"Therefore be it resolved that we call on the MEC Board of Directors to halt all dealings with Israeli companies..."

"Mountain Equipment Co-op and Israel:
"Divestment Movement Moving to MEC AGM"

"Your Chance to Disinvest our Co-op from Israel"

by Dave Olsen

PACIFIC FREE PRESS (Canada)

March 27, 2009











http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/3929-mountain-equipment-co-op-and-israel-divestment-movement-moving-to-mec-agm.html


It is rare that a Co-operative's AGM and Board election could be controversial or even interesting, but this year's Mountain Equipment Co-op AGM may well be both. MEC's Board election closes on April 9 (@ noon PDT) and if you're a member, you could heavily influence a self-proclaimed ethical consumer Co-op in terms of its practices in Israel.

An in depth analysis can be found on the PAGE (Peace and Global Educators) website here. But this is a simple issue: Israel is waging genocide against the Palestinian people (if you're not aware of this, you've been either visiting another planet or reading/watching/believing mainstream media). Meanwhile, MEC is doing our Co-operative business with factories in Israel. Partnering is the specific term that MEC's Harvey Chan, Director of Ethical Sourcing uses.

As a reference, apartheid in South Africa was dismantled only when the resistance inside was partnered with economic sanctions. After 60+ years, it is clear that anything less will not force Israel to change its genocidal policies and practices.

I've canvassed the 12 candidates for MEC's Board (3 positions are available). Only 7 took the time to reply since 3 Feb 09. Of those, 4 defend MEC's current position of partnering in Israel. One agrees that this is an issue but stops short of taking a definitive position. Only two, David Caplan (strongly so) and Margie Parikh, are clearly against doing any business with factories or other partners in Israel. I'll be glad to forward their or any other reply upon request.

If you're eligible to vote, I encourage you to do so. Here's my list of candidates, in order:


1. David Caplan (against partnering with Israeli business/co-ops);
2. Margie Parikh (wishy-washy [her words] support of a boycott);
3. Michel Allaire (he "would be happy to look at ways to increase the Canadian content of MEC's inventory or to influence the criteria on which choices are made.").

---

I will NOT be voting for the following group:

4. Shawn Cleary (doesn't want to punish the workers [in Israel] for the sins of their officials);
5. Bill Gibson ("no problem with MEC buying from factories located in Israel");
6. Anders Ourom wanted to know if I was associated with anyone from Resist.ca and suggested raising this as an issue at the AGM;
7. Sanford Osler belatedly stated that he "will seek to understand this issue better."


All the others couldn't be bothered to reply. You can only vote online with any convenience.

If you're in Vancouver on April 30th, please attend the AGM in person (starts @ 6pm at SFU's Segal School of Business, 500 Granville St downtown) so you can also vote on the following Ordinary (read: non-binding) Resolution, being prepared and soon to be submitted by the Boycott Israel Apartheid Campaign (who have a meeting welcoming new members on Monday, March 23rd @ 7pm; boycottapartheid@gmail.com):


Resolution:

* Whereas many members have expressed concern over the position of Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC) with regard to Israel and "partnering" with Israeli companies,

* And whereas a Feb. 7/2009 statement from Peace and Global Educators (www.pagebc.ca ) said in part -

"According to communications from Harvey Chan, Director of Ethical Sourcing, MEC 'partners' with factories in Israel. In PAGE's view, this is incompatible with MEC's promotion of itself as an ethical organization. MEC's engagement with Israel is incompatible with its professed concern for both human rights and the environment",

* And whereas South African leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Cabinet Minister Ronnie Kasrils who recently spoke in Vancouver, have not only compared South African apartheid with the system of discrimination by Israel but have said Israel's apartheid system is worse,

* Therefore be it resolved that we call on the MEC Board of Directors to halt all dealings with Israeli companies and to reverse its position on Israel.



Hopefully we can affect this change quickly, otherwise, it will be time to find a different supplier of outdoor gear...

___________________________________

"Students Petition for EMU Divestment"

(Photo can be viewed in the Weather Vane)

"David Hosey, a worker for the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, presents the benefits of divestment." (Photo: David Hawkins)

________________________________________

"Students Petition for EMU Divestment"

The article was by Julian Bender, Contributing writer for the Weather Vane

That article may be viewed in the Weather Vane (Published at Eastern Mennonite University), in their issue of Thursday, March 26, 2009, Vol. 55, No. 19.

Some very brief quotations from that article:

"An unusual combination of attendees united in Common Grounds Wednesday night. The topic of divestment from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank brought these people together.

"David Hosey, working for the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, presented a brief overview of the Israeli occupation and its effects on Palestinians: The West Bank is best described as a giant prison with movement in and out of it, heavily restricted by Israeli checkpoints, barriers, and military actions...

"...Hosey finally called for participation in grassroots action to raise awareness and organize movements to begin boycotts and other actions intended to change corporate policies."

___________________________________________

University of Massachusetts student government defeats Student Alliance for Israel, & moves closer to divesting from Israeli Occupation:

Quote from a University of Massachusetts student senator, who pushed for both Palestine human rights resolutions:

“I’m happy that we’re moving ahead on the socially responsible committee that will work to divest from companies who profit from war and occupation.”


______________________________________________________


The Palestine activists won approval of their resolution asking the University to form a committee that would try to enforce socially responsible investments by the University. The vote was 12 in favor, 5 against.


Their other resolution, asking the University of Massachusetts to affiliate itself with the Palestinian university Birzeit, almost won (it was defeated by a vote of 7 in favor, 10 against.)


Here is the full article:

______________________________________________________





"SGA votes against potential affiliation with Palestinian university"

DAILY COLLEGIAN (University of Massachusetts at Amherst)

March 26, 2009

On the Web at:

http://www.dailycollegian.com/news/sga-votes-against-potential-affiliation-with-palestinian-university-1.1629028



Last night the Student Government Association senate voted against a motion asking for the University of Massachusetts to affiliate itself with the Palestinian university Birzeit. It also voted in support of a motion asking for the administration to provide more transparency about endowment investments and to ask for the formation of a committee that would try to enforce socially responsible investments by the University.

The three hour meeting started with representatives from both the Campus Anti-war Network (CAN) speaking in support of the motions and the Student Alliance for Israel voicing their opposition to them, especially in regards to affiliating with Birzeit University.

Commuter Area Senator Andy Berg originally proposed the motions on March 4, but they were tabled by the senate to allow further dialogue. Last night he continued to defend them, stating his desire to encourage campus dialogue over the issues.

Senators questioned Berg and CAN member Sofia Albaiti over the motions for the majority of the meeting.

Commuter Area Senator Derek Khanna asked over the wording of the motion, which accused the Israeli government of encroaching on Palestinian human rights. Berg and Albaiti replied by stating that the motion was more devoted to promote and defend education in the Gaza Strip.

Orchard Hill Area Senator Christina Kennedy asked if the SGA had a responsibility to pursue a more neutral stand in affiliating with universities involved in the conflict. Albaiti replied that due to CAN’s political affiliation, they were more inclined to support people seen as oppressed.

Senators further questioned what commitments the affiliation, described in the motion as “twinning,” would require of UMass.

During the debate over the motion, the issue remained if whether to judge Birzeit for notable alumni involved in terrorism was worth refusing to support the entire institution. The argument that the SGA had no jurisdiction over the matter was brought up against the motion. The motion failed with seven votes in favor, 10 against and three abstentions.

The next motion, which asked for more transparency with the University’s endowment, passed.

This was followed by a recess during which Michael Feder, the president of SAFI, criticized Berg for the lack of dialogue over the past several weeks concerning the issue. Feder was in turn criticized by Orchard Hill Senator Ben Thompson for his statements, after which Khanna came to Feder’s defense. Feder and Thompson reconciled after the confrontation.

The final motion passed asked for the formation of a committee to investigate the University’s investments with companies involved in war. The motion passed with 12 in favor, five against and three voting in abstention after language in the bill referring to specific conflicts was removed.

Speaking about the night’s events, Berg said, “I’m happy that we’re moving ahead on the socially responsible committee that will work to divest from companies who profit from war and occupation.”

In regards to the senate rejecting twinning with Birzeit University he added, “Although I wish it had passed, I am very happy it started dialogue on an important issue.”

Southwest Senator Josh Davidson, who made his opposition to divestment related motions part of his recent campaign for trustee, said, “I think a lot of the problems seen tonight have their failure in the lack of communication and dialogue between meetings.”

Mike Fox can be reached at mfox@student.umass.edu.

_____________________________________________________

Campaign to Boycott Israel at the University of Michigan.

Click on flyer to enlarge it.

___________________________________

Apartheid & ethnic cleansing: unjustifiable in South Africa, unjustifiable in Occupied Palestine.

Tristan Anderson

_____________________________

"Oakland man is the latest victim of Jewish state policies"

By Dr. Paul Larudee

Posted: 03/25/2009

Published in INSIDE BAY AREA (California), at:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_11985480

TRISTAN ANDERSON, a 38-year-old human rights volunteer from Oakland, is the latest casualty of the century-old effort to create and maintain a Jewish state in Palestine.

He went there with the International Solidarity Movement, which advocates nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation.

As I write, he lies in a Tel Aviv hospital, the front of his skull crushed by a high velocity tear gas canister illegally aimed straight at him at close range by an Israeli soldier.

Why does the U.S. defend a Jewish state in Palestine when we opposed a white state in South Africa? Why do we justify the expulsion and relocation of the majority Arab population so as to create and maintain a majority Jewish state?

Should South Africa have expelled the majority black population instead of instituting apartheid? Would we say that a white state in South Africa is justified if they created a majority by ethnic cleansing? Would we say that neighboring black states should absorb the displaced population?

These are some of the absurdities that we accept as normal in the case of Israel. This is not an academic argument. It has cost numerous wars and hundreds of thousands of lives. It has poisoned U.S. relations with much of the world. It costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars every year in direct aid to Israel.

For what? While the hysterical protectors of an increasingly racist and extremist Israel point to an obsolete Hamas charter, and cry that Israel is mortally threatened by the 21st century equivalent of bows and arrows, Palestinian women and newborns die in childbirth at hundreds of checkpoints paralyzing the West Bank, in a process reminiscent of the American Indian genocide.

Even Anderson's ambulance was delayed from reaching its destination; if he had been Palestinian, it might never have arrived, nor would we be reading about him.

The solution is no mystery. As with South Africa, all who call Palestine their home must live as equals wherever they choose. All of the Palestinian groups — including Hamas — have declared their willingness to accept this principle.

Would this mean the end of Israel as a Jewish state? Probably. But why is that a tragedy any more than the end of South Africa as a white state?

Would it mean the end of a Jewish homeland in Palestine? Of course not. Palestine belongs to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Like South Africa, it deserves to be shared without being partitioned. All of its inhabitants deserve to be called Palestinians. Tristan Anderson has also earned the right to be called Palestinian. We would all do well to try to earn that right.

--Dr. Paul Larudee is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement Northern California chapter. He lives in El Cerrito.

______________________________________

Israeli soldiers' T-shirts, bragging about shooting Palestinian children:

"Israeli soldiers’ shirts joke about killing Arabs:

"UN accuses Israel of human rights abuses in Gaza"


By MATTI FRIEDMAN, The Associated Press

Tue. Mar 24, 2009

Published in the "Chronicle-Herald" (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada), at:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/World/1112971.html

"In this photo taken March 16, an Israeli model poses with a T-shirt that reads 'Sniper platoon' in Hebrew. It also shows a pregnant Arab woman with the message that one shot would kill two Arabs.(YANAI YECHIEL / AP)

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers wore T-shirts with a pregnant woman in the cross-hairs of a rifle and the slogan "1 Shot 2 Kills," an Israeli newspaper says in a report that has added to a growing furor in the country over allegations of misconduct by troops during the Gaza war.

"The smaller they are, the harder it is," says another shirt showing a child in a gunsight. Soldiers wore the shirts to mark the end of basic training and other courses. They were reported by the newspaper Haaretz.

The military condemned the soldiers involved, and it was not immediately clear how many wore the shirts. They were not manufactured or sanctioned by the military, and it was not clear how widely they were distributed.

The shirts "are not in accordance with IDF values and are simply tasteless," the military said in a statement. "This type of humour is unbecoming and should be condemned."

The army said it would take disciplinary action against the soldiers involved.

The T-shirt allegations were followed Monday by a UN report in Geneva accusing Israeli soldiers of a number of human rights abuses in the Gaza conflict, including using an 11-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield.

The Israeli soldiers ordered the boy on Jan. 15 to walk in front of soldiers being fired on in a Gaza neighbourhood and enter buildings before them, said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN secretary general’s envoy for protecting children in armed conflict.

Coomaraswamy also said the boy was told to open the bags of Palestinians — presumably to protect soldiers from possible explosives — before being released at the entrance to a hospital.

She said the Jan. 15 incident, which allegedly occurred after Israeli tanks had rolled into the neighbourhood and during "intense operations," was a violation of Israeli and international law.

It was included in a 43-page report Monday, and was one of many reportedly verified human rights violations during the three-week war between Israel and Hamas that ended Jan. 18.

Coomaraswamy accused Israeli soldiers of shooting Palestinian children, bulldozing a home with a woman and child still inside and shelling a building they had ordered civilians into a day earlier...

_______________________________________________

University of Wisconsin:Students demand divestment against the Israeli occupation.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s premier independent student newspaper.


"Students can help fight oppression"

by Samir Jaber

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

In the BADGER-HERALD (University of Wisconsin), at:

http://badgerherald.com/oped/2009/03/24/students_can_help_fi.php

Anytime the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been brought up in the company of my friends, fellow students and peers, I’ve always received the same general response: The violence needs to stop.

I’m the last person who would disagree with that sentiment. As a Palestinian from a small town called El-Bireh, I’ve personally encountered the consequences of the brutal occupation. Our family home in El-Bireh — the place where my father grew up, his father grew up and was home to many of my relatives — was leveled by an Israeli rocket in 2001. I’ve had countless relatives who’ve suffered as a result of the brutality of the Israeli occupation. I’m not a fan of violence.

The Israeli invasion of Gaza was particularly brutal. Recent estimates have placed the Gazan death toll at 1,400, with nearly 6,000 casualties. Dr. Issam Younis, director of the Al-Mazen Centre for Human Rights, told the BBC that he estimates that 85 percent of those killed were non-combatants. In addition, the BBC reported 4,000 Gazan homes were destroyed and 400,000 Gazans were left without running water. The international community condemned Israel for its vicious assault on Gaza, with one notable exception: the United States of America.

Among the American people, however, a new rise of activism has taken place on the home front in response to Israeli incursion into Gaza and America’s refusal to stand against it.

In particular, universities throughout the country have faced increasing pressure to divest from corporations that profit from human rights violations and war crimes. In February, Hampshire College divested from several companies which profited from the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. After this victory, a coalition of student groups at NYU peacefully occupied the Kimmel Center, calling for the university to commit to socially responsible investment. The actions of the courageous demonstrators have served to build momentum around the desire to cut financial ties to human rights violations.

Our wonderful university has a history of committing to socially responsible investment. University of Wisconsin investment policy 97-1 stipulates that the Board of Regents will seriously reconsider investments in companies that “violate, subvert or frustrate the enforcement of rules of domestic or international law intended to protect individuals and/or groups against deprivation of health, safety, basic freedoms or human rights.”

In that vein, the UW System Board of Regents became one of the first university administrative groups to divest from companies which did business with the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1978. In the late ’90s, the university also became one of the first to divest from companies that profited from the humanitarian crisis in Burma/Myanmar. Most recently, in 2006, the university also divested from companies which profited from the genocide in Darfur.

It’s not far-fetched to draw a connection to Palestine, especially when South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu did the work for us by describing the Israeli occupation of Palestine as “another apartheid.”

A growing coalition of student organizations on this campus are calling for our Board of Regents to uphold and enforce investment policy 97-1 and divest from specific companies that profit from human rights violations in the Palestinian territories. Among the most egregious of these investments is in Caterpillar, a company that manufactures the bulldozers responsible for the destruction of nearly 12,000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, homes that are replaced with Israeli settlements. Other companies that the university invests in, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop-Grumman and Raytheon, are particularly culpable since they manufacture weapons that allow the Israeli army and security services to cause substantial suffering to the Palestinian people.

During the next week, Justice for Palestine, Student Progressive Dane and a coalition of other student organizations are analyzing the occupation of Palestine in a series titled “Eyes on Palestine.” This series, which starts Tuesday, March 24 and runs through Friday, March 27, will take place at 7 p.m. every night in Humanities 2650. Each night, a different perspective will be taken on the occupation of Palestine, including two student panels that will offer a present-day and long-term look at a potential peace process and two films that will analyze the conflict through the eyes of Palestinians, Israelis, Americans and the international community. We invite the entire campus community to participate in this fantastic series of events.

But this week only serves as the beginning of a long struggle to fight for peace and justice for the people of Palestine.

The first thing we can all do is wash our hands of the occupation by demanding our university commits to divesting from companies which profit from it. The next thing we can do is demand that our government does the same. I’ve always believed that small victories lead to great changes, and that you must, as Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Samir Jaber is a member of Student Progressive Dane and can be reached at sjaber@wisc.edu.

___________________________________________________

Tristan Anderson, shot by Israeli troops, is back in a coma;Police attack Palestine demonstration in San Francisco.

Click on photo to enlarge it.
From a demonstration for Tristan, in the town where Israeli troops shot him in the head.

Click on photo to enlarge it.
From a demonstration for Tristan, in the town where Israeli troops shot him in the head.

_______________________________________________

"As Tristan Anderson Fights for His Life, Protests in Ni'ilin Continue"

On Indymedia at:

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/23/18581405.php

Updated March 24, 2009


Tristan Anderson is still hospitalized, unconscious and on a respirator, in a hospital in Israel, 10 days after he was shot in the head by an Israeli Defense Force high-velocity tear gas canister. His family's attorney has filed a formal complaint with the West Bank Israeli border police, demanding the immediate launch of a rigorous and independent investigation into the shooting. Tristan's parents and lawyer held a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon (Reports).

Tristan's condition deteriorated somewhat over the weekend, and he is now in a medically-induced coma as he had to undergo two more brain surgeries due to elevated cerebral pressure. Tristan's condition is now again defined as critical and unstable. “We have to make sure this investigation is not a whitewash, so that the investigation takes place as an investigation should,” as 90-92 percent of all of the Israeli military system's investigations of itself since 2000 have yielded no results. Tristan's friend Jonathan Pollack says, "Tristan is fighting for his life, just as he has been fighting for justice his whole life."

Friends of Tristan and Palestine is calling for a rally and press conference on Thursday, March 26th at noon. Protesters will gather outside of San Francisco's Israeli Consulate at 456 Montgomery St. for speakers, music, art, and videos of Tristan and the SFPD's attack on protesters last Monday. They will stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and with self-determination and autonomy for all people. The press conference will address the police attacks against protesters that occurred after the Solidarity with Tristan protests on March 16, and those that happened after the ANSWER march on March 20; the speakers will demand that the SFPD drop all charges from the protests. The March 16th arrestees will have their next court date on April 29th. Their legal team is asking that witnesses to the arrests, people injured by the police, or those who have picture and video footage that is pertinent contact them.

Friends of Tristan and Palestine is asking that people call Representative Barbara Lee and tell her to condemn the attack on Tristan and the ongoing economic and physical attacks on Palestine.

____________________________________

2009 Campaign to Boycott Israeli Goods, at the People's Food Co-op,Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Boycott Israel.


The man in the photo with Henry is Basem Abu Rahme.

At the time (April, 2005) we were euphoric, having just completed one of the first protests against the Apartheid Wall in Bi'lin.

On April 17, 2009, Basem was murdered by invading Israel Occupation Forces, shot with a high velocity tear gas cannister, at the Bil'in weekly protest.

___________________________________________

Henry Herskovitz

Candidate Statement

On the Web at:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Letters/PFC%20Candidacy2.doc

Board Candidacy

People’s Food Co-op

February 27, 2009

"I was very impressed with the efforts of the Boycott Israel Group, whose dedication and hard work brought a petition to the Board of Directors of PFC in 2007 and enabled the Co-op to conduct a vote on whether to boycott products made in Israel. Though I played no part in that very successful effort to raise awareness of the atrocities committed by the state of Israel, I felt that what was lacking was a sympathetic ear of a Board member to their cause. I plan to be that ear, and voice for the Palestinian people.

"The wonderful part about our Co-op is that it promotes the value of social consciousness, as evidenced by Bob Schildgen’s message in this month’s Connection. And given the massacre of Gaza just committed over the holiday season by Israel, nothing could be more timely than a second effort by a socially conscious group like BIG, to commit our social energies into achieving a just peace in Palestine.

"I note that of this writing the 15,000 member Park Slope Food Co-op in Brooklyn, New York is considering a ban on Israeli products, and I would like our Co-op to be one of the leaders in this movement. It is time that the Ann Arbor political and co-operative communities came together to demand an end to the ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Boycotts, like the one proposed in 2007, is a peaceful means to achieve this goal; it is what I hope will be the main priority of the Board in 2009-2012.

"Voters should consider that I have been a participating member in the People’s Food Co-op since about 2002, well prior to my advocacy for Palestinian self-determination.

"I also bring 32 years of experience in working for a major manufacturing firm in southeast Michigan. When I retired, I was manager of the Design/Drafting group of this $1.8 billion corporation, responsible for the work of 12 CAD designers, and reported directly to the Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing. I understand corporate organizations, budget imperatives, business plans, and worked closely with associates in Human Resources."

Henry Herskovitz

______________________

University of Massachusetts student government will vote on divesting from the murder of Gaza, on March 25, 2009:

"U.S. Dollars Fund Gaza Deaths"

DAILY COLLEGIAN (University of Massachusetts)

March 23, 2009

On the Web at:

http://www.dailycollegian.com/editorial_opinion/u.s._dollars_fund_gaza_deaths-1.1622870



Blood is cheap here in America. The lives of other human beings have become worthless and we have become a society ready to kill for any cause. Some may read this and say: “This isn’t true, not in the society I live in.” Well even if you’re not willing to kill someone else, others will do it for you, and, of course, with your money.

You may not realize it, but you continue to give military aid around the world to governments that use it to slaughter people. You and I, the taxpayers, are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people around the world and we continue to be the reason for the suffering of millions.

One example of this recently made headlines all over the world: “Further accounts of Gaza killings released,” read the headline in The New York Times. But why should murder, ethnic cleansing and slaughter occurring in the Middle East matter to Americans?

Because, in this case, we paid for it. The U.S. gives $3 billion a year to Israel in military aid. We, the taxpayers, give more money in military aid to Israel than we do to all other countries combined.

Why do we give them money, which has cost each taxpayer over $24 thousand since 1949? We do so because they say they will only use it for self-defense. We do so because they say they will not kill women and children with our weapons. We do so because they say they follow international law when using the F-16s, Apache choppers and other tools of destruction we provide them. False.

Our money – our tax dollars – goes directly to Israel’s infliction of suffering on millions of human beings in Gaza and the West Bank. The Times article referred back to a Haaretz feature entitled “Shooting and Crying,” which covered the accounts of Israeli soldiers who participated in “Operation Cast Lead,” the bombing and land invasion of Gaza. It revealed how Israeli soldiers intentionally targeted innocent civilians in order to increase the suffering of the people.

For example, when asked why an elderly woman was killed, a squad commander in the Israeli army was quoted as saying: “What’s great about Gaza – you see a person on a path, he doesn’t have to be armed, you can simply shoot him. In our case it was an old woman on whom I did not see any weapon when I looked. The order was to take down the person, this woman, the minute you see her. There are always warnings, there is always the saying, ‘Maybe he’s a terrorist.’ What I felt was, there was a lot of thirst for blood.”

Surely, then, there must have been widespread condemnation from the governments of the U.S. and Israel for an atrocity like this. False.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that he believed such incidents to be exceptions, adding, “The Israeli Army is the most moral in the world.”

In the Haaretz feature, a soldier named Aviv described the orders he was given. “From above they said it was permissible, because anyone who remained in the sector and inside Gaza City was in effect condemned, a terrorist, because they hadn't fled. I didn't really understand: On the one hand they don't really have anywhere to flee to, but on the other hand they're telling us they hadn't fled so it's their fault.”

He is completely right: He didn’t understand. This wasn’t an operation to find and kill terrorists. This was by definition an act of terrorism in itself to scare the people of an area into submission by destroying their property and murdering them.

“You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write ‘death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing in understanding how much the [Israel Defense Forces] has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most,” Aviv went on to say.

Take a closer look at the death tolls. During the conflict, 13 Israelis were killed. Of those, 10 were military personnel. On the other side, 1434 Palestinians were killed. Of those 980 were civilians, and over 550 were women or children. The sheer numbers tell a troubling story, a story of gross overuse of force. A death ratio of over 100 to 1 doesn’t even take into account the 6000 Gazans injured during the war, nor the 50,800 Gazans made homeless because their houses were destroyed.

It’s all ok though, because in the words of Ehud Barak, Israel remains “the most moral army in the world” – an army that admittedly targeted defenseless women and children, an army that went on killing indiscriminately, an army that didn’t allow outside media sources to cover their slaughter in Gaza. If that is moral, I don’t ever want to see want an immoral army is capable of.

--Subhan Tariq is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at stariq@student.umass.edu


____________________________________________