Friday 4 June 2010

The Rachel Corrie to be quietly allowed to dock?



kenny's sideshow

Ask any number of average Americans who Rachel Corrie was and few will know.

As the Gaza aid ship of the same name nears its destination, Israel and the US media want to keep her story as hidden as possible.
Haaratz reports:

A diplomatic solution seems imminent to allow the humanitarian aid vessel the Rachel Corrie to dock without incident at the Ashdod Port.
According to European diplomats and senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem, quiet messages have been exchanged over the past few days between Israel and the group operating the ship, to allow it to dock.{more}
Reports are the Corrie was sabotaged by Israeli intelligence. As the lead ship in the flotilla, the name itself was viewed by Israel as a potential PR nightmare. Every US main stream media report I have seen on the ship heading to Gaza does not mention its name, only that it is Irish. No need to stir up old wounds or some may begin to question why the media has buried the Rachel Corrie story for so long and why Hollywood has not made the movie.

On the same note, ask Americans about the USS Liberty. Again few will know. The MSM has done its job on that story too.

Joe Meadors was not only a survivor of the Israeli attack on the Liberty but also made it through unharmed from the attack on the Gaza flotilla.

Early reports of Meadors' first comments ...

“There is no doubt that the Israelis were committing piracy on the high seas against the Freedom Flotilla and used deadly force against unarmed humanitarians whose only crime was defending themselves against a sea and airborne invasion by heavily armed aggressors."

"As a survivor of the June 8, 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty," Meadors said, "I am fully aware of the tactics the Israelis are capable of and willing to use with impunity and without remorse. That time they fired machine guns, cannon, rockets, napalm, and torpedoes on us, then deliberately machine-gunned life rafts we had dropped over the side in anticipation of abandoning ship. And the only response from the American government was to impose a gag order on the crew of the USS Liberty."

"This time, too," Meadors continued, "the Israelis have shown no remorse, and I fear that the US government is again granting them impunity." {more}

and ...

"All of our cameras and digital media devices were confiscated, the Israelis are controlling the images that people are seeing on TV. Many people seem unaware that one of the ships, the Challenger I, is a U.S.-flagged vessel. ... Talk about an investigation of this brings home to me that the U.S. government still has not conducted an investigation of the USS Liberty attack by Israel which killed 34 Americans in 1967." {more}

I doubt if we're going to see a CNN or Fox interview with Mr. Meadors.

The latest report is that a US citizen was killed, shot 5 times in the Israeli flotilla massacre.

As with Rachel Corrie and the USS Liberty ...

Israel doing what it does best ..... getting by with murder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update from Freegaza via Mantiq

And sabotage happens with more than deeds. It also happens with words. In today's Haaretz, Barak Ravid reported,
"A diplomatic solution seems imminent to allow the humanitarian aid vessel the Rachel Corrie to dock without incident at the Ashdod Port. According to European diplomats and senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem, quiet messages have been exchanged over the past few days between Israel and the group operating the ship, to allow it to dock."

This, too, is sabotage in writing. We called Haaretz and the reporter. He did not return our call.
We have no intention nor would we ever have any intention of ever docking in Ashdod. {more}
Posted by kenny's sideshow at 8:34 AM  
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israeli Colonel admits sabotaging civilian aid ships; the Rachel Corrie to take extra precautions

Free Gaza Press Release
(Cyprus, June 4, 2010) On Tuesday, Colonel Itzik Tourgeman told the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that two more ships are on their way to try and break the naval blockade of Gaza. The head of research in the operations division said, "The ships have not
reached their target as of today because covert action was taken against them." http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/187299


We had suspicions about our two boats, Challenger 1 and 2 and their mechanical problems as they sailed toward the flotilla, but we were not going to say anything unless we could prove it. Turns out we didn't have to prove it. Israeli mouthpieces did.

The Guardian ran a piece the same day, saying, Israel gave strong indications today that its forces had secretly sabotaged some of the ships bound for Gaza as part of the freedom flotilla.

Matan Vilnai, the deputy defence minister, was asked on Israel Radio whether there had not been a smarter alternative to direct assault. He answered that "all possibilities had been considered," adding: "The fact is that there were less than the 10 ships that were due to participate in the flotilla."

An unnamed Israeli Defence Force source who briefed the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee on the widely criticised armed interception of the flotilla at sea, also spoke of "grey operations" being mounted against the flotilla."

We were lucky that our two captains were supurbly trained and able to offload the passengers safely.

So we are going to make sure the Rachel Corrie is well protected and that Israel is put on notice that anything that happens to her, the passengers and the crew will rest with Israel. As a result of these threats, we're going to pull Rachel Corrie into a port, add more high-profile people on board, and insist that journalists from around the world also come with us.

And sabotage happens with more than deeds. It also happens with words. In today's Haaretz, Barak Ravid reported incorrectly,

"A diplomatic solution seems imminent to allow the humanitarian aid vessel the Rachel Corrie to dock without incident at the Ashdod Port. According to European diplomats and senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem, quiet messages have been exchanged over the past few days between Israel and the group operating the ship, to allow it to dock."

This, too, is sabotage in writing. We called Haaretz and the reporter. He did not return our call.

We have no intention nor would we ever have any intention of ever docking in Ashdod.

No comments: