The US activist Rachel Corrie, whose death beneath an Israeli military bulldozer made her an international symbol of Palestinian resistance, bore sole responsibility for the incident that killed her, a court in Israel ruled.
The parents of Corrie fought back tears as a judge fully absolved the Israeli army for the death of their daughter as she tried to prevent the destruction of a Palestinian house in Gaza in 2003.
Rejecting the Corrie family’s civil suit against the state, Oded Gershon accepted the army’s argument that the driver of the bulldozer had not seen the 23-year-old activist. He proceeded to criticise Corrie for putting herself in harm’s way.
“She chose to put herself in danger,” Mr Gershon told the district court in Haifa. “She stood in front of a giant bulldozer in a place where the operator could not see her. She could have easily distanced herself from danger like any reasonable person would.
“Her death is the result of an accident she brought upon herself.”
American peace activist Rachel Corrie stands infront of an Israeli bulldozer in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza strip in 2003.
Rachel Corrie standing infront of an IDF bulldozer in Rafah in 2003 moments before she died.
Visibly distraught by the ruling, which comes seven years after they first filed their suit, Corrie’s parents promised to appeal in an effort to keep alive their long campaign to hold Israel to account.
“We are, of course, deeply saddened and deeply troubled by what we heard today,” her mother Cindy said. “I believe this was a bad day – not only for our family but for human rights, the rule of law, and also for the country of Israel.”
The death of Corrie badly damaged Israel’s international reputation and strained relations with the US, its superpower patron.
Dan Shapiro, the US ambassador to Israel, told the Corrie family last week that Washington remained dissatisfied with the way Israel had handled the incident. He has previously said that Israel’s investigation of her death had been neither credible nor transparent.
But the court ruled that a military police investigation in the weeks after Corrie’s death, which found that she had been killed as a result of her own irresponsible behaviour, had been properly conducted.
Fellow activists from International Solidarity Movement, the group for which Corrie campaigned, have long rejected the official Israeli explanation.
Tom Dale, a British former activist who was just 30 feet away when Corrie was crushed, said that it was impossible for the driver of the bulldozer not to have seen her, pointing out that she wore a fluorescent vest and was standing on raised ground.
No Bank Deposits Will Be Spared from Confiscation 2013 05 18
As alert Zero Hedge readers are aware, this week the EURO Politburo is busy debating the dodgy subject of deposit "bail-ins."
The following article very succinctly explains this odious mode of fractal fractional reserve end-game chicanery.
The author encourages all of you to share it with others.
NO BANK DEPOSITS WILL BE SPARED FROM CONFISCATION
By Matthias Chang Esq, futurefastforward.com (with author’s permission)
I challenge ...
Big Bang: Biggest meteorite explosion rocks the Moon 2013 05 17
NASA scientists have recorded the biggest ever meteorite impact on the Moon, with an explosion equal to 5 tons of TNT. The event is part of ‘lunar meteor showers’ observed by astronauts of the Moon exploration program.
The 40-kg meteorite measuring 0.3 to 0.4 meters wide traveling 56,000 mph slammed through the Moon’s surface on March 17, 2013.
The explosion from the ...
Military Says No Presidential Authorization Needed To Quell “Civil Disturbances” 2013 05 17 A recent Department of Defense instruction alters the US code applying to the military’s involvement in domestic law enforcement by allowing US troops to quell “civil disturbances” domestically without any Presidential authorization, greasing the skids for a de facto military coup in America along with the wholesale abolition of Posse Comitatus.
The instruction (embedded at the end of this article), which ...
Ancient Maya Pyramid Destroyed in Belize 2013 05 17 An archaeological group says it plans to take legal action.
Despite its small size, the Caribbean country of Belize is known for a few outstanding characteristics: a spectacular barrier reef, a teeming rain forest, and extensive Maya ruins.
It now has one fewer of those ruins.
A construction company in Belize has been scooping stone out of the major pyramid at the site ...
Ginger: A Warming Herb 2013 05 17
Ginger is an Asian herb that is particularly well known to us in the West. Over time, and with trial and error, its stimulating properties and piquant flavor have been integrated into both our herbal “materia medica” and cuisine.
Brewed as an herbal tea, ginger root is particularly helpful for those people who have underactive stomachs and difficulty producing adequate amounts ...
No Bank Deposits Will Be Spared from Confiscation
Big Bang: Biggest meteorite explosion rocks the Moon
Military Says No Presidential Authorization Needed To Quell “Civil Disturbances”
Ancient Maya Pyramid Destroyed in Belize
Ginger: A Warming Herb