U.N. - 1, Israel - 0
September 22, 2010 5:34 PM Subscribe
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla sailed back in May on a voyage to bring relief to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 718 people were aboard, among them a Nobel peace laureate. Israel intervened in what they reportedly perceived to be a security threat, and in the process of the raid killed 9 and wounded 42. Following the boarding, some 680 of these activists were held in prison and then released. In the end, Israel delivered the cargo, but what of the raid itself? A U.N. Probe released today has found "clear evidence" that Israel's actions "constituted grave violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law". Israel has responded, claiming that the Human Rights Council had a "biased, politicized and extremist approach.' Israel's own investigation into the event is reportedly nearing completion.
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is not an okay post for MetaFilter. These posts go badly here. People are already being jerks in this one. If you want to make a post about I/P issues it needs to not be framed like this. There are many other places on the internet you can go to talk about Israel. You can go to MetaTalk to talk about this if you want to. -- jessamyn
I've said it before, and I'll reiterate:
Not a single fucking cent of American taxpayer dollars should be spent propping up these Likudnik assholes.
posted by Despondent_Monkey at 5:41 PM on September 22, 2010 [6 favorites]
Not a single fucking cent of American taxpayer dollars should be spent propping up these Likudnik assholes.
posted by Despondent_Monkey at 5:41 PM on September 22, 2010 [6 favorites]
Well, I'm sure they will get to the bottom of this.
By shooting a hole in the boat, maybe.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:41 PM on September 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
By shooting a hole in the boat, maybe.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:41 PM on September 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
Usually I associate the word "extremist" with the folks doing the killing...
posted by yeloson at 5:46 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by yeloson at 5:46 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, I'm sure they will get to the bottom of this.
I laugh only to keep from crying.
As a Jew, these stories remind me of Chris Rock's "Niggas vs. Black People".
posted by Joe Beese at 5:49 PM on September 22, 2010
I laugh only to keep from crying.
As a Jew, these stories remind me of Chris Rock's "Niggas vs. Black People".
posted by Joe Beese at 5:49 PM on September 22, 2010
I'm sure Israels report will be sharply self critical - of Israel's faliure to explain to the world that it is unambiguously awesome in all things.
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on September 22, 2010 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on September 22, 2010 [6 favorites]
And the saddest thing is that who the fuck are we to condemn their military for burying evidence of war crimes?
posted by Joe Beese at 5:51 PM on September 22, 2010 [10 favorites]
posted by Joe Beese at 5:51 PM on September 22, 2010 [10 favorites]
These reports are really thin. Is this the Palmer panel appointed by the Secretary General or is this something else?
posted by mr_roboto at 6:18 PM on September 22, 2010
posted by mr_roboto at 6:18 PM on September 22, 2010
My shock-meter has been dead since about 2000, but really fellow Americans -- at the very least don't you give two shits when a fellow citizen is murdered in international waters?
"Oh, oh, oh, but he had a funny brown-person name!"
Jesus Titty-fucking Christ. It was an act of piracy, pure and simple. And we're shooting pirates off the coast of Somalia, as we should.
posted by bardic at 6:23 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
"Oh, oh, oh, but he had a funny brown-person name!"
Jesus Titty-fucking Christ. It was an act of piracy, pure and simple. And we're shooting pirates off the coast of Somalia, as we should.
posted by bardic at 6:23 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Let's not do this.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:23 PM on September 22, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:23 PM on September 22, 2010
These reports are really thin. Is this the Palmer panel appointed by the Secretary General or is this something else?
According to the BBC, this is not the Secretary General's investigation but a separate one that's being reported on.
posted by tybeet at 6:25 PM on September 22, 2010
According to the BBC, this is not the Secretary General's investigation but a separate one that's being reported on.
posted by tybeet at 6:25 PM on September 22, 2010
I prefer not to get involved in this post one way or the other. But this
" However, the probe said Israel's enforcement of a blockade was itself unlawful, since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid.
"For this reason alone, the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law."
either a blockade is or is not legal...one does not decide later on ...in fact that blockade was accepted by a number of nations, including Egypt.
We have blockkae of Cuba, the North Korean can blockade S. Korea if they want because they are still officially at war, and we do this to Haiti
Every day, a United States Air Force cargo plane specially equipped with radio transmitters flies for five hours over the devastated country, broadcasting news and a recorded message from Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador in Washington.
"Listen, don't rush on boats to leave the country," Mr. Joseph says in Creole, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon. "If you do that, we'll all have even worse problems. Because, I'll be honest with you: If you think you will reach the U.S. and all the doors will be wide open to you, that's not at all the case. And they will intercept you right on the water and send you back home where you came from."
posted by Postroad at 6:25 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
" However, the probe said Israel's enforcement of a blockade was itself unlawful, since Gaza was suffering from a humanitarian crisis on the day of the deadly raid.
"For this reason alone, the blockade is unlawful and cannot be sustained in law."
either a blockade is or is not legal...one does not decide later on ...in fact that blockade was accepted by a number of nations, including Egypt.
We have blockkae of Cuba, the North Korean can blockade S. Korea if they want because they are still officially at war, and we do this to Haiti
Every day, a United States Air Force cargo plane specially equipped with radio transmitters flies for five hours over the devastated country, broadcasting news and a recorded message from Raymond Joseph, Haiti's ambassador in Washington.
"Listen, don't rush on boats to leave the country," Mr. Joseph says in Creole, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon. "If you do that, we'll all have even worse problems. Because, I'll be honest with you: If you think you will reach the U.S. and all the doors will be wide open to you, that's not at all the case. And they will intercept you right on the water and send you back home where you came from."
posted by Postroad at 6:25 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't see what we're going to accomplish by discussing this here.
posted by killdevil at 6:36 PM on September 22, 2010
posted by killdevil at 6:36 PM on September 22, 2010
Let's not do this.
Which "this" do you object to our doing? Having an opinion, or stating it publicly?
posted by orthogonality at 6:42 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Which "this" do you object to our doing? Having an opinion, or stating it publicly?
posted by orthogonality at 6:42 PM on September 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
A war-crime is the wholesale extermination of a community. Mai Lai. Dresden. Tokyo. Nagasaki. Sarajevo. Guernica.
This was a border control bust gone sour.
The intense focus on I/P is sickening, and largely detrimental to both sides. Foreigners associate the Israelis (including Berber and Arab Israelis) with european colonialists, or they associate the Palestinians (Including Christian and ethnic Lebanese) with "Filthy Arab Barbarians." Both abuse the hell out of history to make their point. The Zionists asked the Ottomans for permission to immigrate to build a jewish homeland in the 19th century, and they said "Yes." That's an end of it. No backsies, no harping on what the Romans did.
1) Israel does what it does because it (rightly) sees itself separated from holocaust only by American money and it's reputation for being able to wreck anyone's day at any time and place.
2) Palestine does what it does because the rest of the Muslim world, especially Shi'ite Arabs, eggs them on, hoping to be in the cat-bird seat when that New Caliphate comes around. (Much like American ultra-religious conservatives backing Israel because they think it will hasten the end-time.)
The solution is simple (ha! No.) - treat Palestinians as citizens, and prosecute terrorism as a crime, not an act of war - and on the other side, stop pretending you didn't lose in 1948 and declare genocide against the Jews was a terrible idea all around, and lobby for equal representation in the Knesset and land reform in the West Bank.
Because a 2-state solution?
Not gonna happen.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:52 PM on September 22, 2010 [3 favorites]
This was a border control bust gone sour.
The intense focus on I/P is sickening, and largely detrimental to both sides. Foreigners associate the Israelis (including Berber and Arab Israelis) with european colonialists, or they associate the Palestinians (Including Christian and ethnic Lebanese) with "Filthy Arab Barbarians." Both abuse the hell out of history to make their point. The Zionists asked the Ottomans for permission to immigrate to build a jewish homeland in the 19th century, and they said "Yes." That's an end of it. No backsies, no harping on what the Romans did.
1) Israel does what it does because it (rightly) sees itself separated from holocaust only by American money and it's reputation for being able to wreck anyone's day at any time and place.
2) Palestine does what it does because the rest of the Muslim world, especially Shi'ite Arabs, eggs them on, hoping to be in the cat-bird seat when that New Caliphate comes around. (Much like American ultra-religious conservatives backing Israel because they think it will hasten the end-time.)
The solution is simple (ha! No.) - treat Palestinians as citizens, and prosecute terrorism as a crime, not an act of war - and on the other side, stop pretending you didn't lose in 1948 and declare genocide against the Jews was a terrible idea all around, and lobby for equal representation in the Knesset and land reform in the West Bank.
Because a 2-state solution?
Not gonna happen.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:52 PM on September 22, 2010 [3 favorites]
You know, one day our robots will look back at all this and laugh.
posted by nola at 6:56 PM on September 22, 2010 [8 favorites]
posted by nola at 6:56 PM on September 22, 2010 [8 favorites]
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Well, I'm sure they will get to the bottom of this.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 5:38 PM on September 22, 2010 [6 favorites]