Ever since the event a plethora of lies, justifications and paramoralistic nonsense has been spouted from the mouths of the Israeli authorities and American mainstream media pundits. The biggest of all, and most easily disprovable, is that the flotilla contained weapons bound for Gaza to be used against Israeli's.
Israel has published pictures of "weapons" and "war material" that they confiscated from the freedom flotilla, this cash of "deadly weapons" comprises kitchen knives, pocket knives, assorted poles, angle grinders, gas masks and some flak jackets. What? No guns??
But wait, kitchen knives on board a ship that was feeding hundreds of people on a week-long voyage? Shocking! Assorted long poles...on a ship?? Outrageous! Gas masks and bullet proof vests in the possession of people who had planned to disembark in Gaza, the world's biggest open-air prison where innocent people are regularly assaulted with tear gas and shot at by IDF troops? Unthinkable! And the angle grinders! Good lord, now there's a deadly anti-personnel weapon to beat them all!
By touting these particular items as evidence of hostile intent on the part of the peace activists, the Israeli military and government themselves have made a very convincing case that the peace activists were precisely that - peaceful. Indeed, even the images of these rather benign 'weapons' has been called into question.
Further, the boats were inspected at their points of departure in Greece and Turkey. An independent security firm was also hired to verify the lack of weapons. Everyone boarding was searched, and additionally, the Turkish government performed background checks on all Turkish passengers to make sure there were no extremists present.
Another lie being peddled is that the commandos were somehow defending themselves from the passengers. This is utter nonsense, Israel had their commandos attack the boat to forcibly gain control. They brought guns, knives, and tasers aboard and used deadly force to subdue anyone attempting to resist their hijacking. They killed 19 people in the process, wounded more and terrorized them all. If there were terrorists on the seas they wore IDF uniforms. Eyewitnesses confirm that even prior to boarding, the flotilla was fired upon. This version of events is even confirmed by a member of the Israeli Knesset, Haneen Zoubi, who was on the Mavi Marmara. The Israelis even went so far as to tamper with a tape of the ship to ship communications between an IDF frigate and the Mavi Marmara and insert some choice "anti-Semitic" comments into the dialogue from the aid ship. As we have noted so often before, there are no depths of depravity to which the Israeli government and military will not sink in an effort to justify its brutal treatment of the Palestinian people.
If it wasn't the threat of "terrorism" against Israel or arms smuggling into Gaza that so concerned the Israelis, what then is the real reason for the violent opposition to allowing any aid ship to dock in Palestine? And why are the peace activists so determined to do so and not accept the Israeli offer of docking in an Israeli port; the answer can be summed up in one word - perception. By refusing to allow anyone free access to Gaza, the Israeli government is able to continue to deny legitimacy to Palestine as a nation and a people. If Palestine is cut off from the rest of the world, if no one can get in or out, it doesn't exist, or so the Israelis would like to believe. It is an effort to ethnically and geographically cleanse Palestine from the map of the world in people's minds (or the "pages of history") prior, perhaps, to a later physical cleansing. This has always been the goal of the Zionists, to be achieved with the sanction of the rest of the world by any and all available means, chief among which are lies, deception and subterfuge.
It is interesting to note that this de-legitimisation of the Palestinian right to nationhood is precisely what the Israeli government accuses the Palestinian leadership of doing to Israel. As we have noted in the past, it is a central trait of the psychopath to accuse others of what he himself is doing.
The international community was quick to see this attack for what it is, and condemnation rang out across Europe through the Middle East. In the US however, the Truth is to be avoided at all costs.
This brings me to Obama's response; shrill, impotent and demonstrating subservience to his true masters, he wants to 'wait for more information' and to give Israel time to properly investigate... as if Israel is capable of investigating her own crimes. Perhaps we should put BP in charge of investigating their own culpability, or Goldman-Sachs theirs... Perhaps Timothy McVeigh should have been the judge and jury at his own trial... again, more outrageous nonsense.
This article brings up an excellent point, and I want to give you a brief mental exercise to illuminate just how backward the situation is. Imagine, for a moment, that Iran occupied a Jewish portion of her state, that she brutally attacked it every two years, viciously murdered men, women and children... and now an international convoy was attempting to break the Iranian strangle-hold on the Jewish territory by providing aid supplies. Simply take the exact above scenario and replace Israel with Iran... can you imagine the outrage?
I can, and I think it really strikes the core of this issue. As long as Israel is a protectorate and beneficiary of the US it can do no wrong. As long as Zionism has a grip on the mainstream media, we'll always have talking heads regurgitating lies and spouting nonsense to justify murder and state-sponsored terrorism.
The Truth will offer us protection and power, but finding it isn't easy, and we must remember to speak it loudly and often.
It has also been revealed that the Israeli raid on the Freedom Flotilla was not authorized by the proper government channels, which raises the question - who authorized it? Rahm Emmanuel met with Netanyahu on May 26th and 27th, so what did the US know, or sanction ahead of time?
If you haven't already done so, I strongly suggest you contact your senators, house reps, and the white house and show your support for the peace activists and urge them to push for an end to the blockade of Gaza. All it takes is a quick email, a phone call or filling out a web form. Make your voice heard!
Reader Comments
Really makes you wonder sometimes on the toll placed on humanity with truths and untruths – a good example would be Goldman-Sachs answers recently in the congressional hearings where the senators are addressed as ‘You humans’ by Sachs – what is this world of ours coming to.
Great article btw – keep it up
Hi karma. Have you got a link to the Goldman article where they say "you humans"? Thanks!
From what I deduce, this was a deliberate act of state sponsored terrorism that specifically targeted individuals, especially Arabs (Turks) for assassination. It was meant to send a message to others not to try to break the blockade of Gaza.
The collective punishment that Israel continues to meet out to the residence of Gaza because of their choice in leadership is criminal.
Just as the attack on the USS Liberty has been misrepresented by Israel and its supporters and stooges in the US Government, this attack too is being misrepresented as some type of justifiable act of self-defense. The corporate media cannot spin Israel out of responsibility for the deaths of innocents.
An apartheid regime, whether it be historical South Africa or present day Israel, will not survive the test of time. It will collapse under the weight of injustice necessary to perpetuate itself.
If the entire holy land were to somehow slip into the Mediterranean, like some new age Atlantis, I would not shed a tear. I would view it as pay back for the decades of Israeli crimes against humanity.
James Petras
Rebellion
On June 8, 1967, two squadrons of Israeli warplanes bombed, strafed and dropped napalm in international waters to a U.S. ship in charge of gathering intelligence, the USS Liberty, killing 34 U.S. sailors and wounding 172.
The assault occurred on a sunny afternoon with the U.S. flag and the identification marks are clearly visible. The Israelis attacked the antenna to prevent the crew to radio for help and fired on the lifeboats to ensure that there would be no survivors. However there was one survivor who improvised antenna and transmitted what was happening in an appeal for help that came to Washington DC In an unprecedented act of treason, President Johnson, closely linked to the powerful American Jewish Zionist political sponsors, covered up the mass murder at sea by issuing a series of orders to stop, first, that the fighters who had their Mediterranean base rushed to help their beleaguered comrades and, secondly, after threatening to subject martial of the survivors they happen to denounce the deliberate nature of the Israeli assault, finally repeating the Israeli claims that the attack was the result of mistaken identity, a lie that many senior military rejected later.
Nearly forty-three years after the May 31, 2010, warships, attack helicopters and Israeli commandos stormed in international waters to a humanitarian aid convoy carrying ten thousand tons of aid to Gaza. Before the ships of the mission was thrown to navigate, the Turkish authorities had registered ships and passengers to ensure that no weapons were aboard. Nevertheless, the Israelis approached the ships shooting and clubbing unarmed passengers, killing nineteen and wounding dozens. Despite subsequent Zionist Israeli claims to the contrary, no weapons were found, apart from the sticks used by some of the victims attempting to dismiss the criminal assault premeditated and planned, led and championed by senior Israeli officials and the entire leadership major U.S. Zionist organizations and elsewhere. The invading assault troops systematically destroyed all cameras, videos and tape recorders that have documented their savage assault, to run out after their infamous lies in the sense that they had met with armed resistance.
The world's response
Within hours of the bloody Israeli act of piracy, nations, political leaders, human rights organizations and the vast majority of the international community condemned the Israeli state for violation of international law. Turkey, Spain, Greece, Denmark and Austria summoned their ambassadors from Israel to protest against the deadly assault. The Financial Times (June 1, 2010) referred to the Israeli assault as a "brazen act of piracy ... beyond legality", with the same roots as their "illegal blockade of Gaza." Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan said the Israeli assault was an act of "state terrorism" that would have "serious consequences." The legal experts defined as "act of war" Israel's attacks against ships sailing the high seas with Turkish flags, Greek and Irish. The Security Council United Nations, NATO and the UN Secretary General demanded that Israel cease its aggression, while tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to denounce the blatant act of state killing and injuring Israeli peace , care givers and protesters than sixty countries. Experts from the UN required that asked "criminal responsibility" to the Israeli leaders. Only Obama's regime refused to condemn the act of Israeli state terrorism, expressing only "concern and regret." The state criminal assault Israel defended its more promising for the future and insisting on maintaining the blockade of Gaza, even after the U.S. suggest it could soften.
The Israeli defense of piracy and state terrorism
As news of the Israeli slaughter were slipping in the media and the international community reacted with horror and indignation, the Israeli government "tried to flood the airwaves with his version of events ... and most notably, the authorities tried to ensure that your and silencing narrative moved forward greatly to the hundreds of activists who were aboard during the attack "(Financial Times, June 2, 2010, page 2). The Jewish state held incommunicado for all living prisoners, wounded and dead, confiscating their mobile phones and prohibiting any interview with any journalist. As does the majority of terrorist states, the Jewish state sought to monopolize the media propaganda. The Israeli propaganda machine, through its media and journalists sponsored by the State, used various stratagems, all of which are typical of totalitarian regimes, namely:
The Israeli assault troops invaded the vessel became victims humanitarian and peace activists aggressors. "Met by Israeli Soldiers Well-Planned Lynch Mob " [Israeli troops found a well-organized mob ready to lynch] (Jerusalem Post, May 31, 2010); "Israeli Soldiers Attacked" (IDF, May 31, 2010).
Professor Sabel, Hebrew University, said the act of piracy was committed in international waters legal.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Ayalon, the organizers of humanitarian aid were accused of having links with terrorists, although no evidence was given (Haaretz, May 30, 2010). Ayalon accused the organizers, including the human rights group by Turkey, having been trained by the Turkish intelligence agency, the army and the government of Erdogan, a member of NATO and for many years (in the past) Mossad collaborator Israeli. Among the 600 volunteers for human rights included peace activists, parliamentarians, former diplomats, and current Israeli Arab members of Parliament.
While shooting, killed and harassed dozens of human rights defenders, Israeli propagandists fabricated several videos that appeared one of the aggressors Israelis in the ship's deck, cutting the entire sequence before the attack (Financial Times June 2, 2010, page 2).
He described the attackers as maritime and airborne Israeli victims of "Brutal Ambush at Sea" [Brutal ambush in the sea] (Ynet News, June 1, 2010).
Were accused by human rights activists of being a "lynch mob" who attacked the Jews who were command their automatic rifles firing wildly across the deck against the victims at bay. The few brave men who fought to stop the criminal attack were vilified by the Zionist propaganda that is so monstrous in itself to the crimes perpetrated.
Once the Israeli propaganda machine started throwing up their obscene lies, all the Zionist fifth column leadership launched.
The American Zionist power configuration: In defense of the slaughter
Like the entire leadership of the 51 major American Jewish organizations defended each and every one of the Israeli war crimes in the past, since the bombing of the USS Liberty to the occupation of the West Bank and blockade against the Gaza Strip, as this time were also very honorable these apologists repeating verbatim the lies of the State of Israel regarding the assault on humanitarian flotilla.
The Daily Alert (May 31-June 2, 2010), the official organ of the public propaganda of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (AIPAC, for its acronym in English) published all the brazen lies of the Israeli state that had been "lynched" and "attacked" the Israeli commandos, blaming human rights activists for the deaths of their comrades ... for the Israeli army. Not a diversion, not a mere word of criticism. Not a single mention, even surface, which criticized the execution, the use of lethal weaponry, the assault on international waters, and public relations fiasco. The vast majority of Israeli Jews and Zionists organized in the U.S. supported the bloody slaughter and faced the small minority who have no access to mainstream media. It was demonstrated again the Zionist control over the media in which he was informed of all events through the "eyes of Israel" (FAIR June 1, 2010). On all New York Times the Washington Post, CNN, CBS, NBC, presented to the Israeli commandos attacked the ship humanitarian aid as ... "assaulted and beaten" (Washington Post, June 1, 2010). The New York Times gave credence to Israeli claims that his act of piracy on the high sea was legal (New York Times June 1, 2020). For the American mainstream media, the problem was not the Israeli terrorist state, but how handling and disarming the indignation international community. To that end, the entire Zionist power configuration has a trusted ally in the Zionised Obama, the White House and U.S. Congress.
Obama's response to Israeli state terrorism
There is one major reason that Israel repeatedly commits a crime against humanity, including the recent assault on the humanitarian fleet: he knows that the Zionist Power Configuration, embedded in the U.S. power structure, will ensure support Government, in this case Obama's White House.
Faced with the widespread global condemnation of Israel's crime at sea and the calls of the international community to take legal action, the Obama regime absolutely refused to criticize Israel. A White House spokesman said: "The United States deeply regrets the loss of lives and injuries and now works to understand the circumstances in which the tragedy occurred" (AFP May 31, 2010). An act of state terrorism does not cause "regrets" but, generally, conviction and punishment. The power that caused "loss of life and injuries" has a name: Israel, those who suffered death and injury during the Israeli assault have names: humanitarian aid volunteer. It was simply a "loss of life" but a premeditated and planned murder who openly defended the Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet. The "circumstances" of the murders are clear: Israel attacked an unarmed vessel in international waters, opening fire when approaching the ship. Obscene political cover of the Israeli regime of a deliberate criminal act that violates international law is evident in his description as a "tragedy" of serial murder. State terrorism was not premeditated at all like the tragic action of an honest ruler forced by circumstances to a criminal act against its closest allies.
Washington, under pressure to participate in the meeting of the Security Council of the UN, spent ten hours to eliminate all references to Israel's illegal criminal act, so it ended with a resolution calling for an investigation that only "fair", with Washington attempting to impose over who should perform it: an Israeli inquiry committee. Before the world in general, including the Turkish government, Obama's regime and the U.S. government, by refusing to condemn Israel are "complicit in mass murder. "
To understand why Obama is impregnated regime of infamy and shame in the eyes of the world, one must look to the composition Zionist Obama White House, which is of equal importance, the direct power and access that main-Zionist Jewish organizations have on the American political system. In the week preceding the announced Israeli assault against humanitarian fleet, Jewish leaders (pro-Israel) met with a third of U.S. senators to press in June for much tougher sanctions against Iran. Among the key operative was attended by the Jewish Federation of America, AIPAC and the rest of the Israeli Fifth Column (Jewish Telegraph Agency, May 27, 2010). The next day a squadron of Jewish Federation leaders flew to Washington to meet with senior officials of the Obama administration and ensure that neither the White House nor Congress expressed public criticism of, in connection with the settlement policy Israel. No doubt the apologists for Israeli war crimes expanded their agenda to include nor had any public criticism of the Israeli assault on the fleet. Rahm Emmanuel, the head of Obama's cabinet, was in Tel Aviv as a guest of the senior officers of the Israeli army a few days before he launched the assault and, no doubt, Rahm was communicated all the details. It should ensure that the American-Israeli helper Obama gave assurances to the Israeli war criminals of unconditional military and political support from Washington to acts of aggression by Israel.
From inside and outside the Obama Administration, the aggressive pressure of the 51 major U.S. Zionist organizations have ensured immunity the Israeli war criminals before any War Crimes Tribunal. The tactics of the White House is Zionized divert attention from the immediate and consistent sentencing and more of the possible sanctions, hoping that over time, aided by the general apology for the mass media in the U.S., the mass outrage foreign protests will gradually fading. Obama and his Zionist cohorts and belly creep down to Israel. Part of the mission in Israel Rahm Netanyahu was to offer an invitation to go to the White House during the week of carnage at sea. The only reason why Netanyahu did not go to Washington was because they rushed back to Israel to bolster the defense made by the Ministry of Foreign barbaric act against global outrage. But in a telephone conversation, Netanyahu Obama promised a new and speedy invitation, assuring the man of Israel to violate international law and the slaughter of dozens of human rights activists do not have consequences, especially with the continued financial support of Zionist sponsors Obama.
Like Lyndon Johnson in covering up what happened to the USS Liberty, Obama's apology for war crimes Israel is the price to secure the financial support of Zionist billionaires, the press barons, tens of thousands of pro-Israel Jews and the 51 Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Faced with Washington's complicity with Israeli war crimes, the only way is to intensify the campaign for sanctions, boycotts and divestment of all Israeli products, cultural and professional exchanges. With a little luck, the massive Muslim protests will find an echo broader anti-Zionist Jewish and Christian communities, especially when the Israeli apologists for state terrorism appear in public. More important would be for each and every one of the Israelis involved in the assault were subject to criminal prosecution in any country that comes to mind visiting. Only by making the Israelis understand they will pay a high price for his serial killings and violations of international law is possible that his political narrative from a road a bit reasonable. Only by reaching beyond symbolic protest by withdrawing diplomatic and substantive actions taken as a break relations, is how the international community can isolate the perpetrators of state terrorism. All Americans should say loud and clear to President Obama NEVER EVER. Otherwise the Zionist Power Configuration staying active around the clock, seven days a week, the Obama regime, true to the Zionist agenda, revert back to focus on the goal of attacking Iran. The action perpetrated these days by Israel, with U.S. complicity, is a prelude to the kind of lethal force they have in reserve to sabotage the recent diplomatic agreement between Turkey, Brazil and Iran.
These lines are dedicated to the brave martyrs of Turkish Mavi Marmara May 31, 2010, and 34 U.S. sailors killed aboard the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, all victims of an unrepentant criminal state, Israel.
Rebellion has published this article with the author's permission by Creative Commons license, Respecting their freedom to publish it elsewhere.
Israeli Defense Force also has a flickr account. Its posted weapons and body armor. Unfortunatley for them the exif data shows the pictures were taken in 2006. Heres an image link.
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Lets also not forget that israeli is using 20,000 people to promote their propaganda via 'megaphone desktop tool'. Picture also related.
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During the 60's, before graduating, James Petras (1937) was human rights activist and student leader at the University of Berkeley, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of California. From 1960-1973 he taught and conducted research in some Latin American countries, especially in Chile, where he collaborated with the government of Salvador Allende. After the coup of Augusto Pinochet, Petras was a member of the Russell Tribunal on Repression in Latin America, together with Julio Cortázar and Gabriel García Márquez.
In the decades of 70 and 80 participated actively in the human rights movement that fought the torture and disappearances caused by Latin American dictatorships, and wrote for renowned left-wing newspapers: Le Monde Diplomatique, New Left Review, Monthly Review. Between 1982 and 1984 was director of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies in Athens. Petras also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and was director of the Project for the Study of Latin American Development at the Institute of Public Administration from the same university. He currently teaches at the State University of New York Binghamton.
Among the themes of all his works, specializing in Latin American issues, highlights their reflections on social class conflict, imperialism, the state, revolution, the transition to democracy, and others. At present three themes are the occupying his attention: the rivalries between different imperialist powers (U.S., Japan and Europe), the withdrawal of critical intellectuals during the 80s, and the contradictions of market socialism.
However, these issues Petras much linked to the phenomenon of imperialism. The author defines "imperial state" (identified mainly with the U.S.) as "imposed new rules that shape the behavior of other states." But this "imperial state" responds to the demands and interests of its capitalists who try to move the capital abroad in order to perform lucrative activities worldwide. In his book, Globaloney, states that "of the 500 largest companies in the world, motor movement of capital as an instrument of globalization, 49% are American, 37% are European and 10% are Japanese." In this sense, the term "globalization" would become a substitute for "imperialism": "the concept of globalization entered the journalistic jargon to describe the phenomenon of expansion of capital and U.S. companies, European and Japanese economic spaces conquering"
This analysis is deeply linked to a current problem for Latin American countries: structural adjustment policies which have been applied on the recommendation of international lending agencies (IMF and World Bank)
According to the author, the IMF's policies, but apparently dealing with specific problems, how the balance of payments in each country, sought to reshape the global economy: focused on the changing role of the state in the economy and the expansion of relations market.
Petras is strict when it comes to analyzing the consequences of the implementation of these policies: "The local and international elites have benefited a lot of structural adjustment. The private debt has assumed the state, the creditor banks received billions of organizations of the working classes have been crushed or dramatically weakened by repression and economic consequences of the adjustment. Structural adjustment would be a form of class struggle under another name, organizing a drastic change in terms of class power in favor of the rich and privileged. "
Link – no not really - although this did happen, I was watching the congressional hearings held in part of Goldman live on C-Span were this was said, A source would be the guardian.co.uk as they did have a live extract of this exact thing.
/Regards
Karm
Here is a lill piece I wrote after a blank before Israelis incursion into Gaza (Gaza war 2008-2009 – dated: Thursday, December 18, 2008, 12:57:21 AM)
Enjoy:
The Soldier in the Sand
Birth stringent hope to follow
Searing gallows hung to far
Sight the sea-forgotten burrow
Neck trailed for endurance
Rolling tracks, monster of steel
Scream air as tubes of death leash
Shrieking sound they fall upon you
Tracking shells, falling from the air
Perceptions door awakens, gray our face
Sight beholds deaths doors roaming
Man o Man trigger we are falling
To you mother we feel the fallen
Ground dust breathe sullen air
Noir our ground seems dead unfertile
Powdered smoke mines speak
Tested womb few will call to seek
Drought bodies skeletal apparitions
Wind blowing, blowing memory away
Dripping on the sand red for you to see
For nothing depleted is our energy
They come to pick us up to console
Bitter hiding stone they see
Many falls we keep nothing for them
For family to seek cry to release we seek
Gisli Njalsson
To write to my Congressman, who, believe it or not, is likely a normal person of conscience, who may actually try to help. His name is Rep. John Lewis. No use wasting time on the Senators, both of whom, as well as the Governor of Georgia are almost surely Path's.
Thanks to the sott crew for posting the piece and everyone for their comments. I actually had no idea it was up on sott until just now. lol.
Not knowing what an "Al Qaeda" was, I searched for a description beyond the current news focus and came upon this in an article entitled, "Fake Al Qaeda."
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Quote: "The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US . . ." -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook
"Ana raicha Al Qaeda" is colloquial for "I'm going to the toilet". A very common and widespread use of the word "Al-Qaeda" in different Arab countries in the public language is for the toilet bowl. This name comes from the Arabic verb "Qa'ada" which mean "to sit", pertinently, on the "Toilet Bowl". In most Arabs homes there are two kinds of toilets: "Al-Qaeda" also called the "Hamam Franji" or foreign toilet, and "Hamam Arabi" or "Arab toilet" which is a hole in the ground. Lest we forget it, the potty used by small children is called "Ma Qa'adia" or "Little Qaeda".
Geez, "just think" what all those Foreign Countries think of the US, it's governing body and it's mighty military- industrial complex - ALL trying to hunt down "A TOILET" !!!!
...for this piece Brent. Great exposure!