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Israel Murders Human Rights Workers Delivering Humanitarian Aid
On Sunday, Israel murdered human rights workers who were attempting to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, because Gaza has been virtually cut off from the outside world by Israel. At least 19 people were reportedly killed and dozens injured when Israeli troops boarded the 6-ship Freedom Flotilla convoy in international waters and immediately fired live ammunition at the people on board the ships. The convoy was comprised of 700 people from 50 nationalities and included a Nobel laureate, members of parliament from Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Turkey and Malaysia, as well as Palestinian members of the Israeli Knesset and a Holocaust survivor.
Israel’s armed attack on these human rights workers constitutes a clear breach of international law. The human rights workers should be released immediately, medical treatment should be provided for the wounded, and all humanitarian aid materials should be immediately transferred to Gaza.
Human rights organizations and bar associations, including the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, MADRE, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy, World Human Rights, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the governments of Britain, France, Germany and Turkey have condemned the Israeli assault. The U.S. government, has not yet spoken out in opposition to the assault by Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. aid since World War II.
There should be an international investigation of crimes committed during and after Israel’s armed attack on the Freedom Flotilla and prosecution of all Israeli officials and soldiers responsible.
Israel must end its illegal blockade of Gaza, which constitutes unlawful aggression under General Assembly Resolution 3314 (1974). When the Security Council convenes, it should order Israel to cease its acts of aggression.
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85 Comments so far
Show AllImagine that?
They---the Israeli Government did apologize after THEY---the ZIONISTS Killed innocent people once again!!!
I reject this apology from the psycopathic state of Israel and all its sycophantic followers who justify such murder and savagery against the people living in Gaza.
The Israeli government should face war crimes for this latest DIRECT KILLING...Netanyhau should be held responsible fot these crimes against humanity...Anywhere else on the planet this type of murder would land those doing such crimes into a prison cell.
Rahm Emanuel should also face war crimes for giving the okay by the U.S. to kill these innocent civilians, as well.
Not the Israelis though....they can do whatever they like and it's always just fine and dandy!!!
The U.S. supports the criminal-terrorist state of Israel.
Israel is not sorry at all and neither are the blind loyalists to the state of Israel ever sorry for anything Israel ever does wrong.
Israel will continue to kill innocent men, women, children and elederly and make sure they do not have food, medicine ot clean drinking water.
Sure, Israel screwed up and all, but they made it very clear that this is exactly how they were planning to respond to the Freedom Flotilla.
We Americans were simply too preoccupied with our Gulf Oil-geddon to pay attention.
Friday, May 28: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the aid convoy manifested “violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow its sovereignty to be threatened in any way, in any place land, air or sea”.
What was OUR government's response? THEY WENT OUT TO F**KING RECESS!
http://tinyurl.com/238l3xj
Yet so far, the local (Philly, PA) AM newsradio station hasn't even mentioned it!
And when they do, you can be sure that it will be a streamlined version of the uniform Amerikan corporate media spin suggesting that this was at worst an unfortunate Merry Mixup for which both sides bear responsibility.
My hunch is, though, that even this faux even-handedness will spin the activists sponsoring and manning the flotilla as reckless or unduly provocative.
If there were no resistance movement/peace movement within Israel and in the U.S. that opposed the right-wing Zionist religious fundamentalism expressed by their current government, I would give up hope completely.
When I listen to Netanyahu and Lieberman et al., I hear what Freudians would describe as paranoia and projection. They do indeed personify a mentally ill society that excuses its every violent and unlawful act by convincing itself it is "self defense" and then expecting the world to believe with them that unarmed and defenseless civilians (including children) constitute a grave danger to them instead of the other way around.
I'd interpret it differently, Bernice. People with serious delusional problems for real don't win many elections, except maybe Least Cooperative Patient or similar.
They're just lying, as per usual. Refreshing the paranoia of their genuinely delusional followers and the excuses of their fellow psychopaths, while hoping to bewilder and deflect criticism from the real world.
That's my take, anyway.
Murder is not too strong a word to use.
Let's see...
It is being reported that Rahm Emanuel was in Israel in the run-up to this atrocity, and may still be there.
Netanyahoo was meeting with Canadian PM Harper when he made the claim that the IDF killings were in "self-defense."
Netanyahoo cancelled a visit with Obama to return to Israel to control the affair.
Israel in effect attacked Turkey in international waters and Turkey has now called it "inhuman state terrorism."
Who is the REAL president of the United States?
-30-
The Bilderbergers.
Not surprising. After all, Rahm Imanuel is an Israeli citizen.
Rahm was in Isreal this week delivering the Adm.'s OK on this. He was celebrating one of his chidren's religious iniations. I believe they served Smoked Turkey at the reception. For brunch it was Hamas&Eggs. For dessert they'll be having UNME. Bon Appetit!
Dogs bark, fish swim in the ocean, the IDF massacres unarmed civilians, its just what they do.
-"The U.S. government, has not yet spoken out in opposition to the assault by Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. aid since World War II. "
I hear that Obama's Democrats are busy in the UN security council, trying to block an attempt to have this attack investigated, and trying to block yet another call for the end to the seige of Gaza.
So you see Americans, voting does matter, and huge numbers of you voted to give the Democrats four more years to do more of the same old foreign policy. Whether it is Bush or Clinton or Obama or Reagan, you keep on voting the Republican and Democrat's tweedle-dumbs and tweedle-dumbers back into office. And then you wonder why you keep getting the same old results.
It seems that the news blackout in America is holding as well. I understand that you are getting lots of wall to wall coverage about dead war "heroes" and the noble people trying valiantly to mop up Obama's oil slick in the gulf of Mexico. CNN it seems would rather put on almost anything than cover the story of the Israeli attack, the story that is sweeping the world, in any meaningfull way.
But I'm not surprised by the Israel/US nonsensical pr strategy. We learned long ago that there are no bounds to how far Bush or Obama will go to support Israeli war crimes. That is natural, how would a sensible, moral US response square with the "look forward, not backward" policy? or before that, the "pre-emptive self-defence" policy? Of course Obama is silent. He okayed the Gaza masacre as he took office and I bet you anything Obama will say he is "extremely saddened" by this loss of life. Then He will add: "now, let's talk about bombing Iran"
I am surprised by the blundering way Israel sent storm troopers in to seize the aid ships. Apparently Israel's right wing government is all out of police trained to deal with peaceful dissent. So much for their claim to be a democracy. What democracy uses commandos with live ammunition on civilians? But America isn't far behind in that regard is it? I'm thinking of Amy Goodman's experience at the Republican convention. The same authoritarian mentality was at work there. So I guess if you can't cover a protest in the US without getting arrested, then most Americans are already conditioned to accept quite a lot from their own government and its client states.
But obviously the aid convoy people are on to something. Never have I seen Israel's government so scared. They are entirely incapable of dealing with peaceful protest. There is a lesson in this. All the US weapons Israel has are incapable of stopping their government from inflicting upon itself massive political damage when its own troops have to deal with Nobel laureates, and holocaust survivors bringing food and medicine to a besieged people.
I hear that the next convoy may have a Turkish navy escort. That should be interesting. Now that citizens of a NATO country are dead on Turkish territory aka the Turkish ship, if Turkey, a NATO member wants to defend its right to sail the seas without fear of pirate attack by Israel, I wonder how Obama will spin it? He's got the NATO defensive alliance in Asia fighting to hold on to Afghanistan, Now that Turkey has been attacked, if it now asks for help in its defence, what will the brain trusts in the US Democratic party come up with? Will he say that the Mediterranean is outside NATO's area of operations? Too far from Iran, perhaps? Or perhaps just as the road to Israeli-Palestine peace led through Baghdad, the road to peace in the Mediterranean leads through Tehran?
Both political parties are corrupt, that is true, but the Republicans are much more hostile to the common good. They are the party of the mega-corporations, and they are dangerous because they, like their corporate owners, have no consciences. The Democrats, on the other hand, are afraid of their own shadow. They have good intentions, but they don't have the courage to see things through. Obama has done a lot of good since he was elected, but he gets no credit for it. If he were white, he would get a lot more support. We can accomplish more, if we stand behind him and keep pushing him in the right direction. Sitting back and complaining does not accomplish anything. We must get involved if we are to make a difference. Let us use that angry energy to affect change, not just to send out bad vibrations. Its a fact that big corporations own this gov't, Obama is doing the best he can with what he has to work with. Let's see. Corporations, Republicans, the corporate media, progressives, and right-wing nuts, are all out to get him, and his life is at risk every moment. He doesn't deserve the disrespect and hatred that he is getting, and I am beginning to hope that he doesn't get reelected. Let's let the Republicans back in to finish the job that Bush started, shall we?
Absolute rubbish
This one sent the crap meter off the scale.
What a load of crap. The bullshitometer is stuck in the red zone!
This is a very provoctive and great question, JLocke. "Now that citizens of a NATO country are dead on Turkish territory aka the Turkish ship, if Turkey, a NATO member wants to defend its right to sail the seas without fear of pirate attack by Israel, I wonder how Obama will spin it?"
Not the part about the spin doctors including Harper and Obama, but about Turkey being a NATO country, Turkish territory and an act of war upon it. I had not thought of that aspect at all, nor have any of the journalists or opinion writers from Al Jazeera to Haaretz to the Guardian, etc.
Very interesting, indeed. Thank you for framing it in a new and different context.
The next time Turkey returns with aid to Gaza they will be bringing the Turkish Navy along for protection....
Then we'll see how jiggy Israel wants to get with it.
Cowards.
I doubt that Turkey could count on any assistance from the United States. The Turks were very very naughty recently when they brokered the deal with Iran in which Iran would trade some of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel that could not be used to make a weapon. This put the skids on the United States' justification for attacking Iran so I'll bet the U.S. is rather angry with Turkey right now. Nato will do whatever the United States says so I'm afraid the Turks are left high and dry.
That's interesting, and not something I'd heard about. Are you sure Turkey did that? I wonder whether that could explain the 9 Turkish deaths.
This may fracture NATO.
The time has come for the U.S. to call a criminal by that name and stop military aid to Israel.
Appalling. Future Convoys should be escorted by armed naval units from aid donating nations. The Gaza Blockade is an Act of War in itself and should be understood as such. The state of Israel cannot survive without American Taxpayers largesse. To murder innocents in this manner is reminiscent of the USS Liberty in 1967 on the High Seas and what happens in Gaza on a frequent basis. Land convoys to Bosnia were escorted by French and later UN troops.
The Turks have said they're sending more aid, with a navy escort. If the US doesn't talk them into backing down, that could get quite interesting. I've read that they have a very modern, well-equipped, *capable* navy.
Wake up.
Gaza is ruled by organization openly declaring war on Israel, so Israel is officially is in war with Gaza, therefore any country sending it's military vessels to provide any king of help to HAMAS/Gaza is declaring war on Israel.
What drugs are you on?
There is no such thing as "Israel". The political entity known as "Israel" is a fraud and a legal fiction. The land is Palestine. It was Palestine in biblical times and is Palestine now and ever. The Palestinian people are the true semitic residents of the land of Palestine and have been so for thousands of years.
The Askenazi Jews from Germany, aka Zionists, are not even semitic(!) and have no historical or cultural connection to the Middle East. Until "Israel" is dismantled and Palestine is restored there will be no peace in the Middle East. "Israel" is thus the biggest threat to world stability and peace, and America, as toady to the Zionists, risks its own survival. The Palestine problem is everyone's problem.
You either misinformed or lying intentionally.
There never was such entity as "Palestine".
It would be very easy to disproof my words - just find 1 mention of such entity in any one document prior to 1960's.
I'll help you - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Medieval_Arab_Palestine.jpg
The map is dated 1890. The map shows the placenames that were current in the mediaeval period (ca. 1200 CE).
You're again revealing your status as a rather unintelligent psychopath. You don't care about anyone but yourself, you lie without any feeling of shame, and when your lies are exposed you continue to assert them. Straight out of Hitler's own playbook, only without the charisma.
Maybe we can send in a drone to target Israel's terrorist masterminds.
In Israel, theu justify ever act of murder by their military as "self-defense."
I don't buy that propaganda. Israel is very skillful at pushing anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda.
The original terrorists in that region prior to 1948 were the Israelis. Just because they now have a "legtimate government" does not mean they do not still engage in barbaric acts of terrorism.
Israel they claim is a "democracy," and that is another big lie if I ever heard one before.
Israel is not a "democracy." Israel is a police/apartheid state and the aliyas prove my point.
Propaganda. I never believe anything that Rupert Murdoch pushes in his JewNews media.
Our most moral and honorable President will do exactly as he is told. We are held hostage by a government that is more concerned with the welfare of Israel than it's own people. Every citizen of the world with as much as 1 functioning brain cell knows this was a war crime in international waters. Regardless of the media spin.
Israel is a prison for some of the nastiest minded people on earth.
No one else wants them, and that is no mean feat.
Gaza is a prison within the prison, so we hoped the really nasty people would stick to their own other people to mistreat.
Unfortunate that this does not mean Isreal leaves the rest of the world alone.
Their friends the really nasty people in America do the same things all over the world, and all violence do they both condone.
Being nice to the other people that nasties mistreat is the worse possible insult to a nasty person.
Eventually the concentration of nasty people reaches the size of a black hole, and will gobble up everything till its gone.
If only the nasty American people would stop paying those nasty Israel people, and stop giving them every nasty weapon.
Its about time that Israel itself gets nasty sanctions, restrictions and was kicked and spitted apon.
Why should they be so special?
After all its a nasty world.
What does "nonviolent resistance" mean in the jargon of the rabid Israeli haters on this forum? Here is just some of the footage that they don't want you to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DgYjkLUcbJWo%26feature%3Dplayer_embed
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DbU12KW-XyZE%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded
And here come all the ziopologists trying, as ever, to blame the victims.
Those who are committed to their homeland of Israel should have to live there, since they clearly only love the US inasmuch as they can use our military & our taxes to threaten & occupy their enemies.
They were in international waters. Doesn't that make these IDF'ers the same as Somali pirates? They should have resisted. Isreal doesn't have a legal leg to stand on in this act of high seas piracy. End of story!
Yeah -- you got fully equipped professional soldiers with helicopters and automatic weapons and body armor and all that, who attacked civilians on a peaceful mission in an act of piracy -- and you got people defending themselves against them.
So remember boys and girls, if you are in Israel and a gang of thugs break into you home and attack you, don't defend yourself or you will be brought up on charges of assault -- I guess. But the gangsters will be said to be defending themselves -- I guess. It's hard to tell the way of things once one has fallen down the rabbit hole into The Wonderland.
Peaceful civilians don't carry foot long knives.
Right, and Zionist apologists never lie.
SO, if I find a long knife in your house, I can conclude that you are violent murderer, yes?
Wow! The smoking gun! Clear as a bell!
Are you sure this isn't a video of those Iraqi missile factories Colin Powell showed to the UN in 03?
Wishing you success in your amusement, xo
Nice, naming calling. Israel hijacks civilians ships in international waters, attacks its occupants, kidnaps and imprisons the civilians on board including journalists, takes possession of the property, confiscates the journalist equipment including videos and then puts out its own video.
Irrelevant. Meaningless.
Lying murderer.
The IDF and Netan the Yahoo are just the left-handed closed fist. The U.S. is the the right-handed closed fist. When it's all said and done the Palestinians will be beaten to an inch of their lives or worse. Anyone getting in the way will obviously meet the same or worse fate. Don't the rest of the nations of the world understand and recognize this? Why do they expect any other type of behavior. This has been going on for at least 30 years and will not stop because it's working. How sick has the world become?
ISRAEL IS AN ILLEGITIMATE STATE.
Whoa is me say the Israelis. We had to kill because those we attack while committing war crimes resist us. We Israelis are the eternal victims of life. Have pity on us.
Israel is an illegitimate country. It wouldn't even be in existence if it weren't for the Balfour Declaration that gave favor to the Zionists which had and has no legal bases for designating an area of Palestine to Zionists.
Nor did the UN have the authority to partition part of Palestine to the Zionists because the UN did not have the permission of the majority of Palestinians.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25143.htm
Whoa is me. I break into your house and kill you. Have pity on me for the burden I must now eternally carry.
Israel's attacks on these peaceful vessels in international waters is an act of war. At the very least, the world must place sanctions on Israel.
WHY are these acts continually condoned and accepted? Collective guilt about the holocaust? Alright- its time to let go of the past and see clearly who is the violent aggressor here and which wealthy country is supplying the money and arms... Insane.
Today is a holiday. Let us see how the so-called liberal media handles this tomorrow. Will that favorite of the liberals, Keith Olbermann, actually have on his program a person with a Palestinian point of view? I would not bet the mortgage that Olbermann will grow a pair and have someone on Countdown who would actually criticize the state of Israel for murdering those people on that Turkish aid ship.
"Now that citizens of a NATO country are dead on Turkish territory aka the Turkish ship, if Turkey, a NATO member wants to defend its right to sail the seas without fear of pirate attack by Israel, I wonder how Obama will spin it"
NATO has an obligation to protect Turkey as a member state. Israel attacked the Turkish ship and murdered several Turkish citizens in international water. Furthermore, there were citizens from several other NATO countries who were aboard that Aid convoy attacked by Israel in international waters.
Israel is not a NATO state, and Israel is not an Allie of the USA.