Israel Attack Humanitarian Ship, 10 men killed

[boojangles]

Five israelis, including three children, stabbed to death by Palestinian

The Israeli military are searching for the killer of five people murdered in a Jewish West Bank settlement early on Saturday, a military spokeswoman said.
Israeli media is reporting that the dead are all members of the same family – parents and three children. The victims – including an 11-year-old, a 3-year-old and an infant – were all stabbed in their sleep.
The military says it is sweeping the area in search of the perpetrator and has set up checkpoints throughout the West Bank. It has instructed all residents to stay in their homes during the extensive sweeps.
The military blocked the entrance to the northern West Bank settlement of Itamar, as soldiers poured
inside and a pair of ambulances departed.
The overnight attack is the first attack against settlers in months and the first of its kind and scope in years. It marks a rare outburst of violence during a relatively calm period.
It also comes as Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are at a standstill and seems likely to complicate efforts to restart them.
Itamar is home to some of the West Bank's most fervent settlers. The attack took place in the middle of the night, on the Jewish Sabbath.
The attack was reminiscent of a similar one in Itamar in June 2002, during the height of the violent Palestinian uprising, when a gunman burst into the home of a family and opened fire.
Another two children were seriously injured.

No doubt plenty of innocent civilians will be arrested, tortured and maybe killed before they find the perpetrator.

[Trout]

Source?

Guardian, has also been reported on BBC.

[mylestheslasher]

Five israelis, including three children, stabbed to death by Palestinian

The Israeli military are searching for the killer of five people murdered in a Jewish West Bank settlement early on Saturday, a military spokeswoman said.
Israeli media is reporting that the dead are all members of the same family – parents and three children. The victims – including an 11-year-old, a 3-year-old and an infant – were all stabbed in their sleep.
The military says it is sweeping the area in search of the perpetrator and has set up checkpoints throughout the West Bank. It has instructed all residents to stay in their homes during the extensive sweeps.
The military blocked the entrance to the northern West Bank settlement of Itamar, as soldiers poured
inside and a pair of ambulances departed.
The overnight attack is the first attack against settlers in months and the first of its kind and scope in years. It marks a rare outburst of violence during a relatively calm period.
It also comes as Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are at a standstill and seems likely to complicate efforts to restart them.
Itamar is home to some of the West Bank's most fervent settlers. The attack took place in the middle of the night, on the Jewish Sabbath.
The attack was reminiscent of a similar one in Itamar in June 2002, during the height of the violent Palestinian uprising, when a gunman burst into the home of a family and opened fire.
Another two children were seriously injured.

The murdering of innocent kids is the act of cowardly scum. Unfortunately it is common in that part of the world.

[Groucho]

By JANE HIRSCHMANN
Making a stand for human rights and dignity in Gaza
Gaza is crumbling under the weight of an Israeli siege backed by the Obama administration.

Roughly 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza now depend on aid. Vast amounts of infrastructure destroyed in the Israeli attack of 2008-09 require repair. Thousands of families still live doubled up with relatives or are homeless.

Children are being short-changed educationally because of damaged and horribly overcrowded schools and a lack of textbooks. Their health is compromised by polluted water and food insecurity.

In response, over 1,000 human-rights workers from around the world will sail this June on a dozen boats for the Gaza Strip to highlight this human-made tragedy.

Our boat — the American boat — is The Audacity of Hope. It will be carrying approximately 60 students, nurses, artists, journalists and filmmakers, lawyers, academics and ordinary civilians of many beliefs from around the country. Many of us are Jewish.

Last May, Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara and killed 9 passengers, including an American citizen. A fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the "circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution". All the civilian deaths on board the humanitarian vessel were inexcusable. Yet, once again, the Israeli government has threatened to initiate violence against us.

Israel insists it has a right to blockade Gaza, to keep its population on a restricted diet and to destroy its economy by cutting it off from international trade. The rest of the world disagrees. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called the siege "unacceptable" and has said it must end immediately. Even President Obama has termed the siege "unsustainable", notwithstanding our government's full support of Israeli policy.

Israel states that the purpose of the blockade is to keep weapons out of the hands of the Hamas government in Gaza. There are many ways to do this without imprisoning 1.6 million people inside an area about twice the size of Washington, D.C. Gaza's children, women, elderly and other civilians pay the price for Israel's refusal to use international inspections, diplomacy and negotiations to achieve its goal. Under international law, this is known as collective punishment and can be regarded as a crime against humanity.

The US and European governments have not acted to end Israel's siege. Those of us sailing to Gaza on The Audacity of Hope have chosen to support international humanitarian law where our governments have not. We sail as an expression of human solidarity with the beleaguered people of Gaza.

We will be unarmed and nonviolent. Representatives from the media, who are invited to sail with us, will be able to testify to this. The boats' cargo will be open to international inspections before sailing. Our cargo consists of letters of solidarity to the people of Gaza from thousands of Americans.

As the world witnessed this year in Tunisia and Egypt, human solidarity is far more powerful than the force of arms. Despite the Israeli government's propaganda against us, we believe that most of the world opposes the attempt to reduce Gaza to desperation and dependence. Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Israel's former prime minister, put Israel's effort succinctly: "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." We reject this cruelty.

Nevertheless, the Israeli government has launched a scare campaign, accusing us of being "terrorists" with ties to Hamas, who are "willing to become martyrs". This is false. Our goal is to end the illegal siege of Gaza and highlight the injustice of Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Audacity of Hope sails in peace and will not be deterred by Israeli threats. Our actions are very much in keeping with the moral impetus that drove Freedom Riders 50 years ago to travel south to stand nonviolently with African Americans against government-backed violence and Jim Crow discrimination. We intend to promote both Palestinian liberty from Israeli domination and an economic opening to the world for Gaza.

—  Jane Hirschmann is a member of Jews Say No! in New York City and one of the national organizers of the US Boat to Gaza. Hirschmann has been active in anti-war efforts for the past four decades. She is a psychotherapist and the co-author of three books.

[mylestheslasher]

By JANE HIRSCHMANN
Making a stand for human rights and dignity in Gaza
Gaza is crumbling under the weight of an Israeli siege backed by the Obama administration.

Roughly 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza now depend on aid. Vast amounts of infrastructure destroyed in the Israeli attack of 2008-09 require repair. Thousands of families still live doubled up with relatives or are homeless.

Children are being short-changed educationally because of damaged and horribly overcrowded schools and a lack of textbooks. Their health is compromised by polluted water and food insecurity.

In response, over 1,000 human-rights workers from around the world will sail this June on a dozen boats for the Gaza Strip to highlight this human-made tragedy.

Our boat — the American boat — is The Audacity of Hope. It will be carrying approximately 60 students, nurses, artists, journalists and filmmakers, lawyers, academics and ordinary civilians of many beliefs from around the country. Many of us are Jewish.

Last May, Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara and killed 9 passengers, including an American citizen. A fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the "circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution". All the civilian deaths on board the humanitarian vessel were inexcusable. Yet, once again, the Israeli government has threatened to initiate violence against us.

Israel insists it has a right to blockade Gaza, to keep its population on a restricted diet and to destroy its economy by cutting it off from international trade. The rest of the world disagrees. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called the siege "unacceptable" and has said it must end immediately. Even President Obama has termed the siege "unsustainable", notwithstanding our government's full support of Israeli policy.

Israel states that the purpose of the blockade is to keep weapons out of the hands of the Hamas government in Gaza. There are many ways to do this without imprisoning 1.6 million people inside an area about twice the size of Washington, D.C. Gaza's children, women, elderly and other civilians pay the price for Israel's refusal to use international inspections, diplomacy and negotiations to achieve its goal. Under international law, this is known as collective punishment and can be regarded as a crime against humanity.

The US and European governments have not acted to end Israel's siege. Those of us sailing to Gaza on The Audacity of Hope have chosen to support international humanitarian law where our governments have not. We sail as an expression of human solidarity with the beleaguered people of Gaza.

We will be unarmed and nonviolent. Representatives from the media, who are invited to sail with us, will be able to testify to this. The boats' cargo will be open to international inspections before sailing. Our cargo consists of letters of solidarity to the people of Gaza from thousands of Americans.

As the world witnessed this year in Tunisia and Egypt, human solidarity is far more powerful than the force of arms. Despite the Israeli government's propaganda against us, we believe that most of the world opposes the attempt to reduce Gaza to desperation and dependence. Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Israel's former prime minister, put Israel's effort succinctly: "The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." We reject this cruelty.

Nevertheless, the Israeli government has launched a scare campaign, accusing us of being "terrorists" with ties to Hamas, who are "willing to become martyrs". This is false. Our goal is to end the illegal siege of Gaza and highlight the injustice of Israel's ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The Audacity of Hope sails in peace and will not be deterred by Israeli threats. Our actions are very much in keeping with the moral impetus that drove Freedom Riders 50 years ago to travel south to stand nonviolently with African Americans against government-backed violence and Jim Crow discrimination. We intend to promote both Palestinian liberty from Israeli domination and an economic opening to the world for Gaza.

—  Jane Hirschmann is a member of Jews Say No! in New York City and one of the national organizers of the US Boat to Gaza. Hirschmann has been active in anti-war efforts for the past four decades. She is a psychotherapist and the co-author of three books.

More anti semite Jewish people I suppose? Will they get fair coverage on the us media I wonder.

[seafoid]

Israel kills 15 on Nakba day

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/may/15/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live

the ultimate Israeli nightmare - the refugee issue comes alive again

[mylestheslasher]

Israel kills 15 on Nakba day

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/may/15/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live

the ultimate Israeli nightmare - the refugee issue comes alive again

Is it normal to call the victims of ethnic cleansing as refugees?

[seafoid]

Israel kills 15 on Nakba day

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/may/15/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live

the ultimate Israeli nightmare - the refugee issue comes alive again

Is it normal to call the victims of ethnic cleansing as refugees?

Good question. Maybe the dispossessed ?

[seafoid]

BDS video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKqA5c0fMu4&feature=player_embedded

[Groucho]

36 Americans join Gaza flotilla
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Jun 22, 2011 00:54 Updated: Jun 22, 2011 00:54

NEW YORK: A ship filled with American activists will join an international flotilla that will try to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, according to organizers.

Several of the 36 Americans who plan to sail on a US-flagged boat told a news conference that they are aware of the risks they'll be taking when they join the flotilla on a still-undetermined date later this month.

The vessel, which will be called "The Audacity of Hope," takes its name from one of President Barack Obama's books.

Hundreds of people on as many as nine vessels from countries including Canada, Australia, Belgium, Denmark and Germany are expected to form the flotilla around the end of the month. The exact departure date will depend upon weather and other conditions. Last year, nine activists died in a botched Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship during a similar flotilla. US activists said they worried there could be a similar incident this year.

"Yeah, I'm scared. It's scary," said one of the American activists, Gale Courey Toensing of Canaan, Connecticut. "But it's not as scary as what the Palestinian people have to live with every day." Ray McGovern, a former military intelligence officer and CIA analyst, said many friends have asked why he would join the group. "I don't want to be a martyr," acknowledged McGovern, adding that he hoped to draw attention to the people in Gaza.

The Israeli mission to the UN did not comment on the announcement.

Richard A. Levy, a Jewish attorney from New York, is among the American activists preparing for the journey. He said US State Department officials warned them that they could provoke Israel, but "I think it's very important that Americans are on this boat, and that Jews are on this boat."

Also among those on the US boat will be Medea Benjamin, cofounder of the women's peace group CodePink and the San Francisco rights organization Global Exchange. She said the flotilla would focus new attention on US policy on Israel and the Palestinians.

"This is really going to force the US to reflect on its positions toward Israel," Benjamin said, especially amid a push by the Palestinians to have the US declare Palestine a member of the world body in September.

"What will this say to the Arab world amid the ongoing Arab spring if the US votes against the creation of a Palestinian state?" Benjamin asked. "That will put the US in bind."

[seafoid]

Hilarious panic in Israel over a few ships bringing letters to Gaza 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-fears-gaza-flotilla-activists-may-try-to-kill-idf-soldiers-1.369923

"Senior officials in Jerusalem said Monday that Israel has received information that organizers of the Gaza flotilla may be bringing chemical substances on the ships to use against Israeli soldiers to prevent them from boarding the ships.The senior officials also said that Israel had been notified that several extremists among the Gaza flotilla participants had recently claimed that they intend on "shedding the blood of IDF soldiers."

Very interesting video on the activists who are in Greece. If Americans get to hear what they have to say Israel is finished.
Even PJ Crowley says Israel is acting against its own self interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnyh-lZDLVw&feature=player_embedded

[Nally Stand]

Irish Flotilla Boat subjected to suspected sabotage, and unable to take part. The following article from RTÉ refers to a Greek ship which suffered similar damage but there are also reports that an Italian boat also was damaged in the exact same way. If Giveherdixie/John is still reading the site, would you have any more updates?

From RTÉ:
"Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said he is  concerned about reports that a Gaza bound Irish ship may have been sabotaged.
The Irish Ship to Gaza campaign says that €15,000 worth of damage has been caused to the MV Saoirse, which had been due to take part in a humanitarian mission to Gaza.
A chunk was found to be missing from the ship's propeller shaft and the activists say the damage could not have been done accidentally.
They say a Greek ship due to take part in the flotilla was also targeted in the same way.
Irish Ship to Gaza says it believes Israel is responsible for the damage.
The Israeli embassy in Dublin says it has no connection with the incident and no information on it.

Mr Gilmore said there would have to be an investigation by the Turkish authorities.
He said the Government would take a very serious view, if it turned out that the vessel had been sabotaged.
The Tánaiste said it was his view that those who intended travelling on the ship were well intended and well motivated.
Mr Gilmore's department had issued travel advice that it was dangerous to travel on the vessel and he said he met a delegation of those travelling a few weeks ago and subsequently met the Israeli ambassador.
The Israeli ambassador was told by Eamon Gilmore what that travel advice was, but also of the expectation was that there would not be a repeat of last year's attack on a flotilla bound for Gaza.
Mr Gilmore added that the people were engaged in what is a form of peaceful protest and expressed the hope that there would not be a disproportionate response.
The MV Saoirse will not be able to take part in the flotilla, but its Irish passengers are likely to be accommodated on other vessels.
United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett earlier criticised both Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Tánaiste for calling for safe passage for last year's flotilla while in opposition, but for failing to do so now they are in Government.
Protest
Around 60 people are protesting at the Spire on Dublin's O'Connell Street against what they say is a deliberate sabotage of the MV Saoirse."

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

They did the very same to the propeller shaft of a Swedish boat, the Juliano, which was also due to sail to Gaza...

Irish Gaza aid ship abandons mission (from the Irish Times)

KITTY HOLLAND

An Irish aid ship has been forced to pull out of a flotilla attempting to break the Gaza blockade after it was damaged while docked in Turkey.

The MV Saoirse , which was to take part in the 'Freedom Flotilla II' bringing medical aid and sports equipment to Gaza, was deemed unfit to sail after damage to its propeller shaft was discovered on Monday evening. The boat had been berthed in the Turkish coastal town of Gocek.

Six members of the Irish Ship to Gaza, including Dr Lane and former Leinster rugby player Trevor Hogan, plan to join an Italian ship, while seven other members will arrive back in Dublin airport tonight. Others hope to travel on other aid ships.

Claudia Saba, a Palestinian living in Ireland who has been involved in co-ordinating the flotilla, showed pictures of the damaged propeller shaft at a press-conference in Dublin today. The shaft appeared to be bent and to have had a piece cut from it.

Quoting Pat Fitzgerald, a fisherman based in Dunmore East, who is in Turkey and had been planning to sail in the MV Saoirse, she said the damage done "could not have been accidental".

Almost identical damage was found to have happened to the propeller shaft of a Swedish boat, the Juliano, which was also due to sail to Gaza.

Ms Saba described this as "too much a coincidence".

She said: "Had they gone out to sea, the pressure would have flooded the engine room. It was not damaged in such a way as to prevent it setting sail. It was damaged so it would fail at sea."

In a statement, the co-ordinator of the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign, Dr Fintan Lane, said the alleged "act of sabotage" was an appalling attack that should be condemned. He said the most likely saboteurs were Israel, as the "only likely party to have carried out this reckless action".

However, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Dublin the Israelis had no information about what happened to the boat.

"We are not connected to it in any way. We have heard about it in the media like anyone else," he said. "We again reiterate that we welcome any aid that Irish citizens may wish to donate to the Palestinian people and we will gladly help pass it to Gaza through the regular land crossings.

"We further wish to repeat what the United Nations data clearly shows: there has never been hunger in Gaza, there is no humanitarian crisis there. However, Israel together with the international community will continue to work to further improve conditions in Gaza despite Hamas' violent disregard for the needs of the people in Gaza and in southern Israel."

Rejecting these denials as implausible, Richard Boyd Barrett TD of the United Left Alliance said the "sabotage" was an "absolute outrage".

Independent TD Mick Wallace and Socialist TD Joe Higgins called on the Government to call the Israeli ambassador to account for the damage to the ship. Also present at the press conference were ULA TD Joan Collins, Socialist TD Clare Daly and Independent TD Thomas Pringle.

At a separate event, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamonn Gilmore, said he was concerned about the alleged malicious damage to the vessel. "That is something I think that is going to have to be investigated initially by the Turkish authorities and I will take a very serious view of it if turns out that there was sabotage of that vessel."

Israel imposed a naval blockade after Hamas militants overran the Palestinian territory in 2007. It said it will not allow the flotilla to reach Gaza. Last year, an Israeli raid on a similar flotilla killed nine activists on a Turkish vessel. Each side blamed the other for the violence.

Almost €130,000 was raised in Ireland to fund the humanitarian mission, which planned to take medication and sports equipment to Gaza. Repairs to the vessel - which arrived in the port of Gocek in early June - will cost an estimated €15,000.

[Nally Stand]

Exactly what does Israel have to do before its amabassador ito Ireland is shown the door?

[seafoid]

They lie to the world and they lie to themselves

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/06/wikileaks-document-on-gaza-blockade-puts-israel%E2%80%99s-flotilla-hasbara-to-shame.html

However, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Dublin the Israelis had no information about what happened to the boat.

"We are not connected to it in any way. We have heard about it in the media like anyone else," he said. "We again reiterate that we welcome any aid that Irish citizens may wish to donate to the Palestinian people and we will gladly help pass it to Gaza through the regular land crossings.

"We further wish to repeat what the United Nations data clearly shows: there has never been hunger in Gaza, there is no humanitarian crisis there

70% of Gazan children suffer from malnutrition as a direct result of Israeli government policy.