Can Americans be murdered by the Israeli government with impunity?

For several days, Israel has been able to contain some of the fallout from the flotilla massacre by withholding information about the dead and injured. The object of this exercise has clearly been to slow the flow of information in the hope that by the time the most damning facts become known, the international media’s attention will have turned elsewhere.

But the dead now have names and faces and one turns out to be a nineteen-year-old American: Furkan Dogan.

Dogan is alleged to have been shot with five bullets, four in the head.

Does the Obama administration intend to investigate the circumstances in which one of its citizens was killed? Protecting the lives of Americans is after all the most fundamental responsibility of our government.

Dogan’s death was presumably instant, but according to Al Jazeera‘s Jamal Elshayyal there were others on board the Mavi Marmara who died because Israeli soldiers refused to treat their injuries.

“After the shooting and the first deaths, people put up white flags and signs in English and Hebrew. An Isreali [on the ship] asked the soldiers to take away the injured, but they did not and the injured died on the ship.”

Crimes have been committed and since the suspects all acted under the direction of the Israeli government and its defense forces and took place on international waters outside Israel’s area of legal jurisdiction, “a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards” — a demand made by the UN Security Council with the support of the Obama administration — cannot be conducted by the Israeli government or a commission appointed by them. An investigation conforming to international standards must also be an international inquiry.

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13 thoughts on “Can Americans be murdered by the Israeli government with impunity?

  1. Ian Arbuckle

    So, now maybe its different, because an American caught a bullet or five and another cold truth comes home. He was one of us, as apposed to one of them, how sad. The next ship is the Rachel Corrie, named after another American girl that got killed by a Zionist bulldozer while trying to save a Palestinian family’s home…. It is simple; if you don’t accept their continued crimes you are a terrorist. This boys death is unfortunate and bad PR for the Zionist terror state, regrettable, I’m sure. How will they spin this? Thank god he has a Turkish name it is almost like an Arab name to those who don’t know. Of course there were links to Hamas and Al Qaeda in this organization, as you know.

    In between those two American deaths there have been hundreds and thousands of humans that have had to die or go on suffering because of this on-going criminal syndicate incorporated in Washington and Tel Aviv.

    We all must be Palestinians at heart at least to feel the menace and see the specter that looms. Enough marters! Peace to his spirit, and our compassion to those who knewhim, loved him and now morn, certainly like Rachel Corrie, his short life will not be forgotten in this world.

  2. delia ruhe

    I take it that all the bodies returned so far are Turkish nationals–except for this American. I am trolling every website I know but can’t find an accounting of exactly how many were killed and from where.

    If anyone’s interested, Gwynne Dyer published a piece a coupla days ago in which he does a little mind-reading of those who planned this fiasco. Since militarism and the Middle East constitute Dyer’s area of specialization, I tend to take him quite seriously. (Dyer has an MA and PhD in these areas and taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford University before becoming a filmmaker and columnist and author of several books on militarism.) Here’s the URL:

    http://www.straight.com/article-326677/vancouver/gwynne-dyer-israels-response-aid-flotilla-worse-crime

  3. Mark Kraft

    This also seems to indicate that the Israelis really did use automatic fire on a crowded ship.

    Trying to shoot someone with a handgun five times with tight clustering is not an easy thing to do… especially since they’d drop after the first shot or so. You’d literally have to kill them like a hitman — or have about 2-3 shooters concentrating on one person — to get that kind of result with a handgun.

    However, if you got off an accurate burst from a automatic weapon — especially one aimed down from a helicopter, for example — its pretty easy to hit someone four times in the head and once in the chest. In fact, you’d expect that kind of grouping.

  4. RLaing

    The Israelis attempted to murder the entire crew of an American intelligence-gathering vessel back in 67, the USS Liberty. Killed quite a few, but didn’t get them all becaue an aircraft carrier in the region dispatched some interceptors. The US government gave no sign of minding, and in fact McNamara even went so far as to demand the recall of those interceptors.

    Anyhow, if that was no big deal, it is hard to see what the murder of a few peaceniks will matter.

  5. DICKERSON3870

    RE: “Dogan is alleged to have been shot with five bullets, four in the head.”
    MY COMMENT: Shot? This sounds more like an execution!

  6. Norman

    Collateral damage, I believe they call it. So what. The U.S. sends troops to Iraq & Afghanistan, some die, but, so what. Just as Rachel Corrie didn’t raise a fuss, neither will young Dogan’s death. The mind set on all sides is totally screwed up. Perhaps this is Israel’s way of bringing on Armageddon. It sure looks like it, from where I sit. What all should be worrying about, are the nukes Israel has in its possession. They use them as a deterrent, also as blackmail towards the West. If the insanity continues, the whole Middle East may go up. What a scorched Earth the rest of the World will have to contend with.

  7. Christopher Hoare

    Let’s face it, life is cheap in Washington’s view. A power structure (meaning the culture as well as the administration) that believes it has a right to murder people anywhere in the world (Prompt Global Strike) or within the land of its ally (Pakistan a bankrupt client) whenever it pleases can hardly appear as anything but hypocritical if it makes a fuss about a citizen who gets on the ‘wrong’ side of the line. From a President who wouldn’t honour the arrival of the caskets of those Americans killed in his wars, to a military that regards mass murder of civilians as no more than an ‘oops’, the culture clearly regards human lives as no more than the raw material of its ambition.
    One American killed by an ally that can do no wrong? He must have died by a misadventure of his own making. Blame the victim — just watch.

  8. miscellany101

    The answer to the question posed by the article is a resounding yes! It has happened so many times before that the Israelis think we should expect it and not complain. The USS Liberty, and Rachel Corrie are the two more prominent examples where absolutely nothing happened to the perpetrators of murder and mayhem. Any body, and American bodies are no different, is expected to be sacrificed on the Israeli altar of supremacy, no questions asked and no complaints will be entertained.

  9. Phoenix

    They won’t care. The New York times made sure to stress that Dogan had moved to Turkey when he was aged two and only has an american pass.

  10. Syed

    American media control by few, keep most of americans dumb,ignorant and isolated within their boundries and the world (china, india,european union)and others will slowly leave us behind due to ignorence,arrogance or innocence of our mindset .

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