NO 2 IDF Chief, YES 2 Gaza & Corrie, Today 5pm NYC

by: fairleft

Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 15:43:18 PM EST

Hundreds set to turn out for anti-Israel Defense Forces demo in NY
Protesters plan to march outside Waldorf Astoria, where Friends of the IDF will host dinner for IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi
By E.B. Solomont
Jerusalem Post
March 9, 2010

. . . The protest is being sponsored by a broad coalition of about 25 left-wing groups, including American Jews for a Just Peace, Codepink, Gaza Freedom March and Jewish Voice for Peace. Organized by Jews Say No!, the protest was endorsed by the Israeli groups Coalition of Women for Peace and BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS From Within.

"We think it's inappropriate for an American organization to be feting the Israeli army, when the Israeli army is implicated in violations of international law," said Rebecca Vilkomerson, director of Jewish Voice for Peace. She said Operation Cast Lead opened up people's eyes to the role that the Israeli army plays. The Goldstone Report also made people consider the notion that the IDF is fallible, she added.

"Definitely, it has opened up a big conversation in the Jewish community," she said, observing that in the past year more Jews have begun "questioning the idea that Israel is always right."

Okay, I admit, the actual Jerusalem Post headline was "Hundreds set to turn out for anti-Israel demo in NY." I.e., equating support for Israel with support for its the criminal actions of its military, like labeling an anti-Iraq war protest an anti-U.S. protest. But, okay, par for the Jerusualem Post course, and we move on. . . . to more important positive news out of Israel/Palestine from a basic humanitarian perspective. Note btw the efforts by Israel to avoid a fair verdict:

Israeli Defense Ministry goes on trial for Corrie death
March 9, 2010
Ma'an News

Jerusalem - On Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Ministry will go on trial as a court hears a case filed by the parents of an American woman run down by an Israeli military bulldozer in Gaza, in March 2003.

A civil suit seeks to hold Israeli forces responsible for the death of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old activist who was crushed to death as she protested a Palestinian home from demolition in the Gaza Strip.

"We claim that her assassination was intentional," or, at the very least, that the army is guilty of "huge negligence," Hussein Abu Hussein, the attorney who filed the petition on behalf of Corrie's parents, commented.

Abu Hussein cites the state's acknowledgment of the fact that Corrie and other members of the International Solidarity Movement-a Palestinian-led peace organization that advocates non-violent means of resistance to the Israeli occupation-were demonstrating in the area for several hours before Corrie was struck by the bulldozer. He also points out that Corrie was wearing a fluorescent orange vest to increase her visibility.

At the time of her death, the Israeli military response was that the driver of the machine did not see Corrie.

"If you see people, you should stop and think of all the needed steps not to harm [them]. Instead of stopping the D9, which weighs 64 tons, they continued. And due to that, [Corrie] was killed," Abu Hussein said.

Four of Corrie's fellow activists who witnessed her death were initially denied entry into Israel where they were asked to testify at the trial, but US pressure reportedly changed the Israeli position. A US citizen and three UK nationals will now be able to speak at the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.

Israel will not issue an entry permit to Dr Ahmed Abu Nakira, the Gazan physician who saw Corrie after she was injured and declared her dead. The state rejected the request for his entry on the grounds that there is no coordination between Israel and Gaza, due to the Israeli blockade that began after Hamas rose to power in 2007.

"It's an obstacle to justice," Abu Hussein said. "On the one side, [Israel] won't give permission [for Dr Abu Nakira] to come; on the other they won't allow him to testify by videoconference, which is used daily by courts everywhere in the modern world."

More from the Corrie family, Cindy and Craig, here:

Call to Action: Corrie Trial in Israel, March 10-24, 2009

Friends,

As many of you know, a civil lawsuit in the case of our daughter Rachel Corrie is scheduled for trial in the Haifa District Court beginning March 10, 2010. A human rights observer and activist, Rachel, 23, tried nonviolently to offer protection for a Palestinian family whose home was threatened with demolition by the Israeli military. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Force (IDF) Caterpillar D9R bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza.

The lawsuit is one piece of our family's seven-year effort to pursue justice for our daughter and sister. We hope this trial will illustrate the need for accountability for thousands of lives lost, or indelibly injured, by occupation-in a besieged and beleaguered Gaza and throughout Palestine/Israel; bring attention to the assault on nonviolent human rights activists (Palestinian, Israeli, and international); and underscore the fact that so many Palestinian families, harmed as deeply as ours, cannot access Israeli courts.

In order to deliver these interconnected messages as effectively as possible, we are asking for large-scale participation in the trial itself as well as in the events surrounding it. We hope you will join us for all or some of the events listed below and help us to put the call out to others. . . .

Craig and Cindy Corrie

Their PDF press release is here: Family Seeks Accountability Seven Years After An Israeli Military Bulldozer Crushed Their 23 Year Old Daughter To Death

Okay, let's give you the details on today's protest/march:

PROTEST THE ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER OF THE FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES & KEYNOTE IDF CHIEF OF STAFF GABI ASHKENAZI

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: New York City, 53rd St and Lexington Ave. Signs and procession route provided. (The dinner is at the Waldorf Astoria)

WHAT: The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, a registered 501-(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that provides support and services to members of Israel's national army, will be holding a $1,000 a plate fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria, New York City. The keynote speaker will be Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, IDF Chief of General Staff, who was responsible for the prosecution of last year's Operation Cast Lead against the people of Gaza. At the same time as the dinner, a broad coalition of local groups will stage a mobile protest outside the hotel to highlight the crimes committed by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead as well as Israel's ongoing illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip.

WHY:

NO TO THE IDF's BRUTALITY!

NO TO THE OCCUPATION AND SIEGE OF GAZA!

YES TO THE GOLDSTONE REPORT!

YES TO JUSTICE FOR THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE!

Please wear black if you can. We will provide dynamic signs!

Co-sponsored by Jews Say No!, Adalah-NY, Gaza Freedom March, Judson Church, Women In Black Union Square, Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism, Codepink, Brooklyn For Peace, Women of a Certain Age, Center for Immigrant Families, Wespac, Middle East Crisis Response, Regeneración Childcare NYC, National Lawyers Guild-NY Chapter, Post Road, American Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voice For Peace, Woodstock Veterans For Peace, A.R.T. (Activist Response Team), Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA, Progressive Democrats of America, NYC Anti-War Coalition, and New York Collective of Radical Educators

Endorsed by Coalition of Women for Peace, and BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS From Within

Finally, other news you may not have seen about the ongoing injustice in Palestine/Israel. Yup, consider it semi-official, it's apartheid:

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine on March 3rd concluded the EU should sanction Israel until violations stop, ruling in Barcelona, Spain on six questions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The jurists were assembled from around the world and issued their conclusions, among them stipulating that Israel practices a form of apartheid. The Tribunal's judgements are not judicially binding but are meant to examine the complicity of the European Union in perpetuating what the Tribunal called Israel's "policy of war, occupation, and colonization for 60 years."