Showing posts with label Testimonies of the Flotilla Massacre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Testimonies of the Flotilla Massacre. Show all posts

UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen Furkan Dogan

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Gareth Porter

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Furkan Dogan, a 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was aboard the Mavi Marmara when he was killed by Israeli commandos. (Photo: freegazaorg; Edited: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)


t r u t h o u t , September 27, 2010

The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style at point blank range by Israeli commandos.
The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.
The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.
The forensic evidence that establishes that fact is "tattooing around the wound in his face," indicating that the shot was "delivered at point blank range."  The report describes the forensic evidence as showing that "the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back."
Based on both "forensic and firearm evidence," the fact-finding panel concluded that Dogan's killing and that of five Turkish citizens by the Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmari May 31 "can be characterized as extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions." (See Report [.pdf] Page 38, Section 170)
The report confirmed what the Obama administration already knew from the autopsy report on Dogan, but the administration has remained silent about the killing of Dogan, which could be an extremely difficult political problem for the administration in its relations with Israel.
The Turkish government gave the autopsy report on Dogan to the US Embassy in July and it was then passed on to the Department of Justice, according to a US government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the administration's policy of silence on the matter. The source said the purpose of obtaining the report was to determine whether an investigation of the killing by the Justice Department (DOJ) was appropriate.
Asked by this writer whether the DOJ had received the autopsy report on Dogan, DOJ spokesperson Laura Sweeney refused to comment.
The administration has not volunteered any comment on the fact-finding mission report and was not asked to do so by any news organization.  In response to a query from Truthout, a State Department official, who could not speak on the record, read a statement that did not explicitly acknowledge  the report's conclusion about the Israeli executions.
The statement said the fact-finding mission's report's, "tone and conclusions are unbalanced." It went on to state, "We urge that this report not be used for actions that could disrupt direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine that are now underway or actions that would make it not possible for Israel and Turkey to move beyond the recent strains in their traditional strong relationship."
Although the report's revelations and conclusions about the killing of Dogan and the five other victims were widely reported in the Turkish media last week, not a single story on the report has appeared in US news media.
The administration has made it clear through its inaction and its explicit public posture that it has no intention of pressing the issue of the murder of a US citizen in cold blood by Israeli commandos.
On June 13, two weeks after the Mavi Marmara attack, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement saying that Israel "should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security" and that Israel's military justice system "meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation."
Another passenger whom forensic evidence shows was killed execution-style, according to the OHCHR report, is Ibrahim Bilgen, a 60-year-old Turkish citizen. Bilgen is believed by forensics experts to have been shot initially from the helicopter above the Mavi Marmara and then shot in the side of the head while lying seriously wounded.
The fact-finding mission was given forensic evidence that, after the initial shot in chest from above, Bilgen was shot in the head with a "soft baton round at such close proximity that an entire bean bag and its wadding penetrated the skull and lodged in the chest from above," the mission concluded.
"Soft baton rounds" are supposed to be fired for nonlethal purposes at a distance and aimed only at the stomach, but are lethal when fired at the head, especially from close range.
The forensic evidence cited by the fact-finding mission on the killing of Dogan and five other passengers came from both the autopsy reports and pathology reports done by forensic personnel in Turkey and from interviews with those who wrote the reports. Experts in forensic pathology and firearms assisted the mission in interpreting that forensic evidence.
The account, provided by the OHCHR of the events on board the Mavi Marmara on its way to help break the economic siege of Gaza May 31 of this year, refutes the version of events aggressively pushed by the Israeli military and supports the testimony of passengers on board.
The report suggests that, from the beginning, Israeli policy viewed the Gaza flotilla as an opportunity to use lethal force against pro-Hamas activists. It quotes testimony by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak before the Israeli government's Turkel Committee that specific orders were given by the Israeli government "to continue intelligence tracking of the flotilla organizers with an emphasis on the possibility that amongst the passengers in the flotilla there were terror elements who would attempt to harm Israeli forces."
The idea that the passenger list would be seeded with terrorists determined to attack Israeli defense forces appears to have been a ploy to justify treating the operation as likely to require the use of military force against the passengers.
When details of the Israeli plan to forcibly take over the ships in the flotilla were published in the Israeli press on May 30, the passengers on board the Mavi Marmara realized that the Israelis might use deadly force against them. Some leaders of the IHH (the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid), which had purchased the ships for the mission, were advocating defending the boat against the Israeli boarding attempt, whereas other passengers advocated nonviolence only.
That led to efforts to create improvised weapons from railings and other equipment on the Mavi Marmara. However, the commission concluded that there was no evidence of any firearms having being taken aboard the ship, as charged by Israel.
The report notes that the Israeli military never communicated a request by radio to inspect the cargo on board any of the ships, apparently contradicting the official justification given by the Israeli government for the military attack on the Mavi Marmara and other ships of preventing any military contraband from reaching Gaza.
According to the OHCHR report, Israeli Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi testified to the Turkel Committee August 11 that the initial rules of engagement for the operation prohibited live fire except in life-threatening situations, but that that they were later modified to target protesters "deemed to be violent" in response to the resistance by passengers.
That decision apparently followed the passengers' successful repulsion of an Israeli effort to board the ship from Zodiac boats.
The report confirms that, from the beginning of the operation, passengers were fired on by helicopters flying above the Mavi Marmara to drop commandos on the deck.
Contrary to Israeli claims that one or more Israeli troops were wounded by firearms, the report says no medical evidence of a gunshot wound to an Israeli soldier was found.
The OHCHR report confirms accounts from passengers on the Mavi Marmara that defenders subdued roughly ten Israeli commandos, took their weapons from them and threw them in the sea, except for one weapon hidden as evidence. The Israeli soldiers were briefly sequestered below and some were treated for wounds before being released by the defenders.
The OHCHR fact-finding mission will certainly be the most objective, thorough and in-depth inquiry into the events on board the Mavi Marmara and other ships in the flotilla of the four that have been announced.
The fact-finding mission was chaired by Judge Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, Q.C., retired judge of the International Criminal Court and former attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago, and included Sir Desmond de Silva, Q.C. of the United Kingdom, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and Ms. Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, founding member of the board of directors of the International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific.
The mission interviewed 112 eyewitnesses to the Israeli attack in London, Geneva, Istanbul and Amman, Jordan. The Israeli government refused to cooperate with the fact-finding mission by making personnel involved in both planning and carrying out the attack available to be interviewed.
The Turkish governments announced its own investigation of the Israeli attack on August 10. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the formation of a "Panel of Inquiry" on August 2, but its mandate was much more narrowly defined. It was given the mission to "receive and review the reports of the national investigations with the view to recommending ways of avoiding similar incidents in the future."

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I wonder what Criminal Defense lawyers would do this: constantly shifting Israeli version of the events

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Here is an article I received from the Israeli Acadmic Left list on the "the battle on the Mavi Marmara." It has been translated from Hebrew by Yigal Arens, son of the Former Israel Defense Minister Moshe Arens. It is about Israeli Hasbara. I wonder what Criminal Defense lawyers would do this constantly shifting Israeli version of the events.

Ed Corrigan
Without anyone's permission, and simply because I was asked about this article by someone who was interested in reading it and doesn't know Hebrew, I translated it into English.Yigal

I figured others may be interested in it as well

Hebrew original:

The Fog of Battle
by Yossi Gurvitz

(The author is a freelance Israeli reporter and blogger. YA)

Eleven days have passed since the battle on the Mavi Marmara, and we still don't know what took place there.

The Israeli "Hasbara" (sic, in English. YA) establishment peppers us daily with "new information" that it is unclear why we were not made privy to earlier. This morning we were informed of a new film clip, in which the captain of the Marmara is seen telling us that the thugs – in Israel they are referred to as "terrorists" – on the ship arranged for themselves light weaponry when the Israeli forces arrived, and that he tried to prevent this.

It's worth noting that this information is coming via MLM (Hebrew acronym for the Center for Intelligence Community Heritage. YA), an organization associated with Israeli intelligence agencies, and not from the Foreign MInistry and/or the IDF Spokesperson. The reason is simple: On the morning of the battle on the Marmara we were informed (in a news item in Ha'aretz. YA) that the Foreign MInistry was about to transfer its "Hasbara" (sic. YA) to external groups, preferably ones that are not recognizable as elements of official Israel. The reason: just like the Scientologists, who use similar tactics and form sham front organizations whose purpose is to spread their message without being identified as Scientologists, official Israel is well aware that its brand is poisoned. Its announcements are seen, automatically and justifiably, as lacking credibility.

A few questions about that film clip:

A. The Israeli establishment claims that the Turkish "terrorists" organized ahead of time to attack the soldiers. Would a pre-organized team need to spend the time before contact sawing up its own ship in order to prepare weapons?

B. Our dear Prime MInister has announced that the phony baloney sham of a committee he's pretending to assemble – the one whose intended chair already announced today that he does not believe in singling out responsible individuals – will investigate how the activists on the Marmara obtained knives and axes. The captain answered that question: From the cafeterias on the ship and from its emergency cabinets. He said so, I must remind you, ten days ago. Is Netanyahu not aware of this?

C. As long as we're mentioning that, why did it take the system ten days to leak this film clip?

D. Was the Turkish captain tortured prior to his interrogation?

Eleven days have elapsed since the attack, and the Israeli establishment has yet to provide the Israeli public a definite version of what took place there, minute by minute. Their story changes like a chameleon. Most of the ship's passengers participated in the resistance; this version was dropped. The number of those attacking the IDF soldiers was around 30 (half the number of people shot by the soldiers). They were members of al-Qaeda; no, they were mercenaries; no, they were members of the IHH. The soldiers opened fire after a 40 minute long heroic battle; no, they fired after only a minute and a half. The activists tried to lynch the soldiers; no, they were planning a hostage exchange, for which they captured three of them.

The version that the IDF spokesperson has managed to imprint on the Israeli psyche is the one about lynching. But taking soldiers prisoner and providing them with medical care – as evidenced by that photograph that the IDF spokesperson can't figure out how to deal with – cannot be made to conform to that story. The hostage exchange version doesn't agree with the fact that the three captives didn't hesitate to try and escape, and successfully so. Unofficially, sources in the IDF say that two of them jumped overboard. From this we can deduce that they were not restrained, and that the security they were subjected to – if there was any – was not particularly restrictive.

So, what happened there? We don't know. The IDF doesn't want us to know. It is keeping to itself all the evidence it seized on the ships – an Australian journalist reported that she was tasered to prevent her from recording what was taking place – and stubbornly refuses to release it. It uses parts of the films it captured for its own purposes (e.g., the famous clip about the flash-bang grenade thrown into a navy boat). Every once in a while it cooks up some kind of recording (like the "go back to Auschwitz" one) and quietly admits to it later, knowing that the Israeli media will back it up and not report on it.

What does the IDF have to hide, then? What is there in the stolen recordings that it doesn't want us to see? Perhaps things like in this clip, which nevertheless managed to get out:



The video isn't as clear as one would like, but in it we plainly see two IDF soldiers who don't appear to be in any danger – at any rate, no danger that they're aware of – who are kicking a person lying at their feet, and then shooting him (it seems with paintball shots from point-blank range). The repeated cocking of their weapons demonstrates repeated firing.

It isn't clear at which point in the course of the battle that film was shot. What is clear is that it tears a hole in the Israeli version of events. One may claim, of course, that it is forged; the question is, then, why one should accept as valid the film clips being released by the IDF spokesperson. After all, the spokesperson did not hesitate – as we've seen – to cook up a voice recording for the purposes of its propaganda war, and it has a long history of lies.

What then happened on the Marmara? I don't know. I wasn't there, and even if I were I would have suffered – like any eyewitness – from tunnel vision. But more and more material that is being made public raises doubts regarding the IDF spokesperson's version. Pathologists' examinations of the bodies of the activists show that they were each killed by a shot to the head, at close range, and most by shots from behind. There are claims in Turkey – claims that are not being given attention in Israel – that six activists who were on the Marmara are still missing, and that the IDF murdered them. The fact that the IDF continues to hide the documentary material it confiscated strengthens these claims.

However, if I had to *guess* what occurred, considering what we know already, I would say that the following took place:

A. The first commando crew descends to the Marmara, is beaten, captured, and taken to the lower deck.

B. Senior officers who are present at the scene – the Commander of the Navy, the Commander of the SEALs – conclude that there is a possibility that soldiers were abducted on their watch, and due to their own exceptional stupidity. In their mind's eye they can vividly see their careers nosediving into the raging waters, with them becoming new versions of Gal Hirsch (a division commander during the Second Lebanon War who had to resign in disgrace after being blamed for the kidnapping of the soldiers that triggered the war. YA).

C. One or both of them gives the order to use any degree of force necessary to find the soldiers. The second commando force arrives on the Marmara agitated and nervous and begins firing indiscriminately at anyone who might seem dangerous – even though they themselves (the two soldiers in that clip above?) are not in any danger.

D. The soldiers escape and join the second force, or jump overboard and are picked up by the boats. The great cover-up begins.

As I said, I don't know. I'm speculating. If the IDF spokesperson wants to convince me that this is not what happened, let it kindly release all the material it has. And since it documented everything from the air and from the ships, let it please release a complete, unedited film that does not exclude a thing, including recordings of all radio communications.

Given that this has not yet happened, and given that the inquiry committee being assembled appears quite plainly to be a whitewash effort, I believe that like in the past – the bus 300 incident, for instance – the security authorities are trying to hide some crime. Now, what I think as an Israeli citizen need not bother the authorities; most of the sheep who make up the Israeli public will gobble up any nonsense they put out. But more and more people around the world think as I do, and the IDF's effort to protect itself at the expense of the state of Israel – or what appears very much like such an effort – risks any remaining legitimacy the country it is supposedly meant to protect still possesses.

Because if it turns out that there was a cover-up, even one more minor than what I'm describing – if, for example, it turns out that the IDF is protecting a soldier who went berserk and fired in all directions – nobody in the world will ever believe another word of an Israeli spokesperson, and rightly so.

And then we really will need to get marketing advice from the Scientologists.
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Al Fakhoora Director Gives First Hand Account of Flotilla Massacre

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Greetings,

Since you have been covering the blockade of Palestine, I wanted to share this new video with you. It features Farooq Burney, the director of Fakhoora.org — an international campaign which aims to secure the freedom to learn for Palestinian students in Gaza and the West Bank — discussing what he witnessed during the Israeli raid on the Freedom Flotilla.

http://fakhoora.org/news/al-fakhoora-director-gives-first-hand-account-of-flotilla-raid

Farooq was the only person from Qatar and one of three Canadian citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara during the assault.

In solidarity,

Liam O’Donoghue

Fakhoora.org


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Algerian activist gives chilling account of atrocities: Israelis subdued captain by pointing gun at a child

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Ship engineer Ekrem Cetin poses with his one-year old son Turker Kaan on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara as they sail in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea as part of a humanitarian convoy, on May 30
Ship engineer Ekrem Cetin with his one-year-old son Turker Kaan on the Turkish ship 'Mavi Marmara' as they sail in the international waters on Sunday. Photo: Reuters


Dubai/Cairo: According to a report in The Guardian, an Algerian activist, who gave her name as Sabrina, revealed that Israeli troops pointed their gun at a one-year-old Turkish child in front of his parents to force the captain of the Mavi Marmara to stop sailing.

Many reports have emerged from among the 124 activists who crossed over into Amman, Jordan, yesterday.

In an interview with Sky News, IT professional Hasan Nowarah, from Glasgow, described the moments as the Israeli troops descended on the ship.

"All you could see was screaming and bullets. Out of the blue as I looked around our ship, all I could see were hundreds of Zodiacs. Hundreds of Zodiacs full of soldiers, and big ships, lots of ships, and I believe as well submarines in the sea."

Kuwaiti MP Walid Al Tabtabai said the Israelis were "brutal and arrogant".

"Israelis roughed up and humiliated all of us, women, men and children," he said.

Algerian Izzeddine Zahrour said Israeli authorities "deprived us of food, water and sleep and we weren't allowed to use the toilet".

"It was an ugly kidnapping and subsequently bad treatment in Israeli jail," he said.

"They handcuffed us, pushed us around and humiliated us," Egyptian MP Hazem Farouq, who was also on the boat, said and added what he witnessed on the ship "defied his imagination".

"It was hell on the sea. I saw Israeli soldiers killing activists in cold blood and then walking on their bodies," Farouq, who was one of more than 700 activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla attacked by Israeli commandos, said on Tuesday in Cairo.

"The Israeli soldiers sprayed bullets as if they were a mafia in an American film."

Farouq and his colleague Mohammad Al Beltagui were detained along with many activists, who survived the widely condemned Israeli attack. They were released late on Monday after direct intervention by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.


Mohamed Abo Afefa, Palestine ãÍãÏ ÇÈæ ÚÝíÝå ¡ ÝáÓØíä

Robbed

"The Israelis left some of the injured activists bleeding without treatment until death," Farouq said.

He added that he and Al Beltagui had been robbed of all their belongings and around $3,500 in cash. Both MPs belong to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest opposition force.

"All the survivors on the ship were beaten up, stripped and humiliated by the Israeli commandos while other Israeli soldiers were busy firing teargas," said Al Beltagui.

"What happened is sheer thuggery and piracy," he added.

According to him, the blood was so copious on the ship that some Israeli soldiers slipped while on board.

"We were kept aboard the ship until 3pm under the blazing sun, a situation that made many people, including women, suffer sunstroke and lose consciousness."

The two lawmakers, whom the Egyptian authorities said they had joined the humanitarian effort without notifying them, said they and other activists had refused to sign a written Israeli statement that they had attempted to illegally enter Israel.

"Al Beltagui and I left the detention centre only in the underwear, which were stained with blood of the martyrs, and without shoes until the Egyptian Consul in Israel came to accompany us to the [Egyptian] border town of Taba," said Farouq.

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Israel's crimes are not confined to just those 9 who were killed, but to everyone injured by gunfire and the 14 still unaccounted for

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Footage proves indiscriminate Israeli live fire at Mavi Marmara passengers in Gaza Flotilla

Ali Abunimah

The one hour long raw footage released by the Cultures of Resistance Foundation (CoR) of the 31 May Israeli attack aboard the Mavi Marmara shows clear evidence of indiscriminate Israeli fire aboard the ship. Nine people were killed and dozens injured when Israeli forces boarded and seized the vessel, the largest passenger vessel in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea about 80 miles west of the coast of Israel.

Starting at about 43 min 29 sec into the footage we begin to see injured people being carried by other passengers. This continues throughout the rest of the footage -- some of the people have gunshot wounds in the neck, shoulders, stomach, legs, or are so covered in blood it is difficult to tell where they have been hit. At 46 min 58 sec, for example, we see a white-haired man with blood pouring from his legs being carried down a main staircase into a lower deck of the ship to an area where other injured people are being treated:

The injured man in the picture above appears to be Çetin Topçuoglu, 54, who coached Turkey's national Taekwondo team, and who subsequently died of his injuries. As he is brought downstairs a woman, who appears from many other published photographs to be his wife Çigdem Topçuoglu, watches:

There are several other disturbing scenes of severely injured and dead people. Israel claims that its soldiers, who invaded and hijacked the Mavi Marmara and then kidnapped all its passengers and forced them to the Israeli port of Ashdod, fired live ammunition only in self-defense -- when they faced imminent risk of harm. But at least one sequence in the CoR footage disproves this claim.

Starting at about 50 minutes the camera operator walks up the staircase from the area wjere the injured are being treated on blood covered floors. There are many people on the landing and up the next flight of stairs. Some are holding sticks, others cameras. There is blood on the wall:

At the top of the stairs one man is standing against the wall trying to peer out of a porthole through the door leading to the outside deck. On the wall is a sign that says "5 Bridge Deck." At about 51 min 5 sec there is the sound of a gunshot and the man dives. There is commotion as people apparently prepare to defend the lower deck area in case of an Israeli invasion. Someone shouts "la ilaha illa allah" (There is no God but God) -- a common exclamation in the face of danger. It is apparent that Israelis are shooting through the porthole. At 50 min 52 sec, the red dot from a laser gunsight comes through the porthole and illuminates the internal wall of the ship:

At about 52 min 25 sec one of the passengers pushes open the door with a pole but recoils as there is a loud popping sound and flash, possibly another gunshot. After this the camera operator pans away and goes back down the stairs to the area where injured people are being treated.

Careful analysis of the frames shows that the Israelis had been using live fire. This can be seen by the damage done to the door jamb in the following stills, the first taken at 50 min 31 sec and the second about a minute later at 51 min 47 sec:

This single sequence proves that Israeli hijackers fired live ammunition into crowded spaces when they were not threatened from inside the space and could not have had a clear view of whom they might hit. The cameras and recordings that Israel seized and confiscated may contain many other such sequences. No wonder Israel is so adamant about hiding the evidence and rejecting a true independent investigation.

See also:

Video reveals European, American weapons used in Israeli attack on Gaza Flotilla


 :: Article nr. 67006 sent on 14-jun-2010 05:17 ECT
 www.uruknet.info?p=67006

Link: aliabunimah.posterous.com/20299014
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Israel’s “self-defense” narrative falls apart — Updated

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(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 inspecting these ships, they were attacked – they were almost lynched. They were attacked with clubs, with knives, perhaps with live gunfire, and they had to defend themselves – they were going to be killed.”

Read More of This article

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The Price of Defying Israel

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Paul Larudee
I was one of those who chose to defy Israeli forces when they attacked and took our Freedom Flotilla ships that were trying to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to civilian organizations in the Israeli blockaded Gaza Strip. Most of us resisted, to varying degrees, for which we paid a price -- in my case multiple beatings in two days of captivity in Israel. At least nine paid with their lives. My multicolored skin and twisted joints are healing, even at age 64, but my colleagues are gone forever, and some of the dozens of wounded may never fully recover.All of us were unarmed. I chose to resist by jumping overboard from the Sfendoni soon after we were captured, far out at sea. I took the calculated risk that Israel would find it hard to explain its failure to rescue me, and that the act might disrupt their operations to at least some extent. Later, I continued to protest by refusing to speak or walk, forcing my captors to carry me. Pain was used to force me to comply, and of course, when pain didn't work, they applied more pain, with the same result.

I practice nonviolence, so that is the way I resist, but it's not necessarily for everyone. A number of passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, who were from thirty-two different nations, responded with their hands, feet, and whatever objects were at hand. I admire them for doing so; they knew that Israel has a reputation for disproportionate response. It also seems increasingly probable that the Israeli soldiers killed some of the victims at close range before any resistance had begun.

Let us please not try to justify Israeli actions by appealing to security arguments or "self defense." Self-defense is for those who are being attacked, not those who are attacking. Furthermore, there were no arms of any kind aboard our humanitarian aid ships. Most if not all of us would have refused to participate in the voyage otherwise. Let's not be duped into buying the snake oil that Israel is trying to peddle. If the attackers of our ships had been Iranian, would anyone be making the absurd excuses we are now hearing for Israeli actions?

Centcom Commander General David Petraeus has said that our unhealthy relationship with Israel is undermining U.S. interests in the region and the rest of the world. Our unreasonable defense of Israel's unreasonable and disproportionate actions is making us a target and destroying our credibility as a defender of democracy and human rights.

The wrath of other nations might be a reasonable price for us to bear if Israel were pursuing a policy of peace with justice. It is not. Israeli policy is and always has been to apply pain and suffering to get what it wants, whether by torturing and killing humanitarian aid volunteers, by maintaining its cruel blockade against 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, or by making millions of Palestinians homeless, confiscating their lands, and destroying lives.

Neither Americans nor Israelis would stand still for such treatment, so why should Turks, Greeks, Palestinians or anyone else? Why should Israeli thugs be allowed to push around and abuse ordinary citizens anywhere?

It is not wise for Americans to be accomplices to Israeli crimes through our veto in the UN or our massive foreign aid, for which we have greater need at home. It is time to take off the rose colored glasses and recognize Israel for what it is: a rogue nation that we need to stop coddling.

Paul Larudee is a human rights volunteer and a founder of the Free Gaza and Free Palestine Movements. He works as a piano technician in El Cerrito, California. For more information, go to www.freepalestinemovement.org.
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EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara of Israel’s Deadly Massacre on Gaza Aid Flotilla

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EXCLUSIVE: New Video Smuggled Out from Mavi Marmara of Israel’s Deadly Assault on Gaza Aid Flotilla



Democracy Now!

June 10, 2010










In a Democracy Now! exclusive, we bring you a sneak preview of previously unseen raw footage from the Mavi Marmara that will be formally released at a press conference at the United Nations later in the day. The footage shows the mood and the activities onboard the Mavi Marmara in the time leading up to the attack, and the immediate reaction of the passengers during the attack. We are joined by filmmaker and activist Iara Lee, one of the few Americans on the Mavi Marmara ship. Her equipment was confiscated, but she managed to smuggle out an hour’s worth of footage.


Iara Lee, filmmaker and director of the Cultures of Resistance network that brings together artists and activists from around the world.



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What Israel Did Not Want The World To See

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The Images Israel Didn’t Want Seen: Video and Photographs from the Gaza-Bound Aid Flotilla


Democracy Now!


In the wake of the commando raid that left nine dead, the Israeli government confiscated every recording and communication device it could find–thus allowing the state to control what the world learned about the assault.

Democracy Now! has interviewed some of the reporters, filmmakers, and photographers who managed to smuggle out some of their images.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Paul McGeough and Kate Geraghty Were on the Challenger I–another one of the ships that was in the Freedom Flotilla along with the Mavi Marmara. Photographer Kate Geraghty took hundreds of photographs, most of which were confiscated by the IDF.

Watch the interview with Paul McGeough and Kate Geraghty and see a few of her photographs here.

Filmmaker and activist Iara Lee was one of the few Americans on-board the Mavi Marmara. Her equipment was confiscated but she managed to smuggle out an hour’s worth of footage.

Watch a 5 minute cut of Lee’s footage here:









Watch the full interview with Iara Lee where she describes her experience on board here.

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“All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns”

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by Paul Woodward

“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 volunteers as human shields at strategic sites in Iraq. The Truth Justice Peace action failed, but O’Keefe’s passion to follow the dictates of his own conscience has continued unabated.

This is part of a statement O’Keefe made upon arriving in Istanbul on Friday after his expulsion from Israel:

I remember being asked during the TJP Human Shield Action to Iraq if I was a pacifist, I responded with a quote from Gandhi by saying I am not a passive anything. To the contrary I believe in action, and I also believe in self-defence, 100%, without reservation. I would be incapable of standing by while a tyrant murders my family, and the attack on the Mavi Marmara was like an attack on my Palestinian family. I am proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with those who refused to let a rogue Israeli military exert their will without a fight. And yes, we fought.

When I was asked, in the event of an Israeli attack on the Mavi Mamara, would I use the camera, or would I defend the ship? I enthusiastically committed to defence of the ship. Although I am also a huge supporter of non-violence, in fact I believe non-violence must always be the first option. Nonetheless I joined the defence of the Mavi Mamara understanding that violence could be used against us and that we may very well be compelled to use violence in self-defence.

I said this straight to Israeli agents, probably of Mossad or Shin Bet, and I say it again now, on the morning of the attack I was directly involved in the disarming of two Israeli Commandos. This was a forcible, non-negotiable, separation of weapons from commandos who had already murdered two brothers that I had seen that day. One brother with a bullet entering dead center in his forehead, in what appeared to be an execution. I knew the commandos were murdering when I removed a 9mm pistol from one of them. I had that gun in my hands and as an ex-US Marine with training in the use of guns it was completely within my power to use that gun on the commando who may have been the murderer of one of my brothers. But that is not what I, nor any other defender of the ship did. I took that weapon away, removed the bullets, proper lead bullets, separated them from the weapon and hid the gun. I did this in the hopes that we would repel the attack and submit this weapon as evidence in a criminal trial against Israeli authorities for mass murder.

I also helped to physically separate one commando from his assault rifle, which another brother apparently threw into the sea. I and hundreds of others know the truth that makes a mockery of the brave and moral Israeli military. We had in our full possession, three completely disarmed and helpless commandos. These boys were at our mercy, they were out of reach of their fellow murderers, inside the ship and surrounded by 100 or more men. I looked into the eyes of all three of these boys and I can tell you they had the fear of God in them. They looked at us as if we were them, and I have no doubt they did not believe there was any way they would survive that day. They looked like frightened children in the face of an abusive father.

But they did not face an enemy as ruthless as they. Instead the woman provided basic first aid, and ultimately they were released, battered and bruised for sure, but alive. Able to live another day. Able to feel the sun over head and the embrace of loved ones. Unlike those they murdered. Despite mourning the loss of our brothers, feeling rage towards these boys, we let them go. The Israeli prostitutes of propaganda can spew all of their disgusting bile all they wish, the commandos are the murders, we are the defenders, and yet we fought. We fought not just for our lives, not just for our cargo, not just for the people of Palestine, we fought in the name of justice and humanity. We were right to do so, in every way.

While in Israeli custody I, along with everyone else was subjected to endless abuse and flagrant acts of disrespect. Women and elderly were physically and mentally assaulted. Access to food and water and toilets was denied. Dogs were used against us, we ourselves were treated like dogs. We were exposed to direct sun in stress positions while hand cuffed to the point of losing circulation of blood in our hands. We were lied to incessantly, in fact I am awed at the routineness and comfort in their ability to lie, it is remarkable really. We were abused in just about every way imaginable and I myself was beaten and choked to the point of blacking out… and I was beaten again while in my cell.

In all this what I saw more than anything else were cowards… and yet I also see my brothers. Because no matter how vile and wrong the Israeli agents and government are, they are still my brothers and sisters and for now I only have pity for them. Because they are relinquishing the most precious thing a human being has, their humanity.

In conclusion; I would like to challenge every endorser of Gandhi, every person who thinks they understand him, who acknowledges him as one of the great souls of our time (which is just about every western leader), I challenge you in the form of a question. Please explain how we, the defenders of the Mavi Marmara, are not the modern example of Gandhi’s essence? But first read the words of Gandhi himself.

“I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence…. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour.” – Gandhi

And lastly I have one more challenge. I challenge any critic of merit, publicly, to debate me on a large stage over our actions that day. I would especially love to debate with any Israeli leader who accuses us of wrongdoing, it would be my tremendous pleasure to face off with you. All I saw in Israel was cowards with guns, so I am ripe to see you in a new context. I want to debate with you on the largest stage possible. Take that as an open challenge and let us see just how brave Israeli leaders are.

I doubt that there is a single Israeli official who would have the guts to take up O’Keefe’s challenge. Instead, the IDF has issued a laughable claim:

Ken O’Keefe (Born 1969), an American and British citizen, is a radical anti-Israel activist and operative of the Hamas Terror organization. He attempted to enter the Gaza Strip in order to form and train a commando unit for the Palestinian terror organization.

The IDF spelled his name correctly and the year he was born — thereafter, the errors and deceptions follow. O’Keefe renounced his US citizenship in March 2001. He is now an Irish and Palestinian citizen, though describes himself as “in truth a world citizen.”

If the IDF had a shred of evidence that O’Keefe was heading to Gaza to train a commando unit for Hamas, I guarantee he would not now be in Istanbul. He would be in an Israeli jail awaiting trial. (In an interview with Al Jazeera appearing below, he does indeed dismiss Israel’s claims.)

But when O’Keefe says that all he saw in Israel was “cowards with guns” he points to a fundamental truth that reveals the character of the Jewish state.

As a nation that revels in its willingness to crush its opponents, Israel operates with the mindset of every bully: it only feels convinced of its strength when facing a weak opponent.

Lacking the courage to hold its own among equals, Israel operates in a world defined by dominance and oppression.



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Turkish survivors recount terror on Gaza aid ship

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Nine Turkish activists killed in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship were shot a total of 30 times and five died of gunshot wounds to the head, Britain's Guardian newspaper has reported.

Autopsy results showed the men were hit mostly with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range, the Guardian said, quoting Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine which carried out the autopsies on Friday.

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught managed to speak to some of the injured activists, who are recovering in Ankara Hospital.

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The First British survivor of the flotilla massacre goes home. "It was like a horror movie" says Sarah Colborne

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Sarah Colborne (Campaign Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign) arrived at Heathrow airport this morning clearly tired and shaken but steadfast and determined. She was the only one aboard the flight to London as most of her fellow British flotilla members had chosen to stay in Turkey for the funerals of nine of their companions who were brutally slain in the Israeli massacre aboard the flotilla. Still in her grey Israeli prison uniform Sarah stood in the terminal and recounted how the massacre unfolded and the nightmarish events of the last few days.

MEMO staff were there to welcome her home and hear her story. Her first concern was for the flotilla members who are still unaccounted for. Many people are "still detained inside Israeli prisons" she said and "we need to find out now where they are." "Not everybody managed to get out." Regarding the arrests of all the flotilla members and the continued detention of those left behind she said, "[We] were abducted; kidnapped in international waters. [We] committed no crime. [We] in fact were challenging the crimes of the Israeli state in terms of maintaining the siege. Those people should be released immediately…" She further added, "We need the bodies of the dead returned to their families for a proper burial."

She described how the events began to unfold at 11 o’clock on the Sunday night when Israeli warships were spotted on the radar and were then spotted visually as they began to approach the unarmed humanitarian sea convoy. She explained that those on board tried to issue a distress signal and "were trying to broadcast messages that we were a humanitarian aid flotilla. That we were peaceful, that we had no weapons, that we were being threatened by the Israeli Navy in international waters and that we were calling on the international community to come to our aid. Israel had been blocking the satellite transmission and so it was difficult to get the message out."

She described how the boat was attacked and forcefully boarded by the Israeli commandoes following which the captain of her ship made an announcement that live ammunition was being used and that all the flotilla members should go below deck for their own safety. They immediately started transmitting messages to the Israeli forces saying that they had critically wounded people on board and that they were asking for their help in moving them and giving them treatment. Knesset member Hanin Al Zoubi, who was part of the convoy, even transmitted this message in Hebrew to ensure that the soldiers understood what was being said, but to no avail. They were surrounded by soldiers pointing guns at them and sighting them with lasers. Everyone was cuffed and forced back onto the deck. Even the medics on board were cuffed and not allowed to tend to their wounded friends. As the dead and wounded were eventually evacuated Sarah recounted seeing four dead bodies just lying there.

When asked what was going through her mind at that point during the invasion Sarah replied that she was aware that people had died and that more were going to die without urgent medical attention. "It was like a horror movie. There was a massacre going on. There was live ammunition being shot and everywhere you were seeing dying…. It was just a horrific experience. We were forced up to the top deck where our hands were bound with cable ties. We were forced to either sit or kneel. We then ended up waiting in the hot sun. We did not have water. There was a woman on the top deck who was pregnant. There was a woman on the top deck who was also seriously ill, there was a man who, when I managed to get some water to him, looked like he had fainted."

"It felt unreal. You just couldn’t believe that this was happening. We knew that the Israelis could use tactics like this. We know they use tactics like these against the Palestinians, they have massacred Palestinians in the past, [but] we did not think they would use these measures against a group of civilians, aged from, the youngest was under one, the oldest was 89. We never thought they would do this to civilians from 32 countries on that ship, (there were more countries represented on the entire flotilla). [We] were on a humanitarian aid mission. We obviously had no arms. We had gone through the Turkish port and obviously everything had been thoroughly searched by the Turkish authorities. There was absolutely no way there were any arms on the ship."

She describes how they had all put on life jackets as soon as the Israeli boats were detected on the radar but said that they never could have dreamt of what was about to befall them.

When one reporter asked if any Israelis had shown them any empathy, saying that many Israelis are ashamed of what happened to the flotilla, Sarah responded that no, none of them had shown any flicker of compassion. In a shaking voice she told us how one man who was killed on the ship had been with his wife and that, grief-stricken, she was taken to the same prison as Sarah where she was treated exactly the same as the rest of them and shown no compassion at all. Sarah said, "It was a horrific experience and I just hope that their deaths weren’t in vain. I hope that the British government and the governments around the world sit up, take notice, take action….end the siege on Gaza, implement international law, force Israel to end its violations of international law and free Palestine."

She added, "We are aware that obviously there are people in Israel who feel shame at what happened and we think it is very important to support them in brining their government to task."

When asked if she would ever consider such a mission again she said without hesitation "We have to, we have to do this. We have to break the siege on Gaza. We have 1.5 million people in Gaza under an illegal, brutal, inhumane occupation and that has to end. The apartheid regime that Israel is carrying out has to end. It cannot continue. If we consider ourselves anywhere near decent human beings we have to do everything we can to end the mistreatment of the Palestinians. We have to do everything we can to bring them justice."

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Former US ambassador Edward Peck recalls Israeli raid on flotilla

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Chevy Chase Village's Edward Peck, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who has worked extensively in the Middle East, was on board one of the ships in the Gaza-bound flotilla that was stopped by Israeli troops early Monday. Peck, who joined the group of ships to provide material aid for Gaza residents, said he was asleep at about 4 a.m. on board the Sfendoni when he awoke to find several Israel Defense Forces commandos in his room. He returned to the U.S. on Tuesday with just the clothes he was wearing and his hat.

n 1979, Edward Peck was the U.S. Department of State's chief of mission in Baghdad when Americans were taken hostage in Iran. More than three decades later, the Chevy Chase Village resident finds himself in the center of another Middle East controversy.

The former ambassador, who has lived in the Village since 1980, was on one of the ships in a reported aid flotilla bound for Gaza when it was boarded by troops from the Israel Defense Forces early Monday in international waters. He said there was relatively little violence on his ship, however several people who were part of the flotilla were killed, including an American student, according to news reports.

"There must be 140 messages from people who wanted to talk to me," said Peck, 81, in an interview at his home Thursday morning.

His wife, Ann was swamped helping to manage his interviews with media outlets, and he said he was still calling embassies and organizations to get his personal possessions back from Israel. He was taken off his boat, the Sfendoni, and was detained by the Israeli government for a bit more than a day before being deported on a flight to Newark, N.J. He arrived home Tuesday with just the clothes he was wearing and his hat.

A Foreign Service Officer for the State Department for 32 years who also runs a consulting firm, Foreign Services International, Peck boarded the Sfendoni in Greece at the invitation of an American group supporting Palestinians. After decades of diplomatic work and trips bringing visitors to the Middle East, Peck said he wanted to join the flotilla bringing aid to Gaza because he wanted to bring items, such as medicine and water purifiers, to the area.

"I was also interested in participating in a peaceful effort to conduct a humanitarian effort, while perhaps at the same time, easing or breaking the blockade," said Peck, referring to Israel's blockade of Gaza, located between Egypt and Israel.

Peck was willing to sacrifice comfort to participate in the mission. During the five to six days he was on the ship, he cleaned himself with wet wipes, and had only the deck or a chair to sleep on. There was some anticipation among those on board that they could encounter the Israeli military, but the ship did not have procedures in place to deal with such an encounter, such using a bullhorn or flares, Peck said.

He was dozing in a chair when five Israeli commandos in masks armed with submachine guns entered his room, he said.

Peck was not injured. He saw several "walking wounded" among people on the ship, and saw one man thrown to the deck and beaten.

"They're soldiers. They're commandos. They play rough," Peck said.

His cell phone was taken during the raid, and as of Thursday it had not been returned. He was kept under guard in one of the rooms on the ship, even when going to the bathroom, until the ships were escorted to an Israeli port and he was detained.

"I was hopeful that this would be a break, a start in a new approach," Peck said of the Gaza flotilla.
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New Zealand activist Nicola Enchmarch says she saw a man shot in the head by Israeli forces after they stormed the Gaza-bound aid ship

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Ms Enchmarch, who was with the aid organisation Viva Palestina, was among hundreds of activists detained in the raid, in which nine activists were killed.

She said she saw an activist shot on the deck after the forces stormed the ship, part of a flotilla attempting to breach a blockade to deliver aid to Gaza.

"He was shot in the head - probably live ammunition because the back of his head, the injury was severe," she told the BBC.

"He died there and we had to move because it was just getting crazy, there was a lot of gunfire coming from all directions."

Her group moved down from the deck to shelter inside and escape the danger. On the way she saw a man shot in the back, who survived.

She said the activists were acting defensively while the Israeli forces were menacing and aggressive. They set off sound bombs and released what was possibly tear gas.

"There was a lot of noise, a lot of chaos, a lot of gunfire."

The activists were detained on the ship for about 17 hours in "horrible conditions", with restrictions on using the bathroom.

"We were bound with handcuffs. Some of the men were blindfolded," she said.

"I was shunted off into basically solitary confinement because I was hassling them to undo some of the people that needed it, and they rebound me."

The Israeli government deported the activists without charges on Wednesday amid mounting international pressure against its actions.

Ms Enchmarch was sent to Turkey and was at Istanbul airport on her way to Britain
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The Attack came in three phases, says Flotilla survivor Abbas Al Lawati

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A red laser dot appeared on his head, and seconds later he was shot dead. A member of the organisers rushed to his aid, only to have the man's brains spill out onto his hands.

This was the first death in the deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara — lead ship in the Freedom Flotilla carrying 700 aid workers, journalists and diplomats.

Israeli forces first attacked the ship 74 nautical miles from Gaza — six miles from the extended Israeli zone.

Israeli troops attacked the boat in three stages. The first attack came during dawn prayers when smoke bombs were thrown on deck. These were thrown overboard by the defence teams on board the ship.

The Mavi Marmara tried to alter its course so that any further attack would occur during daylight, but the Israelis persisted and boarded the ship. They used paintball guns on passengers — the ammunition mixed with glass.

Israeli troops tried to board the ship from speedboats and the defence teams used hose pipes to prevent soldiers from boarding the vessel.

Makeshift weapons were fashioned from items lying on the deck, but there were absolutely no weapons on board the ship, as Israel claims. As chaos and panic swept the boat the Israelis began stage two, using rubber bullets. Once blood started flowing, anger mounted against the Israelis.

In the third attack, the injuries turned to deaths. Four people were killed instantly while 12 others bled to death. Finally, the captain surrendered and agreed to take the Mavi Marmara to the Israeli port city of Ashdod after an Israeli soldier pointed a gun at a one-year-old Turkish child.

— Abbas Al Lawati has been freed. He left Amman, Jordan, for Muscat, Oman, and was scheduled to arrive late last night.
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