FLYTILLA activists in Israeli prison 'held like dogs'



Flytilla activists in Israeli prison held like dogs, with cockroaches in blistering heat

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo: Kathy Kelly and Missy Lane, US Boat to Gaza, deported from Israel
A dark day for Israel, US and Greece
UPDATE MONDAY: 40 French held in detention, including nine-year-old

Flytilla activists trying to reach Palestine were imprisoned, and transported with cockroaches in blistering heat, according to Aljazeera reporter David Poort, arrested with Flytilla activists. On Monday, Israeli authorities said the majority of the 120 who were denied entry remained imprisoned.
The French Consulate said 40 French are in detention, including a nine-year-old. Another 200 activists were prevented from boarding planes in Europe, resulting in protests and arrests in Paris.
Two American women from the Gaza Flotilla II were deported from Tel Aviv airport by Israel on Friday, as imprisoned Flytilla activists from Belgium began a hunger strike in Beer Al-Saba prison.
"We were held like dogs," Poort said, upon release from prison.
Poort reported in Aljazeera, with photos from the bus transport.
"Ten men were crammed into a space of roughly 3X5 square metres that was infested with cockroaches. The activists on the bus started singing and chanting and demanded to see a lawyer, but were told by the Israeli border police to 'shut up' and were threatened with violence if they didn't.
"I don't want to hurt you but I certainly will if I have to," shouted an officer after opening the door to the cell in which the activists were held. When the singing and chanting continued, the border police officers started spraying water through the bars of the cell. 'Dogs are treated better in my country,'" Bilal, a 24-year-old student from Brussels, said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/07/201171173732684155.html
The US Boat to Gaza reports that Kathy Kelly and Missy Lane, from the US in both the flotilla and flytilla, were put on a plane back to Athens at the Tel Aviv airport.

The US Boat to Gaza said, "Wearing US Boat to Gaza shirts, they were told they're denied entry to the country for security reasons and were put on a plane back to Athens.

"Arriving at Tel-Aviv airport earlier today, US Boat to Gaza members were taken to what Israeli guards called 'the immigration hotel' and deported," the boat delegation said on Friday.
Peace activists arriving by plane in Tel Aviv, were imprisoned without any charges filed.
On Monday, the French Consulate said 40 French were among those being held, including a nine-year-old, who clearly represented no danger to Israel.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2179505&Language=en
On Sunday, 13 Germans, 22 Belgians and a Spanish activist were placed on two flights for deportation, after being imprisoned.
Also on Sunday, RT News reported that attorneys are being denied access to activists being held in Israeli prisons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmLFunKgz2M
Elderly activists from Britain were denied food and water, while being crammed into small prisoner transport vehicles, without air conditioning for hours, and taken to prison. They included John Lynes, 83, a retired academic, and Audrey Gray, 77, a retired nurse and Methodist lay preacher.
Twelve people from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign -- British, Welsh and Scottish -- were held at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Friday. The group’s chairman, university teacher Mick Napier, 64, was one of four Scots detained.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/868904-facebook-and-twitter-used-by-israel-to-bar-pro-palestine-protest-groups#ixzz1RkDcRfM0
Women from Belgium, and an Irish woman who now lives in Wales, are among those reported imprisoned.
Wales Online reports four women shackled and imprisoned: Pippa Bartolotti, 57, the deputy leader of the Wales Green Party, Dee Murphy, 56, from Swansea, a founder member of Swansea Palestine Community Link, Fiona Williams, 46, from Mumbles, and Joyce Giblin from Newport. http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/07/10/four-welsh-women-arrested-in-israel-flytilla-protest-91466-29025935/#ixzz1RiE0ZRz1
The International Solidarity Movement reported during the weekend, "Over 120 internationals attempting to visit Palestine are still being illegally detained — kidnapped — in two Israeli detention centers, in Ramle and in Beer Al-Saba’ (Beersheva). These friends of Palestine, among which there are minors and elderly persons with medical conditions, have been and are being mistreated and subjected to unnecessary brutality.
"For example, Dr. Hikmat Al-Sabty, 57, of Rostock, Germany, is being denied needed medication that is in his suitcase; this was reported to his wife by the German Embassy in Tel Aviv, but his wife has not been allowed to speak with him directly. All of those detained have stated repeatedly that they are non-violent and want only to accept the invitation to visit together with Palestinian friends in the program 'Welcome to Palestine.'"
In Beer Al-Saba prison, eleven Flytilla activists, including one 16-year-old girl, began a hunger strike in protest over the airflotilla detainment. A message was taken out by a German who was released, with their demands:

1) Immediate and unconditional freedom to travel to Palestine and take part in the activities of “Welcome to Palestine”
2) Immediate and free access to the other groups of the initiative
3) Access to international communication so that we can directly inform our families and friends
4) The European states have to defend the interests of their citizens and their humanitarian and political rights – especially the right of free movement
5) An independent investigation of the attitudes and the practices of the European airlines
Meanwhile, the French boat Dignity in the flotilla was allowed to leave Crete on Saturday.
Flytilla activists were halted from boarding their planes in Europe this week, while others were deported or arrested at the Tel Aviv airport. Protest followed in Paris.
Facebook helped governments spy on, and arrest, Flytilla activists to Palestine and aided in the creation of airline blacklists:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/censored-by-facebook-facebook-helped.html
Before the US activists departed for the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II, the Obama Administration, and the US State Department, threatened peace activists with fines and arrest if they participated.
The US Boat to Gaza carried letters of friendship and support for Palestinians.
.

Watch Freedom Flotilla Live Webcast

LIVE WEBCAST:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/freedom-flotilla-ii

American Indian Movement's Jimbo Simmons is among the delegates, with the Free Palestine Delegation
Watch below video of earlier press conference. Post chat messages to flotilla.
Livestream is free, so there's an ad at the beginning


Video clips at Ustream

UPDATE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 29, 2011


Audacity Invites Media to Inspect
Boat and Passengers
"We're Sulfur-Free and Ready to Sail"

Passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope, invite Greek and international media to inspect The Audacity of Hope at 3 pm Athens time on Thursday, June 30, in the town of Perama (next to Piraeus), 42 Democratis.

The entire boat will be open for view, photography, and video. The captain, crew, and passengers on the boat will be available for interviews and inspection. The cargo of the ship - 3,000 letters from Americans to the people of Gaza - will also be available for view, photographs, and video. Everything that will be on the boat when it sets sail, including food and passengers' personal medications for use during their voyage, will be available for inspection.

The Audacity of Hope was inspected by Greek officials on Monday, June 27 after a complaint was lodged by an Israeli group that the vessel was not seaworthy. We have not yet received notification of their findings nor a copy of their report, but we are certain that our boat is up to code. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have made outrageous allegations that passengers on the flotilla will be bringing "sacks of sulfur" to pour on Israeli soldiers. Even Members of Israel's own security cabinet have dismissed these charges as "media spin" and "public relations hysteria."* We invite the media onto our boat to conduct a thorough inspection. We are confident that such an inspection will show that our boat is "sulfur-free" and ready to sail.

"On behalf of the 36 passengers and 4 crew on The Audacity of Hope, I invite the media to ask us anything, inspect anything, taste our food, look inside our bags" said Gale Courey Toensing, a passenger on the American boat. "Our voyage is totally transparent and we have nothing to hide. All we want to do is sail to Gaza with our cargo of letters from Americans to the people of Gaza."

* "Israel ministers slam flotilla threat as 'spin'", Agence France Presse 6/29/11
For regular updates follow the US Boat to Gaza on Twitter: http://twitter.com/usboattogaza and visit the US Boat to Gaza website.
GET ON BOARD THE U.S. TO GAZA CAMPAIGN
VISIT http://www.ustogaza.org/

Subcomandante Marcos on Gaza

Of sowing and harvests:

Subcomandante Marcos

Speech on Gaza at Digna Rabia, Chiapas

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Two days ago, the same day we discussed violence, the ineffable Condoleezza Rice, a US official, declared that what was happening in Gaza was the Palestinians' fault, due to their violent nature. The underground rivers that crisscross the world can change their geography, but they sing the same song.
And the one we hear now is one of war and pain.
Not far from here, in a place called Gaza, in Palestine, in the Middle East, right here next to us, the Israeli government's heavily trained and armed military continues its march of death and destruction.
The steps it has taken are those of a classic military war of conquest: first an intense mass bombing in order to destroy "strategic" military points (that's how the military manuals put it) and to "soften" the resistance's reinforcements; next a fierce control over information: everything that is heard and seen "in the outside world," that is, outside the theater of operations, must be selected with military criteria; now intense artillery fire against the enemy infantry to protect the advance of troop to new positions; then there will be a siege to weaken the enemy garrison; then the assault that conquers the position and annihilates the enemy, then the "cleaning out" of the probable "nests of resistance."
The military manual of modern war, with a few variations and additions, is being followed step-by-step by the invading military forces.
We don't know a lot about this, and there are surely specialists in the so-called "conflict in the Middle East," but from this corner we have something to say:
According to the news photos, the "strategic" points destroyed by the Israeli government's air force are houses, shacks, civilian buildings. We haven't seen a single bunker, nor a barracks, nor a military airport, nor cannons, amongst the rubble. So--and please excuse our ignorance--we think that either the planes' guns have bad aim, or in Gaza such "strategic" military points don't exist.
We have never had the honor of visiting Palestine, but we suppose that people, men, women, children, and the elderly--not soldiers--lived in those houses, shacks, and buildings.
We also haven't seen the resistance's reinforcements, just rubble.
We have seen, however, the futile efforts of the information siege, and the world governments trying to decide between ignoring or applauding the invasion, and the UN, which has been useless for quite some time, sending out tepid press releases.
But wait. It just occurred to us that perhaps to the Israeli government those men, women, children, and elderly people are enemy soldiers, and as such, the shacks, houses, and buildings that they inhabited are barracks that need to be destroyed.
So surely the hail of bullets that fell on Gaza this morning were in order to protect the Israeli infantry's advance from those men, women, children, and elderly people.
And the enemy garrison that they want to weaken with the siege that is spread out all over Gaza is the Palestinian population that lives there. And the assault will seek to annihilate that population. And whichever man, woman, child, or elderly person that manages to escape or hide from the predictably bloody assault will later be "hunted" so that the cleansing is complete and the commanders in charge of the operation can report to their superiors: "We've completed the mission."
Again, pardon our ignorance, maybe what we're saying is beside the point. And instead of condemning the ongoing crime, being the indigenous and warriors that we are, we should be discussing and taking a position in the discussion about if it's "zionism" or "antisemitism," or if Hamas' bombs started it.
Maybe our thinking is very simple, and we're lacking the nuances and annotations that are always so necessary in analyses, but to the Zapatistas it looks like there's a professional army murdering a defenseless population.
Who from below and to the left can remain silent?
Is it useful to say something? Do our cries stop even one bomb? Does our word save the life of even one Palestinian?
We think that yes, it is useful. Maybe we don't stop a bomb and our word won't turn into an armored shield so that that 5.56 mm or 9 mm caliber bullet with the letters "IMI" or "Israeli Military Industry" etched into the base of the cartridge won't hit the chest of a girl or boy, but perhaps our word can manage to join forces with others in Mexico and the world and perhaps first it's heard as a murmur, then out loud, and then a scream that they hear in Gaza.
We don't know about you, but we Zapatistas from the EZLN, we know how important it is, in the middle of destruction and death, to hear some words of encouragement.
I don't know how to explain it, but it turns out that yes, words from afar might not stop a bomb, but it's as if a crack were opened in the black room of death and a tiny ray of light slips in.
As for everything else, what will happen will happen. The Israeli government will declare that it dealt a severe blow to terrorism, it will hide the magnitude of the massacre from its people, the large weapons manufacturers will have obtained economic support to face the crisis, and "the global public opinion," that malleable entity that is always in fashion, will turn away.
But that's not all. The Palestinian people will also resist and survive and continue struggling and will continue to have sympathy from below for their cause.
And perhaps a boy or girl from Gaza will survive, too. Perhaps they'll grow, and with them, their nerve, indignation, and rage. Perhaps they'll become soldiers or militiamen for one of the groups that struggle in Palestine. Perhaps they'll find themselves in combat with Israel. Perhaps they'll do it firing a gun. Perhaps sacrificing themselves with a belt of dynamite around their waists.
And then, from up there above, they will write about the Palestinians' violent nature and they'll make declarations condemning that violence and they'll get back to discussing if it's zionism or anti-semitism.
And no one will ask who planted that which is being harvested.
For the men, women, children, and elderly of the Zapatista National Liberation Army,
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
Mexico, January 4, 2009.

Listen to these words at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell

Mohawk Nation News: Canada's Obscene Part in Gaza Atrocities

THE RULE OF WHAT LAW? CANADA’S OBSCENE PART IN GAZA ATROCITIES – WEAPONS NEED TO BE BURIED

Mohawk Nation News

Jan 7, 2008. How many Palestinian infants, toddlers, children and schools have been bombed by the criminals in charge of Israeli forces in the last few days? What law are they following? An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth! This is primitive barbarity. The Israelis claim if they kill enough Palestinians, Hamas will stop sending in rockets. Conveniently overlooked is the fact that Israelis have built a wall around Gaza to control every Palestinian and everything that comes in and out of the ghetto to deliberately force the people into desperation. Also forgotten is that parts of the new smart bomb, GBU 39, designed for urban warfare, is made in Canadian facilities with the help of government tax breaks and Canada Pension Plan investments. This is obscene!

Gaza is occupied Palestinian territory. The Israelis and Americans toppled the democratically elected Hamas government because it couldn’t control them. The war is being waged on civilians who have no arms nor anywhere to hide. How noble is it for heavily armed Israelis to shoot fish in a rain barrel? The Palestinians have a right to live. They can only lob their homemade rockets into Israel. The Israelis attack them with illegal weapons. All weapons are illegal. Manufacturers should be prosecuted. The weapons collected and buried.

The United Nations is looking more like a bogus organization that serves the interests of a handful of war mongers who are trying to profit by setting up a New World Order. This is where the bankers and war mongers are the bosses and we are supposed to be their slaves. We fear the UN is setting up an “international department of Indian affairs” to control all indigenous peoples and resources worldwide.

Obviously the U.S. cannot broker the peace agreement when they are supporting Israel’s attack and supplying the weapons. We Indigenous went through the same plot. To stop the invading Europeans from killing us all off, we were forced to give up our possessions and territories. We resisted. 115 million of our people died in the biggest holocaust in all humanity. The survivors had to live in concentration camps called “reserves." Today the Israelis and their backers are carrying out the same sequence of events in the Middle East. The UN, US, Canada and Europe are part of this.

The majority of the people in the world are appalled by Israel’s atrocities. They have killed over 500, mostly civilians. Over 2000 have been cruelly injured by illegal weapons made from depleted uranium and phosphorous. Palestinians have reached out to their Arab brothers and sisters whose governments are controlled by the West. Iran could be nuked by the U.S. if they helped their Palestinian family. We know how hard it is to unify. The colonists constantly work at dividing us. We too were starved and abused so they could grab our territories and wreak environmental havoc.

Just follow the “blood money." Canada helps craft and support this cynical conspiracy. Ten percent of income tax goes to the military. The Canada Pension Plan contributions are invested in Carlyle Group and such weapons makers as NG [Northrop Grundman], L3Com, BAESystems, Bombardier, Raytheon, DRS Technologies, Boeing and many more. How many people get their pay check directly or indirectly from the military industry?

Mineral resources to make these deadly bombs and destroy the world are being stolen from our territories that have been left polluted in the process. We constantly object and are threatened and subjected to impoverishment. Our social programs, health care, education and infra structure are cut back or stopped altogether to shut us up. For example, the dissidents of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake Quebec have moved out of their communities and into the bush. They are unwanted because they are trying to stop deforestation, demineralization and water diversion of their territory. The guys trying to control our territories are finding the biggest obstacles are the sovereign legal resistance of the Indigenous people. A huge intelligence network has been set up to undermine and control our people and put out misinformation to us and about us to the public.

Survival is natural. To murder babies, women, men and elders is not natural. The Palestinians are struggling to survive. Those who follow this natural instinct are labeled “terrorist." In fact we are defenders of our people, land, nation, very existence and Mother Earth. Every living creature has a right to carry out the natural instinct for self-preservation. Creation put that in us.

The war mongers tell us we have no right to self preservation. The Palestinians are being forced to live under the apartheid “Indian Act” system of Gaza which is being rammed down their throats. The same apartheid system was imposed on us and continues here. They pulled out papers on us. What are these papers? Why does their paper have more authority than human rights and our lives? Is it because they have a big gun and can constantly threaten us? This is thuggery!

The idea that peace can be bought at the end of a gun has been proven false time after time. Fanaticism has never solved anything. Truly impartial people must be found to form a body that can broker a true peace. Peace will come if people learn how to stop being greedy. There has to be a real willingness to assert equality and a voice for everybody. There will never be peace of mind on the terms of the war mongers and their cohorts that want control over us, our land, culture and resources.

According to the Kaianereh:kowa, the Great law of Peace, the grievances felt by people on both sides has to be acknowledged. We, the Rotinoshonni:onwe [Iroquois] have a ceremony called the “small condolence” which we perform before any negotiations. It is all symbolic. The eyes are wiped with the softest skin of the deer so that we may see the issue clearly; the ear is cleared with an eagle feather so that we may listen and hear what is being said; and a glass of clear water is drunk to clear our throats so that only those words that have no jagged edges will come forth.

Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that these few war mongers will look for methodologies that can bring true peace. They are making too much money. If we choose we can organize an economy so that people can be rich without obscene torture, death and famine. First the arms have to be buried.

True peace requires work. These war mongers have to be dealt with. The people have to stop listening to their propaganda. These greedy war mongers don’t have borders and no loyalty to anybody but their bank accounts and their lust for the power of life and death over us. This 3 percent of the population are multi national corporations, their governments, their military and their agents. They own the banks and try to control everything. They fix the economy to hold us hostage.

The Palestinians will not die quietly in the Gaza ghetto from starvation, thirst, bombs or anonymity.

Iakoha’ko:wa, Eagle Watch near Sharbot Lake of Haudenosaunee Territory, MNN Mohawk Nation News http://www.mohawknationnews.com/; iakohakowa@yahoo.ca; katenies20@yahoo.com; kahentinetha2@yahoo.com; Your financial help is needed and appreciated. Please send your donations to PayPal at www.mohawknationnews.com, or by check or money order to “MNN Mohawk Nation News”, Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Nia:wen, thank you very much. Got to MNN “Canada” category for more stories; New MNN books for sale; purchase T-shirts, mugs and more at our CafePressStore http://www.cafepress.com/mohawknews; sign up and subscribe to MNN for breaking news updates at http://mohawknationnews.com/news/subscription.php; and sign Women Title Holders petition at http:/www.ipetitions.com/petition/Iroquois
NOTES: GBU stands for Guided Bomb Unit. The GBU 39 is the newest small bomb which weighs 250 lbs. known for its accuracy and huge explosive power built into it. A plane can carry 4 and drop them separately. Used in Iraq and afganistan in urban warfare. The Gaza is really a refugee camp. Northrop Grunman mades instruments for these units, other warheads, bomber planes and helicopters. The Canada Pension Plan contributions are invested in Carlyle group and companies like NG, L3Com, BAESystems, Bombardier, Raytheon, DRS Technologies and many more.
GBU-39 are made in the U.S. by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Harris Corp. with Viasat Inc. with offices in Canada. The #1 bomb for the “war of terror” because they are small, accurate and very deadly. Excerpts from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb.htm
Photo: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/sdb-pics.htm http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/index.html
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/news/2007/q2/070613b_nr.html
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/missiles/sdb/news/2001/q4/nr_011003b.html
At just 5.9 feet long the bomb increases number of weapons an aircraft can carry, therefore raising the amount of people it can kill in one sortie. Complementing the weapon is a smart miniature munitions carriage system. The munition, with a smart fuze, has been extensively tested against multi-layered targets by Wright Laboratory under the Hard Target Ordnance Program and Miniature Munitions Technology Program. The goal is genocide to wipe out people and make their territory unlivable.
Yaakov Katz wrote an article in the Jerusalem Post on December 29th 2008 that the Israeli Air Force is using new U.S. supplied smart bombs. [ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?] “a new bunker-buster missile made by [and 1000 bought from] the U.S. to strike Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. The GBU-39 missile is a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage. [They] … arrived in December 2008. They penetrate underground Kassam launchers during the heavy aerial bombardment of Hamas infrastructure… It was used in Sunday's bombing of tunnels in Rafah [where civilians are taking shelter]. This 113-kg. bomb can penetrate like a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. It is 1.75 meters long. … It can penetrate at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete… used in any weather and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to pop-out wings”.
“Military Intelligence's Psychological Warfare Department broke into radio broadcasts in Gaza and warned Palestinian civilians not to cooperate with Hamas terrorist activity”. Palestinians received recorded messages on their cell and land phones from the IDF ordering them to immediately leave their homes that IDF purported were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the “terrorist” organization. Defense officials said Israel will not hesitate to target civilian homes who they feel might protect Hamas terrorists. Could this be the reason behind the killing of infants, children and civilians? [ www.montrealmuslimnews.net newslist: montrealmuslimnews-subscribe@lists.riseup.net montrealnews@gmail.com]
Harris Canada Incorporated [of Harris Corporation], 1710-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1P 5G4 phone: 613-567-2912 Fax: 613-567-2920 255 Albert Street, Suite 500 Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1P 6A9 Phone: 613-567-2912 Fax: 613-567-2920 Contacts: Pierre Blais, pblais@harris.com, 613-567-2912 http://www.govcomm.harris.com/harris-canada/ Dollard-des-Ormeaux Quebec plant provides wireless, broadcast, government systems, and network support. Calgary, Alberta plant designs, manufactures and distributes microwave radio systems for wireless communications. Home of Consolidated Automatic Test Equipment Facility (CATEF) of Government Communications Systems Canada (GCSC). Provides avionics and logistics support to the Department of National Defence CF-18 Program. GCSC. Also manages the Canadian Forces Contractor Augmentation Program (CANCAP) which is communication hardware and satellite communications services for the Canadian Forces. Harris Canada Inc. has annual sales that exceed $200M. Has business development offices in Ottawa, Ontario representing Government and Defense Communications Systems and RF Communications groups. Calgary Alberta - 6727 - 9th Street N.E. Canada T2E 8R9 Telephone: 403-295-4770 Fax: 403-295-4765 Bob Fehr, rfehr@harris.com, 403-295-4750