I have more important things to do than be a moderator to bunch of non entities. I said I don't know. Why you keep asking? Maybe what you posted wasn't good enough. I don't know.
You wrote: "I have more important things to do than be a moderator to bunch of non entities." That doesn't answer the question; you're being deliberately oblique. And others have suggested that you do, indeed, moderate this board. So the question stands, Professor Orhan.
No I am not a moderator there has never been one and I don't think there is now. Of course hateful, anti Semitic stuff gets thrown out and I am advocating that policy for years. I am what is called senior editor. I write, collect and instigate feature articles and other editorial projects and you can read that it is stated in my member page like everyone else (except anonymous non entities like you of course.) You are very annoying. Now leave me alone. I have been nice enough to answer your accusative questions...
Wait, this looks edited. Do you get to decide what does and does not get posted on the forums? The reason that I ask is that I created a post about Qatar, and it still hasn't appeared. Who could I email to ask about getting that topic onto the board?
Orhan! Such vulgarity! You kiss your mother and/or wife and children with that mouth? I believe it was stated several times earlier in this thread, between you and Tammuz, that CAPS doesn't make you sound any more of a badass. Alternative, good job. Lots of links. You think Tammuz has enough time to read them all before you post more? Yeah, that's how we feel. Good stuff Alternative.
Hey CdArch, aren't you the high school student? If you are gonna mix and concern about my wife and mother and children, you shouldn't support Israeli government and IDF who murders those kind of people, you little vermin you...
No CD-Arch, the caps thing, if I recall correctly, was addresed to someone else. Not between Orhan and myself...whatever that means.
Alternative, instead of making or suggesting irrelevant accusations, why don't you check the "contact us" tab in the About menu on the bottom left corner of this page?
Orhan, you support a Hamas terrorist group that kills women and children as well, one side cannot be held unaccountable if the other is not. And Tammuz, perhaps I worded that incorrectly, the two of you (or one of you, I can't remember which) directed a statement towards someone else that mentioned caps don't prove your point at all. Or something along those lines. Sorry for my miscommunication.
To witnesses: “You have led us very eloquently into hell today. This is heartbreaking”
Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defense for Children International
“16 yr old boy stripped naked and used as human shield by Israel for 5 days. He was denied food, water and sleep – and mentally and physically abused, including lashed with a wire across his back. Israeli army stopped a family car near a West Bank protest over Gaza. Positioned their weapons in the windows of back doors, where toddlers were sitting and began to fire on protest. This is not an isolated incident. There is a clear, recorded pattern of Israel using Palestinian children as human shields during attacks on Gaza.”
Max Blumenthal, American author, journalist, and blogger
“We found one of 89 families completely liquidated during Operation Protective Edge so badly burned/destroyed they had to be buried in a mass grave by a bulldozer – evoking memories of the darkest times in European history. On outskirts of Rafah, I heard testimony from 19 yr old Mohammed Abu Said of how Israeli soldiers stripped him naked and sniped at neighbours, then set the dogs on him in between shooting rounds. In Khuza’a – a man left a group of <resistance> fighters in his home. He returned to find their throats had been cut, their bodies piled in a corner and burnt with grenades. A clear pattern of executions has been established. Israeli soldiers gather civilians in an open area, asks if anyone speaks Hebrew. When people step forward, they shoot them dead. Four brothers of one man were taken into garden and shot dead, one of them was mentally disabled and had little idea he was being killed.”
Martin Lejeune, German journalist
“More than 90% of Gaza’s agricultural output destroyed by Israel over summer, almost all farms destroyed. Israel destroyed 220 factories in Gaza, this constitutes around 70% of Gaza’s industrial output gone.There was no military justification for the destruction of these factories whatsoever. I stayed in Gaza for one month in a house with 72 Palestinian civilians, 60 of whom had been displaced. It was overcrowded, tap water wasn’t working anymore, we had to buy fuel, we had to bake our own bread as none available in shops. 220 factories were completely destroyed during the 7 weeks of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. Israel has succeeded in turning a functional economy in Gaza into a third world territory in just 8 years, through the blockade and four large scale military assaults. Israel is not only attacking systematically civilians in their homes, but systematically destroying the economy of Gaza to make people dependent on aid.”
Dr Mohammad Abou-Arab, Gaza Doctor at Al Shifa Hospital
“One ambulance worker shot in the head and bled to death while fellow workers were told if they tried to assist him, they would be killed too. Another worker burned to death in his ambulance after a missile attack against it – his colleague was severely injured in the attack, left with life-altering burn injuries. We are talking about Gaza firefighters, police officers, ambulance workers and other emergency services workers being routinely shot at by snipers and missiles by Israeli military. Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.”
Dr Mads Glibert:Norwegian Doctor who served in Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza Throughout Offensive
“This is a systematic attack to rid Palestinians from the land. If you are an 8 yr old child in Gaza today, you have survived 4 of these onslaughts – 2006, 2008/9, 2012 and 2014. What does this do to a child? To their feeling of safety? To their outlook on the world? The medical system of Gaza was already on its knees before the summer attacks due to Israeli blockade” “This is a medical disaster – the capacity for treatment is massively exceeded by medical needs. Such disaster often happen in natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis…but Gaza was deliberate, controlled and executed by the Israelis.”
Mohammed Omer, Award-winning Palestinian Journalist based in Gaza
“Israeli army routinely defecate in Palestinian homes and buildings they occupy, leaving behind racist and violent graffiti together with piles of shit.
The Imam in Gaza was held for days by Israeli troops who ordered him at gunpoint to use mosque tannoy to call on community to come to the mosque. As young people gathered they were surrounded by Israeli troops, stripped naked at gunpoint and tortured/killed for sport.
The Imam was used as human shield by Israeli troops. He was stripped naked at gunpoint in front of men, women and children of the neighborhood.”
These are just a handful of moments from the full day of testimony. I encourage you to follow tomorrow’s press conference where the jury will share their conclusions. I’ll be there, reporting for you.
RUSSELL TRIBUNAL ON PALESTINE: KANGAROO COURT’S “EXTRAORDINARY SESSION” ON “ISRAEL’S CRIMES IN GAZA”
NGO Monitor September 03, 2014
Summary
On August 18, 2014, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) announced an “Extraordinary session” on “Israel’s Crimes in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.” The RToP session plans to consider alleged “Israel’s Crimes (including War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the Crime of Genocide)…as well as third States complicity.” As seen in previous Russell Tribunals, RToP has no judicial basis and exploits a legal facade in order to create an appearance of neutrality and credibility. The sessions have included “jurors” who examine expert “witnesses,” with the “findings” later published. The witnesses and jurors are biased, the outcome is predetermined, and the findings have no credibility. Past sessions of the RToP demonized Israel by falsely accusing it of “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” and “war crimes.” Some RToP witnesses and jurors are key figures in boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel. See NGO Monitor’s website for more background on the Russell Tribunal, the key figures involved, and the political objectives that motivate these actors. Background
The first Russell Tribunal was founded in 1966 by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Seeking to publicize alleged American violations of human rights in Vietnam, Bertrand Russell sought to create a “people’s court,” similar in style to the post-World War II Nuremberg trials. The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) was created in March 2009. The RToP held five sessions between March 2010 and March 2013 – in Barcelona, London, Cape Town, New York City, and Brussels. The RToP announced its plan to hold an “extraordinary session” on August 18, 2014, during the conflict in Gaza. It is scheduled to take place in Brussels on September 24, 2014. RToP is attempting to raise €50,000 in order to fund the session. RToP jury members connection to Muslim Brotherhood
In early 2014, following the 2013 coup in Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood officials launched a legal campaign to bring charges against the Egyptian military at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Muslim Brotherhood’s legal team includes RToP jury members John Dugard and Michael Mansfield. As in the past, the RToP session will only considers alleged Israeli crimes, ignoring those committed by Muslim Brotherhood affiliate Hamas. “Witnesses”
Many of the “witnesses” invited to “testify” are radical and extreme anti-Israel activists, and include representatives from European government-funded NGOs. “Witnesses” include: Raji Sourani, director of the European-funded Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defence for Children International Palestine; Eran Efrati, formerly of Breaking the Silence; Colonel Desmond Travers, a member of the discredited Goldstone Commission; Agnes Bertrand, advocacy officer at APRODEV (Belgian association comprised of Christian NGOs based in Europe, and affiliated with World Council of Churches); Michael Deas, European coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and a contributor to Electronic Intifada; and physician/activist Mads Gilbert. “Jurors”
The “jury” of the RToP session is composed of many known anti-Israel activists, whose bias against Israel is well established. “Jurors” include Richard Falk and John Dugard, former UN rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Michael Mansfield, a British lawyer who called Israel “A state of Apartheid”; Ronnie Kasrils, former South African politician who accused Israel of inflicting “nazi-style collective punishment on the embattled population of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Palestine”; Roger Waters, musician and activist in BDS campaigns; Christiane Hessel, widow of former “juror” Stéphane Hessel, who signed a letter stating Israel was “repeatedly and flagrantly violating the law of armed conflict” in the Gaza conflict; Ken Loach, a British filmmaker who “called for a boycott of all cultural and sporting events supported by the Israeli state”; Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian writer who wrote an op-ed called “Dead Palestinian children in Gaza tell story of impunity”; and members of RToP’s Support Committee. As noted above, Dugard and Mansfield are currently part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s legal team. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Funding of the RToP
RToP funding is not transparent. RToP is attempting to raise €50,000 for the session. The Barcelona 2009 session was supported by a €56,000 grant from the Barcelona municipality. In 2011, the RToP was registered as a non-profit organization in Belgium. According to Pierre Galand, international co-coordinator of the Tribunal, the budget for the Cape Town session was €190,000. Editions Indigene, the publisher of former “juror” Stéphane Hessel’s book Time for an Outrage, donated €100,000. €15,000 was raised at a September 24, 2011 fundraising event by the Belgian support committee of the Russell Tribunal. European-government funded NGOs, whose representatives are scheduled to appear at the RToP include: Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) Funded by the European Union, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, the The Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (the “Secretariat –joint funding from the governments of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands), Open Society Foundation, Christian Aid (UK), Grassroots International (US), Kvina Till Kvina (Sweden), Al-Quds Association Malaga (Spain), Oxfam Novib (Netherlands), and DanChurchAid (Denmark). In August 2014, PCHR received “emergency funding” from the Secretariat to document “human rights and international humanitarian law violations during the course of Israel’s ongoing military offensive on the Gaza Strip.” PCHR joined efforts with Al Mezan, Al Haq, and Addameer, "in order to document war crimes committed by the occupation forces during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip” “in preparation for the criminal prosecution of Israeli war criminals and to be submitted to the International Commission of Inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council in its meeting held last month.” Defence for Children International –Palestine Section (DCI-PS) According to its 2012 annual report (latest available, accessed September 2, 2014), DCI-PS acknowledges the support and contributions of: the Secretariat, European Union, ICCO and Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), EED (Germany), Save the Children International, Stichting Kinderpostzegeks Nederlands (Netherlands), ARCI Cultura e Sviluppo (Italy), Mundubat (Spain), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), the United Nations Development Programme, Swiss Interchurch Aid- HEKS, World Vision, The United Methodist Church, The United Church of Canada, Solidarity Fund. Does not disclose donation amounts.
Alternative, I may have led you down the wrong path with this whole moderator thing. I thought I remembered Orhan as one from a previous spoof-boycott discussion but I see now I was incorrect.
BTW, paragraph breaks are your friend. No one reads a sea of regurgitated text.
there aren't paragraph breaks because he's just copy/pasting. pretty good chance he didn't read what he posted any closer than tammuz reads what he posts.
so tammuz, is that true? does the testimony you linked to not have equal representation for both sides? wasn't there some sort of jury selection where the prosecution and defense both had a chance to review who would be on the jury?
Oh and the site Alternative is using (NGO Monitor) which demonizes the Russel Tribunal, the BDS and suchlike... is intrinsically linked to Israel and its interests (, founded by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs). Check the links below.
Now, would you believe that impartial western non-islamic witnesses such as Ivan Karakashian, Max Blumenthal, Dr Mads Glibert featured in the Russel Tribunal and indeed the other witnesses are linked and biased towards to the Muslim Brotherhood,...or would you find it easier to believe that this Israeli website - pretending to be an impartial monitor of NGO`s (with its clear bias towards an entity, Israel, that kills as modus operandi vide its deliberate targetting of movements and entities critical of Israel) ) has a clear interest in lying, deforming and perverting to demonize and seed doubt apropos the concern of humanitarian activists who have no personal stake in this?
NGO Monitor, founded by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has for some time now been deliberately spreading false and misleading information about organizations in an attempt to discredit them.
"...This week, working on a tip, we found Gerald Steinberg’s resume from 2004, two years after he established NGO Monitor. In it, under “additional activities,” Steinberg testifies that he served as a “consultant [to the] Government of Israel,” and as a member of the “Steering Committee, Forum on Antisemitism, Office of the Prime Minister, Government of Israel.” On his Hebrew-language profile on the NGO Monitor website, Steinberg describes himself as a “consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” (His English profile is missing that information.) In a profile attached to a 2006 op-ed, he is described as a consultant to the National Security Council, which is a part of the Prime Minister’s Office."
Dermer, whose legislative initiative to ban funding of Israeli human rights organizations by allied governments stalled in September, has now passed the ball to a political ally: Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. This organization has now partnered with the Institute for Zionist Strategies, led by Israel Harel, a founder of the Gush Emunim settler movement.
Steinberg is savvier than Dermer. Instead of a ban, he advocates “funding transparency.” Next Tuesday, he is organizing a Knesset conference to “debate” the issue. Israel’s beleaguered human rights activists are bracing for yet another round of demonization and delegitimization.
In formulating a response, some have argued for an appeal to reason. They want to explain to Steinberg and his organization that the suppression campaign is ill-advised and destructive; that it threatens to put Israel in the same camp as Putin’s Russia and other autocracies; and that it may provoke a retaliatory call by a European public, already dangerously hostile, to cut critical funding to Israeli hospitals, universities and R&D projects.
This approach is commendable, but futile. NGO Monitor is not an objective watchdog: It is a partisan operation that suppresses its perceived ideological adversaries through the sophisticated use of McCarthyite techniques – blacklisting, guilt by association and selective filtering of facts.
I don't understand how a "Tribunal" can serve as a neutral arbiter when it has already drawn legal conclusions about wrongdoing before a proceeding has even been initiated.
It makes TOTAL sense that a pro-Israel organization would take steps to discredit an organization lacking any impartiality, to adjudicate serious human claims against Israel. In the US, our Constitution gives us a right to confront and cross-examine our accusers. That's exactly what NGO watch is doing.
This is the 21st Century, Tammuz-- this is not the Inquisition.
I'll also add-- you haven't answered Curt's questions.
"A few weeks ago, members of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, outraged by Israel’s terrible assault on Gaza and its population, decided to start working on an extraordinary session of the Tribunal that will look into Israel’s Crimes (including War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the Crime of Genocide) during the still ongoing “Operation Protective Edge” as well as third States complicity.
During this session, that will take place in Brussels on 24th and 25th of September, our jury, so far composed of Michael Mansfield QC, John Dugard, Vandana Shiva, Christiane Hessel, Richard Falk, Ahdaf Soueif, Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Roger Waters, Ronnie Kasrils, Radhia Nasraoui and Miguel Angel Estrella will listen to testimonies from Paul Behrens, Desmond Travers, David Sheen, Max Blumenthal, Eran Efrati, Mads Gilbert, Mohammed Abou-Arab, Mads Gilbert, Paul Mason, Martin Lejeune, Mohammed Omer, Raji Sourani, Ashraf Mashharawi, Ivan Karakashian, Agnes Bertrand and Michael Deas.
The jury will give its findings on 25th September in the morning during an international press conference at the International Press Center (IPC, Brussels). In the afternoon, the Jury will be received at the European parliament and address a message to the UN General Assembly for its reopening."
Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defense for Children International
“16 yr old boy stripped naked and used as human shield by Israel for 5 days. He was denied food, water and sleep – and mentally and physically abused, including lashed with a wire across his back. Israeli army stopped a family car near a West Bank protest over Gaza. Positioned their weapons in the windows of back doors, where toddlers were sitting and began to fire on protest. This is not an isolated incident. There is a clear, recorded pattern of Israel using Palestinian children as human shields during attacks on Gaza.”
Max Blumenthal, American author, journalist, and blogger
“We found one of 89 families completely liquidated during Operation Protective Edge so badly burned/destroyed they had to be buried in a mass grave by a bulldozer – evoking memories of the darkest times in European history. On outskirts of Rafah, I heard testimony from 19 yr old Mohammed Abu Said of how Israeli soldiers stripped him naked and sniped at neighbours, then set the dogs on him in between shooting rounds. In Khuza’a – a man left a group of <resistance> fighters in his home. He returned to find their throats had been cut, their bodies piled in a corner and burnt with grenades. A clear pattern of executions has been established. Israeli soldiers gather civilians in an open area, asks if anyone speaks Hebrew. When people step forward, they shoot them dead. Four brothers of one man were taken into garden and shot dead, one of them was mentally disabled and had little idea he was being killed.”
Martin Lejeune, German journalist
“More than 90% of Gaza’s agricultural output destroyed by Israel over summer, almost all farms destroyed. Israel destroyed 220 factories in Gaza, this constitutes around 70% of Gaza’s industrial output gone.There was no military justification for the destruction of these factories whatsoever. I stayed in Gaza for one month in a house with 72 Palestinian civilians, 60 of whom had been displaced. It was overcrowded, tap water wasn’t working anymore, we had to buy fuel, we had to bake our own bread as none available in shops. 220 factories were completely destroyed during the 7 weeks of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. Israel has succeeded in turning a functional economy in Gaza into a third world territory in just 8 years, through the blockade and four large scale military assaults. Israel is not only attacking systematically civilians in their homes, but systematically destroying the economy of Gaza to make people dependent on aid.”
Dr Mohammad Abou-Arab, Gaza Doctor at Al Shifa Hospital
“One ambulance worker shot in the head and bled to death while fellow workers were told if they tried to assist him, they would be killed too. Another worker burned to death in his ambulance after a missile attack against it – his colleague was severely injured in the attack, left with life-altering burn injuries. We are talking about Gaza firefighters, police officers, ambulance workers and other emergency services workers being routinely shot at by snipers and missiles by Israeli military. Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.”
Dr Mads Glibert:Norwegian Doctor who served in Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza Throughout Offensive
“This is a systematic attack to rid Palestinians from the land. If you are an 8 yr old child in Gaza today, you have survived 4 of these onslaughts – 2006, 2008/9, 2012 and 2014. What does this do to a child? To their feeling of safety? To their outlook on the world? The medical system of Gaza was already on its knees before the summer attacks due to Israeli blockade” “This is a medical disaster – the capacity for treatment is massively exceeded by medical needs. Such disaster often happen in natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis…but Gaza was deliberate, controlled and executed by the Israelis.”
Mohammed Omer, Award-winning Palestinian Journalist based in Gaza
“Israeli army routinely defecate in Palestinian homes and buildings they occupy, leaving behind racist and violent graffiti together with piles of shit.
The Imam in Gaza was held for days by Israeli troops who ordered him at gunpoint to use mosque tannoy to call on community to come to the mosque. As young people gathered they were surrounded by Israeli troops, stripped naked at gunpoint and tortured/killed for sport.
The Imam was used as human shield by Israeli troops. He was stripped naked at gunpoint in front of men, women and children of the neighborhood.”
These are just a handful of moments from the full day of testimony. I encourage you to follow tomorrow’s press conference where the jury will share their conclusions. I’ll be there, reporting for you.
NGO Watch is calling for impartiality; it's not saying the Tribunal has committed any wrongdoing, but rather, that it lacks the capacity to determine whether wrongdoing has been committed by Israel.
The Tribunal, on the other hand, is engaged in a one-sided proceeding whereby Israel has been determined to have been culpable of war crimes before the proceeding has even begun.
I'm not invalidating the testimony of the witnesses, but I'm saying that those witnesses should be subject to meaningful cross-examination by an adversary and that evidence from Israel should be on the table as well. What procedure was Israel afforded in this proceeding? Why weren't jurors sympathetic to Israel permitted to weigh in? You still haven't answered Curt's questions.
I cited the witnesses testimonials, did I not? These, in my estimation, stand as declarations by these people involved...whether in the tribunal or outside the tribunal - I care to read their testimonies and have other read them.
Did I argue that this was a tribunal as defined by international law, for example....I did not.
Therefore, nowhere have I supplied an argument that this is a tribunal as defined by international law -or by this or that device- or not. As such, it is your own (il)logic that fails you because you're arguing -as usual- inconsequentially 9in relation to the content I provide.
Are you arguinng, however, that these witness accounts were false or indeed excusable...No you're not. You are only suggesting that because this is not a tribunal as defined by the measures that make a tribunal a tribunal (and I thought that it was clear that the Russel Tribunal was a human rights exposition and evaluation more than a legally binding entity...duh!), then it should not betaken seriously because it shows their- therefore my own bias. On the contrary, I believe its possible to reconcile both: seeing that the word "tribunal" here does not signify a literal legalistic definition of the term AND taking its findings seriously - whether it is or is not a tribunal literal as such. I would want to read these findings whther in a book, in a newspaper or in a humanitarian activist establishment report...with or without Israelès participation and presence. But nowhere have I stated my belief that this is or is not a legalistic tribunal, have I? You argue irrelevantly.
Now, Can one take or not take the account of these witnesses seriously and establish conclusions from them? Just that question....
Your zionist website hightly suggests that theyre pro-Hamas -and therefore guilty of being biased- by way of associating some members (who dont even happen to be moslems) to the Muslim Brotherhood. Not only is this website IsraeliZionist in funding, nature and perspective...it also follows illogical tactics in order to reach its desired end: demonizing the tribunal (or "tribunal" if so you wish) entire with its witness accounts who neither, by nature, share Hamas ideology and where no evidence of their having been, for instance, bought over. In other words, no where in this article is there explicit evidence of bias by nature or bias by circumstance - these are witnesses who have, without being proven otherwise, no interest in lying.
Therefore, given this, the website is, as a partisan entity using associations and suggestions to lead to its naturally desired end rather than explicit evidence renders it far more likely to be partial and perverting of reality than the far-more-likely-to-be-impartial witness accounts on display in the Russel Tribunal.
I'll also add, Tammuz, that all of the articles critiquing NGO Watch really amount to ad hominem attacks on its founders, while none actually offer a substantive critique of NGO Watch's basic argument that the Russell Tribunal is non-netural.
Ad hominem? Location, explicit political alliance, funding, explicit ideological attachment ...these are not ad hominem in relating -indeed in binding - this so called pretend NGO Monitor to Zionist Israeli interests and de facto impartiality.in relation to the Palestinian-Zionist colonial confrontation.
Your logic is failing you, again and again
Anyway, curtkramès question has been responded to as have your irrelevant accusations. Critize the content quoted here please....dont digress in order to obfuscate.
Yes, those are ad hominem attacks that attempt to undermine the claims made by NGO Watch; they don't actually address the claims themselves-- they instead attempt to discredit the source of the claims. An actual (i.e., non-ad-hominem) response would be to explain why the Russell Tribunal is, indeed, impartial.
My claims (not accusations) are relevant to a debate about whether a biased tribunal is competent to draw conclusions about Israel's culpability with respect to war crimes.
ad ho·mi·nem
adjective \(ˈ)ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem, -nəm\
Definition of AD HOMINEM
1: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
2: marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
Finally, with respect to your question about the legitimacy of some of the witness claims: I think that these folks are answering truthfully, with some reservation. I do have some questions about the hearsay testimony with regard to the man in Khuza'a-- but let's set that aside. Moreover, the doctor's claim that "Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.” This is false. Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields and suicide bombers and this is heavily documented.
In any event, these all sound like testimonial descriptions of War.
War is hell. All life has value.
But does this testimony conclusively establish that there were actual war crimes? It's very hard to conclude that it does.
"Hamas appeared to admit using human shields to fire rockets into Israel for the first time today, but refused to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of innocent Palestinians killed in retaliatory airstrikes.
In a veiled confession that comes two weeks after the end of the Gaza war, a senior Hamas official said the group's fighters had no choice but to use residential areas from which to launch missiles into their neighbour's territory.
But while Ghazi Hamad claimed they took safeguards to keep people away from the violence, he admitted 'mistakes were made', blaming Israel's heavy-handed response for the deaths of civilians."
"They’re putting their own people in the line of fire — and doing it by the book.
The Israeli military said it has captured a Hamas manual on urban warfare — called 'Introduction to the City War' — that extols the benefits of civilian deaths and openly admits that Israel tries to avoid them.
The Israel Defense Forces also said the manual — whose cover shows images of militants wielding rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons — crows about the propaganda value of the deaths of innocents.
'The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens toward the attackers and increases their gathering around [to support] the city defenders,' the manual said, according to the IDF.
The manual, which came from the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, also explained how heavily populated urban areas — called 'pockets of resistance' — make operations for the IDF difficult because Israeli soldiers try not to harm civilians."
Gaza (along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem) is occupied Palestinian territory under international law, determined by the vast majority of the world, as well as the highest court in the world, the UN’s International Court of Justice. Gaza cannot commit aggression against Israel, since Israel is in constant and continual commission of illegal aggression against Palestine by occupying it (illegally and sadistically blockading it and frequently committing terrorism against its civilians, including by targeting them with chemical weapons provided by US taxpayers – see “Rain of Fire” by Human Rights Watch). As documented by Amnesty Int’l, Human Rights Watch, and many others, Israel intentionally targets and murders civilians, including children, en masse.
But, even ignoring international law and that Gaza is under illegal Israeli occupation, Gaza did not initiate this current round of violence; Israel did:
Western/US/Israeli propaganda says the violence started with the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youths on June 12th. That is a lie:
On May 20th, the Israeli government murdered 2 unarmed Palestinian teens, one on video, and wounded a third.
The firing of pathetic scrap metal rockets from impoverished Gaza, which have killed no one, were in fact launched in response to earlier Israeli bombings, killings, assassinations, and arrests of Palestinians, including children.
Since the year 2000, Israel has killed 1,500 Palestinian children, while Palestinians have killed 132 Israeli children. That means Israel has killed over 1,000% percent more Palestinian children than vice versa.
According to a landmark, comprehensive study of all of Israel’s wars, by Zeev Maoz, Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, former head of the Graduate School of Government and Policy and of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, and former academic director of the M.A. Program at the Israeli Defense Forces’ National Defense College:
“. most of the wars in which Israel was involved were the result of deliberate Israeli aggressive design . None of these wars – with the possible exception of the 1948 War of independence – was what Israel refers to as Milhemet Ein Berah (war of necessity). They were all wars of choice . ” – Defending the Holy Land, pg. 35, (bold added)
“I review a number of peace-related opportunities ranging from the Zionist-Hashemite collusion in 1947 through the collapse of the Oslo Process in 2000. In all those cases I find that Israeli decision makers – who had been willing to embark upon bold and daring military adventures – were extremely reluctant to make even the smallest concessions for peace . I also find in many cases Israel was engaged in systematic violations of agreements and tacit understandings between itself and its neighbors.” – Defending the Holy Land, pg. 40
Israel has violated more UN resolutions than any other country. That includes Iraq under Hussein.
Hamas is the government elected by Gaza in elections that Jimmy Carter (and many others) observed and said were completely fair and free. Israel constantly says Hamas uses human shields. But in Israel’s biggest massacre of Gaza, the one in 2009, all the human rights organizations, including Amnesty, HRW, and the jurist Richard Goldstone, found that Hamas DID NOT use human shields. On the contrary, Israel used human shields, which is a regular practice for Israel. Israel uses civilians as human shields.
Israel forced Palestinian civilians to dig and lay naked in trenches around Israeli tanks. See here at 6:45.
XIV. THE USE OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELDS
“The Mission received allegations that in two areas in north Gaza Israeli troops used Palestinian men as human shields… The Mission found the foregoing witnesses to be credible and reliable. It has no reason to doubt the veracity of their accounts and found that the different stories serve to support the allegation that Palestinians were used as human shields.”
Noam Chomsky: “Hamas is regularly described as ‘Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.’ One will be hard put to find something like ‘democratically elected Hamas, which has long been calling for a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus’—blocked for over 30 years by the US and Israel. All true, but not a useful contribution to the Party Line, hence dispensable.”
In the history of all rocket and mortar fire into Israel, 26 people, total, have been killed. And remember, Palestine breaks ceasefires far less often than Israel, as documented above.
This number of 26 is in contrast to the minimum number of 1,400 people who were murdered by Israel in a single one of its terrorist atrocities, the 2009 Gaza Massacre.
Noting that in the current massacre, zero Israelis and over 100 Palestinians have thus far been killed, and noting that Gaza is a concentration camp – Israel allows no one to enter or leave – Dan Sanchez gives a perfect description of the disparity in arms between the US/Israeli war machine and Palestinian scrap metal projectiles: “They [the Gazans] are like fish in a barrel, being blasted by a shotgun from above. It’s like some of the fish in the barrel pathetically spitting water at the gunman, and [US media calls] that a “shooting battle.”
The rhetoric and tactics of Hamas and other groups resisting Israeli occupation and colonization can be brutal (though far less so than Israel). Propagandists try to attribute this to anti-Semitism, to distract from the fact that these groups are resisting having their country stolen and their people dispossessed and annihilated. Native American resistance to European colonizers was sometimes extremely brutal, as was their rhetoric, but everyone universally recognizes that this was not because of “anti-White-ism”, or “anti-European-ism”, but because they were having their land stolen and their people massacred, the same thing that Israel is doing to the Palestinians.
Palestinians have the right under international law to resist occupation, ethnic cleansing, colonization, aggression, and annexation. Miko Peled, son of an Israeli general, recently stated that if Israel doesn’t Like rockets, they should decolonize Palestine. Dr. Norman Finkelstein notes that “The Palestinians have the right to use arms to resist an occupation . However, the fact that morally and legally they have that right doesn’t mean that it’s the most prudent strategy. In my opinion, a national Palestinian leadership committed to mobilizing nonviolent resistance can defeat the Israeli occupation if those of us living abroad lend support to it.”
In 1948, the people who wanted to form a Jewish state carried out a massive terror and ethnic cleansing campaign against the occupants of Palestine, expelling about half of them (750,000) from their land and into concentrated areas (Gaza and West Bank). Israel has slowly continued colonizing even those areas, which were specifically reserved by the UN for Palestinians. Israel takes all the best land and resources, such as water. Here is a visualization of what has happened, and is currently happening with massive support from Obama:
Israeli settlement building in Palestine is a war crime under international law. Under Obama, Israeli settlement building is up over 130%.
For about 40 years, there has been an international consensus that Israel must stop colonizing territory outside its 1967 borders. The consensus has been blocked by the United States, in isolation from the international community (much like the USA’s isolated, strong support for South African Apartheid). Every year there is a UN vote on the issue, and every year it goes about 165 to 2, the world against the US and Israel. This continues under Obama. All human rights groups support the consensus, as does Hamas, the Arab League, Iran, the Organization of the Islamic Conference… Virtually everyone, except the US and Israel. (More details on this page.)
Palestinians are brutalized, repressed and impoverished by Israel. To get a quick visual understanding of the difference between Gaza and Israel, take a look at the images of people and cities being wantonly pummeled by Israeli terrorism when you search the word “Gaza“, and the images of opulence, wealth and luxury that come up when you search “Tel Aviv“.
Israel, whose government intentionally targets, tortures, and murders civilians, including children, including with chemical weapons, and whose government uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and whose government is the last entity on Earth carrying out old-style ethnic cleansing and colonization of foreign countries, is the single biggest recipient of US aid, at over three billion dollars a year and huge amounts of lethal weaponry such as attack helicopters and white phosphorous chemical explosives.
To reiterate, Obama requested more military aid for Israel than any president ever. This is not because Obama and the USA love Jewish people. Obama was recently an accomplice in a literal neo-Nazi-led coup d’etat in Ukraine, and is currently fully supporting the junta-integrated Ukrainian government, which is staffed with several neo-Nazis in high ministries, and which uses neo-Nazi paramilitaries to carry out massacres (and possibly genocide) against people resistant to the junta. The actual reason the US supports Israel is discussed below.
As Amnesty International has noted, all aid to Israel is illegal under international (and US) law, because Israel is a consistent violator of human rights.
Amnesty International also noted that Israel’s 2009 massacre of Gaza would not have been possible without the illegal funding (money and weapons) and support Israel gets from the USA.
This is also true of the current massacre Israel is committing in Gaza.
However, in a way, that is good news.
That means US citizens can STOP the massacres.
If we stop our money and weapons-flow to Israel, which is illegal anyway, we stop Israeli terrorism! All we have to do is stop committing a crime, and we will stop more crimes! That’s great news.
Here is a previous example of how this has worked: When the USA cut its funding for Indonesia’s genocide against East Timor, which the USA was funding almost exclusively, Indonesia was forced to stop and withdraw. All it took was cutting off our illegal flow of money and weapons to the criminals.
The same thing would happen if we cut our illegal funding for Israel’s genocides and acts of terrorism, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation against Palestine.
But since the USA is an anti-democratic country, the only way to stop US plutocrats from using our money to fund Israeli terrorism is to force it through massive, non-violent pressure.
One way it happens is when it becomes too politically costly for the plutocracy to keep funding genocide and terror, meaning the costs of their illegal support outweigh the benefits, as in Indonesia. In that case, massive publicity and indigenous resistance accomplished the goal.
But Israel is the USA’s main imperial – and nuclear – base for controlling the Middle East, which US planners, in 1945, called the greatest material prize in world history, due to the oil and gas. Thus, it might require more, as in non-violently making our country into a democracy so that people control their own institutions and money, and thus the way we operate as a society and interact with the world.
Last note: To be clear, Israel is a legal state, but only within the borders allotted to it by the United Nations – the Pre-1967 borders, which existed before Israel started eating away, through terror, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation, at the areas reserved by the United Nations for Palestinians, as well as areas of other countries, such as Syria (the Golan Heights).
Per international law, US domestic law, and common sense, Israel doesn’t deserve any support until it abandons isolationism and accepts that it can’t steal other people’s countries, and stops blockading and withdraws its soldiers and settlers, all there illegally, from those countries.
Israel is, militarily, the most powerful country in the Middle East, by far. Removing our support for the Israeli government (which we are legally required to do) will not put Israelis in danger. It will pressure the Israeli government to stop doing what endangers Israelis, which is committing aggressive acts against Israel’s neighbors.
If Israel ends its status as a consistent violator of human rights, decolonizes Palestine, and respects its neighbors, it could be a pleasure – and legal – to work with and support Israel.
Germany, Japan, and South Africa went from being the most reviled countries on Earth to being some of the most admired. Maybe Israel could undergo the same transformation, but not unless we, US citizens, help by ceasing to enable Israeli terrorism and war crimes by illegally supporting them.
"Hamas is the government elected by Gaza in elections that Jimmy Carter (and many others) observed and said were completely fair and free. Israel constantly says Hamas uses human shields. But in Israel’s biggest massacre of Gaza [note, this obviously doesn't take the recent Gaza massacre by the Israeli terrorist army] , the one in 2009, all the human rights organizations, including Amnesty, HRW, and the jurist Richard Goldstone, found that Hamas DID NOT use human shields. On the contrary, Israel used human shields, which is a regular practice for Israel. Israel uses civilians as human shields."
...but of course, for Alternative and her or his ilk, the Israeli terrorist army, the IDF, is more of an objective impartial source concerning their own practices and their observations - always impartial, objective and nonbiased- on what the Palestinian resistance forces practices are like.
So, lets see, Alternative's sources are a clearly pro-Zionist Israeli website and the Israeli Army....clearly, we must believe everything they say in regards to the parties that criticize or resist Israel's occupation of Palestine. Its not biased perverting propaganda meant to defend Israel's flank in its inhumane assault on, colonization of, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians...no, not at all. Yes, I see how neutral her or his sources are.
AGENCY DEMANDS FULL RESPECT FOR THE SANCTITY OF ITS PREMISES IN GAZA
East Jerusalem
Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law. This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza.
Immediately after discovery, the Agency informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school. UNRWA has launched a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.
UNRWA has strong, established procedures to maintain the neutrality of all its premises, including a strict no-weapons policy and routine inspections of its installations, to ensure they are only used for humanitarian purposes. UNRWA will uphold and further reinforce its procedures.
Palestinian civilians in Gaza rely on UNRWA to provide humanitarian assistance and shelter. At all times, and especially during escalations of violence, the sanctity and integrity of UN installations must be respected.
See also the Guardian article in which a Hamas spokesperson essentially admits firing missiles adjacent to residential areas. Note also Hamas leadership's historical commitment to recruiting Palestinian suicide bombers.
Tammuz, can you claim in good conscience that Hamas does not use human shields?
“There’s no one to talk to,” “We can’t agree with them on anything,” “God forbid we give them back territory,” “Israel must erect more settlements,” “Nazis - this time with Persian accents- are returning to destroy us,”
After all, the result: (i am really restraining myself from the gory ones here.)
What was your point again??
Let's make it simple 'A' hole;
They came, occupied, stole, imprisoned and killed/killing/stealing/torturing. Who fuckin' cares what sold out anti Islamic Indian news agency said, or fuckin' zionist New York Post writes?
Not sure why I'm an "A-hole" and I don't understand why you need to hurl insults at me.
In addition to the Indian source regarding Hamas, I also provided links from a French news source, UNWRA, CNN (US), and the Daily Mail (UK).
I agree that war is hell (I've said it twice before), but I'm also committed to the truth.
Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem obviously must end and are making an already terrible situation worse, but this is not all of Israel's fault. Many Palestinians agree with my sentiment, Orhan.
Archinect, please boycott Israel (its about time!)
new topics do take a few minutes to pop-up.
I posted it over a day ago.
Orhan, why am I being censored?
I don't know. Are you?
Why hasn't my topic been posted? I thought you were a moderator.
I have more important things to do than be a moderator to bunch of non entities. I said I don't know. Why you keep asking? Maybe what you posted wasn't good enough. I don't know.
Are you or are you not a moderator of this message board?
I already answered.. What is wrong with you? FUCK OFF!
You wrote: "I have more important things to do than be a moderator to bunch of non entities." That doesn't answer the question; you're being deliberately oblique. And others have suggested that you do, indeed, moderate this board. So the question stands, Professor Orhan.
No I am not a moderator there has never been one and I don't think there is now. Of course hateful, anti Semitic stuff gets thrown out and I am advocating that policy for years. I am what is called senior editor. I write, collect and instigate feature articles and other editorial projects and you can read that it is stated in my member page like everyone else (except anonymous non entities like you of course.) You are very annoying. Now leave me alone. I have been nice enough to answer your accusative questions...
Thanks, Orhan!
Wait, this looks edited. Do you get to decide what does and does not get posted on the forums? The reason that I ask is that I created a post about Qatar, and it still hasn't appeared. Who could I email to ask about getting that topic onto the board?
Hey CdArch, aren't you the high school student? If you are gonna mix and concern about my wife and mother and children, you shouldn't support Israeli government and IDF who murders those kind of people, you little vermin you...
No CD-Arch, the caps thing, if I recall correctly, was addresed to someone else. Not between Orhan and myself...whatever that means. Alternative, instead of making or suggesting irrelevant accusations, why don't you check the "contact us" tab in the About menu on the bottom left corner of this page?
From Israel Was Tried For War Crimes Today, The Testimony Will Break Your Heart
Roger Waters, Pink Floyd Music Legend
To witnesses: “You have led us very eloquently into hell today. This is heartbreaking”
Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defense for Children International
“16 yr old boy stripped naked and used as human shield by Israel for 5 days. He was denied food, water and sleep – and mentally and physically abused, including lashed with a wire across his back. Israeli army stopped a family car near a West Bank protest over Gaza. Positioned their weapons in the windows of back doors, where toddlers were sitting and began to fire on protest. This is not an isolated incident. There is a clear, recorded pattern of Israel using Palestinian children as human shields during attacks on Gaza.”
Max Blumenthal, American author, journalist, and blogger
“We found one of 89 families completely liquidated during Operation Protective Edge so badly burned/destroyed they had to be buried in a mass grave by a bulldozer – evoking memories of the darkest times in European history. On outskirts of Rafah, I heard testimony from 19 yr old Mohammed Abu Said of how Israeli soldiers stripped him naked and sniped at neighbours, then set the dogs on him in between shooting rounds. In Khuza’a – a man left a group of <resistance> fighters in his home. He returned to find their throats had been cut, their bodies piled in a corner and burnt with grenades. A clear pattern of executions has been established. Israeli soldiers gather civilians in an open area, asks if anyone speaks Hebrew. When people step forward, they shoot them dead. Four brothers of one man were taken into garden and shot dead, one of them was mentally disabled and had little idea he was being killed.”
Martin Lejeune, German journalist
“More than 90% of Gaza’s agricultural output destroyed by Israel over summer, almost all farms destroyed. Israel destroyed 220 factories in Gaza, this constitutes around 70% of Gaza’s industrial output gone.There was no military justification for the destruction of these factories whatsoever. I stayed in Gaza for one month in a house with 72 Palestinian civilians, 60 of whom had been displaced. It was overcrowded, tap water wasn’t working anymore, we had to buy fuel, we had to bake our own bread as none available in shops. 220 factories were completely destroyed during the 7 weeks of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. Israel has succeeded in turning a functional economy in Gaza into a third world territory in just 8 years, through the blockade and four large scale military assaults. Israel is not only attacking systematically civilians in their homes, but systematically destroying the economy of Gaza to make people dependent on aid.”
Dr Mohammad Abou-Arab, Gaza Doctor at Al Shifa Hospital
“One ambulance worker shot in the head and bled to death while fellow workers were told if they tried to assist him, they would be killed too. Another worker burned to death in his ambulance after a missile attack against it – his colleague was severely injured in the attack, left with life-altering burn injuries. We are talking about Gaza firefighters, police officers, ambulance workers and other emergency services workers being routinely shot at by snipers and missiles by Israeli military. Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.”
Dr Mads Glibert:Norwegian Doctor who served in Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza Throughout Offensive
“This is a systematic attack to rid Palestinians from the land. If you are an 8 yr old child in Gaza today, you have survived 4 of these onslaughts – 2006, 2008/9, 2012 and 2014. What does this do to a child? To their feeling of safety? To their outlook on the world? The medical system of Gaza was already on its knees before the summer attacks due to Israeli blockade” “This is a medical disaster – the capacity for treatment is massively exceeded by medical needs. Such disaster often happen in natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis…but Gaza was deliberate, controlled and executed by the Israelis.”
Mohammed Omer, Award-winning Palestinian Journalist based in Gaza
“Israeli army routinely defecate in Palestinian homes and buildings they occupy, leaving behind racist and violent graffiti together with piles of shit.
The Imam in Gaza was held for days by Israeli troops who ordered him at gunpoint to use mosque tannoy to call on community to come to the mosque. As young people gathered they were surrounded by Israeli troops, stripped naked at gunpoint and tortured/killed for sport.
The Imam was used as human shield by Israeli troops. He was stripped naked at gunpoint in front of men, women and children of the neighborhood.”
These are just a handful of moments from the full day of testimony. I encourage you to follow tomorrow’s press conference where the jury will share their conclusions. I’ll be there, reporting for you.
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/russell_tribunal_on_palestine_kangaroo_court_s_extraordinary_session_on_israel_s_crimes_in_gaza_
RUSSELL TRIBUNAL ON PALESTINE: KANGAROO COURT’S “EXTRAORDINARY SESSION” ON “ISRAEL’S CRIMES IN GAZA”
NGO Monitor
September 03, 2014
Summary
On August 18, 2014, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) announced an “Extraordinary session” on “Israel’s Crimes in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.” The RToP session plans to consider alleged “Israel’s Crimes (including War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the Crime of Genocide)…as well as third States complicity.”
As seen in previous Russell Tribunals, RToP has no judicial basis and exploits a legal facade in order to create an appearance of neutrality and credibility. The sessions have included “jurors” who examine expert “witnesses,” with the “findings” later published. The witnesses and jurors are biased, the outcome is predetermined, and the findings have no credibility.
Past sessions of the RToP demonized Israel by falsely accusing it of “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” and “war crimes.”
Some RToP witnesses and jurors are key figures in boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns against Israel.
See NGO Monitor’s website for more background on the Russell Tribunal, the key figures involved, and the political objectives that motivate these actors.
Background
The first Russell Tribunal was founded in 1966 by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Seeking to publicize alleged American violations of human rights in Vietnam, Bertrand Russell sought to create a “people’s court,” similar in style to the post-World War II Nuremberg trials.
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) was created in March 2009. The RToP held five sessions between March 2010 and March 2013 – in Barcelona, London, Cape Town, New York City, and Brussels.
The RToP announced its plan to hold an “extraordinary session” on August 18, 2014, during the conflict in Gaza. It is scheduled to take place in Brussels on September 24, 2014.
RToP is attempting to raise €50,000 in order to fund the session.
RToP jury members connection to Muslim Brotherhood
In early 2014, following the 2013 coup in Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood officials launched a legal campaign to bring charges against the Egyptian military at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Muslim Brotherhood’s legal team includes RToP jury members John Dugard and Michael Mansfield.
As in the past, the RToP session will only considers alleged Israeli crimes, ignoring those committed by Muslim Brotherhood affiliate Hamas.
“Witnesses”
Many of the “witnesses” invited to “testify” are radical and extreme anti-Israel activists, and include representatives from European government-funded NGOs.
“Witnesses” include: Raji Sourani, director of the European-funded Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defence for Children International Palestine; Eran Efrati, formerly of Breaking the Silence; Colonel Desmond Travers, a member of the discredited Goldstone Commission; Agnes Bertrand, advocacy officer at APRODEV (Belgian association comprised of Christian NGOs based in Europe, and affiliated with World Council of Churches); Michael Deas, European coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and a contributor to Electronic Intifada; and physician/activist Mads Gilbert.
“Jurors”
The “jury” of the RToP session is composed of many known anti-Israel activists, whose bias against Israel is well established.
“Jurors” include Richard Falk and John Dugard, former UN rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Michael Mansfield, a British lawyer who called Israel “A state of Apartheid”; Ronnie Kasrils, former South African politician who accused Israel of inflicting “nazi-style collective punishment on the embattled population of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Palestine”; Roger Waters, musician and activist in BDS campaigns; Christiane Hessel, widow of former “juror” Stéphane Hessel, who signed a letter stating Israel was “repeatedly and flagrantly violating the law of armed conflict” in the Gaza conflict; Ken Loach, a British filmmaker who “called for a boycott of all cultural and sporting events supported by the Israeli state”; Ahdaf Soueif, an Egyptian writer who wrote an op-ed called “Dead Palestinian children in Gaza tell story of impunity”; and members of RToP’s Support Committee.
As noted above, Dugard and Mansfield are currently part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s legal team. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Funding of the RToP
RToP funding is not transparent. RToP is attempting to raise €50,000 for the session.
The Barcelona 2009 session was supported by a €56,000 grant from the Barcelona municipality.
In 2011, the RToP was registered as a non-profit organization in Belgium. According to Pierre Galand, international co-coordinator of the Tribunal, the budget for the Cape Town session was €190,000. Editions Indigene, the publisher of former “juror” Stéphane Hessel’s book Time for an Outrage, donated €100,000. €15,000 was raised at a September 24, 2011 fundraising event by the Belgian support committee of the Russell Tribunal.
European-government funded NGOs, whose representatives are scheduled to appear at the RToP include:
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)
Funded by the European Union, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, the The Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (the “Secretariat –joint funding from the governments of Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands), Open Society Foundation, Christian Aid (UK), Grassroots International (US), Kvina Till Kvina (Sweden), Al-Quds Association Malaga (Spain), Oxfam Novib (Netherlands), and DanChurchAid (Denmark).
In August 2014, PCHR received “emergency funding” from the Secretariat to document “human rights and international humanitarian law violations during the course of Israel’s ongoing military offensive on the Gaza Strip.”
PCHR joined efforts with Al Mezan, Al Haq, and Addameer, "in order to document war crimes committed by the occupation forces during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip” “in preparation for the criminal prosecution of Israeli war criminals and to be submitted to the International Commission of Inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council in its meeting held last month.”
Defence for Children International –Palestine Section (DCI-PS)
According to its 2012 annual report (latest available, accessed September 2, 2014), DCI-PS acknowledges the support and contributions of: the Secretariat, European Union, ICCO and Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), EED (Germany), Save the Children International, Stichting Kinderpostzegeks Nederlands (Netherlands), ARCI Cultura e Sviluppo (Italy), Mundubat (Spain), Broederlijk Delen (Belgium), the United Nations Development Programme, Swiss Interchurch Aid- HEKS, World Vision, The United Methodist Church, The United Church of Canada, Solidarity Fund. Does not disclose donation amounts.
Alternative, I may have led you down the wrong path with this whole moderator thing. I thought I remembered Orhan as one from a previous spoof-boycott discussion but I see now I was incorrect.
BTW, paragraph breaks are your friend. No one reads a sea of regurgitated text.
there aren't paragraph breaks because he's just copy/pasting. pretty good chance he didn't read what he posted any closer than tammuz reads what he posts.
so tammuz, is that true? does the testimony you linked to not have equal representation for both sides? wasn't there some sort of jury selection where the prosecution and defense both had a chance to review who would be on the jury?
Read it in full, curt. Posting from an iPhone...
Oh and the site Alternative is using (NGO Monitor) which demonizes the Russel Tribunal, the BDS and suchlike... is intrinsically linked to Israel and its interests (, founded by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs). Check the links below.
Now, would you believe that impartial western non-islamic witnesses such as Ivan Karakashian, Max Blumenthal, Dr Mads Glibert featured in the Russel Tribunal and indeed the other witnesses are linked and biased towards to the Muslim Brotherhood,...or would you find it easier to believe that this Israeli website - pretending to be an impartial monitor of NGO`s (with its clear bias towards an entity, Israel, that kills as modus operandi vide its deliberate targetting of movements and entities critical of Israel) ) has a clear interest in lying, deforming and perverting to demonize and seed doubt apropos the concern of humanitarian activists who have no personal stake in this?
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
From:
Israel Lobby Watch
NGO Monitor should not be taken seriously
Yacoub Kahlen and
Robert E. Foxsohn
The Electronic Intifada
18 October 2005
ngomon483.jpg
Screen capture of the NGO Monitor website.
NGO Monitor, founded by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has for some time now been deliberately spreading false and misleading information about organizations in an attempt to discredit them.
......................................
From:
What is NGO Monitor’s connection to the Israeli government?
"...This week, working on a tip, we found Gerald Steinberg’s resume from 2004, two years after he established NGO Monitor. In it, under “additional activities,” Steinberg testifies that he served as a “consultant [to the] Government of Israel,” and as a member of the “Steering Committee, Forum on Antisemitism, Office of the Prime Minister, Government of Israel.” On his Hebrew-language profile on the NGO Monitor website, Steinberg describes himself as a “consultant to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” (His English profile is missing that information.) In a profile attached to a 2006 op-ed, he is described as a consultant to the National Security Council, which is a part of the Prime Minister’s Office."
another interesting article contextualizing this so-called NGO Monitor within affairs Israeli:
From Exposing Gerald Steinberg and NGO Monitor
Dermer, whose legislative initiative to ban funding of Israeli human rights organizations by allied governments stalled in September, has now passed the ball to a political ally: Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. This organization has now partnered with the Institute for Zionist Strategies, led by Israel Harel, a founder of the Gush Emunim settler movement.
Steinberg is savvier than Dermer. Instead of a ban, he advocates “funding transparency.” Next Tuesday, he is organizing a Knesset conference to “debate” the issue. Israel’s beleaguered human rights activists are bracing for yet another round of demonization and delegitimization.
In formulating a response, some have argued for an appeal to reason. They want to explain to Steinberg and his organization that the suppression campaign is ill-advised and destructive; that it threatens to put Israel in the same camp as Putin’s Russia and other autocracies; and that it may provoke a retaliatory call by a European public, already dangerously hostile, to cut critical funding to Israeli hospitals, universities and R&D projects.
This approach is commendable, but futile. NGO Monitor is not an objective watchdog: It is a partisan operation that suppresses its perceived ideological adversaries through the sophisticated use of McCarthyite techniques – blacklisting, guilt by association and selective filtering of facts.
I don't understand how a "Tribunal" can serve as a neutral arbiter when it has already drawn legal conclusions about wrongdoing before a proceeding has even been initiated.
It makes TOTAL sense that a pro-Israel organization would take steps to discredit an organization lacking any impartiality, to adjudicate serious human claims against Israel. In the US, our Constitution gives us a right to confront and cross-examine our accusers. That's exactly what NGO watch is doing.
This is the 21st Century, Tammuz-- this is not the Inquisition.
I'll also add-- you haven't answered Curt's questions.
Notice the last phrase: "... blacklisting, guilt by association and selective filtering of facts. "
Now, go back to Alternative`s post and read the quoted rubbish about maligning the Russel Tribunal by associating it to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Yet another logical fallacy: gult by association
I suppose Zionist bots are not taught Logic 101 at their Zionist summer camps
How can a "neutral" Tribunal be "outraged" before proceedings even commence? No facts have even been presented.
http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/sessions/extraordinary-session-brussels
And I quote:
"A few weeks ago, members of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, outraged by Israel’s terrible assault on Gaza and its population, decided to start working on an extraordinary session of the Tribunal that will look into Israel’s Crimes (including War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and the Crime of Genocide) during the still ongoing “Operation Protective Edge” as well as third States complicity.
During this session, that will take place in Brussels on 24th and 25th of September, our jury, so far composed of Michael Mansfield QC, John Dugard, Vandana Shiva, Christiane Hessel, Richard Falk, Ahdaf Soueif, Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Roger Waters, Ronnie Kasrils, Radhia Nasraoui and Miguel Angel Estrella will listen to testimonies from Paul Behrens, Desmond Travers, David Sheen, Max Blumenthal, Eran Efrati, Mads Gilbert, Mohammed Abou-Arab, Mads Gilbert, Paul Mason, Martin Lejeune, Mohammed Omer, Raji Sourani, Ashraf Mashharawi, Ivan Karakashian, Agnes Bertrand and Michael Deas.
The jury will give its findings on 25th September in the morning during an international press conference at the International Press Center (IPC, Brussels). In the afternoon, the Jury will be received at the European parliament and address a message to the UN General Assembly for its reopening."
Alternative: This is the 21st Century, Tammuz-- this is not the Inquisition.
Yes, its the 21st century and we should be well over colonialism, nationalistic racism, ethnic cleansing of the colonized and genocide.
But apparently they all still exist in the guise of Israel. Do pass on the word to Israel that it is indeed the 21st century.
You're drawing one-sided conclusions. Shouldn't a neutral arbiter be deciding whether crimes have been committed?
Again, the testimonials of witnesses -which was what I cited in my post- of the Russel Tribunal on Palestine:
Ivan Karakashian, Advocacy Unit Coordinator at Defense for Children International
“16 yr old boy stripped naked and used as human shield by Israel for 5 days. He was denied food, water and sleep – and mentally and physically abused, including lashed with a wire across his back. Israeli army stopped a family car near a West Bank protest over Gaza. Positioned their weapons in the windows of back doors, where toddlers were sitting and began to fire on protest. This is not an isolated incident. There is a clear, recorded pattern of Israel using Palestinian children as human shields during attacks on Gaza.”
Max Blumenthal, American author, journalist, and blogger
“We found one of 89 families completely liquidated during Operation Protective Edge so badly burned/destroyed they had to be buried in a mass grave by a bulldozer – evoking memories of the darkest times in European history. On outskirts of Rafah, I heard testimony from 19 yr old Mohammed Abu Said of how Israeli soldiers stripped him naked and sniped at neighbours, then set the dogs on him in between shooting rounds. In Khuza’a – a man left a group of <resistance> fighters in his home. He returned to find their throats had been cut, their bodies piled in a corner and burnt with grenades. A clear pattern of executions has been established. Israeli soldiers gather civilians in an open area, asks if anyone speaks Hebrew. When people step forward, they shoot them dead. Four brothers of one man were taken into garden and shot dead, one of them was mentally disabled and had little idea he was being killed.”
Martin Lejeune, German journalist
“More than 90% of Gaza’s agricultural output destroyed by Israel over summer, almost all farms destroyed. Israel destroyed 220 factories in Gaza, this constitutes around 70% of Gaza’s industrial output gone.There was no military justification for the destruction of these factories whatsoever. I stayed in Gaza for one month in a house with 72 Palestinian civilians, 60 of whom had been displaced. It was overcrowded, tap water wasn’t working anymore, we had to buy fuel, we had to bake our own bread as none available in shops. 220 factories were completely destroyed during the 7 weeks of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. Israel has succeeded in turning a functional economy in Gaza into a third world territory in just 8 years, through the blockade and four large scale military assaults. Israel is not only attacking systematically civilians in their homes, but systematically destroying the economy of Gaza to make people dependent on aid.”
Dr Mohammad Abou-Arab, Gaza Doctor at Al Shifa Hospital
“One ambulance worker shot in the head and bled to death while fellow workers were told if they tried to assist him, they would be killed too. Another worker burned to death in his ambulance after a missile attack against it – his colleague was severely injured in the attack, left with life-altering burn injuries. We are talking about Gaza firefighters, police officers, ambulance workers and other emergency services workers being routinely shot at by snipers and missiles by Israeli military. Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.”
Dr Mads Glibert:Norwegian Doctor who served in Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza Throughout Offensive
“This is a systematic attack to rid Palestinians from the land. If you are an 8 yr old child in Gaza today, you have survived 4 of these onslaughts – 2006, 2008/9, 2012 and 2014. What does this do to a child? To their feeling of safety? To their outlook on the world? The medical system of Gaza was already on its knees before the summer attacks due to Israeli blockade” “This is a medical disaster – the capacity for treatment is massively exceeded by medical needs. Such disaster often happen in natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis…but Gaza was deliberate, controlled and executed by the Israelis.”
Mohammed Omer, Award-winning Palestinian Journalist based in Gaza
“Israeli army routinely defecate in Palestinian homes and buildings they occupy, leaving behind racist and violent graffiti together with piles of shit.
The Imam in Gaza was held for days by Israeli troops who ordered him at gunpoint to use mosque tannoy to call on community to come to the mosque. As young people gathered they were surrounded by Israeli troops, stripped naked at gunpoint and tortured/killed for sport.
The Imam was used as human shield by Israeli troops. He was stripped naked at gunpoint in front of men, women and children of the neighborhood.”
These are just a handful of moments from the full day of testimony. I encourage you to follow tomorrow’s press conference where the jury will share their conclusions. I’ll be there, reporting for you.
Logic fails you yet again, Tammuz.
NGO Watch is calling for impartiality; it's not saying the Tribunal has committed any wrongdoing, but rather, that it lacks the capacity to determine whether wrongdoing has been committed by Israel.
The Tribunal, on the other hand, is engaged in a one-sided proceeding whereby Israel has been determined to have been culpable of war crimes before the proceeding has even begun.
I'm not invalidating the testimony of the witnesses, but I'm saying that those witnesses should be subject to meaningful cross-examination by an adversary and that evidence from Israel should be on the table as well. What procedure was Israel afforded in this proceeding? Why weren't jurors sympathetic to Israel permitted to weigh in? You still haven't answered Curt's questions.
I cited the witnesses testimonials, did I not? These, in my estimation, stand as declarations by these people involved...whether in the tribunal or outside the tribunal - I care to read their testimonies and have other read them.
Did I argue that this was a tribunal as defined by international law, for example....I did not.
Therefore, nowhere have I supplied an argument that this is a tribunal as defined by international law -or by this or that device- or not. As such, it is your own (il)logic that fails you because you're arguing -as usual- inconsequentially 9in relation to the content I provide.
Are you arguinng, however, that these witness accounts were false or indeed excusable...No you're not. You are only suggesting that because this is not a tribunal as defined by the measures that make a tribunal a tribunal (and I thought that it was clear that the Russel Tribunal was a human rights exposition and evaluation more than a legally binding entity...duh!), then it should not betaken seriously because it shows their- therefore my own bias. On the contrary, I believe its possible to reconcile both: seeing that the word "tribunal" here does not signify a literal legalistic definition of the term AND taking its findings seriously - whether it is or is not a tribunal literal as such. I would want to read these findings whther in a book, in a newspaper or in a humanitarian activist establishment report...with or without Israelès participation and presence. But nowhere have I stated my belief that this is or is not a legalistic tribunal, have I? You argue irrelevantly.
Now, Can one take or not take the account of these witnesses seriously and establish conclusions from them? Just that question....
Your zionist website hightly suggests that theyre pro-Hamas -and therefore guilty of being biased- by way of associating some members (who dont even happen to be moslems) to the Muslim Brotherhood. Not only is this website IsraeliZionist in funding, nature and perspective...it also follows illogical tactics in order to reach its desired end: demonizing the tribunal (or "tribunal" if so you wish) entire with its witness accounts who neither, by nature, share Hamas ideology and where no evidence of their having been, for instance, bought over. In other words, no where in this article is there explicit evidence of bias by nature or bias by circumstance - these are witnesses who have, without being proven otherwise, no interest in lying.
Therefore, given this, the website is, as a partisan entity using associations and suggestions to lead to its naturally desired end rather than explicit evidence renders it far more likely to be partial and perverting of reality than the far-more-likely-to-be-impartial witness accounts on display in the Russel Tribunal.
I'll also add, Tammuz, that all of the articles critiquing NGO Watch really amount to ad hominem attacks on its founders, while none actually offer a substantive critique of NGO Watch's basic argument that the Russell Tribunal is non-netural.
I never said that the Tribunal was legally binding and I'm not confused; but I am, indeed, questioning the legitimacy of its (non-legal) conclusions.
Saying that a tribunal is non-neutral does not "demonize" anyone. It merely asserts bias and non-neutrality.
Ad hominem? Location, explicit political alliance, funding, explicit ideological attachment ...these are not ad hominem in relating -indeed in binding - this so called pretend NGO Monitor to Zionist Israeli interests and de facto impartiality.in relation to the Palestinian-Zionist colonial confrontation.
Your logic is failing you, again and again
Anyway, curtkramès question has been responded to as have your irrelevant accusations. Critize the content quoted here please....dont digress in order to obfuscate.
Yes, those are ad hominem attacks that attempt to undermine the claims made by NGO Watch; they don't actually address the claims themselves-- they instead attempt to discredit the source of the claims. An actual (i.e., non-ad-hominem) response would be to explain why the Russell Tribunal is, indeed, impartial.
My claims (not accusations) are relevant to a debate about whether a biased tribunal is competent to draw conclusions about Israel's culpability with respect to war crimes.
ad ho·mi·nem
adjective \(ˈ)ad-ˈhä-mə-ˌnem, -nəm\
Definition of AD HOMINEM
1: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect
2: marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ad%20hominem
Finally, with respect to your question about the legitimacy of some of the witness claims: I think that these folks are answering truthfully, with some reservation. I do have some questions about the hearsay testimony with regard to the man in Khuza'a-- but let's set that aside. Moreover, the doctor's claim that "Anyone who knows anything about Palestinian society knows that no Palestinian would use a child or family as a human shield. Israel however routinely used Palestinians as human shields throughout this operation and those prior.” This is false. Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields and suicide bombers and this is heavily documented.
In any event, these all sound like testimonial descriptions of War.
War is hell. All life has value.
But does this testimony conclusively establish that there were actual war crimes? It's very hard to conclude that it does.
"Hamas appeared to admit using human shields to fire rockets into Israel for the first time today, but refused to accept responsibility for the slaughter of hundreds of innocent Palestinians killed in retaliatory airstrikes.
In a veiled confession that comes two weeks after the end of the Gaza war, a senior Hamas official said the group's fighters had no choice but to use residential areas from which to launch missiles into their neighbour's territory.
But while Ghazi Hamad claimed they took safeguards to keep people away from the violence, he admitted 'mistakes were made', blaming Israel's heavy-handed response for the deaths of civilians."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2753176/Hamas-DID-use-schools-hospitals-Gaza-Strip-human-shields-launch-rocket-attacks-Israel-admits-says-mistake.html#ixzz3F0bCj0Ht
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
http://nypost.com/2014/08/05/hamas-manual-details-civilian-death-plan-israel/
Hamas’ disturbing ‘human shields’ manual (Image of manual contained in link)
"They’re putting their own people in the line of fire — and doing it by the book.
The Israeli military said it has captured a Hamas manual on urban warfare — called 'Introduction to the City War' — that extols the benefits of civilian deaths and openly admits that Israel tries to avoid them.
The Israel Defense Forces also said the manual — whose cover shows images of militants wielding rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons — crows about the propaganda value of the deaths of innocents.
'The destruction of civilian homes: This increases the hatred of the citizens toward the attackers and increases their gathering around [to support] the city defenders,' the manual said, according to the IDF.
The manual, which came from the Shuja’iya Brigade of Hamas’ military wing, also explained how heavily populated urban areas — called 'pockets of resistance' — make operations for the IDF difficult because Israeli soldiers try not to harm civilians."
Facts All US Citizens Need to Know About Israel and Palestine
Posted on July 12, 2014 by Robert Barsocchini
Amnesty International also noted that Israel’s 2009 massacre of Gaza would not have been possible without the illegal funding (money and weapons) and support Israel gets from the USA.
This is also true of the current massacre Israel is committing in Gaza.
However, in a way, that is good news.
That means US citizens can STOP the massacres.
If we stop our money and weapons-flow to Israel, which is illegal anyway, we stop Israeli terrorism! All we have to do is stop committing a crime, and we will stop more crimes! That’s great news.
Here is a previous example of how this has worked: When the USA cut its funding for Indonesia’s genocide against East Timor, which the USA was funding almost exclusively, Indonesia was forced to stop and withdraw. All it took was cutting off our illegal flow of money and weapons to the criminals.
The same thing would happen if we cut our illegal funding for Israel’s genocides and acts of terrorism, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation against Palestine.
But since the USA is an anti-democratic country, the only way to stop US plutocrats from using our money to fund Israeli terrorism is to force it through massive, non-violent pressure.
One way it happens is when it becomes too politically costly for the plutocracy to keep funding genocide and terror, meaning the costs of their illegal support outweigh the benefits, as in Indonesia. In that case, massive publicity and indigenous resistance accomplished the goal.
But Israel is the USA’s main imperial – and nuclear – base for controlling the Middle East, which US planners, in 1945, called the greatest material prize in world history, due to the oil and gas. Thus, it might require more, as in non-violently making our country into a democracy so that people control their own institutions and money, and thus the way we operate as a society and interact with the world.
Last note: To be clear, Israel is a legal state, but only within the borders allotted to it by the United Nations – the Pre-1967 borders, which existed before Israel started eating away, through terror, ethnic cleansing, colonization, and annexation, at the areas reserved by the United Nations for Palestinians, as well as areas of other countries, such as Syria (the Golan Heights).
Per international law, US domestic law, and common sense, Israel doesn’t deserve any support until it abandons isolationism and accepts that it can’t steal other people’s countries, and stops blockading and withdraws its soldiers and settlers, all there illegally, from those countries.
Israel is, militarily, the most powerful country in the Middle East, by far. Removing our support for the Israeli government (which we are legally required to do) will not put Israelis in danger. It will pressure the Israeli government to stop doing what endangers Israelis, which is committing aggressive acts against Israel’s neighbors.
If Israel ends its status as a consistent violator of human rights, decolonizes Palestine, and respects its neighbors, it could be a pleasure – and legal – to work with and support Israel.
Germany, Japan, and South Africa went from being the most reviled countries on Earth to being some of the most admired. Maybe Israel could undergo the same transformation, but not unless we, US citizens, help by ceasing to enable Israeli terrorism and war crimes by illegally supporting them.
To take a snippet from the above:
"Hamas is the government elected by Gaza in elections that Jimmy Carter (and many others) observed and said were completely fair and free. Israel constantly says Hamas uses human shields. But in Israel’s biggest massacre of Gaza [note, this obviously doesn't take the recent Gaza massacre by the Israeli terrorist army] , the one in 2009, all the human rights organizations, including Amnesty, HRW, and the jurist Richard Goldstone, found that Hamas DID NOT use human shields. On the contrary, Israel used human shields, which is a regular practice for Israel. Israel uses civilians as human shields."
...but of course, for Alternative and her or his ilk, the Israeli terrorist army, the IDF, is more of an objective impartial source concerning their own practices and their observations - always impartial, objective and nonbiased- on what the Palestinian resistance forces practices are like.
So, lets see, Alternative's sources are a clearly pro-Zionist Israeli website and the Israeli Army....clearly, we must believe everything they say in regards to the parties that criticize or resist Israel's occupation of Palestine. Its not biased perverting propaganda meant to defend Israel's flank in its inhumane assault on, colonization of, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians...no, not at all. Yes, I see how neutral her or his sources are.
http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/unrwa-strongly-condemns-placement-rockets-school
AGENCY DEMANDS FULL RESPECT FOR THE SANCTITY OF ITS PREMISES IN GAZA
East Jerusalem
Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law. This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza.
Immediately after discovery, the Agency informed the relevant parties and successfully took all necessary measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school. UNRWA has launched a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.
UNRWA has strong, established procedures to maintain the neutrality of all its premises, including a strict no-weapons policy and routine inspections of its installations, to ensure they are only used for humanitarian purposes. UNRWA will uphold and further reinforce its procedures.
Palestinian civilians in Gaza rely on UNRWA to provide humanitarian assistance and shelter. At all times, and especially during escalations of violence, the sanctity and integrity of UN installations must be respected.
French and Indian Reporters Witness Rockets Being Fired from Residential Areas in Gaza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-MkQbaGkF4
http://youtu.be/SuEVWVzL2Ts
See also the Guardian article in which a Hamas spokesperson essentially admits firing missiles adjacent to residential areas. Note also Hamas leadership's historical commitment to recruiting Palestinian suicide bombers.
Tammuz, can you claim in good conscience that Hamas does not use human shields?
Let me also be clear-- I'm against Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Another video of Hamas launching rockets next to a residential area (NDTV, Indian Media):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_fP6mlNSK8
Egyptian TV Host Osama Mounir Criticizes Hamas refusal to accept ceasefire, July 16, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuYcjubV7I
This guy is a psychopath and a pathological case! How can he make decisions for Israel's future?
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.618671
“There’s no one to talk to,”
“We can’t agree with them on anything,”
“God forbid we give them back territory,”
“Israel must erect more settlements,”
“Nazis - this time with Persian accents- are returning to destroy us,”
After all, the result: (i am really restraining myself from the gory ones here.)
What was your point again??
Let's make it simple 'A' hole;
They came, occupied, stole, imprisoned and killed/killing/stealing/torturing. Who fuckin' cares what sold out anti Islamic Indian news agency said, or fuckin' zionist New York Post writes?
This is fucking hell.
And Israel is accountable for it. 1000 times more than Hamas.
Are you myopic?
Not sure why I'm an "A-hole" and I don't understand why you need to hurl insults at me.
In addition to the Indian source regarding Hamas, I also provided links from a French news source, UNWRA, CNN (US), and the Daily Mail (UK).
I agree that war is hell (I've said it twice before), but I'm also committed to the truth.
Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem obviously must end and are making an already terrible situation worse, but this is not all of Israel's fault. Many Palestinians agree with my sentiment, Orhan.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.