June 2010

Israel’s “self-defense” narrative falls apart — Updated

by Paul Woodward 06.10.2010

(See this post to read an important update on the video that appears below.) On May 31, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the actions of IDF soldiers who had conducted the raid on the Mavi Marmara, killing at least nine of its passengers, as “a clear case of self-defense because as our soldiers were [...]

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A Turkish revival

by Paul Woodward 06.09.2010

“Israel must pay the price of the blood it shed,” said Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week as he honored the lives of those who were “martyred” defending the Mavi Marmara. The clash between Turkey and Israel comes at a moment when the state which was once the seat of the Ottoman Empire [...]

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Israeli soldiers executing an American?

by Paul Woodward 06.09.2010

A video is circulating on Facebook. It purports to show the moment at which Furkan Dogan, a nineteen year-old Turkish young man who was also a US citizen, was killed. Click the image below to watch the video. This much seems clear: Israeli soldiers on board the Mavi Marmara are pummeling someone lying on the [...]

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Farewell Helen Thomas

by Paul Woodward 06.08.2010

It’s good that Helen Thomas will no longer be in White House press briefings. Not because she sullied the reputation of the Washington press corps with a few undiplomatic remarks, but because those who lack her boldness and bluntness will no longer be able to use her presence to foster the illusion that American journalism [...]

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Palestine: A great moral and political cause of our time that unites people across the world

by Paul Woodward 06.08.2010

“Palestine has become a great moral and political cause of our time that unites people across the world,” said Seamus Milne, addressing marchers in London on Saturday. Drowning in their narcissistic self-obsession, this is a reality that completely escapes the comprehension of most Jewish Israelis, most Jews, and most Americans: the issue of Palestine has [...]

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Israel’s separate reality

by Paul Woodward 06.07.2010

One of the lessons of state communism is that there is no better environment in which to control the way people think than one in which they believe they are free. Stalin never had it so easy as Benjamin Netanyahu when it comes to getting a whole population to effortlessly swallow a pack of lies. [...]

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“All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns”

by Paul Woodward 06.06.2010

“All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns.” These are the words of Ken O’Keefe, a former US Marine who was just deported from Israel after surviving the Mavi Marmara massacre. In 2002, O’Keefe initiated what some would regard as a quixotic endeavor: an effort to prevent the war in Iraq by positioning Western [...]

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Hamas welcomes EU proposal to monitor crossings

by Paul Woodward 06.06.2010

The Ma’an news agency reports: Hamas officials have supported a proposed EU plan to monitor Gaza crossings and life the Israeli-lead siege on the coastal enclave, statements issued Sunday indicated. Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil called statements by Spanish Minster of Foreign Affairs Miguel Ángel Moratinos, whose country currently holds the head of the rotating EU [...]

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Hurriyet photos of disarmed Israeli commandos receiving medical care

by Paul Woodward 06.06.2010

(Photo via Ali Abunimah) On the Mavi Marmara, the ship that Benjamin Netanyahu has dubbed “the hate boat”, Israeli soldiers who had been hurt were given medical aid. But some of the civilians who had been shot ended up dying because the Israelis refused to have them evacuated. Accounts provided by activists on board claim [...]

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Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range

by Paul Woodward 06.05.2010

As more of the facts emerge, it is now becoming clear that the massacre on board the Mavi Marmara, was a massacre of middle-aged men. Ibrahim Bilgen, 61, Çetin Topçuoglu, 54, Cengiz Songür, 47, Fahri Yaldiz, 43, Cengiz Akyüz, 41, Ali Haydar Bengi, 39, Cevdet Kiliçlar, 38, Necdet Yildirim, 32. Only one was under thirty [...]

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Israelis’ rabid support for the IDF

by Paul Woodward 06.05.2010

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Israeli navy refuses to say the name “Rachel Corrie”

by Paul Woodward 06.05.2010

As Israeli naval operators engaged in radio communications with the MV Rachel Corrie this morning, they refused to address the ship by its current name — the name linked to its permanent International Maritime Organization identification number, IMO 6715281. Instead, in both communications released by the IDF, the ship is referred to as “Motor Vessel [...]

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Rachel Corrie seized by Israeli military

by Paul Woodward 06.05.2010

Free Gaza Movement press release: Just before 9am GMT this morning, the Israeli military forcibly siezed the Irish-owned humanitarian relief ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, from delivering over 1000 tons of medical and construction supplies to besieged Gaza. For the second time in less then a week, Israeli naval commandos stormed an unarmed aid ship, [...]

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Rachel Corrie being towed to Ashdod

by Paul Woodward 06.05.2010

At 5.47AM Eastern: At 5.00AM Eastern: Share

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Israeli navy approaches Rachel Corrie

by Paul Woodward 06.04.2010

FreeGaza Tweet – 10 PM Eastern For the latest information on the MV Rachel Corrie, check the FreeGazaOrg Twitter feed. Share

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Remembering the dead and the Rachel Corrie‘s mission

by Paul Woodward 06.04.2010

Humanitarian aid workers, a firefighter, a politician, a taekwondo champion, a photojournalist, a student who hoped to become a doctor — nine Turkish men, mostly fathers who leave behind children and wives. Even while their deaths are at the center of an international crisis that is rocking the state of Israel, these individual lives lost [...]

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MV Rachel Corrie due to reach Gaza within hours. “The world is watching” — Mustafa Barghouthi

by Paul Woodward 06.04.2010

The MV Rachel Corrie, a cargo ship in the Freedom Flotilla whose passage from Ireland was delayed by mechanical difficulties, is now hours away from its destination. “I commend this courageous action of brave international civilians who are carrying essential medical, education and construction materials denied by Israeli suffocating and illegal siege on Gaza. It [...]

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Israel’s national psychosis

by Paul Woodward 06.04.2010

The feeling of helplessness of a poor lonely victim, confronting the rage of a lynch mob and frantically realizing that these are his last moments, accurately reflect the current psychosis of the majority of the Israeli public, writes Anshel Pfeffer. “We felt like the Ramallah lynch.” I am certain that the unnamed Israeli naval commando [...]

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Turkish president: Israel will never be forgiven

by Paul Woodward 06.03.2010

Al Jazeera‘s Jamal Elshayyal describes the attack on the Mavi Marmara, witnessing activists being shot, how the injured were left to die, and how he was abused under Israeli detention. Al Jazeera reports: The Turkish president has said that Israel’s military raid on civilian aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip has caused “irreparable” damage [...]

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Can Americans be murdered by the Israeli government with impunity?

by Paul Woodward 06.03.2010

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 [...]

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Israel is becoming a liability for the United States

by Paul Woodward 06.02.2010

Carlo Strenger notes in Haaretz: During the media frenzy of the last days a crucial headline has received close to no attention: Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset’s Foreign Relations Committee that Israel is gradually turning from a strategic asset into a liability for the United States of America. As it’s a bit difficult [...]

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Israel’s war against non-violence

by Paul Woodward 06.02.2010

Today, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak, praising the Shayetet 13 commandos who slaughtered at least nine humanitarian activists on board the Mavi Marmara, said: “…we live in the Middle East, in a place where there is no mercy for the weak…” A year ago President Obama declared in Cairo: Resistance through violence and killing is [...]

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There is hope…

by Paul Woodward 06.02.2010

An inspiring video put together by Jewish Voice for Peace during the recent debate on UC Berkeley’s divestment measure. These are the voices of the future. See commentary by Cecile Surasky and Sidney Levy on the divestment effort. Share

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Israel’s security cannot come at any price

by Paul Woodward 06.02.2010

Ben Saul, who teaches the law of armed conflict at The University of Sydney, writes: Israel’s response to the Gaza flotilla is another unfortunate example of Israel clothing its conduct in the language of international law while flouting it in practice. If you believe Israeli government spokesmen, Israel is metabolically incapable of violating international law, [...]

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