[lbo-talk] Massacre

Mike Ballard swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au
Mon May 31 16:10:37 PDT 2010


For Australians on the list:

STOP ISRAELI ATTACK ON HUMANITARIAN FLOTILLA

EMERGENCY PROTEST

5pm Tues 1 June Wesley Church (cnr William & Hay Sts, Perth)

Al Jazeera is now reporting that up to 16 people have been killed and more than 30 injured after hundreds of masked Israeli commandos stormed the six vessels of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters off the coast of Gaza. Al Jazeera further reports that the ships are being towed by Israeli warships to the port of Haifa instead of Ashdod where dozens of journalists were awaiting the flotilla’s arrival.

Not since the French Secret Service blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour in 1985 has there been such a brazen act of international piracy by a sovereign state. Governments all around the world have condemned the criminal actions of Somali pirates in international waters off the horn of Africa, and have even sent naval armadas to confront those pirates. The international community must now unreservedly condemn this criminal act of piracy on the high seas, and immediately sent an international naval armada to restrain the barbaric actions of the Israeli Navy.

Friends of Palestine Western Australia has called an emergency protest outside Wesley Church for tomorrow (Tuesday) 5.00pm outside the Wesley Church on the corner of Hay & William St in the Perth CBB.

You can take action before the protest tomorrow by contacting the following:-

Israeli Prime Minister’s Office <Prime.Minister’sOffice at it.pmo.gov.il>

Israeli Ministry of Defence <pniot at mod.gov.il>

Israeli Members of the Knesset Presidium Dalia Itzik<yor at knesset.gov.il> Collete Avital<avitalk at knesset.gov.il>, Mohammad Barakeh<mbarakeh at knesset.gov.il> Amnon Cohen <amncohen at knesset.gov.il> Yuli-Yoel Edelstein<yedelstein at knesset.gov.il> Yitzhak Levi<ithakl at knesset.gov.il> David Rotem<drotem at knesset.gov.il> Otniel Schneller<oschneller at knesset.gov.il> Yitzhak Ziv<yziv at knesset.gov.il>

Israeli Knesset public complaints department Gila Rothschild<gilar at knesset.gov.il>

Israeli Chairman, Security and Foreign Affairs Committee Tzachi Hanegbi<zhanegbi at knesset.gov.il>

Israeli Ambassador to Australia HE Yuval Rotem ambassadorsec at canberra.mfa.gov.il

And please ask our own government to condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs The Hon Stephen Smith Stephen.Smith.MP at aph.gov.au

Australian Ambassador to Israel HE John Larsen Fax: +972 3 6935002

Below is a link to a BBC report which contains a feed of the Turkish TV footage of the commando assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. At this stage, the Turkish camera crew’s footage is the only footage known to have been taken of the murderous attack.

Disregard the disgustingly biased BBC commentary that overlays the footage which implies the situation was so “chaotic” the Israeli naval commandos were justified in opening fire.

Note also that since this report was filed several hours ago, the IDF itself has confirmed on Israel Army Radio that at least ten people were killed. An IDF spokesman that activists tried to seize weapons from the commandos, and that the commandos were attacked with iron bars, sticks and knives. Yet in the very same report in Haaretz (see link below), the Israeli military is reported to have said in an official statement that “protesters…attacked [the commandos] with live fire.” In other words, the IDF has directly contradicted itself and shown itself to be lying through its teeth. Either the naval commandos were attacked with iron bars, sticks and knives, in which case lethal force could not have been justified, or they were attacked with live fire. Both things by definition cannot be true. In either case, history demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt that any statements made by the IDF cannot be believed for one nanosecond.

We will all have an agonising wait over the course of the next few hours before we can discover exactly what happened on board the six vessels of the Freedom Flotilla early this morning. What we can say for certain at this stage is that an Israeli naval commando unit has carried out an illegal act of piracy in international waters that has led to the deaths of at least ten activists guilty of nothing more than attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the besieged and long-suffering people of Gaza.

BBC stream of Turkish TV footage of the commando raid

Haaretz report confirming at least ten deaths

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