Rabbi Brant Rosen: Beyond the Flotilla, the Crackdown Continues

[Douglas Carpenter]

As I read the myriad of reactions to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla tragedy last Sunday, I'm struck by one recurring theme: the sense of astonishment that these activists responded to the Israeli Navy with violence.

In other words, they didn't act according to the script. They didn't behave like proper practitioners of civil disobedience. The implication: if they had responded like the non-violent activists they were purported to be, this whole tragedy could well have been avoided.

There's only problem with this calculus: non-violent Palestinian protests have actually been ongoing throughout the Occupied Territories for years - and the Israeli military has been responding to them with much the same kind of brutality that was used against the passengers of the Mavi Marmara.

A sampling of some incidents over the past year:

- In March, 2009, Tristan Anderson, an American activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was shot in the head with a tear-gas canister during a non-violent protest, sustaining massive brain injuries.

- Bassem Ibrahim Abu-Rahma, a popular non-violent activist in Bilin, was killed when he was hit in the chest by a tear gas canister during a protest in April 2009.

- In June 2009 35 year-old Aqel Sadeq Dar Srour was shot in the chest and killed when he tried to assist Mohammad Misleh Mousa, a teenager who was shot by an Israeli soldier during a non-violent demonstration in Ni'lin. Mohammad was permanently paralyzed as a result of his injury.

- This past April, Imad Rizka was critically injured when he was shot in the head with a tear gas canister during a non-violent protest in Bi'lin

- Last Monday, Emily Henochowicz, a 21 year American ISM activist lost her eye when she was shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a peaceful protest of the flotilla incident at the Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank.

These are not merely isolated incidents. Indeed, they are part of a concerted Israeli military policy to crush the grassroots non-violent movements by means of lethal force, mass arrests, and detentions. As Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak observed this past December:

Over the past six months, 31 Bil'in residents have been arrested, including almost all the members of the Popular Committee that organizes the demonstrations. A similar tactic is being used against protesters in the neighboring village of Ni'ilin, which is losing over half of its land to Israel's wall and settlements. Over the past eighteen months, 89 Ni'ilin residents have been arrested.

continue read...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-brant-rosen/beyond-the-flotilla-the-c_b_598649.html

[Jefferson23]

1. From the OP:

"Immediately following the flotilla tragedy, Ms. Bates cited this telling observation by an ISM worker in Gaza:

I'm surprised that Israel would go this far with internationals...The reality is that they are doing this sort of thing every day with Palestinians--farmers and fishermen are killed every day.
We will likely be debating what exactly occurred aboard the Mavi Marmara for some time to come. In the meantime, similar tragedies are occurring throughout the Occupied Territories on a virtually daily basis.

They are no less worthy of our attention."



NO LESS WORTHY OF OUR ATTENTION....hear that MSM TV LAND?

[ConsAreLiars]

3. "they are doing this sort of thing every day with Palestinians--"

That is the fact that the humanitarians from all over the world. including Israel, understand, and the fact that the warmongers and murderers and their supporters and apologists and PR hacks want to deny or excuse. The murders of those who would bring this to public attention has had the opposite effect, despite the constant re-running of one minute of IDF-provided propaganda video.

And although US corporate media has not acknowledged the fact that now even the IDF admitted they falsified the audio tapes which the compliant media replayed as "proof" that the flotilla was some sort of terrorist sponsored assault on Israel and has refused to admit the fraud, the fact-seekers now know that the IDF is a totally dishonest source. Professional liars on every subject as well as being a gang of rabidly jingoistic and murderous psychopaths. Not every inductee, but the leaders and the policies and the indoctrination practices.

Maybe not the whole world. but most of the world has been watching, and the truth is that Israel must either move toward reconciliation and turn against the utterly hateful, vicious, and self-destructive assumption that increasing the suffering of the Palestinians will give them both Greater Israel and "security."

(edit to add more)

[haikugal]

2. I'm truly disgusted

by the actions of the ultra right wing Israeli government.

[shaayecanaan]

4. I saw the story about the American activist...

that got hit by a tear gas cannister. Israel claims it was a richochet. That makes three activists hit by tear gas cannisters in the head. What are the chances of that?

Knocked the eye clean out of her face.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-demands-idf-probe-how-american-lost-eye-at-west-bank-protest-1.294566

[EFerrari]

5. I heard about this article but didn't catch the name to look for it.

Thanks, Douglas Carpenter.