Italian researcher in Gaza: Arrigoni murder will not effect Palestinian support

[ 25/04/2011 - 07:01 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Italian researcher Dr. Paola Manduca, who is currently visiting the Gaza Strip, has said that the murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni will not effect the solidarity the Italians and world peace activists have with the Palestinians.

The statement came during a meeting with Palestinian Health Minister Bassem Naim, after the latter sent the condolences of those working in the ministry and Palestinian government to Arrigoni's family.

He emphasized that everyone who loves Palestine condemns the Arrigoni murder, which he said conflicts with Palestinian customs and traditions.

Naim met with Manduca while she was on a mission to the Strip to research congenital malformations in the Gaza Strip due to chemical weapons used in Israeli aggression.

The meeting was also attended by Dr. Mohammed al-Kashif, director-general of the international cooperation board, and Eng. Awni Naim, vice-president of the environmental quality authority.

They discussed the environmental impacts of internationally banned weapons Israeli used during attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Manduca expressed her willingness to aid the health ministry.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Staying human: The legacy of Vittorio Arrigoni

By Ramzy Baroud

"Dear Mary," wrote Italian justice activist Vittorio Arrigoni to a friend. "Do you [know who] will be on the boats?... I'm still in Gaza, waiting for you. I will be at the boat to greet you. Stay human. Vik."

"Mary" is Mary Hughes Thompson, a dedicated activist who braved the high seas to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in 2008.

Vittorio Arrigoni, or Vik, was reportedly murdered by a fundamentalist group in Gaza a few hours after he was kidnapped on Thursday, April 14. The killing was supposedly in retaliation for Hamas' crackdown on this group's members. All who knew Vik will attest to the fact that he was an extraordinary person, a model of compassion, solidarity and humanity.

Arrigoni's body was discovered in an abandoned house hours after he was kidnapped. His murderers didn't honor their own deadline of 30 hours. The group, known as the Tawhid and Jihad, is one of the fringe groups known in Gaza as the Salafis. They resurface under different names and manifestations, for specific - and often bloody - purposes.

"The killing prompted grief in Gaza, but also despair," read an op-ed in the UK Independent on April 16. "Not only was Arrigoni well known and well liked there, but it escaped no one that this kidnapping was the first since that of the BBC journalist Alan Johnson in 2007."

However, Johnson's kidnappers, the so-called Army of Islam (a small group of fanatics affiliated with a large Gaza clan) held their hostage for 114 days. There was plenty of time to organize and pressure the criminals to release him. In Arrigoni's case, merely a few hours stood between the release of a horrifying video showing a blindfolded and bruised activist and the finding of his motionless body. The forensic report said that he was strangled. His friends said that he was tortured.

Vittorio Arrigoni's murder was an opportunity for Israel's supporters. Daniel Pipes wrote, in a brief entry in the National Review Online: "Note the pattern of Palestinians who murder the groupies and apologists who join them to aid in their dream of eliminating Israel." Pipes named three individuals, including the Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker, Juliano Mer-Khamis, and Arrigoni himself, and then proceeded to invite readers to "send in further examples that I may have missed".

Pipes' list, however, will have no space for such names as Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and James Miller, for these individuals were all murdered by Israeli forces. Pipes will also fail to mention the nine Turkish activists murdered aboard the Mavi Marmara ship on its way to break the siege on Gaza in May 2010, and the nine activists abroad Irene (the Jewish Boat to Gaza) who were intercepted, kidnapped and humiliated by Israeli troops before being deported outside the country in September 2010. The 82-year-old Reuben Moscowitz, a Holocaust survivor, was one of the activists aboard the Irene, as was Lillian Rosengarten, an American "who fled the Nazis as a child in Frankfurt," according to a New York Times blog.

The people Pipes failed to mention truly represent a rainbow of humanity. Men and women of all ages, races and nationalities have stood and will continue to stand on the side of the Palestinians. But this story has selectively ignored pseudo-intellectuals intent on dismissing humanity to uphold Israel. They refuse to see the patterns in front of them, as they are too busy concocting their own.

Writing in the UK Guardian from Rome, on April 15, John Hooper said, "Arrigoni's life was anything but safe. In September 2008 he was injured (by Israeli troops) accompanying Palestinian fishermen at sea. Two years ago he received a death threat from a US far-right website that provided any would-be killers with a photo and details of distinguishing physical traits, such as a tattoo on his shoulder."

The group that murdered Arrigoni, like others of its kind, existed for one specific, violent episode before disappearing altogether. The mission in this case was to kill an International Solidarity Mission (ISM) activist who dedicated years of his life to Palestine. Shortly before he was kidnapped, he wrote in this website of the "criminal" Israeli siege on Gaza. He also mourned the four impoverished Palestinians who died in a tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt boarder while hauling food and other goods.

Before his murder, Arrigoni was anticipating the arrival of another flotilla - carrying activists from 25 countries boarding 15 ships - that is scheduled to sail to Gaza in May. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adamantly called on European Union countries to prevent their nationals from jointing the boats. "I think it's in your and our common interest… that this flotilla must be stopped," he told European representatives in Jerusalem, according to an AFP report on April 11.

Israeli officials are angry at the internationals who are "de-legitimizing" the state of Israel by standing in solidarity with the Palestinians. Arrigoni has done so much to harm the carefully fabricated image of Israel as an island of democracy and progress. Along with other activists, he has shattered this myth through simple means of communication.

Vik signed his messages with "Stay human". His book, detailing his experiences in Gaza, was entitled Restiamo Umani (Let Us Remain Human). Mary Hughes Thompson shared with me some the emails Arrigoni sent her. "I can hardly bear to read them again," she wrote. This is an extract from one of them:

"No matter how (we) will finish the mission… it will be a victory. For human rights, for freedom. If the siege will not (be) physically broken, it will break the siege of the indifference, the abandonment. And you know very well what this gesture is important for the people of Gaza. That said, obviously we are waiting at the port! With hundreds of Palestinians and ISM comrades we will come to meet you sailing, as was the first time, remember? All available boats will sail to Gaza to greet you. Sorry for my bad English… big hug… Stay Human. Yours, Vik"

Vik's killers failed to see his humanity. But many of us will always remember, and we will continue trying to "stay human".

Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London), available on Amazon.com.

(Copyright Ramzy Baroud, 2011)

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

I Do Not Believe That A Palestinian Killed Vittorio Arrigoni

Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 7:45AM Gilad Atzmon

We should bear in mind that Israel is horrified by the tidal wave of Palestinian solidarity. It is aware of the 40 countries strong 'breaking the siege Flotilla' that is planned to embark soon.

Israel is desperate to intimidate us all.

But we are determined. We will keep fighting. We will expose Israeli crimes and 'tricks'.  We will bring this murderous racist state down.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hero of Gaza: Vittorio Arrigoni, Kidnapped and Murdered

Tim King and Bonnie King Salem-News.com
"I have seen my brother Vik's body and his death certificate, but Vik is not dead." -Ken O'Keefe

All photos of Vittorio Arrigoni provided by Ken O'Keefe

(SALEM / GAZA) - Italian Journalist Vittorio Arrigoni's body has reportedly been found in Gaza. He was killed by a small faction of religious radicals according to reports.

Gaza Youth Breaks Out (GYBO) wrote: "While Hamas forces were intensely searching Doghmosh area to find them, abductors tried to leave, when two of them were caught by Hamas. A third, who was with Vittorio, was given a signal to kill him. We lost a brother."

Al Jazeera reports that Hamas police stormed an apartment in Gaza City belonging to a member of the group that released a video of the activist. A police officer said four people were arrested in another location, in connection with the abduction.

Those on the ground in this embattled region of Palestine had held out hope along with the rest of us, that he would be returned alive.

The Hamas government had earlier made statements that led supporters to believe that Vik Arrigoni would be returned alive.

People in Gaza have a voice because of hard working dedicated peace activists like Vik Arrigoni. Beyond the overly religious fanatical Salafist radicals, the only detractors this man had were Israeli Zionists who wished for his death for years.

This a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior and National Security with the Palestinian National Authority:

Explanatory statement issued by the Ministry of Interior on the circumstances of the "kidnapping and killing of Italian Solidarity Activist"
(Roughly translated from Arabic)

The Ministry of Interior said that since the arrival of the news of the abduction of Italian Solidarity Activist Vittorio, the security agency Balastnfar launched a full search and investigation.

This resulted in contact with one member of the group who disclosed the location where Vittorio was being held. She led the security services toward the place where he was being held where they found that the victim, Vittorio, had "been killed hours ago in an ugly way" (according to the forensic report).

Faced with this situation, we affirmed the following:

First: the Palestinian government condemns the heinous crime that does not reflect our values, our religion and our customs and traditions, and confirms that it will hunt down the rest of the members of the group and will implement the law against them.

Secondly: We emphasize that this crime does not reflect the true state of the atmosphere of security and order in the Gaza Strip, does not imply a retreat, and will remain the Government is keen to promote stability, security and safety as this incident is the first of its kind in years.

Third: The initial data indicate the intention of the kidnappers was Murder. As he was murdered shortly after he was kidnapped.

Four: The motives behind this crime, though it seems intellectually certain, but it demonstrates the hands are still plotting against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and want to undermine the security and steadfastness, and achieve a state of terror for the movement of people of the world's solidarity with the Gaza Strip, especially the enemy Zionist looking at ways to prevent the fleet of freedom that was after the second campaign of international solidarity and the impact of a role in loosening the embargo imposed five years ago.

Fifth: The Ministry emphasizes the brothers in the media must pay attention to any rumor or news that is not accurate with respect to this crime, and to rely on official information from the Ministry.

Ken O'Keefe and Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza

You will note in the video below that Ken O'Keefe, our writer and diehard activist friend in Gaza, does not believe or at least did not, that any Palestinian could be responsible for Vik's death.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine anyone doing this to a man who was so well loved and respected. It is exceedingly clear that everything is out of sync.

Juliano Mer-Khamis

The perpetrators of this crime Ken suggests, were Zionist agents of Israel. This is the obvious relentless enemy of the Palestinian people, with frequent strikes on civilian targets in Gaza from U.S. made fighter jets and drones.

Just a few days ago, on 4 April 2011, Filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis was Murdered in Jenin, the scene of severe fighting during the Second Intifada.

Juilano's mother Arna had famously provided a haven for the Palestinian youth in Jenin. She was Jewish, her husband, Juliano's father, was a Palestinian Christian.

Juliano was murdered in front of his wife by masked men who were immediately assumed to be Palestinian.
In the bigger picture, nothing was gained for Palestinians in any way by either man's death.

Legacy for Palestine

VIDEO BY KEN O'KEEFE, IN RESPONSE:

His life's work is his legacy. It surpassed all boundaries. Vittorio Arrigoni has helped an endless list of Palestinian people over the years and his work has led to a great deal of exposure of the treatment of Palestinians under the Israeli occupation.
As the world moves toward a real understanding of the reality of Gaza; Israeli snipers, constant fear and attacks on civilians from the Israeli military, Vittorio Arrigoni was a bright light. He was close to our friend and fellow writer Ken O'Keefe, and loved by thousands, perhaps millions. The idea that he was taken by a radical faction and killed in Gaza, if this is true, is simply horrifying. Never has a more grave mistake been made.

He was there when the first Freedom Flotilla boat reached Gaza. He has been an ally and key friend of the most successful humanitarian activists and his beliefs and words in action inspired many to become involved with the International Solidarity Movement which he started.

According to the Free Gaza Movement,

"He was aboard the siege-breaking voyage in 2008 with the Free Gaza Movement and was incarcerated in Israeli prisons several times. He was in Gaza throughout Israel’s brutal assault (Operation Cast Lead), assisting medics and reporting to the world what Israel was doing to the Palestinian people. He has been arrested numerous times by Israeli forces for his participation in Palestinian non-violent resistance in the West Bank and Gaza. His last arrest and deportation from the area was a result of the Israeli confiscation of Palestinian fishing vessels in Gazan territorial waters."

An earlier report from al-Arabiya stated that Vittorio's body was found in the al-Saftwai area.
Around 4:30 p.m. west coast time, it was tweeted that Vittorio in the al-Dughmoush family block in Gaza, and the Hamas police were surrounding the area. Several members of the al-Dughmoush family are said to be associated with Salafist.

This is a group that reportedly looks down on Hamas for not being sufficiently religious and they are known for a rejection of western influence. What they have done if this is true, is robbed the life of one of the greatest people dedicating his life to seeing Gaza become free.

I was in contact with a person who worked closely with Vittorio today and she told me the only word is 'anguish'. The only hope now is that people become all the more familiar with this great man who did so much for so many.

The world lost a great spokesman and activist today, but his message is not lost.

Vittorio Arrigoni - Humanitarian - Palestinian - Hero - Martyr - 1975-2011 RIP

Produced by Ken O'Keefe 14/4/11

Articles by Vittorio on Salem-News.com:

Mar-23-2011: Israel's Attack on Civilians: Two Children Killed - Vittorio Arrigoni Special to Salem-News.com
Mar-18-2011: Gaza's Youth: Hopes Broken at 15 March End Of Division Demonstration - By Vittorio Arrigoni for Salem-News.com
Mar-04-2011: 15 March Palestine: End of Division - Vittorio Arrigoni for Salem-News.com
Nov-10-2010: The First Targeted US Killing in Gaza - Vittorio Arrigoni for Salem-News.com

Also:

Nov-30-2010: Israeli Soldiers Fire at Road to Hope Convoy Members - Tim King Salem-News.com

_________________________________

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

_________________________________

Publisher Bonnie King has been with Salem-News.com since August '04. Bonnie has a wide ranging media background and in her career she has served in a number of positions in the broadcast industry; TV Production Manager at KVWB (Las Vegas WB) and Producer/Director for the TV series "Hot Wheels in Las Vegas", TV Promotion Director for KYMA (NBC), and KFBT (Ind.), Asst. Marketing Director (SUPERSHOPPER MAGAZINE), Director/Co-Host (Coast Entertainment Show), Radio Promotion Director (KBCH/KCRF), and NIE/Circulation Sales Manager (STATESMAN JOURNAL NEWSPAPER). Bonnie has a depth of understanding that reaches further than just behind the scenes, and that thoroughness is demonstrated in the perseverance to correctly present each story with the wit and wisdom necessary to compel and captivate viewers. View articles written by Bonnie King

For more Cannabis-related stories and factual information, go to: Cannabis De-Classified

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• Gaza Interior Ministry arrests two suspects in Arrigoni murder
• Abu Zuhri phones Arrigoni's fiancé to offer condolences

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Activist hints Israel was behind Arrigoni killing

[ 16/04/2011 - 08:30 AM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- Israel may have had its ”fingers” in the recent abduction and murder of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, said Mohammad Hanoun, a Freedom Flotilla 2 activist said in a press statement Friday.

He said the hit served as a warning message for activists on board the Gaza-bound flotilla to back down before the convoy's expected arrival mid-May. Senior Israeli officials had warned that they were ready to attack the convoy if it tried to break the Israeli military blockade on the tiny enclave of the Gaza Strip.

Arrigoni's body was found in a Gaza home on Friday after he was kidnapped by armed men. The Gaza government has so far arrested two suspects in the murder.

The Italian pacifist, who worked with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM), had been living in Gaza since August 2008 and spent another six years in the West Bank before he was ejected by Israel.

”We do not rule out that Israel or elements belonging to it were behind the kidnapping, as a message of threat and influence to the arrival of activists on the Freedom Flotilla 2,” said Hanoun, who is a member of the European campaign to end the siege on Gaza in Brussels.

”If Vittorio's abduction was to pressure a Palestinian party to have demands met, then why did these [suspects] not abduct a member of the Palestinian party, for example,” the activist said, suggesting that the kidnapping which preceded the hit was not actually designed to pressure Hamas to release Salafist men it was holding.

Religious affairs minister condemns the murder

”It is known that our tolerant religion [Islam] forbids killing a person,” said Gaza religious affairs minister Salih al-Raqeb. ”Among the people protected in Islam are those who enter the country safely to carry out a task and then return to their countries. The Italian and his ilk have come to our lands as reporters, activists and the like, and his murder was due to a lack of [knowledge of Islam] and the spread of ignorance, which is a cause of the incidence and spread of sedition.”

”Therefore, the government must enforce the Islamic ruling on those who kill Muslims and non-Muslims without right,” Raqeb said.

”This crime carries malicious intent to harm the interests of the Palestinians and the Palestinian government in Gaza and goes in total harmony with what the West has been falsely promoting about Islam that it is religion of killing, which strengthens the enemy and increases its supporters,” the Palestinian League of Scholars has said.

• Israeli website called for the assassination of Vittorio Arrigoni back in January 2009
• Israeli Mossad Assasinated Vittorio Arrigoni
• Haneyya: Arrigoni's killers will not go unpunished
• Gazans angered over Arrigoni hit

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israeli website called for the assassination of Vittorio Arrigoni back in January 2009

Those who want to bump off the witnesses of the slaughter

Lee Kaplan

Jam 14, 2009

A Criminal website incites the killing of volunteers in Gaza. Vittorio Arrigoni is also in their sights. There should be investigation against Lee Kaplan. The criminal website http://stoptheism.com/ invites people to kill the few volunteers who are providing health treatment in Gaza under Israeli bombs. They are Americans, Spaniards, Australians, Italians and other volunteers who report us what news they can about the real impact of the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Amongst them there is Vittorio Arrigoni, human rights activist. What we have here is pure incitement to killing, furnished also with the photos of those "wanted". It’s really unconceivable that the site is still online. We demand that the Italian Government and Foreign Office take steps right now to call for it to be immediately closed and to bring those responsible to court. http://www.megachip.info/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=8532 by Pino Cabras – Megachip The call is clear: to kill a group of people, with their first and last name, habits and ideas, political affiliations and pictures easily identifiable. They also demand informers’ cooperation so as to complete the list with addresses. The dossiers are openly addressed to the Israeli military so as to help them eliminate "dangerous" targets physically, unless others see to it first: the foes to be hit are western activists—health assistants and other volunteers—who work and are witnesses to what is unfolding in the Occupied Territories. You may read all this on a website, run by a group of extremists, a sort of American-Jewish Ku Klux Klan: Stop the ISM. It may be worth noting that an Italian, Vittorio Arrigoni, whose touching reports from Gaza we have read, is amongst those targeted.

The person who runs the site is Lee Kaplan. He’s one of the many quasi-fascist instigators of the American far right underbelly, a medley that has recently taken root both amongst the Christian movements and the fringes of Jewish fundamentalism, now joined by an unusual anti-Islamic extremism. In the US, this linking between these two milieus has strengthened to the extent that Kaplan often hangs around the wannabe high society circles of the TV talk shows famous for their foaming at the mouth, on Fox News channel.

But, above all, this phenomenon is getting stronger in the Holy Land. The Jewish fundamentalists control the most extremist settlements in the territories (as it was already possible to learn by reading Israel Shahak’s and Norton Mezvinsky’s Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, London, Pluto Press 1999). The Christian fundamentalists help them hasten the coming of Armageddon, the final battle between Good and Evil, that is supposed to take place precisely there. Maybe in order to get ahead with his work, Mr Kaplan gives free rein to the site in order to call for Arrigoni and others to be eliminated. Moreover, without expecting any concern from the Italian government, in case someone should see to our fellow countryman’s wished-for "permanent removal". We shall repeat: these criminal hopes haven’t turned up on a semi-underground web forum, but on a site open to everyone and run by a public figure.

Now, since also the Israeli armed forces don’t want witnesses to Gaza’s havoc, and our mainstream media has immediately and sycophantically complied with this ban, and since the only voice from there comes from Arrigoni, then "two and two makes four" and we get wind of a huge danger. We have seen that a heavy hand is being used there, if even hospitals, ambulances, schools are bombed and any aid is targeted.

While the body count in Gaza is now reaching one thousand, an oddity is taking place.

Neither can the heap of corpses be swept any longer under the rug of a leading article by Bernard Henry Levy, nor the use of horrible weapons—that in future you will see prohibited. Our papers are shyly starting to talk about it. Yes, not in the front page, like we did some days ago here, but at page ten, with low profile articles.

Concealing is no longer possible. Yet, it’s possible to water things down. And our great media knows well how to do it. Awaiting who knows what, a political military success, a chimera, the end of Hamas. At what price? The most subtle censorship is ongoing, but this subtlety doesn’t save it from being associated to more violent and threatening censorship, the kind that intends to hit those who want to rescue the Palestinian people from their own destruction. You know, when the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger. Similarly, many Italian intellectuals are horrified while pointing out to us the blood-stained finger of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) but they fail to look at the gloomy moon where the other fundamentalisms are increasingly holding sway over the Israeli leadership The idea according to which the IAF are defending the Enlightenment against the uncivilized is an ideology heralding tragedies, and we had better get rid of it by operating an honest historical and political review of the Middle-eastern record. The account of what is happening is now at a crucial point, with all the witnesses to be respected.


From Stop the ISM website


ISMer Ewa Jasiewicz in house of former DFLP commander killed by IDF claims she is just picking up "civilian" casualties. Jaseiwicz, in Abu Rabo's house, works with the terrorists. Rabo's house no doubt held weapons cache with children inside as human shields. Abu Rabo was the deputy of Naif Hawatma, the head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Ewa Jasiewicz needs to be a target of IDF forces as well as she has shown she is in Gaza to work for Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups like DFLP. A picture of Ewa is below. If you know of her exact location, please email us at info@StoptheISM.com so we can target and take her out once and for all.

As with any good subversive, Ewa changes her haircolor frequently:

Want to bring a permanent peace to the Middle East? Help the IDF find and target her to be eliminated permanently like her Hamas buddies. Ewa was previously a human shield for Iraqi insurgents. She is no peace activist, she is a Hamas enabler. She claims to be helping civilians, but all her "civilians" are in the homes of Hamas and other terrorist group operatives such as Abu-Rabo of the DFLP. She is aiding terrorists with homes that have weapons caches, not innocent Palestinians. It is people like her who will roil this conflict forever and once they are eliminated, only then can there potentially be a just peace for Arabs and Israelis alike.


ALERT THE IDF MILITARY TO TARGET ISM


Number to call if you can pinpoint the locations of Hamas with their ISM members with them. From the US call 011-972-2-5839749. From other countries drop the 011. Help us neutralize the ISM that is now definitely a part of Hamas since the war began.

#1 ISM TARGET FOR THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE AND IDF GROUND TROOPS:


VITTORIO ARRIGONI (PICTURED BELOW) IS CURRENTLY IN GAZA ASSISTING HAMAS ARRIGONI HAS BEEN DEPORTED REPEATEDLY BY ISRAEL AND WAS DEPORTED NOT ONLY IN 2005 BUT JUST LAST MONTH AFTER ENTERING GAZA ILEGALLY WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA.


HE WAS CAPTURED BY THE IDF NAVY AND DEPORTED ONLY TO SHOW UP AGAIN IN GAZA WITH THE ISM HAVING REENTERED JUST DAYS LATER WITH THE GAZA FLOTILLA. ARRIGONI WAS AWARDED A MEDAL FROM HAMAS AND IS CURRENTLY DOING HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS IN GAZA. WE PROVIDE THIS PHOTO SO THE IDF CAN HOPEFULLY FIND HIM AND GET RID OF HIM PERMANENTLY.


THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT BEHAVFED DISGRACEFULLY DURING THE ACHILLE LAURO AFFAIR AND ENABLED MACHMOUD ABBAS TO ESCAPE AFTER HIS CAPTURE BY THE US MILITARY. WE DOUBT THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD BE OVERLY CONCERNED BY THIS RECIDIVIST ANARCHIST FOR HAMAS AND THE ISM AND HOPE HE BECOMES A TARGET FOR PERMANENT REMOVAL:


(A more cleaned up Arrigoni, left, during a deportation hearing in Tel Aviv in 2005). Arrigoni has his left eyebrow pierced and sports at least one tattoo, a design on his left shoulder. The IDF should regard him as an operative of Hamas and treat him no differently.

TARGET #2 JENNY LINNELL

Jenny Linnel also received a medal from Hamas and has attempted to encourage the opening the sea lanes for the smuggling of weapons from Iran. She claims she's a human rights activist but is in fact another anarchist from the UK.

Jenny has appeared on Iranian TV in the English language to promote Hamas. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyokcGD9U9E Of course, we all know the Iranians only have the best of motives. Hamas is an Iranian proxy and she is appearing on Iranian TV. She is not a human rights activist, she is an anarchist supporting Hamas and ultimately Iran.


Target #3 Ewa Jasiewicz


Ewa has also been awarded a medal from Hamas and works to support the Hamas terrorist groups while claiming she is a human rights worker. Also from the UK via Poland, she has been active in assisting Hamas during the Israeli incursion. She is skilled at promoting propaganda for Hamas and retelling incidents to hide her activity in support of Hamas. Currently she fabricates tales about houses of Hamas operatives destroyed because they were weapons caches by spinning the events as attacks on innocent civilians. All three of these people should be regarded as enemy combattants who help with logisitcs, propaganda and God only knows what else. They were all deported and came immediately back in and should be targeted by the IDF with the rest of Hamas to remove them for good.

Target #4 Alberto Arce is from Spain, he fancies himself a film director Arce creates propaganda scenes for Hamas. He is accompanying Hamas operatives as a human shield while enhancing his filmmaker prospects for the future.

Target #5 Eva Bartlett from Australia Eva Bartlett is aiding the Hamas during the war campaign.

Target #6 Sharon Lock of Australia

(no photo but a poor picture on Russian TV at: http://www.youtube.com/v/uzxRGvVH8qQ&hl=en&fs=1) .

A note about Lock's comments on the video:

She doesn't know anything about international law because the term "collective punishment" refers to taking hostages in a war zone and executing innocent people to force collaboration. It does not refer to civilian casualties that occur because the goddamned Hamas shoot their missiles from population centers and schoolyards.

The fact is Sharon doesn't care when Hamas shoots missiles at Israeli schoolkids, she wants to distract when Israel fights back by calling collateral casualties (small, given Israel's attempt to avoid such) "collective punishment." She is now serving in ambulances used by Hamas to transport terrorists and weapons.
All of these Marxist anarchists above are responsible for proliferation of weapons smuggling tunnels in Rafah through the publicity campaign using the death of Rachel Corrie as an excuse to put pressure on Israel to stop destroying those tunnels. Today, the IDF has to go back in and destroy them. Up until now, with ISM help, those tunnels have provided weapons that killed even children in Sderot. The above people are on record as having gone into the tunnels and knowing where they are. Time to treat them as enemy combattants. In coming days, we'll tell you how to STOP THEM for good. Right now, these people are riding in ambulances used by Hamas to transport weapons and terrorists to provide human shield work for the killers.

By the way, here's a photo of Paul LaRudee of Norcal ISM, one their leaders meeting with his Hamas allies:

We're wondering if LaRudee (left) is asking Haniyeh if he has a suicide bomber's bed he can sleep in as he did in the past. LaRudee is earning big bucks now as an organizer for Hamas and also received a medal from the terrorist group. He also has been working with Hizballah.

NEW!!! CAIOHME BUTTERFLY IS TARGET #7 OF ISM IN GAZA

CAIOHME HAS BEEN REPEATEDLY DEPORTED FROM ISRAEL AND IS NOW IN GAZA DOING HER HUMAN SHIELD WORK FOR HAMAS. AN IRISH NATIONAL. HER PASSION IS TO DESTROY ISRAEL AND AID ALL TERRORIST GROPS THAT SEEK TO DO SO.

HER HAIR COLOR MAY BE DIFFERENT AS IN THIS PHOTO:

SUPPORTING HAMAS TERRORISTS IN THE EMERALD ISLE IN THE PHOTO AT LEFT, CAIOHME IS NOW IN GAZA WORKING FOR HAMAS.

Listen to Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan about the ISM on the Tovia Singer Show, Israel National Radio by clicking this link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/455

IDF NAVY STOPS ISM BOAT!!!
The IDF Navy finally stopped the IDF Flotilla boat Dignity today. As usual the ISM claims their boat was in international waters (like they never lie). The Israeli Defense Ministry needs to do three things: 1) Sink the boat. 2) Sink the boat. 3) Sink the boat. Arrest Huwaida Arraf and Neta Golan if on board and this time prosecute them. Golan, a former mental patient is a co-founder of the ISM with Huwaida Arraf. Intercepted ISM email: From: "Ramzi Kysia"


URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship!


TAKE ACTIONIMMEDIATELY! The Dignity, a Free Gaza boat on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, is being attacked by the Israeli Navy in international waters. The Dignity has been surrounded by at least half-a-dozen Israeli warships. They are firing live ammunition around the Dignity, and one of the warships has rammed the civilian craft causing an unknown amount of damage.


Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus - despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so.


Fortunately, no one aboard the ship has yet been seriously injured. There are 15 civilian passengers representing 11 different countries (see below for a complete list). At approximately 5am (UST), well out in international waters, Israeli warships began surrounding the Dignity, threatening the ship. At 6:45am (UST) we were able to establish brief contact with the crew and were told that the ship had been rammed by the Israeli Navy in international waters, and that the Israelis were preventing the ship from finding safe harbor. We heard heavy gunfire in the background before all contact was lost with the Dignity. It is urgent that you


It is urgent that you TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!


CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the Dignity and endangering the lives of its passengers! (DO CALL BUT TELL TEHM TO SINK THE SHIP!!!)


CALL Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at: +972 2670 5354 or +972 5062 3264 mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il


CALL Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at: +972 33697 5339 or +972 50629 8148 mediasar@mod.gov.il


BACKGROUND INFORMATION


The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December, bound for war-devastated Gaza with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated by the people of Cyprus. At our request, the ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, to certify that there was nothing "threatening" aboard - only emergency medical supplies.


TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY TO STOP THE ISRAELI NAVY FROM ENDANGERING THE DIGNITY AND ITS PASSENGERS!

Civilians aboard the Dignity being threatened by the Israeli military:

(UK) Denis Healey, Captain

Captain of the Dignity, Denis has been involved with boats for 45 years, beginning with small fishing boats in Portsmouth. He learned to sail while ats chool and has been part of the sea ever since. He's a certified yachtmaster and has also worked on heavy marine equipment from yachts to large dredgers. This is his fourth trip to Gaza. (He needs to be prosecuted by Israel and the US for violating US Neutrality Act).

(Greece) Nikolas Bolos, First Mate Nikolas is a chemical engineer and human rights activist (bullshit artist). He has served as a crewmember on several Free Gaza voyages, including the first one in August.

This guy needs to be prosecuted by Israel for repeat offenses.

(Jordan) Othman Abu Falah Othman is a senior producer with Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught. (Objective? Al Jazeera calls Hamas terrorist martyrs)

(Australia) Renee Bowyer Renee is a schoolteacher and human rights activist (bullshit artist). She will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(Ireland) Caoimhe Butterly–ISM MANIAC FROM WAY BACK Caoimhe is a reknowned human rights activist and Gaza Coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement. She will be remaining in Gaza to do human rights monitoring, assist with relief efforts, and work on project development with Free Gaza.

(Cyprus) Ekaterini Christodulou Ekaterini is a well-known and respected (by whom?) freelance journalist in Cyprus. She is traveling to Gaza to report on the conflict.

(Sudan) Sami El-Haj - AN Al QAEDA MAN! Sami is a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, and head of the human rights section at Al-Jazeera Television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.

(UK) Dr. David Halpin-WOULD NEVER VOLUNTEER FOR JEWISH VICTIMS IN SDEROT Dr. Halpin is an experienced orthopaedic surgeon, medical professor, and ship's captain. He has organized humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza on several occasions with the Dove and Dolphin. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(Germany) Dr. Mohamed Issa Dr. Issa is a pediatric surgeon from Germany. He is traveling to Gaza to volunteer in hospitals and clinics.

(UK/Tunisia) Fathi Jaouadi Fathi is a television producer and human rights activist. He will remain in Gaza to do human rights monitoring and reporting.

(USA) Cynthia McKinney-KNOWN VIRULENT ANTI-SEMITE WANTED TO ACCEPT SAUDI MONEY AFTER 9/11. Cynthia is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green Party presidential candidate. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict.

(Cyprus) Martha Paisi Martha is a senior research fellow and experienced human rights activist (bulshit artist). She is traveling to Gaza to do human rights work and to assist with humanitarian relief efforts.

(UK) Karl Penhaul Karl Penhaul is a video correspondent for CNN, based out of Bogot?, Colombia. Appointed to this position in February 2004, he covers breaking news around the world utilizing CNN's new laptop-based 'Digital Newsgathering' system. He is traveling to Gaza to report on the ongoing conflict.

(Iraq) Thaer Shaker Thaer is a cameraman with Al-Jazeera television. He will remain in Gaza to report on the ongoing military onslaught.


(Cyprus) Dr. Elena Theoharous, MP Dr. Theoharous is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She is traveling to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals. ### To: <gazafriends@lists.riseup.net> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:26 AM Subject: [GazaFriends] URGENT! Israeli Navy Attacking Civilian Mercy Ship! TAKE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!


ISRAEL IS ON THE MARCH IN GAZA. WE CAN ONLY HOPE THE ISM ACTS AS REAL HUMAN SHIELDS THIS TIME SO THEY CAN GET SHOT.An old Arab ditty but with new lyrics:

In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! Bomb the shit out the the Gaza savages! Let's have some smell of napalm in the morning over Rafiach. Avenge Sderot! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! Die die die Hamas dogs! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! Zion gonna win! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! Killing the Jihad bastards is the answer! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! End the illegal Hamas occupation of Jewish land in Gaza! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!! In Blood and Spirit We will Redeem Thee Oh Sderot!!!

Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan can salso be heard on the Tovia Singer Show (Israel National News Radio) on Thursday, December18th at 1 PM Pacific Time US to discuss Stop the ISM's involvement in the arrest and deportation of ISM activist Darlene Wallach by the Israeli Navy. If there is time, he will also discuss the newest ISM vile tactics of If American's Knew's head, Alsion Weir who is producing a film with the ISM's newest lie claiming Israel routinely sexcually abuses Arab women at Ben Gurion airport. For more on Alison Weir, visit the Rogues Section of Stop the ISM. The Tovia Singer Show can be heard at www.israelnationalnews.com and clicking on Radio Shows. The show also will be archived.

IDF Exercises Sovereignty off Gaza, Arrests Pro-Arab Activists

by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF arrested 15 Arab fishermen and three International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists Monday after their fishing boats veered into Israeli territorial waters. It was the first time the foreigners have been arrested since the pro-Arab "Free Gaza" movement began testing Israeli sovereignty in August.

They have broken Israeli sovereignty four times by landing at Gaza without authorization and without interference from Israeli authorities before Tuesday's arrests.

The Foreign Ministry originally said it did not want to create a media circus over arrests on the high seas. Further sailings were allowed by the office of the Prime Minister and the IDF, possibly out of fear of injuries to the activists, who have included European legislators.

The detained activists were identified as Andrew Muncie from Scotland, Darlene Wallach from the United States and Victor Arrigoni from Italy, all of whom were turned over to immigration authorities at Ben Gurion Airport for deportation. One of them is staging a hunger strike, and pro-Arab leaders from the Free Gaza movement charged Israel with "kidnapping them."

An IDF spokeswoman explained that the fishing boats wandered into prohibited territory and ignored orders to halt. "They interfered with security patrols," the spokeswoman explained. "The ISM activists are provocateurs, and the IDF allows fishing in permitted waters." The activists accompany the fishermen to encourage them to sail beyond the allowed limit and claim that Israel's exercised sovereignty over the Gaza Coast violates the Oslo Agreements. The government has stated in the past that it will control the air and sea so long as the Palestinian Authority, which has been replaced by Hamas in Gaza, does not control terror. The activists previously have charged the Navy with chemical warfare by spraying water cannons that drenched them with "a chemical substance." IDF spokesmen laughed off the allegations as ridiculous and said that "routine and acceptable" measures are taken when boats stray beyond legal limits.

The IDF also denied allegations that machine gunfire has been used to ward off the boats. Radio Netherlands reported that the fishing boats bear bullet holes, and it quoted an unnamed Arab's claim that fishermen come under fire on a daily basis.

Muncie, one of the activists who was arrested, accused the Navy of throwing explosives into the sea in order to destabilize the boats. Radio Netherlands also reported claims that two fishermen have been killed and at least four others wounded. The IDF denied the claims.

ISM activist prosecuted for aiding Hamas and passport fraud:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022457.php

Pennsylvania Leftist useful idiot guilty of aiding Hamas


A member of the International Solidarity Movement. Left/Jihad Nexus Update: "York County native gets 31/2 years for helping Hamas," by Nichole Dobo for The Evening Sun, August 23:

A 33-year-old York County native was sentenced Thursday morning to prison for aiding a group the United States designated as a terrorist organization. Richard David Hupper, originally from York Township, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison for aiding Hamas, a Palestinian military and political organization.


Hupper faced up to 15 years in prison. He admitted to giving about $20,000 to Hamas while working in Israel with the International Solidarity Movement, a non-governmental organization….


Hupper, a Dallastown Area High School graduate, became involved with the conflict in the Middle East after watching international newscasts. The machinist watched the TV shows while recovering from a work-related injury at his Alabama home, his lawyer has said.


Hupper traveled to the Gaza Strip, where he worked with the International Solidarity Movement to aid Palestinians, according to court documents. He was eventually deported by Israeli authorities, according to court documents.


To return to Israel, Hupper applied for a passport in Florida using false information, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to passport fraud charges more than two years ago. He is finishing his 24-month federal prison sentence for those charges.

Where does an unemployed machinist get $20K for Hamas? Through ISM fundraising as with the Gaza Flotilla. See below and tune in to learn how to go after ISM -Hamas fundraising:

Stop the ISM's Lee Kaplan will be on the Tovia Singer Show on Israel National News Radio on Thrusday night , August 28th at 9 pm (Friday at midnight e.s.t. or 7 am Friday in Israel) to discuss the Gaza Flotilla and what you can do to have the ISM activists arrested involved in the event. Tune in to see what you can do at www.israelnationalnews.com click on radio and listen live or listen to the archived show.


Slow Boat to Gaza

By David Bedein


Nicosia, Cyprus - On Monday, a movement known as FreeGaza.org held a press conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, in which a group of 40 people from around the world announced that they would board two small boats to travel by sea to Gaza to "break the siege" that Israel has placed upon Gaza.

There was no acknowledgement that in June of 2007, the Hamas regime took over Gaza and formalized a total state of war against Israel with the aim of liberating all of Palestine and using Gaza as a stepping stone to recoup any and all land ruled by the Jewish state.

With increasing boatloads of Iranian military hardware landing on the Gaza coastline, the Israeli navy was forced to impose an embargo of goods coming into Gaza. Israel offered to oversee goods and services for humanitarian needs in Gaza, by allowing specified supervised land crossings for supply to Gaza.The press conference, held at "Journalist House" in Nicosia, was launched with an opening statement by an Israeli American Jerusalem resident, Jeff Halper, who alleged that Israel was behaving in defiance of international law by closing shipping lanes to Gaza. He also claimed that the people of Gaza faced a severe shortage of milk and medical supplies.

Mr. Monir Deeb, a native Gazan who has lived in Los Angeles since 1979, explained to the media that he was boarding these boats to reunite with his siblings in Gaza. Mr. Deeb described Gaza as a "peaceful community under Israeli military siege" and said that this small convoy was meant to deliver a message to Israel to stop the siege of Gaza.

This reporter asked Mr. Deeb about the armed Gaza militias who have fired thousands of missiles over the past eight years against Israeli civilian communities that surround Gaza. I also asked for his comment on how the Hamas government is using the current cease fire period to regroup and train for the next attack on Israel. Mr. Deeb said that he "could not relate to this question," since it was "political" and his concern was "only humanitarian" in nature.

The convener of the FreeGaza.org press conference, Ms. Greta Berlin, an American woman formerly married to a Palestinian whose family was dislocated from Safed in Northern Israel during the 1948 war, gave examples of the humanitarian mission on which they were embarking. "One of her missions," she said, "was to supply 9,000 hearing aids for Palestinian children who suffer hearing loss at a young age, due to Israeli missile attacks on Gaza."

I asked Ms. Berlin if it were not the case that the missile attacks that she had claimed had been fired at Palestinians in Gaza by Israelis were actually fired by Palestinians towards the Western Negev, as they screech over Palestinian villages en route to hit Israeli civilian targets.

Ms. Berlin would not comment, saying repeatedly that the purpose of the voyage to Gaza was not political, even though the press statement issued by FreeGaza.org touched every raw political nerve possible. FreeGaza.org also clearly stated that it strongly condemns Israel for not allowing "refugees and their descendants the right to return home" to the villages that have since been resettled by Israel after the 1948 war. Meanwhile, the "FreeGaza.org" press statement also decried "Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine," laying aside any pretensions that the group only favored Israel's full withdrawal from Gaza.

Ms. Berlin reported that the operation to bring two boats into Gaza was independent of any foreign entities. She mentioned that FreeGaza.org had already raised $210,000 of the total budget needed, more than $300,000 for the boats. However, on July 31st, the Palestine Information Center issued a press release in which it stated that a member of the Lebanese Parliament had confirmed to Hamas leader Abu Marzook in Cairo that the boats had been provided by Palestinian popular committees by the Hamas. That would mean, in effect, that FreeGaza.org received two sources of support for its work - from American Jewish groups and from the Palestinian popular committees which are run by Hamas.

Nothing like the profit motive to move things along the high seas.

The boats are timed to arrive in Gaza this coming Saturday night, which this year marks Tisha 'av, the ninth of Av on the Jewish calendar, a fast day which marks disasters which have befallen the Jewish people.

By coincidence or not, pro-Palestinian movements around the world have designated this Friday and Saturday as a time of solidarity with their cause.

Indeed, an international Palestinian solidarity conference will convene this coming weekend at Wyndam Ohare Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, where a coalition of fifty Arab groups will gather under the umbrella of the first "Palestinian Popular Conference in North America." The theme of the conference, promoted in all of their publicity, leaves no room for the imagination: "Ending Zionist occupation and colonization of Palestine. :: Article nr. 50830 sent on 15-jan-2008 05:09 ECT http://www.uruknet.info/?p=50830

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian