The Free Gaza movement has just announced that they are sending their ship, the Rachel Corrie, to a port to have a check up in view of apparent Israeli sabotage of some other freedom flotilla ships even ahead of the murderous attacks.
So we are going to make sure the Rachel Corrie is well protected and that Israel is put on notice that anything that happens to her, the passengers and the crew will rest with Israel. As a result of these threats, we’re going to pull Rachel Corrie into a port, add more high-profile people on board, and insist that journalists from around the world also come with us.
I do hope that by well protected they mean physically. Boarding a moving ship from boat or helicopter is not easy, and can be made almost impossible with imaginative deployment of purely defensive measures like razor wire around the rails and razor wire interspersed with sharp metal spikes on open decks.
Interestingly the Free Gaza website is still referring to the Mavi Marmar as Turkish fflagged.
Even terrorists need some moral, and the positive liberal activists can contribute intellectual input on non violence to them, to end terror carriers.
I invite Craig Murray to nurture non-violent nation building among the Palestinians, and shield them from the barbaric incitement from Tehran, Damascus and Riyadh, available to them free of charge, but costs many of their lives.
Anty, that’s rubbish. How about “non-violent nation-building” by the Israelis – since when?! Come on, the Big Lie doesn’t work any more. Not here, not there, not anywhere.
This is shocking:
http://warincontext.org/2010/06/03/can-americans-be-murdered-by-the-israeli-government-with-impunity/
One of the murdered activists was a young (really a boy) American, who took 5 bullets, 4 to the head. what possible threat was he to heavily armed thugs? And why won’t Americans go mental about this, as they should? (Ok, I know the answers, we saw it with Rachel Corrie, but I still find it disturbing that they will not defend their own citizens against criminals – one the most basic functions of the state surely)
Nothing peaceful about razor wire on board a ship. Sounds like the MVRC is looking for a war.
The question is will the MVRC follow the laws of the seas and dock in Ashdod when asked or will they try to violate a blockade and endanger its passengers and crew?
Gaza is not a state, it has no territorial waters. Hamas is a terrorist group that threw the PLO out of gaza in a coup. They are not legitimate until they disarm and concede to form a unity government with the WB under Abbas.
Gaza is not short of food, clothing, school supplies or toys for the kids.
The idea of running a blockade is purely for propaganda purposes. If they needed the supplies they would not have refused to allow them to enter gaza across land.
This whole freedom flotilla is a farce staged for the media.
There is fine comment from Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on his blog about the Gaza Flotilla Murders in and the Mentality that carries out such Barbarous brutality.
Quote 8. “Incidentally, the Rachel Corrie is named after a brave 23 year old American girl who stood in front of a bulldozer which was about to destroy a Palestinian house. The Israeli operator of the bulldozer simply ran over her and killed her. This is the standard behaviour of Israelis. The much condemned Chinese faced with the same situation, stopped his tank.”
http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/06/gaza-aid-convoy.html#comments
And why, Ian, did the US public stand by and do nothing when four young people were shot to death in cold blood during a sit in at Kent State University back in 1970?
Clue: the media.
‘1985: Rainbow Warrior sinks after explosion’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/10/newsid_2499000/2499283.stm
Eli, even the much maligned Balfour Declaration of 1917 regards the rights of the Palestinian people as of paramount importance. You can’t get away with making remarks like that.
Seem Like the Desperate Hasbara volunteers are being Directed to this blog to defend the Gaza Massacres and they are doing a poor job of it. They will be take an Intellectual pasting here.
Regarding the razor wire… even non-Israelis are “entitled to defend themselves”.
Peacewisher: Unfortunately not. Israelis have the only legitimate entitlement to defence. The same done by anyone else is an aggressive act, which deserves – requires, even – a full and lethal response.
eli
Where precisely does the UN Convention on the Law od the Sea require ships to dock at Ashdod against their wishes? What utter nonsense.
IDF should hire Somali pirates cos they board ships much cheaper and faster than helicopters chucking out soldiers with ropes 🙂
They are just stupid people with big toys.
I’ve read that Somali pirates get their orders from London.
This extract comes from the Telegraph.
‘Spanish media reported that a document produced by a European military intelligence agency claims that pirates are targeting specific ships identified by a team of “well-placed advisers” in London.
These “consultants” are in constant satellite telephone contact with pirate commanders on land, who can then pass details of the layout of the vessel, its crew, route and cargo to their colleagues at sea, it states. On some occasions, they can even spend days in advance training for an specific attack.
I wonder if the consultants might be lurking arouind “Babylon-on-Thames”.
It is unbelievable what a huge political setback Israel has suffered. What agony it must be going through in deciding on how to receive the Rachel Corrie – no matter what they do or don’t do – anything from sinking the vessel to lifting the blockade on Gaza – they’re screwed! Happy Palestine, happy world!
MV Rachel Corrie seeking a UN escort to Gaza:
http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/ipsc/displayRelease.php?releaseID=355
I think the Israelis would be wise to let MV Rachel Corrie proceed unhindered to its destination.
Johan, what has changed? In the eyes of Netanyahu regime, the main Western media outlets are still supporting them, no matter how fantastic the lies. That will probably encourage them.
So they’ll probably expect to do exactly the same with MV Rachel Corrie. The people sailing on that boat are so incredibly courageous, it almost takes my breath away.
Paddy, if they were wise they certainly wouldn’t have annexed Gaza in the first place. They could, and should, have negotiated a deal with Hamas, who were democratically elected.
The Arabs and Muslims are evil mediaevalists who’ve contributed nothing but barbariry to the world.
(what about algebra and the architecture of North Africa and Spain – ed)
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.
(what about Gaza? Oh forget about it you ignorant cunt. You’re fired – ed)
Peacewisher
I’m not expecting wisdom, just encouraging it.
I’m sure the Israelis know that it would be unwise to become an enemy of the Irish people.
The parsing of the details of Israeli acts to destroy people who help people who help people to resist Israeli annexation diverts us away from the big issue: under international law Israel does not have the right of annexation.
The problem, though, is that the American people do not have a problem with annexation, because they do not grasp the intent of international law: no one has the right to take the homes of others to make their own economy viable.
They don’t grasp it, my European friends, because most of them believe that America has exactly that same right, and are glad that it was exercised in the past to take the continent from its natives. Not just the right to liebensraum for survival. “The American Way of Life is inalienable.” Meaning luxury and waste as a cultural identity.
We have simply extended our entitlement umbrella to cover Israel, as honorary Americans. And perhaps, yanked it away from race-traitor Europe?
Super390: Damn it, I was with you right up until the last three words, “race-traitor Europe”.
What the heck do you mean by “race-traitor”? Don’t you know the UK doesn’t actually have a “race”?
I was with you all the way until then, right up and “thru” America’s annexation of land, settlement via genocide, economic subjugation, the lot.
Dang it all, super390 – did you have to go for the race thing, or are you just a tease? Are you just disingenuously trying to pull in a general aura of racism to discredit legitimate disgust at Israel?
writerman: “And why, Ian, did the US public stand by and do nothing when four young people were shot to death in cold blood during a sit in at Kent State University back in 1970?”
True. The media did dominate the explanation of Kent State (and Jackson, Miss) at that time. But, the US was galvanized by the carnage, and massive demonstrations occurred in university
communities over the entire country, and it definitely was a turning point.
I was in Santa Barbara (at UCSB) at the time and have vivid memories, thinking “this will change everything”. I watched the events on the Marmara by streaming video on my computer as they unfolded and had the same feeling. This will change everything.
We must work hard on an International boycott of Apartheid Israel. They have in less than a week opened the eyes of millions, making our job much easier. And I’m sure they will continue to do so in exponential fashion.
Re: The Rachel Corrie…
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois [also Irish-American] writes:
We could act to deter an Israeli attack upon MV Rachel Corrie by invoking International Criminal Court Prosecution. According to the ICC Rome Statute, Article 12 (2) provides “2. In the case of article 13, paragraph (a) or (c), the Court may exercise its jurisdiction if one or more of the following States are Parties to this Statute or have accepted the jurisdiction of the Court in accordance with paragraph 3: (a) The State on the territory of which the conduct in question occurred or, if the crime was committed on board a vessel or aircraft, the State of registration of that vessel or aircraft; … ” If one of the vessel is Irish vessel and the attack was committed against the vessel, the ICC may exercise its jurisdiction over this situation since the Ireland is a State Party to the ICC Statute. Israel’s attack may constitute a crime against humanity of murder, imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts under Article 7 of the ICC Statute.
Ireland is a party to the Rome Statute. Hence if Israel were to attack the MV Rachel Corrie, the highest level Israeli officials could be prosecuted for the attack. If we got this word out internationally, it might do some good.
The central problem inside Israel, is that Israel cannot remain a ‘democracy’ whilst at the same time occupying millions of people in territory outside its pre-1967 borders. It just isn’t possible given the demographics of the area.
Forget about the rights of the millions of Palestinian refugees in the camps, who will never be allowed by Israel to return to their homes, even though in international law they have that right; the more pressing problem is the approximately 20% of Israel’s population that are Palestinians. Their numbers are increasing at an extraordinary rate. At present they will probably become a majority inside Israel in few decades. If they aren’t driven out somehow. So when Israeli politicians brag that Israel is the exclusive home of the Jews and a Jewish state, whaterver that really measn, they are choosing to ignore reality on the ground, the growth of the Palestinian population.
And furthermore, as Israel’s political/military rulers are destroying any prospect of a viable Palestinian state being created, by colonizing more and more land and splitting the West Bank into smaller and smaller pieces, the are effectively undermining the slim prospect of a two-state solution for ever.
So if a two-state solution is rapidly fading what happens then? A one-state solution then? How can that happen when this state would either have a clear Palestinian majority, if it encompassed all of historic Palestine, or it would be pre-1967 Israel with its coming Palestinian majority?
Or does Israel choose to continue the occupation and subjugation of the Palestinians into the future, but that’s untenable too?
Which ever way one looks at it… Israel is fucked, unless they can somehow drive the remaining Palestinians out, or finish the etnic cleansing of Palestine they started more than half a century ago, creating a democratic state for Jews by force of arms. The attempt to strangle Gaza with the barbaric siege is part of the ethnic cleansing strategy, but it can only be fully implimented under the cover of more war, which the Israeli government is seemingly determined to see more of.
Ironically, the argument among Zionists and other Jews centered precisely on the question of whether the idea of re-creating Israel in Palestine was a sensible idea, given that another people, the Palestinians lived there already and clearly they weren’t just going to move out of the way and let millions of Jews from abroad come and take over their territory.
Israel, the project, is built opon a gigantic fallacy, the idea that if the Israelis just wish hard enough and punish them hard enough, the Palestinians will just cease to exist, and even the memory will be wiped off the map, dream on!
Good post, writerman.
I agree with you – however one looks at it, Israel as a Jewish state is doomed. One massive problem for Israeli is the viper it’s been nurtering for decades now – the rabid, half-million strong settler movement who are now starting to become very very troublesome. Not for the Palestinians – they’ve always been a nightmare for them – but for the Israelis. Israel cannot hope to have a lasting peace with its neighbours while the settlers/squatters remain in situ. But they will face a civil war if they attmept to withdraw more than a handful of them. And as I say, these people are often armed, often fanatic and in many cases far more prepared to die for their cause than the pampered mummy’s boys of the so-called Israeli ‘army’.
Ironically, Ben Gurion predicted this 40 years ago when he urged Israel to give back the territories captured in 1967 – not out of concern for the Palestinians (as if!) but because he knew that the pursuit of a greater Israel would eventually mean the end of the Zionist state. On this matter at least, he should have been listened to.
Ambasadddor Craig M urray, way off topic, but why don’t you go on Russia Today? The nutjobs are talking about the Bilderbergers; they can’t shut up about that secret conspiracy.
Youtube shows Rachel Corrie registered in Phomn Penh. The Irish flag seen would have been the curtorsy flag required to be flown in port.