EDITOR: From the horse’s mouth…
Well, if the navy officers themselves are demanding this, then Netanyahu has a real problem… To say that this is unprecedented is not even starting to explain how amazing this is! So while Netanyahu claims that no inquiry is necessary, and Obama wants the Israeli Navy to check into its own murder, here are some high-ranking officers (the Hebrew title is Ship-Captains, rather officers) saying quite clearly that the Israeli government and its military commanders are responsible for the murder on the boats, condemning the spin against the activists. So now Netanyahu and Obama are on their own, it seems. This will run and run.
Israel Navy reserves officers: Allow external Gaza flotilla probe: Haaretz
Officers denounce operation as ‘military and diplomatic failure’, slam government for placing blame on the activists.
A group of top Israel Navy reserves officers on Sunday publicly called on Israel to allow an external probe into its commando raid of a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla last week, which left nine people dead and several more wounded.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, the Navy officers denounced the commando raid as having “ended in tragedy both at the military and diplomatic levels.”
“We disagree with the widespread claims that this was the result of an intelligence rift,” said the officers. “In addition, we do not accept claims that this was a ‘public relations failure’ and we think that the plan was doomed to failure from the beginning.”
“First and foremost, we protest the fact that responsibility for the tragic results was immediately thrust onto the organizers of the flotilla,” wrote the officers. “This demonstrates contempt for the responsibility that belongs principally to the hierarchy of commanders and those who approved the mission. This shows contempt for the values of professionalism, the purity of weapons and for human lives.”
The Navy officers’ letter came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening his top ministers to deliberate a United Nations proposal to create a joint international committee alongside Turkey and the United States to investigate the circumstances of the deadly raid.
The cabinet was also to discuss the creation of an internal committee to look into the incident. Netanyahu earlier Sunday rejected the idea of an international panel, and reiterated that Israel had the right to conduct its own investigation.
Netanyahu discussed the proposal for a multinational panel with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone call on Saturday but told cabinet ministers fon Sunday that Israel was exploring other options, political sources said.
“I told [Ban] that the investigation of the facts must be carried out responsibly and objectively,” Netanyahu told ministers. “We need to consider the issue carefully and level-headedly, while maintaining Israel’s national interests as well as those of the Israel Defense Forces.”
Navy reserve officers urge probe on flotilla raid: YNet
Letter sent by 10 Navy reserve commanders to prime minister, defense minister demands independent inquiry commission into commando raid, urges higher security ranks to take responsibility for blunders
A group of 10 Navy reserve officers who served as patrol boat commanders sent a harsh letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday in which they urge the establishment of an independent inquiry commission into the flotilla raid events.
“We believe the operation ended in a military and political disaster,” the letter noted. The officers said they disagreed with claims of an intelligence or a PR failure as they believe the whole operation was doomed from the beginning.
“Most of all, we protest the fact that the responsibility for the disaster was immediately placed on the sail’s organizers,” the letter noted, suggesting that the commanding ranks and decision makers were the ones primarily responsible for the debacle. “We regard this as contempt for professionalism, battle morals and human life.”
The officers demanded the establishment of an independent inquiry commission which would hold a thorough examination of the raid. “We believe this is the best way to restore trust in the Navy command and decision makers,” the letter stated.
The officers were bewildered at the level of risk the Navy fighters were put under. “We were dumbfounded at the dismal outcome of civilians’ deaths and injuries. There is no shred of doubt in our minds that had a less trained and disciplined force been sent, the number of casualties would have been much greater, and therefore wish to express our appreciation of the combat forces.
“Nevertheless, we feel serious tactical mistakes in judgment and the use of force were made, primarily the inability to aptly characterize the mission while bearing in mind a civil vessel was being targeted.”
The officers stated that based on their experience as vessel commanders other ways could have been employed to stop the flotilla. “The MO which was exercised included a high level of friction which we feel was unnecessary, regardless of the type of resistance discovered upon the raid.”
‘Not endorsing disobedience’
One of the officers, Major Nir Barak told Ynet, “We have a lot of experience in this field. The letter was thought up out of a feelings of discomfort, mainly at the subsequent events and the defense minister and Navy command’s failure to take responsibility.
“We believe mistakes were made by the security establishment’s higher echelons which need to be addressed. We are not endorsing disobedience or draft-dodging but think one can show support for the forces and demand an examination at the same time.”
Major Barak stressed that the criticism is not directed at the soldiers but at the higher echelons which initiated and led the operation. “We think that the Navy command could have better prepared itself for this operation. The event was a military failure and there are questions which need to be answered.”
The Phoney Claim of Self-Defense – Israel’s Dilemma: Counterpunch
By NADIA HIJAB
Israel is stuck. For decades, it has used the same strategy to achieve its objectives and to rout all challengers: overwhelming force. When it meets violence with violence — even when it uses disproportionate force as in Beirut in 1982 and 2006 and Gaza in 2008 — Israel claims self-defense and usually manages to spin the facts its way. And, as it has not yet been held to account in any meaningful way, it has seen no reason to change its strategy.
But when it meets non-violence with violence, the strategy backfires. Israel is pitching the self-defense line to try to shield itself from criticism of its attack on the Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza convoy — but it’s not working.
You cannot claim self-defense when you have decided to send a thousand or so well-armed forces to board boats in international waters — vessels that were carefully searched before the voyage to make sure there were no arms. Or when you have killed up to 20 civilians and injured 54 others, while suffering no deaths yourself. If the situation were not so tragic, Israel’s spinning would be the stuff of comedy.
The visible crushing of peaceful activists usually has a powerful effect on world public opinion and this time it has pushed governments to take action to hold Israel accountable in a way that armed force has not. This is perhaps the most important contribution that those brave humanitarians have made to the Palestinian quest for justice.
And things will continue to unravel for Israel because it only knows how to use force to try to get its way. Ironically, Israel’s overkill has made the use of force so costly for those who favor armed resistance that the stage has been left clear for those who believe it is more effective to use civil resistance against a vastly superior armed force. It should be noted that Palestinian civil resistance is not new although it has recently been “discovered” by the mainstream media.
The first Palestinian uprising (Intifada) of 1987-1991 was almost completely non-violent and imposed itself on the world consciousness, making a powerful case for Palestinian rights. Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership did not know how to translate the power it generated into diplomatic gains. And that uprising was just one of a series of major acts of civil resistance stretching back a century.
Today, acts of peaceful resistance are underway throughout Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, and the rest of the world. And another outcome of Israel’s massacre on the Freedom Flotilla is that it will inexorably draw attention to the violent tactics Israel use to counter these non-violent acts.
For example, many Palestinians and their international supporters have lost their lives and been injured in protests against the illegal Wall Israel has been building in the occupied territory since 2002. The most recent victim was May 31: 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz, a student at New York’s Cooper Union, had her eye knocked out by one of the tear gas canisters Israel’s armed force routinely fire at unarmed demonstrators. She and a group of Palestinians and internationals were demonstrating in the occupied West Bank against Israel’s assault on the Flotilla. An Israeli tear gas canister killed the peaceful anti-Wall activist Bassem Abu Rahme in April 2009 as he demonstrated against his village Bil’in’s loss of 60% of its land to Israel’s Wall and settlements — and critically injured American citizen Tristan Anderson just a few weeks previously.
Israel’s international standing is also further eroded by the violence it is using against its own Palestinian citizens as they pursue their non-violent quest for equality, most recently in its draconian arrest of community leaders Ameer Makhoul and Omar Saeed. Having incarcerated both for weeks without access to legal counsel and subject to such torture as stress positions and sleep deprivation, Israel now claims to have evidence through both men’s “confessions” of collaboration with Israel’s enemies — confessions they have since retracted as obtained under duress.
Israel’s word against Ameer Makhoul’s? When it weighs the word of a known user of indiscriminate force and terror against that of a prominent civil society leader, the world will know whom to believe.
The real dilemma for Israel is that all of the force it brings to bear is aimed at achieving the unachievable: Keeping the territories it occupied in 1967, illegal under international law; privileging Jews over non-Jews within Israel, in violation of the United Nations Charter and international conventions; and denying Palestinian refugees their right of return. There are only two alternatives for Israel: to make its peace with justice and equality, or to experience growing and costly isolation.
Nadia Hijab is a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Jewish flotilla to break Gaza siege: YNet
German Jewish group prepares flotilla to protest Israel’s blockade on Gaza. ‘Activists frightened, but not by Hamas,’ member of organization says
The German-Jewish organization Jewish Voice for Peace in the Middle East is preparing a Jewish flotilla to the Gaza Strip. “We intend to leave around July,” a member of the organization, Kate Leitrer, said to Ynet. “We have one small craft so far, in which there will be between 12 and 16 people, mostly Jews.”
Leitrer, herself Jewish, said there was great interest in joining. “Getting another boat means more expenses, and we’re discussing this possibility,” she said. “Because of limited space, there will be school equipment, candy, and mainly musical equipment, and there’ll be musicians aboard who’ll teach the children of Gaza. They need to see that Jews are not what how they are drawn in their eyes.”
Leitrer also claimed that Israel acted criminally in its lethal raid on the Gaza flotilla last Monday.
“The head of UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) appealed to the world to send ships due to the shortage of important supplies in Gaza,” she said. “By stopping the flotilla, Israel acted criminally. Israel must not act like pirates.”
The activists are frightened, she said, but not by Hamas.
“Jews have been to Gaza in the past, and they were treated in a friendly manner,” Leitrer continued. “We have also talked with them recently, and they are very keen for us to come. We are frightened by what happened on the Marmara, but if you are committed to do good things, you have to act. People were also killed in the fight against fascism.”
She rejected Israel’s fears that weapons would be smuggled into Gaza on the aid boats.
“We haven’t heard there were weapons on the last flotilla, and people were shot and killed there,” she said. “We have contacted Israel figures and told them they are welcome to carry out searches on the boats, but we ask to be allowed to continue to Gaza. These are Gazan waters, and Israel must not control them.”
‘Open a window to Gaza’
Edith Lutz, a German Jewish member of the organization, said to Ynet the vessel is already anchored in Mediterranean waters, and that the organization had received many requests from Jews and non-Jews to take part in the flotilla.
“We began in Germany,” she said, “but many have called us from England, Sweden and the US. There may also be another boat accompanying us, mainly carrying reporters.”
Lutz explained that the Jewish flotilla aims to convey a message: Lift the siege.
“Our vessel can open a window between Israel and Gaza residents,” she said. “Two years ago I took part in the Free Gaza flotilla and wore a Magen David (Star of David), and the kids said, ‘Look, she’s Jewish,’ and they all accepted me very well. When we met (Hamas leader) Ismail Haniyeh and they told him about me, he turned to me and said they have nothing against Jews or Israel, only against the occupation.”
EDITOR: War Criminal Peres is snubbed… They should not invite war criminals in the first place!
South Korea lowers status of Peres visit in wake of Gaza flotilla raid: Haaretz
Facing international pressure and threat of protests, Seoul downgrades visit from ‘official’ to ‘working’.
South Korea announced on Sunday that it would downgrade the status of President Shimon Peres’ planned trip to Seoul, due to international pressure in the wake of Israel’s deadly raid on a humanitarian aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip last week.
Pressure from Arab states and other Muslim allies have led the South Korean government to change the status of Peres’ trip from an “official visit” to a “working visit”.
Peres’ visit is expected to yield a wave of demonstrations across the state; South Korea has even suggested postponing the trip to another date.
The president is meant to take off for Seoul on Monday. The visit was planned months ago, and was to be the first time an Israeli president had visited South Korea and Vietnam in an official capacity. But the trip now faces threat of cancellation due to the events of the flotilla and the harsh criticism of Israel over recent days.
Vietnam three days ago asked Peres to cancel his visit due to the atmosphere of anti-Israel sentiments within its borders, and the South Korean government has begun to send Jerusalem its own hints of crisis.
At this point, however, it seems Peres will make the trip to South Korea and agree to accept its lowered status.
“With the current international situation, it is impossible for us to initiate canceling these trips,” Peres said in closed talks on Sunday.
Pro-Palestinian organizations in South Korea have begun to prepare their demonstrations against the visiting Israeli president. One of the groups managed to get its hands on Peres’ full itinerary – including the hotel where the president is planning to stay – and published it on its website along with calls to join the protests.
It was these calls to protest that led the South Korea government to consider canceling the visit and to decide on the need for increased security and a revised itinerary for the Israeli president’s visit.
For instance, Peres will no longer be granted an honorary doctorate at the University of Seoul during his visit, nor will he meet with students there. The South Korean government is worried that angry students may try to attack Peres or take protest measures that would embarrass the Israeli president.
Meridor cancels Turkey visit: YNet
Deputy prime minister takes up Shin Bet’s advice, decides to cancel participation in leaders’ conference in Ankara while South Korea downgrades President Peres’ scheduled trip to working meetings visit instead of official state visit
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor has canceled his trip to Turkey at the Shin Bet’s recommendation, Ynet learned Sunday. It was also revealed that the Justice Ministry is preparing for a wave of international lawsuits and that any public figure’s request to travel overseas will be carefully considered.
Meridor, who was scheduled to board a flight to Turkey on Monday and attend an Asian multilateral relations conference, will remain in Israel due to increasing tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara. He was initially scheduled to spend two days in the Turkish capital.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry is preparing for a wave of international lawsuits against IDF soldiers and senior officers, as well as state officials. Any public figure’s request to travel abroad will be examined according to the destination country’s laws.
Furthermore, President Shimon Peres, who was forced to postpone his Vietnam visit following the flotilla debacle, has now been informed by South Korea that his scheduled visit there will be downgraded to working meetings instead of a formal state visit. The president’s office is considering cancelling the Asian tour altogether.
Following the Gaza sail raid, the Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a serious travel advisory warning citizens against traveling to Turkey. Israelis who are currently in Turkey were instructed to remain in their lodgings and avoid crowded areas.
Top U.S. journalist loses agent, friends after saying ‘Jews should get the hell out of Palestine’: Haaretz
Former White House Press Secretary: Revoke Thomas’ credentials; ex-White House Counsel: She has shown herself as bigot.
Senior White House Press Corps member Helen Thomas may have apologized for her recent on-camera remarks calling on Jews to “get the hell out of Palestine” and go home to Europe, but her reputation seems beyond repair amid the abounding calls for her resignation.
In the wake of the incident, Thomas’ agent Nine Speaker Inc. announced that it would no longer represent her.
“It is with a heavy heart that Nine Speakers Inc. announces its resignation as the agent for Helen Thomas, Dean of the White House Press Corps,” wrote Diane Nine, agency president.
“Ms. Thomas has had an esteemed career as a journalist, and she has been a trailblazer for women, helping others in her profession, and beyond. However, in light of recent events, Nine Speakers is no longer able to represent Ms. Thomas, nor can we condone her comments on the Middle East,” wrote Nine.
Lanny Davis, who served as former president Bill Clinton’s White House counsel, said that Thomas should be stripped of her honors for having crossed the line of freedom of speech.
“Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot,” wrote Davis in a statement.. “She has a right to criticize Israel…. However, her statement that Jews in Israel should leave Israel and go back to Poland or Germany is an ancient and well-known anti-Semitic stereotype of the alien Jew not belonging in the land of Israel that began 2,600 years with the first tragic and violent Diaspora caused bythe Romans.”
“If she had asked all blacks to go back to Africa, what would the White House Correspondents Association’s position be as to whether she deserved WhiteHouse press room credentials – much less a privileged honorary seat?” wrote Davis, referring to Thomas’ seat in the middle of the front row at the White House briefing room.
“Does anyone doubt that my friends Ann Compton and Joe Lockhart, whobelieve in the First Amendment right of free expression as much as I do,would not be as tolerant and protective of Helen’s privileges and honorsif she had been asking Blacks to return to Africa? Or Native Americans to Asia and South America, from which they came 8,000 or more years ago? I doubt it”, concluded Davis.
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that Thomas should be fired or at the very least have her White House press credentials revoked.
Fleischer, who served under President George W. Bush’s secretary, issued a statement on Sunday saying Thomas, who he used to consider a close friend, “has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot.”
By Mya Guarnieri: Ma’an News
Correction appended
Tel Aviv – Ma’an – The Israeli army released video footage Monday of the navy radioing the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara prior to the raid that took place in international waters and left at least nine activists dead.
But on Friday, it released a new version of the same footage — one that it says proves its claims that many aboard were religious extremists — but that some say has been very obviously tampered with.
In the first video released in the immediate aftermath of the violent raid, a soldier says, “Mavi Marmara, you are approaching an area of hostility which is under a naval blockade.” There is no recorded response.
The soldier continues, “The Gaza area, coastal region, and Gaza harbor are closed to all maritime traffic.” Again, no response.
The soldier radios once more, saying, “The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and invites you to enter the Ashdod port …”
But an updated version, released five days later, includes three alleged responses from passengers who, according to the video, were supposedly on board the Mavi Marmara. This new clip shows only a still of the soldier who appears in the first footage.
The soldier, who is not named, does not address the Mavi Marmara as he did in the video released Monday. Instead, he says, “This is the Israeli navy; you are approaching an area which is under a naval blockade.”
A man with an odd, indistinct accent responds, “Shut up. Go back to Aushwitz.”
Then the voice of a woman follows. She states, “We have permission from the Gaza Port Authority to enter.”
The third response, which seems entirely disconnected from the events, comes from a man with a heavy Southern accent. “We’re helping Arabs go against the US. Don’t forget 9/11 guys.”
Ali Abuminah, founder of the website Electronic Intifada, reported on his blog that the woman’s voice is that of Huwaida Arraf.
Arraf, a Palestinian-American who chairs the Free Gaza Movement, confirmed that it was her voice. But she emphasized that she was on the Challenger 1 boat, not the Mavi Marmara.
“I was by the radio the whole time there was any communication,” Arraf told Ma’an. “Mine was the only boat in which I answered and not the captain and they all answered in a very professional manner.”
Arraf told Ma’an that while she is certain that she had spoken about permission from the Gaza Port Authority on a previous attempt to break the blockade, she could not be sure that she said it again on Monday morning. “When they radioed us, we were still 100 miles away,” she explained.
“When they radioed us, we were still 100 miles away,” she said. “There’s no doubt that this whole thing they put out is fabricated.”
Asked about claims that army video had been faked, an Israeli army spokesperson remarked, “There is no basis for the allegations.”
But to many, the recordings are just the latest move in the Israeli army’s aggressive campaign to sway public opinion.
Israel seized all recording devices from journalists and activists who were on the flotilla. The army has released its own footage for use in its still-raging war of information being fought on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and media outlets.
Among several heavily edited clips, the army has released a short video that shows soldiers dropping down onto the Mavi Marmara from helicopters after which a few of them are violently assaulted.
Eyewitnesses, Arraf included, say the army shot at the Marmara and fired stun grenades before boarding. But the clip released by the army includes no footage of the moments prior to the soldiers’ boarding.
Nevertheless, as hundreds of deportees begin to reach their home countries, some in possession of footage smuggled off the boats are filling in the gaps.
A journalist with Al-Jazeera managed to broadcast footage indicating that the Israeli army began shooting at the passengers of the Mavi Marmara before the soldiers boarded, suggesting that passengers who were armed with sticks and chairs were acting in self-defense.
Many journalists are concerned that other footage is being held by Israeli authorities. The Foreign Press Association alleges that the army has used some of this footage as its own.
The association is demanding that the military identify the sources of videos it has released and to stop selectively editing content to back up the army’s version of events.
*** In a previous version of this article Arraf was quoted as saying she was “certain” that she did not say she had permission to dock in Gaza from the Port Authority there, but later clarified that “Listening to the new version released by the Israelis, I have no reason to doubt that I did say it on this voyage also.” The article has been modified to reflect that clarification.
IDF Releases Apparently Doctored Flotilla Audio; Press Reports As Fact: Max Blumenthal
The IDF’s propaganda is increasingly unbelievable, yet the media is enthusiastically playing along. This audio, which purports to show flotilla passengers telling the IDF to “go back to Auschwitz,” appears to have been doctored by the IDF General Press Office or someone connected to it.
The clip originally released by the IDF on May 31 of its exchange with the Mavi Marmara, which is featured below, shows the IDF warning the ship’s crew, “Mavi Marmara, you are appproaching an area of hostility which is under a naval blockade. The Gaza area coastal region and Gaza harbor are closed to all maritime traffic…” The Mavi Marmara responded to the IDF’s warning: “Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza. Our destination is Gaza.” There was no reference to Auschwitz in the video the IDF released on May 31.
The original video released by the IDF on May 31
On June 4, the IDF released apparently doctored audio of its exchange with the Mavi Marmara. The clip the IDF released featured the same imagery from its previous clip, but the voice of the Israeli Navy dispatcher was dramatically different. And the reply from the Mavi Marmara sounded like an impersonation of an Arab by a mentally challenged pre-adolescent (both videos are still on the IDF’s YouTube channel even though they completely contradict each other).
The video apparently doctored by the IDF, released on June 4
Further, the IDF is claiming its “Aushwitz” audio is from the Mavi Marmara. Yet it includes a recording of Huwaida Arraf saying “we have permission from the Gaza port authority to enter.” Huwaida has confirmed to the Institute For Middle East Understanding that her voice appeared in the apparently doctored clip. Unfortunately for the IDF, Huwaida was on the Challenger One, not the Mavi Marmara. How can the IDF account for this inconvenient discrepancy?
The Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronot, which means “latest news,” are in fact the latest idiots. They’ve reported the apparently doctored audio clip as fact. And so has Haaretz. Haaretz has quietly changed its headline but the article remains stenographic in nature. Neither outlet made any effort to investigate the veracity of the IDF’s claims.
Either the mayor of Chelm is in charge of the IDF Press Office, or the Israeli military has something very ugly to hide.
Update: Ali Abunimah has also confirmed with Huwaida that her voice appeared in the apparently doctored IDF audio clip, but that she was not on the Mavi Marmara.
EDITOR: No Turkey trips for IDF murderers
Soon, serving personnel of the IDF (most Israeli Jewish males) will not be able to go anywhere, apart, of course, from the countries they occupy… Well, they are certainly not welcome anywhere.
IDF soldiers instructed not to travel to Turkey: YNet
Following Counter Terrorism Bureau travel advisory, troops ordered to refrain from visiting Turkey under any circumstance
The IDF has instructed its soldiers not to travel to Turkey for any reason – private or military.
Military officials said Sunday that the warning was based on the Counter Terrorism Bureau travel advisory, which was issued last week following the deadly commando raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla.
Israelis who are currently in Turkey were instructed to remain in their lodgings and avoid crowded areas.
It was further reported that Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor has canceled his trip to Turkey at the Shin Bet’s recommendation. He was scheduled to board a flight to Turkey on Monday to attend an Asian multilateral relations conference.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry is preparing for a wave of international lawsuits against IDF soldiers and senior officers, as well as state officials.
Furthermore, President Shimon Peres, who was forced to postpone his Vietnam visit following the flotilla debacle, has now been informed by South Korea that his scheduled visit there will be downgraded to working meetings instead of a formal state visit. The president’s office is considering cancelling the Asian tour altogether.
Israel rejects UN call for international inquiry into flotilla raids: The Guardian
Amabassador to US dismisses Ban Ki-moon’s suggestion but says Israel is willing to work with Washington
The UN secretary general called today for a multinational investigation of Israel’s raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine dead but the proposal was swiftly rejected by the Israelis.
Ban Ki-moon proposed that the inquiry be headed by the former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer and include representatives from Turkey – under whose flag many of the ships in the aid convoy sailed – Israel and the US, an official from Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office said.
But Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, told Fox News: “We are rejecting an international commission. We are discussing with the Obama administration a way in which our inquiry will take place.”
Netanyahu discussed the proposal for a multinational panel with Ban in a telephone call yesterday but told cabinet ministers from his rightwing Likud party today that Israel was exploring other options, political sources said.
Ban’s proposal came after Israel risked a fresh wave of international condemnation yesterday by detaining a boat carrying humanitarian aid attempting to break the blockade of Gaza and forcibly diverting it to the port of Ashdod. Israel has said that most of those aboard the MV Rachel Corrie will be deported today.
Israeli leaders have spoken publicly about setting up an internal inquiry with foreign observers into the interception of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara last week.
A statement on the UN’s website said Ban held telephone discussions with the prime ministers of Turkey and Israel on “options for moving forward with the investigation called for by the United Nations security council”. Last week, the council called for a “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation”.
Five days after the botched assault on a six-boat flotilla ended with Israeli troops shooting dead eight Turkish activists and one US citizen, naval commandos boarded the MV Rachel Corrie in international waters about 20 miles from the coast of Gaza.
Yesterday’s operation was mounted despite growing calls for Israel to ease significantly its siege of Gaza. The US, Israel’s staunchest ally, pointedly repeated that the blockade was “unsustainable and must be changed” – a call Netanyahu again rejected. Israel said it had met no resistance in stopping the 1,200-tonne Rachel Corrie.
However, Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement, an organisation behind the flotilla, said passengers and crew had four times refused to accede to Israeli demands to voluntarily divert to Ashdod, resulting in the raid.
“There’s no way that 20 people are going to resist a fully armed force,” she said. “The fact that Israel boarded a civilian boat in international waters is a violent act.”
She expected that the 11 passengers – including the Nobel peace laureate Máiread Corrigan – and nine crew would be treated “with kid gloves. The world is watching”. There had been no contact with the boat since early yesterday, she added.
Tomorrow, Britain will say £19m in aid will be given to refugees in Gaza. The money, to be spent on healthcare, education and other services, will be announced by the international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell. It will go to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), on which about 70% of Gazans rely to meet their basic needs.
The support comes amid heightened international concern about Israel’s blockade. The latest detention of a ship bound for Gaza came as the last of the Turkish citizens wounded in last week’s assault on the Mavi Marmara was repatriated. It coincided with a warning from the UN’s commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, that Israel’s embargo was illegal. “International humanitarian law prohibits starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and it is also prohibited to impose collective punishment on civilians,” Pillay said.
According to Israeli military accounts, commandos boarded the Rachel Corrie – named after an activist crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 – from naval vessels alongside rather than winching troops from helicopters as happened in Monday’s operation.
The boat, carrying medical supplies and construction materials, was towed into Ashdod. Israel said it would unload the aid and transfer it to Gaza.
The passengers – from Ireland and Malaysia – would be immediately deported, Ygal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said.
Israel has spent the past five days struggling to contain a diplomatic crisis. Relations with its regional ally Turkey have sunk to an unprecedented low.
Autopsy reports on the dead activists yesterday revealed that five had gunshot wounds to the head. The US joined the growing international chorus for the siege to be eased. Yesterday the Free Gaza Movement said it was planning another flotilla. “We will continue until we break the siege of Gaza,” Berlin said.
Lieberman heads to US to explain Israel’s position on flotilla: YNet
FM’s aides dismiss claims speaking to Jewish communities a waste of public funds because he will be ‘convincing those who are already convinced’
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was set to leave for North America Sunday night to meet with Israeli diplomats, as well as with Jewish communities in the US and Canada, to explain the Israeli government’s position on the Gaza flotilla affair.
No meetings have been set up with US administration representatives or senior UN officials.
Minister in charge of Israel’s foreign policy in days of unprecedented international pressure points finger at Kadima, accusing party officials of harming State. In Ynet interview, Lieberman notes will agree to lift Gaza siege in exchange for visits to Gilad Shalit, says
Lieberman and his deputy Danny Ayalon will speak before the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and meet Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren, UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, Ambassador to Canada Miriam Ziv and consul generals stationed throughout the US.
The foreign minister’s office rejected claims that public funds are being used to cover the costs of a PR visit meant to “convince those who are already convinced.”
“The trip to New York is crucial,” a Foreign Ministry official said. “The minister is not going there to shop. He will be traveling 12 hours in each direction, and will work hard (in North America) for three days.”
In addition to Ayalon, Lieberman will be accompanied by a number of other senior ministry officials.
“The minister should be praised, not criticized, for his efforts,” the official added.
Before leaving for the US, Lieberman was expected to take part in a meeting of the “forum of seven ministers” to discuss the international community’s demand to investigate the commando raid on the Gaza-bound ship, which left nine people dead.
The FM and his entourage are due back in Israel Wednesday.
Boycott! Praises The Pixies Cancellation Following Flotilla Raid: Boycottisrael
June 6, 2010
Boycott! praises The Pixies for their decision to cancel their concert in Tel-Aviv, Israel, following Israel’s brutal raid on the recent Freedom Flotilla and its massacre on the Mavi Marmara ship. This attack and its maintaining of the life-costing and illegal siege on Gaza has demonstrated once more what we’ve stated in our appeal to the Pixies three months ago – that an attitude of “business as usual” to Israel is indeed lethal.
In our letter we asked The Pixies, given the ongoing siege on Gaza, how could they not care for it these days. It may be that if it wasn’t for the brave activists of the Freedom Flotilla, The Pixies would not have heeded our call. Nevertheless, we are moved by The Pixies decision not to entertain apartheid Israel in spite of the gross Israeli attempts to manipulate and twist the international perception of the Israeli crimes and violations of human rights.
With international mobilizations to break the siege on Gaza intensifying, we urge other artists to answer PACBI’s call¹ and cancel their concerts as well: Elton John, Leftfield, Rod Stewart, LCD Soundsystem and Public Image Ltd. – it’s time to end Israel’s impunity!
The Mad Israelis Section
New section on the website, added in order to explain Israel better, to those who are still struggling to understand it… Please remember, this is NOT a satirical section – every word in it was written by a bona-fide Israeli nutter…
EDITOR: What do you need to do if you wish to understand Israel’s actions?
Well, one of the best things you can do is read YNet or Jerusalem Post articles, especially the opinion pieces: of course, the same applies to the other daily, Maariv, but it does not yet have a proper website in English, unfortunately. They always get certified nutters writing, and after reading some of those – all Israeli public figures – you start getting an idea. Israelis live in a parallel reality to the rest of us, and our realities cannot touch them. They live ina universe in which no Israeli can do anything wrong, Israelis can go and kill anyone anywhwere in the name of decency and civilisation, and anyone who criticises them is fair game, and by definition, antisemitic. Their universe is simpler than ours, of course, and they like it that way. The problem is that every now and then they enter into our universe to do their killing.The guiding principle in the Israeli universe is that anything they say becomes immediately fact, and that reality has to be turned upside down in order to qualify. Read on, friends:
UN must investigate Turkey: YNet
Turkey appears to be involved in criminal activities in respect to Gaza flotilla
Zvi Mazel
The so-called “peace flotilla“ episode raises many questions, and most of them have to do with the role of Turkey. After all Israel behaved from beginning to end with the utmost transparency. But nobody knows exactly what went on in Turkey – how the operation was planned and what part the Turkish government played in its implementation.
Israel’s position regarding Gaza is clear. The blockade was set up following the bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas and the subsequent indiscriminate firing of thousands of rockets on the towns of Southern Israel for eight long years; the smuggling of weapons, missiles and explosives into the Strip. The blockade is intended to cut off arms supplies to a hostile Hamas regime which keeps on declaring its intention to destroy Israel in accordance to its covenant.
Imposing a maritime blockade is a recognized and legitimate measure under international law. The blockading country has the right to stop vessels approaching the blockaded area to check they are not carrying weapons even when they are still in international waters, as long as it has been made clear that the vessels intend to violate the blockade. This is well known – both by governments and by newspapers reporting on Israel and on Gaza.
Due to the deluded nature of this item, I have not included all of it here. If you wish to read it all, please use link
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Is State Dept. in denial?: YNet
US closely watches settlements but is clueless in respect to Turkish terrorists
Moshe Dann
That Turkey directly supported the flotilla to Gaza, including terrorists and at least one organization (IHH) which is linked to terrorists, is to be expected of a country which is now allied with Israel’s enemies, especially Iran.
What is surprising is that the US State Department seems clueless. In response to questions about the IHH, and despite documented reports by the Danish government, French and Israeli intelligence agencies, and the Turkish government itself, Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley said: “The IHH has not been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
Shady Relationship
Washington Post: Investigate Erdogan’s ties with IHH / Yitzhak Benhorin
US newspaper says international inquiry of flotilla incident must focus on Turkish PM’s connections with humanitarian organization which has ties with terrorism. Editorial notes Erdogan’s silence over riots in Iran, disgusted with his comparison t
Based on the information available to the State Department, is there any basis for designating IHH as a Foreign Terrorist Organization? Does the CIA or any reputable intelligence agency have any reliable information on IHH? Has the IHH come up for review?
The State Department has no answer. That’s strange because everyone else does.
That may explain why President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are also misinformed. But, if they don’t know what’s going on, if they were not briefed, are they lying or simply in denial? They seem to know when a Jew dares to build in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. They know immediately when an Arab complains about Jews, but when Turkey launches a provocative action, they plead ignorance?
Due to the deluded nature of this item, I have not included all of it here. If you wish to read it all, please use link
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My Word: Free thinking: Jerusalem Post
By LIAT COLLINS
It’s not Israel that is curtailing freedom in Gaza.
I have decided to join the Free Gaza movement. My first goal is to make sure that every last Israeli soldier leaves Gaza. Well, admittedly there is only one IDF soldier there, but it has been proving very hard to get Gilad Schalit out. If we can persuade Hamas to release Schalit four years after it abducted him, Gaza will be free of an Israeli military presence. This won’t be easy, especially because even the human rights activists willing to risk their lives to reach Gaza weren’t prepared to ask that Schalit be allowed to meet with Red Cross officials or receive a care package from his family.
Next, I want the women of Gaza to feel free. I’m not known for either my feminism or my dress sense but I can see that a state in which Hamas heavies are forcing schoolgirls to cover up cannot be healthy.
Again, I might be fighting a losing battle: Almost lost among the media coverage of the May 31 flotilla affair – with its nine fatalities – was an item on the five brave women journalists who quit Al Jazeera rather than give in to the Qatar-based network’s demands that they wear head scarves and forgo makeup.
Also, it is clear to me (although not apparently to the flotilla’s participants) that parents should be free to choose which summer camp their kids attend. Last month, masked gunmen torched the premises of a UN-run summer camp in Gaza and left behind three bullets and a note threatening to kill top UN aid officials unless they cancel activities for some 250,000 Gaza children. Hamas runs its own summer camps, which seem to stress militancy for boys and modesty for girls but are a little lacking in the arts and crafts department.
I used to have contacts in Gaza, but they were associated with Fatah rather than Hamas and they’ve disappeared: At least one escaped to the West Bank when Hamas took over; those who remain are wary of being openly in touch with Israeli journalists (modestly dressed female or otherwise). That could be because Hamas has a history of executing people it suspects of links with the Zionists. OK, on a good day, they might settle for “kneecapping.”
Due to the deluded nature of this item, I have not included all of it here. If you wish to read it all, please use link
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