Native Affairs reporter Ruwani Perera and cameraman Jacob Bryant were on the Marianne, which was detained by the Israeli Defence Forces while trying to break through the Gaza blockade.
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“We once again call on the government of Israel to finally lift the blockade on Gaza“, the statement read.
Israel has also roundly condemned the report – but as an attempt to blacken the Jewish state’s reputation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “flawed and biased” upon its release last week.
Israeli troops boarded the boat in worldwide waters then searched and seized it, an Israeli military statement said.
The Israeli statement said that “after exhausting all diplomatic channels the Israeli government ordered the Israeli Navy to redirect the vessel in order to prevent breach of the naval blockade” of Gaza.
We have no reason to believe that Marianne’s capture was “uneventful”, because the last time the IDF said something like that, in 2012, the people on board the “Estelle” were badly tasered and beaten with clubs.
They said the vessel was carrying humanitarian aid, including medicine and solar panels.
The four-vessel flotilla was carrying some 47 passengers, among them European lawmakers and ex- Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, as well as a high-ranking Arab-Israeli member of the Israeli parliament, Basel Ghattas.
Here in Israel we face a reality in which terrorist organizations like Hamas try to kill innocent civilians.
The group said three other boats had turned back toward Greek ports. Netanyahu dismissed the organisers’ goals. “Preventing entry by sea was done in accordance with worldwide law and even received backing from a committee of the United Nations Secretary General”, he continued.
Israel says the blockade is necessary to stop weapons from arriving in the Gaza Strip by sea.
The Israeli military said it will deport the Marianne ship activists after interrogating them.
Ya’alon said that Israel will definitely not break the Quartet conditions placed on engagement with Hamas: that the organization forswear terrorism, recognize Israel, and accept previous Israel-Palestinian agreements.
52% of Germans would support their country imposing a sea blockade on a threatening neighboring country, but only 30% support Israel’s right to do so. He said that the actions by Israel followed the accords of worldwide law. We are committed first and foremost to the security of Israeli citizens, and do it responsibly and judiciously while adhering to worldwide law and by being the only democracy in the region.
“A substantial number of cases have been reviewed, investigated and closed”.
These conclusions match Human Rights Watch’s findings that neither side has shown a willingness to investigate seriously, much less prosecute, abuses by its own forces.
Investigations had to be serious and comprehensive “before indictments are being prepared so that the indictments will also carry with them weight and assure prosecution”, Manor said. More than 2,200 people were killed, majority Gazans. But Israel has a duty, and should have the desire, to adjust its military policies to avoid civilian casualties and hold those who failed to do so accountable.
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The commission further found that the Hamas executions of 21 Palestinians accused of serving as Israeli collaborators “constitute a violation of article 3 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and therefore amount to a war crime”.
