Dear friends,
Israel has begun to step up its hasbara (propaganda) campaign in order to try and discredit the upcoming Gaza flotillas. Their latest attempt comes in the form of a youtube video accusing the London Flotilla organisers of homophobia. The video, however, has been exposed by American Jewish writer and activist, Max Blumenthal, along with Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty from Electronic Intifada as not only being a fraud but being closely linked to the Israeli government and no doubt a piece of Israeli government propaganda. The video is clearly part of the ongoing Israeli government attempt to "pinkwash" its apartheid and occupation practices.
I have included links here to Ben Doherty's article (here), as well as links to the articles by Max Blumenthal (here) and Ali Abunimah (here).
In solidarity, Kim
Showing posts with label flotilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flotilla. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Monday, September 6, 2010
Israel escalates assaults on democratic rights
Dear friends,
please find below my article on escalting assault on democratic rights in Israel which appeared in the August edition of Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim
**Home » Issue 25: August 2010
Israel escalates assaults on democratic rights
By Kim Bullimore
Haneen Zoabi, a member of the Israeli Knesset, was stripped of her parliamentary privileges on July 13 following her participation in the Gaza flotilla, which was attacked by Israeli commandos who murdered nine human rights activists.
Zoabi attacked in the Israeli Knesset when speaking about the murder on the Mavi Marmara.
Zoabi, one of the 10 Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who are members of the Knesset, was stripped of her right to hold a diplomatic passport, the right to free legal counsel in case she faces trial and all privileges related to travelling overseas as a member of parliament. Zoabi also faces threats of criminal charges by Israel’s Attorney General Department for her participation in the flotilla.
Assault in parliament
Zoabi, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked, recounted her experience to the Knesset on 2 June. According to the June 3 Jerusalem Post, Knesset members from both the coalition and opposition parties not only sought to shout down Zoabi, but also physically charged the podium in an attempt to stop her from continuing her speech. When other Palestinian members of the Knesset attempted to prevent the physical attacks on Zoabi, they were also attacked.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Likud member Miri Regev screamed abuse at Zoabi, yelling at her “Go back to Gaza, you traitor”, while another member from the supposedly centrist Kadima party accused Zoabi of being a terrorist. On June 2, Israeli news site YNet reported that during the session, Moshe Mutz Matalon, from the openly racist anti-Arab Yisrael Beitenu party, also praised the murder of the nine human rights activists on the Mavi Marmara, saying, “Unfortunately, the [commando] fighters acted with too much restraint. They left only nine floating voters.”
Before being screamed down, Zoabi stated that she felt it was her moral and political duty to participate in the flotilla and to oppose the imprisonment of 1.5 million people. Zoabi also pointed out to those calling her a criminal, that unlike the Israeli commandos, she did not murder anyone. In a press release later issued by her parliamentary office, Zoabi noted: “Israel, following the international reaction to its bloody attack on the humanitarian flotilla, is embarrassed and confused. Unable to deal with the shock and anger of the international community, I have become their punching bag.”
In an attempt to silence Zoabi and other members of the Knesset who did not toe the Zionist line, a number of Knesset members announced that they had drafted legislation to punish Zoabi for exercising her right to freedom of speech and to prevent her from running in future Knesset elections.
Silencing critics
Zoabi about to board the Mavi Marmara
US Jewish blogger Tony Greenstein wrote on June 8 that the attacks on Zoabi were an attack on the entirety of Israel’s Palestinian Arab population. According to Greenstein, “What we are seeing is not merely a personal vendetta but a deliberate and concerted attempt to humiliate, intimidate and persecute a political representative of Israel’s Arab citizens, who comprise 20% of the population”.
The attack on Zoabi, while a part of the campaign to silence and further marginalise Israel’s Palestinian citizens, is also part of a broader attempt to silence internal critics, both Palestinian and Jewish, of Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies. In May, Dr Omar Saeed, a member of Zoabi’s Balad party and Amir Makhoul, the director general of Ittijah (Union of Arab Community-based Associations) were arrested when their homes were raided in the middle of the night. The two men were accused of spying for Hezbollah. Their arrests were not initially made public due to the military censor, a department of the Israeli government, imposing a gag order preventing the media from reporting the arrests. The arrests became public knowledge in Israel only after international bloggers began a campaign to free Makhoul, forcing the Israeli military to lift the gag order.
Amir Makhoul giving a speech before his arrest
On June 8, Saeed was sentenced to seven months’ jail after striking a plea bargain with the state, which charged him with “servicing an illegal organisation” rather than “contact with a foreign agent” and “delivery of information for the benefit the enemy”. In a media statement, Saeed’s legal team noted, “The cancellation of the most serious charges against Dr. Saeed proves that the State Prosecution inflated the charges to begin with in order to justify its arbitrary and illegal actions ... against him”. The flimsiness of the case was demonstrated in a June 8 article published by YNet. According to YNet, while an apparent Hezbollah agent had approached the 50-year-old Saeed in Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt in 2008, Saeed had rejected the alleged agent’s overtures and later ripped up the contact details given to him, rebuffing any further contact.
Two days earlier, on June 6, Makhoul, whose lawyers had been prevented from seeing him for 12 days and who suspected he’d been tortured in custody, was finally able to speak with the Israeli media when his court case began. Makhoul said his and Saeed’s arrests, as well as the attacks on Zoabi, had nothing to do with security, but were part of “a trend of breaking the bones of political figures”.
The Israeli state’s attack on dissenting citizens, particularly Palestinian Arab citizens, is nothing new. Since its beginning, the Zionist state has sought punitive control of the Palestinian population in both Israel and the occupied territories. From 1948 until 1966, Palestinians living inside Israel, despite nominally being Israeli citizens, were subject to military regulations. Unlike Jewish citizens, Palestinian Arabs were subject to severe restrictions on their movement and prohibited from organising politically; Palestinian Arab political associations and parties were banned and Palestinian Arab publications censored.
New campaigns
Since the 2009 Israeli election, which resulted in Yisrael Beteinu forming government with Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, dozens of anti-democratic laws, specifically aimed at further marginalising Palestinian citizens, have been introduced into the Knesset. The last year has also brought a dramatic increase in the attacks, both in the Knesset and in broader Israeli society, on the political and civil rights of Jewish Israelis who oppose the government’s occupation and apartheid policies.
While Yisrael Beteinu, Likud and Kadima have introduced and supported bills to criminalise and jail any Israeli citizen advocating for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, extreme right groups have launched a campaign against a range of Israeli human rights and civil society organisations. In early 2010, a campus-based group, Im Tirtzu, which receives partial funding from the Christians for Israel lobby led by anti-Semitic preacher John Hagee, targeted Naomi Chazan and the New Israel Fund (NIF). Im Tirtzu’s campaign, which included full-page advertisements, sought to depict Chazan and the NIF as treasonous informants. The attack also sought to discredit the many Israeli human rights and civil society groups that had received NIF funding and had exposed the human rights abuses carried out by Israel in the occupied territories, as well as the war crimes it engaged in during its 22-day assault on Gaza in 2008-2009.
In April 2010, a survey commissioned by the Tel Aviv University-based Tami Steinmetz Centre for Peace Research found that the majority of Jewish Israelis held similar positions to that of Im Tirtzu, favouring closing down Israeli human rights organisations that exposed human rights abuses by Israel’s military. According to the survey, more than half of the Jewish Israelis surveyed believe that “there is too much freedom of expression” in Israel, while nearly 58% believed that Israeli human rights organisations that expose abuses carried out by Israel shouldn’t be allowed to operate freely. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on April 28 stated, “The poll also found that most of the respondents favour punishing Israeli citizens who support sanctioning or boycotting the country, and support punishing journalists who report news that reflects badly on the actions of the defence establishment”. In addition, 65% believed that the Israeli media should be censored and barred from publishing any news deemed by defence officials to endanger state security.
In reaction to the survey, Daniel Bar-Tal, a professor at Tel Aviv University, told Haaretz, “Israelis have a distorted perception of democracy”, and “the public recognises the importance of democratic values, but when they need to be applied, it turns out most people are almost anti-democratic”.
please find below my article on escalting assault on democratic rights in Israel which appeared in the August edition of Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim
**Home » Issue 25: August 2010
Israel escalates assaults on democratic rights
By Kim Bullimore
Haneen Zoabi, a member of the Israeli Knesset, was stripped of her parliamentary privileges on July 13 following her participation in the Gaza flotilla, which was attacked by Israeli commandos who murdered nine human rights activists.
Zoabi attacked in the Israeli Knesset when speaking about the murder on the Mavi Marmara.
Zoabi, one of the 10 Palestinians with Israeli citizenship who are members of the Knesset, was stripped of her right to hold a diplomatic passport, the right to free legal counsel in case she faces trial and all privileges related to travelling overseas as a member of parliament. Zoabi also faces threats of criminal charges by Israel’s Attorney General Department for her participation in the flotilla.
Assault in parliament
Zoabi, who was aboard the Mavi Marmara when it was attacked, recounted her experience to the Knesset on 2 June. According to the June 3 Jerusalem Post, Knesset members from both the coalition and opposition parties not only sought to shout down Zoabi, but also physically charged the podium in an attempt to stop her from continuing her speech. When other Palestinian members of the Knesset attempted to prevent the physical attacks on Zoabi, they were also attacked.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Likud member Miri Regev screamed abuse at Zoabi, yelling at her “Go back to Gaza, you traitor”, while another member from the supposedly centrist Kadima party accused Zoabi of being a terrorist. On June 2, Israeli news site YNet reported that during the session, Moshe Mutz Matalon, from the openly racist anti-Arab Yisrael Beitenu party, also praised the murder of the nine human rights activists on the Mavi Marmara, saying, “Unfortunately, the [commando] fighters acted with too much restraint. They left only nine floating voters.”
Before being screamed down, Zoabi stated that she felt it was her moral and political duty to participate in the flotilla and to oppose the imprisonment of 1.5 million people. Zoabi also pointed out to those calling her a criminal, that unlike the Israeli commandos, she did not murder anyone. In a press release later issued by her parliamentary office, Zoabi noted: “Israel, following the international reaction to its bloody attack on the humanitarian flotilla, is embarrassed and confused. Unable to deal with the shock and anger of the international community, I have become their punching bag.”
In an attempt to silence Zoabi and other members of the Knesset who did not toe the Zionist line, a number of Knesset members announced that they had drafted legislation to punish Zoabi for exercising her right to freedom of speech and to prevent her from running in future Knesset elections.
Silencing critics
Zoabi about to board the Mavi Marmara
US Jewish blogger Tony Greenstein wrote on June 8 that the attacks on Zoabi were an attack on the entirety of Israel’s Palestinian Arab population. According to Greenstein, “What we are seeing is not merely a personal vendetta but a deliberate and concerted attempt to humiliate, intimidate and persecute a political representative of Israel’s Arab citizens, who comprise 20% of the population”.
The attack on Zoabi, while a part of the campaign to silence and further marginalise Israel’s Palestinian citizens, is also part of a broader attempt to silence internal critics, both Palestinian and Jewish, of Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies. In May, Dr Omar Saeed, a member of Zoabi’s Balad party and Amir Makhoul, the director general of Ittijah (Union of Arab Community-based Associations) were arrested when their homes were raided in the middle of the night. The two men were accused of spying for Hezbollah. Their arrests were not initially made public due to the military censor, a department of the Israeli government, imposing a gag order preventing the media from reporting the arrests. The arrests became public knowledge in Israel only after international bloggers began a campaign to free Makhoul, forcing the Israeli military to lift the gag order.
Amir Makhoul giving a speech before his arrest
On June 8, Saeed was sentenced to seven months’ jail after striking a plea bargain with the state, which charged him with “servicing an illegal organisation” rather than “contact with a foreign agent” and “delivery of information for the benefit the enemy”. In a media statement, Saeed’s legal team noted, “The cancellation of the most serious charges against Dr. Saeed proves that the State Prosecution inflated the charges to begin with in order to justify its arbitrary and illegal actions ... against him”. The flimsiness of the case was demonstrated in a June 8 article published by YNet. According to YNet, while an apparent Hezbollah agent had approached the 50-year-old Saeed in Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt in 2008, Saeed had rejected the alleged agent’s overtures and later ripped up the contact details given to him, rebuffing any further contact.
Two days earlier, on June 6, Makhoul, whose lawyers had been prevented from seeing him for 12 days and who suspected he’d been tortured in custody, was finally able to speak with the Israeli media when his court case began. Makhoul said his and Saeed’s arrests, as well as the attacks on Zoabi, had nothing to do with security, but were part of “a trend of breaking the bones of political figures”.
The Israeli state’s attack on dissenting citizens, particularly Palestinian Arab citizens, is nothing new. Since its beginning, the Zionist state has sought punitive control of the Palestinian population in both Israel and the occupied territories. From 1948 until 1966, Palestinians living inside Israel, despite nominally being Israeli citizens, were subject to military regulations. Unlike Jewish citizens, Palestinian Arabs were subject to severe restrictions on their movement and prohibited from organising politically; Palestinian Arab political associations and parties were banned and Palestinian Arab publications censored.
New campaigns
Since the 2009 Israeli election, which resulted in Yisrael Beteinu forming government with Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, dozens of anti-democratic laws, specifically aimed at further marginalising Palestinian citizens, have been introduced into the Knesset. The last year has also brought a dramatic increase in the attacks, both in the Knesset and in broader Israeli society, on the political and civil rights of Jewish Israelis who oppose the government’s occupation and apartheid policies.
While Yisrael Beteinu, Likud and Kadima have introduced and supported bills to criminalise and jail any Israeli citizen advocating for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, extreme right groups have launched a campaign against a range of Israeli human rights and civil society organisations. In early 2010, a campus-based group, Im Tirtzu, which receives partial funding from the Christians for Israel lobby led by anti-Semitic preacher John Hagee, targeted Naomi Chazan and the New Israel Fund (NIF). Im Tirtzu’s campaign, which included full-page advertisements, sought to depict Chazan and the NIF as treasonous informants. The attack also sought to discredit the many Israeli human rights and civil society groups that had received NIF funding and had exposed the human rights abuses carried out by Israel in the occupied territories, as well as the war crimes it engaged in during its 22-day assault on Gaza in 2008-2009.
In April 2010, a survey commissioned by the Tel Aviv University-based Tami Steinmetz Centre for Peace Research found that the majority of Jewish Israelis held similar positions to that of Im Tirtzu, favouring closing down Israeli human rights organisations that exposed human rights abuses by Israel’s military. According to the survey, more than half of the Jewish Israelis surveyed believe that “there is too much freedom of expression” in Israel, while nearly 58% believed that Israeli human rights organisations that expose abuses carried out by Israel shouldn’t be allowed to operate freely. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on April 28 stated, “The poll also found that most of the respondents favour punishing Israeli citizens who support sanctioning or boycotting the country, and support punishing journalists who report news that reflects badly on the actions of the defence establishment”. In addition, 65% believed that the Israeli media should be censored and barred from publishing any news deemed by defence officials to endanger state security.
In reaction to the survey, Daniel Bar-Tal, a professor at Tel Aviv University, told Haaretz, “Israelis have a distorted perception of democracy”, and “the public recognises the importance of democratic values, but when they need to be applied, it turns out most people are almost anti-democratic”.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
Dear friends,
Here are some of the recent articles I have written, which appeared in Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim Home » Issue 24: July 2010
***
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
By Kim Bullimore
Israel announced on June 17 that it would “liberalise” its three-year siege of Gaza, allowing more categories of goods to enter the blockaded territory. Non-essential items such as tomato sauce, snacks, mayonnaise and cosmetics will now be allowed in. However, building materials such as cement, pipes and iron — essential for the reconstruction of housing, much of which was destroyed by Israel’s 22-day bombing campaign in 2008-09 — will remain prohibited.
According to the June 21 Tel Aviv Haaretz newspaper, Israel will retain the “right” to ban “dual-use” construction materials that it claims could be used by the Palestinian resistance to rebuild military facilities and manufacture weapons. Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation that deals specifically with legal issues related to freedom of movement within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, noted in a statement on June 17 that the “liberalisation” advocated by the Israeli Security Cabinet enacted little more than “cosmetic changes” and did little to change the situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Gisha said that Israel’s siege of Gaza has little to do with security and instead is part of a policy of “economic warfare” designed supposedly to weaken support for Hamas. Gisha went on to state: “In the context of that policy, Israel deliberately prevents Gaza residents from receiving raw materials, exporting finished products and travelling into and out of Gaza”. Rather than introducing cosmetic changes to the blockade, Gisha called on Israel to adopt “a policy that recognises the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce [goods] and to travel”.
Planned murder
The announcement of the “liberalisation” of the siege came in the wake of international outrage at Israel’s murder of nine human rights activists and wounding of up to 30 others, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31. The nine-boat flotilla, carrying more than 650 human rights activists, doctors, parliamentarians and journalists, was organised jointly by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish human rights organisation Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). The flotilla sought to break Israel’s illegal three-year siege of the Gaza Strip and deliver more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The nine were killed when Israeli commandos boarded and attacked with live ammunition the largest of the boats, the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara.
The Israeli government, along with the Israeli and international media, has attempted to portray the deadly commando attack as a “bungled raid”. However, before the attack, Israeli media carried a number of stories in both English and Hebrew outlining the Israeli government’s intention to use violence against the flotilla and its unarmed passengers. Awarding-winning US Jewish freelance journalist Max Blumenthal wrote in a June 6 article on his blog that statements by senior Israeli military commanders prior to the departure of the flotilla towards Gaza revealed that “the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak”. On May 28, three days before the attack on the boats, Israel’s Maariv newspaper carried an article in Hebrew entitled, “Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea”, which outlined the intention of the Israeli military to use brutal force.
Footage shoot by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara. Lee was able to retain the footage despite the IOF trying to confiscate all footage shot by activists.
According to Blumenthal’s English translation of the Maariv article, the Israeli operation against the boats would be led by Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who told Maariv, “If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force”. According to Maron, the operational plan included approval for using “live fire” if the commandos deemed it necessary. The article also outlined that, once the commandos boarded the boats, they would “inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools”. As Blumenthal notes, “The plan to search for ‘sabotage materials’ also foreshadowed the [Israeli military’s] post-raid propaganda campaign”.
Despite Israeli military illegally attempting to confiscate all photographic and film footage from the activists in an attempt ensure that Israel’s version of events dominated media coverage of the attack, the Israeli government’s torrent of justification was repeatedly challenged by a range of independent journalists, both inside Israel and internationally. As a result, the Israeli government and military were forced to retreat from a number of claims they had made, including that 40 flotilla participants were “al Qaeda mercenaries”. The Israeli military was also forced to admit that it had doctored the audio on footage it released of the assault on the Mavi Marmara.
With the release of the hundreds of human rights activists from Israeli detention, photographs and video footage that activists were able to retain were released. They revealed that far from attempting to “lynch” the attacking commandos, as Israel claimed, the activists were attacked and attempted to defend themselves. The footage also revealed that activists had sought to give medical aid to injured soldiers.
BDS campaign strengthened
The outrage at the murder of the nine activists has put Israel under increased international pressure to end its illegal siege and has increased support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. On June 2, the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly (32 to 2) to strongly condemn Israel’s actions against the humanitarian flotilla and call for an end to the siege of Gaza. On May 31, the day of the massacre, Professor Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Dubai’s Gulf News: “It is essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behaviour, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts … The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere”.
Turkey, South Africa and Nicaragua recalled their ambassadors from Israel and/or suspended diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. The Turkish parliament, in reaction to nine of its nationals being murdered, voted unanimously to “revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel” and to “seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities”. On June 14, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded Israel immediately lift its Gaza blockade. “The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law”, the ICRC stated. Under such law, collective punishment of a whole population is a crime against humanity.
On June 1, the Palestinian BDS National Committee issued a statement condemning the murders and calling on the international community to intensify its support for BDS. In reaction to its call for transport and dock workers and unions around the world to refuse to load or offload Israeli ships and airplanes, the Swedish Port Workers Union voted to implement a blockade of Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel from June 15 to 29. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in February 2009 by refusing to offload a ship in Durban, also heeded the Palestinian appeal, advocating “an escalation of the boycott of Israeli goods”, calling upon its members “not to allow any Israeli ship to dock or unload” and calling upon fellow trade unionists not to handle them. On June 20, more than 700 protesters were able to stop the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay.
In Australia, 11 unions and state labour councils have now publicly announced support for the BDS campaign. The Western Australia branch of the Maritime Union of Australia was the first to support the campaign, joining in January 2009. It was joined just prior to the attack on the flotilla by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Queensland branch of the Electrical Trades Union.
In the wake of the attack, the Australian Services Union NSW and ACT branches, the Health and Community Services Union Victoria, Australian Education Union, Geelong Trades Hall Council, South Coast Labour Council (NSW) and Newcastle Trades Hall Council all announced support for BDS and called for the lifting of the siege of Gaza. The national secretary of the MUA, along with the Australian Nurses Federation, NSW Teachers Federation and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), while not announcing support for the BDS campaign, issued statements condemning Israel’s attack on the flotilla and calling for the end of the siege.
Here are some of the recent articles I have written, which appeared in Direct Action.
in solidarity, Kim Home » Issue 24: July 2010
***
Israel's Gaza siege: a crime against humanity
By Kim Bullimore
Israel announced on June 17 that it would “liberalise” its three-year siege of Gaza, allowing more categories of goods to enter the blockaded territory. Non-essential items such as tomato sauce, snacks, mayonnaise and cosmetics will now be allowed in. However, building materials such as cement, pipes and iron — essential for the reconstruction of housing, much of which was destroyed by Israel’s 22-day bombing campaign in 2008-09 — will remain prohibited.
According to the June 21 Tel Aviv Haaretz newspaper, Israel will retain the “right” to ban “dual-use” construction materials that it claims could be used by the Palestinian resistance to rebuild military facilities and manufacture weapons. Gisha, an Israeli human rights organisation that deals specifically with legal issues related to freedom of movement within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, noted in a statement on June 17 that the “liberalisation” advocated by the Israeli Security Cabinet enacted little more than “cosmetic changes” and did little to change the situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Gisha said that Israel’s siege of Gaza has little to do with security and instead is part of a policy of “economic warfare” designed supposedly to weaken support for Hamas. Gisha went on to state: “In the context of that policy, Israel deliberately prevents Gaza residents from receiving raw materials, exporting finished products and travelling into and out of Gaza”. Rather than introducing cosmetic changes to the blockade, Gisha called on Israel to adopt “a policy that recognises the rights of Palestinian residents of Gaza not just to consume but also to produce [goods] and to travel”.
Planned murder
The announcement of the “liberalisation” of the siege came in the wake of international outrage at Israel’s murder of nine human rights activists and wounding of up to 30 others, aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters on May 31. The nine-boat flotilla, carrying more than 650 human rights activists, doctors, parliamentarians and journalists, was organised jointly by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish human rights organisation Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH). The flotilla sought to break Israel’s illegal three-year siege of the Gaza Strip and deliver more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. The nine were killed when Israeli commandos boarded and attacked with live ammunition the largest of the boats, the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara.
The Israeli government, along with the Israeli and international media, has attempted to portray the deadly commando attack as a “bungled raid”. However, before the attack, Israeli media carried a number of stories in both English and Hebrew outlining the Israeli government’s intention to use violence against the flotilla and its unarmed passengers. Awarding-winning US Jewish freelance journalist Max Blumenthal wrote in a June 6 article on his blog that statements by senior Israeli military commanders prior to the departure of the flotilla towards Gaza revealed that “the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak”. On May 28, three days before the attack on the boats, Israel’s Maariv newspaper carried an article in Hebrew entitled, “Head to Head in the Heart of the Sea”, which outlined the intention of the Israeli military to use brutal force.
Footage shoot by Iara Lee on the Mavi Marmara. Lee was able to retain the footage despite the IOF trying to confiscate all footage shot by activists.
According to Blumenthal’s English translation of the Maariv article, the Israeli operation against the boats would be led by Lieutenant Colonel Eliezer Maron, who told Maariv, “If the people aboard the boats will not agree to turn around, the operation will transfer to the stage of force”. According to Maron, the operational plan included approval for using “live fire” if the commandos deemed it necessary. The article also outlined that, once the commandos boarded the boats, they would “inspect them looking for sabotage materials and fighting tools”. As Blumenthal notes, “The plan to search for ‘sabotage materials’ also foreshadowed the [Israeli military’s] post-raid propaganda campaign”.
Despite Israeli military illegally attempting to confiscate all photographic and film footage from the activists in an attempt ensure that Israel’s version of events dominated media coverage of the attack, the Israeli government’s torrent of justification was repeatedly challenged by a range of independent journalists, both inside Israel and internationally. As a result, the Israeli government and military were forced to retreat from a number of claims they had made, including that 40 flotilla participants were “al Qaeda mercenaries”. The Israeli military was also forced to admit that it had doctored the audio on footage it released of the assault on the Mavi Marmara.
With the release of the hundreds of human rights activists from Israeli detention, photographs and video footage that activists were able to retain were released. They revealed that far from attempting to “lynch” the attacking commandos, as Israel claimed, the activists were attacked and attempted to defend themselves. The footage also revealed that activists had sought to give medical aid to injured soldiers.
BDS campaign strengthened
The outrage at the murder of the nine activists has put Israel under increased international pressure to end its illegal siege and has increased support for the Palestinian-initiated boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. On June 2, the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly (32 to 2) to strongly condemn Israel’s actions against the humanitarian flotilla and call for an end to the siege of Gaza. On May 31, the day of the massacre, Professor Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Dubai’s Gulf News: “It is essential that those Israelis responsible for this lawless and murderous behaviour, including political leaders who issued the orders, be held criminally accountable for their wrongful acts … The worldwide campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel is now a moral and political imperative, and needs to be supported and strengthened everywhere”.
Turkey, South Africa and Nicaragua recalled their ambassadors from Israel and/or suspended diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. The Turkish parliament, in reaction to nine of its nationals being murdered, voted unanimously to “revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel” and to “seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities”. On June 14, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded Israel immediately lift its Gaza blockade. “The whole of Gaza’s civilian population is being punished for acts for which they bear no responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law”, the ICRC stated. Under such law, collective punishment of a whole population is a crime against humanity.
On June 1, the Palestinian BDS National Committee issued a statement condemning the murders and calling on the international community to intensify its support for BDS. In reaction to its call for transport and dock workers and unions around the world to refuse to load or offload Israeli ships and airplanes, the Swedish Port Workers Union voted to implement a blockade of Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel from June 15 to 29. The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in February 2009 by refusing to offload a ship in Durban, also heeded the Palestinian appeal, advocating “an escalation of the boycott of Israeli goods”, calling upon its members “not to allow any Israeli ship to dock or unload” and calling upon fellow trade unionists not to handle them. On June 20, more than 700 protesters were able to stop the unloading of an Israeli cargo ship at the port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay.
In Australia, 11 unions and state labour councils have now publicly announced support for the BDS campaign. The Western Australia branch of the Maritime Union of Australia was the first to support the campaign, joining in January 2009. It was joined just prior to the attack on the flotilla by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Queensland branch of the Electrical Trades Union.
In the wake of the attack, the Australian Services Union NSW and ACT branches, the Health and Community Services Union Victoria, Australian Education Union, Geelong Trades Hall Council, South Coast Labour Council (NSW) and Newcastle Trades Hall Council all announced support for BDS and called for the lifting of the siege of Gaza. The national secretary of the MUA, along with the Australian Nurses Federation, NSW Teachers Federation and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), while not announcing support for the BDS campaign, issued statements condemning Israel’s attack on the flotilla and calling for the end of the siege.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Free Gaza Movement flotilla vs Israeli government spin
Dear friends,
as you will be aware, the Free Gaza Movement's flotilla of 9 ships, with 700 activists from 40 countries is making its way to Gaza in attempt to break Israel's illegal siege and to bring 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
In response, Israel has announced that it will stop the boats and has gone on a PR propaganda blitz arguing that the aid is not needed because there is supposedly no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Al Jazeera, however, has challenged this claim with an excellent report from reporter, Sherine Tadros (see video below).
As part of its media propaganda blitz, the Israeli government has also claimed that Cyprus "banned" the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) flotilla from landing in Cyprus. Reports in the Cypriot media have made it clear that this is not true and simply just more Israeli government spin.
The Cyprus Mail (see: http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/gaza-aid-flotilla-will-pass-cyprus/20100526 ) on Wednedsay published an article on the flotilla, which reveals the FGM had no plans to dock in Cyprus and therefore did not ask permission to dock. The article makes it clear that the Cypriot government has not banned the FGM flotilla.
According to the Cyprus Mail:
"This is the ninth aid trip conducted by FGM. However, unlike previous journeys when the ships would meet in Larnaca, today they will meet international waters before they attempt to breach the blockade.Asked why they are not docking in Cyprus, Greta Berlin, FGM Spokeswoman said they had not received permission, as the Cypriot Government is following international law and maritime regulations, which state that ships can only go between legal international ports. The Cyprus Government has been wonderful, helping us the previous eight times, but it is not fair to ask Cyprus to deal with this by itself. They are being leaned on by Israel and the US."
"A senior source within Cyprus' Foreign Ministry agreed that they would be following all the rules and international maritime regulations. However, he said that he was not aware of any request being made by the organisers of the flotilla.
"It is up to the organisers, and they have decided not to visit Cyprus. But if any such request had been put forward, the decision will take place according to international and maritime law, and any rules that exist."
Another story circulating in the Israeli media is that the FGM also refused a request from the father of Gilad Shalit to take a letter to him. The FGM movement has stated this is a blatant lie.
In a media release about Israel's disinformation campaign, the FGM states: (see:http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/56-news/1174-israels-disinformation-campaign-against-the-gaza-freedom-flotilla )
"Israel claims that we refused to deliver a letter and package from POW Gilad Shalit's father. This is a blatant lie. We were first contacted by lawyers representing Shalit's family Wednesday evening, just hours before we were set to depart from Greece. Irish Senator Mark Daly (Kerry), one of 35 parliamentarians joining our flotilla, agreed to carry any letter and deliver it to UN officials inside Gaza. As of this writing, the lawyers have not responded to Sen. Daly, electing instead to attempt to smear us in the Israeli press.[5] We have always called for the release of all political prisoners in this conflict, including the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails, among them hundreds of child prisoners"
I have included the full text of the FGM media release regarding Israel's disinformation campaign below.
The Free Gaza Movement flotilla is due to arrive in Gazan waters on Saturday (Palestinian time).
Israeli anti-occupation activists are planning to hold a solidarity action on Saturday in support of the FGM flotilla to oppose their government stance and to support the call for breaking the siege and for the FGM flotilla movement to be allowed safe passage. International actions around the world are also taking place in support of the flotilla and the people of Gaza.
The FGM will be updating supporters and the media with what is happening with the flotilla. You can follow their updates at: www.freegaza.org
Solidarity with the Free Gaza Movement and the people of Gaza! End the Siege Now!
in solidarity, Kim
Al Jazeera
****
Israel's Disinformation Campaign Against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
Written by Free Gaza team | 28 May 2010
Posted in News
WitnessGaza.com
For over four years, Israel has subjected the civilian population of Gaza to an increasingly severe blockade, resulting in a man-made humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. Earlier this month, John Ging, the Director of Operations of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, called upon the international community to break the siege on the Gaza Strip by sending ships loaded with humanitarian aid. This weekend, 9 civilian boats carrying 700 human rights workers from 40 countries and 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid will attempt to do just that: break through the Israel's illegal military blockade on the Gaza Strip in non-violent direct action. In response, the Israeli government has threatened to send out 'half' of its Naval forces to violently stop our flotilla, and they have engaged in a deceitful campaign of misinformation regarding our mission.
Israel claims that there is no ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Every international aid organization working in Gaza has documented this crisis in stark detail. Just released earlier this week, Amnesty International's Annual Human Rights Report stated that Israeli's siege on Gaza has "deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty, food insecurity and food price rises caused by shortages left four out of five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. The scope of the blockade and statements made by Israeli officials about its purpose showed that it was being imposed as a form of collective punishment of Gazans, a flagrant violation of international law."[1]
Israel claims that its blockade is directed simply at the Hamas government in Gaza, and is limited to so-called 'security' items. Yet When U.S. Senator John Kerry visited Gaza last year, he was shocked to discover that the Israeli blockade included staple food items such as lentils, macaroni and tomato paste.[2] Furthermore, Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, has documented numerous official Israeli government statements that the blockade is intended to put 'pressure' on Gaza's population, and collective punishment of civilians is an illegal act under international law.[3]
Israel claims that if we wish to send aid to Gaza, all we need do is go through 'official channels,' give the aid to them and they will deliver it. This statement is both ridiculous and offensive. Their blockade, their 'official channels,' is what is directly causing the humanitarian crisis in the first place.
According to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter: "Palestinians in Gaza are being actually 'starved to death,' receiving fewer calories per day than people in the poorest parts of Africa. This is an atrocity that is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza. It is a crime... an abomination that this is allowed to go on. Tragically, the international community at large ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are treated more like animals than human beings."[4]
Israel claims that we refused to deliver a letter and package from POW Gilad Shalit's father. This is a blatant lie. We were first contacted by lawyers representing Shalit's family Wednesday evening, just hours before we were set to depart from Greece. Irish Senator Mark Daly (Kerry), one of 35 parliamentarians joining our flotilla, agreed to carry any letter and deliver it to UN officials inside Gaza. As of this writing, the lawyers have not responded to Sen. Daly, electing instead to attempt to smear us in the Israeli press.[5] We have always called for the release of all political prisoners in this conflict, including the 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners languishing in Israeli jails, among them hundreds of child prisoners.[6]
Most despicably of all, Israel claims that we are violating international law by sailing unarmed ships carrying humanitarian aid to a people desperately in need. These claims only demonstrate how degenerate the political discourse in Israel has become.
Activists from the Freedom flotilla
Despite its high profile pullout of illegal settlements and military presence from Gaza in August—September 2005, Israel maintains “effective control” over the Gaza Strip and therefore remains an occupying force with certain obligations.[7] Among Israel’s most fundamental obligations as an occupying power is to provide for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population. An occupying force has a duty to ensure the food and medical supplies of the population, as well as maintain hospitals and other medical services, “to the fullest extent of the means available to it” (G IV, arts. 55, 56). This includes protecting civilian hospitals, medical personnel, and the wounded and sick. In addition, a fundamental principle of International Humanitarian Law, as well as of the domestic laws of civilized nations, is that collective punishment against a civilian population is forbidden (G IV, art. 33).
Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power, not only neglecting to provide for the welfare of the Palestinian civilian population, but instituting policies designed to collectively punish the Palestinians of Gaza. From fuel and electricity cuts that hinder the proper functioning of hospitals, to the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid delivery through Israeli-controlled borders, Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip have turned Gaza into a man-made humanitarian disaster. The dire situation that currently exists in Gaza is therefore a result of deliberate policies by Israel designed to punish the people of Gaza. In order to address the calamitous conditions imposed upon the people, one must work to change the policies causing the crisis. The United Nations has referred to Israel’s near hermetic closure of Gaza as “collective punishment,”[8] strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. All nations signatory to the Convention have an obligation to ensure respect for its provisions.[9]
Given the continuing and sustained failure of the international community to enforce its own laws and protect the people of Gaza, we strongly believe that we all, as citizens of the world, have a moral obligation to directly intervene in acts of nonviolent civil resistance to uphold international principles. Israeli threats and intimidation will not deter us. We will sail to Gaza again and again and again, until this siege is forever ended and the Palestinian people have free access to the world.
WitnessGaza.com
One of the ships from the Freedom Flotilla in port.
NOTES:
[1] Amnesty International, Annual Human Rights Report (26 May 2010); http://thereport.amnesty.org/
[2] "The pasta, paper and hearing aids that could threaten Israeli security," The Independent (2 March 2009)
[3] "Restrictions on the transfer of goods to Gaza: Obstruction and obfuscation," Gisha (January 2010)
[4] "Carter calls Gaza blockade 'a crime and atrocity," Haaretz (17 April 2008), http://www.haaretz.com/news/carter-calls-gaza-blockade-a-crime-and-atrocity-1.244176
[5] "Gaza aid convoy refuses to deliver package to Gilad Shalit," Haaretz (27 May 2010)
[6] "Comprehensive Report on Status of Palestinian Political Prisoners," Sumoud (June 2004); Palestinian Children Political Prisoners, Addameer, http://www.addameer.org/detention/children.html
[7] Article 42 of the Hague Regulations stipulates, a “territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army,” and that the occupation extends “to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.” Similarly, in the Hostage Case, the Nuremburg Tribunal held that, “the test for application of the legal regime of occupation is not whether the occupying power fails to exercise effective control over the territory, but whether it has the ability to exercise such power.” Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, like those in the West Bank, continue to be subject to Israeli control. For example, Israel controls Gaza’s air space, territorial waters, and all border crossings. Palestinians in Gaza require Israel’s consent to travel to and from Gaza, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without Israel’s permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such basic functions of government as providing social, health, security and utility services, developing the Palestinian economy and allocating resources.
[8] John Holmes, Briefing to the U Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, 27 January 2009.
[9] Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949, Article I stating, “The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.” See also, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I. C. J. Reports 2004, p. 136 at 138; http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf.
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