Over 200 Palestinians have died in Israeli gulags

The Plague of Occupation Prisons

A Palestinian demonstrator prepare rocks to be thrown during clashes with the Israeli army in Hebron 3 April 2013. Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza were observing a general strike, with prisoners refusing food to mourn the death of a fellow inmate in an Israeli jail. (Photo: AFP – Marco Longari)
 

By: Malik Samara 

Published Wednesday, April 3, 2013

 

Over 200 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons, two of whom died in the past two months. Included in this number are Palestinians with serious illnesses who, if treated, can survive. Yet Israel only offers medical assistance in the form of painkillers, leaving Palestinians like Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh with no possibility of recovery.

 

Ramallah – The world remained largely silent as Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Palestinian held in an Israeli prisoner, died slowly in his shackles.

 

While in prison, Abu Hamdiyeh was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, but only after it was too late. Neglected by the Israel Prison Service (IPS), his cancer had already metastasized and spread to his spinal cord. At the prison infirmary, but received nothing more than over-the-counter pain killers.

Abu Hamdiyeh finally succumbed to his illness at Saroka Hospital in Bir al-Saba. He was 11 years into his 99-year sentence, a term he received in 2002 for taking part in the Second Intifada.

After Arafat Jaradat, who was tortured to death in Israeli custody, Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh is the second son of the city of Hebron to die in occupation prisons in less than two months.

 

As soon as the residents of the city received news of Abu Hamdiyeh’s death, clashes erupted between Palestinian students returning from school and occupation soldiers in Bab al-Zawiya. The clashes spread to the Ofer checkpoint near Ramallah, and to the Masaken area of Nablus.

 

The protests also spread to Israeli jails, where guards used batons and teargas to put them down, resulting in injuries on both sides.

 

Issa Qaraqe, Palestinian Authority minister for prisoners’ affairs, announced that Palestinian prisoners would go on a hunger strike to protest Abu Hamdiyeh’s death, which he described as “premeditated murder.” Qaraqe also pointed out that Abu Hamdiyeh’s body would undergo an autopsy at Abu Dis Hospital, with the participation of foreign doctors.

 

Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoners Club, called for prosecuting Israel in international courts, given the rising number and frequency of violations against Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Since my father was diagnosed with cancer last July, the occupation authorities didn’t provide him with treatment; they deliberately meant for the cancer to spread in his body.

For his part, Abu Hamdiyeh’s son Tariq told the official WAFA news agency that the occupation authorities have declined to give the family a medical report on his father’s condition during his illness and on his death.

 

Tariq went on to say, “Since my father was diagnosed with cancer last July, the occupation authorities didn’t provide him with treatment; they deliberately meant for the cancer to spread in his body.” The deceased prisoner’s son pointed out that there is a 90 percent chance for remission for esophageal cancer if discovered early.

 

In Israeli jails, there are around 1,300 Palestinian prisoners in ill health – about a quarter of the Palestinian prisoner population – according to the Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners. Of those, 130 suffer from serious illnesses, such as cancer.

 

In truth, many prisoners go to prison in good health, only to emerge riddled with illnesses due to negligence, torture, and poor living conditions.

 

Often, Israel releases prisoners after their health dramatically deteriorates so they can die among their families – and allow Israel to deny responsibility. Such was the case of ex-Palestinian prisoner Ashraf Abu Darea, who was also from Hebron. Ashraf passed away a few weeks after his release.

With Abu Hamdiyeh, the occupation authorities ignored many appeals made by human rights groups and NGOs for his release.

 

The Israeli Response

 

Solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, particularly those on hunger strike, has been low-key. Consider Samer al-Issawi who has been on hunger strike for over eight months. According to the physician from the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issawi’s condition is “near terminal.” Issawi is still holding out for support from the Palestinian street.

 

The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to respond to Palestinians who blamed Israel for the prisoner’s death. Netanyahu’s office said that Abu Hamdiyeh died from cancer, claiming that “the Palestinian detainees imprisoned in Israel receive excellent medical attention and are visited by the Red Cross, whereas inmates in Palestinian Authority prisons receive nothing.”

 

In turn, the IPS sought to contain the fallout from Abu Hamdiyeh’s death. The IPS claimed that when it became clear his condition was terminal, the IPS began a process to secure his release, but Abu Hamdiyeh died before the process could be concluded.

 

Yet these justifications could not obscure the panic that hit the occupation forces following Abu Hamdiyeh’s death. Israeli Army Radio reported that Israel put its troops in a state of high alert amid fears that the prisoner’s death may spark riots on the eve of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which occurs in about two weeks.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

HRW OFFICIAL WEBSITE AND TWITTER ACCOUNT HACKED BY THE SYRIAN ELECTRONIC ARMY

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Libya 360°

Human Rights Watch Official Website & Twitter Accounts Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

A Better People – Shedding light on Human Rights, Government, and Politics Via Wrong Kind of Green

The hackers from Syrian Electronic Army have hacked and defaced the official website of Human Rights Watch (HRW) (www.hrw.org) along with 3 of its Twitter accounts. Syrian Electronic Army known as hardcore supporters of Syrian president Bashar ul Assad, defaced the site an hour ago, leaving their deface page which redirects the sites to army’s official forum. While three of Human Rights Watch Twitter accounts were also taken over, one of the accounts is verified account of HRW with 568,467 followers. Other two accounts belong to Hanan Salah, Libyan researcher at Human Rights Watch and third account belongs to HRW Indonesia. Human Rights Watch’s website and Twitter account (https://twitter.com/hrw) were regained a while ago with an apology on earlier Tweets against USA and Saudi Arabia by Syrian Electronic Army.

The accounts of Hanan Salah (https://twitter.com/hananHRW) and HRW Indonesia (https://twitter.com/HRW_id) were still displaying Tweets left by the hackers.

Link of Human Rights Watch targeted domain: http://www.hrw.org/news Mirror of hacked Human Rights Watch domain: http://www.zone-h.org/mirror/id/19515646

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

HRW: Syria rebels attacking Shia and Christian religious sites

Published Wednesday, January 23, 2013

New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch warned that rebel groups appeared to have destroyed or allowed the looting of minority religious sites in northern Syria.

“The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears and compounding the tragedies of the country,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the New York-based HRW.

In the northern Idlib province, where rebels have taken swathes of territory from government forces, the New York-based rights group said opposition fighters destroyed a Shia “husseiniya” – a site for worship and gatherings.

A video published online showed rebels hoisting assault rifles in the air and cheering as the site in the village of Zarzour, taken by rebels in December, burned in the background.

Indiscipline and looting by rebels in some areas has also undermined civilian support for their cause, especially among minority groups.

In the western Latakia province, Human Rights Watch quoted residents as saying gunmen working “in the name of the opposition” had broken into and stolen from Christian churches in two villages.

A resident in Jdeideh, one of the villages, reported that gunmen had broken into the local church, stolen and fired shots inside, after government troops had fled, the rights group said. Local rebels denied they attacked the church, it added.

“While the motivation for the church break-ins may have been theft rather than a religious attack, opposition fighters have a responsibility to protect religious sites in areas under their control from willful damage and theft,” Human Rights Watch said.

Forty-six percent of population rely on agriculture sector, in tatters

Meanwhile, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a statement on Wednesday the livelihoods of about half of the country’s population were threatened as a result of the Syrian crisis.

The UN says that about 80 percent of 10 million Syrians — about 46 percent of the population — derive their livelihoods from agriculture.

“Twenty-two months of conflict has left Syria’s agricultural sector in tatters with cereal, fruit and vegetable production dropping for some by half and massive destruction of irrigation and other infrastructure,” the statement said.

“Destruction of infrastructure in all sectors is massive,” said Dominique Burgeon, FAO’s Emergency and Rehabilitation Division director after a five-day visit to both regime- and rebel-controlled areas.

The FAO said wheat and barley production was halved last year, going from 4 to 4.5 million tonnes in normal years to less than 2 million tonnes.

“Only 45 percent of the farmers were able to fully harvest their cereal crops while 14 percent reported they could not harvest due to insecurity and lack of fuel,” the FAO said.

It highlighted a lack of irrigation because of damage to irrigation canals and a lack of fuel, while the movement of livestock to grazing areas was thwarted.

The survival of livestock, said the FAO, “is compromised by the lack of animal feed and veterinary drugs, the importation of which is hampered by sanctions.”

Poultry farms have also been destroyed in the central provinces of Homs and Hama, and in Idlib in the northwest.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

• URGENT APPEAL FROM CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY IN HASSAKE
• Black Christmas for Syria Christians
• Syrian terrorists threaten to storm two Christian towns
• Attacks on Syrian Christians Reach ‘Pogrom’ Stage

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

How the United States supports Israel’s war crimes in Gaza

Israel is the largest recipient of US taxpayer-funded military aid and these weapons are used by Israel to commit systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians.

---

By Josh Ruebner
HuffPost
27 December 2012

---

BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi holding his 11-month-old son, killed in Gaza on 14 November 2012 by an Israeli airstrike.

On November 18, an Israeli air force pilot flying a US-made F-16 fighter jet fired a missile at the four-story home of the al-Dalu family in Gaza City, killing ten members of the family and two from the al-Muzannar family next door.

An on-site investigation conducted by Human Rights Watch concluded that the attack was a “clear violation of the laws of war” and demanded that those “responsible for deliberately or recklessly committing a serious violation of the laws of war should be prosecuted for war crimes.”

Israel’s bombing of the al-Dalu home was the single deadliest attack in an eight-day offensive last month against the blockaded and occupied Palestinian Gaza Strip that killed at least 160 Palestinians, of whom 105 were civilians and 34 children, according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

Two weeks ago, on International Human Rights Day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the United States works to advance “the universal freedoms enshrined” in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the “right to life, liberty and security of person.” “When governments seek to deny these liberties through repressive laws and blunt force,” she intoned, “we stand against this oppression and with people around the world as they defend their rights.”

Yet, when it comes to US policy toward Palestinians, this rhetoric rings hollow. The United States arms Israel to the teeth, fails to uphold US human rights laws when Israel uses US weapons to commit abuses of Palestinians and, up to this point, has thrown around its diplomatic heft in international forums to shield Israel from the war crimes prosecutions advocated for by Human Rights Watch and others.

Israel’s recent killing of members of the al-Dalu and al-Muzannar families is a tragic reminder of why 15 leading church figures sent Congress a letter in October arguing that “unconditional US military assistance to Israel” plays a role in “sustaining the conflict and undermining the long-term security interests of both Israelis and Palestinians.” These church leaders urged Congress to hold hearings into Israel’s violations of the Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of US weapons to “internal security” and “legitimate self-defense,” and to examine Israel’s eligibility for any form of US assistance, given that the Foreign Assistance Act prohibits US aid to countries that engage in a consistent pattern of human rights violations.

Such a reevaluation of US military aid to Israel, which is scheduled to amount to $30 billion from 2009 to 2018, is desperately needed. Israel is by far and away the largest recipient of US taxpayer-funded military aid and it is patently obvious that these US weapons are being used by Israel to commit systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians. For example, the fighter jet whose missile devastated the al-Dalu and al-Muzannar families very well may have been one of the 93 F-16D fighter jets, valued at $2.5 billion, which US taxpayers financed and transferred to Israel in the previous decade.

However, far from examining Israel’s misuse of US weapons in its most recent attack on Gaza, much less holding it accountable, the Obama administration is moving forward with a proposed weapons deal that would replenish Israel’s arsenal. While Clinton offered platitudes about standing against aggression on International Human Rights Day, the Pentagon was busy that same day notifying Congress that it hopes to ship to Israel 6,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits, which “convert free-fall bombs into satellite-guided ordnance,” and more than 10,000 bombs to accompany them.

On previous occasions when the international community attempted to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes — most notably with the “Goldstone Report” issued after Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in 2008 and 2009, and after Israel killed nine humanitarian activists in international waters who were attempting to deliver goods to Gaza in 2010 — heavy-handed US diplomatic pressure and its threatened Security Council veto prevented effective action being taken.

But now that the United Nations General Assembly has voted to make Palestine a “non-member observer state,” potentially clearing the way for it to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israel may no longer be able to rely on US protection. And as long as the United States refuses to hold Israel accountable for committing human rights abuses of Palestinians with US weapons and keeps the spigot of weapons open, Palestinians should seek redress at the ICC for Israel’s war crimes.

Due to ongoing US funding for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians, it is the only route for families such as the al-Dalu and al-Muzanner to take to receive a modicum of justice.
 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

HRW Double Standards: Gaza Rockets at Zionist Entity Violate War Laws

Local Editor

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip “violated the laws of war” by firing rockets at populated areas in the Zionist Entity during the eight-day war last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

Citing Zionist army figures, HRW said that approximately “1,500 rockets were fired at Israel between November 14 and 21,” of which “at least 800 struck Israel, including 60 that hit populated areas.”
These attacks “killed three Israelis, wounded at least 38, several seriously, and destroyed civilian property,” HRW said, noting that there were also rockets fired from Gaza “that fell short of their intended targets in Israel apparently killed at least two Palestinians”.”Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statem
ents that harming civilians was their aim,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

HRW rejected claims by the armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee that their targeting of Israeli civilians was a legitimate “reprisal for Israeli attacks that killed civilians in Gaza”.

“There is simply no legal justification for launching rockets at populated areas.”

Last week, HRW said Zionist Entity’s attacks on media facilities and journalists in Gaza also violated the laws of war. But the organization didn’t mention the bombing of the Palestinian civil infrastructure and houses in Gaza.

191 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed during that fighting. Most of the Palestinian fatalities were civilians, although Israel says 30 senior militants were among the dead. Four of the Israelis killed by rocket strikes were civilians, and two were soldiers.

HRW said that under the laws of war, “civilians and civilian structures may not be subject to deliberate attacks or attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets.”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Watch Human Right Watch – A Tribute to Prof Richard Falk

By Gilad Atzmon

This week we learned that Human Rights Watch (HRW) has expelled from its ranks top U.N. official Professor Richard Falk.

The juicy details have been kindly supplied by Israeli Hasbara outlet UN Watch blog.“We commend Human Rights Watch and its director Kenneth Roth for doing the right thing, and finally removing this enemy of human rights from their important organization,” said Hillel Neuer, a rabid Israeli supporter as well as Executive Director of UN Watch. “A man who supports the Hamas terrorist organization, and who was just condemned by the British Foreign Office for his cover endorsement of a virulently antisemitic book, has no place in an organization dedicated to human rights,”

Hasbara stooge that he is, Neuer using every Zionist trick in the book, misinforms and misleads his readers. First of all, Hamas is not a ‘terrorist organisation’, it is a democratically elected government and the book to which Neuer refers is obviously mine – ‘The Wandering Who’ – which, was endorsed by Richard Falk and some of the most important humanists and scholars of our time– a book which has been a best-seller for six months in both Britain and the USA, has been translated into 10 languages and is available in seven editions in countries that all strictly legislate against any form of racial incitement as well Holocaust denial. The fact is that the Zionists and their ‘Progressive’ twins will have to accept that The Wandering Who is, after all, strictly kosher.

So, Professor Falk did indeed endorse my book and, like all my other endorsers, did not cave into pressure. This is should indeed concern all Zionist and their agents.

 “A transformative story told with unflinching integrity that all (especially Jews) who care about real peace, as well as their own identity, should not only read, but reflect upon and discuss widely.” Professor Richard Falk on The Wandering Who

But the problem is not the tribally oriented UN Watch and its Zionist Executive Director. After all, they only do what we expect Zionists to do – lie, harass, abuse, and, if necessary, fabricate evidence. No, far more interesting is the behaviour of the allegedly ‘progressive’ ‘Human Right Watch’ and its director Kenneth Roth.

On the face of it, HRW is an independent, Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) ‘dedicated to defending and protecting human rights’. But it takes no more than a few seconds of research to find out that the primary donor of the HRW is liberal-Zionist George Soros and his Open Society Foundation – the same Soros and ‘Open’ society that supports most Palestinian NGOs including BDS which may perhaps explain why the BDS in Ramallah was so eager to compromise on that most precious Palestinian right i.e. The Right of Return. Nor will it surprise you to learn that the same Soros who funded HRW has been dedicated to ‘exposing’ of Hamas’ failures on human rights issues? Is this not what you would expect from a liberal Zionist spin meister?

In my new satirical work, A Glossary of Zionist Power which I am now completing, I include entries for Soros and his Open Society. In the book, Soros is a ‘Jew who supports a lot of good causes that are also very good for the Jews’ and The Open Society Foundation ‘is dedicated to the transformation of deprived people into Guardian readers’. Surely I will now have to add an entry for the HRW and Roth. Both are nothing short of ‘Zionist fig-leaves’ and, like all Jewish progressive outlets that are dedicated to Jewish tribal and ethno centric campaigning, HRW is there to monitor, control and even stifle any criticism of Israel if it should ever get too close to the bone, i.e. touching on the Jewish character of the Jewish state,

Prof’ Falk had little chance of surviving within such a tribal milieu and the reason is pretty simple. Unlike Zionist Neuer, Liberal Zionist Soros, and ‘Anti-Zionist Zionist’ Roth, Prof’ Falk actually represents the ultimate success of the Zionist project. Early Zionism promised to transform the Jews into ‘people like all other people’. Zionism vowed to bring to life a Jew who transcends the tribal, a Jew who think universally and ethically. Early Zionists also believed that such a transformation could be achieved only in Palestine. Of course, they were wrong but no one can ignore the fact that the greatest and most prolific Jewish universalists are actually Israelis (Prof’ Yishayahu Leibovitch, Prof Israel Shahak, Nurit & Miko Peled, Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, Uri Avneri, Ilan Pappe, Israel Shamir and many, many more). But Prof’ Falk and a few others have managed to achieve a similar goal in the Diaspora. Those Jews whom we most admire and whose integrity we most trust such as Prof’ Norton Mezvinsky, Prof’ Norman Finkelstein, Prof’ Falk  – all have something in common – they do not operate within Jews-only political cells. Unlike JVP, IJAN, HRW and Mondweiss, all of whom are dedicated primarily to promoting Jewish interests, they are dedicated to universal values.
So I argue that Prof’ Falk provides us with a glimpse into the possibility of true Jewish emancipation – the capacity to break out of the mental, intellectual and non-ethical ghetto. Moreover, this latest tale of HRW’s Herem (Kosher expulsion) of one of the greatest humanists of our generation is actually an educational event.

For many years, many of us saw Zionism and Israel as the mother and father of contemporary evil, but now, many of us have come to realise that Jewish progressive politics is every bit as sinister but, unlike Zionism that is only tainted with deception, the Jewish progressive discourse is inherently dishonest – it speaks universal but it thinks tribal.

While our disagreements with Israel and Zionism are clear, the Modus operandi adopted by AZZs and their relentless attempt to dominate the progressive discourse while, at the same time, stifling freedom of expression leave more and more humanists suspicious of any form of Jewish politics – be it right, left or centre.

I like to think that my Wandering Who was the first attempt to discuss these issues openly. I wrote it because I, too, am a wanderer who decided, instead of dwelling on someone else’s land, to leave my homeland. Perhaps Prof’ Falk endorsed my work, because, like myself, he too is a wanderer. He self-reflects, examining his identity and his notion of justice from a transcendental point of view. Like myself, he is an artist, a poet, a man who searches, against all the odds, for beauty, peace and truth. On the other hand, George Soros’ Open Society Foundation which contributed $100 million to HRW just to silence ethically and aesthetically driven souls such as Prof’ Falk and others.
—

The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics in general and Jewish progressive spin in particular Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

HRW expels UN envoy Richard Falk

Posted on December 19, 2012 |

Dr. Richard Anderson Falk (born 1930) was fired as director of the US-based Human Right Watch (HRW) on December 17, 2012 without proper notification. It was the result of a letter sent to Kenneth Roth (Jewish), executive director HRW by Hillel C. Neuer, executive director UN Watch, an Israeli advocay group based in Geneva.

On December 17, 2012 Hillel C. Neuer (Jewish) wrote: “We are shocked to discover that Richard Falk – the U.N. official whose antisemitic remarks and 9/11 conspiracy theories have been condemned by British Prime Minister David Cameron, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay – is a board member of your organization. By legitimizing this racist and enemy of human rights, your organization undermines its own founding principles. We urge you to remove him immediately.”
Calling Richard Falk “antisemitic” is so funny considering Dr. Falk is Jewish himself! Incidently, Dr. Falk, too, suffer from ‘antisemitic virus’. On December 13, in response to my comment on his blog, he wrote: “Rehmat: I almost discarded your comment because of the anti-Semetic overtones of ‘Jew intellectuals.’ I refrained because the substance of your remarks were valuable, and I thought maybe it was an innocent mistake of usage, the appropriate form of which would be ‘Jewish intellectuals.’ I hope that you appreciate the distinction. Best, Richard.”

Dr. Falk was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for the Palestinian Territories on March 26, 2008 to a six year term. Since then, Dr. Falk has been called “antisemitic”, “anti-Israel”, a “self-hating Jew” and “Arab lover” by Israeli leaders and their Zionist cheer-leader in the West. Read here and here and here.

Last week, Professor Richard Falk angered the Zionist entity once again. On December 5, 2012, he called the Zionist entity to abide by and fully implement the cease-fire agreement that was brokered by US-Egypt to end the recent 8-day Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip.

Against all character-assassination by Israel Lobby, Dr. Falk has refused to resign from his United Nations’ position.

What is HRW? Under president Clinton, the New York-based HRW was the most influential pro-intervention lobby: its ‘anti-atrocity crusade’ helped drive the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. Under Dubya George Bush it lost influence to neoconservatives, who have their own crusades. The neoconservatives (both Zionist Jews and Christians) work and lobby for Israel – while HRW was founded on belief in the superiority of American values. It has close links to US foreign policy elites and to other interventionists and expansionist lobbies.

Kenneth Roth was hired by HRW executive director Aryeh Neir (Jewish) in 1987. In 1993, Aryeh Neir left HRW to become president of Jewish billionaire George Soro’s ‘Open Society Institute’. Since then, Roth is running the HRW. Jewish groups and individuals like George Soro, Irene Diamond, Lewis Cullman, Leon Levy, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Robert Bernstein, Edgar Bronfman Jr., etc. are the major sponsors ($100,000 +) of the HRW.

Now, in order to be fair to Kenneth Roth, I must point out that his 2010 response to the “wipe Israel off map“, the Jewish Memri’s lie, earned him the medal of “antisemitism” from the Jewish lobby groups. Asked in 2010 about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statement that Israel “must be wiped off the map,” Roth suggested that the Iranian president has been misunderstood. “There was a real question as to whether he actually said that,” Roth told Zionconservative The New Republic, because the Persian language lacks an idiom for wiping off the map.
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Caught in the Act

by Stephen Lendman

 

Washington wages direct and proxy wars dirty. Favored allies are cold-blooded killers. Cutthroats are America’s favorites. The more vicious the better. America’s so-called responsibility to protect (R2P) is a license to brutalize and kill.

 

Guns for hire willing to commit unspeakable crimes for a buck are recruited, armed, funded, trained, and deployed to commit the most heinous ones imaginable. Nothing too gruesome is out of bounds. Killing goes on daily like sport.

 

Massacres are strategically timed. Last June, death squads murdered over 100 Houla civilians. They were executed in cold blood. Children were slaughtered like adults.

 

 

FABRICATION OF THE SYRIAN TERRORIST OPPOSITION
Fabricator Khaled abo Salah posted on his facebook account pictures calming to be “the massacre of Hawli” while in fact it is form the massacre of Karm Al Zaitoun made by the terrorist fundamentalist gangs of the FSA with their signatures on the walls.. they killed and mutilated many families following their systematic genocide after they rape women infront of the children they shoot the women then kill the children

Pro-government loyalists were targeted. Assad was wrongfully blamed for terrorist killings and atrocities. It wasn’t the first time or last.

 

Weeks later, death squads murdered dozens of Treimseh civilians. Assad was again blamed. Western and UN Human Rights Council reports were fabricated. Media scoundrels repeated them like gospel. Facts don’t interfere with propaganda. It’s standard policy.

 

Last March, a rare exception reported accurately. Der Spiegel discussed the “Homs burial brigade.” An insurgent “executioner” said he and comrades “kill in the name of the Syrian revolution. They leave torture (to) the so-called interrogation brigade….”

 

“They do the ugly work.” He believes in violence, he explained. He “cut the throats of four men.” He machine-gunned many more. Executions happen regularly, he said.

 

Assad loyalists are targeted, brutalized and murdered. Women and children aren’t spared. Der Spiegel’s “executioner” article explained. The publication said little more by way of follow-up.

 

Last March, Human Rights Watch also reported on Syrian “Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses.” An “Open Letter to the Leaders of the Syrian Opposition” accused them of targeted killings, summary executions, kidnappings for ransom, torture, hostage taking, and other violent crimes.

 

HRW’s moment of truth didn’t last. It’s a reliable imperial ally. Amnesty International and similar groups replicate its anti-Assad propaganda. They’re well funded to support US interests.

 

The latest death squad atrocity was too obvious to conceal. On November 1, Reuters headlined “Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers in checkpoint attacks,” saying:

 

Attacks occurred on three Saraqeb checkpoints. They straddle Syria’s main north/south highway. Even Assad opposition supporters can’t hide what happened. Video evidence showed it.

 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville called it “very likely that this was a war crime, another one.”

 

“Accountability will follow,” he added. How and in what form he didn’t say. Expect little more than rhetoric.

 

Throughout the conflict, Washington Post reports have been consistently one-sided. This time, fingers pointed the right way. “Syrian rebels execute unarmed government soldiers; dozens killed in fighting,” it said.

 

Graphic video footage documented what happened. It’s “not the first time that rebel fighters appear to have committed war crimes.”

 

Summary executions happen regularly. Soldiers and pro-Assad loyalists are targeted. Video posted online Thursday was filmed at Saraqeb’s Hamisho checkpoint.

 

“It shows rebel fighters kicking and insulting government soldiers, who are spread out on the ground. Some of them appear to be wounded.” One pleaded: “I did not hit anyone, by Allah. I did not kill anyone.”

 

“The man filming the video tells the soldier to shut up and directs his comrades, ‘Organize them for me.’ The fighters pull the soldiers to the center of the room and open fire on the group, kicking up clouds of dust. The shooting continues for 20 seconds.”

 

“A second video posted online Thursday, which appears to have been filmed shortly after the execution, shows at least three other bodies spread out around the checkpoint.”

 

“The man filming approaches two of the bodies and says, ‘The shabiha of Assad, the dogs.’ ”

 

The term refers to pro-Assad fighters defending Syria against Western-recruited death squads. In other words, they’re anti-imperial resistance fighters. Western reports call them terrorists.

 

New York Times reports also have been consistently one-sided. Covering up this atrocity isn’t possible. It headlined “UN Says Syria Execution Video Shows Apparent War Crime,” saying:

 

Video circulating online shows “antigovernment fighters armed with rifles kicking and summarily executing a group of captured soldiers or militiamen could, if verified, represent evidence of a war crime to prosecute the perpetrators.”

 

Human Right Watch consistently targets Assad. It also accused Syrian opposition forces of torture, other atrocities, and summarily executing security forces and pro-government loyalists in Aleppo, Latakia, Idlib, and elsewhere.

 

On November 1, Amnesty International headlined “Syria: Armed group carries out summary killing of security forces in Idlib,” saying:

 

Video footage showed armed militants “carrying out a mass summary killing of men in their custody.” They were beaten, kicked and shot multiple times. AI’s Ann Harrison said:

 

“This shocking footage depicts a potential war crime in progress, and demonstrates an utter disregard for international humanitarian law by the armed group in question.”

 

“Amnesty International has so far been unable to confirm the identity of the armed group that carried out these summary killings, and no group has yet claimed responsibility.”

 

“But we will continue to investigate the incident and once again urge all sides to respect the laws of war and to refrain from torturing, ill-treating or killing their prisoners.”

 

AI consistently is anti-Assad. Harrison’s comments were less than fully forthright. She and other AI staff regularly blame Assad for death squad killings and atrocities.

 

Press TV aired the disturbing video. These are the people Washington gets in bed with.

 

On November 2, Voice of Russia headlined “Bloodbath in Syria,” saying:

 

Western-recruited death squads kept on killing throughout the Id al-Adha truce and after it ended. It’s “unthinkable (that) the United Nations was unable to condemn them.”

 

Failure reveals duplicitous Western standards. Dozens died needlessly. Opposition forces attacked security forces, civilians and government offices. Schools, mosques, and childcare centers are fair game.

 

Washington wants Syria defeated by terror. Doing so risks regional chaos. It’s “no exaggeration to say that stability in this key region hinges on further developments in the Syrian crisis.”

 

America can easily stop conflict by calling off its dogs. Peace and stability undermines its imperium. Violence furthers it. Hired guns are used for that purpose. Syria’s being ravaged and destroyed. Olive branches Assad extends are summarily rejected.

 

On October 30, Syrian expert Patrick Seale headlined “Time for National Reconciliation in Syria.”

 

It’s long past time, but how?

 

Despite convincing evidence disputing him, he thinks Syria can be “saved from destruction and national disintegration.” What are the obstacles, he asked?

 

Deep wounds must be healed. How can they be when Washington won’t let them? Seale admits there’s “no readiness for reconciliation on either side.” He’s half right. Assad wanted it since last year. Repeated overtures were rebuffed.

 

Militant extremists also want conflict. They want Sharia law replacing replacing secular Syria. Most Syrians want no part of it.

 

Seale thinks no one wants direct military intervention. Others call that wishful thinking. Washington has longstanding regime change plans. All options are considered. If nothing else works, expect NATO involvement.

 

Establishing pro-Western governance in Syria is key to isolating Iran and repeating the process. War plans were made long ago. They remain options of choice.

 

Seale is right saying Syrians and other regionally must choose who’ll rule them. Intervention in the internal affairs of sovereign countries violates international law.

 

One day perhaps America, key NATO partners, and Israel will observe it. So far doing so is nowhere in sight. Don’t expect it as long as imperial ambitions eclipse other priorities.

 

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

 

His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”

 

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

 

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

posted by Steve Lendman @ 11:04 AM  

 

UN finally realizes terrorist groups responsible for Syrian bombings

US Churches say what Human Rights Watch doodles around

Via FLC

“… Fifteen leaders of U.S. churches and other faith-based organizations have asked Congress to reevaluate U.S. military aid to Israel.The religious leaders sent a letter to Congress members on Monday, calling for an investigation into possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which would make Israel ineligible for U.S. military aid.
“As Christian leaders in the United States, it is our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional U.S. financial assistance to the government of Israel. Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued U.S. military assistance to Israel – offered without conditions or accountability – will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories,… …  

We request, therefore, that Congress hold Israel accountable to these standards by making the disbursement of U.S. military assistance to Israel contingent on the Israeli government’s compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies….  

We write to you as Christian leaders representing U.S. churches and religious organizations committed to seeking a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter said, adding that the organizations have “worked alongside our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers to help build a peaceful and resilient Palestinian civil society.” The signatories said they were writing to Congress “to express our grave concern about the deteriorating conditions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories….

Accordingly, we urge an immediate investigation into possible violations by Israel of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Arms Export Control Act which respectively prohibit assistance to any country which engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations and limit the use of U.S. weapons to “internal security” or “legitimate self-defense.” ….

More broadly, we urge Congress to undertake careful scrutiny to ensure that our aid is not supporting actions by the government of Israel that undermine prospects for peace. We urge Congress to hold hearings to examine Israel’s compliance, and we request regular reporting on compliance and the withholding of military aid for non-compliance.

In addition to specific rights violations, we see a troubling and consistent pattern of disregard by the government of Israel for U.S. policies that support a just and lasting peace. Specifically, repeated demands by the U.S. government that Israel halt all settlement activity have been ignored. Since 1967, every U.S. administration has decried Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as obstacles to peace. Despite this stance, Israel continues to expand its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, claiming territory that under international law and U.S. policy should belong to a future Palestinian state. The Oslo peace process, which began in 1993, was publicly promoted as leading Israelis and Palestinians to a just peace based on a two-state solution. Instead, since 1993, the number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has more than doubled. Rights violations resulting from Israeli settlement activity include separate and unequal legal systems for Palestinians and settlers, confiscation of Palestinian land and natural resources for the benefit of settlers, and violence by settlers against Palestinians.

The letter was criticized by AIPAC…..”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 8:38 AM

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Sixty-six loyalists executed on day of Gaddafi killing: report

A Libyan citizen soldier smokes a cigarette next to graffiti depicting slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the coastal city of Benghazi on 12 October 2012. Citizen soldiers who became heroes for toppling Gaddafi last year are now being widely blamed for the country’s woes, refusing to disarm and snubbing the new authorities. (Photo: AFP/Abdullah Doma)

 

Published Wednesday, October 17, 2012

 

New evidence has come to light implicating Misrata-based rebels in the execution of 66 detainees following the capture and death of Muammar Gaddafi at Sirte, a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday said.

The report also alleges that a captured Gaddafi was brutally murdered by the rebels, contrary to Libyan authority claims that the former dictator had died in a cross-fire.

Video evidence shows a still alive Gaddafi being heavily beaten, and stabbed in the buttocks by a bayonet, with his ostensibly lifeless body being thrown into an ambulance shortly afterward. His publicly displayed corpse revealed a wound in the neck not seen in the video footage, mostly taken by rebels’ phones.

The phone videos also indicated that scores of captives had been executed in what HRW said was the largest documented execution of detainees by anti-Gaddafi forces in last year’s eight-month conflict in Libya.

“In case after case we investigated, the individuals had been videotaped alive by the opposition fights who held them, and then found dead hours later,” said Peter Bouckeart, emergencies direct at HRW.
“Our strongest evidence for these executions comes from the footage filmed by the opposition forces, and the physical evidence at the Mahari Hotel, where the 66 bodies were found.”

Hospital morgue photos established that at least 17 of the detained in phone videos were executed at the Mahari hotel.

HRW says the evidence also indicates that the late dictator’s son, Mutassim Gaddafi had been wounded in the battle at Sirte, taken to Misrata and was killed there.

The advocacy group suspects that authorities has not undertaken an inquiry into the events of the fateful day, despite claiming that it has.

International law prohibits the execution of prisoners of war, and the United Nations Security Council has tasked the International Criminal Court with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed in Libya after February 15, 2011.

(Al-Akhbar)

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!