I will be off to this soon.
Israeli soldiers have boarded the Rachel Corrie. An autopsy into the deaths of activists on the Mavi Marmara show that they were shot a total of 30 times. This totally trashes Israel’s insistence that the shootings were in self-defence. It looks more like execution style killings at that close range (especially as many were head shots…). And a ‘shoot to kill’ policy that was being operated, in other words murder. They came prepared to use violence.
Henning Mankell, who was on board the flotilla, wrote this: So in those 11 hours, I have time to take stock. We have been attacked while in international waters. That means the Israelis have behaved like pirates, no better than those who operate off the coast of Somalia. The moment they start to steer this ship towards Israel, we have also been kidnapped. The whole action is illegal.We try to talk among ourselves, work out what might happen, and not least how the Israelis could opt for a course of action that means painting themselves into a corner.
Furthermore
I listen to the blackbird. A song for those who died. Now it is still all left to do. So as not to lose sight of the goal, which is to lift the brutal blockade of Gaza. That will happen. Beyond that goal, others are waiting. Demolishing a system of apartheid takes time. But not an eternity.
See you on the demo.
Solidarity to the people of Gaza!
This is a totally one sided blog.
What is Israel supposed to do? Let ships beat the blockade and bring in arms so that Hammas can lob rockets into Tel Aviv and other Israeli settlements?
What you dont say is that Israel is a sovereign state with a right to defend its people. All this tat about piracy in international waters is just froth – we sank the Belgrano in international waters and there was none of this demonising of our navy was there?
Israel quite rightly, regards its security threatened in the Middle east. It is the one enclave of democracy in that hotbed of extremism and we should be giving the Israeli’s the support they deserve. Hammas are the stumbling block to any peace in the Middle East and tacitly most of the Muslim countries would like Israel to take them out.
As for totally trashing Israels’s claim of self defence (says you), what about the video of the soldiers coming down on ropes and being beaten and battered with iron bars as soon as they touched the deck – even being thrown overboard – what are so called peaceful activists doing being armed to the teeth?
It is you and the BBC and other hammas lovers that make this a one-sided demonising of Israel. I cannot blame them after what they went through in world war 2 for treasuring their security and taking all possible steps to protect themselves.
Live video from today – I’m just recharging now and will hopefully be in time to broadcast George Galloway live: http://atthesauce.blogspot.com/2010/06/gaza-flotilla-live-streaming-from.html