See this slideshow from the NY Times
and this incredible picture :
The conclusion of the Turkel Commission that Israel acted within international law and in self-defence during a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships last May ignores substantial proof that Israel fabricated or tampered with evidence, charges the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG).
A study sponsored in October by the International Bureau of Humanitarian NGOs (IBH) and the Friends of Charities Association (FOCA) found “multiple instances of Israeli officials creating false evidence to implement and bolster the government’s version of events. The Israel government also went to great lengths to prevent survivors from discussing the attack or proving their version of the event” by confiscating their film, computers, etc.
“It seems clear that the Turkel Commission relied primarily on evidence supplied by Israel,” said Mazn Kahel, director of the ECESG. “Yet, the FOCA report documented numerous instances of falsification, including manufactured imagery. All traceable efforts to obscure the details of the attack originated from within Israel and its champions. How can the commission’s conclusions be anything but highly suspect?”
The ECESG insists that only an independent commission – not one led by a retired Israeli Supereme Court judge – that examines all evidence, including the testimonies of the flotilla passengers, can conduct a proper investigation of the Israel Defense Force attack May 31 on six ships in international waters. Nine people on board the Mavi Marmara flotilla ship were killed, and many others injured.
The ECESG will participate in a second large flotilla due to set sail for Gaza in the spring. “Israel’s actions in the past and its threats regarding the future won’t deter us,” said Mr. Kahel. “We will not stop until Israel’s siege of Gaza ends and the 1.5 million people regain their freedom.”
The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an umbrella group of 34 European human rights and humanitarian organisations that have come together to collectively pressure the international community and Israel to end the siege on Gaza’s civilian population.
Sex And The Wailing Wall
Publisher: Journeyman
Length: 52mins
Location: Israel/Palestine
Copyright: ©758
Published: 21 Jan, 2011
Last Updated: 21 Jan, 2011
Ref: 5043
Length: 52mins
Location: Israel/Palestine
Copyright: ©758
Published: 21 Jan, 2011
Last Updated: 21 Jan, 2011
Ref: 5043
You can rent it for one pound here
A band of brave Jewish women are fighting back for the right to raise their voices at the Wailing Wall. The holy site is the most potent symbol for Jews. Yet it is dominated by the ultra-Orthodox who seek to maintain segregation of the sexes and limit the rights of women who want to pray there. Now a group of women are challenging the iron grip of the reactionaries and demanding reform.
“This is not the local custom” Shira shrieks as she tries to rip the Torah scroll from the ‘Women of the Wall’. The police struggle to restrain her as her hands clench around the scroll. “You’re Amalek! You’re Arafat!” Another woman screams. The ultra-Orthodox women have surrounded the group. “They opened a Torah scroll! Why are you standing around?” Chief Rabbi Rabinowitz shouts as he runs into the women’s area; his side-locks trailing behind him. “Forbidden! Women can’t read Torah”. For fifteen years this is the chant the ‘Women of the Wall’ have been facing. This intensity betrays the fact that there is more going on here than sex politics. The Women of the Wall’ are not only fighting a battle of the sexes, they’re fighting the entire weight of Jewish tradition. “How can they be so sure they are right?” Is the question they put to Judaism as they try to change a religion that has enshrined their religious inferiority. “It’s inconceivable that everyone should do as they see fit. It’ll end up a circus!” Is Rabinowitz’s response. The establishment has continually used ridicule and belittlement as tools in the fight against these women’s campaign for change. “We want the scroll of independence, not the dead sea scrolls”, says Anat Hoffman, leader of ‘Women of the Wall’. Each month the cat & mouse games continue with the ultra-Orthodox chasing the women around whenever they dare reveal their scroll, or raise their voices in prayer. Hoffman has been arrested again and is now forbidden from returning to the wall.
Comments