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Israel Used 'Incredible Violence' Against Gaza Aid Flotilla, Says UN Human Rights Council
Israeli troops broke international law by storming an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, according to a UN inquiry, which found that the killings of activists on-board were comparable to "summary executions".
The sharply critical report found there was "clear evidence to support prosecutions" against Israel for "wilful killing" and torture committed in the raid on the flotilla on May 31. Nine activists on a Turkish ship were killed as they attempted to breach the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian activists gather around an Israeli commando on board the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in the international waters of Mediterranean sea early May 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adem Ozkose/Gercek Hayat Magazine via IHH/Handout/Files) However, Israel brushed aside the findings of the UN Human Rights Council, which it has consistently denounced as biased against the Jewish state.
A spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry accused the body of having a "politicised and extremist approach," adding: "The Human Rights Council blamed Israel prior to the investigation and it is no surprise that they condemn after."
The investigation mounted by the Council has largely been superseded by a separate inquiry launched by Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, which has won the backing of the United States, Britain and much of the international community.
This investigation, which is being headed by Geoffrey Palmer, the former prime minister of New Zealand, has yet to report its findings.
In an unprecedented move, Israel agreed to co-operate with Mr Palmer's inquiry in August, largely in an attempt to diminish the credibility of the Human Rights Council investigation.
Israel maintains that its soldiers acted in self-defence after coming under attack from activists wielding clubs, axes and metal rods.
However the report found that Israeli commandos' response to the flotilla was disproportionate and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".
"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," the report said.
"The circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extralegal, arbitrary and summary execution," it added.
The 56-page report also said that the Israeli blockade was itself unlawful, because of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, meaning Israel's claim that it was entitled to use force to defend the blockade should be dismissed.
The Human Rights Council, a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly, has courted controversy for its excessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While it has passed over a dozen resolutions condemning Israel since it was created in 2006, the council has been more reluctant to censure states such as Sudan, which has been accused of serious human rights violations in Darfur.
The United States withdrew from the council in 2008 but rejoined when President Barack Obama became president last year.
Israel, which has also launched its own domestic inquiry into the raid on the aid flotilla, refused to co-operate with the council's probe.
But Hamas, the Islamist group which controls Gaza, welcomed the inquiry's findings and called on the international community to take action by bringing Israeli commanders involved in the raid to trial.
The inquiry was completed by Karl Hudson-Phillips, a former judge of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Desmond de Silva, a former chief prosecutor of the Sierra Leone War Crimes Tribunal, and Shanthi Dairiam, as Malaysian human rights expert.
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Show All"The Human Rights Council, a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly, has courted controversy for ITS EXCESSIVE FOCUS on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [emphasis mine]"
Gee, there's certainly no bias in this statement, is there? [/sarcasm]
q
You should have a begin sarcasm tag if you are going to have an end sarcasm tag, your statement won't validate... (web joke...)
You know this council is really problematic. It was disbanded once by the General Assembly and reconstituted to make it a little more balanced and it wasn't much of a success. The problem isn't their views on Israel per se, it is that they ignore EVERYTHING else because most members are African or at least are in the organizing roles so there has never been any condemnation of the Darfur crisis as noted in the article, or Chinese actions in Tibet, North Korea or Zimbabwe.
Ban Ki Moon, former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Kofi Annan, the council's president Doru Costea, the European Union, Canada and the United States have all protested the makeup and proceedings of the council with Moon urging it to 'drop rhetoric' and rise above "partisan posturing and regional divides".
China, Cuba and Russia dominate the council with most other members being African or Islamic and not surprisingly there is NEVER condemnation of of any of its members.... ever...
Finally in it's wisdom, the Council actually adopted a resolution praising Sri Lanka for its victory over the Tamil Tigers and their bombardment of the trapped Tamils for months before the final assault. Most other countries thought that 23/7 mortar bombardment of a trapped civilian population on a beach with no cover was a war crime, but the UNHRC didn't agree.
We all know Israel used excessive force, but this report is really only a footnote and a political one at that.
It's not entirely correct to say that there was no condemnation of the abuses in Darfur. The council did, in fact, acknowledge and document the problems but failed to assign blame to the Sudanese government.
Interestingly, a year (or so) before its shameful vote on Sri Lanka's "victory," that country was dropped from the Council itself in recognition of Sri Lanka's human-rights record.
q
Sri lankan massacre could not have happened without the wink from US,passivity of India,and the support of China.
These Israeli attacks on the credibility of the Council are the equivalent of ad hominem attacks against individuals.
When you can’t refute an accusation, attack the accuser.
Zionism has a long history of being thuggish and brutal, and consumed with self serving delusions.
www.mondoweiss.net 23rd Sept
"The Murder: At around 4 AM one of the settlers’ private security guards opened fire in the direction of some residents in Silwan. At least one man was killed by the shots. 32 year old Samer Sarhan, a father of five. These are all the facts that are certain. According to the security guard he was pelted with stones and his life was in danger. According to Silwan residents Samer was on his way from his home to work and the guard prevented him from continuing, during the ensuing argument the guard took out his pistol and fired."
I tremeble at the thought of what would happen to these settlers once uS is forced to abandon the financial support to this crazy cold blooded murderers.
Let Israel be blockaded. Prevent any and all supplies (civilian, medical and military) from being delivered. Impose a blockade of their airspace as well, ala the 'no-fly zones' that have been over Iraq for twenty years now.
Lets see how one of the most brutal and repressive governments likes being treated like the least of it's second class citizens.
Let the Israeli military try to smuggle it's precious fuel and ammunition past multiple checkpoints. Let the Israeli people starve because they don't have enough arable land to feed themselves. Let their children sicken and die because they don't have the common medicines. Subject them to arbitrary detention, or disproportionate attacks, kidnap them off the street. Steal their dead and dying so the viable (and valuable) vital organs may be harvested for sale to the wealthy Elite of the world. Impose unattainable goals of disarmament (especially their hidden nukes), and punish the population collectively when Israel fails to meet those goals.
What's that you say? This treatment is too harsh, too inhuman, too brutal?
This is EXACTLY how Israel treat's it's Palestinian citizens.
Non Serviam - I will note serve.
The Israeli's are brutal war criminals, just as is the United States. War budgets need to be slashed to meet the needs of defense, not offense. It's time to send those spoiled tearing generals to the unemployment lines.
Why is Israel even in the United Nations? Not that the UN is any good at anything. They never recognize anything about the UN unless it is in their favour - much like their big brother the US. The rest of the world should create a new international organization which has no veto and does not include the brutal thugs which are the US and Israel.
Things would be worse if the Republicans win?
No. Since Obama was elected, things have gotten worse in Palestine. Israel attacked Gaza and committed war crimes and Obama was silent. Israel has accelerated settlement building under Obama and Obama refuses to criticize it as illegal. Israel hijacked aid vessels in international water trying to bring aid to Gaza and Israel killed 9 including a Turkish-American and Obama supported Israel over the life of the American. The US has supported Israel's blockade of Gaza and is helping Egypt build an underground wall intended to prevent aid tunnels. Democrats have spent the last year and a half passing resolutions and making speeches to their allegiance to Israel, without regard to the crimes Israel commits.
Do you think the Republicans have a better record?
I can't say it would be better, but doubt it would be worse, since it has worsened under Obama. Point is, Democrats use as a pitch-line that things would be worse with Republicans. Same can be said for the Afghan war. Under Obama, it has gotten worse.
funny how cnn foxnews et all have buried this story
MSNBC didnt! Thats where I read this first :)
That surprises me, given both Maddow and Olbermann's reluctance to discuss Israel - with any level of honesty, at least.
q
MSNBC is just as bad as the aforementioned cable news networks and all the rest of the MSM.
Olbermann and Maddow are liberal phony talking heads for the M$M--nothing more.
They say what they're PAID to say.
Yes Chelsey, they say what they are paid to say. Like Miggy said on another thread, Olbermann and Maddow are nothing more than " THE CONTROLLED OPPOSITION " they work for the corportocracy and are nothing but sell outs in order to keep their corporate advertisers satisfied and keep their million $ incomes, just like most Americans that are employed by their corporate masters, they have to toe the line if they want to remain corporate soldiers and stay employed, but here is the difference: they are not your average American working in a factory and supporting their family, but extraordinary evil, propaganda outlets for the Military, Industrial,Congressional, Media, Complex.
It is clear to all who look that Israel and the US are both murderous, terrorist states that need to be BOYCOTTED, SANCTIONED, AND DIVESTED!!
Fox News couldn't mention it, because it would clash with what they already told their listeners!
That doesn't matter. They contradict themselves all the time, sometimes from one day to the next, depending upon the myth, lie or "more-recently-fine-tuned-uber-message" they are propagating at the moment.
"no gods, no masters" --m. sanger
This finding clearly exposes that OilyBomber drone executions when they actually kill the intended victim are War Crimes.
80% of the time OilyBomber is executing bystanders.
If a prosecutor is unable to make a case against one murderer the prosecutor does not disregard the next murder case.
OilyBomber is worse than Bush because he has made fascism and War Crimes acceptable to the educated middleclass liberal.
End of story, game over.
Glen,
Indeed, "OilyBomber" is worse than Bush.
Boarding another vessel in international waters without invitation/permission of the ship's captain is an ACT OF PIRACY. The offended vessel is at liberty to defend itself by ANY means at their disposal. Maritime law is very clear on this.
Israel is a lawless terrorist nation, everyone knows it, nobody does anything about it.
Does the international community, whoever that is, really believe the US/Israeli alliance from Hell will stop with the Middle East? Is that where the bloodshed ends? Could anyone be so incredibly self deluding to believe this?
The most prominent trait of the genocidal Zionist state is cowardice -- this was put on display when they attacked Lebanon with their ground troops a few summers ago and promptly turned tail and scampered home the minute they started taking casualties. Yes, cowardice is False Flag Nation's most prominent trait, and will also prove to be their Achilles heel.
From Rawstory poster, TheDevilCanDance:
The autopsy of the nine men assassinated by Israelis boyscouts (armed with paintballs....)
Cengiz Alquyz, 42
Four gunshot wounds: back of head, right side of face, back, left leg
Ibrahim Bilgen, 60
Four gunshot wounds: right chest, back, right hip, right temple
Cegdet Kiliclar, 38
One gunshot wound: middle of forehead
Furkan Dogan, 19
Five gunshot wounds: nose, back, back of head, left leg, left ankle
Sahri Yaldiz
Four gunshot wounds: left chest, left leg, right leg twice
Aliheyder Bengi, 39
Six gunshot wounds: left chest, belly, right arm, right leg, left hand twice
Cetin Topcuoglu, 54
Three gunshot wounds: back of head, left side, right belly
Cengiz Songur, 47
One gunshot wound: front of neck
Necdet Yildirim, 32
Two gunshot wounds: right shoulder, left back
....
Source link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/council-evidence-israel-flotilla-raid/
Miggy,
Good post.
Chelsea
Israeli's are the chosen people? Well yes, they are chosen as a fascist arm of America. We send them billions in what is euphemistically called " foreign aid " to prop up this fascist, Middle East puppet state. Israel is America's foothold in the Middle East, so like the American military they can do no wrong. I would go as far to say that there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that Israel was involved in 911, but even if they were found culpable they would be exonerated by our government.
Great post Miggy. Thanks, Paul.
Given Israel's extreme reaction to the flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza, it is safe to assume that Israel wants Gaza and the West Bank to be Palestinian-free. And just as Hitler's Germany worked on making Europe "Juden-Frei" without opposition, so it is today with Israel. Sadly, no one wants to effectively rescue the Palestinians.
'When Israel does it that means it is NOT illegal.'
(Old Nixons never die, they are just transmogrified.)
I can cynically speculate that Congress and Obama will now give Israel another financial/military/guaranteed loan package for billions more. It seems the more evil deeds the Israelis do (Lebananon, Gaza, illegal colonies and land theft, attacking innocents etc.) the MORE money they get from the US taxpayer.
The US taxpayer is funding ethnic cleansing, slow-genocide and racism in multiple countries. Something to be proud of for the racist nationalist imperialists.
.
.
If the United States continues to finance the Israeli Military; If the United States has provided Military weapons and supplies; and if the United States has pledged unquestioned loyality to the Government of Israel,,,,,then the United Stated is EQUALLY GUILTY of WAR CRIMES against the Palestinian Peoples.
I never have, nor ever will support these war crimes. The United States of America must sever all ties to the current State of Israel.....IMMEDIATELY
//
The Israeli/US power elite are ruthless killers. We all know what happens to anyone who tries to confront them on any level. Graveyards and secret prisons are filled with such crusaders for truth. Rock the boat and you are thrown unceremoniously overboard. And likely shot in the back of the head on your way to water. We squeak a bit, but dare not raise or voices too loud. Fear is the victor.
Sadly, you're right.
"We squeak a bit, but dare not raise or voices too loud." I'm sorry but please don't use "we". I'm nothing like you, if that is all you can do. Never underestimate or discount the people you need to make the change. Your strongest card must always be hidden.
"Your strongest card must always be hidden" That sounds like corporate/political PR. One can only imagine what the response would be if people actually new the truth hidden behind the curtain of lies that hides the real dynamic of the world politic. Crimes against the innocent are our crimes. If you can't connect our cozy lifesyle to the suffering in Gaza, rapes in the DR Congo, resource wars, etc. all your good intentions are flat. As long as we play their game, like a casino, we will always lose. As an activist for over 30 years I must say it is hard to remain positive. We seem to be able to do anything except change our habits.
We take baby steps, they take giant strides and laugh. Buy local, make your own toys, buy less, use what you need, blow up you TV.
It is not even possible to get through the title of a news piece about Israel without encountering weasel words. The killings were not "comparable" to summary executions. They were summary executions. And if they're only comparable, why put "summary executions" in quotes?
If a more insidious and sustained deference to evil has ever existed, I have yet to hear about it.
I understand that the brief article focuses on the most heinous violent crimes in the IDF attack, and presumably the report does the same.
Still, I hope they put a word in about the IDF and/or Israeli authorities pillaging and stealing the personal possessions-- equipment, luggage, credit cards-- from the passengers after the orgy of violence.
I follow Col. Ann Wright (ret.), one of the flotilla victims, in resolutely nitpicking on this issue. Adding such petty and vicious insults to injury is a hallmark of the totalitarian security state-- rather like IDF troops trashing and looting homes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, and smearing excrement on their walls.
Gaza And The Warsaw Ghetto
same place
different time
while the world stands by
genocide
live
When a group uninvited boards an unarmed ship in international waters the term is PIRACY.
Hang the Zionists as PIRATES
.
Hitler too, brushed off all objections, when he invaded Poland.
Netanyahu, Liebermann, and the rest of the Zionist Thugs who currently control the State of Israel; are worse that the Nazi of 1939,,,,,,,,,,,,
It is time for another "regime change",,,,,,,,the U.N. and the Major Powers must invade Israel and capture ALL of the NUCLEAR WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION.
President Obama must sever all military, financial and military ties with the State of Israel....NOW!!!!!!!!!!
These Mad War Criminals need to be stopped ,,,,,,,,NOW!!!!!
//
I have yet to read that anyone in the US government, including Congress, has objected to the murder by Israel of a US citizen.
It should also be noted that it is also true that the US provided Israel with the white phosphorous Israel used to melt/burn Gazans to death during Operation Cast Lead. Israel thought it was more efficient to bring the US supplied crematoriums to the victims rather than bringing the victims to crematoriums.
UN committee issues unconvincing condemnation of Israel.
Common Dreams comment thread fills up with paranoid anti-Semitic ravings.
Dog barks at human.
Sun rises in east and sets in west.
And ethnic cleansing apologists appear on this website like clockwork with their usual tactics, e.g, calling critics anti-Semitic.
Apologists' tactics in regards to the US/Israel policy of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians:
1 – Attack the messenger (CD poster or whoever criticizes the US/Israel's ethnic cleansing)
2 – If the critic is a Jew, call the Jew anti-semetic or a self-hating Jew
3 – Make it sound like Israel is the victim although Israel is the aggressor and occupier
4 – Quantify attacks by Palestinians and quantify Israeli dead and wounded while, not quantifying Israeli attacks on Palestinians nor mention Palestinian dead and wounded.
5 – Justify all Israeli attacks as justifiable retaliations while calling all Palestinian attacks unprovoked although the West Bank is illegally occupied and Gaza is illegally blockaded (act of war) and regularly subject to invasions and air-raids..
6 – Point to other injustices in the world to deflect attention of Israel's illegal acts.
7 – State that Jews and Palestinians have a long history of conflict therefore the situation is unresolvable (ignoring Israel's illegal occupation) in order to maintain status quo and further Israel's expansion of illegal settlements
8 – Claim Israel has biblical rights to Palestinian land (thus God supports the ethnic cleansing)
9 – Claim the occupied territory was either no man's land or another countries land to justify Israel's illegal confiscation of the land and the people on it.
10 – Defend the occupation and ethnic cleansing without mentioning the illegal acts: land confiscation, house demolitions and evictions, burning and razing of Palestinian farmland, illegal land annexations, specific apartheid policies in the West Bank, shooting and arrests of non-violent demonstrators on occupied land, restriction of movement, land and sea blockade, restrictions of imports of medicine, food, school supplies and building materials, illegal shooting of Gazan farmers and fishermen...
11 – Make so many illegitimate arguments or use so many inaccurate/misleading facts to justify Israel's illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing policy that it is impossible to respond to them all because every time you try, another illegitimate argument is made. (The Bush administration was a master of this in the buildup to the Iraq war. It seemed every week, another piece of unsupported evidence was made to support attacking Iraq. And every time you challenged one illegitimate argument, the arguer (usually a Fox News viewer) would abandon that argument and jump to the next illegitimate argument and this would continue to the point of exhaustion.)
12 – Rewrite history with your comments.
13 – Switch between tactics 1-12 above in your non-stop argument whenever one of the tactics runs out of steam.
14 – In regards to blogging, create discussion fights and go off topic.
15 – In regards to blogging, apologist is either ignorant or feigns ignorance and attempts to attack the credibility of the comment by asking for a link to the source (effort to waste time of blogger when information is readily available on the internet and the apologist doesn't provide support for his own misinformation). If you don't respond, e.g., because you don't monitor the site all day, apologist discounts your argument, and if you respond, the apologist changes the subject, makes a new attack, or ignores the response.
Apologists use tools such as Megaphone Desktop (www.giyus.org) to alert themselves when articles about Israel's destructive policies appear on the internet so they can use tactics like the above to try and win public opinion
If we give major military aid to Israel are we not complicit?
Dear zionists:
This is addressed to you, because the Jewish people know the difference between "Schilling"
(yes that was for you, poster Derick) and being truthful. The PEOPLE of the Middle East are SEMITES. too. Please stop playing word games.
Thou shalt not murder, nor COVET!
Please read the Kaballah, as this is the honesty and goodness of your religion.
Sophia, the Wisdom, knew that YHWH, was deceived and thought that he was the God, but sadly, he only deluded himself.
Listen to Sophia, and know that to seek with an open heart is the answer. You chased people around the world to find Justice from the Holocaust, and what's more, you accepted the TRUTH of Nurenberg. Is the TRUTH only TRUTH if it agrees with YOU?
To deny JUSTICE for the Flotilla and for Rachel Corrie is to LIE. Reading from your own history, when the PEOPLE fall from the PATH, all the PEOPLE suffer. What were you doing, zionists, on the Day of Atonement?
Appears another aid ship is expected to head to Gaza later this year (Report on The Real News Network).
If you haven't checked out the site, I'd recommend it.
http://www.therealnews.com/t2/
I know that this report tells us nothing new and there are some problems about the provenance of the committee, all the same it did make me feel better to know that this conclusion has at least been written into the record. It may not make a difference today but the longer the record the more damning the eventual reckoning.
Violence is violence. End of story. There's nothing increadable about it. We're all pretty good at it by now.
Take, for example, the system of emprisoning people for misdeeds. This is very violent and why many jpeole become anarchists because they don't believe that the state should lock people up and they/I can't, or find it difficult to, believe we might ever conceive a state that doe'snt lock people up.
Lizx
What level of brutality is acceptable?