Although the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) claim that the capture of our vessel happened 'without exceptional incident', eye-witness Zohar Chamberlain Regev reports that at the time of boarding: "People on board were tasered and hit by masked IOF soldiers. We did not get our passports or belongings before we got off the boat. Do not believe reports of peaceful interception." We urgently need to know the details of who was injured and how seriously, and what treatment they are receiving, if any. A military attack on a civilian vessel is a violent act and a violation of international law. Taking 22 people from international waters to a country which is not their destination constitutes an act of kidnapping, which is also unlawful under the international Convention of the Law of Sea.
From the time we lost contact around 13:15 local time on Sunday, we know that the IOF blocked all communication signals, including satellite phones. We are very concerned about this violation of journalists' right to report freely and we remain gravely concerned about their ability to keep their professional equipment and their storage media. As Australian journalist Chris Graham recently observed "Bad things happen when good people stay silent, as history well records. But horrendous things happen when media are prevented from scrutinizing the actions of a state."
Two of our participants who are Israeli citizens have been charged with attempting to enter Gaza and conspiracy to commit a crime, and were released on bail this morning. One of them, boat leader Zohar Chamberlain Regev, reports seeing blood on the deck of the Al Awda as the last participants were being dragged off the ship.
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"Cast them aside for a coming time./Resist, my people, resist them./Resist the settler's robbery/And follow the caravan of martyrs."
"According to the applicants (Zurab Japaridze and Vakhtang Megrelishvili), the consumption of marijuana is not an act of social threat. In particular, it can only harm the users' health, making that user him/herself responsible for the outcome. The responsibility for such actions does not cause dangerous consequences for the public."The Constitutional Court of Georgia noted that permission to consume marijuana is an act of protection of the person's right to free development, and while prohibition of consumption of marijuana is an action directed against its turnover and therefore serves the legitimate aim of consumer protection of health, according to the Court, the role of an individual user in the support of marijuana circulation is very small, and consequently the threats from individual consumption are likewise small. Due to the above, the punishment for consumption of marijuana is disproportionate."
Comment: Back in 1978, in his Harvard address, Solzhenitsyn stated his opinion that Israel "should not be reckoned as part of the West, if only because of the decisive circumstance that its state system is fundamentally linked to religion." He's right. Israel isn't part of the West. It's a Jewish State - not a democracy.