Add this development to what Mel Frykberg at Inter Press Service calls Israel’s growing “public relations nightmare”: renewed attention to the near-fatal shooting of American activist Tristan Anderson. Just as the media spotlight is glaring down on Israel because of a civil trial in the killing of American peace activist Rachel Corrie comes a decision by Israel’s Justice Ministry to reinvestigate the shooting of Anderson.
Anderson has been in critical condition in a Tel Aviv hospital for a year since he was struck in the head by a high-velocity tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops while he was demonstrating against the illegal separation wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin. An activist with the International Solidarity Movement, Anderson suffered life-threatening injuries to his brain.
Last December, Israel decided to close the investigation after a probe concluded there was “a lack of criminal culpability,” according to Haaretz. However, the Anderson family’s attorney, Michael Sfard, said that the Israeli investigators never visited the scene of the shooting and didn’t even question the Border Police unit that had fired at Anderson. Haaretz reports that now “the case, according to Ron Roman from the Justice Ministry, has been transferred to a ministry appeal committee in Jerusalem, which ‘will look into the facts in an earnest manner and may reverse the decision to close the case if it finds the evidence compelling.’”
Jewish Voice for Peace’s blog The Only Democracy in the Middle East? has more on the case from former San Francisco Chronicle columnist Henry Norr:
The Israeli authorities have done their best to sweep the case under the rug. Last August the Ministry of “Defense” declared the incident an “act of war” – a classification that, under Israeli law, relieves the state of any liability – and in December the Ministry of “Justice” decided to shut down its investigation into the case, on the grounds that the police had found “a lack of criminal culpability.”
Early this month, however, Anderson’s parents filed an appeal against the closing of the case. Their attorney, Michael Sfard, cited “severe negligence in the work of the investigation team,” pointing out that the investigators had never even bothered to visit the scene of the shooting and that the Border Police unit they questioned was not the unit that had fired at Anderson.
“The astonishing negligence of this investigation and of the prosecutorial team that monitored its outcome is unacceptable, but it epitomizes Israel’s culture of impunity,” Sfard said as he released the appeal to the press. “Tristan’s case is actually not rare; it represents hundreds of other cases of Palestinian victims whose investigations have also failed.”
Sfard’s detailed dissection of the glaring flaws in the police investigation evidently embarrassed the Ministry of “Justice” into an unusual retreat: a spokesman told the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that in light of the appeal, the ministry would “reexamine” the decision to close the inquiry.
Meanwhile, activists both in Palestine and in the United States continue to champion Anderson’s case, not only to seek justice for him but also to expose the violence and injustice inherent in the Israeli occupation. At the latest weekly demonstration against the Wall in Bil’in (not far from Ni’lin, the site of the shooting), Palestinian, Israeli, and international demonstrators carried posters of Anderson, according to participant Roy Wagner.
And on Monday, March 15, friends of Anderson and other Bay Area supporters of justice in Palestine plan a noontime demonstration in his name at the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. Characteristically, the U.S. government has made no public – and probably no private – effort to demand accountability for the injury to Anderson. His own Congresswoman, Barbara Lee, said nothing about his case for several weeks after the shooting, but finally, in response to pressure from constituents (including an op-ed by this writer in the Berkeley Daily Planet), she reached out to Anderson’s parents and made a statement on the floor of the House demanding an investigation.
The killing and maiming of Americans done by Israel is really remarkable, isn’t it? There is something grossly wrong with the US government’s inaction on these matters.
I agree, but you just know the reply will be: “What do you want us to do, send the marines after Israel?”
How does one make a clear and non-negotioable demand for instant justice without causing too much diplomatic tension?
The IDF has just declared both Bi’lin and Ni’lin “closed military zones” until August. Entry to the Al Aqsa mosque is shut down and 2500 cops are in the streets of Jerusalem.
Israel is turning into a police state, and there is no terror to excuse it, despite increasing Israeli provocation.
So when the IDF makes such a declaration do they post it in town squares, announce it on the bullhorn, i.e., how do the residents of Bi’lin and Ni’lin find out about this.
And, I have been told that there are two different kinds of closed military zones – a war zone and a security zone and what one is able to do within those zones depends on what type of closed zone it is. I have also been told that it is simply the IDF commander on the ground that decides that an area is closed. Is this correct?
To people with homes there, to businesses, to the nonviolent activists what exactly does this mean?
They came in the middle of the night, armed, and arrested people. As usual.
I believe Tristan was photographing……The IDF really hates documentation of its activities. I believe that is one of the reasons the International Solidarity Movement was formed…..to document, document and disperse that documentation.
May God help Tristan and his family
And this would be Witty is so incredibly desperate to attack the very concept of justice itself. Pay attention, his rhetoric in that regard will escalate, now.
“Early this month, however, Anderson’s parents filed an appeal against the closing of the case. Their attorney, Michael Sfard, cited “severe negligence in the work of the investigation team,” pointing out that the investigators had never even bothered to visit the scene of the shooting and that the Border Police unit they questioned was not the unit that had fired at Anderson.
“The astonishing negligence of this investigation and of the prosecutorial team that monitored its outcome is unacceptable, but it epitomizes Israel’s culture of impunity,” Sfard said as he released the appeal to the press. “Tristan’s case is actually not rare; it represents hundreds of other cases of Palestinian victims whose investigations have also failed.””
This is an example of what the Goldstone report will receive as far as investigatory practices, if that.
As far as some of the legal questions, what you are talking about is at the military whim of the moment, there are thousands of laws that can be invoked, dropped, changed, or become more virulent merely at the whim of military command.
If Cheney had his way, we’d have military law here too. Carl Rowe agrees. Check out who is at the top of our Homeland Security chairs.
RE: “…there are thousands of laws that can be invoked, dropped, changed, or become more virulent merely at the whim of military command”
MY COMMENT: How Kafkaesque! Where is Franz Kafka when you need him? “A better place”, I hope.
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israel runs a bulldozer right over a little girl dressed in bright, reflective orange …
israel shoots a tear gas canister into the head of another young American protesting IDF crimes …
… and let’s not forget that way back in 2002 the Mossad declared it would kill Americans on American soil who it deemed a threat:
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/israel_to_kill_on_us_allies_soil.htm
Similar to Riad Hamad of Texas? In regard to killing on foreign soil radii, you judge for yourselves –
RIAD HAMAD, THEY ALSO KILL THEM HERE IN THE USA
To Alex Kane:
…while he was demonstrating against the illegal separation wall…
Correction: In an interview on Democracy Now! just days after he was struck by the canister, Anderson’s girlfriend was speaking on the phone with Amy Goodman from the hospital where Anderson was being treated.
During the interview she stated that Tristan and she were standing near the corner of a house, away from the protesters, taking photos with a camera.
She explained that given their location, any observer would have had to conclude that they were not participating in the demonstration, but merely taking pictures. In other words, this was NOT an accident, but a deliberate targeting of Tristan, a witness.
Woops, thanks Avi.
KILLING THE WITNESSES
First thing they always do is smash the cameras.
“Case of Tristan Anderson may be reopened, adding to Israeli ‘public relations nightmare’”
I hope it’s not time for another “catalyzing event.”