"Rachel Corrie" Movie Features at Film Fest

From Indiewire:
The Traverse City Film Festival has announced what founder Michael Moore says is “the best movie lineup in its five-year history.” The 2009 edition of the festival - which runs July 28 through Aug 2 - is set to screen 71 features and short films representing more than 30 countries and five continents.

“Greetings from Tehran” and “Palestine and Vine” are two sections of the film festival featuring works from the Middle East, including the new documentary, “Rachel,” about the life and death of Rachel Corrie, an American who sacrificed her life to help the Palestinian people.

“We’re bringing at least one, maybe two, Palestinian filmmakers,” Moore said. “At this time in history, more than ever, we need to hear voices from that part of the world that are not filtered by the Western media.” Full list of Films can be seen here

Mass Murder Confirmed

IDF soldier says of Palestinians in Gaza:

"You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them."

Reality breaks through into Israel's alternate universe and is once again ignored.

Members of the most "moral" army in the world recently published reports covering how they were encouraged to murder Palestinians for the Mother Land Israel. Although I have no clue why reporters, or anyone else for that matter, bother to even ask any Israeli official for a response as it's always the same. Right on que Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak replied (Can you guess the answer folks?) "Criticism directed at the IDF by one organization or another is inappropriate and is directed at the wrong place."

No fair Barak the Whack, He fooled us by adding this: "and is directed at the wrong place" to the "standard" retort, gosh darn it! Well, in fairness he has a partial point, he is right that it is not just Israel responsible, it is the United States for supplying Israel with weapons of mass destruction which it then used not for defense but rather to collectively punish an entire population. But the blame does not stop there, no it doesn't. The policy of "look the other way" adopted by the majority of influential countries like Britain, Canada, France, Germany and others that has existed for years towards Israel, they are culpable as well for the Gaza Holocaust. Report from "Breaking The Silence" below, more after article:

Israeli soldiers who served in the invasion of Gaza in January were instructed to “shoot first, ask later,” a policy that led to killings of innocents, according to testimonies released by the organization Breaking the Silence on Wednesday.

The Israeli organization published the interviews with some 30 soldiers in a booklet and on its website.

"Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy," is how one soldier explained the instructions given soldiers before the ground invasion that began in the second week of the three week offensive.

“The minute we got to our starting line, we simply began to fire at suspect places,” said another.

"In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents."

Another soldier offered the following description on the briefings: “At briefings on places I entered, we were told that if we engage at close range, we should know that normally, at night the Arab is asleep in his bed and has no business outdoors at this time, so we should really be careful.”

(So Arabs are not into the "Night Life" what a racist statement. There are hundreds of legitimate reasons for an Arab to be outside after dark, how moronic. According to that "logic" if America was invaded and you ran out of milk after dark, then you dared to nip to your local 7-11 shop YOU ARE A TERRORIST. Suddenly the phrase "Got Milk" has a whole new meaning)MORE:

“We weren't told outright to shoot anything we saw moving but that was the implication,” the soldier testified, “I asked, ‘What if I see a girl outside?’ She has no business being outside. "So what do I do?" Check if she's armed – then shoot her.”

(Nah, no need to "check if she's armed" and here's proof)MORE:

Another soldier described carrying out the same policy, shooting an elderly woman for no other reason than that she was outside of her house in an area controlled by the army.

Some soldiers descriptions went even further, describing the dehumanization of the Palestinians: "You feel like an infantile little kid with a magnifying glass looking at ants, burning them."

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 1,500 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli onslaught, the vast majority of them civilians. Israel maintains that only 1,166 and only 295 dead were civilians. Israel however counted policemen as combatants although they are classified as noncombatants under international law.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded to the Breaking the Silence document on Wednesday saying, "Criticism directed at the IDF by one organization or another is inappropriate and is directed at the wrong place. The IDF is one of the most ethical armies in the world and acts in accordance with the highest moral code." source

What is contained in this report is bad enough, but here is much more: Israel's Policy To Kill Children HERE and HERE, then there is the INDOCTRINATION OF IDF SOLDIERS as well.

It's Official Israel Guilty of War Crimes

The Zionist Entity murdered in cold blood: 1400 Innocent Victims, 300 children

Not like we already didn't know this, but now it's official from yet another source Amnesty International. Add their findings to the UN's findings on Israel targeting UN facilities, and add that to the findings of Richard Goldstone and what do we have? The Evil Rogue State is guilty of murder and collective punishment on an entire population AND they used US supplied weapons illegally. Hence, we can now clearly use the phrase "War Criminal" when we address any Israeli Official or Zionist. They have become the 21st century Nazis, and have now joined the ranks of Eichmann and other Nazis.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL holds that Israel’s offensive on Gaza, launched without warning on December 27th last year, breached the laws of war. When ceasefires were imposed on January 18th, Amnesty says in a 117-page report published today, the “first comprehensive report” on the conflict, 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, had been killed, including 300 children.

Palestinians also violated international law by firing rockets indiscriminately into southern Israel killing three civilians and forcing many to flee the area.

The report, released in Jerusalem, argues that “Much of the destruction [in Gaza] was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects” in violation of international law.

“Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision weapons. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to the lives of Israeli soldiers.”

Amnesty questions the misuse of high-precision weapons to kill children playing on rooftops or people sleeping their homes. Israel not only fired imprecise incendiary white phosphorus shells over and into densely populated residential areas, killing and wounding civilians and destroying property, but also, asserts Amnesty, denied that this substance was being used, delaying appropriate medical treatment for the injured. “Artillery in general and white phosphorus shells in particular should never be used in populated areas” and their use is unlawful, the report says. Amnesty says Israeli troops used Palestinians as “human shields” to provide protection while they occupied or searched buildings.

“The scale and intensity of the attacks were unprecedented, even in the context of increasingly lethal Israeli military campaigns in Gaza in previous years,” the report says. More people were killed and more damage was inflicted than in any earlier Israeli offensive.

Amnesty criticises Israel for failing to “establish any independent or impartial investigation into the conduct of their forces” and for refusing to co-operate with independent fact-finding missions. The organisation contrasts the Israeli attitude with that of Hamas, which rules Gaza and freely permits human rights organisations to conduct investigations into Israeli and Palestinian abuses.Irish Times

HELP NOW~Israel Taking Aim At Free Gaza Boat

this just in from the Free Gaza Movement, they need YOUR help:

Tuesday, 30 June 2009 13:23 Written by Free Gaza Team

Dear Friends,

We've just received word from the Spirit of Humanity. They are 24 miles off the coast of Gaza, and are still surrounded by Israeli warships. Israeli Occupying Forces have threatened to take violent action against the small boat unless it turns around. They will not turn around.

Our people on the boat have slowed their speed significantly and are telling the Israelis that they must not fire on unarmed human rights workers and journalists, including Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Regardless of Israeli threats, they will not turn around. They continue, slowly, sailing toward Gaza.

PLEASE immediately call Israeli Occupying Forces and demand that they STOP threatening the Spirit of Humanity.

CALL & FAX the Israeli Navy at:
tel: +972 3737 7777 or +972 3737 6242
fax: +972 3737 6123 or +972 3737 7175

CALL Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

CALL Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 33697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

TAKE ONE MINUTE AND CALL THESE TERRORISTS NOW
DEMAND THEY BACK OFF

Zionist Occupying Force Responsible for MORE Deaths

The Zionist Entity perpetuated a collective punishment on the Gaza population which left many buildings and homes destroyed and in serious dangerous condition. Additionally they have not allowed in proper materials for Gazans to repair or rebuild their homes in the hopes that buildings will collapses and kill more. Today they got their wish.

One Palestinian was killed and three more were injured when a house collapsed in the Ash-Sha'ath neighborhood of eastern Gaza on Monday.

The home had been damaged by Israeli shelling in the area during the country's offensive in the Gaza Strip in late December and January.

Three Palestinians were taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital with moderate injuries, according to Dr Mu'awiyah Hassanein, the head of Emergency and Ambulance Services within the Gaza Health Ministry.

The official added that there were reports of three more people missing in the house, which witnesses said collapsed while workers were doing repairs. source

Another Day, Another Palestinian Shot

When, I say when, will the world,and America in particular because everyone else follows them, hold these murderers and maimers accountable? If you are an Israeli, you have a license to kill and a get out of jail free card, supplied by the USA for NOT forcing Israel to obey International law and UN resolutions. This Palestinian was on his OWN land, and Israel shot him twice! He is now in serious condition, just like Tristan Anderson, another innocent victim of the murdering scum.

Ramallah – Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian man in the shoulder during a raid on the West Bank village of Rantis, northwest of Ramallah, on Sunday afternoon.

Twenty-six-year-old Jamal Mustapha Hosheh was shot twice while he was on his land near the Israeli separation wall. He was taken to the Public Hospital in Ramallah, where medics labeled his condition serious. link

Israeli Settlers ATTACK Palestinians~IDF Shoots At Victims

Saw this on tele this AM, disgraceful. Racist ARMED Zionist settlers, come into a Palestinian village, attack and shoot at people, the Israeli Army comes (not to help those being attacked mind you!) and the IDF then defend the settlers when the Palestinians throw stones back at the ARMED settlers! Several Palestinians were injured when israeli Racist Immoral Nazi soldiers fired metal coated plastic bullets AND Live rounds at them.I look forward to the day when those racist murdering land stealing bigots are removed, kicking and screaming as they are dragged back to IsraHELL where they belong.

Villagers hurt in West Bank clash

At least eight Palestinian have been injured in clashes near an Israeli settlement

Palestinians say the clashes broke out after armed Israeli settlers from Beit Ayin attacked homes in Beit Safa, a nearby Palestinian village.

Israeli forces say they fired live bullets at the legs of stone-throwers.

A hospital in the West Bank town of Hebron said one Palestinian was seriously injured and another three were moderately hurt.
Doctors said one of the injured was hit in the neck with a live round.

The Israeli military said Palestinians had begun throwing stones at settlers from Bat Ayin in the southern West Bank, who had gone to a hilltop to say a special sun blessing prayer in an event which occurs once every 28 years.

Palestinian residents of Beit Safa said a group of settlers, some armed, had entered their village and begun throwing rocks at homes and damaging cars.

They said Israeli forces had arrived and used tear gas, rubber coated bullets and live ammunition to end the disturbance.

An Israeli military spokesperson said "crowd dispersing means" were used initially, but when the crowd became more violent, troop used live ammunition to target the lower body parts of some people in the crowd, and "identified hits".

In 2002, three residents of the settlement were given long jail terms for trying to blow up a Palestinian girls' school in Jerusalem.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

The violence comes amid concerns over a clash of opinion between the new Israeli government, led by right-winger Binyamin Netanyahu, and Barack Obama's US administration.

Mr Obama has stressed his commitment to a two-state solution, but Mr Netanyahu does not back the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.
His Foreign Minister, far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman, said on Tuesday that peace talks with the Palestinians had reached a "dead end".