Israel: Brutal crackdown on anti-occupation activists

[Resistance]

By Chris Marsden | World Socialist Web Site

The response of the army, judiciary and the government of Ariel Sharon to Jewish opponents of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza—and to foreign peace activists—is becoming ever more brutal.

Israeli protester Gil Na’amati was shot in the legs by Israeli Defence Forces troops during a demonstration against the West Bank separation fence on December 27 near the village of Maskha. In a demonstration organised by Anarchists Against the Fence, the protesters were cutting a length of the fence when they were met with live fire by the IDF—seriously injuring Na’amati and slightly injuring an American citizen.

The IDF regularly use live ammunition to disperse Palestinians, but this was the first time troops have opened fire on Jewish protesters.

In March 2003, US citizen Rachel Corrie, 23, was murdered by the IDF while trying to stop an army bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. On April 5, US citizen Brian Avery, 24, was shot in the face in Jenin by IDF soldiers. On April 11, British citizen Tom Hurndall was a shot in the head while helping Palestinian children flee the scene of IDF gunfire in the Rafah. He has been in a coma ever since and is expected to die. It was only this month that an IDF soldier admitted to shooting Hurndall, claiming it was a deterrence shot.

[stopthegop]

1. live fire may be excessive..

but it cutting a section of the fence is more than just protesting...

[bluesoul]

2. Not if the fence

is illegal and on foreign land...

[Gimel]

68. Says who?

The court of Islamic opinon.

[bluesoul]

69. no

international law! Which you don't give a damn about as far as Israel and it's violations are concerned obviously...

[Gimel]

74. Assumption

Your assumption is incorrect. The war crimes violations of the Palestinian terrorist groups must be stopped. As in all law, there is a hierarchy where one law has more weight than others. That system of justice, which the UN is supposed to represent, is responsible for weighing the relative merits and consequences of law violation. Every nation violates laws, just as every person sins.

UN resolutions do not reflect international law, only international opinion. It is like an opinion poll, not a court of justice.

[bluesoul]

75. What about the war crimes violations of Israel

who will stop them? You speak as though Israel is sinless as far as that is concerned. no wonder...

[Muddleoftheroad]

10. It is an attack to cut the fence

And believe me, I'd fire back if I were there. The Peace Fence is designed to protect the two sides and keep them apart. They are lucky to survive such a dangerous and potentially deadly act.

[bluesoul]

11. I am sure you

would fire back...

[Muddleoftheroad]

12. Thanks

I'd fire back at people who threatened the lives of my loved ones in all cases.

[bluesoul]

13. Cutting a fence that is not even on your own land

is threatening the lives of ones love ones? ooookkkkk :crazy:

[Muddleoftheroad]

14. It is a security fence

And all the land is under Israeli administration until a peace treaty is signed. Cutting the fence is aiding and abetting terrorists. That is an act that jeopardizes the lives of Israeli women and children and I'll be damned if I let it happen.

[bluesoul]

15. I am without words

this is just beyond...

[Muddleoftheroad]

16. Then I accomplished something

[meti57b]

3. not that they hadn't lost it already, but ...

that source lost credibility again with their comment, "Rachel Corrie, 23, was murdered by the IDF..... ". Rachel Corrie was not murdered.

[bluesoul]

4. As opposed to

Jpost who has any credibility?

[Resistance]

5. Yes she was

She was murdered by an Israeli bulldozer driver, and four eyewitnesses all say it was intentional and that the driver knew what he was doing when he ran her over, and then backed up and ran her over again.

Tom Hurndall was also murdered, in cold blood, and an attempt was made on the life of Brian Avery who was shot in the face.

These are not all accidents. They have been intentional shootings and killings.

[Blitz]

22. The "eyewitness" reports

Were shown to be fabrications ... just as the deceptive pictures posted on the ISM site were of two different bulldozers, at different times, in different places. The ISM follows the Arafat Mantra:

"I would kill for my cause, why wouldn't I lie for it?"

[Resistance]

33. This is all false

you can check the ISM website for their views if you're really interested. They are a non-violent organization.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Resistance]

37. Where does their site

talk about helping murder people?

[Gimel]

70. there was no eyewitness

There was no one close enough to even speak to RC at the time of the misfortune. One ISM member was approaching from a distance. How that one person becomes four, is amazing. That person gave his witness on the scene, and he couldn't say that it was deliberate.

War is in cold blood. Soldiers are protecting not only themselves but a nation of innocent people. In this case, innocent people had been attacked repeatedly, with hundreds of murders having taken place. When you admit that suicide attacks are also in cold blood, then maybe someone will listen to you. Until then, you are just a broken record to me.

[mmm]

6. Rachel Corrie was murdered in cold blood

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scurrilous]

27. What's a Darwin Award?

I hear that term mentioned a lot over at LGF, but I have no idea what they're talking about. Could you explain? Thank you.

[Blitz]

28. I recommend google

Or a trip to your local bookstore.

[Scurrilous]

30. What part of the bookstore ....

...should I look in? The 'Jokes About Dead Americans' section?

[Resistance]

31. No need to check the bookstore

Just pop in down here every now and then. Apparently, jokes about murdered Americans are the new fad.

[Blitz]

36. But there'e no Darwin Awards forum

If there were, Rachel Corrie would get even more publicity.

[Resistance]

39. Hey that's really funny

The victim of cold-blooded murder should get a Darwin Award for not getting out of the killers way!

Yuk-yuk, that's a good one.

[Blitz]

41. If she had been murdered

She wouldn't be eligible, per the Darwin Award rules. On the other hand, if she had died as a direct result of her own stupidity, then she is a classic candidate.

[Resistance]

43. Ah

so you won't mind when others begin to tell jokes about Israeli bus-riders being up for Darwin Awards, right?

[Blitz]

44. I very well might

Why don't you give it a shot and see how it goes?

[madrchsod]

7. gee i saw the photos

of her being run over by a cat. but maybe the pictures were fake-right? so i guess you mean she committed suicide?

[Blitz]

17. You saw photos of her being run over?

I bet you saw no such thing. Either post a link to photos of her being run over or admit that your assertion is a falsehood and retract it.

[el_gato]

8. she was too murdered

[el_gato]

9. the IDF is blowing all respect

for Isreal

[Blitz]

18. Funny,

That seems to be a matter of perspective. The people that I talk to respect both Israel and the IDF now more than ever. On the other hand, I find that the people who claim to have lost respect for either Israel or the IDF generally never had any respect to lose in the first place.

[Resistance]

32. Murdering civilians and peace activists

generally tends to erode respect amongst conscientious people.

[Blitz]

34. Funny

Some people would say that those who cannot tell the difference between a peace activist and a terrorist supporting hatemonger and the difference between murder and suicide-by-stupidity are not necessarily the best examples of "conscientious people."

[Resistance]

38. some truth here

most of us can tell the difference between a peace activist and a terrorist supporting hatemonger.

Rachel, and others who the IDF has murdered, are definitely peace activists, not terror supporting hatemongers.

[Blitz]

40. I'll give you this

If St. Rachel were, in fact, a peace activist, then those that champion the former hatemonger and current propoganda tool would have been conscientious people rather than what they are.

[Resistance]

42. Odd how she and her friends went from peace activists

to terror-supporting flag-burning hate-monger Nazi Darwin-Award winners, right after the IDF murdered and shot them down.

[Blitz]

45. I never called them Nazis

And she wasn't really qualified for the Darwin until she got herself killed. She was a terror-supporting flag-burning hatemonger long before she became famous for it and I never made the mistake of calling her or her fellow travellers peace activists.

Speaking of the Darwin awards, here is one of my favorites that happens to be on-topic: Living on Zionist Time

Enjoy.

[Resistance]

46. I was speaking generally

As Rachel had been called a Nazi around here before.

So let me get your view straight: She was a terror-supporting stupid hatemonger but not a Nazi, correct?

[Blitz]

47. There you go.

I've stated just that often enough.

[Resistance]

48. But I am wondering something

If she was this rabid, hate-mongering supporter of terror against Jews, isn't that basically a Nazi?

[Blitz]

49. No, that isn't what a Nazi is

It's too bad that the very people who go around calling people Nazis right and left don't know what a Nazi is.

There are all kinds of terrorist supporting hatemongers. Relatively few are Nazis. The Nazis were defeated fairly definitively and relatively few remain. Hopefully, the hatemongers that are currently in fashion will be similarly defeated.

[Resistance]

50. defeated

as in bulldozed to death?

[Blitz]

51. Defeated

As in having the hatemongers (including, but not limited to, violent Islamists, their supporters and enablers) and/or their ideology scoured forever from the face of the earth.

[Resistance]

53. says it all

scour them forever.

Shoot 'em in the face.

Bulldoze 'em in the ground.

Shoot 'em in the head.

(Woops that one was an Israeli sorry about that)

Back to the scouring....

[Scurrilous]

52. Saint Rachel?

The Pope beatified Rachel Corrie? When did this blessed event occur? Or are you mocking dead Americans again?

[Name removed]

54. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Resistance]

57. Let's just get this straight

You first makes these wild claims that the ISM are terror-supporting hatemongers.
You next say that terror-supporting hatemongers should be scoured forever from the planet.

You now ask if I object to murdering them? This is getting really sickening.

[Blitz]

56. No

Just recognizing the status that has been bestowed on St. Rachel by her fellow travellers and various propogandists and demagogues.

[Scurrilous]

58. I've never heard ...

...the supporters of Rachel Corrie refer to her as a Saint. I have heard the term used by right-wing hate mongers at LGF and Free Republic. There she is mockingly referred to as Saint Rachel the Pancake. Personally I find the term repugnant and offensive. Perhaps you should remember what Skinner said about offensive terms:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=120&topic_id=10434

"I think that it is not too much to ask that we avoid terms that are straight from Michael Savage's mouth."

"I don't know what is so difficult about using language that is more correct and less deliberately inflammatory."

[GabysPoppy]

59. Like claiming that

The IDF are all murderers. Is that the civility you had in mind?

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blitz]

61. She is mockingly referred to

as a lot of things by a lot of people. I am satisfied to refer to her as St. Rachel, which is, IMO, a fair commentary on the way that she has been beatified and turned into a propoganda tool by both her fellow travellers and the terrorists that she supported. I do not call her pancake or any of the other popular terms relating to the way that she decided to die. If you feel that my post violates a rule, feel free to alert and the mods will act as they see fit.

[Scurrilous]

63. Discretion at LGF?

Oh my!

[Violet_Crumble]

72. Even funnier...

Conscientious people when being confronted by folk throwing round accusations of a peace activist being a 'terrorist supporting hatemonger' and a person who committed 'suicide-by-stupidity' tend to want some proof of those sort of claims before slapping such nasty labels on people. No-one has yet done anything but do a lot of throwing round of accusations and not come up with any sort of credible proof to explain why they believe those accusations are correct. Say something long enough and loud enough and it doesn't become fact, Blitz. A bit less accusation and a little bit more in the way of attempting to explain where the facts are to substantiate yr claim would be a whole lot more convincing to a lot of people...

Violet...

[Blitz]

20. A more accurate title would be

"Effective Reaction to Terrorist-Enabling Vandals"

[bluesoul]

21. From now on

peace activists are called "Terrorist-Enabling Vandals". And I heard it on DU! :eyes:

[Muddleoftheroad]

23. What is peaceful about aiding terrorists?

[bluesoul]

25. It's you saying they "aid" terrorist

That's a crock of BS. I have enough of this for today. Good night! Still haven't lost my hope though, regardless of what I have read here...

[Muddleoftheroad]

26. Aiding terror groups, tearing down the Peace Fence

All aid terrorists.

[Blitz]

29. Are you going to go erect a memorial

to Abigail Litle?

Surely, her life, and her death deserve some attention.

[Blitz]

24. Abigail Litle was a Peace Activist

When was the last time that you mentioned her murder? When was the last time anyone on DU who claims to speak for "Peace Activists" mentioned Abigail Litle?

[GabysPoppy]

62. Let us remember Noa Dahan

Nov 8, 2000 - Noa Dahan, 25, was shot to death while driving to her job at the Rafiah border crossing in Gaza.

Noa Dahan, of Moshav Mivtahim in the Negev, was shot at close range by three Palestinians who had crossed the fence separating the Palestinian Authority's Dahaniyeh Airport from the access road to Rafiah. The attackers, who had been waiting in ambush, escaped.

Dahan had worked at the terminal for two years, following a two-year stint at a terminal on the Allenby Bridge, on the Jordanian border. She was a diligent worker and a true bridge for peace with the Palestinians. Menashe Gilad, manager of the Rafiah terminal, also said Dahan had done her best to help Palestinian merchants get their shipments through the terminal quickly and easily.

[Resistance]

64. "Look over here!"

pay no attention to the kids who the Israeli Army murdered in cold blood! Instead, look what Palestinian militants did!

[Blitz]

65. Not militants

Murderers.

[GabysPoppy]

67. So it's kids that you want

Let us remember Mordechai Schijveschuurder, his wife Tzira Schijveschuurder and their 3 children Ra'aya, 14, Yitzhak, 4, and Hemda, 2.

Carrying the explosives in a bag strapped to his body, the terrorist entered the Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem just before 2 PM. The 5 kg.-10 kg. bomb, which was packed with nails, screws, and bolts, completely gutted the restaurant, which was full of lunchtime diners.

May God have mercy on their souls and may they also rest in peace.

[Violet_Crumble]

71. What a pity Rachel Corrie isn't shown the same respect...

Instead she's called names, and I see people writing totally insensitive and offensive fake emails to her parents. What's the problem with showing a bit of respect for all the victims in this conflict, instead of getting out the pom-poms and cheering away with a 'look at all the ones on my side!!!' routine...

Violet...

[bluesoul]

73. It's very sad

indeed Violet...

[Resistance]

76. all the murders are terrible

on both sides.

[Blitz]

66. Noam Apter, hero

Staff-Sgt. Noam Apter, 23, from the settlement of Shilo, who studied and worked in the yeshiva, locked the door of the kitchen, preventing the terrorist from entering the dining room, where dozens of seminary students were sitting down to their Sabbath meal.

Apter, the leader of a paratrooper unit, who was on unpaid leave from the IDF, took the courageous decision, even though he could have fled into the dining room. He was shot in the back. He didn't have a chance to use his personal weapon.

A real martyr