The Israeli government is attempting to compel the 23 abducted human rights workers who were sailing to Gaza as part of a humanitarian effort to break the Israeli blockade, to sign a deporation order that would prohibit them from visiting Israel for the next ten years. If they do not sign, Israel will continue to illegally imprison them. If they do sign, they have admitted violating Israel’s blockade and entering Israeli territorial waters without permission. That will bar them from the country for 10 years.
Just as an aside, when Norman Finkelstein was similarly and scandalously imprisoned by Israel when he attempted to visit a friend on the West Bank, he was willing to sign this deportation order, which I feel was a mistake on his part. But it’s hard to argue with the fact that spending an undetermined amount of time in an Israeli prison is one of the more unpleasant things that can happen to you and I can understand why one would seek to depart as quickily as possible. And he clearly isn’t planning or needing to spend any “quality time” in Israel anytime soon anyway. Feelings aren’t terribly warm and fuzzy between Finkelstein and the State of Israel (or its leaders anyway).
The Free Gaza Movement activists have not taken the bait and remain in prison. The U.S. government has not made the case a high profile one feeling it has bigger fish to fry regarding the settlement freeze issue. But the Obama folks are going to eventually face facts that having an ostensible U.S. ally holding four of our citizens for the crime of sailing a former ferry filled with medicine and other humanitarian aid to Gaza via international waters, is intolerable.
Someone will also have to explain to me how Gaza’s territorial waters have become Israel’s if the latter has truly withdrawn from Gaza as it likes to claim. The answer is the same as the one the White Rabbit gave: “a word means what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less.” So Israel conveniently abuses international maritime law and appropriates Gaza’s territorial waters when it suits; and when it doesn’t it claims it washed its hands of Gaza long ago and has no interest in it.
Also, can someone explain to me why Fox News has been providing the most extensive coverage of this incident in all the U.S. media. Not a word in the N.Y. Times, whose correspondent, Ethan Bronner apparently can’t be bothered to cover such an ‘insignificant’ story.
its funny how life sometimes creates very convenient sociological experiments for you
compare the iranian protests to the palestinian protests and how each are covered here in the mainstream
compare lisa lings capture to these free gaza people
a washington post blogger on McKinney’s kidnapping:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2009/07/cynthia_mckinney_strikes_again.html?hpid=news-col-blog
i stopped watching the MSM a couple years ago and even then i never really paid attention to it
it’s a complete scam
you end up only referencing it to show how corrupt it is
Just how long is the world going to tolerate Israel’s flagrant defiance of international law? How long will it tolerate the U.S.’ support of that defiance? My own tolerance has run out.
At the risk of offending your code of ethics, Richard, I have only this to say: F— Israel, f— the USA!
[comment deleted & commenter banned for multiple violation of comment rules]
Imagine a scenario of an American porn star remanded under Taliban custody for a running down a prized three-legged goat in Afghanistan.
The US administration would probably sent its 101st Airbourne Division demanding the release of her citizen.
But Israel is a different cup of tea altogether.
She is the perpetual prodigal child constantly waiving the “immunity” card whenever any just accusation its hurled at her for any abuse of international law.
In that, Norman G. Finkelstein’s “Beyond Chutzpah” is very telling on Israel’s tirade and very pugnacious behaviour such as that being shown in her handling of the detention of the human rights workers.
It appears that humanity and compassion are only deserving for Israel and no one else.
What a hypocritical world we live in.
The answer is the same as the one the White Rabbit gave: “a word means what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less.”
That’d be Humpty Dumpty you’re thinking of:
`When _I_ use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
Thanks for the correction. I should’ve researched that before I published it.
This is an interesting question. Can someone quote exactly which maritime law Israel has violated? Gaza is not considered a sovereign state, but Israel (supposedly) is. Does America have to answer such questions in Guantanamo? Einstein said wisely that international law exists only in textbooks on international law.
Its own laws perhaps? Israel is not a signatory to the Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, but, like the vast majority of countries, claims a 12 nm territorial zone, and no contiguous zone (a further 12 nm with reduced sovereign rights). It also claims to have ended the occupation of Gaza in 2005. Hence by its own admission, Israel doesn’t have any territorial rights there, no matter if Gaza is a sovereign state or not. Even if Israel considered Gaza a part of Israel, the seizure of the ship occurred 23 nm off the coast, well outside any territorial waters.
Perhaps Greece, under whose flag the ship was sailing, should file a complaint with the courts in Haifa and/or Hamburg.
What does Guantanamo Bay have to do with maritime law? Last I looked it was on land leased from the Cuban government.
In Einstein’s days the quote was perhaps a sadly accurate descriptions of affairs. That doesn’t mean we’ve come a long way since, admittedly with a longer way to go. Any Mafia don will probably tell you the same about domestic law, does that mean we should just shrug and move on?
Fiddler,
I was pondering on a reply to Violinist but your wonderful post basically ended that concern for me.
Well, the hope must now be that the detainees will try and stick it out in Israeli gaol as long as they can suffer it (eventually they will have no choice but to cave, of course) as with every day going by, the chances of this story gaining traction increases.
And, (teeth grinding!) kudos to Fox for reporting it fairly it seems…
Excellent post fiddler.
I agree, very concise and effective reply, Fiddler.
They won’t cave in to Israel’s demands they sign a statement in Hebrew (supposedly) admitting they violated Israel’s immigration laws by entering the state illegally, and agreeing to deportation. If they refuse to sign and agree to deportation, then Israel routinely holds them for 72 hours and then deports them forcibly.
And for sheerstupidity (or perhas mendacity) of our State Department, here’s an interesting exchange:
————-
QUESTION: Eric Connors from Press TV.. Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and members of the Free Gaza Movement were intercepted by the Israeli Army when they were on a humanitarian mission over there. What’s being done about that? Are they on their way home?
Will they be deported? What’s the next step there, and will their supplies ever get to where they’re going?
IAN KELLY (State Dept)
On the last question, I don’t know the answer actually. I think I have to refer you to the Government of Israel. We can confirm that the Israeli Navy did arrest those on board this – this ship which is known as Spirit. We can’t comment on any of the individuals or the number of individual American citizens on board because of Privacy Act Concerns.
————-
Imagine our state dept referring questions about the the two American women reporters to “the Government of North Korea” or about the imprisoned reporter in Iran to “The Government of Iran.”
c
USA is holding people in Guantanamo Bay without trial because it is in their interests. Is that not a violation of human rights? Why shouldn’t Israel be allowed to act in its own interests, especially when it has been in a state of war with Gaza for some time now?
Violinist,
You seem to hold the assumption that those of us criticizing this flagrant violation of international law, Israel’s kidnapping of the aid ship to Gaza (which pales in moral significance compared to the horrors committed by Israel in Gaza some months ago), are just A-Okay with America’s illegal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Our detention of people for god knows what without due process, habeus corpus, completely outside the orbit of any meaningful legal structure whatsoever, is an OUTRAGE. It is a violation of basic human rights and against international law, the Geneva Conventions and so on. I’m sure that most all of the critics of Israel on this blog are incredibly critical of U.S. foreign policy generally. You starting to get it? This blog has a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and commenters tend to focus specifically on that conflict and respond to the particular content of Richard’s posts. The little secret here is one can be critical of one’s own country AND other countries as well. This isn’t rocket science, here. And it’s not a zero sum game. It’s interesting that you think that the frequenters of this blog wouldn’t care about Guantanamo Bay or notice the illegality and human rights abuses there; I suggest that this says more about you than it does about anyone else.
P.S.–I love the violin. Favorite violinists: Menuhin and Heifetz. Currently in love with the violinist Julia Fischer.
Warren-on the contrary, any assumptions being made are by yourself, not I. I don’t know how much experience you have overseas, but I have lived outside of the USA for about a decade. I can tell you that when someone accuses someone of something that is going on in his own backyard-this is called hypocrisy, in any culture. I understand that Israel is the focus of this forum, however it seems that it is criticism that is one-way and at times unchecked!
PS-Heifetz was truly a master!
Violinist—hypocrisy is certainly something to be vigilant about. Thanks for reminding us of this. One of my very favorite CD’s that I own is Jascha Heifetz playing the Double Concertos of Bach, Mozart and Brahms (it’s on the old RCA Victor label). The music on this disc is one of the purest expressions of the artistic sublime that I know of, and Heifetz truly sings, his warm tone is like shimmering, tinkling gold. He was unique.
I just fished out the Jascha Heifetz Double Concertos disc I mentioned. Erick Friedman is the other violin on the Bach Concerto for Two Violins, William Primrose is the viola playing alongside Heifetz’s violin in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and Gregor Piatogorsky is the cello in the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello. These recordings that make up the disc date from the latter ’50’s, early ’60’s and I always go back to them. Pure beauty, the combination of Bach, Mozart and Brahms is nice because you really hear the musical progression, the complexity and tension in Brahms is particularly pleasing and striking after the virtuosic beauty of the Mozart. And that Bach Double Concerto, the second movement always kills me, there’s that tingling down the spine moment that the greatest music affords us. Transcendence. The Sublime.