UN on Israel's Deadly Assault: Guilty of Summary Executions, Cruel Violations of Human Rights

- UN Human Rights Council Report on Flotilla of Ships Carrying Humanitarian Assistance -

By Greta Berlin

Israeli troops broke international law by storming an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, according to a UN inquiry, which found that the killings of activists on-board were comparable to "summary executions". Today the UN report was issued, a 56-page indictment of Israeli actions the night of May 31.

Although the first 20 pages outline the legal ramifications of Israel's actions, international law, maritime law, and what, exactly the Oslo accords ... accorded, the final 36 pages read like a murder mystery, and you will not be able to put it down. Based on survivor testimony, testimony from crew on board the ships and virtually no testimony from Israeli officials, who don't want to be interviewed, the story unfolds in great detail.

See also Gaza flotilla attack: UN report condemns Israeli 'brutality'.

U.S. Marine Veteran Returns to America as a "Terrorist," Says Israel

- Whose side are we on? -

By Ken O'Keefe

I will be returning to America in the next 36 hours as a publicly accused “terrorist operative”, according to the Israeli military that is. It will be interesting to see how my birth nation will handle me. Especially because I headed to Gaza aboard the Freedom Flotilla in order to “train a commando unit for Hamas” (according to Israel). But even before I was venturing to train commando units I was already on the US “terror watch list”, so it is with much excitement I prepare for departure.



To be honest, having the two greatest purveyors of terrorism and propaganda accuse me of “terrorism” is a massive compliment. Living as we do in George Orwell’s 1984, where black is white and white is black and the truth is nothing but a word, being a “terrorist” is a great thing. You see in this New World Order kind of world those with power speak a language in which words mean the opposite of what they seem. So when Israel and America say they want “peace”, that is Orwellian double-speak for “we are gonna bomb the bastards and steal their resources come hell or high water.”

Its funny actually, the greatest knock I have of myself is my utter failure to learn any language other than English… except for Orwellian double-speak that is. And I realise now that I have been able to understand double-speak for quite some time. Like for instance, when I was in America on 9-11 and everybody was ready to kick some “terrorist butt!” and fight the “War on terror”, I knew plain as day that the actual plan was to carry out yet another war of terror and kill a whole bunch of innocent people. Sadly most of my fellow Americans could not understand double-speak, or I am sure they would have thought otherwise of the plan.

And so here I am, accused and/or suspected of being a terrorist, you just gotta know the language, what they are actually saying is that I am a man with a proven record of humanitarian causes based on truth, justice and the desire for peace. In reality Israel and America are giving me a great compliment!

For clarity's sake, in double-speak “terrorist” translates to humanitarian and/or freedom fighter.

Now I’m no Nelson Mandela but he was paid the same compliment back when he was a “terrorist” convicted by another Orwellian agent, Apartheid South Africa. Who knows, maybe I will likewise be rewarded with imprisonment because I refuse to abandon the lawful right of self-defence?

This is a long-standing language really, back in the day of colonial Britain the “intellectuals” and “leaders” of that era also identified the “terrorists”; today we know them as the Founding Fathers of America.

For clarity's sake, in double-speak “leader” translates to tyrant/traitor, “intellectual” loosely translates to indoctrinated minion.

And such is the nature of the Orwellian language that dominates the “news” and “politics”.

For clarity's sake, in double-speak “news” translates to propaganda, “politics” is the art of deception and corruption.

Anyway, I made my last trip to the States through Canada thinking my travels would be smoother through the north, but the Israeli and Canadian governments are very cozy indeed, accordingly that turned out to be a bit of a miscalculation. My Canadian welcome included two days of “detention” in a Canadian jail before I was released without charge. Welcome to Canada, where I guess they are not able to understand double-speak and apparently thought I was a real terrorist; easy mistake to make when you don’t know the language.

For clarity's sake, “detention” without charge means, you have no human rights.

Eventually I made it south to the “Land of the Free”, while in Hawaii visiting my mother I had a Special Agent of the FBI come to visit me; and so I we chatted for about two hours. He seemed a nice enough chap, but I made clear his boss (FBI Director Robert Mueller) was a traitor with inside knowledge of 9-11. I guess that was enough to get me firmly on the “terror watch-list”, checking in and flying became quite silly after that, but the escorts throughout the airport made me feel real secure in the homeland.

And as if I did not already know, my friends within the airline industry told me that I am most definitely “ON THE LIST!” If you want to know what it feels like to be Jihad Hussein with a massive beard and thick Arabic accent travelling from Mecca to the United States, just come on a trip with me, it is pretty much the same. Actually, it isn’t really; if I were Arab I would have long since found my way into the torture chambers of the state terrorists.

And so I return to America in the next 36 hours, planning on meeting some of the American citizens with functioning brains and hearts that do more than pump blood. There are thankfully more and more such people in the US, and beyond, and it is always great to connect with such people. I will be mostly in the Northwest; Washington, Oregon and California, with a planned visit to Kansas as well. We’ll see if expanding the visit to other places becomes possible, but maybe the good people at Homeland Security have other plans? I suspect they may feel the need to protect the homeland from the likes of me. We shall see.

So if I am sitting in a jail cell or worse in just over a day, please do not think of me alone, think of the unknown amounts of innocent people who rot in jails and dungeons, often tortured, at the behest of the embarrassing, disgusting, criminal US government. And then thank Barack Obama the saviour who ain’t helping them one bit. Nope, Guantanamo Bay and other torture chambers remain.

Now that is change you cannot bloody believe in.

Always great to return home!

Free Gaza Mission Vows Escalation of Struggle Against Israel

- We Americans are all Palestinians. From the two small boats that landed on August 23, 2008, we grew to six ships in the last flotilla that saw nine of our brothers murdered, and will have nine to twelve ships in the flotilla this Fall as we go back to Gaza. To borrow from Dr. King who gave a beautiful anthem for justice in Washington D.C., the Free Gaza movement knows that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. Let us see the day when we can say: "Free at last! free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" -

The international effort to break the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza, shine light on the apartheid system in the occupied territories continues, and gain independence as free men and women will not fail.

Even in the face of mass murder, piracy and assassination, the Free Gaza mission will not back down as a new flotilla prepares for the next freedom voyage to Gaza in which human rights workers will risk their lives for freedom and justice.

Only two-years-old, the Free Gaza mission has changed the world. To the imprisoned, the oppressed, and the murdered in the occupied territories, we say: You are not forgotten. Your suffering will end.

The backlash in lies and smears, and the propaganda campaign by Israel has been extraordinary even by the standards of the pariah state.

But as human rights worker, Ken O'Keefe, writes in these pages:

I will not abandon my brothers and sisters who resist war and occupation. By being labeled a 'terrorist' myself, I join you, falsely accused and persecuted, the Arabs, the Muslims, Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress, the Founding Fathers of America, the eco-warriors, the people of conscience past and present. And so be it, I am a terrorist in the eyes of the American and Canadian Government who puts me on their so-called 'terror watch list.'

Veterans Today calls on all American veterans, supporters and advocates to resist Israel's clear and present danger to the national security of America and the safety of the civilized world. Israel must be stopped, it must be stopped now.

Even as the farce of next week's direct peace talks are played out, the serious work for justice goes on.

For updates on the forthcoming human rights mission, see Veterans Today, Witness Gaza, the Free Gaza Mission, Cultures of Resistance and Al Jazeera.




From the Free Gaza team:

Two years ago today, 44 people from 17 countries were on the Mediterranian heading toward Gaza. We were in two dilapidated fishing boats, the seas were rough, most of us were seasick, and all of us were worried that Israeli military warships would prevent us from getting into the illegally blockaded port of Gaza.

Israel had blocked our communications equipment; our two captains, long-time seafarers were working off compass and pieces of paper. At 3:00 pm, we saw the shores of Gaza, and no Israeli war ship was there to prevent us from sailing in to the raucus shouts, applause and joy of 20,000 imprisoned Palestinians waiting on shore, covering every inch of standable ground.

Except for a few media outlets in the Middle East, our historic trip was ignored. But we had outsmarted the Israeli military machine that had threatened us with bodily harm, cut off our communications equipment and finally, humphed off to ignore us. They had spent millions of dollars trying to stop us. We had spent $300,000 for the boats, captains, crew and fuel, plus a lot of energy and determination. Israel thought we were a bunch of activists who would go away after the first trip.

They were wrong.

We succesfully went in four more times, taking in another 100+ witnesses, European members of Parliament, charity workers from the Gulf, doctors, activists who stayed to work in Gaza, and Palestinians who just wanted to go home and visit. We brought out 38 Palestinians, including students who had visas to attend universities, yet Israel would not allow them to leave.

Although our accomplishments were small, sailing in with no Israeli attempts to stop us set a precedent. They knew the blockade was illegal. They hoped we would go away.

Today, on the second anniversary of that historic voyage, we are still sailing. As one of our activists said after the Freedom Flotilla was attacked, “We have suddenly become sexy. Everyone wants to go with us. We have requests from media around the world asking us to please save them a seat. Even in the U.S., the media wants to come.” It is tragic that 9 men lost their lives to put the blockade of Gaza on the map and equally tragic that thousands of Palestinians have lost their lives with no reaction from the international community.

We have grown from the five of us who began this initiative to hundreds around the world, from the occupied West Bank to occupied New York to India to Australia. From the two small boats that landed on August 23, 2008, we grew to six ships in the last flotilla, and will have nine to twelve in the flotilla this fall. There are boat initiatives in the U.S., the UK, Belgium, Holland, Australia, Canada and Ireland.

Although many in the Western media have tried to spin the story that the Freedom Flotilla was a Turkish effort, it was not. It was an international one. Of the 650 passengers on board, half were Turkish and the rest came from around the world.The Free Gaza movement spearheaded the flotilla, collected the coalition members and helped them find boats to sail. We were the ones with the experience. Now six members of the coalition have the same experience and are eager to sail again.

Although the supplies on the cargo ships were supplies that Israel has forbidden to the people of Gaza, our primary objective has always been to break Israel’s illegal siege on 1.5 million Palestinians, denying them the right to trade, movement and freedom.

We have accomplished only part of what we set out to do…put the imprisonment of Palestinians of Gaza on the front page. But that is not close to being enough.

For those who say we have no right to challenge Israel, we say we do. If governments refuse to act, we, as citizens of the world, will sail. If Israel says they have the right to stop us, we say they do not. We sail from international waters into the waters of Gaza and never come near Israel. If Israel says it has the right to inspect our cargo, we say the cargo is inspected by certified inspectors at the point of embarcation and does not need further inspection. If Israel says the Palestinians have no right to rebuild their society after Israel bombed it to dust, we say they have every right to rebulid. And international law is on our side, not on the side of the occupier.

If Israel says they have the right to attack us in international waters, citing “security issues”, we say, along with an increasing number of Israelis as well as political analysts worldwide, “It is the violence of the occupation that continues to destroy the hope of any security for Israelis and Palestinians. The upholding of international law is the only way to security and peace for any of us.”

So, happy birthday, Free Gaza. We have much more to do. In partnership with the Palestinians, human rights groups and supporters throughout the world, may we continue to sail.We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, donations and advocacy.