May, 24 2011, 12:31pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jen Nessel, 212.614.6449, jnessel@ccrjustice.org;
David Lerner, Riptide Communications, 212.260.5000
Center for Constitutional Rights Launches Case Seeking U.S. Knowledge of and Role in Deadly Israeli Attack on Humanitarian Flotilla to Gaza
U.S. Victim’s Father Hopes Documents May Shed Light on Son’s Killing
WASHINGTON
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today launched a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking immediate release of documents that the United States government has refused to provide regarding its knowledge of and role in the deadly May 31, 2010 attack by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Among the nine civilians killed was 18-year-old U.S. citizen Furkan Dogan who was shot several times as he was filming the 4:00 a.m. raid, and then shot in the face at point blank range as he lay there wounded. Fifteen other U.S. citizens participated in the flotilla, including five who traveled on a U.S. registered boat; many were beaten and injured.
Said Professor Ahmet Dogan, father of Furkan, "I have traveled twice to Washington, D.C. seeking answers and support in my efforts to achieve justice and accountability for my son's killing. So far, my efforts have not been successful. I call upon the United States government to at least release information related to the flotilla attack and what it knows about my son's death. Why isn't the United States investigating the death of a U.S. citizen in this case?"
The federal lawsuit, Center for Constitutional Rights v. Department of Defense, et al was filed in the Southern District of New York against the Defense Department as well as numerous other federal departments, including Justice and State, and various components of the U.S. military. The initial FOIA requests were filed nearly 11 months ago: only two agencies responded, and their responses were wholly inadequate, according to the suit.
"One year after the deadly attack on the humanitarian flotilla, the American public has been told nothing about what actions, if any, the United States undertook to ensure that U.S. citizens and other civilians were protected when they sailed towards Gaza," said Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney, Katherine Gallagher. "A U.S. citizen was killed and the U.S. has not conducted an independent investigation into his killing in international waters by a foreign military. Indeed, the State Department did not even mention the killing of Furkan Dogan in its recently released Human Rights report on Israel. We need to know what our government is doing to protect us - and hold those to account who harm U.S. citizens."
The attack by Israeli commandos took place in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea against a six-boat humanitarian flotilla headed to Gaza with more than 700 civilian passengers. One of the ships was registered in the U.S. The flotilla sought to bring food and other humanitarian supplies to the people of Gaza, who have been living under an Israeli blockade for nearly five years.
Commandos seized the property of U.S. citizens, including a video camera that recorded the raid, and Israel continues to retain control of this property. The Center for Constitutional Rights is seeking communications from and to the U.S. agencies named in the lawsuit that relate to the preservation of evidence that might shed light on the death of Furkan Dogan. The Center further seeks any documents that could show what steps the Department of State, Department of Justice and other agencies have taken to ensure that Furkan's death be properly and independently investigated. The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the refusal of Israel to return this personal property is, "a deliberate attempt by the Israeli authorities to suppress or destroy evidence and other information related to the events of 31 May." The full UN report can be viewed here (PDF).
Said Jessica Lee, of the University of Virginia International Human Rights Law Clinic, which is co-counsel in the case, "With the blockade continuing, another humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza is planned for next month. The blockade cannot be reconciled with principles of international law; it amounts to collective punishment. Regardless of how one determines Israel's legal obligations with respect to Gaza, civilians have the right to receive food and medical supplies. And United States citizens who participate in non-violent humanitarian missions have the right to know what protections they can expect their government to provide in international waters."
To read the complaint, visit the Center for Constitutional Right's legal case page or https://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/gaza-freedom-flotilla.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
(212) 614-6464LATEST NEWS
Union Decries GOP Subpoena Over Gaza Resolution as 'Attack' on Free Speech
"We stand by our resolution in support of a free Palestine, which was passed overwhelmingly after a full membership vote."
Mar 11, 2024
Free speech defenders on Monday condemned Republican North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx's subpoena of a labor union after its members overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution calling for a Gaza cease-fire and condemning Israeli genocide, apartheid, and other crimes in Palestine.
The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) Local 2325 of the United Auto Workers (UAW) voted 1,067-570 in December to approve a sweeping resolution endorsing the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights and condemning Israel's "occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide" in Palestine. The measure called for an end to these and other human rights violations as well as "an immediate cease-fire" in Gaza and an end to the Israeli siege on the embattled Palestinian territory.
According toHuffPost, several of the measure's organizers are Jewish. On Monday, ALAA president Lisa Ohta told the outlet that "we stand by our resolution in support of a free Palestine, which was passed overwhelmingly after a full membership vote."
"This is a transparent attack on our union's democratic processes and freedom of speech," Ohta said of Foxx's move.
Foxx—who chairs the House Committee on Education and the Workforce— said she was serving the subpoena because the union was "obstructing" an inquiry into the "divisive, antisemitic resolution."
The congresswoman previously accused the union of supporting a resolution that "calls for an economic boycott of Israel, fails to acknowledge the horrific actions committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and puts Jewish union members in a compromising position."
Foxx further charged that the measure "alienated a sizeable portion" of the union's membership while forcing Jewish members "to take a position critical on their faith, Israel, and Israel's sovereignty."
ALAA had originally planned to vote on the resolution on November 17. However, four union members filed a lawsuit in state court that resulted in a temporary restraining order blocking a vote. In December, a federal judge lifted the order, in part because it violated union members' First Amendment rights.
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One expert said that enacting his reforms "will begin to reverse the 40-year one-way ratchet of falling taxes for the wealthy and corporations and instead invest in workers and families."
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On the heels of delivering the latest State of the Union speech and signing a package of funding bills, U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled his budget blueprint for fiscal year 2025, a proposal praised by congressional Democrats and progressive advocates who want him to go even further.
The $7.3 trillion budget comes as the divided Congress is still sorting out funding for the current fiscal year. Given those divisions—and that the Republican House majority is already advancing its own budget resolution for the fiscal year that begins in October—the Democratic president's plan is widely seen as a statement of priorities going into the November election.
"Biden used his official budget request as a campaign leaflet, taking a first-term victory lap and calling out Donald Trump by name," Politicoreported, referring to the former president who lost reelection in 2020 and is now the presumptive Republican nominee.
"This budget demonstrates a commitment to ensuring corporations pay more of their fair share."
One key issue is Social Security and Medicare. The GOP blueprint unveiled last week includes a fiscal commission that critics call a "death panel" designed to fast-track cuts. As Common Dreamsreported earlier Monday, Trump made televised comments taken as "support for cutting Social Security and Medicare," which his campaign later claimed were about cutting "waste" in the programs.
Meanwhile, according to a White House fact sheet, Biden's new budget demonstrates his desire to "protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security for this and future generations," including with improvements to drug price negotiations.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Monday that the Republican candidate's latest remarks are "consistent with Trump's record as president" and Biden is presenting "a very different vision for Social Security's future" with his proposal to protect the program by boosting taxes on the ultrarich. She emphasized that "Social Security is on the ballot this November."
Raising taxes for the wealthy and corporations—which would not only fund initiatives but also cut an estimated $3 trillion from the national debt over a decade—is a major focus of Biden's blueprint, which takes aim at provisions from Trump's 2017 tax law. Biden calls for imposing a 25% minimum tax for individuals with wealth of more than $100 million, as well as ending capital income tax breaks and closing other loopholes.
BREAKING: President Biden's 2025 budget raises trillions by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share\n\n\u201425% minimum tax on billionaires\n\u2014Raise corporate tax rate\n\u2014Close tax loopholes for corporations\n\nTHIS is how you grow the economy and boost the middle class.— (@)
The blueprint also advocates for setting the corporate tax rate at 28%, raising the Inflation Reduction Act's (IRA) minimum rate on billion-dollar corporations to 21%, denying deductions for compensation over $1 million for any C corporation employee, and "reforming the international tax system to reduce the incentives to book profits in low-tax jurisdictions," as the fact sheet details.
Other tax-related proposals include restoring the full IRA investment in the Internal Revenue Service and providing new funds to crack down on rich tax cheats, as well as reviving the expanded child tax credit that led to a historic drop in youth poverty.
"The White House budget's across-the-board increases would be a welcome relief to agencies and programs across the government that have seen their funding cut," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen, in a statement Monday. "This budget demonstrates a commitment to ensuring corporations pay more of their fair share."
Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, also welcomed the plan, saying that "President Biden's 2025 budget lays out a sound approach to key decisions that need to be made next year, regardless of the outcomes of the elections: a fairer tax code that raises more revenues from wealthy people and profitable corporations to invest in people, communities, and the economy and to improve our fiscal outlook."
Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens offered similar praise, asserting that "the tax reforms in President Biden's 2025 budget are the critical unfinished business of Bidenomics. Enacting the reforms in his budget will begin to reverse the 40-year one-way ratchet of falling taxes for the wealthy and corporations and instead invest in workers and families."
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Stand Up America's senior associate of policy and political affairs, Sunwoo Oh, also welcomed the proposal saying that "election funding is critical to ensuring every voice is heard and every eligible vote counted. It's long past time that Congress invest in America's election infrastructure to give states and localities the consistent resources they need to keep our elections, and those who administer them, safe and secure."
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The budget includes a $4.7 billion emergency fund for border security—a top issue in Congress and the presidential contest.
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On the other side of Capitol Hill, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, also applauded Biden's budget, specifically highlighting the child tax credit and paid leave policies. She said that "I look forward to working with President Biden in shaping a federal budget that delivers a more prosperous future for everyday Americans."
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"We know it was Breonna Taylor's dream to save lives," said one rights advocate, "and this proposed legislation would do just that."
Mar 11, 2024
Rights advocates on Monday applauded U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey for taking a "bold step toward healing and justice" by introducing the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act, which would ban nationwide the kind of no-knock warrants that led to the 26-year-old woman's death in 2020.
Nearly four years to the day after Taylor was killed by police officers who forcibly entered her home in Louisville, Kentucky without warning, after allegedly lying to obtain the no-knock warrant, McGarvey (D-Ky.) joined Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in proposing the bill.
Louisville and Kentucky policymakers have both prohibited or severely restricted no-knock warrants since Taylor's killing.
"Louisvillians remember Breonna Taylor and are still grieving the tragedy of her inexcusable killing by police. After Breonna's death, we passed a ban on no-knock warrants at the state and local level—if we can do this in Kentucky, we can do this nationally," said McGarvey. "The Justice for Breonna Taylor Act is going to protect people and keep our communities safe."
Under the proposal, federal law enforcement and state and local police departments that receive federal funding would be prohibited from executing no-knock warrants.
"After Breonna's death, we passed a ban on no-knock warrants at the state and local level—if we can do this in Kentucky, we can do this nationally."
Amber Duke, executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky, denounced no-knock warrants as "legalized home invasions that put lives at risk on either side of a door."
In Taylor's case, police officers used a battering ram to break down the door to the Louisville apartment shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020.
They had been investigating two men for suspected drug dealing, including one who had previously been romantically involved with Taylor and who they believed had used Taylor's apartment to receive packages.
"We know it was Breonna Taylor's dream to save lives," Duke said of the emergency room technician, "and this proposed legislation would do just that. We applaud Congressman McGarvey and the bill's co-sponsors for taking this bold step toward healing and justice."
The legislation was introduced as federal authorities announced former Officer Brett Hankison will face a jury for a third time in the case.
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