Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 2010, Pages 46-48

New York City and Tri-State News

Gaza Freedom Flotilla: "Fact, Fiction and the Law"

By Jane Adas

At a Sept. 22 panel discussion at Brooklyn Law School entitled "Flotilla: Fact, Fiction & The Law," attorney and Gaza Freedom Flotilla participant Fatima Mohammadi provided an eyewitness account of Israel's May 31 attack in international waters on unarmed humanitarian activists. Other than Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old student killed by Israeli commandos as he was filming their assault on the flotilla, she was the only U.S. national aboard the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara. When the Israelis closed in, Mohammadi recalled, she was on the upper deck for Fajr (pre-dawn) prayers, thinking it might be her last prayer. As she finished, she saw a Turkish cameraman shot from Israeli Zodiak boats from two separate angles.

Later, Mohammadi recalled, as the Israelis forced the seized flotilla to the port of Ashdod—a 14-hour journey on a blood-soaked ship for Mavi Marmara passengers—she was seated on the floor of the deck comforting a frightened toddler. One of the masked Israeli soldiers constantly on patrol kept looking at the child. Hoping to make human contact, Mohammadi asked if he had a son. At that, the soldier pointed his rifle directly at the boy. Mohammadi noticed the attached tear gas canister labeled "Made in the USA."

After holding the flotilla passengers for three days in a Negev Prison, Israel released them, and they flew to Ankara in planes provided by the Turkish government. There they were met by representatives from every nation the passengers were from—except the U.S. The American flag was on a table to the side. No U.S. official has ever contacted Mohammadi, she added.

One reason government exists, pointed out Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer and columnist for the online magazine Salon, is to advocate for its own citizens. He described Mohammadi's experience as another example of the U.S. government opting for allegiance with Israel rather than its own citizens. Israel's actions resonated so deeply, he continued, because of the sheer nakedness of the aggression. Israel's attempt to control the media was overt and transparent, Greenwald said, noting that the first thing Israel did was to seize all evidence, prevent media access, and detain the passengers for three days—clearly the "conduct of a guilty party."

Israel released a propaganda clip that took place well into the attack which implied the passengers had initiated the violence. The ruse was obvious, Greenwald said, yet an unskeptical U.S. media showed it over and over. In Congress there was no sense that Israel should be more restrained—proving, he added, that bipartisanship is possible, at least when it comes to Israel. The U.S. and Israel were isolated by uniform global condemnation, he concluded, underscoring the way in which Israel has become a liability to the U.S.

Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University's Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies, characterized the promotion of Israel as a resounding public relations success sold by marketing professionals like Edward Gottlieb, who commissioned Leon Uris to write Exodus. However, he continued, in the past two decades its limits have become clear, especially to the younger generation and to liberal American Jews who are becoming disenchanted with the hawkish stance of establishment U.S. Jewish organizations. According to Khalidi, this has come about because the realities of events the American media covered in spite of itself are overshadowing a sense of guilt: Israel's 1982 siege of Beirut and the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, its repression of the first unarmed intifada, its 2006 war on Lebanon, its murderous assault on Gaza, and now its attack on the flotilla. Israel's system of domination and control based on violence no longer can be hidden, Khalidi explained, which has led to the recognition that it is Palestinians, and not Israelis, who were and are the primary victims.

Book Launch for Midnight on the Mavi Marmara

Within three months of Israel's pre-dawn attack on the six boats of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, killing one American and eight Turkish citizens, OR Books published Midnight on the Mavi Marmara (available from the AET Book Club), a collection of analyses and eyewitness reports from 48 contributors. Seven of them participated in a Sept. 28 panel discussion at Alwan for the Arts in lower Manhattan.

Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does it Feel to be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, was in South Korea when the publisher of OR Books telephoned him proposing that he edit a quick counter-narrative. Bayoumi accepted "with trepidation," he said—but nearly everyone he approached agreed to participate. Among the few who did not were national security analyst Anthony Cordesman and professional Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Bayoumi said the book has been vindicated as more information has come to light, such as the U.N. Human Rights Council report, which found that the conduct of Israeli military personnel toward flotilla passengers "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality."

Journalist Max Blumenthal, who was in Israel on a research trip at the time of the attack, was instrumental in exposing IDF lies about al-Qaeda mercenaries allegedly being aboard the Mavi Marmara and purported anti-Semitic insults. He related how the soldier who killed Furkan Dogan was one of four who were awarded Israel's equivalent of the Medal of Honor, but whose names could not be revealed. Israel's biggest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, ran a photo of "our heroes" with their faces blacked out, Blumenthal said.

Alia Malek, author of A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories (available from the AET Book Club), expressed the fear that world outrage over the Mavi Marmara incident would fade, as has happened so often with earlier Israeli excesses. She compared Palestinians and their supporters to the child in the movie "The Sixth Sense": "You can see the dead bodies," she explained, but nobody else seems able to. Arun Gupta, founding editor of the Indypedent, wrote his biting contribution, "The Victim that is Israel," because he was disgusted with the notion of Israel as the eternal victim—a stance willingly adopted by American journalists like Jeffrey Goldberg, who volunteer their services as propagandists for Israel. Philip Weiss, founder of the Web site Mondoweiss, said he is excited by changes in the American discourse—but on a recent trip to the area found Palestinians feeling more desperate than ever, while Israelis right across the Green Line are thriving and totally unaware. He returned with a renewed sense of commitment, he said, and sees his Jewish "tribe" as having a special responsibility for Israel's racism and oppression.

Finkelstein on an Irrational Israel

The original purpose of Dr. Norman Finkelstein's Oct. 6 appearance at Alwan for the Arts was to promote his latest book, This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences of the Gaza Invasion (available online from the AET Book Club at <www.middleeastbooks.com>). Instead, he spoke about "disastrous developments in the making" and placed those in the context of the last decade.

Ever since Hezbollah forced Israel to abandon its "security zone" in southern Lebanon, Israel has been seeking to re-establish its deterrent capacity, which Finkelstein translated as making sure the Arab world fears Israel. In its 2006 summer invasion of Lebanon, Israel failed to inflict a military defeat on Hezbollah. Soon after, Israel began planning an assault on Gaza. On Nov. 4, 2008, it broke a cease-fire with Hamas, knowing rocket attacks would resume and could be used as a pretext to launch Operation Cast Lead on Dec. 27, which Amnesty International described as "22 days of death and destruction." Israel carefully targeted Gaza's only operative flour mill, Finkelstein added, so its inhabitants would be dependent on Israel for their most basic needs, and 22 of the besieged strip's 28 cement factories so they would not be able to rebuild.

Then, this past January came the Mossad's bungled assassination in Dubai of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, followed by the bungled takeover of the Mavi Marmara on May 31. Israel was furious, Finkelstein maintained, not because of the dead and wounded, but because of the amateur execution by commandos from Israel's elite fighting unit, comparable to U.S. Navy Seals. Images circulated of captured commandos being nursed on the boat, and a U.S. Marine passenger described them as looking "like frightened children in the face of an abusive father." Thus, he said, Israel's deterrent capacity is yet again significantly compromised at a troubling moment for Israel.

Finkelstein cited recent reports by Daniel Kurtzer of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group, and the Washington Institute on Near East Policy (AIPAC's think tank) that all predict an Israeli attack on Lebanon in the next 12 to 18 months. Finkelstein fears that because "the natives are getting out of hand and forgetting who is in charge," Israel may want to deal a spectacularly shattering blow to the Arab and Muslim world to reduce them to size. Israel would not accept another defeat in Lebanon, he asserted, and will either drag the U.S. in or bring down the regime with them. Nor does he think Iran would accept the defeat of Hezbollah, because Iranians know they will be next. Another massive Israeli assault on Lebanon would trigger unpredictable chain reactions. It is open to question, Finkelstein concluded, whether Israel is acting in a rational manner.

Theatrical Premiere of "Rachel"

"Rachel," a documentary film distributed by Women Make Movies about Rachel Corrie, an American volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who was killed by an Israeli D-9 Caterpillar bulldozer in Gaza on March 16, 2003, had its theatrical premiere in New York on Oct. 8. Moroccan-born Israeli filmmaker Simone Bitton spent three years researching and filming. As an Israeli citizen, she was not allowed to enter Gaza, but her camera crew was. Bitton directed filming there by telephone.

Despite these and other difficulties, Bitton managed to do what the Israeli army's internal investigation, which then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised would be "thorough, credible and transparent," failed to do. Just how un-thorough was the IDF investigation is coming to light in the ongoing trial for the civil lawsuit that Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, have filed against the State of Israel for Rachel's unlawful killing. Two of the three-man Israeli investigative team testified that they never visited the site of the killing or interviewed any Palestinian witnesses, including medical personnel. Bitton did both, albeit by long distance. She interviewed onscreen the third member and commander of the investigative team, Shami Cohen, who looks ill at ease as he describes the inaccessibility of the scene and admits they did not question all witnesses.

Dr. Samir Nasrallah owned the house Rachel was guarding, which the IDF has since demolished. In the film he walks through the rubble, re-enacting the time of her killing. Dr. Abu Nakira of Najar Hospital in Rafah, where the ambulance brought Rachel's body, describes her wounds and shows her X-rays. Bitton includes graphic footage shot by Palestinian reporters on the scene.

In Tel Aviv, Bitton interviewed Dr. Yehuda Hiss, chief forensic pathologist at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, who performed Rachel's autopsy. Hiss was recently the subject of a lawsuit where he admitted to 125 cases of "organ harvesting," removing body parts and selling them to medical institutions and universities. Rachel's parents had requested an American diplomatic presence at the autopsy. Hiss tells Bitton that he contacted the embassy, but they were "not interested." The civil trial has revealed that Hiss kept samples from Rachel's body for "histological testing" without informing her family.

The IDF denies any responsibility for Rachel's death, unlike her teachers and mentors at Evergreen State College and the Palestinian founders of ISM, Ghassan Andoni and George Rishmawi, who accept a share of responsibility. Other interviews include IDF spokesperson Maj. Avital Leibovich, who claims there was "no direct contact between the bulldozer and the deceased"; a young, anonymous, religious IDF tank gunner stationed in Rafah at the time of Rachel's killing describing shooting water tanks for fun; and ISM teammates who were eyewitnesses. Although Bitton was unable to interview IDF personnel involved in the killing, she managed to obtain written testimony from the IDF's internal investigation, which is read by her friends; a clip from Israel Channel 2 archives of the D9 bulldozer operator; and, most amazingly, footage from an IDF surveillance camera, although the army has excised the moment of contact.

The film includes scenes of Rachel's neighborhood in Olympia, Washington; Jerusalem, where she underwent her ISM training; and the Rafah neighborhood where she lived in Gaza. Interspersed with all this are Rachel's own words from Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie (available from the AET Book Club). They are read by her ISM teammates, her Evergreen State College teachers and, most poignantly, by her parents. The film concludes with Rachel's words, "This has to stop."

Jane Adas is a free-lance writer based in the New York City metropolitan area.