The Palestine thread

[Harold Disgracey]

Israel's 'Prisoner X' was Australian Mossad agent, documentary claims
Israel has never acknowledged prisoner's existence and has gone to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage of case

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/12/israel-prisoner-x-australian-mossad-agent

Like the fictional Man in the Iron Mask, Israel's infamous "Prisoner X" was allegedly held in solitary confinement in conditions of such strict secrecy that even his own jailers were told neither his name nor the crime he had allegedly committed.

The man's identity became the subject of intense speculation when he was reportedly found hanged in his cell in 2010, but the prisoner's existence has never been officially acknowledged by Israel's government, which has gone to extraordinary lengths to stifle media coverage of the case. Now, however, new evidence has been uncovered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that strongly suggests Prisoner X was an Australian citizen, Ben Zygier, whom it described a Mossad agent.

Although there has been no intimation of the accusations against Zygier, commentators have suggested it could only suggest the most serious kind of security case, perhaps involving treason.

In the immediate aftermath of ABC's claims, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli prime minister's office had called "an emergency meeting of the Editors Committee ... to ask its members to co-operate with the government and withhold publication of information pertaining to an incident that is very embarrassing to a certain government agency".

Later in the day the gagging orders were explicitly linked to the claims about the dead Australian by several Israeli MPs who also raised questions about the affair during a debate in the Knesset.

Asked by an Arab MP about "reports [of the suicide of] an Australian citizen who was in Israeli custody under a different identity", the justice minister, Yaakov Ne'eman, replied: "I cannot answer these questions because the matter does not fall under the authority of the justice minister. But there is no doubt that if true, the matter must be looked into."

A second MP, Dov Henin, asked: "Are there people in prisons whose incarceration is kept secret? What are the supervision mechanisms on this kind of imprisonment? What are the possibilities for parliamentary supervision on such incarcerations? How can the public be critical in this situation?"

A new documentary screened this week for ABC's Foreign Correspondent programme claims Zygier used the name Ben Alon or Ben Allen after moving to Israel. He was secretly imprisoned in Ayalon prison in Ramla in the wing built to accommodate Yigal Amir, the assassin of the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, ABC reported.

The 34-year-old was married to an Israeli woman and was the father of two young children. He had reportedly spent a number of months in the cell before his death.

Zygier's father Geoffrey, a prominent leader of the Melbourne Jewish community, apparently refused to speak to the programme makers.

The only comparable case that has come to light was Israel's secret imprisonment for more than 10 years of the KGB spy Marcus Klingberg after he was tried under a false identity.

Australia's department of foreign affairs and trade (Dfat) on Wednesday launched a review into how its diplomats handled the case.

The review, to be conducted by the department's secretary, Peter Varghese, was announced after it became known that certain department officers had been made aware in 2010 that Zygier was being held in jail in Israel but did not pass the information on.

"Dfat had [originally] advised that it was unaware of Mr Allen's detention in Israel," a department spokesman said. "Dfat has now advised that some officers of the department were made aware of Mr Allen's detention at the time in 2010 by another Australian agency."

Earlier the foreign minister, Bob Carr, had said consul officials were not aware of the man's circumstances until his parents asked for help in bringing his body back to Australia. Under normal circumstances foreign embassies are advised if one of their nationals is being held in prison.

The case of Prisoner X first came to international attention in a flurry of stories in 2010. Coverage talked about the existence of an unidentified man being held in conditions of absolute secrecy for an undisclosed crime, which prompted a media guessing-game over his identity, with some speculating he was an Iranian general.

According to accounts at the time, even his guards were not aware of the prisoner's identity or the crime he had allegedly committed.

Debate over the existence of Prisoner X was shortlived, however, with the story disappearing from the Haaretz website.

Speculation that the Israeli government had imposed a media blackout prompted Dan Yakir, the chief legal counsel with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, to write to the country's attorney general and demand that the "blackout be eliminated".

On Monday Haaretz printed a heavily pixellated image of what it said was the original document enforcing a reporting ban.

The existence of the blackout appeared to be confirmed by the call for a reporting ban in the immediate aftermath of the Australian report.

According to ABC, circumstantial evidence for its identification of Zygier was provided by the repatriation of his body to Melbourne from Tel Aviv a week after Prisoner X was allegedly found hanged in his cell.

The programme claimed that Zygier had a second passport in the name of Ben Allen at the time of the repatriation of his body.

Commenting on ABC's disclosures, the Australian foreign minister, Bob Carr, said he was concerned by the claims. "Those allegations certainly do trouble me," he said.

"It's never been raised with me. I'm not reluctant to seek an explanation from the Israeli government about what happened to Mr Allen and about what their view of it is. The difficulty is I'm advised we've had no contact with his family [and] there's been no request for consular assistance during the period it's alleged he was in prison.

"Even if Prisoner X has now been identified, his crime remains a mystery although it has been widely speculated that it would have involved treachery to warrant such extreme measures."

Details of one of two gagging orders acquired by the Israeli government have been disclosed to the Guardian .

Israel first sought to prevent reporting of the case in an injunction it sought in March 2010. A second "clarifying order" was issued by Judge Hila Gerstel of the central district court, making clear that the reporting ban referred to all Israeli media and preventing any discussion of the man who had been referred to variously as "Prisoner X", "Mr X" or "cell 15 in Ayalon prison".

The court's involvement on two different occasions suggests some kind of judicial oversight of the case, but neither the man's identity nor the charges he was facing were made clear.

Bill van Esveld, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said the case raised serious questions about fundamental prisoners' rights including lack of due process, what information was given to the man's family and rights of consular access under international treaty obligations.

"We only know the absolute bare bones of this case. We know that there was some kind of gagging order and it would be almost unheard of to involve a judge to silence a story that had no basis in truth.

"The main concern is over the fact that a person cannot simply be disappeared. That is against the norms of international law. That person's family needs to know what has happened to them. They have to be able to have access to a defence attorney and their government needs to be informed to permit consular access."

[Dougal Maguire]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

The same Rachel corrie who deliberately  stood in front of said d9. Suicidal.

. So under your ' eye for an eye' logic the guy who stood in front of the column of tanks in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 pro democracy demonstrations was fair game and should have been run over

[Rossfan]

The Hamas terrorist government

I stopped reading at that bit.

[seafoid]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

The same Rachel corrie who deliberately  stood in front of said d9. Suicidal.

poor form even for you . They also killed Tom Hurndall.
Gaza is where the fantasy of zionism died . Realpolitik and Jewish morality never sat  well together.

[Ball DeBeaver]

I take it no one is going to condemn Hamas for the demolitions. Strange that. I thought all you upstanding humanitarians would be falling over each other in your vitriol towards these gross human rights violations. Anyone would think you were a tad hypocritical.

[give her dixie]

A photograph of two dead children, who were killed in an Israeli missile strike near Gaza City, won the top World Press Photo prize on Friday for Swedish photographer Paul Hansen of newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

The photograph shows a group of men bearing the bodies of two-year-old Suhaib Hijazi and her brother Muhammad, 3, as they were taken to the mosque for a burial ceremony. Their parents were killed in the same strike.

"The strength of the picture lies in the way it contrasts the anger and sorrow of the adults with the innocence of the children," Mayu Mohanna, a member of the jury, said of the photograph which was named World Press Photo of the Year 2012.

Ammar Awad of Reuters received an honorable mention in the General News single category for his photograph "Israeli Border Police Pepper spray Palestinian Protester".

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=565531

[Ball DeBeaver]

No condemnation, I didn't think so. You'd rather shoot videos of yourself giving aid to hamas that was meant for the needy. Pathetic. (Before you attack me for saying it, watch the video posted that shows hamas members taking their pick of the goodies before even one civilian gets a chance, with not a word from GHD to try to stop them)

As harrowing as that photo may be, the next time people see pictures of dead kids, they should wait until they find out what actually happened. Even photos presented by UN officials as evidence of Israeli "atrocities" sometimes turn out to be anything but.



Khulood Badawi Finally Fired from UN
February 7, 2013 11:16by Alex Margolin

Nearly a full year after HonestReporting exposed False Photo Tweeter Khulood Badawi as a staff member of the Jerusalem branch of the UN Office of Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN has concluded its lengthy investigation and removed Badawi from its staff.

Badawi gained attention last March during an uptick in violence between Israel and Hamas that lasted several days. Badawi tweeted a photo of a father carrying a bleeding girl, strongly suggesting that the girl was a victim of an Israeli airstrike that day. The photo, however, was taken in 2006 and had no connection to Israel.

After HonestReporting's expose started to appear in the press and our petition calling for Badawi's dismissal began gaining momentum (ultimately reaching 15,000 names), Israel's Ambassador the UN, Ron Prosor took up the issue, demanding the UN immediately remove Badawi from her post.

The UN responded by launching an investigation into the matter – and sending Badawi on an extended vacation. This week, however, the Jerusalem Post reported that the UN sent out an email announcing that following the investigation, the UN has opted not to renew Badawi's contract.

The saga of Khulood Badawi proves that grassroots efforts can be successful, even if it takes a year for a final resolution. Even the mighty UN can be moved to action if we maintain our solidarity in our demand for justice.


http://honestreporting.com/khalood-badawi-finally-fired-from-un/

Is it any wonder Israelis have no confidence in the UN, when their staff lie about the truth of what is happening on the ground.

I've plenty more examples of photo shopped, edited and completely non event photos used by palestinians as "evidence" of Israeli "atrocities", that are simply untrue.

[tyssam5]

Rachel Corrie, moments before she was killed by a Caterpillar D9 in Gaza in 2003

The same Rachel corrie who deliberately  stood in front of said d9. Suicidal.

poor form even for you . They also killed Tom Hurndall.
Gaza is where the fantasy of zionism died . Realpolitik and Jewish morality never sat  well together.

It's amazing how few people in the US have heard about this case.

[Ball DeBeaver]

It's amazing just how many people believe that the D9 chased her and killed her, rather than the fact that she ran in front of it.

[tyssam5]

It's amazing just how many people believe that the D9 chased her and killed her, rather than the fact that she ran in front of it.

I wasn't there, were you? Either way not behavior expected from a country that likes to present itself as civilized. They don't have spotters in the Israeli army, or radios?

[Ball DeBeaver]

I've seen the video, haven't you?
When someone deliberately runs in front of you, knowing you have limited visability, they are putting themselves in danger.

[Ball DeBeaver]

So what actually happened the day Rachel Corrie died? Here's the judge's determination of the facts:

e. I hereby determine that, on the day of the incident, the two bulldozers and the armored personnel carrier were occupied with the clear military operational task of clearing the land in a dangerous area which posed a significant risk. The force's action was designed to prevent acts of terror and hostility, i.e. to eliminate the danger of terrorists hiding between the creases of land and in the brush, and to expose explosive devices hidden therein, both of which were intended to kill IDF soldiers. During each act of exposure, the lives of the IDF fighters were at risk from Palestinians terrorists. As aforementioned, less than an hour before the incident that is the focus of this lawsuit, a live hand-grenade was thrown at the IDF force.

....

f. On March 16, 2003, the decedent and her fellow ISM activists arrived at the location where the IDF force was working to clear the land. They did so, they claim, in order to prevent the IDF force from demolishing Palestinian houses. They did so illegally and in contradiction of the military directive declaring the area a "closed military area". They held signs, stood in front of the bulldozers and did not allow them to carry out their mission. The IDF soldiers informed the activists that they had to distance themselves from the area, threw stun grenades towards them, fired warning shots towards them and used methods to disperse demonstrations. All without avail.

The IDF force was very careful not to harm the Organization's activists. Because of the activists' interference, the force repeatedly relocated to continue carrying out their mission.

g. Based on the evidence presented to me, including the testimony of the expert for the prosecution, Mr. Osben, I hereby determine that at approximately 17:00, the decedent stood roughly 15 to 20 meters from the relevant bulldozer and knelt down. The bulldozer to which I refer was a large, clumsy and shielded vehicle of the DR9 model. The field of view the bulldozer's operator had inside the bulldozer was limited. At a certain point, the bulldozer turned and moved toward the decedent. The bulldozer pushed a tall pile of dirt. With regard to the field of view that the bulldozer's operator had, the decedent was in the "blind spot". The decedent was behind the bulldozer's blade and behind a pile of dirt and therefore the bulldozer's operator could not have seen her.

The bulldozer moved very slowly, at a speed of one kilometer per hour.

When the decedent saw the pile of dirt moving towards her, she did not move, as any reasonable person would have. She began to climb the pile of dirt. Therefore, both because the pile of dirt continued to move as a result of the pushing of the bulldozer, and because the dirt was loose, the decedent was trapped in the pile of dirt and fell.

At this stage, the decedent's legs were buried in the pile of dirt, and when her colleagues saw from where they stood that the decedent was trapped in the pile of dirt, they ran towards the bulldozer and gestured towards its operator and yelled at him to stop. By the time the bulldozer's operator and his commander noticed the decedent's colleagues and stopped the bulldozer, a significant portion of the decedent's body was already covered in dirt.

The decedent's entire body was not covered in dirt. In fact, when the bulldozer backed up, the decedent's body was seen to free itself from the pile of dirt and the decedent was still alive.

The decedent was evacuated to the hospital and after 20 minutes, her death was declared.

I hereby determine unequivocally that there is no foundation to the plaintiffs' claim that the bulldozer struck the decedent intentionally. This was a very unfortunate accident and was not intentional. No one wished to harm the decedent. I was convinced that the bulldozer's operator would not have continued to work if he had seen the decedent standing in front of the bulldozer, as he and his colleagues acted in similar circumstances earlier that day, when they moved from location to location because of the disturbances caused by the members of the Organization.

h. Because I find, as aforementioned, that the decedent was accidentally killed in the framework of a "war-related activity" as defined in The Civil Wrongs Ordinance, and in light of the instructions laid out in Article 5 of the aforementioned ordinance, the State bears no responsibility for the damages inflicted on the plaintiffs resulting from a war-related action.

http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/so-how-exactly-did-rachel-corrie-die/2012/08/29/

[Dougal Maguire]

Someone asked earlier on this thread if you we're an undercover Hammas agent. I firmly believe that to be so. I'd be pretty sure that your rants have not converted a single person to support your cause but they will by their very nature have helped the Palestinians. My advice to you is to quit while you're still behind

[Ball DeBeaver]

Coming from an intellectual heavyweight such as yourself, I'll take that as a compliment. 

You boys need to make your minds up. Am I an MI5, Mossad, Loyalist, Israeli Embassy mole or just someone who has an interest in Israeli affairs?

[Dougal Maguire]

When you resort to making personal comments, and in particular personal comments about something you know nothing about you lose the argument.