Zionist denials/Post 2000

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Zionist Denials - post 2000 is a sub-page of Zionist denials.

See the main page for details.

In general, cases listed here are occasions when Israel itself has deliberately and falsely denied actions which it almost certainly committed (and in some cases, has admitted).

2010 Flotilla

First use of violence

Veteran war correspondent Ron Ben Yishai told Ynet that the commandos were under instruction to verbally convince activists to give up[1] whereas Dror Feiler on board the Sofia testified that he had tried to talk with the soldiers but was beaten up.[2] The first weapons to be used were said to be paintball guns though several witnesses attested to the attack on the flotilla beginning on the Mavi Marmara with stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber-coated bullets.[2] Film footage shows firing from zodiacs before the ship was boarded.[citation needed]

Kuwaiti lawyer Mubarak Al-Mutawa said: "Israeli commandos started shooting from the air without warning. They killed a number of volunteers even before landing aboard the ship".[3] Former US Marine and Gulf War veteran Ken O’Keefe said that two activists were already dead when he helped to disarm the first commandos that boarded the Mavi Marmara.[4] Journalist Muna Shester said: "a helicopter deployed men in black, armed from head to toe, who asked no questions and killed two Turkish men immediately".[5]

Violence on other boats

On 1 June 2010 in answer to a question from Jon Snow on Channel 4 News Mark Regev, spokesman for the prime minister of Israel replied "There were six interceptions yesterday, six interceptions. All done by the Israeli Navy, all, five of them were done peaceably without violence without harm to soul to people"[6]

This is dramatically different from the stories as collected by "a review of media sources" which claims that on MV Eleftheri Mesogeio people were attacked by rubber-coated bullets and tasers, handcuffed and mistreated; on MV Challenger 1 one woman had her head banged on the deck and trod on, another was hit on the nose by a projectile, while other passengers were tasered, dragged around the deck and hit with rifle butts; on MV Sofia one person was tasered, one shot with a rubber-coated bullet and one beaten up. On MV Sfendoni - one man was shot with a rubber-coated bullet, beaten in the groin and the head and kicked on the deck, another was thrown to the deck twice and then kicked or hit on the head, and the captain suffered a punctured ear drum along with neck and back injuries. Tasers were also used.[2] A witness to the unprovoked violence on the Mavi Marmara was former U.S. Ambassador Ed Peck. The Irish Ambassador to Israel said that four of the five Irish prisoners held in Be’er Sheva prison had been ‘roughed up’ in one form or another.[7]

2008/9 Gaza Massacre, Operation Cast Lead

All entry to Gaza was blocked during the action, and access since has been difficult, though many observers have succeeded. The investigations made by some bodies have not been able to question potential Israeli participants. The Wikispooks article is Operation Cast Lead. A deceitful ploy by Israel deliberately armed militants in Gaza with many tons of discarded ordnance, as documented here.

White Phosphorus use in Gaza

Initially denied and then later admitted by Israel.

UN Board of Inquiry

A UN Report report into Israeli attacks and damage to seven of their buildings in Gaza[8] stated that allegations that militants had fired from within U.N. premises "were untrue, continued to be made after it ought to have been known that they were untrue, and were not adequately withdrawn and publicly regretted."[9] Israel paid $10.5 million to the UN for the damage it had caused to seven UN buildings, reported to be the first time [1] they've ever done this.

2006 Lebanon

Use of White Phosphorus

Initially denied and later admitted by Israel. A further allegation that Depleted Uranium ammunition had been fired was rejected by the UN, amid doubts as to the scientific testing of samples.

2004 accusations against Peter Hansen

In October 2004, Israel demanded that Danish diplomat Peter Hansen, UNRWA's head, be removed from office,[10] based on UAV video documenting what they claimed was a group of Palestinian militants loading a rocket into a UN-marked vehicle.[11]

Hansen responded that the footage was of UNRWA crew members carrying a stretcher into the UN ambulance, stating "While the quality of the video clip is poor, its analysis shows beyond the shadow of a doubt that the object carried and thrown into the vehicle is not/cannot be a Qassam rocket".[12] Moreover, Hansen accused Israel of making "baseless accusations" amounting to "malicious propaganda" that endangered UN lives.[13] A team of investigators sent by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to look into the Israeli claims determined them to be false.

The Israeli authorities initially dismissed UNRWA's reaction, blaming Hansen for being "anti-Israeli". Later Israeli General Yisrael Ziv recognized having doubts over whether the object was a rocket launcher or a stretcher.[14][15] Eventually, the Israeli military changed some of its earlier statements and conceded the possibility that the object could have indeed been a stretcher, but did not offer the apology Hansen had demanded.[14][16]

A short time later, Jan 2005, Peter Hansen's contract with UNRWA, that he'd held since 1996, was terminated to widespread alarm by NGOs in Gaza.[17] The US was the only member of the advisory board opposing Mr Hansen's reappointment, a UN official told Reuters.[18]

2002/2003 Death of activists

Rachel Corrie

The Corries were told the report on her death was secret until they found that the Israeli government was covertly distributing it among members of the US Congress to prevent an independent investigation.[19]

James Miller

James Henry Dominic Miller died on the 2nd May 2003, allegedly killed by a single shot fired by Bedouin Arab Captain Hib al-Heib while filming a documentary in Rafah.[20][21] The Israeli Military Police investigation into Miller's death closed on 9 March 2005 with an announcement that the soldier suspected of firing the shot would not be indicted as they could not establish that his shot was responsible, though he would be disciplined for violating the rules of engagement and for changing his account of the incident.[22] On 6 April 2006, the inquest jury in London declared that Miller had been murdered. The Attorney General Peter Goldsmith sent a formal request to his Israeli counterpart in June 2007 for prosecution proceedings to be enacted within six weeks against the soldier responsible for firing the shot.[23] The requests were ignored by the Israeli government and prosecution proceedings were never enacted. On 1 February 2009 it was reported that James Miller's family have accepted a £1.5 million payout from Israel.[24]

Tom Hurndall

The family's insistence eventually "forced the IDF to investigate and to acknowledge that Tom had been wearing the fluorescent jacket of a non-combatant and had not been caught in Palestinian crossfire" as claimed.[25] In 2004 Taysir Hayb, an IDF soldier, was convicted of Tom's manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison. The army investigation had said that a sniper in a watchtower fired at a man wearing camouflage clothes and carrying a gun.

Iain Hook

Head of reconstruction, inside the UNRWA compound of Jenin. According to the Times "The army falsely claimed he was shot while standing among Palestinian gunmen in the UN compound. Israel paid compensation to Hook's family but attached confidentiality clauses which suppressed a public admission of culpability for what some of the UN worker's colleagues have called "cold-blooded murder"".[26] and "All three families [Hook, Turndall, Miller] have accused the authorities of fabricating evidence, suppressing investigations and covering-up deliberate killings."

2002 Assault on Jenin

c. April 5th to April 11th. All humanitarian aid and journalists refused entry until late on 14th and was very restricted until 18th and further endangered by shootings for months afterwards. Humanitarian relief was hampered by explosives (UN report quotes the government of Jordan saying that the explosives had been laid by IDF, the IDF claims Palestinians did so). EU equipment to defuse bombs was refused entry for two weeks. The UN investigation team was refused entry to Israel/the West Bank.

Notes

  1. A brutal ambush at sea Ron Ben Yishai recounts bloody clash aboard Gaza-bound vessel: The [lack of] crowd-dispersal means, the brutal violence of ‘peace activists,’ and the attempt to bring down an IDF helicopter. Ynetnews.com 31 May 2010.
  2. a b c The Israeli raid of the Freedom flotilla 31 May 2010 A review of media sources. 28 June 2010
  3. ‘Gaza heroes’ welcomed home Kuwait Times 3 June 2010. DEAD link.
  4. On Cowardice and Violence Ken Keefe "on the morning of the attack I was directly involved in the disarming of two Israeli Commandos. This was a forcible, non-negotiable, separation of weapons from commandos who had already murdered two brothers that I had seen that day. One brother with a bullet entering dead center in his forehead, in what appeared to be an execution" Counterpunch, Ken O’Keefe, 7 June 2010.
  5. Journalist Muna Shester said: "a helicopter deployed men in black, armed from head to toe, who asked no questions and killed two Turkish men immediately" Kuwait News, p.13. 3rd June 2010.
  6. Mark Regev Gets Told & Called a Liar Israeli spokesman claims that "... five of them were done peaceably without violence" Channel 4 on YouTube. 1st June 2010.
  7. Gaza Flotilla: Press Conference with Shane Dillon "Irish Ambassador to Israel, Breifne O'Reilly ... gained access to all the Irish prisoners" ... 4 of 5 "been 'roughed up' in one form or another and one of them reported that he was hit with a rifle butt". Indymedia 2nd Jun 2010.
  8. TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at UN headquarters. "Israel was faulted in seven of the nine cases, and Hamas was found guilty in one of the nine", 5 MAY 2009.
  9. UN report condemns Israel over Gaza war "These allegations were untrue, continued to be made after it ought to have been known that they were untrue, and were not adequately withdrawn and publicly regretted" Times, May 6, 2009.
  10. Israel seeks removal of UNRWA director Israel's ambassador at the UN, Dan Gilerman, will send a letter to UN Director-General Kofi Annan tomorrow, demanding the dismissal of Peter Hansen as commissioner-general of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Work Agency). 3rd Oct 2004.
  11. IDF releases footage of militants loading rockets into 'UN' car Haaretz. 1st Oct 2004
  12. Response by Commissioner-General Peter Hansen to allegations regarding misuse of a UN vehicle 2004.
  13. UNRWA chief ... accused Israel ... of a "smear campaign against his agency and crippling its work by destroying its property, blocking aid convoys, and keeping Palestinians from work". Haaretz 2nd Nov 2004.
  14. a b Israel softens UN ambulance claim BBC 5 October 2004.
  15. UN hits back over Israeli charges BBC, 6 Oct 2004.
  16. Israel, Palestinians Talk - Maybe " "the Israeli military said Tuesday it is reevaluating its claim that Palestinian militants used a U.N. vehicle to transport a homemade rocket - an apparent backing down in a high-profile confrontation with the world body" Hansen said. CBS News, 13 October 2004.
  17. Allow Hansen to continue "Younis: The decision not to renew Peter Hansen’s contract as UNRWA commissioner general is no doubt considered very dangerous by the civil society in general and NGO’s in particular" Palestine Report, 2 February 2005.
  18. Unrwa head to go against his will BBC 20 January 2005.
  19. Rachel Corrie The Corries had been told the report was secret until they found that the Israeli government was covertly distributing it among members of the US Congress to prevent an independent investigation. Guardian 20 October 2003.
  20. Miller's family push for prosecution Guardian, 6 April 2006.
  21. Britain tells Israel to try soldier for killing film-maker The Guardian 5 August 2007
  22. Israel: No criminal charges against IDF soldier in journalist's shooting death Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 9 March 2005.
  23. Israel replies in shooting inquiry Guardian 8 August 2007.
  24. Shot Briton's family 'gets £1.5m' BBC 1st Feb 2009.
  25. Tom Hurndall "Family ... forced the IDF to investigate and to acknowledge that Tom had been wearing the fluorescent jacket of a non-combatant" Times 7th Oct 2008.
  26. Iain Hook "The army falsely claimed he was shot while standing among Palestinian gunmen in the UN compound." Guardian 20 October 2003.