This is the Freedom Ride of our era

by on July 2, 2011 37
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I'm crying over this video. 193 hits, Let's push it. It's not over til the fat lady sings

About Annie Robbins

Annie Robbins is Writer at Large for Mondoweiss, a mother, a human rights activist and a ceramic artist. She lives in the SF bay area.
Posted in Israel/Palestine

{ 37 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Richard Witty says:
    July 2, 2011 at 10:03 am

    I liked Alice Walker’s theme of communicating to Gazan children than they are loved.

    The flotilla is NOT that expression alone. It is also an expression of assertive surge on a border (even an occupied one), which even if unarmed is a “military” action.

    And, in the current setting it is an encouragement as much to Hamas to continue rejectionism, the rejection of even a conditional acceptance of Israel.

    That is probably the more significant historical consequence of the flotilla.

    The first flotilla was poetic, substantive, but whose stated intent was betrayed by indiscipline to non-violent commitment.

    This flotilla is both less relevant (as the Rafah border crossing is largely open to people, as the tunnels are providing sadly unmoderated transit with a Hamas monopoly on control, and high levels of transit across the Israeli crossings), and it comes at a time when it can disrupt the reputation of Palestinians as law-pursuing sovereign.

    • Chaos4700 says:
      July 2, 2011 at 10:16 am

      So let me get this straight. It is a “military threat” to Israel to help the children of Gaza. If we continue to help the children of Gaza, Israel will interpret that as a threat to Israel’s existence because it is a vital component of Israel’s existence that the children of Gaza starve, suffer, and die in insolation from food, medical aid and contact with the rest of the world.

      Basically, there is no Israel without the concentration camp.

      I don’t know about you but that tells me everything I need to know about whether Israel has a right to exist.

    • Chaos4700 says:
      July 2, 2011 at 10:34 am

      You do realize you are overtly voicing support for the siege of Gaza. Again. And you have a pattern of endorsing military violence against civilians OUTSIDE of Israel’s borders. That means that you are an accessory to collective punishment.

      And frankly, that you are trumpeting your support for the overt oppression by military force of civilians to propagate a colonial enterprise DURING INDEPENDENCE DAY? I find that galling.

    • justicewillprevail says:
      July 2, 2011 at 11:14 am

      “Betrayed by indiscipline” LOL!

      you mean ‘betrayed by the IDF thugs whose aim was to violently intimidate peaceful protesters, using live fire and thus murdering innocents, and stop by any means the right to basic food, shelter and medicine that Israel deliberately denies Palestinians as part of their illegal blockade and collective punishment’. You’ll never get it, pompous Witless.

    • yourstruly says:
      July 2, 2011 at 11:25 am

      which even if unarmed is a military action?

      shades of what bull o’connor said about the birmingham march

      king george iv in regards to the boston tea party

      the rich & powerful when up against organized labor

      & the one about freedom flotillla 2 disrupting the reputation of palestinians as law-pursuing sovereign?

      make that palestinians as a law-pursuing people

      sovereignity?

      now in progress

    • Cliff says:
      July 2, 2011 at 11:47 am

      Israel killed people on the last flotilla. There were no weapons. International waters.

      The end.

      It does not matter that they did not act non-violently. Israel instigated the conflict by choosing to attack their ship. Doing so at night as well!

      It’s disgusting that you continually blame the victim. Whether it be Palestinian civilians or non-violent activists.

    • RobertB says:
      July 2, 2011 at 12:08 pm

      rwitty—

      “and high levels of transit across the Israeli crossings), and it comes at a time when it can disrupt the reputation of Palestinians as law-pursuing sovereign.”

      ~~~~~~~

      Look who is attempting to blather about ” reputation/law-pursuing sovereign”.

      Your beloved racist/apartheid Israel massacred about 1400 Palestinians in 2008/2009, most of them were civilians and many were women and children. They even gunned down civilians holding white flags.

      Israel used the most sophisticated American made weapons on a mostly unarmed civilian population…they dropped 500 lb bombs on homes, neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, UN facilities…etc… all in the name of “self defense/right to defend itself”.

      And on top of all the heavy bombs, missiles, 23 days of massive bombardments…Israel used a chemical weapon, white phosphorus, on a civilian population…and of course…lied/denied using it. Only after the investigation results … Israel admitted using it.

      Israel’s IDF killers left Gaza in a massive destruction situation & trails of human deaths in every alley/neighborhood.

      To zionists…Israel has the most moral army…and they try to sell this lie!!!

      @@@@@

      Click on links to view Israel’s killing trails:

      Dead Palestinian Children Have Names Too

      link to desertpeace.wordpress.com

      link to google.com

      • Richard Witty says:
        July 2, 2011 at 2:23 pm

        You want to know something ironic Robert.

        In the mid-90′s I started posting on another progressive blog about Israel-Palestine.

        At the time, there were deaths from Israeli terror and deaths of Palestinians. I publicly wrote the mourners’ kaddish on the site, once for each death.

        I got threats from the some of pro-Zionist religious posters on the site.

        You call names, rather than honor names.

        (Its not uncommon. How many kaddish’s has Phil said for innocent Palestinians?)

        • justicewillprevail says:
          July 2, 2011 at 6:37 pm

          So you want to choose this moment to preen yourself and claim superiority over Phil. Really, this self-glorifying gesture says it all about you. Newsflash: this isn’t about you or your inane attempts at patronising everybody, including the Palestinians. Your random spouting is tedious and meretricious. Try listening and learning for a change, as opposed to uttering banal and vague pompous statements.

        • RobertB says:
          July 3, 2011 at 8:09 am

          Attempting to invoke some kind of sentiment on here won’t get you much anywhere …your IDF boot tracks are all over these threads!

          What I posted regarding your racist Israel & its IDF killers stands. Its massive killing trails of so many innocent & helpless civilians should be condemned by all people who are on the side of peace, justice, human rights, international law, truth, fairness….

          The pictures in the links that I posted tell the sad story of so many dead Palestinians at the hands of brutal murderers…the IDF !!!

    • Danaa says:
      July 2, 2011 at 2:17 pm

      Witty coming out of the closet to play demonstrating that he is a settler at heart and always been. Everything else is just chaff.

      I propose a temporary divestment in Witty. No replies, no matter how annoying his statements are.

      For the record, this is my pledge – to avoid putting a comment under Witty’s for the foreseeable future. Let this one be my last at least until the day Gaza’s people are liberated from under their vicious occupier’s boots.

      Naturally, I will continue to raise his name where relevant as a standard bearer for covering up for crimes against humanity. That’s what he is here for. That’s what he is doing. that’s why his words never add up to substance. Everything he says should be viewed in light of that. I just won’t take him on directly because as an individual, he does not merit direct engagement.

      I call on everyone – in light of the banality of raw power that seeks to defeat the audacity of hope – to join me in avoiding comment following Witty’s. let his pathetic words stand there alone, unadorned as the travesties he seeks to defend.

  2. stevieb says:
    July 2, 2011 at 10:50 am

    But Hamas has already recognized Israel in agreeing to negotiate with them after the minimum requirements that they lift what is an illegal blockade within an illegal military occupatiion in it’s 6th decade. Israel is refusing to negotiate, Richard.

    Please stop lying about Hamas-it is a serious obstacle to peace. Lying, or misrepresenting easily available facts, always is…

  3. seafoid says:
    July 2, 2011 at 11:22 am

    What a super video. It is so important for the ghazzawis to know that we care about them and that Israeli society is essentially insane and in need of acute medical help.

  4. Richard Witty says:
    July 2, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Steve,
    On numerous times since the declaration of unity efforts, Hamas has publicly declared that it will NEVER recognize Israel.

    That is a hole in the hull of the boat of peace, a chasm.

    Both parties need to state willingness. Your point about Israel currently refusing to negotiate, and refusing to indicate intent to make peace in earnest (extended moratorium on settlement construction), is true.

    But, this a relationship that needs correction, not one party.

    • RobertB says:
      July 2, 2011 at 12:28 pm

      “On numerous times since the declaration of unity efforts, Hamas has publicly declared that it will NEVER recognize Israel.

      That is a hole in the hull of the boat of peace, a chasm.”

      Has Israel publicly declared that it will/it is willing to recognize a sovereign Palestinian state…a state that has the same rights as Israel?

      • eljay says:
        July 2, 2011 at 9:36 pm

        >> Has Israel publicly declared that it will/it is willing to recognize a sovereign Palestinian state…a state that has the same rights as Israel?

        No, it hasn’t. And, perhaps more significantly, Israel is engaged in an ON-GOING campaign of aggression, oppression, theft, colonization and murder.

        But RW is a hypocrite. He will blame Hamas – the Palestinian contribution to the “hole in the hull of the boat of peace” – while excusing Israel’s contribution to same.

        This “humanist”:
        - has validated the past ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and admitted that he would have “supported whatever it took [rape? torture? murder?] to create the state of Israel, and held my nose at actions that I could not possibly do myself” (link);
        - has stated that he has no issue with excising non-Jewish Israelis from their country (a kinder, gentler form of ethnic cleansing) should they pose a threat to a supremacist, permanent-majority status for Jews in Israel (link);
        - believes that Israel is entitled to undertake offensive military actions (i.e., to “start it”) in order to elicit a response from Palestinians and then to use that response to engage in “belligerent reprisals” against them (link).

        So, according to RW, Israel is entitled to commit ethnic cleansing; to engage in ON-GOING aggression, oppression, theft, colonization, destruction and murder; to undertake offensive military actions designed to “validate” belligerent reprisals; and to strip non-Jewish Israelis of their citizenship to ensure a supremacist Jewish majority in Israel. But Hamas is the “hole in the hull of the boat of peace” (where does he come up with this sh*t?). Hamas is always to blame.

        The victim is the aggressor; up is down and black is white. This is the world according to a hateful and immoral Zio-supremacist.

        • eljay says:
          July 2, 2011 at 10:11 pm

          >> … Israel is entitled to commit ethnic cleansing; to engage in ON-GOING aggression, oppression, theft, colonization, destruction and murder; to undertake offensive military actions designed to “validate” belligerent reprisals; and to strip non-Jewish Israelis of their citizenship to ensure a supremacist Jewish majority in Israel.

          I forgot to add that WikiLeaks documents have revealed that Israel shows no interest in engaging in sincere negotiations with Palestinians for a just and mutually-beneficial peace. So, despite this and everything else, it’s all Hamas’ fault.

    • petersz says:
      July 2, 2011 at 12:49 pm

      Correction. Hamas say it would recognize Israel but not “Israel’s right to exist”. This is an Orwellian term first used by Henry Kissenger that has no meaning in international law. Most countries recognize other countries but they do not recognize their “right to exist” because only people collectively have rights like the right to self determination that states do not have. Did the Soviet Union or White Supremacist South Africa have a “right to exist” when they existed? Of course not! Recognizing their “right to exist” would have meant recognizing their right to oppress subjugated people and neither of these states exist anymore which is a good thing. Of course the Zionists have added another caveat added by Olmert in 2007 which even Obama now uses. Palestinians must now recognize Israel as a “Jewish” state which would be like White South Africans insisting Black South Africans recognize South Africa as a “White” state(which they also tried to make them do). Funny how they never insisted Egypt and Jordan recognizing Israel as a Jewish state before signing peace treaties with them!

    • stevieb says:
      July 2, 2011 at 1:29 pm

      They have also publically that they are willing to negotiate with their oppressors and are willing to accept Israel as a reality that they must live with for the sake of peace. There is nothing more than that. How can their be with the massive crimes against the Palestinian people?

      The ‘what if’s’ are so childish and stupid I won’t go there. But I will say that, imo 95% of this ‘fear’ of Hamas, is an act – a facade.

      And I think your intelligent enough, Richard, to look at the facts about Hamas, put aside your silly Hamas bashing, and realize that Hamas is the Palestinian people. …

  5. nmi says:
    July 2, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    The Arab Spring seems adrift. The flotilla–not adrift, thanks to Israel.

    It is hard to envision how the same tactics will eventually yield results. We are always hearing about how supremely ‘sensitive’ to world opinion the Israelis are, but that’s basically rubbish. A nation sensitive to world opinion does not ban an 82 year old linguist and celebrated scholar from its shores, much less attack an unarmed humanitarian vessel in international waters and massacre 9 members of its crew.

    Israel means to send a clear and unambiguous message to the world–your opinion is irrelevant. We will do as we please, up to and including the murder of US citizens, should they happen to look at us the wrong way. This reality has to be faced. Attempting to “shame” Israel into compliance with fundamental standards of conduct is doomed to fail, in my view. I haven’t much hope for BDS either. Unless you have a real prospect of crippling the Israeli economy through this strategy, it’s a loser.

    • seafoid says:
      July 2, 2011 at 5:23 pm

      Israelis care when singers like Elvis Costello don’t turn up. The Jerusalem cinematheque parents care when films aren’t shown in Israel.
      Israelis desperately crave acceptance by the West.

      It is still possible to speak Hebrew openly in Western Europe. That doesn’t have to be the case. Israelis have to be confronted with the monster they are part of. Israelis have to feel shame.

      • annie says:
        July 2, 2011 at 7:42 pm

        t is still possible to speak Hebrew openly in Western Europe. That doesn’t have to be the case. Israelis have to be confronted with the monster they are part of. Israelis have to feel shame.

        seafoid, this sounds revengeful to me. i’m not sure that’s a productive way forward. shame is a natural feeling when you know you’ve done something wrong but it doesn’t have to be a goal in itself. hebrew is a language, the idea of being shunned for speaking ones native tongue is over the top. there are a lot of good people who speak hebrew. deep breath..

        • seafoid says:
          July 3, 2011 at 4:47 am

          Annie

          South Africa was an international pariah in the 1980s. South Africans travelling abroad would deny they were South African because of the opprobium.

          Hebrew is the language of the system. It is the vector of the ideas that enable the occupation to flourish.

          Israelis have to see the link between their treatment of the Palestinians and their own standard of living.

          Sure there are decent Hebrew speakers but there obviously aren’t enough of them.

          link to en.wikipedia.org

          How low down the list of parties with vote percentages do you have to go before you find a Jewish party that is opposed to the wall or the siege ?

          Changing the status quo is going to be painful for Israelis. That is why Israel does what it did in Greece this weekend. They will hold on until there is no alternative.

  6. yourstruly says:
    July 2, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    hamas has publicly declared that it will NEVER recognize israel?

    but has zionist entity israel ever recognized the existence of palestine?

    a land without a people for a people without a land?

    the beginning & end of it all

  7. nmi says:
    July 2, 2011 at 12:42 pm

    “But there is a remedy, and while it is not easy it is consistent with our long-held beliefs. Palestinian priorities include recognition of the core dispute over the land of historical Palestine and the rights of all its people; resolution of the refugee issue from 1948; reclaiming all lands occupied in 1967; and stopping Israeli attacks, assassinations and military expansion. Contrary to popular depictions of the crisis in the American media, the dispute is not only about Gaza and the West Bank; it is a wider national conflict that can be resolved only by addressing the full dimensions of Palestinian national rights in an integrated manner. This means statehood for the West Bank and Gaza, a capital in Arab East Jerusalem, and resolving the 1948 Palestinian refugee issue fairly, on the basis of international legitimacy and established law. Meaningful negotiations with a non-expansionist, law-abiding Israel can proceed only after this tremendous labor has begun.”

    Ismail Haniyeh: Washington Post

  8. biorabbi says:
    July 2, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    Annie, the music on the video was quite soothing, hypnotic, and sleep provoking.

  9. tellmeall says:
    July 3, 2011 at 9:17 am

    It was a bit sad to watch the video knowing that the Audacity of Hope’s captain is imprisoned by Greece & the boat impounded, along with the brazen sabotage, seems to be the end of ‘Stay Human’ flotilla.

    The lesson I get from these sneaky, malicious manuevors that Israelis are adept at; is that Israeli side will do anything to win. Quite simply they leave unwelcome morals for those they insultingly call goy.

    Everyone knows that the zionist project is failed, you cannot build a nation on stolen lands without turning into a nation of thiefs, liars and murderers.
    So the zionist plot’s original sin will be it’s undoing.

    Israel is a nation of well-heeled thugs, who believe in taking what they want, after all, they are chosen, they are elect, they are the beloved of the jealous, vengeful, desert god.

    We all know this story, but I’m still not licking any stinky, fungus feet.

    The Freedom Flotilla will prevail in the end, it will break the seige, we will simply do more, we will never give up.

  10. sajepress says:
    July 3, 2011 at 9:37 am

    This video will explain how Israel rules the rulers. Greece is not the first country to tow the line and won’t be the last. Israeli Prime Minister trains U.S. Congress using Pavlovian methods

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