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Israel reveals its true face !!

CiaranM

Entry posted by CiaranM ·

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article from the Guardian ....  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/31/israel-peace-activists-murder-sanctions

Ahdaf Soueif

guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 May 2010 23.00 BST

Article history

This will count. A flotilla of relief boats attacked in international waters. Armed commandos boarding a vessel carrying supplies for a besieged civilian population. More than 10 peace activists reported killed. This has to be made to count.

The dead have joined Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall, James Miller and Brian Avery in giving up their lives for the Palestinians. None of these young men and women went out to die or wanted to die or was accepting of death. Each and every one of them ultimately believed that they were safe; that there was a boundary – call it a boundary of legality, a boundary of civilisation – that Israel would not cross. They were wrong. And in proving them wrong, Israel has revealed, once again, its true face to the world.

This face, of course, the Palestinians know well. They see it every day in the teenage soldiers of the occupation chewing gum as they dish out humiliations, in the settlers shooting young Palestinians with impunity, in the soldiers firing gas canisters at the heads of demonstrators. The world saw that face in January last year when Israel unleashed the might of its air force on Gaza – the only time in modern warfare that a civilian population was sealed in as it was being bombed and shelled. Now Israel is out on the high seas killing internationals.

So never mind the multimillion-dollar public relations campaign – actions speak louder than words, and the murder of these peace activists is Israel's message to the world. It does not matter what Mark Regev or any other Israel spokesperson says. It does not matter what spin the Israeli government tries to put on this; the only link between Israeli words and Israeli deeds is this: Israel uses words as a decoy and an obfuscation and a cover for its deeds. It has done so for 62 years. These internationals, dead now, murdered, have ensured that anyone who does not see this is wilfully blind.

Western governments are fond of holding up Israel as the "only democracy in the Middle East". So should we assume that the Israeli people are behind their government? That they approve these killings? Last month I was at al-Quds University in Abu Dis. Israel's wall shaved the edge off the campus. On it, in tall blue letters, a Palestinian student had written: "My Israeli sisters: this is not the answer."

A few days ago, young Jewish Israeli activists told me they saw that the only hope for their country lies with the international community. Israel is on a path to self-destruction, they said, and it will take the region with it. It will not stop, they said, until the price it pays for its actions becomes too heavy. This price has to be a moral and economic price imposed by the world.

My anger and my sadness are so great that I have to deliberately draw a deep breath from time to time to ease the bands I feel around my chest. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that millions of people in the world are feeling the same. People everywhere see and understand what is happening. Many of us feel that Palestine is nearing its South Africa moment. This latest outrage must push it closer. And it will.

Donations will, I'm sure, flood in to the other relief boats waiting in harbour. More and more people will take the boycott to heart. More civil bodies will insist on divestment from companies that do business with Israel. The time has come for the governments that represent us to stop engaging with Israeli lies and excuses. The price of Israel's action today has to be to put the issue of sanctions squarely on the table.

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CiaranM

article from the Guardian ....  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/31/israel-peace-activists-murder-sanctions

Ahdaf Soueif

guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 May 2010 23.00 BST

Article history

This will count. A flotilla of relief boats attacked in international waters. Armed commandos boarding a vessel carrying supplies for a besieged civilian population. More than 10 peace activists reported killed. This has to be made to count.

The dead have joined Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall, James Miller and Brian Avery in giving up their lives for the Palestinians. None of these young men and women went out to die or wanted to die or was accepting of death. Each and every one of them ultimately believed that they were safe; that there was a boundary – call it a boundary of legality, a boundary of civilisation – that Israel would not cross. They were wrong. And in proving them wrong, Israel has revealed, once again, its true face to the world.

This face, of course, the Palestinians know well. They see it every day in the teenage soldiers of the occupation chewing gum as they dish out humiliations, in the settlers shooting young Palestinians with impunity, in the soldiers firing gas canisters at the heads of demonstrators. The world saw that face in January last year when Israel unleashed the might of its air force on Gaza – the only time in modern warfare that a civilian population was sealed in as it was being bombed and shelled. Now Israel is out on the high seas killing internationals.

So never mind the multimillion-dollar public relations campaign – actions speak louder than words, and the murder of these peace activists is Israel's message to the world. It does not matter what Mark Regev or any other Israel spokesperson says. It does not matter what spin the Israeli government tries to put on this; the only link between Israeli words and Israeli deeds is this: Israel uses words as a decoy and an obfuscation and a cover for its deeds. It has done so for 62 years. These internationals, dead now, murdered, have ensured that anyone who does not see this is wilfully blind.

Western governments are fond of holding up Israel as the "only democracy in the Middle East". So should we assume that the Israeli people are behind their government? That they approve these killings? Last month I was at al-Quds University in Abu Dis. Israel's wall shaved the edge off the campus. On it, in tall blue letters, a Palestinian student had written: "My Israeli sisters: this is not the answer."

A few days ago, young Jewish Israeli activists told me they saw that the only hope for their country lies with the international community. Israel is on a path to self-destruction, they said, and it will take the region with it. It will not stop, they said, until the price it pays for its actions becomes too heavy. This price has to be a moral and economic price imposed by the world.

My anger and my sadness are so great that I have to deliberately draw a deep breath from time to time to ease the bands I feel around my chest. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that millions of people in the world are feeling the same. People everywhere see and understand what is happening. Many of us feel that Palestine is nearing its South Africa moment. This latest outrage must push it closer. And it will.

Donations will, I'm sure, flood in to the other relief boats waiting in harbour. More and more people will take the boycott to heart. More civil bodies will insist on divestment from companies that do business with Israel. The time has come for the governments that represent us to stop engaging with Israeli lies and excuses. The price of Israel's action today has to be to put the issue of sanctions squarely on the table.

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Loknar

This is how the Israel media reported it;

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/straight-into-the-trap-1.293421

Straight into the trap

The troops slid from helicopters into a violent crowd, which attacked them with sticks; It's no wonder they opened fire in self-defense.

By Amos Harel

The Israel Defense Forces had little trouble explaining the naval commando raid yesterday to the Israeli public. The troops slid from helicopters into a violent crowd, which attacked them with sticks. It's no wonder the troops opened fire in self-defense.

[...]

They were trapped, conned by the flotilla organizers and dropped from the helicopter into a crowd armed to the teeth with dangerous sticks!!!!

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spiroidal

They were trapped, conned by the flotilla organizers and dropped from the helicopter into a crowd armed to the teeth with dangerous sticks!!!!

Seen the footage yet?

I'd have opened up on em if i had to slide down that rope

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Loknar

It is a major possibility that this whole 50 year situation is a barely concealed conspiracy.

They had many chances for peace, all destroyed by Israel oppressive actions. To me it seems that military contractors, fueled by billions in USA and Israeli subsidy and have no interest in peace. They control the media and government to keep the tension high, the palestinian children oppressed and prone to become terrorists - serving their warmongering.

Israeli Military industry -powerful enough to supply themselves and most of Europe- has often been accused of fraud. One engineer famously avoided conviction because he did not sign the trust agreement... They often censor the court proceedings and names of the contractors because of "security reasons" so we don't hear any of it.

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GAV

Isreal has NO respect for International law. It has been recently proved that they forged Australian passports and used them to travel abroad and assassinate some one they considered a threat. This is not the first time they have forged passports of so called friendly nations of Isreal.

Committing an act of piracy in International waters seems to sit well with them also. Murder on the high seas does not seem to bother them either as they feel they can justify anything they choose to do. When they do something that displeases the USA all that happens is the US slaps them with a limp wrist and gives them some more War Toys to play with.

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gatsby

well now where were your comments mr ciaranm condemming the thai army government for mudering 88 protesters the other week, how about the murders of women, medics, journalists shot by the thai army, why didnt you stand up against tyranny and facism then, why do you only speek out when the israeli army murders people and not when the thai army murders people, there is no difference

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CiaranM

thanks for all the comments guys .... been busy at work so haven't had a chance to respond.

gatsby if u can't see the difference between an attack on unarmed civilans in inernational waters by a foreign army as opposed to the army being used to break up a violent, illegal demonstation in their own country ... that's ur problem not mine !!!

FWIW ... i do regret the loss of life during the red shirts protest in bkk, but IMO the red shirt leaders, especially Toxin, r more to blame than the thai government. the red shirts had got what they thought they wanted .... house disolution and early elections ... until Toxin told them that wasn't enough !!!

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