RESPONSE TO NETANYAHUS TESTIMONY ON THE FLOTILA

ECESG Response to Israeli PM Netanyahu’s testimony to the Turkel
Commission: Statement is a “pointless pantomime of political propaganda.”

For Immediate Release

Date: 09-08-2010, 15:30 GMT

London, UK: The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza today describes the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as a “pointless pantomime of political propaganda.”

In light of PM Netanyahu’s statement that “Israel is a liberal, democratic country governed by the rule of law, with independent courts, a bona fide parliament, and a free press,” we wish to highlight a number of issues, including:

-Why the footage, cameras and electronic devices of the civilians onboard the humanitarian “Freedom Flotilla” were illegally taken by Israeli authorities and have yet to be returned/or were instantly wiped. All footage should be immediately released and private property returned.

-Why the Mavi Marmara was not preserved as a potential crime scene. Under international law, as the Mavi Marmara was a Turkish flagged vessel, Turkey is responsible for conducting any investigation into any violence which took place on the boat.

-While he legitimately calls for the Third Geneva Convention rights of Gilad Shalit to be observed why does he continue to enact a policy violating the Fourth Geneva Convention rights of 1.5 million civilians in Gaza – which the International Red Cross described on the 14/06/10 as constituting “a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law”SOURCE HERE

-Why his desire to continue “the previous government’s policy of preventing the entry of weapons and war materiel into the Gaza Strip,” meant he should also continue the policy of allowing (according to the UN OCHA) only a “weekly average of 553 truckloads” of goods into Gaza before the “Freedom Flotilla” took place. This is 19.7% of the “weekly average of truckloads that entered Gaza during the first five months of 2007 (2,807).” SOURCE HERE

-Why, though he claims “there was no hunger in Gaza,” UNWRA has stated that “80 per cent of Gazan households are dependent on food aid” and that “207,000 pupils at UNRWA schools receive basic nutrition” in school as they cannot be guaranteed to receive this at home. Thus he has abjectly failed to ensure that implementation of the “the fourth principle of [Israel government] policy [which] was to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” SOURCE HERE

-Why, even since the Israeli government has been embarrassed into taking some small-scale actions after the “Freedom Flotilla” it only allowed “979 truckloads” of goods into Gaza between the 18th to 24th of July 2010 or 34.8% of the 2007 level. Moreover, it is still banning virtually all exports from Gaza at a time when unemployment rates are above 50%. SOURCE HERE

Notes:

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) is an umbrella group of 34 European human rights and humanitarian organisations who have come together to collectively pressure the international community and Israel to end the siege on Gaza’s civilian population.

The “Freedom Flotilla” comprised boats from the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG), Free Gaza Movement (FG), Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), Ship to Gaza Greece, Ship to Gaza Sweden, and the International Committee to Lift the Siege on Gaza

FLOTILLA ECESG PRESS RELEASE

ECESG (European Campaign to End the Seige on Gaza)

Press Release

Brussels, May 29, The “European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza," said that some freed fleet’s vessels are experiencing every now and then Israeli attempts to disrupt the communication process between them, as part of designed moves to prevent the fleet from reaching his goal.

Ameen Abu Rashid, a member of the campaign, one of the founders of the fleet of freedom’s coalition, said that the Israeli authorities, are trying to disrupt the means of wireless communication which is used between ships, during the time that the ships are approching from the point of convergence, in an attempt to impact the pre-defined lanes of the ships, pointing at the technicians on board of the ships are trying to overcome these problems.

Ameen Abu Rashid, who is on board of "The boat 8000", one of vessels of "freedom", said that there were efforts in order to enable a greater number of parliamentarians to join the fleet, which have been stopped by the Cypriot authorities yesterday, saying that the arrival of ships to the point of convergence is expected on Saturday afternoon.

The member of the "European Campaign to End the siege on Gaza," confirmed that it will be on Saturday whether the date of arrival to Gaza will be Sunday morning or Monday, for several reasons, including access to Gaza during the daylight.

The fleet of “Freedom” consists of seven ships which are: A cargo ship funded by Kuwait raising the flag of Turkey and Kuwait, A cargo ship funded by Algeria, and a cargo ship funded by Europe from Sweden and Greece, and 5 vessels to transport passengers; one of the boats is named "boat 8000" taking after the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The fleet settled with carrying 750 participants from more than 60 countries, although it had received dozens of requests for participation. Meanwhile 44 governmental, parliamentary, political, European, and Arab officials will be among the participants in the fleet, including ten Algerian MEPs.

The ships of the fleet also carry more than 10 thousand tons of medical supplies, building materials, timber, 100 prefab houses to shelter tens of thousands of people who lost their homes during the Israeli war on Gaza in early 2009, it also carries 500 electric vehicles for the handicapped, especially since the recent war that left nearly 600 disabled people in Gaza.

BEWARE THE WAR HAS BEGUN

HEADS UP WARNING:

The Zionist propaganda war against the Flotilla has begun. As we know, Israeli announced recently it will attempt to battle the PR war over the flotilla to Gaza by using Government approved hasbara messages and media stunts, along with their armies of online flying monkeys to spread the disinformation. To make people forget about the 1400 people they murdered in Gaza, 400 of which were children like this:


So, just this morning I found this vile little piece of work. DON’T CLICK ON THIS read it all first please. A brand new website has sprung up www.freegazaflotilla.com and notice it is using the name of a legitimate existing humanitarian organisation, e.g. “The Free Gaza Movement Flotilla” The bogus site was only just registered on 27th May 2010, to spread disinformation on the Flotilla and to spread lies about Gaza. See here:

Domain Name: FREEGAZAFLOTILLA.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS35.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS36.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 27-may-2010
Creation Date: 27-may-2010
Expiration Date: 27-may-2011

This site will be one of many to come. But PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLLS by clicking on the link, We don’t want to increase their Google ranking by clicking on it like I ultimately did this morning. I’ve placed it here in this post so you won’t be fooled should you come across it. So let me tell you what happens when you click that link; there is no site at the link, it’s just an immediate redirect to a youtube channel owned by some French Zionist arsehole; who has an extensive list of friends, including the IDF, AIPAC and many more lovely people. The page you land on is a vile video that at first looks like it could be a humanitarian appeal to help the Gazan Civilians, but within a few seconds you see what it really is, a nasty piece of pro-Israel Zionist work. Filled with “photos” claiming to be Gaza markets overflowing with food. But one needs to ask the question, just when did the IDF walk down the street of a market in Gaza City with people smiling at them and waving? When did the IDF supposedly film this nonsense!! My take is that they are video clips and photos of the West Bank, NOT Gaza. And the video goes on to paint Gaza as you would expect from Zionist murdering scum who did this. The video contains a collection of photos that obviously came for a great many years of conflict, some are possibly staged and definitely many years old, especially the photos of “destruction” inside Israel, which, of course is all blamed on Hamas, trouble is, Hamas is not that old, hasn’t been around but a couple of years. Truth is that Israel has been attacked for years by numerous other groups and factions, many within Israel itself, yet this massive collection of photos are all pinned on Hamas and their tiny wee firecracker rockets. Here’s a photo more truthful about the damage Hamas rockets cause:






So,FIGHT BACK WITH THE TRUTH!! and to all you creative Pro-Palestinian humanitarian people who make youtube movies, here is a challenge for you, get going and make a truthful video that refutes these lies, show the world what the Zionists are trying to hide, trying to gloss over, trying to lie, here is the link to the video, be SURE to give it a "Thumbs Down" rating!!

FLOTILLA THREATS AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS

Several new developments on the Flotilla. Firstly, as we know, the Zionist state has threatened the boats, crew, passengers and dignitaries on board the flotilla. And here comes Turkey, giving it right back to the Israeli Pirates planning on attacking the boats. Israel has now been told that if they touch this flotilla there "will be reprisals" and we say "well done" to Turkey!! And in another development, Israel builds a "special camp" where they plan to take the crew, passengers, dignitaries and journalists, once the Zionist pirates capture them at gunpoint. I thought Israel was against concentration camps, go figure....

link The Turkish government sent a secret message to Jerusalem Monday, May 24, threatening reprisals if the Israeli Navy prevents the "Freedom Flotilla" of nine boats from reaching the Gaza Strip on May 27

debkafile's military and intelligence sources report that the Turkish message was an ultimatum to Israel threatening retaliation against Israeli interests. It is backed by the unreported presence of one or more helicopters on one or more of the Turkish vessels for challenging Israeli Air Force support for the naval blockade.

Three boats set sail from Turkey Sunday, May 23, to rendezvous en route with vessels from the UK, Greece, Algeria, Ireland, Sweden and Kuwait carrying 750 assorted pro-Palestinian activists and $20 m worth of cement, medical equipment and schools supplies. The venture, on behalf of the Turkish-based Humanitarian Aid Foundation is sponsored personally by Prime Minister Recep Erdogen. This foundation is quietly sponsored by Turkish intelligence and all its operations, including the Gaza flotilla, the most ambitious yet for breaking the Israeli blockade on Gaza - drawn from the prime minister's office in Ankara.

Our sources report Erdogan has approved a plan of action whereby when Israeli warships and naval commandoes board the vessels to prevent them reaching Gaza, the helicopter carrying the leading activists will take off, fly over their heads and land in Gaza. The assumption is that the Israeli Air Force will not dare to intercept the helicopter and bring it down while still offshore for fear of an international outcry against a purported humanitarian mission.

Jerusalem has not yet replied to the Turkish ultimatum. It is standing fast as yet - barring provocations or shooting from the convoy to gain media attention - by the decision to block the flotilla's entry to a Gazan port. The vessels will be diverted to an Israeli port, if necessary by Israeli naval units boarding them, and the people aboard detained at a special camp thrown up to house them.

Meanwhile, the ECESG said the flotilla will arrive by Friday, among those travelling are 36 journalists working for 21 news agencies, and the boats are equipped with wireless sat transmitters, so the journalists can capture the Israeli pirates terrorizing and attempted kidnapping of the crew, passengers. Not to mention the Israeli pirate's plan to steal the cargo:

link The European campaign to end the siege, a Freedom Flotilla coalition partner, estimated that the ships of the coalition may arrive in the besieged Gaza Strip on Friday.

In a press release on Sunday, the campaign said that the ships are moving according to an arranged plan, adding that three of the ships are carrying 10,000 tons of aid and the others are carrying more than 750 passengers.

This campaign will receive wide media coverage and will be televised worldwide, where the ships were already provided with wireless satellite transmitters and receivers along with more than 36 journalists working for 21 international news agencies aboard.