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Justice, Israeli Style
"Does anyone know the Hebrew word for 'occupation'?" A question from the state assigned Hebrew translator to the packed out courtroom.
And that kicked off the trial into the killing of US activist Rachel Corrie, which took her family seven years to secure.
Today, several months later, we were back at Haifa District Court to hear from the Israeli soldier who was driving the bulldozer that killed Rachel whilst she was peacefully protesting against Palestinian home demolitions in Gaza in 2003.
And hear is all we could do - thanks to an unusual request filed by the state, and accepted by the judge, the driver and other soldiers testifying in this case have done so behind a dark screen to protect their identity (for "security" reasons).
I can't tell you the driver's name (there is a gag order) but I can say that he is a Russian immigrant to Israel that, ironically, shares the same birthday as Rachel.
It was a long and painful testimony, the driver answering the questions with variations of the phrase: "I don't remember."
He couldn't even recall the time of day Rachel was killed and claimed he did not realize when he knocked Rachel down and drove over her with his four-tonne Caterpillar bulldozer.
Presumably, he also didn't realize when he then backed up over her a second time crushing her body with his blade.
For Cindy Corrie, a retired music teacher from Olympia, Washington, that was the hardest part of the day: "Hearing the man who killed my daughter, without a shred of remorse in his voice, say he couldn't remember when it happened."
As Cindy says, even if he did it by mistake, how could he not recall the time of day he killed a 23-year-old girl?
Apart from the fact that it took five years from the time the Corries filed the lawsuit to the trial date - the court procedures and last minute changes by the Israeli state attorneys are simply embarrassing for a country that claims to be a democracy and practice the rule of law.
Sub par translators, erratic trial dates and a judge that stops proceedings because he has made other appointments (as happened today cutting the session short by two hours) have delayed the trial and frustrated everyone.
The Corries, journalists and rights groups were told they could enter the courtroom at 9am this morning.
At 8.15am the state filled the room with its "observers", which meant apart from the family and their lawyers, only three or four journalists were allowed (in rotation) into the trial room to listen and report on what was happening.
I was inside for barely half an hour - just enough time to hear the driver make the point that he was simply following orders.
His superiors, he says, gave him instructions to continue with the demolitions despite the civilians protesting by the houses.
And therein lies the reason why this trial is so important.
It is not looking to blame or hold to account the soldier that dealt the final blow to Rachel.
The Corries are suing the state of Israel, for a nominal one dollar, for allowing, and at some points encouraging, its soldiers to act with impunity.
Whether they are preventing an aid ship from getting to Gaza, or in Rachel's case stopping an activist defending a Palestinian accountant's home, Israeli soldiers too often act with force, which shows they believe they are above the law.
And, as will be shown if the Corries lose this case, it's because Israeli law will always protect them.
- Posted in
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Show AllObviously the Israeli system of "justice" has some catching up to do. They could avoid all the inconveniences very simply by adopting the U.S. practice of declaring the entire procedure and all related evidence a matter of state security.
As for their designated assassins being "above the law", they have a long way to go in that department as well. I'm sure they're doing their very best with the imperial tools put at their disposal. Caterpillar does make some neat remote control bulldozers, but I don't think they've actually produced a flying drone version -- yet.
Actually, drone technology was first developed in Isreal.
Actually, Isreal does put their assassins above the law. The bulldozer operator is only on trial because the killing was a public event. If it had been an Isreali targeted assassination, we would have no idea who the killers were.
Oh, I dunno about that. This particular elimination of an impediment may refect broad operational policies more than specific targeting, but surely you're not suggesting that it wasn't intentional. They're often quite brazen about such actions within their own sphere -- at least up to the point where, as you say, it attracts unfavorable attention and publicity from beyond.
Dear dreamjoehill:
That point about the assassins made me wonder. The information about the caterpillar driver is that he is Russian, and his birthday is the same as Rachel's.
Is he really Russian? For all we know,he was born in the USA and mossad just gave hime a new iD from a stolen passport. I doubt if his birthday is the same; that was probably a manipulating PR point to try to make them seem the same..i.e. ruined youth of the same year; except that the driver is still alive. I'm sure he will start to remember something, and then sadly, will die in an unexpected accident. Broken necks are quite common.
The Corries will never get a fair trial but we know why they pushed for one. Israel it was more for you. If you could actually listen and see what you have become...... this is your chance to see that you are headed off the Cliff of the Golden Calf. Per your history, every time you screw up, there is hell to pay..
Rachel Corrie..NEVER FORGET, and we won't.
We need someone to step forward and spend everything they own to fight this corrupt Israeli/American partnership. Someone who would lose their birthright riches, live in the desert on puddle water and grubs and be willing to die for those, the Palestinians and poor Arabs, that can't speak for themselves. Someone who is a hero to 1.5 billion Muslims, a group that has been marginalized by the US Congress, the US press and the USA and Israel in general. Someone who would try and do whatever they could to bring down the worse state supported terrorists in the world, the Israelis and the Americans.
But, isn't that what Bin Laden did?
No innocent deserves to die as the 3000 did on 9/11, but there were 1000 9/11s in Vietnam, and no one stood up for those Vietnamese innocents. There were hundreds of 9/11s during the Iraq War, and I don't see Nancy Grace talking about those Iraqi innocent heros who died. There have been many 9/11s in the 1982 Israeli Lebanon War, the 2008 Israeli attack on Gaza and the many disproportionate and illegal attacks on Palestinians by Israel, yet no one on American MSM sees those dead as worthy of sympathy or even empathy.
We need to look a little closer at who we call heros and who we call enemies. If someone were to ask me who are the greatest enemies of America, Bin Laden may not even be on my first page.
Very good points, Mookie.
Israel OFF the planet NOW!
"Our Race is the Master Race. We are divine Gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves."
-- Menachem Begin -- Israeli Prime Minister 1977-1983
VashkarKim:
Begin was a monster and a criminal, but he was not crazy, far from it, and the way he describes the Jews is wildly unlike anything Judaism stands for. Jews would never say that we are different from the inferior races or that our destiny is to rule over them.This sounds more like something Goebbels, Himmler or Hitler might have said. I would appreciate knowing when and where he said this: who was his audience and at what point in Israeli history he is alleged to have made this speech.
Well, if you don't believe that one, how about these ones, Americanabroad? These are not quite the same but, are they any different?
"[The Palestinians] are beasts walking on two legs." -- Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the 'Beasts,"' New Statesman, June 25, 1982.
"(The Palestinians) would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls." -- Isreali Prime Minister (at the time) Yitzhak Shamir in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988
"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."-- Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, speaking to students at Bar Ilan University, from the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989
"The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more"....
-- Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000
"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force...."-- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, quoted in Associated Press, November 16, 2000.
"Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial." -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 25 March, 2001 quoted in BBC News Online
Dov Lior, while serving as the IDF's top rabbi, instructed soldiers: "There is no such thing as civilians in wartime… A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's fingernail!"
Lieberman: U.S. will accept any Israeli policy decision
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080097.html
The Obama Administration will put forth new peace initiatives only if Israel wants it to, said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in his first comprehensive interview on foreign policy since taking office.
"Believe me, America accepts all our decisions," Lieberman told the Russian daily Moskovskiy Komosolets.
“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” ~ David Ben Gurion
“Israel should keep the Araboushim [derogatory slang for Arabs] on a short leash, so that they recognise a whip is over their head. As long as not too many people are being visibly killed, then Western humanists will accept it all peacefully, and even ask ‘What is so terrible?’.” ~ Boaz Evron Yediot Ahronot, 1982-12-02, Israeli writer and commentator. -- Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces - Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot, New York Times 1983-04-14
Rabbi calls for annihilation of Arabs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1270038.stm
"It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable," he was quoted as saying in a sermon delivered on Monday to mark the Jewish festival of Passover.
Rabbi: Hurricane punishment for pullout
Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef: Hurricane Katrina result of Bush’s support for disengagement, failure of New Orleans’ black residents to study Torah. ‘This is the punishment for what Bush did to Gush Katif,’ rabbi says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3138779,00.html
And that prophecy came to fruition in 1947.
"[This trial] is not looking to blame or hold to account the soldier that dealt the final blow to Rachel.
The Corries are suing the state of Israel, for a nominal one dollar, for allowing, and at some points encouraging, its soldiers to act with impunity."
And this is exactly how it should be. The guilt of the driver imo is neither easy or possible to determine. Whether he was 'just following orders' or not, I don't think its possible to rule out that he couldn't see where he was going, nor do I assume that he was trained sufficiently to deal with extraordinary circumstances such as those he confronted on that day.
At the same time, I think it is impossible to not consider the Israeli state, and its policies towards the Palestinian population *100% guilty* not only of murder, but of displaying a deep and consistent callousness and lack of concern for human life – unless of course that life can place its roots into the history of the Jewish people.
The double standard of the value of human life was sickening when practiced by the Germans in their WWII deathcamps, and no less so when practiced today by the right-wing in Israel.
Israel, you owe the Corries 1 dollar... and I'm willing to bet 100 that you won't pay them even 10 agorot (Israel's smallest coin).
–SS
"The double standard of the value of human life was sickening when practiced by the Germans in their WWII deathcamps, and no less so when practiced today by the right-wing in Israel."
Oh, yeah, the Right Wing, of course. When the Left Wing is in power things are soooo much different.
Israel is a failed state - a fashist rogue state.
What do you expect? - Excuses? Sorry, this was a mistake? Legal justice and persecution of the murderer and his superiors? A public outcry against an appalling act of barbarism? - Stop kidding yourself.
Who is Rachel Corrie? She will be forgotten in a week's time.
This is a matter of religious racism, blood and land. Only those will persevere.
When they were persecuted the Jews were the special people.
Now that they are in power, it turns out that they are not the special people.
Almost everybody hates special people, whether they are scientists, artists, writers, athletes, academics or philosophers and whether they call themselves special or are called that by critics. Special people make ordinary people jealous. The Jews haven't been called special since the Old Testament was compiled, but accusing them of it has always been part of the anti-semitic vocabulary.
Among us Jews there are whores, pimps, criminals, liars, cheats and wife-beaters, just as there are in every other ethnic or religious group. If we can acknowledge that, will you let us off the hook? It isn't we who claim a human superiority we don't have.
As for Israel, just as in the US today, the loudest voices are those of the meanest, most selfish, most narrow-minded religious fundamentalists. The Knesset is dominated by ultra-right Jews, just as the US Congress has been paralyzed by ultra-right, Christian, born-again, selfish, narrow-minded Republicans.
The loudest voices are deafening the world with $$$$$$$$$$$. Oh, to be part of an exclusive club, a wealthy one, with a history book containing a list of all who may enter. Oh fortunate few, look no further. The tribe has killed for you! you! The Tribe Will Kill For You!
Ahem! Y'all don't claim to be "special" you claim to be "Chosen" - cause that's different. "Special" - at least here in the US - means you're retarded. Well, are you?
t_g
I can recall the wise words of my history teacher from high school in Budapest: why would they want to plant Europeans in a foreign land we have no relationship with? She was a survivor of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) and a wonderful human being. She was a huge influence in my life. Just like us, she was an atheist and a true socialist (NOT a communist!!).
She has argued, that to put Europeans amidst the native Arabs is asking for trouble. If they can't live in their native European lands for some reason, let them go to the US, Australia or Canada, or Brasil or Argentina... any country with a large European migrant community.
I left Hungary in the 70s and had the good fortune to visit all these countries and live in some: there are huge Jewish communities everywhere. Also, in many European countries!
Just wondering, why are the Israelis, these rabid dogs (they've described themselves as such!), have forgotten their forefathers' suffering and keep inflicting suffering on others? And their leaders are no more human than the worst Nazis or Soviet Communists were??
I was quietly nodding, when Helen Thomas said the Israelis should go back to their parents' lands: Poland, Russia, Germany and the likes...
If not, they should make peace with their neighbors, give the original inhabitants of the land, the Palestinians rights and no-questions-asked compensation. Also, reparations to all the victims of the IDF killings of international peace activists. Why can't they accept blame for something so obvious, like the killing of this young woman? Why can't they just make a transparent and open trial, with the guilty soldiers on show and punish them? Wouldn't it help their image in the international arena?
Israel, be a good world citizen!
(I have every right to critisize, pls don't call me anti-Semite, as I'm of Jewish origin. And I'm not self-hating either)
Can we say "Kangaroo Court" boys and girls? It's sad but I can't believe that Rachel's parents could have possibly expected any resemblance of justice out of this. However, here's the real question: why aren't the Corries going after Carterpillar? If every time anyone around the world was injured or killed by one of these Made in Amerikkka toys, the families went after the manufacturer with a civil lawsuit, they would have been put out of business and the crimes committed with their killing toys would have come to and end. And others inclined to engage in the business of purveying death would think twice before going there. Surely, the Corries (and the Palestinians in Gaza) can find a jewish lawyer somewhere in New York who would care more about the green he stands to put in his pocket than his loyalty & love for Eretz Israel.