israeli blockade since 2007.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/143857.html
Israeli crimes vs peace activisme. What now?
A new convoy headed to the Palestinian region of Gaza has started its journey on September 18th in order to bring the population under illegal siege humanitarian aid.
The day of the departure wasn't randomly chosen. On September 16th-18th, in fact, was the 28th anniversary of the ferocious massacre of Sabra and Shatila, carried out by Israeli commandos headed by former prime minister of the Zionist entity, Ariel Sharon.
One of the many massacres carried out by Zionism since its inception.
"Fifteen minutes by car from Tel-Aviv University lies the village of Kfar Qassim where, on 29 October 1956, Israeli troops massacred forty-nine villagers returning from their fields. Then there was Qibya in the 1950s, Samoa in the 1960s, the villages of the Galilee in 1976, Sabra and Shatila in 1982, Kfar Qana in 1999, Wadi Ara in 2000 and the Jenin Refugee Camp in 2002. And in addition there are the numerous killings Betselem, Israel's leading human rights organisation, keeps track of. There has never been an end to Israel's killing of Palestinians." [1]
So in these very days the massive convoy partly by land partly by sea is heading to Gaza, that has been transformed into a concentration camp by the illegal blockade imposed by the Zionist entity.
Last edition of flotilla has ended in a bloodbath due to the over-excitement of special Israeli commandos racing in order to get a medal of honour, and nine peace activists were brutally killed in a show of unnecessary violence, zionist speciality.
While the world was outraged by such abuse of force against unarmed civilians in international waters, Israeli officials themselves were probably wondering why worldwide public opinion was still not used to their crimes.
The truth, in fact, is that killing civilians is Israel's policy. These are not "tragic mistakes" nor "collateral damages," and there is no "regret" about it. Slaughtering civilians, men, women, children, the elderly, is the foundation on which Israel itself was created: the ethnic cleansing of a whole nation and the creation of a state based on racism and apartheid.
This, combined with the unconditional political and financial support of the USA and the impunity granted by the International Community, allows the Zionist regime to carry out such crimes undisturbed.
Until so-called "intellectuals" writing for mainstream outlets of the likes of Washington Post and New York Times will keep engaging in shallow demagoguery such as "Yes, Israel kills, but it's the only democracy in the Middle East," or "Yes, Israel kills, but it has the right to self defense," or "Yes, Israel kills, but it's a victim," world's stability will remain an illusion.
Already in 1937, Ben Gurion, founder of the zionist illegal colony, had said: "We must expel Arabs and take their places."
Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel, in a burst of ignorance, has declared to The Times of London in 1969: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. The didn't exist."
Menachem Begin, former prime minister of Israel, declared in a speech to the Knesset: "[Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs."
As an illegal organisation that can rely on the silence and the complicity of world's most powerful nations, Israel has never shown any respect for human life. Any human life, for that matter.
The occupation of Palestine, the abuses on the native population, the invasions of Lebanon, the countless massacres of civilians that fill Israel's history, the highest contempt towards any international law and regulation have always been met by shy disapproval from the International Community.
Last May 31st, an Israeli commando killed eight Turkish citizens and one US citizen of Turkish origins. Unlike many people might think, it would have made no difference if the activists were all from Western countries.
Rachel Corrie was a US citizen and was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer.
Tristan Anderson is a US citizen, Bay Area activist and photojournalist, and was shot in the head at close range by an Israeli soldier, causing him severe brain damage and blindness in his right eye.
Emily Henochowicz is a US citizen and lost an eye when she was shot in the face with a tear gas canister at a demonstration in the West Bank by Israeli military.
Tom Hurndall was a British photography student and was shot in the head in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli sniper.
James Miller was a Welsh filmmaker and was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier while filming a documentary in Rafah.
Brian Avery is an American citizen who was shot in the face by an Israeli soldier in the West Bank town of Jenin, causing him permanent disfigurement.
Despite its power and the complicity of Western governments, however, Israel has made it clear more than once that it's not able to handle peace activism, and what the Zionist regime is most afraid of are the hundreds of thousands of activists of all ages and walks of life committed to expose its crimes.
Because it's only a matter of time and soon the zionist colony will be dismantled, and Palestinians will be able to go back to their own wounded country.
http://bit.ly/b58KAv 7 jul 2011, 00:43 , Respect -
Maria 26 sept 2010
Peres: Israel will 'seek friendship with Turkey'
President Shimon Peres said Israel will "seek friendship with Turkey" despite fallout over a deadly flotilla raid, while Turkish President Abdullah Gul said normalizing soured ties would be up to Israel.
The leaders appeared independently on a US Sunday talk show, and while the two insisted that they remain on friendly personal terms, there appeared to be tension over a recent New York meeting which fell through amid charges by Peres that Turkey had demanded an apology over the Israeli raid.
"I read they first want apologies and compensation. I was very much surprised," Peres told CNN show "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
That meeting was scrapped between the leaders, whose countries had been strategic allies until the raid, after which Ankara withdrew its ambassador and canceled joint war games.
"But we didn't change our attitude to Turkey," Peres said. "We were friends of Turkey, we shall seek friendship with Turkey."
Last week Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported that Gul didn't meet Peres in New York because of the Turkish leader's busy schedule, and on Sunday's broadcast Gul said reports that his government demanded an apology from Peres as a condition of their meeting were exaggerated.
"No, these are not correct," he said.
Yet Gul reiterated Ankara's position that Israel was to blame for the Mediterranean tragedy that left nine people dead, including eight Turks.
"They are defending their act and they are criticizing us as if we (did) something wrong. With this understanding, how can I meet?" he asked.
"We do not prefer this deterioration in relationship but unfortunately it was a great mistake from Israeli side because this blockage, embargo on Gaza," he told CNN in English.
"We're not against Israel. We are not enemy, but we have a right to criticize the policies."
While not directly stating that Turkey wanted an apology in order to mend ties, Gul said fixing the relationship was "up to Israel."
Peres said that if he had a chance to meet with Gul he would tell him "we have to continue our friendship," and that there were ways for Turkey to remain a key broker in the Middle East.
"Tell Hamas to stop shooting," Peres said, referring to the Islamist movement that in 2007 took over the Gaza Strip, from where rockets rained down on Israel in 2008 prompting a deadly Israeli incursion into the coastal enclave.
"Tell Iran to stop sending missiles. Tell (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad not to threaten to destroy Israel or deny the Holocaust," Peres said.
Gul said his government invited Hamas representatives to Turkey after their election win in Gaza, and told them to "act democratically" and to stop the "nonsense" of firing rockets into Israel.
http://yhoo.it/beqacK
Yildirim: UN report on Gaza siege and Flotilla attack exposed Israel's true face
ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- Head of the Turkish humanitarian relief foundation IHH Bulent Yildirim hailed the report issued by the UN human rights council's probe committee on Gaza siege and the Israeli attack on Freedom Flotilla aid convoy, stressing that the report unveiled Israel's true face.
Yildirim said in a news conference held in Istanbul with head of Mazloum Dar for human rights Jihad Gokdemir that the report confirmed that the Flotilla massacre was brutal and the blockade on Gaza is unjustified.
For his part, Gokdemir highlighted legal details in the report, affirming that Israel is trying to raise doubts about and question the integrity of the UN probe committee after it prepared its report.
He said that Turkey will sue Israel in the international criminal court on October 14 on behalf of those who were assaulted and killed during the Israeli military attack on Freedom Flotilla, adding that there will be another lawsuit later against Israel with the international court of justice.
The Turkish activist pointed out that the report also emphasized that the Israeli blockade on Gaza is illegal and Israel has no right to prevent humanitarian aid ships from reaching Gaza, affirming that his top priority is to have Gaza siege lifted.
The activist also noted that the report stated clearly that Israel deliberately kills, tortures, and maltreats civilians and limits freedoms in general.
Different media outlets including the Palestinian information center (PIC) and some families of Flotilla victims attended the conference.
http://bit.ly/duluyB
(2:23) MaximsNewsNetwork: UNHRC VOTES ON GAZA FLOTILLA FINDINGS REPORT (UNTV)
(2:13) MaximsNewsNetwork: GAZA FLOTILLA REPORT to U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (UNTV) 4 x viewed
(1:53) MaximsNewsNetwork: FRANCE EXPULSION of ROMA: GRAVE CONCERNS by U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 1 x viewed
(2:11) MaximsNewsNetwork: ISRAEL: FLOTILLA INQUIRY PANEL & UN's BAN KI-MOON (UNTV) 1 x viewed
(2:04) MaximsNewsNetwork: GAZA FLOTILLA INVESTIGATION: U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (UNTV) 1 x viewed
27 sept 2010
PA Cabinet affirms support for Palestinian negotiators
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority Cabinet affirmed its support for Palestinian negotiators on Monday, at a weekly meeting in Ramallah.
In a statement, the Cabinet welcomed US President Barack Obama's call for an end to settlement activity during his address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday. PA ministers warned of a new phase in settlement building, as the 10-month slowdown in construction expired.
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad briefed the Cabinet on his recent visit to New York to participate in a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, a group of donors to Palestine that meets every six months to coordinate efforts.
Fayyad said the full support of the international community was crucial to the success of the PA's efforts to establish a state. Ministers welcomed the Middle East Quartet statement which supported the PA's two-year plan to build state institutions.
The Cabinet welcomed the results of the UN report on Israel's attack of a Turkish-flagged Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The report found that Israel violated international law during the raid, in which nine passengers were killed. Ministers said the UN findings were in line with the PA's expectations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=318686
Freedom Flotilla Coalition Grows in Athens
Legal, Political and Grassroots Action to End Israeli Impunity
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has just concluded its meeting in Athens, where we assessed developments related to our ongoing efforts to end Israel's criminal blockade on Gaza and other illegal policies perpetrated against the Palestinian people. We have said that we would not allow Israel's violence against Freedom Flotilla I stop our global citizen efforts to stand up to Israel's ongoing intransigence and indeed it has not.
Over the last three months, we have been joined by national coalitions in Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Australia, and the United States, and other countries, each of which is working on sending a boat to Gaza. As we speak, a Jewish boat is on its way to Gaza in a statement to the world that Israel does not act in the name of world Jewry, nor does Israel's blockade of Gaza have anything to do with protecting Jews. The people of Gaza anxiously await their arrival.
We have started a movement that Israel, with all its weapons, cannot stop. We have been forced to do this because our governments have not been willing to hold Israel accountable for systematic violations of Palestinian human rights. We expect our governments to support our nonviolent actions to uphold international law, and to take action when their unarmed citizens are violently attacked, beaten, arrested and killed. We lost nine of our colleagues to Israel's senseless violence and this is only a fraction of the violence that Palestinians have been subjected to over the last 60 years.
Today the independent Fact Finding Mission, commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council releases the conclusions of its investigation into the Freedom Flotilla raid. The UN flotilla report concludes that Israeli troops used incredible violence against us, committing "grave breaches" of international law. The report also says there is clear evidence to support prosecutions against Israel for willful killing and torture committed when its soldiers stormed our flotilla last May.
Greece, as a signatory to the Rome Statute has the right to bring this matter before the International Criminal Court. Our respective countries have the ability to invoke universal jurisdictions to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.
Israel has consistently tried to label any individual or group that acts to defend Palestinian rights as terrorist. They launched a slanderous attack on our Turkish partners. The UN Flotilla report rejected the notion that intervention by civil society to address the cause of a humanitarian crisis is meddlesome. It called for space for both humanitarian intervention to alleviate the crisis in Gaza, and political action to address the causes creating the crisis.
The Second Freedom Flotilla now being organized, like the one so brutally attacked by Israel, will aim to do both. In the meantime we call upon our countries to use all available legal and political means to ensure that Israel stops acting above the law so that we do not have to put our lives on the line to do so.
http://bit.ly/cgZPwy
UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan
The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style at point blank range by Israeli commandos, and that five other passengers were killed in similar circumstances.
The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.
The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.
The forensic evidence that establishes that fact is "tattooing around the wound in his face," indicating that the shot was "delivered at point blank range" The report describes the forensic evidence as showing that "the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back."
Based on both "forensic and firearm evidence," the fact-finding panel concluded that Dogan's killing and that of five Turkish citizens by the Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmari May 31 "can be characterized as extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions." (See Report [.pdf] Page 38, Section 170)
The report confirmed what the Obama administration already knew from the autopsy report on Dogan, but the administration has remained silent about the killing of Dogan, which could be an extremely difficult political problem for the administration in its relations with Israel.
The Turkish government gave the autopsy report on Dogan to the US Embassy in July and it was then passed on to the Department of Justice, according to a US government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the administration's policy of silence on the matter. The source said the purpose of obtaining the report was to determine whether an investigation of the killing by the Justice Department (DOJ) was appropriate.
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Asked by this writer whether the DOJ had received the autopsy report on Dogan, DOJ spokesperson Laura Sweeney refused to comment.
The administration has not volunteered any comment on the fact-finding mission report and was not asked to do so by any news organization. Although the report's revelations and conclusions about the killing of Dogan and the five other victims were widely reported in the Turkish media last week, not a single story on the report has appeared in US news media.
The administration has made it clear through its inaction and its explicit public posture that it has no intention of pressing the issue of the murder of a US citizen in cold blood by Israeli commandos.
On June 13, two weeks after the Mavi Marmara attack, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying that Israel "should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security" and that Israel's military justice system "meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation."
Another passenger whom forensic evidence shows was killed execution-style, according to the OHCHR report, is Ibrahim Bilgen, a 60-year-old Turkish citizen. Bilgen is believed by forensics experts to have been shot initially from the helicopter above the Mavi Marmara and then shot in the side of the head while lying seriously wounded.
The fact-finding mission was given forensic evidence that, after the initial shot in chest from above, Bilgen was shot in the head with a "soft baton round at such close proximity that an entire bean bag and its wadding penetrated the skull and lodged in the chest from above," the mission concluded.
"Soft baton rounds" are supposed to be fired for nonlethal purposes at a distance and aimed only at the stomach, but are lethal when fired at the head, especially from close range.
The forensic evidence cited by the fact-finding mission on the killing of Dogan and five other passengers came from both the autopsy reports and pathology reports done by forensic personnel in Turkey and from interviews with those who wrote the reports. Experts in forensic pathology and firearms assisted the mission in interpreting that forensic evidence.
The account, provided by the OHCHR of the events on board the Mavi Marmara on its way to help break the economic siege of Gaza May 31 of this year, refutes the version of events aggressively pushed by the Israeli military and supports the testimony of passengers on board.
The report suggests that, from the beginning, Israeli policy viewed the Gaza flotilla as an opportunity to use lethal force against pro-Hamas activists. It quotes testimony by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak before the Israeli government's Turkel Committee that specific orders were given by the Israeli government "to continue intelligence tracking of the flotilla organizers with an emphasis on the possibility that amongst the passengers in the flotilla there were terror elements who would attempt to harm Israeli forces."
The idea that the passenger list would be seeded with terrorists determined to attack Israeli defense forces appears to have been a ploy to justify treating the operation as likely to require the use of military force against the passengers.
[media id=1110068176n3tm size=large]When details of the Israeli plan to forcibly take over the ships in the flotilla were published in the Israeli press on May 30, the passengers on board the Mavi Marmara realized that the Israelis might use deadly force against them. Some leaders of the IHH (the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid), which had purchased the ships for the mission, were advocating defending the boat against the Israeli boarding attempt, whereas other passengers advocated nonviolence only.
That led to efforts to create improvised weapons from railings and other equipment on the Mavi Marmara. However, the commission concluded that there was no evidence of any firearms having being taken aboard the ship, as charged by Israel.
The report notes that the Israeli military never communicated a request by radio to inspect the cargo on board any of the ships, apparently contradicting the official justification given by the Israeli government for the military attack on the Mavi Marmara and other ships of preventing any military contraband from reaching Gaza.
According to the OHCHR report, Israeli Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi testified to the Turkel Committee August 11 that the initial rules of engagement for the operation prohibited live fire except in life-threatening situations, but that that they were later modified to target protesters "deemed to be violent" in response to the resistance by passengers.
That decision apparently followed the passengers' successful repulsion of an Israeli effort to board the ship from Zodiac boats.
The report confirms that, from the beginning of the operation, passengers were fired on by helicopters flying above the Mavi Marmara to drop commandos on the deck.
Contrary to Israeli claims that one or more Israeli troops were wounded by firearms, the report says no medical evidence of a gunshot wound to an Israeli soldier was found.
The OHCHR report confirms accounts from passengers on the Mavi Marmara that defenders subdued roughly ten Israeli commandos, took their weapons from them and threw them in the sea, except for one weapon hidden as evidence. The Israeli soldiers were briefly sequestered below and some were treated for wounds before being released by the defenders.
The OHCHR fact-finding mission will certainly be the most objective, thorough and in-depth inquiry into the events on board the Mavi Marmara and other ships in the flotilla of the four that have been announced.
The fact-finding mission was chaired by Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Q.C., retired judge of the International Criminal Court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago, and included Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C. of the United Kingdom, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and Ms. Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, founding member of the board of directors of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific.
The mission interviewed 112 eyewitnesses to the Israeli attack in London, Geneva, Istanbul and Amman, Jordan. The Israeli government refused to cooperate with the fact-finding mission by making personnel involved in both planning and carrying out the attack available to be interviewed.
The Turkish governments announced its own investigation of the Israeli attack on August 10. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the formation of a "Panel of Inquiry" on August 2, but its mandate was much more narrowly defined. It was given the mission to "receive and review the reports of the national investigations with the view to recommending ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future."
http://bit.ly/aUCpFs
[b]Israel labels charity "terrorists"[/b]
The UN Human Rights Council will investigate Israel's attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May. A recent UN report concluded Israel's military broke international laws during the raid which left nine activists dead.
(2:21) Newshound Israel labels charity terrorists
It also described the attack as brutal and disproportionate.
Israel still claims the incident was "self-defense" and considers the Turkish charity group which led the flotilla to be terrorists linked to Hamas.
As a result of the attack a relatively little known NGO was brought on the world stage.
"In the world in which we live today, where Islamic sympathizers are also been called terrorists, it is no wonder that IHH (the Humanitarian Relief Foundation from Turkey, which led the flotilla) is being accused in this way," revealed Ghada Kami, Research Fellow at Institute Of Arab and Islamic Studies.
The Turkish charity first popped up on the CIA radar four years ago. It has been banned in Israel and Germany, which say it is strongly linked with Hamas in Gaza.
Ismail Yilmaz says the last thing he would do is call himself a terrorist. He is a father of three and says he boarded the ship for Gaza for his three daughters.
"Gazan children should have a right to live freely; we want this so I joined that organization. If another event of this kind is organized -- I would go again," IHH volunteer Ismail Yilmaz says.
Set up in the early 1990s to help Bosnian Muslims, the IHH, or Humanitarian Relief Foundation, has offices in 120 countries
"If the people are in need -- we will go and we will show our solidarity for these people," informed Huseyin Oruc, Vice President of Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
And it showed solidarity in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Indonesia, Iraq, China as well as Palestinians.
"We have built hospitals, we have built schools, infrastructure, we have built houses for the people," Huseyin Oruc says.
Palestinian writer Ghada Kami says Israel is trying to portray the group as a terrorist one in order to try to justify the deadly flotilla raid.
"In the immediate aftermath, condemnation of what Israel had done, Israelis mounted a defense which was, in a way, quite clever, but not based on any facts," noted Ghada Kami.
It is now for the investigators to decide. Turkey, Israel and the UN, each with its own inquiry.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told RT that the results of the recent UN report on the flotilla incident were pre-determined.
"This report was determined in advance, the Human Rights Council held an emergency session only a day or two after the flotilla incident happened," Neuer said. "They declared Israel guilty of 'an outrageous attack', so the outcome was entirely pre-determined, and this is not something that's exceptional."
"In fact, Mary Robinson, who was the UN rights chief, said the Human Rights Council has a pattern of acting politically and not for human rights," Hillel Neuer added. "Let's remember who the membership is -- Saudi Arabia, China, Colonel Gaddafi of Libya is now a member of the Human Rights Council. This is not a body that cares about human rights. This is a body that is political, that is engaged in a constant campaign to de-legitimize Israel, and human rights is the last thing on the minds of members like Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Libya."
MaximsNewsNetwork: 27 September 2010 -- UNHRC - UNTV: -- Geneva, Switzerland - The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council was told today (27 September) in Geneva that Israeli troops broke international law by storming an aid flotilla bound for Gaza and Karl Hudson-Phillips, Chairman of the International Independent Fact Finding Mission, said the killings of activists on-board were "serious violations of both humanitarian and human rights law."
Hudson-Philips said that "passengers were assaulted by being kicked and gun-butted," adding that the conduct of the Israeli military "was disproportionate and excessive and that they demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary violence."
Israeli Ambassador Aharon Leshno Yaar said that "Israel decided not to participate with the work of this councils committee" because of "a determined lack of faith in this Council."
Today's debate in Geneva follows the publication last week of a critical report on the raid on the flotilla on May 31 when nine activists on a Turkish ship were killed as they attempted to breach the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Palestinian Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi said that "the offensive character of Israel made it kill those innocent civilians" who did not carry "a single missile or bullet or a lethal tool on these ships."
Turkish Ambassador Oguz Demiralp said "while reading the report, I couldn't help asking myself whether Israel has a heart in its chest or a stone."
The independent fact finding mission, which interviewed more than 100 witnesses in Geneva, London, Istanbul and Amman during the course of its work, also found that once the Israeli forces took complete control of the Mavi Marmara, passengers with few exceptions were kept handcuffed and kneeling for hours.
28 sept 2010
US concerned UNHRC flotilla probe may stop peace talks
State Dept. opposes implementation of report, while EU says it should be used by the UN's general investigation.
The State Department is concerned that the UN Human Rights Council report on the Gaza flotilla could be used to stop the peace process, AFP reported on Tuesday.
"We are concerned with the tone, content and conclusions of the report," US envoy to the UN Human Rights Committee Eileen Chamberlain reportedly told the organization.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission concluded that the naval blockade of Gaza was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
She added that the US things "the report should not be used to justify actions that will prevent peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians."
The European Union, however, said the report should be transferred to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's probe, which includes Israeli and Turkish investigators.
The 56-page document lists a series of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces during and after the raid, including willful killing and torture, and claims there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions."
"A series of violations of international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law, were committed by the Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla and during the detention of passengers in Israel prior to deportation," the experts found.
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=189515
US criticises 'unbalanced' flotilla probe
The United States on Tuesday criticised a UN probe into Israel's storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, urging the Human Rights Council to prevent the report from being used to torpedo peace talks.
"We are concerned by the report's unbalanced language, tone and conclusions," US ambassador Eileen Donahoe told the Human Rights Council.
"We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt the direct Israeli-Palestinian talks now underway or actions that could make it harder," she added.
A probe ordered by the UN Human Rights Council said last week there was clear evidence to back a prosecution against Israel for killing and torture when troops stormed the flotilla in May, leaving nine Turkish activists dead.
The report also threw out Israel's argument that the activists were violent, thereby justifying the decision by soldiers to open fire.
It found that no offensive weapons were taken on board any of the vessels of the flotilla except a few catapults.
From the outset, Israel has rejected the probe as biased.
Other Western states however, called for the report to be transmitted to the a separate United Nations probe into the incident which was set up by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
Switzerland said it hopes that the separate inquiry "would take into account the analysis and conclusions of the Human Rights Council's probe."
The European Union also "encouraged Israel to follow-up on the conclusions" of the rights inquiry.
The Israeli and Palestinian leaders relaunched peace negotiations earlier this month but the fledgling process is already in danger after the expiry of a moratorium on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
http://yhoo.it/9Ltulq
US criticizes 'unbalanced' flotilla probe
The United States on Tuesday criticized a UN probe into Israel's storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, urging the Human Rights Council to prevent the report from being used to torpedo peace talks.
"We are concerned by the report's unbalanced language, tone and conclusions," US ambassador Eileen Donahoe told the Human Rights Council. "We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt the direct Israeli-Palestinian talks now underway or actions that could make it harder," she added.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961358,00.html
Prison Service chief summoned by Turkel committee
Prison Service Chief Benny Kaniak has been summoned by the Turkel Committee investigating the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961349,00.html 7 jul 2011, 00:44 , Respect -
Maria UN panel: Israel suppressing footage of Gaza flotilla raid
Member of the UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission says Israel is trying maintain a monopoly over its version of the deadly May 31 events aboard the Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara.
An expert panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla four months ago said Tuesday that Israel is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
The three independent, UN-appointed experts said Israeli soldiers confiscated photos and video material from more than two dozen journalists and others aboard the flotilla during the raid, which killed nine pro-Palestinian activists.
"When the military took over the ships, they scrupulously confiscated all photographic material," said Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a former judge at the International Criminal Court who chaired the panel. "All cameras were seized, all cell phones were seized, all laptops were confiscated."
"From this one would conclude that part of the strategy, as we indicated in our report, was to control information and to have a monopoly on versions as to what existed," he said.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, rejected the charge, saying the report's authors had "no way of knowing what footage Israel has and therefore what - if anything - was suppressed."
Israel refused to cooperate with the panel from the start, arguing that the UN Human Rights Council which commissioned it was biased against Israel. Requests by the experts to visit Israel and interview Israeli officials were refused.
Palmor said Israel had returned all equipment and material that journalists on the boats had requested through the International Federation of Journalists, but acknowledged that most of the material had not been returned.
Questions about video footage shot during the raid have been central to the dispute over what happened on the Mavi Marmara on May 31, in which eight Turkish activists and one Turkish-American were shot and killed.
Israel used confiscated videos to justify why its troops opened fire after rappelling onto the deck, saying they came under attack by activists wielding clubs, axes and metal rods. The army says its soldiers were armed with non-lethal paintball guns as their primary weapons and only resorted to using their handguns after they were assaulted.
The activists said they were defending their ship after it was attacked by Israeli soldiers in international waters on its way to delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
"We interviewed persons who told us that they had taken certain footage which was not seen in any of the versions released by the Israeli authorities," said Hudson-Phillips. "We also got evidence from some persons that parts of the footage released they recognized as being very close, if not identical, to what they visualized as having taken."
"It appears as if some use in a selective way was made of information seized," he said at a news conference in Geneva, where the panel had presented its report to the 47-nation rights council.
The 56-page report, which concluded that the Israeli raid was clearly unlawful, was sharply criticized Tuesday by the United States, which expressed concern at its unbalanced language, tone and conclusions.
"We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt the direct Israeli-Palestinian talks now under way," said Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. ambassador at the council.
The experts refrained from making recommendations in their report. But former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Desmond de Silva, another member of the panel, told reporters that since the Mavi Marmara was sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, that country could technically ask prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to pursue any alleged crimes.
Palmor, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, downplayed the possibility of prosecution.
"If the Comoros wants to take us to court, they may do so, of course, he said. We don't fear such a procedure because we don't feel we have anything to hide or anything to fear from a fair and balanced court of law.".
http://bit.ly/bzoyxd
Activists call on countries to stop Israeli violations
Rachel Corrie R.I.P.
ATHENS, - The Freedom Flotilla coalition ended its meeting in the Greek capital of Athens after discussing developments related to current efforts to end Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip and its unlawful policies against the Palestinians.
The coalition said in a statement on Tuesday that it will not allow Israeli violence against the first Freedom Flotilla to stop global efforts to stand against Israel's intransigence during the past three months.
We have joined a number of national alliances in Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Australia, the U.S., and other countries. All of the aforementioned countries are working on sending ships to Gaza to break the siege, the coalition said.
We began a serious movement to stop Israel's intransigence, which the state of Israel cannot stop despite all of its power, the statement reads.
We took such action because our governments do not intend to hold Israel responsible for the violence it commits against the Palestinians, so we expect our governments to support non-violent acts and commit to international laws.
We must take necessary measures when defenseless citizens are exposed to violence, arrests, and murder, especially since we lost nine of our colleagues as a result of Israel's violence, which does not make sense, and this is only part of the violence the Palestinians have suffered in the past sixty years.
The coalition has studied the report issued by an independent fact-finding committee formed by the UN Human Rights Council on the attack against the Freedom Flotilla. It has been confirmed that Israeli forces used excessive force against activists on board and committed major violations of international law.
According to the Rome Statute, Greece has the right to take the case to international court and the countires have the power to call for international justice for Israel's violations of law, the committee stressed.
Israel constantly tries to name people and groups who defend the rights of the Palestinian people terrorists as they did with our Turkish partners. Despite that, preparations for the second Freedom Flotilla are under way and will have the same objective as the first one, the coalition explained.
We call on our countries to take all legal and political means available to ensure that the Israeli state stops its unlawful acts, so we will not be forced to put our lives on the line, the statement concluded.
http://bit.ly/dB8Yye
'ICC may probe Israel's flotilla attack'
Desmond de Silva, a member of a UN Human Rights Council
A UN expert has announced that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may probe Israel's brutal attack against a Gaza-bound aid convoy.
The Mavi Marmara ship was assaulted by Israeli navy commandos in international waters in May. The incident left nine Turkish activists dead and several others injured.
The ship's flag state is the Comoros Islands, which are members of the court, "which gives the ICC jurisdiction," AFP quoted Desmond de Silva, a member of a UN Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) probe into the attack, as saying on Tuesday.
Last week, UNHRC, which ordered the investigation of the Israeli attack, said that there is clear evidence to back prosecution against Israel for killing and torturing when its troops stormed the aid ship.
The probe also revealed that six of the nine deceased were "victims of summary executions."
The UN-appointed experts also said Israel withheld photos and video footage belonging to several reporters and other activists onboard the ship.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was trying to deliver thousands of tons of humanitarian supplies to the 1.5 million impoverished people of Gaza, who have been under Israel's siege since 2007.
http://www.presstv.com/detail/144414.html
ICC can examine aid flotilla case: UN expert
The International Criminal Court could examine Israel's deadly storming of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, a member of a UN Human Rights Council's probe into the incident said Tuesday.
Desmond de Silva, a member of the inquiry, noted that the ship Mavi Marmara's flagstate is the Comoros Islands, which are members of the court, "which gives the ICC jurisdiction because the (offensives) were committed on board the Mavi Marmara."
The probe ordered by the UN Human Rights Council into the May 31 incident said last week that there is clear evidence to back prosecution against Israel for killing and torture when its troops stormed the aid ship, leaving nine Turkish activists dead.
It also said that six of the deceased were "victims of summary executions."
Israel has rejected the inquiry from the outset as biased.
During a UN Human Rights Council hearing on Tuesday, the United States also criticised the report for its "unbalanced language, tone and conclusions."
Other Western states however, called for the report to be transmitted to a separate United Nations probe into the incident which was set up by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.
"The European Union suggests transmitting the report before us to the international panel of inquiry," an EU diplomat said on Tuesday.
She added that the bloc "strongly encourage Israel to follow-up on the conclusions of the" rights probe.
De Silva is a British lawyer and former UN war crimes prosecutor for Sierra Leone.
http://yhoo.it/aZKHtA
UN experts say Israel suppressing flotilla footage
Independent panel investigating Israel Navy raid claims Jerusalem is suppressing footage of incident confiscated from more than two dozens journalists, flotilla passengers.
An independent panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla says Jerusalem is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
The UN-appointed experts say Israeli soldiers confiscated still photos and video material from more than two dozen journalists and others aboard the flotilla during the raid May 31 in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a former judge at the International Criminal Court, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that Israel appeared to be trying to "control information and to have monopoly on versions as to what existed."
Israel has dismissed the report, claiming the UN Human Rights Council that commissioned it is biased.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3961589,00.html
UN experts say Israel suppressing flotilla footage
GENEVA An independent panel investigating Israel's boarding of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla says Jerusalem is suppressing footage of the incident it seized from the passengers.
The UN-appointed experts say Israeli soldiers confiscated still photos and video material from more than two dozen journalists and others aboard the flotilla during the raid May 31 in which nine people were killed.
Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a former judge at the International Criminal Court, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that Israel appeared to be trying to "control information and to have monopoly on versions as to what existed."
Israel has dismissed the report, claiming the UN Human Rights Council that commissioned it is biased.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=189534 7 jul 2011, 00:45 , Respect -
Maria 29 sept 2010
Turkey 'disappointed' with US
Turkey's foreign minister lauded the UN Human Rights Council's decision to endorse the conclusions of the probe into the flotilla raid.
The minister expressed Turkey's disappointment over the US' decision to vote against the conclusions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962095,00.html
Update: UN body backs anti-Israel flotilla report
Human Rights Council agrees to endorse damning report on Israel's lethal raid on Turkish ship .
The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday agreed to back a report which found "clear evidence" for legal action against Israel over its attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The resolution, which was tabled by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was approved with 30 votes in favor, one against and 15 abstentions.
It "endorses the conclusions contained in the report" of an inquiry ordered by the council on the May 31 incident during which nine Turkish nationals were killed when Israeli soldiers stormed ships heading to Gaza.
The damming report, compiled by three UN-appointed human rights experts, said that Israeli forces violated international law and showed "incredible violence" when they raided the Turkish Mavi Marma ship.
The UN Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission also concluded in a 56-page document that Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian territory was unlawful because of the humanitarian crisis there, and described the military raid on the flotilla as brutal and disproportionate.
According to the UN probe, there is "clear evidence to support prosecutions" against Israel for "willful killing" and torture.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962034,00.html
UN backs report on Israel's flotilla attack
The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday agreed to back a report which found "clear evidence" for legal action against Israel over its attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The resolution, which was tabled by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was approved with 30 votes in favor, one against and 15 abstentions.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3962018,00.html
Even if Bin Laden Had Been on the Gaza-Bound Flotilla, Israel's Actions Would Have Been Illegal, Says UN-Appointed Judge
A screen shot from a videoclip released by the Israeli Defense Forces shows activists onboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara attacking troops who boarded it at sea on May 31, 2010
The U.N. Human Rights Council is considering a report by the three-member commission that investigated the so-called flotilla incident Israel's interception at sea of Gaza-bound vessels carrying pro-Palestinian activists.
(CNSNews.com) - Israel's blockade of a Gaza-bound flotilla last May would have been illegal, even if Osama bin Laden himself had been on the ship full of pro-Palestinian activists, a member of a U.N.-appointed fact-finding mission told the Human Rights Council.
The Geneva-based HRC is considering a report by the three-member commission that investigated the so-called flotilla incident Israel's interception at sea of Gaza-bound vessels, including the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, on May 31, 2010. The ensuing deadly clashes between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists left nine activists dead.
Accusing Israel of war crimes, the report stated that the seizure of the ship was illegal, based on the determination that the Israeli blockade was itself illegal under international law.
During an interactive dialogue between the commission and representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations, the jurists were challenged by the non-governmental group U.N. Watch on the issue of the motivation and actions of radicals onboard the Mavi Marmara.
Some members of the controversial Turkish group in control of the boat, IHH, had indicated beforehand a desire for martyrdom, and they included some of the nine people subsequently killed.
Knives, clubs, bars and other items which the Israeli Defense Forces said were recovered from the Mavi Marmara after clashes at sea between Israeli troops and activists trying to sail to the Gaza Strip on May 31, 2010
Israel claimed its soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked by activists wielding iron bars and other weapons.
U.N. Watch had earlier submitted to the commission a package of more than 40 reports, audio and video clips which it said documented the jihadist intent and actions of the IHH militants on the ship. U.N. Watch representative Leon Saltiel asked the commission Tuesday why the evidence had been disregarded.
Both the commission head, Trinidadian Judge Karl Hudson-Phillips, and panel member Desmond da Silva, a British jurist, indicated in their response that the intentions and statements of those onboard the boat were irrelevant to their conclusions.
The points raised by U.N. Watch were not something which would have altered our conclusions as to the lawfulness or otherwise of the Israeli intervention, Hudson-Phillips said. It would not have made the blockade lawful, and therefore it would not have made the interception lawful. It could not have changed our thinking in any way.
Da Silva then added that Saltiel s comments betrayed an ignorance of the law.
Even if bin Laden himself was on board the Mavi Marmara it wouldn't have made the blockade legal.
Da Silva also mocked the idea that rudimentary weapons in the activists possession would have posed a threat to the Israelis.
Well of course we found a photograph of somebody with a catapult, in the course of making our inquires. No doubt that catapult was there to sink one of the two Israeli submarines that were part of the naval force.
The Human Rights Council meets at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, in the Palais des Nations.
U.N Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said afterwards it was astonishing that the fact-finding commission members acknowledged having disregarded so crucial a matter.
Contrary to the commissioners attempt to downplay this evidence, the truth is that the entire interpretation of the facts hinges on who was the aggressor, and whether Israel's soldiers attacked peaceful activists or instead acted in self-defense in face of a violent mob seeking to lynch them, he said.
Evidence that seven of the nine passengers killed in the clash had previously declared their intent to become martyrs is something the inquiry obviously should have examined, yet failed to do so, Neuer added.
The third member of the commission, Mary Shanti Dairiam of Malaysia, told Tuesday's session that the panel stood by its conclusions that Israel had gravely violated international law, using disproportionate violence against people who were civilians, not combatants. Justice for the victims was now of paramount importance.
Members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) dominated the session of 28 countries that spoke during the session, 20 were members of the Islamic bloc and U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe was alone in raising concerns about the unbalanced language, tone and conclusions of the fact-finding commission's report.
Israel declined to cooperate with the commission, saying an independent Israeli panel with international observers was investigating the incident. In giving its reasons to withhold cooperation the Israeli foreign ministry also cited what it called the HRC's biased, politicized and extremist approach.
On Wednesday the HRC is due to vote on a resolution, introduced by the OIC, endorsing the findings of the report.
It is one of at least two expected resolutions condemning Israel that will be voted on as the council wraps up its three-week session.
If passed, as is highly likely, they will take to 32 the total number of resolutions critical of Israel passed by the HRC since it was created in 2006.
The other 191 U.N. member-states, together, have accounted for just 31 resolutions, applying to 11 countries (Burma, Sudan, North Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Burundi, Guinea, Honduras and Kyrgyzstan), according to statistics maintained by the Hudson Institute's Eye on the U.N. project.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/75953
Irish Aid Worker Welcomes UN Report On Flotilla Attack
An Irishman who was beaten and threatened at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers following an attack on a flotilla of humanitarian aid ships, has welcomed the publication of a UN report into the tragedy which claimed 9 lives.
The aid workers died when the convoy was intercepted in international waters, by Israeli Defence Force (IDF) commandos, as it made its way towards Gaza on May 31st last. All the deaths occurred on the MV Mavi Marmara after it was stormed and seized by Israeli troops.
Irish activist and former European election candidate Fiachra O' Luain (27) was 2nd mate on board another ship, the US-registered Challenger 1, and witnessed the deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara. Challenger 1 was also stormed by Israeli forces after being pursued for over half an hour. It was later seized and escorted to the Port of Ashdod where the vessel and those on board were detained. The flotilla was trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza which has been the subject of an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Mr O' Luain and three other Irish citizens gave evidence to an UN inquiry in London last month. The fact-finding mission was established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law resulting from the interception by Israeli forces of the humanitarian aid flotilla..
The fact-finding mission found that the action of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in intercepting the Mavi Marmara, on the high sea, was %u201Cclearly unlawful.%u201D
Paragraph 206 of the 56-page report refers to the treatment of Mr O' Luain in the days after the attack and states: "In a separate incident, a passenger was physically attacked by around seventeen officers when he refused to sign deportation paper, kicked in the head and threatened at gunpoint. A number of passengers had resolved to resist deportation in order to have the opportunity to demonstrate their innocence in an Israeli court. This was taken as a provocation by the Israelis."
Speaking about the report, Mr O' Luain said: "Those of us who were on the flotilla broadly welcome this comprehensive report. It is the fullest picture of what happened that we have at present. However, Israel did not allow the UN to cross-examine the actual perpetrators of this massacre. We need to know the exact orders that were given and who gave them. Over the course of whatever legal action is taken next, I hope we can begin to hold individual commandos, commanders and politicians responsible for the actions taken."
Mr O' Luain added: "While the bulk of responsibility lies with Israel, we also need to ask our own governments why they did not act more resolutely to protect the flotilla when the threats began. I think that, in particular, the government of United States has to stop sitting on its hands when it comes to Israeli war crimes. Seven years after Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer, 19-year old Furkan Dogan became yet another American murdered by Israel. If the United States fail to protect their own citizens from their "strong ally", then the illusion of them being an "honest-broker" at the negotiation table is exposed."
The UN report also states: The conduct of the Israeli military and other personnel towards the flotilla passengers was not only disproportionate to the occasion but demonstrated levels of totally unnecessary and incredible violence. It betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality. Such conduct cannot be justified or condoned on security or any other grounds. It constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law, the report states.
http://bit.ly/drwL6u