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Pro-Palestinian activist filmed in racist drunk rant found dead
2019-07-05
[IsraelTimes] A disgraced anti-Israel activist from Britannia who was tossed in the slammer
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
 for staging a rowdy and racist scene aboard an airplane has been found dead in what police are treating as a suicide.

The lifeless body of Simone Burns, 50, also known as Simone O’Broin, was found last month on a beach, the Daily Telegraph reports. Sussex Police confirmed her death "is not being treated as suspicious" and next of kin have been informed, the report says.

Last year, she was filmed threatening to boycott Air India unless she was served more wine on the business class flight from Mumbai to London.

She was filmed spitting in the face of one steward and shouting that she was "an international criminal lawyer for the f***ing Paleostinian people" in an inebriated rant.

During her four-minute rant, which was filmed and uploaded to social networks where it went viral, she called a female crew member "Indian f***ing money grabbing bastard," shouting that she will "turn you inside f***ing out, you f***ing stupid c***s."
The video can be seen at the link.
A friend of Burns told the Telegraph that her "world fell apart" following the conviction.
Some worlds ought not to remain whole. But she chose suicide instead of learning from the experience.
O’Broin co-authored a research paper with former UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk on the human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
 situation in the Paleostinian territories.
Link


Britain
Exposé shows UK Labour has failed to punish members for vile anti-Semitic taunts
2019-04-08
[IsraelTimes] Report details cases in which little to no action was taken against members who blamed 9/11 on Jews and railed against Jewish MPs; 863 complaints have yielded just 29 expulsions.

The Sunday Times said it had obtained a hard drive containing a confidential database and leaked emails and documents showing that the party ‐ long embroiled in a public scandal over its apparent failure to uproot anti-Jewish bigotry in its ranks ‐ has been dragging its feet in responding to complaints.

Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s office has intervened in at least 101 complaints, the report said, despite his having earlier assured Jewish MP Margaret Hodge that his team would "never" get involved in them.

In all, of 863 complaints made by March 8, 2019, 454 remain unresolved, including 249 in which the party hasn’t initiated an investigation.

Of the cases in which a decision was reached, 191 members faced no further action, 145 received a formal warning ‐ which the Sunday Times called "a slap on the wrist" ‐ and just 29 were expelled. Others left of their own accord.

Last month, the report said, Thomas Gardiner ‐ an ally of Corbyn who heads Labour’s governance and legal unit ‐ blocked efforts to expedite proceedings against a party member who lashed out at Jewish MPs Margaret Hodge and Ruth Smeeth as "a couple of shit-stirring cum buckets bought and paid for by Israel" and "cretinous pieces of shit" who needed to "fuck off back under their stones."

A Labour official ruled that a council candidate met the threshold for suspension after accusing Jewish politicians of being "Zionist infiltrators," but then decided that the accused would face no suspension and no action because he "is a candidate."

In a response to the report, Jewish MP Margaret Hodge said that "the scale of the abuse, the depth of the hatred and the total lack of action by the Labour Party is astonishing. Jeremy gave me assurances that he does not intervene in complaints. This investigation proves that either he is lying to me or his office are lying to him."

Alleged hate speech against Jews has been recorded within Labour since 2015, when Corbyn, a far-left politician, was elected to lead the party. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has accused Corbyn of encouraging anti-Semitic rhetoric and at times engaging in it, though he disputes the claim.

Former London mayor Red Ken Livingstone has recently called allegations of anti-Semitism in Labour "lies and smears" to bring down Corbyn and claimed that it is "not anti-Semitic to hate the Jews of Israel."

In March, British police tossed in the calaboose
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
 three people near London suspected of inciting anti-Semitic hatred in the Labour Party’s ranks. The arrests were rare interventions by law enforcement against suspected propagators of anti-Semitism within the party.

Following growing public scrutiny of the problem, Labour is facing the prospect of an official inquiry by the United Kingdom’s Equality and Human Right’s Commission, the main government anti-racism watchdog.
More Jew hatred in Britain:
Uber removes London driver who would not take Jews

[IsraelTimes] Company says driver “Ahmed”’s behavior towards kippah-wearers was ‘totally unacceptable’ and that Uber ‘does not tolerate any form of discrimination’.

British BDS promoter jailed for 6 months for racist rant on Air India flight
Brief video at the link of the lady’s ugly rant in an adorable Irish accent.
[IsraelTimes] Anti-Israel activist Simone O’Broin pleads guilty to assault, after being filmed making threats to crew who would not serve her wine.

O’Broin, who worked as a head researcher for the anti-Israel Badil organization as late as 2011, was filmed by fellow passengers telling flight attendants that she is a “leader of the f***ing boycott movement,” clapping in the air in front of a crew member. She added: “If I say boycott f***ing Air India, done. Do you understand me? You can’t give me a wee bottle of wine?”

Earlier in her rant, O’Broin, who co-authored a research paper with former UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said: “Do you treat business class passengers like that? Who are international criminal lawyers for the Palestinian people?”
To be honest, nowadays there are so many reports of Jew hated in word or deed in Europe, Britain, and North America that I mostly throw up my hands and ignore them except for the most egregious cases... and of course actual jihadi attacks.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
Head of UN body resigns as her group’s ‘apartheid Israel’ report is withdrawn
2017-03-18
[IsraelTimes] Rima Khalaf quits after Sec.-Gen. rejects document accusing Jewish state of ’racially dominating’ the Paleostinians; Israeli envoy: Her departure was ’long overdue’.

The head of a Leb-based United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
 agency that promotes development in Arab countries resigned Friday, after the body she led was ordered by the UN secretary-general to remove from its website a controversial report that charged Israel has established an "apartheid regime" guilty of "racial domination" over the Palestinians.
They'll all be ordering 'Apartheid for Dummies' manuals from Amazon before this Palestinian unpleasantness is finished.
Rima Khalaf, a Jordanian who served as executive secretary of the Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), announced her resignation at a hastily arranged presser in the Lebanese capital.

She said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s insistence that the document be removed from the agency’s website led her to quit.

"The secretary general asked me yesterday morning to withdraw (the report). I asked him to rethink his decision, he insisted, so I submitted my resignation from the UN," Khalaf said.

"We expected of course that Israel and its allies would put huge pressure on the secretary general of the UN so that he would disavow the report, and that they would ask him to withdraw it," Khalaf, who had also served as an under-secretary-general to Guterres, added.

The report was no longer available on ESCWA’s website as of Friday afternoon.

Guterres accepted Khalaf’s resignation. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric explained to media in New York that "The secretary-general cannot accept that an under-secretary-general or any other senior UN official that reports to him would authorize the publication under the UN name, under the UN logo, without consulting the competent departments and even himself," according to Rooters.

The document, published earlier this week by ESCWA, which comprises 18 Arab countries, drew swift and vociferous criticism from US and Israeli officials. "The United States is outraged by the report," US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley
...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
 said in a statement. She went on to demand the report be withdrawn.

Its authors concluded that "Israel has established an apartheid regime that systematically institutionalizes racial oppression and domination of the Paleostinian people as a whole."

Khalaf has long been criticized by Israeli officials for her perceived anti-Israel positions.

UN chief Guterres distanced himself from the report on Wednesday, and then requested its removal from ESCWA’s website.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the developments, saying Guterres’s move was "an important step in stopping discrimination against Israel."

In a statement, Danon said "Anti-Israel activists do not belong in the UN. It is time to put an end to practice in which UN officials use their position to advance their anti-Israel agenda."

He added that "Over the years Khalaf has worked to harm Israel and advocate for the BDS movement. Her removal from the UN is long overdue."

US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, who had demanded the report’s withdrawal Wednesday, said in a statement: "When someone issues a false and defamatory report in the name of the US, it is appropriate that the person resign. UN agencies must do a better job of eliminating false and biased work, and I applaud the secretary-general’s decision to distance his good office from it."

The report was compiled by Richard Falk, a Princeton professor emeritus with a long track record of vehemently anti-Israel rhetoric who previously was the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Paleostine, and by Virginia Tilley, an American political scientist who authored the book "The One-State Solution" in 2005.

Haley described Falk as "a man who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories."
Link


International-UN-NGOs
US demands UN pull report accusing Israel of apartheid
2017-03-16
[IsraelTimes] Envoy Nikki Haley
...first woman to serve as Governor of South Carolina, and the second Indian-American governor in the country, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. At the age of 39, Haley is the youngest current governor in the U.S., a distinction formerly held by Jindal. She is a Republican, which really grates on the Dems...
 says Washington outraged by publication; Sec-Gen Guterres distances self from it; Israel slams it as ’despicable.

Guterres distanced himself from the report by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) but US Ambassador Nikki Haley said it should be scrapped altogether.

"The United States is outraged by the report," said Haley in a statement. "The United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
 secretariat was right to distance itself from this report, but it must go further and withdraw the report altogether."

Based in Beirut, ESCWA is comprised of 18 Arab countries, according to its website, which lists the state of Paleostine as a full member, and works to strengthen cooperation and promote development.

"That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising," said Haley.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon earlier slammed the commission for releasing the report which accuses Israel of establishing "an apartheid regime that oppresses and dominates the Paleostinian people as a whole."

The report was compiled by Richard Falk, a Princeton professor emeritus with a long track record of vehemently anti-Israel rhetoric who previously was the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Paleostine, and by Virginia Tilley, an American political scientist who authored the book "The One-State Solution" in 2005.

Haley described Falk as "a man who has repeatedly made biased and deeply offensive comments about Israel and espoused ridiculous conspiracy theories."
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
U.N. Monitor Accuses Israel of 'Ethnic Cleansing', 'Apartheid'
2014-03-22
[An Nahar] A U.N. rights expert who probes Israel's conduct towards Paleostinians on Friday accused the Jewish state of a campaign of ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies.
If them juices had been ethnically cleansing anybody, wouldn't we expect there'd be considerably fewer of them around the place, instead of millions more?
"The realities on the ground are worsening from the point of view of both international law and from the point of view of the Paleostinian people," Richard Falk, an 82-year-old American who is an emeritus law professor at Princeton University, told news hounds.

Falk is due to step down this month as the U.N. Human Rights Council's monitor for the Paleostinian territories taken over by Israel in 1967 -- the West Bank, Gazoo Strip and East Jerusalem.

Since he was appointed in 2008, he said, Israel has built more settlements in Paleostinian territories, imposed "collective punishment" on Gazoo, demolished homes and repeatedly deployed "excessive force".

He also accused Israel of a "systematic and continued effort to change the ethnic composition of East Jerusalem" by voiding Paleostinians' residence permits, confiscating property and allowing unlawful Israeli settlements there.

"This is systematic discrimination on the basis of ethnic identity, with the objective of creating a different demographic in Jerusalem," he said, calling it a form of "ethnic cleansing".

"All of these features that are objectionable from the point of view of international law have continued and intensified during my six years," he said.

"What is called occupation is now more widely understood to be a form of annexation, the embodiment of apartheid in the sense that there's a discriminatory dual system of law, giving legal protection to the Israeli settlers and subjecting the Paleostinian population under occupation to a continuing existence without rights," he added.

Falk has repeatedly locked horns with Israel, the United States, Canada and some human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
 groups for positions including labeling Israel's 2008 offensive against Gazoo a war crime, and urging a boycott of companies helping Israel's settlement drive in the Paleostinian territories.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel s Policies Amount to Apartheid, says UN Human Rights Rapporteur
2014-02-27
(MENAFN - Qatar News Agency) Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territory, has said in a 22-page statement that Palestinian rights are being violated by Israel's prolonged occupation of Palestinian territory and ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem. "Through prolonged occupation, with practices and policies which appear to constitute apartheid and segregation, ongoing expansion of settlements, and continual construction of the wall arguably amounting to de facto annexation of parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, the denial by Israel of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people is evident,", said Falk. "In East Jerusalem, the revocation of residency permits and forced evictions of Palestinian families, as well as targeted demolition of Palestinian homes, amount to a gradual and bureaucratic process of ethnic cleansing,'' he said , according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Falk will present his report next month to the UN Human Rights Council as its special rapporteur on the Palestinian territory, demands that the world court examine whether Israel is guilty of the international crimes of apartheid and ethnic cleansing and urges the UN to investigate corporations that profit from unlawful Israeli activities. "Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip appear to amount to apartheid due to its systematic oppression of the Palestinian people and de facto expropriation of their land", added Falk in the final report. Falk's report further recommends that UN member states should consider imposing a ban on imports of produce from Israeli settlements.
Falk is a former advisory board member of the World Federalist Institute and the American Movement for World Government. Yes, it's the same Richard Falk.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
A Commentary on the Marathon Murders
2013-04-24
by Richard Falk
[FOREIGNPOLICYJOURNAL] The American global domination project is bound to generate all kinds of resistance in the post-colonial world. In some respects, the United States has been fortunate not to experience worse blowbacks, and these may yet happen, especially if there is no disposition to rethink US relations to others in the world, starting with the Middle East. Some of us naively hoped that Obama's Cairo speech of 2009 was to be the beginning of such a process of renewal, and although timid in many ways, it was yet possessed of a tonality candidly acknowledged that relations with the Islamic world needed fundamental moves by the US Government for the sake of reconciliation, including the adoption of a far more balanced approach to the Palestine/Israel impasse. But as the months passed, what became evident, especially given the strong pushback by Israel and its belligerent leader, Bibi Netanyahu, were a series of disappointing reactions by Obama, which could be described as an accelerating backpedaling in relation to opening political space in the Middle East.

Now at the start of his second presidential term, it seems that Obama has given up altogether, succumbing to the Beltway ethos of Israel First. Obama has acknowledged the constraints on his freedom to maneuver on these foreign policy issues, and seeks to confine his legacy ambitions to such domestic concerns as immigration, gun control, and health care. In so doing, he is virtually abandoning the international agenda except to manage crisis diplomacy in ways that do not disturb the global status quo or weaken America's global reach. Obama's March trip to Israel was highlighted by his March 21st speech in Jerusalem, which was delivered as a love letter to the Israeli public rather than qualifying as a good faith effort to demonstrate his belief in a just peace. Such obsequious diplomacy was a disappointment even to those of us with low expectations in what the White House is willing to overcome the prolonged ordeal of the Palestinian people.
From Wikipedia: "Richard Falk is an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, the author or co-author of 20 books and the editor or co-editor of another 20 books, speaker, activist on world affairs, and an appointee to two United Nations positions on the Palestinian territories.

In 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Falk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967."
Link


International-UN-NGOs
UN Watch: Human Rights Watch Expels Falk From UN C'tee
2012-12-19
[Jpost] Human Rights Watch
... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world...
 on Tuesday expelled UN investigator Richard Falk from one of its committees, UN Watch reported.

UN Watch had called for Human Rights Watch to dismiss Falk, citing condemnation against him for spreading anti-Semitism and 9/11 conspiracies by UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

"We commend Human Rights Watch and its director Kenneth Roth for doing the right thing, and finally removing this enemy of human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
 from their important organization," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

"A man who supports the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, 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," said Neuer.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
UN Representative Calls For Establishing A 'World Capital'--In Islamic Istanbul
2012-11-03
The world needs a global capital
It does?
and it should be the capital of Islamic Turkey, Istanbul,
Nah, try Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania...
according to a UN special representative. Richard Falk,
... the former Princeton academic recently condemned by the British government for his unacceptable antisemitic remarks...
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, wrote a Nov. 1, 2012, opinion piece for the controversial al Jazeera English site calling for a "global capital" because of integration "by markets, by globally constituted battlefields,
What on earth does that mean, when it's at home?
by changing geopolitical patterns."
In none of which is Istanbul anything more than a regional player. Perhaps that is why the honourable rapporteur suggested it, the modern version of building Washington, DC in a swamp... or perhaps the price of real estate is falling, trailing below-replacement birthrates, which means quaint old Ottoman palaces will be gotten cheaply by the new capitol bureaucrats.
Maybe it's to give a sense of continuity to the UN. Remember, Istanbul used to be the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which in its later years was approximately as effectual as the UN. In its early years it claimed world dominion, just like the UN. Perhaps they're thinking of changing the city's name again, maybe to Kofiannannople or Bankimoonabad or even Daghammarskjoldberg.
With our luck it would be named 'Obamabull'...
While Turkey is a longstanding U.S. ally and a member of NATO, its nearly 80 million population is 99.8 percent Muslim, according to the CIA Factbook. Its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had several run-ins with Israel over access to Gaza. In March, he urged Israel to "stop the brutal attack against Palestinians and stop the massacre and bloodshed."
The man does like to hear himself talk...
The U.S. Embassy in Turkey sent out an "emergency message" for U.S. citizens in September warning of "a planned anti-American march/protest" in Istanbul. The march was tied to protests against the YouTube video claimed by critics to be anti-Islamic. "The Department of State strongly recommends avoiding the march/protest location as well as any other large crowds that may gather in Istanbul to protest against the controversial video that has created other demonstrations throughout the world," explained the warning.

Falk recommended what al Jazeera called a "modest proposal" that should move the world past "the persisting tendency is to view the hierarchy of global cities from a West-centric perspective: London, New York, Paris, Los Angeles placed in the first rank."
Whatever happened to New York City? Or Tokyo which, granted, is only in the West if one keeps going, but those of us in the West are aware that it is one of the world's leading cities.
Along with his UN duties, he is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor in Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Distinguished. Yes, of course. What a reflection on the institutions which employ him.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
Canada asks UN expert to resign over anti-Israel remarks
2012-10-27
[Iran Press TV] Canada has called on a UN rights expert, Richard Falks, to quit over his anti-Israel remarks, saying that the report he submitted to the UN General Assembly was disgraceful.


"Richard Falk has a long history of making outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation and integrity of the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
," said Rick Roth, a front man for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird on Thursday.

"Mr. Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to the Paleostinian people. Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his position at the United Nations,” he added.

This comes as the UN's special rapporteur for the Paleostinian Territories, Falk, presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that since a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations involved in building and maintaining the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate international human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
, a worldwide boycott should be launched against these companies.

Canada has called on a UN rights expert, Richard Falks, to quit over his anti-Israel remarks, saying that the report he submitted to the UN General Assembly was disgraceful.

"Richard Falk has a long history of making outrageous statements, and frankly, has only tarnished the reputation and integrity of the United Nations," said Rick Roth, a front man for Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird on Thursday.

"Mr. Falk has not only done a disservice to the United Nations, but also to the Paleostinian people. Canada calls on Mr. Falk to either withdraw this biased and disgraceful report - or resign from his position at the United Nations,” he added.

This comes as the UN's special rapporteur for the Paleostinian Territories, Falk, presented a report to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, saying that since a number of Israeli-owned and multinational corporations involved in building and maintaining the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate international human rights, a worldwide boycott should be launched against these companies.
Link


International-UN-NGOs
U.N. Human Rights Council Calls for Boycott of U.S. Companies
2012-10-26
U.N.'s war on Israel puts American economy in crosshairs

The Washington Free Beacon has obtained a report soon to be released by the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
 that calls for an international campaign of legal attacks and economic warfare on a group of American companies that do business in Israel, including Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar Inc., and Motorola Solutions Inc.

The Human Rights Council (HRC), a body dominated by Islamic countries and known for its hostility to, and heavy focus on, the Jewish State, issued the report. The George W. Bush administration refused to participate in the HRC, but President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
joined it soon after taking office. Members of the HRC include infamous human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
 abusers such as Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
, Qatar, Jordan, Libya, China, and Cuba.

The Obama-approved body maintains a "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Paleostinian territories [sic]." The current rapporteur is American college professor Richard Falk, a 9/11 "truther" who once posted an anti-Semitic cartoon on his personal blog.

The report attempts to instigate a campaign of boycott, divestment, sanctions, and legal action against a litany of international companies doing business in Israel. In addition to American companies, the U.N. targets include major European firms such as Veolia Environnement, Group 4 Security, the Dexia Group, the Volvo Group.
I vote we get a list of the to-be-boycotted companies and throw our business their way whenever possible.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
U.N. Calls Israel Rachel Corrie Verdict
2012-08-31
A U.N. official Thursday condemned an Israeli court finding that cleared the army of any blame for the death of U.S. peace activist Rachel Corrie as "a defeat for justice and accountability."

Richard Falk, United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
 special rapper rapporteur on human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
 in the Israeli-occupied Paleostinian territories, also called Tuesday's decision in a civil case brought by Corrie's family "a victory for common sense impunity for the Israeli military."

Corrie, 23, was killed by an army bulldozer in Rafah, in the southern Gazoo Strip, in March 2003 as she and other activists were trying to prevent troops demolishing a house.

Judge Oded Gershon at the District Court in the northern Israeli city of Haifa said her death was the result of "an accident she brought upon herself", and there was no negligence on the part of the bulldozer driver.

"The dear departed put herself into a dangerous situation, she stood in front of a giant bulldozer in a place where the operator could not see her. She did not distance herself as a reasonable person would have done," he said.
The whole point of her little exercise was to be unreasonable and force the Israelis to be responsible for her well-being...
The verdict echoed the findings of an internal investigation by the Israeli military in 2003 which was concluded just four weeks after her death and cleared troops of any responsibility, saying the bulldozer crew did not see Corrie.

Falk, a bete noire for Israeli authorities, said, "The court ignored the testimony of several eyewitnesses that, while non-violently protesting the demolition, Corrie was in the direct line of vision of the bulldozer driver and was wearing a bright florescent orange vest that made her clearly visible at the time of her gruesome death."
Visible to others. The point of an armored dozer, Mr. Falk, is that it can't be penetrated easily. The flip-side (as it were) is that you can't easily see out of the darned thing.

But again, read his statement: she was wearing an orange vest and was 'visible'; therefore it was up to the Israeli driver not to run over her even though she was interfering with his work. In other words, the Israelis were supposed to stop what they were doing, which is what the solidarity types wanted. In other words, the Israelis were just supposed to give in, pack up and go home.
"The judge ruled that there were no grounds for imposing any penalty on Israel, exonerating both military and political officials, from those on the ground in Gazoo driving the bulldozers and commanding the troops, to the highest levels of decision-making.

"In so doing, Judge Gershon seemed to endorse the view of a reportedly high-ranking officer who told the court that there are 'no civilians in war.'

"Such a shocking rationale flies directly in the face of the Geneva Conventions, which impose on an occupying power an unconditional obligation to protect the civilian population.
So long as the civilian population meets its obligations, which is to stay out of the way and not interfere with the occupying power.
"Additionally .... a humanitarian aid worker such as Rachel Corrie
'Agitator' does not equate to 'humanitarian aid worker'...
is specifically entitled to protection by occupying forces, and the house demolition itself seemed an unlawful encroachment on Article 147, which prohibits targeting civilian property, in this case a home belonging to a civilian pharmacist, his wife and children."
Who allowed a tunnel entrance to be built inside the house. They never seem to mention that. That makes the 'pharmacist' a collaborator with the enemy; such people are not entitled to protection. The Israelis would have been justified shooting the pharmacist; that they didn't shows their restraint and humanity.
It was "a sad outcome" both for the Corrie family and "for the rule of law and the hope that an Israeli court would place limits on the violence of the state, particularly in relation to innocent and unarmed civilians in an occupied territory."

Falk charged that Israeli governmental institutions had "consistently embraced impunity and non-accountability in responding to well-documented violations of international humanitarian law and in many cases Israel's own criminal law."

He cited as previous instances Israel's investigations of the killing of Paleostinian civilians during the assault on Gazoo in 2009 and the deadly boarding of a Turkish aid flotilla to Gazoo by Israeli commandos in 2010.

"The Corrie family has announced their intention to appeal this verdict to the Israel Supreme Court. But it becomes a mockery of justice to leave their application to the partisan mercies of the Israeli judicial system," Falk said.
Better to leave it to Carla del Ponte...
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