Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Israel Deports Five Pro-Palestinian Activists; Prepares for Arrival of Hundreds
Between 600 and 1,200 activists are expected to try to enter Israel by plane as counterpart to the Gaza flotilla.
Israeli police has deported five pro-Palestinian activists in the past two days back to their home countries, France and Begium.
Pro-Palestinian activists aboard the ship 'Audacity of Hope', set to take part in a flotilla to Gaza, July 1, 2011. (Photo: AP) Dozens of Israeli security forces deployed at the Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, following reports that hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists planned to fly into the country as a counterpart to the Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Between 600 and 1,200 activists were expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday night and Friday, on flights from Moscow and New York.
Israel Police and Border Police officers are now spread out across the arrivals hall. Hundreds more security officers plan will be stationed in the airport over the coming days in anticipation of the activists' arrival.
It is expected that the activists will set up camp across the airport as part of their protest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Wednesday that the security forces must act firmly against the planned protests.
"Every country has the right to prevent the entry of provocateurs into its borders," Netanyahu said during a meeting with several heads of Israeli security services at the Ben-Gurion airport.
Netanyahu stressed that Israel will act as every civilized country would in the face of provocateurs, but ordered security forces to "avoid unnecessary altercations."
Following the discussion, Netanyahu ordered Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch to exert all efforts to prevent an infiltration into Israel's borders.
Haaretz reported Tuesday that Israel has provided intelligence to the United States seven European countries, and several foreign airline companies regarding the activists who plan on participating in the airport protest.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...


52 Comments so far
Show AllThis won't end well.
It must upset you that Israel shows so little respect for that Law. Why, instead of stoning men-who-lie-with-men, they're openly debating gender-neutral civil marriage.
(By the way, I see that this is one of the threads that requires active HTML intervention in order to insert paragraph breaks. The problem is obviously still not fixed.)
"The UN committee investigating the events of last May's Gaza flotilla, headed by former Prime Minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer, convened Wednesday in New York to conclude the report.
According to a political source in Jerusalem, the final findings of the Palmer Report show that the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza is legal and is in accordance with international law.
The report also sharply criticizes the Turkish government's behavior in its dealings with the committee. Palmer, an expert on international maritime law, added in the report that Israel’s Turkel commission that investigated the events was professional, independent and unbiased.
His findings on the Turkish committee were less favorable, with Palmer concluding that the Turkish investigation was politically influenced and its work was not professional or independent. "
If this report is made public it is going to muddy the waters even more. Seems like our best move might to focus attention on why the blockade IS illegal...
I found this, it is going public. It is interesting. I think it belongs here. I also think people know well enough that this is some sort of BS that the UN is going to put forward but it highlights a real issue in that people are now going to argue that maybe the blockade *is* legal. It is a good idea for those of us that are interested in substance instead of your polemics, to start formulating a cogent list of reasons that the blockade is illegal.
Holding your breath till you turn blue insisting on something doesn't make you seem real smart. Then on top of that you attack anyone that you think hasn't drunk your cool-aid. Well I am not that guy and neither are a lot of people here that come to read and interact instead of calling names like you do.
I suggest you take a chill pill and maybe actually read the substance of what people post.
As for the other two items, they were and are legitimate statements not zionist propaganda. Thanks.
I saw someone get in an argument with a border guard in Germany and they just took his passport and marched him back towards the gate. I assume he got back on a plane.